Housing Authority planning 22 units
A 22-unit affordable housing project in Winthrop has been awarded a $100,000 grant from the state Department of Commerce to help defray development costs.
The grant is part of Commerce’s Connecting Housing to Infrastructure Program (CHIP), now in its third round of providing funds to help pay for water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure costs for projects around the state. The most recent round of grants, totaling nearly $5 million, will support more than 1,100 affordable housing units in 12 counties, Commerce said.
The Winthrop project, to be known as “Wildrose Family Housing,” is being developed by the Housing Authority of Okanogan County. It is part of the Cascades Meadows North planned development adjacent to Cascade Condominiums, off of Highway 20.
Cascade Meadows North is an 8.4-acre planned development that will include 26 lots for affordable single-family homes of one, two and three bedrooms that are being developed by the Methow Housing Trust, and the 22-unit multi-family complex being developed by Housing Authority.
“The HAOC is very happy about this award and our team is very excited about our future ‘Wildrose Family Housing’ in Winthrop,” Nancy Nash Mendez, executive director of the Housing Authority, said in an email. “As we all know, the cost of infrastructure and hookup fees are a large part of a development project. This grant award represents $100,000 less funding that we will need to secure prior to starting construction for our project.”
Wildrose Family Housing will include one-, two and three-bedroom units, Mendez said.
Help with fees
Winthrop Town Planner Rocklynn Culp said in an email that the CHIP program is intended to help pay for system development fees associated with construction.
“The system development fees are paid when new construction hooks into the town water and sewer systems,” Culp said. “We applied to the CHIP program to cover those costs for the Housing Authority portion of the Cascade Meadows North development.”
The CHIP program has funded 54 projects with $41 million in 17 counties over the last year, Commerce said, supporting the development of 4,700 units of affordable housing.
The Methow Housing Trust is also developing Cascade Meadows South. The property had been developed by Jim and Gaye Pigott, and was approved as a long plat in late 2020. It created 15 residential lots and two habitat protection areas. Subsequently, the Pigotts donated the property to the Housing Trust for the development of affordable housing.
The Housing Trust then asked that the project be reconfigured as a planned development, creating new lot lines for 16 parcels on 7.57 acres but utilizing the infrastructure previously proposed for the housing. Under the planned development layout, the net density remains the same but the open space provided is greatly expanded, according to a town staff report.
A major concern raised about the projects in public hearing comments earlier this year was about access to the site, which is currently by one road off of Highway 20. The Cascade Condominiums development occupies the area already, and the Housing Trust’s projects will add a total of more than 60 dwelling units when completed. As part of the planned development approval, the Housing Trust agreed to provide a fire access road to the site from Horizon Flat Road.
