Office of the State Engineer

Suite 2000

121 Tijeras NE

Albuquerque, NM 87102

Ref: Permit #S02073

According to the Oct. 19, 2006, The Independent, Campbell Farming Corporation is asking for permission to replace its existing (and apparently functional, if an obstruction in its casing was removed) 950-foot water well with a new one that is 1,700 feet deep, and capable of providing some 1,400 acre-feet (about 456 million gallons) of water per year for Village Two (east of the North 14-La Madera Road intersection).

Whether that massive amount of water remains dedicated to irrigation (supporting two golf courses, open space, and an orchard, per The Independent—it must be a very large orchard!), or whether future legal maneuvers result in approval to use the water for the 1,400 homes planned for the Village Two development, I have some objections:

· Although I cannot prove that a well this deep will adversely affect the source of our community water system’s supply—and no one can prove that it will not—I am much aware that several of my neighbors have been forced to deepen their wells in the last three-to-four years. A 1,700-foot well a mile or so from our community is probably going to result in more less-productive or even dry wells as the water from those wells and their aquifers flows down and east to replace the water drawn from the much-deeper Campbell well.

· Although the proposed well is not, in itself, detrimental to the public welfare, it enables Campbell Farming Corporation to establish a development that promises to impact public welfare along Highway 14 in some very negative ways. For example:

1. Our taxes are rising, thanks in part to Bernalillo County’s plans to build a new Sheriff’s Department Sub-station on Frost Road to meet the needs of developments such as Pa-ako, but Pa-ako residents at least pay BernCo taxes. Village Two is apparently exempt from BernCo taxes; its residents will be citizens of the noble Town of Edgewood.

2. Increased population (some 3,400 people) in Village Two means a significant increase in commercial development along Highway 14 (so much for “rurality”).

3. Worse yet, increased population also means increased traffic on Highway 14. Although Village Two residents will apparently be Edgewood citizens, the traffic congestion they cause will have to be dealt with by BernCo—and by all the other East Mountain residents for whom Highway 14 is the major arterial. Keep in mind that Village Two residents will almost certainly have to commute to Albuquerque to earn the six-figure salaries it will take to qualify for a home in Village Two. (Ah, if only those commuters would go to and from work via Edgewood, using Highway 344 and Highway 14 north of Village Two!)

4. I’ve heard that Village Two’s school-age children will not be able to attend the nearby San Antonito Elementary School—they’re Edgewood residents, remember? That means more school bus and parent-chauffeur traffic.

I suspect that Campbell exploited some naïve (but no doubt well-intentioned) Edgewood politicians to engage in unprecedented “strip annexation” to avoid having to deal with BernCo’s more stringent zoning requirements; a recent letter from Charlie McAdams in these pages rightly called the annexation “bizarre and ridiculous.”

Keep in mind that those of us along Highway 14, the people who will be impacted negatively by Village Two, never had a chance to vote for or against it or any other of the “Rio Rancho clone” developments proposed by the Campbell Farming Corporation. Keep in mind also that our (BernCo’s) zoning professionals have been effectively muzzled. Our only recourse is to protest at least some of the steps toward suburbanization, such as the new well.

Sincerely,

Bruce Hawkinson