City land use director to step down in early July

Jun. 21—Santa Fe Planning and Land Use Director Jason Kluck plans to leave his city job in early July, he confirmed Friday.

Kluck said the decision to leave was due to a health-related condition and not anything related to the department.

"It breaks my heart to leave, but it's just what I need to do at this time," he said Friday, adding he will miss everyone on his team.

Kluck announced his resignation earlier this week; his last day in the office will be July 3. Assistant Land Use Director Heather Lamboy will be interim director while the city searches for a replacement, fellow Assistant Land Use Director Tom Graham said.

"We're going to try to keep moving forward with all of the things we have in the pipeline and keep progressing the department and doing the best we can," Graham said. "Losing Jason is going to be tough."

Kluck praised both Graham and Lamboy and said he feels slightly better about leaving knowing they will be taking over his duties.

"They'll fill my shoes just fine," he said.

The city has seen a number of high-level vacancies recently, with the departure of Community Health and Safety Director Kyra Ochoa in January, Environmental Services Director Shirlene Sitton in March and Bernie Toon, senior adviser to the mayor and city manager, in May.

There will also soon be a vacancy in Kluck's boss's position following the retirement of Community Development Director Rich Brown at the end of the month.

Kluck joined the city in 2009 and became assistant director of planning and land use in 2019. He was promoted to interim director in July 2021 after the resignation of Elias Isaacson and was permanently promoted to the position in March 2022.

"I feel like I've responsibly led the department over the last three years or so," he said.

City Manager John Blair said the city's human resources department will move quickly to post a position for Kluck's replacement.

"We're going to try to move as quickly as we can for sure, it's too important for Santa Fe," he said.

Members of Santa Fe's development community spoke highly of Kluck.

"We had a very good relationship with Jason all the time he was there," said Tom Spray, executive director of the Santa Fe chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

"I'm sorry he's going, but we'll continue to work with his successors at planning and land use to make [the department as] efficient as we possibly can," Spray said.

Spray and others said Kluck had a difficult job.

"Jason Kluck poured his heart and his physical well-being into trying to make the department run more efficiently," said Miles Conway, executive director of the Santa Fe Area Home Builders Association.

Conway said he hopes the work Kluck and his team started to help the department run more efficiently will continue. However, he said what is truly needed is "a deep renovation" in how the department operates.

"Anything disruptive inside City Hall has a direct economic impact on the construction industry, so it's unfortunate that we've been unable to retain yet another land use director," Conway said.

Kluck was heavily involved in the city's ongoing work to rewrite its land use code, the first phase of which is expected to be done later this summer, and in ongoing efforts to shift the city's development review process to an online system.

The department also recently launched a pilot program offering an option for a third-party plan review, which is intended to help streamline the permitting process for large developers.

Kluck said he's proud of the work he did to get the code update off the ground and is disappointed he won't be around for more of the work on the land use code and general plan updates.

He described much of the work he did during his tenure as small adjustments, but said he's happy with progress he made on hiring and making the department more resilient. He's also proud of his work to build bridges with city developers and builders. The department hosted a one-day summit for the development community earlier this month.

"I think we've done a really good job of not only showing we want to work with the development community, but actually doing it," he said. "And that's nothing special; it's what any good leader should do."