Project process and background
Process and timeline
Grant County applied to the AIA for a Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT) in 2019 to provide recommendations for the future of five historical buildings/sites in Grant County. The project was postponed given the global COVID-19 pandemic and was picked up again in 2021. In December 2021, a full Design Assistance Team was deployed to Grant County where they toured all 5 suggested historical locations and
The ongoing pandemic unfortunately constrained the AIA’s ability to hold large-scale community engagement meetings, thereby confining the community’s input opportunities to extremely limited virtual surveying. The team feels strongly that an extensive community engagement process will be a critical element for success once the community begins to move forward with the implementation of the SDAT recommendations.
Acknowledgements
With so much history, it is critical that we acknowledge those who shaped the place Grant County is today. The project area sits on Nde Benah, Traditional Territory of the Chiricahua and Warm Springs Apaches - past and present - through Yusen, the Creator. We honor with gratitude the commitment to protect and steward this Sacred Land by Nde (Apaches) and future generations. We recognize the Chiricahua Apache Tribe’s sovereignty as a self-governing nation. Waves of Spanish, Mexican, Anglo/ European migrants, including miners, farmers, and many others, have continued to build on the rich history and culture, creating countless cultural sites, both sacred and nonsacred.
We also acknowledge that as we strive to work in harmony, past genocide, forced displacement, and racism leave scars that mere acknowledgement and apologies do not heal. This has created physical and institutional structural challenges, collectively known as institutional racism, which survive even as individual racism recedes and which still need to be addressed.
What we heard
We heard from a variety of residents and stakeholders of all ages from all around the county. The responses, along with smaller stakeholder meetings, gave the DAT team an initial understanding of the priorities of the people of Grant County and how to help them work towards their aspirations. General themes include:
- Grant County residents are very proud of their shared past, which blends their Mexican heritage, Indigenous traditions and the Wild West history.
- Survey respondents value the County’s access and proximity to outdoor recreation.
- In 10 years, residents would love to build on the current assets without losing the essence of Grant County.
- Economically, survey respondents emphasized a future Grant County where every town has a thriving downtown that support artists and the outdoor recreation economy. There would be plenty of affordable housing and good jobs that encourage younger people to stay in the county after graduating.
- Physically, there would be multimodal pathways that connect the different attractions and destinations in the region. The trails and bike systems would be first rate.
Additional context
Grant County, New Mexico has amazing stories to tell about its past culture, heritage, and the natural environment. The immediate tangible focus of the Five Points is the restoration of a historic building in five communities- Silver City, Arenas Valley, Santa Clara, Bayard, and Hurley. The goal is to not only restore these buildings, demonstrating the sustainable practice of historic preservation, but also to develop educational, cultural, and community programming around each of them to demonstrate social and economic sustainability that works for the individual community and supports efforts to connect with the greater region. Some important recommendations:
- Lead with equity to ensure that the entire region benefits from new public and private investments and actions. Take into account cultural equity, procedural equity, distributional equity, and structural equity.
- Maintain and improve affordable and attainable housing. While housing in Grant County is less expensive than that of the US or even New Mexico, many residents are housing burdened and this issue should be addressed as development occurs.
- Create economic sustainability; community economic development is focused not merely on creating wealth but rather on creating wealth, community development, and community building that benefits the entire community.
- Use historic preservation as an economic tool to reduce costs due to demolition as well as tax credits from restoring a historical site; plus it can reduce carbon emissions!
Key recommendations
Regional Identity
- Make sure to maintain the individual personality of the towns while building regional links
- Improve regional marketing and wayfinding as a linking element
- Take advantage of art to link the county but also to showcase the region’s rich history and traditions
- Incorporate sustainable practices throughout the region to reduce vulnerabilities and showcase the region’s commitment to sustainability and resilience
- Use streets, parking and trails strategically to link the different towns.
Five points
- Silver City Waterworks
- Focus on: environmental education, propagation of indigenous plants, hospitality
- Consider potential partnerships with the Aldo Leopold Charter School and the botanical gardens to restore indigenous plants
- Remove the metal fence and formalize trail connections
- Consider housing on the upper level of the waterworks site
- Whiskey Creek Zocalo
- Focus on: Hospitality and music
- Leverage as a way to connect Silver City to Santa Clara
- Continue the emphasis on values centered around arts, food and performance throughout development
- Potential for affordable or workforce housing in tiny houses on the site
- Bradley Hotel
- Focus on: Traditional architecture and construction techniques
- Leverage the former hotel as a gateway to the historic Fort Bayard
- Restore soon with proper collaboration to ensure that abode walls are properly restored
- Make sure to create connections with the Mercado, which offers a great opportunity to create spaces and value for visitors and residents alike
- Union Hall
- Focus on: multigenerational learning, civil rights education, community space
- Use for community events and activities: civil rights education, gardening, cooking, bike repair, pottery, weaving, leatherworking, etc.
- Improve wayfinding and make the entrance of the lot more appealing so visitors know that it is an important site and community members feel at home.
- Hurley Train Depot
- Focus on: Metal arts, sculpture, and jewelry-making; outfitters and outdoor recreation
- The train depot can very much serve as a gateway to not only Grant County, but also the Gila region in general. Create a true gateway with grand signage.
- Preserve the history on the walls of the train depot and create a visitor center/ coffee shop. Additional sheds with bikes, canoes, kayaks, etc that can be rented could build and support the outdoor recreation in the region.
- Beyond the depot, create more opportunities for younger travelers to come to and explore Hurley’s main street and the rest of the region.
Fort Bayard
- Given the history and the size of Fort Bayard, more weight should be put on this landmark. The size in and of itself allows for multiple uses.
- There are many buildings that could be turned into affordable housing units (for medium term visitors such as AmeriCorp volunteers), and larger buildings that can be turned into more luxury uses such as spas and other resort-like amenities.
- This will be a decades long redevelopment with various phases, but it could not only diversify the economy of the region, but also generate more interest in exploring the area beyond Silver City.
Beyond Five Points
- Understand and leverage the importance and opportunity of the outdoor recreation economy
- Consider the broader region throughout economic development plans
- Build a simple and coherent regional identity
- Connect your assets and integrate them into a narrative of experiences
- Become a National Heritage Area
- Increase and improve partnerships, not only with neighboring towns, but also non-profit organization, state and local government agencies, and local businesses.
To learn more about these recommendations, read the full report here.