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Habitat for Humanity holding off on Aspen project

Carolyn Sackariason

  The dream of building the first Habitat for Humanity house in Aspen has been quashed by the realities of development. Carolyn Sackariason reports.

 

In 2014, Habitat for Humanity Roaring Fork Valley had its sights set on building a duplex just east of Aspen. It’s where an old A-frame house on Cooper Avenue now sits.

But access issues from Highway 82 and neighbor concerns have derailed the project.

Scott Gilbert is the executive director of the local Habitat chapter.

“In the end, right now, we have so many good projects on our table with more potential we just can’t spend the time; we don’t have the manpower to sort of bang our heads against the wall trying to figure this thing out. As much as we’d love to build a pair of homes in Aspen … other things are too important," he said.

It was going to be a partnership between the local housing authority, which owns the land, and Habitat, which was planning to spend up to a million dollars to build two three-bedroom units.

The Glenwood Springs’ based nonprofit would sell the units to low-income families.

Habitat for Humanity Roaring Fork Valley is moving ahead with plans to build up to 40 homes in Basalt, half of which would be dedicated to local teachers.