Commission tables Rancho Del Rio RV-park request after legal questions about access; county attorney to review easement rights

The Cochise County Planning and Zoning Commission voted to table Docket SU25-10 on Wednesday for legal clarification after staff and public testimony raised unresolved questions about legal access and emergency ingress/egress for a proposed 12-space RV park called Rancho Del Rio.

Planning staff presented the application as a clustered, low-impact 12-site recreational vehicle park on roughly 8 acres east of Huachuca City (tax parcel 10634041C) in the RU4 zoning district. Matthew Taylor, planning staff, said the applicant requested relief from the RU4 density rule that would otherwise limit RV spaces on that parcel size and that state and Fort Huachuca had submitted advisory comments about septic siting and aircraft noise.

Applicant Pamela Colabella described Rancho Del Rio as a family-owned, low-impact park with full hookups, a clubhouse, nature trails and dark-sky lighting. “Our goal is to blend responsible rural development with long-term ecological stewardship,” Colabella said, and she said the family has maintained access roads to the site for more than three decades.

Several adjacent landowners told the commission they oppose the project because the only practical route to the site, as shown in the application materials, crosses private easements and narrow single-track road segments and includes a one-vehicle river crossing that can be impassable during flooding. Eleanor Angel, who said she and her husband own property that abuts the proposed park, said the proposed entrance route passes through her family’s parcels and that the easement is not suitable for commercial traffic. “The proposed location is not suitable for commercial use,” Angel said.

Attorney Corey Larson, representing the Angels, told the commission the access route as proposed relies on private easements intended for residential ingress and egress and therefore may not permit commercial traffic to an RV park. Cochise County civil attorney Bert Whitehead confirmed the access and easement questions present potential legal issues and recommended the commission defer action to allow the county attorney’s office to coordinate with the parties and determine whether commercial use of the easement or alternative legal access exists.

After discussion, the commission voted to table the docket and revisit it at the July meeting pending legal clarification on ingress/egress and easement rights. Commissioners asked staff to validate ownership and recorded easement information during the permitting process and to forward relevant documentation to the county attorney’s office for review.

The tabling means no finding was made on the special-use factors; the county attorney’s legal determination on access will inform whether the project can proceed through conditional approval and permitting or whether it must be modified.