Home Rule and Land Use Codes Approaching Final Stretch
Rick Langenberg
The city of Cripple Creek’s ambitious and lengthy home-rule effort is nearing the final dash towards home plate.
Local voters will play the role as home umpires, declaring whether the first-ever proposed city charter is on target, or if it should be given the “out” call. A preliminary review will take place by the city council on May 6. However, the crucial final game call, determining the success or failure of the town’s bid to become a home rule city, will occur during the Nov. 2026 general election. At that election, voters will say yes or no regarding a proposed city charter, developed by a home rule advisory committee.
At the same time, the town’s land use code revisions, the last aspect of a $300,000-plus master plan pursuit, is nearing a conclusion with a public engagement session set for this Thursday. This later phase, though, is more of a formality, aimed at finalizing several minimal zoning changes, according to Mayor Annie Durham.
Regardless, residents will have an ample opportunity to give input on several major pursuits orchestrated by city leaders in the next month.
This Thursday (April 30), a public engagement session will occur at 5 p.m. regarding the process of updating the town’s land use codes to better align them with the community’s vision. The update is designed to encourage growth that reflects the city’s historic character, while also offering greater flexibility in some development and residential areas, particularly when it comes to setbacks. And more importantly, the code revision will try to foster the push for more affordable housing,
According to Durham, the main goal of the current code revision is to try to make zoning regulations more user-friendly and simpler.
Iniitially, the land use code update was slated to be handled by outside consultants, as part of the 2025 master plan project. But officials have opted to do this phase more in-house.
City Administrator Frank Salvato notes that this process is part of the overall master plan effort, which also included a major economic development and tourism study. Most of the funding for the project came from the Colorado Department of Local Affairs. It also included a $100,000 donation from the owners of the Chamonix Casino & Hotel, Full House Resorts, for the economic development portion of the project.
Through the master plan meetings, which were quite lively at times, most participants favored plans to diversify the economy and make Cripple Creek more of a destination area, and to encourage more housing. Master plan meetings often promoted interests beyond gaming.
Home Rule Charter Review
Besides updating the land use codes, town leaders are nearing the final stretch for addressing its first-ever proposed home rule charter. This was crafted by a committee, approved during the Nov. 2025 election.
Some of the main goals of the charter are to give the town more local control and finalize a much-needed divorce from rigorous state statutes. Another key priority, according to Mayor Pro Tem Bruce Brown who also serves on the home rule committee, is to give the town more leeway in addressing the problems associated with vacant, empty buildings dominating the main street. Many of these structures represented former casinos and commercial businesses that closed years ago. But in most cases, these buildings now have incurred much deterioration and have presented the town with a huge eye sore.
On May 6, the city council is slated to comment on the home rule document, comprised of approximately 30 pages, according to Brown. The committee reviewed home rule documents from many similar-sized towns that had a tourism and hospitality-type feel. One community document it earlier favored was that of Loveland, based on earlier comments.
Initially, the Creek home rule group examined the city of Black Hawk’s city charter, but didn’t see that representing a very good fit, even though Black Hawk sports limited stakes gaming like Cripple Creek.
The home rule group could have considered changing gaming device fees so casinos would be taxed according to their adjusted gross proceeds instead of the total number of games, but this proposal received little support.
In the next month, residents will get a chance to review the home rule document and make comments.
Committee members and city officials have tried to adopt the schedule so that the home rule issue will be determined during the Nov. election, instead of having this matter decided at a special election. The committee, comprised of nearly 10 members, has been meeting twice a month.
Its formation stemmed from an extremely positive vote in Nov. 2025. regarding taking the initial step in becoming a home rule city. Durham, and other council members, have endorsed the push for home rule. However, there remains significant confusion about the home rule efforts by certain business owners.
The concept in the past got a cold response from the local gaming community.
