Day: January 16, 2026

Workshop at the regular meeting of the Town of Lake City Board of Trustees lasted just over 30 minutes on Wednesday, January 7, causing Mayor Dave Roberts to quip to Trustees that they are getting “too efficient.”Items on the agenda for the workshop included review of the near-final draft of Hinsdale County Comprehensive Housing Plan now available for public comment; discussion of the Accessory Dwelling Units (ADU) housing strategies; discussion of strategies to preserve existing rental housing; discussion of definitions of ‘lodging,’ ‘accessory dwelling unit,’ and ‘short-term rental.’; discussion of local planning capacity additional grant award of $50,000; discussion of annual designation of Town’s official posting place; review of letters of interest to fill vacancies on the Historic Preservation Commission; and discussion of Water & Sewer deposit policy.Town Manager Lex Mulhall joked that the workshop was extremely “housing heavy,” due to rapid progress being made by the Town and County with their affordable housing plans, and that decisions will soon need to be made around this topic.Mulhall recommended Trustees and Lake City citizenry visit lakecityhousingstrategy.com to review and comment on the Comprehensive Housing Plan that has been drafted by consultants working with the Board of Trustees, County Commissioners, and a group of local stakeholders resulting in important information that will effect the future of the Town. The deadline for commentary is January 31.Trustees were also presented with an ADU housing strategies document, which included background information about ADUs, including House Bill 24-1152, signed by Governor Polis in May, 2024, requiring subject jurisdictions to take a variety of actions to encourage and allow construction of ADUs. These potential strategies include information about financial assistance for ADU-related fees, laws or programs to incentivize ADUs, pre-approved plans for construction of them, technical assistance, and regulations.Mulhall said that the Town needs to adopt one of the nine strategies in order to become an ADU supportive jurisdiction with Colorado Department of Local Affairs. After receiving the ADU supportive jurisdiction designation, the Town will be eligible to submit an ADU grant application to get pre-approved ADU plans designed and engineered, and that the grant application deadline is February 26. Mulhall suggested to Trustees that they try and absorb the material before the next Town meeting, and asked if they thought it would be a good idea for the information to be passed onto the Town’s Planning and Zoning Commission for them to review and make recommendations. The Trustees and Mayor Roberts agreed with this, and a Special Planning and Zoning meeting was scheduled January 15. Mayor Roberts said that Town staff and Board were in “very preliminary stages” with strategies meant to preserve existing rental housing, and with that comes understanding and potentially redefinition of ‘lodging,’ ‘ADUs,’ and ‘short-term rentals.’ Roberts told Trustees that while it was a fair amount of information to absorb, the goal was to “get Trustees educated so they can make good decisions,” he said. “Nobody here is….. Award Winning Newspaper! Missing the whole story? Subscribe and get all of the Lake City local news to your mailbox or inbox.