Where to strike balance: Snowmass housing stock demand vs. open space preservation

How does a town quell a worsening housing crisis while keeping to its environmental principles?

Snowmass Town Council faced this question as it edited and approved its 2025 Goal Statement on Monday, with two themes making a strong splash — providing workforce housing for the community while furthering sustainability and preserving open space.

“That is the real challenge,” Council member Tom Fridstein told The Aspen Times on Tuesday. 

Snowmass identified an overarching goal of providing 383 workforce housing units in the 2018 Comprehensive Plan, currently focusing on creating 185 units. With 280 town employees on the waitlist for 300 rental apartments, council is most recently working to provide 63 new units at the Draw Site workforce housing plan, to be located uphill and adjacent to town hall. 

“There is a very strong need for employee housing,” Fridstein said. “That’s really not the question. What is the question, is how do we do it in the most appropriate way?” 

Snowmass Mayor Alyssa Shenk said the town can pursue sustainable options for existing structures, both owned privately and by the town, to decrease Snowmmass’ environmental impact as it pursues workforce housing and infrastructure projects. 

That could include limiting emissions by installing renewable energy resources on structures and ensuring buildings are built to mitigate wildfire-related risks. The Draw Site, for example, will be constructed of fire resistant materials.

“You update and you take care of the things you have,” Shenk said. 

Fridstein said he is wary about building excessive infrastructure and development, wanting to ensure what’s built is appropriate to maintain community character and minimize open space infringement. 

“My goal is to build as much as we can that’s appropriate,” Fridstein said. “But building housing is not the only solution to our housing crisis. It’s one part of it.”

Building 383 new units could cost close to $400 million, as each unit would likely cost roughly  $1 million, Fridstein said. 

“We’re very limited on land, we’re limited on money,” he said.

He proposed changing the town’s short-term rental policy to ensure rentals are prioritized for people living in the community, buying existing infrastructure to put toward housing, and improving public transportation.

“And I think we’re going to have to come to grips with limiting growth, because we can’t just keep growing and expecting (to) find more resources, more people,” he said. “At a certain point, we are going to max out on what this little town can support.”

Apart from providing more affordable housing and continuing its commitment to sustainability and resiliency, council also stated in its 2025 Goal Statement a plan to invest in community infrastructure. 

Council lists the Little Red School House expansion, the Owl Creek/Brush Creek roundabout project, Snowmass library services expansion, the Krabloonik property, and community space preservation — among others — as infrastructure projects on which to focus.

But construction fatigue has also been an ongoing point of tension in the Snowmass community. 

To maintain infrastructure transparency, council added a goal of creating and maintaining a master schedule of all proposed major public and private construction projects in the town, while discussing its goal statement Monday.

“So then we can communicate to the public, ‘this is what’s going on,'” Fridstin said in the Monday council meeting.

Council’s other stated goals include embracing high quality balanced destination management, developing a detailed area plan in and around the Snowmass Mall, strengthening community engagement to foster emotional connectivity, and helping year-round residents thrive — not just survive.

Council stated it remains committed to its overarching priority to “passionately protect the community character of the village by promoting balance and emotional connectivity.”

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