It’s unlikely historians will look back on 2021 in Southwest Colorado and say it was one of the best of times in human history.
There was a deadly pandemic that upended daily life for millions of Americans. There was a prolonged drought that created a persistent fear of wildfire, water shortages and unproductive agriculture. And partisan politics at the national level trickled down to Durango’s school board election.
But it wasn’t all bad. Several COVID-19 vaccines were introduced that allowed millions of Americans to protect themselves and their loved ones. And for the second year, the pandemic fueled a so-called urban flight, in which city dwellers sought rural areas and the great outdoors – i.e., Southwest Colorado. The tourism helped local businesses, kept city coffers full and led to the busiest year ever at Durango-La Plata County Airport.
Some tourists decided they liked what they saw in Southwest Colorado and took up permanent or part-time residence. And they were able to do so like never before thanks to a growing trend in remote working, especially across corporate America. Median home prices were already out of reach for many working families in Durango, and with a flood of new residents and second homeowners, prices shot up even more.
For many, the prolonged pandemic was a source of fatigue. But the introduction of a COVID-19 vaccines provided a sense of hope. The turmoil – or perhaps it was the government relief payments – forced some people to re-evaluate their values and quit their jobs in favor of a lifestyle change, leading to a labor shortage, especially in the service industry.
Here are some of the notable events from 2021 in Southwest Colorado:
Record breaking sales tax revenue
The city of Durango reported a record-breaking year for sales-tax revenue in 2021, which amounted to a 22% increase from 2020.
Widespread availability of the COVID-19 vaccine made it easier for people to travel and visit Durango, and restaurants, stores and other businesses were able to fully open.
Lodgers tax increase
An increase in the city’s lodgers tax from 2% to 5.25% was approved by Durango voters in April 2021.
The approved ballot measure allocates 55% of the new tax to support sustainable tourism marketing. Additionally, 20% will fund city transit and 14% will go to arts and cultural organizations, facilities and events. The remaining 11% will be used to mitigate negative impacts of tourism.
Real estate booming
The Durango and La Plata County real estate market continues to see soaring prices in the housing market that area real estate agents attribute to high demand and low inventory of homes for sale. As of the third quarter, the median cost of in-town homes in Durango increased by $100,000 to $650,000 since the third quarter of 2020. “Urban flight” stimulated by the COVID-19 pandemic has converted more out-of-staters into residents of the Durango area.
DRO airport keeps setting records
The city of Durango announced mid-December that 2021 is on track to be the busiest year on record for Durango-La Plata County Airport. DRO experienced a record-breaking summer with a recorded total of 137,124 travelers. Airline traffic year to date through November was 1.3% higher than in 2019 when the previous record was set.
Despite the uptick in activity at DRO, Delta Airlines pulled out of the airport after servicing the area for less than half a year. A spokesperson for SkyWest, Delta Airlines’ flight operator, said there is not enough sustainable demand to continue to offer Delta flights.
Mercury building sold
Purgatory Resort owner James Coleman announced Dec. 17 he had purchased Durango’s largest commercial building from FIS Worldpay.
The 81,380-square-foot building at 150 Mercury Village Drive just south of the Durango Mall was built in 2014 for $19.8 million, according to Architecture Magazine. Coleman is managing partner of Mountain Capital Partners, which owns Purgatory Resort and several other ski areas in the Southwest. But the Mercury building purchase was done in a private transaction separate from Mountain Capital Partners.
Coleman and his team are weighing options for repurposing the property, but the plan is to turn the building into mixed-use commercial, office and residential space.
Showdown between private business and health officials
CJ’s Diner owner Jerry Martinez awaits a verdict to the lawsuit he filed in January against Gov. Jared Polis, the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, San Juan Basin Public Health and SJBPH Executive Director Liane Jollon.
SJBPH filed a preliminary injunction against Martinez in December 2020 after he opened his diner despite a state public health mandate that prohibited restaurants from allowing in-person dining to help limit the spread of COVID-19. Martinez closed his doors after a judge ruled in favor of the health department but countered with a lawsuit of his own in January.
Martinez said he is fighting for business owners’ rights to work and make a living and he hopes a favorable ruling will establish precedent in the arena where public health and private business continue to clash.
