[This transcript was generated automatically from audio using AI and hasn't been reviewed by a person -- it can contain mistakes, including plausible-sounding sentences that were never actually said. Treat it as a starting point, not a verbatim record.]

[0:32] So Brooks and Maddie were heading up our working on acquiring a portion of Reservoir Hill.
[0:42] So I didn't know if you guys wanted to speak first or lead this work session or if you'd
[0:47] rather I just turn it over to Darren and Amanda.
[0:50] Yeah, I know they've got a slideshow for us.
[0:52] I'll just say real quick in introduction
[0:54] for after their slideshow and our discussion here
[0:58] that the GOKO Recreation Oriented Funding might not
[1:03] depend just on our preserving the land,
[1:06] but also on showing how the site would be used,
[1:08] managed, and aligned with our broader recreational planning.
[1:12] And so a clearer use management framework really strengthens our argument for funding.
[1:20] And so that's kind of what we're trying to focus on here today.
[1:24] Okay.
[1:25] Did you have any comments you wanted to make?
[1:27] Okay.
[1:28] We'll turn it over to you.
[1:29] All right.
[1:30] Well, thank you.
[1:31] So as you all recall, when we started talking about the land acquisition up on Redskill,
[1:38] what was available. It was 491 total acres up there. There was a forest legacy
[1:45] grant that some of the qualifications were 75% of the amount of acres you were
[1:54] going to purchase had to be forest. So we carved out about 300 acres up there.
[2:00] And last Friday, we were notified that, well, there was over $300 million worth of projects
[2:11] proposed, and $86 million was accepted right now on the president's list, which included
[2:21] 11 projects, and Reservoir Hill was one of them.
[2:27] And that funding would be for $5,875,000.
[2:36] Now, it doesn't mean we have it.
[2:40] What that means is, though, it's a great first step.
[2:44] This now has to go to Congress.
[2:47] And that entire package hopefully gets approved.
[2:52] And all of those 11 projects are then funded
[2:55] for that total of about 86 million, yes.
[2:58] You're probably going to tell us,
[2:59] but do we need to be writing letters to our congressman?
[3:05] Kelly.
[3:06] Amanda and I are meeting with Kelly Ingrison on Thursday.
[3:10] On Thursday, yeah.
[3:10] So we'll talk about that for sure.
[3:13] More specific.
[3:15] Our next steps is.
[3:16] Okay.
[3:17] I mean as like individuals.
[3:19] I think community members.
[3:21] I think, because we did submit
[3:23] get over 25 letters of support to get this grant, which Kelly was very impressed with.
[3:29] So I do think, you know, more is not going to hurt. So, but we will get direction from
[3:34] Kelly. I definitely have that question too. Is it time to start writing?
[3:40] Is it Department of Interior or whose budget is it at the Fed level?
[3:45] So this is federal funding? Yeah, but who? It's agriculture. Okay.
[3:50] Yeah, and so that makes a difference in terms of the letters. That's why I was asking sure and so yeah
[3:56] So it would be through the forest legacy. So it is gonna
[3:59] Colorado State Forest legacy
[4:02] Do you have a cost on just the 300 acres? So
[4:07] Negotiations will now start taking place with the landowner. So we don't have a total price yet
[4:15] We know that that number that was awarded
[4:18] I can tell you it's not going to cover the 300 acres, but that difference is still out
[4:23] there anticipating maybe one to two more million, but we don't know that.
[4:32] Okay.
[4:32] We don't know where the landowners stand with this, but this certainly shows an incredible
[4:37] first step in a sense of significant step forward in regards to acquiring the 300 acres.
[4:47] You know and
[4:49] Man and I are both just people on about a very pumped about where we stand right now with things and and
[4:56] How it looks for the future in regards to acquiring that
[4:59] Master clarifying question real quickly that the entire
[5:04] The entire area was 491 correct, but right now. We're simply talking about the 300
[5:13] The other 191 is still out there and that's still on the table and we're still looking
[5:19] at how we can acquire that as well.
[5:23] That is through, you know, some fundraising here and there and just if there's any other
[5:28] grants we'll continue to look at, but the main focus right now is trying to lock in
[5:34] the 300 while still seeing what we could do with the other 191.
[5:40] Thank you.
[5:40] I'm sorry I interrupted.
[5:43] Go ahead with your presentation.
[5:45] No, it's just fine.
[5:49] Well, that gives the update kind of where we stand with Res Hill.
[5:53] Amanda's put together a quick little slideshow.
[5:57] What we would like to do is kind of give you an overview of Parks and Rec.
[6:03] What we have, where we're heading, visions that you may have with Love Input
[6:09] but as well as, you know, just talking about what's been accomplished through, I mean,
[6:19] she went back to 06 surveys of what the community was looking for, and with those surveys, what's
[6:26] kind of been accomplished as well since then, and again, and where we need to move forward
[6:31] with some of this stuff.
[6:31] So I'm going to turn this over to Amanda and let her go with this.
[6:35] So yeah, I just want to give us kind of like a starting platform for what we already have
[6:41] for parks and what we have accomplished.
[6:44] So Park Directory, we manage over 150 acres of park space.
[6:51] We have a total of 12 town parks, six are riverfront, and we have over five miles of
[6:56] riverwalk.
[6:57] I included that we have two specialty parks our school parks because we do have
[7:03] an MOU with the school district that we can use Dakota Springs for biking and
[7:09] running trails and then same with the high school softball fields so I just
[7:13] wanted to point that out you know we have seven park staff and one part time
[7:18] that manages all this space we also have 329 recorded trees within our
[7:26] parks and this does not include any of our trees at Reds Hill. This is all trees within
[7:32] our corridor of our parks and kind of landscaping along the Riverwalk and two wetlands. One is the
[7:38] main Riverwalk here and then we are going to have kind of another wetland area in South Yamaguchi
[7:43] kind of towards this fall. So the code of springs is where behind the high school it's that hill
[7:49] side. There's about a three mile trail system back there. I was not aware it was called the
[7:57] Cody Springs. At the active core group, what I was calling our athletic fields and sports facilities,
[8:05] the highlights are Yamaguchi Park is 27 total acres. As you guys know, we installed pickle
[8:13] ballcourts there, we have the skate park and the pump track, and we've added a lot of outdoor
[8:19] exercise equipment, cornhole, bachi ball, fastball court, climbing wall, just basically made this
[8:26] Yamaguchi, our central fully action-packed play zone, and we are looking to add a bike
[8:33] skills park coming up in spring of 2026, probably start that in May. We also have South
[8:39] Pagosa Park about three and a half acres and that's just kind of your open neighborhood
[8:45] spot that we have green space. We did take all the fencing down from the multi-purpose
[8:52] pavilion and have basketball courts and might kind of revise that a little bit but we just
[8:58] added some more sand for volleyball and just really kind of making South Park a little
[9:02] a little refresh. And then the iconic, you know, pirate ship town park in
[9:09] athletic fields. That's about six total acres that we have. That's really kind of
[9:14] like the heart of downtown park. The adventure hubs are kind of our
[9:20] reshill, our natural parks. We have 110 acres currently up there with miles of
[9:26] hiking and biking trails. There's great mountain observation views there.
[9:30] 18 hole first week off course and then of course we had as a festival venue at
[9:35] some points like to get that back.
[9:40] We do we we haven't been able to groom them I
[9:45] was thinking quite I think more like the because like Nordic Club has more
[9:53] used Yamaguchi for grooming more recently so I'd highlight that more as
[9:57] at the Yamaguchi Winter use, but great point.
[10:01] There's also a Reservoir Hill ski club, I believe, correct?
[10:05] First-time quick laps when we get good snow, absolutely.
[10:09] And we have recently added a labyrinth at the very top, and if you haven't been up to
[10:14] the top, we'll check that out.
[10:15] You added a what?
[10:16] A labyrinth.
