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What's Happening in Golden - Tuesday, Apr. 8th, 2025

News and events in Golden, Colorado. Tuesday, Apr. 8th, 2025

,   and  Barb Warden
12 min read
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New Art at New Loveland Mine Park

Photo by Chris Davell
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What's happening in Golden today?

Events for Tuesday, Apr. 8th

Golden History Tours
Baby Time - Registration Required
Preschool Time - Registration Required
Team Trivia Tuesday
Trivia Tuesdays

For more information, click the item above or visit the Golden Today Calendar

10:30AM Front Porch Friends Meeting @ The Community Center

Photo by Joyce Davell

Front Porch Friends Meetings occur once a month. Join us at the Golden Community Center for friendly conversation and to support in planning and implementing future Front Porch activities. 
 
More information

Location:

Golden Community Center
1470 10th Street   (Map)

When:

10:30AM on Tuesday, Apr. 8th

5PM Land of Good Men @ Colorado School of Mines

How do upheavals of masculinity, ecologies, and democracy converge on the American Great Plains?  What kind of writing can contribute to wider efforts to reclai common ground at this pivotal historical moment?

To explore such questions, this reading from a manuscript-in-progress excavates the emotional and environmental terrain of the author's family homestead located along Western Oklahoma's hundredth meridian, where tensions of damage and repair accrete over generations.

More information

Location:

Colorado School of Mines
Hill Hall   (Map)

When:

5PM on Tuesday, Apr. 8th

5-7PM VIBE@Five and Ribbon Cutting - Deep Roots Winery

April's Very Important Business Event (V.I.B.E.) will also feature a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially welcome Deep Roots Winery to Golden!

Ribbon Cutting at 5:15 p.m.

More information

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.

Become a member

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. 
 
 

Location:

Deep Roots Winery
1375 Catamount Drive   (Map)

When:

5-7PM on Tuesday, Apr. 8th

5PM City Council Study Session @ City Hall

Tonight's topics: 

  • 5-5:30PM Parking Management
    The City outsourced parking enforcement on May 1st of last year. Tonight, staff will provide an update on how the program is working. The City projects that they will make $600,000 this year on parking fees and citations. Pages 9-16 of the meeting memo lists some of the comments and concerns of downtown business owners.

    The parkgoldenco.com website provides useful information as to which downtown lots are public. Several of the privately-owned lots now have payment systems too, including the CoorsTek, Golden Hotel, and Calvary Church lots, and the south end of the Foss lot. If you are a resident, make sure you have registered your cars on the website, so you can park two hours for free without checking in at the kiosk.
  • 5:30-5:50PM Transit Services and Planning
    Staff will review the current status and future plans for public transit, including both RTD services (the 17 bus, the GS bus, W Line light rail, and Flex Ride) and the Ore Cart. The smaller Ore Cart buses are funded by the City and the School of Mines. They hope to expand service to the south part of town this year, but are waiting for some federal approvals, since the expansion would receive federal funds. See the meeting memo for more information.
  • 5:50-6:30PM Residential Sidewalk Policy
    One of the City's walkability goals is to have wide sidewalks along every street. To that end, when they launched the new zoning code, they required any homeowner who increased the size of his or her house by 25% to pay for new, wider sidewalks as part of the project. They're experiencing two problems with the rollout.

    First, the sidewalk construction can put the cost of the home addition out of reach of the homeowner. The memo gives an example of a 1200 sq ft house with a proposed addition of just over 300 sq ft. The house is on a corner lot and has 190 linear feet of sidewalk. The new sidewalk would cost $35,000, which may put the home addition out of reach. Some homeowners have downsized their remodeling plans, to avoid tripping the new sidewalk requirement.

    Second, since this requirement only applies to home additions, it may result in short stretches of 5' sidewalks where the rest of the block has the older, 2' sidewalk. The neighboring homes may not remodel for another 40 years--if ever.

    The Planning Department is considering ways to address these issues. One suggestion is having the homeowner contribute the cost of a new sidewalk to a city-wide sidewalk fund. The City could then use that fund for the highest-priority parts of town. (As described in the memo, this doesn't seem to offer much advantage to the homeowner, who pays for a new sidewalk without getting one.)

    Denver, which has the same goal of building wider sidewalks throughout the city, recently enacted a new tax, where every property owner will pay a sidewalk assessment every year (typically $150), and then the city will take on all responsibility for building new sidewalks.

Council will break for dinner at the conclusion of the study session. The business meeting will begin at 7PM.
 

