Managing Growth

State of the
Aspen Area

Speaker
Series

Aspen Economy
White Paper

Random
Survey

Small Group
Meetings

Survey
Results

Large Group
Meetings

Planning &
Zoning Review

City Council &
BOCC Review

State of the Aspen Area: 2000-2008
September 17

This report contains up to date information on a range of issues that have traditionally been important to the Aspen community, ranging from transportation to housing and growth. Did you know that the City has issued 9,886 building permits with a value of $2.4 billion since 2000? This is just one piece of information contained in this comprehensive report. Included are reader-friendly summaries
of each topic.

Speaker Series
September 17 - October

Staff visited various groups and organizations in the Aspen area to offer a PowerPoint presentation on the highlights of the State of the Aspen Area report, and the public process for generating a Community Vision for the Aspen Area.

'White Paper' on the
Aspen Economy
October 20

This is a rare opportunity to gain a new understanding of the unique and powerful resort economy that drives many important issues in the Aspen area. The City of Aspen hired an international resort consulting firm (Economics Research Associates) to draft this 'White Paper.' The report is reader-friendly and accessible to the general public.

Random Survey
November

A survey has been mailed to random households in the Aspen area, asking a wide range of questions about your vision for the future. This approach has been tested in mountain communities before, and will be a statistically accurate reflection of community values, likes and dislikes. Results will be available in January 2009.

Small Group Meetings
Oct 27 - Nov 14

More than 150 people recently participated in 11 small group meetings in October and November, offering their visions and goals for the future. These meetings were not intended to produce a consensus of any kind, but to express a range of goals and visions. A summary of notes from these meetings are available on the "Small Group Meetings" page.

Survey Results
2nd week January

The results of the random survey that was mailed to Aspen area residents in November will be available on the website. This is a values-based survey that can help form the Community Vision for the Aspen area.

Large Community Vision Meetings
January 27, January 31

Our goal is to have at least 350 people attend each of three public meetings, so more than 1,000 people can take part in drafting a Community Vision for the Aspen Area. We'll use a number of methods, including wireless voting keypads to explore the community's values. For more information and to RSVP and reserve your clicker, please see the homepage.

Planning and Zoning
Commission Review
March

This will be a more traditional and formalized process where the Planning and Zoning Commissions of both the City and the County will review a draft of the Community Vision for the Aspen Area. This will include legally noticed public hearings that anyone can attend to offer their comments.

City Council and Board of County Commissioners Review
April

This will be a more traditional and formalized process where the Aspen City Council and the Pitkin County Board of Commissioners will review a draft of the Community Vision for the Aspen Area, while also considering the input of both planning and zoning commissions. This will include legally noticed public hearings that anyone can attend to offer their comments.

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Managing Growth

City of Aspen
Although the City of Aspen has had a growth management system in place for more than 30 years, not every type of construction is tracked, limited or required to provide mitigation to offset impacts. The 2000 AACP stated as a goal to "Revise the Growth Management System to implement a true rate of growth that counts all of the growth occurring locally..."

An extensive study on all construction activity from 2000 - 2007 revealed a number of interesting facts.

There were 10,000 building permits issues by the City of Aspen since 2000, with a total worth of more than $2.4 billion.
Of that total value, more than 20% (more than $500 million) was for the demolition and replacement of residential structures - mostly single-family homes and duplexes. Roughly 10% (more than $200 million) was for major remodeling or additions.
In terms of size, the average "scrape and replace" project nearly doubles the size of the original home. In other words, many modest structures are being replaced with homes that maximize the allowed square footage on the lot.
The Midland and Park neighborhood accounts for 28% of all demolition and replacement projects in the past eight years, with the West End and Cemetery Land neighborhoods both accounting for 21%.
Since 2000, the Cemetery Lane neighborhood has seen almost one in six of its residential structures demolished and replaced. Mountain Valley has experienced demolition and replacement of about one in seven structures, while the West End has had more than one in 10 of its residential structures demolished and replaced.

Linkage to other issues

There are precious few issues in the Aspen area that exist in a vacuum. Here are a few topics that are directly related to Aspen's growth management.

Transportation. The upward trend in construction has resulted in a greater presence of construction-related travel on local roads and highways, which has been a source of frustration for local residents and visitors.

Historic Preservation. The increasing prevalence of demolition and replacement projects has resulted in heightened concerns about the demolition of properties that are not historically designated, but may have some potential historic integrity.

Pitkin County
Although the area of study for Pitkin County only includes areas outside the City limits but within the Urban Growth Boundary, similar trends may be at work. Many property owners are choosing development or redevelopment options that don't require proceeding through the County Growth Management Quota System.

There were a total of 156 existing homes (20.8 per year average) that were either demolished or remodeled with additional square footage.
A close second (124 permits) was the construction of primarily interior remodel improvements that did not add additional square footage to the home.
Regarding new home construction, there were 21 new free market homes built (an average of 2.8 new single-family homes per year), along with 73 new affordable housing units (an average of 9.7 per year).
Although Pitkin County has established a "soft" cap on house size at 5,750 square feet, a property owner can buy a Transferable Development Right (which extinguishes development rights on backcountry mining claims) in order to exceed that cap.
One TDR can provide an additional 2,500 sq. ft. in house size (or establish a new development right), and a total of 33 TDRs have "landed" in the study area since 1998.

Pitkin County updated its Land Use Code in 2006, but those code changes were targeted primarily at various rural areas of the County. After the Aspen Area Community Plan is updated, the County is likely to re-examine code language that affects the more urban areas of the County, such as the AABC.

Linkage to other issues

There are precious few issues in the Aspen area that exist in a vacuum. Here are a few topics that are directly related to managing growth in Pitkin County.

Economics. Real estate and construction have become the dominant industry sector in the Aspen area. Although the number of construction jobs based in Pitkin County has dropped, constructions jobs based in Garfield County are substantially up.

Governance. The upward trend in construction has resulted in a greater presence of construction-related travel on local roads and highways, with heavy loads causing damage over the years. Pitkin County may be seeking additional revenues to pay for the upkeep of county roads in November 2008.