On April 9, the Pagosa Springs Town Council approved allocating $55,000 from the town’s workforce housing account to support water and sewer tap fees for five homes presently under construction by the Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation (PSCDC).
PSCDC Executive Director Emily Lashbrooke identified a $150,000 shortfall in funding for tap fees for the homes in the Trails subdivision after the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) board denied tap fee waivers for the homes.
Lashbrooke explained that “getting the tap fees waived” would help to “unlock $675,000 in grant funds, because I can actually build affordably.”
She added, “If I don’t get my tap fees covered then I can’t draw on the grants and I cannot build for under 120 percent [area median income].”
According to the PSCDC’s website, “these homes are designed for households earning 80%–100% of Area Median Income (AMI). Often called the ‘missing middle,’ this includes many working families who earn too much to qualify for traditional subsidized housing but not enough to purchase market-rate homes in Pagosa Springs.”
Lashbrooke added that the county pitched in and allocated an additional $40,000 to help with the water and sewer tap fees for the homes.
She explained that, in total, the PSCDC would be about $5,000 short if the town allocated $50,000, which led council member Gary Williams to suggest that the town should allocate $55,000 instead of the amount being asked for.
Lashbrooke noted the new homes are “being drywalled this week.”
Council member Brooks Lindner noted that he fully supported the council stepping up “to fill that gap.”
“I fully support that we are able to do this for the CDC, because the CDC is making it happen,” Lindner said.
“We continued to build all winter and the houses are too far along for us to modify the financial plan, so we just have to cover these fees,” Lashbrooke said.
She added, “Moving forward, though, we are going to move to a modular product” that should lower the overall cost of building.
When a motion was made to approve and allocate $55,000 from the town’s workforce housing fund to help the PSCDC with water and sewer tap fees for homes presently under construction, it was seconded and approved unanimously by the council.
“I can’t tell you how much it means to have your support … we’ve worked really hard to unlock affordable and workforce housing in the community, and we’ve made great strides, but this really helps a lot, and I can’t thank you enough,” Lashbrooke said.
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