Planning Process

The City of Albuquerque's planning process for capital improvements occurs over a two-year period, and the steps are mandated by the CIP Ordinance . Following is a brief summary of the planning steps.

Calendar of Steps

1. January 2006: As required by the CIP Ordinance, the Administration submitted legislation establishing policies and criteria to be applied to the selection of projects to be included in the 2007 G.O. Bond Program and 2007-2016 Decade Plan.
2. April 2006: The City Council approved policy and criteria (Resolution-06-21 ) for the 2007 G.O. Bond Program on April 3, 2006.
3. June 2006: Departments planned and submitted their capital project requests to the Capital Implementation Program for consideration.
4. July/August 2006: A diverse committee of City staff evaluated every project request against the criteria adopted in R-06-21. Each project was given a numeric score and all projects were ranked from high to low, based on their score.
5. September/November 2006: During this period the City's senior management reviewed departmental projects. Members of this committee included the Chief Administrative Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Public Safety Officer, and the Director of the Department of Municipal Development. The Director of Council Services, or her representative, participates in these deliberations as an ex officio member. This committee is charged with ensuring compliance with the criteria resolution, with bringing the program in line with available funding, and with making a recommendation to the Mayor.
6. December 2006 : The Mayor reviewed and approved the capital program submitted to the Environmental Planning Commission (EPC) for hearing on January 18, 2007. EPC is required to hold a public hearing, and they may make findings and recommendations to the Mayor. The Mayor, by law, may accept or reject recommendations from the EPC.
7. January through May 2007: The capital program was submitted to the City Council. The City Council is required to hold at least one public hearing. As the governing body of the City of Albuquerque, Council adopted the final program that will be put to the voters.
8. October 2, 2007: The voters will be asked, in the regularly scheduled municipal election, to consider for approval a number of general obligation bond questions.

9. Download this schedule in .PDF format

Summary of Planning Process

Capital Implementation Program

The Capital Implementation Program division of the Department of Municipal Development administers the process by which capital improvement projects are planned, selected and proposed for adoption by the City Council. The capital plan covers a ten-year period, and is reviewed and updated biennially. Under the guidelines promulgated by the Mayor and adopted by the City Council on April 3, 2006, city departments developed and extensively reviewed projects and programs to arrive at the 2007-2016 capital improvements program. The project proposals contained in this document describe the capital requirements for the City of Albuquerque to be funded with general obligation bonds. These projects represent the first two-year cycle of the current Decade Plan.

Selection of Projects

The general obligation bond projects summarized in this document have been through several stages of review and public comment including:

• Staff Review Committee
  
  Selected staff members rated all projects based on Council adopted criteria. Individual ratings were averaged to determine the overall rank of the projects. Members of the committee included staff from the Office of Management and Budget; the Planning Department; and the Capital Implementation Program. City departments made informal presentations to the staff review committee. Rated and ranked projects were forwarded to the CIP Review Committee.

• CIP Review Committee
  
  Ranked projects were evaluated by senior City management, including the Chief Administrative Officer; the Chief Financial, Operating and Public Safety Officers; the Director of the Department of Municipal Development and the Budget Officer. The Director of City Council Services or her representative participated as ex-officio members of the CIP committee. Funding recommendations were made to the Mayor by this committee.

• Environmental Planning Commission (EPC) Public Hearing
  
  EPC reviewed the Mayor’s proposed capital program at a public hearing on January 18, 2007. The commissioners found that the program conformed to the policies and criteria established by the City Council.

• Albuquerque City Council Review and Plan Adoption
  
  After receiving the findings from the EPC, the Major finalized his recommendations and forwarded the program to the City Council. By ordinance the Council must conduct at least one public hearing prior to adoption of the program that will be placed on the ballot.
  
  The City Council considered the 2007 capital program during two meetings of the Committee of the Whole, and amended and adopted the program at a regular meeting on March 5, 2007. Two public hearings were conducted, one during committee deliberation and one during final action.
  
  The City Council made additional amendments to the adopted capital program through the operating budget bill approved in late May 2007. These amendments have been incorporated into the 2007 General Obligation Bond Program.

• Approval by Voters
  
  Projects approved by the City Council for the general obligation bond election to be held on Tuesday, October 2, 2007 have been grouped into 10 ballot questions, which were approved by the City Council on June 18, 2007.
  
  If these ballot questions are approved by the voters, the City Council will make corresponding fund appropriations, approximately during the first quarter of 2008. At this time, implementing agencies throughout the City will begin to take action on the authorized capital improvement projects.
  
  The Capital Implementation Program has administrative responsibility for oversight and tracking of all capital expenditures and, as part of that responsibility, reports the status of projects to the City Council. The Division also has responsibility for implementation of a variety of capital projects, for selection of design contractors, for contract administration and for administration of the public art program and urban enhancement trust fund.

Download this summary of the planning process in .PDF format