Aspen
City Backs Off Mobility Plan
City of Aspen officials said they got the message from downtown business owners and have taken a controversial plan off the table that would cut 15 parking spaces while turning three blocks of Hopkins Avenue into a one-way with dedicated bike lanes, the Aspen Daily News reported.
A constituency of restaurateurs and retailers blasted the plan in harsh terms in a meeting hosted by the chamber. City officials in January announced they would delay the mobility lab until 2019 to give more time for fundraising and planning. Summer 2018 would instead see a focus on policies intended to elevate two-wheel transportation over the car, such as the bike lanes.
The bike lanes through the downtown core would extend the dedicated pedestrian and bikeway between Garmisch and Seventh streets on Hopkins. The city earlier said it would minimize the plan to three blocks ending at Mill Street with a loss of 15 spaces, but that did little to assuage concerns from business owners who see any parking deficit as an impediment to their customers.
Racquet Club Eyed for Housing and Park
An alternative to a proposed free-market-townhome-driven development for prime open land owned by the Smuggler Racquet Club is starting to emerge that would involve tapping public funds to see the property used for employee housing and a park, the Aspen Daily News reported.
The notion of a counter proposal was aired publicly last week during a meeting of Smuggler Racquet Club members who were also apprised of a potential $15.5 million purchase offer from developer Sunrise Co., which aims to build 18 free market units and 23 employee housing units on 2 acres of developable land above the club’s tennis courts. Members of the 44-year-old club, which has traditionally maintained a low-key atmosphere and reasonable dues, would receive a new clubhouse facility and indoor and outdoor courts for tennis and pickle ball through the Sunrise proposal.
The park concept explores using tax-funded open space and employee housing funds, as well as some private money, to buy the bench of prime open land between Matchless Drive and and Park Circle in Aspen’s east end for an undetermined amount. The preliminary efforts to explore the feasibility of acquiring the property for community-based purposes such as worker housing and a park rather than free-market townhomes.
Crystal Palace Joins Building Queue
City of Aspen officials are reviewing a building-permit application from developers who plan to convert the Crystal Palace and neighboring lot into a luxury boutique hotel, though it’s unclear precisely when construction would start, the Aspen Daily News reported.
The Crystal Palace project, with an estimated $12 million construction valuation, is likely the only Mark Hunt-owned development project to proceed in the near-term. Other projects, including a redevelopment of the Conoco gas station at 232 E. Main St. into a new commercial property; a renovation of two spaces on the Mill Street pedestrian mall; and redevelopment of the Bidwell building and Red Onion annex; are “fully entitled” but have yet to progress to the seeking of a building permit
The city’s Historic Preservation Commission approved the Crystal Palace redevelopment application in 2016. Topping out at three stories, it did not require any zoning variances as it took advantage of a city policy that allowed increased height for lodging projects.
Snowmass
February Sees Highest Occupancy Ever
February paid occupancy in Snowmass Village hit an all-time record for the month, according the Aspen Daily News. Occupancy was 78.2 percent for February in Snowmass, which is up 3 percent over last year and slightly ahead of the previous record of 77.9 percent occupancy set in Feb. 2015. Officials said group bookings and more snowfall helped boost numbers.
February in Aspen was identical to last year, with 75.4 percent of the beds filled. The average daily rate in Snowmass was $447, up 5.3 percent from February 2017 when it was $424. In Aspen for February 2018, the average daily rate was $645, which is higher than $596 last year.
Scaled Down Town Center Presented to Council
Developers presented a smaller-scale proposal of the new Snowmass Center to town council, appeasing both officials’ and residents’ concerns over the previous size of the project, the Aspen Times reported. Eastwood Snowmass Investors purchased the Snowmass Center and its neighboring parcel from Related Cos. for $16 million in 2016.
The developers reduced the proposed height of the building by a full story. The modified proposal calls for a 44-foot building, which still exceeds its zoning’s allotted 38 feet. Altogether, the proposal for parcel 6 includes a 45,000-square-foot mixed use building with 14,500 square feet of commercial and office space, 12 free-market residential units and roughly 120 sub-grade parking spaces.
Along with building upon essential town services found at the Snowmass Center — such as Clark’s Market, the post office and Sundance Liquor & Gifts — the hope is to also house an incubator space for businesses.
Basalt
Basalt Raises Minimum Age to Purchase Tobacco
Basalt is close on Aspen’s heels with groundbreaking legislation to try to decrease smoking and use of tobacco products by children and young adults, the Aspen Times reported. The Basalt Town Council approved an ordinance that increases the minimum age to buy cigarettes and tobacco products from 18 to 21. The ordinance also requires tobacco retailers to get a license to sell tobacco products each year. The provision takes effect July 1.
In an April 3 election, Basalt voters also approved a tobacco tax, approving a new $2 levy on cigarettes and 40 percent on other tobacco products. Basalt follows Aspen in instituting its own tax on smokes and the like.
Carbondale
Mana Foods Opens in Dandelion Market
Mana Foods opened its doors in the former Dandy Market location, the Sopris Sun reported. Mana means spiritual nourishment, and that’s exactly what the husband-and-wife team who co-own the store want to bring to the community—the store is just one arm of their larger nonprofit ashram. The store will specialize in local and organic product.
Glenwood Springs
Retail Sales Off to Strong Start in 2018
With the Grand Avenue bridge detour and its related business impacts fading in the rearview mirror, Glenwood Springs started 2018 on the right foot when it came to retail sales in the city, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent reported.
Sales taxes were up nearly 1.5 percent in January, thanks to strong performance in several key sectors including general merchandise, or “big box” sales, which opened 2018 more than 11.5 percent ahead of the same month last year. Sales of clothing and accessories were also up more than 31 percent, food sales were up 14.5 percent, and miscellaneous retail, which takes in many of the independently owned downtown shops, was up 14.2 percent.
Retail sales were down 1.9 percent in 2017, as businesses took a big hit during the nearly three-month-long Grand Avenue bridge closure and detour from mid-August to early November.
Pitkin County
RFTA Bans Booze on Buses
The Roaring Fork Transportation Authority board of directors voted unanimously to ban the consumption of alcohol on the local public transportation system, the Aspen Daily News reported. The move to all-out prohibition represents an evolution from a time, not so long ago, when RFTA had no regularly enforced alcohol policy. Eventually, the policy required that no one board the bus with an open container, though what passengers did after that with any alcohol they might have been carrying was their business.
This had grown into an untenable situation, according to RFTA officials who recommended the change. The lenient policy has grown from people casually having a beer on the bus on their way home from to work to serious safety issue for both passengers and drivers who have had to deal with unruly, intoxicated riders. The new policy is effective June 1.
Parking Lot, Facilities Approved for Prince Creek
Pitkin County commissioners approved efforts to build a 35-space parking lot for mountain bikers and hikers on the lower portion of Prince Creek Road, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent reported.
The parking lot will be located on the east side of Prince Creek Road on a five-acre parcel owned by the county and known as the “Bull Pen.” The county recently constructed a trail that runs parallel to Prince Creek Road from the Bull Pen to a trail network on U.S. Bureau of Land Management property known as the Crown, for better biker and pedestrian safety.
The next step is to construct the parking area, which will include vegetation screening, bathrooms, signs and a speed table crosswalk across Prince Creek Road. It will hopefully be done in time for biking season this spring.