The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Trust the business community but verify
By Mark Reaman
The Crested Butte Town Council is trying to navigate the fine line between accommodating local businesses interested in purchasing deed-restricted housing units through the town and protecting future renters in those units.
Council discussed potential guidelines that would be part of any deal between the town, Bywater Development and businesses purchasing units in a possible Phase 2 of the Paradise Park affordable housing project in Crested Butte. The continuation of Phase 2 depends on Bywater obtaining a bond acceptable to the town by August 30 and so far the town has no indication that will happen. If it does, seven of the 10 Phase 2 units have deposits on them from local businesses. According to a memo to the council from community development director Michael Yerman, three other businesses have expressed interest.
Proposed regulations for employer rental units basically would require the businesses to sign a deed restriction acknowledgment and ensure that qualified renters occupy the unit at all times in accordance with occupancy restrictions contained in a series of guidelines.
Employers who purchase units must be located within Gunnison County but the council wanted the town attorneys to make sure that meant true local businesses—and not some shell company gaming the system with a local post office box where an “employee” could be a relative or friend.
Guidelines include things such as: qualified renters must earn 80 percent of their income in Gunnison County and work a minimum of 30 hours a week; qualified renters must have six-month leases at a minimum; and first priority would go to workers employed by the owner of the unit and if no employee of that business could be found to rent, they could rent to another qualified renter who makes less than 200 percent AMI.
In addition, if after two years an actual employee of the business was not occupying the unit, the business would have to sell the unit. Business owners could not buy a business unit and move into it; they would have to go to the general homeowner lottery. Renters could not own any developed residential property in the county.
A provision was added to the guidelines allowing the employer to appeal to a grievance committee and ask for a variance based upon special circumstances. It was also made clear in a “trust but verify” scenario that the town would monitor the renters closely to make sure they were qualified renters, or else the business would have to sell the property.
“We included the grievance committee provision to allow employers to make their case if they have special circumstances,” explained Yerman. “For example, if a renter owns a developed property in Gothic that isn’t accessible in winter, that could be taken to the grievance committee.”
Councilwoman Mallika Magner wanted to make sure that language in the guidelines was tight and employers couldn’t find loopholes to take advantage of the program. She also wanted the town to put a cap on rents.
Town attorney John Sullivan said rent control was not allowed under Colorado law but Magner wanted to see if there were other ways to accomplish the goal.
Magner also wanted to ensure that true Gunnison County workers were the ones benefiting from the program, not necessarily a telecommuter who worked for Microsoft but lived here.
Yerman said it could be a bit tricky when a company like Atmos Energy exists that is not technically headquartered in Gunnison County, but has employees working here who are beneficial to the community.
“The goal for me is to provide housing for people who work here and provide service to the community,” said mayor Jim Schmidt. “It doesn’t seem like a telecommuter should qualify. But an employee of Atmos or Vail—yeah.”
“I want the council to understand there are safeguards in place,” said Yerman. “The master deed restriction stays with the property. The guidelines are binding. We can vet the lottery process more. The sales are price-protected.
“The employers who stepped up early immediately understood that the long-term sustainability of their business is also tied to housing,” Yerman continued. “Businesses in the future will need housing for employees to be successful here.”
Local business owner Roman Kolodziej of Black Tie Ski Rentals said he liked the creativity and the idea of selling such units to local businesses for rental units. He too brought up the need for a rental cap. “You need to keep this affordable and not just make it an income stream for an owner,” he said. “We don’t want it to turn into a high rent situation. Protections for the renters need to be in place.”
Yerman said it was important to not micromanage and put too many restrictions on the units that could gunk up the gears for a business. “I have said it before but the council needs to not weigh this down with too many restrictions that limit the business’s model,” he said. “The more you screw it down the harder you make it for the business. If you can’t trust your business community, then why do this at all?”
Councilwoman Candice Bradley agreed and said for a business to price out their valued employees by overcharging rent didn’t make sense. “The addition of the grievance committee language is also a good thing to keep communication open. We need good-faith community goals with the business community,” she said.
While guidelines could be amended in the future, Kolodziej said he was in support of the grievance committee appeal provision as well.
Council is waiting to see if Bywater gets the needed bond by the end of the month to proceed with Phase 2 this year. If not, the guidelines will be revamped in conjunction with the Gunnison Valley Rural Housing Authority and the overall idea of allowing businesses to purchase deed-restricted units will be postponed until next year.
