John Scarffe,  Gilpin County.

January

A proposal to revise the county’s burn permit ordinance passed its second and final reading during a regular meeting of the Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners at 9 a.m. on January 9, 2018, at the Central City Hall.

Board Chair Ron Engels said that upon the second reading of the revisions to an existing ordinance regarding the open burning permit system, the commissioners understood the ordinance, making it all encompassing, and replacing the old one. The board passed the ordinance on first reading on December 5, 2017 and scheduled a public hearing for January 9, 2018.

During the discussion of commissioners’ annual appointments, Chair Gail Watson said that Ron Engels should be chair and chair pro-tem should be Linda Isenhart. Engels agreed and said the chair pro-tem should be the chair elect.

The board considered putting out a request for proposal for an independent study to look at jail expansion options. Sheriff Bruce Hartman said we could come here for $100,000 for the immediate need for double bunking.

Variance requests for a barbecue food truck and a writer’s studio were denied. Chad Manley, of Manley’s Barbecue, Inc., requested a variance to build a 408-square foot mobile vendor stand at 15107 Highway 119. County zoning prohibits any mobile business in excess of 180 square feet.

Manley will need to be classified as a Commercial Commissary, and a 180-square-foot mobile unit would not qualify. In his application, Manley said he is in the process of building a mobile commercial kitchen in conjunction with the Gilpin County and Jefferson County Health Departments.

Mark Regan and Jamie Shaak requested building a detached 441-square-foot ancillary dwelling with living space on two floors, on a parcel two acres or less. The commissioners agreed that the applicant had options that wouldn’t require a variance, and the board voted to deny the variance.

The board discussed furniture requests for the Gilpin County Courthouse on January 23, 2018. The Gilpin County Courthouse and County Offices had been under renovation since December, which included moving and storing furniture, asbestos removal, replacing flooring, carpeting and painting. As a result, the board had been meeting at the Central City Hall.

February

Gilpin County requested proposals for a Justice Center needs assessment after approval by the board on February 6. The proposed RFP for the county’s Justice Center renovation included the Human Services Department, which had some severe space needs. The board approved the RFP.

The board approved two boundary line adjustment applications for Morgan and Amy Wells in the Kingdom of Gilpin, Unit #5.

March

On March 13, 2018, the board approved a Special Use Review for a proposed marijuana cultivation facility from Colorado Gold, LLP. The board approved the Special Use Review with an amendment.

Clerk and Recorder Colleen Stewart told the board that she would retire at the end of the year and had been concerned that her chief deputy, Gail Maxwell, would run for the office. She requested a line item for help from Dominion Voting System and asked them to perform the duties of chief deputy to provide transparency. Her request was cut from the budget.

The 1923 Bucyrus Steam Shovel in Nederland was going to Central City, the board learned on March 27. Dan Martin and Kayla Evans, with the Nederland Area Historical Society, told the board that Central City had volunteered to take the shovel and put it on display here, but it was costly to help with the relocation.

Captains Tom Ihme and Tonia Kapke requested additional staff for the County Detention Facility and double bunking. The average daily population in the jail had consistently met or exceeded capacity for the past 16 months. The jail had been understaffed since 2008, and officers were concerned for the safety of staff and wanted to mitigate liability for the county. As a result, they proposed hiring two additional staff members for the Detention Facility.

The board approved a contract for a fire management plan. Klusmire said the county was starting to work on a plan of two or three years for the Wildfire Response Planning Group. The County met with Anchor Point to discuss fire management services that could assist in wildlife preparedness. The board approved a contract not to exceed $50,500.

April

The board approved a variance request for Lynnwood Lane, LLC, 161 Lynnwood Lane, Black Hawk, on behalf of Randy Baily. The lot size was 1.42 acres, and the Baileys were requesting to build a 384-square-foot deck addition to the existing deck that would be 15.5 feet from the south property line. The deck was built when the setback was 10 feet.

A variance request for Stephen John Baer and Virginia Stancliff Baer, 283 Old Stagecoach Trail, Rollinsville, was approved. The Baers requested to build a 1,064 square- foot garage within 15 feet of the north property line. The lot size was 2.369 acres.

