La Cienega Valley Association

Protecting and preserving our acequia culture and agricultural traditions…




LCVA News – November 18, 2015



Second Annual La Cienega Photo Contest Results

A Community Congratulations to the winners of the 2nd annual LCVA photo contest.
Our partner has prepared good gifts for them. And even though the partner company offers a master thesis on https://dissertationmasters.com/ web, they do not give writing services, but material chic gifts.

The winners are:

Grand Prize Winner
Golden Sunset ~ Ernie Buenafe – Two-night stay at Buffalo Thunder Resort

Community Choice Winner
JJ and Princess ~ Elizabeth Cabot $50 plus Family Membership to El Rancho de las Golondrinas

Altered Images Winner
Gonzales Ranch #2 ~ Jeremy Gonzales – $50

Experience Winner
Shadow Jester ~ Kathryn Becker – $50

Living Off the Land Winner
Mother Goat and Baby ~ Amata Boccella – $50

Natural World Winner
Great Horned Owls ~ Elise Pollard – $50

People Winner
First Year Gardener ~ Carolyn Kavanagh $50

Please take the time to check out the photos on the LCVA web site lcva-nm.org and look forward to a community calendar featuring photos from the contest produced by the volunteers with the Clinica La Cienega.

The LCVA would like to offer a very special thanks to Bob De Young, LCVA Photo Contest Manager and to our judges, Conni Horne, Maureen Scott and Mary Winter for all of their work.

Not all of the prize winners were able to attend the award ceremony at the breakfast so Carl Dickens will be mailing their prizes later this week.

Thanks to all of our photographers who participated in the annual event. It is a special moment to see our community from so many interesting and fascinating perspectives.

Family Lot Splits

There have been a lot of questions about all the yellow County Land Use notice signs that have popped up over the last week. There are four proposed Small Lot Family Transfers going before the County Land Use Administrator for approval on November 27. One is located on Paseo de Angel North, two (by the same family) are on Courtney Place and one on Las Estrellas.

These are administrative decisions that do not go before the County Development Review Committee or the County Commission unless the Land Use Administrator’s decision is appealed. The reason that these land use decisions are made by the Land Use Administrator is that they have met all the county requirements for the lot split. This makes any type of appeal difficult because it would not have a legal foundation or reason for the appeal.

The LCVA will write a letter ensuring that all water restrictions and conditions are met and that the La Cienega Watershed Conditions are imposed on the lot splits. The concept of a family lot split is a good one, unfortunately lot splits are too often used to benefit landowners monetarily with no connection to providing a place for a family member to live.

In the racetrack area this process has allowed a lot split subdivision of over 400 homes avoiding all subdivision water, waste water and traffic requirements.

La Cienega/Cieneguilla Halloween Carnival

The 2015 Halloween Carnival was a roaring success with some 200 residents enjoying the food, fun and entertainment.

A sincere and genuine thanks to all the volunteers who have contributed to making this a community tradition. Led by Kathleen McCloud and Carol Cooper the volunteers included Linda Grill, Iska Sargent, Ele Harwood, Dolores Martinez, Becky Dickens, Mary Winter, Elliot Eisner, Bonnie McGahee, Ellen Wittman, Keir Carrecio, Paul Murray and Mary Dixon.

A very big thank you to our community friends at El Rancho de las Golondrinas led by Dawn St. George and Mike King, for allowing us the use of the museum. It is a perfect location with wonderful people.

Carl Dickens extends his apologies if he left anyone out and promises next year to wear a costume.