Lafayette City Council members Tuesday night approved a $3.5 million land deal with Flatirons Community Church in an effort to usher in a large-scale affordable housing project.
The contract, which allows the city to acquire roughly 24 acres of the church-owned property, could yield up to 500 permanently-affordable homes near the intersection of 120th Street and East Emma Street, according to the proposal.
With the Emma Street proposal, and two proposed developments still in the works, officials said, approximately 20 percent of Lafayette’s 11,343 dwelling units would be identified as affordable or attainable, according to Boulder County officials.
“I look at it as a big legacy for this council,” Lafayette Mayor Christine Berg said Tuesday night. “It’s very exciting to move forward on one of the most significant affordable housing parcels that the city has ever seen.
“This is huge opportunity for us,” she added, “and we have to do it now because the timing is right for us to make this decision.”
Any specific site plans or traffic studies for how such a large-scale project could impact the surrounding area have yet to be created, however, officials indicated last week. Berg suggested on Tuesday that the project’s more complex details will begin to materialize long after the current City Council’s term ends.
The deal was announced on Friday, and the quick turnaround between the official unveiling and Tuesday’s vote has brought at least some locals pause.
“(We don’t) have answers to basic, key questions about what this development will be like and how it will impact our city,” resident Vicky Uhland told council members Tuesday night. “Has anyone looked at how the traffic from 500 new homes will impact Old Town and the neighborhoods along South Public?
“What kind of dwellings will be built? Will they be rental or for sale? How big will they be?”
The church purchased the property in 2001, and originally tried to move its location there when looking for a larger space.
The initial purchase price will be fronted by Boulder County Housing Authority, Lafayette spokeswoman Debbie Wilmot said Friday. Lafayette will pay it back out of the city’s newly-formed affordable housing development fee.
That procedure was approved by the city last year, allowing it to collect $0.30 per square foot on all new residential development.
The payback could stretch over the course of two decades, City Manager Gary Klaphake suggested Tuesday, if not even longer.
The city will begin to pay back Boulder County at increments of $100,000 per year, he added, and eventually try to ramp up to about $200,000 per year as the fee begins to collect more money.
Families who qualify for the as-of-yet unnamed Lafayette project would pay no more than 30 percent of the household’s income, officials said, and well below market rate.
“You are making history tonight,” Berg told fellow council members following the vote.
Anthony Hahn: 303-473-1422, hahna@dailycamera.com or twitter.com/_anthonyhahn
