Council postpones Rancho Alegre master plan and zone change amid concerns about traffic and park design

The Rio Rancho governing body voted to postpone action on R46 (the Rancho Alegre master plan) and the related zone map amendment O8 until the June 25 meeting after councilors raised questions about infrastructure capacity and park layout.

Director Amy Rincon introduced the master plan and said the Planning & Zoning Board recommended approval. The plan covers about 66.25 acres and anticipates roughly 350 dwelling units (about 991 residents) under the proposed R3 zoning. Rincon noted the master plan shows about 2.7 acres of parkland while the city's formula suggests about 2.97 acres would be required, and that the deviation allowance and proximity to an existing public park were being relied upon.

Applicant representative Mr. Strozier described the illustrative plan and confirmed two builders (Pulte Homes and Westway Homes) and the project engineers; he said the team had completed multiple iterations of a traffic impact analysis (TIA) and expected the development agreement and preliminary plat review to specify mitigation and phasing.

Councilor Bob Tyler spoke for several minutes expressing unease about whether the surrounding infrastructure could support the development and that the parks shown in the plan appeared small. "I have some struggles with this. I don't know that the current infrastructure around the development is supportive of the traffic that this is going to incur and then I do not like the parks within the community," Tyler said.

Engineer Yolanda Moyer (Bohannan Houston) told council the TIA had addressed the two intersections of concern (Northern & Rainbow and Southern & Rainbow) and that options for improvements are in the TIA; she said the development agreement and preliminary plat would determine which specific improvements are required.

After discussion and a motion to postpone, the governing body voted to move R46 and O8 to the June 25 meeting to allow additional review and for councilors to have more detailed information on park sizing, phasing and traffic mitigations before making a final decision.

What the postponement means: Staff and the applicant will continue work on the TIA response and the applicant indicated a Phase 1 preliminary plat is already in preparation; the master plan can remain in place for multiple years before preliminary plat submittal, but the next meeting will focus on the questions raised by council.