TAOS SPLIT OVER HOTEL
Zoning panel’s approval of four-story structure spurs objections
TAOS — The day the Taos Planning and Zoning Commission voted unanimously in May to approve a “largescale hotel development permit” for a proposed four-story, 85-room Holiday Inn Express on the south side of town, one of the commissioners found 16 tires, valued at $10,000, slashed on vehicles at his propane business.
Was the incident, in which two shadowy figures were seen on surveillance video entering at night, connected to Commissioner Billy Romero’s vote?
“In my opinion, it was,” said Romero, owner of Rio Grande Propane. “If it was connected to that, it sends a very negative message to people who volunteer for these kinds of positions and to elected officials.”
The Holiday Inn apparently would be the first building in Taos with four full stories (not counting the historic multistory adobe buildings on adjacent Taos Pueblo).
Even though the hotel site is a few miles south of the town’s historic center, many residents are angry about the prospect of pushing the town’s skyline upward.
Opponents also allege a back-room deal has brought the hotel near final approval — it still must come before the Town Council next week — and say it’s out of scale for this resort town and will block views.
While they allege coziness between local officials and Columbus, Ohiobased developer Jay Batra, town manager Rick Bellis says the town is doing what towns do: pursuing economic development. Batra “is a very professional and successful investor interested in investing in and creating jobs in Taos” and “has already demonstrated his commitment by turning around the once bankrupt Hampton Inn to 90 percent-plus capacity,” Bellis said in an email.
Local activists, including resident Lawrence Baker, said they have gathered over 3,000 petition signatures against the project. Baker points to emails between Bellis and Batra as evidence that an October Town Council approval of a hotel specific “overlay zone” allowing heights up to 48 feet “was all done behind closed doors.”
In one message, Bellis asked Batra to prepare a preliminary site plan with the footprint of the building and an artist’s rendering of possible threeand four-story buildings, according to a March 2015 e-mail from Bellis to Batra.
“I believe that we could have a quick and inexpensive preliminary answer for you,” the town manager told the developer. “This should allow you to then either apply for and likely obtain a variance within a month or for us to adjust the codes accordingly within a similar time frame.”
Batra called the allegations of coziness with the town government “bogus” in a telephone interview. “The government out there is always going to take a look at who is prodevelopment. They are going to want to attract developers to take the town in a forward direction and that’s all they are trying to do,” he said.
Danielle Vigil, who was born and raised in Taos and returned four years ago, says the hotel “goes against the character of Taos and goes against the reasons people come here … for the beauty and the expansive (view).”
Santa Fe attorney Chris Graeser, who represents opponents, said he intends to file a lawsuit by next month alleging approval of the overlay zone’s new height allowance violates the town’s land use plan which “would not have allowed a four-story hotel.”