Draft Taos County comprehensive plan introduced; residents press for stronger acequia, historic and outreach protections

Planning director Rachel Romero opened a public hearing on the draft Taos County Comprehensive Plan and introduced Jackie Fishman of Consensus Planning, who outlined a 15-month process that produced the draft. Fishman said the outreach included a bilingual community survey with more than 1,100 responses, eight public meetings and multiple stakeholder interviews, and that the plan organizes goals, objectives and implementation actions across chapters including housing, land use, water, transportation and hazard mitigation.

"We had over 1,100 participants, which I think is pretty great," Jackie Fishman said while summarizing the public-engagement process and the project website and steering-committee work. She emphasized the plan is a guiding vision, not an immediate change to county regulations, and that detailed land‑use and subdivision rules will be developed later in the land‑use regulations update.

During the public-comment period, multiple speakers representing neighborhood associations, acequia boards and ranching communities asked the commission to strengthen protections for acequias and to explicitly reflect traditional historic community designations (for example, El Valle de los Ranchos and El Prado). Carlos Arguello, who identified himself as a member of several acequia organizations, said the draft did not give acequia priorities sufficient weight and urged that irrigation and agricultural uses be explicit priorities in the plan.

"I think that's an essential piece that needs to be really focused on, and I don't think the comprehensive plan does enough," Arguello said.

Others raised concerns about the draft future‑land‑use map, which several commenters said labels large parcels as "mixed use" or "commercial'' without clear definitions or an explanation of public‑hearing procedures for subsequent zoning changes. Jeff Stadler told commissioners the combined proposed commercial/mixed‑use sites total roughly 9,700 acres on the map presented and asked whether Taos Pueblo and neighborhood associations had been consulted.

Planning staff and Fishman responded to the public concerns on the record. Rachel Romero said agricultural uses, acequias and cultural resources are priorities and will be protected through the forthcoming land‑use regulation updates, and she committed to posting updated materials online. Staff proposed a schedule: close public comments March 28, allow consultants time to incorporate changes, repost by April 7, and return the resolution for adoption on April 14. Romero also noted that timely adoption was needed to process a $50,000 reimbursement related to the project.

What happens next: staff will post revised chapter 5 (housing) and other edits to the plan website and accept written comments through the date announced; the commission indicated a target to consider a resolution for adoption on April 14.