Applicant pulls request for special use permit

Local investors looking to meet the growing housing demand for aging adults were thwarted last week when neighbors objected to the owner’s request for a special use permit.

Chet and Debbie DeMoss, who own and operate Country Living Residential Care, and local investor Laura Tacker asked Socorro City Council members to consider a special use permit to allow for a RV park for individuals 55 and older to expand their business and make it financially viable in the future.

For six years, DeMoss owned the local business and had planned to close and sell the property until Tacker decided she wanted to invest in the facility because of the growing potential for aging adults who needed health care assistance.

With that in mind, the DeMoss’ and Tacker decided to develop the property to reflect a growing trend among aging Americans. That trend is to establish an RV handicapped accessible park then later building one-bedroom handicapped tiny homes behind the already established residence.

The property is currently categorized as a rural residential district. On June 18, 2018, County Living Residential Care received a special use permit for boarding houses and rest homes. Last week, the investors had hoped the city would approve an additional special use permit that would allow them to establish a recreational vehicle park for individuals 55 and older.

The city’s planning and zoning committee didn’t make a recommendation to the city council. Instead, the commission recommended the decision be left up to the city council and not them.

Mayor Ravi Bhasker alluded to the commission’s lack of a recommendation as “kicking the can down the road” for the city council to approve or disapprove the special use permit.

Neighbors of Country Living Residential Care presented the council with a petition signed by 24 individuals, citing increased traffic, congestion, light and noise disruptions would depress local home values.

Mike Timmons, spokesperson for the petitioners, said private investors in the project will not be bound to current plans if the business model does not meet the business income demands of the partners. The property, the petition cited, would become only a vehicle for extracting value from the land and adjacent properties.

Timmons also in a letter addressed to the city council, he stated the investors did not submit all the required documentation to make an informed decision. Missing from the application was: location of the existing and proposed structures, including the dimensions of setbacks; existing and proposed vehicular circulation systems – including parking areas, storage areas, loading areas, and major points of access, include street pavement width and right-of-way; location and treatment of open spaces, including landscaping and schedule; lighting; signage; a drainage plan, site plan, landscaping plan, and grading plan shall be required for special-use developments.

Country Living Residential Care’s plan submitted to the council revealed phase one of the development included spaces for 26 recreational vehicle spaces as well as a storage shed, and an office building with a shower, laundry facilities and two bathrooms. Also included in the development’s first phase was a walking path, trees and a pond west of the current residential facility.

Phase two of the project included a tiny home village consisting of one-bedroom, handicapped accessible units on 5.5760 acres of land to the east of the current facility.

However, after negative input from neighbors and the Planning Commission not making a recommendation to the City Council, the DeMoss’ and Tacker decided to pull its request for a special use permit and pursue other avenues to address the housing shortage for seniors.