Ranchos preps for annexation battle
Landowner: ‘I’ve kind of innocently walked into this’
An apparently unintended challenge to one of New Mexico’s five traditional historic communities — a designation under state law designed to prevent unwanted annexation — has residents in Las Comunidades del Valle de los Ranchos south of Taos riled.
Ken Dickinson said he and his wife Christine requested the town annex their Taos County property because they want to participate in town politics. They also hope to one day connect to a water and wastewater utility.
“I’m contiguous to the town, and by ordinance I can get annexed,” he explained. “I’ve followed every step of the procedure and process. And I kind of don’t appreciate this other entity thinking that it can tell me what I can and can’t do with my own property.
“I wasn’t approached by the town; I wasn’t coerced or recruited,” Dickinson added. “This came down to the only path forward for me that can work.”
The “other entity,” Las Comunidades del Valle de los Ranchos, is not a political subdivision of the state, and does not have a governing body or powers of taxation; but its boundaries “are meant to be set in perpetuity,” according to Hank Saxe, secretary for the Ranchos de Taos Neighborhood Association, which spearheaded the effort to win the historic community designation that covers a 35 squaremile area south of Taos.
About six years ago, the Dickinsons thought they were buying a home inside the boundaries of the town of Taos. But the 1-acre property, located off Maestas Road south of Este Es, is actually in Ranchos de Taos, just above Talpa.
“The [New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division] says we’re in the Town of Taos, but the post office says we’re in Ranchos,” said Dickinson, who like his wife Christine, originally hails from Albuquerque. “So it wasn’t until later that I did some title work and research and realized, man, I am right on the border of the town but not in the town.”
Three reasons the Dickinsons want to reside within the town: One, they wish to vote in town elections; two, he would like to seek an appointment to the town’s Planning and Zoning Commission; and lastly, he believes the municipality’s water and sewer utility is by far the most likely avenue through which he could eventually connect to water and wastewater services.
A 5.3 mill tax on his assessed property value is levied each year by El Valle de los Ranchos Water and Sanitation District, which provides water and wastewater services in the area, but doesn’t yet serve the Dickinsons’ part of the sanitation district.
Property owners and residents without school-age children pay similar taxes to support local school districts, and Taos County residents pay a mill levy that’s directed to Holy Cross Medical Center, whether they ever use its services or not. The concept of paying into a community resource isn’t unusual, but Dickinson said he simply has little faith his property will ever get connected to the water and sewer district or another nearby water association.
“El Valle does not provide water in this part of town,” he said, adding that even though the Talpa Mutual Domestic Water Consumers Association comes within a half-mile or less of his home, he doesn’t believe, based on a conversation with a representative of the association, it will deliver water to him any time soon. Emphasizing that he believes both El Valle de los Ranchos Water and Sanitation District and the Talpa water association do important work, Dickinson said he was told by a sanitation district representative it’s unlikely the district will ever extend service to his and several of his neighbors’ homes.
Having had some experience serving on the Planning Commission and Board of Adjustments in Palmer Lake, Colorado, Dickinson decided to petition the Town of Taos to annex his property into the municipality last December. Finding the application complies with the town code, the Taos Planning and Zoning Commission gave its stamp of approval in February and sent the application to the town council with the recommendation it approve the annexation and rezone the property from “County Rural Area to R-1 Single Family Residential” status.
The Taos Council has a hearing on the annexation request set for April 23 during its regular meeting.
“It’s gonna be one for the books,” Saxe told about 50 attendees at the association’s annual meeting in Talpa last Sunday (April 7) and invited folks to testify at the hearing.
The board of directors for the association made it clear they don’t believe the town can legally approve the Dickinson annexation or affect a zoning change. The association was the primary force behind the historic designation, which was specifically aimed at preventing Taos from annexing more land in Ranchos, Talpa, Llano Quemado, La Cordillera, and Los Cordovas.
“The administration of the town must be aware that on Dec. 20 of 2022, Las Comunidades del Valle de los Ranchos was designated by the county by an ordinance, and a map was drawn which established the boundaries of this community,” Saxe said. “We figured out that the town probably lacked an accurate map. We provided that to them.”
“In all these 29 years, there has never been a municipal government before that tried to subtract land from any of the traditional historic communities,” Saxe said, referring to Agua Fria Villages, the state’s first traditional historic community, which was designated in the 1990s. “We’re in uncharted territory. There is no legal precedent.”
Saxe said that historic communities are essentially granted two rights with the designation: “One is that protection against annexation, which is really the paramount reason these traditional historic communities are designated in the first place, and the other is limitations on zoning, so it’s only within the county’s authority.”
Taos County opposes the annexation, and has asked New Mexico Attorney General Raul Torrez to interpret the historic communities statute in the context of Dickinson’s annexation request.
Although the neighborhood association is fundraising in preparation for a legal battle, Dickinson said he doesn’t intend to fight for the annexation in court.
“I’ve kind of innocently walked into this current situation, but at the same time, I’m not gonna go spend thousands of dollars to fight it,” he said. “That’s just not going to happen.”