I took a short break between Part Six and Part Seven of this article series, “The Limits of a Recreation Economy” … unintentionally.
I had hoped to receive a copy of the “Pagosa Springs Outdoor Recreation Economic Assessment” written by a group of grad students from CU Boulder — (I’d been promised a copy last month) — and I finally came across the document, as included in the Pagosa Springs Town Council meeting packet for tomorrow’s Tuesday January 8, 5pm session.
Since the report had been included in the Town Council meeting packet, I was concerned that the Town Council might actually endorse the report. Would our elected leaders actually give this student-generated document some significant weight, as the Council moves into 2019 and beyond?
We’re not in Kansas any more, Toto. We don’t really need smart but starry-eyed graduate students from Boulder telling us how to lead the community down the Yellow Brick Road.
At least, I hope not… The Yellow Brick Road of Outdoor Recreation has not led us to the Emerald City, where the money is all green. Instead, we’ve arrived — after millions of dollars in taxpayer investment — in a rather spooky forest, where working class people cannot find affordable homes to live in, and where business owners struggle to find employees to service their customers. And where the small town character that we all moved here to enjoy is slowly vanishing.
One might not comprehend the current crisis in our community, however, if one were to casually and carelessly peruse the “Pagosa Springs Outdoor Recreation Economic Assessment.”
From Page 2:
The authors of this report would like to give a special thanks to Dr. Joel Hartter, Professor and Director of the Masters of the Environment Program at the University of Colorado, Boulder; Jennifer Green from the Pagosa Springs Tourism Committee; and Michael Whiting, the County Commissioner, for providing knowledge, feedback, and support throughout this project.
From what I can tell, from reading the 37-page report, it appears that the students put a lot of effort into researching places like Ketchum, Idaho… and almost zero effort into talking to people who live in Archuleta County. The only local people mentioned in the 37-page report were Jennie Green and Michael Whiting, two people who have worked hard at promoting our current tourism-based economy… and, unintentionally, helped to bring about a workforce housing crisis.
In my humble opinion, the CU report which will be considered by the Town Council tomorrow night has two fatal flaws. The students failed to understand Pagosa Springs. And the students failed to understand the effects of an “outdoor recreation economy” on rural communities, in general.
The US Census might tell us that the population of Pagosa Springs — the 1,940 people who live within the Town limits — have an median age of 37, similar to the median age in Colorado as a whole. But the actual community also includes the folks living in the unincorporated county. That’s 13,315 people, with a median age of 50 years. (US Census estimate; Federal Reserve Bank estimate.)
The student report gave the median home value in Pagosa Springs as “$193,500.”
Zillow.com — one of the largest real estate website in the US — gives a median home value as “$364,500.” Real estate website Trulia gives the median sales price as “$295,000.” Realtor.com gives the median sales price as “$350,000.” These median prices are well beyond the reach of most working class families in Archuleta County.
The sentence that gave me the most trouble, however, was from the Executive Summary page:
The town boasts access to numerous outdoor activities year-round such as hiking, fishing, skiing, and rafting; geothermal heating; affordable housing prices; and the Cloman Industrial Park ready for development and located adjacent to Archuleta County’s Stevens Field Airport.
Yes, we have year-round activities here, if you’re not working two or three jobs to pay the rent.
And yes, we have “geothermal heating.” Sort of. From the Town website:
The Town of Pagosa Springs has owned and operated a geothermal heating system since December 1982 to provide geothermal heating during the fall, winter and spring to customers in this small mountain town… The Town’s geothermal heating system was funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) with additional funds provided by Archuleta County and the Town… The total cost to complete the system was over $1.4 million… Currently, the system has 15 customers (2 residential, 13 commercial) with an average annual operating budget of $40,000…
I believe the Town has added a few more geothermal heating customers since the above narrative was written. But whether we can promote Pagosa Springs as a ‘special place’ based on two dozen geothermal customers…in a community with over 9,000 homes and businesses? Probably not.
“Affordable housing prices?” That statement has no connection to reality… unless we want to compare our real estate market to, say, Aspen’s or Telluride’s.
The Cloman Industrial Park, ready for development?
Cloman Industrial Park was initiated by the Cloman family back in about 1991. Some of our readers may have visited Cloman Park, and know that our vast industrial park is almost completely vacant, except for a few businesses. A couple of marijuana growers, for example. A door company, a construction company, an auto body shop. The Humane Society. In the County Assessor’s mapping application, about eight of the 50-plus parcels show signs of development. After almost 30 years of promoting our wonderful industrial park… we have eight local businesses located there?
The CU students have high hopes for the park, however. From the report’s “Recommendations”:
Located in the vicinity of prime infrastructure, Stevens Field, the former Cloman Industrial Park is being given a new vision as Pagosa Peak Business Park. Capitalizing on existing recreational opportunities such as Cloman Park’s disc golf course, ample open space, and prime views, Pagosa Peak is an invitation for innovative business opportunity. Of necessity will be major infrastructural improvements such as asphalt paving, water, and sewer connectivity, yet the groundwork must be laid to attract targeted organizations. Utilizing the geographic benefit of being in an opportunity zone, tax credits are available to assist in major infrastructural feats.
Perhaps the lack of paved streets and water and sewer connections have indeed prevented “Pagosa Peak Business Park” from fully building out over the past 30 years. I can’t say. Perhaps the lack of high speed internet in the park has stifled growth. Maybe nice, big government subsidies could help bring about major infrastructural feats?
A couple of miles to the south, we have another commercial park called Aspen Village. The streets are paved, the water and sewer connections have been in place since 2006. Fiber optic cable runs the length of the development. The park features an anchor tenant, operated by the world’s largest retailer: Walmart. The centrally-located park features direct access to Highway 160.
The original developers paid for all of the ‘major infrastructural feats’ out of their own pockets.
Looking again at the County Assessor’s mapping application, about seven of the 28 commercial parcels have been developed since 2006. That’s a 25 percent development rate, in 12 years. But Aspen Village does not rate even a passing mention in the CU report.