Attainable housing takes step forward

The attainable housing project in Hill City took another step forward at Monday’s Hill City Planning and Zoning Commission meeting.

A public hearing was held to discuss the planned use development (PUD) needed to make the project happen.

“We want families to locate here,” said Dani Schade, development service coordinator for Hill City.

The lot — located on Top O’ Hill Avenue and Quinn Avenue — is approximately 6.5 acres and will be the site for the new Bull Run Subdivision, which is the name given to the neighborhood where the affordable houses would be.

Several exceptions were requested for the PUD, including reducing minimum frontage to 50 feet (with lots one and 12 through 16 in block one further reduced due to configuration), minimum lot size for single family home reduced to 3,900 square feet, minimum lot size for tiny homes reduced to 2,150 square feet, minimum front yard setbacks for single family home reduced to 20 feet and minimum front yard setbacks for tiny homes reduced to 15 feet, among others.

When it came time for public hearing, Angie Ross, Hill City resident, expressed concern regarding how some may use the tiny homes.

“This whole thing is supposed to be for families with people living in them all year,” she said. She had concerns that the tiny homes could be used as vacation properties for people who will not be in them all year round.

“If they’re (not in them all year round)...it won’t be owner-occupied housing.”

Jim Scull, developer of the land, said the intent is to have people in the homes all year-round.

Ross said she loves the idea; however, she wanted to know what would be in place to ensure that families with the intention of being there year-round would occupy these homes.

“There will be a covenant that will state that these homes cannot be vacation rentals,” Schade said.

Ross said she has no problems with the tiny homes but she still had concerns, asking why if the city and developers want people to live in the houses year-round why would they want people in them who aren’t going to be in them year-round.

Her concern was that someone would buy a tiny home and only be in there for the summer months, which, she said, defeats the purpose of having the project.

She said she wanted a development for the people of Hill City, and she would hate to see a development without an ordinance of some sort protecting the original purpose of the attainable housing development.

Scull had concerns about how that could be enforced.

“I don’t know of any laws that forbids people from doing that,” he said.

Scull later said if he could create something that would make people live in the houses year-round he would but he was not sure if doing that would be legal.

Hill City mayor Kathy Skorzewski was present at the meeting and she said it would not be a bad idea to run the suggestion to the city’s legal council to determine the legality of it. She also said there would be extremely strict covenants as well as a homeowners’ association who would ensure that the covenants were enforced.

Ultimately, the PUD public hearing was closed, and the planning and zoning commission voted 4-0 (commission member Connie Wolters was not present at the meeting) to send the PUD to the council, which will review aspects of the PUD before sending it back to the commission for its final say.