[10:17] A labyrinth.
[10:17] All the way at the top.
[10:18] A lamp all the way at the very top.
[10:20] Kind of at the radio tower along the Mary Fisher Loop.
[10:24] We're gonna announce it more as like a big opening sometime in May, just been
[10:29] waiting for the guys to finish that up and make it. What is the labyrinth? Will
[10:33] David Bowie be making an appearance? So we have one at Yamaguchi Park. It's that
[10:38] walk-around like maze, you kind of walk around in a circle and there's always
[10:42] like one. Yeah. People use it as like a meditation. Yes. Oh okay. Yeah. I didn't
[10:50] but we do have that.
[10:51] After these meetings, we usually sit down there and walk it.
[10:55] Oh, thank you, dear friend.
[11:01] And then we have five miles of, at least over five miles of river walk that really connects
[11:07] everything to our parks, the downtown areas.
[11:10] It's a great observation area for the wetlands and a birding area.
[11:14] There's tons of spots to sit and relax along the route with benches.
[11:18] And then I wanted to highlight just a little bit because it's something we don't really think about, but like history and culture, we have public art along our river walk.
[11:27] We do have it specifically in parks, but I wanted to highlight, you know, that you guys have put a lot of effort and money in towards creating that vibrant artistic walk along the river walk.
[11:39] And then, lastly, we have the river corridor, which we have a lot of river connectivity and
[11:46] riverfront access, which is pretty awesome for having San Juan run right through downtown.
[11:52] One of the highlights is that we are working on having that pedestrian bridge cross kind
[11:58] of from the river center area to First Street over by the museum, hopefully by fall
[12:02] of 2026.
[12:03] And then same with, we will be working on the new river park.
[12:08] They started doing the ramp recently so you can get boats in and out on that east end.
[12:13] So that will get improvement this spring into summer.
[12:17] And then hopefully by fall, we will have some improvements that the South Yamaguchi take out.
[12:24] So we do have great river connectivity now. And as I looked back at surveys, those are things back in 2006 that we were really looking for.
[12:33] and we've really connected the dots. So, you know, great work on you guys, part for
[12:37] keeping that momentum and going.
[12:40] Overall trends that I came from all these surveys of reading is people are looking for
[12:46] diverse amenities. One of the biggest things was dual age group focus. So you could have
[12:53] young kids to older adults all enjoying the same space. Open space preservation was
[12:59] was a huge one in land acquisition through kind of across the board. Keeping that natural
[13:06] wild setting around Pagosa was really important in a lot of our surveys. And then last one
[13:12] which I think we've all heard is kind of adapting to our shoulder seasons and having
[13:20] all season activities with a rec center and swimming pool, some type of indoor facility
[13:25] that accommodates more than what we currently are accommodating at the
[13:29] community center. And then overall that trend to connectivity into our trails is
[13:35] making sure for for over two decades that we have more trails, more
[13:40] connectivity to get to our parks and still connecting town to Pugosa Lakes. So
[13:45] our uptown to downtown trails were kind of our overall needs. With
[13:53] considerations of kind of things that our department has been looking at and kind of in
[13:59] this near future is, you know, uptown parks. We've seen a need that the west side of
[14:05] uptown Pugosa doesn't have any parks. You know, we do have Coleman veterans and PLPOA has
[14:11] park and trails, but the town doesn't have any parks that they are managing up there.
[14:17] where the sheep heard that part the trail is not that that is that is the
[14:26] section that we have we manage so yeah that is one section and have it on the
[14:33] slide later
[14:40] sure and when we when I say when we talk about uptown parks we're really like
[14:45] There's some classifications of what type of parks we're looking for, and I would say we're looking for more community or neighborhood parks, which are larger and acreage than the one.
[14:56] Yeah, and like a mini pocket part so.
[15:00] Connectivity, you know, we're still really looking to kind of close that gap on Town to
[15:05] Lakes Trail. I know Kyle has really been working on 10th to Great Wells, correct, to see how
[15:13] we can get funding and finish that section. So we're one section closer getting uptown,
[15:18] but we're still trying to find everything we can for that.
[15:24] We presented to you guys
[15:26] of the joint work session, looking for revenue streams, something that makes revenue through
[15:33] our parks that can help kind of provide our infrastructure so that we can continue to provide
[15:41] recreation services throughout Pagosa. We also identified by gathering with the park,
[15:47] it's working with partners because we find community groups have needs and when we build
[15:52] of those partnerships, we can support a lot more funding
[15:55] and long-term management solutions.
[15:57] So those are kind of the considerations
[15:59] that we have in the back of our head
[16:01] of what's been coming up from the community.
[16:06] But these are kind of the future recommendations
[16:09] that we've been trying to chat about is,
[16:13] you know, it's not probably new to NAVU,
[16:15] but multi-purpose civilian RV and camping locations
[16:19] that are in town. Shooting range facility. We've been looking at more outdoor shooting range,
[16:28] but we also are going to kind of talk a little bit about an indoor shooting range that could use
[16:33] for police training. Sports complex that are a little bit bigger than just our one ball field
[16:39] or having to use the high schools ball fields to host tournaments. And then a recreation
[16:45] center that provides a public access swimming pool. The locations we identified
[16:51] obviously rest ill as the spot that we're looking to expand. Part of that is
[16:58] that skyrocket trailhead area that we formerly known as Goodman's Park.
[17:04] Rumbraw Bridge and the museum area behind the museum. There's some really
[17:10] cool opportunities that we could create mini parks in there and Kyle
[17:15] and I have been looking at funding for projects like that.
[17:17] And then Cotton Hole's expansion,
[17:20] looking at maybe the other side of Cotton Hole,
[17:22] if there's things that we could do there.
[17:25] So I believe that's all I have for
[17:27] getting us on the page of staff recommendation,
[17:30] but you guys can't really read this.
[17:33] Sorry.
[17:35] This is just a page of basically kind of amenities
[17:38] and what parks we have with the acres.
[17:40] So if you guys do have questions
[17:42] and want to know stuff,
[17:43] if I can zoom in and tell you that,
[17:45] but trying to make that difference for you all.
[17:48] So when we acquired Bob's LP,
[17:52] that parcel had been specifically identified in,
[17:55] what was it, the 2012 River Corridor Master Plan.
[18:01] Are there any other highlights
[18:04] that you know off the top of your head
[18:06] that we have, I guess, acquisitions or amenities?
[18:11] I know you mentioned one that had been called out about 20 years ago that we have finally
[18:18] just gotten completed.
[18:19] But yeah, were there any other highlights of specifically for river?
[18:23] Just things that we have checked off, not specifically for the river, but just in general, I guess
[18:30] more.
[18:30] Certainly trail connectivity.
[18:32] Yeah.
[18:32] Trail connectivity.
[18:33] We have checked off from some of these master plan and certain ideas.
[18:36] Yeah.
[18:37] I mean, those are those common trends.
[18:39] They showed up from like, you know, 20 years of planning, which was amazing to me that you
[18:44] still had the same trends of like open space acquisition, rec center, trail connectivity.
[18:50] All those are what I mentioned the same. Pickleball was one that we got to check off the list for
[18:56] sure. Dog park. That was another one. Park infrastructure and comfort amenities is what
[19:04] it was kind of slated as, so having shape structures, restrooms, water access and
[19:09] improving signage, which is all things I think that kind of checked out that list.
[19:14] So there's a lot that we really have done in the parks and really followed still
[19:18] with all of these plans, but as specific like allocations for land and
[19:23] stuff, there wasn't that type of I didn't have the specifics in some of
[19:28] these surveys or to read that long. Well it's good to know that trends
[19:33] are staying, you know, trending.
