Ridgway Workforce & Affordable Housing Committee
Meeting Agenda
Wednesday, December 10, 2025
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5:30 p.m.
ROLL CALL Polly Kroger, Kevin Grambley, Beth Lakin, Michelle Montague, Terry
Schuyler, Josey Scoville and John Clark
ACTION ITEM
- Qualification of purchaser of Vista Park Commons P.U.D. Lot 8 (Parcel No.
43051606008), 260 Redcliff Dr. Ridgway, CO 81432
ADJOURNMENT
AGENDA ITEM #1
To: Ridgway Workforce and Affordable Housing Committee
Cc: Preston Neill,
Ridgway Town Manager
Bo Nerlin, Attorney for the Town of Ridgway
From: Angie Kemp, AICP, Senior Planner
Date: November 25, 2025
Re: Qualification of a purchaser of Vista Park Commons P.U.D. Lot 8 (Parcel No. 43051606008),
260 Redcliff Dr. Ridgway, CO 81432. Staff Memorandum for the December 10 Workforce and
Affordable Housing Committee Meeting
BACKGROUND
The Vista Park Commons Planned Unit Development (PUD) plat, recorded at Reception No.
235414 in August of 2023, created 22 residential lots for development of small homes, two of
which were provided as deed restricted units. Lot 8 and Lot 22 are the two units identified under
Plat Note 5 as having certain requirements for initial sale price, occupancy, and maintenance of
affordability. All duties for confirming compliance with plat language and deed-restriction
requirements were assigned to the Town of Ridgway as described below. The Vista Park
Commons PUD deed-restriction language under plat note 5 reads as follows:
a) The Owner has agreed to provide deed restricted housing in connection with the
development of this project. The Owner hereby restricts Lots 8 and 22 (hereinafter the
"Deed Restricted Property"), which are deed restricted in accordance with the terms of
this Plat Note 5, and shall run with the land for a period of 50 years, with a first right of
refusal for the Town, or a nonprofit or private developer to purchase the property before
they are sold on the open market. The Town is granted and conveyed the right to enforce
compliance with these restrictions applicable to the Deed Restricted Properties.
b) Any instrument of conveyance shall clearly indicate that the property is deed restricted
and reference this plat map and applicable plat notes, as amended from time to time,
and shall be in a form approved by the Town.
c) On the day of application, the prospective owner(s) of a Deed Restricted Property shall
maintain their sole residence and abode in Ouray County, Colorado, or provide written
intent of their desire and intent to do so within 30 days of purchasing the unit. Proof of
this must be presented to the Town in advance of any transfer of a Deed Restricted
Property, including the original property transfer and all subsequent resale and transfer
of property.
d) At the time of purchase, including the original property transfer and all subsequent
resale and transfer of property, at least one person in the household shall earn the
majority (more than 51 percent) of their income in Ouray County or from an employer
based in Ouray County. This includes at least one person in the household that is retired
Staff Memo for December 10, 2025
Workforce and Affordable Housing Committee Meeting
but previously earned the majority of their income in Ouray County or from an employer
based in Ouray County. Proof of this must be presented to the Town in advance of any
transfer of the property. Proof shall include written documentation verifying
employment within Ouray County.
e) At the time of purchase, including the original property transfer and all subsequent
resale and transfer of property, the household income will be 80% or less of the Area
Median Income (AMI) as determined by the United States Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) for Ouray County, as adjusted annually. Proof of this must be
presented to the Town in advance of any transfer of property. Proof shall include written
documentation, such as income tax return, verifying annual income for the prior year.
HUD income limits are derived from the most recent data provided by HUD regarding
Area Median Income Levels (AMI) for Ouray County.
f) Any Applicant who currently owns a residence in Ridgway or Ouray County does not
qualify to purchase one of these Deed Restricted Properties.
g) There shall be an initial maximum sales price on every Deed Restricted Property in which
a unit is built by Owner or another developer. The initial maximum sales price of a
housing unit on the lots burdened by these covenants shall be equal to the cost of
acquiring and developing the property and building the housing units, plus 10% profit;
provided, however, that if the initial maximum sale price exceeds the maximum
purchase price for an 80% AMI household for Ouray County, the Owner agrees to reduce
the profit downward from 10% to an amount that achieves the targeted AMI affordable
maximum purchase price, except that in no event will the initial maximum sales price be
reduced to an amount that requires the Owner to achieve less than a 3% profit. Prior to
any transfer of the Deed Restricted Property, evidence of the Owner's cost shall be
submitted to the Town Manager, or their designee, who shall review the Owner's
computation of cost and approve, in writing, the proposed initial maximum sales price.
The documents establishing the Owner's cost must be approved by the Town Manager,
or their designee, prior to any transfer of property. The guiding principal in determining
initial sales price of any unit is that the Owner should be constructing and selling these
units without exceeding the prescribed profit. In no event should the requirements of this
section be read to require the Owner to achieve less that a 3% profit in connection with
the sale of Deed Restricted Property. The Town Manager, based on the review of
Owner's cost, may deviate from the 80% AMI restriction if the cost plus 3% profit exceeds
affordability for 80% or less income level.
This item has been elevated to be reviewed at the level of the Committee based on factors not
accounted for within the plat language related to administration of the deed restriction,
compliance, and qualification of a purchaser as analyzed in the Analysis section of this memo.
