I spent some time, last week, researching and writing about ‘growth’ as it applies to a small mountain town like Pagosa Springs.
Growth happens, but on its own schedule.
Yesterday, in Part One, we heard some comments made by the Veterans Memorial Park board of directors, during an August 9 meeting with the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners. We heard that the ambitious project, to create a public park dedicated to memory of U.S. military veterans, is struggling just to get a parking lot built.
Part of the struggle has been financial. As the Memorial Park board explained to the BOCC, their volunteer organization has raised a portion of the money to build the parking lot, but appears to be considerably short of the funding needed. I wasn’t clear, listening to the August 9 presentation, exactly how much money the group was asking the BOCC to donate from the public coffers, but I heard the number “$107,294” mentioned as the remaining cost for the parking lot, if sidewalks were included as planned.
The parking lot could be built without any sidewalks, with only the curb and gutter, for a cheaper price, we were told. An extra $40,000?
The Parking Lot is no small undertaking. Looking at the project from the center of the 6.9-acre park itself, I would estimate the parking lot at about one acre. About the size of the historical Town Park, in downtown Pagosa Springs? (Not including the athletic field.)
How the designers of the park determined a need for such a massive parking lot, I have no idea.
The drawing of the parking lot suggests 22 parking slots for cars and trucks, and five parking slots for large RVs.
Perhaps these 27 families will all show up at the same time, to enjoy the park attractions?
At the moment, the park attractions consist of:
A flag pole.
A simple aluminum construction containing memorial ‘bricks’ sold as a fundraising project.
Seven metal benches, each honoring one branch of the U.S. military, spread out in a temporary arrangement near the flagpole.
A two-dimensional steel sculpture celebrating a famous photograph of soldiers raising an American flag on the island of Iwo Jima in 1945.
Some unpaved trails going here and there.
A short stretch of sidewalk leading past the ‘bricks’ memorial.
I was surprised to see one of the benches dedicated to the “Merchant Marine”. I had never considered the Merchant Marine to be a branch of the U.S. military.
I didn’t notice a bench dedicated to the U.S. Space Force. But maybe that’s not a real thing, yet. At any rate, the headquarters have been moved out of Colorado, or so I hear.
When visiting the parking lot project on Vista Boulevard yesterday to take these photos, a sign announced that the park was closed for construction, and asking visitors to please stay out.
I assumed the “Please Stay Out” message was intended for vehicles, and for people who might be tempted to use the Porta-Potty. (I was not tempted.)
I did my best to leave no footprints while taking my photos.
One option presented to the BOCC by the Memorial Park board last week was, to simply not finish the parking lot.
Here’s board member Karin Daniels:
“The third option, which none of us wanted to do, is just end the project. And [contractor Boyd Anderson] would just end the project. Just finish it. But the consequence of that is an unfinished gravel parking lot, that would have to be barricaded off and not used. Because it’s a tender area. People can’t drive on it. They can’t walk on it. It’s just not finished.
“So we would just barricade off the whole two-thirds and just use what we have.”
Meaning, the one-third portion of the parking lot that was previously completed.
“As a group, we just thought, we cannot do that. We just cannot do that. We’ve come this far. It’s just not fair to the community… and it doesn’t fall in line with… with our mission.
“So, we are… we are… doing everything we can to at least raise the extra funds… to complete the curb and gutter. As it turns out, you know… as it turns out, the extra $40,000 brings us to $226,000.” That was the original price estimate, before the cost overruns. Which included sidewalks.
“Boyd has absorbed over $30,000 in costs, himself. And he is out there seven days a week. And I’m… I stopped by and asked if I could bring him lunch or something. Can I do something? And he said, ‘Yeah, shovel gravel! No, I’m kidding. Get out…’
“He’s really hard-working, and it has gone longer than we anticipated. But what can you do? We can’t fix the weather…”
Listening back to my recording of this presentation on August 9, I wonder about how this project was handled. The parcel belongs to Archuleta County, to the taxpayers… but the development of the park has been left to a volunteer group of veterans and their supporters.
It’s typical, when large development projects are undertaken in a community, that the developer puts up a bond, to guarantee that the project will not be abandoned in a half-completed state. If the developer walks away, the bond can be accessed and used to complete the project.
Another financial tool used to prevent unfinished projects is backing from a lending institution.
It would appear, from the information on the Veterans Memorial Park, that this volunteer group started the parking lot expansion, knowing that they didn’t have sufficient money to complete the project, and without having the backing of a lending institution, and without posting a bond to guarantee completion.
As a result, the group turns to the taxpayers to bail them out.
Here’s County Commissioner Ronnie Maez, responding to the Memorial Park presentation.
“I think we really need to put some serious thought into funding this park. Because it’s going to belong to us. It’s going to belong to the County in the future. And if we don’t start anticipating, and get that incorporated into our budget process, then we’re going to put this weight on somebody else’s shoulders, when we probably ought to start taking care of it now.”
Ms. Daniels:
“It is true. It is your park. And what we probably need to do is… before the end of the year… you know, we just want to get this project figured out… at least get together and talk about a sequence of usage and ownership and permissions…”
Probably, this could have been done… before the whole thing got started? Back when a firm budget for the cost of the entire park construction and annual maintenance could have been discussed… but wasn’t?
Back when we suspected that the public was going to end up footing the final bill?
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.