Phil Castle, The Business Times

Kelly Maves says she’s aggravated by what she sees as a contradiction: Calls for more affordable housing at a time when increasing regulations and fees on new home construction drive up prices.

“It’s beyond frustrating,” says Maves, who works as a real estate agent and whose husband, Michael, operates Maves Constrution in Grand Junction.

Kelly Maves also serves on the board of directors of the Housing and Building Association of Western Colorado, an organization which supports the building industry and has pushed back against more regulations and higher fees.

But elected officials and administrators with the City of Grand Junction counter there’s a connection between fees and the cost of infrastructure required to accommodate growth, whether that’s streets, water and sewer system improvements or fire stations. The alternative is to fall behind what’s needed to keep pace with growth or make up funding shortfalls with other sources of revenue.

Putting off work on infrastructure tends to not only result in higher costs later on, but also raises safety issues, says Grand Junction Mayor Anna Stout.  “It’s your future safety.”

Maves says city regulations and increased impact fees have made housing less affordable, not builders.

Depending on the size of the house, fees add $10,000 to $20,000 or more to the cost of a home. That’s an addition builders must pass on to homebuyers, Maves says.

According to report from the National Association of Home Builders, every $1,000 increase in the cost of a home in Grand Junction, prices 81 homebuyers out of the market.

Charlie Gechter, the owner of BOA Builders, and Ron Abeloe, president of Chapparal West, say existing codes add to the cost of new homes and housing developments. Proposed codes will add still more costs.

Gechter and Abeloe say a section of the city code requires a survey of existing trees on a proposed development as well as the protection of trees and replacement of trees that must be removed. Yet the code doesn’t account for trees replaced through homeowner association landscaping requirements.

Abeloe says the tree canopy has increased over the years in the Grand Valley, but mostly as a result of development. Moreover, some species of trees — cottonwoods in particular — consume large quantities of water in an area where water is usually scarce.

Proposed code changes that include electric vehicle charging stations, multimodal pathways and underground utility requirements would add additional costs.

Grand Junction City Manager Greg Caton says fees on new construction pay for infrastructure needed to accommodate growth. Studies help determine the connections between growth and associated costs.

The fees help pay for new and improved roads, more fire stations and expanded water and sewer treatment facilities, Caton says. The fees can’t be used to maintain existing infrastructure or ongoing operations.

Like builders, the city also faces increased costs for materials, including asphalt and water lines. But development fees don’t make up for all the increased costs, he says.

Stout says increases in transportation and park fees were phased in over four years, but still don’t cover all of the costs.

Maves says regulations and higher fees add to the cost of housing and make housing less — not more — affordable. “It’s a problem you’re not going to solve through regulation.”

Gechter says finding ways to build and sell more houses would provide increased supply to moderate prices.

Abeloe says there are ways the city and private sector can work together to address the housing affordability issue.

But for now, he says he’s frustrated by calls for more affordable housing while more regulations and higher fees are imposed. “It’s a contradiction.”