The following quote, from a letter to the editor of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, strikes a corresponding note with what is happening in Pagosa.
2025 is a pivotal year for the City of Bozeman. We have a serious choice to make for the very soul of the city. We can either continue down this wayward path of growth and density at all costs, including to our environment, health, personal finances and safety, or we can correct course and salvage what quality of life we have left. While the city staff and commissioners want to push even more growth and density beyond what is mandated by misguided state land use laws with the updated Unified Development Code, many of Bozeman’s residents across the political spectrum are against this approach as reflected in the city’s own outreach surveys and in turnout at City Commission meetings…
Pagosa Springs is in the same position. At what point do we start to lose our soul?
The latest Pagosa Springs Vision 2050 plan has the Town Council identifying key attributes they want to ensure Pagosa Springs embodies:
- Authentic character with beautiful location
- Outdoor lifestyle with good, caring people
- Preservation of natural beauty and environment
- Strong sense of identity honoring culture and history
Isn’t this what we have now?
The 100 acres across from City Market is one of the last areas in town with 150-year-old trees, a large concentration of elk and deer and a beautiful gateway into Pagosa.
The current “Pagosa West” vision includes high density designs for both residential and commercial. Do we want to create a big-town, suburban feel for Pagosa? We don’t see any of the Town Vision in this plan. What it does show is a loss of connection to nature and that small town Pagosa life style.
This proposal does not match the Town vision, yet it is what is being considered.
Once those trees are cut down, and rows and rows of tiny homes that directly look at strip mall buildings are put in, what have you given up that you can never get back? Like Bozeman, I think we need to give this project serious thought.
If you are wanting to protect the special character of Pagosa, please consider signing this petition that lets your voice be heard.
Jane Weitzel
Pagosa Springs, CO