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May 20, 2008
Group eyes affordable
housing project near Carbondale
Purchase of mobile home park would be a cooperative effort
Phillip Yates
GLENWOOD
SPRINGS, Colorado - A 9-acre mobile home park outside of
Carbondale that is for sale may be the location of a new
affordable housing project in the area.
The concept received the preliminary support of the
Garfield County commissioners on Monday, although they
still had several questions about the project's estimated
cost to the county and whether county zoning regulations
would even allow it.
The Roaring Fork Community Development Corp. (RFCDC),
which is a nonprofit subsidiary of Healthy Mountain
Communities, is working to patch together different area
governments and groups to purchase the Mountain Valley
Mobile Home Park for its affordable housing project. Right
now, the corporation has secured enough money to
potentially put the property under contract, according to
a memo by Colin Laird, who is director of both Healthy
Mountain Communities and RFCDC.
The goal is to purchase the property and convert it into
permanent deed-restricted affordable housing for as many
of the current residents of the mobile home park as
possible and preserve the units for Garfield County
residents making 80 percent or less of the area's median
income, the memo said. The project is looking to make it
affordable by either subdivision and lot sales back to the
current residents or in the form of long-term,
appreciation-capped lot leases.
The owners of the mobile home park have had an offer of $7
million on the property, but they are interested in
selling it for $6.5 million to a "buyer committed to
preserving the affordability of the current units of the
park," the memo said. The mobile home park is located in
Garfield County behind the Red Rock Diner in Carbondale.
It currently has 64 mobile homes, according to the memo.
John Cooley, who manages the mobile home park and is a
partial owner, said the offer for the mobile home park
contained short terms for the mobile home residents to
leave the park. He said he then felt that the ownership
group of the mobile home park needed to do something so
the residents wouldn't be displaced.
"We did have a contract we could have gone ahead with,"
said Cooley, adding if those residents have to leave, they
will not stay in Garfield County. "I am glad we didn't. We
had to come up with something to help the people."
Laird spoke before the Garfield County commissioners on
Monday to see whether the county would be interested in
the project and might be willing to conditionally invest
in the affordable housing project.
"I personally think this is a type of creative approach to
sustaining (affordable housing) that is important for all
of our communities and for the county to look at in the
future," Commissioner Trési Houpt said.
Houpt added she would like to have clearer understanding
of what level the county needs to support the proposed
project through the Garfield County Housing Authority.
Commissioner John Martin said there were "too many
unanswered" questions about the project, like whether the
county's current zoning regulations would even allow it
and about how the proposed units would be sold.
Commissioner Larry McCown said he wanted to see some of
the "logistics" of the project before he would be willing
to commit to helping to fund it.
"The concept, I support it," McCown said.
The Garfield County Housing Authority, the Colorado
Department of Housing, private developers and local banks
have expressed interest in the effort. The town of
Carbondale has also "conceptually agreed to waive some
fees and invest some cash into the affordability of the
project," according to Laird's memo.
"Given the property's zoning (commercial limited) it is
unlikely to remain as a mobile home park after sale to a
private developer," according to the memo. "With
redevelopment, Garfield County and the town of Carbondale
will lose 64 de facto affordable housing units."
See original article . . .
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