Begin with the issued certificate's title, project and scope. The City's blank Infrastructure Improvements Agreement (IIA), Procedure B names these outcomes but is not an issued record.
Choose the certificate title
| Stage | Public improvements | Private improvements |
|---|---|---|
| Full | Certificate of Completion and Acceptance | Certificate of Completion |
| Partial | Partial Certificate of Completion and Acceptance | Certificate of Partial Completion |
Under the agreement form, the City reviews a final acceptance package under Chapter 2 of its Development Process Manual. Once it approves the package and issues the full certificates, it releases the agreement and the developer’s Financial Guaranty. A partial certificate works differently: the developer must post a revised guaranty of at least 125% of the cost of the remaining work. So a partial certificate in your file usually means a guaranty was still in place for the rest. Record the title, project identity, improvement scope and date before drawing a conclusion.
For work done under a City work order, the City’s Certificate of Completion and Acceptance form is issued by the City Engineer in Development Review Services. It starts a one-year contractor warranty on the date of the letter. That date is useful when a defect appears soon after acceptance: it tells you whether the repair question belongs to the contractor’s warranty period.
Build the identity packet before requesting a copy
The form lists project number, legal description, County recording reference and approved plans. Use values already in your documents as matching clues, not as fields a portal requires. Write down the development name, plan or plat title, area of work, approximate period and the matrix cell that answers your question. Leave an unknown identifier blank instead of borrowing one from a neighboring phase.
First identify what is physically in hand. Preserve its date, sender, signers, label and page count. Do not infer a missing document from a summary note. If the project number or scope does not match, treat the item as an unassigned lead and ask for the exact connection. A file from the same development may concern a different improvement.
The Albuquerque permit-history guide explains building-permit eras, planning cases and occupancy sources. Use it for that separate record chain. It cannot turn a building permit or occupancy entry into the infrastructure certificate requested here.
Work through a fictional mixed packet
Imagine an invented file for Mesa Example. It has a private partial certificate and a later note about a public street segment, but no certificate for that street. The private document should stay in the packet under its own title; the street question stays open. Ask for the public result named in the matrix, using the street segment and project reference, or ask for the underlying package if staff cannot identify an issued certificate.
Suppose a reply includes a favorable document for a different plan phase. Compare its project number, legal description, plan title and area of work with Mesa Example before adding it to the answer. A similar name or later date may help locate the right file, but it does not bridge the mismatch. Mark the unresolved stage explicitly so a later reviewer can see why the packet does not yet answer the question. This example uses no real property or City result.
Keep the request and response in two lines: the target segment and phase, then the returned item's segment and phase. If they differ, ask staff whether a later version, another project number or a separate file controls the target. An unanswered cross-reference remains unknown even when the returned document has an approval-sounding title.
Request the named existing record
The City's public-records page lists ABQ Records, mail and in-person routes, plus Planning records at Plaza del Sol. Requests go through the ABQ Records portal, by mail or in person at the Office of the City Clerk, and the page links a fee-waiver request form. Ask which unit holds the named item; the page does not assign certificate custody.
In the request, pair the exact title from the matrix with the project number if known, development name, plan or plat title, legal description or recording reference already in your papers, scope and approximate year. Name the missing item and its scope. These are descriptors to help staff identify a record, not claims about mandatory portal inputs. If staff points you to a different unit, preserve that routing answer with the request and do not treat a directory listing as a certificate search result.
The certificate alone does not prove public ownership, maintenance duty, a passed final building inspection, occupancy or present condition. The final-inspection status guide covers the separate permit-inspection result. City agreement form, work-order certificate form and public-records page checked October 20, 2026.