Silverthorne’s workforce housing project, Smith Ranch, targets more townhomes

The sale of the first home at Silverthorne’s Smith Ranch workforce-housing neighborhood closed last week, marking a celebratory moment for the new homeowners and the town that’s pursuing the project.

Hoping to chip away at the lack of available housing, Silverthorne has slated over 50 acres at Smith Ranch, nestled on the northern end of town, for a new workforce-housing neighborhood and selected Compass Homes Development to spearhead the project.

Phase one is now starting to come to fruition. The new homeowners, Roger and KelLee Abdella, closed on the first sale last Friday. More closings are slated for the coming weeks, and Silverthorne has already issued at least five certificates of occupancy.

Altogether, the first phase is bringing 27 new townhomes, 17 single-family homes and 16 units in duplexes — a total of 60 new homes — to Silverthorne’s lineup of deed-restricted housing. The homes must be owned and occupied by people who work at least 30 hours a week in Summit County.

The developer, Blake Shutler, said that all but four of the homes from phase one are already under contract. The remaining ones are all two-bedroom townhomes.

Not content to stop after the first phase, the town and developers have started turning some of their attention to phase two. As planned, the second phase would bring another 51 townhomes to Smith Ranch across six four-unit buildings and nine three-unit buildings.

“Phase one was a pretty even mix,” said Lina Lesmes, Silverthorne’s planning manager, adding that it only made sense to follow up on the first phase with the townhomes scheduled for phase two.

For the second phase, the four-unit buildings would each house a pair of two-bedroom units and two, three-bedroom townhomes. Meanwhile, seven of the triplex buildings would contain two, two-bedroom units and one three-bedroom unit. The other two triplex buildings would house only two-bedroom units.

All of the homes would have rear access and front doors facing either Adams Avenue, Smith Ranch Road or the neighborhood’s green space, positioned at the center of phase two’s cluster of homes.

All of the three-bedroom units would come with their own one-car garage, and there would be a three-bedroom home included in the lineup that’s being designed for people with disabilities for phase two, as well.

Altogether, this would make for 111 planned homes across both phases with a majority of the units having garages. The rest of the homes are scheduled for ample surface parking. Plans for phase two could be subject to change, Lesmes said, but it’s likely the townhomes produced throughout it will be sold in waves.

The town and developers are planning to follow up on phase two “pretty quickly” with phase three, which could bring in some more single-family duplexes, Lesmes said.

For more information, visit SmithRanchNeighborhood.com.