Carbondale Mayor Dan Richardson flips the page to another chapter after opting not to run for a second term.
To be fair, Richardson served for the second part of his predecessor’s term; so, has served close to two terms already. He pointed out that six years is a significant stint in local government and, if he were elected to another term, he would end up serving 10. “And that’s a long time,” he stated.
The departing mayor was born in Glenwood Springs and spent a good part of his childhood on the East Coast. “But, I came back and graduated from Glenwood High,” he explained. “So, I’d say I’m from Glenwood.” He went on to study architecture at University of Colorado Boulder and then landed yet again in the Valley.
Beginning at the ripe age of 27, Richardson served on the Glenwood Springs City Council from 2001 to 2005. “I was kind of the young progressive that the rest of the board didn’t seem to pay much attention to,” he recalled. “It was quite the learning experience.”
Interestingly, Richardson was the lone “no” vote when Glenwood Meadows was slated for approval. “I knew that development would happen on that site, and I wasn’t necessarily opposed to development,” he explained, “but I felt very strongly that that agreement didn’t benefit the city of Glenwood Springs as much as it could.”
“Fast forward to Carbondale, and I feel the opposite,” stated Richardson, who commended the Uniform Development Code (UDC) inherited from the previous board and staff. “What Carbondale did from basically 2013 to 2016 was put a lot of thought into its comprehensive plan and its code. They laid out a plan that most stakeholders, I would argue, felt very good about.”
“So the development we’ve seen in Carbondale has been fast and furious …,” he continued, “but it follows the plan that the community created many years ago.” To that end, the mayor said he feels good about the growth. “I feel really good about the development that has happened, it’s just happened so quickly that it’s caught people by surprise.”
Next, Richardson touched on affordable housing. “As a board we recognized, without a dedicated funding source, that what we would be able to do to put a dent into affordable housing was going to be pretty limited.” He went on to explain that the board used what the UDC and comprehensive plan already laid out and encouraged that kind of development. “We approved several units, hundreds of units really, that are more affordable by design — some of them deed restricted.”
Richardson said that he regrets not “beating the drum about the real estate transfer tax issue sooner.” He explained to The Sopris Sun that, ironically, Colorado’s Taxpayers Bill of Rights (TABOR) prevents voters from having a say in enacting a real estate transfer tax. In his eyes, if local governments had the option to collect such a tax, that money could be allocated to an affordable housing fund, taking away reliance on the state for handouts. “We have the opportunity to generate that locally to help subsidize affordable housing, but TABOR prohibits it and that’s an injustice,” he lamented.
Richardson is going to enjoy his time off on Tuesday nights, but part of him will miss it. “I enjoyed running the meetings,” he told The Sopris Sun. “I enjoyed the dialogue with the community.”
Back in 2016, he felt like he was handed a well-oiled machine and joked his goal at the time was “not to screw things up.” He was able to focus on practicing good governance “and this board in particular allowed us to do that,” he stated.
Richardson considered First Fridays as part of his office hours. “That’s when I got to cruise town and talk to people about whatever it is they had on their mind; all while walking in downtown Carbondale during First Friday.”
The outgoing mayor plans to spend the extra time with his two teen sons and lend the additional bandwidth to his day-job with Ascendigo Autism Services.
“I’m excited to watch Ben [Bohmfalk] at the helm, because I think that he’s going to put me to shame,” Richardson said. “I’m happy to make space for new leadership.”
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