Cost of not building affordable housing at Draw Site ‘enormous,’ Snowmass housing director says

For months, the Town of Snowmass Village has undergone a lengthy planned unit development process for its first workforce rental housing development in 25 years. 

The development, called the Draw Site, is still far from final approval, but it would be one of the largest workforce rental housing projects in Snowmass. The current proposal is two 40-unit apartment complexes that would be built on a parcel of land on the Faraway Ranch North subdivision, directly northwest of Snowmass Town Hall. It would cost the town about $80 million.

Snowmass Town Council approved the sketch plan for the Draw Site — the first of three steps in the PUD process — in its Feb. 20 council meeting. But it was approved with 14 conditions made by the Planning Commission, which voted 6-1 to recommend approval of the Draw Site sketch plan, and with a stipulation that the town could explore different (and smaller) design options for the development during the preliminary plan stage of the PUD process.

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Snowmass Housing Director Betsy Crum has repeatedly emphasized the town’s housing crisis. And while the Town Council agrees it needs to address the crisis, some council members are torn on how to address it, and if the Draw Site is the right project to do so.

The Draw Site is still in its early stages of development, but since the Town Council approved the sketch plan and passed the project through its first hurdle, it now must decide how large of a project it wants to take on.

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History of the Draw Site

The Draw Site parcel has long been identified by the town as having the potential for workforce housing developments. In 1988, the owners of the land at the time gave the town the parcel in exchange for not having to develop its own housing for employees.

In the 2021 housing master plan, which set a goal of adding 185 more workforce housing units to the town’s affordable housing stock, it was one of five sites identified as having the biggest potential for chipping away at the town’s goal of reaching those units.

“It had a number of things going for it,” Crum said. “One is that it had been talked about for housing for many many years, and so from a community standpoint it was already seen and accepted at some level and advocated for as an affordable housing site.”

“But the other thing that appealed to me is that it had the greatest potential to add to our (housing) portfolio. Some of the other sites like the Snowmass Inn… you’d have to tear down existing affordable housing to build new ones, so this had the greatest development potential,” she added.

Other sites identified as potential sites in the housing master plan included the Snowmass Inn, the upper parking lots on Carriage Way, and a parcel of land near the Public Works facilities along Owl Creek Road.

Because of its proximity to the Snowmass Center, the Draw Site ranked highest of all the potential sites in terms of community impact during the housing master plan study. But the site ranked lowest in physiology and ecological constraints, with 67% of the site having slopes greater than 30%. The steepness of the site is one of reasons some council members oppose the development in its current iteration, and led to several concerns brought up by the Planning Commission.

Draw Site drawbacks

The sketch plan proposed two, 78-foot tall apartment buildings with a parking garage in between and a winding road coming up from Kearns Road past Town Hall. In the conditions made by the Planning Commission and approved by the Town Council, commissioners said the access road should not exceed a 10% grade.

A road exceeding a 10% grade would require a snow melt system for the road, which is costly and not energy-efficient. But a road with a 10% grade is still steep, Councilmember Tom Fridstein said, and it could pose challenges for public transportation or emergency vehicles trying to access the units.

“I don’t think it’s anywhere close to ideal,” Fridstein said. “That’s going to be the whole artery of this development. This road is the center of everything, and I’m worried with all those turns in the winter, that’s a very dangerous situation.”

Snowmass Transportation Director Sam Guarino said the Snowmass Village Shuttle will service the site, but it is too early in the process to know exactly how. It may pick people up at a stop by the units, or it may pick people up at Kearns Road, he said.

One of the Planning Commission’s conditions was to make sure the town continues working closely with the transportation department and the fire district to ensure the road allows for ample access for shuttle and emergency services.

The steepness of the site has also caused multiple constraints in the design process. The initial proposal was three buildings to house the 80 units, but it would require even further site disturbance and could be more costly. But the Planning Commission and some council members argued the mass and scale of the two buildings were still too much for the site. When the town approved the sketch plan, it approved it with the flexibility to explore one-, two-, or three-building options in an attempt to reduce the mass and scale of the project.

In a Feb. 5 Town Council meeting, Fridstein said the town was “trying to get too much out of this site.”

