by Adam Broderick

Editor’s Note: There is more to living in a resort town than the difficulty of finding a place or the long political discussion over how to provide so-called affordable housing. Reporter Adam Broderick looks at different angles of the issue in this summer series that explores what it’s actually like to live in deed-restricted affordable housing in Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte.

Last week we discussed the future of affordable housing at this end of the Gunnison Valley and explored some of the deed-restricted options that will be available in coming years. This week we revisit the current housing situation and its effect on local business; get to the bottom of rumors about deed restrictions and why they may have been lifted in the past; discuss loan potentials and requirements with a local banking expert; and wrap up this four-part affordable housing series with open minds, open hearts, half-empty wallets, and hopes for a future in paradise as we know it—er, envision it. And if you haven’t quite picked up what I’ve been laying down this past month, catch up with the series by following the link at the end of this story.

As we have seen in Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte, as well as other mountain resort towns also feeling the housing crunch, deed-restricted affordable housing is enjoyed by some and would be greatly appreciated by many more. As one deed-restricted homeowner said, “I’m able to live in this amazing community and pay all my bills and not struggle to live here like some other people who aren’t as fortunate.”

As for the future of affordable housing at this end of the valley, town planner Michael Yerman says that lies in collaboration with the county. And according to Russ Forrest, assistant county manager for community and economic development, unlike many other mountain resort communities, we still have land opportunities in much of Gunnison County. A needs assessment study is being conducted to determine exactly who in the county needs exactly what, and so far the only real conclusion is that the Rural Transportation Authority connects the county and creates infrastructure to strategically place more housing.

In the meantime, some local businesses are doing what they can to help their staff afford housing, and others are beginning to explore the concept.

Local businesses feel the pain

Crested Butte Lodging has gone a step above to offer affordable housing to their employees. Alex Summerfelt works the front desk and says he and his roommate each pay $500 per month, the same as he paid while going to school in Colorado Springs, only now he’s right at the base area of the ski resort.

“Employees are required to put in at least 32 hours per week, whether that be at the office or doing maintenance or housekeeping,” Summerfelt says. Crested Butte Lodging rents various long-term condos on the mountain, which are held on retainer for employees only. Summerfelt says five employees currently use the service.

Jeff Graceffa, co-owner of The Secret Stash, firmly believes the town of Crested Butte has lost something without having beds for the “local, true community” and that the lack of affordable housing has a direct effect on customer service in town as well as on quality of life. “We’re really diluting the local culture here. The locals are just getting swept aside,” he said. “We need quality of life to get people to stay for more than just one season so we don’t get this turnover every year. It gets expensive.”

The Secret Stash employs more staff than most restaurants in town, if not all of them. Manager Taylor Cone says housing is definitely an issue the restaurant has been dealing with lately and he thinks that problems they’ve had with hiring could be directly related to the housing shortage. As for whether The Stash has considered helping their staff better afford local housing, he said that for now they’re just trying to stick it out through summer. “But maybe that’s something we do need to talk about because it doesn’t seem the hiring situation is getting much better.”

Graceffa sees signs that The Stash isn’t the only one to feel the pinch. The Avalanche restaurant at the ski resort’s base area has offered breakfast, lunch and dinner for as long as he can remember, but is now offering only lunch.

“When I first moved to Crested Butte, my friends lived across the street and my employees lived here. There are fewer and fewer locals in the neighborhood these days and it makes this a less appealing place. I love Crested Butte. My whole life is vested in this place. But it’s really lost something to the short-term rental market, and it’s sad to see,” Graceffa said.

Avalanche owner Todd Barnes says his restaurant has not been open for dinners this summer because not enough staff can be hired. He also thinks the hiring problem is directly related to the lack of affordable housing in the area.

“We’re doing lunch from 11 to 4 and Wednesday night dinners when there’s music on the mountain and people up here,” Barnes said. “I left it up to the employees who would be around and who wanted to work, and the majority had days free. So that’s why we’re doing lunch instead of dinners. That way staff is out by 5:30 or 5:45 and can get to another job or go play outside. Also, there are more people up here during the day than at night. On Wednesdays, we all work doubles.”

Barnes said this summer he didn’t have one person come in saying the old phrase, “I just moved here and I’m looking for a job,” whereas normally 15 to 20 people say that and some people get turned away.

He let an employee go this summer because other staff didn’t like working with her. “We’re still offering the same quality of service. And I’m still on par for lunches from last year, even up just a little, but I don’t have the staff to be open any longer. I just hope this doesn’t continue through winter. Then what will we do? I hope all the skunk cabbage and century plants foretell a big snow year and that everybody forgets about this. I want to sell people food and booze and have a good time. It’ll be interesting to see what CBMR does. They employ the most people.”

Do deed restrictions last?

There has been some recent talk around town and in social media threads about the lifting of deed restrictions—why it occurs, how often, and how many more will be lifted in the future. This is what officials from different entities say has happened:

Karl Fulmer, executive director of the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority (GVRHA), explained that in the event of foreclosure the deed restriction goes away, and most lenders require that. “As long as you’re credit-worthy and the deed restriction has a specific component saying the deed restriction goes away in the event of foreclosure, most lenders will go with that. We have a right of first refusal to save it from foreclosure,” he said.

As a home goes into foreclosure the deed restriction goes away, but the housing authority, the county or a municipality in the county gets first dibs to buy it out of foreclosure and not lose the deed-restricted unit.

Yerman says the long-term goal is to keep housing affordable for the future, so if you deviate from that you lose that affordability factor. He said the town of Crested Butte has never lifted a deed restriction.

In Mt. Crested Butte, Clayton says on a few occasions decisions have been made when affordable units went into foreclosure to not buy the units from the lender and save them. On each occasion, he said, the council looked at the unit and determined if it was a good or bad property to try to acquire and then resell.

“In one case, the unit was refinanced for more than the cap on the property. In another case, the unit was deed restricted for local ownership but there was no cap on pricing. A couple more were units where identical free market units were selling at lower prices than the deed-restricted units.”

Clayton says the town of Mt. Crested Butte has had several individuals come before the Town Council asking that they remove the deed restriction from a unit so that the unit would have a wider audience. In each case, he said, the council decided not to remove the restriction since that would set a precedent that they would remove deed restrictions in the future.

Forrest said there are a variety of deed restrictions within Gunnison County and that it’s not uncommon to lift them. “There are a lot of lessons learned with deed restrictions due to price appreciation, value caps, different definitions of locals… Through a foreclosure it can go to a bank and then that deed restriction can get stripped away. Deed restrictions are complicated and there are really good ones, and really bad ones. If they’re too convoluted, you can’t get a loan on them. It’s just too complicated and a lending institution won’t touch it.”

In 2009, county commissioners lifted deed restrictions on approximately 40 lots in the River Neighborhood of Skyland. When the restrictions were written, there was some language that left questions about whether the restrictions went with the property or ended with the first qualified buyer. There was no cap set on income earned by potential buyers, nor was there a cap on the sale price of the home. The only effect of the deed restriction put in place on those homes was that a full year had to go by before the houses could be resold.

“There was nothing about those deed restrictions that maintained affordability in any way or was in line with the county’s affordable housing goals. It was a local’s deed restriction but not an affordable housing restriction,” county manager Matthew Birnie said. “When those homes went to resell with no price control, they were much more valuable than the original price. They were no longer affordable as commissioners saw them.”

Commissioners did not think the covenants could be revived since they were not upheld from the beginning, which the commissioners believed left homeowners unaware of the details of the deed restrictions on their homes, so the board decided to lift the restrictions and allow homeowners in the River Neighborhood to sell their homes on the free market. Several of those homeowners claimed to be in serious financial danger, and although Jim Starr, then a commissioner and currently the chairman of the Gunnison Valley Housing Foundation, said it wouldn’t have been fair to hold the owners to restrictions they were supposedly not informed of, he was not happy with the decision.

“We didn’t have enough deed-restricted housing then and we still don’t. It was tough to get rid of those,” Starr said.

So yes, some deed restrictions have been lifted in both ends of the valley. Not in the town of Crested Butte or in Mt. Crested Butte, but elsewhere and for different reasons that seem to be justified by the decision makers.

Bank loans for deed-restricted homes

I spoke with Craig Bryant, the executive vice president of Gunnison Savings & Loan, to get a better feel for requesting a loan and purchasing a deed-restricted home. He says loan requirements for deed-restricted home purchases are no different from other home purchases. Having a decent credit history plus the income sources to be in a reasonable financial position to support the home and make the payments should do it.

Bryant says Gunnison Savings & Loan doesn’t put any requirements on their loans (such as requiring income to be earned locally) and that they often use co-borrowers to add financial strength and credit history to help get people qualified. That would be similar to a co-signer on a rental agreement, only co-borrowers are more deeply committed. As for the difficulty getting a loan, Bryant says that varies.

