Yesterday, we briefly considered whether the list of property owners — sent notices of tonight’s public hearing at Town Hall — could tell us anything about the current housing situation in Pagosa Springs.
That public hearing, to consider the rezoning of three acres within the Aspen Village ‘Live/Work/Play’ subdivision, is scheduled for tonight, Thursday, March 23. The meeting starts at 5pm. The owners of what was originally designed as mid-priced townhomes — a neighborhood to be called “The Enclave” — are seeking to increase the density of that proposed development from 38 homes to 55 homes.
The majority of the properties within 300 feet of the proposed zoning change — who were notified of tonight’s hearing, by mail — are owned by a Bentonville, Arkansas company called Aspen Village Ventures LLC. Bentonville, Arkansas is the home of the Walmart company. My cynical assumption — based on purely circumstantial evidence — is that the Walmart corporation bought into the Enclave project back in 2009, so that they had a secure, majority for any votes taken by the Aspen Village property owners’ association, during the time they were planning their new store. That 93,000-square-foot store did not exactly align with the advertised “small town, live-work-play” character that the Aspen Village development was supposed to embrace.
The Walmart store opened its doors two years ago. Perhaps this is a good time for the Walmart corporation to unload those properties… while the Pagosa real estate market is reasonably hot?
Which is not to say that the “commercial real estate market” is reasonably hot. Quite the contrary. Most of the commercial parcels are still sitting vacant a decade after the development of Aspen Village.
So maybe we need housing more than we need commercial?
From the rezoning application that will be considered at tonight’s meeting:
Aspen Village Investments, LLC entered into a Planned Unit Development Agreement with the Town of Pagosa Springs for The Enclave multifamily project on November 1, 2005. The PUD established the project density at 12 units to the acre (48 units, 4.03 acres).
The principals of Aspen Village Investments, LLC are Emil Wanatka and Gerald U. Pope. On May 18, 2009, Emil and Jerry brought in a new investment partner and ownership of the subject property was transferred to a new Limited Liability Corporation called Aspen Village Ventures, LLC, of which both Emil and Jerry are partners and act as Managers.
The rezoning, if approved, would increase the density within the “Enclave multifamily project” from 12 units per acre to 22 units per acre. The new homes would have views of the east range of the San Juans, and the backside of the Walmart store.
Although the rezoning application uses the term “multifamily project” — which could be taken to imply “multifamily housing” — the Town Planning Commission is recommending to Town Council that Aspen Village Ventures LLC be prohibited from constructing apartments within the Enclave project.
Speaking as a member of the Archuleta County Affordable Housing Workgroup, I find that recommendation very poorly considered, and rather disturbing. Anyone who has seriously researched the national housing crisis understands that the most severe part of the housing problem in America, and in Archuleta County, is the lack of rental housing for lower-income individuals and families. The typical way for communities to provide this type of housing is to allow the construction of apartments in neighborhoods that already have amenities: paved streets, sidewalks, utilities, public transportation, parks, access to groceries and shopping, and so on.
The Enclave in Aspen Village seems like a perfect location. Certainly, the access to shopping couldn’t be much better.
Lower-income individuals and families often cannot qualify for mortgages, due to the simple lack of excess monthly income. They therefore need to rent. In a ‘free market economy’ such as we seem to have in Pagosa Springs, the current rental rates are anything but affordable — and we can assume that the lack of supply is a big part of the problem. Presumably, the construction of more housing, and especially, an increased supply of rental housing, is essential to bringing down rental rates in the community.
Back in 2005, when Pagosa Springs seemed destined to become yet another overpriced Colorado mountain resort, the Town of Pagosa Springs was researching government policies that would address our growing housing problem. The community had plenty of vacant land. The bad roads were going to be addressed by the County government, or so we were told. And the Town was working on a Comprehensive Plan that would help us preserve our “small town character” while also allowing for a wide range of housing options.
One of the options on the table, during those Town government discussions, was “inclusionary housing.” Inclusionary housing policies require developers of large projects — say, projects involving 55 units, like the current Enclave proposal — to include a certain percentage of “affordable housing” within the development. Maybe 10 percent affordable housing? As a start?
The Town never got past the discussion phase on that topic, and no inclusionary policies were established — not at the Town, nor at the County level. That’s where the situation stands at the moment. Developers are allowed to build large tracts of middle- and higher-income housing, without making a direct contribution to solving the affordable housing problem.
Limiting the Enclave development to townhomes and single-family only — as recommended by the Town Planning Commission — simply makes the development less likely to address the most pressing housing needs in the community.
In order to keep out the apartment buildings, Town staff is recommending an additional “Planned Development Overlay Zoning District” for the property.