NONCONFORMING MOBILE HOME PARK LOTS

HB0274

HOUSE BILL 274

57th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2026

INTRODUCED BY

Jonathan A. Henry
and
Rebecca Dow
and
Joshua N. Hernandez

AN ACT

RELATING TO LAND USE; PERMITTING MOBILE HOME PARK OWNERS TO
CREATE NONCONFORMING LOTS; AMENDING AND ENACTING SECTIONS OF
THE NMSA 1978.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

SECTION 1.
Section 3-21-1 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1965,
Chapter 300, Section 14-20-1, as amended) is amended to read:

"3-21-1. ZONING--AUTHORITY OF COUNTY OR MUNICIPALITY.--

A.
Except as provided for in Section 3 of this 2026
act
, 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 lot that may be occupied;

(3) size of yards, courts and other open
space;

(4) density of population; and

(5) location and use of buildings, structures
and land for trade, industry, residence or other purposes.

B. The county or municipal zoning authority may:

(1) divide the territory under its
jurisdiction into districts of such number, shape, area and
form as is necessary to carry out the purposes of Sections
3-21-1 through 3-21-14 NMSA 1978; and

(2) regulate or restrict the erection,
construction, reconstruction, alteration, repair or use of
buildings, structures or land in each district. All such
regulations shall be uniform for each class or kind of
[
buildings
]
building
within each district, but regulation in
one district may differ from regulation in another district.

C. All state-licensed or state-operated community
residences for persons with a mental or developmental
disability and serving ten or fewer persons may be considered a
residential use of property for purposes of zoning and may be
permitted use in all districts in which residential uses are
permitted generally, including particularly residential zones
for single-family dwellings.

D. A board of county commissioners of the county in
which the greatest amount of the territory of the petitioning
village, community, neighborhood or district lies may declare
by ordinance that a village, community, neighborhood or
district is a "traditional historic community" upon petition by
twenty-five percent or more of the qualified electors of the
territory within the village, community, neighborhood or
district requesting the designation. The number of qualified
electors shall be based on county records as of the date of the
last general election.

E. Any village, community, neighborhood or district
that is declared a traditional historic community shall be
excluded from the extraterritorial zone and extraterritorial
zoning authority of any municipality whose extraterritorial
zoning authority extends to include all or a portion of the
traditional historic community and shall be subject to the
zoning jurisdiction of the county in which the greatest portion
of the traditional historic community lies.

F. Zoning authorities, including zoning authorities
of home rule municipalities, shall accommodate
multigenerational housing by creating a mechanism to allow up
to two kitchens within a single-family zoning district, such as
conditional use permits.

G. For the purpose of this section,
"multigenerational" means any number of persons related by
blood, common ancestry, marriage, guardianship or adoption."

SECTION 2.
Section 3-21A-5 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1987,
Chapter 196, Section 5, as amended) is amended to read:

"3-21A-5. IMPERMISSIBLE REGULATIONS.--

A. No ordinance or regulation authorized by the
Manufactured Housing and Zoning Act shall regulate the original
construction of the manufactured home or mobile home.

B. No ordinance or regulation otherwise authorized
or permitted by the Manufactured Housing and Zoning Act shall
be permissible or enforceable if it would have the direct or
indirect effect of requiring that a multi-section manufactured
home be installed in an excavated site in order to be included
in a specific-use district in which site-built, single-family
housing is allowed.

C. No ordinance or regulation authorized by the
Manufactured Housing and Zoning Act shall preclude the transfer
of ownership of spaces on which a manufactured or modular home
or mobile home is located to create separately owned lots
without conforming to the dimensional requirements of an
underlying zoning district, including minimum lot size and
required building setback, and without requiring infrastructure
improvements that might otherwise be required through
subdivision regulations.
"

SECTION 3.
A new section of the Mobile Home Park Act is
enacted to read:

"[
NEW MATERIAL
] CREATION OF NONCONFORMING LOTS.--The
management of a mobile home park may transfer ownership of
individual mobile home spaces to create separately owned lots
without conforming to the dimensional requirements of an
underlying zoning district, including minimum lot size and
required building setback, and without requiring infrastructure
improvements that might otherwise be required through
subdivision regulations."

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