Corrales physician Karam Sonu Bhalla, specializing in internal medicine and anesthesiology, has opened a practice in Corrales. He has implemented a “concierge” model which offers a more intensive, personalized approach to health care. The first Corrales physician to offer such a practice here, Alyson Thal, opened Corrales Family Practice in 2012.

Raised in India, Bhalla earned his medical degree at the University of Tennessee in Memphis followed by residencies in internal medicine and anesthesiology at the University of New Mexico. Subsequently, he has worked with Presbyterian, Kaseman, Davita and Lovelace administrations. In opening his practice here, Bhalla said he tries to integrate western medical care approaches from healing traditions in his native India. He works with patients who may not want to take pills as their first course of treatment, and gives priority to preventive care.

The physician said his experience in conventional clinic settings trouble him because visits were scheduled too tightly to allow for real interaction between doctor and patient. His office, Indigo Health MD, is in the Territorial Plaza building on Corrales Road, just north of Coronado Road.

One of the world’s most popular brass ensembles, The Canadian Brass, has been booked for a concert in Popejoy Hall Sunday afternoon, January 9.

The group’s concerts range from Baroque and Dixieland tunes to new works created especially for them.

Engineer Michael Smerechniak died August 19, at 94.

He obtained a bachelor’s degree in engineering at New York University, and parlayed his education into a career building aircraft such as the still-in service A-10 Warthog, B-1 Lancer and the Space Shuttle.

He was the father of Elena Kayak.

He met his future wife, Marie Jo Miera, through her cousin, Eduardo E. Gallegos, and married at the UNM Thomas Aquinas Newman Center. They raised a family in Queens, New York.

He was an avid stock market investor and recommended Apple stock to anyone he met. His mantra was “The more I give, the more I receive.” His most recent donation was made with his wife, to contribute to feed the Corrales vaccination pod workers as they helped stop the spread of COVID.

His hearty, appreciative laugh and sense of humor will be missed by everyone, including friends at the Meadowlark Senior Center who enjoyed his sharing the “Word-of-the-Day” calendar at lunchtime.

A Day of the Dead event is planned at Casa Perea Art Space, 4829 Corrales Road, October 30  through November 4. Corrales Poet Laureate Rudy Miera invites submission of poetry in any form for the event, along with photos, mementos, toys and other remembrances for a “Corrales community altar.” Miera will receive poetry in haiku, free verse or any style on Wednesdays and Thursdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Casa Perea Art Space. Poems should be typed on an eight-and-a-half by 11 sheet of paper that includes the author’s name. Themes for submitted poetry are love/amor, recuerdos/memories and honor or recognition.

Anything to be included in the community altar should be submitted on Monday, October 25 between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. at Casa Perea.

The Día de los Muertos exhibit opening will be on Saturday, October 30, 6-9 .m.

More than 60 artists will have their work displayed in the Old Church through October10. The Old Church Fine Arts Show, now in its 33 year, is a collaboration between the Corrales Historical Society and the Corrales Society of Artists. The juried exhibit is free and open to the public with COVID-19 precautions maintained. No admission is charged and parking is free. The show will be online starting October 11, continuing until October 31 at http://www.corralesoldchurchshow.com.

All art is for sale; a portion of proceeds will support ongoing efforts to preserve the Old Church.

By Stephani Dingreville

Villagers have been wondering about the seeming halt to construction happening at the much anticipated Local Motive restaurant site on Corrales Road. According to Shannon Byrne, one of the founders of the proposed restaurant, the setbacks have been result of many factors. Shipment of certain materials and equipment needed to move forward with construction has suffered a nearly six-month delay, thanks to those pesky COVID supply chain issues that have brought so many projects to a halt. Byrne also says the “complicated nature of building a kitchen for a full-service restaurant in a building that has not been updated in over 30 years” is a factor in the delay of opening. Lastly is the need for site development plan approval from the Village.

