The Carbondale trustees meeting was short and sweet this week. After approving the consent agenda, which included a special event permit for Carbondale Education Foundation’s upcoming Oktoberfest and John Williams’ reappointment to the Historic Preservation Commission, the board moved onto public comment, but no members of the public were present.
Considering the hubbub on the Carbondale Facebook page regarding the temporary Highway 133 detour, it’s a good thing the highway was reopened. However, the pedestrian crossing was not yet open as of Wednesday, pending some final touches — namely the installation of the push-buttons that activate the flashing beacons.
During board comments, Trustee Jess Robison gave props to Town staff for getting the highway reopened so quickly and providing a “pretty seamless” detour during the brief interim. Outside of Town Hall, community members expressed some annoyance with the inconvenience and slowed traffic, but, to be fair, many motorists did not follow the detoured path leading behind City Market, and rather cut through the east end of the parking lot.
Robison also gave a shoutout to the organizers of the recent Cowboy Up fundraiser, benefiting the Carbondale Education Foundation and “honor[ing] the cowboy-rancher heritage of Carbondale.”
Town Manager Ryan Hyland welcomed the Town’s new finance director, Ola Verploegh, who was on his second day of the job. “Ola brings 15 years of finance and accounting experience,” said Hyland. “[He] most recently was at Revel Bikes, but also worked with one of the local nonprofits in the Valley, the Aspen Hope Center, and prior to that Aspen Ski Co.”
Verplough said he was excited about the opportunity to work in municipal finance, but still feels “green.” He elaborated, “It feels like maybe a 10,000-piece jigsaw puzzle that I’m just getting the shrink wrap off the box.” Verplough has lived in Carbondale since 2011.
The board discussed sending a letter of support to the Colorado Association of Ski Towns for its agenda to push state legislation to give communities the option to adopt affordable housing tools — such as a real estate transfer tax or a vacancy tax. Mayor Ben Bohmfalk clarified that it doesn’t mean the Town wants to adopt any specific policies, but “right now we don’t even have the option.”
Mountain Valley
The main action item of interest was a grant agreement with West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition (WMRHC) committing the Town’s previously agreed upon $1 million contribution from its housing fund toward the purchase of the Mountain Valley and Aspen-Basalt mobile home parks. The same day as the meeting, the Town had received a request to up its commitment another $100,000 to $150,000.
Collectively, contributing entities have raised $14 million of an initial goal of $20 million, intended to make the rates more feasible for residents to pay back the pending loan from Thistle ROC, a nonprofit lender focused on resident-ownership. Hyland relayed that Thistle ROC recommended reaching at least $16 million, collectively. The total cost for both parks is $42 million.
With the $1 million contribution alone, the Housing Fund would be reduced to $571,407. The mayor pointed out that the housing fund is “way healthier than it’s ever been,” even though he recommended against committing an extra $100,000. Trustee Erica Sparhawk added that the Town also has a “healthy” general fund.
Trustee Colin Laird cautioned the board about a scenario where Thistle ROC could have to choose funding one park or the other, should the subsidies not be sufficient. “In my mind, we’ve come too far to let that happen,” he stated.
Trustees Chris Hassig and Ross Kribbs hoped that the other contributors would also up their allotments.
“The return on investment of $100,000 in this situation is pretty good,” Robison pointed out. “Getting that many units is a lot more expensive than what we’re talking about right now. Even though it’s not annexed, it is in Carbondale — they are part of our community.”
As it stands, WMRHC would be responsible for enforcing a deed restriction on both properties; Pitkin County is also a designated enforcer for the Aspen-Basalt park. In the case of Mountain Valley, if the coalition were to ever disband, even years down the road, the question is: who would enforce the deed restriction? Therefore, Town Attorney Mark Hamilton recommended that the town request it also have the right of enforcement for Mountain Valley.
There is state funding available to apply for, but the timing doesn’t fit the closing deadline, slated for mid-October. April Long, executive director of WMRHC, drafted a letter to the governor that all of the contributing entities have the option to sign, requesting that “the governor provide some funds and figure out a way to make that happen,” relayed Hyland.
In the end, a motion was approved to enter into the grant agreement with WMRHC, committing $1.1 million toward the effort. Bohmfalk was the sole dissenting vote.
Long joined the meeting via Zoom just following the board’s decision. She thanked the trustees and added that the coalition is organizing a fundraising event on Oct. 3 at the Third Street Center.