Amendment to zoning law allows more appeals
The proposed Integrated Development Ordinance continued to draw opposition from several neighborhood associations and community members at Monday night’s City Council meeting, but an amendment was introduced to give neighborhood groups and individuals more of an opportunity to appeal land use decisions they disagree with.
The City Council spent about two hours on the IDO, which is a massive rewrite of the city’s zoning regulations. The council will hold another hearing on the measure on Nov. 6.
“This is a once-in-ageneration opportunity to align our vision, our zoning and our process for future planning to ensure that all neighborhoods in the city receive the protections and the planning that only some enjoy today,” said Mikaela Renz-Whitmore, a senior city planner.
Among the concerns community groups have raised is that the city’s current zoning ordinance gives individuals who live 300 feet from a parcel under development standing or a right to appeal a decision made by staff or a hearing body. The IDO, as currently written, would reduce that to 100 feet.
But one of the amendments proposed to the council would give individuals the right to appeal if they live within 330 feet of a parcel, and it would give neighborhood associations the right to appeal if they are within 660 feet of a parcel. Another proposed amendment would require developers to discuss their development plans with neighborhood groups toward the beginning of the process.
Amendments introduced Monday will be voted on at the council’s Nov. 6 meeting.
City officials have said the rewrite of zoning regulations is needed because much of what is currently in place dates back to the 1970s and is out of date, confusing and at times contradictory.
“This effort includes 40 years of updates to our zoning code,” RenzWhitmore said. “While our zoning code has been amended hundreds of times since it was first adopted in the 1970s, this is the first comprehensive overhaul of our land use regulations.”
She told councilors that the city currently has 1,200 or more zones and she said that just isn’t workable. She said the IDO will replace that system with 22 base zones and 20 overlay zones, all in one document.
But several city residents complained that the city is rushing the process and not giving constituents an opportunity for meaningful input into the complicated document.
Marianne Barlow, a West Side resident, said Albuquerque residents need more time to review “this enormous plan, which will affect us all.” She said she worries that the IDO will hurt the livability and character of neighborhoods.
“We resent the attempt to rush this through before the new administration comes in,” she said. “We want our voices to be heard and our neighborhoods to be protected.”
Of the 20 people who addressed the council on the IDO, 15 were opposed.
Among those in support was local land use attorney John Salazar, with the Rodey Law Firm.
“I commend the entire city for taking on this substantial, but necessary, project and process,” he said.
If approved, the IDO will become effective six months after adoption to allow time for training and to correct any errors or omissions that are discovered. Within a year of the IDO becoming effective, the city’s Planning Department would submit a package of discretionary, voluntary zone changes for approval.