Aspen has a new choice for Affordable Housing Compliance
The City of Aspen has been seen as an opponent to development in recent years, with more rules and regulations for building and less exceptions to those rules. As reported in The Aspen Times this week, Aspen City Council unanimously voted for a new option to help builders comply with the affordable housing regulation, which will hopefully spur new development in the City of Aspen.
Aspen City Council voted unanimously to approve an amendment to the land-use code that allows for affordable housing credits to be transferred, similar to development rights (TDR’s) which were recently introduced in the past few years, on the open market. Currently, the city requires developers to provide affordable housing for 60 percent of the employees generated by their projects, either by paying a cash-in-lieu fee, or providing it on site or elsewhere.
According to Ben Gagnon, Aspen City’s special project planner, this new option would allow a developer to purchase affordable housing credits at a potentially lower price than the cost of constructing new units or buying down existing free-market units. Prices will vary due to supply and demand of the market, but officials estimate that every employee housing unit built costs around $200,000.
City officials who proposed the amendment say the credit program will encourage the private sector to develop affordable housing, although it will likely be limited to converting some of the more dilapidated multi-family buildings that already exist. Officials also say the credits are a better form of mitigation than cash-in-lieu payments because the payments don’t immediately translate into affordable housing.
“This is a concept that will allow more in-town housing,” said Mayor Mick Ireland. Stan Clauson, a local land-use planner, also voiced support for the program. “I think this is an excellent proposition,” he told the council.
Peter Fornell, a local real estate broker and developer, owns property at 301 W. Hyman Ave. with his brother-in-law, John Cooper, and considers this idea as a very viable option for a property he wants to redevelop. Fornell’s current property contains four free-market units, but he wishes to demolish the current property and replace this with eight affordable housing apartments. Fornell is seeking the ability to sell those units as credits to other entities who want them for affordable housing mitigation required for their development projects. Fornell has said he’s limited on what he can do with the Hyman Avenue property because of how it’s zoned, so building affordable housing is the best use for it. City officials will rule on Fornell’s proposal to rezone and create new affordable housing units next month.
