The Yampa Valley Housing Authority released the full draft of the Brown Ranch Community Development Plan last week, a 165-page document that builds on presentations about the project last month.

The plan, which has been put together over the last year, includes details about the development down to the street level, including what mixes of housing would be considered on which blocks, what the trail network will look like and a section on the various types of infrastructure needed.

“Brown Ranch offers the residents of Steamboat Springs an unprecedented opportunity to take control of our housing future and design the community in which we want to live,” said housing authority executive director Jason Peasley in a statement. “Brown Ranch is designed by the community, for the community, to maintain and build upon the best part of Steamboat Springs and Routt County — the community itself.”

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The housing authority is conducting a monthlong survey to get further feedback on the plan, which asks residents to read the plan or a shorter summary document and answer five questions similar to those asked after the October presentations. The survey can be found at BrownRanchSteamboat.org and is open until Dec. 2.  

The Yampa Valley Housing Authority Board will consider ratifying the plan at its December meeting.

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The document starts with statistics from the projects housing demand study, which found that jobs in Routt County have outpaced the production of new housing the past ten years. Between 2014 and 2019, while the area added about 2,100 jobs, only 34 new locally owned units were built.

It also showed that the number of households making between $50,000 and $100,000 a year that were cost-burdened by housing increased from 18% to 27% over that span of time. Cost-burdened means 30% or more of a households’ income is spent on housing each month.

A 90-page section called “The Plan” includes information about roadways through the Brown Ranch, the four planned neighborhoods, and introduces three different types of neighborhood blocks, each inspired by streets in Steamboat. The Lincoln block is mostly multi-family housing, while the Oak and Pine blocks have more single-family attached and detached units.

In a section titled “Next Steps,” the document lays out five goals for the project in 2023, with one of those being detailed infrastructure designs of the first neighborhood. Other goals include finishing the process of annexing the property into the city, developing draft construction and platting documents, and starting the process to get a developer on board for the first neighborhood.

A project timeline expects to offer units by the end of 2026 and complete the first neighborhood in the southwest corner of the Brown Ranch in early 2028.