Village Approves Plat and Settles with Couple, Ending 5-year Dispute

Published December 29th, 2023 at 10:00 am, Last Updated December 29th, 2023 at 11:41 am

A yearslong dispute between the Village and a Corrales couple came to an end last month when the Village Council unanimously voted to approve a plat for a subdivision of 6.12 acres into three separate lots, with conditions. The property is located at Huff Road and Andrews Lane east of Corrales Road.

With the action on Nov. 16, the Village agreed to pay Curt Flora and his wife Suzanne Huff-Flora $50,000. The Village will pay half the cost, while its insurer will pay the other half, according to the settlement agreement. The terms also state the couple will drop its lawsuits pertaining to the case.

But that doesn’t mean they’re happy about it.

“I didn’t want to sign this (agreement), but I’m doing it for my wife,” Flora told Village councilors.. “Because we’ve had five years of stress, five years of fighting you guys on your own ordinances … What you’ve done to us, is damage us. Not just a little bit, but a lot.”

Flora said the couple simply can’t afford to pay attorneys to fight the court battles anymore. The dispute has already cost them their life savings, he said.

“We are dropping our lawsuits because we can’t afford to fight you guys. If we could afford to fight you guys, you’re damn straight we would continue it. But we can’t do it anymore,” he said.

The couple applied for a preliminary plat approval for the property in 2018. While it was approved with conditions by the Planning & Zoning Commission, the couple did not agree to the conditions. Those conditions have held up approval, with one requiring a 30-foot wide road being the main contention.

The couple first appealed the conditions in state district court. When they lost that round, they took it to the state Court of Appeals and lost again. The parties were then left to resolve the issue through a compromise.

Village Attorney Randy Autio said the settlement called for an 30-foot wide access easement with enough space for fire emergency vehicles to perform a hammerhead turn on the dead end road. 

“I felt comfortable with it after the (fire) chief said he was comfortable with it,” Autio said.

Within the easement the couple would have access to an existing 20-foot wide road they did not want to give up.

The other conditions allowed for a utility easement and a certificate from the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District validating engineering. 

“There’s been a lot of work that has gone into the settlement agreement, so I would ask that you approve this,” said Richard Cravens, the couple’s attorney.

Flora’s comments came afterward. He said what the case was really about was the Village taking property without just compensation – and the Village’s failure to follow its own ordinances.

Flora accused the Village of changing the rules after it had already approved the 20-foot wide road. He said it forced them to apply for a preliminary plat when none was needed and made them pay fees for costs that should have been covered by the application fee.

He also blamed the Village for dragging the process on and failing to provide documents under Inspection of Public Records requests.

“I’m going to say it, the corruption was so high and so out of bounds,” he said before tailing off. 

Flora said after all the Village put them through, the amount they received in the settlement  accounted for only about half of the money they’ve paid attorneys.

“Maybe you ought to think about throwing in a little more on top of that, if it’s approved,” he said in parting.

Asked if she was comfortable with the settlement agreement by Councilor Mel Knight, Suzanne Huff-Flora said, “I would not use the word comfortable.”

Huff-Flora said she agreed with a lot of what her husband said.

“This has been a long, draining process. We have done our best to follow all the ordinances and all the requests and everything the Village has asked of us,” she said. “We have given in to the 30-foot request in order to get this settled, because, as Curt stated, we simply cannot go on. Financially, emotionally, mentally, this has been one of the worst processes I have ever been through in my life … I would like to see this approved so we can have a life.”

The Council did approve the plat on a 5-0 vote with Councilor Zach Burkett absent.