‘You Have to Draw the Line in the Sand Somewhere’

Published July 26th, 2024 at 8:00 am

Village councilors have made the final decision to keep Corrales’ 1 house, 1 acre rule in place. 

The decision was made after the Planning and Zoning Commission voted to grant a Corrales land owner the ability to split up his 2.93 acres into three separate plots, each 2 feet, 2 inches less than 1 acre. 

Village administrators held a special appeal hearing, asking the council to overturn the P & Z decision and hold strong to the village’s 1-acre rule.

“You have to draw the line in the sand somewhere and say this is the way it’s gonna be,” said Mayor Jim Fahey. “This ordinance has been around for a long time. 1 house, 1 acre. We’re trying to stick to that, to keep our open space, and have less density of houses.”

Fahey said that in the proposed comprehensive plan for the village, there’s a push to decrease the allowable building area on an acre of land to create even more open space in the village. 

The council voted unanimously to overturn the P & Z decision to grant the exception the 1-acre plot rule.

“We just wanted to make sure that the village law is followed, and in this case, it wasn’t,” said Fahey.