[19:38] But yeah, and that the decisions that we are making are
[19:40] based off of years of input from the community. So I just think that's really important for
[19:45] us to remember and keep in the forefront that well, I have a follow-up to it. So is there
[19:50] some type of master plan that is there a binder somewhere or a document already that
[19:56] exists? There's a couple. Yeah, I know we have like the East End multimodal one,
[20:00] But there's one's more specific to parks and rec. Yeah, and and we're actually working on now a 2026 cool
[20:08] And it's give us a minute, but yeah, we're gonna get that out and when's the old one from
[20:19] 2016 yeah
[20:20] Just let me see context for me is I
[20:24] Thought we were out of if we're gonna talk about reservoir Hill without the master plan
[20:29] And I had a concern about that.
[20:31] Context for me is really important.
[20:33] The master plan would really be an important thing.
[20:36] This is an opportunity.
[20:37] I think you always design in your master,
[20:39] whatever strategic plan you're looking at,
[20:41] you always design handles for opportunity.
[20:44] And so that's kind of what we're looking at
[20:46] is an opportunity.
[20:47] But I think that that's really important
[20:49] to get that master plan.
[20:50] Well, of course, in referring to the reservoir hill,
[20:55] Well, even without the master plan in staff's opinion or my opinion, that's an asset that
[21:04] currently already has trails that can be used.
[21:08] It's an asset that if the 300 acres can be acquired through grant funding only, it's
[21:16] no brainer.
[21:17] Well, it is.
[21:17] Without the strategic plan.
[21:19] Let me see.
[21:19] because I would argue that without that context,
[21:23] there are gonna be things that are gonna be happening
[21:25] that are gonna take priority,
[21:28] funding away from other things at the wrong time.
[21:31] I think it has to be in context.
[21:33] So I would just keep something in mind,
[21:36] that strategic plan for that area,
[21:39] it's certainly, I think the first step
[21:41] of that strategic plan is acquiring the property
[21:44] and getting that secured,
[21:46] which is what we're working on now.
[21:47] Well, you already do have the plans that have come from 2016, like I said, and pretty much
[21:57] they're very consistent that open space preservation.
[22:00] I would say that gave us fuel to look at Res Hill of acquiring it.
[22:06] And that's how you modify it to say, hey, listen, this is the plan, it's still the
[22:11] plan.
[22:11] It definitely still is the plan, and to your point, for part of this Forest Legacy Grant,
[22:19] we will actually have to do a rec plan in general, so we will have to go through this
[22:24] whole process anyways, but I would say it is following the plan from 2016 of land acquisition
[22:29] and preservation.
[22:31] And keep something in mind in regard to that strategic plan that we'll continue to
[22:36] work on for Reds Hill, the acreage that we're purchasing, we cannot build other than possibly
[22:42] a restroom. It's not like we can go up there and build a rec center on this. We can't
[22:47] build any large structures on this. It's for conservation.
[22:51] So the other 191 acres though that's still in play out there, that is where we can
[22:58] actually build infrastructure on. So, you know, this 300 acres is simply an
[23:04] incredible addition and asset to the town and for generations to come. And
[23:11] certainly us helping to guide those future generations for Rez Hill is
[23:17] extremely important, but that's just strictly we're getting things started.
[23:22] There'll be generations ahead of us that'll possibly make adjustments as
[23:27] well up there. So I totally agree with you. No, I totally agree with you. The strategic plan.
[23:33] But I guess my point was make sure the emphasis is on the rights allowable.
[23:39] I guess my point was is the plan is that if you're worried about us trying to grab these 300
[23:47] acres without a strategic plan,
[23:51] we kind of do have one as Amanda just alluded to. But
[23:56] one's coming but it's so important we have this incredible opportunity to
[24:00] possibly grab 300 acres through grant funding that's what we're trying to get
[24:03] accomplished right now. The strength of your plan will be to put handles in place
[24:07] for opportunity. So just design that into your plan. That's all. Well and it's
[24:12] my understanding that the plan is going to help us get the grant funding as
[24:18] Well, yes, absolutely the importance of it. So it's needed. Yeah, it's needed. Yeah, but it does sound like it's already
[24:27] The the idea of preservation of open space is already sort of baked into it and understand what you're saying
[24:34] Let's now take this opportunity that we have and make that part of the right. Yeah, and we will
[24:40] I guess my my question is, you know, and I don't know if any of us have the answer many might be the
[24:47] most well qualified is you know for go-co in terms of what they want to see
[24:53] you know what is that what kind of product do they want to see from us
[24:57] that's going to help us get that funding like that's what I would like to
[25:02] work towards at this point yeah basically that community cooperation that
[25:07] there's that community support to do this like I said we got 25 letters of
[25:12] support, that's huge. But really looking at who those people were of the 25
[25:18] letters, I will say it's a lot of them were nonprofit groups that used the
[25:22] hill, who accessed the hill quite a bit. And so really just making sure that we
[25:28] are speaking to their needs of what they want to see up there, that we can
[25:32] accommodate those. So really just kind of going back to our supporters and
[25:36] making sure that we haven't missed anything is kind of really what I
[25:41] I see we need to look at.
[25:43] But I would really, you know,
[25:45] I think understanding what we will gain.
[25:49] So there is definitely some conservation and wildlife approach
[25:52] there that's gonna get us in better position
[25:56] for go-go funding is because I really do wanna see
[25:59] that we are conserving the land.
[26:00] It's not all about recreation.
[26:02] It's not all about use,
[26:03] but there's some, you know,
[26:05] Pugosa skyrocket in that location.
[26:07] There's definitely some wildlife corridors.
[26:08] and so making sure that any trails that already exist up there are in good
[26:14] locations and wouldn't be disturbing a major habitat. So we have done some
[26:19] mapping up there and I have kind of worked with Kelly a little bit on that
[26:23] mapping and so really we've kind of all identified that that this is such a
[26:27] good area because where the trails like Darren said already exist aren't in
[26:31] the ways of some of the critical habitat that does exist there but you
[26:35] some major resources. So it's nice that, you know, we are getting this opportunity where it wouldn't go
[26:42] into land development and we could be seeing a bunch of houses that could be impacting our natural
[26:48] resources. So I think we're really on the right track of just, you know, getting there. But I
[26:52] still also think, you know, we need to hear from you guys what, what you guys want to see,
[26:57] what's important to moving forward. You know, we've talked a lot about one of the biggest
[27:03] things with Reds Hill, it's not the easiest accessible. You got to go straight up the hill.
[27:08] We only have a one-way road. To me, that seems like a pretty important part that we want to
[27:13] consider in our plan is that we would be able to have more accessibility to people out there.
[27:19] Yeah, and I know Sherry has definitely been in favor of increasing especially ADA access.
[27:27] And so I think that that would be a huge piece, especially if the road can accommodate two-way traffic in the portion that we would be receiving is expanding that, because that's a whole nother user group that, yeah, we need to be thinking about and trying to accommodate as best as we can.
[27:46] And then, you know, and I don't want to, yeah, pigeonhole us in any, like, I want to hear from all the user groups, even, I know, you know, my neighbor in town has horses, can we have horse access up there?
[28:00] You know, I think a lot of us are in favor of more hiking and biking trails, but let's not limit ourselves to just thinking about hiking hikers and bikers.
[28:08] Think about the different methods that people might travel on.
[28:11] Can I ask, I don't know if the space that you and I were talking to the school about
[28:17] is included in the 300 acres or if it's part of the 191.
[28:22] There's a flat area up there where there are no trees.
[28:26] And we had talked to the school when they were trying to decide where to locate the
[28:30] school about the benefit of having access to that area up there as a place to put
[28:38] more fields.
[28:39] And the idea was just that, that it would be big enough that we could in fact have tournaments and other kinds of things, other than just the single thing.
[28:49] Is that flat area, is it part of 300 or part of the 191?
[28:53] It's not part of the 300.
[28:55] Yeah.
[28:57] Where the road goes up over here by Rose Mountain.
[29:01] Is that road part of it or accesses it?
