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Commissioners approve temporary‑use permit for annual Gilpin Historical Society cemetery crawl
Summary
The Gilpin County Board approved a temporary‑use permit for the Gilpin Historical Society to hold its annual cemetery crawl on Aug. 23, 2025. Staff recommended approval, planning commission certified a 7‑0 recommendation, and commissioners added no new conditions though raised questions about landowner permission from the Archdiocese of Denver.
The Gilpin County Board of County Commissioners approved a temporary‑use permit (TUP) on June 24 allowing the Gilpin Historical Society to hold its annual cemetery crawl on Aug. 23, 2025.
Planner Rachel Veil told the board the event typically runs groups of 20 to 25 people through a rotating set of county cemeteries; this year’s walk will use the Catholic cemetery and highlight 10 local history stories. The event includes limited on‑site parking, additional parking at the Teller lot and shuttle service; volunteers will manage parking. Veil said the event has liability insurance where required (TUPs over 250 people) and that the planning commission forwarded a 7‑0 favorable recommendation.
A member of Saint Mary’s Catholic Church, whose email had asked whether pastor permission had been secured, was not available live; the board summarized the emailed comment and discussed historical practice. County staff and a planning‑commission member explained that many old cemeteries are on complex parcels with underlying mining patents and that surface cemetery use historically has been tolerated or allowed by longstanding practice, and that obtaining explicit permission from the Archdiocese of Denver has often been difficult.
Given that county code’s temporary‑use criteria focus on compatibility with surrounding uses, traffic mitigation, welfare and scale, staff concluded the application met the five approval standards. The board moved to adopt the TUP (resolution TUP‑25‑3) and approved it on a voice vote; no specific enforcement condition requiring an express permission letter from the Archdiocese was added, although commissioners discussed adding such a condition and noted a practical difficulty in securing permission before the August date.
Planner Veil and commissioners said volunteers have historically enforced visitor behavior—keeping people on paths, preventing litter—and that the cemetery crawl has run without incident for decades. The board closed the public hearing and approved the permit.
