The first application for a safe open space which would be managed with resources and a temporarily place to call home, has been turned in. The site at 1250 Menaul NE, just west of I-25, is a 510,000-square-foot lot, which would give 11 acres for the site to handle a large capacity of homeless residents.
The lot is across from the T-Mobile call center, right next to the Sunset Memorial Cemetery. Besides the Quality Inn across the street, which takes homeless housing vouchers already, and a few other office buildings, there is no residential housing nearby, which complies with the 330 feet the site, by ordinance, needs to be from any residential developments.
A new organization called the Dawn Legacy Pointe, formed by Street Safe New Mexico, is the only organization to apply for the open space camp approval. It should take five business days for the planning department to review the application.
Dawn Legacy Pointe estimates it will take $120,000 to $180,000 to operate the camp in its first year, and the city is planning to help cover the those costs. The organization hopes to have it up and running by October if approved.
Councilor Brook Bassan asked to amend the outdoor spaces proposal at the Aug. 15 council meeting instead of passing it to the Land and Zoning Committee, and the motion passed 6-3.
Each open space area is allowed to house 50 people with 40 spaces and must provide hygiene stations. If approved, the organization would be allowed to operate for two years and then apply for another two years when the first approval expires.
