Our Goals: the WHY, HOW, & WHAT of our big project

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THE CHALLENGE: our WHY

Aging is a universal experience, and our community is no exception. Currently, 30% of Chaffee County's population is aged 65 and older, totaling over 6,069 people. By 2050, projections indicate this number will exceed 8,000. Per an article in The Colordo Sun, Chaffee County's median age has gone from 37.7 years old in 1990 to 49.8 years old in 2025, with a projection that by 2050 the county's median age will be 56.5 - one of the highest in the state.

Despite this growing demographic, Chaffee County lacks adequate housing options for older adults. Chaffee County has NO ASSISTED LIVING or MEMORY CARE facilities. As a result, many seniors are forced to leave the community when they require these services.

 

Even if people could stay in their homes, many older adults do not have immediate family close to provide daily care, much less keep up with the required maintenance for a larger home. In-home health care for older individuals is desirable and what many people would like, but those services are not readily available in our rural county. 

We must address this gap and provide appropriate housing and services for our aging population, allowing them to remain in the community they love.

This is a Crucial Community Need:

As we certainly know, Chaffee County is a wonderful place to live and retire. However, we need to plan to keep it that way.

When working-age adults (30-50 years old) relocate here, they often bring their parents, who contribute to the community through volunteering and supporting local businesses. Similarly, when retirees move here, their adult children frequently follow, bringing valuable employment skills. This dynamic fosters a stable and growing community.

Places to Age, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is dedicated to establishing ASSISTED LIVING and MEMORY CARE facilities here in Chaffee County. It is a massive challenge, but we also intend to make these facilities available to all income levels to reflect the diverse economic makeup of our community. 

This crucial project is needed in Chaffee County. It is also ambitious and requires courage and determination from all community members. 

 

PARTNERSHIPS ARE KEY: our HOW

To move our project forward efficiently, we have established key community partnerships.

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These partnerships have helped us to: 

• Secure 10 acres of land that is now annexed and zoned R-3

• Hire an experienced operator - WellAge. These industry experts are helping us to work through the project's economics and build the business plan, particularly informing the operational proforma and the programmatic side of the project

• Using a cooperative design/build approach, we have:

  • Hired an industry Architect - OZ Architecture to develop the schematic design 

  • Hired a local General Contractor - Diesslin Structures Inc., to help us determine the cost of development 

  • Hired a local civil engineer - Mr. Bill Hussey 

  • Hired an owner's rep - Mr. George Anderson

And, these partnerships will help us to: ​

• Finalize the Business Plan

• Develop the 'Capital Stack' and help us access the required funding for such a large project

• Prepare properly for the construction phase

We are collaborating with several important organizations, including:

Next50: This Colorado grant funder focuses on supporting aging adults. In early Q3 2024, they awarded Places to Age a $75,000 grant.

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El Pomar:  In early Q4 2024, Places to Age received a $15K grant from El Pomar Foundation's Central Peaks Regional Council, which will be used for architectural design.

Chaffee County Community Foundation (CCCF): Their Executive Director, Betsy Dittenber, has been generous in giving us brilliant advice. Her comments are always spot-on and very much appreciated. CCCF has also helped us significantly with community fundraising and non-profit compliance.

Chaffee County Public Health (CCPH) / The Age Strong Coalition / ArkValley Helping Hands: Our organization grew out of The Age Strong Coalition. CCPH had a strong hand in motivating our efforts. As our project progresses, we will be working with them to coordinate services.

Chaffee Housing Trust (CHT): We will work with CHT in the development of workforce housing or deed-restricted independent living units on our 10-acres of land.

Chaffee Housing Authority (CHA): As CHA progresses as an organization and can secure future long-term funding through their Nov 2024 sales tax ballot and their all-important Debrucing ballot, we hope to work with CHA to support the development of workforce housing on our 10-acres of land.

Colorado Mountain College (CMC): We want to support their healthcare curriculum that will enable us to recruit and maintain a sustainable workforce from the local community.

City of Salida: On August 7, 2024, Places to Age signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the City of Salida. This will significantly help us in our development efforts. Their supportive backing is a model for how entities can come together to solve community challenges. We sincerely appreciate the help and support we have received from the Salida City Staff and the Salida City Council.

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WellAge: Industry experts who have developed ca ontinuum of care facilities (Independent Living, Assisted Living, & Memory Care) in rural Colorado

Heart of the Rockies Medical Center (HRRMC): We have recently had some good discussions with HRRMC's management. We see the hospital as a pivotal partner in our efforts, BUT we need to make more progress in our project for those discussions to become concrete. We are working hard to ensure these steps occur this summer (2025). 

OUR CURRENT FOCUS: WHAT WE ARE CURRENTLY DOING TO ACCOMPLISH OUR GOALS

A very generous and kind family (the Treat Family) is donating 10 acres of land for this project.  Our organization, Places to Age,  worked exceedingly hard to annex this land into the City of Salida. The Salida Planning Commission and then the Salida City Council unanimously approved our request for the Salida Quality Farms annexation and R-3 zoning. We are thrilled!

 

The final steps for finalizing the conveyance include the completion of the 'parcelization process' through the City of Salida Planning Commission. Our subdivision application goes before the Salida Planning Commission on June 10, 2025, and then we meet with the Salida City Council on July 15, 2025.

With the $75,000 grant from Next50, we have hired WellAge. They are actively helping us to work through the economics of our project and flesh out all the details of our business plan. Most importantly, they and others will help us build out our capital stack to finance the development. 

 

With the $15,000 grant from El Pomar, we have started the site planning and the schematic design work. 

 

In Q2 2025, we announced a matching funds campaign to help us with pre-construction costs.

 

Bottom line, positive progress is being made. 

 

We will keep the community posted as to our progress on all fronts. Please sign up for our Quarterly Newsletter for updates. 

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