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Practical name chosen for new Pitkin County building

When it’s finished in early summer next year, Pitkin County’s building on Main Street will no longer be known as the Courthouse Plaza Building.

Pitkin County commissioners decided earlier this week the remodeled building plus the large addition at 530 E. Main St. will simply be known as “Pitkin County Administration and Public Safety.”

The 17,000-square-foot remodeled wing plus the new 24,000-square-foot addition will house all county offices plus the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office when it is completed in June. The Sheriff’s Office, assessor and treasurer are currently located in the Pitkin County Courthouse next door, while most other county offices are temporarily located in Basalt while the building is constructed.



Board Chairman George Newman suggested simply calling the building “Courthouse Plaza” again, but Commissioner Rachel Richards pointed out that the name might imply it had courthouse functions when it doesn’t.

“I don’t see keeping ‘courthouse’ in there at all,” Richards said.




Richards also suggested naming each wing of the building, with the new addition called the “Ajax Wing,” while the redone portion would be known as the “Sopris Wing.”

However, both Newman and Commissioner Patti Clapper felt it better to have one name for the new building, a suggestion that won out.

“I think we should keep it simple,” Newman said.

The commissioners also named several publicly accessible meeting rooms in the new building.

The county board’s new meeting room on the ground floor of the new addition will, again, simply be known as the “BOCC Room” or Board of County Commissioners Room, commissioners decided Tuesday. The overflow room next to the BOCC Room will be known as the “Roaring Fork Room” based on a suggestion from Commissioner Steve Child, who noted it was close to the Roaring Fork River.

A room in the basement of the building that will likely be used for elections will be known as the “Mine Shaft.” Commissioners decided not to include the word “room” in the title.

A meeting room on the building’s second story will be known as the “Pyramid Conference Room.”

Commissioners thought about naming a third-floor meeting room “Cloud Nine,” though Newman said he wasn’t fond of that name. Clapper then suggested naming it the “Maroon Bells Conference Room.”

“I think we should have the Maroon Bells somehow in the building,” she said.

The rest of the board agreed to the suggestion.

The new county building is slated to cost $24.6 million and will include an 8,000-square-foot underground parking garage. The project will also include a redesign of Veteran’s Park next door that will cost between $200,000 and $300,000.

jauslander@aspentimes.com