The same project team that created the IDO worked to re-confirm the City's approach to growth and development that was first adopted in the Comprehensive Plan in 2001, known as the Centers & Corridors community vision. Throughout the update process, stakeholders made clear that they value the distinctness of Albuquerque's vibrant neighborhoods and unparalleled City parks, open space, and trails network.
A series of workshops in May and June 2015 confirmed that residents and stakeholders still think that directing growth to centers of activity connected by corridors that provide multiple ways to move around the city is preferable to sprawling growth at our edges. Goals and policies that encourage growth in Centers and Corridors and other locations prioritized for growth by City policy were strengthened in an update to the Comprehensive Plan. These are mapped in the updated Comprehensive Plan as Areas of Change.
At the same time, goals and policies were strengthened to protect other areas where growth is not desirable, such as neighborhoods, parks & open space, and special places. In these areas, new policies in the ABC Comprehensive Plan emphasize that any new development in these areas should match the scale and pattern of development in the built environment. The Areas of Change and Areas of Consistency map makes clear where these two different policy approaches apply.
Regulations in the IDO implement these policies by incentivizing development in Centers & Corridors. IDO regulations also set a higher bar for development standards to ensure high-quality, urban, walkable, and transit-oriented development in the areas designated in the Comprehensive Plan as appropriate for this type of development.
The IDO implements the Comp Plan policies for Areas of Consistency by protecting character in diverse neighborhoods with Character Protection Overlays and establishing city-wide protections for residential development through use-specific standards and development standards. The IDO includes protections for City parks and City-owned open space several ways:
- by establishing their own zone districts;
- adding use-specific standards for uses incompatible with open space;
- creating development standards for development next to Major Public Open Space;
- and requiring a more discretionary review process for large properties next to Major Public Open Space.
The ABC Comprehensive Plan is now on a regular update cycle, following assessments in each of the City's 12 Community Planning Areas. Each assessment will rely on robust input from stakeholders in each planning area. The completed assessments will capture trends and opportunities in each area and recommend policies, regulations, projects, and partnerships to accomplish community priorities. Community Planning Area (CPA) Assessments began in Spring 2021 following a year of designing the assessment process with input from each community.