Plans are in the talking and working stage for what could be the building of around 2,300 affordable housing units that will belong to the City of Steamboat Springs, Colorado.
Officials with the Yampa Valley Housing Authority, which oversees public housing in the city, are currently studying ideas that could see the construction of not only those residential units, but also a community gathering place, doctor’s office, and grocery store at the same site.
Plans additionally call for the building of a connection to the biking and walking trail officially called the Yampa River Core Trail.
The site in question is made up of some 535 acres on the west side of the city that was formerly owned by a private party and subsequently donated to the housing authority.
City officials have been engaged in a series of public input meetings regarding the property and its future, putting together a development planning team headed up by the design and planning firm Mithun, which is based in Seattle.
The next step in the process will see the Steamboat Springs City Council taking up a resolution to annex the property, currently located in unincorporated Routt County.
If that process proceeds as planned, work could begin on the project sometime in 2024, with a rough two-year completion date.
Like many other cities in Colorado, Steamboat Springs has been seeing double-digit housing cost increases in recent years, with the average one-bedroom apartment now going for around $1,400 a month, and the median price of a home as of late last year at around $590,000.
By Garry Boulard
