Aspen
Aspen Saturday Market Approved at Grey Lady
Grey Lady’s owner received approval from city council to keep a tent over the restaurant’s patio this winter, provided that it serves as an Aspen Saturday Market at least two days per week, the Aspen Daily News reported. At night, Grey Lady can use the space for additional restaurant seating.
During Saturday and Sunday afternoons, the market space will will have eight to 10 tables with rotating vendors, many of whom are participants in the summer Aspen Saturday Market. It costs vendors $50 per day to participate and the market opened mid-December.
City Sales Tax Rebate Increases $5
Aspen City Council agreed to raise the municipal food-tax refund for the first time since 1998, hashing out a compromise to up the payment by $5 from its current $50, the Aspen Daily News reported. Councilman Bert Myrian noted that, per inflation, $50 in 1998 is equal to just over $75 today.
State statute typically requires that food purchases be exempt from sales tax, but Aspen, as a home rule municipality, is not necessarily subject to that policy. However, the city first began giving a food tax refund in 1970, when it was $7. That was raised to $21 in 1972, commensurate with an increase in the local sales tax from 1 to 2 percent, raised again to $39 in 1981 and then to $50 in 1998.
SkiCo Looks to More Snowmaking on Aspen Mountain
Snowmaking saved Aspen’s bacon for the second season in a row this year, and now Aspen Skiing Co. is looking to expand coverage for the future, the Aspen Daily News reported. Skico has submitted an updated master plan for Aspen Mountain to the U.S. Forest Service that includes expanding the capacity for snowmaking by another 50 acres.
After the blueprint is approved, individual components must go through another round of approvals by the Forest Service when Skico wants to pursue them. The existing snowmaking system on Aspen Mountain covers about 172 acres of terrain on the lower two-thirds of the mountain — below about 10,600 feet in elevation.
Skico has thus far refrained from additional snowmaking because Mother Nature generally pulls through and provides enough natural snow at the top to start the lifts spinning when scheduled. The last two seasons have proven there are no guarantees.
Snowmass
Former Base Village Owner Accused of Racketeering
A former developer of Base Village, multiple related entities, two banks and other businesses are accused of racketeering and fraud over the handling of two metropolitan districts related to the massive project, the Aspen Daily News reported. Related Cos. and affiliates “fleeced” property owners in Base Village Metropolitan District No. 2 for nearly a decade, using the district as a “piggybank” for cash flow. A pending lawsuit says that Base Village Owner and other defendants installed executives on district boards used $32 million in district money to pay back a lender and spent millions more in costs associated with private construction.
October Sales Tax Up in Snowmass
October sales tax collections in Snowmass Village continued a trend that has been predominant for most of 2017: bringing in significantly more dollars than the previous month in 2016, the Aspen Daily News reported. For 2017, that’s been the case for every month except February and March, which were nonetheless close to even year-over-year.
Collections were up by 10.9 percent in Oct. 2017 when compared to the same month in 2016. Some $44,328.83 was reported, which was $4,358.09 more than in Oct. 2016 and the best October in at least a decade, and possibly in the resort’s history. To date, sales tax collections are 6.23 percent higher than during the same period last year; more than $1.6 million has been earned for the town’s general fund. Autumn has seen consistently solid gains, as in September the general fund coffers received 15.26 percent more in tax dollars than the same month in 2016.
Snowmass Council Sticks with Original Sculpture Name
The 22-foot steel and rock sculpture in the middle of a Snowmass Village roundabout will keep its original name of Double Black Diamond, despite a public contest for a new title that drew 170 entries and support from the Snowmass Arts Advisory Board to name it Big Zig, the Aspen Daily News reported. The top selection SAAB didn’t get a single nod of support from the seated council, who said they found it confusing.
Basalt
Historic Downtown Building Changes Hands
One of Basalt’s oldest and most historic structures is starting a new chapter after changing hands this fall for the first time in 73 years, the Aspen Times repoted. The orange brick building known as the Kelly Block at 144 Midland Ave. was purchased by SMP 144 Midland LLC in the fall for $2.2 million. It was sold by the Margaret Darien Partnership Ltd. after being in the Dariens’ hands since 1944.
