in San Antonio’s North Side last month, developers of other projects in the region scrambled to attention as $20 million in low-income housing tax credits came up for grabs.
If Culebra Apartments is awarded the tax credits, those credits will indeed stay in San Antonio and it will be a vindication for Councilman Marc Whyte , who voted against the original tax credit project, Vista Park, planned in his district.The developer’s tax credit application for Culebra Apartments was pulled from the waitlist and is currently undergoing a “rigorous” review by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs .
“They have to nitpick — and nitpicking is good,” he said. ‘You want them to review the application, and you like them to ask clarification questions because that means they’re working the deal.” Without the necessary zoning change — which was critical to the purchase of the vacant property, Vista Park missed the deadline to secure the property in order to receive the tax credits.. Whyte and others said they were against the project because that area of town is already too crowded and congested and the three-story structures would “tower” over the adjacent single-family homes.
“I liked ,” he said. “It was a good, if not great, project. The problem is, the particular tract of land that they selected was very, very .”Culebra project is still not guaranteed to get the credits, Nirenberg said this week. “The fact that the Culebra project is being reviewed by TDHCA for possible award does not take away the extremely bad judgment call made last .”
“I made the choice that I made based on my consistent record of voting for the neighborhood, which is why I work so hard to get neighborhoods on board,” said Cabello Havrda, who is considering a run for mayor. The project is outside the boundaries of the nearby Great Northwest Community Improvement Association, so the group doesn’t formally support or oppose it, said Brian Stives, chair of the association’s board.
Land use attorney Kevin DeAnda, who was hired by the Vista Park developers, told zoning commissioners in August they had essentially reached an impasse with neighbors. He did not see a point in scheduling more meetings. The credits originate from the federal government, but each state generally gets to decide how to allocate them.
Local resident and government support of projects is also considered in the scoring process. For instance, San Antonio City Council unanimously approved letters of support for both Vista Park and Culebra Apartments — as it typically does for 9% tax credit applications.