HomeMy WebLinkAboutStateOfAspenArea_ReptMEMORANDUM
TO: Aspen City Council and Board of County Commissioners
FROM: Ben Gagnon, City Special Projects Planner
Jessica Garrow, City Long Range Planner
Ellen Sassano, County Long Range Planner
THRU: Chris Bendon, City Community Development Director
Cindy Houben, County Community Development Director
DATE OF MEMO: September 9, 2008
MEETING DATE: 4:OOpm, September 16, 2008
RE: State of the Aspen Area: 2000-2008, the existing conditions
report for the 2008/2009 update to the Aspen Area Community Plan
PURPOSE OF THE MEETING:
The purpose of the meeting on September 16'h is to introduce The State of the Aspen Area:
2000-2008 the existing conditions report for the Aspen Area, to the elected and appointed city
and county officials at the same time in order to begin the joint dialogue for the update of the
2000 AACP. The volume of information is too great to review each section in detail so staff will
present the highlights of the information in a presentation then request feedback and discussion.
BACKGROUND AND PROCESS SUMMARY:
The Board of County Commissioners and City Council have directed staff to update the 2000
AACP. The State of the Aspen Area is attached in your packet for review and will serve as the
kickoff to the public outreach and update of the plan. Meetings are scheduled with various civic
groups in order to initiate public discussion. Pitkin County Planning and Zoning Commission
(PZ) meetings are being scheduled for detailed discussion of the information and how this
information will dovetail with a sub area plan for the AABC neighborhood. The City and County
P&Zs will review the final plan in March/April for adoption, and will make recommendations to
City Council and BOCC for their endorsement.
The report is divided into 12 topical chapters with an executive summary at the beginning. The
executive summary outlines how the report is used and provides a brief summary of the
chapters. Each summary includes information on the linkages a chapter has to other chapters.
This linkages information is included to make the report mare accessible, and to help generate
dialogue throughout the public process on how each of the topics are related.
The public process was designed to be guided by transparency, inclusiveness and a "ground-
up" process that engages a broad spectrum of the community. Rather than utilizing a number of
working committees, the process has been designed to be one that is led by public input and
participation, rather than groups of technical experts. To that end, the following process is being
employed:
A website (www.asoencommunitvvision.com) has been created to provide information
and documents related to the AACP update. The State of the Aspen Report: 2000-2008
is available on the website, as is an outline of the forthcoming public process. The
website will come online on September 17`h
• Following the issuance of the State of the Aspen Report, a number of surveys and
studies will be completed. This information should be used to supplement the
information found in the State of the Aspen Area. The Economic White Paper, being
prepared by Economic Research Associates, will be completed in October. This report
lakes a detailed look at the history of the Aspen Area economy, with specific focus on
the construction and tourism industries. A City Housing Survey will be completed in
October. This study, completed by RRC Associates and Melanie Rees on behalf of the
City Community Development Department and APCHA, examines trends in affordable
housing, second homes, and the needs of the business community.
• Public outreach and education through presentations of the State of the Aspen Area to
community groups beginning September 17'h and continuing through the fall.
• Small group meetings, modeled after the 2006 Core Values process, will take place
beginning the week of October 20th. These meetings will be held all week and at various
times to encourage broad participation. City and County elected and appointed officials
are encouraged to participate in these sessions as individuals.
• In November a vision and values survey will be sent to a random selection of Aspen
Area households. The survey results are expected in January. This survey, conducted
by Linda Venteroni, will ask values level questions based on the existing AACP. For
instance, the survey will take specific quotes from the AACP and ask if the respondent
agrees or disagreed with the statement.
• Large group meetings, modeled after the 2006 Core Values process, will be conducted
in late January or early February (staff is still confirming meeting room availability). This
meeting will use keypad voting technology, small group dialogue, as well as an open
house format to encourage the discussion of ideas. An important outcome of these
public meetings, which will also be discussed in the October small group meetings, will
be the discussion and recognition of the tradeoffs between different topic areas.
• Adoption is expected in April of 2009.
Please keep in mind that this is an update to the AACP and not an overhaul to the fundamental
character based style of the plan. If additional planning work is required it will be done through
specific efforts such as the AABC neighborhood plan or revisions to other City planning efforts
and it will provide general guidance to amendments in both Land Use Codes.
SUMMARY OF EXISTING CONDITIONS FINDINGS
Staff has examined the findings in the report, and outlined some observations on each of the
topics. Not all issues are addressed, but these observations can be used as a way to start
thinking about the findings and trends of the report.
Kev Trends and Findings:
• Growth is occurring within the Urban Growth Boundary (UGB) but not all of it is
addressed by the City or County Growth Management Quota Systems (GMOS's).
Although the City of Aspen and Pitkin County have had growth management systems in
place for more than 30 years, not every type of construction is tracked, limited or
required to provide mitigation to offset impacts. We have watched our GMOS system
evolve from more of an infrastructure based system to a tool that shapes land uses and
the scale, intensity, and character of growth and development;
While we are doing an exceptional job at development of new affordable housing, as a
community we cannot keep up due to demographic and economic forces such as
workers retiring in AH and long time locals who are in the workforce selling their home to
non -workforce individuals thus reducing the supply of workforce housing within the
UGB. Since 2000, it is estimated that there is a net gain of only approximately 200 new
employees housed;
We are doing a great deal at the government level to address environmental and
energy issues, including the creation of the Jenny Adair Wetlands, and the adoption of
residential REMP. There may be more that we can do to integrate energy and
environmental concerns with all aspects of how we live and what we build;
The backbone of our retail economy may be shifting to less retail/restaurant workforce
numbers, higher prices, and fewer alternatives (far both the local and the visitor);
In areas of social service, the community has access to a great deal of services, but
many areas are nearing capacity. In the area of child care, the Aspen Area is at 94.5%
capacity. The elementary school is at 90% capacity, while the middle school and high
school are at lower capacity levels (64% and 83% respectively) due to recent
expansions. These kinds of capacity levels may need to examined as new development
is approved to ensure basic social services are available for all community members;
There have been a number of accomplishments since the 2000 Aspen Area Community
Plan across a number of topics. To name a few are the initiation of the Canary Initiative
under Environmental Quality, the joint City-County acquisition of the Smuggler
Mountain property under Open Space and Trails, the construction of the Aspen
Recreation Center under Parks 8 Recreation. In other areas, there are critical projects
that continue to move forward with community goals, such as the implementation of
dedicated transit lanes at the Entrance to Aspen under the subject of Transportation,
and the exploration of preserving Post-WWII structures by the Aspen Historic
Preservation Task Force.