Snowmass November ballot takes shape

Seats for Town Council and mayor, and an $86 million affordable housing project, will be on the Snowmass Village ballot in November.

Election materials became available Tuesday, Aug. 6 for eligible residents interested in running for town council or mayoral seats. 

Meanwhile, council members debated the language for the Draw Site project ballot question and its financials during a Monday town council meeting. The cost analysis will go before the town’s financial advisory board Aug. 14 before council members formally approve the ballot language and send it to the Pitkin County clerk and recorder’s office.

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Snowmass Town Council first authorized the town to enter into an intergovernmental agreement with Pitkin County to add a Draw Site project ballot question to the Nov. 5 ballot in early July. A Snowmass ordinance requires voter approval for any single project that costs more than 40% of the town’s most recent general fund revenue (about $11 million in 2024).

Voter approval would keep the option open for the Draw Site, which is still going through a planned unit development (PUD) process. But it does not obligate the town to build it if extenuating circumstances arise.

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“Without this approval, it can’t go forward. With this approval, the opportunity remains open, but if construction prices double again or all of a sudden $3 million from the tourism funds can’t cover it, there’s no obligation to do anything because it wouldn’t be financially prudent,” said Town Manager Clint Kinney during the meeting. “This is not obligating the council to do anything not smart. What it does is it opens up the opportunity for the project to move forward.”

According to the most recent and comprehensive cost analysis, which Snowmass Housing Director Betsy Crum presented to town council Monday, the proposed 79-unit affordable housing project would cost $86 million. That estimate includes reconfiguring a portion of Kearns Road, water and sanitation hookups, and architecture and engineering for the building. It is $6 million more than previous estimates of $80 million. 

With increasing material and labor costs, Crum said it is “not an unexpected price.”

She estimates the town could cover $75 million of the cost with existing revenue without raising rents. Rents from the mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units would cover much of the $75 million. 

The town is also planning to use funds (about $3 million per year) that voters approved in 2022 to allocate for workforce housing projects, which come out of its tourism tax revenue. It would leave the town with about $11 million that Crum said could be made up with local, state, or federal grant funds or raising rents slightly if needed.

“I think the grant funds that are available from the state for housing are quite a bit, and I think they are really looking to do a project up here in the mountains,” she said. “They haven’t had a lot of success with workforce housing and affordable housing and financing it in the mountains.”

The town has not yet received grant funding for the project, but is anticipating applying for grants if the Draw Site is approved by voters. It applied for a Strong Communities Infrastructure Grant from the State Department of Local Affairs for the Draw Site in December, but was denied because the state was looking for more shovel-ready projects. The planning commission had not yet approved the preliminary phase of the project to go before town council at that point. 

Council members reviewed proposed ballot language for the Draw Site Monday night, but waited to approve it to be sent to the clerk and recorder before the financial advisory board could approve the cost analysis.

The town has until Sept. 6 to submit ballot language to the county. Some council members wanted to add more clarification about the project, but because the Draw Site is still going through a PUD process and the county limits the length of ballot questions, the town council agreed to work on education materials for voters to make an informed decision on the project.

For months, the Draw Site has gone through the town’s PUD process, requiring several stages of approval from the planning commission and town council. The current proposal is a two-tower building with underground parking and a shared outdoor space between the towers. The final step of the PUD has not gone before the town council yet, but council members and town staff want to wait on final approval of the project until the community votes on it.

Town council

Two Snowmass council seats, held by Fridstein and Alyssa Shenk, and the mayoral seat held by Bill Madsen, will also be on the November ballot in Snowmass. Election papers became available Tuesday.

The two council seats are four-year terms. Shenk, who first joined the town council in 2014 after she was appointed to fill Markey Butler’s seat, cannot run again for her seat. She was elected to a full four-year term in 2016 and re-elected in 2020.

Fridstein told the Snowmass Sun on Tuesday he planned to run for re-election but has not picked up his papers yet. He was first elected to the town council in 2020.

Madsen’s mayoral seat is a two-year term, and he plans to run for re-election as mayor, he said Tuesday. Madsen was first elected mayor in 2020 and re-elected in 2022. He served as a council member from 2014-2020. 

Election materials can be picked up at Snowmass Town Hall, at 130 Kearns Road. Those interested in running for mayor or town council must gather at least 10 valid signatures. Signatures must come from a person at least 18 years old who has been a resident of Snowmass for at least 22 days and is a registered elector in the town.

Signatures are due to Snowmass Town Clerk Megan Boucher on Monday, Aug. 26. She encourages anyone gathering signatures to get 15-20 just in case some signatures are found to be invalid. Nobody has picked up a packet as of early Tuesday afternoon, Boucher said.