Our Vision: To be the best POA in the state by enriching the lives of our residents, protecting property values, providing sound financial management and creating a harmonious, well-maintained and beautiful community.
— from the Pagosa Lakes Property Owners Association website.
A group of about 25 people gathered at 11am on November 20, at the intersection of Edgewater Drive and Northlake Avenue in the Pagosa Lakes subdivision known as North Village Lake, for a ribbon cutting. The subject of the celebration was a new gravel walking trail along the south side of Northlake Avenue — reportedly, the longest stretch of walking trail yet installed within the Pagosa Lake Property Owners Association (PLPOA).
The lady wielding the scissors was Magda Mashburn, one of the community volunteers who help spearhead the trail project. But the person directing the crucial moment of ribbon-shearing — setting everything up properly to allow for photo documentation — was Mary Jo Coulehan, executive director of the Pagosa Springs Chamber of Commerce.
Holding the two ends of the ribbon were Vivienne Johnson — another of the community organizers behind the trail development — and Allen Roth, PLPOA’s executive director .
It appeared to me that the majority of the Northlake community members observing the ritual were senior citizens.
Off to one side were the workers who had constructed the trail, who did not appear to be senior citizens.
Addressing the crowd, Mr. Roth praised the work of the community members, and the workers… and the decision by the PLPOA Board of Directors to support the project.
“This trail here is a great representation of the community involvement, and I’d like to thanks the residents of the North Village Lake subdivision. And I’d like to thank the committee that formed…
“This trail came about from the settlement funds, from back when the developer went into bankruptcy. And the settlement funds were set aside to the North Village Lake community. So we got the residents together and formed this committee, headed up by Magda and Vivienne. And that committee did a lot of research, looking at the different projects that the settlement funds could be used for. A number of projects were put forward by the residents, and the residents voted, and it was unanimous that they wanted a trail.
“So, using those funds for the trail — and obviously, $74,000 was not enough to construct a trail — but the PLPOA Board of Directors voted to use extra capital improvement funds to put towards that settlement fund, so that we had enough funding to construct this trail.
“And so… it happened! It happened!”
The crowd burst into polite applause and cheering.
Mr. Roth pointed out one of the people in the audience.
“I want to thank Travis, from Davis Engineering. He the one who designed this trail, and he can tell you, it was no easy feat. It was a tough trail to design, with the limited amount of right-of-way that you have along this road. And the utilities. He can describe all the difficulties that went into designing this trail.
“And we’re very pleased with our contractor that we got. Colton and his brother Saber, with Hutch & Sons — they did an excellent job of constructing this trail…”
More applause.
“I think it came out very well. And I really, truly, thank all the residents for their input and support… and I hope you all get out to enjoy it. We encourage everyone to walk the trail this morning, and then we will convene back at the Pagosa Lakes conference room, in the admin building, and we’re going to have a little luncheon to celebrate our day today…
Ms. Coulehan asked the length of the trail.
“This is the longest trail we’ve put in yet, to date…” said Mr. Roth.
Engineer Travis Phillips gave the trail length: 4,440 feet. Just over eight-tenths of a mile.
Committee member Vivienne Johnson spoke briefly.
“I want to say thank you to Allen, because he’s been guiding our committee, and highly instrumental as a mediator with the PLPOA Board as well. So thank you very much, Allen, for all your help.”
The crowd showed its appreciation with more applause.
The PLPOA Parks & Trails Committee was also involved in the project, and has been instrumental in helping develop a trails plan for the 21-square-miles of PLPOA subdivisions, and the nearly 7,000 parcels within the Association.
“…enriching the lives of our residents, protecting property values, providing sound financial management and creating a harmonious, well-maintained and beautiful community.”
Mr. Roth:
“It’s a great day to take a walk… thanks so much, folks! See you all at noon…”
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.