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County weighs paid parking at Floyd Hill, coordination on fire mitigation; schedules site visits
Summary
Commissioners and Open Space Commissioners discussed paid parking as a potential revenue tool (including coordination with Idaho Springs and Jefferson County on Floyd Hill), preliminary steps for including open-space parcels in fire mitigation projects, and set multiple site-visit dates for county open-space properties.
Commissioners and Open Space Commission members discussed a staff request to examine paid parking on certain open-space lots and to advise on how the county should approach including open-space parcels in fire-mitigation proposals. The group also scheduled multiple site visits for county open-space properties.
Paid parking discussion: George (BOCC member) asked staff to outline practical considerations for paid parking on county open-space lots such as Floyd Hill and the medical-clinic lot in Idaho Springs. Staff described the typical third-party contractor model (signage/QR-code payment), said revenue would likely be remitted to the Open Space Fund and noted contractors normally retain a portion of receipts under contract. Staff advised coordination with partners at Floyd Hill — including Jefferson County under an existing co-ownership and MOU — before pursuing paid-parking arrangements. The commission asked staff to gather contracts, identify stakeholders and return with a short report and recommended pilot locations.
Fire mitigation coordination: Commissioners discussed preliminary outreach from Evergreen/Clear Creek-area fire authorities about including open-space parcels in mitigation projects and federal/state grant applications. Staff said no mitigation work was currently underway on open-space parcels but that prior collaborations (for example, fuels work near Beaverbrook) had been successful. Commissioners asked staff to develop guidance principles for how the county would partner on mitigation projects (balancing habitat and firefighting access) and to overlap county property maps with available fire-risk maps to identify candidate parcels.
Site visits scheduled: Commissioners and Open Space Commission members agreed on a series of site visits. The group set a July 8 visit (lower-elevation Stevens Gulch was suggested as suitable for July), an August 12 visit and a June 10 visit focused on Floyd Hill to coordinate with other meetings and to assess high-use sites. Staff will post and notice the site visits as public meetings and circulate calendar invitations.
No formal policy changes: The meeting produced direction to staff (collect contracts for paid parking pilots; draft mitigation guidance; schedule stakeholder outreach) but no formal decisions were made at this session.