Location:

City Hall Council Chambers
911 10th Street   (Map)

When:

5PM on Tuesday, Apr. 8th

7PM City Council Business Meeting @ City Hall

Public Comment

The meeting begins with public comment. If you want to address Council, you will have three minutes to speak. Any public comments received by email before 3PM will be posted in the meeting packet after 3 (so check back then!).

Items on the Consent Agenda are considered non-controversial, not needing discussion. Everything in this section will be approved at once, with one vote.

Any councilor wishing to discuss one of the issues can request that it be removed from the consent agenda and discussed and voted on separately.

These are the items on the Consent Agenda:

  • Intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with Jefferson County, allowing us to use County parking lots during special events. The City would provide shuttle service from the County lots to the special event locations.
  • Contract with Muller Engineering to partially design a bike/pedestrian tunnel under Ford Street on the north side of the Creek. The City will pay $320,000 to partially design (but not build) the tunnel. This will get us to 30% of the design. They will return for more funding to reach the 60% and 100% designs. This project is inspired by the desire to have a trail on the north side of the Creek that goes all the way to the new City Hall.
  • First reading of an ordinance that will require the City boards and commissions to adopt a uniform, comprehensive set of rules and procedures. The second reading, public hearing, and vote will occur on April 22nd.

Proclamations

Public Hearings

Redistricting
In order to balance the population of the four wards, 201 voters in the northwest part of the City will be transferred from Ward 3 to Ward 4. (Ward 3 is represented by Don Cameron. Ward 4 is represented by Bill Fisher.)

Update to the City's Election Codes
This ordinance updates the rules regarding:

1) Campaign finance reporting
2) Election board reference
3) Election complaints
4) Recalls
5) Charter amendments
6) Initiatives and referendum
7) Petition requirements
8) Computation of time for election deadlines
9) Initial determination of sufficiency as to petition signatures
10) Final determination of sufficiency as to petition signatures
11) Unlawful acts

Executive Session

As mentioned in yesterday's news, City Council will hold an "Executive Session" (no cameras, no audience) "to determine positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations, developing strategy for negotiations, and instructing negotiators regarding property on 24th Street southwest of Delong Park."

This announcement sent tremors through the surrounding neighborhood, with residents wondering if this augured yet another housing project. The City Manager responded to the article with the assurance that the potential property purchase is not related to housing.

Correction: Cookies with Councilors is at 6PM (not 7PM)

Golden Community Center - Photo by Joyce Davell

Apologies for sending a second email today, but I wanted to let you know that tonight's "Cookies with Councilors" is 6-7PM, not 7-8PM as this morning's newsletter reported.

Coffee with Councilors - Creating a Defensible Space

Join your City Councilors for an important conversation about wildfire prevention and creating a defensible space around your home at the Golden Community Center.

This session will focus on practical steps you can take to protect your property and reduce wildfire risks in our community with our Golden Fire Department. Learn about:

  • What defensible space is and why it matters
  • Simple, cost-effective actions you can take to safeguard your home
  • Resources and programs available to support wildfire prevention efforts

This is a great opportunity to connect with your councilors, get your questions answered, and contribute to the safety of our community. Let’s work together to ensure Golden remains resilient and prepared.

Learn more.

Golden Community Center
1470 10th St (map)

Live Music for Tuesday, Apr. 8th

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For more information, visit the Golden Today Calendar

Golden History: Protecting the Watershed

Google Satellite Image
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99 Years Ago
The April 8, 1926 Colorado Transcript reported that a representative from the U. S. Forest Service had visited City Council. He proposed that the City and Forest Service work together to protect Golden’s water supply. The Forest Service had a fire lookout station on Squaw mountain (since renamed to Mestaa’ėhehe--pronounced mess-taw-HAY--Mountain), above Golden’s water shed. He said that the Forest Service was happy to watch Golden’s Beaver Brook property for fire, even though it was not in the National Forest.

Colorado Transcript – April 8, 1926

The Forest Service representative asked the council to arrange for a group of men who would respond in the event of a forest fire and asked the City to provide fire-fighting tools. He said he was asking the same of Jefferson County and the Denver Mountain Parks. Golden’s City Council agreed to his request.

Golden sold the Beaver Brook property between 2001 and 2005, after building the Guanella Reservoir near Empire.

Weather

Overnight's Weather

Overnight: Partly cloudy. Low around 44, with temperatures rising to around 47 overnight. West wind around 9 mph.

Tuesday's Weather

Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 70. West southwest wind 7 to 12 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph.

Tuesday Night's Weather

Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 46. West wind 10 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 25 mph.

