Tiny houses may soon be coming to El Paso county, particularly in Colorado Springs.
A Denver-based tiny home community developer is working with the county’s zoning department to make it possible for residents to live in tiny units.
The developer, Life Size Tiny Communities, has submitted a proposal for what they are calling ‘Bonsai Village’, to El Paso County. They list the address 9620 Chipeta Park Road, off highway 24.
CEO Joe Callantine, touted the benefits of tiny living, particularly when it comes to affordability and meeting market demands. “If you can turn around something in 3 months and pay $75 thousand, can you image how that could actually impact the marketplace in terms of supply? That supply and demand thing is completely out of wack right now,” he said.
He added that tiny house will be a key solution to the ‘missing middle’ housing crisis.
Colorado is one of the friendlier states when it comes to tiny homes, but that varies from county to county and even from municipality to municipality. In El Paso county, Tiny House Parks are only allowed in the Recreational Vehicle Park Zoning District.
In this case, some rezoning may need to be approved for the project to get the greenlight.
“Cities and counties don’t really have a check box for us to put a mark in, and let us be able to live in these types of structures. The rezoning piece is the catch … that’s the longest piece of it…There are people, lots of people out there, like me, who… I’ve got a home, I just need a legal place to put it,” Callantine continued.
If Life Size Tiny Communities succeed, they plan to bring in the infrastructure and utilities, but from there it would be “BYOH”, or “bring your own home.”
Bonsai Village will have space for 100 tiny homes. There are over 20 tiny home builders serving Colorado, which should give interested home owners ample choice.
The current schedule seeks a fall 2022 opening, but this can always change.
