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HomeMy WebLinkAboutInformation Only 20250225AGENDA INFORMATION UPDATE February 25, 2025 5:00 PM, I.Information Update I.A ACRA January Destination Marketing Report I.B Application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the Maroon Creek Hydroelectric Project and update on Ruedi License Amendment Jan2025_DMReport.pdf Info Only Memo Template - Maroon Creek FERC application Final.docx 1 1 January 2025 Destination Marketing Report for Council Destination Marketing: Congratulations to the events team on a successful Wintersköl event complete with new date debut! During the month of December, ACRA’s team participated in Snowmass Tourism’s engagement sessions for their Destination Management Plan. We will kick off the Resident Sentiment research study on January 27th. As a reminder this is part of our 360-degree feedback loop with the Aspen Destination Management Plan. This winter, we are pleased to once again sponsor the Friday Uphill Breakfasts at Buttermilk and ACES Potbelly Perspectives, both support building community and the transformative power of travel, we hope to see you at an upcoming event. Aspenchamber.org is due for a redesign in 2025, Eliza & Jessica have been meeting with the “big 3” for Chamber/DMO website development and look forward to kicking off this project in the coming months. We congratulate Bridget Crosby on her acceptance to get her master’s in film production. Bridget has been an incredible asset to the ACRA team, and we will look to fill her position in the coming months prior to her March departure. The December 2024 PR Report can be found here and the social media report is included. The Month at a Glance Data report is available here We have two new wedding guest blogs added to our website. One from wedding planner Calluna Events, Colorful Tented Aspen Summer Wedding about a wedding at T Lazy 7 this past summer. Another from Dale Mitchell, a local photographer, Wedding Day Photography Timeline. ACRA hosted a workshop with the CTO and BrandUSA to introduce tourism facing businesses to the new Tourism Exchange. This will be a great tool to get more bookable product in Aspen including ticketed events and attractions, lodging, and ticketed tours in front of tour operators to package with international travel packages. ACRA joined the CTO for their N. Ireland and Ireland sales mission alongside Visit Denver, Visit Glenwood Springs, and Black Diamond. The mission included trade and consumer media pitching, calls on tour operators and travel agencies, the consumer show The HolidayTravel Show for 3 days, and a travel industry awards event. Special Events: The events team successfully produced Wintersköl 2.0, December 12 - 15. This was the first year for the date change to December, so we produced 2 Wintersköl Celebrations in 2024. Overall, the events team received more local interest, increased community events and overall participation - not to mention the timely 2ft snowfall and warmer temps compared to January. The new Icebreaker Bash event (which replaced the ACRA luncheon) at Mi Chola had great attendance with over 200pp. Restaurant participation for Soupsköl increased from just 5 in Jan to 11 in Dec. There were over 1000 attendees for Soupsköl (300+ more than in Jan), 600 attendees for the beer festival (200+ than Jan), and all 3 movie screenings at the Aspen Film ISIS Theatre were once again sold out! A big thank you to the Wintersköl committee, our Wintersköl sponsors, organizations that produced events on the calendar, volunteers, and everyone that came out to celebrate. This community event would not be possible without all the support and love of our alpine lifestyle. Looking ahead to summer, 2025 FOOD & WINE passes are now on sale (as of Jan 22). The NY team will be in Aspen for a site visit Jan 28 - 30 for planning meetings. F&W volunteer registration will open for returning volunteers in March and new volunteers in April. Airport Guest Services: The Holiday Season was extremely busy at ASE. With increased travelers, adverse weather conditions causing cancellations and delays, etc., the airport experienced significant challenges. While other organizations at the airport encountered staffing issues, ACRA was fully staffed. The guest service team did a tremendous job assisting guests and helping with all problems that occurred even late into the night. On Monday January 6th, 2025, a discussion took place with ACRA, SkiCo, ASE administration and RFE regarding transportation and staffing issues at ASE. This was a brainstorming session to find solutions to the ongoing transportation issues especially over the Holiday Season when weather and cancellations cause an overload of passengers needing to get out of ASE and on to other locations both within the valley and to Denver and Grand Junction, etc. Casey and Jennifer are working on phone options to reduce the number of calls a day to the ACRA guest service booth as we saw over 150/day mostly regarding baggage issues with the airlines.  Visitor Centers: We have recently experienced some staffing transitions in Guest Services and are excited to welcome long-term local and artist Bret Cook to the team. Our sincerest gratitude to the guest service staff for stepping up to work across multiple locations, and for their flexibility and positivity during this period. Aspen Gay Ski Week and X Games have contributed to higher visitor numbers in the second half of January, with an average of 75 visitors at the pavilion and 200 at ASE daily. The energy and excitement make Aspen a fantastic destination, even during the chilly winter days! Looking ahead, we are preparing for an exciting move to the Armory this April and look forward to welcoming guests to our new Visitor Center location.  2 Sales Tax Reports: As of the November 2024 Consumption Tax Report, released in January, the 2024 Tourism Promotion Fund is coming in 4% ahead of 2023 collections and flat to projections. Recent Press Coverage Occupancy statistics and commentary, as well as visitor center counts, website data and air service information can now be found on the following page in the Defy Ordinary Dashboard. All data points are sourced from our monthly report with Blue Room Research and can be found in the Data Center on the website. 3 HOTEL OCCUPANCY ASE PASSENGER DATA VISITOR CENTER COUNTS KEY TAKEAWAYS WEBSITE STATS ACRA's 4 Visitor Information Centers saw a 20% increase in traffic in December 2024 as compared to December 2023. Staff assisted 10,388 individuals this year. JANUARY 2025 In December 2024, Aspen's lodging properties reported the following: •Occupancy fell -2.5% YOY to 60.7% •Average Daily Rate grew 8.5% YOY to $1,239 •Room Nights Available decreased 0.2% YOY •Room Nights Booked decreased 2.8% YOY December load factor was 76.4% compared to 78.6% in 2023. Challenging weather was present on all big traffic days during the holiday season. 