Tuesday Night: Partly Cloudy, 46°F

Wednesday: Sunny, 67°F

Wednesday Night: Mostly Clear, 40°F

Thursday: Sunny, 65°F

Thursday Night: Mostly Clear, 43°F

Friday: Sunny, 77°F

Friday Night: Partly Cloudy, 51°F

Saturday: Mostly Sunny, 81°F

Saturday Night: Partly Cloudy, 51°F

Sunday: Sunny, 75°F

Sunday Night: Slight Chance Rain Showers then Partly Cloudy, 44°F

Monday: Mostly Sunny then Slight Chance Rain And Snow Showers, 66°F

News About Golden - April 7, 2025

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Colorado School of Mines to celebrate 91st Engineering Days

Colorado School of Mines Newsroom

What do cardboard boats, ore carts and fireworks have in common? They’re all highlights of this weekend’s E-Days festivities at Colorado School of Mines.

E-Days – short for Engineering Days – is one of the most anticipated events of the academic year at Mines, with students taking a break from their studies to celebrate what it means to be an engineer... Read more... 

Supporters

Many thanks to the people and organizations who support What’s Happening in Golden?  If you would like to support local news, please CLICK HERE!

Sponsors:
($100/month and up)
Buffalo Rose, Buglet Solar, Foothills Art Center, Golden City Brewery, Golden Cultural Alliance, Miners Alley Performing Arts Center, The Golden Mill, Golden Chamber of Commerce, Golden History Tours, Miners Saloon, Golden Hayride Outpost, Unite Fitness, Joy Brandt, Tom Reiley, Michael Mason, and the Colorado Railroad Museum

Friends:
($50-99.99/month or $550/yr)
Tall Pines Painting, Baby Doe’s Clothing, Goozell Yogurt & Coffee Paul Haseman, Donna Anderson, Carol & Doug Harwood, Beth Bidwell, Stephanie Painter, Greg Poulos, Ann Norton & Jonathan Storer, Mary & Don Parker, Saré Merrigan, The Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum, and Vic DeMaria

Supporters:
($25-49.99/month or $250/yr)
Laura King and Scott Wilson, Bobby German and Alison McNally, Forrest Jones, Barry & Liz Bettis, Cheryl & Tom Schweich, Marjorie Sloan, Chris and Joyce Davell, Rick Flint, Forrest Jones, AC Development, Cynthia Merrill Tamny, Stephen Pero, Meg Van Ness & Steve Kalasz, Steve & Karla Schaefer, Bud Rockhill, Steve Enger, Kristie Brice & Mike Schwartz, The Golden Hotel, and Kurt & Janet Siegfried

Members:
($10-24.99/month or $110/yr)
Brad Miller & Julie Bartos, Holly Thomas, Jim and LouAnne Dale, Ann Pattison, Thomas Hoffman, Carol Abel, Brian Quarnstrom, Sandra Curran, Bobby German and Alison McNally, Kathy Smith, Karen Smith, Carlos & Nancy Bernal, Robert Storrs, Michele Sannes, Elaine Marolla, Dixie Termin & Ron Miller, E Tom Hughes, Crystal M Culbert, Patrick A. Madison, Alice Madison & Jim Kalivas, Deb Goeldner, Christopher Ball, 6th Chair Home Services, Dot & Eric Brownson, Rosemary Coffman, Emeline Paulson, Sandy Schneider, Mark and Cathy Pattridge, Cheryl G Leidich, Jen Rutter, Frani R Bickart, Jennings and Litz, Bill Sedgeley, Nancy Hughes, Justin L Wade, Kathi Eggers, Traci Case, Donna Owen, Leslie D Lutz, Karen Oxman, Catherine Skokan, Ross Fraser & KC Gilliland, Lynne Haigh, Elizabeth Hilliard, Frank Young & Terre Deegan-Young, Kathy Hirons & Jack Markin, Jess & Anthony Monasterio, Ella Lyons & Jeanne Fritch, Heather Duncan, Lee Ann & Pete Horneck, Carol Cameron, Cheryl Williamson, San Daugherty, Jim Garner, John and Carol McEncroe, the Golden Welcome Center, the Golden Transcript, Koshare Eagle, Ken and Colleen Krantz, Traci Neuman Lacey, Jo Barber, Jamie Cookinham, Kermit Shields, Meridee Cecil, Vicki Olson, Colleen & Michael Ramey, Nancy & Pete Torpey, Jax Baker, Simon Maybury, Rose McLaughlin, Cameron Chambers, Joyce Gravina, Patrick Klein, Barb Robie, and Mary Rains

Followers:
($5-9.99/month)
Golden Community Garden, Lora Haimes, Mariane Erickson, J.J. Fraser, Mel Perkins, Bob Hamilton

Highlights