P+Z Commission reviews rezoning applications
By Molly Ann Howell
Managing Editor
The City of Gallup’s priorities came into question during an August Planning and Zoning Commission meeting when two items—Convalt Energy’s proposed solar manufacturing plant and a possible housing development—were discussed and brought to the commission to vote upon.
Commissioners approved two requests from Convalt Energy despite public pushback, while turning down a separate multi-family housing proposal.
First, Convalt requested to rezone the campus site from a rural holding zone to an industrial zone district. Local governments use rural holding zones as temporary land-use categories to preserve open space and prevent premature urban development. Conversely, industrial zones designate areas specifically for manufacturing, factories, warehouses, and heavy shipping.
The affected area spans about 66.22 acres, located approximately 5.19 miles west of U.S. Highway 491 along and north of Carbon Coal Road.
The commission approved the rezoning request.
Next, Convalt CEO Hari “Harry” Achuthan requested a conditional use permit to operate manufacturing facilities on the newly designated industrial site. The commission approved the permit, with Commissioner Rose Eason casting the sole dissenting vote.
So while these two somewhat controversial items were approved, the meeting also served as a public forum for both supporters of Convalt Manufacturing’s plans and those who are against it.
Resident Ronnie Thompson criticized Achuthan’s pitch, calling his approach “colonizer energy” and describing his comments about saving the local economy as condescending.
“He got up and started saying ‘Your economy is bad. We’re here to save you. You cannot prosper without us.’ And that felt really condescending,” Thompson said of Archuthan’s comments to the community.
Achuthan denied Thompson’s accusation that he wanted to “colonize” Gallup.
“I never acted like a colonizer, nor did I talk about degrading the people,” he said. “I talked about the benefits of the project and what it delivers to the city and to the state and how it reduces the overall poverty levels by 2%.”
When Eason questioned the chemical risks, Achuthan declined to specify the exact compounds his plant uses.
However, Fire Chief Jon Pairett reassured the public, noting that local hazmat crews routinely manage far more dangerous materials traveling along Interstate 40 and Highway 66.
“When we’re dealing with hazardous materials, especially in a fixed facility, which this would be, these are actually easy for us to deal with,” Pairett said.
IS IT A DATA CENTER OR NOT?
Another large concern surrounding Convalt Energy coming to Gallup is whether or not the company will be running a data center.
In his proposal he sent to the Planning and Zoning Commission, Achuthan used the phrase “data center.”
Mere weeks before Achuthan came to town with his presentation, another company, Teraplex, came in front of the city council and proposed building a data center at the trade port.
Many Gallupians voiced their disapproval of the idea, pointing out concerns about Gallup’s water supply, and Teraplex quietly removed its application a few weeks later.
So it makes sense why the community may raise its hackles when they hear those two words.
Achuthan took time during the meeting to explain that his “data center” is not a traditional data center in the sense of what Meta and Google have been building across the country, but rather it would be used to solely keep Convalt Energy’s operations up and running.
“Every machine that we have is connected to a server. So we will have a thousand machines. So we need a server to run our operations. So these servers, we call them a data center,” he said.
The servers would run the company’s operations such as payroll and security.
The Planning and Zoning Committee gave four people who supported Convalt’s plans and four people who were against it to speak.
McKinley County Commission Chair Robert Baca, Jr. spoke up at the meeting, showing his support for Achuthan.
“We’ve opened up land. This gentleman sought us out, we didn’t go looking for him. He’s willing to work with us and give back to the community, not take from it. But I feel in sitting here listening, we’re not affording him the chance to do that. At every turn, we’re looking to cut him off. I’m open to anybody that wants to bring industry here to Gallup,” Baca said.
So again, the commission passed both of Convalt’s requests.
But during the same meeting, the commission voted against changing a separate zoning designation from single-family residential to high-density multi-family residential.
The property owner of the Mark Avenue site requested the change to build a 69-unit multi-family apartment complex featuring 10 townhomes and 59 apartments. The owner intended to market the complex as market-rate housing rather than low-income or subsidized housing.
Originally, Ahmad Ayesh, the owner of the property and the proposal applicants had proposed 231 apartments be built on 12.64 acres of land, with 351 parking spaces. They amended the proposal after listening to the public down to the 10 townhouses and 59 apartments, which comes out to a 70% reduction. Afra Construction & Design is the company that is supposed to build the supposed apartment complex and townhouses.
Ayesh went on to explain to the commission that the area is already adjoined to a multi-family mixed-use zoning area to the northwest and northeast. It’s not spot zoning being dropped into a single-family area.
“Good housing is how a community holds on to people who care for its sick and teaches its children,” Ayesh said.
He also pointed to the city’s own housing crisis, which the city council officially declared in May 2022.
While there’s still a housing crisis going on in Gallup, the residents of the neighborhood surrounding Mark Avenue are not all on board with the idea of new housing.
Maryanne Armillo, a resident of the Mossman area, said she is still waiting to see the traffic report Ayesh and Afra Construction & Design was supposed to produce to show the area’s current traffic flow, and how their project would affect it.
“Yes, we do need housing, but we also, as a city, need to look at this really carefully and [look at] how it impacts other residents and how it impacts other neighborhoods,” Armillo said.
Tiffany Benson, who runs the Gallup Coffee Company, said she fully supports the apartment complex. She said she often hears people come into her shop and complain about how they struggle to find any housing, especially good, mid-level housing, in Gallup.
She said many of her customers complain that the available apartments are too small.
“In my experience as a young woman out in the world, this is the perfect size, perfect placement apartment where you can feel safe, but independent,” she said. “You’re in a neighborhood, you’re not in a wall of skyrise apartments feeling isolated. These apartments are beautiful.”
Ultimately, the commission deadlocked 3–3 on the housing request. Chairman Matthew Long and Commissioners Kyle Spolar and John Cresto voted “no,” while Commissioners Sabrina Ezzell, Curtis Hayes, and Rose Eason voted “yes.” Because the motion lacked a majority, the proposal failed.
Long, Spolar, and Cresto didn’t respond to the Sun’s email requesting comment on why they voted “no” to the proposal.
Ayesh also didn’t respond to a request for comment. But he did appeal the Planning and Zoning Commission’s decision. His appeal will be heard at a special city council meeting which is scheduled for Sept. 21.
Gallup citizen Patricia Sheely is also leading an appeal petition regarding Achuthan’s request for a conditional use permit. This appeal will also be heard at the special meeting.
