On Feb. 25, the Archuleta County Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) and Pagosa Springs Town Council held a joint work session at which concerns and possible action steps were discussed for addressing needed maintenance on Country Center Drive.
Pagosa Springs Community Development Director James Dickhoff initiated the conversation, stating that the community has been dealing with large potholes at both entrances of Country Center Drive “for many years.”
Country Center Drive is a service road that is located on private property serving multiple businesses between North Pagosa Boulevard and Talisman Drive.
“Obviously we’ve all experienced potholes on both entrances from North Pagosa Boulevard and Talisman,” Dickhoff said.
He explained that multiple attempts have been made to work with the property and business owners, noting there are seven different property owners in the area.
Dickhoff mentioned that it took a great deal of effort “to get almost to the finish line” in coordinating a repair with the owners, adding the last attempt was when North Pagosa Boulevard was reconstructed.
Dickhoff indicated that the topic will come again soon, as the last repair was a “Band-Aid” that will only last a few years, explaining that the asphalt failing is not the main concern, but rather the base of the roadway that is failing.
“So, it’s gonna come up again soon,” he said, noting the intention is to improve the entire corridor.
Dickhoff also mentioned that North Pagosa Boulevard is the “highest-traveled county road,” with more than 7,500 average daily traffic vehicles.
Dickhoff went on to explain that there are multiple groundwater springs in the area with old drainage patterns on the south side of U.S. 160, “and they just flow under the road,” with some of the water entering culverts and some of it staying as groundwater.
As far as a total cost to repair the section near McDonald’s, Dickhoff mentioned that he received a quote from Davis Engineering indicating that it would be approximately $250,000 “to do it right.”
“And it needs to be done in concrete,” Dickhoff said, explaining that asphalt will deteriorate quicker with the amount of traffic the road gets.
Dickhoff noted that there are seven different property owners between North Pagosa Boulevard and Talisman Drive, “so there’s a lot of finger-pointing going on.”
He explained that the potholes exist on vacant property, with different ownership than the businesses.
“So, those property owners have no interest in repairing a driveway that’s accessing a business,” Dickhoff said, noting the road is through an easement on the property.
He also mentioned that a new Tesla charging station has been proposed in the shopping center, and that, as a new development, “we have ability to say, ‘we need you to figure this out,’” explaining that the town’s Land Use and Development Code (LUDC) could be used to require a new development to bring the roadway up to code standards.
Dickhoff mentioned that one way for the property owners to address the issue is by creating an owners’ association that each owner could pay into in order to take care of the road maintenance, instead of “piecemealing it constantly.”
Dickhoff indicated that the Tesla charging station proposal will be going in front of the town’s planning commission for consideration.
He then mentioned that the town’s LUDC is “very new-development oriented,” with lots of requirements that new developments need to meet, while being “almost silent on maintenance.”
Dickhoff noted that the town is going to look at proposing the adoption of a property maintenance code as part of its building code.
He explained that the last building code series was adopted in 2015.
“It really is time to update our codes,” he said, explaining the last adopted code was jointly adopted with the county to avoid having different codes in the same area.
Dickhoff acknowledged the possibility of the town “taking over” Country Center Drive, but noted it would be a big expense for the town to bring it up to code standards, comparing it to the driveway that serves the Walmart parking lot, which is also often littered with large potholes.
“I don’t think that’s the right answer,” Dickhoff said. “I really think it’s a private property owner maintenance issue, and they do really need to step up.”
Commissioner Warren Brown commented that he was appreciative of Dickhoff’s perspective on the matter, while mentioning that multiple elected officials in both the town and county have been inundated with calls, emails and meetings with residents expressing concern over the road.
“At some point … you cut your losses, you don’t care who fixes it, you just fix it,” Brown said, inquiring if the town could fund the needed repairs and charge back the business and put a lien on them “if they don’t get off their hind end.”
Brown also noted that “it’s not safe” sometimes entering in or exiting the shopping center while trying to dodge potholes and oncoming traffic or large vehicles.
“Its a real mess, as everybody knows,” he said, adding “we’re heading the wrong way” when private businesses are taking on liability to fix a driveway that they do not own.
Dickhoff noted that the town has also shown up and put resources into repairing the roadway because of concerns being raised by residents, but “also didn’t want the public to know that we’re spending public money on fixing private-property potholes.”
Dickhoff reiterated that it would be a large investment and that any sort of legal strategy would need to include all of the property owners.
County Attorney Todd Weaver commented that other similar cases in other communities have resulted in public entities suing due to it being a public nuisance.
“That might be a route,” he said.
Pagosa Springs Town Manager David Harris commented that “in-depth” conversations have been held with legal counsel about “alternate options,” though he noted that it would be simpler if the property owners could be coaxed into doing “what’s right” rather than the town or county having to “bring out the hammer.”
Commissioner Veronica Medina mentioned that previous BoCC members proposed the option of having the entrance at North Pagosa Boulevard closed off when attempting to have that entrance reconstructed the last time.
She explained that if both entrances are blocked off the owners would either be forced to resolve the issue or patrons would have to figure out another way to access the business.
Dickhoff mentioned that would be the “knee-jerk reaction,” while noting it gets complicated with City Market owning its own entrance off of Village Drive.
“It’s definitely not a knee-jerk reaction,” Medina replied, relating to Dickhoff’s earlier comment that this has been a problem for many years now.
She added, “We’re all in this together,” explaining that folks are simply tired of the problem not being fixed.
“I feel like there’s something that we can do, and if we can’t get them to come to the table and talk to us, we need to think about a different alternative,” she said.
Medina also commented that she doesn’t believe it’s right to pass the issue onto a new development when they would be walking into a problem that “the others want to deny is there.”
“Somehow we need to get this fixed,” she said.
“I absolutely agree,” Dickhoff said.
Medina indicated that a joint letter could be sent from the town and county to the property owners laying out what steps will be taken if the matter is not resolved, that may include a time frame for the road to be fixed, otherwise the entrance will be closed off.
Commissioner John Ranson expressed support for putting a time frame on the matter, stating, “This has gone on way too long.”
In a later interview, Dickhoff explained that a letter has not yet been sent to the property owners, but he has started to make contact with some of them, noting this is now his fourth attempt to coordinate a solution between the owners.
clayton@pagosasun.com
