Steamboat Springs Votes Down Annexation

I dunno if this is going to make skiing Steamboat Springs more expensive, but tonight the Steamboat Springs community put the brakes on a massive proposed affordable housing development by voting against its annexation into the City.

"No one could've predicted this big of a margin against Brown Ranch," said Jon Wade, a 19-year resident of Steamboat and local realtor. "The result is absolutely stunning."

Indeed, certainly not this observer.

As of 8:45 pm (my bedtime), the Brown Ranch annexation was failing by a vote of 2,903 to 2,074. Four hundred votes were outstanding, so by my calculations, it's still time for bed.

The expected annexation would have added Brown Ranch to the City's domain. Brown Ranch being, of course, that much-anticipated 420-acre parcel of land west of town that was eyed for 2,264 affordable units.

Yampa Valley Housing Authority’s Executive Director Jason Peasley reacted to the vote: “During our community engagement process, we learned so many workers are barely hanging on and the Brown Ranch gave them hope for the future. They told us they were optimistic there was a plan to provide homes they could afford. My heart aches when I think of the people who told us the Brown Ranch would be their first legitimate opportunity to own a home, and they compared it to the good fortune so many others had over the past decades to buy a home. With this vote, that same opportunity for those community members is two to three years further out of reach.”

Back of the napkin numbers: If Brown Ranch's anticipated 2,264 housing units were available to house 2.5 people per unit, that'd increase the City's population by 5,560 people. That's a big growth spurt for a community of 13,224 (2020 numbers).

"The Housing Authority wasn’t successful, in either gauging what the community wanted or putting together a plan that the community liked or both," Wade said.

"At the same time there is broad support for more affordable housing, but it seems like the scale of it and the potential issues were too much for a majority of people in town. It looks like the voters are saying it is time to bring the community together and find out the right plan."

The annexation no-vote comes on the heels of the reported purchase by the Discovery Land Company of the Stagecoach development south of Steamboat.

Housing units there are expected to cost several (and up to many) million dollars apiece, obviously adding to the demand for workers and the even more stretched lack of affordable housing.

While this hasn't halted the never-ending ski town affordable-housing odyssey, it will certainly be of interest to every other town in the Rocky Mountain West.

Undoubtedly, there'll be more discussion between the various government entities of Northwest Colorado, ski industry representatives, and local residents—I just hope when the big confab occurs they'll invite Vail and Aspen and Winter Park and Crested Butte and Taos and Summit County, and .... write your town's name here.

See you out there. Unless you have to move.