[29:05] That's what it is.
[29:09] the landowners but once again we are at that point where we will be trying to negotiate to make sure
[29:15] that's still in place. Nothing's guaranteed at that point but we did really try for access for
[29:21] that because that is kind of the whole point. Well that was my spot where I thought we could
[29:28] easily get some ADA access up there and access for families with young children
[29:34] And if in some of the lower part, we could have some flatter trails for people with wheelchairs or walkers or our elderly that want to walk on a flatter area.
[29:49] And the kids on the strider bikes, they're the best, you know, so a place for families and youth and older people.
[29:58] But I
[30:00] I would really like to look into limiting access to part of that park, to keep it as natural
[30:06] as we can for the future. And so maybe just have walking trails, but not cycling, because
[30:13] we have a lot of cycling trails up there. And we don't. It's not a lot of miles. But,
[30:20] you know, kind of keep some of it as natural as we can for the future so they can really
[30:27] see what it was here. I mean this is that legacy park we're talking about. It could be a great place
[30:33] like the kids go up to the Hershey Ranch every year and this could be another spot where they
[30:38] can go study if we don't go in and change things a lot. So I don't know if there's parameters.
[30:46] You kind of alluded to some parameters of what we can do up there. I think there will be built
[30:50] in to that grant because it's so conservation based. There are those parameters and protections
[30:56] I want to reiterate what Darren was saying.
[31:00] The 300 acres, we're trying to get it with this forest legacy grant.
[31:06] That's what's going to give us that potentially $5.8 million.
[31:10] That is for conservation, so there will be no building of any kind up there or no development
[31:19] of fields or anything like that.
[31:21] When the school district had mentioned to us, oh, maybe if you guys get Reds Hill,
[31:25] we could put fields up somewhere up there. That's that's out of the question for this 300 acres.
[31:32] Yeah, that's why I asked the question. Yeah, I mean, it's still part of perhaps a deeper vision
[31:38] for the 490 because that's still there and there are no trees there. And well, and especially
[31:45] on the other side, say what especially on the other side, which is part of the 490,
[31:50] the other side of Reds Hill, the east side adjacent to 84,
[31:57] there's a lot of flat land over there.
[32:00] That's kind of incredible space over there, actually.
[32:03] I have two questions.
[32:06] The first question is, how many miles of road
[32:09] has been developed on that property?
[32:12] No, I don't know any of that.
[32:14] It seemed like we were told like five plus miles.
[32:19] So I mean there's a lot of nice roads. Yeah, well they when they talked to me before it was like
[32:24] They also had about four miles of trail, but I don't know about the road. Oh, yeah, okay. Well, maybe
[32:31] Yeah
[32:36] I'm not quite sure but we can get kind of no, I'm just curious
[32:40] I mean, I think as we go for yeah, yeah to really tell the story of what we're looking up there and
[32:46] and maybe connectivity, accessibility,
[32:49] we will probably need to get started.
[32:51] Well, let's call them all trails.
[32:55] Because the beauty is you don't have to develop anything.
[32:59] You can just start using that property once a time.
[33:02] The second question is, what do you need from us tonight?
[33:08] Well, obviously, we're kind of giving you
[33:13] an overview of not only Reds Hill, but our parks in general.
[33:17] And what's been completed, there's still a lot of work ahead of us.
[33:23] That's part of what Amanda and I was trying to make our point at the joint work session
[33:29] in regards to parks and recreation and the importance of it in a community
[33:33] and having it recognizing that it can generate revenue for a community.
[33:42] As far as I go, this is really more information
[33:45] And if there's any recommendations from you in regards to anything, we'll take notes of that.
[33:54] But one thing I do want to kind of discuss is that, you know, obviously we have, in my opinion, wonderful parks.
[34:02] I've got an incredible staff that works very, very hard, not only in my office at the community center,
[34:10] but over the maintenance facility with my park staff.
[34:14] I've got a total group that I'm extremely proud of that really cares.
[34:20] And that's what you need to prosper.
[34:27] We have a lot of parks, but nothing's really generating any revenue right now.
[34:33] And I think there's an opportunity at Skyrocket that we're calling right now, Skyrocket Park
[34:41] in a sense, behind tractor supply for possibly creating something that could be a revenue-generating
[34:48] area arts and recreation.
[34:54] Currently some ideas that are floating is creating a campground and also a shooting,
[35:01] possibly a shooting range.
[35:09] We
[35:12] really need to decide if we want to be in the business of competing with private
[35:17] businesses here. That's a baseline.
[35:23] When we bought the property, my idea was not to compete with other businesses but to create
[35:30] a workforce campground so that people that came for summer employment could camp there at some
[35:36] rate that was and had to prove they were employed by the town and this helps us with our
[35:43] affordable housing problem. So that that was seeing a lie was interested in. I
[35:48] think it's a great place for that. And again these are just simply
[35:53] ideas, right? So what you see there in orange in a sense would be where a
[36:01] campground could possibly go. It's kind of on top there. In blue, right behind
[36:06] tractor supply, you see the road that kind of leads back to another area that's
[36:10] down below that Chief Rockinsock had brought up in a department head meeting, possibly a
[36:17] little bit of grant funding for a shooting range. It's been in our surveys that people
[36:24] are interested in that, but this would have to be something indoor.
[36:36] This would not be
[36:40] a possibility, and that's all this is. But you could certainly put an indoor shooting
[36:47] range there, create a training center area for law enforcement. I mean, currently the
[36:52] chief comes over to the community center and he gets in the south conference room and sets
[36:56] up all of his stuff, you know, and works on things. And this
[37:05] could produce revenue,
[37:07] you know so it's just something to look at certainly all we can do is give
[37:15] ideas and get input from the community in regards to what they'd like to see and
[37:19] get input from you and figure out a direction that we want to go in in
[37:26] regards to that. If your department thought about the idea that we might
[37:29] raise lodging tax and use part of that money to help fund recreational
[37:34] Well, it is economic diversification, because we're increasing our competitiveness.
[37:42] Certainly we brought that up at the joint work session.
[37:47] I think that's a great area to look at to create a revenue stream, to not only for that,
[37:55] but obviously we have over a $2 million budget for Parks and Recreation that the entire
[38:03] county and families, they all enjoy, you know, and we certainly love providing the amenities
[38:12] and the programming for all of that, but there's a cost that goes along with that.
[38:16] And certainly to try and figure out how to recoup some of that cost, also have a revenue
[38:23] stream that we can provide parks and recreation a little more on a countywide basis.
[38:29] I certainly hope the, I hope the county recognizes the value in Parks and Rec, and I hope they're
[38:36] willing to participate in some manner.
[38:39] I will certainly go back in front of them and see where they stand, but it was put
[38:44] out there.
[38:46] But I think collaborating together, because as it was stated at the joint work session,
[38:52] you know,
[38:55] it's great.
[38:55] the town has as created, you know, we have the majority of the parks. We provide all the recreation
[39:00] and that's wonderful. But, you know, if you look at things county-wide and that's even talking
[39:10] about trailheads and how they can be improved and have a more enjoyable experience in regard to
[39:18] parks and recreation, countywide, it's, and even if we're participating in that with some
[39:28] type of funding and working together, that benefits everyone.
[39:35] And certainly that's an area that we want to, I'm going to continue to move forward with
[39:41] until I'm told not to.
[39:47] But going back to the lodger's tax, I think that's a great area to, in the short term,
[39:55] just reallocate.
[39:56] Because I know there's money that's being issued out that goes kind of towards recreation
[40:04] currently.
[40:05] And if that money can be reallocated, and if the county will look at their Conservation
[40:10] and trust fund that they can only spend on parks and recreation and let us help them work
[40:15] with that money to create something. I mean, you can see the work that's been going through
[40:21] for these different grants in the Forest Legacy Grant and other grants that we've obtained.
