![]() Both new and existing government regulations can add up to 40.6% of the costs of the average development, says a new report issued by the National Association of Home Builders. Breaking down the costs, the survey, done in conjunction with the National Multifamily Housing Council, says that just over 11% of those costs are coming from building codes that have been upgraded or changed in the last decade. The second highest cost, at 8.5%, stems from costs imposed when site work begins. Government-imposed inclusionary zoning, defined as requiring developers to build a certain segment of their apartments below the market rate, makes up 2.7% of costs. Ironically, according to the survey’s findings, some regulatory mandates have had the effect of discouraging developers from building in the very communities where new housing is the most needed. Just under 48% of the survey’s respondents said they avoid building in areas with certain regulatory mandates, even if the community needs more housing. An overwhelming 87.5% said they avoid building in areas where rent control policies are in place. The survey report, Regulation: 40.6 Percent of the Cost of Multifamily Development, notes that the “first significant interaction between a multifamily developer and the government typically occurs when the developer applies for zoning approval to allow multifamily housing to be built on a particular parcel of land.” Those costs, at that stage, include everything from “fees owed to the local jurisdiction for proceeding through the approval process to market or environmental impact studies that must be commissioned from private consultants.” While there are instances where developers can acquire land for housing development without having to go through a rezoning process, just under 94% of the survey’s respondents said they regularly “dedicate resources to rezone the land to allow multifamily construction. When they exist, these costs average 3.4% of the total development cost.” Respondents also pointed to costs associated with overall impact fees as well as utility impact fees. Nearly 92% of the respondents said they have been required by local authorities to include energy efficient and façade design fees, while also being required to “leave a portion of the development site dedicated for government use or left unbuilt.” The survey report additionally notes that while developers regularly respond to a host of federal, state, and local building mandates, a large nearly 96% of respondents said complying with such regulations, “caused some sort of delay for their typical project.” In a press release accompanying the survey and issued by the NAHB, it was noted that “few would argue, for example, that basic safety standards for structures and workers are necessary. But when regulation constitutes an average of 40.6% of a project’s development costs, this raises questions about how thoroughly governments are considering the consequences of their actions.” By Garry Boulard
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![]() A two-story structure built during the first year of the last century is up for sale in the busy border city of Nogales, with a listing price of $999,000. Located at 142. N. Grand Avenue in downtown Nogales, the structure measures just over 78,800 square feet. The building is connected to the historic Old Nogales City Hall and Fire Station, a Mission Revival-style building listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Sitting on a less than one-acre site, the structure is designated as a Class B building and features half a dozen rear bays. Business tenants in the building include the Border Pawn & Coin store, as well as the Champs Auto Parts store. In recent years the building has also been the home to a clothing store, cosmetics store, and music store, and is on a block dotted with one and two-story commercial structures. Listed with Magic Land Realty of nearby Tubac, Arizona, the building is just several blocks from the U.S./Mexico border. By Garry Boulard ![]() Albuquerque is slated to see more than $8.5 million on park construction and upgrade work in the months ahead, thanks to new federal funding. That funding is coming through the American Rescue Plan Act, which altogether is giving the Duke City around $49.1 million, the majority of which is going to homeless shelter programs and facility upgrades. But members of the Albuquerque City Council have also allotted ARP funding totaling just over $4 million for work at the Phil Chacon Park, located at 7600 Southern Avenue SE, about 8 miles to the east of downtown Albuquerque. Roughly $3.5 million will target a new park in the International District, a neighborhood located in southeast Albuquerque which is home to both many residents from other countries as well as international grocery stores and restaurants. An additional $1 million is to be spent on improvements to the Isotopes Park, located at 1601 Avenida Cesar Chavez SE. A planned community facility and gym in the Martineztown-Santa Barbara neighborhood in central Albuquerque is also slated to receive $4 million in ARP funding. Passed by Congress last year, the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act has to date funded around two dozen various projects in Albuquerque, with a funding total of more than $43 million. That funding has gone primarily for government operations efforts, infrastructure, and homeless shelter projects. By Garry Boulard ![]() The future construction of new natural gas power