Albuquerque and Bernalillo County’s land-use policies are a hodge-podge of ordinances that differ from block to block, making it difficult for developers to plan projects – or even for homeowners to know what renovation projects are permitted. But all that is about to change.

Launched this past February, ABC to Z is an ambitious two-year project to update the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Comprehensive Plan and to integrate and simplify the city’s zoning and subdivision regulations to implement the resulting plan. 

Key goals of the project are to improve opportunities for economic development and job creation, improve protection for the city’s established neighborhoods, streamline the city’s development review and approval procedures, and respond to long-standing water and traffic challenges by promoting more sustainable development.

In May, the project published a draft from Clarion Associates, LLC titled “Albuquerque ABC-Z Land Regulation Diagnosis, Best Practices and Annotated Outline” which fully outlines the project’s challenges and goals.

The ABC-Z project is currently conducting focus groups and surveys to analyze the wants and needs of our community. Early results show that residents want denser neighborhoods with more retail and office space located beneath apartments and more multifamily, urban housing.

The project will hold four workshop-style meetings in the past few weeks. For anyone that did not attend those meetings, the project asks residents to provide feedback through their online Zoning Diagnosis Survey.

Because zoning is critical to real estate and development, we will keep you updated on the progress of this critical plan, including the dates of upcoming events. If you would like to learn more about ABC-Z, you can go to the abc-zone.com website to sign up directly with them to receive updates or to get involved through future workshops and meetings.