Creek Traffic, the Zoning Code Rewrite, and Building in a Flood Plain

*Golden Eye Candy – Jeremy Keller – Surfing the Creek – enlarge*

Virtual Events

TriceraTOTs – Compost in a Bottle
Join educator Diane Seymour for a new series of virtual PreK-Kindergarten dinosaur crafts and storytelling. Virtual programs will be short 15-30 mins and will be shared on Facebook and our website for free. Video FREE on Facebook

6-6:55AM Cycling
9-9:55AM Silver Sneakers Classic
9-10:00AM Women’s Exercise and Bible Study @ First United Methodist Church
11-11:55AM HIIT & Sculpt
11AM-12:30PM Golden Community Table @ First United Methodist Church
12-12:55PM All Levels Yoga Virtual
6:30-7:30PM Virtual/Call In: Setting Up Your Teen for Success

Real World Events

Spring Yard Waste Collection
9:15-9:45AM Baby Time @ Golden Library
10:15-10:45AM Preschool Time @ Golden Library
4:30-5:30PM Teen Advisory Board @ Golden Library
5PM VIBE@Five @ Truly Bohotique
6:30-7:30PM Virtual /Call In: Setting Up Your Teen for Success

6:30PM City Council Regular Business Meeting @ City Hall
City Council will read proclamations regarding Mental Health Month, Building Safety Month, National Police Week, and Golden Graduates Week.

The Planning director will give a preliminary report on the zoning code rewrite. Council will not be voting on this issue tonight, but because it’s so extremely complicated, council will have the chance to begin learning about it and discussing it tonight. Their second reading and the public hearing will be held on May 24th.

The timing of this discussion is unusual because the Planning Commission is still reviewing the code and will be discussing it tomorrow night in their study session. Council usually waits for the Planning Commission to complete their review and provide their recommendations. They are anxious to approve the new code and end the construction moratorium that has been in place since July of 2021.

The Finance Director will report on our first quarter financial status.

There will be three public hearings tonight. The first is a supplemental budget appropriation of $7,244,049. The second hearing concerns an ordinance that would allow the city to charge developers for the cost of consultants used to review land use and development applications. The third hearing covers a new ordinance which will require tube rental companies to obtain permits from the city. The same ordinance will prohibit the use of disposable containers in the Creek.

The Clear Creek Subcommittee has worked with the Parks and Transportation boards to develop a number of recommendations regarding signage, traffic flow, parking, infrastructure changes. They are all designed to make the recreational traffic along the creek safer and more tolerable this summer. Council will continue to discuss and roll out these changes over their next couple of meetings. Beginning next year, outfitters (companies that rent tubes) will be required to provide a shuttle service that would drive tubers to a “put in” spot upstream. That would reduce a lot of the traffic on the sidewalks.

Trivia

6:30-8:30PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Buffalo Rose

6:30-8:30PM Trivia Tuesdays @ Golden Mill

6-8PM Toad Trivia Tuesdays @ Mountain Toad Brewing
7PM Trivia Night @ the Ace
7-9PM Team Trivia Night @ Tributary Food Hall

Golden History Moment

*Vanover Park at Ford and Water Streets – enlarge*

This is #8 in the walk down Clear Creek, reviewing the history of the Heart of Golden area. Today, we’re looking at Vanover Park.

*Excerpt from the 1873 Birdseye View map of Golden – enlarge*

Despite its vulnerability to flooding, this land was used for residences for most of the City’s history. The 1873 Birdseye View map shows one two story building between Water Street and the Creek. By the time the 1882 map was drawn, many more structures had been built.

*Excerpt from the 1882 Birdseye View map of Golden – enlarge*

Those buildings were still there for the last available Sanborn insurance map, dated 1938.

1938 Sanborn insurance map with the Vanover Park area outlined in red

After World War II, Golden experienced a great housing shortage and mobile homes were squeezed into many locations around town, including this one. For several decades, the area included a mix of old frame duplexes and mobile homes.

*This March 8, 1976 Golden Transcript shows one of many floods that inundated the area over the years. Note the wooden duplex in the foreground and the mobile homes in the background – enlarge*

In the 1990s, the decision was made to vacate the low-lying property and turn it into a park.

Golden Trailer Court – now Vanover Park – Golden History Museum collection – enlarge

Tune in tomorrow for the story of Vanover Park – part 2!

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!