Dear Editor: I attended a Ouray City Council workshop last week involving the Waterview affordable housing project. It seems the developer now has requested to (not) pave the street in this subdivision. This did not sit well with the council and they pushed back on the developer that he had this in his proposal. The city wants the street paved. Awesome — now the developer has brought a spreadsheet showing infrastructure costs of $2.8 million, including water lines, sewer, etc., and that the Department of Local Affairs has put $1 million in the pot. This leaves $1.8 million — this seems very high for a 9-acre parcel.

Now the developer wants the city to donate $150,000 toward the $315,000 cost for the water and sewer taps. The developer also requested all permit costs be waived. Let’s say the permits per structure cost $2,000. Multiply that by 21, the number of homes being built in the first phase, and you get $42,000. This comes to a donation of nearly $200,000. Who in the private sector in Ouray building a home has received discounted water and sewer taps and free building permits? The developer is complaining about high costs, and their original proposal was put together a year ago. Who in the construction business would give a cost to build for a year? No one I know. Lumber and metal costs change almost weekly, they fluctuate with the market costs. They also discussed green belt areas and who would be taking care of them. Guess who? The city.

There seems to be a lot of smoke and mirrors here, and the Ouray citizens are going to be left on the hook to manage and take care of this development.

John Hart Ouray