It is springtime in Pagosa. The economic
decline blanketing the local economy is punctuated by a few critical signs of
new life.
Over the past several years, the commercial center of the
community has shifted completely uptown and vacant storefronts and decaying
buildings characterize the historic downtown. Looking at the big
picture, the good news is that the downtown core of Pagosa Springs has not been
ruined yet. There is a lot of coulda, shoulda and woulda project
ideas that came and went for downtown Pagosa. There are a lot of
things that might have happened downtown but didn’t. The investors
and the builders went away. For now.
The most fascinating part of the downtown story is that
there is not one project downtown which has been completed in the past decade
that I would call a “mistake”. Although the skeptics among us
could easily point to things that are missing downtown, the fact remains that
the historic part of this town is still retains a "lost in time", untouched condition that
looks much the same as it did in 1980. For the optimist, this is a
very good thing.
On the other hand, the commercial strip of highway uptown
is now the heart of the commercial retail activity of the town.
Most of the shopping, restaurants, banking, and real estate offices exist
within a non-descript uptown axis of urban sprawl. The
architecture of the uptown commercial corridor is consistently of a style of
construction that is best referred to as “race to the bottom”.
What is the cheapest way to build square footage?
How can we build a cheap box without any concern for the natural beauty
of the area? How can we orient our signs and parking lots and
building footprints in a way that one building has no relationship with the
building next door? These are the unconscious questions which
clearly drive the ongoing build out of uptown.
For all those who bemoan the coming of Walmart uptown,
the truth is that Walmart is the logical next step. The haters of
Walmart and all that it represent must acknowledge the fact that the uptown
commercial sprawl already represents and articulates the very worst of what they
fear Walmart will bring. How can we bring you ever cheaper
goods? How can we build ever cheaper square footage?
Lets make sure that there is nobody walking anywhere and that every trip
everywhere is in a car. Sorry folks, that is uptown as we know it
today.
The hideous shades of green (even the otherwise
well-built Parelli building) and the “baby poop” hues of brown reinforce an
architectural theme of “I don’t care” in the uptown commercial
corridor.
What is fascinating is that in our tale of two towns,
either unconsciously and/or by luck, the Town leaders have managed to keep all
the crap up the hill and at the same time preserve a relatively unscathed (if
underdeveloped) urbanscape downtown. Downtown has not been ruined
yet. The dream of the Downtown Master Plan could still come to
fruition. Some day.
Here are some of the things that I love about what the
Town leaders have built downtown. The pedestrian bridges are a
massive amenity connecting people on foot with the river. The
small incremental improvements to Town Park continue to build faith in a vibrant
future for that open space. The in-the-river features bring
increasing interest to both playing in the river and to coming to watch.
The river walk, while not complete, is a major feature getting people out
of cars and buildings and out walking around. Yamaguchi Park is
brilliant walking destination and place to play.
Reservoir Hill is still relatively
untouched. Some of the new signage helps newcomers make sense of
the place.
The new section of sidewalk going in now from Farrago to
First Inn is an example of a fairly small project that will make a huge
difference in the visual integrity of the downtown core.
On the topic of private money, I think that the new
Springs Hotel was a major step in the right direction for downtown.
Nice use of professionally coordinated exterior colors; notice how they
blend with and complement the natural colors of the surrounding hills.
Someone actually took the time to pick shades of green and yellow that
are coordinated with the surroundings. The Springs Hotel is a
major feature of the existing functional river walk. The Springs
Hotel is a walking destination and a local meeting place, as well as an upscale
hotel.
The exterior remodel on the building next door to Cappy
White’s Handcrafted Interiors (across the street from the bakery) is a great
example of how one small private project can make a huge difference for an
entire block. Rather than a “race to the bottom”, that project is
an example of spending some extra money, bringing in some real talent, and doing
the project right this time.
Taken all together, this list of projects presents a
downtown core with a real future. Serious investors can not help
but to notice the possibilities for making money and, in the process, for
creating a vibrant downtown in the foreseeable future.
I am one who believes that the bottom is not in for the
economy. There are macro events on the horizon both nationally and
internationally that could easily drag down further the local Pagosa Springs
market. But regardless of what happens next, the fact that we have
not yet spoiled the downtown and that there are ongoing small successes built by
both the Town and privately, lead to the inevitable conclusion that things are
heading in the right direction downtown.
Uptown is in serious need of an “Uptown Master Plan”, a
vision, and some basic design standards. Otherwise, we will
continue to build more of the same disconnected, cheap sprawl. The
commercial sprawl of uptown is automobile dependent and by design discourages
people from walking around. By design, uptown discourages a sense of community
and of belonging.