[40:25] We don't get everyone, but, you know, I can only, I give incredible amount of kudos
[40:32] to Kyle and Amanda they have they have done some tremendous research on
[40:40] grant opportunities and and we're obviously trying to get as many as we can
[40:46] to help subsidize these projects and that's how we do it and and we are
[40:52] being successful with it. I'd like to jump in and attempt to answer your
[40:57] question without stepping on your guys toes because I requested this
[41:02] work session, thinking that, you know, focusing on this idea that we could, GOKO could help
[41:11] us with funding for Rez Hill.
[41:13] And one of the things that helps us get that with GOKO is them seeing that we've got a
[41:19] master plan.
[41:20] It sounds like we have one, so maybe it just needs some kind of retooling.
[41:26] But to answer your question, what do they want from us, I was thinking that they would
[41:32] want to hear what our visions, our outlook might be for our parks and rec that are existing
[41:40] and then how that fits in with what we're trying to acquire, not only Rez Hill but potentially
[41:47] others.
[41:48] And then hopefully get out of that some kind of product that whether it's a one pager
[41:53] or it's something more expansive that we can use to help us get that go-go money.
[42:00] I mean does that sound okay to everyone if we kind of help these guys out by
[42:06] giving them some of what we think is our vision and direction for Parks and Rec.
[42:11] They've got great information from their surveys from the community. That's
[42:16] kind of where I was thinking that we were going with this. The elements
[42:20] are present but need to be organized and that's what a master plan would
[42:26] look like. And I think it's invaluable if we're going to go ask for people to say,
[42:31] hey, listen, there's a vision here and here's how it's connected. I would add that working
[42:37] with the skills that we have in the town for the benefit of the county
[42:41] is one of those strategic elements. So I for one am absolutely in support of using the talent
[42:49] the way that it's being proposed for the county. I think that's a great idea. I like that
[42:55] But there are other things that you've already talked about that are not going to be left
[42:59] out.
[43:00] I mean, I think a community swimming pool is really important.
[43:04] We grew up because Giordano was letting us go swimming.
[43:08] So we had access, but the local kids don't have access to the thermal water.
[43:12] The school now is going to become available.
[43:15] What a better, they've got a well, that's the best place to put a community pool.
[43:20] You know, so you have elements, I think, that talk about a comprehensive and a strategic
[43:26] plan.
[43:27] There's opportunity uptown.
[43:29] I mean, we've had, we have a history of cumbersome totals at the narrow gauge, and there was
[43:34] a spot uptown, and that's all brand new.
[43:38] We've never done anything to ever look at the heritage that we've had that's except
[43:43] the sheep herder that's out there now, but you can point right to where that
[43:47] depot was.
[43:47] And so, uptown, they have everything that's available to them in terms of the railroad.
[43:53] So, we still have those opportunities that provide all of that.
[43:57] But the thing that is also extremely important to me is economic diversification.
[44:03] And you all are – you're on the verge of all of that stuff.
[44:06] It just needs to be articulated in a way that really makes it look not just broad but deep.
[44:11] So, I do want to just jump in as another reminder of the update at the work session.
[44:16] Park was talking about, we are finishing our draft, finalizing our outdoor sustainability
[44:23] recreation draft plan.
[44:25] It's going to go out to our task members, hopefully, by this Thursday is what I'm told.
[44:31] And then we are reviewing it next Thursday with the task members.
[44:35] They will have some time to review that.
[44:37] And then we will be going out to the general public to also give feedback.
[44:40] So as you're talking about a master plan, that is parks and recreation.
[44:46] The only thing is that that is a boundary that is all of Archuleta County.
[44:51] It includes Hinsale County and Mineral County.
[44:53] We're not focusing on just the town.
[44:56] And that's the thing here where with this go code.
[45:00] Local funding. The town has tons of projects that they want to get done. There's tons of funding
[45:05] that's needed for certain allocated projects that we need to get through. So really, as staff
[45:10] members, we kind of need that prioritization from you all of how do you see this fit in
[45:18] our overall plan? Because when I get all of this narrowed down, I'm going to have
[45:22] a real slim timeframe to turn it around and try to request those funds. And we're
[45:28] looking at funds for the Forest Service, for the county, all these things.
[45:32] So I really need to have it together, what your guys' prioritization of really what you've
[45:38] seen in the past couple years of what should be our focus in Parks and Recreation.
[45:45] I mean, obviously, this is a big opportunity for Reshill, and so I would hope it would
[45:49] be a priority, but I really do need to know as there are things that also need to
[45:54] be included as the town's main thing that we want to try to get funding for that's not
[46:01] just acquisition because I think that's what GOKO is really going to want to see in this
[46:05] round is community collaboration that we have prioritized what we think is the most important
[46:11] right now and what we need to do with whether that's funding is available and we are going
[46:17] to have a high impact of being able to conserve that many acres or do we really
[46:21] they need to focus on the event center of a multi-purpose
[46:25] pavilion really going through.
[46:27] I mean, I think those are all great projects
[46:29] and they're super awesome.
[46:31] And I'm so stoked to be a part of this
[46:35] and try to get it through the door.
[46:38] But I think from you guys,
[46:40] we really need some direction and prioritization
[46:42] because we can't fund all of it
[46:45] and we wanna make it look like a cohesive community package.
[46:48] So we have about 30 minutes, and I feel like I'm hearing two different things.
[46:57] You want to know more about how we can go for GOKO for Res Hill and their wanting prioritization for all of our parks.
[47:08] Well, no, mine has to do with all of the parks. It has to do with the master plan.
[47:14] Okay.
[47:14] because it's my understanding that's what goko wants to see what amanda just said she wants to see
[47:19] that we have prioritized our desires our needs our vision for our parks and rec thank you yeah i
[47:27] thought you just wanted our vision for reshill no no not at all that would be my point too that
[47:33] as a standalone it's an opportunity but if we don't connect it and that's what the plan will do
[47:38] then I think we're susceptible that that money will evaporate because other
[47:44] people will put their comprehensive plants together. It needs to be deep but it
[47:47] needs to be broad. So I think we have the elements for it. So how it fits in for me
[47:53] is I feel like we have a lot of active parks in our community. A lot of places
[47:59] where kids can go ride bikes, play pickleball, whatever. But we don't have
[48:03] a lot of passive parks, where people can just go hike, have a picnic, things like that.
[48:10] And so I would like to look at this fitting into our community as more of a passive park
[48:18] for a different type of recreation in our community.
[48:22] There you go.
[48:23] Thank you.
[48:24] There you go.
[48:26] In terms of prioritization, for me personally, it'd be Rez Hill Rec Center are like the
[48:32] top two things that I would like to see us to focus on. But with what I've heard a lot
[48:39] that is really exciting today, but one thing that is most exciting, and maybe because, you
[48:47] know, a little long in the tooth in this chair, but like the 2006 plan, and we can go back
[48:55] to the community and say, hey, in 2006, you said you wanted this, that and the
[48:59] thing, we gave you this, that, the other thing. And in 2012, you wanted, you know, you said that
[49:05] these were important. Look what we've done. We've listened to you and these are the things that
[49:09] we followed through on. Here's our plan, you know, here's our 2026 plan. And like, I think we,
[49:16] I would love to see the successes blasted out and let people know that it's not just a dusty
[49:23] document. Like we've been doing what you've been asking this whole time. And perhaps
[49:28] That would also be a part of the grant application that you again showing them like hey
[49:34] We put together this plan look at all that we did and now we're putting together this this plan
[49:38] You can trust us to use these funds and these proper whatever in an appropriate manner because we've displayed that
[49:46] This is what we've been doing the whole time. We follow through yeah
[49:50] Displays competence and I would just love the I would love the public to just know we've talked about like
[49:55] celebrating our successes and like making sure people know the great work that
[50:00] happens that they wouldn't otherwise know unless we tutored our own horn. So let's
[50:05] toot our own horn about this. And get people excited about the future. Okay are
[50:12] you going next? Well if I may I mean I prepared something so it pardon me if
[50:17] I'm just kind of reading it but I'd like to do that. I think we have an
[50:23] opportunity here to develop a unique and valuable parks and open space system
[50:29] that increases the quality of life for our residents and visitors and benefits
[50:34] our local economy. My sort of high-level vision is combining our existing
[50:40] parks, trails, and river assets with future acquisitions, namely right now
[50:46] Reservoir Hill, to create an exceptional system of parks and trails
[50:50] that connect users to a variety of experiences, including recreation, relaxation, events, dining
[50:58] and retail, all in a pedestrian-friendly and beautiful Colorado mountain environment.
