Affordable housing subdivision approved for Laguna Heights

The plat for the Bahia Point subdivision south of Laguna Heights.

By Gaige Davila
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com

A 302-lot, 84.5-acre subdivision south of Laguna Heights, bordered by Pennsylvania Avenue, will develop soon, after Port Isabel’s city commissioners granted preliminary approval to the project on February 12. 

The subdivision, named Bahia Point, and its developers, S.R. Campbell Properties, had a hearing with the city’s planning and zoning commission two days before, on Monday, February 10, where the commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the project, with commissioner Victor Chavez motioning first, and commissioner Jeff Keplinger motioning second.  

Kevin Campbell, co-founder of S.R. Campbell Properties, previously told the PRESS the development will take around 10 years to finish, costing around $10 million. Bahia Point will be built in 4 phases, with S.R. Campbell developing 75 lots in each phase. 

During the city February 12 meeting, commissioners unanimously approved the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission’s preliminary approval, giving the go ahead for S.R. Campbell Properties to start developing. 

“We’ve been working on this for a long time,” Campbell said after the commissioners approved the project. “We’re excited to be moving forward and providing some much-needed housing to (the Port Isabel) area.”

Campbell previously told the PRESS that Port Isabel families have inquired or purchased his Los Fresnos properties because they could not afford to live in Port Isabel. He said this was an incentive to develop the Bahia Point project, after being approached by the land’s original owners, the Garcia Family Trust, in 2015. Campbell purchased the property, after over four years of negotiating, in January. 

During the meeting, Port Isabel City Manager Jared Hockema said the city will use Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to repair streets in Laguna Heights that will extend into Bahia Point. 

“This is going to take a few years to be constructed, so hopefully by the time we have our next CDBG cycle, we’ll identify some other funding sources, and we’ll be able to do some of the street improvements we’ve been finding in that area to accommodate this development,” Hockema said. 

Taylor, Adams, Washington and Buchanan avenues will extend into Bahia Point, with two new streets within the subdivision ending in cul-de-sacs: Robalo and Savalo streets.

Campbell says they’re building single-family-zoned homes on around half of the 302 lots, with most of them being one-story-high starter homes in the $120,000 to $150,000 price range. The lots, Campbell said, will range between $30,000 and $35,000. 

S.R. Campbell Properties are designing homes specific to the subdivision through their homebuilding company Smart Homes Construction. There will be 3 to 5 floor plans with different interior design and amenity options, Campbell said, with “smart” features available like USB wall plugins or doorbells with cameras. Home construction will take 120 days, Campbell said. S.R. Campbell Properties is offering seller-finance, traditional mortgages and Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) mortgages for their homes. 

For those who want to build homes on open lots in Bahia Point, they have a one-year grace period to construct a property. 

S.R. Campbell properties will start clearing out the thick brush that spreads throughout most of the property soon, draining water runoff and installing water and sewer lines for approximately 75 lots, taking between three and four months to complete.