Broken Links and the (dim) prospects for improvement:

I have not had time to keep links up to date, but I have (for now) restored the documents links found in the right sidebar and updated the links to outside sites. Unfortunately, most of the links to the town’s official website are no longer working, and the new site is quirky at best and deceptive at worst. Good luck with getting access to official documents as physical access to the municipal offices and the fulfillment of IPRA requests seem to be severely curtailed at this time. 

Unfortunately, Edgewood town government seems to have reverted to 1999 in more ways than agreeing to use the 1999 subdivision ordinance for Campbell Ranch. Edgewood’s current governing body has returned to the first group’s original focus on “religious values”, political labels, and wishful thinking. 

Possible remedies? 

(1) Form a new coalition of voters who will elect representatives with a more practical focus. [Possible if the current government continues to exasperate residents and neighbors alike, but extremely difficult to maintain for an extended time in a bedroom community.]

(2) Abandon the experiment with Commission/Manager form of government and return to a Mayor Council government which is more suited to the expectations of small and medium sized towns. [If it’s so great why haven’t more towns and villages in NM adopted the Commission/Manager format? This is probably the most doable option since what was advertised is not even close to what has been delivered.]

(3) Disincorporate and return to county government. [My first reaction upon reading the petition to change the form of government was that it was the first step in disincorporation by other means i.e. eventual dissolution due to loss of momentum. A surprising number of people who signed had also explored disincorporation following the Campbell Ranch annexation. Some of them still have copies of disincorporation petition forms on hand and ready to go. While actual disincorporation is theoretically possible it is not likely. However, gradual dissolution isn’t out of the question given current trends.]

Master Plan Spotlight: Edgewood circles back to 1999 with Campbell Ranch decision

This latest decision from Edgewood Planning & Zoning is interesting. Unless the governing body overturns or sends it back for reconsideration, the precedent could work itself out in ways that some of the planning commissioners do not appear to have fully considered. The town’s first subdivision ordinance from 1999 has been amended several times and mostly for good reasons. Opening the door to revert to old standards may affect future applications in other parts of Edgewood zoned Master Plan. It is long past time for the original development agreement to be reconsidered.  

Because Edgewood’s most ardent proponents of serial subdividing are aware that such practices are generally regarded as negative, the concept was rebranded and marketed as a “minor” subdivision. The maneuver is akin to the habit of describing the original annexation of Campbell Ranch as having been accomplished by a “bridge” instead of a “shoestring” because New Mexico law does not permit shoestring annexations. 

The people most affected by this decision would do well to keep an eye on the town’s actions, but there may be less going on here that it seems. Unless and until Campbell is able to secure sufficient paper water rights, and then puts in place the delivery system needed to convert those paper rights into “wet water” Campbell’s applications amount to little more than moving and reorganizing puzzle pieces. The Campbell Ranch MP has accomplished very little in the time since the plan was first approved other than play “kick the can” with successive iterations of town governments.  

Edgewood’s first town government was enamored with Master Plans to the extent that they approved three large ones early on: Hillcrest, Campbell Ranch, and Section 16. Section 16 is the only one of the three which has achieved any significant results. That is because it is state land developed by the NM State Land Office. The town does have some input but the SLO is the ultimate authority on development. Section 16 has its own meme magic component in the form of a name change from Section 16 to Edgewood Commons which was launched with great fanfare but promptly forgotten.  

The Hillcrest MP once appeared to be fairly active, but after an initial burst of activity in 2008 when a group of investors sought to buy the land, things went quiet. The sale fell through at some point, and the land along with 50% of the water rights reverted to Highland Stock Farms. Publicly available information is sketchy, but it appears that sometime between 2008 and 2013 the other 50% of the water rights were transferred to EPCOR. 

Two somewhat strange outcomes of Edgewood’s love affair with master plan zoning are the numerous plots scattered around town which are zoned Master Plan but for which no plans exist. In addition, it is possible under Edgewood’s current ordinance to master plan parcels as small as 10 acres. Neither of the above are practical in the real world, but they do exist on paper.