Sarah Haas, Central City.  Council unanimously approved a five-year extension to the lease agreement between the City and owner of the now empty lot at 321 Gregory St. until December 1, 2025. The owners plan to improve the land by creating a paved parking lot, which will include several handicap spaces, with an estimated completion of Fall 2018.

After months of working with city staff, the Lighting Commission and the Historic Preservation Commission on final language. Council voted 3-2 to adopt Ordinance No. 17-12, maintaining the prohibition of Electronic Messaging Centers (EMC’s) and to add gas filled tubes (i.e. neon lights) as prohibited.

To further address concerns of residents of the Historic District, specifically those living on Casey St. near the Grand Z Hotel and Casino who complain about personal and cultural repercussions of fugitive light, Mayor Kathryn Heider further directed staff to research ways to mitigate problems with ambient light pollution, specifically light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and to bring new language for a “dark sky” ordinance to Council.

Community Development Director Ray Rears explained his resolution in support of the reauthorization of City Council’s support of the Colorado General Assembly’s reauthorization of the Colorado Lottery Division (CLD) in 2018. The motion to approve the resolution carried unanimously.

Since 1983, the City has received $136,245 from the Lottery Division’s Conservation Trust Fund, but since 1992 when Great Outdoors Colorado (GOCO) was established, the City has received no direct funding.

In recent conversations with GOCO, City Staff brought up concerns about lack of support from the fund and to remedy the problem it is now working on the submission of an application for a Trails Planning Grant in 2018, in hopes of increasing the CLD’s direct impact on Central City.

In council comments, Alderman Jeff Aiken noted that the steps from Eureka St. to 1st High St. get very icy. City Manager Daniel Miera added that there are funds budgeted in 2018 to replace that staircase and provide better drainage in the area. In addition, Public Works is budgeted for a part-time seasonal employee to assist with snow removal in such areas.

(Originally published in the November 30, 2017 print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)