Something old, something new: Greeley’s new economic developer hopes housing keeps the economy humming

GREELEY — The years before the Great Recession began in 2008 should have been one of the easier times for economic development. The national budget had a surplus. The housing market felt like a game of Monopoly, with new homes cropping up on every corner. The economy was humming more than a karaoke champion in the shower.

And yet, Ben Snow remembers it as one of the more challenging times in his career working in economic development. Businesses loved the prosperity, but the unemployment rate was so low that they were having a hard time finding workers, let alone those with skills to fill specific positions in manufacturing, engineering and upper management. They finally, out of frustration, called on economic development for help, even with government programs already in place to help people fill jobs and find work.

“It was 50 years in the making, if you ask me, because we had diminished the value of trades,” Snow said. “But they expected us to solve the problem, and so we were forced to think about the workforce. Now workforce development is front and center. We embrace it now.”

Snow, 50, now acts as Greeley’s economic health and development director, a position he filled a month ago, and with it comes some new responsibilities that will once again force him to rethink the goals of economic development.

Greeley continues to struggle with finding workers, but more than that, the city is struggling to offer them housing they can afford. And once again, the thinking now is that economic development needs to solve the problem, or at least help. It’s a new approach, but Snow believes it’s overdue.

“It sends a powerful message that housing has a role to play in Greeley’s economic health,” Snow said.

Snow has more experience with housing than others might. He began his career in real estate, working for five years in development in Phoenix and then for a couple of years in site acquisition for U-Haul, which taught him how to dance with cities that looked unfavorably on businesses deemed unsexy or even unfavorable. He then took a look at himself and discovered he had a talent — or a curse, he said, laughing — for working with government. He enjoyed straddling the line between working with government and business, and when he discovered there was a career for that sort of thing, he began working in economic development for Denver in 2003.

“How can you make them interface beautifully?” Snow said. “How can you work together? I think that’s fun.”

In Denver, he learned how to get cities to think of themselves as a region, not just a singular entity. The thinking was a success, and Denver, he said, became a model for other regions across the country. It remains a core philosophy of his, especially after working nine years in Rapid City, S.D., and seeing how that area embraced tourism, now the region’s number-two economic engine.

“I understand that there are political boundaries, and I have a healthy respect for that,” Snow said. “I do believe you have an obligation to the taxpayers of that city. But I also believe you are doing a service to taxpayers by behaving in a regional way. Those regions will win. That’s generally how it works.”

Northern Colorado, he said, is in an enviable position, with nearly the same growth rate as it enjoyed during those boom years of the early 2000s before the Great Recession. And while it’s true that Greeley is a much different place than Fort Collins, Boulder or Loveland, Snow once again believes that those differences aren’t deal breakers.

“We already have the data that shows there are people who commute both ways,” Snow said. “I think that’s great. That may be our saving grace. The political differences can be overcome with economic harmony. Bring it on.”

Housing, however, remains a big issue for residents of most income levels of Northern Colorado, even the upper middle class, as there just isn’t enough housing to fill all the different incomes of the city. The shortage has crippled those with lower incomes, as apartment rents are higher than a monthly mortgage payment on a big house, but workers have to pay them because they don’t have the money saved for a down payment and, quite frankly, there’s not much else out there.

“Over the last few years, there’s this growing disconnect between housing prices and wages,” Snow said. “It’s such a mismatch, and honestly, most communities have it.”

Although housing for the lower income population is a dire problem, Snow said all levels aren’t being addressed, as there’s not enough housing that would appeal to high-level executives either. That housing could open up places for the upper-middle class. Snow said incentives, a popular tool of economic development, will probably be part of the solution, as well as possibly relaxing policies already in place. He knows there isn’t much wiggle room in Northern Colorado’s screw-tight housing market, but even making things a touch cheaper to fit the city’s wishes would help.

Urban redevelopment is also a solution, which is an acknowledgment that reuse of urban properties is a part of economic development, said Roy Otto, Greeley’s city manager. That’s something major cities have embraced for years, and Denver is a good example of that, as LoDo sprang up around Coors Field.

“There’s always been a connection between the two,” Otto said. “I think more and more, as we think efficiencies with water use and infrastructure, you want to get the most out of what you already have.”

Of course, part of Snow’s job will involve new development as well, especially far out west, near the city’s Promontory development that contains State Farm offices. There’s some thinking, Otto said, that the area near Promontory will be the next Centerra shopping center in east Loveland, as Harmony Road in Fort Collins and Centerra are nearly full. That shopping center would eventually lead people to the more commercial west side already present in Greeley.

“I could make an argument that in the recent past we needed to pay more attention to the west side of Greeley,” Otto said. “That’s a good problem to have, but we do want to take it seriously.”

It’s hard to say what the first priority is out of all that, but the city seems intent on tackling housing soon.

The Greeley City Council on Feb. 19 approved a nine-point plan with the goal of building more than 5,500 homes in the next five years. The plan, as Snow hinted, includes amending the development code, offering incentives for affordable housing (including encouraging the development of manufactured homes) and attempting to address the rising cost of raw water.

The council’s approval doesn’t mean much other than a thumbs-up on the philosophies presented, but members were jazzed nonetheless. One member, Jon Smail, told planners it was “the coolest thing you’ve ever brought to us.”

Snow seems ready for the new challenge, even if he admits to hosting a free-market side of his personality.

“I don’t think housing should become a responsibility of the government,” Snow said, “but government creates policy and ordinances and requirements that can help things to happen better, faster and smoother. It might send messages that we are flexible and willing to work with home builders. If you can create a little more space, maybe developers will realize they can move more product if the price comes down, If one developer doesn’t do it, someone else will.”

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