On October 18, declaring that the city is in need of between 13,000 and 33,000 housing units to address the city’s short supply of housing, Mayor Tim Keller announced his “Housing Forward Abq” plan. According to Keller, the city needs to work in close conjunction with the city’s residential and commercial real estate developers to solve the city’s housing shortage crisis.
In a speech before the Economic Forum, a group of prominent business leaders comprised of realtors, bankers and developers, Keller said the goal of his Housing Forward ABQ plan is for the city to bring 5,000 new housing units to the city by 2025. He is proposing to do so mostly through the redevelopment of hotels, or conversions to permanent housing, and changing zoning codes to allow for the development of “casitas”.
According to Keller, the city has upwards of 40 new people moving into the Albuquerque area every day who are in need of housing. Keller told the Economic Forum the city was a “net winner” coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic with millennials now working jobs that are remote, but who want to live in an affordable city that has the outdoor experience comparable to places like Denver.
On January 30, 2022, the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority (NMFA) initiated housing survey to identify and address housing needs across the state. The final housing strategy analysis from the NMFA found that Bernalillo County and the Albuquerque area needs 10,153 more housing units by 2025 to account for expected population growth.
https://www.abqjournal.com/2465514/mfa-launches-resident-housing-survey.html
Keller proclaimed the city’s Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO), which lays out zoning and subdivision regulations, is now outdated although it was enacted in 2017. Keller proclaimed the IDO must be changed to allow for the expansion of housing supply in the city. Mayor Keller is calling for the conversion of hotels and commercial office space into housing and it is critical to increasing the city’s housing supply. Keller also characterized the redevelopment of hotels and commercial property to housing units as “low-hanging fruit” for the city. Keller said that “private-public partnerships” are critical going forward to deal with the housing shortage. Keller said the IDO has pushed developers away from addressing the housing supply in years past.
Keller said this:
“We are small enough where, theoretically, you can find a nice place to live. … But the challenge is running out of houses … Because of our growth, [the city’s housing shortage] is a crisis [because of the Integrated Development Ordinance]. … The City of Albuquerque is terrible about this. … We add $100,000 to every unit – every unit – to convert with additional building code regulations compared to other cities. That’s why the private sector is not doing this already.”
https://www.abqjournal.com/2543570/keller-housing-supply-is-a-crisis.html
KELLER’S “HOUSING FORWARD ABQ” PLAN
Mayor Tim Keller’s “Housing Forward ABQ” plan is a “multifaceted initiative” where Keller wants to add 5,000 new housing units across the city by 2025 above and beyond what private industry normally creates each year. As it stands now, the city issues private construction permits for 1,200 to 1,500 new housing units each year. According to Keller, the city is needs as many as 13,000 to 30,000 new housing units.
To add the 5,000 new housing units across the city by 2025, Keller is proposing that the City of Albuquerque fund and be involved with the construction of new low income housing to deal with the homeless or near homeless. The strategy includes “motel conversions” and a zoning code “rebalance” to enhance density. It includes allowing “casitas” which under the zoning code are formally known as “accessory dwelling” units.
Keller wants to allow “different forms of multi-unit housing types” on residential properties. 63% of the city’s housing is single-family detached homes.
According to Keller, the city will also be pushing to convert commercial office space into to residential use. The Keller administration is proposing $5 million to offset developer costs with the aim of transitioning 10 properties and creating 1,000 new housing units. The new plan also includes “motel conversations” which is the city purchasing and turning old and existing motels into housing.
Keller argues in part that his “Housing Forward ABQ” plan will bolster the construction workforce and address current renter concerns. According to a news release, the Keller Administration intends to seek to change the law to protect tenants from “predatory practices such as excessive application fees, clarifying that deposits must be refundable and capping other fees, especially in complexes that accept vouchers.”
During a news conference announcing his “Housing Forward ABQ” Keller emphasized the importance of amending the city’s Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO). Keller had this to say:
“Right now our zoning code will never allow us to meet the housing demand in the city … If you want a place to advocate, if you want a place to change policy, if you want a place to argue, it’s all about the IDO.”
City Council President Isaac Benton has long advocated for ways to increase the housing stock, previously pushing to legalize casitas. In 2016, the city council rejected his changed to the zoning code amid neighborhood association opposition. Benton had this to say:
“We’ve had these arguments over the years with some of my most progressive neighborhoods that don’t even want to have a secondary dwelling unit be allowed in their backyard or back on the alley. … You know, we’ve got to change that discussion. We have to open up for our neighbors, of all walks of life, to be able to live and work here.”
https://www.abqjournal.com/2541186/mayor-sets-goal-of-5k-housing-units-by-2025.html
KELLER’S PROPOSED “TRANSFORMATIVE” CHANGES TO THE INTEGRATED DEVLOPMENT ORDINCANCE
On November 10, the Keller Administration released what Mayor Keller called “transformative” updates to Albuquerque’s Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) to carry out Keller’s “Housing Forward ABQ” plan to add 5,000 housing units to the existing housing supply by 2025. At Mayor Keller’s request, the legislation is being sponsored by Democrat Isaac Benton, a retired architect, and Republican Trudy Jones, a retired realtor.
The proposed changes to the IDO if enacted would be as fallow:
- Allow duplexes and casitas on nearly all single-family-home lots thereby increasing density in single-family home neighborhoods.
- Relax the rules on apartment construction.
- Eliminate height limits on apartment buildings in certain zones, and
- Loosen kitchen requirements when turning commercial buildings into housing.
- Reduces parking requirements for some multi-family development.
DEVIL IN THE DETAILS
The bill states the main goal is to lower the cost of construction, thus increasing the supply of multi-family dwellings. Major highlights of the legislation are as follows:
DENSITY INCEASE
The proposed legislation will dramatically increase options in “R-1” residential zones. “R-1”zoning is single family home lot zoning. A whopping 68% of all residential property zoned in the city is zoned R-1 encompassing 23% of the city’s total geographic area. The proposed legislation will allow detached casitas up to 750 feet and duplexes on lots in the zone.
According to Planning Department official Mikaela Renz-Whitmore, the new amendments to the IDO will not override existing special “casita” rules and zoning regulations already in place in areas such as Barelas, High Desert and South Broadway.
Development anywhere in the R-1 zone remains subject to rules about yard size and setbacks. According to the legislation, it could potentially triple density on the lots and address the zone’s inherent “exclusionary effects.”
EASING RESTRICTIONS ON CONVERSIONS
Developers converting non-residential buildings to multi-family housing would not have to meet the existing kitchen standard of having a cooking stove, range or oven in each unit. They would only have to provide a microwave, hotplate or warming device.
ELIMINATING HEIGHT RESTRICTIONS
The bill eliminates height limits for mixed-use development and for multi-family housing in the highest-density residential zone. Currently, height limits in those areas vary. In the high-density residential zone today, caps range from 48 to 65 feet, though certain types of projects earn bonuses that raise the limit to 77 feet. In mixed-use zones, present limits range from 30 to 75 feet, though they could reach 111 feet with structured parking and other project bonuses.
CHANGING PARKING REQUIREMENTS
The bill will change parking requirements. It will exempt projects where at least 20% of the residential units will be affordable housing from providing off-street parking and reduces current requirements for other multi-family and mixed-use developments by 75%. Under existing zoning requirements, a multi-family development needs 1-1.8 off-street parking spaces per dwelling unit generally based on the number of bedrooms per apartment.
“MOTEL CONVERSIONS”
Mayor Keller’s “Housing Forward ABQ” places great emphasis on “motel conversions”.
“Motel conversions” includes affordable housing where the City’s Family & Community Services Department would acquire and renovate motels to develop low-income affordable housing options. The existing layout of the motels makes it cost-prohibitive to renovate them into living units with full sized kitchens. An Integrated Development Ordinance amendment will provide an exemption for affordable housing projects funded by the city, allowing kitchens to be small, without full-sized ovens and refrigerators. It will require city social services to regularly assist residents. The homeless or the near homeless would be offered the housing.
One area of the city that has been targeted in particular by the Keller Administration for motel conversions is “Hotel Circle” in the North East Heights. Located in the area are a number of motels in the largest shopping area in SE and NE Albuquerque near I-40. The businesses in the area include Target, Office Depot, Best Buy, Home Store, PetCo and the Mattress Store and restaurants such as Sadies, the Owl Café, and Applebee’s and other businesses. The city is already seeking to buy Sure Stay Hotel on Hotel Circle SE and has its eye on purchasing the abandoned and boarded up Ramada Inn for a motel conversion.
CONVERTING COMMERCAL OFFICE SPACE INTO RESIDENTIAL DWELLINGS
Mayor Keller advocating the transformation of Commercial Office buildings into residential housing is not a new idea and has yet to really catch on.
The top floor of the 5 story commercial office building located at 2424 Louisiana North East has already been converted to upwards of 12 two bedroom, two bath, 1,240 square foot luxury apartments with monthly rental costs of $4,000 a month. The building was built in 1980, and is 77,647 square feet total with the typical floor size being 15,000 square feet.
The Rosenwald Building is a historic building located In Downtown Albuquerque on Central and built in 1910. It is a 42,000-square-foot three-story building and the building was added to the New Mexico State Register of Cultural Properties and the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The Rosenwald Building was renovated in 1981 and the upper floors were converted to office space. The city of Albuquerque bought the building in 2007 for $1.7 million under Mayor Chavez who left office in 2009. The building remained vacant with the city never developing it for its own use and city services. Mayor Keller declared the building surplus propertry unusable by the city and sold it without public bids.
Online records reveal a company called Townsite Qo21 LLC put in a private bid for $350,000, the so called appraised value of the building. The primary principals of Q021 are members of the Garcia family who own new car dealerships in Albuquerque and have made donations Keller’s charitable foundation set up for the city. Qo21 LLC company intends to build luxury condominiums on the property. The city sale to the purchaser was a no cash transaction with a lease back to the City for the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) for a new substation in a 1,100 square foot space. The initial lease would be just under 14 years with the option to extend it.
Links to news sources are here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosenwald_Building
EDITORIAL COMMENTARY: The housing shortage is related to economics and the development community’s inability to keep up with supply and demand and the public’s inability to purchase housing. There is also a shortage of rental properties. Keller pushing to convert commercial office space into to residential is misplaced and presumes that commercial property owners are amenable to replacing their more lucrative commercial property into residential property which is a complete reversal from what normally happens. It is far more common for residential property owners to seek commercial zoning changes for their properties.
SAFE OUTDOOR SPACES
Mayor Keller has advocated and in full support of the amendment to the IDO that allows for the land use known as “Safe Outdoor Spaces” to deal with the homeless crisis. “Safe Outdoor Spaces” are city sanctioned homeless encampments located in open space areas that will allow upwards of 50 homeless people to camp, require hand washing stations, toilets and showers, require a management plan, 6-foot fencing and provide for social services.
Under an adopted amendment to the IDO, Safe Outdoor Spaces are allowed in some non-residential and mixed-use zones and must be at least 330 feet from zones with low-density residential development. The restrictions do not apply to campsites operated by religious institutions. Under the IDO amendments, Safe Outdoor Spaces are allowed for up to two years with a possible two-year extension.
On September 15, the Environmental Planning Commission (EPC) voted to repeal “Safe Outdoor Spaces” from the Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) by deleting all references of “Safe Outdoor Spaces” effectively outlawing the conditional land use anywhere in the city. The repeal of Safe Outdoor Spaces in the IDO is still pending before city council.
EDITORIAL COMMENTARY: Safe Outdoor Spaces encampments violates the city’s “housing first” policy by not providing a form of permanent housing and with reliance on temporary housing. Safe Outdoor Spaces are not the answer to the homeless crisis. “Safe Outdoor Spaces” will be a disaster for the city as a whole. They will destroy neighborhoods, make the city a magnet for the homeless and destroy the city’s efforts to manage the homeless through housing. Safe Outdoor Spaces represent a very temporary place to pitch a tent, relieve oneself, bathe and sleep at night with rules that will not likely be followed. The answer is to provide the support services, including food and permanent lodging, and mental health care needed to allow the homeless to turn their lives around, become productive self-sufficient citizens and no longer dependent on relatives or others
MAYOR KELLER AND SPONSORING CITY COUNCILLORS OUTLINE POSITIONS
In requesting the sponsorship of the legislation, Keller wrote in an October 28 memo to City Council President Isaac Benton:
“The proposed changes are intended to be transformative, which is fitting for the crisis facing our local government, thousands of families in our community, and our housing partners.”
Democrat City Councilor Isaac Benton said the proposed changes, especially the residential zone changes, will result in public outcry and objections. Notwithstanding the public’s anticipated objections, Benton said the housing shortages the city is experiencing demands the changes be made and the public will have ample opportunity to comment. Benton said this:
“These are things that have been discussed over the years with regard to housing affordability, so it’s not new. … A lot of cities are doing this — just really taking a look at their low-density zoning and seeing if there are any opportunities there for more density.”
Republican City Councilor Trudy Jones, a cosponsor of the changes to the IDO, said she fully expects the proposals to generate backlash. Notwithstanding, Jones said the city needs to set the stage for more housing development and density in certain places or risk losing new workers and younger generations. Jones said density will promote housing affordability and the city may not want “sprawl” but it should welcome growth and she said this:
“Some of us want to keep our families here, want to keep our children and grandchildren here. … We can’t stay the little town that we were forever.”
The link to quoted news sources is here
https://www.abqjournal.com/2548502/keller-seeks-transformative-changes-to-zoning-code.html
ALBUQUERQUE NEW APARTMENT CONSTRUCTION BOOMING
In the Albuquerque metro area, new permits for apartment building construction have spiked dramatically. Building permits for a total of 4,021 new housing units were issued in the metro area in 2021, 35.1% of which are for units in buildings with five units or more. In Albuquerque, about 2,000 units across 12 properties are already under construction, with an additional 2,485 units planned across 16 properties and 5,143 prospective units. Five years ago only 20.3% of all permits for new housing units were for buildings with at least five units. The 14.8% point change for new apartment construction from 2016 to 2021 ranks as the 10th largest increase among all U.S. metro areas.
Alan LeSeck, Apartment Association of New Mexico executive director, told the Albuquerque Journal the current market is “very hot,” due partially to the lack of apartment development dating back to before the pandemic. Since 2013, and prior to 2020, LaSeck said Albuquerque was averaging about 500 new units a year, below what the city needed to accommodate new residents. LaSeck said that, for every 10,000 new residents, there needs to be about 3,400 apartments since about 34% of people typically rent. According to RentCafe, in Albuquerque, the average apartment is rented for $1,170 per month.
According to the February Greater Albuquerque Association of Realtors report, home prices in Albuquerque continue to reach record highs, with the current median home value sitting at $315,000, up by 18.9% compared to a year prior. This has resulted in prospective homeowners being pushed out of the housing market, resulting in a demand for more rental and apartment unit construction. The increase in home prices has meant that some purchasers are simply priced out of the market. There are those who have sold their homes only to be unable to purchase another home due to increasing costs or a lack of availability. These former and would-be home-owners are then pushed into the rental market, increasing the occupancy rate and affecting rents.
https://www.abqjournal.com/2466109/report-abq-home-prices-jump-more-than-17-in-2021.html
Titan Development is among the leaders of multi-family development. Titan is currently working on 3 multi-family developments totaling more than 500 units. It is also working on the largest multi-family development in construction with the 281-unit Allaso High Desert apartments at San Antonio and Tennyson Street. Some of Titan’s new developments, such as the Allaso Vineyards at Holly and Ventura, target an aging demographic that may be looking for a new place to live with less maintenance than a single family home.
Among the larger developments is Overture Andalucia, a new multi-family complex on Albuquerque’s West Side aimed at adults 55 and older. The 171-unit complex, owned by the property investment, development and management company Greystar, was set to have units ready by fall.
Uptown has become one of the economic and entertainment centers of the city. It has grown from 2 modest malls of Coronado and Windrock shopping centers into a financial district with the highest concentration of retail establishments in the state. An abundance of shopping and dining venues characterize the area as nucleus of commerce. In response to people looking for an urban experience without transportation headaches, two major apartment projects are fully underway in the uptown area.
Goodman Realty is moving forward with construction on multi-family housing for the first time since the ’80s. Goodman Realty is planning to build Lofts at Winrock in Albuquerque’s Uptown area. Although referred to as the “Lofts” project, renderings show developers are planning to call the apartment development “The Pine Needle.” Three buildings comprise the entire development, one of which will be used for townhomes. Plans show the apartment complex will have four floors of upscale apartments. At least one of the buildings will have a large courtyard.
The increased demand for apartments has led Goodman Realty to look at other areas to pursue multi-family development, such as near the Journal Center. Scott Goodman said multi-family housing could be particularly attractive to developers since it is seen as a less risky investment and it is also easier to finance. More development, he said, could also lead to lower rental costs and help with the affordability problem. Goodman put it this way:
“We’re looking at doing more apartments. … Apartment rents have really skyrocketed, apartment construction costs have really skyrocketed, and I think that the supply of apartments is really going down, and that’s part of the reason you’re seeing what we’re seeing … and the city needs more apartments. … The more apartments we have, the more supply we have, the more affordable it should be.”
The 243 unit, six story Markana apartment complex is now under construction and is scheduled to be completed in 2023. It is located at 6500 Americas Pky, NE, South of Coronado shopping center, West of the Marriott and immediately North of the Hilton Garden Inn and West of the Bucca De Beppo restaurant. It will have studio apartments and 1, 2 and 3 bedroom apartments ranging from 589 square feet to 1,226 square feet.
https://www.apartments.com/markana-uptown-albuquerque-nm/8n8z552/
Construction of the Element by Weston in the uptown area merits mentioning. It is a 120-room, 86,335-square-foot hotel that is currently under construction located at 2430 Louisiana Blvd. NE, directly East of Coronado Shopping Center.
The links to quoted news sources are here:
REVISTING THE INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ORDINANCE
It was in 2015 that former Mayor Richard Berry during his second term started the rewrite process of the city’s comprehensive zoning code and comprehensive plan to rewrite the city’s entire zoning code. It was initially referred to as the ABC-Z comprehensive plan and later renamed the Integrated Development Ordinance (ID0) once it was passed. In 2015, there were sixty (60) sector development plans which governed new development in specific neighborhoods. Forty (40) of the development plans had their own “distinct zoning guidelines” that were designed to protect many historical areas of the city.
Former Mayor Richard Berry said the adoption of comprehensive plan was a much-needed rewrite of a patchwork of decades-old development guidelines that held the city back from development and improvement. The enactment of the comprehensive plan was a major priority of Berry before he left office on December 1, 2017. The Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce and the construction and development community, including the National Association of Industrial and Office Parks (NAIOP), pulled all stops to get the plan adopted before the October 3, 2017 municipal election. IDO was enacted with the support of Democrats and Republicans on the City Council despite opposition from the neighborhood interests and associations.
The stated mission of the re write of the comprehensive plan was to bring “clarity and predictability” to the development regulations and to attract more “private sector investment”. The city’s web site on the plan rewrite claimed the key goals include “improve protection for the city’s established neighborhoods and respond to longstanding water and traffic challenges by promoting more sustainable development”. Economic development and job creation was argued as a benefit to rewriting the Comprehensive Plan.
Under the enacted Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) the number of zones went from 250 to fewer than 20, which by any measure was dramatic. Using the words “promoting more sustainable development” means developers want to get their hands-on older neighborhoods and develop them as they see fit with little or no regulation at the lowest possible cost to make a profit. The IDO also granted wide range authority to the Planning Department to review and unilaterally approve development applications without public input.
PUBLIC CUT OUT OF THE PROCESS
The enacted Integrated Development Ordinance has provisions to allow the City Council to adopt major amendments and make major changes to it. The IDO blatantly removes the public from the development review process, and it was the Planning Department’s clear intent to do so when it drafted the IDO.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
Albuquerque’s rental occupancy rate is at about 95.8%, just above the recommended healthy occupancy rate of 95%. Notwithstanding, apartment construction in Albuquerque is undergoing a major boom with 2021 and 2022 turning out to be record-breaking years for apartment construction.
Mayor Tim Keller and Democrat City Councilor Isaac Benton and Republican Trudy Jones ignore that new apartment construction is booming in Albuquerque and declare a housing crisis. The reason for that is all 3 want the city to invest millions in low-income housing rather than letting the market and private sector deal with the problem. All 3 want to allow “casitas” to be built on existing, built out residential areas of the city, including historical areas. All 3 want to allow 18 tent encampments known as Safe Out Door Spaces in the city for the homeless. All 3 want motel conversions to the extent that the city will purchase existing motels and convert them into permanent low income housing essentially going into the motel business to address the homeless crisis.
KELLER’S BIPARTISAN WATER CARRIERS
It should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone, especially established neighborhood associations for historic areas of the city like Barelas and the South Broadway and Martineztown area, that Democrat Isaac Benton and Republican Trudy Jones are carrying the water for Keller and are the sponsors of Keller’s Housing Forward ABQ plan legislation amending the IDO. Both city councilors had a distain for the previous comprehensive zoning code that was replaced by the IDO. Both voted for the enactment of the IDO in 2017. Both Benton and Jones have voted for and are in support of “motel conversions” and “Safe Outdoor Spaces”.
Democrat Benton is a retired architect and Republican Jones is a retired real estate agent and both have contempt for many of the sector development plans that placed limitations on developers, especially in historical areas of the city.
Benton for years has advocated for major changes to ease up on restrictions on secondary dwelling unit in backyards over the objections of his own progressive constituents and the historical areas of the city he represents. Benton admitted it when he said this:
“We’ve had these arguments over the years with some of my most progressive neighborhoods that don’t even want to have a secondary dwelling unit be allowed in their backyard or back on the alley. … You know, we’ve got to change that discussion. We have to open up for our neighbors, of all walks of life, to be able to live and work here.”
Republican Jones throughout her 16 years on the city council has always been considered in the pockets of the real estate and the development communities over the interests of property owners and neighborhoods. Over the years, she has received literally thousands of dollars in contributions from both the real estate industry and the development industry each time she has run for city council. She has never gone the “public finance” route and has always privately financed her city council campaigns. She was also the sponsor of the amendment to the IDO that removed the mandatory requirement for public input for special uses giving more authority to the planning department.
KELLER THE REAL ESTATE DEVELOPER
The IDO was enacted a mere few weeks before Tim Keller was elected Mayor the first time. When then New Mexico Auditor Tim Keller was running for Mayor he had nothing to say publicly about the IDO and gave no position on it. He did proclaim he was the most uniquely qualified to be Mayor despite lacking any experience in municipal affairs and city zoning. The likely reason for not taking a position on the IDO was his sure ignorance of municipal land use planning and zoning matters, something he was never exposed to in his career as a State Senator and State Auditor.
Five years later, Keller as if he has had an some sort of epiphany and education, proclaims the IDO is outdated. It’s very difficult, if not outright laughable, to take Mayor Tim Keller serious when he proclaimed the city’s Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO), which lays out highly complicated zoning and subdivision regulations, as being outdated given that it was enacted in 2017 by the city council on an 8-1 vote.
What is really happening with Mayor Tim Keller’s “transformative changes” to the Integrated Development Ordinance and his “Housing Forward Abq” plan is that Keller is catering to the development community as he pretends to be an expert in the field of housing development and zoning matters. Keller is relying on the city’s housing crisis and homeless crisis to seek further changes to the city’s zoning code to help the development community and using city funding to do it.
IDO IS AN ABOMINATION THAT SHOULD BE REPEALED
Simply put, the IDO is and has always been an abomination that favors developers and the city’s construction industry. The 2017 rewrite was a rush job. It took a mere 2 years to rewrite the entire zoning code and it emerged as the Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO). It was in late 2017, just a few weeks before the municipal election and the election of Mayor Tim Keller, that the City Council rushed to vote for the final adoption of the IDO comprehensive plan on an 8-1 vote. Outgoing City Councilor Republican Dan Lewis who lost the race for Mayor Tim Keller voted on the IDO refusing to allow the new council take up the IDO.
Critics of the Integrated Development Ordinance said it lacked public discussion and representation from a number of minority voices and minority communities. They argued that the IDO should be adopted after the 2017 municipal election, but they were ignored by the City Council.
There is no doubt that IDO is now having a long-term impact on the cities older neighborhoods and favors developers. The intent from day one of the Integrated Development Ordinance was the “gutting” of long-standing sector development plans by the development community to repeal those sector development plans designed to protect neighborhoods and their character. The critics of the IDO argued that it made “gentrification” city policy giving developers free reign to do what they wanted and to do it without sufficient oversight.
The City’s development community got all it wanted when the IDO was first enacted which was to gut as many sector development plans as possible and remove zoning restrictions that protected neighborhoods. The enacted Integrated Development Ordinance has provisions to allow the City Council to adopt major amendments and make major changes to it. The IDO blatantly removes the public from the development review process, and it was the Planning Department’s clear intent to do so when it drafted the IDO.
Since the enactment of the Integrated Development Ordinance, at least 250 amendments have been past by the City Council. Now that the development community has gotten what it wants, we have a Mayor and at least 2 city councilors who think they can salvage the unworkable Integrated Development Ordinance by amending it repeatedly when repeal is likely in order.
CONCLUSION
Once Keller’s “Housing Forward Abq” plan is introduced, it must go through the mandated process and accompany the city’s annual Integrated Development Ordinance updates. The process will take months and includes public meetings with the Environmental Planning Commission (EPC), the city council’s Land Use Planning & Zoning committee and then a vote by the full city council. Neighborhood Associations and historical areas of the city need to voice their concerns loud and clear to both the Mayor and the City Council, but its not at all likely they will listen and they will do whatever they damn well feel like doing over voter objections.