North Valley Area Plan Update: Steering Committee Application

The North Valley is a unique and cherished part of Bernalillo County. The North Valley Area Plan (NVAP), adopted in 1993, seeks to protect and enhance the unique qualities of the valley while simultaneously enriching the metropolitan area. The key goal of the 1993 North Valley Area Plan was to preserve and enhance the environmental quality of the North Valley Area by:

• maintaining the rural flavor of the North Valley.
• controlling growth and maintaining low-density development; and
• providing a variety of housing opportunities and lifestyles, including differing socioeconomic types.

Over the past thirty years, many things have changed, while others have remained the same. Bernalillo County Planning and Development Services (PDS) has engaged Bohannan Huston and Anthropopulus Design + Planning to facilitate a community-led process to review and update (as needed) the North Valley Area Plan based on community values and goals. The planning process will include a rigorous land-use and existing-conditions analysis that will inform a robust community engagement process. The updated North Valley Area Plan will serve as a policy framework to guide future planning efforts and development in the unincorporated North Valley.

Community input has a key role in developing the future of the North Valley! We need broad input to make decisions that reflect all community members who live, work, and play in the North Valley. Your input guides where funding goes, what gets built, improved, or protected. Join us in building a plan to strengthen and advance North Valley community priorities.

With that in mind, we have developed the following goals for our engagement activities:

• Foster a sense of belonging for all community members.
• Build positive relationships between community members and between community members and Bernalillo County.
• Create a shared community vision for the future of North Valley.
• Cultivate new community leaders, including leaders from underrepresented groups; and
• Create opportunities for joy.

Submission Deadline is August 28, 2026

Steering Committee Role

A twelve-member Steering Committee will be a key advisory body providing input to Bernalillo County on the Plan. The Steering Committee will connect and integrate stakeholders, local and emerging leaders, and diverse perspectives into the planning process. Steering Committee members will be recruited with a public call for participants.

Steering Committee Members will be asked to attend the majority of the following meetings:

•  Three standalone Steering Committee meetings will be held to provide project input on the plan, helping to define the goals and policies for the future of the North Valley.

• Up to six education-focused meetings or Community Learning Sessions, open to the community, will be held. These meetings will include presentations from expert speakers, who may be Steering Committee members or subject matter experts brought in. Topics will be directly correlated with plan development and may include healthy environment & resiliency, agriculture & rural character, transportation, housing, economic development & special use permits, and land use, zoning & development strategies.

Bernalillo County is specifically looking for members of the North Valley Community who represent the following interests:

• Outdoor Recreation/Trails
• Farming or Agriculture
• Outdoor Education
• Youth
• Neighborhood Association representatives
• Developer 
• Education
• Local Business
• Historic Preservation
• Wildlife/Pollinator
• Local Artist
• Represents diverse underrepresented communities, LGBTQIA+, BIPOC, Interfaith, etc.

Please reference this map of the North Valley Area Plan for the next set of questions.