I will admit, I find “free” things mildly attractive. Free samples… free trials… free customer appreciation lunches… free computer apps… that kind of thing.
I haven’t made much use of the free medical services available to me through Medicare ever since I turned 65, because I’m deathly afraid of doctors and hospitals. When I was a kid, my dad used to make a joke, whenever we would pass a hospital, on the highway or somewhere in the city.
“Don’t ever go in a hospital,” my dad would quip. “People die in there.”
I also like paying for things, occasionally. Spending money can provide a certain type of pleasing exhilaration. I suspect government officials often experience the same kind of exhilaration, when spending our taxes.
But I’m happy to enjoy a free lunch, now and then… and I did exactly that yesterday, when the La Plata Election Association (LPEA) staff hosted their Customer Appreciation Lunch at their downtown service center here in Pagosa… with live music by the talented Tim Sullivan. The dance floor was open.
About 300 customers took advantage of the free food — barbecued meats by Smokin’ Moe’s, potato salad, cole slaw, and various desserts. The best free barbecue I’d experienced in quite a while.
I suppose the LPEA lunch wasn’t actually “free”, if you were to look into the financial details. My family sends money to LPEA on a monthly basis (at their request) and so does everyone else who uses electricity in Archuleta County. So you could easily say that the LPEA customers — we, the people — actually paid for the free lunch.
But it was a nice community event, nevertheless. I had a chance to sit with one of the finest artists in Pagosa, Roberto Garcia, and discuss sculpture, education, and (of course) COVID.
Later that day, I attended the regular meeting of the Pagosa Springs Town Council, as is my custom on the third Thursday of each month, and listened to the Council make a few financial arrangements and discuss changes to our municipal code.
One of the financial arrangements concerned the Pagosa Springs Inn & Suites, which may be changing ownership, or perhaps has already changed ownership. The new owners (I didn’t catch their names) are proposing to convert the motel into a massive apartment building with 98 apartments, about a quarter of which will be available to local working families and individuals at “120% AMI or less.”
In order to facilitate this portion of “workforce housing”, the Town Planning Department negotiated a special rule that allows the motel to greatly exceed the normal density limits for the “Mixed-Use Corridor” zoning district.
To put 120% AMI (Area Median Income) into perspective, we can look to the published Colorado Housing and Finance Authority chart for Archuleta County, which appear to show the prices that Pagosa Springs Inn & Suites will need to abide by, for their special “workforce housing” units.
According to this chart, it appears that — in exchange for financial subsidies provided by the Pagosa taxpayers — the Pagosa Springs Inn & Suites will be able to charge $1,545 a month for a studio apartment, and $1,986 for a two bedroom.
Which is to say, the Town Council approved a special deal that allows the Pagosa Springs Inn & Suites to greatly exceed the established zoning district density, in exchange for about 25 “restricted” apartments that almost no working household in Pagosa can afford.
In fact, I would guess that most Town employees — some of the highest paid employees in Pagosa Springs — would be unable to afford the 120% AMI rents established by CHFA.
I am very pleased that our local leaders want to do something to help solve our community’s housing crisis, and I’m pleased that our local leaders are willing to make special deals with developers to encourage workforce housing. But I wish the deals made some kind of rational sense.
A couple of other interesting projects were discussed, from a financial perspective, by the Town Council last night. Potentially rather expensive projects? To be funded by the taxpayers?
From the Council agenda packet:
As part of a needs assessment completed by Lotic Engineering, the Upper San Juan Watershed Enhancement Partnership (WEP) has identified improvements to the San Juan River upstream of Town needed to improve river health and recreation and to address changing river conditions resulting from climate change that are likely to reduce recreation days in the river. In conjunction with this effort, WEP has identified promising state funding opportunities through the Colorado Water Conservation Board to help pay for these projects.
The WEP is seeking permission and financial support from Town Council to complete and submit grant applications to the Colorado Water Conservation Board for the following project:
Recreational and Ecological Enhancement of the San Juan River upstream of Pagosa Springs.
This project involves the construction of specific features intended to offset identified impacts by: (1) encouraging the formation and persistence of low flow channels, (2) facilitating expansion and resilience of stream-side riparian vegetation, and (3) stabilizing riverbanks by removing old means of stabilization such as cars and other debris and using, instead, materials that create good aquatic habitat. Depending on the amount of funding, the project is expected to improve conditions in close to 3 miles of the San Juan River immediately upstream of the Town of Pagosa Springs. Upon funding, construction is expected to begin in September 2022.
This rather expensive project — estimated at about $2.1 million — was also discussed on Monday, September 20, at a meeting of the San Juan Water Conservancy District.
I’m fascinated by the amount of money Colorado governments pour into recreation, when so many of our citizens are struggling just to maintain a roof over their heads.
I currently serve on the San Juan Water Conservancy District boar, as a volunteer. I will be discussing the above $2.1 million river project is more detail, next week, but my opinions will not necessarily reflect the opinions of the SJWCD board.
But maybe they will.