Habitat for Humanity in the Roaring Fork Valley asked the city of Rifle on Dec. 18, during the regularly scheduled city council meeting to waive impact and building fees for the factory project in Rifle. 

The nonprofit organization is building a factory in Rifle that would manufacture parts for modular homes, which was supported by the city of Rifle in September. 

Rifle also agreed to back bond issuance for the factory as Habitat for Humanity wasn’t able to receive any of the $38 million set aside for modular projects from the state of Colorado. 

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Sheryl Bower, the chief operating officer for Habitat for Humanity in Roaring Fork Valley, presented on the issue.

“We’re in the process of submitting our building permit for our Rifle factory and training center this week, hopefully,” Bower said. “We’re here tonight to ask if you might consider some fee waivers for us for our building permit.”

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The fees requested would be for building permit fees and impact fees, such as water and sewer, for roughly $63,147. 

“The project will bring a number of community economic benefits to Rifle and the immediate area, so we’ll be creating jobs: 64 stable, local jobs, reducing travel times for employees and benefiting families right here in Rifle,” Bower said. “The training center will equip 100 students annually with in-demand skills in construction trades, energy efficient technologies and addressing critical workforce shortages.”

Bower talked about other benefits they’ll be bringing to the city of Rifle with the factory, like housing affordability, economic benefits to local businesses and more. 

Rifle City Manager Patrick Waller said that city staff’s recommendation for any fees waived for Habitat for Humanity is that the water meter cost and water and sewer connection fees wouldn’t be part of the fees being waived. 

“The reason for that is that if you do waive those other fees, they’re not necessarily revenue that the city received and is now expending,” Waller explained. “Whereas the water meter, we purchase through city funds, we do it for that cost for most developments, so that we know expenditure associated with it.”

Rifle has made decisions in the past to waive fees for the Rifle Apartments project and for Habitat for Humanity, specifically the Wapiti Commons project. 

“In the past, we’ve tended to waive impact fees for the most part, at least when I’ve been associated with the city, so that’s water, sewer, off-site street,” Waller said. “The building permit fees themselves, that’s something that we haven’t waived since I’ve been here, but it’s certainly within council’s discretion…not driven by Rifle municipal code.”

Waller said there is no official process the city of Rifle goes through in terms of waiving fees, they may choose to deny, accept or find a middle ground.

“I just feel like this is a huge project and our building inspector’s going to be doing a lot of work and our planner’s going to be doing a lot of work on this project and I just feel like we need to charge something for that,” said councilor Clint Hostettler. “It’s not like a house, this is a huge building with a lot of things inside of it, it’s going to be days of staff time.”

Hostettler said he’d be fine with waiving the impact and improvement fees but still charging the building permit fee. 

Councilor Michael Clancy asked about the placement of the roughly 200 units a year the factory will be making as Habitat for Humanity in the Roaring Fork Valley serves three counties.

“We have a spectrum, we’re not geographically limited to the three counties in our service area, we’ve had conversations in Mesa County and in Eagle County,” said Gail Schwartz, president of Habitat for Humanity in the Roaring Fork Valley. “But we feel this I-70 corridor, because of our access to it, is really prime because we’re all facing the same housing crisis.” 

Schwartz said they’re not confined to their service area or own use, but will be supporting affordable housing development in the region. 

Clancy also asked if any other municipalities were supporting the project with additional financial commitment.

“We’re going forward with, as you all being the conduit issuer, with this bond issue, because we didn’t get state or federal funding,” Schwartz said. “We have asked South to Pitkin County, to Eagle County, and also I will be approaching the city of Aspen, and we have not gone to Garfield County yet on this project.”

Clancy agreed with Hostettler about waiving the impact and improvement fees, as did councilors Karen Roberts and Joe Carpenter. Councilor Alicia Gresley was not present at the meeting. 

Hostettler made a motion to waive the impact fees in the amount of $14,475.32. Waller clarified that he meant the off-site street impact fees, water rights dedication fees, water system improvement and sewer system improvement and Hostettler confirmed. 

The motion was approved unanimously.