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Group looks beyond River Trails Ranch to other
growth issues
by Will Sands
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| Members of Friends of the Animas
Valley, from left, Nancy Van Dover, Annemarie Nobman, Richard
Nobman, and Tom Klema pose near River Trails Ranch recently.
Since working to defeat the massive development, the group
has moved on to watchdogging growth throughout the county
and improving the public process./Photo by Todd Newcomer. |
The Friends of the Animas Valley celebrated a victory in early
November of last year. The Durango City Council voted 3-2 to deny
annexation of River Trails Ranch, and the group realized its goal
of blocking 800 new units north of Durango. However, the Friends
of the Animas Valley is not riding off into the sunset. The group
is still keeping an eye on River Trails Ranch, but more importantly
is broadening its activism to include the entire Animas Valley
and beyond.
Three years ago, FOAV formed to counter Bob Wolff and John Wessman’s
plans to develop the Kroeger Ranch, a 245-acre parcel immediately
north of Durango. At that time, the group watchdogged the proposal
through the La Plata County planning process and eventually conceded
to the county’s approval of 67 units for the 245-acre property.
In February 2003, FOAV reconvened when it was learned that Wolff
and Wessman had changed their vision for Kroeger Ranch and instead
were applying for 800 new homes and inclusion of the development
within Durango city limits. That first meeting at the La Plata
County Fairgrounds kicked off a steady campaign that ranged from
daily door-to-door canvassing to endless hours in meetings. Eight
months later, the council rejected River Trails Ranch, and several
months after that vote FOAV is still going strong.
Ready to say ‘no’
Speaking of the defeat of the development, Renee Parsons, the
group’s president, credits the local community more than
FOAV.
“We had a lot of people coming up to us who had something
to contribute,” she said. “We pulled all of that together
and the universe was on our side. The community was ready to say
‘no.’”
Rather than packing up after last November’s vote, Parson
said that FOAV felt empowered and since that time, the group has
not only survived but grown from a core of 15 volunteers during
the heat of the River Trails controversy to a core that is 25
people strong.
“New people have been coming to us, and they want to be
involved,” Parsons said.
Richard Nobman, FOAV vice-president, said that new and old members
will be involved in a new approach to activism.
“River Trails Ranch was a largely reactive process,”
he said. “We want to be proactive rather than reactive.”
Helter Skelter
Nobman and Parsons agreed that there is both a need for FOAV
and action as Durango enters the future. Parsons pointed to continued
unprecedented growth and characterized the current state of affairs
as “Helter Skelter.”
“It’s out of control,” she said. “It’s
not planned. It’s not managed.”
She added that a vision has been established for Durango’s
future but questions where it came from. “There’s
this concept that the city alone is going to grow to 40,000 people,”
she said. “There was no City Council decision on that, no
discussion. Who’s driving this? Who’s making these
plans?”
Nobman said that the public should be planning for Durango’s
future rather than bowing to growth pressures. “Why can’t
we have a referendum on growth and let the people decide,”
he said. “They always like to portray the opposition as
NIMBYs, newcomers and no-nothings. But the opposition cuts across
all economic levels and political beliefs. All sorts of people
are asking if we really want to live in a city the size of Grand
Junction.”
Getting the public in the process
In this spirit, some of FOAV’s future efforts will be directed
at getting the public more involved with the public planning process.
Parsons said that the group saw the process from the inside out
during the River Trails process and would like to see some changes.
“One of our commitments is to work to improve that process,”
Parsons said. “We have no ax to grind because we won. But
we’re not happy with the process.”
In particular, Parsons referenced inadequate time for public
comment during public hearings. “If you look at our hearings,
the developer has infinite time to speak,” she said. “The
public gets maybe five minutes per person. This might have been
a process that worked 10 years ago, but now it’s outdated.”
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Nobman concurred, adding, “The silent majority gets overwhelmed
by the current process of government and becomes like deer in
the headlights.”
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Spencer Zogg, of Heritage Construction,
helps hold up a wall in a new townhome along Animas View Drive
last week. Friends of the Animas Valley is working to see
that the entire area immidiately northeast of
town remains relatively undeveloped./Photo by Todd Newcomer. |
The Northeast Quadrant
In addition to working to improve public involvement in the planning
process, FOAV is going to continue to monitor River Trails Ranch
and the undeveloped property around it. The area of the Animas
Valley north of Durango is known as the “Northeast Quadrant,”
and the group would like to see it removed from the city’s
comprehensive plan.
“As long as that Northeast Quadrant is in the comprehensive
plan, we’ll be fighting developers in that area forever,”
Parsons said.
FOAV also plans on taking its vision of a relatively undeveloped
Northeast Quadrant into what remains of the Animas Valley. This
will mean work with La Plata County as well as the City of Durango.
“Because we are the Friends of the Animas Valley, we are
interested in maintaining the Animas Valley Land Use Plan,”
Nobman said. “There have been several proposals and changes
that we’re recently made for high density housing in the
valley.”
Nobman added that the Land Use Plan creates the only formal zoning
in La Plata County and without it, Animas Valley open space will
be threatened. “The reason people come to Durango is for
the outdoors,” he said. “People don’t come here
to see subdivisions and new urbanism. The beauty of the valley
is its open space. Why should it be spoiled by sprawl and development.”
A new political force
FOAV will also look beyond the Animas Valley and into growth
issues elsewhere in the county in coming months. Parsons noted
that the group recently adopted a mission statement that calls
for addressing growth impacts and preserving Durango’s sense
of community, quality of life and natural setting.
“That mission statement takes us beyond the valley, but
we haven’t decided how we’re going forward with it,”
Parsons said.
Nobman added, “We are interested in what’s going
on in the rest of the county, and we’re looking into some
issues.”
Looking back on River Trails Ranch, Parsons noted that it was
the luck of the draw but the Friends of the Animas Valley has
grown into a strong La Plata County voice.
“I think that Friends of the Animas Valley, and it was
just a matter of timing, has really become a new political force
in the community on growth issues,” she said.
And with an abundance of growth issues currently at hand, Parsons
and Nobman agreed that FOAV will be a familiar presence on Durango’s
streets, in its meeting rooms and in the headlines.
“We’re alive and kicking and continually growing,”
Nobman said.
“Actually we’re just getting ready to kick,”
Parsons concluded.
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