The Basalt, Colo. property will get $110,000 from a community organization to go towards its spending of an estimated $320,000 on a solar photovoltaic system that will reduce carbon emissions. The system will generate the equivalent of 63 percent of the energy demand from the affordable-housing complex that Roaring Fork is building to house city and club employees.
The Roaring Fork Club in Basalt, Colo., has received a $110,000 grant from the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE) to help pay for a solar photovoltaic (PV) system for the affordable housing complex that the club is building to house city and club employees, the Aspen Times reported.
A $110,000 grant to help purchase the PV system was the cherry on the top of Roaring Fork’s construction of the new affordable-housing project, the Times reported.
The private golf and fishing club in Basalt was one of the winners of The Randy Udall Energy Pioneer Grants from CORE, the Times reported. The club will use the grant to install solar panels on the garages where homeowners and guests park their vehicles.
“Give CORE credit for not looking at the club through a different lens,” said Geoffrey Hasley, Roaring Fork’s General Manager and Chief Operating Officer.
CORE could have balked at providing a grant for a private club, where cabins sell for multi-million dollars, Hasley acknowledged. But the project might not have been pursued if not for how the grant sparked incentive, he told the Times.
The club’s Board of Directors approved covering the remainder of the cost of the project, the Times reported.
The 160-kilowatt system will generate the equivalent of 63 percent of the affordable-housing complex’s demand, according to estimates from project designers, the Times reported.
The Roaring Fork Club recently finished construction of 41 units of affordable housing. It constructed more than was required by the town of Basalt as part of the approval of an expansion of 13 lots for free-market cabins, the Times reported.
“We built more than what was required. Why? Our staff is extremely important to me,” Hasley said.
Investing in the work force is a clear-cut need, especially in the Roaring Fork Valley where there are more jobs than workers to fill them, he told the Times.
The Roaring Fork Club previously had 19 units of affordable housing. It demolished those units and built 41 one-, two- and three-bedroom rental apartments in seven buildings at a different site at the club. Some of the affordable-housing units have stunning “downvalley” views, even better than the multimillion-dollar neighboring cabins, the Times reported.
It was a “green” project from the beginning, the Times reported. The club made appliances, cabinets, windows, doors and any other materials that could be salvaged available to the public prior to demolition, the Times reported. People jumped at the opportunity. One owner of rental cabins in Glenwood Springs snared several appliances and cabinets for upgrades in his units, Teri Bruna, construction coordinator for the affordable-housing project, told the Times.
“We did save quite a bit from going to the landfill,” Bruna said.
A time crunch prevented the club from salving even more of the old building, because the old units had to be torn down by March. New modular buildings were hauled to the site in pieces and stitched together. The housing was completed by August, the Times reported.
The club reserves some of the units for rent to employees of the Basalt town government. Another building is available to the Aspen Skiing Co. during the winter months, when Skico is facing a housing shortage and the golf club has less demand for units, the Times reported.
Hasley estimated that the club has 100 full-time equivalent employees during summers and somewhere in the 80s during winters. He tries to keep people employed year-round so they have career opportunities, the Times reported. He also wants employees to put down roots, if they desire. The demand has grown among employees to return to the campus, he said.
Bruna said she hopes the solar PV project is a first step for renewable energy for the club, the Times reported.
The Randy Udall grants are named in memory of CORE’s founder and first executive director. The grants in his name are CORE’s largest and most competitive program, the Times reported. The annual awards provide funding to public agencies, affordable housing, schools, nonprofits and businesses for projects that use energy efficiency, renewable energy and water conservation to reduce carbon emissions. Grants are offered between $20,000 and $200,000.
“We’re proud to recognize these innovative projects that are supporting clean air, smart energy and will contribute toward a stable climate,” Mona Newton, executive director of CORE, said in a statement. “By using less energy, we can have the biggest impact on lowering carbon emissions and building a safer, healthier community.”