“There are more lenders out there in the “big world” that do not include deed restricted homes as being acceptable collateral. Exactly why that is, I’m not sure, but the services don’t want to deal with the deed restrictions, in the foreclosure process specifically,” Bryant said. “If everyone made their payments there wouldn’t be a problem. We at Gunnison Savings & Loan have always supported that process and have made several loans for deed-restricted homes. The loans have performed as expected, and people have an appreciation for the opportunities they’re given in a deed-restricted marketplace.”

There is not a typical interest rate for deed-restricted home loans. Those will vary, and Bryant said borrowers can get both long-term fixed-rate loans and adjustable rate loans, depending on their preference.

For potential buyers, Gunnison Savings & Loan gives free consultations. According to Bryant, “Everybody has to cross the line where they’re both mentally and financially in a position to buy a home because it is a long-term commitment, and we help people determine whether or not they’re ready at this time. If they’re not quite ready, we help them analyze their situation and decide what they need to do to get ready to buy a home. We don’t charge for an inquiry.”

That’s what Gunnison Savings & Loan could do for potential buyers. But GVRHA’s Fulmer says Wells Fargo is also good option. “Wells Fargo certainly lends fairly frequently on deed-restricted units throughout the state,” he said.

Anyone considering a deed-restricted home purchase in the town of Crested Butte should contact Michael Yerman at myerman@crestedbutte-co.gov, since he is compiling a master list of interested buyers for potential housing on the town’s blocks 79 and 80. Eligibility requirements will be available in October or November of this year. Yerman says staff is investigating qualifying buyers who earn up to 160 percent AMI (average median income), which for a single person in 2015 would mean $80,320 per year, but will be discussing the income qualifications with the Town Council in October. Applications are estimated to be accepted beginning January 2016.

So there you have it. The county, the municipalities within, and some local organizations are making efforts to create more affordable housing for the local workforce. Affordable housing is a valley-wide issue that rides the economical tides, and is a challenge facing most mountain communities, not just this one. It requires a community working together to address such an issue, and as we’ve learned throughout this series, this valley is beginning to unite and work toward solutions. Other mountain towns are doing the same, often taking notes from one another’s efforts and experiences—from years past, from current projects and from goals for the future. A future that, as we’ve learned, looks quite grim if the effort does not occur community wide. Thanks for caring enough about the community we live in to stick with me through this four-part series. It’s a cold world out there, and it’s been rather wet lately. Let’s help each other stay warm.

To read this feature series in its entirety, visit crestedbuttenews.com/?s=living+the+resort+town+life

by Adam Broderick

Editor’s Note: There is more to living in a resort town than the difficulty of finding a place to live or the long political discussion over how to provide so-called affordable housing. Reporter Adam Broderick looks at different angles of the issue in this summer series that explores what it’s actually like to live in deed-restricted affordable housing in Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte.

Last week we spoke with elected officials and housing authorities in other mountain resort towns—Park City, Telluride, Jackson Hole and Aspen—about their efforts to house their local workforce and how they each plan to offer housing for employees in the future. Well before the most recent economic recession, resort towns faced a housing “crisis,” and it’s on the table again. Finding and providing affordable housing is a challenge, particularly where a high quality of life is the area’s main attraction. This week we discuss opportunities for local organizations in this region and future plans to help house the local workforces.

A little background

Homes that used to be listed under $500,000 on the free market are no longer available in this valley.

“Or, the quality of those homes is a bit more questionable,” said Russ Forrest, assistant county manager for community and economic development. Forrest explained that there is a lot of competition for anything that’s available for rent in both the upper and the lower Gunnison Valley. But he thinks the private market in the lower valley hasn’t yet had a chance to respond. Even though affordability is greater in the lower valley, Forrest said there aren’t a lot of built homes available for purchase.

“A report from 2014 showed 25 percent of people renting in Gunnison County spent 50 percent of their income on rent,” Forrest said. “In April 2015, the median price of a 1,500-square-foot home north of Almont was $683,750. That’s the median price. The average price would be more than $1 million. In terms of income to afford that, that’s approximately $130,000—and 9 percent of the population makes that sort of money.”

As for Crested Butte, town planner Michael Yerman said the town is making a huge difference in affordable housing. “We currently have 204 units. We’re going to add 91. If over a quarter of our housing stock in town is deed restricted for affordable housing, we’re doing a pretty good job,” he said. “I see our future is with regional collaboration with the county. This is a countywide issue, not just a Crested Butte issue.”

On the horizon

In Gunnison County, Forrest said there are still opportunities to do something about affordable housing. “Unlike the I-70 corridor or the Roaring Fork corridor, we still have land opportunities. Through the One Valley Prosperity Project [OVPP] we see that as a tool and a forum to deal with regional issues like this. We don’t know all the issues yet, but by connecting mass transportation, like the Rural Transportation Authority connecting Crested Butte South where a lot of employees are, and with the connection it has to Gunnison, you have the infrastructure to be strategic about where to put housing,” he said.

According to Forrest, from a regional standpoint, the idea is to connect transportation to housing opportunities and create the maximum bang for the buck. “A needs assessment study [a near-future project of the GVRHA] could tell us how many employees are out there and need housing,” he said. “There are land opportunities in and around Gunnison. There are approximately one million square feet between Camp 4 Coffee and Tully’s in Crested Butte South that have been approved in the context of mixed-use development. So there are land opportunities, but the next step is figuring out how to do it.

“It’s a tough problem to deal with. I’ve always said I had a full head of hair before I dealt with housing problems in the mountains. You don’t change it overnight,” Forrest said.

Yerman said the new deed-restricted rental development in the town of Crested Butte called Anthracite Place, which will be located at Sixth and Belleview and offer 30 deed-restricted units, is anticipated to be done next July. There is a five-year build out expected for Blocks 79, 80 and 76. The town broke ground on Blocks 79 and 80 on July 8. Roads and utilities are being installed and affordable housing options should be first available for the local workforce in the spring of 2016. Block 76 probably won’t begin for about five years, due to budgeting constraints.

“Right now our biggest goal is to have anything we do with affordable housing be successful for the applicant or the person living in it,” Yerman said. “Too often we overregulate or devise things that look good on paper, but when it comes down to the person actually building and paying off the loan, they could potentially be in a situation that is not successful for them. So we work to create—whether it be through ownership or rentals, we’ll get there.”

The town of Mt. Crested Butte also wants to maximize the availability of affordable housing, but David Clayton, mayor of Mt. Crested Butte, said there is limited vacant land for new affordable housing projects. He also said Mt. Crested Butte does not have a sustainable mechanism to generate funds the town can spend on housing.

“We have quite a few lots available in the Homestead project in Prospect and the town has architectural plans developed for the next building that will be constructed but we do not have sufficient funds in the affordable housing fund to start the next building,” Clayton said. “Income to that fund comes from affordable housing fees charged to new commercial projects, which have not happened lately in Mt. Crested Butte.”

Erica Mueller, director of innovations and relations at Crested Butte Mountain Resort (CBMR), told the News that the Homestead project at Prospect was put together in conjunction with CBMR and the town of Mt. Crested Butte.

“CBMR constructed all of the basic infrastructure, roads and utilities, etc. Also, as per the annexation agreement, we deeded 16 lots to the town and we own/owned 25 lots. We built and sold six units in 2007/2008 and then we all know what happened with the economy, so we haven’t built anything up there since then. Currently both CBMR and the town have lots that can be built on as part of this affordable housing neighborhood,” Mueller said.

Mt. Crested Butte town manager Joe Fitzpatrick provided some facts concerning workforce housing in Mt. Crested Butte:

—There are 63 rental or owner-occupied units with some type of deed restriction.

—A triplex has been designed in the Homestead (Prospect) subdivision and is ready for construction; however, the funds are not available to construct the building.

—The Timbers Apartments (old Marcellina Apartments) are currently going through a major remodel; seven of the units are deed restricted and will once again be available for occupancy when the building remodel is complete.

—There are multiple “free market” multiple family lots in Mt. Crested Butte that could be used for the construction of “workforce housing;” however, considering today’s market and the cost of construction, the economics for rental housing have not been attractive to developers.

—The town owns only one other piece of vacant land, Inn Site II, and it currently serves as a parking lot. [Locals know it as the “Rasta Lot,” at the corner of Gothic and Treasury.]

According to Clayton, “It takes so much money to build a unit, over a million dollars for a triplex to be built. We really lose about 50 percent of construction costs.”

Clayton believes the town of Mt. Crested Butte would be willing to look at creative ways to build new units, but they don’t even have a good statistical handle on what the true need is. “That’s one of the things that the county, the GVRHA and the municipalities are looking at—updating our housing studies,” he said.

Local businesses chipping in

Some of the larger businesses in the area have been providing affordable employee housing for years, and some are just starting to make moves in that direction. CBMR, Irwin/Eleven, and RMBL offered some insight.

At CBMR, Mueller explained that the resort manages units they rent to employees in the Lodge at Mountaineer Square, Crested Mountain Condos and The Plaza. For winter housing, they work with some properties in Almont and Gunnison to house some international employees and other employees. As for the future, Mueller said CBMR is exploring options for more development but nothing is set in stone.

“Anything we would or could do is at least a few years out, as it would require a lot of financing, permitting, planning, constructing, etc.,” Mueller said.

