While both the county and city saw recent success in developments like Lazy K, the Paintbrush Apartments and Gardenwalk, Gunnison City Council is seeking additional guidance on how to continue progress on affordable housing.
In partnership with Williford LLC and the Gunnison Valley Regional Housing Authority (GVRHA), the city is looking for ways to promote affordability within new commercial developments for residents working the valley.
Housing consultant Willa Williford on Tuesday presented an “affordable housing toolbox” that provided feedback on areas where the city is doing well and also what could be improved. Housing tools included land use incentives, development regulations and fees, additional funding and partnerships.
She commended the city for proactively addressing the community's housing needs, but encouraged leaders to keep moving forward and develop a project pipeline.
“What are the next public private partnerships that will produce community housing?” she asked. “Projects take so long it's good to have what's the one that's going to be finished three years from now, five years from now, and have them sort of staggered and overlapping.”
Although 240 homes have been constructed since 2016, the number of housing units needed to “keep up and catch up” remains high at 960 units needed by 2026.
Shortages in the valley’s broad rental market demonstrated a need for housing developments that served residents on the lower income scale. The city’s goals include adding 250 affordable housing units to the residential housing stock in Gunnison by 2025, as well as renovating or replacing 100 existing substandard housing units.
When the city can use hard zoning, it outlines clear expectations for affordable housing and reduces risk when developing a final product, said City Manager Russ Forrest. But in more flexible projects like Lazy K, going through a planned unit development (PUD) creates additional options, but can also create more uncertainty.
Council member Mallory Logan said the city is experiencing a bottleneck in its current infrastructure. She asked Williford for advice on how to address neighborhoods that are precluded from building more densely.
“Matching up where you can resolve bottlenecks so that you have the capacity to both grow the city with annexations, but also take better advantage of things that are here,” Willaford said.
Forrest acknowledged open land as an opportunity for new developments in the valley.
“This valley, in particular Gunnison, has a big opportunity in that we still have land,” Forrest said. “That is gone in Eagle County, Summit County. We still have some land resources that will disappear quickly if we don’t take action.”
The GVRHA recently directed their attention to open land across both the north and south valley for potential affordable housing developments. Gunnison Rising, Country Meadows, the fairgrounds, the Whetstone parcel and North Village are entering planning stages, and could provide anywhere from 13 to more than 300 acres of land to build on.
The county is looking at land it owns adjacent to the fairgrounds. Gunnison Rising contains one of the most significant land areas for potential affordable developments, with room for up to 200 more affordable units.
Williford reminded the city that it cannot exclusively “build their way out” of the crisis, and encouraged leaders to explore new policy ideas and strategies.
Council will continue the housing discussion during their next meeting as they work with the housing authority to devise housing solutions for the local community.
(Bella Biondini can be contacted at 970.641.1414 or bella@gunnisontimes.com)
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