Downtown Design Plan

With the completion of the City’s Comprehensive Plan in 2017, the City has a strong vision moving forward. Several tasks in the Comprehensive Plan relate to revitalization of the downtown. The next step in realizing several of those tasks is completing a Downtown Design Plan and Preliminary Engineering. Council authorized staff to submit a grant application to DOLA through the Mineral Impact Program on August 2, 2017 for the project. The City was successful with its grant application and received $100,000, which was matched by $100,000 in the 2018 Annual Budget.

The Advisory Committee participated in the selection process that resulted in the hiring of MIG, Inc and worked with MIG, Inc. throughout the year-long planning process. The Downtown Design Plan summarizes the process that was utilized including the significant amount of public outreach.

The Downtown on the Rio Design Plan provides a framework for the redevelopment of Downtown Alamosa with a necessary emphasis on how the spaces throughout downtown can be woven together to create vibrant new public destinations, new spaces for public art, great streets, festival sites and opportunities for developing exciting new businesses, shops and restaurants.  The Design Plan builds upon Alamosa’s previous planning studies, and reference successful projects from comparable small towns and tourist destination across Colorado and the intermountain west.

The Design Plan also responded to the community’s desire for enhanced pedestrian and bicycle connections, transit and parking.  Most importantly, the plans for revitalization of the downtown will be uniquely Alamosa- reflecting our cultural heritage, connection to the Rio Grande, railroad history and our unique location as a gateway community to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

In November of 2020, the City received a Governor’s Award for Downtown Excellence in recognition of its creation of a comprehensive, downtown- centric, and revitalization/renewal focused plan for the local community.

The City also received an Honorable Mention for the Plan from the Congress for the New Urbanism, Colorado Chapter in its 2020 Charter Awards.

Advisory Committee


Charlie Griego, Council

Kristina Daniel, Council

Chris Lopez, Planning Commission

David Mize, Planning Commission

Rachel Baird, Alamosa County

Carol Demlo, Downtown Business Owner

Kyra Burke/Erin Keck, Alamosa Chamber of Commerce

Shirley Atencio, ASU

Evert Brown, TSJC

Kale Mortensen, Alamosa Convention & Visitors Bureau

Dan Vaughn, staff

Mark Wright, staff

Heather Brooks, staff

The Project Team

MIG, Inc. @ migcom.com

EPS logo

fox tuttle hernandez logo

MIG, Inc. is a multidisciplinary, participatory planning and design firm that offers a full range of services, including site planning, streetscape design, conceptual design and transit-oriented development planning, general and specific plan preparation, policy planning and development and zoning. Our work is characterized by a dedication to quality, a flexible approach, creativity in planning and design, and a commitment to completing projects on time and within budget. We have worked extensively with public agencies and municipalities locally and nationally on design and planning for future change.

Economic and Planning Systems, Inc. (EPS) is a land economics consulting firm experienced in the full spectrum of services related to real estate development, the financing of public infrastructure and government services, land use and conservation planning, and government organization. EPS was founded on the principle that real estate development and land use-related public policy should be built on realistic assessment of market forces and economic trends, feasible implementation measures, and recognition of public policy objectives, including provisions for required public facilities and services. to ensure that our design plans and strategies are economically viable and strategically aligned to catalyze short-term implementation and realization of a long-term vision.

Fox Tuttle Hernandez Transportation Group (FTH) is a transportation planning and engineering firm that is data driven and focused on safety. FTH is best known for their balanced approach to short and long-range transportation investments with a keen focus on broader community goals. FTH knows that alternatives need to support cultural diversity, have unique identity, and support placemaking for generations to come. FTH's planners and engineers have been implementing multimodal transportation designs with CDOT Region for over two decades. They have successfully worked with a wide range of communities in Colorado to re-envision their aging corridors and prepare them for the modern economy. The FTH team has a reputation for moving communities from vision to implementation by using fun and effective stakeholder involvement.

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