By Rodd Cayton
A controversial apartment development will be moving forward after town councilors in Bernalillo voted to approve an ordinance allowing it. The 258-unit complex will be built within the Venada Plaza subdivision.
“This is not a request to invent a new land use policy for this property,” Angela Piarowski, representing the applicant, developer Dominium, said. “The town has already identified this area for high-density residential development, established a framework for multifamily use, and previously approved multifamily development on this site.”
Dozens of residents spoke against approving the development, citing concerns that included water use, the project’s environmental footprint and extra traffic congestion. Piarowski declined to offer again the presentation she had made at previous meetings and attempted to address those concerns.
Piarowski said experts, including the town’s water consultant, have concluded that the capacity of the aquifer, which supplies the town wells, is far in excess of the demand being placed upon it. She noted that Dominium will be required to secure and make available the water rights required by the town before the development may proceed with any approvals. She said building permits for the complex may depend on the applicant providing the required additional capacity to the Santiago and West Side lift stations, as engineering consultant Molzen Corbin has evaluated the sanitary sewer system and found that the development can be served through planned improvements.
Piarowski said traffic studies, including a supplemental project-specific analysis, have concluded that State Route 528 has substantial available capacity to accommodate the 100 or so peak-hour trips the complex would generate. “ Put simply, the corridor is using less than half of its modeled and designed capacity during the periods of the greatest demand,” she said.
Residents sharply criticized the developer’s traffic assumptions, with some saying drivers leaving the apartments would use Venada Plaza Drive or the two-lane Sheriff’s Posse Road, which cannot handle the expected influx of vehicles.
The vote was 2-1, with Councilors Phillip Valverde and Vincent Montoya voting in favor and Councilor Gerred Prairie opposed. Councilor Sharon Torres-Quintana was absent. The planning and zoning commission last month recommended approval of the project. As part of the final approval, the council attached a condition requiring the developer to construct additional parking spaces on the 14.92-acre site if the town determines the initial 459 spaces are insufficient. The condition was added after residents expressed concern that the standard was inadequate and could lead to overflow parking clogging up nearby streets. “Bernalillo may need more affordable housing, but this project has slowly but surely become the wrong project in the wrong place,” Ellen Maxwell said.
Mayor Jack Torres thanked community members who spoke and noted that the council is required to make decisions based on the town’s zoning rules. He also said Bernalillo loses too many young families to neighboring communities because they can’t find housing options in town.
“The application satisfies the applicable approval standards in every way,” Piarowski said. “Every substantive concern raised — water, traffic, sewer, emergency services, infrastructure, wildfire response, schools, and public safety — has been taken seriously by the applicant, evaluated through qualified experts and authoritative planning data, and answered with evidence. This project advances the town’s adopted housing, growth, and land use policies.”
Torres said denial of the application might not spare the town from its impacts.
“Would it just get built across the street (on) 528?” he said. “Where we still have the traffic, we still have the water issues, but no benefits, or no control, or no involvement whatsoever.”