We accomplished our goal to raise the funds necessary to meet our contractors’ criteria to get on the schedule to begin the parking lot completion process. This is an exciting opportunity for the Veterans Memorial Park to advance construction on the remaining two-thirds of the parking lot.
— from the Veterans Memorial Park website, August 15, 2022
A group of advocates sat down with the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners on August 9 to explain the incremental progress on a 6.9 acre parcel that may someday be a community park dedicated to U.S. military veterans. Leading the conversation — and the appeal for public funding to help with the completion of a planned parking lot expansion — was local activist Karin Daniels.
“We first met with Boyd Anderson who gave us a… gave us an estimate, and a letter… of what the project would cost. And it was $226,000, to get… to get it pretty much completed.
“We have done a very intense fundraising campaign. Also, your contribution [from the BOCC] was so amazing and so helpful, and we’re really grateful for that.
“We started the campaign with $61,000, that was in our construction account from what we’ve raised over the past few years. And we’ve raised over $120,000 from this campaign. You know, we have… we have worked so hard… we’re a board of seven, and I think we’ve all done everything we can.
“I’ve stopped asking my friends. You know, they wouldn’t invite me to anything any more!” She laughed.
The Pagosa Lakes Property Owners Association (PLPOA) deeded the vacant land to the veterans group in 2014, following presentations of concept drawings showing an ambitious public park project that would be funded mainly from donations and grants raised by a volunteer board. To date, many of the local donations have included the purchase of various size ‘bricks’ that will form a permanent display at the future park. The Board of County Commissioners have also made contributions of public funds to the project, and the conversation on August 9 seemed based on the assumption that Archuleta County would eventually be responsible for park maintenance.
A video featuring two of the Memorial Park board members, Jim Van Liere and Jim Huffman, was posted to YouTube in July, 2020, by a local news outlet with 68 subscribers. The caption for the video reads:
The Veterans Memorial Park in Pagosa Springs is a 6.9 acre park that is available for everyone to enjoy. There is a parking lot, trails and a new brick display where you can honor your loved ones that have served our country. Find out more about the future plans for the park and how you can be involved!
The video mentions that the parking lot was half-completed in 2020, but the Memorial Park website indicates it’s only about one-third completed.
And at the moment, the entire lot is closed, due to ongoing construction.
Ms. Daniels:
“To date, we’ve paid [project contractor] Common Ground a total of $151,149. And that’s been through five invoices from May through July.
“I don’t know if you guys have gone by there, but the clearing… the grading… soil replacement… the conduit have been laid for future water and electrical… drainage work… and a multitude of other details that have… you know, that are necessary.
“We’ve had our share of challenges, too. You know, consistently rainy weather. We all want the rain.
“Except for Boyd; he does not want the rain. So he’s had to do a lot of re-doing, on the surface.
“There have been a lot of price increases. A couple of subcontractors have backed out of their commitments and agreements… so… Just everything. It’s just… oh, my gosh… we didn’t realize how… how hard it would be, to get this project completed. But we’re powering through… and he… he has been so great, too. Because, as you know, in the front area, there’s a sign; we have a couple of spruce trees; there’s the Iwo Jima statute… we have the flag pole.
“He has worked all around it. At first, he said, ‘Oh, we’re going to have to take it all down and replace everything…” And he has worked around it. So far, nothing has died and nothing has been broken. And it’s still… semi-usable.
“But please don’t go into the parking lot…”
“So about a week ago, we were presented with… you know, with the funds that we’ve raised, and with the price increases and everything… we are about $40,000 short of the full completion.
“Then we were presented with three different options.
“Once Boyd started looking around for another concrete company… because, you know, the original one didn’t work out… so we were presented with three options for the full completion of the [parking lot]. One is to install all of the curb, gutter and sidewalk. So the curb, gutter and sidewalk would go all the way around to the second entrance. That’s a pretty hefty job. And the cost of that is $107,294.”
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.