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AGENDA
INFORMATION UPDATE
September 22, 2020
5:00 PM,
I.RECREATION
I.A.Recreation Information Only Memo
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INFORMATION ONLY MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Cory Vander Veen, Recreation Director
THROUGH: Austin Weiss, Interim Director of Parks and Recreation
THROUGH: Diane Foster, Assistant City Manager
MEMO DATE: September 09, 2020
MEETING DATE: September 14,2020
RE: Recreation programming and membership update
SUMMARY:The City of Aspen Recreation Department seeks to provide an update to the City
Council regarding the current memberships related to our subsidy and status of programs and
facilities. In response to the ongoing pandemic, existing public health orders and a need to
provide safe facilities for the public and staff, there will be modifications to membership
services, recreation programming and facilities for the fall and winter seasons.
BACKGROUND HISTORY: In mid-March 2020, in response to the closure of facilities
related to the COVID-19 outbreak, the Recreation Department paused all active memberships,
which includes 460 adult memberships, 25 youth memberships, 744 black Friday memberships.
In June, we instituted a COVID punch pass at a reduced rate based on the reduced level of
services. All paused memberships will tentatively re-start beginning in late October. At that
time the only new membership we will be selling is our regular punch pass until the end of the
year.
Since our closure at the end March below is a brief outline of the modified programs that have
been offered to the community and the associated facilities that have opened:
March/April/May – Virtual classes and videos such as swimming
lessons in bathtub, fitness classes, arts and crafts for kids, and cooking demos were made
available for all via our website.
June 1
st – Aspen Gymnastics began training outside on the Red Brick Lawn, Aspen
Tennis Center opened with adult/youth clinics
and public play, and Iselin Pickleball/Tennis courts opened for public play.
June 8th - Our summer day camp program opened within the school facilities, which
served 20 youth, Aspen Youth Center opened programs utilizing the ARC for
extended program numbers, and 3
rd party organizations like sports camps and clubs began to
use athletic fields.
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June 15th - Lewis Ice Arena opened for user groups, Aspen Junior Hockey, Revolution
Skating Club, and Aspen Skating Club. The Aspen Recreation Center (ARC) Pool hosted
the Aspen Swim practices and adult master swimming classes with reservations using lap
pool.
June 29th – Adult coed/comp softball, t-ball, youth baseball, girls' softball, KREVO
developmental hockey camp, and 5 outdoor fitness classes in the Red Brick lawn with
reservations.
July 7th – Public lap swimming and water aerobics opened for reservations in the ARC
pool. Bob Johnson’s developmental hockey camp was held at the Lewis Ice Arena. Aspen
Gymnastics team kids (capped at 10 athletes per session) were approved to begin training
indoors at the Red Brick. The youth chess camp was held at the Aspen Ice Garden.
August 10
th - Aspen School District athletics start the season with tennis, golf, and girls’
softball, utilizing Aspen Golf Course, Aspen Tennis Center, and Upper Moore Ball Field.
Aug 29th – Youth hockey scrimmages began with contact hockey at the Lewis Ice Arena.
Summer camps were extended to September 4 with the school decided to postpone the start
of the school year for k-4
th grades.
September 8th – Adult drop-in hockey began at the Lewis Ice Arena. Afterschool
program has been expanded to all day learning/camps within the school for youth on the
day’s school is not offered during the hybrid learning. Adult fitness classes began
to transition from outdoors to indoors, and our popular Body Pump classes began the Red
Brick.
Over the past 3 months the recreation team has offered many safe modified summer
programming. The following is a brief look at this summer’s youth activity counts for
recreation programs and facilities:
Ice rink hockey-2,675 youth activity counts
Hockey camp- 130 kids for weeklong camp or 650 activity counts
Gymnastics -4,500
Swimming pool-1,080 activity uses with swim team
Tennis counts -569 clinic activity counts
Skating clubs – 2,565 youth activity counts
Day camp -234 kids enrolled or 1,500 activity counts
Aspen youth center- 1,800 youth activity counts
Summer 2020 Youth Baseball:
o Youth Tball – 18
o 7-8-year-old – 23
o 9-10-year-old – 19
o 8-12-year-old SB - 21
o 11-12-year-old– 53
Total to date: 15,473
DISCUSSION: Diverse recreational programming provides the community with physical
exercise and mental health opportunities. The COVID – 19 pandemic has heightened the need
for the services that the Recreation Department provides this community and we are actively
working on operational plans to incrementally increase the levels of facility use until we can
return to normal full facility use.
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We are tentatively planning for the Aspen Ice Garden (AIG) to open in November. Staff has
taken this closure period to undergo some much needed safety repairs that must be concluded
before the facility can open. We understand that operating the AIG within the existing public
health order limits the ability to meet our traditional revenue goals and the normal programming
in the building. Regardless of these challenges, staff recognizes the importance of providing
additional recreation programming to the community. Once we open this facility, we will begin
to offer youth and adult hockey leagues at two ice arenas, along with curling, public skating,
private rentals, freestyle sessions, modified figure skating competitions and drop-in hockey.
In addition to the planning efforts for the Aspen Ice Garden, staff continues to plan additional
programming for the fall and winter in the Aspen Recreation Center and the Red Brick
Recreation Center. We will slowly increase indoor use numbers this fall in alignment with Pitkin
County’s health orders for: gymnastics, fitness classes, public climbing and climbing classes at
the Red Brick, fitness equipment usage, weight & cardio room usage, family swimming,
swimming lessons at the ARC, adult and youth hockey games, and hockey tournaments. At the
beginning of 2021, we will tentatively open curling leagues and begin CHSAA high school
hockey.
As we recognize the need and desire to return to a pre-COVID normalcy, we also want to ensure
that we are doing so in a responsible manner to make sure we are safeguarding both the public
and staff. As mentioned earlier, our team will be working closely with the local public health
officials to make sure we are following the proper protocols while we continue to expand our
recreational programming.
Financial impact: There will be an impact on memberships' revenue reductions based on our
membership planned outlines. These are outlined in the 2020 forecasted revenue number that
will be illustrated in budget work sessions. Our philosophy until the end of this year will be
direct services or pay as you use the amenities. We want to acknowledge that the opening of
the AIG has financial implications that will impact the Recreation Department subsidy and the
City of Aspen’s general fund dollars. Our goal is to balance the community need’s with financial
responsibility.
City Manager Comments:
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