Council gives thumbs-up to mobile home housing idea

“We want to provide six affordable units to six citizens of your community”

By Kendra Walker

The Crested Butte Town Council and Gunnison Valley Housing Fund (VHF) have agreed to start the joint application process for a six-unit mobile home cluster located at 114 Butte Avenue on the Paul Redden property.

Council and the VHF hosted a special meeting on December 9 to discuss the project, which would place six 500-square-foot one-bedroom mobile homes on the Butte Avenue site, offered as rentals to locals. Council voted the project forward, and it will go through a formal public Board of Zoning and Architectural Review (BOZAR) process.

The property is currently under contract with the VHF, which would hold ownership over all six units, determine renters and manage the property. According to VHF executive director Darin Higgins, this is one of the first projects that the VHF would own and manage. “The housing fund mission is to provide affordable units. This allows us to be directly involved and we can actually do it ourselves,” he said.

Town has not yet decided on a financial commitment, but is prepared to make up to a $170,000 contribution including tap fees and fee waivers. The Mountain Express may give an additional contribution. Town and MTX would most likely take half of the units for employees.

According to Higgins, the rentals would target the 60 percent area median income (AMI) population, with the rental price estimated at $600 to $800 a month. “The town has done a great job of meeting the needs of the ‘for sale’ affordable housing,” Higgins said. “We’re trying to fit another need with this rental project. We don’t get opportunities to serve this [need] at this price.”

Town community development director Michael Yerman confirmed that the proposed site plan meets zoning standards, providing the necessary snow storage and two parking spaces per unit, which is required for the mobile home park. Each mobile home would be 14 feet wide and 34 feet long.

“Since the town is looking at contributing to the project and obtaining a unit, we wanted to ensure that the Town Council heard from the neighborhood before we initiate a formal process,” said Yerman. He also reiterated the benefits of this development being a town housing project, which allows for more flexibility and community input, rather than if a free market developer purchased it.

Neighbors were notified about the special meeting with a five-unit proposal, but Higgins clarified this was because the VHF wanted to get notification out to everyone as early as possible and at that time the manufacturer had only 16-foot-wide units. This would allow for only a five-unit configuration.

The housing fund later found a different manufacturer with 14-foot-wide units, allowing for an additional unit to fit. According to Higgins, this six-unit plan is still less dense than if a free market developer put in three larger trailers of two to three bedrooms each, and will help alleviate costs for maintenance and snow removal.

“We want to be your neighbors in this project. We want to be actively involved in making sure we meet your needs. But the bottom line is the math and we have to break even,” said Higgins.

He explained further, “One bedroom is really where the need is in the community. As the ‘owner/landlord’ we’re not going to overload it. We want to provide six affordable units to six citizens of your community. We really want to try to make this fit this community.”

Many members of the community attended the meeting to hear the plan and contribute their input. Neighbors expressed some concerns, especially with the change from five to six units, but most warmed up to the project as the discussion progressed.

Neighbors were especially concerned about parking, wondering if future tenants would park their trailers, boats, snowmobiles, etc. in the designated parking spots and then park their cars on the already heavily parked street.

“We can handle that a little bit with the lease agreements,” replied Higgins. “That can be an ongoing conversation with neighbors’ input. We can handle that on a flexible basis.”

“I like the idea that there’s a property management company that will come take care of snow removal. I love the idea that it’s going to be managed by the housing fund, so some of my concerns are alleviated,” said resident Robin Cash.

Longtime mobile home resident Clifton Garland added his concerns about the snow removal and the safety hazards of snowmelt falling in between the buildings. “The safety for a unit setup like this is not very good. There are people out shoveling walkways getting buried. You really have not worked in what the actual maintenance money will be, because that will be astronomical,” he said.

“I’m going to expect a good strong solid snow removal budget on this project,” said councilman Chris Haver later on in the meeting.

“I appreciate the whole neighborhood coming together tonight. It’s the locals’ neighborhood, one of the few areas that’s all local—that’s very rare anymore in this town,” said resident Jane Martin. “My concern is, it sounds like half the spaces are already committed to people. Who has access to these units?”

Higgins said they would most likely use a similar process as with Anthracite Place, where tenants would qualify based on income but with more flexibility. “We have the freedom to say this person makes 62 percent AMI, but they’re not excluded,” said Yerman. “It would be like any other rental property, open to anyone who applies.”

“This is a deal where there’s an arrangement between the town and the housing foundation to make something work and manage it to success,” said resident Skip Berkshire. “To me this is a no brainer.”

“I think it’s a beautiful idea. I can’t tell you how excited I am about this,” said resident Cath Sherrer. “My life changed on a dime when I was lucky enough to get into that trailer park. I know that these problems can be worked out. I like this idea because it’s simple, it’s affordable and it can be easily implemented.”

“If the town has an opportunity to create some local workforce housing within the existing neighborhoods you should try to get it done,” said Bob Gillie. “And you can try to work out the details later but this community is suffering.”

The majority of council felt comfortable proceeding with the project. Mayor Jim Schmidt was the single council vote against, preferring that the project go back to the five-unit plan with more storage or target a different AMI percentage to drop the number of units while still meeting the budget.

Higgins clarified that the trailers do have a certain amount of storage under the units, and his intent is to communicate with the fire district and see about storage options on the ends of the units as well.

“We have a public entity that cares about our workforce and is going to make sure it stays in good repair for our workforce,” said council member Mallika Magner. “I would like to see two parking spaces per unit. I would like to see the storage. And I think it’s a great idea.”

“This is an easy decision for me to get the project going,” said council member Will Dujardin. “But I’m not that comfortable with us reserving half of the units for government entities. It’s not just our government employees that need employee housing. Our constituents are suffering. Every day we don’t take decisive action we’re contributing to the slow death of the culture and community of this town.”

Agreeing to start the joint application process, council will consider their financial commitment at a later date.