The Official Ballots for the April 2, 2024, Buena Vista municipal election were mailed out on March 11. Photo by Carly Winchell
Engaged Elections, Strong Democracy
Buena Vista’s municipal election is just around the corner and Ark Valley Voice (AVV) seeks to get the answers that voters deserve before they turn in their ballots by April 2.
As part of our Engaged Elections coverage, reader Amy Eckstein provided a few more questions for the Buena Vista trustee candidates, including some follow-up from previous coverage:
Over the past several years, the town has started limiting special events on public and private property during the summer. If elected, will you continue moving in this direction?
How would you rate the town’s handling of the housing issue?
What is your impression of the water supply issue? What is the short and long-term plan to address it?
[For incumbent candidates, others’ thoughts welcome.] How exactly, is the Water Allocation Policy (WAP) going to create affordable housing? From the reader, “Worth noting, the town created the WAP, and instituted a moratorium because there was fear of speculation (someone coming in to buy all the water). At some point the WAP became “teeth” for development.” When did this change?
Links to other AVV coverage of the Buena Vista election are included at the end of this article. AVV thanks Amy Eckstein for providing these and previous questions and remaining engaged in the local election process.
Incumbent Andrew Rice:
Over the past several years, the town has started limiting special events on public and private property during the summer. If elected, will you continue moving in this direction?
Incumbent Andrew Rice speaks with voters during “Candidating” at the League of Women Voters BV Trustee Candidate Forum. Photo by Carly Winchell.
“I think we need to start having more conversation around what level of activity is actually sustainable for Town staff to support. There is a point when the activity load just asks too much of our public works staff, recreation staff, first responders, etc. They will burn out and many of them are irreplaceable in my opinion.”
“Having a reasonable and sustainable level of event load on our community and our staff is a key quality of life consideration, especially for those responsible for supporting such events behind the scenes.”
How would you rate the town’s handling of the housing issue?
“Housing is a complicated issue with many factors involved. Expecting Town government to ‘solve the problem’ is placing faith in an institution ill-equipped to address a countywide and statewide challenge. The Town has done a good job with the town-size tools available.”
What is your impression of the water supply issue? What is the short and long-term plan to address it?
“Water supply will forever be a challenge for communities in the arid West and Buena Vista is in no way uniquely pinched by this issue. The long-term solution is (A) to use less water and (B) use what we have more efficiently. These are levers every single person, business, and entity in Town can pull to be a part of the solution.”
How exactly, is the Water Allocation Policy (WAP) going to create affordable housing? From the reader, “Worth noting, the town created the WAP, and instituted a moratorium because there was fear of speculation (someone coming in to buy all the water). At some point the WAP became “teeth” for development.” When did this change?
“The Water Allocation Policy is a tool that guides how Town will use the limited resource of water to ensure that growth occurs in ways that benefit the entire community. The intent is not to ‘create affordable housing’ as the question states; the scope of its utility is so much broader than that. Cross-pollination between land use policy and water use policy will likely become commonplace throughout the West in the coming years.”
Incumbent Devin Rowe:
Over the past several years, the town has started limiting special events on public and private property during the summer. If elected, will you continue moving in this direction?
“I’m not sure where this information is coming from. Right now, we have 117 events happening for the rest of the year. Last year’s numbers were similar. I can only think of two restrictions we have on special events.”
“One restriction is if one event is in conflict with another. The other restriction is one that Town instituted a few years ago, a policy of no new events on 4th of July weekend. The reasoning behind that is because staff, especially police and emergency services, are dealing with a huge influx of people that weekend. We do not need additional large events on top of the 4th of July.”
“We learned during COVID, when there were zero events, that huge numbers of people still come to our town. I fully support this policy as it is important to not overwork our town staff, police, and emergency services.”
How would you rate the town’s handling of the housing issue?
“Town is doing a great job at handling the housing issue. Right now the town of Buena Vista has more developments moving forward than the rest of the county combined. Many of these developments will include affordable housing as well as deed restricted housing. Town is working hard to help with housing with the resources it has.”
What is your impression of the water supply issue? What is the short and long-term plan to address it?
Incumbent Devin Rowe speaks with a table of voters during the “Candidating” portion of the League of Women Voters BV Trustee Candidate Forum. Photo by Carly Winchell.
