Eagle County School District alters Maloit Park plans to retain existing homes as long as possible
New plan addresses some of the current residents' concerns with the development plan, timeline
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
On Wednesday, June 12, the Eagle County School District Board of Education approved a phased approach to its Maloit Park employee housing development, which will alleviate the immediate impact on most of the site’s current residents.
Maloit Park is currently home to 15 mobile home units occupied by district employees who have been at the site anywhere from six months to over 30 years. Fourteen of the 15 units are owned by their residents, with one currently owned and rented by the school district.
As the district moved forward with plans to bring a 138-unit employee housing project to the Minturn site, these residents faced uncertainty over the future of their homes. Initially, the district’s plans included the removal of the 15 mobile home units. In response, the residents spoke out at several board meetings this spring, urging the district to rethink removal or delay it as long as possible.
At the March 27 meeting, one of these residents, Spencer Messer, who teaches English and coaches cross-country at Battle Mountain, asked the district to find a way to “build housing that doesn’t displace the 15 families that currently reside there.”
The residents offered a few possibilities to do so, including phasing and planning the project so they can stay in their homes as long as possible, using the land and space wisely around their homes without replacing them and more.
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For many of the residents, the option to phase them into the development, delaying displacement as long as possible was seen as the best option.
“My priority is actually not to leave our homes there. My priority is actually to phase us into the current build,” said Kari Bangston, a teacher at Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy, at the Wednesday, April 10 school board meeting.
“I think that is economically responsible, I think that is responsible in terms of development because it gives us a safety net as we have no idea what could happen over the next couple of years,” she added.
Since the first March meeting, the board has worked with its development team, including Tom Braun with Braun Associates, as well as with the residents to find a solution that might address some of the concerns.
The school board had a work session in May to discuss multiple phasing options, which would delay removal of the homes until vertical construction begins. Part of the challenge with the phasing is that the current 15 mobile homes are located where initial designs placed a detention basin, which is required to get utility access to the future development site. With this design and no phasing, there was a potential to maintain around six of the homes until the vertical construction.
Phasing options included shifting this basin to maintain all homes, an option that carried a $181,000 cost; shifting it slightly less to maintain 14 of the 15 homes (with a cost estimate of $96,000); and maintaining the current detention basin and 13 homes (with an estimated cost of $70,000).
The option approved by the board Wednesday is the option that will maintain 14 of the homes.
“In doing so, to allow those 14 individuals to stay there until we get ready to go vertical on the project for $96,000, the cost of the project seemed a reasonable amount in an effort to help retain those employees that we have there right now,” said Sandy Farrell, the district’s chief operating officer.
In discussing the option to maintain all 15, Farrell said that “the increased cost to keep that one home there, to move that site development for that basin just wasn’t really feasible.”
Per the state of Colorado’s Mobile Home Park Act, the district must give residents a one-year notice to vacate their homes on the property. After the notice is issued, each resident will have two options based on the act: relocation or purchase, both of which the district is obliged to pay for.
Should the resident choose the purchase option, the district is “required to pay $7,000 for a single-wide mobile home and up to $10,000 for the double-wide or fair amount market value of the home, whichever is greater,” Farrell said.
With the board’s approval on Wednesday, Farrell said the district would issue this notice to the one employee who will be displaced, beginning the one-year notice. Farrell said that the occupant of this home has been expecting and preparing for this.
“I have to say thank you to her for being so understanding and willing to make that move,” Farrell said.
In addition to concern about the timing of the project and their displacement, the residents also urged the district to include some homeownership opportunities in the future development.
In March, Nancy Lindbloom, who has lived in Maloit for 34 years and is a former district employee, told the board that having homeownership opportunities is “the perfect answer to providing long-term housing that allows the district to retain employees, as evidenced by the longevity of many of its current residents.”
On Wednesday, part of the board’s approval included starting conversations with Habitat for Humanity Vail Valley to partner on potential homeownership opportunities including discussions on having a priority for current residents.
The idea is that a potential priority would grant current Maloit Park homeowners (including district retirees) “priority for access to rentals and home ownership if it falls within Habitat for Humanities’ priority selection,” Farrell said.
In April, Superintendent Phil Qualman indicated that partnering with Habitat — as they have at the Third Street development in Eagle and Grace Avenue in Gypsum — was the “only way we can get into something that’s affordable.”
