By J. Graber | Daily Independent
Plans for building new buildings for the aging Paiute Center along with affordable/bridge housing on the site are on hold.
The Scottsdale City Council [defunded] its share of the two projects during its Feb. 20 meeting.
The move is due to Maricopa County pulling $6.6 million from the housing project, said Scottsdale Community Services Assistant Executive Director Judy Doyle.
“We did get notified from them that the funds were not going to be made available to the city and that they are just going to be reallocated to a project that is moving forward in, I think, it was Glendale,” Doyle said. “Without that $6.6 million in funding the project is not viable at this time.”
No other reason was given other than that, she said.
Vice chairman of the board of supervisors Tom Galvin, who represents Scottsdale, said in a written statement, “The amount of money for that project was not prudent at that time. We are always analyzing projects around the valley.”
The housing portion of the project (22 affordable housing units and 6 bridge housing units) is tightly intertwined with the new office space, so the council is expected to rescind $7.9 million in general fund money for the housing project and $5.3 million for the new office space.
The city still has $11.2 million from the 2019 bond to update the office space, but that will be put on hold as well, Doyle said.
The city also has $1.2 million in federal money earmarked for the housing project that will have to be redirected to other projects.
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