The buyer is affiliated with Star Mesa Properties, a Denver real estate investment company. Nine of the old boarding rooms will be converted into individual offices that lock off, likely by a small architectural firm or some other professional office. The private offices will rent for $700 to $900 per month. A larger space at the front of the second story will be rented for shared office space at $200 to $300 per month. There will also be a small conference room and kitchen available on the floor. Heirlooms, a high-end second-hand store, will continue to rent the ground floor space.
Affordable Housing Project Gets Even More Affordable
The developer of a new affordable-housing complex in Basalt is going to charge less rent than the town would allow on 44 of 56 units, The Aspen Times reported. Indiana-based RealAmerica Inc. asked the Town Council to amend the deed restrictions on its Roaring Fork Apartments to reflect the lower rents on the 44 units. The company will charge the rents allowed by the town’s affordable-housing guidelines on the remaining 12 units.
RealAmerica received rental-housing tax credits from the Colorado Housing and Financing Authority. It sells those credits to raise capital for construction. In return for the credits, it had to agree to rents that turned out to be significantly lower than those allowed by Basalt’s affordable-housing guidelines. Monthly rents will range from $520 to $1,071 for one-bedroom units and $623 to $1,285 for two-bedroom residences. Utilities are extra.
Carbondale
Housing Project Denied by Commissioners
Efforts toward a large-scale residential development on Colorado 82 near Catherine Store Road hit a dead end before the Garfield County Planning Commission, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent reported. Commissioners unanimously rejected a proposal for a new land-use designation, “residential village,” that would allow for higher density – up to 400 homes in the case of a 41-acre parcel east of Carbondale – that’s owned by the applicant.
The new land-use designation would have been the first step toward the large residential development on part of the former Cerise ranch. The developer had been promoting it as an opportunity for median income families, but it had also drawn the ire of neighbors who want to keep the rural character of neighborhood.
About 20 members of the public out against the proposal put forward by Gatorcap, which is based out of Aspen and Miami. Though affordable housing is desperately needed in Garfield County and the Roaring Fork Valley, residents didn’t think workforce housing of this magnitude belongs in the rural area.
Glenwood Springs
Arts and Culture Board Formed
The Glenwood Springs City Council is forming an Arts and Culture Advisory Board to raise awareness and promote and create educational opportunities for all types of art, from performance and fine arts to the practical arts, such as design. It also will be instrumental in advising City Council on how best to help fund the arts, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent reported.
Formation of the Arts and Culture Board grew out of council’s concerns about continuing to promote the arts, while severing the city’s direct financial support for the troubled Glenwood Springs Center for the Arts. Earlier this year, the city ended its contract with the Center for the Arts, which included paying the director’s salary, after a financial investigation turned up questionable spending and lax oversight by the governing arts council, and it led to misdemeanor theft charges against former arts center director Christina Brusig.
Pitkin County
APCHA Gives Valley Housing Authority Needed Financial Injection
The proposed Roaring Fork Valley Regional Housing Authority (RFVRHA) received a fiscal shot in the arm when the Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority (APCHA) board of directors voted unanimously to contribute $25,000 toward an in-depth assessment of workforce housing needs in the Roaring Fork Valley, the Aspen Daily News reported.
Completion of the housing needs assessment will be the first step in RFVRHA actually legally forming. The APCHA move came as a bit of a surprise, as the governments of both Aspen and Pitkin County have indicated that they are not interested at this time in joining RFVRHA. With this additional funding, the board can move forward with an RFP for assessment proposals.
Carbondale-to-Crested-Butte Trail Receives Lots of Feedback
The proposed Carbondale to Crested Butte trail has widespread support among nearly 600 people who submitted public comments to Pitkin County, but a strong majority demanded that the route be as wildlife-friendly as possible, the Glenwood Springs Post Independent reported.
Pitkin County is trying to select an alignment for the multi-million dollar trail from where an existing paved trail stops 3 miles south of Carbondale to the top of McClure Pass. Meanwhile, groups in Gunnison County are pursuing construction to the county line at the top of McClure Pass. The trail would be about 83 miles long in total.
Seventeen percent of the 527 respondents support a trail but didn’t express preference for an alignment. The highway alignment was supported by 22.6 percent while 29.6 percent favored most of the alignment east of the river with a few adjustments for wildlife. Another 13 percent supported more of a full blending of the two routes.