Sprawl is as American as apple pie. I love pie. But I hate sprawl.

Recently, the County has been trying to wrap up a new Urban Services Area map which hints at where new development and maybe higher densities will go in the future.

Some have argued that the people who come to Pagosa are looking for a lifestyle of 3 to 5 acres -- a sort of semi-rural aesthetic. But consider that other people who prefer walkable communities and higher density have not arrived in Pagosa -- yet -- because there is nothing here for them to arrive to.

We currently do not have a solid example of newer mixed-use development in our community. Under the “I know it when I see it” standard, a mixed-use development is characterized, in part, by people walking around. Walking from the house to the coffee shop. Walking from the house to a store to buy a loaf of bread. Walking from the house to a job.

Right now in our community, every “trip” is done in an automobile. Mixed-use, done well, eliminates the need for some automobile trips because a variety of activities (living, shopping, office) are all mixed together on the same site.

The old downtown commercial core does provide some mixed-use living. Economic stimulus is missing at the moment. A more vibrant downtown would lead to more people walking downtown.

I have argued previously that we have to choose now whether future development is going to lead to sprawl or if we going to commit to density. But for Pagosa Springs, my argument was really not quite on point.

We have already let sprawl happen in Pagosa Springs. Drive from Ace Hardware on the west end of Town all the way to Day Lumber on the east end of Town. That distance is seven miles. Drive from Highway 160 to Hatcher Lake. That distance is five miles.

Too late folks. We already let the “sprawl” genie out of the bag.

Now, let’s get out of our car and walk around a bit. Everywhere. If we look long enough and close enough, here is what we see. Almost every trip to a house, from a house, to a restaurant or to City Market is a vehicle trip. Every trip from Lake Hatcher to a coffee shop or City Market is a five mile vehicle trip also impacting Highway 160. Even downtown, most trips are vehicle trips. Under our current plan (or lack of real plan), when our population doubles again, the number of vehicle trips will also double.

So what is this “small town character” that people say that they want to “keep” for Pagosa Springs? In my dream of a small town, people bump into each other on the street. Some trips are done in the car and some trips are done on your feet. Isn’t that what “Main Street” U.S.A. is supposed to be all about. My dream of small town is not bumper to bumper traffic heading up and down Highway 160 from the east side of town to the west side of town.

Sprawl is as American as apple pie. I love pie. But I hate sprawl.

Does anyone doubt that the population in our community will double again in size sometime in the foreseeable future? You might not like it. You might not want it. But can you stop it?

When I was born in 1962, the world population was about 4 billion people. Now the world population is fast going on 7 billion. I will live to see 8 billion people on the planet. Maybe a whole lot more.

I live in the heart of downtown Pagosa Springs. But given my “lifestyle”, I also head up to the west end of town (currently the commercial center of town) every day. In my truck. At least once per day. That’s a five-plus mile drive from my house in the heart of the downtown to the functional commercial center of town.

Is this the “small town character” and lifestyle people are trying to preserve?

I know that some of the downtown folks never venture up to the west end of town. Some of the Pagosa Lakes folks never venture downtown. What does that tell us about the future of Pagosa Springs? Nothing.

We all live in a one town, small county. We are one unified community. Even if we don’t quite believe it yet.

Eventually, downtown will be restored as the vibrant commercial center of our community. Take a roughly 8 block radius and draw a circle around the downtown core. If we get this downtown core right -- a must see tourist destination and a walkable civic center where locals actually walk -- then the rest of the county will successfully ride on the coattails of this socio-economic heart of the community. (Hat tip to the new Overlook spa and the new Springs hotel.) If we blow it on growing the downtown core properly then we will always have non-descript sprawl, anywhere USA. And, indeed, we will have blown it for the future generations of our community.

We need a heart and soul to this place. Sprawl, by definition, has no heart. Continue to create the heart in the downtown. Then create some satellite mixed-use centers that are also pedestrian in use; not just theory. Then, the best that we can, try to tie the whole thing together along Putt Hill.

I have one single litmus test for all future development in our community. Does it attract new, young families? If new development attracts new families then, by definition, it attracts new jobs.

Second home owning retirees -- we love you. Tourists -- we definitely want you. But new, young families will be the life blood of the future generations of Pagosa Springs.

Which brings me to this new Urban Services Area map that the County Planning Commission has just passed on to the County Commissioners.

For someone as interested in land use planning, you would think that I would have spent a lot of time analyzing the details of the current version of the map. But I haven’t. I’ve got my letter-size piece of paper with a printout of the current draft of the map.

Is it a good map for our community? How many people have actually been involved with the process so far?

There are three things that I really like about this draft USA map. One is that it shows, conclusively, that Archuleta County/Pagosa Springs really is a one town, small unified County. I’m not ignoring Arboles or Chromo. They need their own special community plans. But that does not detract from the fact that we really are a single, unified community.

Here is a County map, showing an oval outline, with the “Town” in the middle and the “County” together as single bubble of people and houses.

The second thing that I really like about the draft USA map is that I trust the people who put it together. I trust the County Planning staff and I trust the County Planning Commission. They put a lot of time and energy into making that map the best that they possibly could.

Is someone going to complain about too much potential density in their back yard? Yes. Is someone going to complain about not enough potential density on their own acreage? Yes. Would I have done some parcels differently? Maybe.

But the point is that the Planning Commission did the best they could to represent all of the thousands of people who did not show up at the meetings. They did their best to represent all of the thousands of people who don’t live here yet but will live here some day. This map is a stand against future sprawl.

Is the map perfect? Maybe not. Is it a very good draft? Definitely. The draft Urban Services Area map is a picture of the future growth of our community and where it should be located. Should growth continue haphazardly all over the place or should growth be limited to inside of the oval bubble?

Pagosa Springs is currently defined by a seven mile stretch of commercial sprawl along Highway 160. And by miles of perpendicular residential growth arms.

The entire City of San Francisco, California sits on land just about seven miles by seven miles square. The Urban Services Area of our “small town” looks to take up as much space as that large city.

To the extent which the Urban Services Area map will establish the idea that we are not expanding this community out any farther into our open space, I applaud it. I hope that this map becomes a “line in the sand” over which future subdivisions will generally not cross.

So, here’s my personal nod of support and appreciation to the work of the County Planning Commission and Planning Staff on the new map.