CREEDE – After receiving a grant through the Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), the Creede School District is working with the University of Denver Architecture Program to consider a workforce housing project on property west of the school.  

The district invited the public to a forum on Tuesday, Jan. 14, to hear about the project. Affiliate Program Director Jeffrey Woods presented initial ideas created from research done on the proposed property and through working with the district.  

“I would like to thank everyone for coming out to talk about some things that are important to everyone right now in the state of Colorado and that is workforce housing. We were reviewing a document not that long ago that said there is a critical need all over the state and they did identify this county and this area as a critical area for workforce housing,” said Woods. 

Woods said Creede School District Superintendent Susan Birdsey asked the university to come look at the extra land the district owns and begin considering workforce housing. 

“The university has been here, looked at the land, listened to our wish lists and we would like to hear from you,” said Birdsey. 

Woods opened the forum stating that his team is the beginning of the planning process and that they strive to hear from the communities in which they work and strive to build what the communities want. 

“I am on your side; I’d like to build like you want things to get built and more over we want to get started as soon as possible so that it can serve the community,” Woods said. 

The program offered through the University of Denver is funded by DOLA. Students in the program can present their ideas to the community to gain feedback and glean what the community is looking for as far as workforce housing developments. 

The attending audience were presented with a few ideas that were drafted by University of Denver students and gave feedback on what they liked and didn’t like about the proposals. The focus for the project is the parcel of land the school owns to the west of the school campus behind the track. It would consist of roughly nine housing units, a commons area, community garden, outdoor workout locations, parking areas and more.  

Though the project is only in the first stages of development, the district is looking to move forward as quickly as possible to meet the need for workforce housing in the area. One of the comments made by the audience was a concern about the proposed housing units having only two bedrooms and how that may limit the people needing family housing coming to the area.  

Woods responded stating that the team had considered that as a possible issue and that they would be working on the final project proposal based on the feedback they received from the community. 

“I don’t know what the final proposal will look, and it is something we will consider,” he said. 

The audience feedback was positive with the hope it could be replicated in other areas. A planning meeting will be announced soon.