This is where Laurie Stout comes in. She is the Planning and Zoning Administrator for the Village, and it is her job to help businesses put together the proposals they will bring in front of the Planning and Zoning Commission. Helping businesses work through the red tape and put together a full, appealing package to show the commission is the part of her job she likes best. Stout has helped countless businesses gain approval from the P&Z commission. She reports the plans for Local Motive were not quite finished to get them in front of the board during the September meeting, which filled up quickly. They were instead pushed to the October 20 meeting. According to Stout, the construction cannot move forward until these plans are approved.

In spite of having to move the target date for opening from fall 2021 to spring 2022, the founders’ enthusiasm for the project has not waned, nor has their vision changed. Byrne says their vision “is to create an iconic, memorable café experience in the Village of Corrales that is worthy of the unique and inclusive character of the community.” The menu will be “simple yet comprehensive, utilizing local goods where possible.”

By Stephani Dingreville

Imagine you discovered $4.7 million dollars in excess funds in one of your bank accounts.  Before you spent a penny, wouldn’t you first want to find out how it got there?

That was the first step the Corrales Village Council took when $4.7 million was discovered in a Local Government Investment Pool (LGIP) at the end of 2019. McHard Accounting Consulting LLC, a forensic accounting firm located in Albuquerque, was engaged to this end. The McHard firm was to perform an assessment of the LGIP funds and make a determination their origin. Anne M. Layne, partner of the firm and Janet McHard, the firm’s founding partner came to deliver their report to the village council during the August 2020 council meeting.

Layne reported that for many years in a row, the Village revenues outpaced the Village expenditures. She explained that this is something that often goes unnoticed in organizations, where the focus tends to be on budgeting rather than on actual spending.

Councillor Zachary Burkett spoke up, saying “This is a real $4.8 million dollars in an account. It seems like at some point the debits and the credits on our budget would not have matched up and shown that we have millions of real dollars in surplus or hundreds of thousands each year. How do make sure that we catch that so that we do not have to retroactively go back and try and find out? Was there anything in particular you saw that we should address?”

Layne responded: “What I noticed, is that there were a couple years where some of your revenues coming through the general fund had exceeded what you had budgeted. A lot of that seemed to be allocations from the state that you maybe did not expect.” McHard then advised: “You may want to look at what kind of reporting you are getting on a quarterly basis so that you can see what is actually happening. When things are going well with the budget, then it typically does not come before council.”

This determination of the origin of the funds revealed them to be indeed free and clear to be spent however the village wants.

The council was advised caution by the firm, saying they should first reconcile all their accounts before spending the sum. Layne advised: “It may be prudent to keep the whole balance until after the reconciliation.” At the same meeting, Village Administrator Ron Curry stated his goal to have the reconciliation finished by the end of the calendar year.

On September 8, 2020, Administrator Curry reported that Reyna Aragon, finance officer for the Village, had begun working with Josh Trujillo’s firm, SJT Group LLC on “the detailed reconciliations.” He also restated: “We expect [the reconciliation] to go on through the end of the year.”

The next mention came in October  2020 at a Governing Body regular meeting, when Councillor Bill Woldman asked Administrator Curry if it was “possible to have a work study sometime in the future regarding the LGIP funds. Just to see what we should spend the money on, how much we should set aside and having a discussion about that.” Administrator Curry responded that it was a “great idea,” saying, “right now we are finishing up the bank reconciliations which we expect to have done by December. So I think we could have a work study early next year.” After this, the draft minutes from the December 2020 meeting list a “LGIP Funds Work Study” as a “future agenda item.”

This is around the time that Corrales Comment’s Meredith Hughes presented the compelling argument around using some of these funds for the Corrales Pathway Project. She quoted a persuasive letter from former Corrales MainStreet board member Deborah Blank. (See Corrales Comment Vol.XXXIX No.14  October 10, 2020 “$4.7 Million to Pathways?”)

