Coal Bank and Molas passes on U.S. Highway 550 north of Durango will close for two periods during the morning and the evening on Friday as 18 pre-built housing units are delivered to Silverton.
The highway will close from 7 to 9 a.m. while nine prefabricated units can be delivered, and again from 3:15 to 5:15 p.m. for the renaming nine units, said Silverton Housing Authority Director Anne Chase.
The 18 units will provide residents in Silverton who make less than the town’s median income with affordable, energy-efficient housing ‒ something that is lacking in this high-elevation tourist town.
“The Housing Authority is developing nine new for sale units in the Anvil Mountain subdivision, which is a mixed income neighborhood,” Chase said. “We are so excited that it’s coming together.”
Chase said the houses will be open primarily to residents who make less than or equal to Silverton’s median income of $102,000 per four-person household per year. Chase said there are buyers interested in the houses that make anywhere between $30,000 to $110,000 per year. Three houses will be available at 80% of the area median income, five at 100% and one at 140%.
“The house at 140% AMI is above median income, and the price of that house is actually close to market rate, but it is helping subsidize the lower-income units,” Chase said.
The houses were built by Buena Vista-based modular home manufacturer Fading West. The ones heading to Silverton will be fully built apart from the roof, and will be comprised of two to three bedrooms, Chase said. They will be extremely well-insulated to suit Silverton’s cold climate, and will feature energy-efficient appliances.
The Silverton Housing Authority has been working with HomeFunds in Durango to provide buyer education classes, Chase said. Additionally, they have partnered with Purgatory Resort to stage the units in their parking lots so that all 18 can be moved in a day.
Silverton Chamber of Commerce Executive Director DeAnne Gallegos said the arrival of the houses will mark an important milestone in Silverton’s history, akin to when the first automobile drove over Stoney Pass in 1910.
“The fact that we have modern technology to build units off site and then for us to be having them shipped over two mountain passes is something that will be a time stamp for history,” Gallegos said.
Gallegos said Silverton has received praise for how it is working to become a more affordable mountain community. As more mountain towns in Colorado come to rely primarily on tourism to generate revenue, prices have gone up, pushing longtime locals out. Silverton’s Compass Project Master Plan outlined a way to ensure it remains an affordable place, with the 18 housing units being the latest step in that process.
“How do you protect and preserve working class young families with medium household incomes in these mountain communities where we’re seeing real estate prices skyrocket?” Gallegos said. “This is an actual, tangible solution.”
The houses must be lived in for eight months out of the year as the owner’s primary residence, a measure meant to address the high level of vacant and secondary homes in Silverton, Chase said.
A groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 4:30 p.m. Thursday on Martha Rose Street in Silverton ahead of the arrival of the units. Gallegos said none of this would be possible without Chase’s hard work.
“Sometimes, it takes one special person in the community to make these things happen,” Gallegos said. “Anne Chase is that person.”
The Silverton Housing Authority is accepting applications for the waitlist until Nov. 3. For more information on who can apply, visit silvertonhousingauthority.colorado.gov.
sedmondson@durangoherald.com
