The city of Durango is turning to residents for feedback on fencing, landscaping and interior elements of the planned joint city hall and police station, which is expected to be completed in October 2028.
The city has invited residents to weigh in on design elements at its Engage Durango webpage for the project at engage.durangoco.gov/police-department-city-hall.
Residents can cast votes for their preferred design choices regarding fencing, interior color palettes and garden planting palettes.
There are four options for fencing, nine options for garden styles and three options for interior color schemes.
Additionally, the city is asking for photo submissions of the interior historic high school at 201 E. 12th St., where the new city hall will be located.
The fencing options are as follows:
- Option No. 1: a transparent fence with a 5-foot landscape buffer.
- Option No. 2: a transparent fence with brick columns spaced evenly across it and a 5-foot landscape buffer.
- Option No. 3: a transparent fence with a low brick wall and a 5-foot landscape buffer.
- Option No. 4: a masonry wall with a minimum landscape buffer.
As of Friday afternoon, residents appeared to prefer the third option, which had received 57% of the votes. The first option, a fence only, had the second most support with 21% of the vote. The masonry wall had the least support with 7% of the votes.
Nine garden options included a variety of grasses, flowers and landscape features – some utilizing benches and walkways.
Option No. 6, which features stones, a walking bridge and a gravel walkway bordered by vegetation, appeared to be most popular as of Friday with nearly 29% of the vote.
The three color palette options were called “Carving River,” “High-Desert Terrain” and “Alpine Sunset.” In that order, the first option included shades of blues and greens and brown; the second option utilized different shades of brown and sandy white; and the third option contained a mix of red or maroon, dark blue-green, and brown and sandy white.
Option No. 1, “Carving River,” had 50% of the vote as of Friday, with “High-Desert Terrain” ranked second and “Alpine Sunset” third.
Residents have until the end of the day June 9 to vote on the design options.
The city reviewed the design elements at an open house at the Durango Community Recreation Center on May 20, where trees, site lighting, the historic high school building’s auditorium and opportunities to showcase historic memorabilia were discussed.
The city is scheduled to hold another community meeting at 5:30 p.m. June 8 at the Durango Public Library. The meeting will focus on design elements of the connection to Buckley Park adjacent to the high school to the west, multimodal features and campus connectivity, and the new Durango Police Department building.
Durango voters gave their approval for the new city hall and police station in an April 2025 election. They passed a $61 million bond measure to fund the renovation and construction of the joint city hall and police station at 201 E. 12th Street and 215 E. 12th St, respectively. A 2005 half-cent sales tax set to expire was extended for 30 years to pay for the project.
cburney@durangoherald.com
