The Salida City Council (SCC) held a joint work session and regular meeting on June 20. During the work session, the SCC heard reports from the Extraordinary Teen Council (ETC), as well as from Cheney Bostic, lead consultant from Studio Seed, on the current state of the South Ark Neighborhood development plans.
During regular session, the SCC heard the financial report, the Treasurer’s report, and took action on two agenda items: Resolution 2023-28, establishing a coordinated mail-in election with the county; and approving a first reading for Ordinance 2023-10, amending Chapter 16, Article XIII of the Municipal Code on Inclusionary Housing, setting a date of July 5 for a second reading and public hearing.
Stella Veazey, the ETC representative, reported that their mocktail bar at the Sunfest had been a big success, and that other events were coming up such as an Arcade Night and a Drive-In Night. She also suggested some ideas for the SCC to consider, such as a youth liaison position to committees such as the Arts Council, suggesting that the ETC could act as “a megaphone”: “If there’s anything that you’re not getting a youth voice from, we are here.”
“Great idea,” said Mayor Dan Shore. “We’d love to plug into youth perspective. The question that needs to be asked about any decision is “who does it most affect,” and often times that is youth.”
Studio Seed consultant Cheney Bostic addressing the crowd at the South Ark Neighborhood Open House.
Bostic then began the South Ark Neighborhood Master Plan update. “We are now in Phase 3, working towards the preferred master plan. We developed three designs based on what people had liked at the design charette workshops held earlier in the year. From what we heard, people were looking for a diversity of housing types, with the highest density [housing] in the center, and more single-family on the fringes in keeping with the rural nature of the surrounding area.
A central park is a key organizing feature – different from open space, more manicured ground and picnic areas. We are looking at separating the housing areas from recreation areas…we want to put recreation areas as close to the river as possible. Following the charette we had conversations with partners and key stakeholders.
CMC [Colorado Mountain College] wants to develop workforce housing rather than a campus…[the community] also wants affordable housing for seniors.”
“CMC is interested in workforce housing [in South Ark] because that is their student base,” said Community Development Director Bill Almquist.
Bostic said that there were “program consistencies” in each of the three alternative plans: “Based on natural constraints, the property would remain 50 percent open space with recreation areas at 15 percent, leaving 35 percent of the property for housing, which would allow for around 300-350 units, so within the maximum development capacity of 400 units.
The housing stock would be 50 percent ownership, 50 percent rental – a mix of single-family houses, townhouses, and three- and four-plexes. We are looking at deed restrictions for workforce housing – no STRs, no second homes, no big fancy houses. We want [housing] for a mix of incomes.”
After presenting figures on estimated housing needs by 2027 and AMI (Area Median Income) limits, Bostic concluded her report: “Realistically, the South Ark Neighborhood could take up to ten years to develop. This master plan can help, but cannot solve the housing crisis all by itself.” She then called for questions from the SCC.
“What would it entail to put 400 units on-site?” Shore asked.
“It’s possible, but it would mean increasing the density,” Bostic replied: “More apartments, fewer single-family homes or duplexes.”
“What would the ‘most housing units possible option’ look like? – I would like to see it,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Justin Critelli. “I think it’s important, it allows the public to look at what trade-offs look like,” Shore agreed.
Bostic asked the SCC to weigh in on the deed-restricted neighborhood: “Should it be all deed-restricted, or not? There are lots of requirements involved with deed restriction – it sounds great, and it would be great, but the feasibility of enacting that would be a lot of work – is that the city’s job? The housing authority’s job?” The SCC consensus on the question appeared to be, “it depends on feasibility.”
“If we could pull it off, I would like to see 100 percent deed-restricted,” said member Alisa Pappenfort.
“What is the city’s role in development?” was Bostic’s next question. She talked about three levels, spanning the highest involvement to lowest involvement, in terms of the City’s investment in development and land ownership, ranging from the city putting in all the infrastructure and owning the land itself in the form of a land trust, to putting in parts of the infrastructure and relying on developers to take care of the rest, to selling the land outright to a master developer, putting in appropriate restrictions, and “saying, ‘go for it.’”
“Looking at Salida’s history, I am hesitant to say the city should control and build everything,” said member Harald Kasper. “I think with the current pool of [city] employees, it’s just realistic to give it over to a developer with restrictions.”
“For options that aren’t land-trust-based – how do we maintain [affordable housing] availability?” asked Shore.
“That’s what deed-restriction is about,” said Bostic: “You have to meet certain requirements to buy, and you can only sell to those who meet those requirements.”
Finally Bostic asked about saving land for civic purposes, such as an educational campus or public building: “How do you feel about that?”
“I think we should do it,” said Pappenfort.
“How much land is there?” asked member Jane Templeton.
“We were saying 8 acres,” said Bostic, “but now it looks more like 2-3 acres – that would be more suitable for a daycare center or charter school – if CMC wanted to put a building near the recreation area, that could work for shared parking.”
Critelli said that he had “concerns about [civic] buildings that require staffing,” to which Almquist replied: “Certainly there would be staffing involved, there would also need to be administrative oversight for affordable housing – it’s something to keep in mind.”
“We will come back with the next draft in late July or early August,” Bostic said.
During the regular meeting that followed the work session, Dee Dubin, a member of the Places to Age steering committee, mentioned that the South Ark Neighborhood was one of the sites the committee was looking at for bringing a small assisted living and a memory care facility to Chaffee County. “We want to make this affordable to all income levels, so we are exploring all sorts of options to make that possible,” she said, including a possible partnership with Heart of the Rockies Regional Medical Center.
Ashley Kappel, the new Executive Director of the Chaffee Housing Authority, addressed the SCC on behalf of the Chaffee Housing Solutions Coalition: “Critical voices in the community are not getting a voice in housing decisions. Housing is the top issue in Chaffee County. We respectfully request that the South Ark Neighborhood be devoted to affordable housing, and we respectfully request that the maximum number of units be built; and that the mix of housing types be researched and data-driven. We would like to be in on work sessions and meetings with the consultants. Thank you for your support in providing affordable housing.”
Finance Director Aimee Tihonovich presented the 2022 annual report, along with auditor Lilian Marconi, who said that the audit report had had a clean opinion with no major issues. Kasper moved to approve the annual comprehensive financial report as presented, and the motion passed unanimously. Shore thanked Tihonovich and her team, saying, “When I think about where we were five years ago, I never would have thought we would get a clean report.”
Shore also thanked city staff for “stepping up” during FIBArk to handle crises like the carnival pulling out at the last minute: “They were in the trenches really trying to find solutions. As we move forward, maybe we can learn from this experience – there was a lot of name-calling and finger-pointing and let’s learn some lessons from this, like kindness – it was great to see how people came together at the last minute.”
Merrell Bergin gave the Treasurer’s Report. “In April, the general fund balance was greater than we budgeted, operating expenses are slightly under budget, and operating revenues a bit under budget as well. April sales tax collections increased by 0.4 percent as opposed to last year, county sales tax collection was slightly down.
One trend we are noting year to date is that retail businesses are trending at about a 5 percent increase (as opposed to double-digit increases from 2022 and 2021). Accommodations and foodservice are down slightly still – restaurants are reopening on the highway, new ones have opened downtown, and we should get bigger numbers from the new barbecue restaurant opening on Highway 50.”
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