Golden Vision 2030 is a comprehensive visioning plan for Golden's future that engages a broad spectrum of the community to deeply explore the City’s character, strengths and opportunities for change.
While the city of Golden, Colorado is often considered a suburb of Denver, it is actually a vibrant and forward-looking community in its own right. Its geographic separation from surrounding metropolitan areas by the high plains to the east, foothills of the Rocky Mountains to the west and table mountains to the north and south foster a unique character and close-knit community.
Golden’s success is tied to a history of progressive leadership and civic engagement. In the last few years, Golden’s planning initiatives have emphasized citizen engagement and quality of life as residents have created task forces to tackle issues like walkability, master planning for bike routes and housing affordability. An important 2006 survey focused on identifying community priorities and led to a subsequent citizen-based Sustainability Initiative, boosting citizen engagement and participation.
The City has also worked hard to involve the community in traffic planning and other initiatives through effective e-government systems that serve as a web-based portal, information source and public feedback mechanism for all the City’s activities.
During the particularly rapid growth of Golden in the 1990s, concerned citizens established initiatives to control and direct growth. The City completed a Vision 2010 Plan in 1993; a group of citizens started a petition that resulted in a 1996 one percent Growth Ordinance, limiting the construction of new residences to one percent per year; and an Annexation Plan now carefully guides the City’s physical expansion.
The City’s newest initiative—Golden Vision 2030— engages a broad spectrum of the community to more deeply explore the City’s character, strengths and opportunities for change. That process will help residents develop a vision for the City’s future, which will inform a Vision 2030 Plan and citizen-driven action steps while neighborhood planning processes will engage more citizens and enhance the community at a grassroots level.
Golden’s Vision 2030 initiative has approached public outreach using innovative approaches and tools for engagement. Project leaders continue to involve the widest possible cross-section of residents, organizations and networks in exploring and describing the characteristics that make the community special. The project has used a wide variety of storytelling techniques and events, designed to help the community come together, identify deeply-held values and discuss issues important to all citizens. A local advisory group steers Golden Vision 2030, and a project coordination team employed by the City oversees day-to-day operations of the initiative.
The City aims to manage growth and steer change based on a shared vision and broad agreement about the attributes and values that comprise Golden’s heart and soul. Based on input from citizens, Golden has begun to identify and develop alternative scenarios for future development and land use that reflect the community’s values. The project partners will use input from residents, community groups and local businesses to evaluate respective alternatives and to aid in the development of an updated Comprehensive Plan. Many of the project activities occur at the neighborhood level, with the goal of bringing together residents, discussing issues that matter to each individual neighborhood and developing new Neighborhood Plans.
The focus of the project is an overarching 20-year vision and recommendations, based on the community’s heart and soul. Those recommendations will be implemented through updates to Golden’s Comprehensive Plan, Strategic Plan and Downtown Character Plan, and through enforceable Neighborhood Plans. Implementation activities will occur over several years, and the City has seen noticeable successes in the first two years.
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