5PM City Council Study Session @ City Hall

Meeting Agenda
Watch the meeting streaming live starting at 5PM
Attend the meeting @ City Hall Council Chambers - 911 10th Street - (map)
Send comments on any of the following topics to PublicComment@cityofgolden.net BEFORE 3PM
Provide in-person comment (limited to 3 minutes) during the Business Meeting, at 6:30PM.

Tonight's Study Session begins at 5PM. Afterwards, the Councilors will have dinner. The Business Meeting will begin at 6:30PM. Public comment is not allowed during the study session, though you can send written public comment ahead of time. In-person public comment must wait until the Business Meeting at 6:30PM.

Tonight's Study Session Topics

Comprehensive Plan
The Comprehensive Plan outlines the mission and goals of the city. The section titled "A Special Place" (p. 17) explains that the community includes not only residents but those who work and recreate here: "MANY FEEL A PART OF THE GOLDEN COMMUNITY AND CALL THIS PLACE HOME. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THE PLAN, GOLDEN’S COMMUNITY IS DEFINED AS THOSE WHO EMBRACE THE SPECIAL NATURE OF THIS PLACE."

The bulk of this year's Comprehensive Plan focuses on adding more affordable housing (pp. 24-32), with smaller sections about the School of Mines (pp.33-35) and Economic Development (pp. 36-38). Learn more.
Golden Downtown General Improvement District (GDGID) Strategy
The GDGID was established in 1963 to acquire and maintain public parking to support downtown businesses. For many years, it was funded by a smallish tax on downtown property. In 2004, "cash in lieu" was established to allow developers to contribute cash rather than having to supply their own parking. This helped fund construction of two downtown public parking garages. The advent of paid parking downtown has made parking something of a cash cow: staff projects that parking will generate $550-600K this year.

Council will consider extending the GDGID area to include the City-owned property north of Clear Creek. CoorsTek's development agreement for Clayworks included a Transportation Demand Management agreement, which enabled them to build with less onsite parking than our code would require. As they build out, they are likely to need off-site parking, and the City-owned land is the most likely place for it. Learn more.
Financial Trends Monitoring System (FTMS) Guide
Staff will present a new Financial Trends report, which covers the City's financial situation for the years 2019-2024. During that time, we were in a consistently good and stable condition, with increasing revenues and decreasing debt. The report expresses some caution with regard to future world and national conditions, which may not be as stable as those experiences over the last five years. This report does not include the approximately $60 million in debt issued for the new City hall, since that began in January of this year. Learn more.