Consultants: keep Basalt's inclusionary housing floor but clarify mixed‑use calculations; consider higher commercial linkage
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Summary
Economic & Planning Systems advised maintaining Basalt’s residential inclusionary set‑aside (20% units / 25% floor area) while clarifying mixed‑use calculations and considering a commercial linkage increase from 15% to about 30%; commissioners asked staff for more pipeline data and suggested lowering small‑project exemptions.
Economic & Planning Systems principal Brian Dufney and associate Avery Weiss reviewed how Basalt’s inclusionary housing ordinance (IHO) and commercial linkage (impact fee) work and compared mitigation rates across peer mountain communities.
Dufney explained that inclusionary zoning (IHO) is enacted through zoning and typically requires developers to set aside a percentage of units or floor area, while linkage is a fee‑based mitigation (an impact/exaction) that requires a nexus study to establish proportionality. Weiss walked the commission through case studies showing that, because of the different math behind linkages and IHOs, a linkage program can yield fewer units than an IHO in some scenarios even at a high mitigation rate.
Consultants recommended maintaining Basalt’s residential IHO minimums (20% of units or 25% of residential square footage) but reconsidering the code exemption that excludes very small projects (currently 3,000 square feet or less for projects of three units or fewer) — the consultants suggested lowering that threshold (staff discussion targeted 2,500 sq ft). They also recommended clarifying the town’s mixed‑use approach so residential square footage is treated with IHO rules and commercial square footage with linkage rules rather than taking the higher of the two calculations.
On commercial mitigation, EPS noted Basalt’s current linkage rate (15%) sits low compared with many peer communities and proposed considering an increase toward 30% for commercial development only; commissioners were split on how aggressive to be, citing Basalt’s non‑resort market and a small local commercial pipeline. Staff told the commission that approved but unbuilt commercial product in town is effectively zero (except for a building under construction), which limits near‑term yield from linkage fee increases.
Commissioners asked EPS and staff to return with additional analysis on likely unit yields, vacancy and commercial pipeline data, and the practical impact of lowering the small‑project exemption. The commission generally agreed to maintain the IHO minimums as a floor and to consider making commercial linkage more aggressive in future policy work.
Next steps: staff to collect additional pipeline and vacancy data, model yield scenarios, and present draft code edits for exemption thresholds and mixed‑use calculations for commission review.
