Transportation For America » Livability in small towns #6: Breckenridge, Colorado

Livability in small towns #6: Breckenridge, Colorado

September 2, 2010
By Sean Barry

This collection of 12 case studies helps put to rest the idea that livability is an exclusively “urban” idea. Small cities, towns and rural regions across the country are transforming themselves into more livable communities. While some of these communities face formidable threats – from job losses and shrinking populations to disappearing farmland and strained resources – their leaders have forged collaborations and created plans that are growing economies, benefiting people and protecting the land and lifestyles treasured by residents and non-residents alike.

Check back each day for a new post and read the full series of livability case studies as they’re posted. The intro can be found here.

Breckenridge, Colorado

“You’ve got to find ways to keep the police officers, the teachers, the managers in the community.”

Mayor Sam Mamula, Breckenridge, Colorado

Breckenridge is a resort destination for thousands of vacationers every year, but was unaffordable to the people working in the community until an effort between the EPA and the Colorado Department of Health launched new affordable housing options.

Local residents employed in the resort town of Breckenridge, Colorado were being squeezed. The median cost for a single-family home in Breckenridge was $725,000, out of reach for the resort cooks, teachers and police officers, whom Mayor Sam Mamula described as “both the economic engine and the soul of the town.” Many workers had 45 minute commutes or longer.

Residents in the Wellington Neighborhood of Breckenridge chose to repeal restrictive zoning policies and reclaim a 22-acre brownfield site. With funding from the U.S. EPA and the Colorado Department of Public Health, officials approved 122 new market-rate and affordable homes built with a traditional neighborhood aesthetic. Twenty of those acres are dedicated to open space.

According to the EPA, “Wellington has increased the supply of affordable housing, cleaned a contaminated site and created a compact, walkable neighborhood with access to trails and open space.” Eighty percent of the new homes were reserved for people who work in Summit County at a cost that was one-third or lower than the median Breckenridge housing price.

Just as intended, many new homeowners were the very people the effort intended to help: shop owners, teachers, police officers and even the town manager.

“You’ve got to find ways to keep the police officers, the teachers, the managers in the community,” said Mayor Mamula. “There’s nothing else like the Wellington Neighborhood in the county and not much else like it in the whole country.”

Source: Environmental Protection Agency.