At Irwin, Jake Jones, director of North American operations for Irwin Guides, said Irwin/Eleven has four suites located within the town of Crested Butte. Two of the suites come with employment and two of the suites rent to employees at 50 percent below market rate. All the suites are furnished and include utilities.

“We often use housing as an incentive for our internship program or for traveling staff that may be working in Crested Butte from overseas or out of state,” Jones said.

At the moment there are no future plans for more employee housing at Irwin/Eleven.

Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory isn’t immune to the challenge either. “Housing is a real problem for us. RMBL’s future opportunities are currently limited by the ability of scientists and permanent employees to find offsite housing,” said RMBL executive director Ian Billick.

Approximately 11 full-time employees live on-site for free. Billick said the staff gets meals and RMBL handles utilities. “RMBL will have approximately 70 people on payroll this summer, about half of whom are working full-time or close to full-time. There is also growing demand by scientists to use RMBL’s services. The ability to find housing offsite has been important to accommodating this demand. This summer has been a real wake-up call, however. We’re actively exploring options and looking for other employers who might want to collaborate with us,” Billick said.

So far, the consensus is that life ain’t easy for the majority of residents in mountain resort towns. Tune in next week for Part IV of Living the Resort Town Life. We’ll dive into the history and future of deed restrictions in this region and hear what other local stakeholders and decision makers think of the direction we’re headed with housing for locals.

by Adam Broderick

Editor’s Note: There is more to living in a resort town than the difficulty of finding a place or the long political discussion over how to provide so-called affordable housing. Reporter Adam Broderick looks at different angles of the issue in this summer series that explores deed-restricted affordable housing in resort towns like Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte.

Last week we heard stories from real Buttians about what it’s like to live in affordable housing in Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte. This week we speak with government officials and housing authorities in other resort towns, exploring what has been done to address similar local housing issues.

But first, what does “deed-restricted” mean? Deed restrictions determine who can and cannot purchase a property. The goal of deed restrictions in regard to affordable housing is to keep homes affordable for years to come by restricting the amount of value one can add to a home with improvements or remodels. When deed restrictions are upheld and work as planned, the housing market may change drastically from the time of purchase but the property value remains the same, or very close to it.

Criteria for ownership in deed-restricted homes differs from one affordable housing project to the next, but for the most part, to qualify one must make a minimum income (to guarantee payments will be made on time) but not too much, and usually most income must be earned locally. Also, one must reside locally for a certain number of years. When a deed-restricted homeowner decides to sell, only a small percentage can be made for profit.

Crested Butte town planner Michael Yerman explained that the typical deed restriction is for 3 percent of the purchase price, or the consumer price index, whichever is less. “The long-term goal is to keep housing units affordable for the future, so if you deviate from that you lose that affordability,” Yerman says. “What makes these properties attractive to homeowners is that the land is dealt at a much lower rate, making the build more affordable. In exchange for that, you agree to a three percent increase.”

For example, a home that cost $100,000 will always be worth $100,000, plus 3 percent per year, or $3,000 per year. Thirty years down the line that $100,000 home would be worth no more than $190,000. However, improvements which increase energy efficiency or create additional liveable space could be included in the home’s future price.

Other covenants imposed by homeowner associations often limit developments, like determining which styles of homes can be built and which materials can be used to construct them; proximity to the street or neighboring properties; size of buildings and additional structures; pet allowances; lot storage prohibitions; road maintenance and landscaping guidelines; and even paint colors or fencing materials.

In discussions with other communities about how their efforts to implement affordable housing for locals, it has become clear that Crested Butte is not alone in dealing with the so-called “housing crisis.” I spoke with housing authorities and elected officials in ski towns around the west—Telluride, Aspen, Jackson and Park City—and all face similar housing issues.

Aspen, Colorado

“It’s not just an Aspen problem. It’s a Roaring Fork Valley-wide problem,” says Mike Krosdrosky, executive director of the Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority (APCHA). He says Aspen has faced a housing crisis as long as he can remember; the difference is that now there is more affordable housing.

Aspen has 2,166 units currently for sale or rent with deed restrictions of some sort, and another 765 affordable homes and rentals in the surrounding Pitkin County. Somewhere around 45 percent of the total workforce in Pitkin County lives in affordable housing built by the city. Twenty-one percent of those residents are at the low-to-moderate income level and 79 percent are at the moderate-to-high income level.

“The goal from the early 1990s was to house about 60 percent [of the local workforce], so we’re below that stated goal, if that’s any indication of the ongoing way of life here,” Krosdrosky says.

In 1990, the city of Aspen passed a real estate transfer tax for employee housing and Krosdrosky says that has brought in a lot of funds to build affordable housing. “It’s a 1 percent transfer tax on the purchase price of any residential real estate over $100,000 that changes hands. A percentage of that goes into a fund for housing development. Last year the city collected $8 million to $8.5 million and we’re on track to exceed that this year.”

Cindy Christensen, head of operations for APCHA, has been with the city of Aspen for 25 years and has worked on local housing issues since 1992. She says the city went to the voters to extend the 1 percent transfer tax. “The last time we asked the voters for an extension of 40 years, it was approved no problem.”

Part of the desire is to keep workers in the community. “We have workers commuting from as far as Rifle and Eagle,” Krosdrosky says. “It’s cheaper to live in those towns than in Aspen. Rifle is probably an hour and a half from Aspen. Our bus service goes that far, but during the winter you’re adding probably an hour on that.”

This summer, the APCHA is collecting data to inform an update of its affordable housing guidelines. On July 1, the organization sent a survey to all residents and is working to distribute it to 750 businesses. “The study will help us update our affordable housing guidelines by allowing us to analyze affordability, qualifications for renting or purchasing, and other best practices for the mountain community,” Krosdrosky says. “We feel we’re overdue for getting our guidelines updated so we’re collecting new data to analyze. Once we start aggregating data we can start having conversations around these issues and make decisions based on facts instead of speculations.”

Park City, Utah

According to Outside Magazine’s “Best Towns Ever” (September 2013), “The trick to being a Park City local is finding a way to stay. There’s a tricky balance between attracting wealthy tourists and second home owners without expelling the middle class.”

There are more than 325 units of deed-restricted, low-income rental housing in Park City, one of only two communities in Utah that have an affordable housing resolution. Park City’s communications and public affairs manager Phyllis Robinson says the ratio of primary to secondary homes today is 31 percent primary residents and 69 percent second homes/part-time residents. That number has fluctuated over time but it generally hovers around 35 percent primary and 65 percent second homes/part-time residents.

Robinson says the city’s population is getting older and the community is at risk of losing economic and age diversity in the community. In a presentation to the Park City Board of Realtors last June, Robinson said the city saw a decrease in younger households and an increase in older households between 2000 and 2010. The surrounding county has become more attractive to younger households as well because of the diversity and greater affordability of housing.

To fund affordable housing, Park City has a property tax code that incentivizes renting long term versus nightly rentals or leaving a home empty. Robinson says that primary residents (long-term rentals) are taxed at 55 percent of their assessed value versus 100 percent for second homes. In 2013, Park City received the Robert Larson Public Policy Award for its ongoing commitment to affordable housing.

The city has a goal of 10 percent of its housing stock being some form of deed-restricted affordable housing. By 2020, it aims to reach or exceed 7 percent, and as of this year is at 5.5 percent. The city is looking at older condo properties to see if there is a level of redevelopment they can bring to the units, and has the funding available if such opportunities become available.

Past projects included the preservation of the Holiday Village Apartments in 2001 under the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) where each of the 80 units was awarded rental assistance, so no household pays more than 30 percent of its annual income for rent. A similar project was done a few years later, but in 2005 the City Council shifted its focus to homeownership projects, including a 13-unit project in 2008 and a seasonal housing project for homeowners.

“We are currently developing another small affordable homeownership project on city-owned land, and evaluating city parking lots for further housing development opportunities,” says Robinson.

The real challenge for Park City, as worded in last month’s Board of Realtors presentation, is this: “Keeping and attracting moderate and middle-income residents is crucial if we want to remain a real life town and have a light carbon footprint.”

Telluride, Colorado

“The term Draconian has been used to describe us. We are supplying housing for workers. Once you make that decision, you know what you are building and who you are building for,” says Telluride mayor Stu Fraser. “People cry when they sign the contract, and it’s from joy. We have a really overjoyed group of people that have housing, and a frustrated group that want it. They’re not cookie-cutter places. They win architectural awards. It’s the most gratifying part of my job, building housing and building it the best that we can.”

A recent survey reported that 60 percent of workers in San Miguel County want to live in Telluride, and 30 percent of the local workforce lives in Ridgway or neighboring towns and commutes to work in Telluride.

Approximately 56 percent of all homes in the town of Telluride are owner-occupied. Fraser says the goal is 60 percent, so they’re close, but it still takes time. In all, 310 homes in Telluride are deed-restricted. The town spent $25 million on 100 deed-restricted affordable homes between 2004 and 2012.

