Background information:
In 1975, the City of Durango completed the ‘Heritage for Tomorrow – Plan of Improvement for Downtown Durango.’ This plan defined a long-range comprehensive plan for the Central Business District (CBD) identifying an organization of land uses, circulation and parking and special features that mark Durango as a unique place. That planning effort resulted in some limited implementation measures over the years.

In 1983 the City of Durango adopted the Design Guidelines for the downtown CBD. The Guidelines were initially organized to identify three design districts: Main Avenue, Second Avenue and Camino Del Rio. The design districts remain as a part of the current Design Guidelines organizational structure. Over the years, the Guidelines have been improved upon with minor revisions. Currently, the City is undergoing a significant revision to the downtown Design Guidelines. This revision should be completed prior to the initiation of the Downtown Vision and Strategic Plan.

The 1997 Comprehensive Plan for Durango refers to the ‘Downtown Area Plan’ as defining the long-term development of the area between 15th Street, Highway 160/550, the Animas River and east of the Third Avenue Historic District. The ‘Downtown Area Plan’ document was never completed, although a preliminary vision map of the downtown was developed. The intent of the Area Plan was to increase the public open spaces along the Animas River and reinforce the idea of a strong downtown with a government anchor on the north and tourism anchors on the south. The Area Plan was to define Main Avenue as having more intensive commercial and entertainment uses and East Second Avenue as more compatible uses with the residential neighborhoods to the east. This is essentially true today.

Since the late 1990’s, Durango and La Plata County have experienced a sustained growth surge. This increase in growth is occurring as small-scale infill development within the City limits, and to a greater extent, large developments along the fringes of the urban area. The result of this new growth has defined a number of challenges in the community, including increased traffic congestion as well as increased market pressures on local downtown merchants. In response to these changes, many interested citizens and local business people in the downtown have raised concerns as to the future long-term impacts that this growth may have on local downtown businesses.