Tempe City Council unanimously voted to deny an appeal of a previously approved use permit for the East Valley Health, Housing and Human Services Center, with added conditions to accommodate the appellant’s concerns.
Council voted 7-0 to uphold the Tempe Development Review Commission’s approval of the permit to provide temporary housing at the proposed development at its Jan. 9 regular meeting.
The Independent previously reported that the project consists of a new two-story, 22,964-square-foot office, housing shelter and homelessness services building at 2425 E. Apache Blvd. for the Tempe Community Action Agency.
Mesa resident Albert Avelar filed an appeal of the development review commission’s decision, citing concerns regarding the potential negative side effects that the development could bring to the surrounding neighborhood.
Avelar spoke during the Jan. 9 meeting, explaining that he owns a property in the area and has received many complaints from tenants who have already experienced issues with unhoused people in the area and are worried that the housing shelter could worsen these problems.
He also pointed to experiences he’s had with unhoused people trespassing and loitering on his property. Avelar emphasized a concern for the potential decline in property value because of the proposed East Valley Health, Housing and Human Services Center.
A number of other residents also shared similar concerns to Avelar, saying they were worried for how this development could impact the safety and quality of the area.
“I put money into the property to maintain it and upgrade it, and I feel this is a total opposition to what I’m trying to do (to) better the property,” Avelar said.
He also shared with council that the neighborhood has reported they have issues with being informed about this project, saying that it was not delivered to residents in a timely manner to comment on it before the commission’s approval.
Senior Planner Jacob Payne did note at the meeting that a neighborhood meeting was not required for the DRC’s approval of the permit, and staff had suggested that TCAA, the nonprofit responsible for the East Valley Health, Housing and Human Services Center, hold one to gather local feedback.
Response to the appeal
At the meeting, Deborah Arteaga, CEO of TCAA, talked more about what the group aims to provide at this new building, including supports like financial education and coaching services, programs addressing homelessness and resources to place unhoused people into immediate housing.
Arteaga said that the development has been in the works for over three years, involving several city departments and being the center of several city council discussions.
“Our site plan has undergone four official reviews by police and other city departments in the past year alone,” Arteaga said. “It’s important to point out that shelter is not the only program that will be housed at this building and is not the only population that this site will serve.”
An array of programs will be offered at the site, serving not only unhoused people, but seven human services programs consisting of shelter and others that are designed to address poverty, hunger and homelessness.
Councilmember Nikki Amberg asked Arteaga about the neighborhood meeting, which the latter said was held in November. Arteaga holds that the city and other stakeholders were notified of the meeting and the resulting feedback.
Payne explained that staff had not received any information about a public meeting in the typical format, and the November meeting Arteaga mentioned did not meet that requirement.
“Even though it was requested as a voluntary process, we would still expect the format and timing requirements that we impose for required neighborhood meetings, which implies 15 days prior to the hearing,” Payne said.
Arteaga then briefly discussed the information that was discussed at the unofficial community meeting, noting that 22 people attended with similar safety and property value concerns but had listened to the TCAA team about the proposed services.
“The summary of the attendees was that they felt this is a solution to issues already in their community and appreciated our invitation to have an open dialog at any point if there were concerns in the future,” she said.
However, she did note that no changes were made to the proposal as a result of that meeting.
Solutions going forward
After the call for public comment, Avelar spoke once more, saying that he still holds a negative attitude toward TCAA’s building.
“The bottom line is the people in Victory Acres, their wishes, should be considered above professionals that don’t respect it,” he said.
Mayor Corey Woods, a former TCAA board member, said in the following council discussion that security seemed to be one of the main resident concerns, and he proposed that they add a measure to address that like a security plan.
“I don’t have all the specifics of what that might look like, per se, but quite honestly, that’s one of the things that I personally thought in reading a lot of the comments might make a lot of the residents a lot more comfortable,” Woods said.
Ultimately, council voted to deny Avelar’s appeal, but it modified the commission’s decision so that another condition of approval be added that TCAA should, at all times, have an approved security plan that meets the criteria of the Tempe City Code.
City Attorney Eric Anderson clarified at the meeting that there’s a number of factors set forth in the city code that police regularly use for security plans, and there is an additional factor for this project that requires a public outreach component for the plan.
Please send your comments to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines. Reporter Caroline Yu can be reached at cyu@iniusa.org
Meet Caroline Caroline Yu joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2020 as a summer intern covering Scottsdale. As an intern, she continued her coverage of Scottsdale, Paradise Valley and Tempe. After graduating in 2022, Caroline became a full-time reporter for Scottsdale and Paradise Valley. She is currently reporting for the Tempe market.
Community: She is a supporter of the environment and tries to get involved with related community events.
Education: Arizona State University with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications, with a minor in French.
Random Fact: She used to be a ballet dancer for 10 years.
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Councilmember Nikki Amberg asked Arteaga about the neighborhood meeting, which the latter said was held in November. Arteaga holds that the city and other stakeholders were notified of the meeting and the resulting feedback.
Mayor Corey Woods, a former TCAA board member, said in the following council discussion that security seemed to be one of the main resident concerns, and he proposed that they add a measure to address that like a security plan.
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