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.


Register for Updates

Meeting in a Box


The "Meeting-in-a-Box" activity is another opportunity for you to be involved in the process of updating the Aspen Area Community Plan.  From late October to mid-November, we used professional facilitators to run a series of Small Group Meetings that focused on developing a community vision for the Aspen area over the next 10 years.

The "Meeting-in-a-Box" is more free-form and allows you, your friends and family to take all the time you need to convey your thoughts about the future of Aspen.  The vision you generate will help shape the discussions at the Large Group Meetings early in 2009, when we hope to get the input of more than  1,000 people.


Boxes are available in the City of Aspen Community Development Department (City Hall, 3rd Floor).  If you prefer an electronic version,  please click here.


What's in the box?
  1. Instructions
  2. A set of 10 colored cards identify 10 topics, and provide some background information on each topic. Your group can decide to focus on any topic you wish, or 3 or 5 or all 10.
  3. A document titled "How To Build Your Vision," which includes prompting questions that ask you to envision the Aspen area 10 or more years from now.
  4. Pens and Notepads
  5. Popcorn for you and your group
What do you need to bring?  Your imagination and vision for the future of the Aspen area.