The Custer County Workforce Housing Committee (WHC) held a regular meeting on February 12. Custer County School Superintendent Thom Peck kicked off the Old Business items on the agenda with a report on potential next steps for the Bobcat Subdivision. Peck, who has been a vocal proponent of developing affordable housing for teachers and other essential workers in the community, reported that fellow WHC member Steve Lasswell had given him the assessorâs plot for the subdivision. However, the Board of Education (BOE) had âbacked offâ from following through on development at this point, saying that they wanted to form their own subcommittee on the topic, but also wanted to reserve five lots that already had utilities access for teacher housing. He said that a survey he had conducted for teacher recruitment and retention revealed that 70 percent of respondents said that they would prefer to go to a school district that offered affordable housing, with the same proportion saying that they would also stay for 5-10 years at a district with affordable housing.
Peck has also been a proponent of reviving a student-building program for affordable housing on Bobcat Subdivision lots. He reported that he had met with a contractor who would be willing to oversee the program and that the neighboring Cotopaxi School District was interested in cooperating on such a program, with Cotopaxi students coming to Custer County for building trades and Custer County students going to Cotopaxi for training in electrical and HVAC work.
Of course, the possibility of any such program is now on hold thanks to the BOEâs seemingly abrupt decision to pressure Peck to resign.
Lasswell reported that, in the meantime, there were some other possible affordable rentals coming up in Silver Cliff. Developer Greg Kinoutis, who owns eight lots and has built four duplexes so far, is working with the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) to develop four more duplexes.
Lasswell went on to say that the Custer County Economic Development Corporation is looking for investors for workforce housing and that two âheavily motivatedâ investors were potentially interested in the Bobcat Subdivision development.
Barry Keene gave an update on the UAACOG self-help housing program that controls seven lots in Silver Cliff. He said that there were no candidates at the moment but that Interim Executive Director Max Hanson wanted to proceed with development on all seven at once. âI think we may have a pretty thin field for seven all at once,â Keene said: âFour might be a better possibility.â He referred to the upheaval at the federal level, with the Trump Administrationâs commitment to gutting the federal workforce, and wondered whether this would have an effect on the rural self-help housing program, which is administered by the USDA; although he went on to note that his sources had told him that, for now at any rate, that program is apparently safe.
Under new business, the WHC agreed to a new meeting time, the first Thursday of the month, approved the nomination of Westcliffe Trustee Bob Fulton as a new member, and heard an update from Keene on the firms selected to conduct the Housing Needs Assessment (HNA) that had been commissioned by the Towns of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff as well as the county. A âvirtual kick-offâ from the firms involved was scheduled for Friday, February 14.
Keene also provided an updated timeline for the delivery of the HNA and for grant applications to the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) for the development of 12 lots in Silver Cliff. Fulton also reported that he, Westcliffe Mayor Paul Wenke, and other Westcliffe town representatives would be presenting to DOLA in March for a grant to provide utility infrastructure to town-owned lots that have been rezoned for multi-family housing.
â Elliot Jackson