By Bay Stephens and Michael Somerby
BIG SKY – After approximately six months of investigation
and due diligence, the Big Sky School District officially announced at the
March 21 school board meeting that they would partner with Habitat for Humanity
Gallatin Valley to build two triplexes on school property at a total cost of
$900,000, and seek the vote of the community to fund $600,000 of the project with
Habitat for Humanity requesting the remaining $300,000 from resort tax funding.
“Given the desperate state of housing for everyone in the community,
we have taken the opportunity to create the idea of a partnership with Habitat
for Humanity,” board chair Loren Bough said during the meeting.
The teacher housing project hinges on voter approval in the
May 7 mail-in election, which would guarantee $600,000 in loans and interest to
install the foundation and build the first three of the six units this summer.
Habitat for Humanity Executive Director David Magistrelli estimated these first
units could be completed by October and that everything is in place to break
ground if the levy passes.
“We’re already talking to contractors,” Magistrelli said. “If
it passes on [May 7], we could begin on [May 8].”
The remaining three units would be built the summer of 2020,
depending on the funding approval of the Big Sky Resort Area District tax
board.
The cost to taxpayers for the $600,000 needed for the
district triplexes would be $5.64 per year for every $100,000 in market value
of a home. The levy would last for five years so that, on a million-dollar home,
the homeowner would pay $56.4 per year for that period.
“The board recognized its own organizational need as a part
of a bigger community need and I think worked really hard to find the perfect
partner for it,” BSSD Superintendent Dustin Shipman said. “Now we’re providing
the community the opportunity to support it through a voted levy.”
The housing project will help address struggles the school
faces such as losing teachers that commute from Bozeman—which comprises half of
the school district’s workforce—after four or five years, or the crisis of
teachers renting in Big Sky whose landlords suddenly give them a month to clear
out so the house or apartment can be put on the short-term rental market,
Shipman said.
“It’s really about teachers, which is really about
students,” Shipman said.
The estimated price per square foot is less than $135, less
than half of the average in Big Sky. The low cost is made possible by Habitat
for Humanity’s nonprofit status, meaning no markup on building materials, as
well as donated services, appliances, and a core volunteer workforce,
Magistrelli said.
Coming in at approximately $130,000 per unit, the triplexes
would be owned by the school district, which would be able to rent them
significantly below market value, solely at the cost of maintenance.
“The board doesn’t take those asks lightly, believe me,” Shipman said. “We’re partnering with an organization that is nationally known for doing the right thing.”
Housing trust looks at budget, resort tax ask and Meadowview
The Big Sky Community Housing Trust advisory council met in
the Human Resource and Development Council offices in Meadow Village Center the
same day to discuss budgetary needs and their resort tax funding request for
the upcoming year, along with the district’s teacher housing plans, and
upcoming hurdles and successes with the Meadowview developments.
Last year, the BSRAD appropriated nearly $1.95 million for
housing trust budgetary needs, namely those related to funding the subsidized
housing of the Meadowview development.
The council hopes to leverage the TIGER grant, $10.3 million
in funding for transportation and transportation infrastructure in Big Sky that
relieves some of the pressure on resort tax funds, coupled with the trust’s
successful projects like the Meadowview subsidized housing development to
support their ask.
“Let’s ride the wave of the TIGER grant,” said Brian
Wheeler, vice president of real estate development for Big Sky Resort and
housing trust member.
“We finally have something on our resume and we should
definitely recognize that,” said Tim Kent, branch manager of First Security
Bank in Town Center and housing trust member.
The advisory council hopes to work “parallel” to the Big Sky
School District Board, maintaining ongoing housing strategy in Big Sky and the
vernacular-specific qualifications for terming a unit as “affordable.”
Their own project, the Meadowview developments, is
fast-approaching the first wave of move-ins.
The earliest units will be available on June 1, with
construction continuing throughout the year, according to Laura Seyfang,
program director of the Big Sky Community Housing Trust. The housing trust is coordinating a ribbon cutting
ceremony to celebrate the new housing in Big Sky while also planning
preliminary walkthroughs for applicants who want a physical impression before
purchasing.
“Many people can’t look at the floor plans on a piece of paper and make this big of a decision,” Seyfang said. “We need to get people in there as soon as possible so they can get a better sense of what they’re going to buy.”
