2020 fell beneath the cold, unforgiving shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, but 2021, with a vaccine likely to become more readily available, holds the promise of a brighter, more optimistic year.
This month, both the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech pharmaceutical vaccines arrived in La Plata County, and San Juan Basin Public Health is working with staffs at long-term care facilities and regional health care providers to inoculate residents and staff members.
SJBPH is currently in Colorado’s 1A phase of the vaccine rollout. Phase 1A prioritizes vaccination of residents and staff members of long-term care facilities and people who have direct contact with COVID-19 patients. This phase of vaccine distribution, along with Phase 1B – targeting people older than 70 and all health care workers and first responders – is expected to extend through winter.
One of the big stories of 2021 will be following increasing distribution of the vaccine.
Phase 2 distribution – focusing on people 65 to 69, those who are 16 to 64 with pre-existing health conditions, and essential local government workers – is expected to begin in La Plata County in spring.
In summer, Phase 3, vaccination of the general public, should begin in Southwest Colorado.
Here’s The Durango Herald’s crystal ball attempt to predict other top stories residents of Southwest Colorado might be reading in the next 12 months:
Durango
Durango planned for the upcoming year with the expectation that its sales tax revenues would be down 8.5% compared with the 2020 budget because of the coronavirus pandemic.
As the pandemic continues, officials plan to continue tracking hospital capacity, case numbers, death rates and the effectiveness of the city’s response.
City officials will be keeping a close eye on economic recovery, particularly as vaccines are distributed and people become more active during the summer and fall.
One top ticket item for the city is development of a strategic plan in 2021.
The plan will help the city evaluate its finances, spotting areas that need attention both in the short and long term. That includes the city’s response to the economic impacts of the pandemic, its fund balances, capital-improvement programs and more.
The city is also offering community members a new budget transparency resource in 2021. Durango residents will be able to check city spending at-will once the OpenGov platform launches on the city website.
Durango residents should also expect to see a final design and possible construction on a controversial pedestrian bridge project at 32nd Street.
Durango will have until May to identify alternative sites for the homeless camp located along La Posta Road at Purple Cliffs under current agreements between the city and La Plata County.
The Purple Cliffs site is on La Plata County land, and the county pushed Durango officials to honor their previous commitment to find a new site during fall 2020.
The campers at Purple Cliffs have said they want the site to remain in place for the long-term. Community members, residents and business owners opposed several alternative options proposed by the city in the summer and fall of 2020.
Business
Attainable housing, a concern for virtually everyone in Southwest Colorado without a millionaire’s bank account, become even more rare. Predictions are attractive rural locales like La Plata County will grow even more popular among people, especially high earners, fleeing big-city crowding and chaos – issues put in stark relief by the COVID-19 pandemic. The median price for a home in Durango at the end of the third quarter 2020 was $550,000. In La Plata County, the median price was $431,250.
The advent of social distancing and the encouragement of telecommuting has sent available office space in Durango soaring. Vacant downtown restaurant space now includes buildings that housed the Red Snapper, the Irish Embassy Pub, Eno Cocktail Lounge and Wine Bar, and The Palace.
Its been no secret that the gas industry has declined in La Plata County, but 2021 will see some big changes for the San Juan Basin natural gas field, which spans Southwest Colorado and northwestern New Mexico. In 2020, BP American Production Co. sold its regional assets to a European renewable energy company called IKAV. Ever since, IKAV has remained silent about its plans for the gas field. Over the year, BP has continued operations as the transition to IKAV’s ownership takes place. Will we find out in 2021 why a European renewable energy company has interest in an aging natural gas field in Southwest Colorado?
Jerry Martinez, owner of CJ’s Diner, is challenging the legality of state public health restrictions that have closed dining rooms.
In November, CJ’s Diner kept its dining room open for a few days in defiance of Level Red restrictions banning indoor dining. CJ’s is now complying with the state’s Level Red restriction that allow only takeout, curbside, delivery and outdoor dining. (The classification downgrades Monday to Level Orange.)
