Gold Lake OK’d for redevelopment

BOULDER COUNTY — Gold Lake, a camp and recreation resort area that’s been around longer than Colorado’s statehood, will soon have some new life breathed into it.

The Boulder County Commission recently approved a plan to redevelop the 90-acre property, a project that will include restoration of historic cabins, demolition of 22 existing structures and construction of 16 new buildings. 

Redevelopment at the site just north of Ward is being led by Bhavani Lev and Bharat Mitra, owners of both the Gold Lake property and Organic India tea company; Bob Dalton of Colorado Landmark Realtors and Dominic Blanch of New Beginning Builders.

The project, which has been in the planning stages for several years and will likely not break until 2021 at the earliest, is expected to cost roughly $10 million to $20 million, Dalton said.

“We want to restore the historic significance [of the existing structures], but also make them functionable,” Dalton said. “… The new buildings are meant to honor the bunkhouse theme but much more modern.”

The site will be used as a resort, for retreats and as a conference center available for rent by the public.

Gold Lake, rumored to be a favorite meeting spot for Chief Niwot and his allies, was formed as a mining district in 1864, Dalton said. In the decades since, it’s served as a girl’s summer camp — Camp Newaka — rental lodging, a private events space and a retreat for adolescent boys.  

“It’s got just a crazy history,” Dalton said. “It’s been traded in card games, bought for a tax return in 1918 or something like that. The property’s got a very checkered history of changing hands.”

In addition to the redevelopment approval, the Boulder County Commission opted to increase the maximum number of guests and events that can occur at the site. 

Gold Lake is approved for 75 overnight guests and 75 daytime guests, as well as 14 special events per year.

“The increase in special events and maximum allowed guests at special events will increase the traffic to and from the subject property,” according to a county memo. “However, this increase in traffic is mitigated through recommended conditions of approval including but not limited to limiting events to daytime hours, providing for lesser events to occur during winter months, and allowing for only one event to take place onsite at any given time.”

The redevelopment project is also expected to include expanded parking lots and new pedestrian and biking trails.

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