Glenwood Springs City Council brought the local government tally to $5.5 million in the effort to help residents buy the Cavern Springs Mobile Home Park, located just off Highway 82 about seven miles south of Glenwood.
Council voted 5-2 at its May 7 regular meeting to provide a $500,000 forgivable loan from the city’s workforce housing fund.
The decision came on the heels of a vote by Pitkin County commissioners last week to kick in $1.5 million toward the valleywide effort to try to preserve yet another mobile home park that has recently been put on the market for sale.
State law provides a right of first refusal for residents of mobile home parks, who typically own the mobile homes but pay rent for the land beneath them, to make an offer when parks are put up for sale.
Cavern Springs residents have until June 13 to try to raise $24 million to buy the park and prevent it from being purchased for possible redevelopment or by an investor who may raise rents substantially.
The Town of Carbondale has agreed to $500,000, the City of Aspen $2 million and Snowmass Village $1 million. Garfield County commissioners recently decided not to participate in the request.
Residents are also working through the West Mountain Regional Housing Coalition (WMRHC) to secure a loan of between $6 million and $14 million from the nonprofit Resident Occupied Communities (ROC). An additional loan package of $8 million is also on the table, explained April Long, executive director for WMRHC.
Similar campaigns over the past year helped residents of two other parks, Mountain Valley Mobile Home in Carbondale and the Aspen Basalt Mobile Home Park in Basalt, buy their parks.
Glenwood Springs also used some of its workforce housing funds, approved by voters in Ballot Question 2C in 2022, to help bring the West Glenwood Mountain Mobile Home Park into resident ownership.
A big question before the Glenwood Council members this time around is the fact that Cavern Springs sits well outside of city limits. However, the city’s Workforce Housing Fund Advisory Board recommended approval, on a 7-0 vote, to provide funding for Cavern Springs, offering that it does lie within the 81601 zip code.
The 98-space mobile home park, formerly known as H Lazy F, is located off Garfield County Road 154, just west of the CMC turnoff on Highway 82.
Watkins Fulk-Gray, the city’s housing development manager, reported that about 300 people live at Cavern Springs, including 60 children who attend Glenwood Springs-area schools, primarily nearby Riverview School, a K-8 dual language school, and Glenwood Springs High School.
According to demographic data, the average household income is about $74,000 and roughly 36% of working-age residents of the park work in Glenwood Springs, he said.
Residents currently pay $1,025 per month for their lots. The goal if they are able to purchase them is to hold that rent to no more than $1,400 per month.
Council heard from several residents of the mobile home park, who have banded together as the Sopris Mountain Collective and members of the city’s workforce housing advisory group in favor of providing the loan.
“Today, these families are facing a real fear to know if they are able to remain in their own homes,” resident Maria Alvarez said.
Kimberly Martinez lives at Cavern Springs and attends Colorado Mountain College, studying to be a veterinary technician. Her three younger siblings attend Riverview and GSHS, where she graduated.
“I would love to be able to stay here once I graduate [from CMC], and with your help hopefully I can make that happen,” she said.
Advisory board member Alex Daue added, “This fund is meant to take advantage of opportunities that come up, and that’s what this is.”
Council heard from one member of the public who was opposed to the loan.
“Many Glenwood Springs residents struggle with [housing] affordability, but don’t expect assistance from the city,” offered Glenwood resident Rob Anderson. “Why are we choosing one group over another?”
And Council itself was split over the decision, with Mayor Marco Dehm, Mayor Pro Tem Erin Zalinski, and Councilors Sumner Schachter, Steve Smith and Mitchell Weimer voting in favor, and Councilors David Townsley and Ray Schmahl opposed.
Townsley said it did feel a bit like picking one group over another for public assistance.
“My other reservation is that these are residents of [unincorporated] Garfield County, which doesn’t seem to want to fund anything for anybody,” he added. “At some point they should step forward and do something.”
Zalinski countered, “We’re not picking winners; we’re preserving an asset.”
In other news …
An otherwise fairly light agenda greeted City Council for their first meeting of May, including a proclamation designating May as Historic Preservation Month and officially recognizing two “Structures of Merit” in Glenwood Springs, one at 829 Pitkin Ave. and the other at 1008 Colorado Ave.
Council also heard an update from representatives for the Ruedi Water and Power Authority, including incoming new Director Paula Stepp.
A revised ordinance spelling out permitting rules for landscape grading on private property was also approved, increasing the disturbed area from 200 to 500 square feet for a permit to be required.