While each year inevitably holds untold delectable news morsels that will surprise and captivate readers, there are a handful of important stories that we all should expect to see in print this year.
Housing and homelessness will continue to make headlines as the city of Durango and La Plata County navigate the myriad obstacles between them and a viable solution to the issue. The expansion of high-speed internet throughout the county may be imminent as a result of federal dollars flowing toward the region for broadband infrastructure development.
Of course, some of the questions asked last year still linger: Will the historic drought continue? Will wildfires ravage the region? Will COVID-19 make a resurgence?
As 2023 arrives, here are some news items to keep an eye out for in the next 12 months.
The housing crisis in Durango, consisting of a low inventory of homes and high market rates, has left regular workers such as teachers, law enforcement and emergency responders, reeling at the cost of living, and sometimes leaving town. But more housing developments are underway with approximately 1,400 to 1,500 more units, already in one stage of planning and development or another, expected to move through the pipeline early 2023.
The city’s housing division, created in 2022, has posted a call for a housing coordinator position that would assist Eva Henson, housing innovation manager for the city, in growing the division and accumulating resources.
The city will also examine the preservation of existing housing and look to expand and create new innovative housing programs, including ways to adaptively reuse underutilized commercial properties, Henson said.
The city is also taking the lead on financing the design and engineering of some infrastructure along La Posta Road in order to prepare the area for housing and economic development.
Other big steps in housing the city plans to take in 2023 include: renegotiation of a housing compliance agreement in Twin Buttes; exploring the idea of a neighborhood center with diverse housing options and commercial opportunities on a 6-acre site on Florida Road; and the application of a template for deed-restricted units, as seen with some Animas City Park Overlook townhome units, to future projects on a larger scale.
Durango City Council appointed the Coordinating Council on Homelessness as the leader in establishing a third party entity to figure out how to shelter the unhoused community.
CCH decided to try establishing a Continuum of Care, a national model required in every county by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, as a model for creating transitional housing.
A nonprofit called Community Compassion Outreach opened a warming shelter in November at Durango Christian Church to serve as a temporary respite for weary and cold homeless residents. The shelter is open twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays. The shelter requested $11,600 from City Council for operational expenses but was denied in a 4-1 vote. Mayor Barbara Noseworthy voted to grant the funding request, but other councilors cited concerns about possible crime in the residential area that is also near a school.
Durango Parks and Recreation hopes to have the six-court Schneider Park pickleball complex completed by summer 2023, although that depends on a contractor taking up a bid on the project that will be put out in February or March. Ture Nycum, director of Parks and Recreation, said he hopes to have designs 75% completed by Christmas and construction drawings 100% ready to go by the start of February.
Progress on Durango Mesa Park is also anticipated for 2023, specifically in regard to planning documents. But visible progress should also be visible next year with demonstration mountain bike trails connecting Durango Mesa Park to Horse Gulch in addition to emergency road access upgrades.
The entrance to Lake Nighthorse will receive improvements that make it easier to back out and a permanent watercraft decontamination system is also planned. The system will protect the lake’s waters from invasive species such as mussels.
A replacement of the tow rope at Chapman Hill Ice Rink and Ski Area is planned as well. Nycum said the current rope is so old that it “belongs in a museum.”
And, three more sections of the Animas River Trail are planned to be converted to asphalt, with design work and a bid put out some time next year. But, construction may not begin until 2024.
In September, Purgatory Resort Bike Patrol unanimously voted to unionize in search of better wages and benefits. This came after the group witnessed ski patrol vote to unionize last winter and have come to an agreement with the resort.
Representatives from the union say bike patrol does not receive the same amount of resources ski patrol does. Will the two parties come to a compromise?
“Purgatory will continue to maintain positive working relationships with mountain patrollers,” said Human Resources Director Heather Garland in an article in September. “We are dedicated to treating all of our employees with dignity and respect and to listening to their ideas and priorities.”
