Prepared by Diane Schwenke, HBA Governmental Affairs Consultant
Joint Grand Junction/Mesa County Housing Needs Assessment. The City of Grand Junction and Mesa County kicked off their process to conduct a new Housing Needs Assessment and create a new Housing Action Plan in late January. There was an open house held on Feb. 12th that I attended along with a lot of nonprofit and homeless advocates. Other than one or two others I did not see anyone from our industry group in the hour I was there. To view the slides from the Council presentation outlining the process go to: 1.26.26 HNA and HAP Council Presentation – Adobe cloud storage There is also a survey that members of HBA and GJARA are urged to complete at 2026 Mesa County and Grand Junction Housing Survey.
Why This Matters: The Housing Needs Assessment and new Housing Action Plan can either help developers create more housing (by incentives, etc.) or harm (adding inclusionary zoning as a strategy for example). It is important that the industry have a seat at the table to steer these documents from the beginning to insure a favorable outcome for homebuilders and homebuyers.
Housing Affordability Task Force. The task force continues to meet and currently has small subcommittees reviewing and preparing recommendations related to TEDS and significant trees. The group has agreed to a staff recommendation regarding modification of pedestrian crossings. Bicycle storage had considerable staff scrutiny and is headed back to the task force for further deliberation. The task force, through Chairman Kelly Maves has applied for a grant through the National Association of Homebuilders to help fund a consultant that could work with task force members on some of the most technical aspects of review and recommendations for changes.
Why This Matters: In the past few years, the City has enacted code changes and process requirements that have slowed down applications and added unneeded cost and complexity. This task force will forward recommendations to City Council to mitigate those costs and speed up the application process saving homebuilders and developers time and money that can make housing more affordable.
Parks Impact Fee. After a fee adjustment recommendation was pulled from the City Council agenda on January 7th the staff has gone back to do a further review of how the parks acquisition fee portion of the parks fee is calculated. That review is still going on and there is no timetable for when the matter will be considered by City Council again. In the meantime, homebuilders are being charged the Parks fee that was adopted in March 2025 and implemented on January 1, 2026
Why This Matters: From the beginning of the study to raise impact fees last year HBA and GJARA leadership has argued that the cost per acre used to calculate the new parks fee was too high. What Council agreed to on December 15th will lower the fee on most new homes by $200 to $400 but the actual cost savings will likely be even higher once this effort is concluded and additional action by City Council is taken.
Wildfire Urban Interface Code (WUI). The Grand Junction City Council will be taking action in March to adopt the WUI code developed by the State of Colorado. All local governments and fire districts must adopt this code by April 1st with implementation set for July 1st. There is currently legislation being drafted to delay implementation as local government entities struggle with how to enforce the new code. In Mesa County, Grand Junction and Lower Valley Fire District have chosen to do their own enforcement while others will likely work with Mesa County Building Department. In essence the code will mandate the types of building materials that can be used on structures and impose landscaping clearance standards based on which zone (red, orange or yellow) a property is in. To view the code map and search the status a property go to: 2025 Colorado Wildfire Resiliency Code Map
Why This Matters: The code as currently written is inconsistent with the international WUI code and will likely disrupt supply chains. It could lead to material shortages. In high risk areas (red) it will drive up the cost of home construction and remodels. As insurance providers were not part of the code writing process the stated purpose of reducing home insurance rates is doubtful.
Fruita Housing Action Plan. The City of Fruita has adopted a new Housing Needs Assessment and Housing Action Plan. City Manager Shannon Vesson will be presenting details about this effort at the next AMGD meeting on March 4th (note date change) at 8:00 AM. All are welcome to attend. To view the document go to Final-Draft—City-of-Fruita-Housing-Needs-Assessment
Why This Matters: With industry representatives serving on the working group for this effort the final adopted housing needs assessment and action plan reflects an approach that addresses all housing price points and seeks to work with developers and homebuilders to create market rate housing.
Mesa County Code Rewrite. The Mesa County Code Rewrite is complete and will be adopted by County Commissioners later this month or in early March. It went before MC Planning Commission for the first time on Feb. 12th. Community Development Director Greg Moberg does not anticipate any hiccups in getting the new code approved. However, he did note that since it is less restrictive, he expects some pushback from residents opposing developments in their neighborhoods.
Why This Matters: This new code, once adopted should make the process of development in the county easier and faster leading to an increase in housing inventory.
Housing Summit. Over 200 individuals attended the 2nd Annual Housing Summit and this year’s event featured more of our industry representatives. A huge thank you to all of our sponsors and speakers. For those who did not attend here is a link to the NAHB speaker’s demographic slides and Kevin’s Bray’s Local Market Trends observations https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zVnfc1BloZRMDTnFT6Y6wAyxCRZTeLXy?usp=drive_link
Why This Matters: Hosting the Housing Summit puts a spotlight on HBA and the private sector as leaders in addressing our housing crisis. It also provides a common base of knowledge as we work with partners in government and the nonprofit sector to find solutions.