Neighborhoods vs. housing crisis: Council to take another step towards sweeping residential zoning changes

Albuquerque city councilors will take another step this week towards enacting sweeping zoning changes that would allow grocery stores, duplexes and townhouses in single-family neighborhoods and reshape development rules for about 160,000 properties, a move supporters say could ease the housing shortage and critics say threatens long-established neighborhood character.

The proposal, part of the city’s 2025 Integrated Development Ordinance Biennial Update, goes before the Land Use Planning and Zoning Committee at 5 p.m. Wednesday. The package includes about 150 amendments that expand housing options in R-1 areas, allow small neighborhood-scale businesses and remove some parking requirements near transit.

The newly organized committee holds its first meeting of the year after hours of divided public comment at the Jan. 14 meeting, when residents split over how the changes could reshape established neighborhoods. The reconstituted five-member panel now includes Chair Brook Bassan, Dan Champine, Renée Grout, Nichole Rogers and Stephanie Telles, replacing the previous lineup led by former Chair Tammy Fiebelkorn.

Amendments approved at the last meeting would make duplexes and townhouses permissive uses in R-1 zones, allowing projects to move forward without public hearings. 

The committee voted 5-0 to keep the R-1 name rather than rename it R-L for Residential-Low Density, but the expanded housing rules stayed in place.

Other changes allow small grocery stores and restaurants up to 3,000 square feet in residential areas, expand where casitas can be built and remove parking minimums in urban centers and near transit. Some properties along major corridors would shift to higher-density zoning.

Strong Towns ABQ, a pro-density community group, submitted a letter with more than 50 signatures backing the update as a step toward housing affordability, according to Environmental Planning Commission minutes. The Westside Coalition of Neighborhood Associations called the process “flawed,” while neighborhood groups from Spruce Park, Mark Twain, Barelas and the North Valley raised concerns.

Mayor Tim Keller has pushed for higher density, saying the city needs about 20,000 new housing units, according to KOB. The committee needs three votes to send the proposal to the full City Council.