By David Sowders | Silver Belt
Globe’s City Council chamber saw a packed house Wednesday evening, for a City Planning & Zoning Commission public hearing on a local motel’s request to convert some of its rooms into longer-term housing, in a program that was designed to assist people left homeless by the COVID-19 pandemic.
There was one hitch in all that, however. The business in question, Motel 6, had already entered the program, using a number of rooms as dwellings in violation of City zoning code, without the City’s knowledge. In addition, safety concerns have been raised for both program participants and neighboring residents.
The motel’s owners were requesting a Conditional Use Permit (CUP) to use up to 40 rooms as dwellings until Jan. 15, 2024, which would allow them to continue housing people under an arrangement with the San Carlos Apache Tribe. According to the request, those rooms would house individuals and families under the Tribe’s Emergency Rent Assistance program, which concluded at the end of September 2022; only people who qualified before then will continue to get assistance.
