“Gold Rush building safe for now” |
| Gold Rush building safe for now Posted: 18 Sep 2010 10:31 PM PDT Earlier this month Judith Rutherford, through her real estate broker Reed Grainger, asked members of the Cripple Creek City Council to give her permission to demolish the Gold Rush newspaper building on Bennett Avenue. Rutherford, who owns several empty buildings and other properties in the city, wanted council to issue a certificate of economic hardship. That request was brought back. During public comment on this issue, city resident Maurice Woods wondered why the city would allow the demolition of a historical building now when it has worked so hard in the past to save them. He added that Grainger's $750,000 estimate for stabilization and restoration work was probably twice what it would actually cost. Council suggested that Woods find an independent engineer to look at the property. Grainger objected strenuously, saying that the owner would not allow anyone else to access the building. He then withdrew the demolition request. City Attorney Lee Phillips said there is very little the city can legally do to force Rutherford to fix up her dilapidated properties.Council did, however, take steps to save another historic property. It gave permission to use about $7,000 in unspent 2010 budget funds to save the bear caves — the remnants of Pinnacle Park Zoo, a popular amusement park 100 years ago. The caves are in the way of Cripple Creek & Victor Gold Mining Co. expansion and must be moved soon. Freshwater Construction won the contract to remove the caves after photographing and documenting their most important features so that they can be put back together later. City Heritage Tourism Director Tom Cooper wants the caves for the Cripple Creek Heritage Center, Cripple Creek District Museum Director Jan Collins wants them for the museum and several people in Victor also have expressed interest in them. Also at the meeting, Woods and his wife Lois requested approval of a development plan for a small RV park on Warren Avenue. Council said the plan needs more detail before the request can be considered. Some members of the audience said the Woods' plan for attracting only small RVs and trailers is shortsighted. "Whether I make money on this project is my business," Woods said. "I think there is a niche for smaller RV parks in this economy." Finally, council chose to rehire Bondi & Co. as the city's 2010 auditor because the current auditor Eide Bailly raised its bid for the 2010 audit by about 30 percent. Bike race coming? There is a chance that champion cyclist Lance Armstrong and one leg of the nationwide Quiznos Pro Challenge bicycle race will come to Cripple Creek next year. At it its meeting this past week City Council gave city staff permission to submit a letter of intent to the race organizers. The city fits the criteria as a race starting point and would partner with another Colorado city as the end point. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Content Keyword RSS To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment