RIDGWAY – While Ouray tries to sell its first official affordable housing units, Ridgway is working to figure out its role in the regional affordable housing picture. On June 12, the Ridgway Affordable Housing Task Force met for the third time to try and iron out some of the details of how Ridgway will attempt to solve the affordable housing issue.
“We’re primarily looking at Ridgway, but we’re keeping an eye open to what ideas we can pass on to the regional authority,” said Town Planner Jen Coates in her introductory remarks to the 10 or so residents and officials gathered for the discussion. She was referring to the Regional Housing Authority established earlier this year by Ouray, Ridgway and the county.
The task force is currently discussing several strategies for achieving more affordable housing in Ridgway. One of those strategies is inclusionary zoning, which requires new developments to include a certain number of affordable housing units. The question to be decided is: What ratio of deed-restricted housing to free-market housing will the town require? The task force also discussed whether the required housing mitigation must take place on-site as part of the development, or off-site, such as the purchase, renovation and sale or rent of existing housing as affordable units.
Another hot topic of discussion at the June 12 meeting was the use of accessory dwelling units, also known as “mother-in-law units,” as affordable housing. County Land Use Planner Doug Canright said that with the zoning that’s in place, ADUs are the county’s best option for affordable housing.
For the town, increased density is seen as the ticket to achieving affordable housing, be it in the form of ADUs or new subdivisions. “The infrastructure is there in an urban environment to support growth,” said Town Manager Greg Clifton. “It makes sense that we really look closely at density and provide incentives where it really makes sense to build.” Such is the logic behind an Intergovernmental Agreement on future development between the town, county and Ouray.
The same line of thinking has also informed discussions about possible future development in what is being called the Northwest Ridgway Planning Area, a sizeable piece of valley floor north of Ridgway that is expected to be annexed into the town limits eventually, and developed for residential housing.
The task force also discussed the use of mobile homes for affordable housing; in the past, the installation of new mobile homes has been limited throughout town. However, members of the task force agreed that the question nowadays isn’t mobile homes but off-site manufactured housing, which can look similar to mobile homes but are not covered by current zoning regulations.
While the Town of Ridgway continues attempts to devise a formal affordable housing policy, it has not ignored the topic in the past. Two triplex buildings comprising six deed-restricted units, located on Green Street near the Ridgway Secondary School, were developed as part of the Parkside Subdivision. Ten single-family units in River Park were created as affordable housing and are currently occupied. Clifton said that the Preserve Subdivision south of town along the river is also subject to some affordable housing mitigation. He said that without inclusionary zoning, all affordable housing projects to date have been borne out of voluntary negotiations between developers and the town.
The town was unsuccessful in its attempt to purchase a lot in River Park from a private owner for the purposes of affordable housing.
On June 26, Ridgway’s Affordable Housing Task Force will meet for a tour of Telluride’s affordable housing units. On Thursday, July 17, the task force will meet to review the proposed inclusionary zoning policy.
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