Colorado

Buying Land in Clear Creek County, Colorado

This I-70 mountain corridor county west of Denver -- Georgetown, Idaho Springs, and Empire -- has a real, enforced zoning code, but the more consequential thing to understand before buying here is what's under and around the land: more than a century of hard-rock gold and silver mining left legacy hazards and an active federal cleanup site that covers nearly the entire county.

Countywide Zoning

Case-by-case / verify locally

Clear Creek County has an active, enforced Zoning Regulations code administered by the Planning Department, dividing unincorporated land into zoning districts under maps adopted by the Board of County Commissioners. The regulations were amended as recently as 2021 to comply with state expedited-review requirements for affordable housing. Confirm the specific district and permitted uses for any parcel directly with the Planning Department -- do not assume rural mountain acreage here is unzoned.

Legacy Mining Hazards

Case-by-case / verify locally

Clear Creek County has roughly 4,800 documented historical mining claims on public land alone, the vast majority of them now closed or inactive rather than active operations. Old adits, vertical shaft openings, tailings, and waste-rock piles are a real, physical on-the-ground hazard in parts of the county -- not a hypothetical one -- and their presence or absence on a specific parcel needs to be checked directly, not assumed from a listing description.

Central City/Clear Creek Superfund Site

Case-by-case / verify locally

Most of Clear Creek County (and neighboring Gilpin County) sits inside the EPA's Central City/Clear Creek Superfund site, a roughly 400-square-mile National Priorities List site listed in 1983 to address acid mine drainage and metals contamination from historic mining. Active remediation infrastructure, including a water treatment system tied to the Argo Tunnel in Idaho Springs, is still in operation. Being inside the site boundary doesn't mean a given parcel is contaminated or restricted, but it's worth confirming a parcel's status and any recorded environmental institutional controls before buying.

Pre-Sale Septic Use Permit

Case-by-case / verify locally

Clear Creek County requires a Septic Use Permit from the county Environmental Health Department before closing on the sale of any property served by an onsite wastewater treatment system (OWTS), if any major system component is more than 5 years old, or the property is a limited-occupancy or limited-bedroom-use dwelling. This is a real, specific local requirement that can add lead time to a transaction -- the county recommends starting the process when a property is first listed.

A gold-and-silver mining legacy that still shapes the land today

Clear Creek County was one of Colorado's original gold-rush mining districts, with Georgetown, Idaho Springs, and the surrounding gulches producing gold, silver, lead, zinc, and copper from the 1860s onward. That history left a physical legacy: county-area records document roughly 4,787 mining claims on public land, with over 95% of them now closed rather than active. Federal and state agencies continue reclamation work on specific legacy sites -- for example, a multi-adit safeguarding project at the historic Ponderosa Mine spanning Clear Creek and Gilpin counties, and hazard-mitigation work in Virginia Canyon near Idaho Springs. For a buyer, this means a rural or forested parcel in this county carries a genuinely higher-than-typical chance of an old mine opening, shaft, or waste pile somewhere on or adjacent to it, and that possibility is worth a direct, on-the-ground check (and a title search for any recorded mining claims or mineral reservations) rather than an assumption either way.

Layered on top of that is the Central City/Clear Creek Superfund site -- a roughly 400-square-mile EPA National Priorities List site, listed in 1983, covering most of Clear Creek and Gilpin counties, addressing acid mine drainage and heavy-metals contamination in the Clear Creek watershed. Active treatment infrastructure -- including a facility treating discharge from the historic Argo Tunnel in Idaho Springs -- is still running today. Falling inside this Superfund site boundary is the norm for property here, not the exception, and by itself doesn't mean a specific parcel's deed carries any recorded restriction (the deed-restrictions page linked below covers the narrower set of parcels that do, and the ongoing compliance duty that comes with them).

Real, active zoning -- and a documented pre-sale septic inspection requirement

Unlike some sparsely populated Colorado counties where zoning is minimal or absent, Clear Creek County actively administers Zoning Regulations covering unincorporated land, divided into districts on maps adopted by the Board of County Commissioners, with amendments processed through the Planning Commission and Board under state statute (C.R.S. § 30-28-116 et seq.). The county amended its regulations as recently as 2021 to align with Colorado's Proposition 123 expedited-review requirements for affordable-housing projects. The Planning Department is the authority on a parcel's actual zoning district and permitted uses -- the county's own published regulations note that the online version isn't the official one, so confirm current status directly.

