G.A. Haan Development LLC of Phoenix Wanted to Build 34 units on the city’s West Side
The Española City Council rejected a resolution at its Dec. 9 meeting that would have allowed a developer to build housing on the city’s West Side.
The resolution, presented to the council by City Manager Lauren Reichelt and Community Development Director Michael Adams, would have allowed G.A. Haan Development LLC to build 34 units of low income housing at East Hill Street and Calle Don Diego. The cost of the rental properties would have been set at no more than 80% of the area median income.
G.A. Haan LLC is a Phoenix, Arizona-based company specializing in the construction of low income housing, according to its website. According to the rejected resolution, the company planned to develop the project through the New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority, which provides tax credits for low income housing developments. The company would have applied for a 9% credit, and had it been denied, the agreement between it and the city would have ended.
District 3 City Councilor Denise Benavidez, who works as an affordable housing administrator for Santa Fe County, said the developer does not have time to submit an application for the project financing, that the city’s code may not meet the requirements for the development and that she believes they should be engaging with a specialized attorney to evaluate these types of projects.
“There’s a whole lot of things that come into play when you do one of these projects, right?” Benavidez said. “It just depends on the conversation that we have or haven’t had with the developer, right? And those conversations really need to happen, Mike because let me tell you, by far, the developer’s gonna want to steer you in a way that’s beneficial for them.”
Adams disagreed and said the city was prepared to work with the developer to meet application deadlines and that they have done their due diligence to make sure the city’s code allows for this sort of development.
“We’ve (got) our ducks in a row,” Adams said. “We’ve got Catholic Charities on board with us out of Albuquerque. They want to move here, they want to move forward on this project.”
Mayor John Ramon Vigil had a mixed reaction to the resolution and asked about alternative locations for the development. He also cited the council’s support of the creation of a lowrider history museum in the same area.
He defended Adams against Benavidez’s comments.
“He has tried to bring housing developers here to our community, but they have found us to be very unworkable, we have made it very difficult for them,” Vigil said. “We don’t work with developers and I’m going to be very frank, people on this council have been against working with developers.”
Vigil also said that his concern is keeping local families in the area, and in order to do this, they have to recognize that a developer is coming in to make a profit and they have to work with them somehow.
“But we’re trying to build housing for our communities,” Vigil said. “The more housing we (have) come in, and Denise, you know this better than anybody, the more housing, the more surplus in the inventory, the demand comes down and the prices come down. That’s why prices are so sky-high in our valley.”
District 1 Councilor Pedro Valdez and District 3 Councilor Felicia Archuleta-Toya voted against rejecting the resolution.
History
The housing site was chosen due to its location in the Metropolitan Redevelopment Area (MRA). The city’s 2017 Comprehensive Plan recommended the creation of an MRA, and the council approved it by resolution in 2020. Prior to its approval, the city conducted a study about this area that cumulated in the 20-page Española Town Center Redevelopment Area Designation Report.
Adams said the low income housing tax credits are available for developments in these areas.
According to this report, the MRA is meant to provide financial incentives for private development by “providing financial incentives for private development, removal of barriers to private investment, providing public investment in infrastructure projects, making improvements to public rights-of-way and creating public-private partnerships for anchor projects.”
At the time the report was created, there were an estimated 177 housing units in the MRA, or 3% of the city’s total housing, and only 14 of those were built after 1950. There was no housing development in the area between 2010 and 2013, and only two units were created between 2014 and the time of the study.
The MRA was also highlighted in the Rio Arriba County and city joint 2020-2025 Affordable Housing Plan, which was approved by the council in 2021.