At yesterday’s Pagosa Springs Town Council, one of the questions before the Council concerned a change to the Land Use and Development Code (LUDC) to allow the Town Manager to exempt the Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership (GGP) from impact fees and other development fees typically paid by residents and businesses in Pagosa Springs.
I detailed some of the issues around that special treatment yesterday in Part One.
During the Council discussion of the ordinance, Mayor Don Volger opened the floor to public comment. The meeting was not terribly well attended, and only two members of the community stood to address the Council. One of them was businessman and Historic Preservation Board member Andre Redstone. He drew a connection between the GGP development in Centennial Park and the proposed development of the historic waterworks site on North First Street.
Speaking frankly, I didn’t understand what point Mr. Redstone was attempting to make.
The other member of the community who spoke to the issue of special treatment was the Pagosa Daily Post editor. (Me.)
Here’s roughly what I told the Council:
“The staff report for this ordinance specifically mentions the Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership, so I’d like to also mention the GGP.
“The GGP is a private corporation. It’s not a government entity. The directors are not elected by the taxpayers, nor do the taxpayers have any say in the way the corporation is operated. But almost the entire project has been funded by the taxpayers of Colorado, through DOLA and CWCB.
“I occasionally run across government policies and actions that seem unfair to the taxpayers, and — for some reason — I sometime feel like the only person in the community willing to suggest publicly that these policies or actions are unfair.
“This ordinance is another chance for the Town Council to treat the taxpayers and area businesses unfairly, by writing a new law that applies, in essence, to only one project in the entire community — the GGP.
“The way Centennial Park was donated to the Geothermal Greenhouse Partnership, back in 2009, was patently unfair to the taxpayers. We had an organization headed up by a gentleman who was, at that time, also serving as Town mayor… an organization that was gifted hundreds of thousands of dollars in government land, geothermal water, and state grants, without any qualification process whatsoever… and without any chance for any other companies to participate in an RFP process.
“Even though the GGP was granted free public land and free geothermal water in 2009, they didn’t present a business plan until 2014. I hope you have all read that business plan, because it gives no indication of how this private corporation is ever going to become self-sustaining.
“CRS 29-20-104.5 addresses allowable exemptions to an impact fee schedule.”
Quote:
Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, a local government may waive an impact fee or other similar development charge on the development of low- or moderate- income housing or affordable employee housing as defined by the local government.
“Why does the Colorado law mention only one possible exemption to impact fee collection? The GGP does not qualify for this type of exemption.
“So the Council has three questions to consider before you approve this ordinance.
“Is it the job of the Town Council to forever provide taxpayer subsidies to this one private corporation?
“Is the ordinance before you fair to the taxpayers and other businesses in the community?
“And, taking a broader perspective, is it time to simply reassess the entire impact fee policy? The Council has, I believe, contracted with a company to analyze your impact fee ordinance.
“Why not wait until you get your very expensive study back, before you make changes — and I would classify them as unfair changes — to your Land Use Code?”
The Council then proceeded to vote unanimously to approve changes to the Town’s Land Use and Development Code (LUDC) that apply — in 2018 — to only one private business.
I really didn’t expect the Council to do otherwise. The GGP has been receiving special treatment from the moment former mayor Ross Aragon embraced the idea of handing over one of our public parks, and up 100 gallons per minute of our precious geothermal water — free of charge — to a private group he was helping to head up.
The special treatment continues, unabated.
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.