TVCA Statement Regarding the Bishop's Lodge Discharge Permit Application
- jerrybarron
- Jul 6, 2024
- 3 min read
The Board of the TVCA wishes to acknowledge the contacts it has received expressing various positions regarding the pending discharge permit requested by the Bishop’s Lodge Resort. We recognize that many are very much opposed to this project. Some have encouraged the TVCA to take a position in support of one perspective or another. In response, we wish to clarify the role of the TVCA in our community. But we wish to state at the outset that the position taken by the Board of County Commissioners in its June 28 letter to the EPA appears to be a measured and logical one. (Posted at: https://www.epa.gov/nm/bishops-lodge-wastewater-treatment-facility-draft-npdes-permit-no-nm0031233 .)
Membership in the TVCA is open to all residents, property owners, and holders of a business license within the defined Tesuque area. The TVCA Bylaws provide that the TVCA’s purpose is to “monitor and guide the development of the Tesuque Valley to insure that this development is orderly and consistent with the rural residential character of the area. The TVCA seeks to provide a forum of mutual interest including communicating local current events, neighborhood crime watch, communicating with the county and city government, road safety and maintenance, area beautification, natural resource conservation and protection, and other matters of common interest, which may develop from time to time.”
As a non-profit, volunteer-supported organization, we work to fulfill our stated purpose through three areas of focus. First, the TVCA sponsors or supports a number of community activities intended to benefit the whole community. Examples of these activities include, among others, sponsoring an annual free barbeque, the Firewise initiative, support of the Food Depot’s fund drive, the litter cleanup, support of the elementary school and tutoring, and hosting periodic community meetings. The second area of focus is providing the community with information from the County and occasionally other sources regarding items of general community interest. To this end, we maintain a website and an email communication venue. The third area of focus is to provide feedback to the County from time to time in response to its requests for input relating to the County’s “Sustainable Land Development Code” and the “Tesuque Community District Overlay” [the zoning code], and participating in County-sponsored initiatives, such as the recent Tesuque traffic safety study.
As provided in the Bylaws, the TVCA works to engage everyone in the community regarding issues “of mutual interest” including people holding differing opinions and perspectives regarding those issues. When stating a position or making decisions, the Bylaws require that we strive for consensus. On issues that may be contentious, our goal is to enable people to form their own opinions and to reach their own conclusions by sharing information provided to us by the County and other sources. TVCA Bylaws do not authorize the TVCA to make binding decisions regarding land-use, zoning exceptions, or permit applications, or to adjudicate disputes between residents. As a volunteer-based organization, we typically do not have the capability to independently verify the claims of one business or group of community members as opposed to those asserted by another business or group of residents. Nor do we have the expertise to interpret complex engineering, environmental, or permitting requirements. As a matter of policy as well as basic logic, we defer to the expertise and established processes at the County, State, and Federal level. These have the resources and the legal responsibility to make determinations. We work to encourage active community involvement in important issues and strive to share as much helpful information as we can. We support the right of every member of our community to engage in the established processes and to advocate their perspectives on important community issues.
You may find more information about the TVCA at www.tesuquevalley.org. We have attached the BCC’s letter to the EPA referred to above, and included (above) the link to the EPA website, containing lots of information. You can also find this information on our website. If you are not already on the TVCA email distribution list and would like to receive periodic announcements and information at your email address, please use the “Contact Us” form on the website and provide your name and email information.
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