BISBEE — The Hillcrest apartments will finally be in new hands and developed for affordable housing over the next few years as Butler Housing Company in partnership with CBC Financial Corporation have made the successful bid.
During Tuesday’s meeting, Mayor Ken Budge and Councilmembers Mel Sowid, Anna Cline, Frank Davis, Joni Giacomino and Juanetta Hill discussed a change in the agreement with City Manager Steve Pauken.
At the Oct. 4 meeting, Reid Butler presented the plan for the property which will be renamed Bisbee Lofts, LLC. The partners submitted a bid of $700,000 for the two buildings which was $100,000 more than the previous bidder La Frontera which backed out when the company did not get the tax credits needed to follow through with the renovation.
One of the sticking points with the council was the request the city carry $250,000 as a loan with two percent interest over 20 years. Butler maintained the agreement for the loan would be seen as the city’s support for the housing project and would have a better chance at obtaining the tax credits. The more points one gets in the grading of projects, the better chance to obtain the credits as the higher scores win.
So, Pauken spoke with Butler and was able to get the loan down to $100,000 at 2% interest for 18 years which was more agreeable to the councilmembers.
Sowid said the agreement needed to clarify the city did not control water service to the buildings and the partners would have to work with Arizona Water Company.
Electric Brewing, at 1326 State Route 92, is seeking a permanent extension of premises liquor license for the business which in the past has come to the Council for temporary extensions of premises permits on Sundays.
Co-owners Joseph and Natalie Fredrickson now want to make the extension permit permanent to continue to serve patrons outside the establishment.
The only problems were the proposed ADA compliant parking space which is only 17 feet long which was pointed out by Budge. It needs to be 20 feet long and have a three foot wide aisle to accommodate wheelchairs. He also asked for some sort of barrier in the space to keep the driver from ending up on the sidewalk in front of the stores.
Natalie Frederickson said the space was already marked for handicapped parking and had a ramp prior to the purchase of Electric Brewing, but they would make the adjustments.
The council approved the recommendation to the Arizona liquor board with the stipulations that ADA compliance issues be met.
The council also approved the transfer of funds within city departments which went over budget in the 2021–2022 fiscal year which ended June 30.
City Financial Director Keri Bagley explained there was no actual money added to the budget, just a shifting of funds between departments which were underbudget to those which went overbudget.
The mayor and council budget was hit by the need to offer Zoom meetings during the pandemic and staff did not expect to continue with them once the COVID-19 pandemic ended, said Pauken. So, the cost of $3,814 was not added in to the 2021–2022 budget.
The Personnel Department overspent by $15,430 which paid for the investigation into the sexual harassment claim and was another unexpected expense.
Pauken said all the area law enforcement agencies declined to review the complaint so the city had to turn to a more expensive private investigator.
The city’s Housing Initiative also went $47,106 over budget, but Pauken explained it was due to not knowing what the exact cost of renovating the city owned homes in the Workforce Affordable Housing Program.
“This was a learning year,” he said. “We did not know how many completed houses we would have. We did not lose money, though we did spend more than expected.”
As the home renovations are completed, the money from the sale of the homes goes back into the fund to pay for the next project.
The Copper Queen Library and both fire stations will finally get air conditioning units for the hot summer months to replace the swamp coolers used now. The problem is the roofs of the buildings may not be able to hold the weight of normal commercial units. The estimated cost is around $335,000 said Public Works Director Matthew Gurney.
The city council also moved forward on making Bisbee a Dark Skies Community which will require some changes to the city code and to nighttime lighting. A Dark Sky Community is a town, city, or municipality that has shown exceptional dedication to the preservation of the night sky through the implementation and enforcement of quality lighting codes, dark sky education and citizen support of dark skies.
The new codes call for light fixtures which cover the whole light bulb and force the light downward instead of upward, said Pauken. The best bulbs are those that glow, not glare.
New businesses will be under the new codes to control the amount of light that trespasses onto neighboring properties.
Budge said, “We put this in place so that when things wear out, we can change the lights to make sure all can enjoy the night sky.”
Pauken added, “There will be no light police coming to your door.”
As bulbs burn out the city will switch to LED bulbs for the city streets, which will not only improve the night skies, it will be less expensive for the city to pay for the streetlights.
“We want to make sure all can enjoy the night sky,” said Pauken. “The lighting for the new city hall will be Dark Skies compliant. When you’re buying a porch light, just remember down is better than up and glow is better than glare.”
Pauken added, “There will be no light police coming to your door.”
Ten more qualified homeowners in Saginaw will be able to apply for grants to make repairs on their homes as the state has money left over, Pauken reported. Five homes have already submitted the grant applications. Homeowners have three months to get the applications ready.
“Fifteen homes redone in Saginaw will have a huge impact on the community,” Pauken said.
The workforce affordable housing program has another renovated home almost ready to put up for auction which should make the people on the waiting list happy, Pauken added. The city has two vacant lots in Saginaw which may become new homesteads for other people in the local workforce.
The program was started to alleviate the problem of finding affordable housing in Bisbee for local workers. The city obtained properties through county auctions which were in arrears for taxes and Bisbee sewer and garbage bills.