Rio Rancho Governing Body Will Review Area Plans

Rio Rancho Governing Body members have decided to host work sessions review city area plans and any recommended changes.
They reached that consensus after a presentation by Councilor Chuck Wilkins at their meeting Wednesday at City Hall.
Rio Rancho has 13 area plans that give specifics as to land use, access management (meaning roads) and facility design standards for certain parts of the city.
Wilkins said strict design standards in area plans make lessened regulation in the zoning ordinance symbolic instead of practical.
Everywhere likely to develop in the next 10 or 20 years has an area plan, he said.
“Planning is essential for our city, but we can do it more efficiently with less confusion,” Wilkins said.
Land use and access management guidelines are good, he said, but stricter standards aren’t. Even some access management rules need fixing, Wilkins said.
The city has a lot of plans for developers to figure out before they can start work, he said, and having two sets of rules can lead to misinterpretation.
Wilkins proposes to fix or remove design standards in most area plans. He’d prefer to move land use and access management guidelines to the city comprehensive plan and get rid of most, though not all, area plans.
He said the zoning ordinance should set design standards.
“I don’t think the whole city should look like Loma Colorado or Cabezon,” he said. “Some areas need to, and there’s nothing wrong with them, but there’s people that don’t like that.”
Repealing area plans would allow Rio Rancho to get ahead of Albuquerque and be more business-friendly, he said.
Wilkins proposed reviewing one area plan a month, starting after the election in March.
NAIOP Commercial Real Estate Development Association New Mexico Chapter President Lynne Andersen asked the governing body not to follow in Albuquerque’s footsteps. Some sites there have up to seven sector plans, akin to Rio Rancho’s area plans, overlapping, she said.
“It is total confusion,” Andersen said. “It is frustrating.”
Such arrangements are a way to stop growth, she continued. Rio Rancho only has 13 area plans, Andersen said, but the second layer of regulations makes development harder.
“I would just like you to look at these very closely because they do create a hurdle to economic development,” she said.
Mayor Tom Swisstack said the city must be doing something right since it has received recognition from top journals as one of the best places to live in the nation. He suggested holding work sessions to lay out a baseline of concerns so the governing body didn’t have to handle every line.
Councilor Tamara Gutierrez said she agreed with holding a work session, but hadn’t agreed with getting rid of area plans. Some plans were created with input from area residents, she added.
Gutierrez said she wanted the business community involved.
“We’re not trying to make that investment outrageous for them,” she said.
Area plans aim to protect someone doing quality development from someone who isn’t, she continued.
The governing body agreed to accept Swisstack’s suggestion.
They didn’t decide on the composition of the group to be involved in the work sessions.
By: Argen Duncan (Rio Rancho Observer)
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