published 10/30/08
An excavation company’s presence on Lower San Pedro Road prompted a nuisance complaint from Rio Arriba County; conveniently, the County Planning and Zoning Committee was already set to consider changes to the nuisance ordinance Nov. 5.
The Rio Arriba County Planning and Zoning Committee is scheduled to hear an application from Mario Medina and Eric Rivera to change the zoning of their property at 177 Lower San Pedro Road from agricultural to “light industrial” for equipment storage. The Committee will meet Nov. 5 at 1:30 p.m. in Española.
The application stems from a complaint filed in August by San Pedro resident Julia Maestas. She noted that a variety of vehicles, everything from cherry pickers and semi-trucks to bulldozers and old trucks, were being stored at the five-acre site.
“Some of the vehicles were run all night and the stench from the diesel fuel the following mornings was unbearable,” Maestas wrote in a letter to the County.
She said she was also worried about the increased truck traffic Medina and Rivera are bringing to the neighborhood.
“It’s the traffic, it’s the noise, it’s the children waiting for buses,” she said. “We just can’t have that kind of traffic. It’s very dangerous.”
Maestas even organized a community meeting and circulated a petition among her neighbors, collecting about 200 signatures in opposition to the zoning change.
County Planning and Zoning Department Administrator Gabe Boyle wrote a letter to Medina and Rivera Sept. 8 in which he said the pair was creating a nuisance, defined in County ordinances as an activity or a condition that “endangers the comfort, repose, health or safety of others,” interferes with streets or sidewalks or “interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property, or tends to depreciate the value of the property of others.”
The letter gave Medina and Rivera 30 days to remove the equipment.
“Instead of shutting down and taking the equipment out, they have asked the County for a zoning change,” Maestas said.
Boyle said the pair did begin removing equipment from the site, including trailers, dump trucks and a bulldozer.
“It’s a tough issue,” he said. “There’s legitimate concerns.”
Boyle said Rivera and Medina did not violate County ordinances by not having a business license in Rio Arriba until recently when they started renting their equipment to other companies. Boyle said they will also have to get a business license with the County if they continue to rent vehicles from their lot.
Boyle said he would be hesitant to tell the Committee the road is too narrow for the type of equipment Rivera and Medina have, because narrow roads exist throughout the County and it could set a bad precedent. He said the County’s approval will be dependent on the pair getting permits from the state Highway and Environment Departments.
Medina, who state records show is a licensed contractor for Advantage Excavating, said all the pieces of equipment he stores on the property belong to him and Rivera.
“We’ve been doing it for six years,” he said.
Medina said he hasn’t heard many complaints except from a few neighbors, some of whom claim he is running a full-time business from the property.
“It’s nothing of that sort,” he said. “There’s no activity.”
According to the zoning change request sent to the County, the site would be used only for storage and maintenance of the vehicles. Large truck activity on the property would also be limited to the hours between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m.
The Committee will also hear proposed revisions to the County’s nuisance ordinance Nov. 5, following the San Pedro hearing.
“‘Offensive to the senses’ is vague,” Boyle said of the current ordinance’s language.
The new draft ordinance exempts normal agricultural practices and approved business operations. It contains specific definitions for items like “junk,” “litter” and “tarpaulin,” and Boyle said its main function will be to address things like trash, scrap metal and junk cars in people’s yards. The draft also contains language addressing dense smoke and fumes, as well as animal carcasses left near water sources.
“Environmental nuisance violations” include allowing noxious weeds or vegetables to grow on one’s property or having trees or plants infested by certain worms and beetles.
Dilapidated, uninhabitable buildings are also viewed as potential health hazards, and inoperative vehicles and other materials must be placed out of view from neighbors and roads. Screening and fencing can be used to hide the offending materials.
If the ordinance is approved by the Committee and the County Commission, the Planning and Zoning Department will address violations first by asking that the offending materials be removed within 30 days; if no action is taken, the County can seek legal remedies.
such as fines or injunctions.
If the Committee makes a recommendation for or against the ordinance Nov. 5, the County Commission will decide whether to adopt it at its regular meeting Nov. 20.