While sorting through miscellaneous papers and file folders that had been piling up on various flat surfaces in my home office, I came across a copy of the “WILL SERVE LETTER” that Public Works Director Martin Schmidt shared at a special meeting of the Pagosa Springs Sanitation General Improvement District (PSSGID) on June 7.
The letter begins:
Date:
Project Superintendent
Mailing Address
Phone
RE: Project Name
To whom it may concern:
The XXXXXXXX project at XXXXXXXX has approached the Pagosa Springs Sanitation General Improvement District (District) and requested a Will Serve Letter for the project. This Will Serve Letter only applies to property located within the District boundaries. Any services provided by the District are contingent on the following requirements:
The letter then lists four requirements, including “Successful petition for inclusion for any property outside of the District boundary…”
Mr. Schmidt is the Public Works Director for the Town of Pagosa Springs, a public corporation established in 1891 to provide certain services to the pioneer families that had begun to build rustic homes adjacent to the San Juan River, near an area of sulfur-smelling geothermal hot springs.
Certain things have changed since 1891. Some things haven’t changed.
The letter considered by the PSSGID Board is obviously meant to be a ‘form letter’ that could be used for various future projects, by filling in the blanks. Mr. Schmidt had presented it to the PSSGID Board on June 7, and had explained that a group of investors were considering a rather massive development project on 90 rolling acres immediately west of the Pagosa Springs Elementary School. In the information presented to the Town Council on June 7, the project — Pagosa Views — would consist of about 1,100 dwelling units.
From the meeting agenda notes:
Per the developer: This development will be comprised of approximately 900 residential units (townhomes, condos and single family homes) and a 200 unit RV subdivision. The work will be done in phases over the course of 8 years. Water and sewer lines will be installed in 2023. It has been indicated to the District that the development will be called Pagosa Views. Tonight the Board is considering only the issuing of a will serve letter and directing staff on future actions. Will Serve letters are used in order to acquire financing for projects. Lenders want to understand any potential impediment to the success of the development.
The lenders for the proposed Pagosa Views development project wanted assurances from the Town of Pagosa Springs, that the Pagosa Springs Sanitation General Improvement District (PSSGID) would, at some point in the not so distant future, accept sewage from the new homes, amounting to perhaps 282,000 gallons per day (per the form submitted to the Town.)
The PSSGID already accepts approximately that same amount of waste water from the town’s current businesses and residents.
Not so long ago, the PSSGID treated the downtown sewage and then released the semi-purified water into the San Juan River near what is now Yamaguchi Park. The leftover solids ended up in the Archuleta County landfill.
But since 2016, the PSSGID has been pumping all its waste water uphill through a seven-mile-long pipeline, to the Vista Waste Water Treatment Plant operated by the Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD). PAWSD is a separate district, with its own governing board and its own taxpayers, most of whom do not live within the Town of Pagosa Springs.
The 282,000 gallons per day coming from the Pagosa Views subdivision would essentially double the amount of sewage pumped uphill. It would also essentially double the population living within the town limits.
Here’s an (now outdated) drawing of the subdivision:
So the situation here is a bit complicated. The developers wanted a letter from the Town of Pagosa Springs PSSGID, that they could show investors, indicating that the PSSGID would someday serve the 900 residential units and 200 RV units in the new subdivision.
But, in fact, the PSSGID would not be treating the 282,000 gpd of sewage generated by the subdivision. PAWSD would be treating the sewage. Assuming the Town can successfully pump it uphill. But PAWSD, and the 9,000 taxpayers served by PAWSD, were not part of the conversation on June 7.
Nevertheless, Mr. Schmidt explained to the Town Council (acting as the PSSGID board of directors) that the estimate of dwelling units had changed recently, and the plan now appears to be for about 700 units, with no RV park included.
Here’s Mr. Schmidt:
“It does say, in our rules and regulations, that the order of operations is, first, inclusion — and then a Will Server Letter. This property is not included in the District currently, so the Will Serve Letter and then inclusion is a little bit backwards….”
Actually, according to the Town regulations, it’s completely backwards. But apparently, nothing requires the PSSGID Board to actually follow their own rules and regulations, when investors are waiting.
Mr. Schmidt:
“Usually, you add requirements at the point of inclusion. That’s what we did with the River Rock Estates, and when we’ve considered other areas that we’re including. We include requirements in the annexation agreement, for some of the properties that get included in the District…
“So, for a project this big, they are going to want to get their financing in line, and then go forward with the inclusion. So, the Board has the ability to determine when the Will Serve, or the inclusion goes forward.”
I might propose that the PSSGID Board also has the ability to determine IF the Will Serve or the inclusion goes forward.
Let’s not forget the word “IF”.
I might propose that the public corporation known as the Town of Pagosa Springs exists to serve the current taxpayers, and that it’s entirely possible that the taxpayers do not wish to see the size of their town doubled over the next 8 years.
But for some reason, that question never came up during the June 7 discussion. The assumption, by Mr. Schmidt and the PSSGID Board, seemed to be: “Well, these developers want to double the size of our town, and to do that, they apparently need a Will Serve Letter, to make their investors comfortable. So… well… we need to give them a Will Serve Letter, even though it’s backwards according to our rules and regulations. Whatever the taxpaying residents think of the proposal doesn’t really matter…”
I apologize to the PSSGID Board and to the Town staff, if that last paragraph sounds a bit cynical. I guess I am wishing that, just because someone waltzes into town with a bunch of wealthy investors in their back pocket, we would not automatically assume that their proposed project will benefit the people served by the corporation known as the Town of Pagosa Springs.