Judge axes plan for ridge-top home

Appeal ruling: Letting couple to build huge house would set bad precedent

Phaedra Haywood | The New Mexican

10/20/2008 - 10/21/08

A state district judge has overturned a decision that would have allowed a Santa Fe couple to build a 8,345-square-foot house atop a ridge southeast of the city.

District Judge Daniel Sanchez ruled Wednesday that the city-county Extraterritorial Zoning Authority's decision to grant Ed and Pam Grabowski six variances from zoning ordinances — authorizing them to build a larger house on a steeper slope than is normally allowed — was arbitrary, capricious and "not in accordance with the law."

Sanchez wrote in his ruling that the variances — which would have allowed the Grabowskis to build a house three times the size of existing houses in the area —was not a minimal easing of the requirements and would have set bad precedent.

"Rather than assessing whether a house could be built that required variances that minimally eased ... restrictions, the EZA focused on how the applicant could build the house he wanted to build," Sanchez wrote.

Members of the Monte de las Piedras Rosas Homeowners Association and several individuals — the Grabowskis' would-be neighbors — appealed the Extraterritorial Zoning Authority's decision to District Court.

The Grabowskis had first applied in November 2007 to the zoning authority for variances that would have allowed them to build a 9,876-square-foot house on a lot with slopes greater than 30 percent.

Based on the opinion of land-use officials that the variances requested would be exceed the legally allowed "minimal easing of the requirements," the authority denied the requests.

In March 2007, the Grabowskis returned to the authority with a revised plan for a slightly smaller home, but one that would still require variances of height and slope requirements.

Ed Grabowski, who uses a wheelchair because of a brain tumor, said the house needed to be a large, one-level home to accommodate his needs.

The zoning authority voted 3-2 in favor of that application, despite staff members' repeated recommendation for denial.

One member of the authority, County Commissioner Paul Campos, blasted the decision, charging that the authority had become little more than a "variance mill" that continued to allow exceptions to county zoning ordinances.

Sanchez's decision in favor of the homeowners association reverses the decision to allow the variances and orders the Grabowskis and the authority to pay the association's legal fees of $107.

Monte de las Piedras Rosas Homeowners Association president Lee MacLeod said residents are pleased with the court ruling. "We thought it was sort of a vindication of our position," he said.

MacLeod said the neighbors don't oppose the Grabowskis building something on the lot, which is so steep it could not be legally created under current zoning rules. But they want something smaller and less visible.

"We're not anti-development," he said. "We know it's a weird lot and would be difficult to develop. But we thought there were better ways to make it work."

Ed Grabowski, who has run a construction and development company with his son, did not return a phone message seeking comment Monday.

Santa Fe County spokesman Stephen Ulibarri said in a statement Monday that the permit issued to the Grabowskis more than 18 months ago has expired. "No construction has occurred on the site," Ulibarri said. "No construction would be allowed without re-application, and the county could not issue a permit based on the court action."

Ulibarri said the Extraterritorial Zoning Authority will discuss in a closed-door session Thursday whether to appeal Sanchez's ruling.

Contact Phaedra Haywood at 986-3068 or phaywood@sfnewmexican.com.