BNA Year Review ‘20-’21
This address, prepared by BNA Board President Karen Anesi, is an overview of the activity and undertakings of the BNA in a typical year.
The Boulevard Neighborhood Association’s first outdoor annual meeting was in 2020, right here at Mason Park, a Meet & Greet with Durango’s newly arrived City Manager, Jose Madrigal. Attendees
welcomed him with their shared observations about long-standing Boulevard problems: Not enough
parking, uneven enforcement of code issues, speeding cars, and the future of the Mason school
park/property. Two new directors were elected: Kristen Bushnell Philips and Tom Darnell. They filled the board terms of Kristen Jensen and Brie Stahnke, both of whom left Durango due to job transfers. During the peak of Covid, Directors Tony Rocha and Karen Anesi, both with the Colorado Medical Reserve Corp, helped with vaccine distribution at the LaPlata County Fairgrounds and informally called Boulevard residents to assist with obtaining vaccination appointments. Not until all five directors were vaccinated did directors begin in-person monthly board meetings on the first Wednesday of each month. President Tony Rocha traded the gavel for the pen, becoming the BNA secretary. Karen Anesi was elected president, Kristen Bushnell Phillips became vice president and Mike Todt continued as treasurer.
The BNA, Inc was incorporated in 1986. Its mission is closely tied to its designation as a National Historic Residential Neighborhood. The operative word within this designation is residential. Similar to World Heritage Sights, designations like these are not permanent and can be taken away as swiftly as they are endowed.
Our historic zone overlay extends from one end of the Boulevard to the other, from alley to alley and it
includes the houses, buildings, churches, schools, the median and the trees on that median. The City’s
Historical Preservation Board, known as the HPB is the City Council appointed board that makes
recommendations to the City regarding preservation issues . Its presence has evolved from that of a
strict enforcer for adherence to the Secretary of the Interior’s Design Standards to a board whose role is
in part to educate and encourage, rather than enforce. Homes in this neighborhood or those who own
historic designated properties within the City are familiar with the HPB. The BNA is not the enforcer of our local ordinance, but some in the community credits or blames the BNA for all things controversial within this realm.
The BNA, like the HPB has also evolved, however its mission has not changed in 35 years. It’s to preserve and protect within this zone overlay and to curb what is arguably the biggest threat to its residential historical designation: commercial encroachment from the downtown. The BNA also has evolved in its practice of educating and encouraging civic involvement. One resident pushed hard for many years to have us become a 501c3 non-profit. That was finally achieved in 2016. In spite of the time it takes to file tax returns, and our having to periodically remind each other that to maintain our status as an educational non-profit we are prohibited from lobbying, we appreciate having this status. 4 th Ave resident and, CPA, JoAnn Hards, who is a member of our Friends of the BNA, is reviewing how to make this time-consuming tax-filing easier for treasurer, Mike Todt.
Has the pandemic slowed us down? Hardly. Because of the convenience of Zoom, one or more of the
BNA Directors typically attends hearings, reviews recordings or participates in information meetings
concerning the following city- wide issues that potentially impact the Boulevard: Durango Renewal
Partnership because of its potential impact on the historic zone overlay, Mason Center Park
Improvement because it is within the zone overlay, Multi-Modal Transportation Plan, Multi plex zoning
in established neighborhoods and the HPB, including referring residents on the Boulevard to City staff
when they seek advice about code.
In 2021 members came to BNA Board meetings, called or have sent correspondence seeking advice on
this incomplete list of concerns. It is in no particular order: general code enforcement questions and
complaints, the need for the City to be divided into precincts for better representation on specific
neighborhood issues, the sale of the 9R Administration Building to the Durango Fire Protection District, illegal multi-plex density concerns, potential impact for commercialization triggered by a church boundary adjustment, Mason Park building demolition and re-use of property, criticism of ineffective placement of street signage, long- term RV parking violations within the public right of way, questions regarding how tax-incremental financing –as used by the Urban Renewal Authority, the use of eminent domain to obtain property from the train, concerns re City’s homeless population congregating in Boulevard alleys, Complaints about commercial signage erected on the median and in the city right of way, observations about City watering schedule of the median, concerns about median tree selection
and replacement, demolition by neglect, specifically destruction of the retaining walls on north end of
the median caused by weeds, request by Ohana Kuleana to support a community garden at Mason Park, the threat of losing 2nd Ave downtown parking lots to work force housing, membership recruitment to bring in the next generation of BNA leadership, placement of flashing yellow speed warning alerts, the impact of downtown restaurant bump-outs on the downtown parking space inventory and FINALLY-- the potential for a parking garage downtown in what we Directors refer to as the Big Hole on East Second Avenue.
One member asked the BNA to provide address information so citizens could more easily contact
elected officials. To that end, Director Kristen Bushnell Philips compiled a how-to-access directory that
she will be talking about later in the meeting.
Another member pointed out that the canopy of trees on the median appear to be more stressed and
that tree replacement of the monoculture, once overseen by the City’s Forestry Board, is no longer
happening. Because this is a central issue impacting all residents and one that can have decades’ long
consequences, there’s talk about forming an ad hoc committee to delve into how to best address this
concern.
