County staff’s recommendation is to put 1,000 units in the Snyderville Basin area and spread 500 across the east side of the county.
The county’s population has been shrinking slightly in recent years as people move away, but assuming it grows, Community Development Director Peter Barnes has estimated how many affordable housing units should go in each part of the county based on current population densities.
“We could get carried away in the ‘analysis paralysis’ of, ‘Do you mean 2.1, 51, 36, in this community or that community?’ That's not where we're going to go,” he advised the Summit County Council June 4.
Barnes said 1,500 units “sounds like a big number,” so he recommends breaking it down into chunks.
“150 units a year, maybe that's a manageable number,” Barnes said. “If I talk about — and I'll pick one at random — Echo, for example. In 10 years, is there a way to find five or six affordable housing units in a location in Echo? And is that palatable to the existing community of Echo, and is that something actually in need that they recognize or want? Is that something we can help with?”
Summit County is scheduled to award a bid to build up to about 200 affordable housing units on its land in Jeremy Ranch, near the elementary school, at its meeting June 11. That will count toward the 1,500-unit goal the council set in March. Dakota Pacific Real Estate’s pending development down the road will not.
June 4 was councilmembers’ most in-depth policy discussion since they set that goal.
The new Summit County Housing Authority is tasked with helping to carry out the policy. Its board will have its first meeting the week of June 9.
Council Vice Chair Canice Harte said an important part of the housing authority’s work will be to help councilmembers identify appropriate places for new housing.
“Because I'm supportive of the idea, but I feel like maybe we're ahead of ourselves — like I feel like we haven't done the work on the housing authority side to identify the targets and who we're trying to build the housing for,” he said at the June 4 meeting.
Overall, councilmembers’ opinions on rezoning areas to facilitate affordable construction varied. The tool the council has preferred to use recently is negotiated development agreements with individual property owners.
But they’ve generally said the effort will require community outreach. In recent years, Councilmember Roger Armstrong has repeatedly said the county promised its cities that large projects won’t be approved on city borders without making their officials aware and a part of the discussions.
Summit County is a financial supporter of KPCW. For a full list, click here.