[51:04] Not all of these ideas are mine. I've gotten some of them from listening to Gary and my other
[51:08] fellow council members, but this is sort of more of a drilled-down vision. For the Goodman
[51:15] property. I see that as kind of like a base camp area which connects via pedestrian trails to the
[51:22] Riverwalk, to Rez Hill, the East End, Cotton's Hole, Town Park, Downtown, Yamaguchi, and ultimately
[51:28] to the town to trails, or the town to uptown trail. Existing Rez Hill trails could be upgraded
[51:36] to connect to other areas. Existing plans for extension of the Riverwalk to Bob's LP
[51:41] parcel make connection to that very easy. And then I think this has always been Gary's
[51:48] idea to develop parking on the Goodman property for visitors as well as areas for campers and
[51:54] or RVs including spots for seasonal employees. I think that's a great idea that he has
[51:59] and that could generate income.
[52:03] A moonshot for me and again I think master plans you
[52:07] got to include moonshots. Bob's LP was a moonshot, right? When they were doing the
[52:12] East End multimodal trail back in 2006, that's what spurred me about thinking about all this
[52:18] too, that the one meeting where James said, this first came up in 2006, and everybody
[52:24] said, oh, that's impossible. We'll never get that land. We've got it. So just a
[52:30] moonshot for me is a ski trail on the north side of Reds Hill. It's the only appropriate
[52:35] a place for it in downtown because it's north facing.
[52:40] But essentially, Rez Hill becomes a flagship area of conservation and recreation, including
[52:45] hike and bike trails, open space, ADA access.
[52:50] There could be sunset viewing areas, forest bathing, quiet zones, and educational opportunities
[52:57] focused on forest conservation.
[53:00] The connection between all of our different parks, Rez Hill and downtown, offers a huge
[53:04] variety of recreational and leisure experiences. And then, finally, the
[53:09] acquisition of Reds Hills once in a lifetime opportunity. There's a cost of
[53:14] not taking advantage of this opportunity. If the town does not buy the
[53:18] property, it may lose the chance to preserve it permanently. The land could
[53:21] be developed, become more expensive later, or be acquired by someone else.
[53:26] And in that case, the opportunity cost of inaction is the lost public
[53:31] benefit of conservation, outdoor recreation, trail connectivity, community character, and future
[53:37] recreational access. I would argue that this opportunity is so valuable that it justifies a
[53:43] trade-off of forgoing other identified and unidentified initiatives to secure the funding
[53:51] that ensures we acquire Reshill. That's my two cents here. Thank you.
[54:01] Well, thank you.
[54:06] My colleague Leonard is always concerned about diversifying our economy.
[54:12] And I've said before, I think that is a great idea. And I worked in lots of small towns that tried to do that.
[54:19] And it's, and they didn't have the resources we have here in terms of natural resources.
[54:26] And so I've always seen diversifying our recreational opportunities as a way to diversify
[54:31] our economy.
[54:32] Basically the, the factory we have is a tourism factory and we turn the crank and
[54:37] there's lots of things people can do here and this increases that.
[54:41] And so that's good.
[54:42] And then the changing climate, there are other opportunities to do things in town
[54:46] when there's no snow or you know this and that. So I could see Reservoir Hill playing a big part
[54:56] of that and and I've always and I and I and I always never wanted to pull out the other 188
[55:04] acres or 91 or whatever it was. I always thought this is so important we need to keep it together
[55:09] and just go for it somehow and so and and we can worry about future generations of
[55:16] councils like this thinking well why did they buy all this land but on the
[55:22] alternative is you know we can do other things with it too you know we could do
[55:27] stuff with the land all the way out to light plant road and stuff it
[55:32] wouldn't be in conservation so you know we could have a rec center there we
[55:37] We could have a sewer treatment plan or we could, you know, whatever.
[55:41] And so I think it's so important that I think raising our lodging tax and using that as a
[55:51] source for revenue, for revenue bond, and we would raise the lodging tax, let's say
[55:55] just a 6% or maybe it's just 1% for this and the other for affordable housing, you
[56:02] but just do it all at once, dedicate that money for purchasing that property.
[56:08] So I think it's important, I think we need to come up with a plan for how to buy it all.
[56:16] And my humble opinion is that we're focusing on this because this is where we have the money
[56:22] most readily available and we can't let this opportunity pass and then we can
[56:29] consider about negotiating on the rest of it. So I just don't want to let this
[56:34] pass.
[56:37] Maddie, did you have anything? Yeah, I think Brooks kind of said a lot of what
[56:44] I feel, but I really wanted to make sure that we were tying in the East End
[56:48] multimodal plan with Bob's LP and the Goodman property, Skyrocket Park, and
[56:54] making sure that that connectivity is being thought about because I think you
[56:59] can you know hike or bike up and drop down to that south side but then where
[57:04] do you go from there I want people to be able to hop back and then cruise along
[57:09] you know that whole east end side of Pagosa either along the Riverwalk or
[57:12] through sidewalks however they can you know visit all those businesses
[57:18] whatever so I really want to make sure that that connectivity is thought
[57:21] about. For me I think overall priority, I mean shoot it's really hard to say for
[57:28] sure but I think Reservoir Hill, Town to Lakes Trail would be kind of the top two
[57:34] just because I think that we really just need to keep on working on getting
[57:38] folks off the highway as much as possible and that would be good for
[57:44] safety for everybody and then yeah I think you know we've made strides in
[57:50] our river access. We've been really hammering it that over the last couple of years so I'm
[57:54] really proud of where we're at now. As a user of the new boat ramp at Bob's LP, I am absolutely
[58:01] thrilled. So I think that we've done a great job there.
[58:10] Yeah, I think just taking the
[58:12] documents that we have and like you said, just refreshing them to kind of combine them,
[58:17] give them a facelift. We have a lot of stuff there. Let's make sure the public
[58:20] knows about it. No offense. But when we have folks on council who are asking if we have a document,
[58:26] then I think we're kind of failing a little bit at making sure that leadership is aware of what we
[58:31] have on the shelf from previous groups. And so when we've talked about this, too, as new councils
[58:36] come on, let's really make sure that we have a nice, I guess, welcome package for just to
[58:43] make sure that everybody is up to speed on the work that we have all been doing over the
[58:48] in the last couple of decades.
[58:50] So, thank you.
[58:52] Leonard.
[58:53] Yeah, let me see.
[58:55] To start, I'm not a fan
[59:00] of inflexible plants, long-range plants.
[59:07] I am a fan, though, of going after things
[59:09] that are very difficult, seem to be impossible.
[59:15] And the only way you get there
[59:17] is by pulling everybody pulling in the same direction and even then there's no guarantee.
[59:25] The benefit of a strategic plan in my opinion is that you get to create a status in time
[59:32] so that the things that are important to you you may not have to do it all in the first year
[59:37] you stretch things out over over time so that your endpoint is a representation of
[59:44] hard work, collaboration, and pulling those things together in a way that say
[59:49] they're all part of something bigger. Where these things fall apart is when
[59:54] somebody comes up with something new and it's not part of any plan and all of
[59:58] a sudden we try to do something.
