County rejects multi-family housing development planned for East Alamosa

ALAMOSA County Commissioners rejected a site plan for a 32-unit multi-family development proposed for East Alamosa. Commissioner Lori Laske supported the proposed housing development while Commissioners Mike Yohn and Vern Heersink voted against it.

The commissioners’ vote Wednesday followed a lengthy public hearing that saw East Alamosa residents worried about the impact the housing development would have on their neighborhood, from creating more traffic to putting strain on the East Alamosa Water and Sanitation District.

The site plan presented by developer Louis Lukondi met Alamosa County’s technical requirements for the development and had the support of the Alamosa County planning office, but Yohn and Heersink bent the way of the residents who said it didn’t fit into the character of the neighborhood.

Heersink said he was initially leaning toward approval, but with Yohn’s concerns about how the multi-family development would bring “change in the neighborhood” and speculation that it could  impact single-family housing valuations, Heersink turned to a no vote and sealed the fate of the project.

Lukondi declined to say whether he would offer a different site plan and try again for approval from the county commissioners. 

The proposed housing development would have brought in 32 units into a multi-family complex at 168 and 188 McKinney Ave. The property is zoned for residential and the project met the county’s land-use regulations for the type of housing development being proposed by Lukondi.

Local officials across the San Luis Valley have been grappling with ways to create more housing to meet market demand. A San Luis Valley Housing Needs Assessment showed Alamosa short nearly 500 housing units, from single family to apartment dwellings, and the Valley as a whole short by over 1,800 units.