{"id":137404,"date":"2026-07-02T11:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T17:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/7th-street-affordable-housing-plans-draw-mixed-reactions-from-cortez-residents\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T15:18:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T21:18:19","slug":"7th-street-affordable-housing-plans-draw-mixed-reactions-from-cortez-residents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/7th-street-affordable-housing-plans-draw-mixed-reactions-from-cortez-residents\/","title":{"rendered":"7th Street affordable housing plans draw mixed reactions from Cortez residents"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The
The project developer, Evergreen Real Estate Group, will apply for low income housing tax credits from the state to finance the project which, so far, includes 24 one-bedroom units, 24 two-bedroom units, 12 three-bedroom units and 10 four-bedroom units alongside a clubhouse and common areas. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

While some residents invite expanded housing options in Cortez, others are concerned about the impact of housing on the city\u2019s green spaces.<\/p>\n

Those competing interests were apparent at an open house at the Cortez Recreation Center on June 30 where developer Evergreen Real Estate Group unveiled further plans for affordable housing units to be constructed at West Seventh and South Chestnut streets.<\/p>\n

The city plans for the 14-acre former site of Montezuma-Cortez High School to be divided between a housing development and a city park. There are disagreements about which amenity should receive more space.<\/p>\n

Some attendees were excited about the housing development, which would provide 70 units of one- to four-bedroom apartments to low- and middle-income individuals and families in Cortez\u2019s strained housing market.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are really crunched economically,\u201d Councilor Kathleen Swope said. \u201cWe as a small rural community really face that as everyone else (does), and it would be really nice to have some relief for people.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, others were not so pleased. The city originally planned for a park to account for 10.7 acres of the lot but has reduced that to 7 acres, reasoning in an April 2025 statement, \u201cbecause of a pressing need for housing, the plans have been adjusted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Justin Dennison, vice president of the Cortez Panthers Youth Football Board, said he attended the open house to ensure the future park space would not be further impacted by the housing development. The youth football program began practicing at the Seventh Street lot last year.<\/p>\n

\"The
The 7th Street lot, purchased from the Montezuma-Cortez School District in 2018, will support both a housing development and a park. Some community members arrived to the open house Tuesday to express discontent with the 3-acre reduction in park space to accommodate more housing. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe recognize that our community needs space to be,\u201d Dennison said. \u201cWe just want to make sure the kids have a place to grow up in the sports that they love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Luci Phelps, an attendee who lives across from the planned development, agreed with the park concerns, noting the disparity in open space between the north and south side of Main Street. The south side where the affordable housing development is planned has two pocket parks. On the north side of town, residents have access to numerous green spaces including Veteran\u2019s Park, Centennial Park and Parque de Vida.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t just keep adding people without adding space,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Parks and Recreation Director Creighton Wright said the city has no money allocated for the park portion of the lot, so while the affordable housing development is in the planning stages, the park\u2019s development can\u2019t yet be considered.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe intent is to continue to grow the park amenities over time. I know the other question is: \u2018What is the timeline?\u2019\u201d Wright said during the open house. \u201cThere is no timeline set at this point because it is all entirely based on funding. And we have no dedicated funding for the site at this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Preliminary plans for the housing development show 24 one-bedroom units, 24 two-bedroom units, 12 three-bedroom units and 10 four-bedroom units alongside a clubhouse and common areas. Potential renters would have reduced rent based on their income, which would need to be between 40% and 80% of the area median income. For instance, those qualifying for the one-person units would need to make between $27,280 to $54,560 per year.<\/p>\n

\"Evergreen
Evergreen Real Estate Group has developed affordable housing communities in Rifle and Denver and is working on one in Clifton. It proposes a 70-unit housing project for W. Seventh Street and S. Chestnut Street in Cortez. (Ann Marie Vanderveen\/The Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Development is also slated to open jobs in Cortez as the Grand Junction-based company Shaw Construction, which plans to build the units, will search for local workers.<\/p>\n

However, the development is still at least one year from construction. In August, developers will apply for low income housing tax credits to finance the project and will receive a verdict in November. If Colorado grants the project tax credits, construction would begin November 2027 with units beginning to lease in summer 2029.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really putting this project forth because we believe that it will be able to win tax credits,\u201d Evergreen Real Estate Group representative Javonni Butler said.<\/p>\n

He added that the credits are highly competitive and could get denied this year, requiring the developer to reapply next year.<\/p>\n

Andrew Yapp, a Cortez resident who arrived eight years ago, was excited about the development given his own difficult search for housing after landing a job in the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely things that have to be worked through, but overall, it\u2019s great to see that people are working together to alleviate that housing issue,\u201d Yapp said to the developers.<\/p>\n

The city and the development group will organize another open house for community input on the project in July, after assessing feedback from this round. The date is yet to be determined.<\/p>\n

avanderveen@the-journal.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Limited land and competing priorities prompt value questions about units, green space<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":137405,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,374,28,929,453,29,6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-137404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-economic-development","tag-headlines","tag-house-building","tag-housing-and-urban-planning","tag-newsletter","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"Website Administrator","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137404"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137404\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137782,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137404\/revisions\/137782"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137404"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=137404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}