Snowmass Town Council approves sketch plan for workforce housing development
Site Architects/Courtesy image
The Snowmass Village Town Council approved sketch plans for the development of 80 workforce housing units – one of the largest projects for workforce housing coming from the town’s 2021 housing master plan.
Approval of the sketch plans means the Draw Site, an affordable housing project that would build these units of workforce housing in a parcel of land on the Faraway Ranch North Subdivision directly northwest of Snowmass Town Hall, has passed the first of three steps toward final approval. The unanimous approval from Town Council came after a Feb. 6 meeting where council members asked for flexibility in exploring different design options as the development moves through the planned unit development (PUD) process.
The Town Council also approved the sketch plan with 14 conditions made by the Planning Commission, which voted 6-1 to recommend approval of the Draw Site. The conditions included working with the town’s transportation department to encourage adequate shuttle services for the proposed development and coordinating with the fire district to provide acceptable emergency access, including potentially reducing the amount of roadway proposed behind the upper building.
Council members and members of the Planning Commission expressed concern for the scale of the project. The proposal development would split 80 units between two buildings up to 78 feet tall, with a shared parking garage between the buildings.
The proposal is not finalized, and with the approval of the sketch plan with the flexibility to explore different design options to address the scale, it could change once the design reaches the final stage of the PUD process. But even after some council members expressed concern about the project in past meetings — like the size of the two buildings and the steepness of the land — they agreed it was important to pursue the workforce housing development.
“I think Betsy has done a good job of articulating to us that we are in a housing crisis,” Mayor Bill Madsen said. Betsy Crum is the Snowmass housing director and one of several people who have presented multiple iterations of the Draw Site to Town Council.
“It’s incumbent upon us to address the issue, and I think this is a great step towards tackling this very challenging issue,” he added.
Crum has emphasized the urgent need for affordable housing in Snowmass in several meetings where the Draw Site has been presented. In a separate presentation Tuesday night, she said 261 people are on the town’s waitlist for affordable rentals, and people can wait years before units become available.
The lack of affordable housing is burdening local businesses. In a survey conducted by the town in December, 90% of local businesses who responded said difficulty with staffing was an issue, and 100% of those businesses said workforce housing assistance was the best way the town could support their staffing challenges.
“In case there was any question, there’s definitely issues with housing,” Heather Huber, owner of Taster’s Pizza and the Daly Diner told Town Council on Tuesday. “We’ve had Tasters there since ’01, and we’ve never had such a hard time finding housing for staff. There’s points where we’ve debated having to close or having to shut down because there’s simply no place for people to live.”
