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Pagosa Springs faces retail reality

A small store for Wal-Mart, a big change for town

A Walmart Supercenter is under construction on the west side of town, despite strong opposition from a group of local residents.

Pagosa Springs and Archuleta County officials welcome the store, believing it will boost sales-tax revenues by about $1 million a year and keep Pagosa Springs residents from driving to Durango for goods.

Construction is well underway, and the store is on track for a March opening, said Town Planner James Dickhoff. The facade is readily visible from U.S. Highway 160.

“Obviously, we’re going to be keeping those sales-tax dollars in the community,” he said.

Although the 94,000-square-foot store is among the smallest the Arkansas-based retail giant builds, it will become Pagosa Springs’ largest store.

It also completes a regional ring of Walmarts, adding to existing stores in Durango, Cortez and two in Farmington. Archuleta County has only 12,194 residents, according to a 2013 U.S. Census Bureau estimate.

As elsewhere, Walmart Inc. faced stiff local opposition in Pagosa Springs. Opponents formed a group, Pagosa First, that lobbied against the store. A series of public hearings in 2012 brought out critics.

One local resident, Bill Hudson, penned a series of six anti-Walmart columns for the news website Pagosa Daily Post. The series’ title: “Satan comes knocking.”

The opposition stemmed from intangible fears Pagosa would lose a vital part of its character in the name of rolling back prices.

“Pagosa First is a group of folk who really love and care for Pagosa Springs. They are still doing their best, now that Walmart is a reality, to work towards creating a thriving and prosperous Pagosa that retains the uniqueness and character of our small town,” the group said in a prepared statement.

Some local residents, though, welcome the ubiquitous corporation.

“For low-income people like me, it helps,” said Caroline Lee, age 61. “It’s affordable.”

Lee said she suffered a stroke earlier this year that leaves her unable to drive. She’s looking forward to using public transportation to get to Walmart.

A message to Walmart requesting comment was not returned.

The store will add to a string of retail sprawl that dominates Pagosa’s west side. Locals call it Uptown, as distinguished from the more historic downtown.

Uptown has a City Market, Wyndham time-shares and a plenty of chain restaurants such as McDonald’s. Downtown is home to a pair of hot springs resorts, government offices and small shops and restaurants.

Pagosa Springs’ edges have developed with little regard for modern principles of urban design such as density and compatibility with pedestrians and bicyclists. Traffic on U.S. Highway 160 often slows to a two-lane crawl on the west side.

Dickhoff said the town is working to better integrate the big-box side of town with downtown.

“There’s definitely a lot of effort toward that dynamic,” Dickhoff said.

Pagosa Springs is starting on segments of a trail in Uptown and downtown. The town hopes to connect the two segments within five years, forming a 4.5-mile link.

cslothower@durangoherald.com

Architectural drawings (PDF)



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