Local liquor stores predict they will lose sales because of the passing of Proposition 125, which allows wine to be sold in grocery stores, but how will grocery stores handle the transition?
Some liquor stores have touted their higher quality wine, but will grocery stores focus their sales on value brand or expand selection for higher quality? What will this do to the preexisting infrastructure of grocery stores? How much will it cost?
The Durango Police Department will upgrade its technology in 2023. Dash cams in patrol vehicles will be outfitted with new software that allows them to scan license plates and alert officers when a stolen vehicle is detected. Colorado now leads the nation in car theft, said Durango Police Chief Bob Brammer.
The department also plans to expand partnerships with homeowners and businesses by incorporating technology that will allow people to register private security cameras, including doorbell cameras, so that police can send out alerts to specific areas where a crime occurs, have people check their camera footage and report back to police. The department will also increase the number of security cameras in remote and high-crime areas.
In addition to technology upgrades, the department will use “environmental design” to prevent crime. This can be placing boulders to keep people from parking illegally to cutting down vegetation so people can’t hide in specific areas.
The La Plata County Sheriff’s Office only mentioned improving its drone technology when asked about the agency’s plans in 2023.
Neither DPD nor La Plata County Sheriff’s Office mentioned cracking down on homeless campers in the city and county, but increased enforcement aimed at making Durango and La Plata County an unpleasant place for the homeless began at the end of 2022 with the closing of the Purple Cliffs encampment, followed by a persistent elimination of new campsites, ticketing people living in their vehicles and blocking off places they park with boulders (aka environmental design) and citations for possession of shopping carts.
The push-and-pull between rehabilitation versus stiffer jail and prison sentences has been playing out across the country for years. The United States has more people in prison than any other country in the world along with an appalling rate of recidivism. The debate between the “carrot-or-the-stick” approach in sentencing criminals (time behind bars vs. rehabilitation measures) played out publicly in the 6th Judicial District when voters chose not to retain Judge Anne Woods, a vocal advocate of the rehabilitation model of reform.
A new judge will join the 6th Judicial District bench in 2023 to fill the vacancy left by Judge Todd Norvell, who resigned because of health issues in October but is staying until Jan. 14. Whomever is appointed will join Judge Kim Shropshire (appointed in March 2022) and Judge Anthony Baca (appointed Dec. 27, 2022).
Whether the new judges will favor rehabilitation over longer jail sentences or vice versa, is a game of wait-and-see.
Meanwhile, at least two high-profile murder trials will be on the docket in 2023 – one young man accused of killing a gas station convenience clerk in Bayfield in 2021; and another man on trial for beating a man with a rock and then shooting him at a magic-mushroom farm.
Miller Middle School renovations break ground at noon Jan. 5. The $45 million bond project aims to build a three-story building that will be 75,000 to 85,000 square feet in size.
It will be a three-in-one performance space to hold 350 audience members with a stage and acoustics, the school cafeteria and a set of learning stairs, which provide a relaxed study and lecture space.
Construction is scheduled to last through June of 2024.
The Juniper School’s charter reauthorization will be discussed by Durango School District 9-R staff members during the second week of January and a decision will be made at the meeting.
The charter school recently added grades sixth through eighth after opening in 2017. Head of School Philip Werline said The Juniper School finished in the top 1% in the state in moving students into proficiency during last year’s Colorado Measures of Academic Success testing.
What will the future hold for The Juniper School?
After the 2020 passage of Proposition 114, the Parks and Wildlife Commission is in the process of enacting a plan to restore and manage gray wolves in Colorado. According to the statute, the commission must begin taking steps to do so by the end of the year.
A draft wolf reintroduction plan was presented to the commission on Dec. 9 and Colorado Parks and Wildlife is accepting public comment on the plan through Feb. 22. Comments can be submitted to www.engagecpw.org.
The draft plan proposes introducing between 30 and 50 wolves over three to five years. Releases will occur a minimum of 60 miles from the state’s border with Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and the Southern Ute Tribal lands.