“We’re not in a rush to solve the problem in three years,” Fraser says. “And we cannot solve the problem by ourselves. Myself and the mayor of Mountain Village met with all the HR directors from all the large businesses. We said, ‘You’re telling us you don’t have places for your employees? You have a responsibility, too. Government is not set up to be a sole provider of deed-restricted housing. Everybody needs to participate.’”

Fraser and his colleagues even talked to Telluride Ski and Golf Club and they’re now looking at purchasing properties for employee housing. Lance McDonald, program director for the town of Telluride, compares the idea to the old mining model. “When the mines came in, they built housing for their employees. Then if you lost your job, you lost your place to live.”

Telluride has a half-cent asset sales tax that generates the affordable housing fund. There’s also a sliding scale fee that contributes to the fund, which is based on square footage of new houses being built in town. McDonald says larger homes pay a larger fee percentage-wise than smaller homes. But the half-cent asset sales tax is where the real money comes from and generates roughly $600,000 per year.

Of the 310 deed-restricted units in Telluride, 31 are employee dwelling units, which they call their accessory dwellings, and Fraser says the town had to do a lot to make sure homeowners were compliant with town regulations.

“We sent letters out, then followed up with phone calls to property owners to find out if they were renting. It took a while, but we got responses from virtually everybody. We had to stay on their tails to get the information back to us, but now they report annually,” says Fraser.

According McDonald, “We definitely have affordability issues, and they get hotter and colder with the economy. As our region continues to build out, it becomes exponentially harder to create meaningful, affordable housing in these resort communities. A lot of the low-hanging fruit has already been picked.”

Jackson, Wyoming

The housing crisis has really never gone away in Jackson. “It continually gets worse; however, it does take on different characteristics,” says Stacy Stoker, executive director of the Teton County Housing Authority. “During the economic crisis, we didn’t have as many people living out of cars, and the vacancy rate in rentals was higher. Now it’s almost zero.”

Of the 13,273 housing units in Jackson in 2013, 9,295 (70 percent) remained occupied; 4,139 were occupied by renters, 5,516 by owners. Roughly 36 percent of households have an income less than $50,000 and approximately 38 to 40 percent of the local workforce lives in Driggs, Idaho or another neighboring town and commutes to work in Jackson.

Elected officials in the town of Jackson have a goal of housing 65 percent of the local workforce. Stoker says Jackson was at the 65 percent mark a couple of years ago, but has slipped to about 62 percent and is losing ground pretty quickly right now. There is a Housing Action Plan in the works that should be complete within the next couple of months.

Stoker says there is no dedicated funding source for housing in the community besides developer-in-lieu fees, nor are prospective developers lined up for such endeavors, but this may come through the Housing Action Plan. There are fees that new development pays when they don’t provide housing units in the development, and those fees go toward affordable housing.

Last summer the town of Jackson passed an ordinance allowing people to sleep overnight in public parks and parking lots.

“The idea was for someone who had an RV or vehicle to be able to pull over and sleep overnight,” Stoker says. “This had not been allowed in the past. There was consideration of setting up some kind of man camp for this summer, but I believe that idea was squashed due to issues that could arise from the density of campers all in one place.”

Stoker says the biggest problem in Jackson is the shortage of rentals. “Many people have turned to using their single-family homes and condos as short-term rentals, even when they are not allowed, and this reduces the number of units available for the workforce. Last summer, we had 12 percent of the workforce living out of their cars,” she says. “A decade ago, it was difficult to find rentals, but not like it is currently.”

Stay tuned for Part III of Living the Resort Town Life, in which we’ll speak with local officials and discuss the area’s future plans to develop more deed-restricted affordable
housing.

By Adam Broderick

Editor’s note: There is more to living in a resort town than the difficulty of finding a place to live or the long political discussion over how to provide so-called affordable housing. Reporter Adam Broderick will look at different angles of the issue in this summer series that explores what it’s actually like to live in deed-restricted affordable housing in Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte.

This week we take a glimpse into current residents’ living situations, exploring different deed-restricted neighborhoods and their advantages and disadvantages as residents view them.
A handful of deed-restricted affordable homeowners from the Upper Gunnison Valley explained what they thought about their living situations. From Red Lady Estates to Paradise Park and Poverty Gulch on either side of town to Prospect on the back side of the mountain, this is what people really think of their affordable homes.

Paradise Park
Nicky O’Connor lives with her dog and cat in the Paradise Park community, which is located on the block between Gothic and Teocalli and 8th and 9th streets. She moved into her one-bed, 1.5-bath condo with a garage in June 2007 after building the house through the winter months as part of the Mutual Self-Help Build, a program offered by the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority.

Four units were built simultaneously—two buildings, two townhomes in each—and all homeowners pitched in to help each other build and save money up front.
In lieu of a down payment they were required to work a minimum of 30 hours per week, but many worked more than that. O’Connor says homeowners collectively did about 60 percent of the builds and contracted out the plumbing, drywall, roofing and the initial concrete pour. They did all other flooring aspects themselves, including grouting, staining and sealing.
“We would do one step on someone’s house all the way through, then repeat that step in the other homes. When it came to the inside—personal stuff like paint choices and interior designs [O’Connor was quick to engrave a Celtic knot on the floor]—we would do our own,” she says. “We worked over the span of about nine months for at least 30 hours per week. Some weeks we put more time in. We were allowed to get help from friends or family, but we personally had to put at least 15 of those hours in. I ended up having to quit my second job to allow the time for the build.”
With rental rates as high as they have been lately, O’Connor says she couldn’t even get a room in town for the price she pays for her home. And when she walks out her front door, Mt. Crested Butte is the first thing she sees. In fact, she can see a peak out of each of her 16 windows. She lives next to the rec path, and says her neighbors are awesome. “We all help each other out,” she says. “And I love my little yard. It’s not fenced in but could be if I wanted.
“Another awesome thing about the program was how much I learned building the house from the ground up,” she continued. “I was able to add thoughts to the design of the original floor plan and change it up a bit. And I now have bragging rights because I can say I built my own house.”
As for downsides, O’Connor says there aren’t many other than resale value. “There is a cap on how much you can make on resale. My subsidized loan is through the United States Department of Agriculture. Even with the annual appreciation, if I were to sell I wouldn’t make much off of it.”

Red Lady Estates
Jack Gibbons lives in what he calls the best lot in town. His home is in the Red Lady Estates, the small mobile home community on Red Lady Avenue next to Clark’s Market, and he says he’s made it into something pretty incredible. Once you step inside, all the remodeling he’s done makes you forget you’re even in a mobile home. Even from the outside, it’s still difficult to tell.
Gibbons owns a 1,100-square-foot two-bedroom, two-bathroom home with one roommate, his cat and his roommate’s dog. He was lucky to find his home twenty years ago, when he says the town offered lots to people who were lucky enough to have their names drawn from a hat.
“I was number ten out of 50 people,” Gibbons says. “They gave you the lot and you went and bought a trailer. There were lots of hurdles and it was hard to come up with the down payment, but I don’t think it was atypical of what anyone else goes through. The home was relatively cheap. I’m so lucky to have been here at the perfect time, to have won the lottery that put me here.”
He moved into his new home, part of the first affordable housing project Crested Butte had done, in 1995. “At the beginning there was a lot of controversy, but I think we’ve proved everyone wrong,” he says. “People said they didn’t want a trailer park in town and called it degrading and white trash. I hate the term ‘trailer park.’ We try to keep the place clean and tidy as possible. I think it’s the best lot in town.”
Gibbons says the only downsides to his deed-restricted home are that he will never have a garage, just a porch over his front steps, and since he’s tucked up against The Bench he only gets a few hours of sun per day in the winter. But in summer the whole yard is a lush garden with water features and stone sitting areas, and the yard borders a hillside covered in thick foliage. “It’s a little oasis back there,” he says.

Poverty Gulch
Jake Jones and his family live in a two-bedroom, one-bath, 800+ square foot duplex in the Poverty Gulch community, which is on the north side of Butte Avenue between 7th and 8th streets. He says his wife, Sarah, holds the title as the first and only owner and if he remembers correctly, she won a lottery and was able to purchase their home from the town of Crested Butte in 1999 or 2000. Jones says the property was probably at one point considered unusable land, but was turned into affordable housing.
The Jones family most appreciates the price, convenient in-town location and great views from their home. They feel fortunate to live in town, especially since many of his and Sarah’s friends have moved their families out of town.
“We feel very fortunate to go non-motorized so often, leaving the car parked and riding bikes to work or a free bus to the ski area. Living in town, that’s really something,” Jones says. “Another upside is these units are owner-occupied. If we lived anywhere else in town, we’d probably be surrounded by renters. Living with other people who own their units is a good thing.”
In that corner of town, due to the density of affordable units, there are many long-term residents and families. According to Jones, “There is a strong sense of community, more so than in other parts of town where you find mostly renters or mostly dark neighborhoods. Also, our kid can ride his bike to school easily. His friends are all throughout the neighborhood. A lot of these families would not live in town if it weren’t for these units.”
Jones says about 15 years ago the town built the homes, then sold them. “People had to qualify, then get their name on a list, then have their name drawn. My wife had to meet all the standards of not making too much money, all the money she did make had to be locally earned and she had to have lived in the valley a certain number of years.”
Other than actual quality of life, Jones says there is no benefit to improving the property. Projects that require building permits—decks, windows, etc.—could add equity to the home, but not for many years. “A tiny 50-square foot addition could add $30,000, but you may not see that for 30 years,” he says. “[Improvement projects] may increase your quality of life, but you couldn’t recoup that as an investment.
“At the end of the day, these units do not get people out of affordable housing into the free market,” he continued. “The free market is far surpassed. But it is an affordable way for locals to experience homeownership.”