However, Martinez has filed a court case challenging the legality of closing dining rooms under COVID-19 public health restrictions.
In court documents, CJ’s attorneys say the COVID-19 restrictions violate people’s rights to “freely associate with other people,” to “conduct lawful business” and to “be freed from threats of criminal or civil punishment for exercising these fundamental rights.”
Could Main Avenue be transformed with new sidewalks that accommodate permanent bump-outs at the end of some blocks. Could Main Avenue become more pedestrian and bicycle friendly?
Ideas to reshape downtown Durango’s main street have long been bumped around, but COVID-19 forced at least temporary action including allowance of temporary bump-outs in the right-of-way, and they proved popular with customers and restaurateurs.
Cops and courts
This summer, the Durango Police Department said it would reimagine policing through a pilot program in response to challenges such as a rise in local crime and national calls for police reform.
The pilot program would hinge on community partnerships to include social workers, emergency medical technicians and other crisis professionals in policing.
DPD has experienced staffing shortages in recent years, and the hope is the program will incorporate more community groups to help in crisis situations. The program was off to an early start in 2020, and is expected to make more serious headway in the coming year.
6th Judicial District Attorney Christian Champagne ran unopposed in November 2020, though he vowed to continue working on restorative justice programs, taking serious cases to trial and rooting out racial inequality in the criminal justice system.
In 2021, the Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program is expected to be launched, where officers can directly refer people into diversion treatments instead of filing criminal charges with the court. Champagne said he continues efforts to keep jail populations low, and only takes serious crimes to trial.
Champagne also expressed a desire to continue implicit and unconscious bias training, especially focusing on historical trauma of Native American tribes.
Will 2021 be the year Mark Redwine has his day in court?
Redwine, accused of killing his 13-year-old son, Dylan, in 2012, has been in custody since he was arrested in 2017 awaiting trial.
There have been countless delays and postpones over the years, for a variety of reasons. It appeared as if a trial was going smoothly in fall 2020, but proceedings were canceled after Redwine’s attorneys said they were experiencing symptoms associated with COVID-19.
A new trial is set for January, but with the pandemic still spreading, court officials expressed concern the upcoming trial will be aborted as well.
If delayed again, Redwine could reach the four-year mark of sitting in jail with no trial.
Education
The Durango School District 9-R board of education is searching for the district’s next superintendent.
The board plans to name a new superintendent in early April after public meetings with finalists in late March.
After leading Durango School District 9-R for nine years, Dan Snowberger announced in November he would leave the district at the end of June 2021.
A notice of the vacancy is expected to be posted on the Education Week website in early January and be published in the trade publication’s Jan. 20 print edition.
Students have spent almost the entire year in front of computer screens in their homes and not in school classrooms. What has been the impact of such a seismic change on learning?
Standardized state tests have been canceled during the pandemic. The tests are likely to return in 2021. They’ll show if turning students into telelearners has harmed them academically.
Animas High School is slated to begin construction of a new building on the Fort Lewis College campus. The campus might also co-host a moved Big Picture High School.
In addition, voter approval of $90 million in bonds will mean a new career and technical education center, likely to be called the Innovation Center, will be built likely near Durango High School.
It might not happen in 2021, but a complete replacement of Miller Middle School on its current site also will be financed with the bonds.
Finally, every school in the district has some maintenance issues because repairs have been deferred by tight budgets since the Great Recession of 2008. The bonds will finance repairs at every 9-R school.
Environment
It’s been more than five years since a Superfund was declared for the mines contaminating the waters around the Animas River Basin around Silverton.
Over the years, the Environmental Protection Agency has done some minor cleanup work, but has spent the majority of the agency’s time studying the basin to come up with the best plan to improve water quality in the Animas.
This summer it’s expected the EPA will start to make serious headway in that effort. The EPA laid out goals for which specific waterways it hopes to improve and what mines could be cleaned up to make it happen.
