April 24, 2022 | www.santansun.com
Relentlessly local coverage of Southern Chandler
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
City Council grapples with housing hopelessness Housing supply improves, prices won’t See page 27
the tide. Council met April 18 in a work session to look at what is being done and what more could be done to make homes in Chandler more affordable. Here are the steps Council was told they could take that would help a little. Rezone some areas of South Chandler to allow for denser populations. Many are currently zoned for no more than 18 units per acre, and with the city running out of empty lots, space is at a premium. More available homes would, in theory, lower demand and relieve some of the upward pressure on prices.
BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer
Anyone shopping for a home in Chandler knows prices are up. So do city leaders. They met last week to discuss what they could do about it, and the takeaway is that there are steps they are already taking, more they can do – but in the end it won’t matter much. The factors driving up home prices in Chandler are too strong to change
Reduce the setback requirements for new developments. Most new developments must be set back at least 50 feet from roads. By lessening that number to, say, 25 feet, there would be more space available on lots for more homes. Working with developers on any new projects to ensure a certain percentage of the homes they are building will be affordable. Planning Administrator Kevin Mayo said if they ask early in the process, most developers are willing to commit to some affordable units. “We’re kind of a victim of our own success,” said Councilmember Rene
Lopez. “Everybody wants to be in Chandler.” Mayo told Council that it would take a while before those changes would make any kind of an impact in the housing market. That put a focus on the steps the city is already doing. They’ve built about 2,700 single family units and 4,300 multi-family units since January of 2018. They’ve partnered with Newtown Community Land Trusts for 69 affordable homes. There are two in the See
HOUSING on page 6
Free lunch may soon end for many CUSD students deficit continues to grow. They also want schools to get back to normal in the waning days of the pandemic. That’s one reason McConnell opposed including the free lunch program in the omnibus spending bill that funds the government through the end of this fiscal year. Congress approved free meals at the nation’s schools as part of its first COVID-19 stimulus bill in March 2020. It gave districts U.S. Department of Agriculture waivers to feed an addition-
BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer
The universal free meals that Chandler Unified and other school districts have been providing to their students could end this summer. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) apparently told fellow Republicans the program was never intended to be permanent and that many in his party object to the $11 billion annual price tag as the federal
al 10 million American students and also relaxed some regulations so they could deal with supply chain problems and staffing issues. The students, who are 18 and younger, get up to two meals a day,
including lunch and breakfast. Unless Congress takes action, the program will end July 1. However, two See
LUNCH on page 3
About those traffic jams
Low-income seniors find welcome help from city BY KEN SAIN Staff Writer
In 2019, the City of Chandler was looking for ways to help its older residents. especially those on fixed incomes. Officials looked at their neighborhood enhancement coordinator and said, “What can we do?” “I was tasked with coming up with a new program that we could introduce to our community,” said Priscilla Quintana, who is the city’s neighborhood enhancement coordinator. “In the research, I found that 6% of our population in Chandler was living on a fixed inSee
GOLDEN on page 8
Loyd and Jane Buchanan examine the household cleaning supplies and personal hygiene products beign provided for free at the Senior Store as part of Chandler’s Golden Neighbors program. (David Minton/ Staff Photographer)
American Advisors Group (AAG), America’s No. 1 reverse mortgage lender, offers home equity solutions: n Conventional Loans n Jumbo Conventional Loans n Jumbo Reverse Mortgage Loans
Dana Alvidrez, city transportation engineer for Chandler, references a graphic illustrating road traffic inside the Traffic Management Center. Turns out the city looked into whether artificial intelligence can help traffic flow on Chandler streets. For the surprising conclusion, see page 18. (David Minton/Staff Photographer)
n VA Loans n Reverse Mortgage Loans n FHA Loans
F E AT U R E D STO R I E S Chandler Chief: Police continually evolve . . . . . . . .News . . . . . . . . . . Page 11 Chandler mom offers new diet approach . . . . . . .Business . . . . . . Page 27
Call (602) 625-9498 | Jill Waldrop | NMLS ID: 213327 | JMWaldrop@aag.com
Chandler girl a playwright at 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Neighbors . . . . . Page 31
NMLS# 9392 (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org). American Advisors Group (AAG) is headquartered at 18200 Von Karman Ave., Suite 300, Irvine, CA 92612. AAG conducts business in AZ (BK_0911141). AAG is an equal housing lender. These materials are not from HUD or FHA and were not approved by HUD or a government agency. For full legal disclosure, please visit: www.americanadvisorsgroup.com/disclosure
St. Amand reopens after remodel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .GETOUT . . . . . . . Page 37
More News . . . . . . . . 1-23 Clip-It . . . . . . 24-25 Real Estate . . . . . 26 Business . . . . 27-28 Sports . . . . . . 29-30 Neighbors . . .31-35 Faith . . . . . . . . . . 36 GetOut. . . . . 37-40 Directory . . . 41-46
