IDO amendments hearing
North Valley Coalition
Thanks to Near North Valley Neighborhood Association for the following information. I will not be speaking on behalf of the North Valley Coalition. It is an impossible task to educate the board on this many amendments and arrange for a vote.
2025 IDO Update—public hearing on Tuesday. . .
The first public hearing on the roughly 150 proposed changes to the City’s zoning code—the “IDO”—is this Tuesday, October 28, before the City’s Environmental Planning Commission. The EPC hearing starts at 8:40 am and will be held via Zoom. You can find the agenda, Zoom link, staff report, and public comments here: https://www.cabq.gov/planning/boards-commissions/environmental-planning-commission/epc-agendas-reports-minutes.
There are full details about the proposed amendments here: https://abq-zone.com/ido-updates-2025. We encourage you to watch the video from the Planning Department’s October 6 presentation/Q&A. (Apparently, a video is not available for last week’s presentation/Q&A.) Go to https://abq-zone.com/ido-updates-2025, scroll down to “Public Review Presentation,” then to “Post-submittal Presentation – Key Changes,” and then click on “Video.”
Among the numerous proposals, there are proposals to do the following: increase allowable densities, e.g., by allowing duplexes, townhomes, and apartments in single-family areas, increase allowable heights, and in some zones, allow commercial uses in residential areas; allow bigger and taller Accessory Dwelling Units (mother-in-law quarters), allow ADUs to be attached, and eliminate the requirement for one off-street parking space per ADU; allow small (5000 square feet or less) grocery stores and restaurants on corners within residential zones; reduce parking requirements; and, make small (10 beds or fewer) shelters permissive in certain mixed-use and non-residential zones.
There are three competing sets of proposed amendments to the City’s Safe Outdoor Space ordinance—a set from Mayor Tim Keller, a set from Councilor Nichole Rogers, and a set from Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn. These proposed changes are intended to make it easier for non-profits and others to establish SOSs, sanctioned places for people living in tents or vehicles. The changes are more modest in scope than those in proposed Ordinance O-25-90 which failed to pass City Council’s Land Use Planning and Zoning Committee (LUPZ) back in August.
§ SOSs are temporary uses currently allowed for two years plus a two-year extension followed by a six-month break.
§ The current regulations require SOSs to have plumbed toilets and hand-washing stations within two years after initial permitting. Proposed amendments keep the requirement for toilets and hand-washing stations but remove the requirement that they be plumbed.
§ The current regulations require 24/7 on site support for all SOSs. Proposed amendments remove that requirement and create a two-tiered approach: for SOSs with 20 or fewer spaces, a Monday through Friday, 8 am to 5 pm on-call maintenance person is required, and for SOSs with more than 20 spaces, 24/7 on-call support is required.
§ There is no requirement in the current regulations or in any of the proposed amendments for potable (drinking) water.
After Tuesday’s hearing, there will be other opportunities to weigh in on the proposed IDO amendments. Planner Mikaela Renz-Whitmore says Planning staff have recommended to the EPC that it hold a second hearing on Thursday, November 20. Based on prior experience, this second hearing seems likely, but the commissioners also are likely to use the second hearing just for discussion and not take any oral comment. You will be able to submit written comment, however—the deadline is 9 am, Wednesday, November 5. “48-Hour” written comments to the EPC are still allowed, i.e., final written comments are allowed 48 hours prior to any EPC hearing, but according to Mikaela, under new rules adopted by commissioners, “48-hour” comments need to be limited to “simple statements of support or opposition.” The 48-hour deadline for Tuesday’s hearing is 9 am, Sunday, October 26. After the EPC review is finished, there will be public hearings before LUPZ and City Council.
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