Since 2015, the Abide Maternity Home has operated in Camp Verde, serving as a place for pregnant women without a place to go to stay, where they can receive resources they need in order to give birth and raise their child for the early years of their life in a safe and supported environment.
“We’re a Christian organization,” Michele Evans, CEO of Abide Maternity Home, said. “How we started for us was realizing there were some women who choose life, choose to carry a baby, and as a result on occasion, they would be kicked out by a boyfriend or parents who wanted them to have an abortion. So we thought if they’re going to choose life, then how can we support them?”
Since 2017, Abide has had a one-acre property in Camp Verde — the organization prefers to keep the specific address hidden when possible to protect the privacy of the women there — that serves as a home for women in need as they go from pregnancy to early motherhood.
The site has four bedrooms for mothers and their babies, as well as a courtyard, yard with playground and on-site chicken coop.
But the maternity home is seeking expansion, with a plan to add an additional four RV homes on site to serve as transitional housing, helping women who had come to the home without a place to go to move out of the shelter. At a meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 25, the Camp Verde Town Council unanimously approved a request made by Abide for a zoning change to allow for a Planned Area Development on their property, which would allow for the maternity home to set up its miniature trailer park, along with a retaining wall separating it from its neighborhood.
“Our goal is to have four nice, professionally done, landscaped spots with RV connections so that a graduate could live in their RV on our property for a year,” Evans wrote in a letter to the Camp Verde Community Development department requesting the zoning change. “We would be able to charge them a rent they could afford, and they’d still be able to continue saving for a home of their own.”
The transitional housing project would also double the home’s capacity, allowing them to house eight women and their children, compared to their current four. Evans said that the maternity home has had a wait list for some time, with support nonprofits seeing spikes in victims of domestic violence seeking help.
Between grading, septic systems, building the retaining wall and other considerations, Evans expects it will take at least six months to have the new housing up and running.
In advance of council approval, Abide was required to notify neighbors of their plans and solicit input. At Wednesday’s meeting, a nearby resident named John White spoke up, saying he wanted to ensure that the zoning change allowing for a PAD would only apply to the maternity home.
He said that the home is doing “a great service” but worried that if the home expanded and sold its property, another owner could expand development on the property beyond what the home had planned.
Camp Verde Planner Carmen Howard said that while the PAD would apply to the next owner, the small area of the property would prevent a significantly more expansive PAD development on it.
