John Scarffe, Boulder County. The Boulder County Commission conditionally approved three action items for Gold Lake Ventures LLC/Gold Lake Mountain Resort during a virtual meeting on Thursday, May 28, 2020. The Board approved a request for a Boulder County Historic Landmark Designation of a site area with eight contributing structures, to vacate and relocate a portion of County Road 102J on an approximately 90-acre parcel, and a Special Use Review and Site Specific Development Plan to modify specifics related to approved special events, construct new structures, remodel historic structures and deconstruct existing structures for Gold Lake Ventures LLC/Gold Lake Mountain Resort in the Forestry zoning district on about an 90-acre parcel at 3371 Gold Lake Road. 

The subject property is on the north and south side of Gold Lake Road, 2.60 miles from its intersection with Colorado Road 100, in Section 33, Township 2N, Range 72W. An application for landmark designation of a site area with eight contributing structures has been submitted by agent Bob Dalton, according to background information.

The parcel includes at least fifteen structures, but only eight of them have been identified as eligible for landmark status. The eight eligible structures are clustered to the northeast of Gold Lake along with five ineligible structures with seven of the eight eligible structures adjacent to each other, while the eighth structure is in its own landmark area nearby. 

The area, now known as Gold Lake, was frequently visited by the Arapaho Indians, including Chief Niwot, who would settle at the lake during the summer. “By 1882, two mining claims had been made – the Greenback Lode along the northwest side of the lake by Mary Arnett, and the Keystone Placer, which included Gold Lake and gulches to the north and east of the lake by Silas Tumbleson,” according to background. 

In 1918, Camilla Tedrow came into ownership of the property, and four years later the property began its use as Camp Newaka for teenage girls from St. Louis, Chicago and New England, according to background. “The Main Lodge was built in 1922 and served as a living and dining room, a store and an office.” 

Campers first stayed in tents until Emma Waltz, whose daughters had attended the camp, took ownership in 1927, and by summer 1928, ten cabins, including eight sleeping cabins, had been built, and each sleeping cabin could accommodate about seven campers and a counselor. Camp Newaka ran until at least 1935. 

The property changed hands several times over the following decades and continued its use for a time as a youth camp, and then a retreat center, a resort and spa, and most recently a mentoring program for young adult males. During the decades, several additional structures were added to the property, and three of the original cabins were demolished, according to background. 

All landmark-eligible structures date to between 1922 and 1928. The many additions and window replacements to the historic structures compromise the integrity of design, materials, workmanship, feeling and association; however, alterations to remove insensitive additions and replace them with more appropriate additions were approved by a subcommittee of the Historic Preservation Advisory Board in January 2018. The Historic Preservation Advisory Board considered this application at their March 7, and April 4, 2019, meetings and voted unanimously to recommend conditional approval. 

The Boulder County Commission also unanimously approved the historic designation at the end of the May 28, 2020, meeting.

The Board then considered the request to vacate and relocate a portion of County Road 102J at 3371 Gold Lake Rd. The subject property is accessed via Gold Lake Road, also known as County Road 102J, which is a Boulder County maintained prescriptive right-of-way (ROW) classified as local. 

The portion of County Road 102J to be relocated is a maintained, dirt roadway located within the parcel 3371 Gold Lake Road. CR102J provides public access to U.S. Forest Service (USFS) owned property and is gated to prohibit vehicular access, where it leaves the subject property and enters USFS property, according to background.

The applicant requested the existing CR 102 be vacated and proposed a realignment of CR 102J farther north in the parcel. Because the applicant is proposing a realignment of the ROW, Staff has recommended conditions of approval to ensure the new ROW will meet Boulder County Multimodal Transportation Standards and will continue to provide public access to the adjacent USFS-owned property.

The entirety of the existing CR 102J ROW is located within the privately-owned subject property, therefore the vacated road will be added in its entirety to the subject property but the property will be deeded to Boulder County and will be a public ROW. 

Boulder County Community Planning & Permitting staff found that this application can meet the criteria for a Vacation and recommended approval with six conditions.  The Boulder County Commission approved the Vacation at the end of the May 28, 2020, meeting.

The Board then considered a Special Review and Site-Specific Development Plan to modify specifics related to approved special events, construct new structures, remodel historic structures and deconstruct existing structures at Gold Lake. A Resort Lodge has previously been approved on this site, but that approval is being substantially modified, hence triggering the subject review, according to background. 

The required Development Agreement, which included all applicable conditions of approval, was submitted and signed by the County on March 30, 2000. The proposal seeks to amend the existing Special Use to allow for an expanded use of the subject property to modify specific limitations related to special events, increase the number of special events allowed on site to allow for eight additional events, provide for a maximum of 250 guests allowed at those six events and specify that no more than three events per month will occur from April through November. 

