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City planner presents 'Santa Fe Forward' update to county commission; focus on housing, displacement and mobility
Summary
City planning staff presented Santa Fe Forward, a comprehensive plan update with equity-focused outreach, displacement-risk mapping and priority frameworks for housing, community facilities, environment and mobility; commissioners asked for supporting documentation on water-supply assumptions.
Heather Lamboy, the city planning director’s presenter to the Santa Fe County Planning Commission, gave a detailed briefing on the city’s comprehensive-plan update known as Santa Fe Forward, describing the assessment report, public engagement and next steps. Lamboy said the city’s assessment report and scenario frameworks are online at santafeforward.org and that the engagement phase produced about 9,500 unique website visitors and 780 completed surveys.
The presenter said the update will be concise and paired with an implementation plan tied to capital improvements, refreshed every five years. Key themes she identified were housing and affordability, community facilities and services, environmental stewardship and resilience, and transportation and mobility. Lamboy said the city completed a displacement-risk analysis and included maps identifying areas at highest risk, and that district meetings and town halls will roll out the mission, vision and strategies this summer.
Commissioners asked how the city validated water supply and whether developments must obtain rights from the State Engineer’s Office. Lamboy said projects above certain sizes must record water rights with the State Engineer and that the city maintains a water bank; she cautioned, however, that obtaining water rights is increasingly difficult and that tribal senior water rights factor into project review. She said the city will require adequate water before approving projects and that staff are coordinating data with the county to inform regional decisions.
Lamboy also described updates to the land development code, including reorganizing the code to improve clarity, updating historic-preservation standards, and addressing wildland-urban interface issues with the fire department. She said the city is building a digital platform to allow the public to view building permits and property data; staff estimated the platform was about 80% complete.
The commission thanked staff and asked for follow-up materials on the water-supply assessment and the implementation schedule. The commission did not take formal action on the plan at the meeting; staff said future briefings and district meetings are planned.
