Snowmass adopts new accessory employee unit requirements
Requirements likely won’t apply to Snowmass Homeowners Association homes
The Snowmass Village Town Council on Monday approved a first reading of new accessory employee unit requirements despite the Snowmass Homeowners Association saying it would not apply to the nearly 900 homes in the association.
AEU requirements were first introduced June 3, and the regulations would crack down on noncompliance and introduce new incentives for homeowners who add units. Under the proposed new standards, homeowners could build up to 1,000 square feet of extra floor area beyond their property’s maximum floor area without applying a floor area excise tax (FAET).
But SHOA representatives said during the June 3 meeting that its covenants for the 874 homes it governs would not allow the construction of an AEU. The covenants require all single-family homes to have no more than one full kitchen.
Council members passed the ordinance on first reading in a 4-1 vote to allow homeowners not governed by SHOA who wish to build an AEU to do so.
“I think what we’re trying to do is do the right thing for the village. We want to make sure we’re providing as much workforce housing as we can,” said Mayor Bill Madsen. “We understand there’s some obstacles, but if we can provide an opportunity for the people who might be able to take advantage of it, I think that’s what we need to do.”
Council member Tom Fridstein voted against the ordinance because he said building an additional 1,000 square feet to a single-family home would be too large.
“It’s pretty big on sites that weren’t zoned as a duplex,” he said.
In conversations with SHOA after the June 3 meeting, town staff asked if reducing the maximum size to 750 square feet would make the HOA board more willing to change its covenants, Community Development Director Dave Shinneman said. But allowing AEUs would require changing the SHOA covenants, which would require a supermajority vote from the HOA board.
About 87% of the homes in Snowmass are governed by SHOA covenants. There are 97 existing accessory employee or caretaker units in Snowmass.
The primary goal of updating the AEU requirements was to provide more accessible and affordable housing for employees and seniors. A new provision would subject new AEUs to a restricted housing agreement with the town that would be negotiated on a case-by-case basis, Housing Director Betsy Crum said.
There is no subsidy in AEU housing like there is in the town’s affordable housing stock, but the town would work with homeowners to determine maximum rents.
“These units will be more for that missing middle group than for the lowest income unless a business wants to subsidize it,” Crum said.
Homeowners could rent to businesses who could then lease those units to their employees. The rents would not be as low as town-owned affordable housing, but they would not reach free-market rates, Shinneman said. The town’s affordable rent rates vary by complex, but the lowest rent listed is $485 for a small studio at Brush Creek and the highest rent listed is $1,975 for a three-bedroom at Mountain View.
A second reading of the ordinance will take place in August.