Environmental Quality

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

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Environmental Quality

During the last 10 years, the City and other local agencies have tackled a wide range of environmental challenges, and accomplishments include:

Reduced particulate matter in the air ton the point where we have a clean bill of health from the EPA through a better bus system, carpooling, in-town shuttles, street sweeping, limits on wood stoves and restaurant grills.
Discovered there are 22 more frost-free days per year compared to 1958; the rate of warming locally has been twice as fast in the last 25 years as it was the previous 25.
Initiated the Canary Initiative to establish a baseline global warming pollution inventory for the area, identify opportunities for reducing emissions and raising awareness in the skiing and resort industry about the future economic impacts of warming.
Launched the redevelopment and expansion of the Castle Creek hydro-power plant, and purchased wind energy.
Established limits on energy use for homes in the City, and required either the installation of renewable energy systems or the payment of a fee when those limits are exceeded.
Established a storm water district to raise $12 million for a 15-year project to treat storm water runoff, to protect local rivers and creeks from pollution and sedimentation.
Fixed leaky water mains and pipes throughout the City and established a conservation based water rate system that has reduced water usage by 13.8 percent compared to 2000.
Currently implementing a $10 million project to improve treatment at the Aspen Consolidated Sanitation District waste water treatment plant.
Implemented an expanded recycling system to make the recycling of a wider range of materials an integral part of the waste collection system in Aspen.

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 environmental quality.

Housing. Recent affordable housing projects, including Burlingame, have set higher standards for environmental responsibility through the use if recycled materials, energy efficient building codes and energy-efficient appliances.

Transportation. A host of transit-oriented projects from establishing dedicated transit lanes to car-pooling and car sharing programs help control particulate pollution and CO2 emissions.

Sustaining the Aspen Idea. Fundamental to the Aspen Idea is preserving an environment that is healthy for recreation and inspiration, and to bring innovative ideas to a wider audience.