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Housing key to healthy downtown

Mixed-income developments provide stability, panel says
Condos in the Crossroad Building on Main Avenue are among the few downtown living options. A panel of housing and mixed-income development experts said Friday during a conference that housing developments downtown are just as important as commerical developments.

If revitalizing the downtown area is Durango’s goal, housing is just as important as commercial development.

A panel of housing and mixed-income development experts met Friday as part of this year’s Vibrant Colorado Downtowns Conference to discuss the associated benefits and barriers to bringing a variety of dwellings to the city’s downtown.

“The theory is that commercial development alone won’t revitalize the town,” said Scott Shine with the city’s planning department. “You need residents in close proximity for year-round stability.”

Kimball Crangle of Gorman & Co. focuses primarily on community revitalization and workforce and affordable housing.

She said a downtown’s older buildings tend to create the most roadblocks to new development.

“If you have 30,000 square feet in a downtown area, that’s a lot of land,” she said. “You have to be very cognizant of where the utility lines are running, what services you’ve tapped into, the aging infrastructure underground.”

Power lines, zoning and parking availability also can present problems.

Existing laws can also be an impediment to growth.

Colorado’s construction defects legislation, which allows small groups of condo owners to file class-action lawsuits over construction defects, has greatly deterred the building of condominiums, which Regional Housing Alliance of La Plata County Executive Director Karen Iverson said are a critical component to offering mixed-income housing.

“State rule has made it in a homeowners association’s favor to sue a condo homebuilder,” Iverson said. “Apartments are built, but not condos. When you talk about mixed housing, condos are key. When you talk about what goes over a storefront, condos are key. The financial risk became too great for those builders.”

A movement is underway to balance that legislation. Communities are also attacking the issue from the local level by trying to pass ordinances to make it more difficult to file class-action lawsuits.

While it may be a good time for development, the expense of land and the competition for projects are continual problems to work around, and no singular type of housing is the answer to revamping the community.

“It’s important to have housing across the spectrum,” Crangle said. “Rentals are important, but homeownership is also stabilizing to a community. We can’t solve affordable housing with one type of housing stock.”

jpace@durangoherald.com



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