Santa Fe County Commission approves permit for controversial wedding venue
Vote last week reverses previous decision, will allow site to play host to up 12 events through November
A vote last week by the Santa Fe County Commission will allow a Galisteo Basin-area bed and breakfast to continue holding weddings through November despite strong opposition from neighbors.
The commission’s move overturns a June decision by the county’s Planning Commission, which had prohibited Hacienda Doña Andrea from hosting any more weddings this year.
The approval will allow the hacienda to host up to 12 weddings between now and November — despite the facility being permitted to operate with only a maximum occupancy of 18 guests.
Several neighbors said they were disappointed in the ruling and worried it would set a dangerous precedent that would encourage business owners to flaunt county land use codes.
It was neighbors’ complaints that led county staff to learn the hacienda — first permitted in 1999 — had been hosting large weddings not allowed under its existing land-use permit.
Owners Maximiliano Contreras and Britt Contreras have been obtaining special-use permits — usually used only for one-time events — as they worked on a site expansion that would have allowed them to increase the permitted used of the property.
The couple amended their expansion application this spring after ongoing pushback from neighbors about noise, water use and fire danger.
The couple’s new application asked that they be allowed to honor their commitments to couples who planned to wed at the hacienda in 2022. It said the venue would revert to a bed and breakfast thereafter.
The Planning Commission denied that application in June and ruled the
hacienda could not receive more special-use permits to operate weddings on a case-by-case basis.
The Contrerases filed a lawsuit in state District Court challenging the ruling, arguing their venue — since updated with parking and fire suppression improvements — met all criteria for the site expansion and special-use permits.
Neighbors said Monday they felt the lawsuit scared commissioners into allowing the Contrerases’ application.
“This decision is not protecting the law-abiding public, who has paid taxes and are also caretakers of the land in a serene environment,” area resident Mira Burack wrote in an email to The New Mexican. “It is another instance of abuse of power by lawyers/money over the genuine care of the community and the environment.”
Burack and others also said they were concerned about how the county would prevent the hacienda — which has already operated outside of code for years without consequence — from holding large events in the future.
Multiple residents have testified before both the Planning Commission and the County Commission that weddings at the venue are loud and last late into the night.
They also worried aloud about the hacienda’s water use and the heightened risk of fire and drunken driving they claim the events bring to the neighborhood.
“I don’t think we can simply cross our fingers and hope that nothing happens between now and November that concerns possible fire, a depleted aquifer and or road accidents,” neighbor Chase Morrison told the commission. “And I’m not confident the hacienda will after November convert to a B&B and stay that way.”
Morrison was one of nine residents who testified in opposition to the approval at the July 26 meeting.
Two soon-to-be grooms — one from Tesuque and one from Santa Monica, Calif. — and a bride from Maryland asked the commission to approve the expansion so they would not have to cancel their weddings.
The Contrerases’ attorney Christopher Graeser told the commission the couple doesn’t deny they operated outside county guidelines for years but said they’d gone “above and beyond” to address neighbors’ concerns — including agreeing to compromise by giving up their right to apply to hold weddings in the future.
He asked the commission to allow the couple to “go out on a high note” by honoring prior commitments to brides and grooms.
The commission met in an executive session for about an hour before voting on the issue.
Commissioners Anna Hansen, Anna T. Hamilton and Hank Hughes voted in favor of allowing 12 more weddings this year — with a list of 14 conditions, including a requirement the Contrerases hire a sound engineer to take noise readings.
Commissioner Rudy Garcia, who represents District 3, where the hacienda is located, cast the only dissenting vote. Commissioner Henry Roybal was not present.
Garcia and Hughes declined to comment on their votes, citing the pending lawsuit.
County Operations Manager Sara Smith responded to an email sent to Hansen, writing: “It would not be appropriate for individual commissioners to comment at this time.”
Maximiliano Contreras said Monday he’s happy he’ll be able to honor the previously booked weddings but was saddened that he had to agree to leave the wedding business to obtain the permit.
“Anything is better than nothing,” he said but added be believed neighbors have been “difficult to work with.”