Project Phases
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
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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.
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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.
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'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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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About the Project


Every eight years or so, the City of Aspen and Pitkin County collaborate on a character-based community plan for the Aspen Area that helps guide decision-making by the Aspen City Council and Pitkin County Commissioners.  In 2008, the City and County began work on an update to the community plan, and the creation of a 10-year community vision forthe future, the Community Vision for the Aspen Area.

For a brief review of the steps planned for this public process, please visit Where We've Been, Where We Are, and Where We're Going.   

History of the Aspen Area Community Plan
The first Aspen Area Community Plan was adopted in 1993. Seven years later, the 2000 Aspen Area Community Plan was adopted. In 2007, Council and Commissioners approved funding for an update of the 2000 AACP.

The theme of this update is "Direct Democracy," and the goal is to involve as many people as possible -whether they live here, work here or enjoy the area on a part-time basis.

What's new in this update?
There is no standing committee to guide this process. This method has been used in the past, and both City and County staff now believe that it wasn't inviting or accessible enough for a wide cross-section of people to become directly involved, and to ultimately "buy-in" to the final product.

Instead, this new process seeks to literally draft a document that comes from the community-at-large. For example, the process included three large public meetings on January 27th and 31st, and about 450 people attended these meetings.  Also, 534 people responded to a randomly-mailed Community Survey, with results available in early February.

This new public process began with the release of the State of the Aspen Area report in September 2008, which is packed with information on a range of key community issues. A white paper on The Aspen Economy, a 40-page document reviewing the history and evolution of the local economy, was released in October 2008. The idea is to encourage a well-informed citizenry as we begin to focus on the major issues of the day.

The next steps were small group meetings - 174 people attended 20 meetings that focused on 10 topics. Almost 40 high school students took part in separate sessions as well. Participants were asked to voice their goals for the future of the Aspen Area.  For more information on the small group meetings, including a copy of the synthesis, please click here. 

Those who were not able to participate in a small group meeting could express their opinion using our blog or a Meeting in a Box.

On February 19, a draft Community Vision for the Aspen Area will be released, and available on this website. A Brown Bag lunch for public feedback is scheduled from 11:30 am to 1 pm on Thursday, February 26 in the Sister Cities Room at City Hall; and from 11:30 am to 1 pm on Friday, February 27 in the Council Chambers at City Hall.

In March and April, the Community Vision document will be reviewed for adoption by the Aspen City Council, the Pitkin County Commissioners and the planning and zoning commissions in the city and county. A schedule of these public meetings will be available soon.

The finished product will be the Community Vision for the Aspen Area: a foundational document for the Aspen City Council and Pitkin County Board of Commissioners - providing guidance for future decisions on issues ranging from Housing to Managing Growth to Transportation.

What is the Aspen Area?
The map below illustrates the Aspen Area.  The Aspen Area includes the City of Aspen and all areas of unincorporated Pitkin County that are within the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB).