A group called Homewise wants to develop 22 acres of affordable housing as well as a public park on the southwest side of Santa Fe at the intersection of South Meadows Road and Rufina Street.
The project is expected to be reviewed and most likely voted on by members of the Santa Fe City Planning Commission in early February.
With offices in Santa Fe, the nonprofit Homewise is dedicated to providing home ownership opportunities for those who, primarily due to income issues, are least likely to have their own home.
The group has been involved in a number of new home construction projects, including the building of 40 single-family homes on the historic Camino Real in Santa Fe known as El Camino Crossing.
The new South Meadows Road project will see construction going up on a currently vacant 22.2-acre lot purchased some 15 years ago by Santa Fe County.
Efforts on the part of the county to turn the space into a public park have gone nowhere, largely due to the anticipated cost of that project. Last summer, the county decided to sell the land to Homewise for nearly $2 million in the hope of seeing affordable housing built there.
In the upcoming planning commission meeting, scheduled for February 3, Homewise is asking that the South Meadows site be given a new zoning designation allowing for residential construction.
The project, if approved, will see the building of nearly 100 homes. Forty of those structures will be built as condos. The plan also calls for 30 townhomes and just over two dozen single-family homes.
By Garry Boulard
