Albuquerque council revokes Sunport shelter permit

The Albuquerque City Council revoked the permit for a shelter near the Albuquerque International Sunport on Wednesday night, siding with neighboring businesses and homeowners who had appealed the decision. The move leaves the future of the property uncertain, with both the property owner and the city’s Planning Department saying they are waiting to hear what comes next.

The shelter operates out of what used to be the Ramada Inn, now owned by Empower Health Services, a company that helps people with drug addictions.

“I think whenever you have any kind of substance use disorder program, there’s a lot of stigma behind it and that is very unfortunate,” said Dr. Karan Mahajan, CEO of Empower Health Services.

Mahajan said they have 135 patients staying for months-long treatment programs. He said they have worked on adding security and doing daily room checks, making sure there are no drugs or weapons on the property.

“We’re not trying to have the homeless situation in our community and bringing in this neighborhood. That is not our goal. Our goal is to help people,” said Mahajan.

Last fall, Mahajan bought the property and contacted the City of Albuquerque’s Planning Department to see if he needed a permit, according to the source. The shelter then operated for months before it became clear a conditional use permit was required.

“Staff did make an error in this case, but that staff member is no longer with the planning department, but mistakes do get made,” said a worker with the Planning Department in the meeting.

A zoning hearing examiner later granted Empower Health a permit, but the neighborhood association and a local restaurant appealed.

“Back in October, we noticed a huge increase in our neighborhood. It started to look like East Central, shoes on power lines, drug use in the neighborhood, crime in the neighborhood, trash all over the place,” said John Love, a representative with D. Love restaurants who appealed.

Mahajan said he is waiting to hear from the city about the council’s decision and what steps his company can take next.

“To my understanding, it didn’t go in our favor. But we are waiting on the official correspondence from the city to see what the other next step we have to take,” said Mahajan.

The city’s Planning Department said they are waiting for the council’s next meeting to determine what to do next.