Snowmass intends to give $1 million to Roaring Fork Valley mobile parks

Snowmass agreed to help fund a resident purchase of two local mobile home parks, a move that could keep lease agreements affordable.

The town signed a letter of intent to contribute $1 million in funding to Aspen-Basalt and Mountain Valley mobile parks, helping the two communities come up with $42 million to match an existing bid for the parks, which could keep them from being sold to new private ownership. 

“These folks are the heart and soul of our communities,” Snowmass Housing Director Betsy Crum said in a Monday council meeting.

Should the residents secure the funding through grants and loans, they would assume ownership and pay their debts off in the coming years. The two parks, located in Basalt and Carbondale, consist of nearly 140 privately-owned workforce units. Aspen-Basalt’s 13.4-acre park consists of 75 homes and Mountain Valley’s 9.3-acre park consists of 64. 

Snowmass workers make up 11.5% of park residents, living in 16 units between the two parks.

Should the $42 million anonymous bid from the non-community buyer go through, officials estimated the ground lease fees — or the cost to rent land under the mobile park units — would rise from about $1,300 in Aspen-Basalt and $1,125 in Mountain Valley Park to approximately $3,500 for both parks.

The mobile home park residents are in the midst of a 120-day-period to make their own offer, per Colorado state law. They are working with local governments, companies, and Thistle ROC USA — a community development financial institution — in an attempt to leverage the $42 million.

Along with Snowmass, the city of Aspen intends to give $3 million, Pitkin County $3 million, Atlantic Aviation $1 million, Basalt $500,000, and Aspen Skiing Company $500,000, bringing the communities’ total to around $9 million, not including smaller private contributions.

If the communities are able to raise $10 million through grants, Thistle would loan the remaining $32 million to meet the $42 million needed for them to buy the parks, according to Crum. With a $32 million loan, the ground lease fee, which in essence is a mortgage payment for park residents to pay off Thistle’s loan, would increase within an affordable rate. Any larger loan would not be affordable for most tenants. 

“They’re really trying to make it work for people,” Crum told The Aspen Times on Tuesday.

To maintain current lease rates the same the communities would have to raise approximately $20 million in grant funding, allowing them to rely on a Thistle loan of only $22 million.

Mountain Valley resident Maria Romero stressed the importance of Upvalley funding aid in the communities’ attempt to purchase the park.

“There are 64 families there, and there’s over 200 adults, 65 kids,” Romero said in the Monday council meeting. “And all the adults, they work Upvalley doing the hard jobs: the construction, the landscaping, the window cleaning the housekeeping, and because of that, I am asking you guys for help.”

She said the situation has placed excessive stress on the parks’ families. 

“There are kids that are overhearing their parents’ conversations: ‘What are we going to do, where are we going to go,'” Romero said. “And the kids are very, very concerned. And that’s very, very hard to hear.”

Snowmass Council unanimously ratified its letter of intent to financially support the purchase with an amount up to $1 million. The funding is contingent upon commitment from other community agencies, organizations, and individuals, as well as deed restrictions and conditions approved by the town.

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Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.