[1:00:05] So, I think it's really important for us to take the inputs in, look at how we can integrate
[1:00:12] them over time so that we don't have to do it all in the very beginning.
[1:00:17] For me, I look at the community and those that I'd like to see have access to things
[1:00:26] that maybe our visitors get, but we don't. So that's why the community swimming pool with
[1:00:32] thermal water and a recreation center is so important to me because that's for the kids
[1:00:39] that are here. And that when they grow up to be 70 years old, you know, they can look back
[1:00:44] and say, well, listen, I did this, I want to make sure that my grandkids have the same thing.
[1:00:50] So that's a big deal for me. But I got to trade this in economic diversification for me.
[1:00:55] if you look along the right-hand side and you look at the community swimming pool and you think
[1:01:01] about something like what Drango did with theirs, their wet pool where they've got three things all
[1:01:07] going on at the same time and how the community uses that, well we travel there because it's
[1:01:12] that's how good it is. I wouldn't go there ever if we had something like that here,
[1:01:17] especially if we had thermal water that's why and I need to give credit where credit is due.
[1:01:23] This is Bob Lynch's thought.
[1:01:26] He doesn't articulate it
[1:01:27] because he's on the school board.
[1:01:28] It would be a conflict of interest,
[1:01:29] but it's such a good idea
[1:01:31] that well is sitting there waiting
[1:01:33] because that property is not gonna come available.
[1:01:36] And if we don't do something with that,
[1:01:38] that may not cost as much as we think,
[1:01:41] but it should take a long time
[1:01:43] so that it's not taken away from other priorities.
[1:01:46] It's just that the natural resources are there.
[1:01:48] The affordable housing idea is a great idea because it does generate some, but we, the
[1:01:56] seasonable, the seasonal people that we have here, I would keep it open year-round. We rented
[1:02:04] a place up here at Pagosa campground for $850 a month for emergency shelter. The person
[1:02:13] who was next to our trailer is a nurse who travels but chooses to live in Pagosa.
[1:02:17] That's the only thing she can afford.
[1:02:20] We have a lot of people who want to work at the Skiria, and there are six in a room.
[1:02:26] So I mean, there's opportunities for us to make space for our workers.
[1:02:32] And so, you know, the 300 is important because it's earmarked, it's going to be preserved.
[1:02:38] It's the 191 acres that I think make a comprehensive plan.
[1:02:43] And so I would be in the same place and say, hey, listen, get the 300 acres, because that's what's going to nail it for us.
[1:02:50] But let's keep working on 191 acres because that's where the flexibility comes and it ties to some of the other things we're already working on.
[1:02:58] I think I'd like to see the county wide and town thing to me that is an application that is going to be so unique across this nation.
[1:03:08] So I'm really excited about that potential, if you can connect countywide things to what it is we're doing in this town.
[1:03:16] The cultural and historic preservation piece of this, to me, it's all of that.
[1:03:21] If you look at the economic diversification angle, each one of those, you can check those boxes, but that 300 acres is a quarter of that.
[1:03:31] A night argue all 491 acres a quarter of that. And then just keep looking at those circles going out.
[1:03:37] those are the concentric circles going out add time to it I'm on board with
[1:03:42] this I didn't see it was a miscaria for me on the north side it was a tubing and
[1:03:46] sledding with snow making on the north side
[1:03:51] that too the kids in town can go tubing every day of the week and and we keep
[1:03:56] snorkeling until it gets to 40 degrees but those are all connected they're
[1:04:01] connected to the kids in this town as well as to the visitors in this
[1:04:04] town. And it's not just the kids. I'm a 70 year old kid. I'll get up.
[1:04:11] And if I have to live to 80,
[1:04:13] then make it a 10 year plan on the two minutes. Don't leave it out, but just put it in the right
[1:04:18] timeframe so it's not taken away from your attention units today to get the 300 acres,
[1:04:23] to get the 191 acres, and to take these things in stride as we get them because you're doing
[1:04:29] a good job of finding money. So I'm all for it.
[1:04:33] And Leonard, there's a geothermal well on that front.
[1:04:36] Well, yeah. And you know there was a ski hill back there, right?
[1:04:42] On the other side of reservoir, there used to be a ski hill back there.
[1:04:45] Yeah. Yeah. In the past.
[1:04:47] Yeah, I totally agree with your kind of putting things into a time frame of,
[1:04:52] you know, what would we like to see in 10 years, 20 years.
[1:04:53] But I definitely want to leave room for, you know, needs that arise in the future, because
[1:05:01] I can probably guarantee that when the original folks got the portion of Reservoir Hill that
[1:05:08] we currently own, they were not anticipating a disc golf course going up there, you know,
[1:05:14] and I think that that is a huge asset now.
[1:05:16] And so I don't want to like over plan and be like, this is how it is going to be,
[1:05:20] but we just like to have a general idea of, right?
[1:05:23] I think we're all on the same page of connectivity and a variety of recreational amenities.
[1:05:28] Yeah.
[1:05:29] That was my first point about making sure that it's not a static plan and inflexible.
[1:05:33] It has to be flexible.
[1:05:34] Design the handles in the beginning, then you don't have to deal with, oh, what do we
[1:05:39] do with this?
[1:05:40] Right.
[1:05:41] And I'm totally with you too.
[1:05:42] I would love to go for the whole thing.
[1:05:47] Potentially that's, well, the thing is in time that might be hard.
[1:05:51] Again, we have the opportunity, now it might be time to do it now, to grab the whole thing.
[1:05:58] This is where the fundraising might really come into play, which is what we've had the
[1:06:03] committee for.
[1:06:05] But I will say, you know, we might need more help with that.
[1:06:08] And so that's, you know, we'll keep moving forward with that committee and, you know,
[1:06:15] So, looking at what we can do for that, because we could get go-co for the legacy grant match
[1:06:21] and then get private money to help us get the whole thing.
[1:06:25] That's the ideal situation.
[1:06:28] Okay.
[1:06:30] Do you feel like you got from this what you were looking for?
[1:06:35] I think so, again, I mean, it's like kind of comes back to these guys have to do the
[1:06:39] work.
[1:06:41] So, that's my next question.
[1:06:43] Do you feel like you got the comments you need to help you?
[1:06:47] Can we have the plan by Thursday?
[1:06:50] By midnight tonight.
[1:06:52] Yeah, it's not on the agenda.
[1:06:54] So yes, I mean, I mean, just so you know, I mean,
[1:06:59] as Amanda alluded to in regard to, I mean, there is a plan that's going to be coming out
[1:07:04] with some different projects from park.
[1:07:07] and as you know we've contracted with Park to work with them over the next
[1:07:14] two years to try and build this in a sense foundation to help Parks and
[1:07:19] Recreation expand countywide and so there's gonna be a lot of work being
[1:07:25] put into this in the next two years and you know I think the feedback we've
[1:07:32] received tonight is great, we can only bring you these projects and see what you think
[1:07:39] because these projects are based not only from the staff perspective but from the community
[1:07:44] and what they would like to see.
[1:07:46] And getting these prioritized and also with these projects, we have to look at,
[1:07:54] they
[1:07:54] may be prioritized but this one on the bottom, there may be funding right now to
[1:07:59] get that accomplished so it gets moved to the top.
[1:08:02] You know and that's how things and that yes, and that's how things
[1:08:06] Finally get accomplished in and just to give you guys a timeline with our next opportunity
[1:08:12] For the go-go grant, you know, we have to have this interest letter to them by then to May
[1:08:19] applications going to be in by July and
[1:08:23] So this story that Amanda was talking about that that we're trying to build. I mean we're
[1:08:29] every day that goes by, you know, we're just one step close to needing this
[1:08:35] completed and all of this information is coming to a head here right before all
[1:08:40] this is needed and rest assured the work's gonna be put in and it's gonna
[1:08:45] get done. Now that doesn't guarantee we're getting the grant but with the
[1:08:52] force legacy news, and as soon as that can hopefully get stamped by Congress, I think
[1:09:00] that's going to really slingshot us forward in a sense in regards to the GOKO grant, because
[1:09:08] they like to see that collaboration, you know, and the other collaboration we're
[1:09:14] talking about with this GOKO grant also is this is an opportunity probably to help
[1:09:21] fund the event center at Yamaguchi within this entire grant.
