Current Zoning of this Location and NM Law
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Proposed location is not zoned for this type of facility
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AES submitted their “Conditional Use Permit” application to Santa Fe County on January 26, 2023, which is an application asking the county to allow this type of permit (Conditional Use), in order to build this facility.
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Santa Fe County NM has no regulations/guidelines specific to Large Scale/Industrial Solar Plants on agricultural lands, as opposed to using land already zoned for industrial use.
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The San Marcos Association wrote a letter to the Santa Fe County Commissioners on January 9, 2023, requesting the commissioners to consider modification of the Sustainable Land Development Code to designate Utility Scale Renewable Energy Projects as a Development of Countywide Impact (DCI).​
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As of now, the county has chosen to not consider Utility Scale Renewable Energy projects as DCI's.
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Therefore, a MORATORIUM should be enacted, to halt further consideration of ANY utility scale renewable project application, until specific guidelines, regulations, and oversite are in place.
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“SMA feels that Utility-Scale Renewable Energy Projects should be designated as DCIs, with attendant changes to the SLDC, for several reasons. An important one is the sheer scale of these projects. Utility-scale renewable installations occupy, and impact far more extensive acreages than do traditional power plants. With footprints on the order of hundreds of acres; renewable energy installations can be far larger than many residential developments. Projects of such size will have long-lasting impacts on the landscape – including affecting surface water flow patterns and reducing the space available for wildlife.” -San Marcos Association
Support New Mexico in transitioning to clean energy, while avoiding unnecessary risks to our communities and further destruction to our environment.