I am writing to express my complete support for the current Lift One plan.
I was the development manager for the prior owner of the Lift One Lodge property and am intimately familiar with the constraints and opportunities associated with this portal to Aspen Mountain.
In 2008 there was a 27-citizen COWOP task force that met weekly for five months and wrestled with all of the issues associated with this location and the challenges of bringing a lift down to Dean Street. Their thoughtful recommendations were ultimately bogged down at City Council, despite support from many members of the community. The results of City Council’s refusal to act are now seen on the west side of Aspen Street with a townhome project that will bring no vitality to our town or resort.
The Lift One Lodge property is entitled with development rights for essentially the same buildings that voters are deciding on now. The difference is that the existing 2011 approval doesn’t make room for the lift to come down to Deane Street.
Remarkably, Michael and Aaron Brown chose to not develop the property in order to see what might be possible with a master plan that was focused on bringing Lift One to Dean Street. This involved countless hours of effort and contribution from many different partners to achieve what we could not do before through the COWOP process — return the lift to its original location and reactivate the neighborhood where skiing began in Aspen.
As a community, we have few opportunities where developers are willing to risk to move from what is easy to achieve and strive for what many thought was impossible. We have the responsibility as a community to do the same and to vote to approve this master plan on March 5.
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Bob Daniel
Aspen