The purpose of the plan is to provide for growth while maintaining and respecting the existing rural character of the community and the agricultural traditions and settlement patterns that could otherwise be lost due to new development and urbanization.

Update as of February 24, 2009.

The community event on February 21 was a great success, as over 80 people showed up! Neighbors brought food and there were mariachis, jugglers, door prizes and the Los Duranes Elementary School Chorus sang some beautiful songs for the community. People gave lots of good comments about the area and the hopes and needs of the sector plan update. We will be consolidating the comments and providing the results on this web site soon.

Goals

The goals of the planning effort are to:

• Maintain the rural character of the neighborhood. 
• Preserve and maintain the irrigated agricultural lands and acequias that still serve the area.
• Protect the narrow roadways and traditional neighborhood street patterns.
• Preserve access and connections to the Rio Grande.
• Maintain and respect the ownership and traditional land uses of the older families.
• Create guidelines and standards for new development that are in harmony with the neighborhood character.
• Achieve a level of neighborhood ownership and excitement on the Los Duranes Sector Development Plan.
• Produce a plan that is community driven.

The community selected and the City hired Community by Design, a planning firm based in Taos, to help meet the goals of the planning process. The consultant, city staff and neighborhood representatives have had several planning meetings and on November 24, they took a bike tour of the Los Duranes community.

What is in Process

The next step will be to have a community gathering to discuss what the residents of Los Duranes want to see in their sector plan and how this process can help the community achieve their collective goals.