Corrales Elementary School had a successful 2021 Jog-A-Thon in spite of the pandemic, earning a record $27,000. According to Kristen Coffman, vice president of the Corrales Elementary PTA, success was due to the “spirit and attitudes of the runners,” as well as many sponsors.  “The school would like to thank the entire community for all their contributions, especially our sponsors: Edgerly Properties, 8 Grady’s, Dr. John A. Salazar, Pawsh Pet Grooming, Property Partners, Inc. and Raylee Homes.” Prizes were awarded for the top earner in each classroom, as well as the top-earning class. A spirit award was also given out.

Aaron Gjullin has resigned as Village Clerk to continue his education to become a  physician. He replaced the previous clerk, Shannon Fresquez, in May 2020. He had worked for the Village of Corrales since 2008 when he was hired as a lifeguard at the recreation center, and was promoted to head life guard in 2017. Parks and Recreation Director Lynn Siverts observed his work and dedication and hired him as an assistant in the Parks and Recreation Department, a position he held before appointment as Village Clerk.

Balloon Fiesta week is here, when Corrales eyes turn upward to see jeweled skies, with bursts of colorful balloons festooned in the atmosphere like so many Christmas ornaments. Of course the scenery closer to the ground is not so pretty. Lines of crawling cars seem to be everywhere. This year, the traffic seems especially bad, due to a confluence of several events. The Balloon Fiesta is certainly a factor, attracting hundreds of thousands of people to Albuquerque on a normal year. Even during the pandemic, the fiesta is expected to attract tens of thousands of people, and that influx can be felt on the streets of our little village. Many more travelers than usual seem to be enjoying our scenic byway.

Proposed construction of a casita —or alternatively, an office and workshop— at 66 Bad Coyote Place was approved by the Village Council after a September 16 hearing at which Ken and Kathleen DeHoff expressed disagreement with decisions by the Planning and Zoning Office. Initially they had sought a building permit for a 600 square-foot structure labeled as a casita, but that was rejected by Planning and Zoning Administrator Laurie Stout. The DeHoffs re-submitted plans with modifications including re-labelling areas as  an office and workshop, and that was rejected as well. Another re-submittal came August 15. which the P&Z administrator approved. But in the DeHoffs’ appeal, they asked the Village Council to overturn Stout’s rejection of the original plan.

In their appeal to the Village Council, they argued, “The first submission of July 19 referred to the area as a casita with bedroom and kitchen with no appliances. The second submission of July 21 referred to the same physical area as a shop with a workbench and an office. It is clear in these two rejections that the Village takes a capricious and ambiguously broad interpretation of your new law, such that no reasonable person will be able to guess at what you may consider valid.”

Corrales has done it again. Our community has distinguished itself as a paragon of democratic values and inclusivity by electing a peacock as Pet Mayor. Voters passed over five dogs, a cat and a goose to choose the village’s 2021-22 Pet Mayor when dollars were counted on what would have been the last day of the Corrales Harvest Festival. Most often, the winning candidate has been a dog or a horse. Without exhaustive research, Peacock James is considered the first of his kind in New Mexico to assume the title of Pet Mayor.

He and his companion, Kristyn Mader, picked up his victory ribbon and  prize basket at the Village Mercantile Sunday, September 26. Other key Village pet appointments based on election results named Bliss, the service dog in training, as Village Administrator, and Standard Poodle Jewel as Chief of Police. The Canada goose, Mimers is now Corrales’ Pet Municipal Judge, and Nessie, the Newfoundland dog, is the Pet Fire Chief. Odin, the Great Pyrennes, was named Director of Barks and Recreation. The luxurious cat, Lugh, is Fire Commander, having declined appointment as Dog Catcher.

At a work-study session October 5, Mayor Jo Anne Roake and members of the Village Council considered recommendations from Village Attorney Randy Autio on how to offer homeowners more protection from intensive marijuana-growing operations without running afoul of State law. Those recommendations were not made available to Corrales Comment by the deadline for this issue. But based on the attorney’s earlier advice, greater protections from cannabis odors, ventilation fan noise and grow-lights could be possible by requiring wider set-backs from residents’ property lines.

