The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Mediation scheduled for November 18
[ By Kendra Walker ]
The Homestead affordable housing development in Mt. Crested Butte remains at a standstill while negotiations take place between the town’s and developer Lance Windel’s attorneys. A mediation meeting between Windel and the town is now slated to take place before Thanksgiving but that is apparently the first mutual meeting in months.
Windel, of Homestead Housing LLC, has been in default of his contracts with the Homestead unit owners for a year and the 22-unit project site has been declared a public nuisance and unsafe.
The News reached out to Windel for an update. “Last December we made a verbal offer to the town to try and resolve our issues with Homestead. We didn’t receive a substantial response to our offer until May,” said Windel. “Following their response in May we made a formal offer in June. To date we’ve had no substantial response or counteroffer other than two weeks ago finally arranging for mediation on November 18.”
Windel did not share any specifics regarding the offer, but shared, “We made a very reasonable and very specific offer in June. To date we have not received a counteroffer, only some points that they don’t agree with. We’ve been trying diligently to get this resolved since last December.”
The News also reached out to Mt. Crested Butte for comment. “The town invested in Homestead Housing’s affordable housing project and the town has yet to receive any of the expected results,” said assistant town manager Carlos Velado. “In November 2018, the Town contracted with Homestead Housing to build 22 affordable housing units by December 31, 2020. As part of this contract, the Town provided the land to Homestead Housing, gave Homestead Housing significant breaks on development fees, and provided other valuable assistance to help Homestead Housing build and sell the affordable housing units.”
He continued, “As of today, Homestead Housing has yet to complete even one unit. Homestead Housing negotiated some extensions of the time to build the units, but Homestead Housing has yet to begin significant vertical construction on most of the contributed lots, and Homestead Housing did not make visible efforts to complete any units during the construction season that just passed.
“Now, Homestead Housing wants the Town to take less than what the Town originally bargained for. Thus far, negotiations have not been successful because Homestead Housing has not made any offers the Town is willing to accept. The Town called for the mediation in hopes finding a deal that can resolve the issues.”
The town council is also holding an executive session with attorney Joe Rivera to discuss Homestead on Monday, November 14.
