Cowherd suggests a dozen new places to increase workforce housing in town

Issues, but opportunity

by Mark Reaman

Former council member and regular Crested Butte Town Council meeting attendee Kent Cowherd presented the council with some ideas for in-fill affordable housing at the January 6 meeting. He cited a dozen locations in town where small affordable housing units could perhaps be squeezed into existing neighborhoods. Some were on property identified as being zoned “Public,” while others were on lots used for snow storage or in wetlands. Other potential locations were on existing affordable housing lots, but Cowherd said smaller units could turn a place where a tri-plex was planned into a place where four or five or six units could be built.

Cowherd emphasized that units would be small—between 350 and 400 square feet. He said more units could be built if the town also revised its parking regulations to lower the number of parking spaces required for each unit. Locations ranged from the batting cage area near Gothic Field to several areas in the Paradise Park subdivision to near the Tommy V. Field bathrooms, the gravel pit south of the Crested Butte Community School and the spot between the town tennis courts and Pitsker Field near the Four-way Stop.

“These ideas are meant to be a starting point for discussion,” he said. “These are areas where housing has been previously overlooked or dismissed. They are all difficult sites with some challenges to work through. But the ideas are discussion points of where to maximize opportunity for more housing within the town boundaries.”

“Anything is possible but some of these sites would require some drastic changes to our snow management plan,” commented town public works director Shea Earley.

Town manager Dara MacDonald said some of the suggestions were viable and others presented challenges. “A lot of the parcels are being used for other purposes,” she told the council. “As for a minimum size, no one has built under 400 square feet even on the micro lots. Parking will always be a conversation. People in affordable housing don’t necessarily have fewer cars. But overall, it is a useful list to evaluate.”

Cowherd’s proposal indicated that an additional 41 to 66 units could be built on the sites, depending on parking and size limitations.

“Let’s get Michael [Yerman] to look at it all and see what he comes up with,” suggested council member Laura Mitchell.