What’s Happening in Golden Today?
TriceraTOTs
9-9:55AM Silver Sneakers Classic (Virtual)
9-10AM Zumba (Virtual)
9-10AM Women’s Exercise and Bible Study @ First United Methodist Church
9:15-9:45AM Baby Time @ Golden Library
10:15-10:45AM Preschool Time @ Golden Library
12-12:55PM All Levels Yoga (Virtual)
1-1:45PM Silver Sneakers Yoga (Virtual)
1PM and 4PM Wild West Short Tour
4PM Wild West Walking Tour
4:30-5:30PM Teen Advisory Board @ Golden Library
5PM VIBE@Five @ The Spot Golden
VIBE@FIVE is Golden’s Happy Hour! Come join other members of the Golden Chamber of Commerce for this “Very Important Business Event” – VIBE! This event is for members of the Golden Chamber of Commerce and their guests as well as for members of the Golden Young Professionals. Stop in for a quick hello and a refreshment right after work and a chance to get to know fellow members of the Golden Chamber of Commerce and Golden Young Professionals. This is a great networking and socializing event.
6:30-8:30PM Bar Bingo Night @ VFW Post 4171
6:30PM City Council Regular Business Meeting @ City Hall
Tonight’s consent agenda is lengthy. They will appoint Bob Chimbel to the Visit Golden Marketing Stakeholder Committee. They will grant a license for Golden City Brewery to have food trucks on Cheyenne, in front of the Brewery. They will approve a contract to collect trash and recycling downtown. They will update our regulations regarding wireless communication facilities to comply with new FCC rules. They will update a contract with Muller Engineering to add design of a Wildlife crossing at US6 and Kenny’s Run. The cost for that work will be $1 million, but it will be reimbursed by CDOT. They will accept a grant that will allow us to hire up to 7 additional fire fighters. The grant will pay salaries for the first three years. They will establish an Affordable Housing Committee.
They will approve new street lighting policies & procedures.
They will consider a $679K expense to change our streetlights from sodium to LED to reduce energy use.
They will adopt a Housing Needs and Strategies Assessment to guide future housing policies in Golden. This document has caused a great deal of discussion in town since it was unveiled a month ago during a Council study session–particularly amongst seniors.
Golden currently has about 8,800 homes. The housing study proceeds from the premise that everyone who is employed in Golden should live within the City limits. With that assumption, it concludes that we will need 3,100 more homes over the next 10 years. Of those, 2,300 (or 76%) should be Affordable Housing and 600 (or 19%) should be senior housing. The remaining 5% would be replacement of worn-out housing.
The Affordable Housing Committee that Council plans to create tonight will look at ways to incent developers to build affordable housing. This may include relaxing regulations such as parking requirements and the 1% growth limit.
Worth Noting: According to the Housing Study, Golden will not need any additional market-rate, non-senior housing within the next 10 years.
Also Noteworthy: The report includes the question (on p. 2 of the cover memo), “If we build more [senior housing], how can we guarantee it would serve existing seniors vs. attracting more seniors?” Interestingly, it does not ask the corollary question, “If we build more low income housing, how can we guarantee it would serve existing low income residents versus attracting more?”
They will hold a public hearing on a plan to establish an Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
They will hold a public hearing on the Bobcat of the Rockies Final Plat and Subdivision Agreement.
As always, if you have any questions or comments on any of tonight’s topics, you can provide them in person during the meeting or send email to PublicComment@cityofgolden.net.
Live Music
6PM Karaoke with Linda @ Dirty Dogs Roadhouse
6PM Open Pick Night @ Over Yonder Brewing
Trivia
6:30-8:30PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Buffalo Rose
6:30-8:30PM Trivia Tuesdays @ Golden Mill
Golden History Moment
The theme of last weekend’s cemetery tour was Farmers & Ranchers. Stop #1 was John and Mary Ann Churches, who homesteaded the land north of North Table Mountain.
The second stop was Richard and Sarah Broad. Richard grew up on a ranch adjacent to the Churches property, and married one of the Churches girls–Sarah. Richard had little formal schooling but was a voracious reader; in fact, his first job was teaching school. Later in life, he recalled the plague of grasshoppers that destroyed crops during his boyhood on the ranch.
The hoppers descended upon a field of 160 acres of corn so thickly that they made a thick, squirming blanket. When they left the field was a desert, even the corn stalks had been eaten down to the ground. We did not raise a single thing on or farm that year. I can remember falling asleep on the floor of our farm house with my clothes on. When I awakened the hungry hoppers had chewed great holes in my trousers. The hoppers were bad in 1875 but worse in 1876.
Colorado Transcript – August 20, 1931
That experience may have contributed to Broad’s decision to move away from ranching life. After his start as a teacher, he went into business in Golden, owning a dry goods store and a bank in Golden from 1887 to 1930. He served as City Councilor, Mayor, and State Senator. The Broads did hold onto their ranch land, using it to raise alfalfa.
Thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!
