Residents warn Sandoval County zoning allowed opaque approvals for industrial uses

A Corrales farmer has charged Sandoval County with undermining public trust by approving Conditional Use Permits CU-25-002 and CU-25-003 without naming the specific uses those permits would cover. The letter says the county’s Economic Development Department, through Dora Dominguez, requested CUPs for "all uses" allowed within the General Industrial (I-1) district and sought approval to "facilitate marketing," rather than presenting a discrete development plan for review.

Conditional Use Permits are intended to allow careful, case-by-case review of developments that raise potential risks to public health, safety, and the environment. The letter argues that treating a CUP as a broad authorization stripped the Planning and Zoning Commission and neighbors of the ability to evaluate and require mitigation of specific hazards. The writer contrasted the handling of these permits with more detailed scrutiny applied to an Algodones homeowner’s CUP, CU-25-001, to build a single-family house on four acres.

The complaint also links the blanketed applications to an alleged industrial project identified in the letter as "Project Ranger," described as a high-explosives hypersonic missile manufacturing plant. The letter alleges that while public meetings were told the permits were for marketing, "reports indicate that the 'Project Ranger' deal ... was already well underway." The writer warned the absence of a named use meant the county did not address transport and storage of explosives, potential ground and water contamination, or "extremely hazardous sound pressure levels to neighboring properties."

Planning and Zoning staff recommended approval and stated that consent to the broad permits would have "minimal impacts on surrounding residential and agricultural uses and natural resources." The letter disputes that finding, contending the commission accepted significant hazards without mitigation and deprived residents of a meaningful public hearing on the real risks to their lives and property.

Local implications include potential environmental contamination risks to wells and farmland, increased safety hazards from explosive materials and transportation, and reduced community ability to demand conditions tailored to a specific industrial operation. The presence of a hypersonic-related manufacturing facility would also place local land-use decisions at the intersection of national security and global technological competition, raising broader questions about how such projects are evaluated at the county level.

The author, Ken DeHoff of Bad Coyote Farm in Corrales, called for accountability and action, writing, "We must demand that these 'blank check' permits be revoked and that any future development be met with the transparency the law requires and the honesty we are owed." County officials and Planning and Zoning leaders have not been quoted in the letter. Local residents seeking clarity will be watching for formal responses and any administrative steps to revisit the permits.