2021 SEPTEMBER 25 ISSUE LAW ON WALLS, FENCES ALONG SCENIC BYWAY EXPECTED SEPT.28

A draft ordinance regulating opaque walls and fences along the Corrales Road Scenic Byway is expected to be introduced at the September 28 Village Council meeting. The proposed law likely will mirror that enacted by the Village of Los Ranchos to protect scenic quality along Rio Grande Boulevard. At the September 14 council meeting, Councillor Zach Burkett asked that the topic be on the agenda for the next meeting. Mayor Jo Anne Roake agreed.

In an email September 16, Burkett said he anticipates Planning and Zoning Administrator Laurie Stout will have a draft ordinance. “I think Ms Stout has a draft in the works that will be our starting point of discussion.” Other council members have spoken in favor of such regulations aimed at maintaining scenic quality along Corrales Road. (See Corrales Comment Vol.XXXX No.4 April 10, 2021 “No Moratorium on New Walls Along Corrales Road.”) The current push to protect scenic views began shortly after erection of tall cinder block walls fronting Corrales Road at the south end of the valley last year. Burkett said he regretted that  such walls had been permitted and asked that the council consider what might be done to prevent the same from happening all along the road.

A former chairman of the P&Z commission, architect Terry Brown, had tried to persuade the Village Council to pass such an ordinance 10 years ago, but councillors balked and the initiative died. Perhaps the biggest stumbling block was that the 2011 draft ordinance seemed to apply to other roadways throughout Corrales and at intersections where walls would block visibility. The council sent the draft back to P&Z for more work, but a revision was never submitted. (See Corrales Comment Vol.XXXX No.2, March 6, 2021 “Council Revives Interest in Corrales Road Scenic Quality.”)

The Village of Los Ranchos regulations on walls along Rio Grande Boulevard were discussed at two previous council meetings. Those regulations were explained as follows by P&Z Administrator Stout. “Los Ranchos uses the idea of low and open walls/fences. They restrict height of all fences to six feet. Solid walls within the front setback can only be four feet with an option to add additional  open fencing on top of that to a maximum of six feet total. No solid wall or fence shall be located within the clear sight triangle of a driveway and a public or private right-of-way.”

At the March 23, 2021 council meeting, all members of the governing body supported the goal of protecting scenic quality along Corrales Road, possibly with a new ordinance modeled after that used for Rio Grande Boulevard. Councilor Kevin Lucero made the point that any decisions on this issue will have implications for the quality of life in Corrales for decades. “The decisions we make in the coming months will determine what Corrales looks like over the next ten, 20, 25 years. What we want Corrales to look like for future generations.”

Burkett tried to head off the controversy that scuttled the 2011 draft law by  saying he did not expect any regulation that would apply to roads except Corrales Road and possibly the historic zone near the Old Church and San Ysidro Museum. To try to include other neighborhoods would be opening a can of worms, he cautioned. Last spring, Stout was asked to evaluate the Los Ranchos ordinance to protect scenery along Rio Grande Boulevard and whether it achieves a balance for landowners’ privacy.

“What the Los Ranchos ordinance does is that it allows a modicum of privacy since you’ve got your walls to a certain extent but with an open pattern at the top. And they also have setbacks that we can look at for a front fence. That would be another option.

“It allows people to keep their animals in and keep other animals out, as the case may be.  As you drive down Rio Grande Boulevard, it is a delightful experience. You can see the farmland, the large lots, the architecture. Corrales Road is a scenic byway, so looking at an ordinance would certainly be appropriate to balance the rights of the property owner with the overall feel that we want to keep here in Corrales.”

Former Corrales Planing and Zoning Commission Chairman Terry Brown has made that a high priority since at least 2010.

In a power point presentation to the Corrales Planning and Zoning Commission on April 12, 2011, Brown demonstrated what has been lost by view-blocking walls along Corrales Road and what has been preserved by see-through fences and low walls.

But for other Corraleños, the idea that Village officials might tell them what kind of fence is permissible reeks of governmental over-reach and offends libertarian values.

At the December 8, 2020 Village Council meeting, Councillor Burkett said he would like to see incentives by Village government to encourage other styles of walls or fences that do not inhibit views.

He said he wanted the council to address the issue after seeing such tall, solid walls erected by builder Steve Nakamura on two properties at the south end of Corrales over the past year.