Prospect
Mark Fontenot says the town of Mt. Crested Butte was very generous and let him rent his one-bed, 1.5-bath in Prospect for a year to see if he liked the location. He bought it a year later. The Prospect development is on the backside of CBMR near the Prospect chairlift. Fontenot says he got into his home at just the right time and he is proud to have his own little slice of heaven for the rest of his life.
As far as restrictions go, Fontenot says he thinks the town hit a home run with the Prospect development. “Our dues are very low compared to other affordable housing communities around here and as far as wanting to do anything I can, as long as I go through the right steps and properly approach the board [of directors], I have had zero problems doing anything I’ve wanted to do. I can plant as much as I want and make my house look as beautiful as I want as long as I ask permission to do it. If I want to put granite countertops in my home, I can, and that adds to the value of my home. Any improvements I put into it I can get back.”
Fontenot explained that he could sell his house for the original cost plus around 3 to 3.5 percent (inflation, he called it) per year plus the cost of improvements he makes to it. “Whatever the house was purchased for, the next year it will increase 3 to 3.5 percent plus any improvements I do. If the granite counter tops cost $1,000 I can sell my house for cost plus 3.5 percent per year plus the $1,000 for the counter tops. You just keep your receipt.”
“I really hope we can build more of these opportunities for other people so they can have the same satisfaction I have,” he continued. “This town needs it. My home is affordable. I’m able to live in this amazing community and pay all my bills and not struggle to live here like some other people who aren’t as fortunate. I look forward to the day that Prospect is further built out so that I have more friends as neighbors.”

As you can see, these real life stories are examples of how affordable housing works. These communities are full of families, the local workforce—real Buttians. Stay tuned for the next installment of Living the Resort Town Life. We’ll take a look inside more affordable housing developments around town and explore what has been done in other resort towns to address local housing issues.

“It’s hard to live at 9,000 feet. And we should keep it a little bit hard.”

[  By Katherine Nettles  ]

Among a low-key panel discussion in a basement level conference room in mid-February, a group of local leaders and visitors got together to discuss ski town viability, from Crested Butte to Telluride to Girdwood, Alaska. What they had to say was that small towns can do big things with the right combination of creativity and determination—and they can influence the larger world as well. Crested Butte and Gunnison County, each in their own ways, were heralded as such examples. The bottom line: keep gritty places a little bit gritty.

The panel capped the four-day Blister Summit at the Elevation Hotel for the Mt. CB-based gear review company. Alongside demos and skiing/riding focused excursions, the event hosted panel discussions each evening, highlighting gear, technology, and athlete input on the outdoor recreation industry. But it culminated in the final conversation about mountain town viability. 

Jason Blevins, a reporter at The Colorado Sun, moderated the group made up of Wagner custom ski founder Pete Wagner of Telluride, heli ski guide and physician Paul Forward from Girdwood Alaska, Gunnison County commissioner chairperson Jonathan Houck and Crested Butte town manager Dara McDonald.

Blevins led off with a question about what small town leaders could teach a larger audience, and then got into the impacts of recreation and development. 

“Sometimes in these small towns we see these communities really innovate and be progressive, and do things that give us a model for some of our larger issues. They’re remote and they have to be collaborative,” said Blevins. 

 “There are in some cases fewer roadblocks to at least trying stuff,” answered Wagner. “But it’s hard to say: can those things scale? I’m actually not sure. But the spirit of being in a small community, having easy access to people and being able to brainstorm and maybe just try things on a smaller scale is one of the takeaways I see.” 

Houck talked about being a small community in a very big space. “There’s enough of us here to kind of have a critical mass and think of things in a new way, but there’s not so many of us that we can’t be innovative and creative,” he said. 

McDonald discussed ways the town of Crested Butte has limited house sizes in town since the 1990s, enacted a residential ban on natural gas, and created a community compass process using authenticity, boldness, connection and accountability for navigating issues. “To have elected leaders in our community who truly live by the values of the community,” she said, gives direction to tackling sometimes conflicting values such as creating more affordable housing and habitat conservation.

“Crested Butte is a small enough microcosm that we can take big risks and show others that things are possible,” said McDonald.

The group also discussed how the county is striving for more renewable energy, including geothermal energy. 

“There are things that we’ve tried here that engineers and scientists have said no, no that’s not going to work,” said Houck. “But we’re small enough and determined enough that we decided to go down that path anyway. And we’ve found some solutions and opportunities…What we’re doing here individually may not make a huge difference on the global scale, but if the influence of small communities and small counties can reach out and start effecting policy that can be really positive.”  

Forward, on the other hand, spoke candidly about how Girdwood, a resort town in the municipality of Anchorage, has struggled to find its voice in a larger area with different political views. He said despite its location in an area of glacial ice melting faster than almost anywhere else on the planet, the town’s climate goals go largely unheard.

Blevins asked the panelists how they feel about recreation as a major economic driver for rural Colorado areas.  

“As these communities transition away from coal and extractive industries,” Blevins prompted, “only recently are we starting to gauge and measure the impacts of recreation, what it’s doing to our wildlife and how it’s impacting our ecosystems.”  

Wagner spoke of marketing money shifting into recreating responsibly in Telluride, such as a campaign called “live like a local.”

Houck asked at what point recreationalists might start paying to use trails, much as ranchers pay to use public land for their livestock and hunters pay for a license. Panelists discussed how recreation could take a seat at the political table along with other influential industries such as agriculture, extraction, and timber, and how to balance access through permit systems and other management strategies. 

“We are all in the midst of those conversations, understanding how we keep it really special but let people experience it. It’s a fine line,” said McDonald. She also addressed the equity issues of who has access to attaining permits or camping reservations, and who doesn’t.

 Houck agreed, “That balance is hard. Those experiences are life changing; they’re transformational and I don’t want other people to not be able to have those experiences I’ve had. But how do you temper that with a sense of stewardship and responsibility?”

Forward spoke of how when people directly experience inspiring landscapes, they tend to care more about them as well.

Blevins and McDonald joked about keeping mountain towns “a little bit shitty,” or being welcoming but not overly accommodating. 

“We’ve really done such a good job of polishing our rough edges,” said McDonald, which can create expectations among visitors. “It’s hard to live at 9,000 feet. And we should keep it a little bit hard. I can’t hire enough plow drivers; your roads are going to be a little shitty,” she said. “And deal with it. That’s okay.”

She said it isn’t that the wealth coming into the community is ill-intended, but folks building large homes may expect to have gardeners, plowers, cleaners and other staff and service workers that are not actually available or sustainable.

Houck also recognized how conserving land has also driven up values, and how many other formerly “gritty little towns” are seeing an influx of vacation homes and investment properties that strain resources. “I am genuinely scared for what the future looks like for communities like ours,” he said.

He said more density in housing in and around the towns is part of the county’s plan, as is recognizing “There’s only so much water. There’s only so much land.”

Among the closing remarks was one from Houck: “Not everyone is going to be able to live in the mountains…and owning something is part of the problem. There is the ability for people to enjoy the mountains, enjoy the desert, enjoy these wild spaces. The problems are coming from people wanting to own part of it, to possess it.”

All Blister Summit panel discussion recordings can be found at blisterreview.com.

What now this week?

[  by Than Acuff  ]

I’ll tell you what, more snow. We are in the crosshairs and it’s a great place to be. Skiing, hockey, sleep, repeat. On that note, Bliss Chiropractic and the Talk of the Town squared off on Wednesday, January 11 in town league action in the midst of a great week of skiing making for some somewhat lethargic hockey, but plenty of scoring.

The Talk of the Town proved the quicker step in the opening minute as Dakota Wiggins skated around the back of the Bliss net to set up Ashton Mabry on front for a 1-0 lead 45 seconds into the game.

The Talk looked to build on their lead a minute later but Bliss defenseman Isaac Evans (that’s the third homegrown talent mentioned so far) hustled back to break up the opportunity. Talk goalie (number four) Nicholas Mikeska then shut down two shots from Bliss, Connor Sample broke up another odd man rush by Bliss and then Mikeska made another save so brilliant that he lost his helmet in the effort. Meanwhile, Adrienne Templeton was doing her best work shutting down the Bliss breakouts up the boards.

But, like I said, it was the middle of local’s ski week (talk about lapping the resort) and those enthusiastic legs of the Talk of the Town started to dissipate opening the door for Bliss Chiropractic as Thomas Mclean and Nick Couts each scored within a 10-second span to pull Bliss on top 2-1 by the end of the first period.