Mark Redwine found guilty
It took nearly nine years to investigate, a five-week jury trial and six hours of jury deliberations – but on July 16, Mark Redwine was found guilty of second-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death for killing his son, Dylan Redwine, 13.
He was sentenced Oct. 8 to the maximum penalty, 48 years in prison.
“I have trouble remembering a convicted criminal defendant that has shown such an utter lack of remorse for his criminal behavior,” said 6th Judicial District Court Judge Jeffery Wilson, in handing down the maximum penalty.
Redwine, 60, has maintained his innocence throughout the criminal process. He has filed a notice of intent to appeal his conviction.
And the award for most notorious crime spree goes to ...
In perhaps one of the most shocking, eyebrow-raising crime sprees in recent memory, Jonah Barrett-Lesko, 26, stole at least $13,000 worth of bicycles, broke into a car, stole 150 items from Nature’s Oasis, escaped from the La Plata County Jail and had sexual intercourse with a horse at the La Plata County Fairgrounds, according to police and court records.
Barrett-Lesko has pleaded guilty to felony burglary and possession of burglary tools in a plea agreement with the 6th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. He has other pending charges, and is awaiting sentencing.
Axis Health System teams up with Durango Police Department
In 2021, Axis Health System partnered with the Durango Police Department to dispatch mental health professionals to calls in which assistance could be given to suspects experiencing a mental health crisis.
9-R school board elections
The Durango School District 9-R board underwent a turbulent election cycle that culminated in little change when the ballots settled in early November. No incumbent board members were unseated despite an aligned effort by three opponents, each running in separate districts.
The race appeared far more politically charged than typical. The issues of whether to continue mandatory COVID-19 mask use and restricted district visitation policies, critical race theory and school district accountability dominated the election cycle.
A legal battle looms: Four Durango-area residents have sued the school district, saying it should have held a special election earlier in the year for a board seat that was vacated Aug. 16 by Andrea Parmenter when she moved out of District D. The school district says no special election was required, because Parmenter vacated the seat within 90 days of the November election. The plaintiffs claim she moved out months earlier.
Bayfield Middle School
Bayfield Middle School made news several times this year: once for a teacher and staff shortage, a second time for removing a book from a classroom and a third time when its principal was replaced.
From January through August, 11 teachers resigned and two retired, a 59% turnover rate among the teaching staff; and in October, five more teachers and/or staff members parted ways.
In September, a young adult novel “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” featuring LGBTQ content, was removed from a classroom library. The school principal told a teacher that the novel’s inclusion in the classroom violated a school policy related to controversial material, the teacher said in an interview with the Herald. It is not the first time LGBTQ issues have surfaced at the school. In 2019, a rainbow flag, commonly used as a symbol of unity in LGBTQ social movements, caused a stir after it was hung in a classroom.
In November, Bayfield Middle School Principal Brandon Thurston was abruptly placed on paid administrative leave. He was eventually replaced by Bill Hesford, who has been with the district since 2005 as a teacher and a principal.
Drought
2021 was another dry year. Drought and poor snowpack in Southwest Colorado challenged water managers, farmers, anglers and other water uses as reservoirs and rivers shrunk. The Animas River reached record-low flows in February at 71.4 cubic feet per second only a few months after breaking a low flow record that dated back to 1913. McPhee Reservoir reported water levels about 40 feet below average. Limited releases from McPhee killed fish on the Dolores River and almost left the town of Dove Creek dry. Summer monsoons alleviated some of the drought, but fall remained warm and dry.
This last year came after a year in which the monsoons failed to materialize and drought took its toll in Southwest Colorado. Scientists have linked the 2020 and 2021 droughts in Southwest Colorado to climate change. A report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released in September concluded that human-caused climate change exacerbated the low rain and snowfall and warm temperatures that caused the severe droughts.
Dolores River National Conservation Area
U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet once again proposed a new national conservation area along the Dolores River downstream of McPhee Reservoir. Bennet has been working on new draft legislation after another version was abandoned in 2017. Bennet has yet to introduce the bill which would create a 45,455-acre national conservation area and 10,828-acre special management area. The protective designation would stretch about 61 miles along the Lower Dolores River corridor from Bradfield Bridge to Little Gypsum Bridge. New mining, roads, dams and commercial timber harvesting would be prohibited. Existing mining leases, water rights, grazing rights and private property within the area would remain unaffected.
