John Scarffe, Gilpin County. Railroad service to Rollinsville got a nudge back on track again during the regular meeting of the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, May 24, 2016 at the Gilpin County Courthouse. Commissioner Gail Watson told the Board that the reality is there’s movement bringing the Ski Train back as the Winter Park Express.
In the past, the Board has attempted to get Amtrak, which travels regularly through Rollinsville, to include a stop in the town.
Watson hopes that the Winter Park Express would help make a Rollinsville stop more feasible.
In a memo to the Board, Watson wrote: “As you may have heard, the Ski Train is coming back as the Winter Park Express. The service is scheduled to begin next year, and it’s a partnership between Winter Park, Amtrak and Union Pacific. The $3 million train platform received $1 million from CDOT [the Colorado Department of Transportation] with the balance provided by Winter Park, Denver and Intrawest.”
Amtrak’s California Zephyr operates daily service between Chicago and Oakland. Cities along the route include Denver, Salt Lake and Sacramento, and the Zephyr has a scheduled stop in Fraser, one eastbound and one westbound.
The Winter Express conducted a trial run in March 2015. In a March 3, 2015, article, Kiran Herbert wrote for 5280 Magazine: “Anyone who’s ever experienced the horrors of I-70 -- be it ski, accident, or weather-related traffic jams (or if you happened to be driving up two weekends ago, all three) -- knows to try and avoid the highway at all costs. When a drive that should only be an hour and a half turns into eight long ones, a two-hour train ride starts to look incredibly appealing.
“Enter Amtrak’s latest partnership with Winter Park Resorts: the Winter Park Express will depart Denver’s Union Station for the resort on March 14 and 15, returning that same night. Initially scheduled for only the 14th, and billed as a one-time-only event, each round-trip adult ticket cost $75 (including a $15 gift voucher to use at the resort). All 400 tickets sold-out in a mere ten hours, however, encouraging the organizers to first add another car, and eventually, to add a second date on the 15th. The 450 seats for the March 15 train sold out in just four hours.”
Watson told the Board, “It’s in the County’s best interest to start a dialog on the California Zypher.” She suggested that a shuttle to the casinos could help make a case for a Rollinsville stop.
The casinos could start selling packages, Watson said. People could go there without cars for the weekend, and it could be a gaming weekend.
“Right now I just wanted to see what you thought,” Watson said. “We have the Zephyr going right through the town, and the County can’t benefit from it,” Watson said. Watson talked to Robert Eaton with Amtrak Government Affairs, and he suggested that the County send a formal request for service from the Zephyr.
Watson handed the Board a suggested letter to Eaton. “While our county is one of the smallest in Colorado, we are bordered by Boulder County on the north and Jefferson County to the east,” she wrote in the letter. “The combined population of all three counties is approximately 860,000. In addition to our neighboring populations, the gaming cities of Central City and Black Hawk receive up to 400,000 visitors on weekends making a good case for a shuttle service to and from the train.”
Chair Linda Isenhart added that for people from Fort Collins and the Front Range, it would cut their driving time down. People could drive their cars and park them in the lot in Rollinsville.
“I think it’s definitely worth exploring,” Isenhart said. “It doesn’t cost anything to ask the question.” The board agreed to forwarding on the letter.
Community Development Director, Tony Petersen, introduced building code revisions. The County is currently using the 2006 edition of the International Residential Code and the International Building Code.
Petersen proposed updating to the 2015 versions of the codes and adopting the 2015 International Energy Conservation Code. “We need to update the codes. They hurt us in our insurance rates.”
The most significant changes that could increase building costs include automatic fire sprinkler systems in all single-family houses and higher energy efficiency standards, Petersen wrote in a memo to the Board. Exempted from needing a permit will be one-story, detached accessory structures with a floor area not exceeding 120 square feet.
Automatic residential sprinkler systems will be required in single family dwellings containing greater than 3,600 square feet of conditioned floor area, according to the code. This could increase the cost of building a standard house by about $11,250.
According to a study commissioned by the United States Fire Administration Office of Applied Economics, houses equipped with smoke alarms and a fire sprinkler system experienced 100 percent fewer fatalities, 57 percent fewer injuries and 32 percent less direct property losses and indirect costs resulting from fire than houses equipped only with smoke alarms.
The Board of Commissioners approved the code updates. The next meeting of the Gilpin County Commissioners will be on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 at 9a.m. at the Gilpin County Courthouse, 203 Eureka Street, Central City.
