Submitted by Ken DeHoff, Corrales
In any functioning democracy, the bedrock of local governance is the public trust—the solemn agreement that officials will act with transparency regarding the land we share. In Sandoval County, that trust is being dismantled through a zoning process that prioritizes corporate secrecy over the safety of its citizens.
The recent approval of Conditional Use Permits CU-25-002 and CU-25-003 represents a profound failure of oversight. By definition, a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) is a surgical tool. It is designed to evaluate a specific land use that isn’t allowed “by right” because of its potential impact on public health, safety, and the environment. The law requires a specific review so that the community can understand—and the Planning and Zoning Commission can mitigate—the unique specific risks of a proposed use.
Yet, these applications were “blank check” requests by the Sandoval County Economic Development Department. Instead of disclosing a precise plan, Dora Dominguez requested permits to establish CUPs for “all uses” allowed within the General Industrial (I-1) district. By seeking blanket approval to “facilitate marketing,” the County effectively bypassed the very scrutiny that a CUP is legally mandated to provide. A recent Algodones homeowner’s conditional use permit, CU-25-001, to build a home on 4 acres received more scrutiny from the planning and zoning commission than this hypersonic missile factory did.
This wasn’t an oversight; it was a strategy of omission. While the public and the P&Z commission were told the CUPs were merely to “market” the site, reports indicate that the “Project Ranger” deal—a massive high-explosives hypersonic missile manufacturing plant—was already well underway.
The implications of this secrecy are profound. By refusing to name the specific use, the County avoided addressing the project’s most critical hazards: the transport and storage of high explosives, the potential for ground and water contamination and extremely hazardous sound pressure levels to neighboring properties. Without a precise use on the application, the Planning and Zoning Commission accepted all of these hazards on behalf of the community, with no mitigation plans. The Planning and Zoning staff report, with no information regarding the actual use of that land, declared as a fact that approval of these blank checks would have “minimal impacts on surrounding residential and agricultural uses and natural resources.”
By approving these “blank check” permits for all potential conditional uses, the Commission did not just streamline development; they stripped residents of their legal right to a meaningful public hearing on the actual risks to their lives and property. When government agencies act as agents for corporations to hide the “precise nature” of hazardous projects, they cease to be public servants. We must demand that these “blank check” permits be revoked and that any future development be met with the transparency the law requires and the honesty we are owed. And we must all make our voice heard clearly by those we elected to serve us – this was an unacceptable violation of the public’s trust by Sandoval County.