Photo: Developer Doug Dragoo shares some ideas for a 100-acre mixed-use subdivision project, at the May 21, 2024, Board of County Commissioners’ work session.
We concluded Part Three with a comment from Archuleta County Commissioner Ronnie Maez, at the May 21 BOCC work session.
Do the (sometimes-purely-aesthetic) requirements written in the County Land Use Regulations make housing and commercial construction more expensive?
Because Mr. Dragoo was talking about “workforce housing”… something that has grown progressively more expensive to build. Too expensive, in fact, for many working households.
Are there ways to bring the cost down?
Commissioner Maez had posed the question to developer Doug Dragoo, who had scheduled a meeting with the three County commissioners to propose a location for their planned County administration building.
Mr. Dragoo’s response to the question:
“The cost to build is around $325 per square foot. And typically what we do is, we do record covenants on the project. And it does two things. It keeps the guy next to you from building a pink building, and the next guy building a green building, and the next guy building a yellow building. So we will have some approved colors. Pretty standard. Mostly earthy tones…”
Mr. Dragoo also talked about requiring “more than one material” on a building.
In other words, the businesses and households that might locate in this new development must not only meet the aesthetic requirements in the County Land Use Codes, they will also be required to meet Mr. Dragoo’s aesthetic requirements.
So maybe we can’t expect “more affordable” approaches from Mr. Dragoo’s company, to help solve our current crisis.
I live in a 124-year-old house in downtown Pagosa. It was built with one material: wood, harvested from local pine trees. People have told me, they think it’s an attractive house. I suspect the house will look substantially the same in another 124 years, given proper maintenance.
The wood available now, for building homes in Archuleta County, comes mainly from Canada, I understand. It’s lower quality than what was available locally 124 years ago, and as a result, it may not hold up well for 124 years. Perhaps that’s a good reason to build out of alternative materials… like, say, steel, concrete block, foam panels covered with stucco.
But the answer to Commissioner Maez’ question seems to be: “We are more concerned about aesthetics than about affordable building technologies.”
It keeps the property values high, when the buildings are expensive.
Which is, of course, the precise problem in Archuleta County. Buildings are too expensive. Property values are too high. As a result, we are driving out the working families who keep the economy alive.
Commissioner Warren Brown expressed concerns about the proposed location for the County building suggested by Mr. Dragoo and realtor Shelley Low. Would the County run into expensive problems with solid rock at the site… a problem the County is now dealing with, at Harman Park, with its new transit facility…?
Perhaps Commissioner Brown has good reason to be concerned about that.
Mr. Dragoo noted that his company has hired Durango-based SEH engineering to help plan the project. I believe SEH helped plan Archuleta County’s new transit facility…
… which is already $150,000 over-budget, due to excessive rock at the site?
Mr. Dragoo acknowledged that his company has not yet performed any geotech studies.
“I think this [proposed site for a new County building] is big enough, that if we did find [rock], we could move you to a spot that does make better sense, from a geotech perspective. But I don’t think you’re going to have a problem, with where we are talking about.”
Commissioner Maez asked about water, sewer and utilities, and Mr. Dragoo assured him these were available.
“We’re going to do an entire master plan and give that to PAWSD (Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District). And they can give us a ‘thumbs up’ that they can service the entire development.”
According to Mr. Dragoo, the original developer of the platted 100-acre parcel put in “a huge sewer system through the middle of the property. It’s there… Whoever did it, spent a lot of money, many years ago…”
Mr. Dragoo discussed various ways the County could finance a new building, and then shifted to his ideas about a workforce housing project. As mentioned in Part Three yesterday, Mr. Dragoo’s company apparently sees housing as a necessary part of any large mixed-use development, because without housing, it’s going to be impossible to bring in qualified employees to work the new businesses hoping to locate in Pagosa Springs.
He hopes the County will help him acquire state subsidies for this proposed housing.
Commissioner Brown asked if the County would be responsible for building the new street leading to the proposed admin building.
Mr. Dragoo:
“When you apply for Prop 123 money, you have to have a ‘match’ from the city or the county. And that’s what we were thinking part of the match could be. If the County could build 500 feet [of new subdivision street, leading past the new County admin building]…” then that street could also service the proposed workforce housing project.
Mr. Dragoo thanked the commissioners for their thoughtful questions.
“One thing I’d like to leave you with today, is that your project is really important, for the whole project. Because it gives it a jump start.”
Commissioner Maez:
“It’s an anchor project.”
Mr. Dragoo:
“Yes, an anchor. That’s a good word. And it allows us to engage that road, and bring utilities in, The state really loves it, when you build a road, and it’s not just going to the one project they are providing a grant for. They like it to engage other things, so other buildings will have access to those same roads…”
The trick with government subsidies: checking off as many boxes as possible.
But we want the right kind of residents in our workforce housing.
Mr. Dragoo:
“So this project is not ‘low-income, Section 8’, you know… people running around, with the meth lab down the street. This is, you know, police officers, nurses, guys working at restaurants… it’s that kind of people.”
Unfortunately, in an under-paid, over-priced community like Pagosa Springs, that kind of people… police officers, nurses, guys working in restaurants… that kind of people qualify for ‘low-income, Section 8’ housing… if only they could find any.
But maybe Mr. Dragoo doesn’t yet realize that.