Hard-working families being driven out because of county commissioners' policies
Tara Parks
Two months ago a new son was born to a young couple at El Vado, the former hotel part way up Boulder Canyon we purchased in 1992. The proud parents carried their newborn home to their uninsulated apartment with single pane windows and 6'-8 high ceilings (well below the Uniform Building Code's 7'-6 minimum). The parents moved to El Vado to be able to save for a down payment in the hopes of some day purchasing a home in Boulder County. Since their arrival they have married, become parents and saved for a down payment but the cost of housing has been rising so quickly that they have not been able to move out of El Vado.
In 1996, in support of our proposed renovations for El Vado, one of our tenants (an emigrant from the former Czech Republic and now a new citizen) testified that, upon arrival in Boulder, he had searched more than 200 properties to find an apartment which would allow for himself, his wife and their two small dogs. A one bedroom at El Vado was the only apartment he could find that was also within his budget. He asked the county commissioners to approve the renovations.
During the hearing, we presented written support of the Boulder County Housing Authority and the support of the county flood engineer. Several neighbors and other tenants spoke in favor of our proposal. Even Commissioner Paul Danish stated, during the hearing, that "(he couldn't) imagine why anyone would vote against this proposal because it serves only to better the lives of the residents of El Vado and harms no one." Commissioner Danish then demanded that the board, at a later meeting, find a way to change the regulations to allow for a proposal like ours to be approved.
In the fall of 1997, the commissioners did vote to change the rules, but they also voted to redefine the term "affordable." I believe that the housing authority supported our original proposal because our rents were (and are today) so low. We could almost double our rents and still meet HUD's definition of affordability. However, the county's new rule does not, as HUD and every other planning jurisdiction that I am aware of does, compare the rental amount to a percentage of Average Median Income (AMI). Instead, by definition, it is applied only to property that an owner has agreed to permanently deed restrict as "affordable housing under the adopted standards of the Board of County Commissioners" — a moving target with an unknown and unknowable resting place. By way of explanation, the commissioners indicated that their criteria for judging affordable housing were more accurate than those of the Boulder County Housing Authority, without ever stating specifically what those criteria would be.
In fact, affordable housing has existed at El Vado for many years, and continues to exist today. The only effect the commissioners' decision has had is to condemn our present and future tenants to live in substandard housing, despite our best efforts to improve the situation for them.
Too many politicians who say they are "Democrats" have abandoned the principles of the Democratic Party. Unfortunately, in our humble opinion, two of our three commissioners seem to be no exception. Because we believe this and continue to say so publicly, Commissioner Mendez has dismissed us as "venomous." Well, we are both Democrats, and we cannot sit idly by to see people like our tenants at El Vado — small, hard-working families — be driven out of Boulder County by their policies.
In fact, we continued to give Commissioners Stewart and Mendez the benefits of the doubt until daycare was removed as a use by right within the mountainous areas of their Boulder County jurisdiction. Is the care of children, in concert, so sinister that they must zone it forever out of existence? What possible benefit to the residents of Boulder County can come from making responsible daycare even harder to find in the mountains (if you outlaw daycare, only outlaws will run daycare centers)?
We are fortunate to live in one of the most beautiful, affluent and well educated communities in the world, yet our elected "democrats" have decreed that newborn babies go home to non-code compliant homes, that small children in groups cannot be taught or cared for and that multi-family housing (i.e., "affordable housing") should cease to exist in Boulder County's mountains. Our own experiences illustrate that, although Commissioners Stewart and Mendez continue to say publicly that they support children and families, they are consistently voting to make it more difficult, if not impossible, for them to live where we do _even in places where they have existed since 1930 and before.
Yes, we have grown very discouraged, as Democrats, with Boulder County's heartless public policies. Haven't you?
(Tara Parks and her husband own El Vado.)
July 17, 1999
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