The task force charged with plotting the future of the western base of Aspen Mountain voted overwhelmingly Thursday in favor of a plan that would see, among other things, two new lodges and a poma lift built along the sides of Aspen Street.
In a straw vote, the 21 members of the task force present voted 19 thumbs up, one voted thumbs down and one voter abstained.
The plan would see two new lodges split the cost of the plan’s hallmark, which is a surface tow lift ascending the side of Aspen Street to the loading area for a new Lift 1A chairlift. Also planned is a ski museum to be housed in a renovated Skier’s Chalet building in Willoughby Park, although the feasibility of the ski museum is in question. There would also be public improvements on Aspen, Dean and Juan streets.
“This is a kick-ass solution for the community,” Cliff Weiss, one of the citizen-at-large members of the task force, said after the seven-hour meeting at the Aspen Meadows resort. “It’s quite an achievement to restore lift access to Aspen Mountain to its original location.”
The terminus of a new high-speed quad to replace Lift 1A would be about 175 feet up the hill from the present location.
There remain several bones of contention, including a lack of details on the total size and massing of the lodges. But of all the outstanding issues that need to be resolved before City Council makes its ultimate decision on the plan, perhaps the largest is affordable housing.
Developers of the two proposed lodges have plans in place to provide enough affordable housing to cover 60 percent of their employees. Lodge at Aspen Mountain developer John Sarpa acknowledged, however, that 60 percent, although the prescribed in Aspen’s land use code, would probably not be sufficient to get the project past City Council. The council is of the position that 40 percent of employees unhoused is too much, given Aspen’s housing challenges.
Current proposals would have the Lift One Lodge house its entire 60 percent mitigation requirement on-site, meaning 44 people would be housed in a renovated Skiers Chalet Steak House and in the lodge buildings.
The Lodge at Aspen Mountain, which would be across the street, plans to house 56 people on-site, 27 people on a site at the Aspen Airport Business Center and 25 by building housing on city-owned land. The developers would pay the “fully loaded” cost of using the city’s land, including land and infrastructure costs, Sarpa said.
Housing on-site near the hotels would rely heavily on dorm style units, which by law must provide at least 150 square feet of personal space per person, plus kitchens, bathrooms and shared living areas. Housing 100 people on site also requires using “garden level” or partially underground units.
Developers for both lodges said they will continue to look at ways to save costs and divert those savings to providing more housing, with a goal of eventually providing housing for between 70 and 80 percent of their employees. Developers say that since last week’s meeting, when a financial consultant spoke to the high cost of the project’s public components, they have lowered many of their cost estimates through cost sharing and other calculations.
“This is the normal process,” Bob Daniel of the Lift One Lodge said of the adjustment and readjustments. “You are just seeing a lot of it live. It’s not always pretty.”
Neither developer has presented detailed information about total square footage, massing and height calculations. That information will be forthcoming by the time the project gets before the council, according to architect Stephen Holley, who has been working on the plans.
The lack of information led citizen-at-large task force member Bill Wiener to question the plans. “If I was an investor, I’d tell this person to get out of my office,” Wiener said.
The Aspen Historical Society also faces challenges to make the ski museum a reality. When originally conceived, the museum site would have sat on top of the edge of an underground parking garage, making it easy for the museum to use the two underground levels for storage. Now the parking garage and the museum don’t intersect. Without the underground storage space, the museum might not be feasible, Aspen Historical Society director Georgia Hanson said.
But, overall, the site plan garnered much enthusiasm from the task force, which has been meeting weekly since April to work out plans.
The task force is composed of representatives from both hotels, the Aspen Skiing Co., the city of Aspen, neighboring property owners and citizens-at-large.
The site plan is so good that citizen-at-large Allyn Harvey said he would be willing to give up optimum housing to keep it. “I’m not willing to lose this project over the difference between 75 and 80” percent housing mitigation, Harvey said.
curtis@aspendailynews.com