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Brad Wann shares a moment with a donkey during the 90th annual Donkey Derby Days in Cripple Creek on Saturday. The festival celebrates the heritage of donkeys who were used in mines during the Gold Rush and helped build Pikes Peak Highway and Ute Pass. Donkey Derby Days is one of the oldest and longest running festivals in Colorado. The event was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brad Wann shares a moment with a donkey during the 90th annual Donkey Derby Days in Cripple Creek on Saturday. The festival celebrates the heritage of donkeys who were used in mines during the Gold Rush and helped build Pikes Peak Highway and Ute Pass. Donkey Derby Days is one of the oldest and longest running festivals in Colorado. The event was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
After years of a housing drought in Cripple Creek, development is starting to pop. Last week, Mayor Milford Ashworth and the city council paved the way for three new projects.
John Vasilakis submitted each application on behalf of two limited liability companies and Century Casino.
With no objections from the audience during the public hearings, council approved a zoning change from limited to neighborhood residential, on two projects.
For Boulder Run Investments LLC, council approved rezoning for three affordable single-family homes on West Thurlow Avenue, on the condition that each has a front porch and entrance that faces the street. The homes are modular and installed on concrete foundations. Each is 899 square feet, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
The three are the first of a 25-home development by the company, Vasilakis said.
On behalf of REI Services LLC, council approved rezoning vacant lots on Crystal Street for two new affordable homes on 2,500-square-foot lots, the minimum lot size for the neighborhood residential zone.
For the third project, council approved the application for a certificate of appropriateness and special exception for Century Casino to build workforce housing within the downtown district on Masonic Avenue. The project is three two-story four-plex modular homes on concrete foundations. While the homes are intended for Century’s workforce, the public may apply for the rental units, said Eric Rose, Century’s general manager.
On another front, reports to the council pointed to a perilous time for the Two Mile High Club, whose members care for the donkeys that roam around the town. The donkeys lend character and charm to the city; legend says that the donkeys are descendants of the original herd that were beasts of burden for miners in the 19th century. It’s a myth that carries cultural weight for Cripple Creek.
Last month, the club hosted the 90th annual Donkey Derby Days, the major fundraiser for the club whose members provide shelter, veterinary services and food for the animals. With the cancellation of last year’s event, due to the pandemic, the club is financially strapped.
In a plea for help from the city, Curt Sorenson and Ellen Moore, president and secretary of the nonprofit organization, spared no detail regarding the organization’s finances. Both acknowledged that pandemic shutdowns affected the bottom line of the city as well as the club.
While turning down the club’s request for auxiliary funding for Derby Days, the city provided in-kind support for an event that both said was successful for the businesses, visitors and residents as well as the city itself. But there were issues.
“We had problems with infrastructure, an inadequate electrical supply,” Sorenson said. “Something has to be done.”
To add to the woes, the internet was down much of the time, resulting in at least $1,500 in lost sales of T-shirts, he added.
Moore continued, “The Two Mile High Club is facing uncertainty and may not be able to hold the historic Donkey Derby Days.”
The good news is that the Augl. 14 celebration was a success, but not for raising funds to continue caring for the donkeys, she said.
As a result, Moore requested that the city put any future event funding into the Two Mile High Club’s Donkey Derby Days and declare the celebration as the primary festival in 2022. “I believe we have earned the ability to ask for that consideration,” she said.
Paul Harris, the city’s finance director, reported that 115 residents had been diagnosed with COVID in August, an increase of 42 people, or 58%, compared to July. Fifty of the 115 cases were reported in the last week of August. In Teller County as a whole, 51.42% of the eligible residents are fully vaccinated. “We will wait and see how this upward trend continues,” he said.
Council approved extending by four months the employment contract for interim city manager Ray White, who has served several times as city manager as well as the interim, for more than a year this time.
Council scheduled a special meeting for 3 p.m. Sept. 10 in city hall to discuss possible incentives for developers.
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