After deciding in 2018 to allow unlimited conversions of residential homes into mini-motels — that is, vacation rentals — the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners and the Archuleta County Planning Commission, along with the rest of us, watched the Pagosa Springs community become a progressively more vibrant, exciting destination for tourists and second-home owners… and a progressively more dismal, discouraging place for working families and individuals.
Other Colorado communities had already taken a very different approach to community-building, in 2018, by limiting the number of vacation rentals allowed, and by placing other restrictions in place, such as requiring a vacation rental property to be the primary residence of the mini-hotel owner. Archuleta County, and simultaneously, the Town of Pagosa Springs, put no such restrictions of limits in place.
Much to the delight, I assume, of the vacation rental owners and property managers, and of the Pagosa real estate industry.
This was back in the day when the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN had seven columns of “Help Wanted” classifieds…
Fast forward to April 2021. The Town of Pagosa Springs has put in place a vacation rental license process and fee schedule, along with some rules about the number of guests in each dwelling unit based on the number of bedrooms … but has established no restrictions on the overall number of vacation rentals allowed within the Town limits. The County government seems to be on the verge of actually trying to address the crisis by imposing an actual limit on the number of allowed vacation rentals, thanks to a number of amendments proposed to the County Land Use Regulations by Interim Development Director Pamela Flowers and the County Planning Commission.
Now that the weekly SUN has 14 columns of “Help Wanted” ads…
The vacation rental industry is helping to cause various types of social problems all over the country, and the world, but the impacts seem to be more severe in “tourism-driven” communities like Pagosa Springs. At the same time, some elements in the Pagosa community who profit most from the tourism industry consistently claim that, without a vibrant vacation rental industry, Pagosa Springs will essentially dry up and blow away.
The same argument — about the pending demise of Pagosa Springs — no doubt circulated during the ’50s and ’60s, when the Pagosa lumber industry was in serious decline. The population of Archuleta County was 3,800 in 1940, and had dropped by nearly a third, down to 2,600, by 1960. We might wonder, however, about the fact that this rural community did not, in fact, dry up and blow away, even when its largest industry shut down. Somehow, the majority of the population remained… tightening their belts? Sewing patches on their overalls? Pagosa remained the preferred abode for 2/3 of its population, even during those tough times.
And during those tough times, our community leaders — elected officials, business owners, developers, Rotary Club members, government boards, real estate brokers — got to work promoting Archuleta County as a tourism and second-home destination… and managed to pull an economic rabbit out of a somewhat tattered hat. One thing these leaders did not fully consider, perhaps, is that the tourism industry is notorious for creating a large but underpaid workforce, while — at the same time — a second-home community is notorious for driving up real estate prices and costs.
Two dynamics that, hand in hand, portended our current situation.
Twenty-five years ago, we could already see future problems unfolding — somewhere, off in the distance — and our community leaders talked constantly about the need to diversify the Pagosa economy. But it was all too easy to focus all our commercial and government energy on tourism and second homes and retirement homes. The platter was laid out for us: beautiful scenery, a river running through, a nearby ski area, classic ranch properties just waiting to be subdivided or sold to millionaires, a workforce accustomed to minimum wage.
We all knew the wealth-seeking chickens would come home to roost, someday. We just didn’t know when.
To return, then, to the BOCC work session on Tuesday morning, April 13. We had heard a lengthy presentation by the two managers who head up Archuleta County Broadband Services — a semi-private, quasi-governmental agency managed by the non-profit Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation and funded primarily by Archuleta County and the Town of Pagosa Springs. The office has been tasked with improving broadband availability and reliability.
Over the past couple of years, my own broadband service has definitely gone downhill, in terms of availability and reliability, so if we wanted to rank the success of the Broadband Services office based solely on my own personal experiences, I would have to give them a C- grade. But in terms of its ability to spend government taxes, they might earn a B+.
I can summarize the lengthy April 13 presentation in a few words. “We’ve successfully helped to improve broadband in the community, and we’re now asking for $250,000 from our local governments to match some possible future grants.”
Following that presentation, the BOCC dived headfirst into the topic that had attracted dozens of Zoom audience members: some proposed amendments to the County Land Use Regulations (LURs), which included quite a few minor or major changes to the way the County might treat the vacation rental industry. The presentation featured Interim Development Director Pamela Flowers:
“Good morning, Commissioners. I’m presenting to you some draft language we would like to amend into the Land Use Regulations. So I’ve provided you with a staff report that sort of summarizes it, because there’s a lot here…”
You can download the 6-page staff summary here.
The proposed changes have already been reviewed by the County Planning Commission, but need BOCC approval for their acceptance.
Primarily, the amendments deal with two aspects of the Land Use Regulations. The first part deals with “improperly (also, ‘illegally’) subdivided parcels.” In 1972, the state of Colorado required counties to develop an official subdivision process for any new parcels smaller than 35 acres, and to require subdivisions to provide water and sewer treatment services. Counties were also expected to develop road standards and require subdivision developers to build roads meeting those standards.
It would appear that the Archuleta County government wasn’t paying close attention to these state requirements, because — according to Ms. Flowers summary — about 500 parcels, smaller than 35 acres, were improperly created between 1972 and 2006, and have still not filed the necessary paperwork to “legalize” them as valid parcels. While those parcel remain “improper”, they cannot be sold (in theory), nor can permits be issued for improvements on those parcels.
The draft regulations presented on Tuesday would provide the County Planning Commission and staff with additional administrative tools for bringing those improper parcels into compliance. The BOCC didn’t have any questions about those proposed changes.
The second group of revisions dealt with vacation rentals. Here’s Ms. Flowers again:
“We also defined standards for vacation rentals. We took what was already [in the LURs] and either left it, or amplified it, or added to it, to make sure we have clear standards that are understood by all and are easier for us to enforce…”
We’ll look more deeply into those vacation rental standards and administrative tools in the next installment…