Dominion Voting Systems assisted Gilpin County in conducting the 2018 elections since the deputy clerk was running for clerk and recorder. The board approved a contract with Dominion on April 24.

Community Development Director Stephen Strohminger requested a local match to apply for a grant to fund an assessment on the Red Tail Cabins for structural integrity to keep them sound and intact. It was a 25 percent match for $3,250. The board approved the match for the Red Tail Road Cabins grant.

May

In the newly renovated, large, historic Gilpin County Courthouse meeting room, the board denied a request for a Special Use Review (SRU) that would have permitted an RV Park in Resource Residential on May 8, 2018. Gilpin County landowner Dirk Larsen requested a 50-to-99-site RV park on 50 acres on the Pewabic Mine Road near both the Virginia Canyon and Russell Gulch Roads, which was denied.

The age a minor can be in the Gilpin County Community Center without an adult was raised from 10 years to 12 years old on May 22. Parks and Recreation Director Kyle Benedict told the board that he wanted to increase the age of visitors to the recreation center.

Dirk Matthews introduced a proposal to provide emergency power to the county’s Emergency Operations Center in the Justice Center and install a generator for $6,376. This is part of a larger discussion that came out of a wildfire response. It’s one of the most important things to be taken care of. The board gave approval to negotiate the contract with provisions added by counsel.

Public Works Director Gordon Thompson presented an agreement for the maintenance of the Fair Grounds Arena. Larry Sterling Excavating, Inc., was to be paid a lump sum fee not to exceed $6,000 to perform routine maintenance on the arena, and the board approved.

June

Commissioners rejected a Planning Commission recommendation regarding the separation of marijuana cultivation facilities on June 12. At the March 27 meeting, the commissioners requested that the Planning Commission revisit the separation requirement for marijuana cultivation facilities. The board passed a motion to proceed with restrictions.

Margaret Bowes with the I-70 Coalition told the board about future improvements on the I-70 Corridor. The group is a nonprofit corporation founded for improvements on I-70, and they work to keep this on the radar with congressional representatives.

The board sent revised on-site waster system treatment regulations back for more information on June 26, 2018 because some county requirements had fallen out of this and it was preferred that the public hearing be continued until July 10 at 9 a.m.

Facilities Coordinator Vicki Nemec introduced a Facilities Use Policy. The policy was several years old, according to the request. To make it more user friendly, changes were made, including removal of the Justice Center as an option.

The board approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Central City for the cemetery project above Central City.

The board discussed an IGA with Central City to maintain the Upper Apex and Bald Mountain Roads. The county has been maintaining the roads for many years and has received compensation for that work. The IGA will keep current compensation in place and make additions over the years.

July

The board approved the revised on-site waste water treatment system regulations on July 10.

The board discussed the revised Facilities Use Policy, also carried over from the June 26 meeting. The policy was several years old, and to make it more user friendly, changes were made.

The ghosts and artifacts of early Gilpin County settlers are open for viewing now that two historic cabins on Redtail Road off Robinson Hill Road opened on July 12, 2018. The two cabins at 104 and 114 Redtail Road appear in the historic U.S. Geological Survey maps dating back to 1906.

Work on the buildings at the Moffat Tunnel could destroy an historic wall, the board learned on July 24. HAC considered their application at a July 19 meeting and decided to reject it as incomplete and require Union Pacific to communicate with the State granting them permission to move forward with the roof replacement. HAC then asked Union Pacific and their contractor to provide their plans and scope of work for the historic walls to the State. Archer said the building was proposed to be on the national register, but no one followed through. The commissioners agreed to give their input to the federal government.

Parks and Recreation Director Kyle Benedict introduced After School Programs for the Community Center and handed out a rough draft of program ideas. One bus from the Gilpin Schools drops off 10 to 50 kids at the Community Center on school days. Benedict’s proposal included creating a time when certain ages had to abide by the Community Center’s structure. Engels said that first and foremost is the safety of the kids and our liability.

August

The commissioners hired a new county manager on August 21.
Maintenance Supervisor Dirk Matthews presented a proposal to replace the hot water recirculation lines in the Justice Center with JCOR Mechanical, Inc.

