The Crested Butte News Serving the Gunnison Valley since 1999
Addressing the old and outdated regs…
By Mark Reaman
Some significant changes are coming to the Crested Butte affordable housing guidelines. Staff has been working on an update to the current guidelines that were adopted in 2016 and the town council has been discussing changes they expect to enact at the October 21 council meeting.
One of the goals to is to eliminate the wide variety of administrative processes referenced in each deed restriction in town and over time have all deed restrictions reference the guidelines for direction on policies and procedures. Those deed restrictions that reference the town’s guidelines as amended would be subject to the update upon adoption.
Transitioning all deed restricted units to the new form that references the town guidelines will take years as units sell. Buyers would qualify to purchase the unit under the existing deed restriction, and at closing they would transition to the new version. The new deed restriction will maintain the material aspects of original deed restriction, such as existing appreciation caps and income limits for qualifications.
Crested Butte housing director Erin Ganser told the council at the October 7 meeting that the proposed guidelines should be in alignment with the town code. “The current version is pretty old and outdated. In addition to adding guidance on recently created housing programs, updating to best practices and aligning with Fair Housing law; we’re recommending amendments to the Town Municipal Code to ensure that the code and the guidelines are in alignment,” Ganser said. “We are 18 months into update journey.”
Among the changes is that the town’s lottery process would be simplified. Applicants were awarded a certain number of tickets for the lottery hopper based on things like longevity in the valley and what their job was. Town will no longer award extra tickets for people that had so-called “essential” jobs. “We took the position that we should consider everyone part of the employment fabric, and everyone is essential,” she said. Council appeared to agree with that change.
Ganser said town wants to provide incentives for “empty nesters” living in deed-restricted housing to be able to downsize to smaller units when the time is appropriate. That would then open up larger units to families.
Applicants for deed-restricted housing will now be permitted to own property, including a house, outside of the county but that property will be added into their asset list that is part of the qualification for income and asset restrictions. Ganser said if the applicant owns a house inside Gunnison County, they will not be eligible for local deed-restricted housing. “If you have a house in the valley, you can go live in it,” she said.
Other changes include updated restrictions on allowable transfers of ownership, expanding the list of capital improvements that are eligible to be added to the maximum allowable resale value, and allowing qualified capital improvements to be depreciated. Other updates touch on definitions for local workforce, ADU regulations, and the length of time an ADU can be vacant between tenants.
Council generally agreed that once qualified and moved into a deed-restricted unit, a tenant could remain there even if they eventually make more money than allowed by the original Area Median Income (AMI) qualification as long as they remain a part of the local workforce.
There was no public comment on the issue and the council will look at a final ordinance at the October 21 meeting.
