The Edgewood Town Commission dealt a significant blow to controversial development plans on July 24, voting 4-0 to deny Campbell Farming Corporation’s appeal for a subdivision that would have divided 1,288 acres into five smaller parcels in what many residents feared was the first step toward a massive housing development.
The decision came after a quasi-judicial hearing that lasted nearly six hours and drew intense community interest, addressing what the town called “an appeal concerning a prior decision on a land division application submitted by Campbell Farming Corporation” to subdivide land within Village 2 of the Campbell Ranch Master Plan.
Dennis Kellogg, the board president of East Mountains Protection Action Coalition, an organization that has long opposed the development, said, “There is still important information missing from the application, such as how water for the parcels will be provided. Just because the land is divided up doesn’t take away the need for water or providing the source.”
For Edgewood residents who have watched this issue unfold over more than two decades, the denial represents a reprieve from development pressures in an area where aquifer levels have dropped about 1.8 feet per year on average in the East Mountain area, according to Philip Rust, a hydrogeologist with Bernalillo County’s Water Resources Program.
The commission heard extensive testimony and legal arguments before reaching its unanimous decision. The town subsequently amended its motion to formally grant the appeal of the prior approval issued by the Planning & Zoning Commission.
“What happens to us, all the people that are here, when these wells get put up and the well runs dry and none of us have any water? What happens when Edgewood doesn’t have any water?” State Rep. Stefani Lord, R-Sandia Park, said.
The proposed subdivision faced massive community resistance, with more than 120 public letters opposing the project submitted to the town, according to Joel Darnold, co-founder of the East Mountains Protection Action Coalition (EMPAC).
Over 100 people attended planning meetings with concerns, “especially regarding water,” with some meetings drawing so many residents that attendees spilled into hallways.
Residents expressed fears that any groundwater use for the subdivision would lead to escalating challenges, increasing costs, diminishing property values, and diminished quality of life.
The water issue resonates particularly strongly in the East Mountains, where domestic wells are going dry across the Sandia Basin, a 400-square-mile area spanning from Placitas to Tijeras and Sandia Crest to Edgewood. The region exemplifies broader challenges facing rural communities experiencing unprecedented water shortages, where dry wells are concentrated in rural areas, where wells for domestic use are more common.
Campbell Farming Corporation has maintained that the subdivision would create “smaller and more developable and more manageable-sized parcels,” according to Sheldon Greer, an engineer hired by the company.
The company has claimed it has existing water rights from the well field that the Paako community currently gets its water as well as additional domestic and commercial water rights.
The Campbell Ranch Master Plan, originally approved in 2002, envisioned a massive development with four villages, 4,000 homes, two golf courses, and a hotel. However, no significant development has occurred on the property since then.
What Happens Next
The town noted that “any further appeal of this decision must be filed with the New Mexico District Court,” leaving open the possibility that Campbell Farming Corporation could pursue the matter in state court.
“This is going to court one way or another,” Mayor Ken Brennan said. “So nobody’s done. The one thing you can celebrate is that it has moved on from this step and can now move on to the next step.”
For residents who have fought this development for over two decades, the decision represents a significant victory in their efforts to preserve the rural character of their community while protecting already-strained water resources.
