COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
JUNE 17, 2026, 3:00 PM
COUNCILORS’ CONFERENCE ROOM, CITY HALL
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO
1. CALL TO ORDER
A meeting of the Community Development Commission was called to order by
Councilor Alma Castro, Chair, at 3:01 pm, on June 17, 2026, in the Councilors’
Conference Room, City Hall, 200 Lincoln Avenue, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
2. ROLL CALL
MEMBERS PRESENT
Councilor Alma Castro, Chair
Commissioner Rosario Torres
Commissioner Ken Hughes
Commissioner Anne Watkins
Commissioner Garron Yepa
Commissioner Alissa Keny-Guyer
Commissioner Russell Brott, virtually
OTHERS PRESENT
Mayor Michael Garcia
Xavier Vigil, Assistant City Clerk
Heather Lamboy, Director, Land Use Department
Christina Browning, Deputy Director, Affordable Housing
Travis Dutton-Leyba, Chief Procurement Officer
JoAnn Lovato, Procurement Manager
Elizabeth Martin, Stenographer
3. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
MOTION A motion was made by Commissioner Torres, seconded by Commissioner
Keny-Guyer, to approve the agenda as presented.
VOTE The motion passed on a roll call vote as follows:
Commissioner Torres, yes; Commissioner Hughes, yes; Commissioner Watkins,
yes; Commissioner Yepa, yes; Commissioner Keny-Guyer, yes; Commissioner Brott,
yes; Chair Castro, yes.
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.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF THE MAY 20, 2026, COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES.
This item was postponed.
B. REQUEST FOR APPROVAL OF THE MAY 26, 2026, COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES.
This item was postponed.
5. DISCUSSION AGENDA
A. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION ADVISORY ROLE AND
ADDRESS GOALS AND OBJECTIVES FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Mayor Garcia said a copy of the Ordinance has been provided for folks. He is
available for any questions. We value your time and input and passion and are doing
all we can in incorporating that as we move forward. There has been some concern
expressed around what the role is of the Commission and what the Commission is
supposed to be doing and what the Commission wants to do. This is the black and
white document that you need to operate from. This committee is fully empowered to
do the work before them. A State law was created that requires municipalities to create
these commissions. That law was repealed. In essence, we do not have to have this
type of board. He is not saying that is the path we want to go, but it is not required.
There has to be something to allocate funds from the Housing Trust Board. This is
what is allowed. He knows some Commissioners want to do above and beyond, but
this is what is allowed.
Mayor Garcia said his hope is that by empowering the Commission we can
determine if this is still usable. Ultimately, this Commission is an advisory committee.
The Governing Body takes the advice of the Commission and moves forward. The
Governing Body can do something completely different if they wish. That is within the
purview of the Governing Body. He feels it has been implied by at least one
Commissioner that this body makes the decisions. It does not. The Governing Body
makes the decisions. We want to have a Commission that will ultimately move the work
forward for the citizens. Affordable housing is a priority of his administration. We are
exploring other options for funds as well. We need to all work together for a common
goal for the citizens of Santa Fe. We want to make sure we are valuing your time.
There was discussion around making suggestions regarding the Ordinance, the
General Plan for the City, the MPO and where housing planning fits in.
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Ms. Lamboy said we work in lock step with the MPO. We make presentations to
them and get feedback from all the different departments. The wording you are seeing
has to do with the economic development component, not all components of the
general plan. We have been soliciting feedback.
Commissioner Keny-Guyer said she feels strongly that it is very clear that you
make the decisions. To date, they have taken all of our recommendations. She hopes
the Governing Body knows how much work we put into the RFPs. CDBG and the
Affordable Housing Trust Fund are the things we focus on. She thinks the community
thinks we should do more on the Santa Fe Homes Program.
The members introduced themselves, sharing their areas of expertise.
Mayor Garcia said do not hesitate to reach out to him if you have any questions.
B. CONSIDERATION OF BILL NO. 2026-11. ADOPTION OF ORDINANCE
NO. 2026-_____. A BILL RELATING TO THE SANTA FE HOMES
PROGRAM AND REQUIREMENTS FOR RENTAL UNITS; AMENDING
SECTION 26-1.22 TO MAKE CERTAIN TECHNICAL CHANGES, TO
CLARIFY THE CALCULATION OF FEES PAID IN LIEU OF PROVIDING
ON-SITE AFFORDABLE UNITS, TO AMEND THE FEE-IN-LIEU
CALCULATION TO USE THIRTY PERCENT OF THE AREA MEDIAN
INCOME INSTEAD OF SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT WHEN DETERMINING
BASE FEE AMOUNT.
