Town Council gathers data as it prepares to review housing policy

If the problems in Snowmass Village were to be ranked, housing would certainly hit near the top of the chart. With market prices out of reach and space for employee housing sparse, Town Council worries whether families can afford to live in Snowmass. In fact, a recent survey study showed that 75 percent of Snowmass households would struggle to make payments on a home.

As Town Council and the Planning Commission gear up to tackle Snowmass’ housing policy, they asked RRC Associates, who have also collected data for Aspen and Pitkin County, to conduct a survey on the current and future housing needs of the Village. Although the numbers closely resembled those calculated in a similar 2003 Pathways survey, the data candidly told council members that current policies will have to change.

Chris Case of RRC calculated the median yearly income for a family of four to be $97,600. Approximately 35 percent of Snowmass families fall into that category. A quarter of local households make at least 40 percent more. What council members pointed out is that even a family earning $136,640 could not afford a $440,00 house – an insanely low market price for the valley.

Already, very few Snowmass workers live in free-market housing. During the winter, 70 percent live in some form of employee housing, whether it be Snowmass housing office, Aspen Skiing Co. or deed-restricted units. Those who can afford free-market housing may not continue to be so lucky; the survey data revealed that “those units are unlikely to be affordable to local workforce when sold.”

It projected that 189 units would be needed to make up for lost free-market houses.

Councilman Arnie Mordkin stated, “It’s kind of shocking that most of our people can hardly afford to live here.”

The study showed that the majority of Snowmass residents work in town. If unaffordable housing forces residents out of the Village, the work force would suffer a severe blow. Of the year-round Snowmass employees (including residents and commuters), half are actually housed in-town. Currently, the policy calls for 45 percent of workers to be housed. A 1998 Comp Plan’s original goal was to mitigate 60 percent, and there is talk on the council about upping that standard to as high as 80 percent.

Planning Commissioner Bob Purvis explained that with the economy changing and fuel prices going up, he believes the town will need a lot more than 60 percent mitigation. Bill Boineau and Sally Sparhawk were of the same opinion. Sparhawk said, “My concern is that employers here are struggling to keep employees.” The lack of affordable housing is a n obvious deterrent. A higher mitigation rate would help organizations attract and retain employees.

Looking to the data for counseling on new policy, council members learned that of all the year-round Snowmass commuters (just under 900 people) about 27 percent would choose Snowmass as their number one choice of residence. Of those people, 77 percent can be granted housing.

Yet Snowmass Village has an unusually high share of seasonal jobs and consequently number of people who need seasonal housing. The number of employed people in the summer – 1,903 – jumps up to 2,900 in the winter. The council is questioning if new housing policies need to mitigate seasonal workers differently than year-round employees.

Other issues to be considered in future housing policy discussions are how the development in Base Village will affect the number of jobs and employees seeking housing, how dependents factor into the equation, how many people are willing to overlook strict housing regulations such as no-pet policies, and whether or not to demand fee-in-lieu payments.

Councilman Arnie Mordkin suggested fee-in-lieu may not be necessary, pointing out that what the town needs most to construct affordable housing is not money, but space.

Both the Town Council and the Planning Commission will continue to scrutinize Snowmass Village’s housing needs as they head towards reviewing the existing housing policy.

Ashlee Fairey’s e-mail address is afairey@snowmasssun.com