Minutes of the Special Gold Hill Town Meeting, January 25,2021

Text of the announcement for the meeting:
Serious efforts have been made over the years to create an accessible community center in Gold Hill that meets the range of functions the community would like support. Whether it be in discussions around the recent energy study or the personal conversations we’ve all had, many people in town think a community center would be a great addition. It could complement the store and inn, serve as a base for responding to emergencies/disasters, enable community events, provide a location for yoga, childcare or remote work. The possibilities are endless. The main problem in actualizing this has been the absence of a piece of land and space that could really work.
In order to reinvigorate this, a group of Gold Hill residents (for convenience we’re calling ourselves the “Friends of Gold Hill Community Center.”) have purchased the historical house at 900 Pine Street with the hope that it can ultimately be bought by the town as a community center. This was a spontaneous response to the opportunity. We found out it was available and that, if we could buy it before the end of the year, we could purchase it for a little under its assessed valuation. We managed to put it together quickly because it seemed to offer many possibilities to the town. Plus, if the town chose not to pursue acquiring this property, it seemed a safe bet that we could put it in better condition and sell it. Either way Gold Hill would be better off! We are not interested in making a profit from the town, but just to cover our investment.
We look forward to discussions with the Gold Hill Town Meeting and anyone else who is interested over the coming months around the community center opportunity! We envision a number of ways that the town could raise sufficient funds to purchase the place and we’re more than happy to assist through innovative financing arrangements and fundraising efforts! That said, there is no obligation for the town and all the details involved in any possible purchase by the town remain to be worked out.
We look forward to this special meeting on January 25 where we’ll be able to present more information, ideas, and details, answer questions, and begin to explore if there is sufficient interest to pursue this property for Gold Hill.
Looking forward to discussing this opportunity! We hope everyone finds it as exciting as we do!

Chair Emma Dirolf called this Special GHTM to order. Over 60 people signed on – amazing participation! – names included at the end.

