CoorsTek, Inc. – Public Comment Hearing
It’s somewhat unusal to have manufacturing squarely in the middle of a town the size of Golden, but CoorsTek has been located in our historic downtown for more than a century. There will be a public hearing tonight at 7PM in City Hall on their operating permit with regard to air pollution standards. The Colorado Air Quality Control Commission will hold a public hearing to elicit and record comments on a proposed renewal of the Title V Operating Permit for the CoorsTek Inc. 9th Street Facility in Jefferson County located at 600 9th Street, Golden, Colorado. Section 25-7-114.5(6)(b) of the Colorado Revised Statutes provides an opportunity for any interested person to provide comments on the sufficiency of the proposed operating permit’s preliminary analysis and whether the permit application should be approved or denied. More information….
Drinking Beer for a Cause
Stop by Barrels & Bottles tonight between 5 and 8PM to celebrate the release of this year’s batch of Brian Q Pale Boy Ale. $2 for every beer/wine purchased that night will be donated by Barrels & Bottles Brewery and The Golden Group Real Estate Advisors to the Golden Civic Foundation. Live Music from Tim Stiles. Snacks provided.
The Parks, Recreation, and Museum Advisory Board will meet tonight at 7 at the Golden Community Center. Their topics will include changing the Lubahn trail open hours to match those used by Jeffco Open Space; the public process regarding single track sidewalks, and cleaning up the back yard of the Astor House. Learn more by checking their meeting agenda….
Letters to the Editor
I get quite a bit of email from my readers and don’t usually post it, but the City’s Planning Manager felt that I seriously misrepresented the proposed short term rental policies in Saturday’s post. In fairness I thought I would post his comments:
Hi Barb,
I feel the need to correct some of the information in your May 11th post, specifically related to Short Term Rentals (STR). In the future, I would welcome the opportunity to answer questions and clarify such information before you post it and distribute it to your subscribers, as I think we can all agree that this would best serve the community. Please see my comments in blue, below.
And then there’s the short term rental issue…. Some people would like to use part of their house to host AirBnB/VRBO guests, as a way to make money. Others own multiple houses in town and want to rent those to visitors. The new ordinance that Council will decide on May 24th says short term rentals must be owner-occupied…you can’t keep a whole house as an AirBnB. The ordinance as written allows homeowners to rent their whole house as an STR for up to two months per year. Some people already own rental houses and depend on them for income. Is it a “taking” to make an existing business illegal? STRs are currently illegal in Golden, unless you have one of the 12 existing “Tourist Home” permits. Long term rentals, meaning housing units that are rented for terms of 30 days or more, are and will remain legal. If someone is operating a STR illegally, it would not be a “taking” to enforce the existing zoning code. I think this question also misses the larger point. This proposed ordinance would open up the opportunity for most residential properties in Golden to operate a STR, where today there are only a small number of eligible areas of town (mainly R-3 zoning). We aggressively market Golden to tourists, so should we encourage additional tourist housing? Or do businesses just not belong in residential neighborhoods? Some say those houses should only be rented with yearly leases, because the town needs affordable housing. But can we force the owners to rent them at “affordable” rates? I don’t believe that anyone on staff, Commission or Council has stated that property owners should be forced to rent their housing units at “affordable rates.” The conversation that Commission had related to affordability was focused on the owner occupancy requirement. Other cities (including Denver) have seen investors buying up properties throughout the community to use as STRs, which can be very lucrative if located in a popular/desirable area. Golden is obviously a popular/desirable area as well, and the fear is that this will make housing that is available for Golden residents more scarce, drive up housing costs in an already expensive market, and will make market rate housing even more unaffordable than it is currently. In addition, neighbors in these cities have complained that their neighborhood character and connectedness have been diminished by these “mini-hotels” on their blocks. Property rights always have to be balanced with community impacts, and Commission wanted to offer flexibility without harming neighborhood character. Some say a neighborhood full of AirBnB’s is not a neighborhood–it’s a multi-building hotel. Others say at least AirBnB’s tend to be better maintained than many year-round rental properties.
Thank you,
Rick Muriby
Planning Manager – City of Golden
Hi Rick,
That post reported on the various conversations happening in town, and City Staff and Council aren’t the only ones asking questions and having points of view. You may not agree with residents, and you may think they’re misinformed, but that doesn’t stop the conversations.
In fact, one side that I failed to represent in that post was the people who live in neighborhoods (like mine) where Short Term Rentals are about to be permitted. I think there will be a lot of shocked R1 residents who suddenly learn that their neighbors can rent out rooms.
The term “Affordable Housing” is being used to justify all sorts of things right now, from circumventing the growth limit to limiting short term rentals. And yes, I have heard people say that we need to keep those houses available as full-time housing, because people can’t find housing, which makes it unaffordable. And no, we can’t force owners to charge “affordable” rents…which is what makes that argument specious.
I’m very glad to see your comment that “Property rights always have to be balanced with community impacts.” That will certainly be a consideration as we try to preserve the homes in the central core of the city.
Thanks for writing.
Barb Warden
www.goldentoday.com
