Editor:
The Aspen-Pitkin County Airport is a growth facilitator for our valleywide community. Presently the size of the terminal, the 95-foot wingspan restriction, curfew and surrounding terrain are the community’s constraints on the insatiable desire for more growth at the airport.
The Pitkin Board of County Commissioners’ position is to eliminate two pillars of restraint by doubling the size of the terminal to 80,000 square feet and eliminating the 95-foot wingspan limitation to encourage and accommodate more tourists.
These eliminations will then leave us with only the number of beds available as our vanguard of defense. The average occupancy rate is 64% in Aspen-Snowmass so we can grow by another 36% similar to our Christmas-New Year holiday experience. This bed number does not factor in the new hotels/condominiums being built in Snowmass or to be built in Aspen nor does it account for the number of hotel beds in the mid to lower Roaring Fork Valley as well as the untold number of beds being offered by short-term rentals — there is so much potential for accommodating this growth.
Eventually our beloved backyard hiking and biking trails will have reservation-system-only access. Blackout dates on our ski mountains, increased traffic congestion and an even greater demand for affordable housing will result from this shortsighted vision of trying to modernize the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport.
The FAA will not let our present runway deteriorate, for safety is their No. 1 objective. Let the people decide the fate of our runway with a vote.
Tom Melberg
Woody Creek