In 1897, the New York newspaper The SUN received a letter from a young lady, wondering if Santa Claus existed.
Dear Editor:
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. My Papa says: “If you see it in The SUN, it’s so.”
Please tell me the truth; is there a Santa Claus?
Virginia O’Hanlon, 115 West Ninety-fifth Street.
In response, editorial writer Francis Church penned a response that has become perhaps the most quoted editorial in American history… so there’s certainly no harm in quoting an excerpt of it here:
Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a skeptical age. They do not believe except they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds…
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus. It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence…
Not believe In Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies!
Editor Church ended his response, “No Santa Claus! Thank God he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood.”
Clearly, Mr. Church was confused about Virginia’s question. He thought she was asking if the “idea of Santa Claus” really exists, which of course it does. (Though I seriously doubt it will exist a thousand years from now.)
But the question nagging at me this morning has less to do with Santa Claus, and more to do with the Town of Pagosa Springs’ Planning Commission that, once upon a time, held meetings twice a month at Town Hall.
According to the Town website, the Planning Commission does indeed exist, and consists of six volunteers, and one vacant seat.
Peter Adams
Chris Pitcher
Mark Weiler
Kristen McCollam
Julie Gurule
Chad Hodges
Vacancy Alternate
The Commission was schedule to meet yesterday evening, but the meeting was cancelled.
I. PLANNING COMMISSION
Planning Commission meeting 12/26/23 is cancelled. The next Planning Commission meetings are scheduled for Tuesday January 16, 2024 at 5:30 and Tuesday January 24, 2024 at 5:30.
The Planning Commission meeting for December 12 was also cancelled.
Also cancelled were the meetings scheduled for November 28, November 14, October 24, October 10, September 26, September 12, and August 22.
According to the Town website, the most recent actual meeting of the Town Planning Commission took place on August 8, at which time the Commission heard a presentation on a proposed Put Hill Overlay that would (severely?) restrict the development of certain properties facing Highway 160, between Pagosa Springs Elementary School and Piedra Road.
You can click the map for a slightly larger view.
The Town staff appears to be suggesting that the required setback for future development of these properties would be double what has been enforced, in the past, for other properties facing on Highway 160. This new overlay would, in some cases, encourage or require the preservation of the trees nearest the highway.
The drawings showed sample buffers of 40, 60, 80 and 100 feet. In some cases, these new land use rules could shrink the property available for development down to almost nothing.
Some of our readers can probably understand this type of planning. For several decades now, an important goal of our elected leaders and planning commissions and hired staff — maybe the most important goal — has been to make Pagosa Springs as attractive as possible to people who don’t live here, and who might therefore come back to visit again, and maybe someday purchase a residential home and convert it into a vacation rental/second home.
Unfortunately, this approach to community development requires that we discourage less attractive (but perhaps more affordable) types of homes and buildings, and that we rank the ‘appearance’ of new developments above the ‘economic feasibility’ of new developments. Thanks to this tactic — which also guides some of our homeowners associations — the community has grown progressively more friendly to the tourism industry and to wealthy investors.
The Planning Commissioners — based what I’ve heard at the relatively few meetings held during 2023 — are quite aware of this dynamic…
…that the more ‘upscale’ you make your community look, the less diversity you will generate, and the more stress you will put on working families.
But it’s been difficult for the Town Planning Commission to address these important questions, and to offer guidance to the Town Council — when they are not allowed to meet.
A brief quote from Town Planning Commission member Mark Weiler, concerning the lack of meetings this year.
My suspicion is that increased interest rates have cooled developers from spending on projects until interest rates decline. It is also my feeling that we have enacted regulations that just increase the cost of development without adding value to the potential home owner.
A very interesting read on zoning and regulation and how the rules enacted strangle affordable development:
“Arbitrary Lines: How zoning broke the American city and how to fix it” by author M. Nolan Gray.
Below is a 90-minute video that summarizes Mr. Gray’s thoughts about the problem of “over-regulation” of land use, in big cities especially. But the same ideas apply here in Archuleta County.
It seems to me, a functional planning commission has two key jobs. Job Number One: to constantly monitor how our land use regulations are affecting our economy and our sense of community. Job Number Two: to ensure that new development serves the people who live here and who pay the taxes that keep our governments running.
As far as I can tell, Job Number One has been mostly abandoned during 2023.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Town Planning Commission. It just doesn’t seem to be functioning.
But as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, our Commissioners could be making our town a better place to live.