La Plata County commissioner candidates in a three-way race squared off Wednesday on homelessness, affordable housing and land-use regulations.
Incumbent Democratic candidate Clyde Church is trying to capture another four-year term, but he faces challenges from Republican Brad Blake and unaffiliated candidate Jack Turner. Wednesday’s forum was sponsored by the League of Women Voters of La Plata County.
Church said if re-elected one of his top priorities would be to increase affordable workforce housing. Blake said one of his top priorities would be to work with the city to develop more workforce housing and a managed homeless camp. And Turner said his top priorities include making the land-use code easier to understand and expediting building projects.
“We don’t have enough places for the workforce to live,” Turner said. “The code is set up to extend the building process rather than expedite it.”
Turner said projects were able to forego land-use codes during the COVID-19 pandemic to build needed infrastructure, and wondered why that can’t be the same when the county isn’t in a state of emergency.
In addition to increasing workforce housing, Church said he’d like to work to improve broadband in rural areas.
When candidates were asked about providing affordable housing and their feelings toward short-term rentals, Church said the county has been evaluating the affordable housing situation and is going to purchase land for land banking.
“We can do some of the development and then have deed restrictions for homes that are built on those lots,” Church said.
Turner said the cost of living in Durango has become so high that the county is going to have to subsidize housing. He said there is no way to bring wages up to meet the price of housing.
In order to subsidize housing, Turner suggests a small real estate transfer fee with exceptions to agricultural properties and homes less than 1,500 square feet. He said the cost of the fee could be decided by voters.
“This way a lot of people pay a tiny bit, instead of taking every project developer and saying we need 16%,” Turner said.
Blake said he dealt with affordable housing during his previous tenure as a county commissioner. He said the biggest issue developing workforce housing is “wet water.”
Wet water is water that is available from a pipeline. He said many areas outside city limits don’t have access to wet water, which makes it difficult to build housing.
“Because some places don’t have water systems, you have to figure out a way to either get water systems to your project or have to do wells,” Blake said. “And if you drill a well, you don’t necessarily know if there’ll be any water there.”
Blake was the only candidate to address the short-term rental portion of a question asked of candidates. He supports some regulations on short-term rentals to preserve workforce housing, but it is hard to tell property owners they can’t have a secondary accessory dwelling.
The candidates were asked how they would collaborate with the city of Durango to work toward housing solutions for the homeless.
None of them specified how they would collaborate with the city, but they did address homelessness.
Turner said it is important to collaborate with Durango, Ignacio, Bayfield and other nearby communities. He said homelessness is complex with multiple aspects.
Some homeless residents work every day and others need social services.
“We have a social and a legal obligation to work on this issue and not vilify people,” Turner said.
Church said collaboration with the city is essential, as is working with groups such as Neighbors in Need Alliance and Manna soup kitchen.
“As of a couple weeks ago, there were between 160 and 200 people at Purple Cliffs. Now, there are around 50,” Church said. “Pregnant women, children and families have been moved out into hotel rooms temporarily until we can figure something out.”
Church said the county is working on providing the necessary services to find permanent housing for those living homeless.
Blake said during his time as county commissioner, he worked well with the city of Durango, Bayfield and Ignacio. He said he collaborated with the city on projects involving the Durango-La Plata County Airport and Durango Public Library and looks to continue that collaboration on homelessness.
“There are problems every now and then, but you have to work through them to get good solutions,” Blake said. “I’m a problem-solver and that’s what I did in business and as a commissioner.”
tbrown@durangoherald.com
