At an Aug. 24 joint meeting, the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) and Pagosa Springs Town Council discussed ongoing negotiations between private businesses to fix pothole problems on Country Center Drive, which serves access to the shopping center that includes City Market.
The road is a private drive, outside the jurisdiction of either the town or county, and it’s up to the private business owners to maintain the road for their customers.
Pagosa Springs Town Manager David Harris delivered the bad news that City Market’s Miles Pearson, who represents the largest commercial interest on the road, would not be attending the meeting.
At the April 27 joint meeting, Pearson had told the boards that he would be working on an agreement between the various business owners to fix the potholes, saying he would have an update at the next meeting.
At that meeting, Pearson stated that it was “in the best interest” of all the businesses to hash out a “shared maintenance agreement” for the road.
Pearson explained that, from what he could tell, at that time, “not much progress” had been made toward forging an agreement.
“It’s tough to get a bunch of property owners to agree” on something like this, he noted, but added that Kroger-owned City Market is dedicated to “getting an agreement done.”
At that April meeting, Commissioner Warren Brown proposed shutting access to the road down, through county-owned North Pagosa Boulevard.
He said, “I’m not trying to be hard-nosed, but the county can shut down that road.”
Harris explained that “Mr. Pearson will not be able to be present” at this meeting, but that Pearson had told him that City Market is working on a temporary solution to fix the potholes near the North Pagosa Boulevard access point.
Harris noted that a “meeting would be scheduled with all the property owners sometime next month … to try to talk to the property owners to find a permanent solution, so it’s not a reoccurring problem.”
Brown then again proposed shutting down access.
“I’m in favor of shutting this down,” Brown said, “to shut the access point off to force the issue.”
He explained that he had a conversation with one of the property owners, Alan Bruno of CentrePoint Properties, and that he got the impression that Bruno “seemed rather frustrated” with the whole situation.
“If this road doesn’t get fixed out of concern for the safety of our community members,” Brown suggested he’d vote to shut down access.
He added, “I believe it will negatively impact our businesses, and that’s not my intent.”
He further suggested, “My intent is to bring in these folks to the table. We’ve had the same discussion over and over again for years, and Mr. Bruno was very responsive,” he said, but that he was also “frustrated” with getting the other property owners on board to find a solution.
Brown explained that Bruno had asked him what’s going to happen if nothing gets done, and Brown said, “I’m going to recommend to our board [BoCC] that we shut that access off.”
Brown then read a letter sent to him by an elderly constituent that explained how “the condition of this privately owned road” had caused bodily injury that required hospital and doctor’s visits.
“This is exactly what I’m talking about. Enough is enough. The time has come,” Brown said.
He added, “I believe the county is perfectly within their right to shut off access, for safety and well-being. At some point in time, we got to bring these business owners in.”
While noting this is the first time he had heard of bodily injury, “I have been made aware of many repairs to vehicles … because of the condition of that roadway,” he said.
The idea of placing a “30-day notice” came up to try to force the business owners to the table, and after the 30 days, shutting access down if nothing happens, he explained.
“We have talked about this for years. We’ve bent over backwards trying to invite people to meeting after meeting … and yet here we are and we are living here … and enough is enough,” he said.
He concluded, “That’s just my pitch.”
“It’s been 15 months since we started all this, and we’re just not getting any attention, so I appreciate you staying on this,” Commissioner John Ranson said, adding, “Whatever it takes.”
He continued, “I know people won’t be happy, and they might blame the county commissioners, but we got to get their attention somehow.”
“We have no authority on that road, on that private property,” Brown said.
An audience member then asked, “Why haven’t they fixed it? What’s the reason? Why won’t they fix it? I’m just asking. I don’t understand.”
Brown replied, “I do not know, but, at the end of the day, it’s not fixed.”
He added, “I suppose it comes down to money and who is gonna pay for it.”
derek@pagosasun.com
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