The board conducted an abatement hearing because Assessor Anne Schafer denied an abatement request for Errol F. & Carole A. Salter. Duff & Phelps, LLC. The petitioner disagreed with the Abatement Denial for 2016 and 2017, and the request was for a vacant land parcel of 80 acres contiguous to property where the Salter’s home was located, which contained 40 acres. The board denied the appeal for abatement.

September

The board heard the first readings of resolutions regarding wildfire hazards, zoning codes and emergency and evacuation routes over private property on September 11, 2018. After three meetings of the Planning Commission, they voted to move forward on the first reading of a revision to wildfire zoning regulations.

Petrock introduced the first reading of an ordinance regarding emergency and evacuation routes over private property. The county had identified emergency and evacuation routes in existing developments and subdivisions, and private property owners on these routes agreed to allow them to be used for emergencies and evacuations.

Emergency Manager Sgt. Kevin Armstrong needed an ordinance to give law enforcement some teeth to enforce routes established by homeowner’s associations and subdivisions to be used only for emergency routes, and to be able to ticket those who use them illegally. The commission agreed to postpone the item until further discussions and staff has figured out a plan.

On September 25, the board passed a resolution supporting passage of the Timberline Fire Protection District Ballot Issue. Because of the Gallagher Amendment to the Colorado Constitution, district revenues may be decreased as a result of the change in the percentage used in calculating assessed value of district residential properties, rather than the district receiving tax revenue at the level previously authorized by district electors.

Taxpayer approval was required to maintain district tax revenue at previously authorized levels.

Captain Tonia Kapke presented bids and a budget request for a new washing machine in detention and asked for a supplement to the 2018 budget to replace a broken industrial washer in the jail.

The board approved contract with JCOR Mechanical, Inc., for replacement of the hot water recirculation system at the Justice Center. A proposal for this project was presented and approved at the August 21, 2018 meeting.

October

The board approved contract awards for archeological and structural surveys of Russell Gulch Survey Phase II for archeological and building surveys to Three Gables Preservation and Flattops Archeological on October 9.

The board approved a boundary line adjustment (BLA) for Lucas Little, Dori Little and Kelley Sineni in the Meadowlake Mountain Acres Subdivision at Meadowlake Drive and Gap Road.

The board discussed a resolution supporting an application for a Local Park and Outdoor Recreation Grant from the State Board of the Great Outdoors Colorado Trust Fund for the completion of the Gilpin County School District Track and Field project. The board approved the resolution and contracts for the Redtail Cabins Historic Structure Assessments to Bret Johnson Architecture. On April 24, they approved a local match of $3,150 for the assessments.

Tobias Tonelli, Gilpin County IT contractor with Teryx, Inc., introduced a request to sign a master services agreement for broadband fiber at the Justice Center.

November

The board heard about proposed updates to the 1999 Growth Intergovernmental Agreement with Central City and Black Hawk on November 6. After the 1999 IGA meeting on November 6, Black Hawk released some portions that were previously held in their area of the IGA to Gilpin County and Central City.

Central City was working on an MOU to allow Black Hawk the continued use of their easement from Miner’s Mesa to Lake Gulch Road but prohibiting the improvement of the easement into an access road. Black Hawk was working on an agreement to allow Central City access to Highway 119, if needed for development, as long as Black Hawk’s plans for the highway were not impeded by Central City.

The board approved a BLA for Donald Miller, Amy Mowry and Robert Adams, owners of 824 Mountain Meadows Drive, who wanted to reconfigure their adjoining property line to accommodate a building setback violation.

The board approved a BLE for Reva Ohlsen in the La Chula Vista subdivision. The applicant wanted to combine two lots into one lot, a .03-acre lot with a one-acre lot.

The commissioners approved the supplemental budget resolution to prevent funds from going over budget. The supplement included $478,025 in expenditures, less $68,356 in revenues totaling $409,669.

The board approved signing an engagement letter with MGT of America Consulting for the Cost Allocation Plan 2019 Agreement for $4,230.

December

The board adopted the 2019 budget and approved resolutions levying general property taxes during a special meeting on Thursday, December 6.

(Originally published in the January 10, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)