Friday, December 12, 2008

Time to get creative on community housing


By VANESSA CROSSGROVE FRY

On Monday, Dec. 15, when the Ketchum City Council considers a proposed in-lieu fee to satisfy community housing requirements for Residences at Thunder Spring and a previous community housing agreement with the original Thunder Spring planned-unit development, Citizens for Smart Growth would like to urge the council to reconsider the allowance of in-lieu fees for community housing.

Citizens for Smart Growth is not in favor of in-lieu fees in general unless there is an immediate and sufficient application for such a fee. In-lieu fees usually fall short of providing the same amount of community housing that would be created if developers were required to provide actual units. Even if the money is adequate in today's dollars, by the time the funds can be used, the cost to build has escalated and the resultant benefit to the community is less than promised.

What if there were another and more creative way to address the issue of a developer's wishing to meet community housing commitments without having to build those units onsite or offsite that would still allow the city to promptly acquire those units?

Here's an idea:

Developers could be encouraged to purchase or use existing market-rate homes, including condominiums and apartments, and convert those into community housing units to meet their requirement rather than building new units. This would address a number of issues. It would potentially be more affordable for developers, it would help absorb homes currently on the market, it would save resources and it would address the issue of avoiding segregation by allowing community housing to be interspersed with market-rate housing.

To address the impacts the new development will have on the existing community and to provide workforce housing associated with the development, location should always be considered when governments are deciding where a developer should provide community housing. Therefore, Ketchum developers such as Thunder Spring should provide community housing units in Ketchum. Perhaps there are even empty residences at Thunder Spring that could be converted into community housing units to satisfy community housing requirements.

Should the City Council decide against any alternatives and find what it considers to be an appropriate in-lieu fee negotiation for Thunder Spring, Citizens for Smart Growth would like to reiterate that we do not believe this negotiation should include the Bigwood Golf Course property previously in question.

We urge the city to honor the original plat note stating that that piece of property should remain "open space in perpetuity," despite legal issues about whether or not the plat note is binding. To do otherwise would alter the original intent and undermine community support for the planning process.

Vanessa Crossgrove Fry is executive director of Citizens for Smart Growth.




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