CITY of ALBUQUERQUE
TWENTY FIFTH COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. R-22-42 ENACTMENT NO. ________________________
SPONSORED BY: Trudy Jones and Isaac Benton by request
RESOLUTION
title
Rescinding R-20-27 And Establishing The Order Of Community Planning Area Assessments For 2022-2027 (Jones and Benton, by request)
body
RESCINDING R-20-27 AND ESTABLISHING THE ORDER OF COMMUNITY PLANNING AREA ASSESSMENTS FOR 2022-2027.
WHEREAS, the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) designates 12 Community Planning Areas (CPAs) within City boundaries; and
WHEREAS, the Comp Plan establishes a cycle of long-range planning through assessments conducted with communities in each CPA and then updating the Comp Plan at the end of the cycle based on recommendations in the assessment reports; and
WHEREAS, the Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO) Subsection 14-16-6-3(E) codifies a regular cycle of CPA assessments and requires that recommendations resulting from the assessments be forwarded to the Environmental Planning Commission (EPC) for review and recommendation and to City Council for review and acceptance; and
WHEREAS, the IDO requires that CPA assessment recommendations accepted by City Council be included in updates to Ranked Plans and the annual IDO update; and
WHEREAS, the CPA assessments are intended to provide opportunities to generate community-based recommendations for new or revised policies for the Comp Plan, new or revised regulations for the Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO), and new or revised projects or partnerships with implementing City Departments; and
WHEREAS, CPA assessments are intended to provide opportunities to explore content from former Sector Development Plans and ensure that relevant content still supported by the community is adequately carried over into the new land use and zoning framework; and
WHEREAS, CPA assessments are intended to provide opportunities for communities that never had Sector Development Plans, or whose Sector Development Plans were out of date, to have regular opportunities to engage in long-range planning; and
WHEREAS, the Comp Plan directs the Planning Department to analyze the need for planning in each CPA to recommend to City Council the order of assessments based on objective data that can be compared across the 12 CPAs to determine which CPAs are experiencing high development pressure, have limited access to services, and have residents that may have limited access to resources and low indicators of wellbeing and opportunities for positive change; and
WHEREAS, in 2019 the Planning Department performed a needs analysis with data for all 12 CPAs from the American Community Survey (ACS) 2013-2017, as well as relevant data from City Departments, such as building permits, variances, buildings that have been substandard for a year or more, park locations, and transit stops/stations; and
WHEREAS, the City Council adopted R-20-27 to establish the order of CPA assessments based on the needs analysis and recommendations for adjustments from the Planning Department due to staffing and geographic considerations; and
WHEREAS, in Spring 2020 a public health emergency was declared in New Mexico that limited physical contact between people and limited the size of gatherings of people; and
WHEREAS, the public health emergency declaration fundamentally changed how the Community Planning Area (CPA) assessments could be conducted; and
WHEREAS, best practices for equitable outreach to people who may not typically engage in planning processes involves casual interactions about their priorities in places where people are already gathered, which was not safe or advisable during the pandemic; and
WHEREAS, not all members of the public have access to or are comfortable with online formats for engagement and information sharing; and
WHEREAS, the CPA assessment process is intended to be an open and inclusive public process; and
WHEREAS, City Council revised the original proposed start date for the CPA assessment from June 2020 to February 2021 in order to maximize social distancing in this public health emergency; and
WHEREAS, the Comp Plan establishes that the City Council makes the final determination of the order of the 12 CPA assessments; and
WHEREAS, the CPA assessment order is to be decided prior to the start of each CPA assessment cycle; and
WHEREAS, since 2020 the Planning Department, as with most employers nationwide, has had changes in staffing and challenges in hiring; and
WHEREAS, Planning staff piloted CPA assessments in 2021 and found that the proposed engagement schedule was too short to accommodate meaningful participation by Neighborhood Associations, community organizations, businesses, and other area stakeholders; and
WHEREAS, the CPA assessments require more time for feedback loops with stakeholders to learn together, generate creative solutions, test the feasibility and effectiveness of recommended actions, and ensure buy-in from affected stakeholders; and
WHEREAS, the CPA assessments require more time to coordinate across multiple City departments throughout public engagement efforts as well as to generate the action plans that result from the assessment process; and
WHEREAS, the Planning Department has contracted with a consultant to conduct the Central ABQ CPA assessment and intends to contract with a separate consultant to conduct the Southwest Mesa assessments in 2022; and
WHEREAS, the Planning Department is proposing to lengthen the schedule for each assessment, complete the first three assessments with the help of consultant teams in 2022 to establish the process for the remaining assessments, and conduct two assessments concurrently each year with Planning staff for the remaining 9 assessments.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL, THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE:
Section 1. RESCISSION. Rescind R-20-27 as adopted by the City Council.
Section 2. CPA ASSESSMENT ORDER. The City Council directs the Planning Department to conduct the Community Planning Area assessments in the following order based on the Priority Needs Analysis in Exhibit X:
Year One (2022)
1. Near Heights
2. Southwest Mesa
3. Central ABQ
Year Two (2023)
1. East Gateway
Year Three (2024)
1. West Mesa (March - December)
2. Northwest Mesa (March - December)
Year Four (2025)
1. I-25 (March - December)
2. Near North Valley (March - December)
Year Five (2026)
1. Foothills (March - December)
2. Mid Heights (March - December)
Year Six (2027)
1. North ABQ (March - December)
2. Mesa del Sol (March - December)
Section 3. COMP PLAN UPDATE. The City Council and the Planning Department will work together to prepare an update to the Comprehensive Plan in 2023 to reflect the changes to the CPA assessment cycle and other targeted updates.
Section 4. IDO UPDATE. The City Council directs the Planning Department to update the Integrated Development Ordinance Subsection 14-16-6-3(E)(1) and (6) to reflect the changes to the CPA assessment cycle in the 2022 IDO Annual Update.
Section 5. 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.
Section 6. COMPILATION. This resolution shall be incorporated in and made part of the Revised Resolutions of Albuquerque, NM, 1994.
Section 7. EFFECTIVE DATE. This Resolution shall take effect five days after publication by title and general summary.
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