There are 35 public parking spaces in front of the Miners Alley Performing Arts Center. Golden's Downtown Development Authority wants to know if residents would give them up for a public plaza. Its online survey closes Oct. 31, nine days after this post goes up.
This isn't a new idea. The plaza has come before City Council twice, and both times parking decided it. What's changed this fall is the format. Instead of a staff memo, the DDA set up the space itself for an afternoon and then asked people what they thought. Underneath, the survey asks residents to put a value on these 35 spaces when the city's paid garages already sit a short walk away.
The lot in question
You've probably parked here. The lot sits north of 12th Street and west of Miners Alley, between MAPAC, the Foothills Art Center Astor House campus, and the 1100 block of Miners Alley. GoldenToday's event listing gave its location as 12th and Arapahoe.
On Oct. 10 the DDA closed the lot for a block party running 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. MAPAC performers and Foothills Art Center artists put on shows, local food vendors served, and no alcohol was allowed. In GoldenToday's listing, the event was "a sample of that kind of use." A stilt-walker even went around lassoing people into the fun, as the Golden Transcript reported.
The block party was a test run of the uses the DDA has floated for a permanent plaza: events, artist showcases and holiday markets. DDA member Brad Miller owns a downtown business, and he made the case for this particular spot to the Transcript:
"We feel like this spot is tailor-made for a plaza."
He pointed to its closeness to downtown, its position between two major arts centers, and its neighbors, including Miners Alley and the former City Hall site.
Why it keeps coming back, and why it keeps stalling
The idea is older than this fall's push. A DDA project tracker in the board's June 2026 meeting packet says it first came up while Miners Alley Playhouse was planning its relocation. The same tracker calls it "Not an official City project yet." That same packet says the board had suggested a pop-up demonstration with nearby stakeholders in both 2024 and 2025. The Oct. 10 block party is that demonstration, finally on the ground.
How it has fared so far is in a September 2025 preview of a DDA meeting by GoldenToday. The writeup said the idea had gone to City Council twice and been rejected twice, "because one of the most comment complaints they hear is lack of downtown parking." The same piece said staff pointed out "there are usually available spaces in the downtown garages," and that the DDA planned to go ahead "unless City Council raises significant objections."
The concept has also changed shape along the way. According to that GoldenToday piece, the first proposed name was "Cultural Plaza," a nod to the two arts institutions next door. The board also discussed a "common consumption area," where people could eat and drink at shared tables with food from any restaurant. GoldenToday reported that neither version drew much enthusiasm from the neighbors it would most affect. The block party showed the simplest version so far: a public space for events.
Concern about parking shows up in the city's own records too. In November 2025, a City staff memo summarized responses to a transportation demand management survey. One of the main themes was "Parking shortages are the biggest challenge in Golden, particularly for customers." That memo records what respondents said they feel. It doesn't measure how full the garages are, and that difference is at the heart of this debate.
What parking a block away actually costs
If the lot became a plaza, its 35 spaces would go and drivers would move to the paid system the city already operates. The Park Golden portal lists three public facilities: the North Garage at 702 12th Street, the South Garage at 1250 Jackson Street, and the Clear Creek Lot at 304 10th Street. The North Garage is on the same street as the lot under discussion.
Here are the current rules, from Visit Golden's parking page and Park Golden's paid parking and permit pages:
| Where you park | What it costs | The catch |
|---|---|---|
| Public garages and lots | First two hours free, then $2.50 an hour, capped at $10 a day | You must register even for a stay under two hours |
| Any paid transaction | 49-cent convenience fee | Applies per payment |
| Designated on-street spaces | Free for up to two hours before 5 p.m. | No registration needed; posted signs set the days |
| Resident permit holders | Free two-hour registration in downtown garages and surface lots | Existing permits rolled into 2026 without renewal |
| Downtown employee permit holders | Free, untimed garage parking and downtown-zone street parking | Permit required |
Visit Golden describes the garage spaces as "typically" plentiful and places the garages one block east of Washington Avenue on Jackson Street. It also notes that the Clear Creek Lot is free during the day. Park Golden shows occupancy labels for each facility, but the city doesn't post capacity counts for the garages.
For most people with a resident permit, then, moving from the Miners Alley lot to a garage means a slightly longer walk at no extra cost, as long as the visit stays under two hours. A longer evening is different. Dinner followed by a MAPAC show can easily go past the free window, and after that it's $2.50 an hour until the $10 daily cap.
What exists today, and what does not
The plaza has no design, no construction estimate and no committed funding. The DDA's April 2026 worksheet of contributions to city projects lists "Concept for Cultural Plaza (to continue conversation)" at $15,000. That's money for a concept, not for construction. The DDA does have its own revenue, including a downtown-specific property tax, but nothing published sets any of it aside for the plaza.
DDA Chair Jeff Merenkov, who lives downtown, and Miller both told the Transcript that nothing is set in stone, "literally or figuratively." They described the survey as a way to "take the temperature" on whether people want a plaza at all, and whether they want it at this location.
The other garage going up downtown
There's a second construction site with a parking structure in downtown Golden this fall, and it's easy to assume it's connected. It isn't, at least not on paper. The Heart of Golden Phase 1 municipal facility is going up on the former 311 10th Street office-building site at 10th and Archer streets. It isn't on the current City Hall property at 911 10th Street. The city bought the land from Molson Coors so it could move Police and City services out of the Clear Creek corridor.
The project's Oct. 15, 2026 monthly report puts the budget at $60 million. The parking structure is now due Dec. 16, 2026, about a month later than its original Nov. 13 target, and concrete pours were planned for late October. Substantial completion of the whole facility is still set for May 28, 2027.
No city document links that structure to downtown visitor parking or to the plaza lot. An April 2024 financing memo mentions that a later phase could convert surface parking near the new building to structured parking. It doesn't say whether the structure will be open to the public or how many spaces it will have. For the plaza debate, the garages that count are the ones Park Golden already runs.
How to weigh in before Oct. 31
The DDA and city staff are running the survey through Oct. 31. The Transcript gives the short link as rb.gy/ijtbci. If you'd rather say it in person, there are three other routes:
- Go to a DDA meeting. The board meets the third Monday of every month at City Hall, which makes the next one Monday, Nov. 16, after the survey closes.
- Watch online. Meetings are open to the public and streamed on the City of Golden boards and commissions page.
- Email the board at [email protected], the address GoldenToday listed for comments on DDA agenda topics.
The best answers will come from people who use that block. Think about how often you park in that lot, how often you end up in the North Garage instead, and whether a plaza between MAPAC and the Astor House is something you'd actually walk over to on a December evening.
Erin cares about how public spaces shape the way a block feels and works. If you'd like to talk through what changes around Miners Alley could mean for your corner of Golden, Erin Loves Homes is happy to sit down with you. Schedule a free consultation.
