Business park not for residential use

The Journal’s May 9 article, “Santa Fe rehab center files suit over denial of land” does not tell the entire story in the disagreement between the Valdes Business Park Owners Association and the Santa Fe Recovery Center, which proposes to locate a residential treatment center in the Business Park. The restrictive covenants for the Park prohibit: “Any residential usage …” and the only exception punctuates this plain statement: “except for facilities incidental to security and approved in writing by the Association.” In the view of our members, a residential treatment center is a residential usage and therefore prohibited.

The covenants applicable to the Park are intended to create a center of commerce where businesses prosper through synergies created by co-location of similar enterprises. The members of our Association have made substantial investments in their properties, relying on the assurances those covenants provide. In the same fashion that Santa Fe’s historic styles regulations protect the investment of property owners by assuring that only compatible structures will be constructed in their neighborhoods, the Business Park’s restrictive covenants assure business owners that their investments will be protected from location of incompatible enterprises.

Though the Recovery Center argues that a residential treatment center is a medical use, the fact remains that as many as 32 persons would be in residence, 365 days per year. Moreover, though the Recovery Center’s stated intention to create a treatment center for mothers with young children seems benign, its officers were unwilling to commit to that utilization — in the long-term, it may evolve to serve a very different population.

The members of the Valdes Business Park are strongly civic minded. Their businesses provide quality products and services to the community and jobs that support many families. Our members are, collectively, sympathetic to the need for drug and alcohol rehabilitation services, but believe that a residential treatment center is not a compatible use in a business park.

JOEL P. SERRA President, Valdes Business Park Lot Owner’s Association Valdez