Black Hawk broadens “preservation” funding

Lynn Volkens

06/05/2008 - The MMRR Quarry was back on Black Hawk’s radar, one of the topics of the City Council’s executive session held after their regular public meeting on Wednesday, May 28^th. A public hearing before Gilpin County Commissioners is scheduled for June 17^th, 11:00 a.m., and Black Hawk plans to be a part of it. The City has opposed the proposed quarry, due mainly to what it sees as negative traffic impacts on those headed to local casinos.

Wrong Number, Wrong Name

  Wanting to defuse any negative impact that misinformation reported in Central City’s newspaper might have on him or his wife, Alderman Kathy Doles, Don Doles publicly clarified that Black Hawk had not funded removal of any trees from their Marchant Street property. “I don’t have four fifty-foot threes and did not receive $4,055 to remove any trees. I live at 111 Marchant, not 101,” he stressed. The City had used preservation funds to reimburse his neighbors for removal of several large cottonwoods with trunks hollowed from rot. The erroneous report had mismatched the address, attributing it to the wrong property owner. Mayor David Spellman assured the Register-Call reporter the Council knew the mistake was not made by her, and she assured him the publication would run a correction.

It’s A Party!

  It’s community celebration time again at the Hidee Mine. Ed Lewandowski operates the tourist gold mine, two miles south of Central City. Each year, towards the end of spring, he invites Gilpinites to a day of free mine tours, music and food. Lewandowski invited Black Hawk officials, staff and residents to this year’s party. It’s on Friday, June 20^th, beginning at 4:00 p.m.

“God-awful Session”

  Chuck Ford, Black Hawk’s professional legislative lobbyist, updated the Aldermen on his activities this year. “It was a god-awful legislative session,” he reported, “We had interest in 20 bills that all dealt peripherally with gaming and had to be watched carefully because they could have caused trouble here (in Black Hawk).” He outlined some of the bills that pertained to rules and regulations for the Gaming Commission, cigar bars, election year reluctance to deal with Tabor impacts, and road projects. Mayor Spellman commented this year is the first that state funding for road improvements is coming to Gilpin, not Teller County. Ford agreed but said Black Hawk will have to fight to guarantee enough funding from the beginning to the end of the Highway 119 projects.

Plays Well With Others

  The Council formalized the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) with Central City to install playground improvements at Russell Park. The Aldermen had discussed the project at their meeting two weeks ago. By approving Council Bill 16, they set their contribution of $6,700 to purchase playground equipment, as well as their commitment to work with Central on possible future acquisitions of amenities for the park. Black Hawk will contribute $850 per year for park maintenance, a figure agreed upon as Black Hawk’s proportionate share based on population. The IGA is the Council’s solution to its lack of a park/playground within Black Hawk boundaries. A citizen had requested the City build a park for its dozen resident children. The Mayor pointed out that available land within Black Hawk is limited and not conveniently located and the cost of building such a park from the ground up would run in the tens of thousands, hence the IGA with Central. Alderman Paul Bennett noted Black Hawk children may also use the County’s playground located near the ball fields. That’s a free fifteen-minute ride on the Connector shuttle bus. Children under the age of 12 must be accompanied by an adult or older sibling. This IGA was up for public hearing; however no one came forward to speak either for or against it.

Preservation Funding Broadens

  Also up for public hearing, and also with no comment from the public, was Council Bill 17, amending Black Hawk Ordinance 03-19, the 2003 guidelines for restoration and preservation projects. That bill identified these projects as: Mountain City, rock walls, City Hall and existing municipal facilities, historic houses, the City cemetery, creation and maintenance of facilities such as museums, heritage tourism and marketing, creation and maintenance of publicly owned and governmental facilities including land acquisition, creation and maintenance of community oriented facilities including land acquisition, implementation of the Open Space and Heritage Master Plans including land acquisition, public utilities, City streets, and drainage infrastructure. Funding for such projects, statewide, comes from 28% of the gaming taxes paid to the state by local casinos. Black Hawk’s share of 20% is based proportionately on the amount of tax revenue generated by Black Hawk casinos. With this amended bill, the Aldermen added funding the Public Works and Fire Departments with preservation money. The Council reasoned that Public Works assures preservation of City infrastructure (streets, sidewalks, bridges, trails, public buildings, drainage, water and water storage) and Fire Department services are needed as an assurance of preserving the City’s historic, and other, public and private buildings. “We’ve always interpreted this (restoration and preservation) broadly,” the Mayor explained. The Council approved the bill after changing the title to include these restoration and preservation “uses.”

Superfund Covenant

  Black Hawk owns six mining claims (Hampton, Hope, Iroquois, Powers, Rainbow and Silver Dollar Lodes) located within the Central City/Clear Creek Superfund Site Study Area (in this case, on the uphill side of the Central City Parkway), which are subject to clean-up action by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). Those agencies requested and received the Council’s official agreement for access to the sites, plus a covenant between the parties restricting disturbance of the rock cover once the EPA/CDPHE has stabilized the areas. The remedial actions are being done to reduce erosion and consequent sediment contamination downstream, primarily into North Clear Creek. Once stabilized, future development or building upon these sites is prohibited.

Executive Session

  In addition to the MMRR Quarry issue, the Aldermen met with Attorney Hoffmann in Executive Session to discuss potential legislation and potential litigation. They took no further action after that session. Black Hawk Council meets next on June 11^th.