"I have children, and I want them to be able to live here" as adults, county planning staffer Jason Meininger told county planning commissioners on July 7 as they started into the housing chapter (element) of an updated comprehensive plan.

"The housing affordability gap has grown, not shrunk," he said. "The efforts of the county over the last decade and a half haven't resulted in significant changes. This is an opportunity, if we so choose, to take a different approach to housing affordability."

Aside from supporting the Regional Housing Authority, the county hasn't done much to try to bridge the affordability gap, Meininger said. He cited the statistic in the housing section draft that the median home price in the county increased 63 percent since 2001, and 73 percent in Durango, while the median household income has only increased 48 percent.

Information about draft wording for the housing update and housing statistics was in the July 8 edition of the Times. Meininger noted the federal definition of affordable housing: that the renter or buyer is paying no more than 30 percent of monthly income on housing.

The comp plan draft lists more statistics from 2013 - that 46 percent of renters and 31 percent of buyers pay more than 30 percent. Meininger said the county's longtime land-use code requirement is for minimum 3-acre lots in rural areas. For smaller than three acres, there must be either central water or sewer. Any lots under one acre must have both of those.

Infrastructure and density are factors in affordability, Meininger said. "Three acre lots don't lend themselves to affordability, but that's the smallest you can have without central water or sewer. ... The smaller the lot, the less land you are paying for."

The key to affordability is smaller units on smaller lots, he said. A housing demand study released last summer by the RHA said the county needs at least 700 new housing units each year to meet demand, but only around 300 are being built. The study also predicts a demographic demand shift to smaller homes on smaller lots.

Along with retirees moving in, there are smaller families and one-person households, Meininger said. "The family structure isn't what it used to be," he said.

It doesn't make sense to build an 800 square foot home on a three acre lot, he continued and added that there should be consideration of options other than single family detached homes.

Distance from home to job is part of affordability, he said. Based on federal reimbursement rates for vehicle gas plus wear and tear, RHA estimates that it costs someone who lives in Forest Lakes and commutes to Durango five days a week around $440 per month on top of housing costs. "Drive 'til you qualify (for a mortgage) may not be the approach we want to take," Meininger said.

"We aren't suggesting just stacking people up, but through this element, we can create more housing options for people who work and live in the county or want to," he said.

County Planning Director Damian Peduto said housing is tied in with economic development. "Drawing in big industries that provide jobs, those people have to have a place to live," he said.

Planning Commissioner Geri Malandra commented, "This element states more strongly than other elements the merits of cluster development."

Planning commissioner Charly Minkler, who is a builder, cited the Colorado Association of Homebuilders in explaining that regulations can make up as much as 30 percent of a home's cost, "so it saddens me and distresses me that my own county contributes to that by adding regulation." He ticked off the list of permits he has to have to build a house for his daughter - driveway, mechanical, electrical, septic, well, plumbing.

He cited a pending requirement from the building department that house plans will have to be created by a building professional. "It will add significant cost. We've survived many years without that. Regulation does cost. Anything we can do to pare that down instead of adding to it should be encouraged," Minkler said.

Planning Commissioner Frank Lockwoon said, "The number of 46 percent of renters is pretty shocking. It made me feel really out of touch. ... We're falling behind by about 400 houses a year. That's an unsustainable economic trend. More focus on housing that's affordable is critically important."

Planning Commission Chair Jim Tencza added, "These statistics are shocking, that we're so far away from affordable housing for most of the people. ... How do we get to more infrastructure in the county (so lots can be smaller)? We've relied on the developer to put that in. I don't know that that will get us to affordable housing." He distinguished between affordable housing and low-income housing.

Audience member Dick Norton asserted that the city of Durango is part of the problem by creating a monopoly at Three Springs and refusing to allow city water for other nearby projects even if the developers offer to extend the water lines.

"Nobody (from the county) has said to the city, before we put any money into Wilson Gulch Road, you need to re-think that water policy," Norton said. He agreed with Minkler about the impact of regulations on housing costs.

RHA Director Karen Iverson said the county should simplify its planning process for land near Durango and Bayfield "where you will have the next phase of growth. If you could do one thing, that would be it."

She added, "We need a stoplight on the east side of Bayfield to open all that land for development."

Tencza responded, "All you have to do is convince CDOT to put that stoplight in."