Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities

Commission won't endorse rezoning proposal

CLOVIS — The city Planning and Zoning Commission decided Wednesday it will not endorse a proposal for a developer to build more housing units in a Clovis neighborhood.

About 20 residents filled the commission meeting, voicing concerns over crowding, increased traffic and property devaluation.

Paul Reed said he would like to build a senior living complex of 24 single-family rental units across six “fourplex” buildings on a tract of 1.54 acres in the Sol y Lomas Estates neighborhood off of East 21st Street.

Under the tract’s existing zone designation (Mixed Development), he could only build about 15 units. The proposal before the commission Wednesday was to change that designation to a Planned Unit Development Residential (PUD-R) multi-family district.

City organizers noted over 32 percent protest to the proposed zone change, based off the input of residents living within a 100-foot radius around the proposed zone change site.

“While I am disappointed in the fact I will not be able to provide much-needed affordable housing for our community of retiring seniors, I do respect the home owners’ right to object and democratic process,” Reed said in a press release following Wednesday’s P&Z vote.

“As an owner of car washes, storage facility and other business, I will now explore various options for the commercially zoned property.”

Many of the residents who spoke Wednesday expressed concern over increased traffic to Janeway Street as an access point to East 21st Street.

Apart from traffic, residents Wednesday spoke to the possible discontinuity between lower-priced, multi-unit rental residences going up among larger, more expensive single-family homes.

“As a real estate broker by trade, I think you’re going to lose 20 to 30 percent value over a period of time,” said Kenneth Jones, who also suggested some residents in the area might sell their homes immediately. “I think it was poor planning to try to crowd this much livability into (1.6 acres).”

“My concern is, we’ve got a great neighborhood,” he said. “Why change the dynamics of this particular subdivision?”

Matt Bratcher, another resident near the development site, told commissioners that as an appraiser he believed it would take months of market research to determine any true impact on property values.

Bratcher also said he was concerned about the proposed units clashing aesthetically with the neighborhood.

P&Z Commissioner Carolyn Spence motioned to deny the proposal, noting the percentage of public protest and the possibility that the project did not meet all the criteria for PUD-R designation.

“I think we weren't disappointed in the deal,” said Chad Lydick, who presented the zone change proposal on behalf of Reed. “Mr. Reed would have liked to put more units in there, but we can certainly go back to redesign to the meet the existing zoning laws.”

P&Z has only authority to recommend or not recommend proposals to the city commission.

The city commission will ultimately decide the project’s fate next month.

 
 
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