by Fred Hernandez
Rocky and uneven could arguably be the best description for the one hundred and forty three year history of the town of Silver Cliff. From its inception as a silver mining camp, which boomed and grew to have several thousand residents to the moment it busted when the silver ran out. From the time it was in the running to be the capital of the State of Colorado and lost to the current capital; always subjected to the ebb and flow of political ups and downs through the years, Silver Cliff remains what could be the silver lining for Custer County.
Its growth potential is almost unlimited and the turning point was reached in 2016 with the election of three new board members who ran against the unpopular marijuana initiative and won handily taking three of the seven seats on the board. It was downhill from then on as the other positions were soon filled with like minded individuals due to resignations and new elections.
In 2020, with the election of the current mayor Harry “Buck” Wenzel, the town has been making notable progress. After thirty five years with no pharmacy to serve the greater community of Custer County, Silver Cliff inaugurated Palace Drugs, one of the oldest stable pharmacies in the state. Soon after the town welcomed a hardware store, Central Building Supply. For years, highway signage indicating Silver Cliff as a destination was missing. Today highway signs on all major highways approaching the town are plainly visible to all motorists. The museum, which was erected in 1879, was literally falling apart. This could not be allowed to continue as the museum housed the heritage of the town. Under the direction of the mayor, the town staff worked tirelessly for grants and funding with the Colorado Historical Association (now Historical Colorado), Department of Local Affairs (DOLA), Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), CART, the local Senior Center and with the local County Commissioners. As a result enough funds were accumulated to proceed with a thorough renovation of the iconic building. Originally a six month project it turned into a year long job as the mayor decided that this project would be done right once and for all and will then become a show piece for many years to come.
During the time of the Covid situation and all the shutdowns, the town functioned with the limited income generated by four restaurants (whenever they were allowed to operate), The Liquor Cabinet, the Country Store and the two dollar stores. While there will be exponential growth in residential housing (about 110 pending applications) this will not happen until the water and sewer issues are resolved by county authorities. Even then, all this growth in residences does not mean a lot of revenue. Tax from a typical home with a value assessed, at say, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars will only pay about $24 of tax to the town out of which only a third goes to road maintenance and repair. The plan of the town therefore, is to seek much needed revenues from new businesses.
With roughly eight square miles of buildable land in the Silver Cliff town limits most of the growth in the county will presumably come from Silver Cliff. However, a focal point is needed to consolidate the town government and businesses into an area that is central and convenient for the public. Thus, the idea for a town plaza manifested and steps have been taken to bring the concept into actual fruition.
The University of Colorado School of Architecture provided the much needed conceptualization.  After a couple of meetings with the town trustees and town hall staff wherein modifications were discussed, the architectural team presented to the town board and the public at large on Saturday, November 12th at the town hall. It was standing room only as about thirty people attended the video presentation led by Mr. Jeff Wood of the University of Colorado – Denver, and his students Justin Trammell and Kelly Mott both graduates. As Mr. Wood indicated in his remarks the driver of this project is money and it may take five years or less to pull it off. In the meantime, there is a hotel chain interested in having a presence at the future town plaza and two other businesses. One of the plans for the plaza is to have “live and work” units available for mom and pop operations. These are units wherein the shop is on the ground floor and the shop owner/operator lives in an upstairs apartment. There has been interest in these units already indicated by a number of local store owners. The town officials are most interested in mom and pop operators and small businesses, not big box stores.
The next steps for the town plaza is for the town to entertain first; proposals from investment and development groups, secondly; prepare engineering plans and finally; marketing and sales plans. There are funds available from both federal and state sources and these will be explored thoroughly by the mayor and his team of trustees and staff. The mayor credits his success to the enthusiasm and support of his board of trustees and his hard working town staff.
In the coming months, barring any unforeseeable downturn in the national and or global economy, it looks like the business friendly town of Silver Cliff may be on a roll towards a bright future. A future that may make it the silver lining for Custer County. For more information about the town plaza feel free to call the town hall at 719-783-2615. You can see the CU video presentation at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRmscHTRspM or go to this article at sdcsentinel.com.