The Town of Westcliffe has been sprucing up and preparing for the future! The Tribune sat down recently with Town Manager Caleb Patterson (CP) to discuss both recent and upcoming changes. The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Q: Letâs start with the basics. What are your roles with the Town of Westcliffe, and what duties do they entail?
CP: I am the Town Manager and also the Building and Zoning Officer. In the past, the town never had a true manager â there was a building and zoning official and a town parks manager. A Town Manager is the chief Administrative Officer for the town. The Board of Trustees (BOT) is the âwhat and the whyâ for town decision-making, and the managerâs role is the âhow and the when,â as well as being supervisor for all employees for the town. I am in charge of planning for the town when it comes to budgets and policies, and I am in charge of Building and Zoning (B & Z) as well â I am hoping to be able to hire that position out for its own department.
Q: How does the Town Manager work with the rest of the town staff, the BOT, and the Planning Commission?
CP: The BOT is the legislative body, I as the manager am the administrative body â the Town Manager works with the BOT, B & Z works with the Planning Commission (PC).
Q: What are some of the major projects that youâve undertaken in the last couple of years?
CP: The renovation of Jess Price Park, which is now complete; street and road infrastructure along Rosita and Adams, EV chargers, the Memorial Park bathrooms, as well as maintenance thatâs been put off, like striping the streets. The Parks Advisory Committee, which is leading the effort to re-visualize the town parks, is also new.
Q: Speaking of Jess Price and the other parks, what are some of the activities you would like to see happening there now?
CP: People sitting down and playing music there whether they have reserved the park or not! We would have to find a way to bypass heavy traffic on 4th and 5th Streets to cut down on traffic noise. Iâd also like to see the Farmerâs Market come back there. We have huge plans for Memorial Park â ideas such as more playground equipment, more trails, more trees, and maybe a bike trail. Weâve got a âmock planâ going â keep an eye out for the new plan and be prepared to give feedback on it.
Q: Talk to us about the Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU) ordinance that Westcliffe just passed (allowing them as a use by right within certain parameters). What does it mean for the town, and will it help with housing availablity/affordability within the town limits?
CP: We already have some ADUs â they do very well to provide income for homeowners and provide affordable housing for single people. We have a younger demographic moving in to town, and ADUs are a great housing option for them. As far as building one, you can start from scratch or transform a shed or garage. Financing for ADU construction could be a challenge to getting them built, so I am working on suggestions for homeowners to make it more feasible for them. One of the resolutions I tried to get passed was to delay permit and other fees for ADUs, but the delayment passed by the BOT was only for town-owned lots.
Q: Have recent changes in state legislation relating to zoning and land use codes affected your job?
CP: Not really â most of the changes at the state level affect towns with a population of 1,000 or more. We have a pretty old Land Use Code â the PC is looking at redoing it, to allow for more multifamily housing zones, with maybe a new commercial district along Highway 69, and more changes to the core commercial district codes to allow, say, for looser setbacks, which can lead to more housing above restaurants and other businesses.
Q: You are working on a grant application from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA). What is that for?
CP: This is an infrastructure grant that I asked the BOT if they wanted us to go for, which they agreed to. This grant is to get water and sewage infrastructure into the six-block area south of town that hasnât been able to get it yet. The area got reduced to a four-block radius by the BOT, but the plan remains to go forward with the application. The goal is to get more housing stock into the town. I will be advising the BOT on how to do housing plans there â the plan is for higher-density housing that still looks like Westcliffe.
Q: You and the PC have been working on the townâs Master Plan (an advisory document that provides vision for a municipality). Why does the town need one?
CP: The Master Plan provides direction. If you donât have direction, your organization, whether itâs a town or a corporation or a nonprofit, doesnât do well. You could call it a wishlist for the future.
Q: How do you deal with opposition to the master plan, and housing development in general?
CP: We need to make a plan that allows for growth without losing our identity. With regard to the recent opposition to proposed zoning changes â people just want to be heard. You have to provide empathy, putting yourself into their shoes. We all kind of run off fear a lot â if weâre not fully informed, we are going to be running off fear a lot. With regard to planning, we have to ask â do you want sprawl across the county, or do you want more densely-populated areas centered around the town? What do you want the town to look like?
Q: What would you like to see for the future?
CP: Iâd like to see our main street get closed more often for special events. Halloween was the first, it was a great success. Iâd like to see more attractions in the parks and street closure events in the winter â we donât have many tourist attractions during the winter. I want to see the town of Westcliffe be the most popular small town to visit in Southern Colorado, and our local economy developing as a result. Our businesses need it â we lost five businesses in the last year. People tell me, thatâs normal â why is that normal? We need these businesses. We need a local economy.
Q: Anything else youâd like to add?
CP: At the end of the day, I donât decide what happens in the town â the BOT is the legislative body that decides the townâs direction, my job is to enact it. I would like to see our core commercial area go down all the way to Adams Street. We would like to fill in empty lots in the town. I think the town is open to more development â I would encourage people to look at the new master plan when it comes out. With regard to attainable and workforce housing, Westcliffe, Silver Cliff, and the county are all working together on a housing needs assessment. Intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) can be tricky at times â itâs probably best that Westcliffe work on its own lots first. Towns are meant to grow â if they donât, they die.
â Elliot Jackson