7.35.2.8 (A)(10) · "conditional use permits where applicable"
Conditional and special use permits
A conditional use is one the zoning code allows in a district only after a review and a decision, usually with a public hearing, rather than by right. The rule asks for "conditional use permits where applicable (e.g., city of Albuquerque raw food permit)" and defines neither term. This page states what a conditional use permit is in Santa Fe County and its equivalent, the special use permit, in the City of Santa Fe: who decides, on what criteria, and how long it takes. The Albuquerque example is taken up at the end.
Sources read September 7, 2026. 7.35.2.8 (A)(10), p. 4
Santa Fe County: the conditional use permit
WHENWhen Appendix B marks the use C for the district: "permitted within the zoning district only after review and approval of a Conditional Use Permit in accordance with Chapter 4." Chapter 8, Table 8-4. The county describes the permit as authorization "to use their land or property in a manner that is not typically allowed by the exciting zoning regulation," for "certain conditional uses as set forth in the Use Matrix and elsewhere in the SLDC." County CUP page
WHO DECIDESThe Planning Commission "is authorized to hold public hearings and take final action and issue development orders regarding applications for variances and conditional use permits," after referral to the Hearing Officer and Planning Commission "for the holding of a quasi-judicial public hearing." SLDC Chapter 4; decision-making bodies
NO RIGHT"Only those uses that are enumerated as conditional uses in a zoning district, as set forth in the use matrix, may be authorized by the Planning Commission," and "no inherent right exists to receive a CUP." Same source.
CRITERIAA CUP may be approved only on a determination that the use will not be detrimental to the health, safety, and general welfare of the area; tend to create congestion in roads; create a potential hazard for fire, panic, or other danger; tend to overcrowd land and cause undue concentration of population; interfere with adequate provisions for schools, parks, water, sewerage, transportation, or other public requirements; interfere with adequate light and air; or be inconsistent with the purposes of the property's zoning classification. Same source.
PROCESSA complete application, a recommendation of the Administrator or the Hearing Officer, review by the Planning Commission for compliance with the code, a public hearing, then final action, a recommendation, or other action. Table 4-1 of Chapter 4 sets the procedural requirements. The County Planning Commission meets monthly. County Planning Commission. No timeline is stated on the pages read; the county's fee ordinance sets the application fee and is not readable in the copy posted. Confirm both with Growth Management, 505-986-6225.
City of Santa Fe: the special use permit
WHENWhen Table 14-6.1-1 allows the use in the district "only as accessory uses or through the approval of a special use permit." A use the table does not list at all is prohibited unless the Land Use Director places it in an existing category, so for a use the code does not name the determination comes first and the special use permit second, if the category the director picks requires one. Permitted uses
WHO DECIDESThe Board of Adjustment "meets as needed on the first Tuesday of the month to review and decide appeals of final actions of the Land Use Director, requests for special use permits, and variances." Section 14-3.6 of the code is the special use permit procedure. Commissions and boards; Chapter 14
BEFOREPre-application meetings are held on alternating Thursday mornings and are "required at least 15 days before certain applications are submitted," by request form to planning@santafenm.gov. Current Planning; request form. The fee schedule prices pre-application meetings at $150 with one or two subject matter experts and $500 with more. Fee schedule
CANNABISFor the nearest listed use, a cannabis producer in C-2 or BIP needs a special use permit, and any hydroponic or aquaponic production needs one in every district. PLUD-18
The rule's example: Albuquerque's "raw food permit"
The rule's one example of a conditional use permit is the "city of Albuquerque raw food permit." The phrase came from the Propagation Committee's framework outline, where it sat under "Conditional use permits where applicable." Framework outline. Albuquerque's Environmental Health Department administers food permits, not zoning; the permits named on its pages as read include a Raw Produce Vending Permit and food permits for cannabis establishments that manufacture or sell edible products. No permit called a raw food permit appears on those pages. Raw Produce Vending Permit; Cannabis regulations. The framework's own food-handling section says why the example is there: "any conversion of raw material into ingestible or prepared products subject to food safety oversight" and "no exemption from standard food safety requirements." Read that way, the item asks for whatever local health or food-safety permit the jurisdiction requires of a facility that dries, powders, and packages product for ingestion, if the jurisdiction requires one. Which permit Albuquerque requires of a psilocybin producer is a question for that department; it is recorded here as open.
Other jurisdictions
Not yet written. Bernalillo County and the City of Albuquerque are next.