After the 2013 flood, various kinds of affordable housing became available
The Great Flood of 2013 destroyed most of two trailer parks and several houses. Lyons lost about 76 to 94 homes in the 2013 flood. Many of the families whose homes were destroyed could not find affordable housing in Lyons. Many moved to Longmont, and as far away as Raton, New Mexico.
People feared that the town’s desirable social mix of resident incomes and ages was being lost. This included problems for store workers, teachers, retiring seniors, and more who had to commute from miles away to enjoy the home-town feeling offered in Lyons.
===AFFORDABLE HOUSING===
From 2013 to 2022, the Town Administrator, mayors, and commissioners began working on a vision for Lyons that would bring affordable housing to the town. They worked with a few possible solutions.
(1) One was the now completed Habitat for Humanity of the St. Vrain Valley duplexes near Railroad and Second Avenues, beginning in April 2019. They are located at 112, 114, and 116 Park Street. It consisted of three duplexes (a total of six, for-sale homes) on six residential lots. As is the custom, the prospective new homeowners (and local residents) assisted as volunteers in building the houses.
(2) Another was working on expanding the definition of approved “accessory dwelling units” (like converting garages into apartments). Homeowners who want to build detached ADUs, also known as carriage houses or mother-in-law apartments on single-family-home residential (R-1) lots in the Town of Lyons now save up to $20,000-$40,000 in utility connection fees after the Board of Trustees changed town code in December 2016 to allow even detached ADUs in separate buildings to share the utilities with the main house. (There is a long formal process that Homeowners have to complete). The Board allows for these types of units to be leased, and not for short-term vacation rentals. In January of 2019, five members of the Board of Trustees approved allowing tiny homes on wheels RVs, in addition to modular homes and stick-built homes, as detached ADUs. (See Town Hall for more details)
(3) The biggest development was with Summit Housing.
The bigger mission was to develop a group of affordable places for low- and moderate-income individuals to live. Initially, back In March 2015, a proposal for using part of Bohn Park to build subsidized, affordable Boulder County Housing Authority rentals and some Habitat for Humanity for-sale affordable homes (a total of 50-70 homes) was rejected in a town vote, 614 to 498. However, $4 million of federal Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery funds were still set aside for affordable housing in Lyons, and the State Housing Board voted in February to approve Summit Housing Group’s application.
After many hurtles, the Town was able to settle with Summit the place and size of the development. The final design offers a total of 40 units: 24 two- and three-bedroom single family homes and four multi-family buildings, each with four two-bedroom apartments. It was agreed that those people affected by the flood would have priority in leasing the homes. The households would need to have incomes at 60 percent or less of the area median income.
NOTE:
The above paragraphs were based on a Lyons Recorder article published in August 2022, but they have been augmented with a lot of additional facts, mainly regarding Affordable Housing decisions. === Click the link to read the details of the August 1st groundbreaking, the officials present, and the government funds that supported the development: Link to GROUND BREAKING and PHOTOS
Over approximately the past decade, Amy Reinholds wrote articles for the Lyons Recorder and Redstone Review detailing decisions made on Affordable Housing in both the Town of Lyons, and the State of Colorado. Also, LaVern Johnson was a big advocate for it, and was deeply disappointed when the Bohn property development was rejected by voters. Both are no longer here to keep us informed (Amy moving out of state, and LaVern passing away), but the Town has shown signs of deep-thinking and active concern for the need of affordable housing, carrying on the spirit of the two ladies in making it happen.
The first townhomes were leased at the end of the summer 2023, and the complex had an Open House during the 10 Year Anniversary of the 2013 Flood on Sunday, September 10th.