The Talk used the break for a slight recovery and opened with Cody Sexe getting loose for an open look on the Bliss net only to have his shot fly just a little high of the target. Bliss soon returned to the driver’s seat as Jason Keener set up Billy Watson for a one-timer and a 3-1 lead.

Mikeska continued to turn away the flurry of Bliss shots over the next several minutes but could do nothing to deny Evans when he dove for a loose puck to sweep it into the net. A minute later Evans struck again off an assist from Watson and Bliss was sitting pretty on a 5-1 lead.

The Talk finally talked back late in the second period when Erin Kelly (number five) set up Mabry for a goal, but Evans and Watson connected for two goals in the span of 13 seconds building a 7-2 lead with one period left to play.

With ski and work legs no doubt burning, the third period was a bit more subdued. The Talk of the Town showed some late signs of life and when Wiggins battled to get a shot off, Erik Berglund (number six) followed to stuff the rebound in but that was all she wrote, and all I am going to write, as Bliss finished with a 7-3 win. 

Flint Hoyt and Michael Blunck gear up for Sunday’s ride

[  By Katherine Nettles  ]

s the Adaptive Sports Center’s final week of the rolling Bridges of the Butte Townie Tour comes to an end, locals and visitors will line the streets, alleys and yes, bridges of Crested Butte on Sunday, September 11 to take part in the main event. Among them will be loyal repeat participants and top fundraisers like Michael Blunck and Flint Hoyt, each with a unique flair for costumery and a passion for Adaptive’s work. Each has a personal connection to Adaptive’s mission as well. 

Dragon Team Leo

“My two kids were the ones who got me into it,” says Blunck, who has earned seven buckles for being the top fundraiser in the Bridges events over the years. His official event name is Dragon Team Leo and he has raised more than $50,000 over the years. He broke a new fundraising record of $10,000 last year and says it is looking good again this year with $9,200 raised as of press time.  

“For me, it’s just about having fun. I like riding every day. I still like to make it a town event. And like everything else in CB, costumes are recommended,” says Blunck.  He prefers to wear his regular clothes but dresses up his bike in a big way. 

“About eight years ago, I found a dragon photo on the Internet,” he explains. His wife Lisa created it for his bike, and it has become known as a fixture of the event that returns each year. “And I like all sorts of lights on it, because as I used to say at the 24-hour event, I want to be visible to the International space station.” Blunck recalls one year when he encountered a bear coming out in an alley as he pedaled through, and he feels the lights came in handy. “He was way more spooked than I was,” he reports. 

Most of all, Blunck says the Bridges event is a lot of fun, but it is about supporting Adaptive. “I’m really all about raising money for them. I think Adaptive is one of the best programs we have in CB. They do a lot of amazing things for a lot of people,” he says. “And fortunately, I have a big group of people who are willing to help. It makes me happy because my supporters are all part of it.” A lot of other local kids and local legends join him for laps too. “It’s become a social event for some of us,” he says. While he normally rides laps every day of the newer, rolling format, this year he was visiting his son Aaron in the Northwest and plans to make it back in time for Sunday’s big event. But he notes that the virtual aspect is more appealing when travelling afar. 

Dragon Team Leo’s name is inspired by Leo True-Frost, a young man in New York whose family is very close with Blunck.  

“Leo is the son of a gentleman I grew up with,” he explains. “He was born with severe cerebral palsy and he’s been my motivation.” Leo and his family have gotten involved in an adaptive program up in New York where they live, and Blunck describes the importance of the network available to those who need it. 

“And Leo is nonverbal, but there’s nothing like the smile on Leo’s face when he is skiing,” says Blunck. He has hoped for years to have Leo and his family out to ski at Crested Butte Mountain Resort with the CB Adaptive Sports Center. 

Flint Hoyt and the Titan

Flint Hoyt is a powerful testament to Adaptive’s ability to change people’s lives, and to allow a family to play together despite one member’s disability. He has won the Mighty Grom award for the kid who fundraises the most money at the Bridges event four years in a row, and he is vying for a fifth. 

The Hoyt family moved to the Gunnison Valley in 2017 when Flint was 11 years old. Flint speaks candidly about his autism and recalls that when they lived in Albuquerque prior to that, he struggled a lot. “I was shy of everything. I was scared of school, I made dinosaur noises.”

He describes his first winter here and what a difference it made for him. “Skiing and snowboarding were life changing for me,” he says, “I got so good through skiing, and then snowboarding. The instructors are amazing. They’ve really taught me things and they include a lot of people. Adaptive just helped lift me up.” 

Flint adds that now he also regularly enjoys biking, climbing, rafting and paddle boarding with Adaptive. Flint’s mom, Aimee, got involved in the Adaptive program as a parent participant, then as a volunteer and eventually joined the staff as their grants coordinator. “My mom has always stood up for me,” says Flint.

His dad, Matthew, says he also really appreciates that Adaptive offers programming not just for people with disabilities, but for their family members too so they can enjoy activities in tandem if they want to. “They are really great at supporting families,” says Matthew. “That happens a lot for families who come in from out of town where they have say, one child with a disability and one child who is neurotypical. They can all go out together.”

Flint says his family’s Italian exchange student, Franchesca, might even try skiing this winter with them. 

“I’m so glad my parents moved me here,” Flint says. “I’m autistic, and to be honest I’ve learned how to control it over the years thanks to all my teachers that taught me those things. Some people doubt disabilities…I’ve had a lot of people talk down to me. Adaptive helps people recognize that we are real people too. And we can have fun. It helped me be in the world and know that I have my own value.”

Flint says he feels like the entire community around him makes a difference, including the Crested Butte Community School, his friends, his coaches and his cross-country team who he is recruiting for the Bridges event this year. 

Flint and his parents have participated in many Bridges events with team costumes, starting as “Hoyty Toyty,” when they dressed in formal wear, or Flint’s favorite, “Baby shark.” They also enjoy the challenges throughout the two-week event with favorites like the ABC challenge during COVID when he and his family found a street or trail for every letter of the alphabet to ride.

 This year, Flint has masterminded team Titan Townie Takeover for his cross-country team and he has already raised $3,600 of his $5,500 goal.

Flint’s tips for kids who want to fundraise: “Text as many friends as you can, go to cool places and make videos [about your cause] and just do what you can. And start out low with your fundraising goal and then keep pushing it to get higher.” 

He also has some tips for costumes. “I don’t recommend any super extreme nice clothing,” he says about his dad’s ‘Hoyty Toyty’ suit that got torn. “And I don’t recommend long dresses.”  

Tutus, however, can be just the right thing.

For more information or to register for Bridges of the Butte Townie Tour, visit  www.adaptivesports.org/events/bridges-butte-townie-tour.

House under contract in Gunnison

[  By Kendra Walker  ]

The Mt. Crested Butte town council made it very clear last week that it wants the town manager to live inside the town boundaries.

During their February 1 meeting, the Mt. Crested Butte town council denied town manager Isa Reeb’s request that they waive the requirement that the town manager must reside in the town of Mt. Crested Butte. She said she was unable to secure housing in the north end of the valley and had put a house in Gunnison under contract.

The Mt. Crested Butte town charter states that, “during his/her tenure of office, he/she shall reside within the town, except at the discretion of the council.”

In a staff memo to the council, Reeb stated, “I have been unable to find affordable for-sale or long-term for-rent housing in Mt. CB for my family since our search began in February 2021. My employment contract stipulated that a Homestead unit would be available, however, that housing project has not come to fruition and the timeline on completion is unknown.

“We’ve been working with several realtors and property managers for nearly a year and the instability has been detrimental to my home life and mental health,” she continued. “A permanent housing solution has presented itself outside of the Town of Mt. CB and is currently the only viable option to ensure stable, long-term housing for my family. It’s important that we find stability, and this affords us that opportunity. After moving three times in six months and being on a constant search for our next place to live, we are eager for our search to be over.”

She noted, “The decision to search outside of Mt. CB for housing was extremely difficult because I would rather live in Mt. CB. However, this decision will not affect my availability or ability to perform my duties effectively and efficiently.”

She also provided a list of other mountain communities that do not require the town manager to live within the town boundaries, unless a housing unit is already offered and provided, including Winter Park, Breckenridge, Steamboat and Avon. “All of the town managers talk to each other and from what I’ve heard is the residency requirement is outdated for resort towns,” she said during the meeting. 

“I think that this waiver is a very serious question,” said council member Nicholas Kempin. “Upfront Isa, I think this was the wrong approach for a whole host of reasons. To be very direct I think you should have brought this subject up before you went under contract on a property. You’ve shrunken the timeframe for us to decide this and I don’t think that was the way to go.”

Kempin listed the various reasons why he felt the requirement was important to be included in the town charter. “We live out here at the end of the road, a single road with no way out in the winter time,” he said, noting natural disasters, wildfires, utility outages, etc. “All of those things are important for the town manager to be present for. The town manager should also be subject to the rules and fees and costs that come with a community where you’re working on the rules and costs…If you’re putting a burden on the citizens in Mt. Crested Butte, then that same burden is on you as well.”

