The Growth Limit
On Sunday, I wrote about Golden’s 1% Growth Limit and where we have and have not adhered to it. I wrote that 200 senior housing units had been exempted from the growth limit; that Early Starts for Transit Developments and Affordable Housing sometimes mean that we increase our housing by more than 1% in a given year (though the developers must eventually acquire the housing allocations), that commercial developments such as hotels are not covered by the 1% limit, and that none of the housing built by the School of Mines falls under our growth limit.
City Staff has asked me to clarify my statement about 200 senior housing exemptions.
1) Although Golden Pond received exemptions for all 116 of their units, they didn’t really need them for the 80 assisted living units, because they could be counted as “beds” rather than “dwelling units.” So there were really only 36 exemptions for Golden Pond.
2) The Millstone development received 72 exemptions but was not senior housing. It was “downtown housing,” which was also granted a one-time exemption when the growth limit was adopted.
3) Some projects received senior exemptions, which allowed them to start building without delay, but later swapped them out for regular housing allocations. This includes Clear Creek Commons (45 units), 12th and Ulysses (24 units) and Epoque (11 senior exemptions swapped so far, with plans to swap their remaining 22 senior exemptions).
Finally, although all Mines housing is exempt from our growth limit, it’s worth noting that their new residence hall will count as 416 “beds” rather than “dwelling units.” The new sophomore apartment building will be 107 “dwelling units.”
EDComm
The Economic Development Commission meets at 6:30 tonight at 1445 10th Street (map). They will discuss the new “Local Awareness Campaign.” This new program will replace Golden Business News and will be somewhat scaled down–5 posts per week instead of 7, and some of the 5 will appear on Instagram or Facebook rather than arriving as emails. See the agenda for more details….
Golden Beer Talks
Golden Beer Talks will take place this evening at Windy Saddle Cafe (map). This month’s speaker is Dr. Tom Casadevall of the US Geological Survey. His topic is “Preserving and Promoting America’s Geoheritage.” People will be staking out tables by 6PM, so if you want to be sure of a place to sit, plan to arrive early. The program will start at about 6:35. Windy Saddle will offer dinner (usually 2 options), and beer. No cover charge and no food or drink purchase is required. Learn more….
