In a bid to expand housing options, the city of Durango is seeking proposals to develop workforce housing on two lots below Colorado Highway 3, south of downtown.
But residents of the nearby Rivergate Lofts have expressed concern about the project.
Nearly 30 residents attended an informational meeting Thursday with city staff at the Durango Public Library, where they demanded involvement in the project.
Their concerns focused on ground stability at the proposed site, whether the housing would be low-income, the loss of outdoor space and potential effects on property values.
Resident Donna Navario said the Lofts is the No. 1 premier condo association in Durango, and residents have worked hard to build their property values.
“This is kind of a slap in the face,” Navario said. “I mean, I'm open to workforce (housing, but) I do want to have certain standards, because I've seen workforce housing.”
She said lower-income or workforce housing adjacent from the Lofts could negatively impact property values.
She said the city has had the ability to place affordable housing elsewhere, including the River Roost Apartments at 801 Camino del Rio and the Residences at Durango at 21382 U.S. Highway 160 in west Durango.
City staff at the meeting included Mike French, city prosperity officer; Brian DeVine, housing policy and planning administrator; and Cody Minnich, housing programs and operations administrator.
They underscored the city is awaiting proposals from developers and does not yet know the project’s scale or unit types – that will be defined by applicants. However, they clarified the housing is not intended to be low-income, unlike the Residences at Durango.
Residents asked about income qualifications and housing management after construction. French said possibilities include income-restricted housing, market-rate units or a mix of both.
Lot 4 could accommodate up to 31 units, and Lot 5 could accommodate up to 71 units.
A developer would initially own and sell the housing as it sees fit, French said. The city’s request for qualifications asks developers to outline their housing model – income-restricted, market-rate or a combination. Proposals that include development plans for Lot 5 will receive additional consideration.
Income-restricted units could be managed by a mortgage-assistance nonprofit such as HomesFund, and would target middle-income earners such as teachers, nurses and police officers – workers the city acknowledges need help navigating Durango’s high housing costs.
Devine said many potential buyers of income-restricted units are already working and renting in Durango.
Lofts resident and former Fort Lewis College president Dene Kay Thomas said housing overpricing is a problem in Durango, and asked whether the city has considered working with landlords charging high rents to find ways to support essential workers like teachers and police officers.
She said she prefers a solution that houses working residents without building on natural open space.
“(Housing) does not have to be built on (that lot). We do not have to destroy our natural environment,” she said.
French said lots 4 and 5 were privately owned before the city purchased them from Rivergate III LLC, and that a private developer could have built on them without public input.
The city purchased the parcel for $1.25 million in December with the intent to partner with a developer to build workforce housing and expand its housing inventory. French said the approach offers residents a best-case scenario by allowing a public process to guide development.
“The city is doing a tremendous amount of effort, spending a lot of money on public lands, and recently have acquired quite a bit of public land, some (of which) was even given to the city in the hospital area,” he said.
He said the city’s approach to affordable housing includes a rental subsidy program, support for organizations like HomesFund and land acquisition for private development under public guidelines.
Resident George Richardson told The Durango Herald that the lot is “smack dab on a fault zone.”
“The city should have done some real due diligence before they decided to purchase a lot and then accelerate building affordable housing without knowing what's really underneath,” he said.
He said he was involved in a 2007-08 lawsuit filed by the Rivergate community that alleged a lack of due diligence in the construction of the Lofts and identified underground structural issues.
French said Rivergate III LLC performed an environmental and geotechnical survey of the site and no mitigation was deemed necessary at this time. A developer selected to build at the site could explore another geotechnical survey.
After the meeting on Thursday, Thomas said residents are nervous the new development could result in the same kind of fiasco and legal affair the Lofts did a little over a decade ago.
“My fear is that, first of all, they build over there without proper footings, without really knowing what they’re doing, they get in the same mess that we got in at Rivergate,” she said.
She also worries that construction could damage the Lofts. Yet, she said she empathizes with middle-income earners struggling in Durango’s high-cost housing market. Still, she’s unsure Rivergate is the right place to build housing for them.
Residents said their concerns are not driven by NIMBYism – “Not in My Backyard-ism.”
“My biggest concern is that it be done adequately,” Thomas said.
She said she would prefer to see Cundiff Park – a dusty, barren space west of the Animas River – transformed into a picnic and recreation site. Some of her concerns were eased by the city’s assurance that the Rivergate proposal does not aim to build low-income housing.
cburney@durangoherald.com
