Santa Fe adopts Phase 1 rewrite of Land Development Code with amendments to historic and archaeology provisions

Santa Fe's governing body approved a Phase 1 overhaul of the city's Land Development Code on the evening of the special meeting, adopting a package that staff says reorganizes and clarifies decades of piecemeal amendments while adding new affordability and development incentives. The ordinance repeals and replaces Chapter 14 of the Santa Fe City Code and passed after the council approved four named amendments.

The rewrite rewrites organization and definitions across the code, creates a parks and open-space zoning district, expands use tables to include new uses such as film production and doggy day care, updates parking rules (including removal of some downtown minimums), adds electric-vehicle and bicycle-parking requirements, and adjusts some height and density allowances for non-historic residential and nonresidential development. Staff told the council Phase 1 focuses on clarity and user-friendliness; Phases 2 and 3 will take up more substantive items such as street design and zoning cleanup.

Director Heather Lamboy and consultant Matt Goble summarized the effort as the culmination of more than two years of outreach, including virtual and in-person open houses, stakeholder interviews, technical and community advisory working groups, and planning commission and committee review. "Our goals for phase 1 were to improve the organization, clarity, and general user friendliness of the code," staff said, adding the changes are designed to support affordable, walkable, and sustainable development.

Public commenters were split on specific provisions. Several housing advocates and nonprofit builders, including Kathy Collins of Santa Fe Habitat, supported the package and the affordability incentives. "We definitely support the 2 foot building height increase to enable compliance with the green building code," Collins said, adding the increased density allowances and administrative review will help build more affordable housing. Architects and professional groups praised the code's improved readability and the by-right density allowances intended to ease small infill projects.

Utility companies and preservation advocates raised concerns. Shelby Majerson of New Mexico Gas Company warned that lowering the linear-foot thresholds that trigger archaeological clearance permits could "increase project cost for utilities and customers" and add roughly two to three months to project schedules; PNM raised similar concerns about ARC capacity. In response, the council adopted an amendment to narrow or revisit some archaeological thresholds and directed staff to engage utilities and the Archaeological Review Committee in Phase 2.

On historic-district rules, the council approved an amendment to revert several proposed historic-district standards back to existing language and defer substantive historic-code changes to Phase 2, after Historic District Review Board members and longtime preservationists argued the proposed edits were not fully vetted.

The council also adopted Amendment C, a bundle of clarifying "test-drive" edits staff identified when running development applications against the draft code. Those edits reorganized provisions, fixed cross-references and typos, and clarified development-plan thresholds, bicycle-parking triggers, and signage rules.

Council members spent significant time debating the interaction between the Santa Fe Homes affordable-housing program (codified in Chapter 26) and Chapter 14 density bonuses, including whether paying a fee-in-lieu should disqualify a project from density incentives. Staff said that enhanced incentives require on-site affordable units and that alternate means of compliance are negotiated and administered through the Affordable Housing Office; several councilors asked staff to return with clearer, written cross-references and with a work plan to address Chapter 26 in Phase 2.

The ordinance was approved as amended by roll call after the council considered amendments a through d. Councilor Michael Garcia described the vote as an important first step, while several councilors emphasized additional work remains to refine implementation details in later phases. The governing body said it will proceed to Phase 2 work immediately on priorities identified during this meeting, including engagement with utilities on archaeological procedures and a review of fee-in-lieu mechanics.

What happens next: staff will publish the adopted code as amended, circulate the disposition report and supplemental memos identified in the packet, and begin targeted Phase 2 work on substantive standards that require more deliberation and stakeholder engagement.