“There is not an unlimited supply of water anywhere in the West. Town has been doing an incredible job the last four years expanding and diversifying its water portfolio. Before 2020, no water had been purchased in over 30 years.”
“The short and long term goals are the same. First, continue to search and diversify our water portfolio. Secondly, we need to have more water storage in order to get water when we need it. Lastly, we need to continue to bolster and use our Water Allocation Policy.”
“The Water Allocation Policy is a great tool to give the town a say in what developments our finite resource should go towards. We have a certain amount allocated to affordable housing, infill, regular development, small development/ADUs (Accessory Dwelling Units), etc. Every year the board will look at this policy and make sure our water is going towards development that supports a better future for the people of Buena Vista.”
How exactly, is the Water Allocation Policy (WAP) going to create affordable housing? From the reader, “Worth noting, the town created the WAP, and instituted a moratorium because there was fear of speculation (someone coming in to buy all the water). At some point the WAP became “teeth” for development.” When did this change?
“There is no magic button that creates affordable housing. The Water Allocation Policy dictates to developers how much water is available for certain kinds of developments. The hope is that this will incentivize developers to build affordable housing exclusively or in tandem to regular development.”
“The Water Allocation Policy also has sections to promote infill (development in town limits to avoid ‘holes’), regular development, small development/ADUs (building a house or adding on a unit), and more.”
“Each year the Board will take a look at the Policy and make necessary changes to be in line with positive growth for the town of Buena Vista. Water is a finite resource and at some point in the near future we will hit the limit. It will be the duty of the board to hold strong to the Water Allocation Policy to dictate where we want growth. We have a responsibility to the people of Buena Vista to make sure that the water we have left goes towards benefiting the people of Buena Vista.”
Candidate Thomas Brown:
Over the past several years, the town has started limiting special events on public and private property during the summer. If elected, will you continue moving in this direction?
“During a recent Board of Trustees (BoT) meeting, it was noted the Town has more than one hundred special events scheduled for this coming summer. I am unaware of any large-scale cancellations or limitations of special events within Town limits.”
“Some events were limited or cancelled during the Covid-19 pandemic for public health reasons. Following the pandemic, the Town has taken significant steps to maintain and increase the number of year-round special events, while minimizing fees. However, public safety issues, town staff resources, environmental concerns, excess noise, and lighting questions should be considered in specificity.”
“Applicant timeliness including completeness of applicant responses are also important factors during the approval process. The economic benefit of special events is important and should be considered in any final decision made by the BoT.”
How would you rate the town’s handling of the housing issue?
Candidate Thomas Brown speaks with voters during “Candidating” at the League of Women Voters BV Trustee Candidate Forum. Photo by Carly Winchell.
“Affordable and attainable housing affects many Buena Vista residents and has impact on local businesses employee recruiting and long-term retention. The current Board of Trustees have made strides to alleviate the current shortage of attainable housing. The Carbonate (Midland Apartments) is an example of an innovative public/private partnerships where the Town provided the land and the developer designed and proposed an apartment complex that will increase the number of affordable and attainable
homes.”
“Additionally, the Town obtained various State and Federal grant dollars to assist in this process and to plan for a childcare facility within the apartment complex. But more is needed, and the Town should not necessarily rely on future tax increases to resolve the housing crisis within Buena Vista.”
“For example, Salida and many other communities in the State have used an increase in short-term rental (STR) fees and per night STR charges to help alleviate the long-term housing shortages. Buena Vista could do the same and receive hundreds of thousands of dollars that could be applied to long-term rentals, down payment assistance, and other innovative opportunities to increase the supply of attainable housing in our community.”
“Other options, include short-term targeted development subsidies and expanding deed restricted homes in new development projects.”
What is your impression of the water supply issue? What is the short and long-term plan to address it?
“Available and accessible water will continue to be a short and long-term issue for the Town of Buena Vista, the state, and the nation. The Town currently requires all proposed major new developments to bring water to the Town before approval. This policy should continue.”
“Small subdivisions and individual home builds will not likely exceed the current number of available single family equivalent (SFE) water allocations in the short-term. The Town’s recent purchase of Upper Arkansas project water provides unique opportunities to leverage its share of water available from Cottonwood Creek. As with any issue related to water allocations, such discussions will not be adjudicated or agreed upon in the short-term.”
