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Open Space staff say agricultural worker housing demand likely to grow; some properties under review for disposal
Summary
OSMP staff told trustees they currently meet demand for agricultural-worker housing but expect demand to grow as older tenant-owners retire; staff said some residential properties in the OSMP portfolio may be declared surplus and sold after normal disposal process.
Open Space and Mountain Parks staff told the Board of Trustees on Jan. 15 that the department currently meets demand for on-site agricultural worker housing but expects demand to rise as current tenant-owners retire.
Lauren Kolb, an OSMP staff member, said the department’s existing housing inventory includes homes that tenants currently own, and as those tenants retire the next generation of farm tenants will be less likely to own housing and more likely to need housing on OSMP properties. “We anticipate demand increasing,” Kolb said.
Kolb said the department has both housing it could repair for tenant use and market‑rate residences that could be converted to housing specifically for agricultural workers. She also noted Boulder County has a separate leasing program and housing portfolio, and the two agencies may collaborate on solutions.
Board members raised questions about details in the written guidance. Trustee (unnamed) asked whether OSMP would seek to build new housing versus repairing existing units. Kolb said the department is not primarily a housing developer but will consider fixing units it already owns and converting existing market‑rate rentals where feasible.
On disposal and sales, OSMP staff said some residences do not match open‑space charter purposes and could be proposed for sale; any sale would follow the city’s regular disposal process and would require review by the board and city council. “They would have to go through disposal,” OSMP staff said.
Staff also clarified an income-qualification approach in the guidelines for farm-worker housing: for workers whose income is exclusively from farm work on OSMP properties, OSMP will not require income verification; if a household has other income sources, the department would require the household to meet standard affordable‑housing income requirements.
Trustee Heather Swanson (stated name in the meeting) and other trustees asked about the RFP timeline for farmstead leases. Staff said the detailed RFP was posted Jan. 15, with a mandatory site visit planned for Jan. 27 and the selection process scheduled to close in mid‑February.
