Roughly 11 parking spaces in downtown Aspen will be converted on Friday for outdoor dining and retail shopping as city officials begin to accommodate local businesses restricted by COVID-19 public health orders.<\/p>\n
As of Thursday afternoon, three of the 17 businesses that have applied to use the public right of way will get control of their spaces on Friday after city officials convert the spaces with jersey barriers and planters.<\/p>\n
Pete Rice, division manager of the city\u2019s engineering department, said Thursday cordoning off the parking spaces will be basic, until the city\u2019s COVID-19 \u201cRecovery Street Plan\u201d<\/a> is fleshed out as more businesses ask for what they want.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want to spend a lot of money until we know people like it,\u201d he said, adding that he and his team are working with each business owner to customize their right of way space. \u201cThe application process is slowing us down because people are trying to figure out what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n Creperie du Village, Poppycocks Cafe and PE 101 are the first in line to get their spaces going.<\/p>\n The creperie will take three parallel spaces on Hopkins Avenue in front of its subterranean restaurant; PE 101 will have four angled spots on Copper Avenue just east of the retail store; and Poppycocks will take four angled spaces on Cooper in front of the restaurant.<\/p>\n Because eight businesses on Hopkins Avenue between Mill and Monarch streets have shown interest in having outdoor space, city officials are preparing to do a partial closure of what\u2019s known as Restaurant Row.<\/p>\n The street will be closed to traffic and parking, with the exception of the Wells Fargo drive-through exit, which will allow vehicles to turn left on Hopkins Avenue, Rice said.<\/p>\n A total of 31 parking spaces will be taken on Hopkins, according to Mitch Osur, the city\u2019s director of parking and downtown services.<\/p>\n He said he expects the change to occur on Hopkins in about two weeks.<\/p>\n He\u2019s been meeting with each individual business owner around town to help devise a plan that meets the goals of both sides.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are pretty much letting everybody do what they want as long as (Pete and his team) says it\u2019s safe,\u201d Osur said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to find a way to say \u2018yes.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n For example, city officials are working on a customized plan for Clark\u2019s Oyster Bar on Hyman Avenue so that the restaurant can take over the sidewalk and parking spaces would be transformed into an ADA-compliant walkway.<\/p>\n Rice said each business has a different idea or need.<\/p>\n \u201cI think people are going to get creative and they just need to be communicating with the city and we\u2019ll work it out,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ll just keep modifying<\/a> it until everyone\u2019s happy.\u201d <\/p>\n Aspen City Council on Monday<\/a> agreed to allow public right of way space to be converted to help jumpstart the summer economy for local businesses, who have been shuttered since March under public health orders.<\/p>\n