Snowmass set on two-tower design for Draw Site housing project despite some council opposition

Snowmass Village Town Council members moved forward with a two-tower design for the Draw Site housing development, despite some council members requesting to see a scaled down design with fewer units in a single building.

During the first look at some specifics for the 80-unit workforce housing complex, Council member Tom Fridstein requested the design team develop a one-building option with fewer units that wouldn’t constrain the site as much. In several Draw Site discussions, he said building 80 units on the site — which is directly northwest of Snowmass Town Hall — would be too much for the site and affect the livability of the residents. 

He voted to approve the Draw Site sketch plan in February, the first of three steps in a lengthy planned unit development (PUD) process, with the understanding that the town could explore different (and smaller) design options.

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After seeing floor plans for the one-, two-, and three-bedroom options for a two-tower complex connected on a single-base parking structure at a Monday, May 20, Town Council meeting, he still urged the design team to minimize the scale of the project.

“I just think we’re trying to put too much on this site,” he said. “I’m all for building something here; I’m all for maximizing how many units we can get, but there’s a limit on how much this site can really absorb appropriately … and I think this massive underground parking is hugely expensive.”

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He argued that constructing one building with about 50 units instead of 80 that had parking behind the building instead of in a garage would be better for the constrained site and would cost the town less. 

Council member Britta Gustafson also urged the design team to develop a one-building design with fewer units to minimize the scale of the project. She and Fridstein have frequently expressed hesitation throughout the PUD process about the scale of the two-building design.

“I’m coming from the perspective of community members that live here right now and are overwhelmed with construction projects and the mass and scale just increasing consistently around the village,” she said. 

The two have agreed to move forward with the plans throughout the PUD process despite their concerns about the scale of the project. But the town’s approval to acquire land at the nearby Snowmass Center to develop more affordable housing became a bigger selling point to minimize the Draw Site project and fit more housing units at the neighboring development site.

“I think you guys did a nice job with the program you’ve been given, but I’m not in agreement with it, particularly now that we have the site next door at the Snowmass Center where we could do 100 units or more,” Fridstein said.

Development plans are not in the works yet because the acquisition of the Snowmass Center is not finalized. But during the Monday meeting, Mayor Bill Madsen said there was a potential of up to 100 workforce housing units at the Snowmass Center.

But requesting a one-building design required a majority of the council’s approval, and Madsen, as well as Council members Susan Marolt and Alyssa Shenk, decided to move forward with the two-tower design to maximize the site and add as many units as possible to the town’s affordable housing stock.

The waiting list for affordable housing rentals in Snowmass is 272 people long, and many of the people on that list have waited years for a chance at an affordable unit in the village, Snowmass Housing Director Betsy Crum said. Any chance to chip away at that number in larger chunks should be taken, Madsen reiterated.

“I know that you hear from people that are upset about construction, but I hear from people every day, multiple people who come in, who are upset that they have to drive from Rifle or Silt, and they’re upset that it’s going to be seven years before their name’s up on the waitlist,” Crum said. “We didn’t pick 80 (units) out of a hat; what we did is we’ve said to our team, ‘What’s the most units that we could reasonably do in that site and still keep the livability?'”

The Draw Site was identified in the town’s 2021 housing master plan as having the biggest potential for chipping away at the town’s goal of reaching 185 more workforce housing units. It is one of the largest projects for workforce housing coming from the master plan, and is the first workforce rental housing development in Snowmass in 25 years.

Shenk was the deciding vote to move forward with just the two-tower building. She has recused herself from the Snowmass Center conversations because of a conflict of interest: Her husband is the attorney for the Snowmass Center owner.

She said not knowing the exact scale of that potential project put her at a disadvantage to know how much that housing could alleviate the Draw Site’s scale.

“I feel super conflicted, I think the balance is so hard because you have workforce housing, which is so important and pulls at everyone’s heartstrings because it’s so needed. But then you also have the quality of the village, and I know that people are upset,” she said. “I feel really stuck in the middle if I’m being honest because I can see all sides of it, and most of this conversation happened before the town center was even a possibility … I have to appreciate Tom’s experience and him feeling like it’s too much for the site.”

Fridstein is a longtime architect and served on the town’s planning commission for years.

Shenk ultimately decided to vote against a one-building structure in order to move the project along. It is in the second stage of the PUD process.

“I think that when you talk about 15-20 years from now, I don’t think anyone’s ever going to look back and say we built too much housing,” she said. “But I think you could think the other way around: ‘Who are these idiots that didn’t take advantage of building 80 units when they could have?'”

But the project will go before the voters as a ballot referendum because of the cost, potentially on the November ballot. According to town code, any single project that costs more than about $12 million (40% of the town’s most recent general fund revenue) must go to the voters for approval. The Draw Site will cost about $73 million.

Crum introduced a financial breakdown of how the town plans to pay for the Draw Site during the Monday meeting. About $23 million will be paid for with rental income, $45 million will come from the town’s tourism sales tax, and the town estimates it can cover the remaining $5 million with state grants. The town tried to apply for a state grant for the Draw Site in December but didn’t get it because the state wanted more “shovel ready” projects.

The project would not raise taxes, but voters will still need to approve if the town can spend that much money. The Town Council will determine ballot language this summer.