7/9/09
The Tres Semillas Foundation’s plans to develop its new property in the center of Abiquiú sparked heated debate July 2 at the Rural Events Center.
The fight pitted Foundation officials against several Abiquiú residents and Abiquiú Land Grant officials.
Not present at the meeting was the woman at the center of the development. Helen LeKelly Hunt funded the Foundation’s acquisition of the property and is the daughter of the late oil baron H.L. Hunt, and wife of self-help author Harville Hendrix. Hendrix and Hunt also own the El Sueño de Corazon ranch that stretches over nearly 6,000 acres on Rio Arriba County Road 155, north of Abiquiú.
Hunt and the Foundation’s plans (see sidebar) provoked vocal opposition.
“We were promised input,” Land Grant President Gilbert Ferran said. “But the first we heard of this plan was from the newspaper. There are issues with boundary lines and sewer (capacity) that need to be looked at before this proceeds.”
Abiquiú’s sewer system may not be able to handle several new businesses, Land Grant member Virgil Trujillo said.
Trujillo also said the Land Grant contests an acre of former Grant property that was acquired by the Foundation.
“It troubles me that this development is right at the heart of the Pueblo,” Pueblo de Abiquiú Library and Cultural Center President Sabra Moore said. “I don’t know what it means to have development at the base of the Pueblo without involving the people of the Pueblo.”
The Foundation’s goal of increasing tourism to the Pueblo, such as opening an RV park, was another concern for some in the audience.
“Tourists already disturb residents on a daily basis,” Ferran said.
Abiquiú Pueblo resident and plumber Seledon Garcia asked why the meeting was held at the Rural Events Center instead of the Pueblo, next to which the development is planned. The Rural Events Center is located on State Road 554 a few miles from the center of town.
But the community is not limited to the Abiquiú Pueblo, Foundation Director of Planning and Development W. Azul La Luz said.
“We want to include the entire community in this process, not just the Pueblo,” La Luz said. “There’s not a day care facility from Gallina to Medanales. Abiquiú is a central location for people who commute to Española or the (Los Alamos National Laboratory) from Gallina or El Rito.”
The Foundation commissioned an opinion survey of Abiquiú residents to help shape development plans, La Luz said.
“The survey asked what people want, but more importantly it asked what they did not want to see on the property,” La Luz said. “People didn’t want a big conglomerate chain store or over-development.”
But to some in the audience, the Foundation’s plans sounded like over-development.
“You’re smack dab in our Pueblo,” Abiquiú Pueblo resident and resident historian David Lopez said. “I don’t want your mini-mall in my back yard.”
The 2007 re-zoning proposal presented by Bernadette Gallegos on behalf of Bienvenidos LLC — a now-defunct, for-profit company organized by Hunt in 2006 — worried then-County Planning and Zoning Committee member and Abiquiú resident Richard Bock because it mentioned both a charitable mission for the property and the development of for-profit businesses that would help Hunt and Hendrix “get a return on their money” for the land’s purchase, Bock said.
“Tres Semillas wants to sell the peanuts and popcorn to Abiquiu Pueblo, and it’s not going to happen,” Bock said after the July 2 meeting. “Hunt tried to organize a women’s cooperative 15 years ago with Regalos, a micaceous pottery co-op. It fell apart. It was just a tax write-off.”
La Luz waved off past fights.
“I don’t mean to be rude but I don’t care what happened two years ago,” he said. “At the end of the day, the most important thing is community — all of us together doing what’s best for the whole community rather than one group. This development is going to happen. The only question is whether you will participate.”
“Telling people you don’t care what happened two years ago is the fastest way to have the community shut you out,” Trujillo responded.
Despite opposition to Tres Semillas’ plans, La Luz urged the audience to donate money to the Foundation.
“We’re also starting a grass-roots fund-raising campaign,” La Luz said. “Some of us have donated money and we hope some of you will invest in the community also.”
That rankled some in the audience.
“What disturbs me in all of this is, people of wealth want to bring their concepts instead of building what’s already here with the community,” Moore said. “We should be collaborating rather than competing.”
BUSINESS AND COMMNUNITY
The 12.5-acre property in question is located on the west side of Highway 84 across from Bode’s General Store in Abiquiú.
Helen LeKelly Hunt donated the money for the land to her non-profit organization, the Tres Semillas Foundation, which purchased the land from Abiquiú businessman Karl Bode in January 2008. The property has an assessed value of $91,175, according to Rio Arriba County Chief Deputy Assessor Ron Smith. The County approved a zoning change for the property in 2007 to allow commercial development, over the objections of Land Grant members.
The sale agreement between Bode and the Foundation included a provision that the land may never be subdivided and no part of it may be re-sold, Foundation Director of Planning and Development W. Azul La Luz said at the July 2 meeting.
Bode’s assignment of lease and rent incomes from the property to the Foundation includes a clause preventing re-assignment to any third party, but the warranty deed does not prohibit the Foundation from selling the property if it so chooses. No formal agreement preventing the Foundation’s sale of the property was found Monday in County clerk records.
The Foundation preliminary non-profit plans for the property include: building a women’s cooperative and pre-kindergarten child care center; starting an orchard and community garden and relocating the Las Clinicas del Norte branch clinic.
La Luz said for-profit businesses are also under consideration, including a restaurant, title company, wellness center, laundromat and a hardware store.