Pitkin County Portion of Urban Growth Boundary

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.

Printable Version

Register for Updates

Pitkin County Portion of Urban Growth Boundary

How much opportunity is there for further growth and development in the City of Aspen and in Pitkin County (within the Urban Growth Boundary)? It may seem like a simple question, but considering the complexity of local land use codes, it's not.

But in the Managing Growth section of this report, there is a City and County buildout analysis that tries to answer the question. On the City side, there were some interesting conclusions:

It appears that about 150,000 square feet of new commercial space (that doesn't include lodging) could still be built. That's about 7.5 City Halls worth of new commercial space. But considering there's 1.4 million square feet of existing commercial space in the City, we're about 90% built out.
Of all the residential space in the commercially zoned areas of the City, just .06% is affordable housing (1,236,691 square feet of free market, and 84,651 square feet of affordable housing).
Of all the potentially developable residential space in the commercially zoned areas of the City, 48% would be affordable housing and 52% would be free market (253,714 sq. ft. of affordable housing and 275,698 sq. ft. of free market) - according to current City Land Use Code requirements.

In the areas of unincorporated Pitkin County that are outside the City but inside the Urban Growth Boundary, there were a few interesting conclusions as well:

There is just over 4 million square feet of residential space in this area of the County. If all new homes build only up to the "soft" County cap of 5,750 sq. ft., then this area is 77% built out.
However, if all the new homes went up to the "hard" cap of 15,000 sq. ft. per home (exceeding the "soft" cap by using Transferable Development Rights), then this area is only 53% built out.
On the other hand, many lots in the County are very likely never to be built on so owners can retain bigger lots that insure privacy and views. Also, County regulations can make it difficult to build in areas of steep slope or wildfire hazard or protected wildlife habitat.