Current Information for the Proposed Fish Hatchery Neighborhood
October, 2023
The Town of Estes Park is partnering with the Estes Park Housing Authority to move this project forward.
July, 2023
The Town of Estes Park’s effort to build workforce housing on the Town-owned Fish Hatchery property is taking a new direction. Despite good faith efforts to reach an agreement to build this housing, the Town and its prospective development partners, AmericaWest Housing Solutions and Consolidated Housing Solutions, have not been able to reach agreement on terms. Challenging economic circumstances, which have changed dramatically since the development agreement process began two years ago, have made it difficult to keep proposed rental rates affordable while also ensuring that apartments are occupied by members of the local workforce. Accordingly, negotiations have concluded without agreement.
Since negotiations began, interest rates have more than doubled and construction costs have increased approximately 40 percent. Even with additional financial contributions, including a $2 million allocation from the County’s American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, the prospective development partners are still unable to reach an agreement that would honor the Estes Park Town Board’s commitment to building housing on the property intended to serve the local workforce.
While this turn of events will inevitably delay construction and there is much to consider with respect to next steps, the Town and Estes Park Housing Authority (EPHA) plan to continue evaluating the Fish Hatchery property’s development potential for publicly-owned workforce and/or attainable housing. An advantage of taking a step back and pivoting to a new approach is that the Town and EPHA will have more flexibility and control over both the design elements of the project and, ultimately, affordability of the rental rates for the housing units. The passed 6E ballot measure provides a dedicated and ongoing revenue source that can help finance construction of a project on the Fish Hatchery site. These funds, coupled with other potential grant opportunities from the state focused on workforce housing, present an opportunity to build housing at the Fish Hatchery property that is more aligned with the Town’s priority to provide more affordable housing for Estes Park’s workforce.
2022-2023
The Town of Estes Park understands that workforce housing is necessary to sustain a stable, year-round local economy. At the same time, the gap between income levels for local workers and free market home prices and rents in the Estes Valley continues to widen. The situation makes it increasingly difficult for many local workers to afford to live in the Estes Valley. The Town believes that planning for the development of workforce housing is necessary to divert the loss of such housing in the free market, as well as the loss of local workers who are unable to afford housing in the Estes Valley. For these reasons, the Town was interested in partnering with a developer to construct workforce housing on a Town-owned piece of property known as the “Fish Hatchery Property.”
It is important that any workforce housing proposed addresses current needs as well as workforce housing needs into the foreseeable future. The ideal workforce housing proposal should address: respect for the environment, compatibility with the existing neighborhood, transportation impacts, site-specific considerations, and impacts on public resources. The workforce housing project will also need to be sensitive to the historical nature of the site and the Estes Park area community.
The Town of Estes Park sought a qualified Developer to partner with the Town to evaluate, plan, and implement the development of the Fish Hatchery Property for workforce housing. The vision was a development with rental units and some site amenities on the north side of the Fall River that would help us attract and retain workers in the Estes Valley area.
The Town entered into an Exclusive Negotiation Agreement with development partner, America West Housing Solutions, and was working on a draft Development Agreement for Town Board consideration and approval. At the same time, due diligence work was underway, including land surveying, planning for environmental and geotechnical testing, and pre-development application preparation.
The Town of Estes Park and America West Housing Solutions held two public meetings in mid-January of 2022, offering a chance for participants to hear from team members about the project site and the early phases of project planning, as well as ask questions and share comments. Another public meeting was held on July 14, 2022 to provide neighbors and others with an opportunity to learn about and comment on the proposed rezoning of the site from Accommodations to Multi-family Residential. The Town Board approved rezoning of the property in October of 2022, in anticipation of this project.