Complaints about disturbances from already-existing cannabis operations in Corrales have been lodged with Village officials. The following came from a resident near the greenhouses in the Corrales del Norte neighborhood operated by Spencer Komadina: “It is 12:45 a.m. September 25, 2021. The stench from Komadina’s pot facility woke me up.” On October 2, the same neighbor reported “It’s 9:30 p.m. and it smells like a frat pot party down here. We have to keep our windows closed.” Mayor Roake seeks remedies that could withstand legal challenge if commercial pot growers claim their right to farm cannabis established in state statute is infringed.

Last month the mayor said “We know state legalization of cannabis is causing many communities, including Corrales, concern. Many people are not necessarily opposed to cannabis, but they don’t want it next to their residences. “This is hard to achieve in a community like ours which doesn’t have industrial zones, and is zoned almost entirely as ‘agricultural one acre’ (A-1) and ‘agricultural two acres’(A-2), but we’re working on it.” In coming weeks, the Village Council is expected to amend its ordinance regulating the growing of marijuana. The mayor and council will take public comment at their October 12 meeting before voting on amendments to Ordinance No. 21-06.

At the September 14 council meeting, the council heard from the Village Attorney but insisted they were inclined to face cannabis growers’ lawsuits if it comes to that. A big problem is that Corrales has no alternative land use zoning category, such as one for light industry, to which any proposal for intensive cannabis growing could be directed. Autio advised the mayor and council that, as Corrales’ law and land use plan exist now, any attempt to block or obstruct large-scale marijuana growing here would almost surely face a lawsuit. Mayor Roake, a lawyer, concurred. “We will be sued and we will lose.” But some councillors said the Village shouldn’t be deterred by such a threat, arguing that it is more important to protect residents here than to be intimidated by possible legal action.

Councillors indicated they are likely to address residents’ concerns about negative impacts from large-scale cannabis growing and processing by requiring that such operations have much greater set-backs from residences. Although some councillors wanted to impose a moratorium on marijuana-growing permit applications, Autio advised the Village legally cannot do that. On the other hand, the attorney pushed back on the notion that Corrales is particularly at risk for being overrun by cannabis businesses. “We have a couple of things in our favor,” he said.

Prospects that the Village might buy the Corrales Road frontage adjacent to, and just north of, Wells Fargo Bank advanced in late summer. An appraisal is expected this month or next for the vacant three acres owned by descendants of Corrales’ founder, Juan Gonzales Bas, for possible use as a “village center” linking the Village Office complex east of Corrales Road, La Entrada Park and the library, and the 5.5-acre heritage farm extending west to the Corrales Acequia ditch bank.

A sustained effort by villagers to acquire the Gonzales property for a variety of public purposes began more than four years ago, although elected officials remained mostly lukewarm to the idea. Finally, back in May, an ad hoc Heritage Park Planning Committee mounted a new push that apparently persuaded the Village Council to seek an appraisal on the parcel that has been zoned for commercial use since the 1980s.

Discussions by the mayor and council have come mainly in executive (closed) sessions which is typical when the governing body is considering real estate transactions. But at the tail end of the Village Council’s September 28 meeting, Councillor Mel Knight suggested she would like an update on the Village’s exploration of that option, wondering whether an appraisal had come in.

Village Administrator Ron Curry replied guardedly that those discussions had taken place in a closed session, but added he expected to be able to report to councillors within 60 to 90 days from August 6. The ad hoc committee’s May 13, 2021 proposal to the mayor and council laid out its rationale why the Village should at least move ahead with obtaining an appraisal on what it called “The Gonzales Three-Acre Property: the real estate investment for the future.”