Kempin also noted that the previous Mt. CB town manager often made himself available to chat with council members after business hours. “You made a comment at our last meeting about what a long day it was and that we were 14 hours in and so I wonder how that will play if you have to drive home to Gunnison.” 

He continued, “I have not heard from you that the Elevation [Hotel] was unacceptable to you, and I would have expected an interim step where you came to us and said living in Elevation is not acceptable to me, I have not found other housing and so I would like to expand my search.”

Reeb explained her reasoning, “As you guys know, any type of property that’s available you have to jump on immediately, so it was not an ideal situation, nor has this entire year been an ideal situation.”

“We should have been given the opportunity to find you a place to rent or give you additional money,” said Kempin. “Buying a place in the valley was never part of our bargain with you.”

“It’s been a year,” said Reeb. “It’s been extremely hard and you guys know how hard it’s been. We talk about housing difficulties all the time.”

“I’m definitely very sympathetic to the housing struggle,” said council member Lauren Koelliker. “The difficult thing is town did purchase for about half a million dollars a condo for employee housing for our town of Mt. CB employees and none of them chose to move into it,” she said, referencing the Elk Ridge II condo the town purchased in November which is now being leased to a community member.

According to the Gunnison County Assessor’s Office, the unit is an 876-square-foot two-bed, two bath condo.

“It’s hard for me to understand how there wasn’t anything available,” said Koelliker. “I understand that it wasn’t maybe to your liking or what you were hoping for. But I think it was a solid effort by town to put a lot of money into trying to find at least a temporary solution.”

“I personally value living in the community that you’re attempting to be a part of,” said council member Roman Kolodziej.

Kempin made a motion to deny waiving the residency requirement in the town’s charter. The council voted 6-1, with Koelliker voting against, to not waive the residency requirement. 

When the Crested Butte News followed up with Reeb this week, she responded, “The outcome of the town council meeting on Tuesday, February 1, 2022, was disheartening for me and my family.

“I, like many others in this community have struggled to find housing in the valley for the past year and have been living in small, close quarters that are inadequate. The delay of Homestead affected many families in this community, and I am in the same situation they are with struggling to find an alternative option.”

She continued, “These housing challenges are not unique to the town of Mt. Crested Butte. Within the staff memo, I outlined the many resort towns within the state that either offer a single-family house or allow their town manager to live outside of town limits. One I did not include is the town of Crested Butte—which also provides a single-family home for their town manager. While I understand this is not the most ideal situation, I am at a loss of what to do if I want to remain working and living in the valley and serving the town of Mt. Crested Butte. My situation is not unique to my family, it will continue to be an issue for future town managers as well.

“I sincerely hope we will be able to come to an agreement that works for the town of Mt. Crested Butte and my family so I can continue serving the community I care so deeply about,” she concluded.

The recent cold nights provided hope that the manmade snow would guarantee an on-time opening for the 60th year of Crested Butte Mountain Resort. And it has. Whew. We won’t be making turns on Big Chute, but we’ll be making turns. Where we won’t be making turns is at the Crested Butte Nordic Thanksgiving Camp that, for the first time in three decades, was cancelled for lack of snow. Snow at Lily Lake is pretty thin, so the skinny skiing is not exactly off the hook at the moment.

I did pop up to the bottom of Warming House Hill at CBMR and was frankly impressed with what appeared to be the skiability of the hill. An old school ski instructor was showing around some new people and described it as the “Ribbon of Death.” That’s a bit of an exaggeration, at least the death part anyway. It is indeed a ribbon and it will probably be crowded at times. You definitely don’t want to fly off the edge. Ribbon of Mayhem might be more appropriate. I got my first turns in before the lifts were spinning — sort of like Titans soccer coach Than Acuff who I saw on my FB app had hiked up and skied Mt. Owen with his heavy state championship trophy on his birthday. Sort of — I hiked up to Red Lady and skied down for coffee with a participation ribbon instead of a state trophy.

But the point is there is skiing to be had. And we are a ski town. Not that I’ve put away my bike shoes yet since I see on a phone app it will be in the 50s in Gunni next weekend and there is nothing wrong with making turns in Graceland when it’s sunny and 55 except it’ll be December.

I am reading Powder Days by Heather Hansman at the moment and while she extolls the ideal of being a ‘ski bum’ she rightfully worries those days are waning. She reasons that ski town issues like housing, wages and the corporatization of the ski industry — not to mention Climate Change that may or may not be impacting the quality of the opening day ribbon — is decimating the old ski town culture. But we’re in Thanksgiving mode so we’ll save the hot button topics and the apparently not so cold reality of climate change impact on ski bums and ski towns for another time…

Walking the dogs before bed the other night I huddled up in the crisp air knowing the snow guns were blowing. I saw Jupiter shining bright and my phone’s sky view app told me we were walking beneath exotic points of light with names like Rastaban, Enit, Dipda and of course Polaris. It was beautiful.

It reminded me of the postcards I read earlier in the day that local first graders wrote to their parents. You can see them on page 21. The little kids thanked their parents for their life in the valley, for just being able to live here, for the fresh air, their siblings and pets, for the fun and the oxygen. They are not wrong. They are incredibly lucky as are most of us who have the opportunity to live and work or just visit here. It’s rarely easy but it sure is worth it. It is a different life and while the kids growing up here may not know it now, they’ll understand as they move to the ‘real world,’ whatever that is. It may be getting harder but that is why we all must keep working together to figure out how to keep that fortune viable for more than just the extremely wealthy. More topics for future editorials.

And frankly, that’s one reason some people struggle here. It’s not perfect and can at times be really, really hard. It’s a real place with real people with real problems and mental health issues are not rare in mountain towns like ours. The common mantra is that for anyone struggling with those issues, they should know we are all in it together. We are better together. There are places and people who can help get you through a rough time. We have all lost too many of our friends to depression. On Tuesday, November 30 at the CB Center for the Arts, CB State of Mind and Gunnison Valley Health are holding a community meeting to have a conversation on why “mental health matters.” Do not be afraid to show up and share. That too is part of our reality. If you feel the need to talk, call the confidential crisis hotline at 844-493-8255.

So for now, be as thankful as you can and help those in the community that need it. Spread the love. Cultivate gratitude. Also remember places like this have always been based in hope. The miners relied on hope to come here and look for silver and gold. Ranchers hope the price of beef makes raising cattle in the high country worthwhile. We all hope for a big winter to provide sustenance and the soul that comes from skiing powder – or groomers – or steeps. Workers and business owners hope for a season where they can bank the tips and season’s earnings to get through the off-seasons that allow them to live a unique life out of a cubicle and far away from a mall. Hope is a constant in this high mountain valley and there are few better places to hope.

This week the ski area opened with a strip of snow and four inches of fresh. But have some optimism — real winter will come. Lily Lake will turn white again. I anticipate the costumes to come out, the snow dances to commence, the sacrifices to Ullr to begin any minute. In the meantime, find the turns where they are —be it on Peanut, the Mt. CB Rec Path, or the Sea of Sage. Celebrate living in a place where you can do all of them in the same day and where when the sun goes down, the stars and planets guide your night walk as brightly as anywhere with a zip code. Be thankful for being in a weird but special place that some people can’t even dream of.

We’ll get to the hard issues soon enough but today, be thankful. Be grateful. Have hope. Make some turns with your trophy or participation ribbon and be proud. Here’s to the start of another season!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

—Mark Reaman

The more things change, the more they stay the same, or, I’m not from here, I just live here

By Dawne Belloise

Crested Butte was founded in 1880 as a coal mining town, having been a supply point for prospectors in the 1870s. In the mid 1950s, as the mines closed and the railroad tracks were pulled up, the town began losing its long-time families and the face of Crested Butte began to change.

When Dick Eflin and Fred Rice saw the opportunity to create a ski resort on the mountain in 1960, ski bums and hippies began arriving with new lifestyles and free-thinking concepts. They weren’t always accepted or appreciated by some of the old-time mining families, who liked their close-knit community and way of life that had been going on for almost a century.

Hippies were a strange, undisciplined wild breed, but some of them had a vision. Life without a mine was just fine for them and they organized and rallied the posse of new residents and won big in the local elections, essentially taking over the town. Then they proceeded to change everything, from the dusty streets to the ramshackle buildings and homes, eventually making Crested Butte the artsy and desirable resort town that seemingly everyone now wants to live in.

This is essentially what is once again causing the issues surrounding the rising costs and the changing times and demographics of Crested Butte.

There are potential and partial solutions to these issues, some of which have been discussed at some level of local government, and some that have been acted upon, such as the push for affordable local housing and the taxation and special fees to short-term rental owners.

But can more be done for locals who are being displaced by the rising costs of living?