The hope is 2021 will be the start of serious improvements.
2020 delivered one of the worst water years in recorded history. The 2019-20 winter brought underwhelming snowpack – high elevations recorded about average levels, but below, there was virtually no snow all winter.
The lack of precipitation continued into the spring and summer, and again into the fall.
All of Southwest Colorado is listed in an exceptional drought – the highest drought category the U.S. Drought monitor has.
Water managers are banking on a strong snowpack this winter. If it fails to deliver, there could be some serious struggles for available water.
La Plata County
To the surprise of most county officials, it appeared La Plata County avoided the worst fears when it came to financial losses with the COVID-19 pandemic, as 2021 saw strong sales tax numbers as tourists flocked to remote Southwest Colorado.
But that doesn’t mean the county is out of the storm.
County officials have prepared the 2021 budget to take into account many of the unknowns with the pandemic and whether tourists will continue to visit the region for its outdoor attractions.
La Plata County reached a milestone in 2020 when it passed a new set of land-use codes, but 2021 will be the true test to see if it works.
County officials say the new code will streamline development, and encourage growth in areas where it makes sense.
Also, the county included provisions in the new code that looks to help agricultural land owners to diversify uses on their land, in the hopes of boosting local ranchers and farmers.
Developers and property owners, for their part, say the old code was an expensive and long process.
The new code will be put to the test in 2021. Will it come through on its promises?
With the departures of incumbent La Plata County commissioners Gwen Lachelt and Julie Westendorff, who are term-limited, years of institutional knowledge will be lost.
Their replacements, however, say they know their way around the county.
Marsha Porter-Norton, replacing Lachelt, has family with deep roots in Southwest Colorado and grew up on a ranch in Montezuma County. She’s worked as a facilitator on numerous controversial projects over the years, like securing protections for Hermosa Creek.
Matt Salka, replacing Westendorff, moved to Bayfield in 2000 and has since served on the Bayfield Board of Trustees, as well as various local organizations.
Both Democratic candidates during their campaign stressed a need to support local businesses and serve everyone, regardless of political affiliation.
Bayfield
The Bayfield government will focus on infrastructure, broadband and economic recovery in 2021.
“There are some additional state COVID-19 funds and economic recovery projects we have in mind,” said Katie Sickles, town manager. “That’s going to be a big thing to keep our businesses healthy through the next couple of months.”
The town has hired a consultant, Clearnetworx, to help implement the broadband infrastructure improvement plan developed in early 2020.
The top infrastructure items are to finish the townwide waterline replacement project and the reconstruction project at the Eight Corners intersection, where County Road 501 and Bayfield Parkway intersect. Part of the roadway at the intersection became undriveable in 2019 because of water seepage from irrigation infrastructure.
The Bayfield School District plans to continue to focus on in-person schooling during the spring semester.
The school district’s COVID-19 policies caused division in 2020 after it increased in-person lessons for students at all grade levels to four days a week, while experiencing multiple viral outbreaks, a districtwide closure because of the pandemic and rapidly rising countywide case numbers.
While some community members, teachers and parents have raised concerns about safety, the district and other community members said in-person lessons are best for the overall well-being of students.
“Our plan is to go back,” said Bayfield Superintendent Kevin Aten in December.
Ignacio
In 2021, Ignacio will get its second stoplight.
The project will provide more traffic control and pedestrian access at Becker Street and Goddard Avenue, a main thoroughfare. It’s primarily funded by the Colorado Department of Transportation with about $175,000 provided by the town government and Ignacio School District, said Mark Garcia, interim town manager.
The Rock Creek housing development design will be completed in January. The development will add up to 115 apartment or townhome units to Ignacio’s aging housing stock. Once the design is finalized, the town will seek grant funding and bids from developers.
The town will also conduct a needs assessment to determine the high-need areas for COVID-19 relief money among residents and businesses. It could distribute up to $30,000 and $40,000 from federally provided relief money.
The Town Board also plans to complete a strategic plan in early February.