Ad hoc committees are new to the BNA and we’re impressed with what two neighborhood residents
that we appointed to our first ad hoc committee in 2021 have done to influence the evolution of the
space we’re using today. More on this, too, later in the report.
No issue took more time and resources than the surprise real estate transaction, not within our historic
zone overlay, but adjacent to the district. The 9R sale of its school property to the Durango Fire Protection District remains contentious and polarizing. The DFPD Fire Chief met with our Board on July 20 th . Hal Doughty described the obstacles that confronted his search for a place to house a downtown fire department. Remaining on the riverfront was no longer an option, he said. Directors drilled down on the details, asking how impacts to the neighborhood could be mitigated. We found his answers to be candid and forthcoming.
We were asked by one resident to figure out what it would take to pause the sale and secondly, to
create a forum for the community at large, with the purpose of resolving where to put the fire station
and what should instead move into the 9R building. Addressing those two specific requests was outside
our mission, BNA Directors unanimously agreed. However, the board remained vigilant-- confirming that a public hearing process would allow for full public participation. Board members continue to correct a plethora of misinformation regarding this issue.
The BNA sponsored an August Sunday afternoon Q & A with the DFPD. Its purpose was to flush out neighborhood concerns. The Fire Chief said he wanted to face the neighbors who would ask him the toughest questions. We agreed.
We asked Chief Doughty to pay personal visits to folks residing in the block that would be most directly impacted, something he had already initiated. Through an invitation published in the Durango Herald we invited the public to attend the Sunday afternoon Q&A, facilitated by the Fire Chief. We used old fashioned email to notify 77 on our email list, most of whom live on E. Second, E. Third and E. 4th Avenues and some who reside in the downtown. 30 of those emails went to present BNA members.
As interest in what happens on the Boulevard grows, and increasing numbers request to stay in the BNA loop, we are now considering a mail service, such as Male Chimp. Vice President, Director Kristen Phillips is heading up this more efficient communication effort. In the meantime, while we continue to receive feedback re the fire station, we remind members that there is no consensus on the 9R sale to the DFPD, therefor no endorsement from this board.
We talked about neighbors to the west of us, but the cause for real celebration is with the neighbors to
our east. Families on East Fourth joined us en masse at a planning for the future of the Mason property,
a Park and Rec Zoom meeting held in January of 2021. The BNA position to preserve this as a park
appears to be supported by City officials-- at least for now-- but nothing is a done deal. We expect this
item to remain on our radar screen as other special interests have their eye on this parcel. Our
gratitude goes to Jessica Kroll and JoAnn Hards, 13 th Street and 4 th Avenue residents who stepped up to the plate to serve on this Ad Hoc committee and who have reported back to the Board. We’re
appreciative of their help.
Thanks to Tony Rocha taking the reigns for our annual, Christmas Eve luminaria, we were able to once
again celebrate with this long-standing BNA contribution to the community.
2021 also marks the year that two additional frequently raised Boulevard item may get addressed. We
think it was prior to 2012 that local historian, Duane Smith, first called the BNA and said it was about
time that the name “The Boulevard” was restored to East Third Avenue. No one recalls if he gave us the
year the city numbered Durango’s streets and thus the name” Boulevard” was changed to East Third,
but we know this idea gets tossed to the front burner every few years by at least one BNA member. We
looked at it in 2014 and 2016 but red tape interfered with our efforts. Recently the City of Durango
adopted a policy that may be tailor made for an initiative like this if—and only if-- the neighborhood
wants to move forward on pursuing this item. We can’t take credit for getting the policy on the City’s
drawing board, but we recognize that timing is everything. It’s on today’s agenda because we want to
hear your opinions first if we are going to pull the pin by writing a nomination letter to the City to
initiate this public process. Director Tom Darnell will facilitate that discussion later in the agenda.
The second issue that is addressed every few years is a Boulevard-wide update of how many homes are
NOT owner occupied or are owned from out- of- town property holders. Several years ago one BNA
Board member did an exhaustive parcel by parcel examination through the county tax records. We
were told by city officials that our approximately 50% non-owner occupied profile was not atypical, and that other neighborhoods in Durango were seeing the same changes in occupancy. Immediately before the onset of the pandemic, directors briefly discussed how to urge out- of -town homeowners to better care for their sidewalks and lawns. Among the suggestions were to provide names of local snow
shoveling and yard maintenance services. Updating data concerning occupancy is a critical need in our
neighborhood. We could use volunteer assistance.
Finally, the Boulevard is impacted by all that affects every neighborhood in the city –and then some. Our five directors are active in a number of local efforts. They are not strangers to community involvement which includes their participation in activities with the Business Improvement District, the Historic Preservation Board, the Plans and Action Team on Homelessness (PATH), Trails 2000, Neighbors in Need Alliance Steering Committee, Manna Board of Directors and community arts special events during the summer. It helps the BNA when all have a finger on the pulse of our wider community.
With the exception of one, we are all senior citizens. We ask for and need your help and that is one reason we are setting up ad hoc committees so you can make short, rather than long-term
commitments. Our association is one of the longest, continuing surviving associations in La Plata County. We serve with pleasure, but we also know the grim reaper is in our rear- view mirrors.
On that happy note, let’s move on with our annual meeting!
Karen Brucoli Anesi,
President