But downsizing the development would still be expensive, and the cost-per-unit to make up for construction would exceed affordable housing rents, Crum said.

Council member Britta Gustafson has also frequently expressed concerns for the scale of the Draw Site.

“I ran on a platform that underscores the belief that I’m not against development, but I am against development that doesn’t solve the problem it’s built to address,” she said. “I am in favor of workforce housing and I understand the imperative need, it’s just crucial to prioritize developments that align with our community’s vision, values, and character.”

Gustafson said she has heard from community members who are worried the Draw Site will “mirror Base Village.”

“We’re going to now be standing in Base Village, looking across the valley at another super tall building, or a couple tall buildings. Base Village has been such a hard pill to swallow for our community, and we’re trying our best to embrace it,” she said. “I have a strong concern, from what I’ve heard, that if we carry it across the valley… it’s going to reinvigorate that feeling that we’re just damaging this precious landscape incrementally.”

She pointed to housing developments like Mountain View in Snowmass, which she said mirror the character of Snowmass better and blend more seamlessly into the landscape.

The two proposed buildings would be between 74 and 78 feet, according to the sketch plan application. It would require a variance in the town code, which allows a 38-foot maximum height in multifamily zone districts, Community Development Director Dave Shinneman said. Four out of the five council members would need to approve the variance in the code.

Gustafson suggested exploring other parcels in Snowmass for potential developments or changing requirements for accessory employee units to allow for more housing outside of the Draw Site.

“I’m not against developing the Draw Site into workforce housing, I’m just not comfortable with the project as it’s been presented,” she said.

A housing crisis

About 260 people are currently on the waiting list for one of Snowmass’ 300 affordable housing rentals, Crum said. People wait an average of six years on the rental waiting list.

And since 2020, the number of people on the list has more than doubled, she said. By developing the Draw Site, it could make a significant dent in the waiting list. The current proposal includes 48 one-bedroom units, 24 two-bedroom units, and eight three-bedroom units.

“This site has the greatest potential, and if we don’t build to its potential, we’re not going to make it up at a different site,” Crum said. “I think if we take our foot off the accelerator around housing, we’re always going to be playing catch up…Our list has more than doubled (since COVID), but we haven’t added any stock to speak of, so doing something smaller, I understand why the council would want that, but it would slow down the reach to our goal because I’m not sure we could make it up in another location on a site we have control over.”

Mayor Bill Madsen has consistently expressed support for the Draw Site, and reiterated the convenience of the parcel in tackling a large amount of the town’s goal of adding 185 workforce housing units to its housing stock.

“We’re in a housing crisis, which is something I continuously say, and we’re reminded of by our housing director, so I think it’s really important that we address that,” he said. “I think the greatest investment that we can make in Snowmass Village is in the people that live and work here, and I want to provide that opportunity for more of our employees.”

Cost and next steps

Crum estimated the development would cost $80 million, including construction, engineering, and further design costs. The town plans to maximize on state and federal grants to help cover some of the costs. It pursued a Strong Communities Infrastructure Grant from the State Department of Local Affairs in December, but was denied the grant because the project was still in too early a stage for the grant.

The town is planning to pledge $2 million-3 million from its lodging and sales tax revenue annually toward loan services, she said. 

Since the start of the development process, the town has heard from several local entities who expressed interest in helping fund the project in exchange for a portion of the units to be reserved for their employees. The Aspen School District, Colorado Mountain College, Aspen Valley Hospital, and Roaring Fork Transit Authority have expressed interest, Crum said.

The $80 million price tag will require voter approval. According to a Snowmass ordinance that was approved by voters in 2000, any single project that costs more than 40% of the town’s most recent general fund revenue must go to the voters for approval. The 2024 general fund revenue was $28.8 million, according to the town’s approved budget; any project that costs more than $11 million will require voter approval.

The timeline for a Draw Site question making the ballot is unclear. The town is now in the preliminary plan phase of the PUD process, where the Town Council, as owners of the parcel, must make its determination on the size of the project. 

Once the Town Council decides how large it wants the project to be, the town will move forward with the site engineering, which could take months. 

“The housing need has always been here in our community. We haven’t built new rental housing in 25 years and the need has only gotten more acute since the pandemic,” Crum said. “The cost of not doing this is enormous.”