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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T

SPONSOR Ortiz y Pino

ORIGINAL DATE

LAST UPDATED

2/06/06

HB

SHORT TITLE

ALBUQUERQUE COMMUNITY-BASED

PLANNING

SB 643

ANALYST Hadwiger

APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)

Appropriation

Recurring

or Non-Rec

Fund

Affected

FY06

FY07

$100.0 Non-Recurring

General Fund

(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)

Duplicates,Relates to,Conflicts with, Companion to

Duplicates Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

Relates to Appropriation in the General Appropriation Act

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

LFC Files

Responses Received From

Department of Finance and Administration (DFA)

SUMMARY

Synopsis of Bill

Senate Bill 643 appropriates $100 thousand from the general fund to the Local Government Di-

vision (LGD) of the Department of Finance and Administration (DFA) in FY07 to support com-

munity-based planning initiatives in Albuquerque's north valley and downtown neighborhoods

for the study and design of traffic calming and neighborhood improvement projects, to be organ-

ized and conducted by the Design and Planning Assistance Center at the University of New

Mexico.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS

The appropriation of $100 thousand contained in this bill is a non-recurring expense to the gen-

eral fund. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining at the end of FY07 would revert

to the general fund.

Senate Bill 643 – Page 2

SIGNIFICANT ISSUES

DFA noted that traffic calming and other physical designs that are out of the ordinary often raise

fears among residents that they are inappropriate or out of scale for their neighborhoods. At the

same time, conventional street and intersection improvements often make even the mundane act

of crossing the street too dangerous for pedestrians, when traffic levels are too high and street

widths too wide. New types of traffic calming and other neighborhood improvement projects,

such as roundabouts, chicanes and bulbouts, would be better supported if citizens had a mean-

ingful opportunity to be involved in the planning process, along with planners and designers

skilled at both listening to citizens and designing clear solutions. The bill calls for the study and

design of traffic calming and neighborhood improvement projects. Funding would be transferred

to UNM's Design and Planning Assistance Center to do the work. The Center would be expected

to conduct planning workshops in Albuquerque's north valley and downtown neighborhoods to

achieve consensus on the types of traffic calming and other physical designs.

ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS

DFA indicated funds would be transferred through a joint powers agreement from DFA to UNM.

DH/nt:yr