A push to reform the city’s zoning laws to allow more duplex construction has failed for a second year. An amendment to the city’s codes would have greenlighted conversions of existing single-family homes into duplexes in areas designated as urban centers, main street areas and those near mass transit. A measure to allow for new overnight shelters also failed.
Duplexes and overnight shelters were part of a large package of zoning considerations and amendments that went before the Albuquerque City Council during a more than eight-hour meeting Monday.
City Councilor Tammy Fiebelkorn said she’s been frustrated by duplex opponents who seem to move the goalpost each time a concern is addressed.
Opponents have said more duplexes would adversely alter neighborhood character and that it is a “false hope” to address a lack of affordable housing across the city.
Supporters, however, say duplex construction is a “necessary, meaningful and incremental” step to address Albuquerque’s affordable housing crisis, especially for those who are priced out of a traditional single-family home.
Read more about the push for duplexes here.
“The first concern of opponents was that developers would buy up full blocks of houses, go in and knock them all down and create duplexes,” Fiebelkorn, who co-sponsored the measure with City Councilor Nichole Rogers, said.
Fiebelkorn said that while she didn’t share the concern, the proposal was updated so that if a developer did buy and demolish an existing home to build a duplex, it would have to be approved through the city’s conditional use permitting process.
“That is a direct result of all the conversations that we had last year that went to the [Environmental Planning Commission] and it was turned down,” she said. “So then we heard: ‘Wait, that wasn’t really the problem. That wasn’t our concern. Our concern is that we’re scared that if we do it citywide, they’ll just be duplexes on every corner.’”
That’s when a change was made to restrict conversions to certain areas of the city, Fiebelkorn said.
“We said OK, we will make it only in certain areas of the city where we want gentle density, where people can live near transit and areas where they want to live, work and play in,” she said. “Then we got a lot of pushback on that. People said: ‘No, that wasn’t exactly what we meant. We were upset about something else.’”
Fiebelkorn said after two years’ worth of back and forth, she thinks there may be another reason for the opposition.
“It’s beginning to seem to me like what we’re really upset about is that we don’t want people living next to us who make less money. That’s really the only thing I can think of at this point, because we’ve addressed every concern over and over and over again,” she said. “What we’re saying, in my opinion, is that we just don’t want those people living near us.”
The duplex measure failed on a 3 to 6 vote without comment from the councilors who voted against it.
NO: Brook Bassan, Dan Champine, Renée Grout, Dan Lewis, Klarissa Peña and Louie Sanchez
YES: Tammy Fiebelkorn, Nichole Rogers and Joaquín Baca.
A majority of the dozens of people who gave public comments were in favor of allowing more duplex construction. Among a handful of opponents were Evelyn Feltner, who said she is a board member of the Inez Neighborhood Association.
“This [zoning change] would [cross] into one-third of my neighborhood,” Feltner said. “It would cause enmity among neighbors. It would be a false hope for affordable housing. It’s a false premise.”
Fiebelkorn added that city zoning currently allows up to seven unrelated adults to live together in one home.
“They’re forced to because they can’t afford other housing,” she said. “So all we’re saying is that we would like to allow some duplexes for some dignity. You could have your family live on their own and not share with someone else.”
Read about proposed changes to the city charter that were discussed at the meeting here.
Overnight shelters fail, too
Meanwhile, the zoning reform to allow for small- and medium-sized overnight shelters for those experiencing homelessness also fell short.
Rogers co-sponsored an amendment with Fiebelkorn that would have allowed for the construction of small shelters with 10 or fewer beds and medium-sized shelters with 11 to 49 beds. The shelters would have been allowed in certain areas of the city and under restrictions like being at least 330 feet away from a residential-use zone.
NO: Brook Bassan, Dan Champine, Renée Grout, Dan Lewis, Klarissa Peña and Louie Sanchez
YES: Tammy Fiebelkorn, Nichole Rogers and Joaquín Baca.
Overnight shelters with more than 50 beds would not have been allowed.
“This is just specific to overnight shelters, so it doesn’t change supportive housing or permanent housing or any of the other allowable uses,” Rogers said before the vote.
Fiebelkorn said her District 7 constituents were largely in support of the measure.
“They say: ‘Why aren’t you doing more? Why aren’t there more shelters? Why aren’t there more places for people to go?’” she said.
Fiebelkorn said the use of small-and-medium sized shelters make more sense than a large shelter like the city’s embattled Westside Emergency Housing Center (WEHC).
“I don’t think the WEHC is the answer; I’m not sure that the Gateway [Center] is the answer,” she said. “I think there’s a need for additional overnight shelters spread throughout the city.”
The amendment failed on a 3 to 6 vote, without comment from councilors who voted against it.
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