The city of Durango is entering a partnership with Durango Crossings Partners LLC to create a neighborhood with at least 130 housing units on Florida Road, with at least half the units being dedicated to affordable and workforce housing.
Dan Armentano, lead city planner on the project, said the city has nearly six parcels of land at 1500 Florida Road, near East Animas Road (County Road 250), that could be developed with affordable and workforce housing, and Durango Crossings owns two more adjacent parcels it can commit to the project.
The project includes a mix of market rate and below market rate rental and for sale units with a requirement that at least 50% of the units must be below market rate, and half of the below market rate units must be sold for homeownership, he said at a Feb. 7 Durango City Council meeting.
The units are targeted for individuals and families with an area median income between 70% and 120%, he said.
The development would include mixed uses, such as a possible market and a day care center. Armentano said those details have not been hashed out, but there is opportunity to include amenities in the neighborhood.
He said the city’s next step is to amend current land-use designations on the planned site that align with the project to accommodate mixed-use development. Neighborhood meetings in the area will also be hosted to involve the public in the process.
Durango Crossings must submit a conceptual planned development application that Armentano said he expects to receive this month. And the city needs to pursue a land annexation that could take four to six months to complete. The annexation will include the formation of a development agreement between the city and Durango Crossings to lay out how many of the units will be priced affordably for sale.
The project will be built in phases, which still need to be plotted out, he said.
Armentano said he hopes the annexation can be completed this summer.
“There will likely be a URA (Urban Renewal Authority) component to this,” he said. “Because of the city-owned parcels, that gives us an opportunity to allow some substantial increment to be generated once they’re developed. So that’s a good opportunity.”
The city-owned parcels targeted for development were acquired over 20 years ago and were reserved for a connection between Florida Road and Jenkins Ranch Road located above on a hill. But the feasibility of building out that connection remains in question and staff members noticed the opportunity to build more affordable and workforce housing on that land.
The Florida-Jenkins Ranch connection could possibly still be built someday, he said. The possible future connection is a “crucial aspect” of the proposed development and a request for qualifications posed to developers last year included the need for a developer to build the road through at least two of the city’s parcels.
“That was one of the main reasons that we were able to choose the developer that we did, because they had demonstrated the ability to put that road in and dedicate the right of way that we would need for a future connection,” he said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
