May 9, 2022
The meeting was called to order at 5:40 p.m. at Jeanne Boyles’ home. Present were Directors Lynn Pickard, Cam Duncan, Cathie Sullivan, Bruce MacAllister, Annie Laurie Coogan, Jeanne, and Jerry Barron. Also present were about twenty community members, and several new members
joined the organization. [Material in brackets refer to things occurring after the meeting. These minutes were approved by email by almost all the people at the meeting. Some attendees might not have received them.]
Minutes and Treasurer’s Report – Lynn reminded everyone that the minutes of the last meeting had been approved by email, and Jeanne gave the treasurers report, which indicated $3319.55 in the bank account of which $1413.21 is reserved for attorney fees. [An additional $90 in dues was
collected at the meeting. People who have not yet paid their $10 annual dues may do so by sending them to TVCA, PO Box 312, Tesuque, NM 87574.]
Firewise – Cathie reminded everyone that Rachel White was taking over as the point person for Firewise and conveyed Rachel’s apologies for not being at the meeting due to out-of-town visitors.
Rachel has been working on the transition from Cathie to her, and was wondering if there would be interest in having a meeting, perhaps at the fire station, with a speaker who could explain more about wildfires and prevention in the community. The group thought it was a good idea to have an educational meeting, and Annie Laurie, Carol Sorenson, and Sabrina Staires volunteered to work with Rachel to set this up. People spoke about assessments they had done on their properties and
reimbursements from a federal program run out of the Department of Agriculture. The Firewise program requires us to report our time and expenses on fire mitigation yearly during November, so everyone is encouraged to keep track of these to report to Rachel. Lynn thinks that there is a big report or assessment due for the Firewise program due at the end of this year. [Cathie confirms that this is a valley-wide assessment, that we did when we were accepted into the program in 2017 and that needs to be done every five years.] [Since the meeting, an editorial on the issue appeared in The New Mexican on May 11. It contains link to sites that it says will describe how to prepare for a fire emergency and how to do work on your property to mitigate fire danger. Some of those sites do not have up-to-date information; others contain videos that are a bit halting, but perhaps worth watching. Still, the editorial is worth reading. You can find it at https://www.santafenewmexican.com/opinion/editorials/prepare-nowfor-
the-fires-that-may-come/article_0d92dd24-d086-11ec-9032-2bec3cbac683.html. In addition, the following links are helpful: https://www.nmdhsem.org/2022-wildfires/ and https://www.nfpa.org/Public-Education/Fire-causes-and-risks/Wildfire/Preparing-homes-forwildfire.

For those of you who have not yet signed up with Alert Santa Fe, Google those words for more information and to sign up. It gives you alerts that you can limit to certain things, like fires.]


Website – Jerry reported that the website was coming along. He passed around his tablet, which had the basic elements of the website on it. Everyone was very impressed. Jerry intended to share the URL so that people can preview to site and comment on it before it goes live [but can’t at this time]. He will continue working on it with the directors and will report at future meetings if the site has not gone live before then.
Signs –Lynn reported that the sign project was progressing for the three small signs that the county would provide at the entrances to Tesuque, welcoming folks to the “traditional historic village,” which Tesuque has been designated, and the larger historical marker that the state historical
preservation office would provide. She and Margo will continue to work on them.
Traffic calming, road blading, planning – Lynn reported that the traffic study still had not been put out to bid. She explained that everything at the county seems to be taking forever. [Since the meeting, she has heard from county employees who reported that the Safety Study solicitation of
bids/proposals was released on May 10 and the approximate schedule is advertise date May 10, bid/proposal due date May 19, award date June 30, contract term 6-12 months.]
The road blading issue was addressed. Richard Fisher, who lives on the lower part of Arroyo Griego expressed concern that blading that road resulted in traffic going faster and lots of dust in these dry times. Lynn reported that Jamie Painter, who apparently lives on the upper part of Arroyo Griego had success in speaking with Katherine Miller to get the road bladed when needed. Lynn expressed that the TVCA was the interface between the community and the county, but if neighbors had opposing views of what should happen on their roads, then the TVCA really should
not be taking sides. She asked Richard to get with Jamie and come up with a plan that the Arroyo Griego neighborhood agreed to before the TVCA would get involved again.
