During its regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 1, the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) unanimously approved posting a 30-day notice of intent to close access to Country Center Drive from North Pagosa Boulevard.
County Manager Longinos Gonzalez presented the matter, explaining that the suggestion of closing the access due to it being unsafe for public use has been discussed in previous BoCC meetings.
The meeting agenda notes that the county would close the access after the 30-day period, “unless the property or business owners initiate maintenance and repair efforts to address the condition of the private road.”
Commissioner Warren Brown explained that he does not want to close the access, but feels there is nothing else the county can do after years of attempting to coordinate with the property owners to have the access road repaired and properly maintained.
“It is not my desire to close Country Center [Drive] … but it has been years that we have been trying to get any movement into repairing and maintaining the accesses off of Country Center [Drive] into the shopping center that has multiple businesses,” Brown said.
Brown mentioned that the closure would affect businesses, stating that is not his intent with bringing forward the access closure.
He explained that his intent with the closure is to bring the property owners together “to form an agreement to get this done.”
Brown then offered an anecdotal story of a constituent who spoke at a previous meeting claiming she had been injured while driving on the access road.
“It would not be surprising to me,” Brown said of that story.
He mentioned cars are often forced into large potholes in order to avoid oncoming traffic.
“We have to do something to have these businesses collectively come together and agree to get this done,” Brown said, explaining that otherwise he fears the community will be met with the same resolution as it has in the past few years, “which is almost nothing.”
He added, “I don’t want to do this, but I don’t know what else we can do.”
Gonzalez mentioned that since the last joint meeting between the BoCC and the Pagosa Springs Town Council, one ownership group in the Country Center Drive complex had indicated to the county that it is looking to do some short-term repairs to the access road.
Gonzalez also indicated that he and Pagosa Springs Town Manager David Harris are working to coordinate a meeting with “hopefully all” of the property owners in the complex.
Commissioner John Ranson commended Brown’s work on the matter, adding that that closure is a “bold move.”
He explained that he was struggling on which way to vote on posting the closure notice, due to one of the property owners being the same owner of the Camino Real building that the county has recently been considering purchasing for its administration building.
“I’m willing to take that risk because I think it’s more important for our constituents to drive in and out of there,” he said.
County Attorney Cathleen Giovannini explained that there are some public notice requirements that the county will have to meet in order to close the access road.
“We will take all the steps to make sure that we do have authority to close the road when that time period has been completed,” she said.
In response to a question from Ranson, Giovannini explained that there are multiple parties involved in making sure the road is safe, “but not the county.”
She explained that the county is responsible for maintaining North Pagosa Boulevard, but that the property owners are responsible for the access road into the Country Center Drive shopping complex.
clayton@pagosasun.com
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