Photo: Town Planning Commission member Mark Weiler, far left, offers some thoughts during a joint Council-Planning Commission work session, April 29, 2025.
In the late 1890s, John Scott Haldane introduced the use of canaries in British coal mines. The canaries, with their fast metabolism, suffered the effects of invisible poison gases before the levels became critical to the miners. Unfortunately, the birds’ method of warning the miners involved falling dead.
The canaries in British mines were replaced in 1986 by electronic gas detectors, much to relief of the canaries.
But in this editorial series, we’re discussing, not coal mines, but “metropolitan districts.”
“Metro districts.”
Not everyone is cut out to be an investigative reporter. In fact, almost no one chooses that role, voluntarily. So my hat is off to those who do, because they are like the canaries in the coal mines, warning us of potentially unpleasant, or even dangerous, situations.
Earlier this week, in Part One, we shared a link to an informative Denver Post article written by journalist David Migoya, dated June 2020… which resulted in an email from Mr. Migoya:
Hello Bill
I read your editorial today and appreciated the nod to the work I did while at The Denver Post. I’m glad there’s still use for it out there. I wanted to say that if you had any questions as you work on more pieces, I’d be happy to help in whatever manner I’m able. Metro Districts are a ridiculously complex area, so I’d be pleased to share any of the snake pits or traps I had to manage because, rest assured, the sharks are circling.
The Metro District people absolutely do not like that we write about them and how they actually operate.
Best regards and good luck with your pieces. I’ll be reading!
David Migoya
Sr. Investigative Reporter
The Denver Gazette
I found it interesting to see the phrases “snakes pits” and “traps” and “sharks are circling” in Mr. Migoya’s email.
None of those phrases were heard on Tuesday evening, during a lengthy presentation by attorney Bob Cole about the possible benefits — and dangers — of metro districts. Mr. Cole serves as counsel to the Town of Pagosa Springs, and that evening the Town Council and the Town Planning Commission were listening to Mr. Cole as he discussed a potential ‘metro district policy’ that would allow developers to form these types of special districts, and thereby place the financial responsibility for new subdivision debt on the shoulders of the new residents, rather than on the developer.
Metro districts — which are semi-independent government entities — are not currently allowed within Pagosa’s municipal boundaries.
Here is attorney Bob Cole, kicking off the three-hour discussion:
“I think I can start off by saying what I said before — that I think metro districts can be a really valuable tool. They can assist with development, where you want development to happen…
“When you have a type pf development that you want to encourage, when you have goals from development that you want to encourage, you can use metro districts to really get you to those goals. That’s one of the primary drivers, I think, in a lot of municipal governments, in considering a metro district policy, is to target the use of the metro district policy so that the municipality’s goals and objectives are also met — besides the developer’s goal of having a successful project.”
This introduction indicates a couple of things.
1. Attorney Cole is attempting to shine a ‘positive light’ on the use of metro districts as a method to achieve the goals of the Town government.
2. A lot of cities and towns in Colorado have been using metro districts to try and achieve various goals.
3. The goals of the developer may not be the same as the Town’s goals. We might, in fact, assume that the developer’s goals are hardly ever the same as the Town’s goals.
So a question comes to mind. What are the Town’s goals? And how could a 100-acre suburban subdivision development (for example) help the Town to meet those goals?
This question seemed to be top of mind for one of the Planning Commission members on Tuesday night: Mark Weiler. Mr. Weiler said he had consulted with the AI app known as ‘Grok’, and his online conversation had generated some concerns.
“There is some thought that this is an alternative financing system that allows the developer to utilize the lower interest rate capacity [of tax-exempt bonds] to finance the infrastructure improvements. That leads me to the question. ‘Who actually benefits from the reduction in the cost of the financing of the physical improvements?’
“Does the community benefit… from providing a conduit for the developer’s financing? Does the future homeowner see a lower unit cost because of the lower interest rate?
“Or, is this just an alternative financing method to benefit the developer, and then put the responsibility for [the bonded debt] on somebody else’s shoulders, as opposed to the developer’s?
“You are putting the financial burden on the homeowner, directly.”
What Mr. Weiler is referring to, here, is the fact that, once a metro district is created and the ‘metro district’ — not the developer — goes deeply into debt for the infrastructure improvements, the debt must be repaid by the property owners within the metro district — not by the developer. The repayment scheme is financed by a property tax mill levy, imposed on the property owners.
This shifting of responsibility away from the developer and onto the homeowners and businesses in the subdivision… Is that something the Town government really wants to facilitate?
Because it appeared to me, listening to the three-hour discussion on Tuesday, that this transfer of financial responsibility was something Attorney Bob Cole wanted to encourage.
Who, exactly, are the sharks, who are circling?
Read Party Four, tomorrow…