Below are excerpts of the proposal which had drawn support from numerous civic groups and Village-appointed committees. The document was written primarily by former Village Councillor Fred Hashimoto and John Thompson, chairman of the Corrales Landmark Tree Preservation Advisory Committee, which  advocated “establishing an arboretum of trees which would feature: open space, recreation, education (trees appropriate to Corrales; school gardens, etc.), shade, possible heritage plantings (like grapevines…; hence, a “Heritage Park.”)

The May 2021 proposal continued: “Architects and land-use planners became involved and a new paradigm evolved: Corrales owning the Gonzales three acres property as a centrally-located, potentially multi-use- — all ages and abilities— open space. Mention has been made of a Heritage Park and a Village Center, but those are only some possibilities for a central Village open space.”

In an email to Corrales Comment October 2, Hashimoto said he had been in contact with Gonzales family members who remain especially interested in selling the three acres to the Villlage of Corrales, as they had been to selling the 5.5-acre tract farther west which has been saved as farmland in perpetuity as the “Juan Gonzales Bas Heritage Farm.”

Hashimoto said the descendants would welcome working with the Village on this. I believe that other interest in the property has been received by the family, but they still prefer that the Village ends up owning the land.

“Several years ago, when some of us met with Hector Gonzales, he clearly stated that. Although the family (many of Hector’s remaining siblings are elderly and live in another state) would like to sell the land, they have n ot placed it on the open market, hoping that something can be worked out with the Village.

“For the last three to four years, this has been a consideration.”

(See Corrales Comment Vol.XXXVI No.9 July 8, 2017 “C-Zoned for Decades, New Ideas for Gonzales Frontage.”)

The May 13 proposal made the point that the three-acre frontage next to the bank “can serve as a natural leading gateway to the Gonzales Bas 5.5-acre farmland, which, to this time, has been obscure to many Corraleños.

“The Village will own both sides of Corrales Road and have a municipal presence there visible and identifiable to people in the many thousands of cars which pass by daily.

“This private three-acre space has been used (courtesy of the Gonzales family) by Village residents during parades, festivals and rallies. Having this as a public space will ensure unencumbered Village use. The space-enhanced area could be conceived as a Village Center, which has been historically and geographically core to many municipalities, local and worldwide.”

The document quotes Corrales architect Pat McClernon explaining “With the Village owning both sides of Corrales road, this would leverage the past investments and build upon community success for all proposed activities benefiting village residents as well as our guests from outside the village.”

Another Corrales architect-planner, Ed Boles who has specialized in hist oric preservation, put it this way back in 2018: “Forward-looking acquisition of pivotal land in the center of the Village may yield both tangible and intangible benefits. In economic revitalization circles it is well known that strategic public investment, including recreational and cultural projects, can help stimulate private sector development.”

The committee’s proposal argues “This Gonzales-owned three acres is the most historic farmland in the village. It has been single-family owned since 1712. Back in those times, Juan Gonzales Bas raised sheep in corrals. Many believe that that’s how the village became named ‘Corrales.’

“If the Village desires, some of the land can be leased out to commercial business(es). Owning the property gives the Village more control over how it’s used. More than a dozen years ago, a developer proposed building a large office complex there which would have blocked the viewshed to the west. This blocking did not please P&Z chairperson Terry Brown, but given their ordinance guidelines, P&Z could not stop it. The developer developed a health problem and the complex did not materialize. However, if the Village owns the land and decides to have commercial there, it has more control over site and development plans than P&Z could have….”

“Over the last several years, the three acres, in one form or another, have been discussed at dozens of our meetings. Participants have included those from the Corrales Landmark Tree Preservation Advisory Committee, architects and members of volunteer groups such as Corrales Arts Partners, Sandoval Master Gardeners, Native Plant Society of New Mexico, Corrales Tree Stewards, Parks and Recreation.

“Once the Village owns the three acres, these organizations, in addition to Corrales Main Street and the 4-H Club, could help with planning, implementation and maintenance for the open space.

