Santa Fe launches three‑year Santa Fe Forward general plan update to guide growth to 2050

City of Santa Fe planning staff and their consultants on Jan. 29 launched Santa Fe Forward, a three‑year process to update the city’s 1999 general plan and set policy priorities through 2050.

Janice Biletnikoff, long‑range and strategic planner in the Planning and Land Use Department, told the governing body that the update will combine an assessment of existing conditions with scenario planning, new policy direction and an implementation and funding plan. She said the project will be led by the city’s planning staff with consulting support from WSP USA, Design Workshop and Leland Consulting Group.

“Over the next three years this planning process will ascertain the community’s vision for the future of our city up to the year 2050 and set goals for achieving that vision,” Biletnikoff said. The consultants said the update will aim to produce a “living” plan intended to be used by multiple city departments to guide investments and regulatory updates including the land development code.

Consultant Nick Fazio, WSP’s communications lead for the Southwest and the project’s deputy manager, described the five major steps: project setup and assessment, vision and goals, scenario development, draft and final plan, and an implementation/funding plan. He said an assessment report — an “existing conditions” baseline of demographics, housing, transportation, infrastructure and cultural resources — will be the first major deliverable.

Fazio and project manager Manjeet Ranu said public engagement will be central. The outreach strategy rests on three pillars: broad engagement to reach many residents, equitable engagement to include groups historically left out of planning, and collaborative engagement that demonstrates how public input is used. The team described a bilingual web platform (santafeforward.org/SantaFeAbanzando) and plans to deploy interactive tools, in‑person tabling at community events and paid, compensated community partner organizations to help recruit participants.

The consultants said they will also form a technical working group of up to 15 members with professional and lived experience to advise the project team. Biletnikoff said city staff will return to the governing body and the Planning Commission at the end of each major step for direction.

Council members pressed the team to document why old goals were not achieved, to coordinate closely with the land development code update and to explain how community partners will be selected and compensated. The consultants said community partners will be recruited via an open call; applicants will be reviewed by the project team and recommendations advanced to the city manager for onboarding. The partners program will include tiers of participation and compensation to match organizational capacity.

Biletnikoff said the assessment report will include inventories of infrastructure, facilities and policies and that public feedback will inform identified gaps and priorities. Fazio said the team will pursue bilingual and visually driven communications and add content and tools on the Santa Fe Forward website as the project progresses.

The planning team emphasized that the update seeks to balance Santa Fe’s cultural and environmental values with new challenges such as climate change, housing demand, and changing economic and technology conditions.

City staff said the full public website will expand on Feb. 3 and invited councilors and residents to review materials and share suggestions for community partner representation.