{"id":2457293,"date":"2020-04-16T22:48:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-17T04:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-airport-vision-committee-sends-renovation-recommendations-to-pitkin-county-commissioners\/"},"modified":"2020-04-16T22:48:00","modified_gmt":"2020-04-17T04:48:00","slug":"aspen-airport-vision-committee-sends-renovation-recommendations-to-pitkin-county-commissioners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/aspen-airport-vision-committee-sends-renovation-recommendations-to-pitkin-county-commissioners\/","title":{"rendered":"Aspen airport vision committee sends renovation recommendations to Pitkin County commissioners"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image p402_hide\">\n<div class=\"caption-container\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"684\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bizcover-atd-102119-1-1024x684.jpg\" class=\"attachment-large size-large wp-post-image\" alt srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bizcover-atd-102119-1-1024x684.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bizcover-atd-102119-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bizcover-atd-102119-1-768x513.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bizcover-atd-102119-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/04\/bizcover-atd-102119-1-2048x1367.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><figcaption><strong>A commercial aircraft departs Aspen-Pitkin County Airport on Friday. Aspen will have roughly the same level of commercial service this ski season compared to last season, according to a recent report.<\/strong><br \/><em>Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText DropCap\">The county reached a milestone Thursday in its public visioning process for the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">After more than 140 hours of public meetings over a roughly 15-month period, the community-led Airport Vision Committee tasked with creating a holistic guide for future improvements to the airport handed over its final recommendations to Pitkin County commissioners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The 21-person vision committee moved to approve its \u201ccommon ground recommendations\u201d in a nearly unanimous vote March 10. Over one month later, the committee passed the baton to county commissioners for review of the final report, continued discussion and eventually decision-making on what airport improvements are made.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis has really been an unprecedented public process,\u201d County Manager Jon Peacock said. \u201cEveryone involved put in a tremendous amount of effort, time and talent. \u2026 It\u2019s been impressive and humbling to be part of such a rigorous process that has really been citizen-led.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"col\">\n<div class=\"row at-donation at-donation-mobile p-0\">\n<div class=\"col-xl-4 p-2\">\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png)\" class=\"p-0 mt-2 mb-2 h-75 text-center rocket-lazyload\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/AT-logo-white.png\" class=\"logo m-0 p-0 invisible\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-bg=\"url(https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/03\/at-banner-paypal.jpg)\" class=\"col-xl-8 p-3 text-center rocket-lazyload\">\n<h3 class=\"d-inline mr-3\">Support Local Journalism<\/h3>\n<p><button class=\"btn d-inline\" type=\"button\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/donate\/?utm_source=article&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_campaign=donation&amp;utm_term=&amp;utm_content=mid-article\">Donate<\/a><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Since early 2019, the Airport Vision Committee has collaborated with four working groups to look at what improvements and renovations should be made to the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, establishing four guiding community goals for future development: promote and ensure all-around safety, reduce greenhouse gas and other pollutant emissions by at least 30% by 2030, reduce noise by at least 30% by 2030 and manage the growth of visitors via plane to be consistent with about 0.8% growth per year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">During the Thursday virtual Pitkin County commissioner work session, the three Airport Vision Committee co-chairs emphasized the fact that the monthslong process and its resulting common-ground recommendations center on and work to fulfill these goals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cThis is what our hundred recommendations are really aimed at and it\u2019s what we hope different parts of our community will notice about the new airport,\u201d said John Bennett, vision committee co-chair. \u201cUltimately, the airport plan we\u2019re recommending to you is about improving our valley\u2019s quality of life and sustainability; environmental sustainability, economic sustainability and community sustainability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Bennett also said the committee\u2019s recommendations are the result of a lot of compromise and robust discussions. They include keeping the airport runway where it is but expanding its width to 150 feet; a new terminal between 75,000 and 90,000 square feet that is comfortable and welcoming, including seven \u201cflexible\u201d gates with \u201copen air jetways;\u201d improving public transportation to and from the airport; designing all airport facilities to have net-zero emissions; an airport solar farm and solar panels on the terminal and other roof structures.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">The committee\u2019s final report also suggests county commissioners formally approve and adopt all recommendations as a county ordinance or resolution to ensure continued public process, and that commissioners create a permanent Airport Advisory Board of citizen volunteers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">After a short presentation and comments, the Airport Vision Committee expressed its confidence in the \u201ccritical balance of community assurances\u201d reflected in its final report presented to county commissioners Thursday. However, committee members also stressed that some of its most important recommendations and plans rely on successful negotiations and legally binding agreements with stakeholders such as the Federal Aviation Administration and specific airlines on what plane models are permitted to land at the airport.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">If these negotiations fall through or aren\u2019t as successful as hoped, the committee asked commissioners to pass the baton back to them so they can make alternate recommendations. The committee also suggested commissioners initiate these negotiations sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cNo question, this depends on negotiations. \u2026 If the negotiations are not successful, if our aspirations are not attainable in agreements with airlines, we invite the BOCC to come back to the committee because this plan would no longer work,\u201d Bennett said, noting that an alternative recommendation shouldn\u2019t take much time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Bennett went on to say that legal experts the committee has consulted with imply that the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport is unique and has some negotiating leverage with airlines, but there are no guarantees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe certainly have good grounds for negotiations and that\u2019s really all we know. And all I would really add is that it would be no harm whatsoever that we can identify to try,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Outside of securing these stakeholder agreements, several vision committee members on the work session video call emphasized the need for county commissioners to discuss and evaluate future regional growth and improved public transportation \u2014 in conjunction with or parallel to the airport improvement plans \u2014 if they want to ensure the four core community goals for the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport are met.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Commissioners acknowledged the complexity and multi-faceted nature of renovating the airport, and they repeatedly thanked the 120 community members who were a part of the airport\u2019s lengthy public visioning process for their time and efforts to reach consensus.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">They also made commitments to keep the identified core community goals in mind moving forward through the lengthy public process ahead, and to be transparent as possible.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cOne of the things that jumped out to me in reading the report was a simple statement that said, \u2018What\u2019s good for the community is good for the airport,\u2019\u201d Commissioner Kelly McNicholas Kury said. \u201cThat\u2019s the lens I plan to regard these recommendations and these guiding documents through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">Due to the coronavirus pandemic, county commissioners expressed uncertainty on when they\u2019ll be able to hold an in-person, public forum on the proposed airport improvement plans, but Pitkin Board of County Commissioners Chair Steve Child assured that commissioners would be thorough in their review and include the public every step of the way.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">\u201cWe are going to try to conduct business as usual despite the virus,\u201d Child said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to discuss the various parts of the report moving forward and will host an in-person meeting in the near future as soon as we are able.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText\">In the meantime, Pitkin County residents are encouraged to email their public comments to <a href=\"mailto:info@asevision.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">info@asevision.com<\/a><i class=\"fas fa-external-link-alt\"><\/i>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"STND-STND BodyText Tagline\"><a href=\"mailto:mvincent@aspentimes.com\">mvincent@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/aspen-airport-vision-committee-sends-renovation-recommendations-to-pitkin-county-commissioners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A commercial aircraft departs Aspen-Pitkin County Airport on Friday. Aspen will have roughly the same level of commercial service this ski season compared to last season, according to a recent report.Kelsey Brunner\/The Aspen Times The county reached a milestone Thursday in its public visioning process for the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport. After more than 140 hours [&hellip;]<\/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-2457293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-18 03:44:41","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&#039;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\/2457293","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=2457293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2457293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2457293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2457293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2457293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}