On July 18, the Pagosa Springs Town Council voted unanimously to reject a plan to construct new parking spaces in a corner of the Town Park athletic field.
At the meeting, the council considered two options. Option 1 would have provided 65 additional parking spaces. Option 2 would have provided 35 additional spaces.
As previously reported in The SUN, the 35-space option in the form of a gravel lot would have cost an estimated $139,781, including a 20 percent contingency; an asphalt lot would have cost an estimated $250,160, including a 20 percent contingency.
Parks and Recreation Director Darren Lewis noted that town staff was recommending the more scaled-down version — the option to add 35 spaces at the park.
Town staff’s search for additional parking spaces comes in anticipation of Colorado Department of Transportation’s (CDOT’s) U.S 160 reconstruction project, which will take place through downtown Pagosa Springs over two construction seasons.
Town staff has estimated that more than 180 spaces will be temporarily lost during the construction phases of the project.
Community Development Director James Dickhoff previously said, “We don’t know how many [of the 288 total downtown parking spaces] are gonna be impacted.”
An agenda document for the meeting states that town staff “has identified the Athletic Field as potential parking to help subsidize the loss of parking during the project.”
However, a number of residents showed up to the meeting to voice their opposition to the idea of parking at the Town Park athletic field.
Archuleta School District Board of Education member Bob Lynch voiced his opposition to the idea, saying that once that area is paved over, the community would “never get it back.”
Resident Bill Hudson suggested that the town would not need the amount of parking that town staff had determined during the construction and that the town should not be reducing open green space to achieve more parking.
Resident Abbie Karas told the council that the athletic field “is an essential part of our community,” also voicing her opposition to the idea of parking at the park.
An audience member who described himself as a fifth-generation resident stated that he had played T-ball at the park as a kid and that the field was part of “our history” and should be preserved as it is.
He said, “Our small town is being taken over by tourists and the almighty dollar,” and that “our history” is being eroded.
“That’s my gripe about it,” he said, adding, “If we do want to build something there, let’s build a rec center for our kids.”
Another resident implored the council, saying, “I am asking you to consider other places … other than our precious grass.”
Replying to the public comments, Lewis explained that he had listened carefully to all of the comments.
“I want it to be known that I respect everyone’s opinion,” he said.
He told the audience, “I was given a task,” as the parks and rec director, to help find downtown parking spaces before the CDOT construction begins.
“I’m not looking to take away, nor do I have any intention to take away, our green space out of our parks … I was given a task and that’s what I’m bringing in front of you. It’s an option. That’s all that it is, is an option,” he said.
He said that based on what he has seen “over the past 17 years,” the corner where the parking spaces would go lies in a mostly unused section of the park.
He added that the “entire athletic field is not being graveled. It is not being paved over, except for that section, if you choose to have parking there.”
He added, “At the end of the day, the task was to find temporary, or even permanent, parking that could help the downtown area and I’m bringing in front of you an option.”
He added that the only option that he could get behind was the 35-space option, noting that adding parking spaces there would also be helpful during events held at the park and adding that, currently, “we’re inviting people to a party with no parking.”
“People are parking in an alley illegally. They are parking on Hermosa Street illegally, and, at the end of the day, these are things that need to be addressed, because if this is going to continue to be an area for events, we definitely need more parking,” he said.
The parking problem that will take place during the CDOT construction is “out of my realm as parks and rec director,” Lewis said.
But, “this parking problem that’s gonna occur when the construction takes place is gonna be huge,” he said, adding that all options should be seriously considered.
He said that the corner of the park being considered was not “a high-traffic area of use,” adding that the Combined Parks and Recreation Advisory Board was “unanimously in favor” of using it for parking.
He also added that his feeling is that businesses are also in favor of it.
The Pagosa Springs Planning Commission voted against using Town Park for parking at a previous public meeting.
When opened up to comments and questions from the council, it became apparent that the council was leaning against using the park for parking.
Council member Gary Williams explained that he is not in favor of “developing green space” and that the town should look for “more creative solutions” to help solve the parking problem.
Likewise, council member Matt DeGuise said, “I’m not in favor of using our parkland for parking spots.”
Council member Madeline Bergon added that she was not yet “ready to pull the trigger tonight,” but said that she wants to address Lewis’ concern about parking during events at Town Park.
On that point, she asked if the town could leave it as a grassy area, but allow temporary parking there only during events.
This was left as an open question.
Mayor Shari Pierce chimed in to say that using the park for parking spaces is “not the right thing to do,” especially with the amount of public opposition to the idea.
When a motion was made to reject the idea of using the athletic field for parking, it was seconded and passed unanimously by the council.
A parking area near the library will be utilized during the CDOT construction, but Dickhoff has previously commented that this lot would best be utilized by downtown businesses for “remote” employee parking during the construction.
An agreement between the town and the library board will create 50 to 60 spaces at this location during the construction.
Another large lot being considered is the newly acquired town-owned property near Tractor Supply, the Goodman property, but this site is not ideal because of its inconvenient location, Dickhoff has previously explained.
The town, as well as a parking task force under the Pagosa Springs Main Street program’s umbrella, will continue to look for parking solutions during the CDOT construction project.
derek@pagosasun.com
