By Lynn Janes
The Village of Santa Clara held a public hearing September 24, 2025.
This public hearing had been called to discuss a possible land variance to reduce the current requirements for lot size and manufactured housing unit size. The location zoned community commercial will establish an area for an affordable housing development. This public hearing had been published and posted to be in compliance with the open meetings law. Yvonne Gonzales, village attorney, presented proof of the postings and she also proved notice to the property owners with abutters five business days before the hearing. These will be the people most affected by this change. They had eight landowners they contacted. Some with abutters had been village property. Five owners accepted the certified letter, and she named those individuals. Two property owners had not picked up the certified letter. All prerequisites had been accomplished.
The address in question is 527 Fort Bayard Street.
The applicant is the Village of Santa Clara, jointly with the Cobre Consolidated School district.
Zoning requires a minimum lot size to be 5,000 square feet but this request will be for 2,500 square feet to accommodate two small modular homes that will be HUD certified with a maximum heating area of 640 square feet.
Originally this property had been two lots in 1896 and she provided the original plat from that time. When the village acquired the property in 2015 it became one lot, and the purchase price had been $3,500.
The property had been a filling station, so it had tanks on it. Because of covid money they had been able in 2023 to have the tanks removed and have an environmental test done. Two tanks had been removed— one had been used for petroleum and the other water. The test showed some leakage but did not meet the threshold requiring it to be cleaned up. However, where the gas had been pumped, the dispensing area, they had found contamination above the threshold. The village had to excavate four feet down, remove that soil and replace it. The lot has a clean bill of health now and is not a superfund site. That filling station had been on the property for a very long time.
Gonzales had spoken to the manufacturers for the mobile homes and had seen the diagram of what they would look like, and they will be manufactured in Deming.
With the two lots they could put six one bedroom affordable units. It will be consistent with the new affordable housing ordinance. Because of the ordinance the village will be able to help with affordable housing developments, but it will have a lot of restrictions. Gonzales continued with the restrictions and the processes that would they must adhere to. The state has been pushing affordable housing, and this would be an ideal property to try it out on.
Shiela Hudman, village administrator, explained that Cobre Consolidated School district had received a $119,000 grant that expires in June 2026. Originally, they had planned to renovate two office buildings behind the administration building into four housing units to help recruitment for teachers. The bid for required design would take most of the money and at that time they offered the units to the village. They would donate them, but the village had to move them. In the end, it had been determined they could not be moved because of stucco and concrete used for the foundations.
At that point they asked if the village had any lots available. They could do the project with the current funds, and they have approached Freeport McMoRan for CIF (Community Investment Fund) funding to have enough to purchase a second manufactured home, and improvements. Currently this will be the only lot the village has available for this kind of project. Hudman did discuss an MOU (memorandum of understanding) that these homes will only be used for workforce housing.
Hudman said the village had received $100,000 for the three mining communities to purchase and bring in modular homes that will be more like site built as a model home for sale or lease.
This will help the school district to have a hiring incentive, so they have housing for a teacher for up to a year. Cobre will know in October if they have received the needed CIF grant from Freeport McMoRan to put in the second home. The board had some questions about which employees would it be offered to and if a distance requirement would be part of that. They also wanted to know if it would be rented from Cobre or free. Gonzales said that would be up to Cobre Consolidated Schools.
Gonzales said they would still have to go through code enforcement like everyone else. They talked about other options that could be included in the agreement.
Hudman spoke to something she had tried to work on in the past and will again with the current council. She wants to see ADU (accessory dwelling unit), also called mother-in-law homes when people have lots 7,000 square foot or larger. The unit would have to be around 800 square feet. It has also been called generational housing. They can only be used to house immediate family and not extended family or used as an Airbnb. It will prevent homelessness of family members and seniors. Currently with the village laws they can't do this. She had attended an affordable housing summit the previous week and had learned a lot to help the village. More and more seniors have become homeless because they can't afford housing anymore.
Arnold Lopez, Santa Clara mayor, felt the variance would be a good idea. Gonzalez thought it would be good for the community.
The council all voted to pass the variance for this property.