Introduction
My name is Tom Gorman and I have personal and professional life that speaks to the Fruita Mews specifically, and in the larger context, some distinctions among terms such as: “housing”, “home”, “neighborhood”.
The majority of my adult working life was in a Colorado brand-named resort town. My experience included time on the Eagle County Affordable Housing Committee as representative of an employer which also included Directors of municipal and county housing programs and reps from the lending, real estate sales, mortgage industries.
What follows are personal perspectives/observations based on posted Meeting Minutes of Fruita Town Council and the Fruita Housing Authority, which are one and the same by self-declaration; also according to documents of record on the Community Development page as of 09/04/23.
Key points:
Fruita Mews is a financial instrument. The developer’s professed expertise and practice is as a broker of financial instruments.
The “Housing” designation is the abstract of Fruita Mews. The physical manifestation of constructing homes for people is not the purpose – it could be a car wash if car washes offered tax avoidance.
There will be additional value-added-to-investors tax advantages as the project loses money. There won’t be any capital calls from invisible investors so losses will be covered by the City.
The custom-and-practice resource, where the detail of every development is posted on the City’s Community Development link, is void of meaningful information.
Construction has begun: on what? The only legally binding documentation is Plat recording of the site. What is to be constructed versus what has been represented or hinted is substantial and starkly contrary to stated purpose of homes. The typical renderings, designs, infrastructure, and landscaping details are not there. No approved plans of any sort.
The above demands explanation.
To facilitate this project, the City Council additionally down-zoned 7.62a parcel of land of previously re-zoned from Ag-to-residential.
The down-zoning allowed 7-8 Dwelling units per acre, increasing density to some 50+ Dwelling units. Mews is represented as fulfilling this.
This is not at all what is being constructed. The Plat indicates the building footprints. The buildings – the 50 ‘Dwelling units’ are bunched onto less than 1 acre – .85 – making the down-zoning effect, build-out density, that of a ghetto, or “Pocket Neighborhood”.
There is no reference to residents or residences. All conversation centers on access to capital to build it, including substantial contributions by the City.
There are no drawings of size, layout, construction or finish materials of the homes. Nothing.
The marketing notes the residences are for working people. There is no bus stop referenced, in fact, no reference to any interaction with the all- ready stressed Grand Valley Transit.
Original down-zoning eliminated an entrance to the ‘Pocket Neighborhood” – from 2 to 1.
No existing street.
References made before Council to ‘partnerships’ with D-51 and the medical center. Representatives from both entities attended a meeting and voiced support for Fruita to go with this. There is no evidence of partnership agreement with either.
Design, Construction, Buildout
The General Contractor (GC) is from elsewhere and a number of $23M is applied to the project, again, no idea of what is to be built. The GC boasts of international projects for our government. It will look like government housing on military bases and remote sites.
Developer states that “value engineering” will be exercised to use local trade sub-contractors. “Value Engineering” to a tradesman = getting squeezed by the GC, in turn squeezing local suppliers and labor.
GC’s with government contracts don’t lose money – ever. They know the cost of doing business wherever they are and all but dictate bids to ensure it. This is just how it works.
Developer verbally notes that the facade will be reminiscent of western Colorado ghettos of the past therefore will blend.
Scenarios to Consider
15 years on:
The other 6.5 acres: get sub-divided, offered to City which can’t afford; gets developed into market-rate homes.
1st right. Need to see/hear/read the analysis to this decision. What would compel the City to buy property 15 years hence?
Process
Extraordinary haste. There is no “time is of the essence” factor to Fruita. All accommodations, all negotiations, all ante-up to date, again based on the limited information available, have been made to benefit investors whose only need is financial gain.
Fruita Housing Authority
The matter of addressing homes for people is too large to be governed by the same body as the City. Meeting minutes reflect critical questions from some Council members that got deflected/dismissed and no substantive questions from others. Combined with decisions being made in “Executive Session” seclusion, a reasonable observer concludes too many secrets that ultimately bind Fruita to this and future development.
The City and citizens of Fruita can do better.
The Micropolitan 