Some residents are asking the city of Durango to put its Downtown’s Next Step pedestrian safety project onto a future ballot, giving voters the final say about whether the project proceeds.
Residents asked Durango Transportation staff members about the feasibility of placing Next Step on the ballot at the city’s Engage Durango public forum at the Durango Public Library on Tuesday.
In short, there isn’t logistically enough time to place Next Step on the April municipal ballot, City Attorney Mark Morgan said. But he said a ballot measure is possible, should Durango City Council agree to send it to the voters.
Resident Jerry Wise asked if a ballot measure is possible while referencing a city survey on Next Step that had 2,200 responses.
“There’s 13,000 voters in the city. Rather than leave this to a decision by the five City Council (members) and the planning department, why can’t this be put to a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ vote in April on the ballot?” he said.
Morgan said a ballot measure “is certainly not out of the realm of possibility,” it’s just too early to commit to one at this time.
City Council has applied the brakes on Next Step, in part to obtain construction cost estimates and in part to allow voters and city staff members to focus on a proposal to convert the historic high school building at 201 E. 12th Street into a new city hall and police station.
The council is asking voters to approve a 30-year extension of a 2005 sales tax, which would help fund the joint city hall and police station, in the April election.
Morgan said April is way too soon for a vote on Next Step, adding it makes more sense to estimate construction costs before putting it to voters.
Wise said he talked to La Plata County Clerk Tiffany Lee about a resident-led initiative to get Next Step on the ballot and out of City Council’s hands. There’s no way, he said.
“We can’t do it as citizens,” Wise said. “They have to do it. … We ourselves, as a group, even with petitions, cannot put a question like that to a vote on the ballot. The City Council has to do it.”
Lee said the opposite is true: Residents can work directly with City Clerk Faye Harmer on a citizens initiative petition process.
“Municipalities have a citizens initiative petition process, county government does not,” she said.
Harmer said residents can form a committee of at least five registered electors (voters). After Harmer certifies the committee, it must obtain at least 15% of signatures from registered electors who voted in the last city election.
The city’s last municipal election was in April 2023, which had 4,675 total votes, Harmer said. Therefore, a committee would need to collect at least 701 signatures, 15%, from registered electors in the city.
After the city clerk’s office certifies those signatures, the issue is taken to City Council, she said. City Council can pass the proposed ordinance if it has the votes to do so. If it doesn’t pass the ordinance, a special election is scheduled.
There are nuances to the process, though, she said. The committee, for example, is responsible for drafting the ordinance it wants passed. And Article VII of the city charter explicitly prohibits citizen initiatives from targeting the city’s budget, capital programs, the appropriation of money, bond authorization or the salaries of city staff.
In other words, residents could pursue a ballot issue protecting downtown Main Avenue’s historic character. But they could not seek an ordinance authorizing a bond measure for Next Step, she said.
Morgan said City Council always has the option of placing a referendum on the ballot.
“There is a scenario that could develop where this goes to the voters,” he said. “The likelihood of that, I don’t have a crystal ball, I can’t tell you. But I can tell you that legally there is a path for that to happen.”
The Engage Durango forum was attended by about 25 residents, some of whom have loudly opposed Next Step.
The Next Step project proposal includes Americans with Disabilities Act-accessible curb extensions, also known as bulb-outs, which essentially extend curbs into parking lanes and reduce the road distance pedestrians must travel while crossing the street.
Some residents are concerned curb extensions would limit the turning ability of larger vehicles such as delivery trucks and fire engines.
Resident Sweetie Marbury asked why the city cannot simply increase the time pedestrian signals allow for crossing the street instead of installing curb extensions.
Durango Multimodal Manager Devin King said the city can increase the time pedestrians have to cross the road, something it has already done at College Drive and Main Avenue after a six-month period in which three pedestrians were struck by vehicles.
“However, those crashes actually happened while a pedestrian was allowed to walk. And it was from left turns,” he said.
He said simply adding time for crossing does not necessarily reduce the risk to pedestrians.
Another resident, who did not identify himself, asked whether the city has received any input from Durango Fire Protection District about the proposed curb extensions.
King said the fire department has already driven its ladder truck down Main Avenue where it and the city took photographs and discussed how the truck operates. The city has also received turning data on the fire department’s vehicles.
The math checks out, and according to modeling, the fire trucks (and other large vehicles such as semi trucks) should be able to make turns onto and off Main Avenue without worrying about the curb extensions, King said.
With temporary curb extensions scheduled to be installed on Main Avenue in early October, the city and DFPD will soon be able to physically test fire trucks’ turning radiuses.
“That’s the plan, is to have DFPD bring their truck down,” he said. “Sure, let’s do some doughnuts around there and see what we can do.”
Resident Antonia Clark asked if curb extensions are feasible on College Drive.
King said the College Drive and 12th Street intersections on Main Avenue are among the city’s highest impact intersections to pedestrians, restating three pedestrians were hit by vehicles at the College and Main intersection within six months.
He said curb extensions are planned for Main Avenue at the College and Main intersection, but not on College Drive. Curb extensions have the added benefit of slowing approaching vehicles because they are additional roadway features to navigate.
“When you make things a little more complicated, people have to pay a little more attention to what they’re doing versus when (the road’s) nice and open and less complicated,” he said.
cburney@durangoherald.com
