Recently, the city’s Parks and Recreation amenities have generated several headline stories in The Durango Herald, including one about Durango Mesa Park and the philanthropic contribution of Marc Katz to this promising civic amenity.
In Durango’s 2007 Comprehensive Plan, the former Ewing Mesa was designated for residential and light commercial development. Of course, it was private property. The generous acts of Katz in purchasing the property and offering it to the city and the county for amenity development created an unexpected opportunity to meet civic needs.
However, a consequence of the new owner’s plan was reconsideration of future land uses for the property. These became part of the 2017 Comprehensive Plan. With Ewing Mesa out of consideration, that plan identified different areas to accommodate projected growth, specifically La Posta Road and the Animas Valley property once proposed for River Trails Ranch. As a member of City Council in 2017, I voted to approve this plan.
Affordable housing remains one of the major challenges facing our community because of the limited inventory of property and its high cost. Removal of Ewing Mesa from the inventory of properties available for residential development only increased this challenge.
This circumstance prompts me to wonder whether Katz and other civic-minded philanthropists might be willing to leverage their wealth individually or collectively to acquire other property and make it available for affordable housing developments.
Dick White
Durango
