Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2015-1208 VLHA Meeting MinutesMinutes Vail Local Housing Authority (VLHA) December 8, 2015 at 9:00 AM Evergreen Lodge, Vail, CO Attending the meeting were members: Scott Ashburn Craig Cohn Steve Lindstrom Mary McDougall Absent: James Wilkins Town staff attending the meeting: Kathleen Halloran Alan Nazzaro Nina Timm MPG staff attending the meeting: Allison Kent Dominic Mauriello Members of the business community attending: Mike Brumbaugh – Venture Sports Dave Chapin – Vendetta’s Jim Comerford – Subway & Qdoba Mike Glass – Alpine Bank Kevin Hopkins – VRDC Frank Johnson – Vail Mtn Lodge Rob Levine – Antlers at Vail Steve Lindstrom called the meeting to order at 9:05. Steve Lindstrom made a brief introduction about the goal of the meeting and that when people are speaking about employee housing they are talking about housing in Vail for workers essential to keep the resort going and this ranges from front-line employees to managers. Everyone went around the room and introduced themselves. Kevin Hopkins spoke about Vail Resorts’ announcement regarding their $30 million commitment to providing affordable housing in the communities where they have resorts. Vail Resorts Development Company (VRDC) is tasked with evaluating and recommending projects for funding. They are open to all proposals and methods of participating in development. It is not a grant fund, the developments must be viable. The money is not targeted to particular resorts. There was discussion that the perception is the money will not be spent in Vail. Dave Chapin spoke about thoughts and ideas the Vendetta’s staff sent him. Second homeowners and Vacation Rentals By Owners (VRBO) are impacting the rental market. Increase regulation on VRBO and short-term rental units. The Epic Pass has also contributed to Vail’s housing shortage. Employees need more affordable rents. Increase ECO bus service. Venture Sports owns and rents three units to its employees. Two are in Gypsum and one is in Avon. Mike Brumbaugh and his family also have employees living with them this winter. They buy bus passes for their employees. They have about 20 to 25 full-time, year-round employees and 20 to 25 full-time seasonal employees between all of their locations. Mike said affordable rents are of the most importance to his employees. He would financially participate to get more affordable rental units built if it ensured his employees’ access to the units, commensurate with his investment. He knows there are more business people like him who would also buy in to an affordable rental development. The units could be dorms plus amenities. There needs to be more bus service across the valley. Build more units – people need a roof over their head. Rob Levine spoke about the huge advantage the Antlers has because they are able to house 25% of their workforce on-site. He suggested that the Town should require more on-site employee housing with incentives, using the carrot and stick approach. As a matter of business they maintain their staff full-time, year-round. They would invest in more housing elsewhere in Eagle County, ideally not having to manage it. Not all of their employees want to live on-site or in Vail. The need is so great Vail could build rental or for-sale units – provide the most beds possible. There was consensus amongst the business folks in the room that they would rather pay people more money than have to manage employee housing units. They would also prefer to pay someone to manage housing than have to manage it themselves. There is concern that necessary wages are going to drive businesses under. There is only so much that can be charged for services and goods. New commercial development can not afford to pay for employee housing expenses. It does not make financial sense to construct new commercial space as it is. Developers should be allowed to sign rental guarantees or long-term master leases to fulfill their commercial linkage obligations. Craig Cohn had to leave the meeting for another commitment. Jim Comerford spoke about selling off businesses to avoid having to deal with the challenges of hiring and paying staff. He is currently subsidizing a manager’s commute to Summit County to manage his Subway there. The housing problem is worse in Summit County. Alpine Bank in Aspen owns five rental units that were required by Aspen’s housing regulations. They are very beneficial to the branches in Pitkin County. Locally, Alpine Bank pays a premium to work in the Vail branch. It also provides its employees bus passes or parking passes. Frank Johnson arrived. Mike Glass spoke about the financing hurdles for employee housing. Employee housing developments have to comply with standard underwriting criteria and can not be speculative. Kathleen Halloran arrived. The group talked about other development opportunities in Vail that could increase the amount of affordable housing. They recommended speaking with the whole community about the benefits of affordable housing in Vail. The group also talked about when and how the guest experience will begin to suffer due to a lack of affordable housing options in Vail. Frank Johnson spoke about the Vail Mountain Club having five on-site EHUs. Their challenge is parking spaces for employees. They lease parking spaces all over town for $1500 to $3000 per season. Parking is also a challenge for their guests. Frank believes it is seasonal employees and young managers, just getting started, who most need affordable housing in Vail. The group talked more about the need to focus on housing affordable to households earning $90,000 to $100,000 annually. Jim Comerford talked about his businesses having 60 employees in Eagle County. 95% of them live in affordable housing in Avon and Edwards, with almost 100% of them being renters. They rely heavily on bus service and he buys bus passes for them. Retail wages do not support paying $750 per employee per month in rent. Affordability is essential. When speaking about the design features of affordable housing the group thought on-site parking was less important in Vail than elsewhere in Eagle County. For-Sale housing needs to have more parking than rental housing. Alpine Bank has 8 to 10 employees in their Vail location and about one-half of them live in Vail. They do offer down payment assistance for managers and rental assistance for more employees. They need more housing assistance for front-line employees than managers. Almost one-half of Vendetta’s employees live in Vail. They tend to be seasonal employees (50 employees) and not have cars. Their full-time, year-round staff (8 people) tends to live down valley. They have provided down payment assistance as employees have requested help. Employees do complain about their over-crowded rental units in Vail. They also have employees that live in Middle Creek. Rob Levine left the meeting. At Vendetta’s they have had to raise their wages this season to keep key employees. Managers are making between $50,000 and $60,000 per year. There is concern that ever increasing wages will close businesses. Only so much expense can be off-set with higher prices. Higher prices increase guest expectations and great service has to be provided. It is extremely difficult to replace managers. The group agreed that the wages in Vail do not make sense to drive up-valley for a job if an employee can get an equal job down-valley they will take it. There was also consensus that with the right price point and housing product it may be possible to bring employees back to Vail. Affordability is essential. People have not been able to save down payments. There is also concern that there is no rental housing in Eagle and Gypsum. This is a valley wide problem. Mike Brumbaugh was confident he could raise at least $50M from small and mid-size businesses to get affordable rental housing built, as long as each business could get a guaranteed number of units for their investment. He posed the question: with multiple Master Leases, would banks fund loans to developers to get rental housing built? The demand is there from businesses to sign up for units. There being no further business the meeting adjourned at 10:50 AM. Respectfully Submitted, _____________________ Housing Staff INTRODUCED, READ, ADOPTED AND APPROVED this ______ day of ___________________, 2016.