The proposed Upper Las Colonias Neighborhood (ULCN) DRAFT Rezone Application is the result of substantial longstanding efforts provided by the ULCNA Board’s Joint Working Group (JWG) over the last nine years in collaboration with the County Planning Department and with substantial input provided by the ULCNA membership. For many years, The ULCNA Joint Working Group has been working with Taos County Staff to include the ULCNA Zoning Matrix within an ordinance proposal based on the 11-2018 Zoning Matrix provided by the ULCNA, and with modifications needed to make it comply with Taos County’s existing General Plan, Economic Development Plan and Land Use Regulations (LURs). Taos County Staff would now like to finalize and propose the resulting Rezone Application to the Taos County Planning Commission for review and approval followed by related review, approval and ordinance adoption by the Taos County Commission.

 

Jointly created by the Taos County Planning Department and ULCNA’s JWG, the Rezone Application was first shared with the ULCNA Membership at the Annual Meeting on Tuesday, November 12, 2019 and provided again in updated DRAFT form for review by the full ULCNA Board and membership in January 2020. The updated Taos County DRAFT Rezone Application was included as a major topic for discussion at the monthly ULCNA meeting on January 7, 2020, after receiving and including important membership input. 

 

Please note that the updated DRAFT Rezone Application includes a Highway Corridor (HC) Overlay of Sub Zones for all ULCN properties adjoining the HWY 150 and HWY 522 right of ways. The new HC Overlay will provide needed regulations for highway ingress & egress access, signage, lighting, pedestrian access, bicycle access, public transit and resolution of other important highway corridor issues. Since any development at the edge of these two highways and all highway access must be coordinated with New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) requirements, NMDOT’s Long range planning is also relevant to this discussion. NMDOT’s latest long range plans are included as downloadable PDF documents on the Existing Zoning and LUR page.

The Taos County Planning department now proposes to repeal and replace Taos County’s existing Ordinances 2003-1 and 2003-7 that originally established the Upper Las Colonias Neighborhood Sub Zones and related  Land Use Regulations for our neighborhood. The replacement offered by the updated DRAFT Rezone Application preserves the essence of the existing ordinances, but in a manner that provides much needed land use clarifications (in alignment with Ordinance 2018-2) and resolution of some existing ULCN zoning issues.

 

Taos County has not yet provided ULCNA with their anticipated final Rezone Application that may likely include more revisions. The ULCNA Board recommends that all Members should read and get familiar with the contents of the updated DRAFT Rezone Application and existing ordinances to help prepare everyone for a thorough and expedient ULCNA review of Taos County’s anticipated final version. Below are PDF links to the most up to date Taos County DRAFT Rezone Application and the original Zoning Matrix provided by our Upper Las Colonias Neighborhood: