CITY of ALBUQUERQUE
TWENTY SIXTH COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. R-25-163 ENACTMENT NO. ________________________
SPONSORED BY: Dan Lewis
RESOLUTION
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Adjusting Fiscal Year 2026 Operating Appropriations And Reserves To Enhance The Planning Department’s Efforts To Increase Plan Review And Permitting Efficiency For The Betterment Of The City Of Albuquerque (Lewis)
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WHEREAS, the City of Albuquerque seeks to improve the efficiency, transparency, and accountability of its building permitting process; and
WHEREAS, the City has established its own fees for issuing trade and building permits in its Uniform Administrative Code; and
WHEREAS, there is a housing shortage in the City of Albuquerque; and
WHEREAS, the Planning Department wishes to explore and implement measures to further increase efficiency in its building permitting processes; and
WHEREAS, increasing efficiency can better serve residents, developers, and city departments by shortening permitting timelines, expediting plan review, and enhancing customer service; and
WHEREAS, additional investment will contribute to a nicer, cleaner, safer and more energy-efficient built environment throughout the City of Albuquerque, to the benefit of all; and
WHEREAS, additional investment will help address the economic and housing needs of our residents; and
WHEREAS, appropriately placed resources can provide valuable tools to expedite permitting and thereby allow construction projects to commence sooner.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL, THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE:
SECTION 1. The amount and dedication included in Section 5. page 3, lines 8 through 11 of R-25-132 is hereby unreserved and approved for use by the Planning Department for the purposes of this resolution.
SECTION 2. That the following amounts are hereby adjusted to certain programs from unreserved fund balance for Fiscal Year 2026:
GENERAL FUND - 110
Planning Department
One Stop Shop 450,000
SECTION 3. That the City Council hereby approves and authorizes the Planning Department’s budget to be increased by $450,000 to be used towards improving plan review timelines and permitting efficiency. The Planning Department may consider methods to coordinate and monitor trade and building permit processing; make recommendations to the Director to streamline the plan review and permitting process; ensure consistent and fair application of the technical codes; and promote accountability and transparency in permit issuance.
SECTION 4. That in its efforts to increase efficiency, the Planning Department will include an ombudsman to facilitate communication with permit applicants, and may include, but is not limited to, additional efficiency enhancements such as developing a third-party plan review program consistent with the Uniform Administrative Code, contracting with a professional-technical plan reviewer to alleviate backlogs, and the addition of permitting and plan review staff to more efficiently manage the volume of permit applications for the purpose of shortening permitting timelines.
SECTION 5. The Planning Department shall meet the following timelines for the plan review and permitting processes and take the necessary measures to effectuate these timelines and refunds:
A. Provided that applicants submit plans that only require one review cycle
and all other requirements are met, residential building permits shall ordinarily be granted within 90 days; commercial building permits that have opted for FasTrax plan review shall be granted within 120 days; all other commercial building permits shall ordinarily be granted within 180 days. Notwithstanding the Uniform Administrative Code, if the Building Official deems that plan review corrections required from the applicant have been timely and reasonably provided by the applicant, and that the majority of the review time has not been attributable to the applicant, but a residential permit has not been issued within 90 days or FasTrax commercial permit in 120 days or regular commercial permit within 180 days, the ombudsman may grant a refund of 50% of permitting fees up to $100,000.
B. Notwithstanding the provisions of the Uniform Administrative Code,
should an applicant disagree on the fee decision of the ombudsman, they may appeal within five (5) business days of that decision to a Permitting Appeal Committee comprised of the Chief Operating Officer of the City, the Director of the General Services Department and the Director of the Department of Municipal Development or their respective designees. No employee of the Planning Department, including the Director, may be a designee to the Committee. The Committee shall receive argument and make a final administrative decision on an appeal within ten (10) business days of receiving an appeal.
SECTION 6. The Planning Department shall make information available to increase transparency, including but not limited to:
A. Performance metrics, including application processing times;
B. Annual reports to the City Council;
C. Training and outreach to permit applicants and city staff;
D. Recommendations on updates to permitting-related codes and policies.
SECTION 7. SEVERABILITY. If any section, paragraph, sentence, clause, word or phrase of this Resolution is for any reason held to be invalid or unenforceable by any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of this Resolution. The Council hereby declares that it would have passed this Resolution and each section, paragraph, sentence, clause, word or phrase thereof irrespective of any provision being declared unconstitutional or otherwise invalid.