Separately, Clear Creek County's Environmental Health Department requires a Septic Use Permit before closing on the sale of any property serviced by an onsite wastewater treatment system (OWTS) if any major component of the system has been in use for more than 5 years, or if the property is a limited-occupancy or limited-bedroom-use dwelling. If you're buying an existing home (rather than raw land) on septic here, ask early in the transaction whether this permit has been obtained or is in process -- it's a real, county-specific closing contingency that doesn't exist in every Colorado county (the septic-systems page linked below covers the fee, timeline, and exact documents the county checks).

What we could and couldn't confirm

Mining-claim counts and Superfund site boundary information reflect published county, EPA, and third-party mining-record sources as of the sources' access dates; the exact presence, location, and hazard status of any mine opening or environmental institutional control on a specific parcel is not something this page can confirm and should be verified directly with the county and, where relevant, the EPA site team before buying. Septic Use Permit thresholds (5-year component age, limited-occupancy/limited-bedroom dwellings) reflect the county's published program description and are subject to change -- confirm current requirements with Environmental Health.

Verify directly with: Clear Creek County's Planning Department for zoning, its Environmental Health Department for septic and the pre-sale Use Permit, and the EPA Region 8 Superfund site team or county GIS for mine-hazard and Superfund-boundary questions on a specific parcel

Who to Call Before Buying Land in Clear Creek County

Clear Creek County requires an OWTS installer contractor license for septic work, and the Environmental Health Department (not a separate district) handles both routine septic permitting and the pre-sale Septic Use Permit program. We could not independently verify a current general email address for the Planning Department, GIS program, or Assessor -- use the phone numbers or website contact forms above.

Planning & Zoning

Clear Creek County Planning Department

Confirming a parcel's zoning district, permitted uses, and any pending zoning-text amendments before buying.

Phone: (303) 679-2436Official website →

Environmental Health

Clear Creek County Environmental Health Department

Septic (OWTS) permitting, the required pre-sale Septic Use Permit, and questions about a specific mine-hazard or environmental concern on a parcel.

Phone: (303) 679-2428Official website →

Building & Permitting

Clear Creek County Building Department

Building permits, inspections, and construction-permit requirements for a specific parcel.

Phone: (303) 679-2372Official website →

Available Permits Table

GIS / Parcel Records

Clear Creek County Mapping & GIS Program

Pulling a parcel's zoning designation, and checking proximity to mapped mining claims, the Superfund site boundary, or floodplain data.

Phone: (303) 679-2300Official website →

Assessor / Property Tax

Clear Creek County Assessor

Current assessed value and property tax information for a specific parcel.

Phone: (303) 679-2322Official website →

Want to know if this specific parcel actually works?

Tell us what you're looking at and we'll connect you with a local land specialist who can help you sanity-check it before you go further.

Get local guidance

Topics Specific to Clear Creek County

The Pre-Sale Septic Use Permit Process →Recorded Environmental Covenants in the Superfund Site →

Sources

Zoning Regulations — Clear Creek County, Colorado Government (accessed 2026-09)
Planning — Clear Creek County, Colorado Government (accessed 2026-09)
CENTRAL CITY, CLEAR CREEK | Superfund Site Profile — U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (accessed 2026-09)
Central City, Clear Creek, Idaho Springs Superfund Site — Clear Creek County, Colorado Government (accessed 2026-09)
Mining In Clear Creek County, Colorado — The Diggings (accessed 2026-09)
Abandoned mines throughout Colorado to be cleaned up using federal funds — Summit Daily (accessed 2026-09)
Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems — Clear Creek County, Colorado Government (accessed 2026-09)
Use Permits — Clear Creek County, Colorado Government (accessed 2026-09)
Environmental Health — Clear Creek County, Colorado Government (accessed 2026-09)
QuickFacts: Clear Creek County, Colorado — U.S. Census Bureau (accessed 2026-09)

Last reviewed 2026-09