Jeffco Open Space will host a Trails Talk tonight from 6-7:30 in their office. Learn more….
The Parks, Recreation, & Museums Board will meet tonight at 7PM at the Community Center. Representatives from the police department will be there, to join the ongoing discussion about park rules and safety concerns. Residents have expressed concerns about the influx of people who stay in the parks for prolonged periods of time, sometimes setting up tents and effectively camping in city parks. The board will also discuss the project to install single track sidewalks (dirt bike paths). According to the minutes from the January meeting, the city will remove the garage and house from the newly-acquired DeLong park-to-be on 23rd Street and may start the process of turning it into a park with a sign, some tree-trimming, and a couple of benches.
The Planning Commission will have a study session (no public comment) tomorrow night at 6:30 in City Council Chambers. They will be discussing Short Term Rentals. This is part of an on-going discussion of how Golden should regulate short term rental properties, variously defined as tourist homes, vacation rentals, AirBnBs, VRBOs, etc. Our current regulations vary by zoning, whether the property is owner occupied, the length of the rental period, and other factors. Some Golden residents resist the idea of their neighborhoods becoming hotels, while others like the idea of generating rental income from their own property. Owners of Bed and Breakfasts, which are subject to stringent health and safety codes, taxes, and liability, are concerned about the influx of competitors who aren’t subject to any of those safeguards.
City Council meets Thursday night at 6:30 in City Council Chambers. They will approve a contract for $1,055,000 for concrete replacement in 2018 and another contract for $1,685,170 for asphalt replacement during 2018. The regular meeting will be followed by a study session. They will meet with Golden-based Anderson Hallas Architects, which has been hired to study the city’s future space needs.
Council will then discuss the future of the Astor House. The Astor House, built in 1867, was saved from demolition in 1972 and was furnished and operated as a museum by the Golden Landmarks Association. The City took over operation of the museum in 2010. In 2015, the City received a $200,000 grant from the State Historical Fund to do structural rehabilitation on the old building, so the Museum was closed for that work. The City then discovered that “any changes or modifications to the entirety of the property and its use would be restricted by the Historical Fund for 20 years.” The City didn’t want the State to restrict what it could do with the property, so they turned down the grant and funded the $480,000 rehabilitation project itself.
While the museum was closed, museum staff sold the furnishings that Golden Landmarks had collected. With the artifacts gone, the museum can no longer be re-opened in its previous form, as the Astor House Hotel Museum. Museum staff hoped to turn the building into a Beer Museum, but an $85,000 study concluded that the site was not suited for that purpose. The Astor House is now gutted and is currently uninhabitable. According to the staff memo on the subject, “The basic interior finish needed to occupy is estimated at $500-700 thousand dollars.”
Council will discuss what to do with the building. The City Attorney has opined that since the building was saved by a citizens’ ballot, the City can’t sell the Astor House without putting the issue on a ballot. Other options include:
• Do nothing
• Board up the building and maintain the exterior
• Secure building and use for storage
• Invest in general interior finish and use for various short-term uses-meeting space, weddings, and receptions
• Invest in interior finish as office space.
• Invest in interior finish and use for specific departmental needs like museum’s Hands on History Summer Camp, lectures, programs and special events also serving as a venue for private weddings, meetings, and receptions.
• Lease to other governmental/non-profit agency. Finish TBD.
• Lease to individual or for-profit entity. Finish TBD.
• Sell or give to other governmental/non-profit agency.
• Sell or give to individual or for-profit entity.
For more information about any of the meeting topics as well as live access to the meetings and recordings of past meetings, check the city website.
