We’re going to touch briefly, this morning, on the Pirate — the Pagosa Springs High School mascot. For some reason, perhaps lost to history, the public schools in our little mountain town decided that their sports teams would be known as the Pagosa Springs Pirates. No doubt the alliteration of the percussive consonant, “P”, contributed to the name selection.
But of course, pirates — historically — were criminals who terrorized ships sailing on the high seas. In contrast to the mascot chosen by our public schools, we have little access to the high seas here in Pagosa, nor do we want our children to grow up to be criminals.
Ideally, we want our children to grow up to serve their fellow citizens. Not to rob them.
We do have a fair number of local residents, here in Archuleta County, who are ‘willing to serve’ their fellow citizens — without expecting to receive compensation.
A few of those volunteers will be meeting at the Archuleta County Admin Building tonight, Wednesday, June 22, at 6:00pm, in their capacity as the Archuleta County Planning Commission. One of the items on the agenda will be a discussion about new policies and regulations related to vacation rentals (also known as Short-Term Rentals; STRs) which have been developed by the County Planning Department staff.
From the agenda packet:
B. Public Meeting To Review Vacation Rental Policy Options
There are four options under consideration by the County Commissioners regarding the policy approach they prefer for regulating Vacation Rentals in Archuleta County. This briefing will explain those four options and seek feedback from the public about which option(s) they prefer. No specific language has been written yet, pending the choice of one of these options by the County Commissioners at a later date.
22-Vacation-Policy-Options-Notes
You can download a PDF document, here, that will be shared with the Planning Commission tonight.
Unlike the Town government, which has instituted a ‘semi-moratorium’ on STRs, and also established a steep monthly fee, the County government has allowed vacation rentals to run amuck, out in the unincorporated county. The proposed changes could potentially slow the essentially-uncontrolled growth of the vacation rental industry in Archuleta County.
According to County Community Development Director Pam Flowers, the policy options are based on four key “agreed upon priorities”.
The proposed changes would not, however, replace the 1,200 homes in the community that have been converted into mini-motels.
Those homes will need to be replaced through other mechanisms… if they can, indeed, be replaced.
Yesterday in Part Three, we were discussing the ‘Will Serve Letter’ provided by the Town Council to the developers of the proposed 90-acre ‘Pagosa Views’ subdivision just west of the Pagosa Springs Elementary School. The current draft plan indicates perhaps 700 new dwelling units, which would nearly double the number of dwellings within the Town limits over the next eight years or so.
The letter indicates a vague intention by the Town to provide sewage services — with no firm promises. The actual sewage treatment, however, would need to be provided by Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) after the Town pumps the sewage uphill to the Vista Waste Water Treatment Plant, seven miles from the Town’s Pump Station 1.
As far as I know, there has been no communication between the Town Council and the PAWSD Board of Directors, about this project and its potential impact on the jointly-operated sewage treatment system.
(Disclosure: I currently serve on the PAWSD Board, but this editorial does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the PAWSD Board as a whole.)
As I suggested in Part Three, the Town’s ‘Will Serve Letter’ implies a few things, which are not tacitly stated.
It implies that the current residents of the Town of Pagosa Springs can refuse to allow a new development, unless the developers are jump through all the hoops placed in their path by our elected representatives.
It also implies the opposite condition — that our elected representatives cannot arbitrarily prevent a private property owner from developing their property in a reasonable manner.
As I proposed yesterday, the main question here would be, ‘What’s reasonable’?
We can ask the very same question about vacation rentals. ‘What’s reasonable?’ There’s no doubt that vacation rentals serve a certain type of tourist. In fact, they serve a couple of different types. One type is a family, or group of friends, who prefer to rent a whole residential house rather than stay in a motel.
Another type of tourist has decided that they want to visit Pagosa Springs on an annual basis, and maybe even retire here someday, and who then purchase a residential home and pay the mortgage by renting out the house, for part of the year, as a vacation rental.
Looked at from the perspective of the these types of tourists, a town full of vacation rentals is a delightfully reasonable place.
Unfortunately, the way the vacation industry has evolved in Pagosa Springs can be seen as a form of piracy. Generally speaking, the folks who are offering residential homes as vacation rentals did not build brand new homes. Generally speaking, the folks involved in the STR industry bought up existing houses and condos — often, for top dollar — and converted them into mini-motels, thus removing them from the community’s available housing stock.
Piracy?
Historically, pirates on the high seas did not create new wealth… by growing food… or by mining gold… or by manufacturing useful items. Pirates on the high seas funded their activities by stealing from society. Piracy, historically, is a form of ‘wealth transfer’ that creates no new assets.
Seen from a certain perspective, the vacation rental industry likewise creates no new assets. It merely repurposes existing homes. Generally speaking.
The metaphor breaks down rather easily, of course, as all metaphors break down. The vacation rental industry does not acquire its capital resources — its residential dwellings — through criminal acts. These investors pay for the houses they acquire, and apparently, banks and other lenders are happy to provide mortgages for these investments. Fact is, the influx of vacation rental investors have helped to drive up the price of residential homes in Pagosa Springs in a rather frightening manner, doubling the average home price over the past 10 years.
Rents have also doubled, due at least partly to a dire shortage of long-term rentals.
Wages have not doubled.
What a different situation Pagosa would likely be in, if the vacation rental industry had built 1,200 new homes — rather than converting 1,200 existing homes into mini-motels.