Emma announced that this would be an hour meeting to discuss the latest community center idea. She began by calling on Gretchen to present some historical background of community centers in Gold Hill. Gretchen reported that when she first came to Gold Hill in 1966, the town owned the school. The town had built it and we owned it. We had town meetings there and potlucks, our Christmas Party and then, somehow, the school district took quiet title to it. We created a real uproar, but it was a done deal and it did seem more or less ok for a while and then there were more and more rules and restrictions. This was sometime in the early 70s, I think, and Gold Hill was small enough that most of us just did everything – the Fire Department, the Town Meeting, the PTO, played softball up at Rock Stadium. The Fire Department was not a tax district then and the GHTM was not incorporated. Well, we realized that we really needed a Firebarn (we just had the Walter garage and one small old truck) and community center, too. The Regniers generously volunteered to donate land to us in the perfect spot. The whole town got behind it – Bob Gibson donated the cement floor, Frank had a jar at the Inn and hit up patrons to donate, a bunch of us went to the brickyard and sorted through the rejects for useable bricks for the foundation, and local architects and carpenters all worked on it. It was a fantastic community effort. We had wonderful gatherings and parties there – pulled out the trucks and had Halloween parties and our local J.B. Stetson Sweatband played. We have lots of pictures. Later, the Town Meeting got CETA grants and Michael and others worked on finishing the upstairs for our meeting space, and John Rankin built the barn doors. But eventually the Fire Department, which now had the deed to the building, needed more space for Fire Department stuff. And so the town has again been talking for some time about figuring out our own community center (CC) space once more. Several years ago John Sand got a bunch of students in Boulder to inventory the historical buildings in Gold Hill and they designed a CC for Sinner’s yard, and later Peter Swift again got some students in a Design Center in Denver to imagine buildings that would meet our amazing list of desires for a possible CC – million-dollar wonderful ideal solutions that realistically we would never be able to afford, but were really inspiring. Then, in December, as you have heard, Marcus found out about the old Justin house being for sale from Denver, that the family loved the idea of it’s being a community gathering place, and that, if we could raise the money by the end of the year, we could get it for a little less than it was appraised for. Which 10 of us jumped in and did. So now we’re here to look at the possibilities of 900 Pine Street for the town to consider.
Next Marcus spoke and reported that he and Elisabeth came in contact with the GHTM over their remodel of the old Weaver place. They became aware of discussions around needing a community center when Peter Swift was the chair and got the students in Denver working on those beautiful designs. So, talk of a CC has come up again and again. Later, the Sustainability group worked on the major energy study and the need for the CC again came up as important for Gold Hill. They actually looked at the place across from their house, but it sold immediately. They realized we are in a bit of a chicken and egg situation. In the absence of a specific site to purchase, the town can’t raise the funds to buy it, but when something comes available it sells before the town can respond. Without both at once (almost impossible) it might be hard to ever make it happen. When Denver said the Justin family wanted to sell, Marcus thought that unless we could make an offer, we’d be in the same chicken and egg situation again. Our ad hoc committee, the Friends of the Gold Hill Community Center (FGHCC), formed because Marcus started talking to people in the community who might be interested and able to put up the money to purchase and hold the building for long enough to give the community time to decide if it could meet our needs. And, if not, it should be easy to sell to someone to live there. We agreed internally to hold it for two years and would like to make around 2% on the purchase price to cover the investment. If the GHTM reached an agreement and signed a letter of intent, the FGGCC could help work out loans/grants, etc. and work on fundraising, how to incorporate volunteers and so on. It is important to state again that there is no demand on the GHTM to pursue this. It’s a good structure, pretty solid, although it obviously needs a new roof, porch and septic. Dan, who is a certified building inspector, has inspected it and has given us a detailed assessment. It has a significantly large flat lot. We know there is a concern for business activities to be mainly on Main Street, but this would not be a business or anything in constant use. And there should be a lot of potential synergies with the Inn, the Store, and the School. It could possibly help provide space and off-street wood storage for the mitigation project on the north side of town if needed. It cost $255,000 plus legal and closing fees and has been appraised at $300,000.

Emma replied that she supports the idea of the Community Center and this great effort – thinks it could be a benefit for all. Dan echoed that – he supports the effort and thinks it could work well. He thanked the folks who have put in this effort to remove the cycle of the chicken and egg, and because of the gradual shift with the Firebarn being needed more and more by the Fire Department, the need for a community center has grown. With the most recent fire and evacuation, it seems we need the space, heat, WiFi, and phone a community center could provide and not be in the way of the Fire Department. The Firebarn stairs and sometimes icy walkway can also be obstacles to ADA access. Mari added that it seems exciting that we could use it and not have to build a new building and she likes the idea of turning an old building into something good for the community. Gretchen said that it’s appealing to preserve an old building. It could be added onto or, given the large lot, we could possibly use the present building for smaller uses and build a larger meeting space in back – like a barn maybe. Marcus added that, as an historical community building, preservation would be a positive for fund raising from the County. When they presented the energy study to the County Commissioners, which included community support for a CC, the County Commissioners said come back to us.

Emma said that there were several questions in the chat about the structure. Marcus reported that Dan did a basic residential inspection. It has a 40 foot hand dug well. The foundation directly under the house and the floor trusses are solid.

Joanne questioned if the Museum could double as a CC. Deb pointed out that it has no heat, no insulation, no water, no bathroom and no other place for exhibits. When they have community outreach events, it takes about 10 people to move things around and protect the exhibits. Also, no food is allowed in the museum. The Museum is its own 501(c)3 owned by Historic Gold Hill. Board members are Boyd, Joan Few, Jane Maslanka, Jay Clark, Ania Poisson, Deb, and Norm Skarstad.

