Petition for Land Use Director Jason Kluck to Re-Instate STR Permit
Santa Fe, NM Residents Call Into Question Director Jason Kluck's Stance on Land Use Designations After the Director States That Every House Along an Access Easement in Santa Fe is Classified as Being "Along of the Public Street Frontage."
Santa Fe Residents Question Motives Behind The Single STR Permit Revocation of 2021
The Land Use Director issued a unique permit revocation in which he claimed that his department was forced to revoke a single permit in Santa Fe after realizing that all homes along easements are actually classified as being along the public street frontage.
The Land Use Director reasoned that access easements are outlets that approach the public thoroughfare and are therefore considered by Santa Fe as being part of the public streets. Thus, the Land Use Director stated, houses along easements all have frontage along public streets.
"The decision seems arbitrary. I've lived here for 20+ years, and this has always been a private access easement, never part of the public street."
"I purchased my house with an expectation of privacy... and suddenly my back facade has frontage on the public street."
-Residents of Santa Fe
The Code defines a “Street” as “A right-of-way dedicated to public or private use to provide primary vehicular and pedestrian access to adjoining properties and is any public thoroughfare and the approach to a public thoroughfare, the boundaries of which extend to the abutting property line.”
The driveway access used by you and your adjoining neighbors qualifies as the “approach to the public thoroughfare” as referenced in the definition provided above...you and your neighbors at ### and ### W. San Francisco share common boundaries with that driveway access, which is part of the public street frontage.
- The City of Santa Fe Rationale in Issuing the Single STR Permit Revocation of the Year, affirmed by Land Use Director Jason Kluck
"Easements give residents the right to travel over another's property because their parcel of land does not have street frontage, so the existence of the easement in this case pretty much guarantees the property does not have street frontage...
I've never seen Jason Kluck's definition of street frontage applied before. Most planners would agree that this property does not have frontage along a public street. It's a pretty basic concept." - City Planner
"Our property is behind another house. Not a single piece of our parcel touches the street. Every lawyer, planner, zoning official, and architect we've consulted has confirmed that our property definitely does not have frontage along the public street. But the Land Use Director twisted himself into knots to declare that our property fronts the public street to fit this revocation into a specific ordinance. This, in our opinion, calls into question the ethics of the Land Use Director and the real motivations for revoking this permit." - Victim of the Permit Revocation
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"Stating that this parcel sits along public street frontage requires one to shut their eyes and suspend all standard notions of what street frontage really means. There appears to be some other motivation for the Land Use Director to revoke this permit.
"I've never seen a Land Use Director declare that an easement over private land is an extension of the public street."
- Local Santa Fe Surveyor
"After reading this directive and realizing that anyone from the public now had legal access to our private drive, we installed security cameras."
Affected Resident
"I've never seen any decision like this.
Lawyer
"That's not how you define street frontage. I think the Land Use Director made a mistake. The question now is why Jason Kluck is digging in his heels and not correcting that mistake."
Affected Resident
"Director Kluck's position defies basic definitions of easements and street frontage. Under his rule, there would be no homes in Santa Fe off of street frontage. It really makes no sense."
One Resident Affected by His Decision
Additional Information
