Wednesday, August 13, 2008

BF assisted living facility zone request is denied

Company is asked to refile its application

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

Bosque Farms The Bosque Farms Village Council denied a zone change request at a special meeting Monday night for a planned assisted living facility in Bosque Farms.

The council voted 3-0 to deny the request from Sterling Management of New Mexico, LLC, a franchisee of Beehive Homes. The group filed an application in April asking to change the zone designation from Residential 1 to Special Use for property situated on North Bosque Loop.

Village attorney Mark Jarmie recommended that the council deny the request because the application was filed before the village even had an ordinance allowing planned residential developments in Bosque Farms. Sterling Management of New Mexico, LLC, filed its application for a zone change request on April 16.

At that time, the village's planning and zoning commission had recommended approval of the new ordinance, but the council had not yet taken up the issue. The ordinance was eventually approved, but Jarmie said because the application was filed prior to the council's final action, the process for the zone change should not have proceeded.

Councilor Dolly Wallace said while she agreed with the village attorney that the request be denied, she encouraged the company to reapply for the zone change.

Councilor Virgil Proctor said he had some further questions for Jarmie about the issue, but because he felt the request was going to be denied, he would postpone his inquires until a later time.

"I feel like if the applicants want to come back, we should have some correspondence with them ... so that we're being fair with them and fair with the residents," Proctor said. "I think this needs to be approached very openly if this proceeds. I would just suggest that if the applicants want to come back, we try to get together and that there needs to be some real discussion."

Councilor Bill Kennedy agreed with Proctor and said he believes there is a need for this type of facility in Bosque Farms. He also encouraged the company to reapply for another zone change application.

After the meeting, Chad Partington, a partner in Sterling Management of New Mexico, LLC, said he would meet with his partner, Larry Skelley, to talk about whether they will file a second application. He said he hopes they will make a decision by the end of the week.

"We're hoping to (file another application), but we have to get together with all the parties involved," Partington said. "We do want to go forward with the project."

Partington said there was a lot of misinformation about the facility being talked about and he was happy that he was able to discuss the facts about the planned project and let residents know exactly what they were proposing.

Several residents had spoken out against the project at a meeting in July, saying that while the facility may be of benefit to the village, they didn't want it in their neighborhood. One of the concerns was increased traffic in the area.

The proposed assisted living facility would include five 7,400-square-feet, 15-bedroom homes on a 4.3 acre lot. Skelley, who owns several Beehive Homes, including one in Los Lunas, told the council that each home could be appraised for more than $1.4 million. Each home would be situated on an area of no less than three-quarters of an acre.

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