Residents oppose memory care center's expansion, citing sewage concerns

Jan. 30—The proposed expansion of a memory care center on a residential street has torn a rift through a quiet neighborhood on Santa Fe's south side.

Calle Vera Cruz residents, many of whom have lived on the street for decades, say they fear the expansion of the Vista Hermosa assisted-living facility will strain its septic tank beyond capacity and pollute their groundwater.

All of the nearly 50 homes in the neighborhood, which sits just off Richards Avenue and Rodeo Road, rely on wells.

"This is a big company saying not only are we going to give you crap, we're going to double it," said septic contractor Pat Dominguez, who grew up in the home that houses Vista Hermosa and still lives nearby. "The wells are totally at risk."

Vista Living Care President Luke Nachtrab said his family-owned company has put tens of thousands of dollars into fixing septic issues since purchasing the center in 2016. The company also operates a memory care facility on Rodeo Road and one in Las Cruces.

The Vista Hermosa property, 2929 Calle Vera Cruz, has operated as a care center for people living with dementia since 1997.

Many of the neighbors' criticisms are either "blown way out or proportion" or entirely false, Nachtrab said. "You would think we're building a Taj Mahal in the neighborhood, and it's simply not true."

An appeal of a special-use permit for the expansion, which would about double Vista Hermosa's footprint and increase its beds to 22 from 14, will be heard Wednesday by the Santa Fe City Council. City staff is recommending the council deny the appeal on procedural grounds.

Nachtrab, who lives in Ohio and took over the business from his father, said the center was facing a number of penalties from the state Department of Health and was on the verge of going out of business when his company purchased it.

He added the expansion would make Vista Hermosa more financially stable and align it with the size of the company's other facilities.

Nachtrab said the company's home-style model is a vast improvement over other options to provide dementia care, a growing need in the city.

Anne Gonzales, who lives kitty-corner to the property and filed the appeal, said a larger facility is inappropriate for the character of the neighborhood, which is zoned as rural residential.

"We don't have any doubt about the services they provide," Gonzales said, noting some of her neighbors' family members have received care there. "The problem is this facility doesn't fit in our neighborhood."

Resident Cindy Van Damme said she is concerned about the increase in traffic an expansion of the memory care center could bring to the narrow street, including emergency vehicles responding to patients' medical needs.

The residents' main concerns, however, are sewage issues, which Gonzales said have been ongoing for years.

Gonzales and others say a business that uses as much water as a residential care center can't safely operate on a septic system and they worry contaminants, including patients' medications, will get into the groundwater and render it unsafe for the rest of the neighborhood.

Residents add they can sometimes smell sewage from the center, and Gonzales said sewage has leaked into neighboring yards.

"I know that most nursing home patients are on medication, so that's medication that's leaching into my well water," paramedic William Brunson said at a contentious meeting Oct. 3 about the proposed expansion.

Nachtrab said he has no knowledge of sewage leaking onto other people's property.

After receiving complaints about odors, the company emptied the septic tank in 2020 and then installed a new system at a cost of about $30,000, he said. Last year, after receiving more complaints, the company discovered some of the lids were broken and had them repaired.

At the October meeting with members of the city's Board of Adjustment, Lloyd & Associates architect Sheb Mirando said the expansion would include an additional tank, nitrogen reduction treatment and a new leach field.

The board voted to approve a special-use permit for the expansion, which would increase the center's size on its 1.4-acre lot from about 4,354 square feet to 8,508 square feet, with eight new bedrooms and an end-of-life suite to accommodate a patient and a family member. The plans also call for an enclosed courtyard.

Vista Hermosa Executive Director Dolores Avalos, who said she started working at the center as a caregiver under previous ownership, said, "All the changes I have seen have been for the better of the elders, the families and the community."

She added, "We are so different [from] other facilities out there. We're home."

Nachtrab said he feels unnerved by the hostility that's developed in the neighborhood toward the center's staff.

Neighbors say they feel the city, which annexed the neighborhood from Santa Fe County in 2013, has brushed off their concerns in favor of a for-profit company.

"It's been one roadblock after another," Gonzales said.

She filed her petition for an appeal in November but was not aware at the time she also had to provide a copy to the permit applicants within three days of filing it, she said.

The City Attorney's Office is recommending the City Council deny her appeal due to that failure.

If the appeal is denied Wednesday, Gonzales said, the next plan is to go to the state Environment Department.

Gonzales, a widow whose husband died of cancer several years ago, said the countless hours she's put into wading through city codes and documents have sidetracked her from planning for her future, which might not include living on Calle Vera Cruz if the expansion goes through.

"Every time I think about what it's going to do to our neighborhood, I have to keep trying," she said.