The Steamboat Springs City Council reacted to the Yampa Valley Housing Authority’s decision to opt against pursuing a November 2026 annexation ballot measure for Slate Creek Neighborhood (formerly known as Brown Ranch) at their meeting Tuesday, igniting a somewhat tense discussion around process, timing and managing the expectations of the public. 

The housing authority’s decision in late June came after an hour-and-a-half discussion at a special meeting, where board members and staff discussed pros and cons of a fast-track ballot measure versus a longer timeline and public education campaign. 

The consideration of what Steamboat Springs City Councilor Gail Garey called an “accelerated annexation” arose within the last hour of the Slate Creek Steering Committee’s June 18 meeting, when Councilor Dave Barnes questioned whether the committee needs to wait until 2027 to put an annexation measure on the ballot, citing the difficulty of engaging a developer partner until that occurs.

Ultimately, YVHA decided against the expedited path, largely due to insufficient time for community engagement. 

Had the housing authority chosen that path and submitted a petition to the city clerk, City Council would have considered a resolution to accept or reject the petition at the Tuesday meeting — something Councilor Amy Dickson took issue with, along with Barnes’ suggestion of a 2026 annexation measure to begin with. 

“I was shocked to hear that that even came up at the eleventh hour while we all sat up here two days prior, and that was not brought up as a possibility,” said Dickson, who pointed to Barnes’ absence at the Tuesday meeting. 

“What if the housing authority would’ve said, ‘Yes, let’s move on it’ — It would’ve come back to us tonight, and we would’ve had to sit up here wrangling: ‘Are we going to go against the housing authority and whether we’re going to annex?'”

Councilor Bryan Swintek vocalized his frustrations with what’s often been a tedious process to get a new plan for Slate Creek Neighborhood rolling, conveying to his colleagues what he’s heard from community members. 

“I appreciate that there’s work being done, but it just feels like a lot of hand signs and talking about roles. It just seems like death by process,” he said. “That’s where it makes sense that Councilor Barnes raised that — like, let’s do something. So my question is, when are we doing something with this?”

The city did do something, replied Garey: in 2023, when council passed an annexation agreement. 

“We had an annexation agreement. We spent time doing the annexation agreement. And we as a council adopted the annexation agreement and moved forward,” she said. “There was clearly a portion of the community that didn’t feel like they were engaged, right? So lesson learned that we’re going to take the time.”

Councilor Michael Buccino noted the city’s successful acquisition of the Campbell property, known now as the Stockbridge Campus housing project. 

“Us buying the Campbell property gives us control over at least what we can do for our community ourselves. There’s no housing authority, there’s no county commissioners,” said Buccino, noting how “good intentions” with YVHA properties often come with complex processes. 

“What you’re not saying out loud is that the fact that the housing authority is involved in Brown Ranch is slowing this down,” responded Swintek. “Is that what you’re saying?”

Swintek said that what would be most helpful for him is to be able to provide his constituents a realistic timeline for what they can expect for affordable housing out of Slate Creek Neighborhood/Brown Ranch. 

Muntean reminded council that one timeline constraint remains fixed: that per a recent West Steamboat municipal services analysis, only 400-500 housing units can feasibly be constructed on the property, and that due to water infrastructure limitations, move-ins would take place in 2029 at the earliest. 

He also concurred with Swintek that council should work on “managing expectations” for the community. 

“I know there are a lot of people in this community that are frustrated, including a lot of us up here, in terms of wanting something to move faster,” said Garey. “We know that every day we wait, we’re digging a deeper hole.” 

“We also learned that we need to slow down and make sure that we’ve got community engagement and that we’ve got community buy-in and that we’re bringing to market something that people want and will live in,” she added. 

Garey said the Slate Creek Steering Committee will convene again on Monday, July 13 at 2 p.m.