Virtual Events
6-6:55AM Virtual Dynamic Circuit
8:30-9:30AM Virtual Power Training
10-10:55AM All Levels Yoga Virtual
12-12:30PM Mondays with Mayor Weinberg
4-4:30PM Kids Martial Arts Class
Real World Events
9-11AM Community Noise Roundtable Monthly Meeting
9:15-9:45AM Toddler Time @ Golden Library
10AM, 1PM, and 4PM Wild West Short Tour
10:15-10:45AM Let’s Dance @ Golden Library
12-4PM Stitch’n B*tch @ Golden Quilt Company
1-3PM Wild West Walking Tour
5:30-8:30PM LIT: Let’s Ignite Together @ Foothills Art Center
6:30PM Golden Anti-Racism Collective Policy & Policing
6:30PM GURA Board Meeting @ City Hall
HOUSING STUDY
The Affordable Housing Coordinator will continue making the rounds of boards and commissions, describing the Housing Needs and Strategies study and gathering comments and questions from each group. So far, she has presented to City Council, the Golden Chamber, and the Planning Commission. Tonight she will meet with the Golden Urban Renewal Authority.
The study shows that most working people in Golden commute out of the city for work, and most people who are employed in Golden live elsewhere and commute in. According to the study, our objective should be to have enough housing so that everyone who works in Golden can live within the City limits (not Pleasant View, not Lookout Mountain, not unincorporated Jeffco, etc.).
Going with that assumption, the study concludes that Golden will need 3100 additional homes in Golden within the next 10 years. Many of those dwelling units will need to be “affordable.”
Demographics
The City Council discussion focused on the over-abundance of students and seniors using our housing supply. The Mayor wondered how seniors could be encouraged to vacate their homes to make room for working families (go to 1 hour 20 minutes). The study suggests building more senior housing to “induce some older households to move from single-family homes to free up such housing for households with children or prime working age households.”
Regulations
The study suggests that we make affordable housing projects more economically feasible by easing regulations. As an example, the city might allow developers to provide less parking for affordable projects. Council also discussed eliminating the 1% growth limit for affordable housing projects.
Density
Council would like to see a dramatic increase in Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), so we could house more people in our existing stock of single family homes. One complication is that about half of our single family homes are in Homeowners Associations (HOAs) or Planned Unit Developments that do not allow ADUs (literally, “Not in My Backyard”). Council discussed whether the city (or perhaps the state) could override those rules.
FLOOD CONTROL
GURA will also discuss the proposed design for Lena Gulch flood control. The meeting packet includes a very interesting letter from long-time resident Preston Driggers. He points out that the proposed design would turn an important historical site into a retention pond while relieving several multi-million dollar corporations of any responsibility for mitigating their own flood hazards.
7-9PM Golden Concert Choir Rehearsals Begin @ Calvary Episcopal Church
Golden History Moment
93 Years Ago
The September 12, 1929 Colorado Transcript announced that the Golden Cemetery was getting a new metal sign, “…with the words ‘Golden Cemetery,’ which will be mounted over the two gate posts at the cemetery. This was secured through the efforts of William Woods, Golden mortician.“
I wondered whether that same sign had lasted all these years, so I searched old Transcripts for any word of the sign being replaced since then. No indication there. Then I moved on to the Golden History Museum’s photo collection. They had one showing what appears to be the current sign in 1989.
Finally, I checked the Denver Public Library’s Western History collection, and eureka! I found a photo of the Golden Cemetery sign taken in 1935, when the W.P.A. was cleaning up the cemetery and building a new office.
That sign is distinctly different, and is probably the one that was fabricated in 1929.
Thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!