With nearly a quarter-million dollars in hand, work could begin quickly on the long-delayed trails, or paths, along upper Meadowlark Lane from Loma Larga to Rio Rancho. A state grant for $243,500 was formally accepted by the Village Council at its September 28 meeting to “plan, design and construct the West Meadowlark Lane Trail.” Planning has, in fact, been under way for more than a decade. The proposal to construct bicycle lanes or paths that would link bike lanes along Loma Larga to those in Rio Rancho has been endlessly scrutinized since 2009, and was to have been implemented at roughly the same time the roadway was  realigned two years ago. But it’s complicated. Corrales got a grant for almost as much, $214,000, in 2011 but turned the grant back to the Mid-Region Council of Governments due to strong opposition among homeowners along upper Meadowlark who insisted the initial plan would cause multiple problems including damage from stormwater drainage and collisions with cyclists.

An opposition petition was presented to the Village Council at its April 12, 2011 meeting. The project was stopped even though it had been planned for at least three years. (See Corrales Comment series on trails, starting with Vol. XXVIII, No.18, November 7, 2009  “First Steps to Implement Village-wide Trails Plan”) Opposition apparently arose after then-Mayor Phil Gasteyer called a neighborhood meeting in 2011 to discuss the project, as he said he did with other roadway projects. He said several residents were upset that they hadn’t known of the project earlier. At an August, 2009 council meeting, a resolution was approved to design and build bike lanes and a five-foot wide compacted earth trail along upper West Meadowlark. At the time, the mayor was confident he would get the bike paths built during 2011.

Fast forward, and forward and forward to 2018 when reconstruction of Meadowlark from Loma Larga to Rio Rancho was set to begin. On-the-ground work relocating utility lines inside the public right-of-way was completed by the end of February 2018, which included substantial earthmoving.  Awarding of a contract to actually rebuild the road was to have been accomplished by then. But another hang-up arose: getting the N.M. Department of Transportation’s concurrence with design changes to the westerly end of the proposed bike trail. NMDOT had withheld approval for the earlier design that depended on a waiver from the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The original engineering plan was rejected because the slope was too severe (both east-west and north-south) for persons in a wheelchair. A proposed work-around also failed to materialize.

The steep slope at the top of Corrales’ part on Meadowlark Lane was recognized as a potential problem from the earliest days of planning for the trails project. That was one reason why, in the early days of community input, the equestrian path was proposed for the north side of the road (since hooves could manage the slope without difficulty.) But as the years wore on, alignment for the horse path was switched from the north side to the south, primarily based on public input. That put the multi-use trail along the north side of the road, which led to the ADA issue.

Village officials decided to move ahead with reconstructing the roadway while  leaving the trails component for a later phase. As the road was being finished, Village Administrator Ron Curry said the trails needed a start-from-scratch re-thinking, and promised a thorough public involvement effort. But in July 2021, at the first public meeting to launch a re-start, only three members of the public attended since almost no notice was given. At that session, Village Engineer Steve Grollman explained his preliminary design for a bike path and horse trail. That was followed by another public meeting via Zoom on September 22. Again the meeting was not announced in time to be published in Corrales Comment before it was held. Meetings are also usually announced at the Village of Corrales website, http://www.corrales-nm.org.

This time, Mayor Jo Anne Roake mentioned the Zoom meeting in her September “Mayor’s Message,” noting that “Door hanger notifications will also be hung on the doors of homes off Meadowlark, especially in the cul-de-sacs. Please spread the word.” People who live along upper Meadowlark are not the only villagers interested in potential trails for bikes, horses and those on human feet. Corraleños living throughout the village have decades-long involvement in what’s at stake in pending decisions.

(See Corrales Comment Vol.XXX, No.10, July 9, 2011 “Corrales Gives Back $160,000 for Upper Meadowlark Trail” and Vol.XXX No.16 October 8, 2011 “Upper Meadowlark Task Force Meets Mondays.” and Vol.XXXX No.1 February 20, 2021 “Corrales Returns $167,417 Meant for Meadowlark Trails.”)