Workforce housing a top priority for both county and town

Hundreds of units in next five years

By Mark Reaman

The need for more affordable housing for local workers is an issue Gunnison County commissioners and Crested Butte Town Council members both agreed is at the top of the priority list. The issue was discussed at a joint work session on March 28.

“Frankly, any way that we can get units built across the county will be helpful,” said commissioner Phil Chamberland.

“I think there will have to be a private business arm to housing,” added mayor Glenn Michel.

“We have actually had some contact with developers from around the state and country who see the need here,” said Chamberland. “I think we will start to see some real movement. It is an issue we all understand needs to be fixed. I think we can do 400 units by 2020. It’s not just a pie-in-the-sky idea.”

“And in town we want to do 50 more units in the next five years,” added Michel. “That too is achievable.”

County manager Matthew Birnie said that Requests for Qualifications from developers interested in partnering on the 17-acre Brush Creek parcel were due by the end of March. Five such RFQs were received and will be evaluated. “We have already had a lot of interest,” said Birnie. “We are looking for teams we want to work with. Nothing is concrete at this point but I am cautiously optimistic we will find a good team to work with on that parcel. It is a huge opportunity to make a dent in the problem.”

The 17 acres is located at the Highway 135 and Brush Creek intersection. It is owned by the county, the towns of Crested Butte and Mt. Crested Butte and Crested Butte Mountain Resort.

“There are obviously some complexities,” explained Birnie. “The property is in the East River Sanitation District so sewer can be extended there. Water is more challenging and we are looking at that. The topography is nice. It is a big project and it will be complex. There are a lot of mitigation issues to deal with like traffic and views of the property. But it is a good opportunity for a nice development out there. I don’t see anything that is insurmountable out there.”

Michel asked about potential density.

Gunnison County Community and Economic Development director Cathie Pagano said, “It is too early to tell. It would be more than the quarter acre lots that were approved at the Larkspur development just east of the 17 acres. But we don’t have any hard numbers yet.”

“It ultimately needs to be developed in a way the market can handle,” said commissioner John Messner. “A public-private partnership can help move it and can give us a significantly better project.”

As far as funding affordable housing projects, the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority interim director Paula Swenson told the group that along with the 400 public units anticipated to be built there would be another 500 or so private units constructed.

“On the public side, 400 units at a minimum of $200,000 apiece would cost about $80 million. That is just for construction and not operations. The housing authority has hired a consulting company to help analyze what sort of tax increase the public would support to help raise such funds. “Right now we are seeing if there is a desire to use a property tax or a lodging tax or a combination of both,” explained Swenson. “We are in the early stages of exploring the opportunities.”

Swenson indicated there could be a ballot issue for voters to consider on the upcoming November election ballot. She will be contacting the local governments and updating them on the progress throughout the spring.

“This is one of, if not the most important issue we as elected officials face right now and it impacts the entire county,” said councilman Jackson Petito. “This may be the ultimate collaborative process and it is an important one.”