Dear Editor:
The proposed Pagosa West development is a 100-acre tract with 55 acres designated as mixed residential. The current sketch design for the residential tract includes 7, three-story apartment buildings (including 4 workforce housing buildings) placed directly across from our local hospital and adjacent to the rural Pagosa Lakes Ranch (PLR) Subdivision. This concentration of apartments (estimated to be 154 housing units) is surrounded by more than one hundred single family houses on lots of .17 acres each.
Contrast this with the rural PLR subdivision immediately to its south where homes are on a minimum two acres each. Each of development’s small homes would have a right to build three stories in height, completely obscuring majestic mountain views now visible to all who live in the surrounding areas.
It is worth noting that the PLR subdivision is uniquely designed so that each lot has protected views. This was accomplished through the placement of designated building zones on each lot.
When PLR residents met in July 2024 with developer Doug Dragoo, he emphasized his commitment to environmental sensitivity and open spaces. He sought to reassure the residents that their plan was to create one-acre lots which followed the same configuration as PLR, thus protecting views for existing and future residents of both subdivisions. This pattern, had it been followed, would have provided a gradual, thoughtful transition from a low density to a higher density. It would have also potentially provided enough space for resident elk and deer to have a wildlife corridor.
Unfortunately, this reassuring plan is not reflected in the current sketch design--just the opposite---with high-rise apartments and single-family homes on .17 acre lots!
The Town’s Land Use and Development Code (LUDC) states the following, in Section 6.10.4: “Special consideration shall be given to adjacent land uses of different intensities. It shall be the responsibility of the more intensive use to ensure that the transition from one use to another is attractive, functional, and minimizes conflicts between current and planned uses.”
The Town’s Comprehensive Plan recommends the following in Goal Land Use-2, #5: “Require a wildlife movement corridor on parcels greater than 5 acres in size when it creates a corridor through the town, or the corridor connects to undeveloped or lower density areas.”
In keeping with the LUDC and Comprehensive Plan, I suggest the following sketch design changes:
1. Keep the commitment to PLR residents in July 2024 to follow the same residential configuration of PLR that protects views and wildlife corridors. Less concentrated housing also reduces water usage and the risk of fire spreading rapidly.
2. Relocate the Workforce Housing to the northeast area of the Residential Tract to reduce congestion near the hospital and link to other nearby workforce housing.
3. Work with the Town and County to set aside the large area which is now forested with old growth Ponderosa trees for the development of a park/recreational area for all of Uptown to enjoy.
Together, let’s find a better way.
Sharon Carter
