A group of us met with City Councilor Dean Brookie recently to express our concerns about the plans to further develop the 29th Street boat put-in. This put-in is in a residential area. We have experienced ever-increasing use by commercial boaters, causing traffic congestion, pollution from the idling diesel buses and congestion in the park itself, all at very little cost to the commercial boaters who pay a minimal permit fee for the season. These are commercial operations in a residential neighborhood.
Are there alternatives? Yes, but the Parks & Recreation Department is so locked in to its current plan, that it is overlooking a highly attractive alternative. The access road behind the fairgrounds that runs from behind the Durango Community Recreation Center down to the Animas River Trail and back up the bank between Durango High School and the fairgrounds is that alternative. It is not in a residential neighborhood, much of the infrastructure for access already is there, and there is a broad, flat area on the river bank at a relatively quiet section of the river that could be developed as a staging area and put-in for commercial boaters. There is adequate parking at the rec center and the fairgrounds, and entry and egress from the area using the traffic lights already is in place.
Where does the money come from to develop this alternative? First is cost savings in not having to upgrade the facilities at 29th Street. A second source of funds may be GOCO, and a third, La Plata County, which plans to relocate the fairgrounds to Three Springs anyway.
Finally, the commercial boaters themselves should bear a larger share of the cost of developing the facilities they are using for their businesses. A per-head fee on each commercial patron, much as the rooms tax that the hotels and motels must pay, would go a long way to making their cost of operations fairly reflect the cost of the infrastructure necessary to sustain their operations and the additional externalities the community must absorb as a result of their operations.
Jim Sumrall & George Sterk
Durango
