N.M. Stat. § 3-60A-4 (2026)

   As used in the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code [Chapter 3, Article 60A NMSA
1978]:

   A. "public body" means a local government, board, commission, authority, district or
other political subdivision or public body of the state;

   B. "local government" means an incorporated city, town or village, whether
incorporated under general act, special act or special charter, or a county or, when the
context requires, the governing body of an incorporated city, town or village or a county;

   C. "clerk" means the clerk or other official of a local government who is the chief
custodian of the official records of the local government;

    D. "federal government" means the United States of America or an agency or
instrumentality, corporate or otherwise, of the United States;

    E. "slum area" means an area within the area of operation in which there are
numerous residential or nonresidential buildings, improvements and structures that are
dilapidated, deteriorated, aged or obsolete or that have inadequate provision for
ventilation, light, air or sanitation or the area lacks open spaces or has a high density of
population or overcrowding or there exist in the area conditions that endanger life or
property by fire or other causes, and the area is conducive to ill health, transmission of
disease, infant mortality, juvenile delinquency or crime and is detrimental to the public
health, safety, morals or welfare;

    F. "blighted area" means an area within the area of operation other than a slum
area that substantially impairs or arrests the sound growth and economic health and
well-being within the jurisdiction of a local government or a locale within the jurisdiction
of a local government because of the presence of a substantial number of deteriorated
or deteriorating structures; a predominance of defective or inadequate street layout;
faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility or usefulness; unsanitary or
unsafe conditions; deterioration of site or other improvements; diversity of ownership;
tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land; defective or
unusual conditions of title; improper subdivision; lack of adequate housing facilities in
the area; or obsolete or impractical planning and platting or an area where a significant
number of commercial or mercantile businesses have closed or significantly reduced
their operations due to the economic losses or loss of profit due to operating in the area,
low levels of commercial or industrial activity or redevelopment or any combination of
such factors; or an area that retards the provisions of housing accommodations or
constitutes an economic or social burden and is a menace to the public health, safety,
morals or welfare in its present condition and use;

    G. "metropolitan redevelopment project" or "project" means an activity, undertaking
or series of activities or undertakings designed to eliminate slums or blighted areas in
areas designated as metropolitan redevelopment areas and the activity or undertaking
conforms to an approved plan for the area for slum clearance and redevelopment,
rehabilitation and conservation;

    H. "slum clearance and redevelopment" means the use of those powers authorized
by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code to eliminate slum areas and undertake
activities authorized by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code to rejuvenate or revitalize
those areas so that the conditions that caused those areas to be designated slum areas
are eliminated;

    I. "rehabilitation" or "conservation" means the restoration and renewal of a slum or
blighted area or portion thereof in accordance with an approved plan by use of powers
granted by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code;

   J. "metropolitan redevelopment area" means a slum area or a blighted area or a
combination thereof that the local government so finds and declares and designates as
appropriate for a metropolitan redevelopment project;

    K. "metropolitan redevelopment plan" means a plan, as it exists from time to time,
for one or more metropolitan redevelopment areas or for a metropolitan redevelopment
project, which plan shall:

       (1)    seek to eliminate the problems created by a slum area or blighted area;

       (2)    conform to the general plan for the local government as a whole; and

         (3)    be sufficient to indicate the proposed activities to be carried out in the
area, including any proposals for land acquisition; proposals for demolition and removal
of structures; redevelopment; proposals for improvements, rehabilitation and
conservation; zoning and planning changes; land uses, maximum densities, building
restrictions and requirements; and the plan's relationship to definite local objectives
respecting land uses, improved traffic patterns and controls, public transportation, public
utilities, recreational and community facilities, housing facilities, commercial activities or
enterprises, industrial or manufacturing use and other public improvements;

   L. "real property" includes all lands, including improvements and fixtures thereon,
and property of any nature appurtenant thereto or used in connection therewith and
every estate, interest, right and use, legal or equitable, therein, including terms for years
and liens by way of judgment, mortgage or otherwise;

   M. "bonds" means any bonds, including refunding bonds, notes, interim certificates,
certification of indebtedness, debentures, metropolitan redevelopment bonds or other
securities evidencing an obligation and issued under the provisions of the Metropolitan
Redevelopment Code or other obligations;