There was a continuing discussion of litter, including beverage containers, along the roads and in particular in the vicinity of the Tesuque Village Market. The group thought it might be a good idea to have one or more litter pick-up days in which the whole community could be involved. Some
expressed that everybody should pick up litter all the time, regardless of who threw it and regardless of formal community events. Litter will be thrown day in and day out, and everyone individually pitching in is the only way to keep the community clean.
Community Plan Status -- Lynn reported that the planning process was in the stage where staff was compiling the comments on the internal review draft of the updated Plan, after which staff would write to the planning committee about these comments and propose dates for public
meetings on the new Plan. The Plan needs to be finalized before the important work of changing the Code takes place. We don’t know how much input community members will have into the wording of the revised Code, but it won’t be adopted until the Board of County Commissioners
approves. And community members will always have the chance to address the BCC when the revised Code comes up for a vote. Members of the TVCA who are on the planning committee will try to have input into the wording of the Code so that it will hopefully reflect the Plan better than
the current Code reflects the current Plan.
Santa Fe Institute and other Land Use Issues -- One issue of discrepancy that was discussed concerned what is happening with the Santa Fe Institute. Lynn reported that the TVCA Land Use Committee had gone to a neighborhood meeting with representatives from the Santa Fe Institute.
[She thought it was six or seven years ago, but records show it was during the summer and fall of 2018.] She explained that the Institute was basing its application on the line item that allowed schools in the residential area, but noted that schools of the possible size of the Institute were inconsistent with the residential nature of the valley, which was supposed to be captured in the Code, but apparently was not sufficiently so captured, and that was one of the reasons for the updated Plan and Code. It was reported that there was surveying activity in the area of the Institute and neighbors were concerned about the potential size of any improvements. Neighbors reported that county staff informed them that no application had yet been made. It is unclear whether the Institute will need to have another pre-application neighborhood meeting. If so, the Land Use Committee will follow its normal procedures. Lynn explained that the Land Use Committee of the TVCA is the entity that meets with proposed developers or seekers of variances. She then communicates with the county the sense of the
community about any development or variance. Membership in the Land Use Committee is open to all TVCA members who are interested. If you want to be on it, please contact Lynn at lynnpickard1@yahoo.com. This is one of the most important things that TVCA does as the countydesignated
Community Organization (CO).
People asked what was happening with the proposed cannabis greenhouse near Old Coach Roach. Lynn has not heard whether the owner ever made application for that use, so she assumes that it is not happening or perhaps plans were put on hold. Because of the time it is taking to get the Plan finalized, it was suggested that we may want to contact the County Commissioners to get them to light a fire under the staff. After discussion, it
was decided that Lynn would write to county staff to let them know about the number and diversity of people at the meeting and their desire that this process move expeditiously to conclusion.
BBQ – Cam reported that he will contact the fire chief to make sure the proposed date of Wednesday, August 31, is ok to have the BBQ at the fire station. [It is, so the BBQ will run from 5-8 on August 31. Mark your calendars!] The TVCA usually collects donations for a good cause
(in the past, the firefighters or the school). After discussion that included these causes, as well as the current needs in neighboring counties due to the wildfires, it was decided to delegate to Cam and his BBQ committee the task of selecting the good cause based on then-current conditions as
of the date of the BBQ.
Enforcement – Lynn explained that she filed formal complaints as instructed by county staff on three properties that (1) built without a permit and in violation of the Code, (2) had more dwellings than were allowed by the Code, or (3) were in violation of an agreement with neighbors that was
a condition of the property’s permit to operate in the manner it is operating. The code enforcement officer for the north part of the county was promoted and they still have not hired a new one. County staff says existing complaints are distributed among existing enforcement officers. Lynn will try to keep on top of these.
United Communities of Santa Fe – Lynn said that she joined this on behalf of TVCA, but that many of the other communities’ representatives seemed to be concerned about lack of sufficient water that they understood to support a lessening of growth. She was unsure herself about that, but
would continue to serve as a liaison. Future meetings – The next gathering will be the BBQ. A board meeting will be scheduled in September or October, and the general membership meeting will be in December, exact dates and locations to be determined.
The meeting adjourned at around 6:45.