[1:09:28] There's a $50 million pot out there, and some of it's already been used up.
[1:09:33] And we talked about this at the work session, the joint work session.
[1:09:37] You know, over the next, what, we have four years left roughly?
[1:09:40] Three years.
[1:09:40] Three years.
[1:09:41] Three years left to grab as much money as we possibly can.
[1:09:46] And so prioritizing these projects, this first grant opportunity that we're going for, you know,
[1:09:56] we can show this as a possible match, this $5.8 million.
[1:10:03] You have to look at this even on a bigger scale.
[1:10:07] You know, this is a $10 or $11 million grant we're going for.
[1:10:15] And what are we trying to get completed within that 10 or $11 million grant?
[1:10:20] Well, we're trying to get 300 acres purchased from Res Hill.
[1:10:25] We're trying to build an event center out of that as well.
[1:10:32] And at least dedicate $1.5 million towards that event center.
[1:10:37] And by you, by saying event center, you're talking the multi-purpose person.
[1:10:40] Yes, I am.
[1:10:40] And so it truly is being thought about as multi-purpose.
[1:10:48] Well, it's truly multi-purpose.
[1:10:51] It's an event center to be used for events which include ice skating in the wintertime
[1:10:58] for moving events down there for concerts.
[1:11:05] Whatever else we come up, is there rollerblading involved in the summertime?
[1:11:08] Whatever else we may come up good usage for that. So multi-purpose pavilion event center. Yes, all
[1:11:17] All in one I look at it as as the same
[1:11:20] Okay, if we want to strictly look at it as a multi-purpose pavilion, we certainly can and
[1:11:26] but I've also I
[1:11:28] Call it an event center as well because of what's going to be you could bring back roller skating. That's what I was just saying
[1:11:33] Yeah, yeah, I see a lot of people rollerblading around
[1:11:37] Absolutely. So that's what, you know, when you look at the big picture, now we possibly
[1:11:43] have this almost $6 million match. We have the $500,000 that was set aside for the multi-purpose
[1:11:52] pavilion as a match. Brian's group is trying to raise money and continue to try and raise
[1:11:59] money and we'll see what they have by the time this application is due in July.
[1:12:06] So it continues to show that collaboration that we're all working together, you know,
[1:12:11] and it's not just one entity right in the check.
[1:12:15] Can I ask a couple more questions about the multi-purpose pavilion?
[1:12:18] Sure.
[1:12:19] If you have time and you're willing.
[1:12:21] Yeah.
[1:12:22] Okay.
[1:12:22] I'm just, April wants us out of here, so ask your questions.
[1:12:26] Um, I guess for because it's the tourism board that has set aside
[1:12:32] the 500,000 correct
[1:12:34] For as a match or the town for all the town. Okay, but it came from that pot. Yes. Okay. Um, I guess
[1:12:42] So are we anticipating any?
[1:12:45] Feedback from that board in terms of final like as we start to see sketch plans and stuff like that
[1:12:51] Are we looking for feedback from them or is this going to be primarily coming before council?
[1:12:57] You mean from the lodging board?
[1:13:00] Okay, I
[1:13:01] Think they probably are on board with it already because they've already voted
[1:13:08] There's a member I would say most of the people on the board now were not there when the money was set aside
[1:13:15] So a man and I are gonna be there tomorrow
[1:13:19] the tourism board to talk about park and
[1:13:23] We will certainly bring that up
[1:13:27] You know in regards to that there was 500,000 allocated. Yeah, and in regards to that and make sure everyone's on the same page, right?
[1:13:36] Yes, I and as an advisory board. I mean again, they're an advisory board. Yeah, and forgive me
[1:13:41] I think I was I think I might have missed the meeting the last time
[1:13:44] Brian came before us I
[1:13:48] Not completely up to speed on what his updates are, but I just wanted to make sure that we were still trending on
[1:13:54] just staying focused on the idea of a multi-purpose pavilion and he's very
[1:13:59] on board with that. We met with him and Ryan. Yeah and then considerations, I
[1:14:05] don't know if it's like in the space but considerations for maybe restrooms or
[1:14:08] like an area for concessions or something like that. Absolutely that's all we can
[1:14:11] consider. Before we, I don't interrupt but I did want to just, while you're
[1:14:16] talking about tourism and this whole thing, I think tourism is done a
[1:14:19] great job of presenting Pagosa for recreation in a non-motorized way. And I think we want to
[1:14:28] continue that, and this plays into that, and you might be able to use that, I think. So we don't
[1:14:35] want to be a Moab. We're offering something different down here for recreation, and it's
[1:14:42] active and it's outdoors and it's you know just by her to say pass it but even
[1:14:47] that you got to get out there was that everything yeah yeah I just thank you so
[1:14:56] from my council members we're looking for an update
[1:15:00] Parkes and Rec plan, including what we have now input from the community and other opportunities
[1:15:10] that we might identify in the community for future.
[1:15:16] So, I think we're all in agreement
[1:15:18] with that. The Goodman property. Do we want staff to look into ways to monetize that with
[1:15:28] the direction towards workforce.
[1:15:32] Yes, that would be the number one thing that we would, or
[1:15:39] I don't want to dump everything on them. I mean, so we got to work. We got a housing
[1:15:43] group housing coordinator, you know, maybe we should look. I mean, I don't want to take
[1:15:50] it away from you on, but I mean, it's how we don't want to develop it. We want to
[1:15:56] Alicia didn't have it developed or something.
[1:15:58] No, this isn't, I want them to do it.
[1:16:01] I'm saying staff.
[1:16:01] Oh, I got you.
[1:16:02] David's here.
[1:16:03] Yeah, yeah, staff.
[1:16:03] He's the one who,
[1:16:06] these are just something we want to be looking into.
[1:16:08] Yeah, okay, all right.
[1:16:08] Okay.
[1:16:10] And then a lodging tax increase.
[1:16:14] Do we want staff to look at,
[1:16:17] what a lodging tax increase would look like
[1:16:21] and suggestions for the places
[1:16:25] that they feel like that could be best applied towards our goals that we have
[1:16:30] set and make recommendations to us. Okay, is there anything other directions we
[1:16:36] want to give to staff this evening? Can I add one more thing? When considering
[1:16:43] that lodger's tax also please consider the reallocating the current
[1:16:50] and lodging tax possibly as well, if needed.
[1:16:54] If you're not sold on raising the lodger's tax,
[1:16:58] at least consider reallocating some of the current.
[1:17:01] I think that can be part of what we're looking at.
[1:17:06] Okay, okay.
[1:17:07] Best use of the lodger's tax.
[1:17:10] All right, thank you.
[1:17:11] The lodging tax.
[1:17:11] Yeah, did anybody say you can have a diversification?
[1:17:14] Oh, yeah.
[1:17:15] But to that end, I think I always want us
[1:17:19] to keep affordability at the front of our minds, especially for our workforce, and so
[1:17:24] if we're thinking of reallocating or raising, it's imperative that a good chunk of that
[1:17:31] is workforce housing and or helping people stay here and raise families here and not
[1:17:39] drive them away.
[1:17:42] I might have tried.
[1:17:44] Anything else?
[1:17:46] All right.
[1:17:48] Thank you all.
[1:17:48] for a great work session.
[1:17:50] Thanks.
[1:17:50] Great discussion.
[1:17:51] We appreciate your time.
[1:17:53] And April wants us out of the b-