July 24th, 2010

Minutes of the June 14, 2010 Gold Hill Town Meeting

Next Meeting: ELECTIONS!  August 9, 2010, 7:30 p.m. at the Community Center.

If you know anyone for Chair or Vice-Chair, we need him or her.  Neither Val nor Jim will be running.

Vice-Chair Jim Smith called the meeting to order – Chair Val Crist arrived later.  Eleven people attended: Member at Large Lisa McConnell, Mary Ryan, Bear Carlson, James D. Smith, Jack Laughlin, Karen Simmons, John Sand, Susan Fernalld, Val Crist, Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer, and Edie Eilender.

Minutes of the April 12 meeting were approved.

Treasurer’s Report – Treasurer Adriana Galue is out of town.  Gretchen spoke with Dick Cole who has the checkbook and reports that our balance is $5676.10.  We received $348.00 from Susan Fernalld, Weed Management.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Community Planning/Trails – Gretchen reports that she, Lin Folsom, Karen Simmons, Max Yeager, and Michael Albes met with Jim Daus, and walked around Horsfal Ridge where the County has proposed a potential trail in conjunction with the proposed acquisition of BLM land through the Recreation and Public Purposes Act. This trail would cross properties owned by Lin and Gretchen & Michael, which would require an easement from them.  It is proposed to be located approx. ¾ of the way down the hill (close to Four Mile), starting somewhere near Lambert’s and perhaps curving around the end of the ridge, running along the east side and meeting up with our driveway that goes past the Mill and in along the ridge.  It’s all very iffy at this point as the land has yet to be acquired, but Jim, as a Land Acquisition Officer for Boulder County Parks and Open Space, wanted to see how feasible a trail is on the ground versus the map as well as where Lin and Gretchen & Michael would prefer or not to see it located.

Karen is proposing a questionnaire asking what Gold Hill people think about issues concerning local trails proposed for our area – for instance, do we want bikes, dogs, horses, how close to town or other homes should trails be constructed, and what kind of signage would be helpful, as well as any other issues we come up with.  If you have input on this, please contact Karen at 447-8607 or Gretchen at 442-3847 or gretchend@mac.com.

Historical Zoning – John reports that Peter Swift, a design consultant who has worked with the committee before, has rented Terry Walters’ cabin and may be helpful with the proposed guideline revisions.

Bear reports that Elon Bar-Evan has completed the installation of solar panels on the roofs of his house and garage.  They’re flush mounted and blend in well with the existing roof – a good example of what the committee would like to see.  Jeff Combelic has done the same kind of installation as well as solar thermal panels along his porch for hot water.

From Cherry Sand’s written report: Michelle Bar Evan is pursuing getting her mid 1870’s house at 501 Main St. land-marked with the County with the idea she would be eligible for matching funds to do necessary repairs on the foundation and roof as well as window replacement in keeping with the historic character of the original house.  Historic Zoning has not received any plans on the scope of her project as yet.

Reminder from Historic Zoning: The Gold Hill Historic Zoning Committee is an advisory group established for the purpose of assisting those citizens who want to make exterior changes to their property in keeping with the historic character of the town.

In order to speed the process of making changes to your property such as remodeling, replacement/repair, or new construction, please submit your plans to the Gold Hill Historic Zoning Board BEFORE applying for a permit with the County.  The County always kicks it back to us for approval and if we know nothing about the project, it tends to get held up until we can talk to the owner and review plans.  Contact any of the following members for information/consultation: Cherry Sand (303-443-2543); Bear Carlson (303-443-3256); Dan Gretz (303-440-1969); Amy Hardy (303-442-3316); Steve Barnard (303-444-2648).

Forest Management – Edie reported on the workshop held just before this meeting by Ryan Ludlow and Bob Bundy on Forest Management and the Beetle invasion.  They certainly recommend identifying beetle hit trees and dealing with them before the beetles fly to new trees, but they also warned that the worst-case scenario is that we will lose 90% of our pines and basically need to plan for future forest diversity.  We have an advantage over the Western Slope in that our forest is already so much more diverse than theirs.   They are available to help us and Edie will speak with them about coming up again, perhaps in October to update us.

CWPP – Val reports that our current town projects are done for now and encourages people to continue with individual mitigation projects.

Fire Department – Val encourages people to come on down to trainings which are held the 4^th “Thursday evenings and on the 2^nd Saturdays of each month.  Training continues with the 3 departments, Fourmile, Sunshine and Gold Hill.

Weed Management – Susan reports that the Aspens we planted are doing well – 97% are living and putting out new leaves.

They conducted the class on Mountain Gardening in April, talked about noxious weeds and sold native flower seeds.  They still have some left – contact Susan at sfernelld@msn.com or 447-0634.

A group buy for Verbenone was organized to obtain a price break.  It does fairly well in non-epidemic conditions.  In epidemic conditions it buys us some time until we get a big cold snap and to plant for diversity.

Our wacko, silly Mountain Pine Beetles singing group is performing at Allenspark on June 26^th in the afternoon.  They have a new presentation, “Freak to Freak Highway,” about life in the mountains, old hippies, dogs, raising kids in the mountains, living with wildlife, etc.

ADDENDUM: They will also be performing at the Gold Hill Inn’s Beer Garden on Sunday, August 15^th at 7:30.

Historic Gold Hill – Edie reports that the Museum is open on Saturdays and Sundays unless it is really cold (there is no heat).  The Calendar is coming along and we hope to have it our for the 4^th of July.  We have some previously unseen old pictures because the Millsite donated back a wonderful photo album that Billy Weaver had given them.

Mining – Jim reports that he did the quarterly water monitoring samples today.  Aurora Gold intends to sign an agreement tomorrow with Global Minerals for the Mill, etc.  They are out of Zurich, originally from Australia, and are brokers.  Jim has been hired as caretaker.  They intend to start slowly, perhaps do some core drilling, and will look into all permitting to make sure everything is up to date.  There have been no violations or citations from any regulatory agencies at this time.  Jim will present an invitation to them to come to a GHTM in the future.

Gold Hill School – no report

OLD BUSINESS

Meadow/Fence Report – Val reports for Kurtis Leverentz that he has finished removing the old fence and it looks good.

NEW BUSINESS

Cemetery – Karen Simmons would like to see an opening of the fence to the Cemetery along the west edge and perhaps steps there and near the gate.  The Gold Hill Club is considering a project in the Cemetery – cleaning it up and so on, and Val suggested they bring a proposal to the Town Meeting and work with Bob Walter as Chair of the Cemetery Committee.  May have to check with the County about any steps since they would probably be in the County right of way.

Gold Hill Club – John reports that when Denise Grimm, County Historic Preservation Department, came up to look at Michelle Bar-Evan’s, she noted that we could landmark the cemetery and possibly get matching funds for any work there.  Restrictions imposed by landmarking mean that the visual appearance couldn’t be changed.

Joe Weaver will conduct a Mine Tour at 11:00 a.m. on August 14^th.

The Gold Hill Club’s 3^rd Annual Town Picnic will be July 11, from 11:00 – 3:00 in Sinner’s side yard.

Town Bake and Rummage Sale –Lisa McConnell is looking for volunteers for a planning committee.  Anyone with beefs about past events or ideas about for the next one, please contact Lisa at 443-3732