Don't let a tower define Placitas.
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An appeal like this follows a fixed sequence set by Rule 1-074 of the New Mexico Rules of Civil Procedure.
Tap any step to read what happens and open the filings.
Slide the line sideways to see every step.
After a hearing on May 19, 2026 and a large turnout from this community, the Planning & Zoning Commission voted unanimously to deny the conditional use permit. The written denial order followed in June.
That was the right result, reached on the evidence. It did not survive.
On appeal by the applicant, the Board of County Commissioners overturned the unanimous denial and granted the permit for a 75-foot tower at 4 Tierra Madre Road.
That reversal is the decision our appeal challenges.
The rules give thirty days from the County's decision to take it to District Court. Ours was filed with eleven days to spare, by the Cadigan Law Firm on behalf of a group of Placitas residents.
It was filed in the Thirteenth Judicial District Court in Sandoval County, and is now assigned to a judge there.
Two housekeeping documents went in the same day: proof that every party was served, and a formal request that the County start preparing the record.
Steps to a Decision on This Motion
Both the County's own zoning ordinance and state law say that filing an appeal freezes the decision being appealed — no building permits, no construction — unless the County certifies that waiting would put life or property in immediate danger. No such certification exists here.
Our motion asks the court to say so plainly, so the tower cannot go up while the judge is still deciding whether it should have been approved at all. We asked for a hearing on it at the same time.
A motion like this does not follow the appeal's schedule. It runs on its own rule, Rule 1-007.1, on a much shorter timetable — the one at the top of this box.
Now · 15 Days After Service
They Respond
The County and the tower's backers get fifteen days to file a written response. If no one responds in that window, the judge may simply rule — with or without a hearing.
+15 Days After Any Response
We Reply
If they do oppose, we have fifteen days to reply. That closes the written argument on the stay.
If Held · After Briefing Closes
Argument
Once those windows expire, a notice of completion of briefing goes in — a short document whose only job is to tell the judge everything has been submitted and the motion is ready to decide. In this district the papers are bundled and handed up as a package. Without that step a fully briefed motion can simply sit.
We asked for a hearing when we filed. The court may set one, or may decide it does not need to hear argument.
No Deadline
Judge Rules
The court can grant or deny the stay after a hearing, or on the papers alone. No rule puts a deadline on the judge, so this is the one step with no clock attached.
What that adds up to. Fifteen days for their response, then fifteen more for our reply — about thirty days of briefing from the September 14 filing, putting it near the middle of October, assuming nobody asks for extra time — which parties often do. After that it is in the judge's hands. This will likely be decided well before the appeal itself is briefed, which is the point: it answers whether anything can be built in the meantime.
The County has to compile everything its decision rested on — the application, the exhibits, the studies, every letter residents sent, the hearing transcripts — then number it, bind it, and file it with the court. The rules allow roughly thirty days.
This matters more than it sounds. A District Court appeal is decided on that record and nothing else: no new evidence, no new witnesses. Everything the judge will ever see about this tower is in the file the County is putting together right now.
There is nothing for us to file while we wait.
Called a statement of appellate issues. This is the heart of the case: the document that sets out, point by point, where the County went wrong and why the approval cannot stand.
It is what the donations bought.
The County — and the tower's backers, if they choose to take part — get their turn to defend the approval in writing.
A shorter, final written response to whatever they argue. With that, the written case is closed.
Either side can ask for a hearing, and the judge can call for one without being asked. It is not guaranteed — many appeals are decided on the papers alone.
If a hearing is set, we will post it here.
The District Court is not re-running the hearing or deciding whether a tower is a good idea. The question is narrower: did the County act arbitrarily, was its decision actually supported by the evidence in the record, did it stay within its authority, and did it follow the law.
If the answer to any of those goes against the County, the approval can be reversed or sent back.
About the timing. The day counts are the framework the rules set, not dates on a calendar. Real deadlines shift with when documents are served and how the court’s schedule runs, and extensions are common and routine. Our attorneys track the actual dates — this page shows the shape of the process and where we are in it.
Mostly, we wait — and that is a normal sign, not a stall. Court appeals move in months, not days. This page is the place to check; we will update it every time something actually happens, rather than filling the quiet with speculation.
We met the goal, and that paid for getting this filed. But this appeal is one step. Whichever way the judge rules, there is likely to be another after it — so the fund stays open, and anything given now goes toward what comes next.
Would you rather mail a check?
Make your check payable to:
Cadigan Law Firm Trust
And mail it to:
C. Edwin Garner
P.O. Box 62
Placitas, NM 87043
Questions, or something we should know about? notowerplacitas@gmail.com