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Letter to the editor: Dealing with Summit County’s housing shortage

David Zielinski
Breckenridge

Being new to Summit County I recently found out how difficult it is to add an accessory dwelling while at the same time the County struggles to find employee housing! It makes no sense!

I recently filed for building permits for a home that has an accessory dwelling and ran into a lot of resistance. The County Planning Department is so focused on stopping illegal rentals that they bring projects to a halt. In my case I was going to build on a steep lot that required some creativity in planning a garage. This meant a 3 story garage and some extra floors below that would make a perfect home for a county employee. Due to National building code requirements that makes these types of apartments illegal. Since I could not add an apartment I decided to use the 1044 square feet as an office and home gym. Sounds good right? Wrong!

Jessica Potter in the Planning Department would not allow it because there would be a bathroom in the gym and someone could live there. Their solution was to force me to sign a deed restriction that allows the County to conduct in home inspections. I thought that was overreaching but they will not let you build unless you sign it. Who wants to own a home that is subject to inspections?



My opinion on solving the housing shortage is to deregulate apartments so that more home owners have a rental on their property and if enough people do that in the long run the supply will catch up to demand. What we are currently doing is insanity and just adding to the shortage!


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