IDO offers positive transparency

ABQ ordinance a great help in ‘turning City Hall inside out’

Saturday marked one year since the Albuquerque City Council adopted the Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO), with which the city replaced its 1970s-era zoning code with new standards for high-quality development in Albuquerque. The city also began a new era of transparency in land-use decisions, ensuring more openness and communication than with the prior opaque system.

The IDO requires developers to reach out to recognized neighborhood associations early in the design process before the city will accept a development application. The IDO also requires more public notice once an application is received so that neighborhood associations and nearby property owners can participate in the city’s review of development proposals. These significant improvements were a big win for the city’s 275-plus neighborhood associations. Neighborhood advocates successfully made the case that their involvement throughout the decision-making process leads to better development outcomes for everyone, and for Albuquerque generally.

The IDO also improved the process for the development community to properly comply with standards and receive timely approvals. Conflicts among the old zoning regulations were resolved and organized into one document, with a companion online map showing special development restrictions to protect unique and diverse neighborhoods. For the first time in decades, the city can say with confidence what’s required on a particular property given the surrounding context. This predictability reduces risk in the development process and encourages positive investments while strengthening protections for neighborhoods.

The IDO establishes higher development standards, greater certainty and less arbitrary discretion by decisionmakers. The IDO takes protections from the adopted sector plans and extends them to apply citywide, requiring higher-quality development in the half of the city that never had a sector plan. Neighbors spend more time talking to developers up front, before all the design decisions are made, and developers get answers from the city more quickly. Our cherished open spaces receive better protections.

The IDO was a significant technical and legal feat, representing a huge improvement over Albuquerque’s 40-year-old zoning standards. But the most significant achievement was the initial and continuing coordination and engagement of the administration, City Council, neighbors and developers.

The adoption process was transparent. Between February 2015 and August 2017, the city held more than 50 public meetings and 10 public hearings, presented to 145 stakeholder groups, and met with individuals and groups more than 120 times. Since adoption, staff continues to provide dozens of training sessions on the new system to all stakeholders. The level of thoughtful dialogue and engagement has been unprecedented and is to be commended.

For all its positive elements and transparency, the IDO did not solve every significant and long-standing issue involving the mismatch of land use and zoning. To address this, the IDO established a free one-year process to help property owners opt in for a conversion to a new IDO zone that better matches how they are using their property, accessible at www.cabq.gov/planning.

Improving our city and its government is a work in process. Mayor Tim Keller speaks frequently of “turning City Hall inside out” to increase neighbors’ involvement in local government decisions. On this first anniversary of the IDO, we want to acknowledge and celebrate the new tool the city has to improve the transparency of zoning standards and development decisions. The IDO grants more access to neighbors much earlier in the development process, and it gives developers more predictable standards and decision processes. Where changes are needed, they can be achieved in a spirit of transparency and cooperation through the annual update process, avoiding the confrontations of the past. Turning City Hall inside out is more than a slogan — with IDO, it’s the law.