Housing Restrictive Covenant/Deed Restrictions 6th Discussion
The work session on June 10, 2025 is Town Council’s sixth work session regarding housing restrictive covenants/deed restrictions. The first work session was held on August 27, 2024, the second on September 16, 2024, the third work on December 10, 2024, the fourth on January 14, 2025, and the fifth on May 27, 2025. Due to two Council members resigning between January and April 2025, the discussion of covenants was paused and then resumed on May 13, 2025 with the Summit Combined Housing Authority (SCHA), which presented on general housing restrictive covenants and best practices. The SCHA has experience with all covenants within the county, as they administer portions of the covenants for all of the jurisdictions; the staff memo and presentation from SCHA were included as attachment 1. The overall goal of these work sessions has been to have the Council 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 June 10 work session, staff continued the discussion from May 27 comparing what is in the 2019 Covenant to the feedback and best practices received from SCHA during the May 13 work session. At the May 27 meeting, Council discussed the topics around resale methods, resale calculations, and capital improvements. During the June 10 Town Council meeting, the following was discussed:
- Asset Testing: Does Council want an asset testing requirement in the covenant? Council discussed encouraging people to save and that asset testing might discourage this. The majority of Council decided against asset testing in order to encourage saving and enabling buyers to have mobility and save for the future.
- Ownership of Other Property: Does Council want to continue to not allow ownership of other residential properties? Council continued the conversation around assets and that they did not want to discourage saving money or growing wealth so the majority of Council gave staff direction that they would allow potential buyers of deed restricted units to own one property at the time of purchasing a deed restricted unit, but that owners would then be allowed to own an unlimited amount of property once they own a deed restricted unit in order to encourage investment for future needs and enabling buyer mobility.
- Real Estate Commission: Does Council want to limit real estate commission within the covenant? If yes, then to what percentage? Council gave staff direction to cap the real estate commission on deed restricted units at 2% in any proposed new deed restriction.
- Income Buffer: Does Council want to allow an income buffer within the covenant? Council gave staff direction to include a 20% income buffer in any new deed restriction brought to Council.
- Employment Location Requirement: Does Council support requiring employment verification at annual monitoring and the enforcement of the requirement that a resident of a deed restricted unit continue to earn their living from a business operating in Summit County, by working there an average of at least 30 hours per week on an annual basis? Council agreed to requiring that a deed restricted unit resident earn their living from a business in Summit County, but Council would like more information about how work location requirements are being enforced in other towns and the county before continuing with this discussion.
Summit Huts Peninsula Recreation Area Hut Project
During the June 10, 2025 work session, Town Council received an update on preliminary discussions between the Town of Frisco, the US Forest Service (USFS), and Summit Huts, regarding the construction of a backcountry hut/cabin at the Peninsula Recreation Area (PRA).
In April of 2025, during a conversation regarding the Frisco Nordic Center Master Development Plan (MDP), Town of Frisco and USFS staff discussed the opportunities for a winter structure/hut at the PRA. This spurred Town of Frisco staff to approach Summit Huts Executive Director, Greg Guevara, about the potential for a hut at the PRA. Summit Huts Association is a Colorado 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to developing and maintaining a system of backcountry cabins accessed by non-motorized trails in Summit County, Colorado.
Summit Huts currently owns and/or operates five backcountry cabins under special use permits from the USFS and United States Department of Agriculture in the White River and Pike-San Isabel National Forests. Their huts include: Francie’s Cabin, Janet’s Cabin, Ken’s Cabin, the Section House, and Sisters Cabin.
Summit Huts is preliminarily proposing a year-round hut for eight people total, which would be about one mile from the parking area with about 185 feet of vertical climbing. This would potentially draw new hut users who could experience a hut that is more accessible than the other huts in the Summit Huts system. Summit Huts would build the hut within the high aesthetic and sustainability standards of the USFS at their cost.
Financial Impact
An agreement between the Town of Frisco and Summit Huts would result in an initial cost to Town of Frisco to maintain three dedicated parking spaces for hut visitors, located on Recreation Way, but Summit Huts would pay for the construction of the cabin. The Town would likely be seeking a 5% concessionaire fee from Summit Huts on all rental fees collected. Year-round maintenance (including plowing) of hut parking spaces and monitoring of hut visitors would likely not result in the need for additional staff or equipment outside of the Boneyard barrier gate, which would likely cost the Town $5,000-$7,000 to install.
Council Direction
Council expressed support for a cabin on the PRA and a potential partnership with Summit Huts, due to the greater accessibility that this cabin would have for families and new hut system users. Town Council urged staff and Summit Huts to mitigate the possibility of parties and disturbances at this hut by using policy and even the architecture of the hut to discourage loud and disruptive behavior.
602 Galena Construction Contract
The Town of Frisco has been working with the NHP Foundation (NHPF) since early 2023 when staff from NHPF approached Town staff and Council on affordable housing opportunities in Frisco. The mission of NHPF is to “preserve and create sustainable, service-enriched multifamily housing that is affordable to low- and moderate-income families and seniors, and beneficial to their communities.” This mission aligns with the Council’s strategic plan to support a thriving economy by increasing workforce housing and enhancing community inclusivity by offering a variety of housing types to support year-round residents.
The project is projected to move forward in 2025 with 54 rental units at an income rate of 120% of the Summit County Area Median Income.
Amended and Restated Contract
An Amended and Restated Assignment and Subordination of Construction Contract was brought to Council and approved through Ordinance 25-10 on the first reading. The second reading is scheduled for June 24, 2025.
Drive-Through Signage
Over the last few years, fast food establishments have created more efficient drive-through operations utilizing more than one order lane to mitigate traffic spilling into parking lots and onto public roads. This layout leads to less impact on the public roads and to reduced traffic back-ups, as more space is provided on the property for stacking cars, and customers are processed more efficiently through multiple drive-up windows.
The current Town Code only allows one drive-through menu board sign per business and one drive-through pre-sell menu board sign per business, which restricts the number of signs and then subsequently does not encourage multiple drive-through lanes.
During the May 27 meeting, the first reading of Ordinance 25-09, changing Chapter 180 of the Code of Ordinances, was presented to Town Council. The proposed changes include:
- Drive-Through Menu Board Sign- Changed from one drive-through menu board sign per business to one drive-through menu board per drive-through lane with a maximum of two signs allowed per property; and
- Drive-Through Pre-sell Menu Board Sign- Changed from one drive-through pre-sell menu board sign per business to one drive-through pre-sell menu board sign per drive through lane with a maximum of two signs allowed per property; and
- Master Sign Plan- Changed from requiring a Master Sign Plan for any development having more than one tenant, business, or use to only requiring a Master Sign Plan for properties, which contain three or more businesses.
The majority of Council approved Ordinance 25-09 during the second reading.
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.