Back in 1992, when Clarissa and I were researching Pagosa Springs as a possible place to relocate our family, we heard that the public schools were decent. Since we had three children, that was one of our main concerns.
One thing we didn’t research, however: what Pagosa kids were doing when they weren’t in school. Not until we arrived in 1993, did we learn how few organized activities were available for kids.
There was not much for kids to do, if you were expecting activities supervised by adults. School sports teams, 4-H, a few after school clubs.
Of course, there were plenty of ‘unorganized’ things to do… Pagosa being a recreational wonderland, after all, if you were into skiing, snowboarding, hiking, hunting, mountain biking, etc.
And getting into trouble was always an option.
Thirty years later, a few new organized alternatives have appeared on the scene. Pagosa Dance Academy, for example. The kids theatre camps offered by Thingamajig Theatre. A more robust selection of team sports offered by the Town of Pagosa Springs and by private organizations like Pagosa Youth Soccer.
4-H is still alive and well.
In the ‘unorganized’ category, we have a popular skate park and other kid-friendly features at Yamaguchi Park, downtown. Reservoir Hill is crisscrossed with mountain bike paths, as are some other forested areas.
And there’s always the river. (In the summer.).
And Wolf Creek Ski Area. (In the winter.)
On Saturday, March 1, the Pagosa Lakes Property Owners Association concluded a month-long vote, asking property owners whether they wanted to pay a one-time ‘special assessment’ of $255 per property in order to help fund a new PLPOA gymnasium. The Board of Directors had determined that families with children — especially, perhaps, families with older children — would benefit from a gymnasium designed for basketball, volleyball, pickleball, and other indoor sports. The gymnasium could also be used for ‘after school’ activities. The estimated cost of the gymnasium was about $2 million.
The proposal was decided by a majority vote of those property owners who voted. About 36% of the possible ballots were submitted.
From the PLPOA website:
About 71% of the PLPOA association members voted ‘No’. Not quite a 3-to-1 margin of defeat, but certainly more than a 2-to-1 margin. (Wyndham timeshare owners also voted ‘No’ by a similar margin, but their “weighted” votes were fairly insignificant in this situation.)
We all have our suspicions about the type of community we live in, but there’s hardly a better way to find out, than to put something on a ballot and let the community weigh in.
As with any political decision, we know that the reasons for voting ‘No’ varied with each individual voter. Some association members worried that the facility would require future ‘special assessments’. Some thought the County should fund the facility. Some didn’t want to pay for a facility they wouldn’t personally be using.
Some, I assume, simply don’t like children.
A friend wrote to me a few days ago, commenting on the ‘human parasites’ who benefit from certain government expenditures. People who live in government-subsidized homeless shelters, for example.
You know, parasites.
I suppose, from a certain perspective, children could be considered ‘parasites’. They don’t normally contribute to society the same way hard-working, tax-paying adults contribute. They’re supported by their parents and grandparents, and by the community as a whole.
Once upon a time in America, children were expected to put in a full day’s work in factories, mines, and sweat shops, or on the family farm. But those days are behind us now.
There are other social dynamics going on as well, in Pagosa Springs.
The Master Planning Advisory Committee (MPAC) was recently organized by the Archuleta School District to investigate the condition of our district school buildings and make a recommendation to the School Board later in the year.
Remodel and upgrade the school buildings?
Build brand new schools, and sell or demolish the old buildings?
Or simply continue maintaining the buildings as they currently exist?
We understand that in Colorado, each local community is responsible for constructing and maintaining its own school buildings, either out of school operating funds or through a dedicated, tax-funded bond or mill levy.
The consultants advising the MPAC in its research provided some information about the general direction our community is likely headed, and some projections related to future enrollment. One of the graphs provided by Shannon Bingham of Western Demographics looked like this:
If we add up the households that might have school-age children, we get a total of maybe 3,700 adults. But we know that a sizable number of “parenting-age” adults in Pagosa do not have children. A recent survey (2021) by Pagosa Housing Partners estimated “single adults” at about 40% of our working population.
So I’m making a wild guess that we have 2,200 parents currently raising children. Maybe 2 children, average, in each of those households?
Western Demographics reported about 2,400 children in our community. About 1,500 are enrolled in the Archuleta School District. Western Demographics predicted that the number enrolled is likely to decrease over the next decade, for various demographic reasons.
Our Archuleta County population is estimated by the federal government at about 14,000 people. (The cohorts in the Western Demographics chart above, totaled 13,038 in 2023.)
Where am I going with this? 14,000 less 2,400 children equals 11,600 adults. Maybe 2,200 of those adults are parents. If that’s close to the right number, then about 20% of our community’s adults are parents. 80% are not currently raising kids.
Percentage of PLPOA property owners who voted in favor of a $2 million gymnasium to serve, mainly, the association’s children? 28%.
Percentage of PLPOA property owners who rejected — for whatever their reasons — a kid-friendly gymnasium? 71%.
It would appear to me that very few adults without children voted to support the PLPOA gymnasium project. That’s my assumption based on several guesses and rough estimates.
If Archuleta School District will be going to the same voters in the near future, can we guess the likelihood that our community will vote in favor of a $100 million school bond for better school buildings?