88.1% of inbound flights were completed, with more than 25% delayed by more than 1 hour. Total passenger numbers for the year were +14.8% over 2023. The two months with the most significant growth were April and November demonstrating increased local usage. United Introduced the E175 beginning December 3rd. Following the spring closure (May 5th - June 1st) all United flights at ASE will be operated with E175s. Aspen website top performing blogs and pages for December 2024 Blogs: 1.What's New this Winter (6,220 views) 2.Winter Arts & Culture (5,369 views) 3.New Year's Eve in Aspen (5,038 views) 4.This Week in Aspen (1,335 views) 5.Holiday Dining in Aspen (773 views) Pages: 1.Winter Season Highlights (35,175 views)2.Event Calendar (10,023 views)3.Aspen's Winter Celebration (9,407 views)4.Where to Stay (7,591 views)5.What's new this Winter (6,220 views) •Aspen’s lodging properties saw reduced Demand for the second month in a row in December, falling below 2023 levels by 2.8%, while Supply was relatively unchanged from last year. As a result, Occupancy remained depressed, averaging only 60.7% for the month, compared to 62.3% in December 2023 and 63.4% in December 2022. •Average Daily Rate remains the bright spot among Aspen’s lodging properties, with December’s rate rising 8.5% over last year to $1,239 per night – the highest average rate paid in all of 2024. •“December was a remarkably unremarkable month – something we point out with mixed emotions. On the one hand, snow conditions in the West were excellent – especially in the latter half of the month – and measures such as length-of-stay and lift ticket sales are doing well. But the other side of the coin is a sense of pseudo-stagnation. ” 4 INFORMATION ONLY MEMORANDUM TO:Mayor and Aspen City Council FROM:Justin Forman, Director of Utilities THROUGH:Tyler Christoff, Public Works Director MEMO DATE:February 18, 2025 RE: Application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for the Maroon Creek Hydroelectric Project and update on Ruedi License Amendment PURPOSE: This memorandum provides updates on the City’s application to FERC to renew its authorization for the Maroon Creek hydroelectric project and on the license amendment to Ruedi hydroelectric project. No action is requested of Council. SUMMARY: The FERC license for the Maroon Creek hydroelectric project (“Project”) requires formal action by the City to seek renewal or surrender of the Project before expiring in 2028. In June of 2023, staff informed City Council that it would begin the application process for either a new 40-year license or a perpetual FERC authorization called a “small hydroelectric power project exemption” if the proposal includes expanding the project to add a micro hydropower unit at the diversion dam. Staff informed City Council it would update them prior to filing the application. This update summarizes: 1) public outreach during the application process; 2) application decisions about adding hydroelectric facilities (i.e., license vs exemption); and 3) FERC’s process and timing once it receives the application. Additionally, the FERC license amendment application for the Ruedi hydroelectric project has been occurring concurrently. Paragraph 4) provides an update on those efforts. 1. Public Outreach. Staff informed Project stakeholders (resource agencies, Native American tribes, local governments and the public) of Project information through a public meeting, site visit, and review of documents, including a draft of the application. Notices of meetings and new materials were mailed to each 5 stakeholder and published in the Aspen Daily News. Numerous comment periods were offered to review Project details and raise questions, concerns or requests for additional information. Very few comments and questions were received, and staff addressed each comment. As required, the application includes a summary of the outreach efforts. 2. Application decisions. The purpose of the Project is to expand and maintain Aspen’s 100% renewable portfolio while exercising the City’s water rights and continuing to support in-stream flows at the Maroon Creek diversion. The existing hydroelectric project and the new units added to existing structures (diversion dam and electrical building) will generate additional hydroelectric energy while at the same enhance in-stream flows, meeting the City’s goals of expanding and maintaining renewable hydroelectric energy for the citizens of Aspen. The application to FERC will request that the application first be considered for the “small hydroelectric power project exemption.” This is a perpetual FERC authorization that benefits the City by not requiring renewal in the future. However, FERC has discussed with staff the likelihood that the Project may not qualify because of particular features of the existing Project. Nevertheless, the application will result in either issuance of the exemption or a 40-year license, both of which require compliance with FERC. 3. FERC process and timing. In its application, staff is requesting that FERC promptly issue its order approving the exemption or new license prior to the termination of the existing license (2028). This is because staff would like to combine efforts with another project to upgrade the pipeline from Maroon Creek so that construction impacts in this same area occur at one time. Additionally, an earlier decision from FERC creates an opportunity for the City to apply for federal grants prior to their expiration in the Fall of 2027. When FERC receives the application, it may take 1- 2 years to issue public notices, environmental review, and write its decision and new authorization. 4. Ruedi FERC License Amendment. Similarly, the City is proposing to add new hydroelectric equipment at the Ruedi hydroelectric project to bring the generating capacity to the authorized nameplate capacity of 5 Megawatts. This requires the installation of a new turbine and generator to work with the existing equipment. This application effort has been occurring in conjunction with the Maroon Creek application process described above and has involved public comment opportunities. FERC asked for additional information after reviewing the license amendment application, and staff expect to resubmit the application for FERC approval in May 2025. NEXT STEPS: No action is requested of Council. Staff will submit the Maroon Creek and Ruedi applications as outlined above and will update Council and community on FERC decisions in each project’s process. 6 ATTACHMENTS: Please see the websites for both project’s information and application process history: https://www.aspencommunityvoice.com/maroon-creek-relicense https://www.aspencommunityvoice.com/ruedi CITY MANAGER NOTES: None 7