Heart of Golden

As we move toward the end of 2022 and look to projects in the city that City Council will focus on in 2023, the Heart of Golden is a front-of-mind, legacy project for the city, asking our community and leaders to imagine Golden in 10 years, 20 years and beyond. After an intense threeyear planning process, City Council acted to approve the current Heart of Golden planning document in August of 2022. This planning document is available on Guiding Golden (www.guidinggolden.com/heart-of-golden) and has a great description of the community conversation since the beginning of 2020, plus the community goals that Golden residents have articulated for this critical part of the community. The results were similar to the community vision for the Clear Creek Corridor, dating back to the 2011 Clear Creek Corridor Master Plan, to relocate a number of municipal uses. The significant focus on open space and community amenities for the Heart of Golden area west of Ford Street, relies on the future relocation of many municipal uses to the east end of the Clear Creek Corridor on the property purchased in 2019.

As part of the next steps in planning the first phase of construction in this eastern zone, City Council’s evaluation will include consideration of the costs and benefits of a relocation of the city hall and police department facilities to the east zone. Council wants to be sure that such new construction is in the best interest of the community from both a fiscal and quality of life point of view. In that evaluation, Council will consider several factors:

• What changes in the workplace can be anticipated for the future that could affect the type and amount of building space that would be necessary to best serve the public? The City will update a 2018 needs analysis based on recent and anticipated workplace trends.

This analysis will consider both the future space needs of the City organization, but also technology and design requirements not currently addressed in existing facilities. • How will improvements in service provisions to residents and businesses and employee productivity compare to the amount of investment? • How much will overall productivity and efficiency in meeting resident and business needs be enhanced by replacing the scattered municipal offices in six separate buildings in the corridor with a central location to handle resident needs? • How can the movement of municipal uses outside of the central zone open up current sites for more desirable community uses, such as open space and parks? • What other uses in the east zone will complement the vision outlined in Heart of Golden? • What is the possibility of offsetting project costs through potential redevelopment projects that complement the vision?

Keep watching for updates on this important project to provide feedback and help decide what the Heart of Golden (the Clear Creek Corridor) will be for the community into the future.