It was pretty obvious, on May 14, that Archuleta County Commissioners Ronnie Maez and Alvin Schaaf were generally supportive of the proposal…
The Town government, the County government and the non-profit Friends of the Upper San Juan River — organizers of the annual ‘Cruise-a-thon’ race in downtown Pagosa Springs — would each contribute $5,000 towards the purchase of a vacant, one-acre riverfront property 12 miles south of downtown, to create a legal ‘take-out’ location for boaters on the San Juan River.
(County Commissioner Steve Wadley was absent for the May 14 work session.)
But Commissioners Maez and Schaaf were less supportive of the idea that the County government should serve as the owners of this one-acre parcel, which is currently still part of a much larger, privately-owned parcel, and thus would need to be subdivided. The current owner is ready to sell, sounds like, but the Board of County Commissioners appeared hesitant to accept ownership.
As mentioned in Part One, boaters sailing down Mesa Canyon have — for the past 40 years? — been able to pull their boats out near the 12-mile marker on Trujillo Road, where the County-owned road comes conveniently alongside the river. But last year, a land survey established that the take-out was part of Southern Ute Indian Tribe land, and the Utes decided, for whatever reasons, to make it terribly inconvenient for private boaters to continue using the take-out there — by requiring a special tribal permit for each trip.
Rafting and kayaking in Mesa Canyon, meanwhile, has been an attractive tourist activity and a source of income for local rafting outfitters, as well as offering a pleasant afternoon activity for private boaters — for maybe three months of the summer, each year. Dependent upon river flows, of course.
The lack of a convenient take-out south of town obviously makes boating the San Juan River less attractive.
Commissioner Ronnie Maez was worried that maintenance of a vacant one-acre parcel would cost money, if the County were to become the owner. (This is the same Commissioner who has voted consistently to put the community taxpayers millions of dollars in debt, without their approval, for an oversized new jail — with annual debt payments approaching $1 million per year, for the next 25 years.)
And County Attorney Todd Weaver proposed that the County might be sued by one, or several, river users, for injuries sustained during a take-out.
Town Planning Director James Dickhoff, who apparently had been a key player in putting together the proposed purchase, noted that the County has been operating the 120-acre Cloman Park, near the airport, at very little cost to the taxpayers, and without any lawsuits. (Knock on wood.) Cloman Park is used regularly by mountain bikers, hikers, cross-country skiers, and disc golf players, and is maintained largely by non-profit user groups. Friends of the Upper San Juan River (FUSJR) representative Tobi Rohwer assured the commissioners that boaters were generally respectful of take-out locations, and the County’s maintenance costs would be minimal-to-nonexistent. The logical and reasonable path forward seemed to be County ownership, with the property classified as part of the Trujillo Road ‘Right-of-Way’ — thus avoiding a number of onerous subdivision rules and regulations.
But Attorney Todd Weaver wanted to make sure that no one was going to sue the County. He noted that boating can be dangerous. Boats can flip over. People can be injured.
Very true. But whether the mild-mannered Mesa Canyon stretch of the San Juan River presents those kinds of dangerous conditions is rather doubtful, in this writer’s opinion.
Attorney Weaver’s solution to the dangers of the San Juan River? A special permit. Similar, perhaps, to the terribly inconvenient permitting process required by the Southern Utes?
Todd Weaver:
“If we want to own [the one-acre parcel] we could license. With the boating companies, and with the private boat owners. Make them sign a license. That way they would have to indemnify the County… So that’s an option as well.” Attorney Weaver explained that part of his job is to keep the County out of lawsuits.
Our new County Administrator, Scott Walls, noted that this sort of licensing would be unnecessary… if the parcel were owned by, say, the non-profit Friends of the Upper San Juan River?
But then we would be talking about a lengthy subdivision process — lasting perhaps the entire summer? Before a subdivision could be legally approved? And we would additionally become involved in problematic and expensive FEMA regulations, due to the parcel being adjacent to a river. Whereas, a transfer of the property into a County ‘Right-of-Way’ could be done very quickly. Or so it seemed, based on comments from County Planning Manager John Shepard.
FUSJR representative Tobi Rohwer:
“I guess that’s why we’re here at this point. But [the existing take-out] has been used without incident, for 40 years, at this point. Without any need for maintenance or…”
Commissioner Maez interrupted.
“But you get the government involved, and all of a sudden, they have somebody to sue…
“I don’t mind helping, and getting this ball rolling. I think we can make the financial side happen… We’re not concerned about the financial side. It’s the ownership… ”
And the lawsuits.
Which got me interested in the subject of litigation in America. I’ve come across reports suggesting that Americans, in general, are inordinately willing to sue one another. Or sue their governments. Or sue corporations. I’ve seen reports suggesting that the US is home to 80 percent of the world’s lawyers. That Colorado has 38 lawyers for every 10,000 residents — as compared to 27 doctors per 10,000 residents. Apparently, we’re more likely to sue our neighbor, or our government, than to visit a doctor?
Bill Hudson began sharing his opinions in the Pagosa Daily Post in 2004 and can’t seem to break the habit. He claims that, in Pagosa Springs, opinions are like pickup trucks: everybody has one.