Village development director firing raises questions about TSV Inc. influence

Stanek told the Taos News in an email that, "Unfortunately, due to it being a personnel matter, I'm afraid I cannot comment" on the reasons behind Nicholson's firing. He didn't respond to assertions by Nicholson and others that the mayor has never actually met Nicholson in person.

Nicholson was placed on administrative leave in the second week of April, shortly after he instructed Village Building Official Jalmar Bowden to notify Taos Ski Valley, Inc. (TSVI) that the corporation had failed to comply with its conditional use permit for the Hotel St. Bernard construction project.

"They moved the entrance to the underground parking garage further up" behind the Snakedance condominiums, Nicholson told the Taos News last month. "It clearly doesn't consider community context — and it's a substantive change."

One of the conditions of the permit as it was approved by the village council was that, "Any substantial changes to the application must be approved by the Planning and Zoning Commission; all other changes may be approved administratively by the planning officer."

"They had an affirmative responsibility to identify substantive changes in their design plans," Nicholson said, noting the design presented to the public at the time of its permit application more than a year ago showed the garage entrance off the cul de sac at the terminus of Sutton Place. Nicholson said he noticed this spring that the entrance appeared to be set further east in the completed foundation work, which he said would likely create more traffic impacts for residents in the Snakedance condominiums in the shadow of the new hotel.

A spokesperson for the ski corporation told the Taos News in an email that "the location of the garage is exactly where it was approved to be," indicating "these plans were extensively evaluated multiple times during three permitting processes: Certificate of Compatibility (approved 5/4/23), Grading & Excavating (approved 2/28/23), and Foundation (approved 5/9/23).

"Village Planning Director Patrick Nicholson approved the first two, with the Foundation Permit approval coming from Jalmar Bowden," the spokesperson added. "In all three applications, the plans reflect the entrance to the underground parking where it is currently located."

Nicholson looked through the hundreds of pages of construction documents that had been submitted to the village. The entrance as it had been built into the foundation — work completed under a foundation permit issued in May of last year — was indeed in the plans.

"Publicly, they presented one underground parking location and then submitted a significantly different one to staff," Nicholson said. "They had a stipulated responsibility to notify the community and the Planning and Zoning Commission of the altered entrance."

Nicholson acknowledged he didn't catch it, but was adamant the corporation either must follow the original design or get the permission of the Planning and Zoning Commission to alter it.

"They've built the entrance in a different place," Nicholson said. "I said, 'You're not going to get a construction permit until you rectify this.'"

Neither Stanek nor TSVI would concede a connection between Nicholson's threat to withhold the permit — which the project needs to move forward — and his being placed on administrative leave and ultimately fired. Nicholson wouldn't comment on whether he believes his termination was retaliatory, preferring to play his cards close to his chest with regard to his next move.

"It's unintentional on my part; I'm sorry they're upset," Nicholson said. "I am simply upholding the law, the village ordinances."

During the public comments portion of the April 26 council meeting, about a dozen or so community members strenuously objected to Nicholson's proposed firing, which was set to be taken up near the end of the meeting after a closed session discussion.

Ben Cook, chair of the village Capital Improvement Advisory Committee and former chair of the Kachina Property Owners Association, described Nicholson as a "highly dedicated, principled and competent public servant," and listed several of the soon-to-be former development director's achievements: negotiating a land donation to the village for open space, diligently expanding trail development, bringing the village into compliance with the state Development Fees Act, securing funds to improve Twining road, and more.

Cook said firing Nicholson post haste and without explanation won't help recruitment.

"Who would want to work for an organization where one dedicates six years of service, as Director Nicholson has done, and is fired at a moment’s notice with no prior warnings or disciplinary actions?" Cook said.

Trudy DiLeo, former chair of the village Firewise Board and its Public Safety Committee, admonished Stanek not to fire Nicholson, who she described as "available, concerned and forthright in his professional discussions."

"He has always taken his job very seriously, and the residents of our village depend on Patrick to know and do his job by the book — even if a resident or a developer disagrees with him," DiLeo said. "Having one major developer in the village does not mean that the same corporation can make its own rules or make changes after a plan is finalized with our village staff, regardless of how wealthy it is; no matter how often it beats on our village staff to allow something not to a standard; and no matter that a [Taos Ski Valley, Inc.] vice president is a sitting village councilor."

In a statement he read minutes before he met the gallows, Nicholson was relatively sanguine, indicating he was proud of the work he had done over the past six years to protect the Rio Hondo, expand trails and fix Twining Road, among other items. He reminded councilors that they have still not approved an updated avalanche study he presented last year, and wrapped up his statement with a few cutting closing remarks.

"[Taos] Ski Valley has an oversized impact on downstream communities and in the Taos region in general," he said. "It's a valuable and cherished public resource, not an exclusive zone for the few. In articulating and practicing community-centric development and applying professional standards, principles and values hard-earned over the years — jarring as that may be to those unaccustomed to the same — I am banished, stripped now of any ability to influence direct public policy or further the public good."