How exactly, is the Water Allocation Policy (WAP) going to create affordable housing? From the reader, “Worth noting, the town created the WAP, and instituted a moratorium because there was fear of speculation (someone coming in to buy all the water). At some point the WAP became “teeth” for development.” When did this change?
“The current Board of Trustees have used the Water Allocation Policy (WAP) as a means, in part, to drive development to specific areas of town in order to provide more attainable and affordable housing. While laudable in its intent, the recent BoT review of the WAP demonstrated a shifting of allocations to the ‘general bucket’ as developers have, for the most part, chosen to avoid building affordable or attainable homes in these designated areas.” *
“The BoT expressed concerns about this trend and commented they may consider applying more stringent standards and possibly enact WAP penalties. Such penalties and more complex and difficult standards will not serve the Town or future developers well and could exacerbate the Town’s attainable and affordable housing crisis.”
*During the March 12 BoT Meeting (recording available online), Planning Director Joel Benson explained the decision to reallocate some water to different buckets in the Water Allocation Policy.
“We are proposing to reallocate some of the existing buckets as we talked about pulling a little from Multifamily and a little from Affordable and putting them in that General bucket just because we’ve got a really big project online. It’s our very first year and we’re just trying to kind of figure out that proper balance initially and then things should be pretty steady here after,” said Benson.
**After the publication of this article, candidate Thomas Brown reached out with a clarification of what he meant in responding to the question on the Water Allocation Policy:
“I note you decided to use the BOT, March 2024 recording with Joel Benson for his comment specific to the Water Allocation Policy paragraph that I provided AVV. While I have no issue with Joel’s statement, my intent with the “designated areas” phrase was specific to the infill geographic region which is a key part of the BOT’s Water Allocation Policy. To the best of my knowledge, this infill area has seen little to no developer interest for building affordable or attainable homes, other than the Carbonate development (which was fulfilled and removed this year during the Trustee update review). Many of the homes being built in this BOT priority infill area (mostly north of E. Main Street) are market rate builds and draw water from the general bucket,” wrote Brown.
AVV then reached out to Planning Director Joel Benson for clarification on what the “infill area” means:
“The Infill area is generally the original Old town of Buena Vista, east of the highway. It is different from other buckets in the water allocation policy in that it is geographic in nature – to maximize on existing infrastructure, walkability, economic activity, and so forth. Projects within that area, according to the flow chart in the WAP, pull from infill first before pulling from other use-oriented buckets. All the various infill projects in the Infill area – single family homes, ADUs, duplexes, etc would pull from Infill. The Carbonate St project, which was in discussion and set aside as a project prior to the WAP, had its own category that was created knowing it was an affordability/workforce project. The second phase of the Carbonate project would pull from the Infill category,” replied Benson. “I hope this clears up the question about the Infill area. A detailed definition including the process is found in the Water Allocation Policy published on the Town’s website as well.”
Other changes include clarifying language and allocating the recently acquired 50 acre-feet of water from the Upper Arkansas Water Conservancy District (UAWCD). Read AVV’s coverage of that Trustee meeting here.
April 2 Election Information
Ballots were mailed out on March 11. Completed ballots can be dropped off at Town Hall (210 East Main Street) Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or on Tuesday, April 2 from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
The Town Clerk’s Office must receive the ballot by 7:00 p.m. on election day, April 2. If a mailed ballot is sent, it should have adequate time to be delivered by 5:00 p.m. on April 2. More information about the BV municipal election is available on the Town’s website.
For those interested in reviewing Ark Valley Voice‘s other coverage of the BV Candidates, check out the following articles:
Anybody discussing our affordable housing and water shortage problems should read Steve Pomerance’s article, “Build our way out?” that appeared in the 3/24/2024 Denver Post Perspective section.
Pomerance, who served for ten years on the Boulder City Council, is well versed in both the logistical and quality of life issues surrounding water and affordable housing.
In brief, population growth seems to be outstripping both our ability to expand our water supplies and keep up with building enough affordable homes.
That said, I support the Chaffee Housing Authority’s proposed agenda for addressing our shortage of affordable housing, but only as a temporary solution to a rapidly growing problem.
On the other hand, I believe that continuing population growth and inflation in the housing markets will ultimately raise taxes to the point that only the wealthy can afford to live in Chaffee County.
Call this a doom-and-gloom scenario if you will, but Steve Pomerance makes some very valid points about what our current planning is and what it really should be.
Gary E. Goms
Buena Vista