plants may prove less plentiful in the wake of a just-released U.S. Supreme Court decision. Ruling in the West Virginia v. EPA case, the higher court in a 6 to 3 vote said the Environmental Protection Agency lacks the authority to regulate the nation’s power plant industry. In a majority opinion, Chief Justice John Roberts said current federal law provides no authorization for agencies to implement regulations as substitutes for Congressional laws “passed by the people’s representatives.” Writing in dissent, Associate Justice Elena Kagan accused the Supreme Court of attempting to prevent “congressionally authorized agency action to curb power plants’ carbon dioxide emissions.” Continued Kagan: “The Court appoints itself—instead of Congress or the expert agency—the decision-maker on climate policy.” In a statement, the Sierra Club declared that the Supreme Court ruling has “effectively eliminated the US Environmental Protection Agency’s most effective tool for reducing climate pollution from existing fossil fuel burning power plants. This decision is deeply disappointing and dangerous.” Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, on the other hand, remarked that the Supreme Court ruling has “undone illegal regulations issued by the EPA without any clear congressional authorization and confirmed that only the people’s representatives in Congress—not unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats—may write our nation’s laws.” A statement issued by the EPA in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling said that the agency will “move forward with lawfully setting and implementing environmental standards that meet our obligation to protect all people and all communities from environmental harm.” In response to both environmental and economic concerns, natural gas power plants have increasingly been coming online across the country in recent years. The federal Energy Information Administration has forecast a 27% increase in natural gas power plant capacity within the next two years, with that figure jumping to 40% by 2040. By Garry Boulard ![]() An auction is scheduled to be held beginning on July 25 for a mixed-use retail center in north Colorado Springs. Located at 750 Garden of the Gods Road, in a part of the city dominated by many one-story restaurant and retail operations, the structure measures nearly 34,200 square feet. Built in 1974, the building, sitting on a 2.3-acre site, has through the years housed a variety of tenants, including the House of Color art gallery, the Altitude Ninja Gym, and the wood working supply store called Woodcraft of Colorado Springs. For more than two decades, the one-story building served as a location for the Harloff Manufacturing Company, specialists in medical cabinets for healthcare storage. Published reports indicate that while the structure was earlier listed for sale at a higher price, the starting bid for the property is $1.7 million. Listing agent for the structure at auction is the Colorado Springs-based Hoff & Leigh realtors. By Garry Boulard ![]() A city long known for its rodeo events may become even more so with the construction of a new livestock pavilion. City officials in Clovis, New Mexico have frequently spoken in favor of building a modern rodeo facility. But now, according to published reports, K.C. Messick, the general manager of the Curry County Events Center, has provided some details on a project still in the talking stage. Those details include demolishing animal barns at the Curry County Fairgrounds on the southeast side of the city at 1900 E. Brady Avenue and replacing them with a new livestock pavilion. It is thought that the project might cost as much as $10 million to complete. An earlier estimate pegged it at $9 million. The fairgrounds host several equestrian events, as well as bull riding, bronc riding, and team roping competitions. A new livestock pavilion could house as many as 300 animal stalls, as well as a show office. Officials have also said that they would like to see the building of a warm-up area for equestrian events, a recreational vehicle park, and renovation of an onsite building that could be used to house a museum. It is thought that the fairgrounds’ rodeo, along with other events held at the site, generates up to $10 million in annual revenue for Clovis and Curry County. By Garry Boulard ![]() An effort is underway in Congress to significantly increase the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s fiscal 2023 budget, with some of that funding going to a distressed properties initiative. Members of the House Appropriations Subcommittee have given their approval to a $62.7 billion budget for HUD. That figure is up by around $9 billion over the agency’s $53.6 budget. The new budget includes $31 billion for rental assistance, nearly $12 billion for HUD’s popular Community Planning and Development; and $1.7 billion for a home partnership program. But for builders and contractors, perhaps the most interesting part of the new budget is the $450 million that will go to revitalizing both low-income housing properties and distressed properties through HUD’s Choice Neighborhood Initiative. That $450 million is up from the current fiscal year’s $100 million. The Choice Neighborhoods program is designed to upgrade and modernize public housing facilities across the country. The program also targets improving and bringing back to life abandoned public housing buildings. The House Appropriations Subcommittee HUD budget, just