Santa Fe, NM Fire Regulations: Wildfire Zones (2026)

6(A)(1) lists reducing wildfire risk to residents as one of the district's founding purposes, alongside preserving the escarpment's visual character and conserving water. 6(G). Any subdivision, development plan, grading permit or building permit inside the overlay must come with a landscape plan showing screening vegetation on cut and fill slopes over 4 feet high. The code sets that screening at a density commensurate with the adjacent existing natural landscape up to a maximum of sixty basal area, but Subsections (G)(2)(b) and (G)(4)(b) both let the city cut that density lower still when deemed necessary to reduce wildfire risk, meaning less brush and tree cover than the base standard would otherwise allow.

Evergreen screening trees must start at least 6 feet tall and deciduous trees at a 2-inch caliper, spaced no closer than 5 feet and no farther than 30 feet from the wall they screen, with one tree required for every 15 linear feet of wall. The city's approved tree list for the overlay is maintained by the Planning and Land Use Department and updated periodically, and Subsection (G)(13) directs that plantings be consistent with wildlife safety guidelines recommended by the city's fire department. 6, and the Planning Commission handles any request to vary these standards for extraordinary hardship.