On December 19, 2023, the Nederland Board of Trustees (BOT) heard from Derrick Webb from Bohannan Huston Inc. (BHI) for the final presentation on the Housing Needs Assessment and a review of the results of months of research, public outreach, formal government meetings and workshops, and the drafting of specific code language.

The BOT had approved contracting with BHI on December 6, 2022, with project funding from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs HB 21-1271 Innovating Housing Strategies Planning Grant Program. An updated housing study, including one change to Nederland Municipal Code (NMC) regarding zoning language incentivizing affordable or alternative housing developments, is a prerequisite for the Housing Planning Grant to be eligible for the Housing Development Incentive Grant Program.

Over the course of 2023, BHI’s public outreach included public workshops, a project website with an interactive map, and a community survey. Webb’s presentation indicated that the project website was visited 2,997 times by 934 unique users and 48 unique stakeholders, with a total of 186 document downloads, and an average time of 5:21 spent on the site. 127 comments were left on the interactive map.

With assistance from Town staff and Trustees, the survey was extended and advertised from March through July to earn a total of 287 responses. Webb noted in the presentation that the situational and sentimental responses from the survey helped BHI to understand the community’s perspective and to form appropriate strategies from that baseline.

When asked what Webb and BHI would do differently in terms of designing the survey, Webb answered; “I’m not sure the socioeconomic questions were that helpful, and I think that having those up front in the survey pushed people away or led to a lower completion rate.”

Through their research and public outreach, BHI developed seven initial strategies for how the Town should move forward with implementing identified changes to NMC.

Those strategies were: allowing the construction of small square-footage residential units and small square-footage lot sizes; developing flexibility in land occupancy requirements; clarifying procedures for the development of affordable and diverse housing options; implementing a density bonus program; optimizing the development review process for affordable housing; optimizing the planned unit development (PUD) process for multi-unit affordable housing; and lowering development review fees and impact fees.

The Planning Commission formed a subcommittee to work alongside Town staff and BHI, who narrowed the seven strategies down to four: allowing small square-footage residential units and smaller square-footage lot sizes; developing flexibility in land occupancy requirements; increasing Town support and clarifying procedures for the development of affordable and diverse housing options; and identifying opportunities to expedite the development review process for affordable housing development.

From those four strategies the subcommittee decided on the following four potential code changes, including allowing Town staff to approve up to a 15% administrative variance to yard and bulk requirements; allowing for a 50% variance to yard and bulk requirements for deed restricted affordable housing; allowing Accessory Dwelling Units to be constructed before the completion of a primary residence; and amending the Use Group Table to specify which residential zoning districts will allow the development of alternative housing types, such as tiny homes and triplexes.

“The discussion we had on the Planning Commission couldn’t have happened if you hadn’t greased the skids and got people thinking,” Mayor Pro-Tem Tom Mahowald, who is also liaison to the Planning Commission, said to Webb. “The fact that you got people to respond and to start to think, it helped enormously when it came to undoing some real resistance to make these kinds of changes.”

An update to Chapter 16, Article II, Subsection 31 of NMC was also suggested and approved. The change removed the “preferred” language associated with the Medium Density Residential and High-Density Residential zoning districts. The Planning Commission reviewed and recommended all changes to NMC, and the BOT voted to approve all ordinances on December 5.

“You guys are the poster child for the other communities that I’m working with,” Webb said in regard to Nederland passing four ordinances changing NMC to incentivize affordable and alternative housing, when the requirement was to make only one change. “I won’t name names, but I’m working in a community very close to you.”

Webb’s presentation delivered on December 19 showcased other programs that Nederland could take part in, as well as policies that the Town could consider in order to further incentivize housing development beyond the Housing Needs Assessment.

The BOT has already committed to other housing initiatives in addition to the requirements of the Housing Development Incentive Grant Program, including Proposition 123, which the Board committed to on September 5. Proposition 123 is the program that controls the State Affordable Housing Fund and provides municipalities with access to funding for affordable housing projects. The Town committed to a baseline goal of creating 13 affordable housing units by November, 2026.

Such measures that the Town could consider to hit their goal for Proposition 123 include decreasing development review fees, impact fees, and other associated development fees; and instituting a density bonus that could be awarded to developers who maximize lot usage for the creation of truly affordable housing units in addition to market-rate units.

“If they meet the affordability criteria they get a bonus. Say they’re building three units, maybe they get to build a fourth, which could be a market rate unit that guarantees the affordability of the other three,” Webb explained.

The BOT has already taken strides towards fulfilling some of these additional strategic opportunities, such as instituting the administrative variance process in order to expedite the development review process, as well as establishing specific affordability considerations, such as setting the necessary proportion of units in the development that must be “affordable” to 20%, and setting the length of time that a unit must remain affordable to 20 years.

Trustee Tania Corvalan addressed the matter concerning language in the new ordinances that refer to the 20-year time limit requiring housing to be affordable, stating her belief that 20 years is not a long enough period of time to be considered a reasonable success in creating truly affordable housing. Webb noted that only nonprofit organizations like Habitat For Humanity can guarantee housing to consistently remain affordable.

“We looked at what others were doing and we looked at the average amount of time that people actually hold onto their homes and 20 years seemed more than reasonable,” Mahowald said, who claimed responsibility for adding the language in question.

Town Administrator Miranda Fisher responded to the issue of the 20-year limit, stating that due to the Town’s commitments to creating housing, compromises need to be made in order not to dissuade developers from investing in Nederland.

“We have to not make it so disincentivized that no one wants to build. That’s the balance we need to strike,” Trustee Eric Coombs-Esmail said.

“Even market rate housing can induce some affordability in lower-tiered housing units in the community,” Webb explained. “When there is a lack of a higher end product or a market rate product, folks that can afford that higher end will step down and start to take product that doesn’t really fit their needs but that they can afford, which knocks out the people that actually need that lower tier.”

“It sort of trickles down to even the lowest affordability levels, so even by providing market rate housing you’re providing an option for those people to move out of those affordable housing that’s currently in the community that somebody else can then step in and take over. So there’s kind of a balance that takes place.”

In conclusion, Webb thanked all those on the Planning Commission and BOT, as well as everyone on the special subcommittee, Mahowald and Commissioner Jim Reis; and everyone on the project team, Mayor Billy Giblin, Fisher, Community Planner Britt DeMinck, Katrina Harms, Stephen LeFaiver, Trustee Nichole Sterling, Atashnaa Medicineshield Werner, Kelly Garcia-Paine, Kristi Venditti, and Annette Treufeldt-Frank. A very special thank you was given to Dawn Baumhover, Tanya Unger, and Sterling for participation in the Community Voices video.

Town Administrator Fisher spoke to The Mountain-Ear concerning the next steps of the grant program and BHI’s suggestions for strategies the Town could implement in order to create affordable housing.

“We have not heard when round three of the Housing Development Incentive Grant Program funds will be available. When the application period opens, our intention is to apply for funds that can be used to help cover tap fees, infrastructure, and other needs and amenities that support the affordable housing development. This will be important as we continue to assess how to move forward with permitting the 13 affordable housing units under Prop 123,” Fisher said.

“Town staff will continue to work on the code recommendations offered by Bohannan Huston. However, we want to allow time for these recent code changes to really take effect before modifying more. Also, the Comprehensive Study will provide additional guidance as it relates to affordable housing development in Nederland. Therefore, as staff, I do not anticipate seeing any additional code changes until early 2025, after the Comprehensive Plan is done.”