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City of Rio Rancho: 50-Foot-Lot Study, City of Rio Rancho, NM, 1998-99
In 1998 TEC was awarded a contract to address a complicated land-use problem within the City of Rio Rancho, specifically regarding what should be done with over 1700 50-foot-wide platted lots that violated the city zoning requirements for lot width. The City of Rio Rancho was caught between established neighborhoods demanding that housing (mobile homes) be kept off the lots in accordance with the zoning ordinance and owners of the lots who were suing the city for the right to use their properties.
TEC organized an interdisciplinary team of attorneys, planners, and transportation professionals to address the problem by
- Developing a detailed GIS database on lot ownership, existing development, potential land use, and relationship of streets, utilities, and
neighborhoods
- Investigating the legal opportunities and constraints, including New Mexico's laws and precedents from other
states
- Implementing a thorough public involvement program to communicate with the community and property owners, who were dispersed across the country.
The solution in TEC's final implementation plan hinged on the discovery that
- 85 percent of the 50-foot lots were owned by single individuals in groups of two or more lots
- legal precedents existed for a "lot merger" ordinance requiring owners of adjacent lots to consolidate them.
For the remaining 15 percent of single-ownership lots, a variety of strategies and incentives were developed ranging from outright purchase of the lots by the city to variances allowing use of the lots with stipulated design guidelines.
Following the submittal of TEC's final plan, the City of Rio Rancho adopted the state's first lot merger ordinance. The city is now in the process of implementing other recommended strategies.
TEC's Rio Rancho: 50-Foot-Lot Study was awarded the New Mexico Chapter of the American Planning Association's 1999 Award for Excellence for Innovation in Land Use Planning and was also the subject of the 2000 Feature Article of the Year in the professional journal Western Planner.
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