  N. "obligee" includes a bondholder, agent or trustee for a bondholder or lessor
demising to the local government property used in connection with a metropolitan
redevelopment project or any assignee or assignees of such lessor's interest or any part
thereof;

    O. "person" means an individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company,
association, joint stock association or body politic or the state or any political subdivision
thereof and shall further include any trustee, receiver, assignee or other person acting in
a similar representative capacity;

   P. "area of operation" means an area within a local government's jurisdiction, except
that it shall not include an area that lies within the jurisdiction of another local
government unless an ordinance has been adopted by the other local government
declaring a need therefor;

    Q. "board" or "commission" means a board, commission, department, division,
office, body or other unit of a local government designated by the local government to
perform functions authorized by the Metropolitan Redevelopment Code as directed by
the local government;

    R. "public officer" means any person who is in charge of any department or branch
of government of the local government; and

   S. "fair value" means the negotiated price or value of an asset or liability agreed
upon by a local government and a private entity.

History: Laws 1979, ch. 391, § 4; 1980, ch. 52, § 1; 1983, ch. 32, § 1; 2000, ch. 103, §
1; 2018, ch. 60, § 4.

                                      ANNOTATIONS

The 2018 amendment, effective May 16, 2018, made conforming changes to certain
definitions as a result of the inclusion of counties within the scope of the Metropolitan
Redevelopment Code; deleted "municipality" and added "local government" throughout
the section; deleted former Subsections B and C and redesignated Subsections D
through F as Subsections B through D, respectively; in Subsection B, after "special
charter", deleted "an incorporated county", after the next occurrence of "or", deleted "an
H class" and added "a", after the next occurrence of "county", added "or, when the
context requires, the governing body of an incorporated city, town or village or a
county"; in Subsection D, after "government’", deleted "includes" and added "means";
deleted former Subsection G and redesignated Subsections H through U as
Subsections E through R, respectively; in Subsection E, after "numerous", added
"residential or nonresidential", and after "structures", deleted "whether residential or
nonresidential, which, by reason of its dilapidation, deterioration, age, obsolescence"
and added "that are dilapidated, deteriorated, aged or obsolete"; in Subsection F, after
"a slum area that", deleted "because of the presence of a substantial number of
deteriorated or deteriorating structures, predominance of defective or inadequate street
layout, faulty lot layout in relation to size, adequacy, accessibility or usefulness,
insanitary or unsafe conditions, deterioration of site or other improvements, diversity of
ownership, tax or special assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land,
defective or unusual conditions of title, improper subdivision or lack of adequate housing
facilities in the area or obsolete or impractical planning and platting or an area where a
significant number of commercial or mercantile businesses have closed or significantly
reduced their operations due to the economic losses or loss of profit due to operating in
the area, low levels of commercial or industrial activity or redevelopment or any
combination of such factors", after "health and well-being", deleted "of a municipality"
and added "within the jurisdiction of a local government", and after "locale within",
deleted "a municipality" and added "the jurisdiction of a local government because of
the presence of a substantial number of deteriorated or deteriorating structures; a
predominance of defective or inadequate street layout; faulty lot layout in relation to
size, adequacy, accessibility or usefulness; unsanitary or unsafe conditions;
deterioration of site or other improvements; diversity of ownership; tax or special
assessment delinquency exceeding the fair value of the land; defective or unusual
conditions of title; improper subdivision; lack of adequate housing facilities in the area;
or obsolete or impractical planning and platting or an area where a significant number of
commercial or mercantile businesses have closed or significantly reduced their
operations due to the economic losses or loss of profit due to operating in the area, low
levels of commercial or industrial activity or redevelopment or any combination of such
factors"; in Subsection J, after "local", deleted "governing body" and added
"government"; in Subsection P, after "area within", deleted "the corporate limits of the
municipality and the area outside of the corporate limits but within five miles of such
limits or otherwise on municipally owned property wherever located" and added "a local
government’s jurisdiction", after "within the", deleted "territorial boundaries" and added
"jurisdiction", and after "adopted by", deleted "the governing body"; in Subsection Q,
"governing body" with "government" throughout the subsection; and added Subsection
S.

The 2000 amendment, effective May 17, 2000, rewrote Subsections B and D.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — What constitutes "blighted area" within
urban renewal and redevelopment statutes, 45 A.L.R.3d 1096.

39A C.J.S. Health and Environment § 35.