A few readers contacted me yesterday about something they had heard or misheard during a Don Cameron (candidate for Mayor) meet and greet. He mentioned a contract that I used to have with the City, which had since been canceled. One reader mistakenly thought that Don said my newsletter was good until I made an agreement with the City. So I sent a note to Don, asking him to clarify what he had actually said. He said he doesn’t subscribe, because he thinks I misinterpret what the Planning Commission does, but that many people find this newsletter useful. He also said that he didn’t know why my contract with the city had stopped.
Since people have asked, I thought I would address that.
For eight years, I produced a daily newsletter called Golden Business News. The City sponsored it, using economic development funds. The Golden merchants loved it, because it focused on them and was brief and effective. It brought people to their businesses. Residents liked it because it told them more about the local businesses and gave them ideas about places to shop or dine, where to hear live music, providers of local services, etc. City staff was never comfortable with it. They said that information about Golden should come from City staff. About once a year, they announced that they were going to discontinue the program. I would alert the merchants, they would call the city to complain, and the program would be continued. Last fall, the staff said they wanted to change the scope of the program and reduce the budget. They wanted more of the program to go on Twitter and Instagram and they wanted it to be more business-to-business focused. They put out an RFP and I was the only one who responded. They presented my proposal to the EDComm board, who voted to accept it. A few months later, the City said they were dropping the program anyway.
So that was my contract with the city–I promoted local businesses. I was sorry to lose it, because I enjoyed doing it, and I thought it was good for the community. But when I did, I began asking subscribers to my other email–What’s Happening in Golden?–to sponsor my work. Golden businesses and residents have been very gracious, and have made up for what I no longer receive from the City for Golden Business News.
(I normally ask at the end of the month, but this might be an opportune moment to mention that I welcome your support!)
7:30AM According to the Agenda page, the Citizens Budget Advisory Committee will meet this morning, but they have not posted an agenda, so their topics are a mystery at this time.
6:30PM The Planning Commission will meet in City Council Chambers this evening for a study session. Over the past couple of years, citizens have become increasingly uneasy about growth and changes in the City. Developers have been pushing the boundaries and exploiting loopholes in what our zoning allows. This has resulted in several residential developments that loom over their older, more traditionally-scaled neighbors. In an effort to slow those changes, the Keep Golden Golden group requested a temporary moratorium on new building in the R2 and R3 zones. During the moratorium, several changes were made which should help keep new building more in scale with existing neighborhoods.
That work is far from complete. No changes have been made to the R1 (single family home) zoning, for example, and some of the same loopholes could be exploited there.
At the beginning of the moratorium, the Planning Department announced that we would have 3 “phases” of code changes. Phases 1 and 2 happened during the moratorium, and focused on changes in the R2 and R3 zones. Phase 3 was much more loosely defined. At first our Planners said our code needed to be completely rewritten because nobody could understand it. I was mildly surprised by this, because the code didn’t seem all that incomprehensible to me. Most people wouldn’t know how to find it or which parts of it would apply to them, but once you track it down–well, it’s plain enough English.
Later, the Planners began showing increasing excitement about this upcoming “complete rewrite,” as they have begun to term it. They talk of planning for the future, eliminating parking requirements, finding ways to increase density, and changing code to allow construction of “the missing middle.” I have been casually following trends in urban planning, and I note that a few cities have eliminated traditional R1 (single family) zoning entirely, so that multi-family structures can be built in any neighborhood. The RFP for this project said we were looking for “social equity,” so maybe that’s what they have in mind.
So that process starts tonight. I’m sure nothing decisive will happen in this initial meeting, but I believe we need to keep a very close watch on this process; otherwise, after a year of sparsely-attended public meetings, many attractive pictures, references to Golden Vision 2030, and assurances that our new development plans are only “aspirational,” Golden residents will be left wondering what happened to the small-town Golden they loved. Read more about tonight’s study session….
More Tuesday Events:
12PM – Power Lunch Lecture at NREL
6PM – Fly-Tying with Golden River Sports at Mountain Toad Brewing
6PM – Land Stewardship Series at Jeffco Open Space
7:30PM – SCRIPTprov at Miners Alley Playhouse
Tonight’s show at the Buffalo Rose sounds good–it’s a Johnny Cash cover band. They also have Elton John and Stevie Nicks tributes on Friday and The Long Run (Eagles cover band) on Saturday.
In fact, there are several good options in town tonight:
5PM – Dave Frisk at Rock Rest Lodge
6PM – Peter Fletcher at Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
6PM – Chris Koltak at Miners Saloon
7:30PM – Ryan Chrys and The Rough Cuts | 8:45PM Cash’d Out (Johnny Cash Tribute) at the Buffalo Rose
Thursday Preview:
11:15AM – Wee Create at Golden Library
3PM – Thoughtful Thursday at Cafe 13
5:30PM – Golden Community Garden Block Party
6PM – Cheese Night with Cheese Ranch at Mountain Toad Brewing
6PM – WanderFest at New Terrain Brewing
6PM – Science Sit-Down at Golden Library
6:30PM – 90’s Trivia Night at VFW Post 4171
6:30PM – Mum Planter at Home Depot
6:30PM – City Council Study Session
7PM – Golden Votes Meeting
7:30PM – Once at Miners Alley Playhouse
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