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CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
4:00 PM
I. Council meeting with Board & Commission (Next Gen)
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
July 02, 2018
4:00 PM, City Council Chambers
MEETING AGENDA
Council meeting with Board & Commission (Next Gen)
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Next Generation Advisory Commission City Council Work Session Memo
The Next Generation Advisory Commission was formed in 2013 with the mission to advance the policy
interests of 18‐ to 40‐year‐olds who live or work in Aspen. In 2012, Aspen City Council chose the
engagement of the under‐40 demographic as one of its top 10 goals, and over the course of a year, a
volunteer group formed and evolved into a formal commission that was officially adopted by ordinance
in January 2014 as the Next Generation Advisory Commission (Next Gen).
Next Gen meets the last Monday of every month at 5:30 p.m. in the Sister Cities Room. In addition,
subcommittees meet throughout the month to work on more specific issues. Those issues are decided
upon by the commission at the beginning of each calendar year. Since forming, housing has remained a
committee issue, and the second subcommittee has worked on economic sustainability, a mentorship
program and civic engagement. Issues are determined by polling our demographic in a survey, which
was done in 2014 and repeated in 2018.
Accomplishments:
‐ Creation of Create Mentorship program, which evolved into Aspen Entrepreneurs, a still
functioning nonprofit geared toward empowering startup businesses and professionals in
navigating the Aspen market.
‐ Civic engagement campaign increased voter turnout in the 18‐ to 35‐year‐old demographic by
150% in 2015.
‐ Next Gen has encouraged 18 – 40 years olds to apply to sit on city and county volunteer boards
and commissions.
‐ Worked with APCHA to increase limits on housing mitigation credit caps. Developers could
originally only receive credits for mitigating housing in categories 1‐4, but that was increased to
7.
‐ Next Gen continues to function as a resource for APCHA, offering input and ideas on issues
potentially facing the demographic.
‐ Next Gen continues to function as a resource for several city departments and nongovernmental
organizations wishing for demographic input (including Aspen Canary Initiative, Aspen
Transportation Department, Aspen Skiing Co., TK, TK, TK).
‐ Created critical community dialogue about the issue of trade down units within the APCHA
system, encouraging those with extra bedrooms to either downsize or rent their spare
bedrooms for inventory efficiency.
Vision:
The Next Generation Advisory Commission is an important voice and resource. While many
communities, organizations, and even the national landscape, struggle to engage the under‐40
demographic in policy decision, Aspen is fortunate to have an established group as a sounding board.
Next Gen sees itself as vital in helping to shape the vision of the town not just for short terms gains, but
with a long‐term goals advocated for by those who will be living here many decades from now.
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Requests from council:
While Next Gen maintains a more autonomous role than most city commissions and boards, we would
like to suggest a few tweaks to the existing structure in order to improve efficiency and time
management on both ends.
‐ We would like to propose a more formalized process, perhaps on a monthly basis, in which the
council and/or city departments pass ideas, plans and documents by Next Gen before they go
through public process (or trial). For example, the Castle Creek Bridge project or the Mobility
Lab.
‐ Next Gen should formally vote on developments or issues as a step in the approval process, or
render advisory votes.
Some key issues we are interested in:
‐ In regards to fee in lieu payments made by developers, how much is sitting in reserves at this
point and how much has been used?
‐ Could we address density as a way to also discuss transportation and housing? We would like to
address new smaller housing solutions as an answer for our need of workforce housing and
aversion to mass and scale encroachment on our community. Additionally we would like to
discuss the relationship between transportation and housing.
‐
Finally, what does Aspen City Council want from Next Gen? What issues would you like to see us
address? What do you want to know about our demographic?
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