Letter from Durango Transportation Director

In late September the BNA communicated with several City of Durango officials regarding the process for implementing a residential parking permit program. One response came in via email from Transportation Director Sarah Hill. With her permission, we are publishing it here.

The Comprehensive Parking Management Plan was adopted January 17, 2023 (the meeting documents and recording can be found here). Since its adoption, we have begun to implement several of the plan’s recommendations. The recommendations that have been prioritized this year have low impact on the adopted 2023 budget and fit within staff’s capacity to complete in this calendar year immediately following the adoption of the plan. Many of the “quick wins” are in process (updated website, code changes, increased communications, and mobile payments research). We will continue to pursue implementation of the plan’s short- and long-term recommendations over the course of the next several years.

The overall concept of a Neighborhood Parking Permit Program was identified as “short term.” As you know, the neighborhood east of the CBD was identified as eligible to bypass data collection and possibly move forward more quickly since it meets the base conditions outlined for eligibility on pages 44-47 of the plan. To accommodate the implementation of a parking permit program, the Transportation Department will coordinate with Community Development to update the required amendments to the City’s Comprehensive Plan.  Community Development is currently updating some of the foundational parking requirements in Article III of the City’s Code of Ordinances, which have to be in place in order to accommodate the permit programs. We anticipate that phase to be complete by early 2024, and we will then begin the process of identifying the integrated neighborhoods where individual permit programs can exist. We will be careful not to create a situation where we simply move a perceived parking problem to an adjacent area without their involvement, and we are committed to hosting a robust community engagement process for impacted neighborhoods. We will do an assessment of the administration costs that the program will incur and those will be included in one of the department’s future budget requests to City Council. The current Parking Division structure is not set up to accommodate enforcement at night or during the weekend. Significant staff changes will have to be examined along the way to ensure that a program can be enforced, budgeted for, and a fee structure developed to keep it cost neutral.

Thank you,
Sarah Hill
Director- Transportation Department

Whose Boulevard Neighborhood?

As proposals from the City have been released detailing possible changes to come at the intersection of 15th Street and East Third Avenue, current and former neighbors have started to weigh in. No one denies changes are necessary- and that the already heavy flow of traffic from Florida Road will increase in coming years as developments out there do too, necessitating consideration beyond the five or ten year mark for solutions that will suit today and last tomorrow.

Former Third Avenue resident John Glover submitted a thoughtful letter to the BNA, which was read and well-received at the Summer Gathering. We share it here with an invitation to share your thoughts via Comments below, or by submitting a letter of your own.

It takes a village to create a neighborhood. The more voices that are raised and heard will help create a Boulevard neighborhood more enjoyable for residents and visitors to our street.

Though I am not a Current resident of 3rd Avenue I was for a long time, a
long time ago. It was enough years ago that I can remember what it was
like before so many of the neighborhood values were subordinated by the
outsized emphasis placed on 3rd Avenue becoming a “thoroughfare” or
automotive transportation corridor for the City of Durango. The Residents
of 3rd Ave are experiencing/suffering the undesirable traffic consequences of all the development up Florida Road (Edgemont Ranch-100’s of homesites, to name just one growth area).

The objective should be to restore 3rd Avenue to its preeminent position of being Durango’s showpiece boulevard. Neighborhood activists should demand that commuting traffic be actively discouraged from coming through their beautiful, once serene, residential neighborhood.

Has a noise level study been done? And what are the health benefits of
reduced traffic noise, or conversely health consequences of increased
traffic noise? Has the increase in pollution levels been studied for an
increase in traffic? Pedestrian safety? Decrease in social interaction?
Other communities have studied this and the resulting consequences that I found quickly are all unhealthy. Third Avenue does have a bike lane but with no physical barrier between cyclists and the oftentimes huge SUV or pick ups that people choose makes the choice to ride a bike is not a safe option.
I would suggest:
Consider blocking altogether the option to join Florida Road from 3rd
Avenue and 15th.
Or:
Divert as much traffic to Camino Del Rio by disallowing left hand turns
on 3rd Avenue from southbound traffic of Florida Road.
Or:
Create a way for the northbound traffic on 3rd Ave to have a less
convenient way to begin “up” Florida Road.
And:
Enhance Florida Road to 15th & 2nd Ave, as well as 14th to Camino del Rio to “full on” thoroughfares. A traffic light at 15th & Main and allowable left-hand turn at that corner ought to happen before a roundabout that gets people easily onto Third Avenue’s residential boulevard.

Sincerely,

John Glover

A Bit of BNA History

A simple telling of the BNA history states that the organization was founded in the early 1980’s by a group of neighbors desiring a place for the street on the US National Register of Historical Places. But before this happened, two women who lived a century apart in the same house on the Boulevard helped pave the way for where the BNA is today. This is a bit of their story.

