Sporting a bright orange hard hat and his signature sneaker-and-suit-jacket combo, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis joined local officials for a tour of a 22-unit workforce housing complex in Frisco on Wednesday, April 10.

Dubbed Granite Park, the project will bring nearly two dozen below-market-rate rental units to the Frisco community, with half the apartments reserved for Colorado Department of Transportation staff. Officials expect the complex, located near Frisco Main Street, could open this October.

A joint initiative between the town and CDOT, the development represents yet another effort on the part of local officials to deliver more affordable housing for essential workers.

Both groups are splitting the project’s roughly $12 million price tag and are also being aided by $1.5 million in state funding from the Innovative Housing Opportunities Incentive grant program.

“It takes a partnership, and the state is a partner in helping to make housing like Granite Park happen,” Polis said. “We’re very grateful that it helps accommodate the needs of Colorado Department of Transportation workers so that we have people that are able to operate snow plows on the highways and keep our roads safe on highways.”

Expanding affordable housing options has become a marquee policy goal for Polis, who launched an effort last year to pass a sprawling land-use reform package through the state legislature. The legislation would have mandated denser residential development in cities and towns across the state, but it divided lawmakers and local officials who felt it would have imposed a one-size-fits-all approach to housing, particularly in the High Country.

This session, state legislators are seeking to pass much of Polis’ housing agenda in chunks, with bills that would ban parking minimums, promote building accessory dwelling units and incentivize high-density development near transit centers. But this time around, rural resort communities are exempt, with most of the bills instead targeting populous cities along the Front Range.

Resort towns are, however, continuing to forge ahead with their own workforce housing proposals, with hundreds of units currently in development across Summit County. With a cost of housing that exceeds the state average, Polis said these efforts are critical to ensure workers like teachers, police officers and town staff can stay in their communities.

Half the units at Granite Park, for example, will be available to Frisco-based employees making between 80% and 100% of the area median income.

“We want to make sure that we can meet the housing needs of different communities across our state,” Polis said, adding that Granite Park is a “great example of a project that has really involved the community, is supported by the state and helps meet the local and state need.”

Frisco capital projects senior manager Addison Canino said the many hands involved in the Granite Park project shows “it takes a village.” Such collaboration, he added, will benefit the town community and beyond.

“I don’t think it’s any mystery to anybody who lives here, rents here or spends time here that good people are hard to find, and we want to keep good people in the county,” Canino said. “We do have a desperate housing need, and every jurisdiction is trying to tackle that in their own way.”

In Summit County alone, officials say they will need to bring online more than 2,500 affordable housing units within the next five years to meet the needs of working residents. That’s in addition to the hundreds of units already in development, according to a 2023 housing study.

David Fox, CDOT’s deputy program manager for property development, said the department will first open housing applications up to roughly 50 full-time employees who live within a 30-minute reporting area. With a mix of studio, one- and two-bedroom units, the development can support individuals and some families.

The department will then open units up to Colorado State Patrol and other state employees who could be eligible for a spot once one opens, Fox said.

“Even though this is a housing project, I would argue that it is a roadway project,” Fox said.

With the county’s heavy reliance on highway corridors for commercial transit and tourism, ensuring CDOT staff can have a fast response time to road issues is critical.

“Having people be able to live here, get to their work station, be able to get out on the road fast means they can do repairs, clear snow and provide a higher level of service,” Fox said. 

Published on SummitDaily.com.