Residents near the park said they support affordable housing but that there were numerous reasons why the school district’s early talks to develop affordable housing was not acceptable.
The Steamboat Springs Board of Education says it cannot continue to sit on land the district owns that is functionally part of Whistler Park, saying they will either develop the property for teacher housing or sell it for fair market value and build elsewhere.
In a packed school board meeting on Monday, residents near Whistler Park showed up in force to decry any plan to build on the land, grasping to a wide range of issues that they say make the housing incompatible in that location. Whistler residents, who nearly all raised their hands when the question was asked of who owns their home, said they did support affordable housing, despite being at the meeting to oppose a potential affordable housing solution.
“This is happening right now and we can’t afford to just sit around and wait for somebody else to solve it,” said school board President Katy Lee of the district’s housing and hiring issues. “I had a lot of hope for Brown Ranch. The fact that that didn’t go through really upped my level of anxiety for providing housing for our teachers.”
Lee said the board has a duty to manage the district’s assets in a fiscally responsible way and that it was no longer fiscally responsible for them to let the parcel sit while the district struggles to hire and retain teachers. The concern grows in the coming years as roughly 20% of the district’s teachers could retire within five years and 42% of teachers say they may need to leave the district due to a lack of affordable housing.
The district currently has a memorandum of understanding with the city to use the land as park space that requires 90 days’ notice if the district planned to end that use.
“I’m hearing that people support teachers. I’m hearing that people support affordable housing,” said School Board Member Lara Craig. “And yet, when we have a place to do it, to develop it, I’m hearing please don’t do it here.”
Some residents who spoke in public comment listed a variety of reasons for why the school district shouldn’t pursue housing on the land. Routt County Commissioner Sonja Macys, who said she was speaking for herself and her husband, said she was at the meeting to be a YIMBY, before speaking in opposition to building housing at Whistler Park.
“I am actually here to be a YIMBY, which is a yes in my backyard, just not in this location,” Macys said, saying she had alternatives. “While I applaud the efforts to provide for employees, I’d ask that it not be done at the expense of the public as a whole.”
Macys said the city should use money from its accommodations tax to buy the park from the school district.
Whistler neighbors told the board the only acceptable option to them on Monday was if the board swapped land with the city of Steamboat Springs to maintain the park, an option that Superintendent Celine Wicks has recommended against because no equal swap has been proposed.
Some whistler neighbors pushed for the district to swap the Whistler Park land for land that is currently a different city park called Memorial Park in Old Town. The city giving up land that is already designated a park would require a citywide public vote.
Residents also suggested the district build on land it owns near Steamboat Springs High School, land the district has deemed unbuildable. Another parcel identified is one near Sleeping Giant School, though this is not in the city limits and it would costly to build utility access.
“I’m for affordable housing, just that’s the wrong location,” said Debbie Spiker, who lives near Whistler Park, mentioning increased traffic to the area teacher housing would bring. “Teachers are very social right? They want to go out to dinner and out to party out downtown. All the entertainment is downtown — again more cars coming from Whistler Park and Whistler Road area which is a two-lane road that cannot be expanded, so you are creating a nightmare.”
Other residents pointed to the city’s identified lack of park space in the Whistler Neighborhood and the fact that many residents live in condo’s and do not have a backyard. Some residents spoke of the mental and physical health impacts losing the park space would have, while others said losing the open space would have significant impacts on Elk and Sandhill Cranes, among other wildlife.
“There are major reasons why housing in Whistler Park will not be successful,” said Carol Kemp, a resident who created a handout to share at the meeting arguing to save Whistler Park. “To build on the property you must forcibly take people’s homes.”
Kemp said that statement applies to houses on Park Court and is based on verbal conversations with a civil engineer in 2019 when the site was being considered for a school. The Yampa Valley Bugle asked Kemp for a report from this engineer, but was told the engineer did not provide a written report. The district never proposed removing houses for the school proposal.
Steamboat Springs Public Works Director Jon Snyder said there was right of way already conveyed for Park Court to be extended to access the school district's parcel.
“It’s tough to tell before there’s even plans drawn up, but I have a difficult time believing anybody’s home has to be demolished,” Snyder said.
Kindra Stanfill, a teacher at Steamboat Springs Middle School, said she and her husband own a one bedroom one bath condo in Walton Village Apartments. With one child and a dog, Stanfill said they are trying to sell that place and move into something bigger.
“I could be in a lot of places, but I’m here because I want to grow my family here,” Stanfill said. “We’re talking about not having another kid because we can’t get in to a bigger place. So I ask you right now, where should teachers live?”
The meeting almost entirely cleared out after public comment, despite the board having not finished its discussion about its next steps with the Whistler property.
The board agreed to continue working to explore plans for the property using a technical assistance grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. Craig reiterated that the board is open to other ideas, including for land swaps, but that nothing viable has been presented to the board at this point.
“If somebody comes forward and is interested, we would be open to hearing and exploring the options there,” Craig said.
Top Photo Caption: The Steamboat Springs Board of Education listens to public comment about the potential to build teacher housing at Whistler Park on Monday, Aug. 16. (Dylan Anderson/The Yampa Valley Bugle)