CITY of ALBUQUERQUE
TWENTY FIFTH COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. R-22-72 ENACTMENT NO. ________________________
SPONSORED BY: Isaac Benton
RESOLUTION
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Directing That The City Not Approve Any Site Plan For The Low-Density Residential Development At 3525 4th St NW Albuquerque, Known As The ‘Brown Property’, That Is Inconsistent With What Was Proposed In The Request For Proposals Process (Benton)
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DIRECTING THAT THE CITY NOT APPROVE ANY SITE PLAN FOR THE LOW-DENSITY RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT AT 3525 4TH ST NW ALBUQUERQUE, KNOWN AS THE ‘BROWN PROPERTY’, THAT IS INCONSISTENT WITH WHAT WAS PROPOSED IN THE REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS PROCESS.
WHEREAS, 3525 4TH Street NW contains two parcels owned by the City of Albuquerque that were sent out as a Request for Proposals (RFP) for development of affordable housing; and
WHEREAS, an ad-hoc committee comprised of City staff members and community members from the area surrounding the site considered two responses to the RFP and ultimately chose the project titled Calle Cuarta (“the Project”); and
WHEREAS, the Project contains two distinct portions: a medium-density multi-family project at the eastern end of the site and a low-density residential development portion at the west end of the site; and
WHEREAS, the Site Plan for the multi-family portion at the east end of the site has been approved by the Planning Department, is consistent with the RFP submittal, and is not the subject of this resolution; and
WHEREAS, the low-density residential portion of the Project proposed for the western part of the site is not consistent from a design perspective with the RFP submittal; and
WHEREAS, the designs in the submitted RFP, as indicated in Exhibit A to this resolution, depict 19 low-density residential homes, where the southern-most homes were to have their front façade facing Fairfield Street and with one access point from 7th street and another from 6th street; and
WHEREAS, the preliminary platting that has been approved for this portion of the Project, PR-2020-003847, show 21 subdivided lots; and
WHEREAS, the RFP respondent has produced a “Design Guidelines” document that outlines the design and layout intentions prior to the submittal of a formal Site Plan for review by the City; and
WHEREAS, this Design Guidelines document outlines several significant deviations from what the ad-hoc committee considered as a part of their review; and
WHEREAS, the RFP indicated the low-density residential homes along Fairfield Street that integrate into the existing community by having their front façade facing Fairfield Street, yet the proposed Design Guidelines show less integrated homes facing the new interior street; and
WHEREAS, the RFP indicated the low-density residential units in groups of two yet the proposed Design Guidelines show these units in groups of three; and
WHEREAS, these two significant deviations in design from the submittal by the RFP respondent severely undermine basic good urban design features and are not consistent with what was presented to the ad-hoc committee when it chose this respondent for the award; and
WHEREAS, the City is contributing $3,500,000 and will convey the land valued at $1,100,000 to the developer via a development agreement approved by the City Council (EC-22-468) and therefore has an interest in necessitating a high-level of design as was affirmed in the respondent’s submittal; and
WHEREAS, the surrounding community and City staff have attempted to engage with the respondent regarding quality design elements by proposing reasonable changes to the respondent’s Design Guideline document as depicted in Exhibit B to this resolution.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL, THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY OF ALBUQUERQUE:
SECTION 1. The City shall not approve any request for a Site Plan at 3525 4th Street NW for low-density residential development, nor a change to the Development Agreement the City Council approved via EC-21-468, unless the Site Plan and design standards are consistent with the general design as was submitted with the RFP, including building orientation.
SECTION 2. The Administration shall pursue an agreement with RFP respondent to ensure that community spaces within the project are maintained by the Homeowners Association or similar organization in perpetuity.
SECTION 3. The administration shall pursue an agreement with the RFP respondent to ensure that the public/pedestrian bike path that leads from Fairfield Place to the mixed-use component of the project will be available for use by the larger community in perpetuity.
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