Neighborhood meeting held on proposed Stanley Circle development

About 20 Stanley Circle neighbors met Thursday evening with representatives from the Estes Park Housing Authority and the Town of Estes Park for a presentation and discussion about plans to develop a parcel of land at 179 Stanley Circle Dr. for workforce housing for employees of the Town.

The .76-acre triangle shaped lot, which has been owned by the Town since 1999, could be developed to accommodate between 12 to 16 units of housing. The lot sits across the street from the back of the Holiday Inn and is adjacent to a strip of land that has high powered overhead utility lines and to a small condominium complex.

For the development plans to move forward, the property would need to be rezoned to multifamily, and a portion of right-of-way would need to be vacated.

The Town has asked the EPHA to serve as the developer for the property. Although the Town and the EPHA work together on many housing needs, they are two distinct entities.

What the development might look like

Steve Lane, the president and principal architect at BAS1S Architecture, presented three conceptual drawings of what could be built on the property.

One design showed 12 units, one design would feature 15 units with a courtyard, and one design would include 16 units with tuck under garages. The units could be either rental units or may be available for sale with a restricted covenant that would limit the sale of the units to people who either work for the Town or who are employed at least 30 hours per week in Estes Park

Currently there is a one-bedroom 2,024 square foot house on the land that was built in 1938. According to Jason Damweber, deputy town administrator, the building is used by the Town as a “duty house” for employees who need temporary or emergency housing due to weather or work-related issues.

The development plans would involve scraping the 86-year-old house in order to build modern, multifamily housing.

In April 2023, a survey of Town employees determined that there was a need for a variety of housing options for staff including transitional housing for new recruits, short- and long-term rental options, and homeownership opportunities.

Concerns and support for the project

Concerns raised by some residents of the Stanely Circle neighborhood included increased population density in the area, additional traffic on to Stanley Circle Drive and Stanley Avenue, and the height of the new buildings.

One nearby homeowner, Chris Douglas, asked how the development might impact the valuation of her property. “What does this do for my property? Does this knock my price down? Should I decide to sell in five years from now? What does it do to me?”

Scott Moulton, executive director of the EPHA responded by saying there are a number of national and local studies “that point to housings positively impact on attainable, affordable housings positive impact on neighboring land values.”

Another person attending the meeting asked about the potential costs for the development. Damweber said considering current building costs, the development might run between $5 million to $6 million dollars.

Geoff Clark, who lives at 128 Stanley Circle and works for the Town’s Water Division as a utility field specialist, spoke up in support of the development. “What I’ve seen since I’ve been working with water department for a year and a half now is that all these water operators are having to move farther and farther away from Estes.”

Clark said emergency response times have increased because many workers have to commute to Estes from communities outside the Estes Valley because they cannot afford to live in the area. “The thing that concerns me, from a utility point of view, is that our response times are going up when there’s emergency. If we have power outages, it takes longer for people to get here,” said Clark.

Clark told the people at the meeting that he knows several coworkers who would jump at the chance to live in town if there were workforce housing options. “I want to make sure that there’s a voice and that people understand that there’s a strong justification and need for this in our community.”

A week ago, during a water leak there were only two or three workers who were locally available to respond, said Clark. It then falls to people who live locally to respond to emergencies which stretches utility workers thin.

Richard Ralph who lives on Parkview Lane off the Stanley Circle Drive loop raised many issues of concern with the project including parking, safety, increased traffic, the height of the buildings that will be constructed, and how the development fits into the character of the existing neighborhood. “What they’re saying is there really no stopping them,” said Ralph. “There’s no stopping this and if you look in the comprehensive plan, there is no target to stop this. This is a process, not a project.”

Developer Mike Kingswood, owner of Kingwood Homes, asked why this project is being developed by the Town.

“Has there been any discussion about why we feel like a governmental agency needs to be doing this and not private development?” Kingswood said.

Providing some historical context, Kingswood said, “You guys are buying up lots and lots of land so that there will be a governmental agency owning a lot of housing in Estes Park without consideration to allow for private development, which was a comment 10 years ago that somebody asked me, ‘What can the town do to help with this housing issue?’ And I answered, ‘You need more density.’ But at that time, they wanted to look at how can we support private development to accomplish that, as opposed to our government owning everything.”

Moulton responded “we are not shutting the door by any stretch of imagination, to private developers. We know they also need to play a significant role in this and will be part of the housing solution.”

Comments from the meeting will be taken into consideration by the planners as the next steps are taken said Moulton.