Chair Castro presented Bill No. 2026-11.
Commissioner Keny-Guyer said she understands by lowering the amount of area
median income, the fee in lieu of would be more and bring in more money. She is a
strong supporter of inclusionary zoning and thinks it is important that we have mixed
income neighborhoods. She has been disappointed that because it has been so low,
almost every development has used fee in lieu of. What is on the incentive side. A
State law was passed that gave more incentives to developers such as waiving fees.
She is all for raising the fee in lieu of costs. A goal of having more mixed income
neighborhoods is critical, but has to be balanced with incentives so we do not lose
developers.
Mayor Garcia said this is the short term beginning of a process of us updating
the Santa Fe Homes Program. The entire Governing Body wants to work on the Santa
Fe Homes Program. There have to be actions taken now. This starts the process. We
are going to work to update this.
Ms. Lamboy said Phase One of working on Chapter 14 was about
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reorganization. We did accomplish some tasks which included incorporating affordable
housing incentives.
Ms. Lamboy gave a PowerPoint presentation including incentives provided to
developers.
Commissioner Brott asked for more information about the analysis done to arrive
at this proposal. It seemed arbitrary when he reviewed it.
Mayor Garcia said he the person who made the decision. On average it costs
$100,000 to develop a unit. That comes from developers. The fee is $1,000. If this
passes, it raises the fee by $7,000. If developers tell him that will cause a development
not to happen we do not need that developer. When we tried to eliminate the fee in lieu
of on the Midtown Campus that was the consistent number being thrown around.
Eliminating the fee in lieu of on the campus was not done and thought to be not feasible
for the development community. Homewise came out against the fee in lieu of on the
Midtown Campus. Homewise is now putting forth a proposal that would have done the
same thing as his proposal 3 years ago. They are asking us to donate land. His priority
is to look out for the residents of Santa Fe. If raising the developer cost per unit by
$7,000 is going to be a deal breaker then we have a much bigger problem on our
hands.
There was continued discussion regarding alternatives in raising funds for the
Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Trust Fund loans rather than grants, maintenance of
what the City already has, keeping people housed, keeping the affordable units
affordable for a longer time, expanding bus rides to the weekend with micro transit,
building systems into the current government, quality of life issues and evaluation, the
success or lack of success of fee in lieu of, a phased approach to raising the fee, rental
rates in Santa Fe, amount of new units brought on board, and adjusting the fee for
inflation.
6. MATTERS FROM STAFF
A. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT MEMBER TRAINING
Mr. Vigil gave a review of how agendas and packets can be accessed on line
and the public portal. He reviewed the use of Civic Plus access, including how to
access attachments and download them.
B. REVIEW OF REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS AND PROCUREMENT LAW
Mr. Dutton-Leyda stated regarding this process, you cannot communicate
directly with the applicants. It has to be done collectively. Mr. Dutton-Leyda reviewed
the process of the RFP and assigning points to different criteria based on what the
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Commission finds important.
Ms. Lovato said we have had to cancel the affordable housing RFP due to issues
and will not move forward with the awards recommended. Please review the RFP,
which will be reissued, and ensure that everyone who is interviewed is asked the same
questions. It has to be fair across the board. The CDBG RFP is out. Now is your
chance to comment on that.
Chair Castro said the process was invalidated because we broke Executive
Session. That gives us an opportunity to look at the RFP and clarify what we want to
standardize and what we want.
Ms. Lamboy said it is important to make sure we do this right. The procurement
process is the responsibility of government. It has to be done with proper procedures
and ethics.
C. COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT FUND REQUEST FOR
PROPOSAL TIMELINE.
Ms. Lovato showed the Commission how to access Open Gov in real time.
7. MATTERS FROM THE COMMITTEE
There was discussion about focusing on the RFP so the scoring can be done
uniformly and fairly.
Ms. Browning said there are things in place that we need to adhere to.
8. MATTERS FROM THE CHAIR
Chair Castro said we will be holding a Homeless Summit on June 29th, The
Governing Body will be having a study session on homelessness on July 1st.
9. NEXT MEETING: WEDNESDAY, JULY 15, 2026
10. ADJOURN
There being no further business before the Commission, the meeting
adjourned at 4:58 pm.
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__________________________________
Councilor Alma Castro, Chair
__________________________________
Elizabeth Martin, Stenographer
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