Chapter 3 — Chapter 3

A. A municipality may, within its boundary: (1) regulate the speed of diesel electric locomotives; (2) license and regulate the laying of railroad tracks; (3) provide for and change the location, grade and crossing of any railroad; (4) regulate and prohibit the use of steam engin…

failure to comply; municipality to perform work; lien; interest. A. By general ordinance, a municipality may require the owner, agent or occupant of a building on an isolated tract having facilities available or on land adjoining a street: (1) where sewer pipe is laid, to install…

A municipality may provide for the inspection and regulation of steam boilers. History: 1953 Comp., § 14-17-19, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300.

A municipality may: A. regulate, tax or license secondhand dealers and junk store dealers or any person who accepts used merchandise for value; B. prohibit their purchasing any article from a minor without the written consent of the parent or guardian; and C. require that a recor…

A. For the purpose of Sections 3-27-1 and 3-49-1 NMSA 1978, a municipality may: (1) open, construct, repair, keep in order and maintain water mains, laterals, reservoirs, standpipes, sewers and drains; and (2) assess and collect as other assessments and collections are made the a…

A municipality may establish, license, regulate and fix the tolls of all toll bridges and ferries. History: 1953 Comp., § 14-17-22, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300.

A municipality may, by ordinance, regulate the planting, transplanting, growing, trimming, pruning, preservation and protection of trees, shrubs and vines or create a commission for the purpose of such regulation. History: 1953 Comp., § 14-17-23, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300.

A municipality may enter into contracts with private insurance companies to establish a retirement system for its employees. History: 1953 Comp., § 14-17-24, enacted by Laws 1971, ch. 71, § 1.

The governing body of any municipality, pursuant to the federal Foreign-Trade Zones Act, as may be amended from time to time, and regulations adopted pursuant thereto, may: A. with the prior written approval of the board of economic development, apply for and accept a grant of au…

A. A municipality may: (1) prohibit cruelty to animals; (2) regulate, restrain and prohibit the running at large of any animal within the boundary of the municipality; and (3) provide by ordinance for the impounding and disposition of animals found running at large. Prior to the …

cost assessment. A. Each municipality with a population over one hundred thousand which is located in a metropolitan court district may impose by ordinance an administrative cost assessment of one dollar ($1.00) for each parking citation issued pursuant to municipal ordinance. B.…

The governing body of the municipality may provide, by ordinance, for the monitoring and inspection of gasoline sales through pumps of service stations located within the territorial boundaries of the municipality in order to monitor the sale of gasoline within its municipality. …

collectors. A. A county or municipality shall not restrict the installation of a solar collector as defined pursuant to the Solar Rights Act [47-3-1 to 47-3-5 NMSA 1978], except that placement of solar collectors in historic districts may be regulated or restricted by a county or…

A municipality may construct, purchase, rehabilitate, care for and adopt rules and regulations for the management of public buildings. History: 1953 Comp., § 14-17-3, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300.

municipality to remove; lien. A. Whenever any building or structure is ruined, damaged and dilapidated, or any premise is covered with ruins, rubbish, wreckage or debris, the governing body of a municipality may by resolution find that the ruined, damaged and dilapidated building…

zones. A. Within its planning and platting jurisdiction, a municipality may by ordinance: (1) prescribe standards for constructing and altering buildings; (2) prescribe the distance a building may be built from the street line; (3) regulate the construction of partition fences an…

mudslide hazard areas; flood plain permits; land use control; jurisdiction; agreement. A. For the purpose of minimizing or eliminating damage from floods or mudslides in federal emergency management agency and locally designated flood-prone areas and for the purpose of promoting …

A municipality may: A. cause any cemetery to be removed; B. prohibit the establishment of a cemetery within one mile of the municipal boundary; and C. regulate cemeteries within the planning and platting jurisdiction of the municipality. History: 1953 Comp., § 14-17-6, enacted by…

A. A municipality may provide for the taking of a census within the municipal boundary but no census shall be taken by the municipality more than once between the years prescribed by law for the census to be taken by the United States of America. B. Any census taken under the aut…

A municipality is a planning authority and may, by ordinance: A. establish a planning commission; B. delegate to the planning commission: (1) the power, authority, jurisdiction and duty to enforce and carry out the provisions of law relating to planning, platting and zoning; and …

A. The planning commission may adopt: (1) the master plan by a single resolution; or (2) part of the master plan as work progresses on the master plan; provided the part corresponds with one of the functional subdivisions of the subject matter of the plan. Before adoption of the …

A. After a master plan or any part thereof has been approved and within the area of the master plan or any part thereof so approved, the approval of the planning commission is necessary to construct, authorize, accept, widen, narrow, remove, extend, relocate, vacate, abandon, acq…

Every plat approved by the planning authority is an amendment, addition or a detail of the master plan or any part thereof adopted by the planning commission. History: 1953 Comp., § 14-18-12, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300.

A. A planning commission shall consist of not less than five members who shall be appointed by the mayor with the consent of the governing body of the municipality. Administrative officials of the municipality may be appointed as ex-officio, nonvoting members of the planning comm…

A planning commission shall: A. elect one of its members chairman for a one-year term; B. create and fill other offices; C. hold at least one regular meeting each month; D. adopt rules for the transaction of business; and E. keep a public record of its transactions, findings, res…

A. A planning commission shall have such powers as are necessary to: (1) fulfill and perform its functions; (2) promote municipal planning; and (3) carry out the purposes of Sections 3-19-1 through 3-19-12 NMSA 1978. B. A planning commission may: (1) make reports and recommendati…

A. Each municipality shall have planning and platting jurisdiction within its municipal boundary. Except as provided in Subsection B of this section, the planning and platting jurisdiction of a municipality: (1) having a population of twenty-five thousand or more persons includes…

A. The planning authority of a municipality shall adopt regulations governing the subdivision of land within the planning and platting jurisdiction of the municipality. The subdivision regulations shall be approved by the governing body before they become effective. The subdivisi…

A. A planning commission which has adopted a master plan or a major street plan may: (1) survey for the exact location of the lines of new, extended, widened or narrowed streets within the municipality or its planning and platting jurisdiction; and (2) certify to the governing bo…

Any person in interest dissatisfied with an order or determination of the planning commission, after review of the order or determination by the governing body of the municipality, may commence an appeal in the district court pursuant to the provisions of Section 39-3-1.1 NMSA 19…

A. The planning commission shall prepare and adopt a master plan for the physical development of the municipality and the area within the planning and platting jurisdiction of the municipality which in the planning commission's judgment bears a relationship to the planning of the…

A. "Subdivide" or "subdivision" for the purpose of approval by a municipal planning authority means: (1) for the area of land within the corporate boundaries of the municipality, the division of land into two or more parts by platting or by metes and bounds description into tract…

When a plat is submitted for filing in the office of the county clerk, the county clerk shall determine if the proposed subdivision is subject to the provisions of Sections 3-20- 1 through 3-20-15 NMSA 1978 and if the required endorsements are on the plat. A county clerk shall no…

The endorsement and filing of a plat is a dedication of the land designated on the plat for public use. Such land is public property. Fee vests in the municipality if the dedicated land lies within the boundaries of a municipality. History: 1953 Comp., § 14-19-10, enacted by Laws…

government having jurisdiction; duties of county clerk. A. Any plat filed in the office of the county clerk may be vacated or a portion of the plat may be vacated provided: (1) the owners of the land in the territory proposed to be vacated sign a statement, duly acknowledged, dec…

The rights of any utility already existing shall not be affected by any vacation or partial vacation of a plat. History: 1953 Comp., § 14-19-12, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300.

Any owner, or agent of the owner, of any land located within the platting jurisdiction of the planning commission of any municipality who transfers, sells, agrees to sell, or negotiates to sell the land by reference to or exhibition of or by other use of a plat or subdivision of …

Until a plat has been approved by the planning authority, any official of a municipality or public utility company who shall serve or connect the land within the subdivision and within the planning and platting jurisdiction of a municipality with any public utility such as water,…

All instruments conveying real property which were voided solely under the provisions of Laws 1965, Chapter 300, Section 14-19-13 [3-20-14 NMSA 1978], are validated. After the effective date of this section, no court of this state has jurisdiction to entertain any question based …

Every person who desires to subdivide land shall furnish a plat of the proposed subdivision, prepared by a registered, licensed surveyor of New Mexico; except that the resubdivision of platted tracts, which are less than one acre and which are contiguous with each other, for the …

Every plat shall contain a statement that the subdivision of, [(]insert a correct description of the land being subdivided[)], appearing on the plat is with the free consent and in accordance with the desire of the undersigned owner and proprietor of the land and shall be acknowl…

Streets and alleys in any subdivision adjoining a municipality shall be continuous with and correspond in direction and width to the streets and alleys of the municipality. History: 1953 Comp., § 14-19-4, enacted by Laws 1965, ch. 300.

concurrent jurisdiction; acceptance of unapproved streets; exercise of jurisdiction. A. For the purpose of approving the subdivision and platting of land: (1) the jurisdiction of a county includes all territory not within the boundary of a municipality; (2) except as provided in …

commission. Before a plat of any subdivision within the jurisdiction of a county is filed in the office of the county clerk, the plat shall be approved by the board of county commissioners of the county wherein the proposed subdivision lies. The board of county commissioners shal…

approval of the planning authority; procedure; filing fee; notice of hearing. A. Before a plat of any subdivision within the jurisdiction of a municipality is filed in the office of the county clerk, the plat shall be submitted to the planning authority of the municipality having…

A. The filing of a survey certified by any licensed, registered surveyor which contains a description of the subdivided land with ties to permanent monuments satisfies the requirements of Section 3-20-7 NMSA 1978. B. In lieu of the requirements of Section 3-20-7 NMSA 1978, the fo…

municipality; dual approval. Any person seeking the approval of a plat of a subdivision within the platting jurisdiction of both a county and municipality shall secure an endorsement of approval from both the board of county commissioners and the planning authority of the municip…

from which irrigation water rights have been severed. A. Before approving the final plat for a subdivision of land from which irrigation water rights appurtenant to the land have been severed, the appropriate approval authority shall require that the subdivider provide proof of a…

A. For the purpose of promoting health, safety, morals or the general welfare, a county or municipality is a zoning authority and may regulate and restrict within its jurisdiction the: (1) height, number of stories and size of buildings and other structures; (2) percentage of a l…

A. Sections 3-21-1 through 3-21-14 NMSA 1978, and any ordinance adopted pursuant to these sections, shall be enforced, by the zoning authority having jurisdiction, as municipal ordinances are enforced. B. In addition, if any building or structure is erected, constructed, reconstr…