A. To qualify as a traditional historic community, an area shall:

(1) be an unincorporated area of a county;

(2) be an identifiable village, community, neighborhood or district that can be documented as having existed for more than one hundred years;

(3) include structures or landmarks that are associated with the identity of the specific village, community, neighborhood or district seeking designation as a traditional historic community;

(4) have a distinctive character or traditional quality that can be distinguished from surrounding areas or new developments in the vicinity; and

(5) be declared a traditional historic community by an ordinance of the board of county commissioners of the county in which the petitioning village, community, neighborhood or district is located.

B. A traditional historic community may be annexed by a municipality only by petition of a majority of the qualified electors of the territory within the traditional historic community proposed to be annexed by the municipality or by the arbitration method of annexation only upon petition of a majority of the qualified electors of the territory within the traditional historic community.

History: Laws 1995, ch. 170, § 5; 1995, ch. 211, § 4; 2019, ch. 6, § 2; 2019, ch. 212, § 181.

2019 Multiple Amendments. —Laws 2019, ch. 6, § 2, effective July 1, 2019, and Laws 2019, ch. 212, § 181, effective April 3, 2019, enacted different amendments to this section that can be reconciled. Pursuant to 12-1-8 NMSA 1978, Laws 2019, ch. 212, § 181 as the last act signed by the governor, is set out above and incorporates both amendments. The amendments enacted by Laws 2019, ch. 6, § 2 and Laws 2019, ch. 212, § 181 are described below. To view the session laws in their entirety, see the 2019 session laws on NMOneSource.com.

The nature of the difference between the amendments is that Laws 2019, ch. 6, § 2, revised the qualifications for an area to be considered a traditional historic community, and Laws 2019, ch. 212, § 181, removed "registered" preceding "qualified electors".

Laws 2019, ch. 6, § 2, effective July 1, 2019, revised the qualifications for an area to be considered a traditional historic community; in Subsection A, in Paragraph A(1), after "unincorporated area of a", deleted "class B", and after the next occurrence of "county", deleted "with a population between ninety-five thousand and ninety-nine thousand five hundred, based on the 1990 federal decennial census"; in Subsection B, after "majority of the registered", deleted "qualified electors" and added "voters".

Laws 2019, ch. 212, § 181, effective April 3, 2019, in Subsection B, removed "registered" preceding each occurrence of "qualified electors".