The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
The Whetstone workforce housing proposal doesn’t really have a roundabout or tap fee issue — it has a financial shortfall issue. The estimated $146 million project appears to be about $15 to $17 million short…just over 10%. As the developer, the county sees that much savings in delaying both the tap fee and roundabout construction costs that are important to the town of Crested Butte which is supplying utilities to Whetstone.
While approving a utility extension agreement on Monday, the two entities have given themselves 100 days to figure out details on how the county can pay its $7.5 million in System Investment Fees (basically its tap fee contribution) without having to borrow money. I imagine the town will be willing to take a hit on that by allowing some sort of payment plan that basically decreases the value of the $7.5 million over time given inflation and lack of financial interest collected.
It’s the framing of the roundabout at the entrance to the development on Highway 135 that has me raising an eyebrow. That piece of the puzzle is estimated to cost between $8 and $10 million for the roundabout, a pedestrian underpass and associated trails and other transit amenities. The county has pulled out that piece of the project and said it can’t pay for the roundabout without putting the project at risk given what borrowing money for that piece of infrastructure does to rents. They say such a roundabout is needed not just for Whetstone but for the entire North Valley and so shouldn’t be tied to the workforce housing project.
As part of its utility extension agreement, the town council has consistently stated the roundabout was important enough to make it a condition of the utility extension. It is.
The county response is that it needs an extra two or three years to look for construction funding and has proposed that the roundabout construction could be put off until 70% of the units in Whetstone have achieved a Certificate of Occupancy and can be rented. County officials say they will agree to not rent the other 30% of the units until the roundabout is built and this will cost them significant revenue and is a prime motivator to follow through with the roundabout. They say they are working on other interim highway safety measures such as a temporary deceleration lane, a possible shuttle service to and from Whetstone and the installation of temporary traffic calming measures and surface crossings.
The situation surrounding the Brush Creek RTA bus stops currently isn’t always safe even in the off-seasons as people dash across the highway to catch the RTA. Look at today’s situation in these mid-July times with an extra kabillion cars speeding up and down the highway, and then add several hundred more people in that stretch of highway, and good luck getting people to ride the bus.
Given the communal desire to have the 600-700 Whetstone residents use public transit over individual vehicles from both a safety and practical perspective, the roundabout/underpass shouldn’t be a pull-out piece of the puzzle but part of the needed infrastructure like any street, sidewalk, park or sewer. Given that there are grants that can be used for this type of roundabout, I see how it is easy to pull out that individual piece and promise it will come in the future, but the town has made clear from the start that the roundabout is a critical element to address safety and congestion issues from Whetstone. The roundabout should be part of the whole $146 million project.
Think beyond just government grants in this case. It seems to me that the Valley Housing Fund obviously wants to be a major player in the regional housing equation, and they have indicated they have the strong ties with the second homeowners who could provide some sort of financial assistance for local housing projects. That evolution of the board came about after the town rejected the idea of a second home tax several years ago to see if another method for collecting funds for housing from that demographic could be found. Well now is the time for that to come to fruition.
The Valley Housing Fund could do nothing better than to be the conduit to find the financial resources to cover, say $10 to $15 million of this Whetstone project. That is of course real money for anyone, but Lord knows there are some in the second homeowner group for whom that would be like $50 to me…hello Mark Walter and others that love Crested Butte and have billionaire portfolios. Covering 10% of a major workforce housing project is not easy but years ago it was suggested that it could be done with second homeowner assistance and was preferable to a tax on homes not being used full-time. Another path should be CBMR owner Vail Resorts that could obviously benefit from workforce housing. That company has more than $700 million in cash available to help. Spend some of it here.
In his book Billionaire Wilderness, author Justin Farrell makes the point that second homeowners in resort communities tend to donate their philanthropic dollars to causes that benefit them directly such as art centers and open space. I appreciate and benefit from that too. Thank you. But the Valley Housing Fund could probably make the case that contributing major dollars to a workforce housing project is in the best interests of the second homeowner community that relies on the services of working people. Oh, and some of the local big dollar demographic actually own businesses that need employees to live somewhere.
The cost of the roundabout is not the hurdle, it is the cost of the project. The roundabout is an important part of the project from the get-go given the safety aspects involved with that major development coming to fruition. Engaging those with a passion for this place and the financial means to help a community project that would benefit them is one of the pathways that needs to be pursued. The Valley Housing Fund or the charming local politicos have the ability to make that happen and I would think the second homeowner community and Vail Resorts would see the value in helping to get Whetstone across the finish line.
—Mark Reaman
