John Scarffe

Gilpin County

The Gilpin County Commission denied a variance request on Golden Gate Drive during the regular meeting of the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, November 5, at the Gilpin County Courthouse.

Dale and Lorilee Vroman requested a variance to build a house that would be 42.5 feet in height. The code limits building height to 40 feet.

The home site is on a 35 percent slope facing south toward State Highway 46 and is highly visible from the highway. Community Development Director Tony Petersen reported that the variance would substantially impair the intent and purpose of the Gilpin County building code.

“The 40-foot height limit together with our hillside development code restrictions are intended to codify master plan goals to protect mountain views and vista,” he wrote. “In this case, the applicant’s desire to build a house greater in height than our code permits would be a personal choice not associated with any site-specific physical constraint and therefore avoidable.”

BLE approved

The Commission approved a boundary line elimination in Quien Sabe Number 3. The boundary elimination would create a new 3.43 acre site for John Dunham and Jane Petersen. The combined lot will be known as Quien Sabe, Number 2, Lot 3X.

“Our BLE program is preserving our quality of life,” wrote County Planner Ray Rears. “To date, the County has approved 477 BLE’s resulting in a net reduction of 1,551 potential building sites.”

Need to survey Nevadaville

The Council approved an application for a grant to hire a qualified consultant to conduct an intensive survey in the town of Nevadaville, which in the 1860s had a population of 4,000 to 6,000 residents, making it larger than Denver at that time. It is considered a ghost town as part of the Central City and Black Hawk Historic District and is under the County’s jurisdiction.

“Nevadaville has always been a high priority for the County,” wrote County Planner Ray Rears, “but due to recent development proposals due to its very close proximity to two of three Colorado gaming cities, it became clear that more information and more protection of its resources are needed. We as a County cannot properly protect the significance and integrity of the Nevadaville area without the facts about the resources and the area. This is a necessary first step to move in that direction so that the area can be protected and preserved.”

The next regular meeting of the Board will be on Tuesday, Noember 26, at 9 a.m. at the Gilpin County Courthouse.