Bancroft denial
City rejects OCC pleas for cabin interior upgrades during upcoming park redevelopment
 Old Colorado City was packed with visitors Oct. 20 for the annual Giant Pumpkin Festival (see photo, Page 13). But Bancroft Park's Garvin Cabin, built in 1859 and one of the oldest intact structures in the region, was locked up and unused, as these curious visitors discovered that day. The cabin was only officially open four days in 2018 (three for Territory Days in May and one for Tunnel Tales in July). It was also broken into twice and camped in, so criminals may have technically used it more. Westside Pioneer photo
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Construction drawings should be ready for review in “early November,” said Park Planner David Deitemeyer.
The project will bring significant changes to Bancroft Park, including a free-standing restroom at the southeast corner, a playground on the east side and the demolition of the pavilion with a new, open-look “plaza” taking its place in the central area.
But one key missing amenity, according to representatives of three organizations in Old Colorado City, is climate control for the historic Garvin Cabin at the southwest corner of the park.
The work will provide electric power to the building, Deitemeyer said, but no heat or air-conditioning.
Outside the cabin, a handicapped-accessible entrance will be built.
The construction drawings will be based on a city-approved Bancroft master plan that was drawn up after two public meetings hosted by Parks in April 2017. The project had been scheduled for completion in April 2018, but ran into delays.
In an early-October e-mail, City Parks Maintenance Manager Kurt Schroeder backed up Deitemeyer. Cabin climate control “should have been brought up during the planning meetings so that it could have been properly vetted,” he wrote, adding that “we need to be proceeding with the current plan so we can get this project accomplished.”
To that he added a concern that climate control might diminish the “historical integrity of the structure.”
He struck a more conciliatory tone in an e-mail Oct. 25, offering to meet with the OCCA about its “needs and desires” for the cabin, in part because he just learned that it sold its welcome center. However, the e-mail did not retract his prior assertions about “integrity” or project speed.
If heat and air conditioning were provided inside, the cabin would be more viable for events and historical education as a kind of volunteer-manned chamber of commerce to enhance OCC tourism, the Westside Pioneer was told in previous interviews with leaders of the three organizations.
Those interviewed were Franco Pisani, Old Colorado City Associates (OCCA) president; Dave Brackett, president of the Old Colorado City Foundation (OCCF); and Suzanne Schorsch, treasurer of the Old Colorado City Historical Society (OCCHS).
Both Brackett and Pisani said their organizations would have considered donating some money toward such amenities. The OCCF has already put $5,000 in escrow to help the city pay for the playground.
Later, after an e-mail exchange with Schroeder, Brackett said he will be satisfied if the cabin's electrical power is upgraded, along with a capability to “power security lighting, alarming and surveillance cameras fed to the Gold Hill [police] station.”
Speaking to the current cabin situation, Schorsch pointed out that during events, when OCCHS volunteers dress up in historic apparel, they either have to use space heaters in the winter or fans in the summer. The cabin's windows can no longer be opened because City Parks installed plexiglass over them.
On hot days, “we go through a lot of water,” she said.
An initiative for climate control inside the cabin did not emerge during public process in April 2017. However, there have been a few related changes since that process, including two cabin break-ins last winter that destroyed several OCCHS artifacts and dramatized the cabin's vulnerability when it's unused. This also led City Parks to install the plexiglass over the windows, to discourage future break-ins.
Another related change was the OCCA board's cost-saving decision this year to sell its converted house in Colorado Avenue's 2300 block, which had been under-used as its “welcome center,” according to Pisani. The group has eyed the cabin as a logical place to meet the public and hand out materials.
“People see it, and they say, 'Look, it's a little visitor center,'” he commented. But the OCCA members have also made it clear that they would like the cabin to be more habitable.
(See separate articles on Front Range Barbeque buying the former welcome-center building, Page 11; and the OCCA's relocation of Santa this year, Page 1.)
Westside Pioneer article