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Commissioners to add units to trailer park

Part of the Phillips Mobile Home Park in Old Snowmass.
Anna Stonehouse/The Aspen Times

A Woody Creek-area mobile home park bought by Pitkin County a year ago to preserve affordable housing in the valley likely will contain between 50 and 60 units, county commissioners said Tuesday.

Pitkin County Commissioner George Newman said during Tuesday’s work session that he doesn’t want to see more than 50 on the Phillips Trailer Park site, though three of his colleagues supported larger numbers.

“I’m not ready to land on 50,” Commissioner Kelly McNicholas Kury said. “I think that will be too low.”



Commissioner Steve Child agreed, saying he’s willing to consider adding more than the existing 44 units, but that he wants more feedback from current residents.

“We need to put more units in there to make it economically feasible,” said Child, noting that 60 units sounded appropriate.




Board Chairman Greg Poschman was out of town.

Pitkin County bought the 76-acre property — which includes three-quarters of a mile on both sides of the Roaring Fork River — for $6.5 million in January 2018 from owner Harriett Noyes, whose parents purchased the property for $500 in 1933.

The first phase of planning for the property on Lower River Road between Old Snowmass and Woody Creek is nearly complete. Consultants have identified areas to develop more units as well as possible spots for tiny homes and smaller trailers.

Most aspects of the project remain yet to be decided, including exactly where new development might go, where other units that must be relocated might go and what sort of ownership structure, if any, commissioners want to set up for residents. Those questions will be decided in upcoming planning phases, consultants said Tuesday.

Commissioner Patti Clapper said she thinks it’s crucial to get an accurate census of current residents. McNicholas Kury also said she wants more information from current residents, especially concerning whether they will be able to afford rents that will definitely increase.

A development with 60 units would cost a resident about $1,100 a month, which includes a $500 mortgage on a modular home and land ownership, according to documents presented at Tuesday’s meeting. Residents currently pay $350 for space rental at the trailer park, which doesn’t include whatever they pay for their actual homes.

The planning process will continue in the upcoming months.

jauslander@aspentimes.com