By GEORGE CHANDLER
Los Alamos

I have now reviewed the (County Council) agenda documentation for Tuesday night’s proposed approval of the Low Income Housing Agreement for the apartments at 1027 and 1203 ninth street and 1211 11th street. I discussed this in a letter late last week before the agenda documentation was released. My initial enthusiasm for this project is now somewhat diminished by the discovery of a detail of the agreement that has not been publicly disclosed to this point, as far as I can tell. The audio/video of the March 11 meeting is still (4:42 AM Monday) not online so I can’t tell if it was mentioned at the meeting, but none of the documentation for that meeting mentions what may be the real sweetener in the agreement: Under Section 1.4 the property may be subdivided and any new construction is not subject to the affordability agreement.

There is a considerable green area (just under an acre) on the West half of the ninth street apartments parcel. Under the current very flexible zoning (MFR-M) it could accommodate multi-family: “single-family, duplex, fourplex and townhouse,” up to 45 feet in height. The code does not seem to specify the density except “medium.” After parking requirements are met a developer could build 30-40 units in three-story apartments, is my guess.

This would have a considerable impact on the Ninth street/Myrtle/Iris residential area in terms of increased density and parking, especially in light of the impending redevelopment of Mari-Mac and environs. It would be necessary for the neighbors to be vigilant that parking requirements are analyzed, met, and enforced, in addition to traffic circulation.

I remain in favor of the affordability project, for the reasons given in my previous letter: even though it is limited to twenty years it seems to protect the current inhabitants. I am disappointed that the staff report states that “Developer profit will generally be limited to long-term appreciation of the property” when the fine print in the actual agreement quite clearly contemplates a considerable opportunity for profit in the development of the green area, and this “detail,” the likelihood of a new multi-family development on the property, has not been made public until now.