The work session on July 8, 2025 is Town Council’s seventh work session regarding housing restrictive covenants/deed restrictions. The overall goal of these work sessions s is for Council to determine if they want to create a new standard housing restrictive covenant, and if so, what should be included in this new covenant.

What is a Restrictive Covenant/Deed Restriction?

A restrictive covenant/deed restriction is a common tool used for placing limitations on the uses of a housing unit and are frequently utilized when a housing unit has been partially (or fully) funded by public funds, and subsequently, deed restrictions are recorded on applicable properties. The covenant is a written agreement that restricts or limits the activities that may take place on a property or in a development. When purchasing a property that has a covenant recorded on it, new property owners acknowledge a written statement affirming that they understand the restriction recorded on the property and that they will abide by it.

There are approximately 155 properties within the Town that have restrictive covenants/deed restrictions on them through various development measures, primarily stemming from development agreements or bonus density commitments. Approximately 40 of these units are employee units with no resale price cap (often referred to as “light” or “live/work” restrictions). The remaining have some type of limitation on household income and/or resale calculation, typically tied to area median incomes (AMI) between 80-120% with some units have a higher AMI, up to 160% AMI.

New Covenant & Next Steps

During the July 8 work session, Council first discussed the recusal of Council member Zach Ryan, who is in the process of purchasing a deed restricted property in Frisco . Council member Ryan participated in the work sessions on housing restrictive covenants on May 27 and June 10, 2025, but now must recuse himself due to his pending purchase. Three of the seven Council members are now recused from the discussion on housing restrictive covenants as they each live in deed restricted housing or are in the process of purchasing a deed restricted unit. In light of Council member Ryan’s recusal, the four remaining Council members weighed whether they would like to continue discussions around a potential new deed restrictive covenant as the potential for a 2-2 tie vote on a new covenant would negate passing a new covenant. Council decided they would like to continue with the work they have done including revisiting all topics discussed during the work sessions in which Council member Ryan participated.

During the July 8 Town Council meeting, the following topics were revisited:

• Asset Testing: Does Council want an asset testing requirement in the covenant? Council revisited the topic and a majority agreed against asset testing. Council wants to encourage people to save and felt asset testing might discourage this. Council also felt that it would be difficult to enforce asset testing.
• Resale Method: Does the Council want a lottery process, waitlist system, or to continue with the current method articulated in the 2019 covenant? Council stated again that they support moving forward with a lottery.

Council discussed providing mobility for current deed restricted owners who would like to purchase a larger deed restricted property or downsize to a smaller deed restricted property. Council discussed giving current deed restricted owners an additional ticket in the lottery to allow them an extra advantage.

• Council proposed the following for a lottery process:
  • One additional ticket for working within Summit County for greater than 10 years, and
  • One additional ticket for working in the Ten Mile Basin for greater than two years, and
  • One additional ticket for owners of a deed restricted unit within Frisco.
• Resale Calculation How should the resale calculation be calculated?  Council was split on how the resale calculation be calculated. Two Council members favor homeowners reselling their property at 3% appreciation (plus qualified capital improvements), or the Summit Combine Housing Authority’s Maximum Sale Price, whichever is greater. Two Council members favor an annual 3%, not compounded, resale calculation. A 2-2 vote negates any possible change to this topic. Council agreed that resale calculations should be discussed further in association with the capital improvements discussion.
• Capital Improvements: How should capital improvements be calculated? Council agreed to update the depreciation schedule from five years to 10 years and keep the 20 year deprecation schedule the same.  Council agreed they would return at the next discussion to provide their feedback on capital improvements and if they should be capped.

The housing restrictive covenant discussion will continue on July 22. Council will discuss resale calculations/capital improvements, employment verification, location of ownership of other property, and right to inspect.

Frisco Town Council Meetings: Ways to Participate

Frisco Town Council meetings are available to view via Zoom and YouTube, and are also held in person to make Town Council meetings easier to access for everyone.

The public can provide comment during meetings via Zoom or in person (not YouTube), and a public comment period will be available at 7:00pm; during the consideration of ordinances; and at the discretion of Town Council during work session items, which are discussions that don’t require a formal vote by Town Council and do not require public comment. Again, this hybrid approach is intended to make Town Council meetings more accessible, and meeting recordings will typically also be made available the day after a meeting in the meeting archive with agenda topics bookmarked to the discussions in the video.

The regular meeting on July 8, 2025 was canceled.