over $1.1 billion more than President Biden asked for in his 2023 budget request, is now on its way to the full House for consideration. By Garry Boulard ![]() The Simply Amazing Marketplace in central Arizona, has long been a magnet to locals, but especially visitors traveling through, with its eclectic mix of product offerings. Located at 47 S. Main Street in Cottonwood, the marketplace, dating to 1935, is a site made up of several stores, designed and decorated to look like a combination desert frontier and traditional Mexican village store. As such it fits in well with its surroundings in what is described as the Old Town Cottonwood tourist area, which is populated with art galleries, cafes, and shops. A correspondent for the Arizona Daily Sun surveying the marketplace in 2019 made note of the “bronze statues of eagles, hard-carved life-size bears by Cottonwood carvers, Mexican art fabrications like cowboys on horses, a nine-foot stallion horse who is bucking, a huge, welded ball, a Tombstone cowboy titled ‘Ready to Go,’ and more.” Now the Simply Amazing Marketplace, comprising around 17,000 square retail feet, with a false façade making the buildings appear to have two stories when in reality they are all single-story, is being listed for sale for $1.6 million. Sitting on a roughly 1.5-acre site, the property and business itself has been owned by the same owner since the early 1970s. Listed with the owner Terel Zitco, the site has parking spaces for up to 40 vehicles. By Garry Boulard ![]() A number of existing and planned homeless facilities are in line for funding in Albuquerque, as the city applies some $49.1 million in federal funding it has received owing to Covid 19. The funding is coming through the American Rescue Plan, a nearly $2 trillion economic stimulus bill passed early last year by Congress and signed into law by President Biden. The purpose of the plan has been to provide funding support for communities impacted by the pandemic. Member of the Albuquerque City Council have now approved using ARP for a variety of projects, with $4 million supporting the continued use of motels being used for both homeless families and those, because of Covid 19, in isolation. At least three such motels were set up by the city in 2020, providing room space in existing commercial motels. Around $1.6 million in ARP funding will go for improvements to the city’s West Side Emergency Housing Shelter, located at 7440 Jim McDowell NW, a 24/7 operation with around 300 beds. An additional $9.3 million is slated for first and second-phase improvements to the Gibson Health Hub, which is housed in the former Lovelace Hospital at 5400 Gibson Boulevard SE. That facility is also receiving some $3.5 million for the building out of a medical respite center designed to serve people who are both ill and homeless. An additional $7 million is slated for the construction of a youth shelter, which is still in the talking stage. In a statement, Mayor Tim Keller said that since the onset of Covid 19, cities across the country have seen a “tragic and rapid rise in homelessness.” Keller added: “We can’t just wring our hands over this challenge, we have to press forward and build the spaces that will provide the shelter and support people need to find stable housing and get off the street.” According to the National League of Cities, well over 300 cities and towns have so far received just over $25 billion in ARP funding. That funding, in turn has supported around 4,600 housing, infrastructure, public health, and public safety projects. By Garry Boulard ![]() This fall the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to hear oral arguments in a dispute that positions property owners against federal environmental laws. The case, Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, involves Chantell and Michael Sackett who were attempting to build a house on land they owned near Priest Lake, Idaho. Before construction of the structure began, the Sacketts received a notice from the Environmental Protection Agency informing them that the land was subject to the federal Clean Water Act. Because of that designation, the EPA charged the couple with illegally placing fill materials into what was described as “jurisdictional wetlands.” The Sacketts eventually took their case to the Supreme Court, after both a district court and circuit court of appeals ruled in favor of the EPA. The higher court never made a clear ruling in the matter, leaving in place a district court ruling declaring that the land in question was a wetland, and the Sacketts had failed to file for the required permits before they began their project. Now the Supreme Court is poised to revisit the issue, trying to determine whether the Sacketts’ land falls under the umbrella of “waters of the United States,” making it thus subject to regulation under the Clean Water Act. Delaware Senator Tom Carper and Oregon Congressman Peter DeFazio have filed an amicus brief in the case, contending that “the resolution of this matter could have a profound impact” on wetlands protection efforts. The outcome of the case may prove particularly significant to developers and contractors contemplating projects in wetlands areas. What the Supreme Court ultimately decides in the matter, says the National Law Review, will be important, as will how the “Army Corps of Engineers and Environmental Protection Agency interpret and implement that decision.” By Garry Boulard |
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