Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times
Get ready Aspen because come Wednesday, restaurants and bars are nearly certain to open for dine-in service.
In addition, the Pitkin County Board of Health on Thursday approved raising group size from the current 10 person maximum to 50 people when the new public health order begins May 27.
The health board also voted to allow lodging to open at 50% capacity starting May 27, which will happen no matter what course the state chooses because lodging is already allowed statewide. Certain types of short-term rentals that are professionally managed also might be part of that opening.
However, unfortunately for restaurant owners, as well as those looking to have an early group summer event, the future is not actually set in stone yet.
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First, Gov. Jared Polis and the state of Colorado must provide guidance on where they stand on those two issues, which is set to come May 25 or just two days before the current public health order is set to expire.
If the state doesn’t open restaurants or chooses another group size number at that time, Pitkin County will have to rely on a variance it submitted Monday to the state that would allow those two things as set Thursday by the Board of Health.
If the variance isn’t granted, the guidance on dine-in restaurant service would defer to whatever the state decides. However, both Board of Health Chair Markey Butler and Pitkin County Manager Jon Peacock pointed out Thursday that the state has made clear rumblings in recent days that restaurants will be allowed to open in some capacity, including releasing guidelines Thursday.
“I don’t think the state is going to walk back (its restaurant comments),” said Butler, who is also mayor of Snowmass Village.
If Pitkin County gets its way, restaurants in Aspen and other places in the county won’t have to keep capacity to an arbitrary number, according to Thursday’s Board of Health’s decision. Instead, tables will have to be eight feet apart with no more than six people at each table. The same rules would apply to outdoor seating.
This way, the particular space and social distancing requirements dictate capacity, which must be outlined in a business safety plan filed with Pitkin County Public Health, Peacock said.
That is also the route the state is likely to take as well, he said.
This is a developing story that will be updated.