Somewhere, at some time, someone coined a clever phrase:
“It’s a nice place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.”
I’ve been unable to discover who, or when, or where this familiar phrase originated. I have a feeling the speaker was originally talking about New York City, but for all I know, it might be a translated quote from an ancient Greek or Roman philosopher. (Back when philosophy was a popular career.)
At any rate, it seems to apply to Pagosa Springs, in 2021… slightly modified.
“It’s a nice place to visit, but I couldn’t afford to live there.”
As I reminded the Archuleta Board of County Commissioners at yesterday’s regular meeting, we have spent over $9 million in public funds subsidizing the tourism industry, over the past decade or so. This does not include the additional millions spent by the tourism industry and the Pagosa real estate industry, promoting Archuleta County as a wonderful place — a “Refreshingly Authentic” place — to visit, and perhaps invest in vacation rental property.
One of the most popular Pagosa websites (slightly more popular than PagosaDailyPost.com, according to the ranking site Alexa.com) is “VisitPagosaSprings.com”… where I found the following image on the home page.
The website is funded with public money, as part of the tourism marketing budget overseen by the Pagosa Springs Area Tourism Board. I found it slightly amusing — or maybe disturbing — to see a couple of beer glasses being toasted, underlined with the message: “Returning to normal. Events are hitting the calendar.”
Not being a tourist myself, I shutter at the thought that we are “returning” to the way this community had been operating for the past decade. Yes, it’s certainly “normal” that working families are now living in run-down RVs, because they can’t find affordable housing options in Archuleta County.
Do we want things to return to “normal”?
And speaking of people living in RVs. The Archuleta Board of County Commissioners heard an interesting presentation at yesterday morning’s work session, from County Development Director Pamela Flowers, concerning RVs as permanent housing. According to the County’s current Land Use Regulations, a person or family can apply for a temporary use permit, allowing them to live in an RV for up to 120 days, so long as the RV meets all the obvious safety and sanitation requirements.
But the fact is, people are now living year-round in RVs, because they can’t find housing in Archuleta County. According to the discussion yesterday, there are approximately 300 RVs in the Aspen Springs subdivision, that appear to be year-round residences. So maybe 500 people… living illegally in that one subdivision? Ten percent of our workforce?
Here is Ms. Flowers, explaining the situation:
“So it’s been proposed, and it’s been on my mind as well, some sort of change related to occupancy of RVs. Every time we post a notice at someone’s place, at an RV, and we say, ‘You need to get a permit, and then you have 120 days, and then I don’t know what you’re going to do…’
“In this current environment, that just feels… wrong.
“So I was glad when you called me and said, let’s talk about this. So we did a little work — collected some photos, so we could show you what’s going on in the county now. And then make some suggestions about how we can do this, going forward. So obviously, the desired outcome here is… to not make things worse by expelling people from the place they are living. To provide some sort of housing opinions for the workforce, and also to buy some time until all these projects, that are being discussed around the county and the town, for low income housing, have had a chance to come to fruition and provide opportunities for folks.”
Which is not to say, there are an overwhelming number of such projects at the moment. We have 34 units of ‘low income housing’ under construction on Hot Springs Boulevard, and another 8 units on Lewis Street. A group of developers has proposed a “tiny home village” near Walmart — maybe 40 units? And another developer team is proposing to convert the Pagosa Springs Inn & Suites into a massive 98-unit apartment building. The Town government has offered three parcels of municipal land, for possible development projects. All that new housing — if it actually gets developed — would add up to maybe 200 units, some of which might be affordable for a working family.
But even with 200 new units, we wouldn’t accommodate even the families in Aspen Springs who are now living in RVs, to say nothing of the RVs scattered around the rest of the county. And to say nothing of the hundreds of families who are barely able to pay the rent on the overpriced rentals in Archuleta County… or the people who are stuck in a ‘four roommates in a one bedroom house’ situation… or the workers living in tents, and sheds, and automobiles…
The main concerns, as Ms. Flowers went through her presentation, seemed to be safety, sanitation, and density. In most County zoning districts outside the Pagosa Springs core residential areas, a property smaller than 3 acres is allowed only one dwelling unit, and properties larger than 3 acres are allowed only 2 dwelling units.
Within downtown Pagosa, meanwhile, one of the residential districts allows up to 22 units per acre — which is, of course, equivalent to 66 units on a 3-acre parcel. But the County government allows only one dwelling per 3 acres.
As scenic as Pagosa Springs might be, the photos shared by Ms. Flowers were not all pretty pictures. Some showed various types of vehicles — converted school buses, truck campers, fifth wheels, travel trailers… sometimes in small groups in a meadow, like small ad hoc RV parks; sometimes tucked away in the woods; some in good condition, some in terrible condition.
The proposal from Ms. Flowers was to allow people to remain living in RVs year-round, so long as the RVs meet certain safety, sanitation and density standards. This could be handled through a BOCC resolution, she suggested.
She didn’t explain what would happen to the people whose RVs failed to meet those standards. Presumably, they would be expelled from the place they are living? And we don’t know where they would go…?
The County Commissioners — Alvin Schaaf, Ronnie Maez, and Warren Brown — appeared to be generally receptive to Ms. Flowers’ proposal.
So we are in a strange situation. The tourists are living in our residential homes, which have been converted into Short-Term Rentals. And the full-time residents are living in RVs.
Does that strike anyone as, like, backwards?
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.