The Choice We Face: Planned vs. Unplanned Development
Understanding Our Development Options: A Community Conversation About Campbell Ranch
As neighbors who share the same concerns about our community's future, we wanted to address some questions that have come up about the Campbell Ranch Master Plan. We know there are genuine concerns about water, traffic, and preserving what makes our area special—these are the same things we all care about as residents here.
What We're Really Choosing Between
Many of us hope that opposing the Master Plan might preserve the land as permanent open space. We completely understand this desire—it's why we all chose to live in this beautiful area. However, it's important to understand that development will happen regardless—the question is what kind of development we'll get.
Based on current zoning that was established by Bernalillo County, the land could potentially be subdivided into individual lots—but without any of the coordinated planning, community input, or preservation measures that come with a Master Plan. This is exactly why the Master Plan is so important: it creates binding protections for our area's character that wouldn't exist otherwise, including preserved open space, design guidelines for roadways and landscaping, and architectural standards that maintain the feel we all love.
Here's what development without master planning typically looks like:
Individual property owners manage water independently, without community oversight
No architectural standards or design guidelines
No requirement to preserve natural landscapes or scenic views
No obligation to provide public trails, parks, or community amenities
Piecemeal development that can't coordinate infrastructure or traffic flow
Our Family's Commitment to This Community
We want to share something important: this isn't just a business decision for the Campbell family—this is where we're planning to make our forever home. We'll be living here alongside all of you, sharing the same views, using the same roads, and depending on the same water sources. Our children will attend the same schools and use the same community resources.
The Campbell family has been stewarding this land for over 85 years, since General Thomas D. Campbell first fell in love with this landscape in 1937. Our track record of conservation speaks to our values—we made the largest private land donation in New Mexico's history, preserving over 250,000 acres. The scenic Turquoise Trail that we all enjoy exists because of easements our family provided.
Learning from Our Neighbors
Many current residents live on former Campbell land in developments like PaaKo and San Pedro Creek Estates. While these are wonderful communities, some were developed before comprehensive master planning became standard practice. This experience taught us valuable lessons about what works and what we could do better—like creating connected trail systems, preserving strategic open spaces, and coordinating amenities that benefit everyone.
The Master Plan Approach
The Campbell Ranch Master Plan incorporates the lessons we've learned and addresses many of the concerns our neighbors have raised:
Water Stewardship: Planned water management systems including conservation measures, with comprehensive monitoring and responsible usage practices
Preserving Our Character: Detailed architectural guidelines, roadway design standards, and landscaping requirements specifically designed to maintain the natural beauty and visual character we all love
Smart Land Use: Strategic clustering of homes that actually preserves more open space than traditional large-lot development. While some areas may have smaller individual lots than the typical 1-10 acre parcels common in our area, this isn't about cramming in more homes—it's about grouping them thoughtfully so that larger areas can remain as preserved open space and connected trail systems that benefit everyone
Community Benefits: Dedicated open spaces, public trail networks, and community centers that serve both new and existing residents
Infrastructure Coordination: Planned traffic flow, utilities, and services that work for the entire community
Addressing Water Concerns
We know water is a primary concern—it should be. Campbell Ranch has water rights, and we'll be sharing hydrogeological studies when available that will provide information about the basin's capacity. More importantly, the Master Plan includes water conservation and monitoring systems that wouldn't exist with individual lot development.
Moving Forward Together
The reality is that development will happen on this land—that's not a choice we get to make. Our choice is whether to have development with comprehensive protections built in through the Master Plan, or development that happens lot by lot without these safeguards.
The Master Plan creates legally binding requirements that protect our community's character: specific architectural standards, roadway designs that fit our landscape, preservation of scenic views, and guaranteed open space that will never be developed. These protections simply wouldn't exist with individual lot development.
We have an opportunity now to work together on planned development that actually preserves more of what we love than any other development approach. The Master Plan process gives all of us—existing and future residents—a voice in shaping our community's future with protections that will last for generations. It's not perfect, and we welcome continued dialogue about how to make it better. After all, we're all invested in the same outcome: a community we're proud to call home for generations to come.
We invite continued conversation and questions. This is our shared community, and these decisions affect all of us. Let's work together to make sure we get this right.