Springtime in Pagosa

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.