2024-09P - Vogelaar Climate Smart Workforce Housing Plan

Colorado’s mountain and resort communities have become synonymous with out-of-reach housing costs and a housing supply constrained by land, labor shortages, high construction costs, and increasing commutes. The City would like to evaluate feasibility for the development of a walkable, energy-efficient workforce housing project on the Vogelaar property, adjacent to the historic downtown. This planning project will advance climate-smart, infill development of workforce housing units at Vogelaar to address the affordable housing shortage and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The City was awarded an Economic Impact Area Fund (EIAF) More Housing Now Grant by the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) to complete this work. This project builds off a previous planning effort to address long-term redevelopment planning needs for a large area at the confluence of the Colorado and Roaring Fork Rivers.

A map of the area is included with this RFP.  Our interactive map is available on our website and will give you a good idea of what is close https://maps.cogs.us/portal/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=653f927feb2448c0818f06263529ebc4   Please know that the area where the Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers come together is known as the confluence, and is undeveloped.  It is unclear whether our Council will make a decision whether to build on the Vogelaar site individually or consider the entire confluence area before making a decision.  So that area is relevant to this project and can be considered in outreach efforts.  We plan to do a comprehensive plan for the area within the next 24 months or so.

Please note that the City of Glenwood Springs owns the Vogelaar property and will be the sole award authority.  However, we enjoy cooperative relationships with other major employers in the City.  These organizations are stakeholders in anything related to local workforce housing and the City will want to understand their potential needs and opinions that may be addressed in this engagement.  As a result, we will share this RFP with them, invite them to the pre-proposal meeting, distribute qualified responses to them and invite their input on selection and scope.  Up to five other employers may sit in on our remote interviews.  These are other governmental entities (or quasi) with a substantial number of local employees. We will disclose the names of participating entities at the pre-proposal meeting.