Minutes of 4-12-10 Town Meeting
Minutes of the April 12, 2010, Town Meeting
Next Meeting will be June 14, 2010, 7:30 p.m. at the Community Center
The meeting was called to order by Chair Val Crist. Twelve people attended: Edie Eilender, Barb Barnard, Member at Large Lisa McConnell, Cherry and John Sand, Mark A. Steen, Kurtis Leverentz, Karen Simmons, Jim Smith, Val Crist, Treasurer Adriana Galeu, and Secretary Gretchen Diefenderfer.
Minutes of the February 8 meeting were approved.
The Climb – Val expressed Phil Carter’s thanks to all for their contributions. They are within $1000 of the $7,000 needed to obtain the maximum contribution from the County (and they are still taking money). Ride the Climb!
Treasurer’s Report – Adriana reported that there have been two checks written to reimburse her: $10.00 for filing the State Report online, and the second for the Insurance Company for our liability insurance for $751.00. A third check was also written for $164.04 for the Assessor’s exemption property annual fee. We started with a $6253.14 and so our total balance is now $5320.10.
From Adriana’s records in December ’09, our balance began in August with $3940.19
In her December ’09 report we had 3 deposits
John Sand, reimbursement for Sesquicentennial expenses – $500.00
Leslie Finn – Cemetery Fund donation $250.00
Rummage Sale proceeds from Elon $1,600.45
And one check to Jennie Rice, reimbursement for rent paid - $37.50
Balance: 6253.14
Edie requested the amounts in Forest Management and the other accounts. In Adriana’s absence, by my calculations, the amounts on the separate funds are probably
General Fund 2185.45 Cemetery 2862.21
Weed Mgmt 80.81 Forest Mgmt 75.22
Trails 31.29 Long Range Planning 82.00
Historical Zoning 11.12
For a total balance of $5328.10. We will have to check this with Adriana when she returns.
She is out of town until June, and Dick Cole has the checkbook in her absence.
COMMITTEE REPORTS
Community Planning/Trails – Gretchen reports on the Committee Meeting with Chad Ricklefs, March 29, 2010, at the Gold Hill Store
Attending: Karen Simmons, Marie Brookhart, Edie Eilender, John & Cherry Sand, and Gretchen Diefenderfer
Chad is a Resource Planner in the Land Use Department and our contact person on the Open Space plans for our area (303-678-6273 or cricklefs@bouldercounty.org). He was happy to meet with us and very willing to attend a Town Meeting at any time in the future to answer any questions.
He reports that it will be several years before the County finalizes the acquisition of the BLM land (first, the BLM has to finish its’ surveying). He hopes the BLM will finish analyzing and reviewing the application this year. Then the County will spend approximately 2 years on the management plan and he looks forward to working with us on this. The County will have a team of around 15 people to inventory it all, etc.
The trails, parking, etc. on the preliminary plan that we worked on with Jeff Moline in 2003-4 are conceptual alignments only and will need ground truthing. We asked him about possible uses – bikes, motorized, horses? That’s all to be worked out, but there will be no motorized use trails. Many people also have concerns about people wandering off trails and onto private property, encountering mine holes, liability issues, etc. He confirmed that the County intends to stick with the minimalist approach to development and they take concerns like this into account. There will be a website with the Gold Hill Project on it as it all develops and he will let us know when they set this up. He will post maps, etc.
Karen brought several maps that Chad supplied pertaining to lands the County now owns, as well as those they are negotiating for. There seem to be some inconsistencies on the County maps to be clarified. She added that the committee has discussed conducting a survey to find out the views of the community on old/historic trails as well as possible new trails the County may establish on the BLM land to be acquired.
Forest Management – Edie brought a USFS Landowners’ Guide to Living with Bark Beetles. There are more available at the Gold Hill Store or from the USFS. She reminded everyone that now is the time to deal with new beetle hit trees if you haven’t already. Karen wondered if there is any interest in purchasing more Verbanone for this year.
CWPP – Kris Gibson reported to Val that the South Project is done and there is now a pretty good mitigation perimeter around Gold Hill. There are still some piles remaining to be burned. They will keep working with the Forest Service to look for funding sources to continue with further mitigation work.
Fire Department – Val reports that training continues the 4th Thursday evenings and 2nd Saturdays of the month and all are welcome. Several firefighters have taken the Wildland Fire Refresher Course to stay up to date.
Weed Management – Susan Fernalld’s class on flower gardening above 8,000 feet will be Sunday, April 25. She has lots of wildflower seed packets for sale and can be contacted at 303-447-0634 or sfernalld@msn.com.
Historic Gold Hill – Edie reports that the Museum is alive and well. We have started on the calendar for 2011 and are always looking for contributions: photos (old and new), drawings, poems, and ideas! The Museum is open by appointment only in the winter, but call her (303-444-0778) if you have visitors who would like to see it.
ADDENDUM – if you would like to run an ad. for your business in the calendar, contact Dick Cole at 303-443-7459.
Historic Zoning – Cherry reports that the only project in the works is Elon Bar-Evan’s solar panels. HZ has approved them and he just has to proceed with the County. The County identifies this as a small project and has notified only the directly adjacent neighbors. Cherry passed around Elon’s plans and there is a copy at the Store.
