New Mexico Environmental Law Center

NMELC IN THE PRESS

Santolina zone change rejected

“We respectfully disagree with the judge’s analysis relating to the master plan,” said Douglas Meiklejohn, the executive director and an attorney with the New Mexico Environmental Law Center. But he added that her ruling on the zone change decision is a “big victory for fairness and due process.” Albuquerque Journal

Go to Albuquerque Journal for full story.

Santolina Foes Get Partial Court Victory

Attorney Douglas Meiklejohn, who represented Santolina opponents in the case, said he disagreed with Franchini’s decision regarding the master plan, but was happy that she struck down the zoning change.

“We respectfully disagree with the judge’s analysis as to the master plan, but we believe that the determination that our clients were denied fairness in the proceedings regarding the zoning is a major victory for fairness in these kinds of proceedings and for members of the public who want to participate in these kinds of proceedings,” Meiklejohn said. ABQ Free Press

Go to ABQ Free Press for full story.

Read all of our news articles

PRESS RELEASES

Santolina’s Request to Strip Water Requirements Challenged

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Today community groups and residents of the South Valley appealed a decision from the Bernalillo County Planning Commission in the Santolina mega-development case. The Planning Commission recommends stripping key provisions that require the Santolina developers to prove that its project has water. The appeal was filed with the Bernalillo County Commission (BCC), which is tentatively slated to take up the issue in August.

The appeal addresses a request by developers to remove three critical water conditions from the BCC’s approval of Santolina’s Level A Master Plan. Two years after these conditions were put into place, however, Santolina still has no Agreement with the Water Authority.

East Mountain Residents Battle Water Speculator in Court

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Oral arguments will be held tomorrow in the Aquifer Science water grab case. Residents are challenging developers’ attempts to resuscitate a failed water appropriation in a thinly veiled water speculation attempt. This case is an appeal of the 2014 decision by the Office of the State Engineer (OSE) denying Aquifer Science’s application for 717 acre-feet of water/year (afy) for a purported luxury development in the East Mountains.

Tuesday, June 13 at 1:30
Courtroom of Judge C. Shannon Bacon
2nd Judicial District, 400 Lomas Blvd, Albuquerque
*Cellphones not allowed in the courthouse