New county commissioners
La Plata County seated two newly elected commissioners in 2021. Marsha Porter-Norton and Matt Salka, both Democrats, assumed their responsibilities on Jan. 12 filling positions left by Julie Westendorff and Gwen Lachelt who were term-limited.
Porter-Norton, who represents District 2, has focused on the opioid crisis, affordable housing, wildfire mitigation and other collaborative efforts across the county in her first year as commissioner. Salka, who represents District 3, has concentrated on economic development, broadband and law enforcement in his first year in office, while also joining Porter-Norton in tackling the opioid crisis and affordable housing.
Both commissioners have three years remaining in their first terms.
Community partnerships
La Plata County has been hard at work partnering with local governments and other agencies to tackle the big issues facing Southwest Colorado.
In early November, the county commissioners restarted the Regional Housing Alliance with Durango, Ignacio and Bayfield. The move will help coordinate affordable housing efforts. An August 2021 report by Root Policy Research showed La Plata County needs 453 new housing units between 2021 and 2023 to accommodate employment demand. By working together with local municipalities, the county hopes to speed up the timeline on housing projects and begin building to address the crisis next year.
The county also joined the city of Durango and the Durango Fire Protection District in creating a new Wildfire and Watershed Protection Fund. The new fund will work with private and public landowners and state and federal agencies to expand and accelerate landscape-scale wildfire mitigation efforts and forest restoration in the county. The partnership will allow the three entities to pool resources to decrease the risk that wildfires pose to homes and other important infrastructure.
COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic was again a dominant story in 2021. Colorado has seen multiple surges this year, including one this fall that left hospitals on the brink. But while COVID-19 has continued to affect life in Southwest Colorado – sickening residents, closing schools and challenging businesses – there has also been some great news.
A vaccine for the coronavirus became widely available in 2021 for the first time, allowing residents to protect themselves and those they love. The vaccine was made in record time and has been key to a communitywide resurgence in business and activities. New treatments such as monoclonal antibodies became more widely available, and the knowledge scientists and medical professionals gained in the last two years have helped to weather the more transmissible delta variant.
The omicron variant has appeared in Colorado in recent weeks, but widespread community testing, dedicated medical professionals and determined public health officials have set Southwest Colorado on a positive path heading into 2022.
Rise of public health
San Juan Basin Public Health wasn’t the household name that it is today with the emergence of COVID19.
“It’s that invisible behind-the-scenes work of public health that actually adds years to people’s lives and improves the health of individuals, families and communities,” said Liane Jollon, executive director of SJBPH.
Medical professionals have been the front-line heroes, but the important work of public health officials has never been more visible. Between vaccine distribution, diagnostic testing and education, public health workers have been creating a way out of the pandemic.
Workforce housing
In March, the town of Bayfield purchased 30 lots to develop townhomes to address a lack of workforce housing.
Bayfield plans to make 20 to 25 of the lots developed at Cinnamon Heights deed restricted from being sold for more than $275,000.
Revised water and sewer codes
Bayfield completely revised its water and sewer codes in 2021 for the first time since 2008 to account for more common and modern operations.
Senior center
Bayfield was able to reopen its senior center and keep it open after it was forced to close in 2020 because of the pandemic.
The senior center was reopened in spring, and has been able to remain open following San Juan Basin Public Health’s safety guidelines.
Intersection improvement
In 2021, the town of Ignacio finished a major improvement project at the intersection of Goddard Avenue and Becker Street.
A stoplight was added to the intersection, giving Ignacio a second stoplight. The other stoplight in town is at the intersection of Goddard Avenue and Ute Street.
Town Manager Mark Garcia said the redesign also improves access to Ignacio High School, and the Ignacio School District’s administration building.
Housing study
Using grant funding, the town of Ignacio completed a housing study that identified a housing shortage.
A property near Rock Creek was identified as a place where a development could improve Ignacio’s affordable housing stock.
