Housing boom starts in Morenci
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Housing? What housing? It is in such short supply in Greenlee and Graham counties that it is impossible for most to find. Fortunately, relief is on the way.
Freeport-McMoran’s Phelps Dodge mining company is investing $122 million to build 500 new homes and other housing facilities in Morenci. It is the largest housing development undertaken in Greenlee County since Phelps Dodge built plantsite housing more than four decades ago.
Some of the $122 million will be used for facilities in Safford, but the lion’s share will be used for Morenci, where the company has its flagship open pit copper mine. A new mine is being developed in Safford.
PD spokesman Kimball Hansen said appropriate and affordable housing for new and current Phelps Dodge employees continues to be a top priority as the company ramps up production at the Morenci mine and staffs the Safford Mine in preparation for copper production early next year.
In the coming weeks and months, the effort will accelerate with the approval of approximately $122 million in company funding to provide new housing options for employees. The new housing options are focused on those who are currently waiting for housing, in temporary housing and also those who will be joining the company in the near future, Hansen said.
The contracted construction work force at the Safford Mine and the Morenci Concentrate Leach project will be moving on to other jobs in the coming months. The outflow of those workers will also help alleviate the current housing crunch.
The following is a brief description of the housing options presently available or under development:
Permanent single-family homes will be built at the Copper Verde Park development. Hansen said as many as 495 home sites will be developed in the Copper Verde area. It is owned by Phelps Dodge and will be an extension of the Morenci townsite.
Copper Verde lies within the Clifton town limits. That is good news for the town when the 2010 Census is taken. The bigger a population a town has, the more it is eligible to receive in federal money.
The housing development will be in the general location of the travel trailers presently being used as temporary housing. Hansen said Phelps Dodge has worked and will continue to work with county and local governments to obtain necessary building permits and meet all zoning requirements for the development.
He said home sites will be developed in phases beginning this month. The first phase of 110 single family homes is scheduled to be completed by March 2008. Additional phases will be completed every two months thereafter through November 2008.
It will be mostly manufactured single-family homes that will be built on the 495 home sites. Depending on the needs of the work force, however, some four-plex housing units designed for four single individuals will be built on some home sites.
The 495 home sites are in addition to the 46 new single family homes that are now being built within the Morenci townsite, mostly along Wildcat Drive. Those homes will be completed this month.
Families are being moved in as quickly as possible in the 46 homes, even before garages and landscaping are finished. Workers will soon return to complete the work.
Residence Campus Facility
As previously announced, Phelps Dodge has hired Target Logistics to build a 400-person residence campus providing dorm-style sleeping accommodations, bathroom and cafeteria facilities. The residence campus will be located in an area south of the Morenci football field and south of the Greenlee County ball fields on the south side of the railroad tracks. The facility is under construction and will be ready for occupancy in October.
The housing is designed exclusively for employees who work the new 7x7 shift schedule and live 65 miles or more from Morenci, Hansen said.
Employee dormitories
Additional dormitory-style housing units will be built in three Morenci locations. Thirty-two dorm rooms will be built in the Morenci Plaza in an area north of R&R Pizza. An additional 128 dorm units will be built at Site 3 in Morenci. Site 3 is located on the east side of Highway 191 just south of the Morenci employment office.
The Morenci Motel will no longer be a motel. It will be converted to dorm rooms and expanded by an additional 22 rooms. The dorm rooms will serve as permanent or semi-permanent housing for single employees.
Housing allowance
To give employees additional housing choices, Phelps Dodge earlier this year created the Morenci Housing Allowance Program. Employ-ees living in Morenci, including those living in temporary housing and those on the waiting list, can apply for the $20,000 housing allowance and, if they qualify, can use the allowance toward the purchase of their own home in a location other than Morenci. The program continues to be available to Morenci employees.
Q&A
The following are typical questions asked about housing. The responses are from Hansen:
Q: Adding more than 500 new homes in Morenci in a relatively short time will have a big impact on the community. What is the company doing to manage the impact of all these new people on the community?
A: There will certainly be an impact to Morenci schools and Phelps Dodge is working closely with school officials to plan for and provide adequate facilities for new students joining the Morenci School District. We are also working with Town of Clifton and Greenlee County officials to make sure these projects move forward smoothly.
Q: There are more than 300 employees on the housing waiting list, not all of whom have the same needs. As these new homes and dormitories become available, how will the company assign them to employees on the list?
A: The waiting list and the order in which employees were placed on that list will continue to be used to get employees into permanent housing. We are, however, building a variety of housing including family homes and smaller apartment or dormitory-type housing designed for single employees. The housing needs of individual employees will be taken into account when making housing assignments.
Q: What kinds of infrastructure improvements will be needed to meet the needs of all these new homes and dorm units?
A: Part of the funding obtained for these projects will be used to provide the necessary electrical, gas, water and sewer connections to these new homes and dorm units and, as needed, to upgrade the water distribution system.
Q: These projects will meet the needs of Morenci employees. What about Safford employees?
A: We are working with Safford area developers to make sure affordable housing will be coming on line as quickly as possible for our employees. We have also leased travel trailer spaces and a number of apartments for temporary housing for some of our Safford employees.
Q: What will the rent be for the homes and dorm units described in this communication?
A: The rent for these new housing units will be consistent with the existing housing at Morenci.
Q: When will employees be out of the temporary travel trailers?
A: It’s difficult to say how long we will need to continue providing temporary housing, specifically the travel trailers at Morenci and Safford. One of our objectives with all these housing projects and options is to move people into appropriate and affordable housing as quickly as possible.
Morenci Housing by the Numbers:
