By David Grant Long

A proposal that would rezone part of a northeast Cortez neighborhood for manufactured homes was emphatically rejected by both nearby homeowners and the Planning and Zoning Commission Tuesday.

"This would kill our property values (and) traffic is going to be terrible," said Garth Greenlee, who lives on Edith Street in the San Juan Park Addition. "Look at Cornett Heights and see what could happen."

Cornett Heights, which lies directly to the south, is largely made up of manufactured housing, with several of the recent additions installed by developer Don Etnier, who is requesting the new designation for San Juan Park.

Etnier has applied for a zoning change from R-1, or single-family dwellings, to MH (Mobile Home) for 109 lots in the 49-acre subdivision, which was platted in 1959 and is presently about half-filled with "stick-built" houses (those built on site). The final decision rests with the city council, however, and it will hold a second public hearing on his request on Oct. 12.

Etnier wants to develop the remainder of San Juan Park with "single-wide" manufactured housing, which costs significantly less, for low-income people and create a park, or buffer zone, between that area and the stick-built portion.

"The demand for affordable housing far outstrips the demand for 1,500-square-foot stick-built homes," Etnier noted in his application. "While it would be ideal for everyone to live in large, stick-built homes, the community needs affordable housing for everyone."

He pointed out that the average income for a family with two working adults is $23,500 in Montezuma County, which would be enough to purchase a residence costing between $50,000 and $80,000.

"It is difficult or virtually impossible to build stick-built homes with three bedrooms, two baths and 1,000 to 1,200 square feet in these price ranges," he wrote. "This rezoning would provide home sites to typically local people seeking first-time homes and retirees looking to reduce their home size, maintenance and cost."

Etnier said he would be willing to put in paved streets and underground utilities, and to conduct a wetlands study and conform to whatever delineation is defined if the zoning change were approved.

But a crowd of neighborhood residents, concerned about a decrease in property values as well as an increase in traffic that could pose a danger to neighborhood kids, wasn’t having any.

"I built my house on Mesa Verde Street four years ago," said Jamie Haukeness during a public hearing that featured more than a dozen people speaking in opposition and only one other than Etnier supporting the project.

"I wouldn’t have picked (that location) if I knew the zoning might change," he added, presenting the council with a petition containing 170 signatures.

Ronald Smith, who lives along Animas Street, which would be one of the main ways in and out of the development, said the crooked, narrow gravel street would be "totally inadequate" for the additional traffic, and also pointed out that Etnier’s plan for eliminating some of the wetlands by reducing the amount of irrigation water in the area wouldn’t fly with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which would have to approve any plan to mitigate the impact of the development.

"You can’t deliberately dry up wetlands," Smith said.

Bill Henley, who works for Colorado Housing, Inc., explained his non-profit corporation has been providing local poor people a chance to "get a foot in the door of the American dream" through a "sweat equity" program in which homeowners provide some of the labor for their own low-cost stick-built houses.

Henley appealed to the commission to discourage the appeal to "instant gratification" a manufactured home might have on such low-income residents by recommending denial of the application.

Real-estate agent Carol Stepe strongly supported Etnier’s project, however, and praised his previous developments.

"I’ve seen some of the Etniers’ homes -- they’re beautiful," she said, noting that the lots are always nicely landscaped after the houses are installed.

"I’ve seen the builders of stick homes leave the grounds in deplorable condition," she added.

But City Manager Hal Shepherd also urged the commissioners to recommend the council deny the zoning change.

"I don’t think a case has been made for a rezone," Shepherd said, comparing the situation to a request for a change in a commercial zone after investors had bought property there.

"It’s necessary to continue the R-1 zoning." he added. "We need to protect the existing homes."

Etnier responded to several objections, maintaining the traffic issue was moot, since the subdivision was already platted, and that there aren’t actually that many children living in the area, an assertion that drew derisive hoots from the opponents. He said the proposed park between his development and the rest of San Juan Park should be adequate to address concerns about property values.

Commissioner Chris Eastin told Etnier he hadn’t provided enough details in the form of a master plan to allow P&Z to assess the proposal’s desirability.

"The burden rests with the applicant to explain how the adverse impacts will be mitigated," Eastin said, and this hadn’t been done.

Chairman Jim McBride concurred.

"You have so many what-ifs out there that rest on the delineation of the wetlands," McBride said, "we have no idea what the street layout would look like."

The commission offered to table the matter until a wetlands study could be done, but Etnier said this wouldn’t happen unless the land were rezoned.