Tiny Home Village Answers Low Income Housing Need

A tiny home village is coming to Pagosa Springs, CO. On March 23, 2021, the Pagosa Springs Planning Commission approved the design review application for the development. Legacy Village Tiny Home Park is planned to have 50 lots to provide desperately need low income housing. The developer is Legacy Alliance Holdings.

There is no build start date yet, and the company has not returned my emails. Even if they break ground this year, it would be hard to complete until next year. Applications for residency are not available yet.

Residents will need to buy or own their tiny home built by one of the ‘vetted’ builders to RVIA building codes. They went this route because at the time, there was no other way for a tiny home to fit into the city building codes. This is a common problem for those that have not amended their building codes to include Appendix-Q.

This might complicate things and limit the number of builders that can be used as most tiny house builder insist they build ‘houses’, not RVs. The tiny homes must be smaller than 400 sq./ft.

County commissioners want the lot rent and tiny house payment to be under $1,000.00/month. The city and county officials are bending over backwards to be accommodating because of the severe low income housing shortage. There have been little to no objections raised by citizens at their planning meeting.

The proposed tiny home village will occupy a 4.66 acre  area and include community gardens, fire pits, dog park, and a storage and laundry building.

The town planner told me there have been twenty-seven other tiny house applications that had not produced any results. Surprisingly, there is a shipping container multi-family proposal that has “sketch-plan” approval.

The Low Cost Housing Pinch Has City Planners Considering More Viable Options

On April 27 2021, the Pagosa Springs Planning Commission gave sketch plan approval to a multifamily shipping container project.

There will be twelve units and hopefully the rent will be $850.00/mth.

The contractor says that with the price of lumber up nearly 250%, shipping containers are now a feasible alternative to regular building materials.

Illustration courtesy of the Pagosa Springs Planning Commission documentation, via The Pagosa Springs Sun newspaper.

About the Town of Pagosa Springs

Pagosa Springs is located in southwestern Colorado, elevation 7,126. The high altitude means the growing season is very short and winters can be harsh. The town of  Pagosa Springs got 160″ of snow this past winter (2020-2021); see pictures of the roof snow load on this page.

Population officially about 1,800 year-round residents, but in the summer the towns swells with seasonal residents, renters, and tourists.

The people are an odd mix of  NIMBIES and forward-thinkers. Most of our visitors are from Texas and New Mexico.

The big tourist draws are the hot springs downtown, and Wolf Creek Ski Area only 15 miles away. Wolf Creek generally gets at least 450″ of snow, and is usually the first ski resort to open in Colorado each winter.

Uptown and Downtown

Pagosa has at least two balloon festivals every year, each with one day ‘downtown’ and another day ‘uptown’. In high tourist seasons (summer and winter), more than one balloon company offers rides for sale. We live in the ‘uptown’ flight path, and they frequently set down in our neighborhood.

Town is divided into two geographic locations by Putt Hill. The downtown area is the historical Pagosa Springs with the hot springs, river walk and tourist shops.

Uptown, where the tiny house village will be has a Walmart, City Market and a large Wyndham resort with newer residential neighborhoods.

Besides hiking and camping, one of the favorite activities is floating down the river in an inner-tube.

Geothermal Hot Springs

The hot springs are clustered in the downtown area. They have tapped this geothermal source to heat many of the buildings.

There are three geodesic greenhouses and a community garden located on the downtown river-walk along the San Juan River. Their “mission is to educate the community in sustainable agricultural practices by producing food year-round using local renewable energy.”

Tiny Home Builders Nearby:

Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses is located in Durango, Colorado.

Rocky Mountain Tiny Houses was recently featured as “Builder of the Month” in Tiny House Magazine.

Lead times are long and the cost of materials has exploded. However, tiny homes are still economical.

RMTH depends on NOAH certification. NOAH building codes are stricter than standard IRC building codes but are not nationally recognized. However, many insurance agencies and lending institutions do accept these codes as adequate.

Tiny Idahomes in Emmett, Idaho makes really nice tiny homes to RVIA standards.

Other Tiny Home Villages Nearby:

Escalante Village

The next closest town west of Pagosa Springs is Durango. Sixty miles from Pagosa Springs, Escalante Village in Durango “riverfront property is located along the Animas River near the Purples Cliffs just North of Escalante Middle School. The community is home to 24 tiny home spaces; 6 of the spaces are tiny home rentals and remaining are individually-owned tiny homes. Each space is 20 feet wide x 40 feet deep (the average tiny home is 8 feet wide x 26 feet deep) to accommodate the tiny home, two parked cars and room for a patio.”

Tiny Timbers Resort

Forty-four miles east of Pagosa Springs lies South Fork, Colorado. Tiny Timbers Resort has half a dozen tiny homes you can rent by the night while you play in the beautiful Rio Grande National Forest. It’s a great way to try tiny before you buy tiny. See more about Tiny Timbers on this page.