Columbus Pacific Development’s vision for affordable housing on the nearly 30-acre Cline Dahle parcel may shift to focus on commuters and for-sale homes rather than leased apartments, depending on feedback from the Summit County Council.
The development firm, known for its work on the Slopeside Village employee housing project at Canyons Village, entered an exclusive negotiation agreement with the County Council in June to develop the parcel as a majority affordable housing community, which has since been dubbed The Settlement at Jeremy Ranch.
Developers in May pitched the deed-restricted project, outlining a plan to build 100 apartments with a mix of units between 0% to 150% of the AMI, or area median income — more than half of which would serve people making less than 80% AMI, which is $94,400 for an individual or $134,880 for a family of four — and 72 for-sale, single-family homes with two to four bedrooms.
However, Columbus Pacific Development partner Tony Tyler requested feedback from the County Council this week on whether more units should be for sale — and whom the neighborhood should be targeting as its future residents.
Tyler said it’s essential for the county to decide whether the Cline Dahle project should focus on commuters who work in Summit County but can’t afford to live in the area or on existing Summit County residents who are struggling with the rising cost of living.
People who commute to Summit County typically don’t earn as much money as Summit County residents, who tend to be more affluent and have a higher likelihood of passive revenue streams to bolster their finances. As a result, developers would need to lower the cost of affordable housing units to accommodate commuters’ income if the goal is to convert commuters into residents.
“The resident AMI is focused on people who live here, which is inordinately high because most people make their money outside the county,” Tyler explained. “The residents who are pulling the AMI up higher than what the workforce is currently showing, those jobs are not here to support that.”
The current Cline Dahle proposal has 38% of its units slated for sale, with 62% intended for long-term leases. If the County Council wanted to focus its efforts on commuters, Tyler suggested the development change its distribution of for-sale homes as well.
“We initially chose a lease-heavy configuration,” he said. “However, if you’re looking to attract workforce families that have three people in them, they’re not going to live in an 80% AMI one-bedroom apartment, which is what we proposed as part of our mix.”
Tyler recommended having 60% of units for sale and 40% for lease if the county prefers to attract commuters, saying there would still be a need for rentals for single individuals or young couples.
“We’ve done quite a few internal analyses on the economics associated with both, and there is some magic around the 60-40 split, one way or the other,” he said. “If I don’t mess with the really low end and I don’t mess with the really high end of the AMI mixes, then I can play with the middle between for sale and for lease, and it doesn’t have a material impact on (the project).”
Columbus Pacific had 12 units earmarked for 120% AMI and 10 units earmarked for 150% AMI, and Tyler suggested removing the deed restriction requirement for those units specifically. He claimed the change wouldn’t detract from the affordable housing aspect of the development because anyone able to afford those homes would likely prefer comparable options in Salt Lake County or Wasatch County.
Selling those homes for the same price with a deed restriction in Summit County would be difficult, according to Tyler.
“(Eliminating the requirement) increases the profitability of those homes, and it increases the ability for us to sell them at market rate, which in turn will likely allow us to lower the AMI restrictions on multiple other unit types,” he added.
Tyler requested that the County Council provide him with direction regarding the distribution of for-sale homes, removing the deed restrictions for the 120% and 150% AMI units and whether to target commuters or current residents.
He requested a response from the County Council by the end of the year in the hopes that the final development agreement would be approved in April, with a groundbreaking tentatively scheduled for August.