Santa Fe council finance committee hears Planning and Land Use budget, staff outline digital permitting, general plan and code updates

The Santa Fe Finance Committee on March 4 reviewed the Planning and Land Use department's fiscal year 2026 budget request, hearing a presentation from Planning and Land Use Director Heather Lamboy and Community Development Director Alisa Montoya on priorities including a general plan update, phase 1 of a land development code rewrite, investments in electronic permit review and a digital public platform.

The budget presentation emphasized operational efficiency and modernizing permit review. "This development guide is gonna give us an opportunity to help lay out in simple terms to the development community and the community at large all of our processes," said Heather Lamboy, director of Planning and Land Use, noting the department aims to implement electronic review for all building permits in FY26.

Why it matters: The department is asking for one-time and recurring resources to reduce permit review timelines and support two foundational projects'a general plan update and a multi-phase land development code rewrite'that staff said have not been updated in decades. Lamboy said the…