Corrales village councilors have come up with a plan for awarding financial incentives for farmland preservation, but the decision wasn’t made without some contention.
At their Feb. 10 meeting, councilors finalized a list of properties for inclusion in the farmland preservation easements program.
Corrales voters in 2023 approved a bond issue to raise money that will allow the village to pay property owners to keep their land in an agricultural state and promote the rural character of the village.
The bond issue raised some $2 million, village officials have said.
Councilors voted in December to approve the farmland preservation commission’s ranking of five properties and decided to fund the higher ranked properties first. At the latest meeting, they chose to commission valuation assessments on the two top-ranked priorities.
The farmland preservation commission placed the Indigenous Farm Hub, 6400 Corrales Road, at the top of the list. It’s a working farm and hosts educational opportunities for youth, commissioners wrote.
Second is an apple orchard at 211 Paseo De Dulcelina, owned by Morgan and Renee Holmes.
The next step, consultant Michael Scisco said, is for the village and property owners to sign agreements for the easements. Once the assessments have been completed, he said, village leaders will know how much money is available for awards.
One resident raised objection to that process, saying all five properties should be appraised first.
Also at the meeting, Councilor Mel Knight pushed back against a suggestion that she wielded undue influence on the public works department to have her street put on the village’s infrastructure capital improvement plan list. She said she’s waited eight years for its inclusion.
Knight said she understands the frustrations of Perea Road residents, but the village discovered it owns the road just last year.
“When you’re working with government, there’s people in line before you,” she said. “I understand, it’s difficult when you live on a road that’s washed out or has gravel dust. But you know, things take time. And I wish I had $5 million to pave Perea Road, but I don’t. Please don’t accuse me of underhandedness.”
Councilor Zachary Burkett defended Knight, saying village leaders hold themselves to high standards of integrity. Burkett said he and former Village Administrator Ron Curry lived on the same street and waited out the repairs of two patches of roadway.
“(They) were unpatched for about two years because him and I would see each other on walks and say that we never wanted to be the ones that called public works and asked them to come fix these two small patches, just for the concern that it might look fishy,” he said.