Estelle McNeil was a young Connecticut woman who fell in love with her brother’s business partner, Alfred Camp. The two men were what you might call early venture capitalists- starting banks in Del Norte, Animas City, and Durango to help finance economy spurred by the railroads. Nothing is known of the courtship between Estelle and Alfred, but I suppose, in part, he lured her west with the promise of a nice place to live, along Durango’s first designated residential street.

When Estelle’s house was built, the street was a long way from being called The Boulevard, as there were very few homes and the median was desolate of trees. Estelle would help change this, bringing two silver maple saplings in a suitcase from Connecticut to plant in front of her home, which she moved into on New Years Day 1884. Later, among her many civic endeavors, she would lead a tree planting campaign to beautify the street and median. The rows of tall trees now shading our landscape in summer and setting it ablaze in autumn were but a vision for Estelle, who died in 1948. The local Arbor Day Foundation honored her thirty years later by planting a silver maple in her name in the 900 block.

From 1970, Elizabeth Bushnell made Estelle’s house her home, lured by ample space in which she and her husband could raise their four children. Elizabeth initially despised the Victorian style of the house: “it was gruesome… everything was landlord green and ‘Pepto Bismal’ pink,” she said. But as she brightened the decor and tended the garden, the house and neighborhood grew on her. A decade later she dove into study of Victorian architecture, filling notebooks with descriptions of the various surrounding styles. She made acquaintance with one Mr. Smith, who lived his whole life on East Third Avenue, enlisting his memory for anecdotal details. Then Elizabeth, or Betty as she was informally known, began sharing this new-ish love for her neighborhood, guiding walking tours along the Boulevard. One of her early guests asked why some of the homes or the street itself wasn’t historically registered, and thus was catalyzed the idea of accomplishing just that. Other neighbors had long desired recognition for their homes, so many joined in the work of recording details of structures along the Boulevard which could contribute to eligibility for the Register. The Boulevard Neighborhood Association was officially formed with the motto “We Have a Plan!” and the first item of business was accomplished October 11, 1984 when East Third Avenue was added to the National Historical Register.

Kristen Phillips, Vice President
Boulevard Neighborhood Association

Musings on a Boulevard Summer

June is the month that ends all arguments.

Early mornings might feel like it’s still spring, but Memorial Day has called it a wrap and now the curtain is officially up for summer. Kids are on bikes riding to softball practice; teens are wrist deep into tubs of ice cream serving the first wave of tourists serious about seats on the train. And Boulevard residents are shoring up for the season, seeing “their” parking spot on the street take a leave of absence.

But don’t we love being Durango’s unofficial hosts to an international crowd eager to spend a few days in the paradise we are privileged to call home?

The Boulevard has been my home for nearly 45 years. I’m still gardening at the same house where my now adult sons were born, in the only neighborhood they have ever known. The toddler who was kicking away in the stroller when the Boulevard Neighborhood Association was founded is now before the City Council weighing in on legal matters that could impact the families of his childhood friends—folks who still live within our residential historic district.

Most of the homeowners have changed as the GIS maps prove we have welcomed transplants from more than a dozen states, but a core still hangs together in Durango’s oldest neighborhood. We love it here.  We show that in our activism. Now some of the next generation, (the children of those who knocked on doors to have East Third Avenue placed on the National Register of Historic Places ) meet monthly around the conference table. Sometimes in the park the whole membership puts their heads together, hearing from officials, hosting others from Durango. They, too, are our neighbors. What happens to them, happens to us.

It’s true when they say “ The days are long, but the years are short.” Just yesterday I put in a call to Durango’s code enforcement on behalf of a member who has grown frustrated with the tall weeds at the rental property on her block. Feels a little like Groundhog Day, I told the officer. Haven’t we had this conversation before?

Indeed we have, he said. Then he thanked me, said that we could tackle this together, that the City, too, recognizes the pride and concern we share in this special neighborhood.

When I hung up I reminded myself that while the Boulevard is a unique neighborhood with special challenges, it is not that different from all neighborhoods in our charming, changing city. It is made up of a diverse group of people who want to come home to their sanctuaries each night, break bread, reflect on the day and retire to recharge their batteries for the next.

We welcome you to this first issue of our monthly newsletter, which will be a regular feature of our new website. If you are not a member of the Boulevard Neighborhood Association, stick around. Get to know us and learn how we came together, what we do and why.

Consider this to be your cup or morning coffee shared over the fence. Join in the conversation. We are glad you are here.

Karen Brucoli Anesi, President

Boulevard Neighborhood Association