The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Modular and creatives top the list
By Mark Reaman
As part of the annual budget process, the Crested Butte Town Council is readjusting some of its future projects. Affordable housing remains a priority and several projects will begin next year.
One adjustment will come with the seven units planned to be built by the town and Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority on blocks 79 and 80 in Crested Butte. Town planner Michael Yerman and GVRHA executive director Karl Fulmer told the council on October 3 that two duplex units and one triplex planned for 2017 would be modular units instead of stick-built structures. Cost is the primary reason for the change.
“These units will be sold in a lottery,” explained Yerman. “Four of them will go to individuals and we will offer the other three to local businesses that might want them for their employees. Since we are building them, the applicants can use a conventional loan to purchase the properties.”
Yerman said since the town is basically donating the lots and not having to pay for design work by using modular, the cost could be kept pretty low. He expects the units to come in at around $200 to $210 per square foot. “This will keep them affordable for a longer period of time since there is a cap on appreciation. By starting out with a low cost, the price remains lower for several years since it cannot appreciate in value more than 3 percent a year. That’s the philosophy, anyway.”
“As a construction guy, it’s a bummer they are coming in as modular and not being constructed with local labor,” said councilman Roland Mason. “Can a modular get through the BOZAR [Board of Zoning and Architectural Review] process?”
“These will have to go through BOZAR,” assured Fulmer. “One constraint in using a modular is the roof pitch. We are working with manufacturers to figure that out right now. We will be using a local architect to make them fit in town. While we too prefer stick-built structures, we are trying to get the most bang for our buck.”
“And even though they are modular, there is still a percentage of work that will employ local contractors,” added Yerman. “But we found that stick-built units are closer to $250 or $260 a square foot minimum.”
“Poverty Gulch is made up of modulars,” noted councilmember Jim Schmidt who resides in the deed-restricted complex.
The council gave the go-ahead to Yerman to begin pursuing a state grant for the so-called “Space to Create” affordable housing project. That building would be built on the land near Poverty Gulch that could be annexed into town as part of the Cypress Foothills Slate River development. Yerman said he felt the town with its Creative District had a good shot at getting a grant worth millions of dollars for the project.
A certain number of units would have to be rented to so-called “creatives” in the community but Yerman said the definition of creatives was pretty broad. Part of that project would include a communal workspace for creatives to create.
The application for the grant money is due in January and would be awarded in 2017. Yerman said it would be a three-year project.
Schmidt wanted to make sure that the grant and construction timeline coordinated with the Cypress development that has yet to be approved. But Yerman said he has communicated with the developers and they are on board with the need for the project.
