Plans to establish a homeless shelter in Española hit a new obstacle Aug. 6 when the shelter’s supporters were made aware of a state law that could delay the process of acquiring a city-owned property for at least three more months.
Interfaith Leap, a Chimayó-based non-profit helping to organize the shelter, was interested in purchasing a half to three quarters of an acre along El Llano Road behind the Crisis Center of Northern New Mexico, a domestic violence shelter, Interfaith Leap Executive Director Ray Chavez said.
He will now have to add hiring an appraiser to the list of things to do before the process can get rolling, along with a 45-day waiting period if the city council were to approve the sale.
“We need to move on this fast,” said Councilor Eddie Maestas, one of the shelter’s proponents. “The winter is coming, before we know it the first snow hits the ground and these people don’t have a place to go.”
The law requires city property valued over $25,000 be appraised before it’s leased or sold. If such property is sold or leased at a value different from an official appraisal a detailed explanation must be made available to the public.
The statute also states that the terms and condition of a sale or lease must be published twice, beginning three weeks prior to a public bid. The sale or lease would then be finalized 45 days after its adoption via a city ordinance, giving the public time to call for a referendum election. Normally a new ordinance goes into effect five days after approval by City Council, Interim City Manager Veronica Albin said.
The homeless shelter was originally slated for the old fire station at the corner of North Railroad Avenue and Hunter Street. This plan was dropped in October 2007 in the face of public opposition to the location.
Councilor Chayo Garcia, who represents the southern El Llano area, said she is torn on the homeless shelter.
“I know we have to help the homeless, but I have the same feeling as everyone else, not in my backyard.” she said.
Garcia said she is also concerned that the location is too far from town, leaving those at the shelter too far from the San Martin de Porres Soup Kitchen, which is located in the Apple Valley public housing neighorhood off of Railroad Avenue.
Having a 45-day period for neighbors to decide whether they want the shelter there is a positive, she said.
“We need the public input,” Garcia said.
Crisis Center Executive Director Carol Merriweather shares the concern that the shelter is too faraway from the center of Española.
“I support the whole effort of a homeless shelter, I don’t think this is the ideal location,” she said.
Merriweather said there are also concerns about having the shelter so close to the Crisis Center.
“I’m concerned about the safety of my clients all the time anyway,” she said.
The traffic the shelter would bring to the area would make it harder to monitor client’s safety and to maintain confidentiality.
“If someone comes to the shelter we don’t want anyone to know where they are,” she said.
But, Merriweather said, if the homeless shelter were to be located next door she would not oppose it.
“If they end up out here, they end up out here. I think we have a responsibility to give people a place to be,” she said.
The proposed shelter location used to be a landfill, Chavez said. Chavez is in the process of researching the suitability of the land, he said. He wants to wait until he figures out if the previous landfill is a good location before deciding on whether to have an appraiser look at the area, and he said, he hopes the fact that the area was once a landfill may work to bring down the property value.
“We’re hoping that if the appraisal is under ($25,000) we won’t have to go through all the red tape,” he said. “Once we get the appraisal and the postings, we have to get the okay from the planning department to make sure it meets the requirements for a homeless shelter. And then we have to get approval from neighbors.”
Chavez first heard of the state law Aug. 6 at a city community development meeting, he said. Councilor Danielle Duran said that since the city was not that familiar with property disposal, she wanted to make sure there was nothing they were overlooking, which is how the law came to their attention.
“I think that using the $25,000 rule is a great equalizer,” Duran said. “It’s going to help provide a balanced playing field for everyone.”
The council also has the option of calling a special meeting to bring the ordinance to the public’s attention. If the council were to discuss the issue at their next city council workshop Aug. 18, then publish notice for a public hearing, the soonest the homeless shelter proposal would come before city council for a vote would be around Sept. 8, Martinez said. However, that does not take into account that Interfaith Leap has not met with an appraiser yet.
With a 45 day waiting period, by the time the buildings are available it may be too late, Maestas said.
“It defeats the purpose,” he said.
The homeless population in Española is estimated at around 12 to 15 people, according to Chavez. He said the shelter would provide overnight stays in two different buildings, one for men and another for families.