GILPIN COUNTY – The Gilpin County Community Development Department held an open house meeting on January 28, 2025, at the Gilpin County Courthouse, to roll out the final draft of the 2024 Housing Needs Assessment report and take public comments and questions about it.

Community Development Department Director Rob Gutierrez moderated the event and spent the first portion of the meeting going over the substance of the report. The three County Commissioners were in attendance, along with Central City Council members Zane Plsek and Todd Willams.

Gilpin County was awarded a $200,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs (DOLA) Strong Communities Program on November 21, 2023.

The Strong Communities Program provides grants to support local government planning and infrastructure development to help create additional housing. The grant also had stipulations for building affordable housing.

As part of the grant award, Gilpin County is performing a housing needs analysis for the entire county in cooperation with the City of Central and the City of Black Hawk. Both Black Hawk and Central City contributed financially to the required matching amount.

After a competitive bidding process, Gilpin County selected the firm of Bohanan Huston to conduct the housing needs assessment. The final draft of the 71-page report summarizes the findings by Bohanan Houston and highlights housing needs and barriers in the next 25 years.

Based on economic and population trends, the report predicts that Gilpin County will need to add six to 15 ownership units and one to three rental units every year to meet current housing needs. The report states that meeting housing demand across income levels, age groups, and household types will require collaboration between local governments, community organizations, and developers.

Gutierrez discussed in detail current housing conditions in the towns and in unincorporated Gilpin County. Single-family detached houses account for 90 percent of the inventory in the county. Central City has more diversity in housing types and density, with 478 units; while Black Hawk’s housing supply is limited to 61 units, all reportedly built before 1938.

In 2022, an estimated 1,000 Gilpin residents lived in 610 rental units

The report stated that barriers to housing development included limited buildable areas, infrastructure challenges, water availability, wildfire risks, and regulatory restrictions.

During the public comment section of the meeting, Commissioner Jeff Aiken spoke about preserving the character of the area. He stated that he had seen other towns and areas that changed for the worse when there was growth, and he wanted Gilpin County to retain its rural western character.

Plsek spoke about the lack of services as a barrier to growth. To him, it was a chicken and egg dilemma: Do you need services to attract people, or people to attract services? He said it is difficult for people to live in Gilpin when they have to drive at least half an hour for basic services like groceries and medical care.

Williams expressed the need for better infrastructure to deal with more development. His example was Eureka Street in Central City. It is heavily used by residents in Prospectors Run and outdoors enthusiasts. Any additional development at Prospectors Run would need additional investment in infrastructure to handle the growth.

Gilpin County has a limited number of buildable lots with some unusable as a result of previous mining activity or a lack of water.

Harv Mastalir asked about the County policy of boundary line elimination, which consolidates lots. Mastalir wondered if the County still encouraged boundary line eliminations and if that would have an impact on housing development.

Gutierrez’s reply was that the policy was aimed at eliminating “dog lots” and creating a bigger property that could support a home.

The question of wildfires and insurance was brought up, with concerns about development in wildland-urban interface (WUI) areas that are vulnerable to wildfires and the potential loss of home insurance coverage.

Wildfire risk as a barrier to development involves the additional costs of building homes that are hardened against wildfire and the problems of obtaining and keeping home insurance.

 Commission Sandy Hollingsworth said that Colorado has more insurance claims for hail than wildfire, and that major insurance companies are more likely to leave the state because of hail.

It would still impact Gilpin County and future development in the county if homes can’t get home insurance.

Gutierrez finished the meeting by listing the various concerns mentioned, and said that the Community Development Department would review them before submitting the Housing Needs Assessment to the commissioners.

For more information on the 2024 Housing Needs Assessment report, contact the Community Development Department at 303-582-5831 or CommunityDevelopment@gilpincounty.org. The report can be reviewed by clicking on the Housing Division link from the Community Development homepage: gilpincounty.colorado.gov/departments-offices/community-development.