The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
20 new homeowners expected to have their units within a year
By Katherine Nettles
As of Friday, June 12, there are 20 new Gunnison County residents looking forward to affordable home ownership in the valley. The Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority held a virtual lottery for new affordable housing units at the Prospect Homestead subdivision in Mt. Crested Butte, units that vary from two to three bedrooms each. Construction on the units is set to begin in the next few weeks. Gary Huresky with LIV Sotheby is handling all of the contracts.
Twenty pre-qualified Gunnison County applicants vied for the 20 units available. Initially 30 people had applied but only 18 of them qualified. The week prior to the lottery the GVRHA board of directors conducted an appeals hearing for three of those applicants who had initially not met qualifications to be included. County commissioner Roland Mason, who sits on the GVRHA board, said that due to extenuating circumstances, two of the three appeals were accepted.
“It just goes to show that housing is in huge demand,” Mason said.
The subdivision includes six two-bed/two-bath units; three three-bed/two-bath units; and 11 three-bed/2.5-bath units. Prices range from $267,115 for the smallest unit at 1,303 square feet to $383,145 for the largest unit at 1,869 square feet. There are two additional units which the town has reserved for its employees.
GVRHA executive director Jennifer Kermode said there were a few hiccups in technicalities during the virtual lottery and there were also complications stemming from a few applicants who wanted the same units.
“We were trying to use the town’s phone system, which works through microphones, but the feedback made it impossible to hear anything so we just used the Zoom audio system instead. It took about 10 minutes to figure that out,” Kermode said of the technical problems. Next, a mix-up in bedrooms being requested by certain applicants required a bit of shifting.
“Twenty households selected a home and two went onto an alternate list for bedroom count,” said Kermode. “There was a bit of switching around and both now have a home to write a contract on. Everybody wins!”
Mt. Crested Butte community development director Carlos Velado wrote of the process in a report to town council that with pending contracts, “This does not mean that all the units are spoken for at this time. Lottery winners are in the process of finalizing agreements to purchase the units.”
Velado reported that architectural drawings for the Homestead subdivision have been submitted to the town of Mt. Crested Butte, and the project received approval from the Prospect Design Review Board and conditional approval from the Planning Commission on March 27.
Mason said it looks likely that those who complete the process will have housing within the next year.