The following development is also proposed: deconstruct 22 existing structures; construct 16 new structures; remodel or rehabilitate nine structures, expand dedicated parking areas and install bicycle and pedestrian-friendly gates to ensure continued public access across County Road 102J through the subject property to USFS -owned property, which totally surrounds the property. Staff found the proposed development in these areas to be compatible with the surrounding area and the historic use of the site, but found the proposed development adjacent to the Gold Lake shore not to be compatible with the area as this development plan would result in a significant increase in site disturbance within an area that has been identified by both the applicants and staff as a sensitive natural resource area. 

“Staff recognized that Gold Lake is a primary amenity of the subject parcel and has been used for active recreation throughout the history of the site, and so has recommended conditions of approval intended to allow for some development along the Lake’s shoreline while mitigating the development’s impact to the sensitive natural area,” according to the staff report.

Dalton said that 40 structures will be reduced to 37, 26,409 square feet currently The increase in use is mitigated through recommended conditions of approval which include limiting events to daytime hours, providing for fewer events to occur during winter months and allowing for only one event to take place onsite at any given time. 

To ensure that onsite activities remain compatible with the surrounding area and historic use of the subject property, staff recommended conditions of approval limiting onsite special events, defined as those occasions that have attendance of 151 guests or greater. 

All events are single-day, day-time events from sunrise to sunset with no more than three events per month from April through November, no more than six events of 251 to 350 guests per year and no more than eight events of up to 250 guests per year. Only one event can take place on the property at any given time and temporary event structures can be located only in two designated areas in the northern portion of the subject property. 

With staff recommended conditions of approval, the physical configuration and construction of the proposed development is similar in nature to the existing structures and development patterns on the subject property, and the application does not propose to significantly alter the historic use of the subject property, so staff found the proposal is compatible with the surrounding area. 

The applicant proposes to minimize vehicular traffic by providing a large parking lot at the entrance and transportation via golf carts throughout the remainder of the property. No development will take place in identified sensitive natural areas such as the montane meadow, according to the report. To ensure the continued use of the parcel as a Resort Lodge does not result in an over-intensive use of land, and staff has recommended other conditions to discourage the over-intensive use of land or the excessive depletion of natural resources, including but not limited to requiring the submission of a Revegetation and Weed Control and Landscape Plans, and a Natural Resource Management Plan. 

The original proposal was heard at a public hearing held during the November 20, 2019 Planning Commission meeting and the Planning Commission recommended that the Boulder County Board of Commissioners conditionally approve the SUR.

During his presentation, Bob Dalton said he has two requests: that the Board approve these applications and a longer vested right of five years, which is warranted under special circumstances. All circumstances are present: a large, complicated project: and economic uncertainty because of the pandemic, which makes it difficult, so he would like a five-year period for the Gold Lake Revitalization Project.

Commissioner Matt Jones said he saw a lot to like, the historic preservation, protecting the environment, and a good road realignment, but he found the rest of it to be too much. A quarter increase in the amount of square footage is quite a jump, and he said he doesn’t find it compatible with forestry designation, but a lot of work went into this, so he suggested having staff talk to the applicant and not do as much. 

Frederick said the SUR allows 35,000 square feet based on a chart in the code according to parcel size, and this proposal is under that. Jones said he is finding expansion of 8,500 square feet to be quite a bit.

Commissioner Elise Jones said she shares a lot of Matt’s concerns regarding intensive uses of the area but feels different about this. She has attended two weddings there and stayed in a rustic cabin overnight. 

This site has been used in this manner for a really long time, Elise Jones said. If it were a brand new use, we wouldn’t approve it, but this preserves these amenities within the current economy. It includes a net decrease in structures, and all the development is in the same footprint. 

“It’s not raising any red flags, and it’s very far from other people. They are not going to have amplified music late at night, and they don’t have any neighbors saying it’s a problem. I will support it as is. We are now getting to landmark this site, and it’s creating something that is financially sustainable. I can get talked into the five-year vested interest,” Elise Jones said. 

Commissioner Deb Gardener agreed and said she has a lot of faith that this has been through the process, and the Planning Commission did their job. This is really consistent with  the code and agreed with the five-years they are asking for. “If we ever were going to be in a time of economic uncertainty, this would be it, and I would be inclined to approve it.” 

The Board approved  the SU/ SSPD with 40 conditions of approval and extending the five-year vested right, with Commissioner Matt Jones voting against approving the SUR.

(Originally published in the June 4, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)