Back to the drawing board
Grants P&Z tells developer to alter plans for new high-end subdivision

By Jim Maniaci
Cibola County Bureau

GRANTS — The city's Planning-Zoning Commission told an Albuquerque developer that he must meet the minimum lot size for each parcel in his 52-lot proposed subdivision.

By a unanimous vote Tuesday, the panel found Victor Lovato's K-RAM subdivision south of the new Knights of Columbus Hall at Sakeluras Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue had four lots smaller than the required 6,000 square-feet. That's about six lots per acre.

Lovato, who has roots in Grants, was seeking approval of the preliminary plat with lots averaging 6,200 square-feet and ranging from 5,700 to 10,000 square-feet, according to John Rhoderick, who handles zoning and planning for the city.

The developer was told to return with drawings showing his four phases of development, along with utility easements, as well as how he will enlarge the too-small lots.

Rhoderick later said the developer, under the Grants code, has the option to do all the work required for a preliminary approval, submit it to his office, and if it meets every single requirement, to apply for a final approval by the commission and city council.

"But I've only seen that happen one time in the seven years I've been here," he added.

When he first approached the panel to find out the city's thinking, Lovato said his marketing target is well-established local families who want to move up into a new home, thus allowing them to rent or lease their old home to urban residents seeking a weekend retreat or second home. And, he said, he wanted to be ready for the expansion by Peabody Energy and other companies with the new El Segundo Coal Mine, Mustang Generating Station, and a coal gasification plant in the Lee Ranch Coal Mine-Escalante Power Plant region in eastern McKinley County, but much closer to Grants and Milan than Gallup.

In other actions, the commission unanimously (with Shirley Edmundson absent) in its 27-minute meeting in the City Hall Council Chamber:

• Approved Josephine Hurtado's lot line adjustment in the Western Terrace subdivision, providing he submits the final signatures of approval from all the utility companies.
  
  
• Approved the request by 4B's Restaurant to split its general commercial (C-2) lot at Santa Fe Avenue and Naomi Drive to form a separate lot of slightly more than a half-acre, to the east towards the automatic car wash.
  
  
• Approved a conditional use permit for Cindy Clark to operate a home business at 1244 Seville Loop to type resumes, cover letters and do small business bookkeeping.

The next meeting will be 5:30 p.m. May 2 in the City Hall Council Chamber.

— To contact reporter Jim Maniaci in Grants, telephone 285-6184 or (505) 870-7775 (cellular).