A citizen’s petition led to Steamboat Springs voters rejecting a Brown Ranch annexation agreement in March in a decision that effectively ended a proposed vision from the Yampa Valley Housing Authority to construct as many as 2,064 affordable and attainable housing units on the property by 2042.

The special referendum earlier this year came after City Council had already opted to approve the agreement outright by 4-3 vote months earlier — a decision that left many in the community troubled over the process, especially those who were already concerned about the project’s impact.

Approved by council members, and subsequently denied by voters, the annexation agreement was developed over more than 10 months of negotiations between the city and YVHA, which purchased the Brown Ranch property with a $24 million anonymous donation in 2021.

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Those who supported the annexation agreement said the proposed housing units were a welcome development amid what is seen as a housing crisis affecting Steamboat Springs and the surrounding area.

Now, a consulting firm hired by the city in August, Community Builders, is working to find a new path forward for a potential housing development on the more than 400-acre parcel located west of downtown Steamboat Springs.

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Clark Anderson, the executive director of Glenwood Springs-based Community Builders, presented to council members last week as he and his colleagues prepared to finalize a report built primarily on conversations with local stakeholders and decision makers involved in the prior annexation process for Brown Ranch.

Over the course of those conversations, Anderson explained to council that he and his colleagues recognized that what was originally intended as a “well-meaning process” quickly became more of a “rushed” negotiation, rather than a collaboration, which resulted in the issue of the project becoming politicized.

As a result, Anderson said he and his colleagues’ findings identified that “information for much of the community became hard to come by in terms of what is fact and what is fiction.”

The nature of the politized negotiation and the lack of access for community members to engage, Anderson said, were further complicated by the sense of urgency felt behind the push to ratify the annexation agreement for a project of such a large scale.

Anderson told council members that their review of the annexation process and the feedback they received from local decision makers, stakeholders and community members made the prior negotiations appear more of a game fought between various entities.

“We want to turn the chess board and have the entire community that cares about this stuff, playing the game against the issues,” he said.

Those dynamics also left many involved in the decision-making process, from council members and city staff to YVHA leaders and their staff and others in the community who either supported or opposed the annexation, feeling personal emotions around the issue, Anderson noted.

“It was a very high-stakes situation and so, understandably, people were at odds and one of the things that we talk about a lot is that controversy is normal, the interest in engaging in back-and-forth on the right way to solve this issue is normal,” said Anderson.

“We have to be able to disagree, and disagree hard, but it has got to be more productive and so that is part of a shift,” he added.

Among those who spoke with Anderson and his team in the first phase of the project was Jim Engelken.

A former City Council member and a leader of the Citizens for a Better Plan Committee, which led the citizens petition effort leading to the March referendum, Engelken said he agreed with Anderson in that the rushed process undertaken during the previous annexation effort became political and had the effect of dividing the community.

But he questioned the approach outlined by Anderson at council’s meeting last week, which he said placed too much emphasis on the city and YVHA taking a lead in producing future plans for Brown Ranch.

“It seems to me that the community is really the main stakeholder and should be the focus of everyone,” said Engelken. “If there is some repair to be made, it’s between City Council and their constituency.”

Anderson’s comments last week offered council members their first opportunity to review the work undertaken by Anderson’s firm since they were hired in August.

While a final report documenting the initial work performed in Phase 1 is not yet complete, council members indicated last week they would like Community Builders to undertake a planned Phase 2 of their effort.

With information gleaned from their previous work, Anderson said the next stage of work would set out to create a space for the community, staff from YVHA and the city, council members and housing authority leaders to engage in the process.

In doing that, Anderson said the goal is not to improve on the previous process, but to start it over entirely.

“It’s not a redux,” said Anderson. “We are not picking up their process and trying to do it better. We are coming in as a support entity, as an organization, and saying we are starting from scratch.”

“We have to enter into a new orientation of being open and willing to try out different ideas and that involves the city, that involves YVHA. But it is also going to involve the community in willing to come and enter it and learn and try out different ideas,” he added.

One thing Anderson felt sure about, he said after the council meeting, was that any new annexation or development plans put forward for Brown Ranch would ultimately need voter approval.

“I think people are entering into this moment with an understanding that the process, and what we would recommend, is any movement going forward must, fundamentally and ultimately come to the question of the voters of Steamboat once again, because that is where the decision really needs to lie this time,” said Anderson.

Speaking in the days following the council meeting last week, City Council member Michael Buccino said he hoped the work from Community Builders would help the city provide the housing authority with the information needed to inform any future annexation agreement or development proposal.

If that happens, Buccino said he was not sure if an annexation agreement would require voters’ blessing.

“If the Community Builders is successful at coalescing what the citizens want, and the YVHA receives that information and designs something with those parameters identified with this outreach, then it is very possible that it won’t need to go to a vote because the applicant (YVHA) will have designed something that hits it on the head,” said Buccino.

For council member Joella West, the inability for the city and the housing authority to see the prior Brown Ranch annexation through meant the involvement of Community Builders was important.

“The word I was going to use was a ‘go-between’ rather than a ‘mediator,’ but it is the same thing,” said West, adding that she felt the task being undertaken by the consulting firm was “humongous.”

“I have a reasonable amount of confidence that they will bring something useful from this,” added West. “I don’t know when and I don’t know what it is going to look like. I guess I am a lot more skeptical than other people about actually finding a workable solution to Brown Ranch, but I am glad they are trying.”

The executive director of YVHA, Jason Peasley, was not available after the council meeting to answer questions about Anderson’s presentation but sent a statement:

“We are thrilled that the City Council has partnered with Community Builders to collaboratively tackle the affordable housing challenges we face in Steamboat Springs. In our discussions with City staff, we recognized the importance of a shared commitment to tackle the problems our community faces as partners,” he said.

“We look forward to continuing to solve our community’s greatest challenges in the coming months,” added Peasley.