Midtown plans face vote in council this week

Santa Fe’s governing body, the City Council, will consider the midtown master plan at 5 p.m. Wednesday. This vote is an opportunity to put the geographic center of Santa Fe as a future focus for generations to come.

The challenges to get to this point have been big and complex, but we are on the precipice of shaping a thriving new center for Santa Fe where our rich heritage and multicultural roots are reflected and a place where all of us are welcome to live, work, play, experience and learn. At the core of our process is the commitment to creating a place for people.

The midtown redevelopment plans include the master plan (land use) and the community development plan and are the culmination of a four-year— from 2018 to 2022 — planning effort led by city staff and an interdisciplinary consultant team.

They were shaped through involvement of community members, neighborhoods, nonprofits, landowners, business owners, city staff and other nongovernment partners.

Our collective vision of the policies and actions that will be implemented in the future were unanimously supported by the Santa Fe Planning Commission on Oct. 20, with a recommendation that the governing body approve the midtown master plan at the final hearing Wednesday.

The plan is focused on elements of sustainable development, which includes social equity, economic prosperity, culture and history, the environment and natural resources. The plans respond to direction given by the governing body in Resolution 2022-12, “Midtown Moving Forward.”

The midtown redevelopment plans, posted at MidtownDistrictSantaFe.org, are designed to achieve: over 1,000 units of market-rate and affordable housing; new enterprises and career opportunities; expanded film, TV and digital production facilities; spaces for performances, visual arts and other cultural events; an education hub with a state-of-the art central library and community center; multimodal transportation; recreation facilities and green spaces.

This master plan lays out land uses and an infrastructure framework to enable the type of development the community wants, and includes guidelines for infrastructure, connectivity/ transportation, density, open space, and building design.

The companion community development plan identifies community benefit expectations that will be delivered as development occurs. It is a policy-driven document to address housing choice and affordability, jobs and training opportunities, access to employment, community arts and cultural heritage.

I’m confident that the governing body, which set our development and community plan actions into motion, will endorse them as well. We are excited to use this momentum to get on with the redevelopment of a new city center for Santa Fe.

Please share your support of this journey to shape our future.

Rich Brown, the city’s director of community and economic development, supervises the planning, applications and midtown redevelopment site.

We are on the precipice of shaping a thriving new center for Santa Fe where our rich heritage and multicultural roots are reflected.