Better bike trails, spiffed-up alleys, safer walkways
Taos council considers downtown improvement plan based on Strong at Heart
Tuesday’s (June 25) town council meeting was chockfull of items relating to future economic development as the council approved and adopted the Strong at Heart strategy report developed by a nonprofit group after more than a year of talking with people in the community.
Councilors spoke for hours both at their workshop on Monday ( June 24) and meeting on Tuesday about the future of Taos and the hopes of creating a better community through the various projects that have been completed and are in the process. From the town’s capital improvement plan to the newly formed MainStreet group, Taos could be seeing some changes in the downtown area to boost the local economy.
“This has been a long process,” said marketing and tourism director Karina Armijo. “In the end we not only have this beautiful document but we are getting ready to adopt this and see where this takes us.”
Strong at Heart began in 2016 when representatives from the town attended a training session in Colorado. The result saw a grant for community development which was used for the Strong at Heart surveys and meetings. Taos community members had several opportunities from 2017 to 2018 to give their input on what they wanted Taos to look like in the future.
Strong at Heart has now produced a document that provides examples of a new bicycle trail network, cleaning up and repairing alleyways and other projects the town can undertake to improve the downtown area.
The document will be used alongside Vision 2020, an older planning document, when the town is looking to complete projects listed on the infrastructure capital improvement plan.
“Now we get to actually implement some of the projects,” said councilor Nathaniel Evans. “The potential is here and I’m really excited for us to keep this dialogue open, but this is just the beginning.”
Real estate broker Mark Yaravitz raised some questions about the adoption of the document and asked if there was a plan in place to implement some of the projects.
“I’ve witnessed many, many versions of Strong at Heart with different labels over the last 20 years that are probably on the shelf in the manager’s office,” he said. “Many good ideas were in there. I have yet to see the implementation of these great ideas.”
Yaravitz’s comments were answered in part by former planning and zoning chairman Jim Pollard, who is now working for the Taos MainStreet program.
MainStreet is a nationwide organization specifically made up to bring revitalization to downtown areas, Pollard said. Taos gained their MainStreet designation recently after taking part in the accelerator program of MainStreet.
Pollard said MainStreet will focus primarily on some of the goals and projects highlighted by the Strong at Heart document and will work with the town and local volunteers to make them happen. While there is no definitive date on the projects, Pollard said the program has already been making changes around town, including painting the traffic barrier poles on Barela Lane.
“This is how things get implemented,” Pollard said.
MainStreet will be operating on a $90,000 budget, not including their projects, and around $35,000 will come from the town of Taos.
During the meeting, the council also heard a resolution proposed by councilor Pascualito Maestas about the safety of the Gorge Bridge.
Maestas drafted the resolution to send to the state about adding safety measures on the fence of the bridge to discourage people from jumping off it to end their lives. In his proposal, Maestas used the mockups presented to the town in an October meeting hosted by the New Mexico Department of Transportation.
Maestas wants a tall fence along the bridge railing to be a top priority for the state agency as a deterrent to suicide.
Mayor Dan Barrone agreed. “We would rather be known for bringing people together in the plaza with music events than bringing people because somebody decided to end their life on the bridge,” said Barrone.