Barrel of Badgers and Borderland Trails Need To Be Preserved 🚨

🚨These trails will be directly affected if the developer does not follow city ordinance 33 section 2-C. Sample letter to send in below to tlampo@rrnm.gov

Dear Members of the Planing and Zoning Board,

Part of what makes Rio Rancho a great place to live is access to the outdoors and the networks of trails throughout the city. This includes the many trails that are already in existence at Mariposa. Developers have a real opportunity to integrate the existing trails into their plans so access will be maintained, boosting quality of life not just for residents of Mariposa and Rio Rancho but for the many people who travel here from elsewhere specifically to enjoy these singletrack nature trails.

This is not only an opportunity for the developer but a smart mandate imposed by the city of Rio Rancho’s governing body to preserve and incorporate existing trails.  

As a condition of approving the developer’s request for a massive rezoning of the area in 2019, the city adopted Ordinance No. 33, Enactment No. 19-08, Section 2. The board and the governing body have already determined how these tracts at Mariposa should be developed. It should not be up to the developer to pick and choose which sections of the ordinance they want to follow — or to what degree.

At issue is the following condition regarding existing trails:  
Section 2.C — Upon development of subject properties listed in Section 1, [the developer] shall PRESERVE existing trails and minimize impact of new development on those trails by providing a 50-foot buffer (25 feet from centerline of both sides) for all existing and future planned trails which are not currently platted or identified within an existing trail/open space easement including BUT NOT LIMITED TO those trails identified on the Mariposa Master Plan Open Space Plan map.

This language is clear. The proposed preliminary plat submitted by the developer falls short of city requirements. It fails to preserve the existing trails “including but not limited to” those on the master plan map as required by the ordinance. If the developer is allowed by this board and the governing body to disregard the ordinance by not integrating the existing trails, any subsequent effort to rebuild what is already here would be a multimillion-dollar task that the developer surely cannot afford. Nor can the city of Rio Rancho afford to lose such an asset that already exists.

The developer will have to reconsider its current proposal in order to bring it into compliance. This board should place conditions on the plat to reiterate the requirements of the ordinance and require the areas of open space that are part of the plat to include trail easements for natural surface dirt paths that can serve as corridors for continued access to the expansive trail system that already exists here. This will be important now and as development of these rezoned tracts continue if the developer is to be held to its word of wanting a signature trail system that utilizes and accentuates the desert greenbelts that make Mariposa what it is.

The developer is touting its engagement with the community planning and landscape architecture firm RVi. This firm has been able to integrate existing natural spaces into housing projects both in Texas and Arizona where creeks, desert oases and natural topography dictate how best to develop the land. There’s no reason this can’t be accomplished here, especially if the developer ends up bringing on RVi.

Again, we all believe the goal in Rio Rancho is to develop intelligently with quality of life in mind, not just develop for the sake of development. We need to break the cycle here. All of your decisions hold weight for the future and having a higher standard here will enable us to become the City of Vision that we want to be.

Thank you for your careful consideration of this matter,

MtbBikeHike