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Cripple Creek City Council approves water-tap fee waivers for casino housing project

BY NORMA ENGELBERG

Century Casinos and Hotels/WMCK Venture Corp has won approval from the Cripple Creek Historical Preservation Committee of a Certificate of Appropriateness for the construction of three fourplex residential buildings.

At a Sept. 10 Cripple Creek City Council special meeting, John Vasilakis, representing the corporation, requested the same certificate from the city council. This case was originally part of council’s Sept. 1 regular agenda, but deliberation was put off until the

Historical

Committee weigh in.

Council asked staff to draw up a resolution and bring the request back to council on Sept. 15.

The 12-unit project will consist of three, two-story modular buildings to be located on Masonic Avenue on property owned by the casino. Each building will have two three-bedroom, 1,246-square-foot units and two, two-bedroom, 1,009-square-foot units.

Even without the certificate of appropriateness from council, however,

Preservation had time to the project did get a 100% water-tap fee waiver for 12 taps as part of the city’s housing development incentive program. The water-tap fees for this project would have cost the developer $72,000.

WMCK submitted tapfee waiver requests, which council approved, for two taps and three taps amounting to $18,000 and $12,000, respectively.

Councilwoman Missy Trenary asked how long council would be approving 100% waivers.

“I’m just playing Devil’s Advocate here,” she said. “I want to see housing development as much as anyone, but is it worth the cost?”

Mayor Milford Ashworth said he has lived in the area for more than 20 years and there have been only a few houses built.

“We aren’t selling taps anyway,” he said.

“We need these apartments badly,” Mayor Pro Tem Tom Litherland said. “We need to do this.”

In the end, Trenary agreed, and all the waivers were approved unanimously on condition that any hard costs to the city will be reimbursed.

Council also approved an amended Intergovernmental Agreement between the city and Teller County for the 2021 Coordinated Election on Nov. 2. The previous agreement listed former City Clerk Janell Sciacca as the city’s designated election official. With Sciacca’s departure to Fairplay, council named acting Cripple Creek City Clerk Malissa Gish in her place.

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2021-09-15T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-09-15T07:00:00.0000000Z

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The Gazette, Colorado Springs