The reason so many neighborhoods are dark due to empty houses that were once homes to full-time locals is that now those houses accommodate the occasional part-timers who bought their properties to enjoy a week or two, or maybe a month or two, during the glorious summer, perhaps returning for a week to ski during the holiday season. Some short-term-rent their properties. Their houses are immaculate, the owners employing management companies to manicure the yard, remove the snow, greet rental vacationers—but the houses seem soulless most of the year. As real estate prices rise, with many out-of-towners willing to pay the price to own a house in paradise, so do the property taxes.

Ideas…

There is a Colorado property tax break for seniors 65 and older who own their home and have claimed it as their primary residence for at least 10 years. The problem with this is that many seniors downsize at that age, which resets that mandatory 10-year primary residency. Seniors can wind up paying even more if they downsize than if they had stayed in their larger home. The other issue with the senior property tax break is that it’s for seniors only and not the entire population of primary residents.

The state of Florida has its so-called Save Our Homes or Homestead Tax break, which is exclusively for primary homeowners who, to apply, must live in the state for at least six months of the year, have a valid state driver’s license, pay utilities and receive mail at their address. The Homestead Tax caps the property’s valuation increase at 3 percent every reassessment. It’s a slow increase and it doesn’t necessarily increase 3 percent, or at all, during reassessment but it ensures that full-time and long-term residents can afford to stay in their neighborhoods and homes.

This tax break for primary residents puts the escalating tax burden on luxury and second-home owners who have flocked to the touristed state, paying exorbitant prices to live in tropical climates part-time and then retreat to their northern homes. A primary residence tax break such as the Florida Homestead law could be a large part of a solution to help keep the local residents from selling and moving to an affordable location elsewhere.

Unfortunately for Colorado residents, a combination of the TABOR and Gallagher amendments, along with Amendment 23, prohibits similar action unless things change at the state level. These regulations are exceedingly complex. Crested Butte town manager Dara MacDonald explained that currently, Colorado State law requires that all taxpayers be treated equally, as far as property taxation goes.

Some good change has to come from the state. MacDonald explains that the Gallagher Amendment sets the commercial property tax rate at a certain amount and then residential adjusts accordingly but the total amount of tax is set by TABOR (the Taxpayer Bill of Rights) at the state level. TABOR also restricts the growth of the state’s budget, and there can be no new taxes without voter approval. While this seemed like a good plan to lawmakers initially, many didn’t foresee its complicated future repercussions.

One of the possible solutions that the Crested Butte Town Council is considering is an Empty House tax, a flat tax on unoccupied houses, which will be discussed at the December 2 regular meeting. The basic concept of this proposed tax is to incentivize—or penalize, depending on your perspective—homeowners who leave their houses empty for a large portion of the year. The idea is that with a considerable fee, they might give thought to renting their houses out to locals; and if not, the funds collected could then be used to secure additional affordable housing for working locals.

The Empty House tax would have to be voter-approved and prior to a vote, subject to a multitude of public hearings that would address details such as how many months in a year qualifies as unoccupied, how much of a fee should be charged and where the collected monies will be spent.

Should an Empty House tax pass a town vote, the monies could be designated specifically for additional affordable housing for locals. There’s also talk of designating some of the funds for local climate issues. The measure could go on the ballot as early as next November.

It’s a progressive and viable solution to fund local housing but not without issues. There are many primary resident locals, especially seniors, who leave during the winter, no longer able to navigate Crested Butte’s icy season. There are also those who, during the five months of off-season (April, May, part of June and October, November and most of December) take the opportunity to travel. Some must travel for work, but still, Crested Butte is their primary home.

As of last year, 2018, MacDonald noted that there were approximately 430 units of housing in town that were either second homes or short-term rentals that were not occupied as a primary residence. Out of the town’s 1,500 housing units, 65 percent are long-term occupied. If the unoccupied units were charged a tax of $5,000 a year, that could generate more than $2.1 million, which could then put a real dent in providing new affordable housing.

Council also wants to consider a program similar to Vail’s InDeed program, which would pay owners of free market units in Crested Butte to put a loose deed restriction on their home. The owner would receive upfront money in exchange for ensuring the house or condo will be lived in by a local.

Looking at the housing projects, camping and STRs

As town is wrapping up the construction on the Paradise Park affordable local housing, they look toward the two acres bordered by Gothic Road and Butte Avenue as the next place for a major workforce housing push.

Part of that property that is being considered for annexation was the old town dump and has already been cleaned up. Conceptually, 40 to 70 affordable units could be built there, with a mix of single family and some apartment/condo style units like Poverty Gulch, with ownership mixed in with rentals. MacDonald feels that both the Mt. Crested Butte and Crested Butte town councils are working really hard. “Both towns have gained permanent tax revenue sources now to tackle affordable housing, in Crested Butte through our short-term rental tax, which contributes $300,000 yearly, and in Mt. Crested Butte with their new lodging tax that will contribute about $900,000 yearly.

“By collaboration and working together, MacDonald continued, “There’s a better outlook in terms of public funding and input into housing. For us to have over $1 million a year in funding for affordable housing in the north valley is a big game changer.”

Hard numbers can’t be verified but word on the street is that there were scores of locals living in the woods, mountains and campgrounds this summer who said it would be a plus having a designated place to park their vans and RVs without the worry of having to move every two weeks, as required by the U.S. Forest Service.

Most of these campers are employees of various town businesses. Having electricity for heat, clean water and a place to shower is a basic necessity of life, let alone a requirement for being presentable at work. One immediate solution to the housing issue might be to create a camping space with basic necessities, or a public bath house (Sunshine’s Bath House was a popular establishment in its day) for the locals willing to live out of their campers and vans to work in town, at least until a sufficient amount of permanent affordable housing is a reality.

There is also a flip side to the short-term rental debate. For a local trying to stay financially afloat in a rising tide of living expenses, short-terming a room or house can be the difference between staying or selling and leaving. Some primary resident locals essentially short-term-rent their home in order to cover the escalating taxes, maintenance and general cost of living in town. While there are two separate licenses for short-term rentals, the more affordable one of $200 caps the rental time at 60 days, which barely covers taxes for some.

Many working locals lucky enough to have bought their homes years ago when houses were cheaper, can’t afford the initial $1,500 outlay for an unlimited STR license and annual $750 cost. Additionally, a local who short-terms a room in their shared home can’t charge as much as they might for a whole house.

Perhaps a small step in helping to keep some locals in their homes would be to revisit the concept of further varying the structure of rental time limits, fees and taxes to differentiate between primary resident locals who short-term and those who are merely capitalizing on our community’s unique character and saleability.

As for commercial property taxation, Gunnison County officials understand the burden commercial property owners and landlords face when it comes to the quickly rising commercial valuations and thus commercial property taxes and are currently looking into possible alternatives in valuation methods (see sidebar). But their hands are tied by the state.

Need to solve our own problems

“We have to come up with a restaurant and retail organization. We can’t just wait. We have to solve our own problems, before we lose our mom and pop businesses,” says Kyleena Falzone, one of the owners of the Secret Stash and Bonez. She feels that a representative could then address the needs of the business community to the Town Council and on a county level, with a list of necessities for business survival. “We also need to bring back Western’s [Western Colorado University in Gunnison] hospitality program. They have the students, we have the jobs. Real-life experience for their students. We all could benefit.”

Rob Zillioux, Crested Butte’s finance and human resources director feels that the local business decline is also linked to the advent of online stores where you can get anything delivered to your door. Local shops may not have the availability of product and variety of goods that can be found online at mega stores like Amazon, whose quantity enables cheaper prices so mom and pop shops can’t compete.

But a dollar spent with Zappos or Amazon is a dollar not spent at Paradox or Townie Books. Much like Walmart decimated Main Streets across America in the 1990s, Zillioux says, “Amazon will now be the final nail in the coffin for many area retailers, unless they are somehow truly unique. High rent rates are problematic, but it is not the only issue hurting local retail. Amazon is cheaper of course, but at what cost to the local retailers and the environment?”

He points out that while town’s total sales tax collections (all categories) grew 5 percent last year, out-of-state sales grew 33 percent. “Out-of-state is a good proxy for mail order. Out-of-state includes businesses such as Amazon, Zappos, Apple, etc. It also includes companies such as Atmos, though. Nevertheless, out-of-state sales are increasing much more rapidly than town sales.”

Zillioux also points out that implied out-of-state sales have grown to nearly $6 million in 2018, up from about $3 million in 2014.

With rumors flying as to what will happen to Donita’s now-empty space, one way to make it affordable is to compartmentalize the space into retail shops and offices, splitting the rent between several separate businesses under one roof. The property owner has already applied to BOZAR for this permit. It’s a major outlay of capital expense for the owner but is also a potential solution to affordability while creating more shop space.

Meanwhile, another group of local business owners is coming together to buy their building, condominiumizing individual spaces so each will have their own unit. It’s a fortunate situation where the landlord is basically stepping up and helping locals stay in business. There can be solutions.

Crested Buttians have always been innovative in their approach to making their lifestyle work. It’s the lifestyle and character that we’ve created in this town that keeps us here and is worth the struggle to resolve these issues, because Crested Butte is a community that you’ll not find anywhere else on the planet. But too many of us are too often feeling like a poor little rich town.