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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Council Tables Road Issue Again

By Lee Ross
Mountain View Telegraph
      An issue involving Rory Road had a second appeal at the Edgewood Town Council and is still unresolved.
       The first appeal resulted in the council remanding a decision by the Planning and Zoning Commission. The second appeal came after the commission re-examined its decision and made a new one.
       This appeal, brought by Alfred and Kathleen Russell, was of a decision to approve final plat for the Pueblo Artesanos subdivision.
       The appeal was tabled at the council's May 7 meeting.
       Before the decision, Councilor Brad Hill said he would not vote in the matter due to a relationship with one of the parties involved.
       Kathleen Russell has appeared at several meetings to argue against approval of the subdivision, stating Rory Road, which was planned as an access point for construction, is a private road and should not be used by the developer.
       One of the reasons the appeal was tabled was because of a move by David Campbell, the attorney representing the developer, Jensen/Ullrich LLC.
       At the start of the proceedings, Campbell presented the council with a multipage document.
       “This (document) could have easily been sent to either of my two e-mail addresses,” Councilor Glenn Felton said, noting he would have found time to read it during his workday.
       He and Councilor John Abrams both said that without time to digest the new information, they didn't feel comfortable hearing the appeal.
       The document was sent to the town offices before noon the day of the meeting, Campbell pointed out. Town Attorney Marcus Rael said he had received the document and accepted responsibility for not sending it along.
       Campbell said the document was sent out the day of the meeting because Kathleen Russell had continued to send documents, such as a statement from neighbors and a timeline of events, to the town. He said he wanted to make sure his response was comprehensive.
       “It really doesn't matter to me whether you table it or not,” Kathleen Russell said.
       Development Manager Karen Mahalick noted that the developer had paid for Campbell to argue the case at the meeting.
       “This does put Jensen/Ullrich at a disadvantage,” she said. “That needs to be taken into consideration.”
       Councilor Rita-Loy Simmons suggested the council take a few minutes to read the document and proceed with the appeal.
       “We have drawn this out for quite a long time,” she said. “People's lives are involved.”
       Abrams and Felton voted to table the appeal, and Simmons voted against tabling.
       A meeting to deal with the issue was set for 6:30 p.m. May 28 at the Edgewood Community Center.
       At the May 7 meeting, Felton brought another issue involving roads to the council, suggesting that the town adopt a procedure for renaming roads.
       The discussion comes after the council rescinded a resolution to change the name of part of N.M. 344 and all of Edgewood 7 to Keaty Boulevard at its April 2 meeting, a decision arrived at after the council heard a number of comments from the public.
       The road would have been named in honor of Edgewood's first mayor, Larry Keaty.
       To aid the process of establishing a written procedure, resident Janelle Turner had created a list of policies used in towns in Virginia, California and Colorado, but no action was taken on that issue.
   

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