BF council tables mayor’s zone change

Bosque Farms

Tempers flared Thursday night after the Bosque Farms Village Council tabled Mayor Roger Baldwin’s request for a multi-zone change at his building on Bosque Farms Boulevard.

Baldwin, who wasn’t present at the meeting, secured approval from the Planning and Zoning Commission earlier this month for commercial use in the front area of the building and special use for the remaining 17,000 square feet. Although the commission had approved the zone change, the council has the final decision.

Councilor David Linthicum made a motion that the matter be tabled until the next meeting, due to the unique situation of the multi-zoning structure. Lar Thomas, Baldwin’s attorney, told the council he was extremely disappointed in its action.

“It just appalls me,” Thomas told the council. “You’ve known for months, since February, that Mr. Baldwin is trying to get his business back on track by rebuilding the building that was burned by arson.

“You know very well what the history is in this particular case and you also know that we’ve been before the planning and zoning commission and what our particular positions were. Quite frankly, I’m offended by the behavior that I’ve witnessed from this council tonight.”

Thomas also told the councilors he was offended that they didn’t give him the courtesy of notifying him what type of action they were going to take or sending him an agenda on the meeting.

When Baldwin’s attorney told the council that they “better start honoring the oath of office” they took, Linthicum said Thomas was out of order because of the personal attack. Comments from the audience erupted in the council chambers, with one unidentified resident saying, “It’s OK for Roger (Baldwin) to get hurt and not these guys.”

Councilor Ken Hays said the matter was tabled because the council wants a second opinion. He told Thomas that this was an unusual case and the council had never had to deal with anything like this before.

“I can’t believe that this body can sit here and address the village people here and tell them that they have no idea what the impact is going to be,” Thomas said. “I know you’re more intelligent than that.”

Linthicum told Thomas the council is very clear on when and how it can meet and it had acted upon the matter as it was presented to them. Thomas countered by saying that Linthicum decided to allow some other individuals to make a personal attack on him.

“That’s another point of order,” Linthicum told Thomas. “You need to get your facts straight before you come up here and accuse me of something. That is a complete fallacy, it’s incorrect, it’s not true. I don’t appreciate it.”

June Grandin, a local real estate agent, told the council she has a client who wants to rent the building for a cabinet shop. She asked the council if she could get something in writing stating that it would eventually pass Baldwin’s multi-zoning petition.

“We’ll hopefully get things cleared up,” said Councilor Wayne Ake, the only one who voted in favor of Baldwin’s petition.

Richard Wilke, a Bosque Farms resident, also addressed the councilors, telling them they weren’t doing the job the voters elected them to do.

“I’m just curious: how many more businesses is the council willing to lose before they take action on something that they’ve had quite a bit of notice on?” Wilke said. “There’s one here tonight that won’t be coming to Bosque Farms because you’re not willing to rule on this ordinance.

“You knew in advance that this was going to effect multiple businesses. Personally, I’m sorry, but I don’t see you doing your job. How do expect to run this village without the gross receipts?”

Grandin said after the meeting that her client told her that he will not locate his cabinet shop in Bosque Farms after the council tabled Baldwin’s petition.

“He told me he won’t wait,” she said. “He is a resident here, but he said he’ll now try and find a location in Los Lunas.”