Emily pointed out that when the Museum evolved, she was concerned about parking and traffic. Pine Street is residential and not part of a business district. Our community is not growing due to limited space available and she is concerned about any development in this small community, many places now don’t have adequate water supply or septic systems and something like this proposed new use would be a big impact and concerns her greatly. This is an historic zone and that ambience is part of why we’re here. She doesn’t agree with turning the Museum into a CC either.

Emma, looking at the chats, asked about zoning. Boyd thinks there would have to be a change of use and that there are a lot of realistic concerns. He’d suggest having the building looked at by certified contractors to evaluate the costs for the necessary improvements – he’s not sure the building is sound. He added that the Museum is 1250 square feet and 900 Pine Street is 700. He thinks there are a huge amount of things to look at: well and septic, code upgrades, wiring, fire protection, outside lighting, parking, and he agrees with Emily about potential traffic, parking and heavy impact on the neighborhood. Back in the 70s there were major discussions about cottage industries and the town felt that from the Store to the crossroads should be our business zone.

Bear pointed out that Leslie’s comment in the chat was the first he’d heard about a new Firebarn and wondered about how much the Fire Department had looked into that. Boyd replied that they have been talking about it for several years – possible designs and locations. Part of the issue has been fundraising and now they have new people knowledgeable about grants and grant-writing. Lefthand has just started the process and have gone through several iterations, so we’re observing them. The current location doesn’t accommodate what we need – we need a different space. He knows that when the land was deeded to the Fire Department, it created some hard feelings because the town had put so much effort into the building for both the fire department and the community center. Marcus responded that Boyd’s points are really good and there are a lot of questions to be addressed and the 900 Pine building is small. It seems that, if the Fire Department is looking at fundraising for a new building, they would have to use the present building as collateral or for matching funds. There are many different options to explore.

Greg Buis chimed in with wondering where are we going now and Emma responded that there is a lot to discuss. We can collect questions and start looking at answers. Marcus suggested that there needs to be a lot more community discussion and that we need to make an effort to collect questions, ideas, key challenges and get more tangible information to see if we get to the point where the town wants to pursue the possibilities of 900 Pine.

Emma outlined our direction as 1. Collecting questions and answers as we know them and getting information out and 2. Eventually taking a vote of the town on what direction to go. Probably can’t happen by the February GHTM. It was decided to put out a Google survey to get more town input. She added that we had over 50 participants in this meeting, which indicates a great deal of interest, and thanked everyone.

List of attendees – includes people not fully identified, so if you are one of the people with question marks, let me know and I can correct the list:

Participants list for Special GHTM 1-26-21

Emma Diorolf, Mari Sidell, Bear Carlson, Poppy Copeland, Erin Vanek, Deb Yeager, Dan Meadke, Chrissy Meadke, Gretchen Diefenderfer, Breida Geesaman, Rick Geesaman, Heidi Kessler, Richard Roth, Kelly Viet, Mike – Partner of Kelly Veit, Norm Skarstad, Bill Patterson, Marcus Moench, Elisabeth Caspari, Val Crist, Dina Elder, Mark Elder, Rebecca Wilder, Yanos Wilder, Kris Gibson, Chris Finn, Leslie Finn, Boyd Brown , Johanna Gangemi, Danielle Maida, Rick Sinner, David Umberger, Virginia Shultz, Dwight Debroux, Laura (?), Matt Connery + 2 civic kids, Lacey Storey, Adwoa Lemieux, Cat Russell, Nick Martin, Michael Wollard, Joanne Cole, Mireille Brown, Tyrus ?, Luzie Mason, Richard Lopez, Karen (?), Steffi Wilson, Dave Wilson, Greg Buis, Rick Sinner, Jojo Morrison, Jessica Brookhart, Todd Swift, Brian (?), Thomas Woodson, Rick Sheingold, Max Yeager, Amy Connery, Chris Dirolf, Ipad(4) – (?), Ian Morlock, Emily Rose, Sarah O’Brian, Sam (Not O’Brian), Jenna Gann, Juliet (?), Joey Schusler

Respectfully submitted, Gretchen Diefenderfer, Secretary