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Buena Vista updates Prop 123 progress; seeks regional MOU and readies housing action plan
Summary
Planning director said Buena Vista is close to meeting its Prop 123 commitment of roughly 26 affordable units and is pursuing a regional MOU, a housing needs assessment and an action plan; town secured DOLA grants and adopted an expedited review ordinance to maintain eligibility for state housing funds.
Mauryah Cawn, the town’s planning director, told the Board of Trustees on June 23 that Buena Vista has committed to a 9% affordable housing growth rate under Colorado’s Prop 123 — about 26 units — and is “about eight units off at this point.”
Cawn traced progress since her arrival in January 2025, saying the town received a DOLA planning capacity grant of $144,000 plus an additional $50,000 incentive after adopting an expedited review ordinance in November 2025. “That grant was to help us modernize our development review process, do a code audit ... prepare a rural resort petition, and then implement digital permitting software,” she said, adding that the town selected GovPilot for development review and anticipates launching the software next month.
Cawn said Root Policy Research was retained to prepare a countywide housing needs assessment; the consultant and local outreach have produced more than 800 countywide survey responses and targeted focus groups with teachers and local employers. The assessment will inform a local housing action plan the town must complete by the end of 2028, she said.
The planning director described a DOLA‑recommended regional approach for meeting Prop 123 counts: municipalities in Chaffee County can agree by memorandum of understanding (MOU) to shift counts among jurisdictions so surplus units in one place can be credited to another. “If we could work with Chaffee County … they would then shift the count of those units to our commitment,” Cawn said, noting Poncha Springs has already met its allocation and Salida is close.
Cawn also explained the rural resort petition, which would allow the town to adjust area AMI thresholds so some existing rental units — notably the Midland Apartments — could qualify as affordable under Prop 123. She cautioned that a petition would not immediately create new units: “It wouldn’t actually immediately create more housing,” she said, but could make more units eligible for funding by changing the AMI benchmark.
Board members asked what tools remain if the town falls short of its target. Cawn said the town’s principal tools are expedited review, use of town water allocation policy to prioritize affordable housing, and partnering with developers or housing agencies; DOLA also accepts a “good faith effort” if a jurisdiction can show it tried but fell short.
Cawn said timelines include an internal draft of the housing needs assessment in August 2026 and public presentations in fall 2026; an executed interjurisdictional MOU would need to be submitted to Prop 123 by Nov. 1, 2026 if the town pursues the regional path.
The board did not take formal action on any single housing program at the meeting, but Cawn said staff will return with more detail on an MOU and the housing action plan as the consultant work progresses.
