It was an unseasonably warm November day along Ranger Park Drive in Pagosa Springs, where perhaps the only thing brighter than the noon glare was the smile on Patrick Gibbons’ face as he stepped inside his soon-to-be home.
After years of renting, Gibbons — a bartender and server who also works at a local fishing outfitter — is on the brink of owning his first home as one of the earliest applicants to successfully qualify for the workforce housing program led by the Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation (PSCDC).
Accompanying him inside was Emily Lashbrooke, executive director of the PSCDC, who looked on as Gibbons peered into bedrooms and snapped photos for his family to show where, someday, a living room might go.
“That’s why I do it,” said Lashbrooke, smiling and reflecting on the arduous journey she and her staff had endured to reach this point — after all, she recalled, the program had already successfully weathered five potential derailments.
And there’s still work to be done.
On the day of Gibbons’ and Lashbrooke’s visit, many of the eight homes the PSCDC hopes to sell in December still needed flooring, countertops and siding, in addition to electrical work and plumbing. In tow was a representative from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs, who forewarned Lashbrooke about an incoming email describing yet more items due to the state.
While Gibbons’ home is under contract, other potential buyers hoping to join him are still trying to satisfy the program’s requirements, which include loan preapprovals, a homebuyer’s class, as well as employment and income verifications.
“We are working with our buyers that are right at the finish line,” Lashbrooke reported to the PSCDC board on Nov. 13. “We have six right now. We are planning to hold a lottery on Dec. 10 so that we can sell the six more homes, and we’re really excited about that and so are our homebuyers.”
PSCDC board member Brooks Lindner sought clarification about the status of the current build.
“So, with the two [homes] under contract and the six qualified [buyers], we’re really only talking about a possible sale of eight homes at this point. Is that correct?”
“Yes,” Lashbrooke affirmed, “eight homes by December.”
She added, “What’s left is the AMI [area median income] verification. That’s essentially what we need to do to be able to get all the homes under contract. We have until Dec. 10 to get all of those completed.”
That verification process came under further scrutiny during the Nov. 13 meeting, as Lashbrooke described the strict income parameters that cap eligibility for the program at no more than 100 percent of the area’s median income.
According to Lashbrooke, eight applicants to the program fell short of qualifying because they earned $1,000 a year too much — and, in some cases, less.
Instances like those have prompted a groundswell of support to increase the program’s income threshold beyond the current 100 percent, Lashbrooke noted, describing talks with the Archuleta, Montezuma and La Plata county commissions.
“We are spearheading an effort to make a legislative change to [Proposition] 123,” she said, referring to the affordable housing initiative approved by Colorado voters in 2022 and subsequent legislation in 2023 that established the income cap.
“What we’re seeking to do … is implement a petition process to apply to go to a higher AMI,” Lashbrooke said, noting similar appeals have already been filed for other Proposition 123 programs.
“I think this is going to be a slam dunk,” she said. “Our handoff will be to [District 6 Sen.] Cleave Simpson, and he will run a bill in regular session in January. I believe this … will open up that home ownership fund for all mountain towns to be able to petition for a higher AMI. That would get us out of the pickle that we’re in currently.”
Similar pivots have prompted the PSCDC to recalibrate its building aspirations for 2025, Lashbrooke suggested.
“Previously in the year, I talked to you about possibly building 15 homes in the next year,” she told the PSCDC board on Nov. 13.
“We’re going to leave that out in left field until we see where we shake out this year,” she said, later adding, “I think due to the outcome of this year — and we need to wait and see what that is — we might revise the build that we proposed, meaning how many two-bedrooms and how many three-bedrooms.”
Results from the Archuleta County Housing Needs Assessment survey, now available to both employers and employees in the county, will help shape those projections, according to the PSCDC.
“We really need to get community input here,” Lashbrooke said. “We really need to hear from our community where the pinch points are, what we need, how many we need and how we need them.”
To participate in the survey, which is expected to be available a few more weeks, the https://www.archuletacounty.org/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=354.
Broadband expansion efforts
Plans to expand broadband connectivity in Archuleta County are continuing to progress, Lashbrooke told the board at the same meeting, and summarized the PSCDC’s ongoing negotiations with La Plata Electric (LPEA) to finalize overhead contracts, which are awaiting review by incoming LPEA CEO Chris Hansen.
Lashbrooke also noted that several Broadband Equity Access and Deployment Program, or BEAD, applications from individual service providers were submitted for funding,
More than $800 million in BEAD funding has been awarded to unserved and underserved areas in Colorado.
“The state is looking at the southwest region as the most progressive region when it comes to broadband,” Lashbrooke said, highlighting the regional partnerships that are forming to help create a workforce development path.
“We have two fiber-splicer trainers already working in Archuleta County,” Lashbrooke said. “They’ll be able to hold courses here in Pagosa starting in January.”
Commercial driver’s license class
The PSCDC plans to schedule a commercial driver’s license, or CDL, class in the beginning of December, Lashbrooke noted, with several high school students interested in enrolling.
“We are in the process of connecting with the instructor to get that done,” Lashbrooke said. “We’re really trying to pull that together.”
Insights offered during business forum
In her report, Lashbrooke notes about 30 people participated in the PSCDC’s business forum in October, reporting that attendees offered insights and feedback over the course of six hours.
She explained her office is continuing to compile the complete results from that event, but that two issues seemed to strike a chord with the group.
“One of the questions was, ‘What are you most worried about in 2025?’” Lashbrooke recalled. “It was overwhelming the amount of responses that said the same thing, and our community and our business community is severely worried about this CDOT [Colorado Department of Transportation] project.”
CDOT plans to reconstruct a stretch of U.S. 160 in downtown Pagosa Springs.
The other issue to emerge from the group, according to Lashbrooke, was a question of how to make early child care and education more affordable and available in Archuleta County.
She noted the Town of Pagosa Springs has set aside funds for that very thing, but has not yet designated how — or where — to spend them.
“The conversation became really dynamic and everybody got into it,” Lashbrooke reported. “The outcome was, ‘Pour [funds] into the two community centers that we have, but tie it to capacity-building.”
PSCDC board president Sherry Waner welcomed that outcome, and shared some of the challenges her employees have faced when searching for local child care solutions.
“As an employer, I can tell you I have women who have had kids who cannot come back full-time because they do not have adequate child care,” Waner said. “It’s a real issue when … it’s a year-and-a-half wait, so I think that was a very, very good outcome from that [forum].”
On March 21, the Pagosa Springs Town Council allocated a total of $88,000 to local early childhood education organizations. The council has not yet adopted its 2025 budget.
History museum eyes 2025 reopening
After aberrant construction debris shuttered the Pagosa Springs History Museum in August 2023, Main Street Coordinator Kathleen McFadden reported on Nov. 13, that mitigation efforts are continuing to progress, with cleaning and abatement work completed in recent weeks and new flooring on the way.
“Historical preservation is an important part of our initiatives and we want to make sure we can keep moving forward there,” McFadden said, adding the museum’s board of directors is eyeing a reopening date of May 1, 2025.
garrett@pagosasun.com
