The New Mexican

Santa Fe County has ditched the idea of calling a halt to most land divisions and zoning changes during its general-plan and land-use code rewrite.

Instead of stopping all new applications during the process, the county will scrutinize each application closely until the rewrite is completed, according to a statement released Friday. The county will also try to speed up the process, according to the statement.

The new general-plan and land-use code had been scheduled to be presented to the County Commission in December. Now the county is proposing to start sending sections of the growth management plan to the County Development Review Committee in March.

Over the next month, planners will hold meetings to gather public comment in different areas of the county. A three-day series of public workshops focusing on issues in central Santa Fe County (including Tesuque, Rancho Viejo and the city of Santa Fe) will begin at 6 p.m. Monday in the Jemez Room at Santa Fe Community College, 6401 S. Richards Ave.