Construction on water, sewer lines could resume this fall, lodging project looks to build next summer

The first major building project in Base Village since the recession will go before the Snowmass Village planning commission today, as the bureaucratic gears start up once again on the long-stalled development.

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A three-member Aspen City Council granted a request Tuesday allowing downtown developers to encroach onto sidewalks and eliminate parking spaces over the next two years, including during peak seasons.

Council members Adam Frisch and Ann Mullins endorsed the exemption from restrictions spelled out in the city’s construction management plan, saying it would allow for the project to finish more quickly than it would if they encroached only in off-seasons. With tourist season encroachments, it’s slated to finish in summer 2015, two-and-a-half years earlier than it would otherwise, according to developers.

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The Aspen City Council approved a plan Tuesday to ease the snarl of pedestrians, motorists, bikers and buses at the intersection in front of gondola plaza.

The $413,000 plan would add raised, brick-colored paving to the crossing of Durant Avenue and Hunter Street, with rain gardens and bulb-out curb extensions, aimed to slow traffic in the area and shorten crosswalks. When finished, the intersection will have a similar profile to the raised, colored roadway at the downtown corner outside of the Wheeler Opera House.

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A former Aspen yoga instructor convicted of groping students during his classes must start serving a two-month sentence in the county jail by July 18, a judge ruled Tuesday.

A jury in 2010 found Steven Roger, 51, guilty of two counts of unlawful sexual contact, and he must now register as a sex offender. Roger’s appeal of the conviction was denied last month by a district court judge.

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