Introduction: The Town of Estes Park (TOEP) understands that workforce housing is necessary to sustain a stable, year-round local economy. At the same time, the gap between income levels for local workers and free market home prices and rents in the Estes Valley continues to widen. The situation makes it increasingly difficult for many local workers to afford to live in the Estes Valley. We believe that planning for the development of workforce housing is necessary to divert the loss of such housing in the free market, as well as the loss of local workers who are unable to afford housing in the Estes Valley. For these reasons, the Town is interested in partnering with a developer to construct workforce housing on a Town-owned piece of property known as the “Fish Hatchery Property.”
It is important that any workforce housing proposed addresses current needs as well as workforce housing needs into the foreseeable future. The ideal workforce housing proposal should address: respect for the environment, compatibility with the existing neighborhood, transportation impacts, site-specific considerations, and impacts on public resources. The workforce housing project will also need to be sensitive to the historical nature of the site and the Estes Park area community. The criteria established in this request for proposals (RFP) document shall be used to guide the development of proposals for development of new workforce housing utilizing the Fish Hatchery property.
