New Senior Housing Development breaks ground

It was a tough slog to get to this point according to the developer and political leaders who attended Friday’s ground breaking ceremony for a new 48-unit senior housing development. Despite being billed as a senior housing development with the express intent of serving an older population who face special needs and fixed incomes, there was local opposition to the project from those who felt the development might turn into a low-income, drug-infested housing development – or those who simply didn’t want a building development of this size “in their back yard.” It took over three years and multiple city hall meetings, planning and zoning debates, meetings at local and state levels and closed door meetings to arrive at a point where bulldozers could go in and break ground on the project.

The final approvals coincided with the economic upheaval in September of ’08 and while the events of ’08 caused a delay in the project, according to Clay McReynolds,  the investors and banks held firm in their support of this project. A final vote on the project was put before the Globe City Council. The vote was 3-For and 3-Against.  The tie vote generated a discussion to table the vote for more discussion, or vote again. It was decided to vote again and with it still tied it was Mayor Fernando Shipley who stepped in to break the tie and cast the deciding yes vote to insure the project moved forward.

“I have seen seniors in this community who have to decide between paying their mortgage or buying medicine. I’ve seen seniors living alone in un-safe conditions in old houses which they can’t afford the repairs,” said Shipley. It seemed to be the general consensus of those who have worked so tirelessly on this project that the time has arrived to provide a better housing alternative for Seniors.

The development will include 48 units, an on-site laundry, exercise room and pool…as well as a raised bed garden which was suggested and championed by Supervisor Shirley Dawson, early on in the planning process.

The Pacific Companies recently completed Cobre Village last year – a64 unit development- which is almost fully leased with families and children who meet certain income guidelines. Floyd Krank spoke at yesterdays ground breaking about that project, which also met with local opposition who feared “low income” meant problem neighbors. Instead he says, on any given day you can see 10-15 children playing in the center couryard, and there have been no problems with tenants thanks to the oversight of the management who carefully screens tenants history and maintain strict guidelines as to who can and can’t rent apartments at Cobre Village.  Krank, who sold the land to the Pacific Companies to develop and help to spearhead the approval process, is proud of that development and, as Clay Reynolds noted in his speech, ” Perhaps those who had concerns about this project will look back on it once it is up and running and say, “We may have been wrong. It is not what we feared.”