Affordable housing developers are appealing the denial of their proposal for the five-unit housing complex at 1020 E. Cooper Ave. in Aspen. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
Finding that the Historic Preservation Commission abused its discretion in denying an affordable-housing proposal in an Aspen east end neighborhood, Aspen City Council on Monday voted to remand the project back to the citizen volunteer board to conduct a fair and legal review of the land-use application.
After reviewing the record of the HPC’s Feb. 17 meeting, council members in a special meeting Monday were unanimous that commissioners abused their discretion by using subjective and prejudicial factors outside of their purview, and therefore reversed the commission’s decision.
What could have become yet another multimillion-dollar single-family house on a historic Aspen lot will instead become the home of five local families, thanks to a marketplace that makes it worthwhile for a developer to build subsidized workforce housing.
It’s a project that the previous longtime property owner, the late Aspen Times columnist Su Lum, would most likely approve of. that she lived in at 1020 E. Cooper Ave. will be preserved as a historic asset and converted into two of five proposed housing units.
The two- and three-bedroom condos will be sold to local employers to rent to their employees, according to the project’s developer, Jim DeFrancia.