Nearly three dozen Douglas County businesses got an early present with word that they can now operate at 25% indoor capacity under the state’s 5-Star Certification Program. 

Douglas County, one of the first counties to apply for the program, was informed Wednesday by the Colorado Department of Health and Environment that it had completed “10 days of stable and declining hospitalizations and may now authorize certified businesses to open,” according to a news release from Douglas County. 

Beginning Wednesday evening, 18 restaurants, 14 gyms and fitness centers and one indoor event venue can operate at a higher capacity limit than the state’s COVID-19 dial ordinarily allows.

“This is an early Christmas present for the businesses, you know. It’s something that they can get themselves opened and start reaping some benefits of being able to have indoor dining or activities,” said Pam Ridler, president and CEO of Castle Rock’s Chamber of Commerce.

“These businesses had to go through a lot of extra steps to be able to reopen and they are rock stars to be able to make this happen for themselves and their employees.”

More than 100 additional county businesses are in the process of becoming a Certified COVID Best Practices Business, said Wendy Mannita Holmes, the public information officer for the county. 

The complete list of businesses allowed to open can be found here.

Although Jeff Drabing, the owner of Rockyard Brewery in Castle Rock, was among the first businesses in Douglas County to be pre-certified, he said he will not be opening his doors until Monday. 

“We had no fresh food in stock since we’ve been closed for a month, so we’re putting in an order for more food later today and it’ll arrive tomorrow, but we still need to get our prep crew in there on Saturday and Sunday to get ready to go,” Drabing said.

“If somehow we can get it going on Sunday, we’ll try, but Monday’s probably our day.”

Douglas County follows in the footsteps of Summit County, which began reopening more than 130 restaurants to indoor dining earlier this week. 

Also on Monday, Broomfield County was informed that its application had been approved by the state. However, Broomfield said it will not take applications from businesses until Monday and plans to start the program on Jan.8

Arapahoe County is the only other county in the Denver metro area to have submitted an application for the 5 Star State Certification Program, which began last Friday.   

Tammy Vigil, a spokesperson for the Denver’s Department of Public Health and Environment, told The Denver Gazette the county has not applied for the program and does not expect too until sometime in January.

Adams County has also not applied for the program as they do not currently meet the state criteria, which requires that Red Level counties show a declining number of COVID-19 cases, positivity rate and hospitalizations over a two-week span. Officials said they would reevaluate the situation when they become eligible.

“We’re not eligible to apply yet because we’re also under a health order from Tri-County Public Health. I don’t know if we will apply once we are eligible, but we’ll make that determination at that point,” said Christa Bruning, director of communications for Adams County. 

In a media release last Friday, officials from Boulder County said they were not currently eligible for the program and therefore were not applying.

Officials from Broomfield and Jefferson Counties told The Denver Gazette on Wednesday that they plan to submit an application within the coming days. 

Attempts to reach Boulder officials to check on their current status were unsuccessful.

In addition to the COVID-19 data requirements by CDPHE, there are other requirements involving possible changes in ventilation and written health and safety policies.

One of the biggest hurdles to opening restaurants under the program is the new ventilation requirements, which are expensive to meet.

Ember, a fine dining restaurant in Breckenridge, opened Saturday night, but to meet the requirements the establishment needed to invest in new air filters, said Max Everhart, the general manager.

Meanwhile, El Paso County officials and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers argued in a letter to Gov. Jared Polis early this week that the new certification does not make sense for businesses or local government and would be too expensive to implement. The officials proposed the governor simply allow indoor dining to reopen at 25% capacity with a maximum of two households per table.

The officials also said in the letter that it could cost $500,000 to inspect the businesses under the program, even assuming some donated labor.

El Paso County has 1,500 full-service restaurants — far more than Summit County, said Rachel Beck, vice president of government affairs for the Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development Corp.

“There is a simpler way to do it and a more effective way to do it,” she said.

El Paso County had not heard from the state about its letter on Tuesday, city spokeswoman Jamie Fabos said.

And although operating at 25% capacity is not ideal, Drabing says it’s the start in the right direction.

“To be honest 25% is a start but it’s not very sustainable. I hope soon the numbers will continue to go down and then we’ll enter Level Orange, so we can operate at Level Yellow just to almost break even,” Drabing said.

“If we can get any better, that’s what it’ll take to get this industry back on track.”

And to Douglas County Commissioner Lora Thomas is glad to have local businesses back open.

“What a great day for our business community who, through their enrollment in this certification, forged a clear path for their own sustainability and simultaneous protection of public health,” said Thomas.  

Mary Shinn of The Gazette contributed to this report.