This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the "Otero County Subdivision Regulations" and shall be referred to elsewhere herein as "these regulations."
These regulations are created pursuant to the enabling authority set forth in NMSA 1978, § 47-6-1 et seq.; NMSA 1978, § 4-37-1 et seq.; and NMSA 1978, §§ 3-20-5, 3-20-6, and 3-20-9.
These regulations are adopted for the following purposes:
A. 
To provide for and protect the public health, safety, and general welfare of the County;
B. 
To guide the future growth and development of the County in accordance with any official plans adopted by the County;
C. 
To provide for adequate light, air, and privacy; to secure safety from fire, flood, and other danger; and to prevent overcrowding of the land and undue congestion of population;
D. 
To protect and conserve the value of land throughout the County and the value of buildings and improvements upon the land, and to minimize the conflicts among the uses of land and buildings;
E. 
To provide the most beneficial relationship between the uses of land and buildings and the circulation of traffic throughout the County, having particular regard to the avoidance of congestion in the streets and highways, and pedestrian traffic movements appropriate to the various uses of land and buildings; and to provide for the proper location and width of streets;
F. 
To establish reasonable standards of design and procedures for subdivisions and resubdivisions in order to further the orderly layout and use of land, and to ensure proper legal descriptions and monumenting of subdivided land; and
G. 
To prevent the pollution of air, streams, and ponds; to assure the adequacy of drainage facilities; to safeguard the water table, and to encourage the wise use and management of natural resources throughout the County in order to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the community and the value of the land.
These regulations shall govern all subdivisions of land within the County, but not within the boundaries of municipalities. The County and a municipality shall exercise concurrent jurisdiction over the territory within the platting jurisdiction of both the County and the municipality, as provided in NMSA 1978, §§ 3-20-5 and 3-20-9 .
Whenever the Board of County Commissioners or its delegate is required by these regulations to make a decision, the decision shall be in writing and supported by findings of fact and conclusions of law which are sufficient for meaningful review.
The provisions of these regulations are held to be minimum requirements. Whenever any provisions of these regulations conflict with other laws, rules, regulations, covenants, or ordinances, the more restrictive shall govern. These regulations shall be construed broadly to promote the purposes for which they were adopted.
The Board of County Commissioners is hereby authorized to adopt by resolution the specific requirements for technical appendices to this chapter covering the following subjects: Appendix A: Plat Certifications and Forms; Appendix B: Water Quality and Liquid and Solid Waste Disposal Requirements; Appendix C: Water Use and Conservation; Appendix D: Terrain Management; and Appendix E: Streets, Roads, Alleys, Easements, and Other Rights-of-Way.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Said Appendices are included as attachments to this chapter.