At its April 9 meeting, the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) Board of Directors approved an exemption from the district’s affordable housing policy requirements for five homes constructed by the Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation (PSCDC) in 2024.
The board previously heard a presentation from PSCDC Executive Director Emily Lashbrooke about the homes at its March 12 meeting, which the district previously provided capital investment fee (CIF) waivers for but which were sold to persons whose income was above the 80 percent area median income (AMI) threshold for such waivers outlined in PAWSD’s affordable housing policy.
This interpretation of PAWSD’s affordable housing policy is debated by the PSCDC, with Lashbrooke claiming that she understood the policy to mean that any housing in the 80s in terms of percent of AMI could receive a waiver.
Following a sometimes heated discussion where PAWSD board members expressed frustration with the way information about the homes was presented to them and with how many pages of documents they were expected to read, the board tabled the issue to receive additional information from the PSCDC that would clarify the income levels of homeowners and which homes were sold to which owner.
The board also agreed, in general terms, that it would be willing to make an exception and grant waivers to these homes instead of working to claw back the funding even though it disagreed with the interpretation of the policy under which these homes, whose owners are all in the 80 to 90 percent range of AMI, would be covered.
At the April 9 meeting, PAWSD Programs Manager Renee Lewis explained that the board had an opportunity to review the deeds for each property and that she confirmed the owner listed on each deed was the owner listed on the Archuleta County assessor’s website.
She added that the district also received from Lashbrooke letters containing third-party verifications of the income of each homeowner, with those verifications completed by Jennifer Kermode of Kermode Consulting.
Lewis explained that, if the board was willing to accept Kermode as an approved third-party income verifier, the waivers would comply with the board’s policy.
However, she noted that the policy requires the board to approve any third-party income verifier that is not the Archuleta County Housing Authority.
PAWSD board member Glenn Walsh asked if authorizing Kermode as an income verifier would also involve accepting that the board is making an exception for the properties, which are over the 80 percent AMI threshold.
Lewis stated that this would be correct and, in a followup comment, added that the board could approve this in one motion or in two separate motions.
PAWSD board member Bill Hudson moved to accept Kermode’s income analysis and to grant the PSCDC the waivers previously offered in 2024.
PAWSD board chairman Gene Tautges asked if Hudson meant to only accept Kermode’s analysis on these properties or to approve her as a verifier for other projects in the future.
Hudson stated that he was only moving to approve her analysis in this specific case.
The board then voted unanimously to approve Kermode’s analysis and to grant the waivers.
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