Snowmass pursues new workforce housing requirement for developers

Snowmass in a Monday council meeting passed the first reading for an ordinance that would require developers to provide workforce housing for 100% of employees generated by a development. 

If passed on second reading on Jan. 20, the new regulation, or new “employee mitigation requirements,” would change the existing ordinance, passed in 2011, requiring developers to provide workforce housing for 60% of the employees generated by a development. 

The new ordinance would require the developer to provide 448 square feet of housing for each employee generated by the development.

If, for example, a developer builds a hotel that the town estimates will generate 10 new employees to operate it, the developer is responsible for providing 448 square feet x 10 employees of workforce housing — for a total of 4,480 square feet.

“We’re actually requiring housing 100% of the workforce, not 60% of the workforce, that’s being created with the new projects,” Town Manager Clint Kinney said Tuesday.

The ordinance also incentivizes remodels and redevelopments by allowing developers to grow an existing development by 15% without being subject to employee mitigation requirements. 

The town estimated the number of employees a development would generate by using a 2008 Employee Housing Mitigation Support Study by market researcher RRC Associates, which relies on national and local standards, among other variables to estimate the employee generation. Kinney said the town is pursuing an updated study in the next six months or so. 

The requirement comes as the town estimated in its Housing Needs Assessment that there is an existing shortage of 300 units, “with a 208-unit estimated additional need for housing to satisfy future employment demand, bringing the total shortage to 508 units,” states Monday’s council meeting agenda item summary. 

The summary stated that Snowmass’ total employment equaled 3,519 jobs as of 2022. Currently, the town provides housing for 34% of the employees in the town — approximately 1,190 workers. 

“The Town’s other employee housing mitigation efforts have resulted in the allocation of 185 employer-owned workforce housing units for an estimated 260 additional employees, bringing the mitigation total to 41%,” the summary states. 

The town set a goal to provide housing for 60% of its full time, year-round workforce, according to its Comprehensive Plan and Housing Master Plan. 

“The Town is currently falling short of its goals of housing the Town’s workforce,” the summary states, adding that the new ordinance could help “close the gap.”

Aspen One publicly supported the proposed ordinance at Monday’s council meeting, noting that the company is the biggest employer in the town. 

“Housing is a super important issue for us, as I know it is for you all,” Aspen One Senior Vice President of Sustainability Chris Miller told council. “And we are supportive of this idea of raising the mitigation rate from 60 to 100%.”