La Plata County is considering its first ever development project under the 1041 rules adopted in 2019. Those rules apply to projects that are likely to impact more than just a proposed project’s immediate vicinity. Primergy Solar, a California-based company, has proposed a solar project that would occupy 1,900 ares near Breen. The panels would supply 155 megawatts of power each year and the project would have enough battery storage for the same amount of power.
Neighbors to the project have organized to halt its development, arguing that its impact on the ecology, wildlife, and rural landscape is too significant given the benefits to the county.
The planning department has until Jan. 4 to decide whether Primergy has submitted all the necessary documents, after which the project will proceed through the approval process before ultimately landing before the county commissioners.
La Plata and Archuleta counties passed a joint resolution on Nov. 15 to dissolve San Juan Basin Public Health, the district that has served the two counties for the last 74 years. The dissolution will take effect Dec. 31, 2023.
Over the next year, the newly established board of health governing the La Plata County Public Health Department will work to stand up the county’s own department. The county has contracted a consultant whose research into the county’s needs will guide the board in determining which of the existing programs should be cut, kept or expanded.
On the day of the vote to dissolve, La Plata County Commissioner Marsha Porter-Norton, who is on the SJBPH board, said, “I believe a dissolution of the district will result in healthier communities for the constituents it serves.”
The town of Bayfield has plenty of city projects to keep it busy in 2023, including the long-discussed renovation of East Mill Street, remodeling of the Pine River Senior Center and getting Bayfield Marshal’s Office two new patrol cars.
Another project will include the construction of 30 townhomes on Cinnamon Drive. Bayfield recently bought 30 platted lots for the Cinnamon Heights townhomes, at the current cost of $802,067.72.
Park improvement will also be getting more funding in 2023, with park bench and picnic table replacements, more bear-proof trash cans, and netting on the east side of the softball fields to keep the balls from hitting the sides of nearby houses. Little Pine Park will also be getting new insulation and heating in the restroom.
Many more Ignacio residents and Southern Ute Tribe members will finally get access to high-speed broadband in 2023.
The Southern Ute Indian Tribe has plans to expand broadband access to 95% of its land by 2025, and recently received $44 million in federal money to help achieve that goal. La Plata County has dedicated $2.5 million of the $10.9 million it received from the American Rescue Plan Act toward broadband expansion.
Ignacio residents can also expect infrastructure improvements in 2023 for roads and utilities, as well as a new housing development.
“We have several capital improvement projects slated for 2023, and the big focus is on affordable housing,” said Ignacio’s interim town manager, Mark Garcia, in an email to The Durango Herald. “We have several pending grants that will hopefully provide funding for infrastructure (utilities, roads, sidewalks, etc.) for a 40-unit housing project in Ignacio.”
Garcia hopes to receive grant funding to begin housing development and surrounding infrastructure improvements by summer 2023.
More affordable housing will be coming to Silverton in 2023. A foundation was just recently poured for a new unit that will be built in the summer, according to executive director of the Silverton Chamber of Commerce, DeAnne Gallegos.
The completion of the first phase of the affordable housing projects will include 10 townhomes on county land that will be annexed into Silverton, said Silverton Town Manager Gloria Kaasch-Buerger.
“These units will be deed and income restricted and provide workforce housing for our community,” she said in an email to The Durango Herald.
The Columbine Park Informational Center will also be completed by July 4. The building will have public restrooms and showers, a garage, concession stand and office space.
The Silverton Singletrack Society has also reached 61% of its goal in raising money for a buildout of the Baker’s Park Trails. The nonprofit, all-volunteer trail group has currently raised $30,000.
Once completed, the Baker’s Park trail system will have nearly 30 miles of singletrack for mountain biking, making Silverton a world class mountain biking destination.
An earlier version of this story mischaracterized statements Philip Werline, head of school at Juniper School. Werline said his goals when he started the position in 2021 included stabilizing Juniper’s budget, targeting growth in math scores and recruiting a school board president for Juniper. The story erred in saying those are his current goals.