They are in the process of developing guidelines for solar installations (see Old Business below).
Mining – In Bob Mason’ absence, John Sand asked Mark Steen, who then asked Jim Smith, for updates on any negotiations regarding the Mill. Jim reported that he recently gave a tour to Jim Beck and Paul Jones doing due diligence for Aurora Gold. Mark replies that his understanding is that Aurora is planning to proceed with their purchase of Global Minerals and that he will then have a new joint venture agreement with them sometime within a few weeks to months. He says they are going to complete all permitting – local, State, and Federal and do everything on the up and up. Mark still believes that water was pumped out of the Cash illegally by Mount Royale Ventures, although he grants that the water is pretty much like well water up here – not deleterious – just cannot be legally discharged without proper permits.
OLD BUSINESS
Fence Report – Kurtis reports that the barbed wire fence around the Town Meadow is ½ gone now – all bunched up in piles, which he hopes to be able to get rid of at the Town Clean-up. He intends to remove the steel posts and leave the old wooden ones. If anyone is interested in the old steel posts, contact Kurtis at 303-550-1616. Jim Smith moved that the steel posts be removed with the stipulation that Rick Schmidt be contacted to ascertain exactly where the property line is between his land and the Town Meadow. Ayes have it. Motion carried.
ADDENDUM: Kurtis needs some help with this project. Please call him at 303-550-1616.
Historic Zoning Discussion - Cherry passed around the first draft of the proposed solar installation guidelines. This is their first draft developed from Breckenridge’s regulations:
The preservation of the historic character of Gold Hill is an important consideration when contemplating making any changes to your property including new construction, remodel or restoration. Efforts to conserve energy in our homes are encouraged with emphasis placed on adequate insulation and caulking, replacing leaky windows and doors, and use of low energy appliances. The installation of solar collectors is acceptable providing they have a minimal impact on the visual character of the town and are not detrimental to the nature of our historic district. We would like homeowners to be mindful of the visibility of their proposed project and how it would affect the overall appearance of our community.
Recommended:
Place solar panels and devices on roofs to minimize visibility from public streets.
Set solar panels and devices back from roof edges and ridgeline.
Install all solar devices flush to roof surface and parallel to the ridgeline.
Use building integrated solar devices in design phase for new structures
Use solar panels and mounting equipment with non-reflective finishes, and paint any associated hardware or mechanical devices to match the color of the roof or flat black.
Locate non-roof mounted solar arrays in the yard area to minimize visibility from public streets and adjacent properties.
When possible, solar panels should be rectangular as opposed to irregularly shaped.
Not Recommended:
Altering the character of the structure such that the structure no longer meets community historic zoning recommendations
Acutely visible solar applications from public streets and adjacent properties.
Members of the HZ Committee are: Cherry, Amy Hardy, Bear Carlson, Steve Barnard, and Dan Gretz. They will be meeting over the summer to work on these guidelines.
Kurtis stated that solar panels can be installed on corrugated roofs and he thinks it’s important to preserve them.
Welcome Wagon – Lisa reports that she has had computer difficulties and may have to put her computer down, but has been working on the Welcome Wagon project. She is planning on a pamphlet with assorted information: The Climb, Museum, School, Fire Department, Town Meeting, Historical Zoning, wildlife, as well as services available up here, and town celebrations like 4th of July and the Bake Sale, etc. She’s thinking of baskets with the pamphlet, a phone list, maybe coupons provided by local businesses and is open for suggestions or help with this.
NEW BUSINESS – Announcements
Town Clean up – Val reports that the Town Clean-up is scheduled for June 19 and she still needs a point person to run it that day. The County will provide 3 roll-offs for trash, we can get one from Ecocycle for recycling metal, which we have to pay for, but it’s thought we get reimbursed for the metal? Jim Smith moved that we appropriate funds up to $400 for a metal recycling roll-off from Ecocycle. Motion passed. Tires? Haven’t found an affordable option this year. Hard to recycle stuff? Only if we can get someone to run it.
This year we have a new option to get rid of dead cars. Here is an announcement from Kurtis:
Greetings all! As you may, or may not know, the Town Cleanup this year is scheduled for Saturday, June 19. This year, we would like to include another way to help tidy up the area of Gold Hill. Kurtis Leverentz & Matthew Legg have offered to remove any unwanted vehicles in town. If you’re one of those who have “had plans” to fix your vehicle, but never got around to it, then you can definitely help! We would prefer to have the cars parked over on Boulder Street near where Matt’s trailer is usually parked. If the vehicles are undrivable, please let us know and we can load them on a trailer for removal in advance. Titles for as many vehicles as possible would be appreciated (this will make it much easier at the scrap yard).
Unfortunately, whatever money is raised will be going into payment to the scrap yards, delivery of the vehicles (fuel), and labor costs for Matt & Kurtis. If there are any questions regarding this, please feel free to contact either Kurtis at 303.550.1616 or Matt at 970-948-6896, both mobile phones.
Mail Delivery – Karen asked how mail delivery is going for everyone. She’s heard lots of complaining about miss-delivered mail and thinks we should make calls to the Post Office.
Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretery