More senior housing could be coming to Hobbs after a vote by the Hobbs Planning Board in its Tuesday morning meeting
Charlie Benton
News-Sun
The board unanimously recommended a sketch plan for a gated community to be located in the Zia Crossing development northwest of Zia Park Casino, Hotel and Racetrack. The proposed development will be open to those aged 55 and older and include a homeowner’s association as laid out in the New Mexico Homeowner’s Association Act. The development will include 90 homes in total as well as a pool, Jacuzzi and clubhouse.
With a recommendation by the Hobbs Planning Board the next step for the housing complex is an approval by the Hobbs City Commission. No date has been determined when that will take place.
According to Hobbs Development Director Kevin Robinson, the complex will be the first community of it’s kind in Hobbs. With the sketch plan approved, project officials will be going to the surveyor and producing flats and preliminary construction on the land.
“This is the first one that’s going to be truly 100 percent compliant with today’s (HOA) rules and regulations,” Robinson said.
According to Leon Ivie, project manager and director of marketing and sales for Zia Crossing, the project is expected to start in October.
The main difference between a general development and a development laid out under the HOA is that services traditionally provided by the city are provided by the HOA.
“The road, curb, gutters and sidewalks, all of that stuff that we traditionally associate with those things within the right-of-way, there will not be a right-of-way. That property will be owned and maintained by the homeowner’s association or each individual lot owner in the subdivision,” Robinson said.
However, the city will still be responsible for maintaining utility systems including water and sewer.
Planning board member Bill Ramirez raised some concerns about the possibility of the homeowner’s association micromanaging residents of the development, but planning board member Bobby Shaw said it would depend on the way the association’s bylaws were written and pointed out that restrictive covenants in non-HOA developments can be just as strict.
“One of them that’s set up right that is maintained over the years, they’re a good thing, not a bad thing,” Shaw said.
Overall, the board was content with the plans, although Robinson and other city staff suggested the addition of a cul-de-sac or other construction to the entrance of the subdivision in order to make it easier for vehicles to turn around safely.
“We’ve considered it (a gated community) since our initial foray into Hobbs,” Ivie said. “Once we started homes out there in Zia Crossing, we determined that there was a need for a gated community.”
Ivie added that the community is unnamed at this point.
Charlie Benton can be reached at 575-391-5434 or by email.
