By Kevin Hendricks, The Paper.
Rio Rancho’s Governing Body decides Thursday, for the second time, whether a Maverik gas station can rise at NM 528 and Obregon Road NE — the project neighbors packed council chambers to fight in June, and that got a late-breaking access change just last week.
The Governing Body voted 4-2 on June 25 to postpone the vote, giving developer Maestas Development Group three months to negotiate with NMDOT over highway access instead of routing all customer and delivery traffic onto residential Monterrey Road NE. Planning and Zoning had already recommended approval 4-0 on June 9, and city staff still find the site plan meets code.
The access fight, then and now
NMDOT had rejected direct NM 528 access for more than a year, citing crash rates on the corridor. That held through June. But on Aug. 25, the agency signaled conceptual support for a limited right-in access off the highway, and a revised site plan reflecting that reached the city Sept. 2. Monterrey Road — a residential street with no curbs or gutters in stretches — would still carry a full in-and-out access.
Neighbor Kearstin Krupiak, whose June letter cited 2007 zoning minutes promising the highway, not Monterrey, would handle customer traffic, has continued pressing that point. Juan Lopez Corona, who lives on Monterrey Road, told the board in June the plan contains “zero enforceable noise conditions.”
Numbers driving the debate
Crash data Krupiak cited from NMDOT’s public mapping tool showed 18 collisions at 528 and Obregon in 2024-25, seven of them causing injuries. A Speedway station already operates across the highway from the proposed site, a point multiple residents raised in June questioning the need for a second fueling station at the intersection.
City staff say the traffic study flagged as incomplete in June has since been approved by NMDOT and city engineers, contingent on new turn lanes on 528, Obregon and Monterrey and paving Monterrey’s frontage. One item remains open: the buffer wall along Obregon doesn’t run the property’s full length and needs an extension or a variance before building permits issue.
The vote
Councilors can approve the 2.06-acre, 4,499-square-foot store and six-pump canopy as proposed, deny it, modify it or postpone again.
Rio Rancho Governing Body Meeting
- When: Thursday, Sept. 10, 6 p.m.
- Where: Council Chambers, City Hall, and via Zoom (Meeting ID 833 3815 7719, Passcode 554297)
- Watch live: rrnm.gov/2303/Watch-and-Download-City-Meetings or Sparklight channel 56
- To speak on the Maverik hearing: register in person or by Zoom with the City Clerk no later than 15 minutes before the 6 p.m. start
- Agendas: rrnm.gov
- Public comment/record requests: Clerk@rrnm.gov | 505-896-8708