APPLICATION PROCESS AND MATERIALS OVERVIEW
The application process, not well-defined, has resulted in various submittals by the development
team and applicant which have been deemed incomplete or insufficient by the Town. Included as
an attachment is a checklist sent to the developer with the initial inquiry, for ease of submitting a
complete application package for Town consideration (Attachment 2). The notes within the
checklist do not reflect the current submittal materials and contain notes from a submittal in
Staff Memo for December 10, 2025
Workforce and Affordable Housing Committee Meeting
February of 2025. The application materials brought before the Committee for consideration are
the most up-to-date and complete materials that have been submitted. Please note that some
Information within the attached materials has been redacted for privacy purposes, with some
submittals omitted completely. An overview of the materials is as follows:
• Application Letter and Acknowledgments of Deed Restriction from Ronald Rodriguez
dated Nov. 7
th
, 2025 (Attachment 3).
• Letter of Employment from Vista Park Development LLC dated Nov. 7
th
, 2025, and other
materials from the applicant’s employer (Attachment 4). The applicant currently receives
housing as part of their compensation from their employer, Vista Park Development LLC,
which will result in a pay increase once housing is secured that is not employer-owned.
The resulting annual salary amount is anticipated by the employer at $45,500. The same
letter states that income for 2024 totaled $31,200.00.
• Cover letter, timesheets, paystubs, and filed tax return for 2024 from Rainbow Accounting
Service LLC dated January 15
th
and November 11
th
, 2025 (Attachment 5, with materials
and information omitted or redacted). A tax return filed for income earned in 2024 stated
earning of $14,400.00 for 880 hours worked and paid. The letter explains that other hours
were worked for sweat equity, but no explanation of what the sweat equity agreement
is, or was, has been provided. The sweat equity statement has been struck with a note
added that “the strike through is due to the many changing opinions on what sweat equity
means.”
• Letter of support from Vista Park Commons HOA President, Tony Brant, dated November
24
th
, 2025 (Attachment 6). The letter expresses support of the applicant for
homeownership within the community, also acknowledging that the applicant helped
construct the homes and has been hired as the maintenance professional for the
community.
ANALYSIS
The plat language does not discuss how the potential buyer should be identified. In best practices
for deed restrictions, fair marketing of the unit is required. The developer has offered that the
unit has been marketed by their former real estate agents and that there was no other interest in
the unit (Attachment 4).
Vista Park Commons Development LLC has identified the potential
purchaser, an employee of their company. This individual is a Ridgway resident and has been
renting from his employer for a number of years. This is viewed as an opportunity for this
individual to enter into homeownership.
The plat language states that proof of income qualification must be presented to the Town in
advance of any transfer of property and that “proof shall include written documentation, such as
income tax return, verifying annual income for the prior year.” The Town has received several
written documents that supply an income amount for the potential purchaser, one of which is a
tax return filed for 2024. The current arrangement of employer as landlord included housing as a
component of the applicant’s benefit package, and compensation will be modified to reflect this
change once the applicant is in a different housing situation as described in Attachment 4. Despite
inconsistencies within the documentation itself, each amount is less than 80% AMI and notably
less than 100% AMI. For context, 2025 AMI for Ouray County at 80% of the AMI for one person is
$58,560 and at 100% for one person is $73,200.
Staff Memo for December 10, 2025
Workforce and Affordable Housing Committee Meeting
Affordability is a relative term that considers 30% or less of a household’s gross income as the
mark in which housing is considered “affordable” to the household. A household income of 100%
of the AMI for 1-person is the level which this particular unit is considered affordable based on
the cost to construct plus the developer profit of 3%, as required by the Plat language, so
amending the Plat will be necessary to account for this difference in costs versus reality.
Additionally, the developer is in the process of producing an amended plat for review and going
through the Town Amended Plat application and approval process to change the affordability
target to 100% of the AMI, better aligning with actual costs of the project.
CONCLUSION
The deed restriction language included on the plat fails to explicitly call out the possibility or
prohibition of developer-led identification or qualification of a purchaser. It does not explain
what proof of fair marketing of the unit is satisfactory, or whether the information about
income can contain provisions for “sweat- equity” or other compensation for work. The
application process was not specifically called out in the plat language.
Staff believe that the Committee can consider the request to qualify a purchaser, and that
transferring the property can be allowed. Staff cannot offer a recommendation for approval or
denial based on ambiguity and lack of clarity offered in both the submittal materials and the plat
language affecting this qualification. It will be up to the Committee to review the plat’s deed
restriction language and determine if there is enough evidence to support qualification or if
there is enough evidence to deny qualification.
If approved, Staff recommends the recordation of a more standard deed restriction identifying
the initial sale price, the appreciation cap, and items related to the qualification and enforcement
of future purchasers at the time of any transfer.
ATTACHMENTS:
- CHFA AMI Chart for Ouray County 2025;
- Submittal Checklist (from February 26, 2025);
- Application Letter from Ronald Rodriquez, potential purchaser;
- Materials submitted by Employer/ Developer;
- Materials submitted by Accountant for VPC and for the Applicant (redacted); and
- Letter of support from Vista Park Commons HOA President, Tony Brant, dated
November 24
th
, 2025.
Attachment 1