Site search
sponsored by
Home
News
VAIL — Bill Jewitt has a lot of questions about affordable housing.
The Vail planning commissioner wants to know how many homes should built for seasonal workers, families and single, year-round workers.
He wants to know where there’s land to build affordable housing.
He wants to know who can pay for affordable housing besides developers. A sales tax, a property tax, the conference center fund, the real estate transfer tax are some ideas.
“We really need to get our arms around the problem,” he said at a meeting Tuesday of the planning commission. “It’s like the dog and the tail. We’re going around and around in circles, and I’m not sure we’re getting anywhere.”
The town has proposed requiring home builders to make 30 percent of their developments affordable housing. It also proposes that commercial developers compensate for 20 percent of the jobs they create.
Town officials are concerned about providing enough housing for workers. Projects that are already approved will add 1,500 jobs in Vail in coming years, they say, and the next wave of redevelopment may add 2,115 jobs. Other projections say development in Avon and Edwards will add 7,370 more jobs.
At the same time, more and more free-market homes are being bought by second-home owners and retirees.
Developers say these new proposals unfairly target them. Dozens of builders have shown up at recent meetings to voice their opposition to the plan. Several developers attended Tuesday’s meeting, as well.
Mike Dantas said builders already pay a lot of money to the town, citing the real-estate transfer tax.
“The town needs to open their eyes and say, ‘Developers are already giving money,’” he said.
He was encouraged by the planning commission’s approach to the housing rules, he said.
“This is a reasonable board,” he said. “What I saw at the Town Council looked like witch-hunting to me.”
Vail would require that home developers make 30 percent of the square footage of their projects affordable housing. That method is called “inclusionary zoning.”
Dominic Mauriello, a representative for Lionshead Inn, said Vail’s proposal would be much more onerous than those of many other towns and counties in Colorado.
“Basically, Vail is blazing new ground nationally by applying it to square footage,” he said.
For a 170,000-square-foot building, the developer would have to build 68 employee homes under the current proposal, Mauriello said.
In Aspen, the same building would have to provide 16.5 homes and in Basalt and Boulder, the developer would have to build 11 homes, he said.
The developer would also have to build parking, which can be costly, Mauriello said.
The new rules are trying to make up for the lack of housing built in the past, he said.
“We believe it’s going back and addressing all the ills of the past,” he said.
The town has set a goal of keeping 30 percent of its workforce living in town.
The town needs to figure out how much that will cost, and whether the cost is justified, said planning commissioner Dick Cleveland.
“Cost seems to have become a footnote in this,” he said.
Staff Writer Edward Stoner can be reached at 748-2929 or estoner@vaildaily.com.
The Vail planning commissioner wants to know how many homes should built for seasonal workers, families and single, year-round workers.
He wants to know where there’s land to build affordable housing.
He wants to know who can pay for affordable housing besides developers. A sales tax, a property tax, the conference center fund, the real estate transfer tax are some ideas.
“We really need to get our arms around the problem,” he said at a meeting Tuesday of the planning commission. “It’s like the dog and the tail. We’re going around and around in circles, and I’m not sure we’re getting anywhere.”
The town has proposed requiring home builders to make 30 percent of their developments affordable housing. It also proposes that commercial developers compensate for 20 percent of the jobs they create.
Town officials are concerned about providing enough housing for workers. Projects that are already approved will add 1,500 jobs in Vail in coming years, they say, and the next wave of redevelopment may add 2,115 jobs. Other projections say development in Avon and Edwards will add 7,370 more jobs.
At the same time, more and more free-market homes are being bought by second-home owners and retirees.
Developers say these new proposals unfairly target them. Dozens of builders have shown up at recent meetings to voice their opposition to the plan. Several developers attended Tuesday’s meeting, as well.
Mike Dantas said builders already pay a lot of money to the town, citing the real-estate transfer tax.
“The town needs to open their eyes and say, ‘Developers are already giving money,’” he said.
He was encouraged by the planning commission’s approach to the housing rules, he said.
“This is a reasonable board,” he said. “What I saw at the Town Council looked like witch-hunting to me.”
Vail would require that home developers make 30 percent of the square footage of their projects affordable housing. That method is called “inclusionary zoning.”
Dominic Mauriello, a representative for Lionshead Inn, said Vail’s proposal would be much more onerous than those of many other towns and counties in Colorado.
“Basically, Vail is blazing new ground nationally by applying it to square footage,” he said.
For a 170,000-square-foot building, the developer would have to build 68 employee homes under the current proposal, Mauriello said.
In Aspen, the same building would have to provide 16.5 homes and in Basalt and Boulder, the developer would have to build 11 homes, he said.
The developer would also have to build parking, which can be costly, Mauriello said.
The new rules are trying to make up for the lack of housing built in the past, he said.
“We believe it’s going back and addressing all the ills of the past,” he said.
The town has set a goal of keeping 30 percent of its workforce living in town.
The town needs to figure out how much that will cost, and whether the cost is justified, said planning commissioner Dick Cleveland.
“Cost seems to have become a footnote in this,” he said.
Staff Writer Edward Stoner can be reached at 748-2929 or estoner@vaildaily.com.
