{"id":2451610,"date":"2019-11-26T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-27T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspens-encroachment-fees-encroaching-on-developers-cost-to-build\/"},"modified":"2019-11-27T07:52:45","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T14:52:45","slug":"aspens-encroachment-fees-encroaching-on-developers-cost-to-build","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspens-encroachment-fees-encroaching-on-developers-cost-to-build\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen\u2019s encroachment fees encroaching on developer\u2019s cost to build"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Aspen City Council\u2019s decision on Tuesday to apply substantial increases on developments that encroach on right of way and public spaces like sidewalks during construction will have a multimillion dollar impact on developers, including the municipal government.<\/p>\n

Council agreed to up the fee on the temporary occupation of right of ways from $6.93 to $9 per square foot, per month, on any development in the commercial core.<\/p>\n

It had been proposed to be $17 per square foot each month.<\/p>\n

Aspen attorney Chris Bryan told council that he first thought the proposed 245% increase was a typo.<\/p>\n

He said for a project like the Crystal Palace currently being rebuilt into a boutique hotel<\/a>, it would cost developer Mark Hunt $900,000 a year.<\/p>\n

It turns out that it will be just under $500,000 in 2020.<\/p>\n

Hunt, who owns several buildings in Aspen, said increasing costs on development that is going to occur regardless will affect rent prices in the end.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me the bigger concern is these fees are not going to deter a building,\u201d he told council<\/a>. \u201cYou fast forward and you pay this kind of money and you just keep adding and adding and adding.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are we trying to accomplish here?\u201d he continued. \u201cIt\u2019s a death by a thousand cuts and it will affect who is going into these buildings, which will ultimately affect what this town looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Council members said they are concerned about the economic sustainability of town, but they also value public spaces and want to curb the impacts of development.<\/p>\n

The increased fee could have multimillion-dollar implications on taxpayers when it comes to the 37,500-square-foot city office building<\/a> currently being constructed along Rio Grande Place, which is the largest development occurring in town right now.<\/p>\n

While that project is outside of the commercial core and does not fall under the $9 per-square-foot, per-month fee, council did approve a 61% increase for developments encroaching in the public right of way elsewhere in town.<\/p>\n

City officials could not confirm Tuesday evening what would be the additional costs to the Rio Grande project, or the future remodel of the current City Hall on Galena Street.<\/p>\n

City Manager Sara Ott said the intent and direction from previous councils has been to aggressively manage the privatization of public spaces and construction impacts in town.<\/p>\n

A majority of council voted for Councilwoman Rachel Richards\u2019 amendment to the ordinance that reduced the fee increase because the proposed amount was too much all at once.<\/p>\n

City Engineer Trish Aragon explained that the fee hadn\u2019t been substantially changed for years, with the last increase being roughly 3% in 2016.<\/p>\n

She compared it to a parking space that is taken by a construction project, which costs $75 per day and is going up to $100 at the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n

At $6.93 per square foot per month for public right of way encroachment, it compares with about $40 a day for a parking space.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe parity has been left alone for a long time,\u201d Richards said, adding that protecting public spaces is important. \u201cThis is about public rights of way across town.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also pointed out that projects have contingencies to absorb increased fees and based on history, what the market bears is what determines what a tenant will pay.<\/p>\n

City Finance Director Pete Strecker wrote in a memo to council<\/a> that it\u2019s been a decade since a comprehensive evaluation and update of the city\u2019s fees on land use development reviews and building permits was last done.<\/p>\n

\u201cConsequently, a third-party study and analysis of those fees, and expanding the scope to include engineering, utility, recreation and other current programming fees by the city will be conducted in 2020,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThis critical study requires outside expertise of public fees, state law, and will be a joint undertaking by engineering, utilities, community development, and parks departments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryan said he didn\u2019t understand why council would not wait until that study was complete before increasing the fees so radically.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet there be more conversation,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lack of public discussion about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, council voted 4-1 to pass the ordinance, with Councilwoman Ann Mullins dissenting because she didn\u2019t agree with separating one item out from a long list of municipal fees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not the only thing that is debatable,\u201d she said, adding she wants to see the study carried out.<\/p>\n

csackariason@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Aspen City Council\u2019s decision on Tuesday to apply substantial increases on developments that encroach on right of way and public spaces like sidewalks during construction will have a multimillion dollar impact on developers, including the municipal government. Council agreed to up the fee on the temporary occupation of right of ways from $6.93 to $9 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2451610","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 04:38:33","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451610","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2451610"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451610\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2451633,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2451610\/revisions\/2451633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2451610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2451610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2451610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}