Aspen City Council questions whether demand justifies creation of new city-run child-care facility
City of Aspen/Courtesy image
Aspen’s elected leaders are questioning whether developing a city-run child-care center on land reserved for affordable housing is going to create more issues than it solves.
During a Tuesday ordinance reading for an ongoing proposal to build what’s known as the Burlingame Early Childhood Education Center — a 15,263 square feet building expected to accommodate about 94 children and employ 24 people — Aspen City Council members wondered if there is enough demand to feasibly create the facility.
“I’m acutely aware of the challenges with childcare,” Aspen City Council member Bill Guth said. “I’m supportive of the city of Aspen’s role in helping, but the last thing I would like to see happen is us spend a ton of time and money on constructing this beautiful facility, and there be a lack of demand to fill it.”
The entire footprint of the facility is planned to gross 39,122 square feet on the Burlingame Ranch Affordable Housing Planned Development 3.5 miles west of downtown Aspen. The original proposal outlined the possibility of accommodating 16 infants in two infant rooms, 20 toddlers in two toddler rooms, and 58 preschool children in three preschool rooms.
According to city documents, creating a child-care facility at Burlingame was originally discussed in 2011, when the city began addressing goals of increasing its child-care capacity. Since then, the city has conducted neighborhood outreach, a Burlingame resident and community survey, multiple meetings with an advisory group, open houses, and sought public input on the possibility of opening the childcare center in the proposed location.
According to Aspen City Manager Sara Ott, however, there isn’t current data detailing how long waitlists are for residents trying to acquire child-care services in the valley. The most recent estimate, provided in late 2022, showed 110-225 children on wait lists in Pitkin County.
Meanwhile, one cost estimate for building a facility reached more than $20 million.
“We’re seeing that facilities are opening in the mid and lower valley,” she said. “But three years ago, we had evidence that suggested that this was needed. I would say it’s softened since then.”
She also said the studies completed back then were somewhat skewed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At that time, we were also seeing a lot of transition and closure of facilities here in Pitkin County,” she said. “And, fortunately, through the good work of Pitkin County and our Kids First team here at the city of Aspen, we’ve been able to bring in new providers to some of those spaces, which could delay the need to construct this facility.”
In addition to the possibility of not having enough demand to warrant a new facility, city council members also worry there isn’t enough workforce housing to support bringing in 24 new child-care workers.
In response, city council requested to receive more information on schematic-level cost estimates for the project, and to get a better idea on how many employee housing units it can provide to even support the influx of employees to run the facility. It also requested to see the amount of families in the Burlingame neighborhood the facility could potentially serve.
“That’s just open-ended to what would make sense to get more units as quickly as possible to be able to house child-care workers that would work here,” Council member Sam Rose said.
“That is just something that I think would be beneficial to all of us — but especially to the community — because it really does blow my mind that we’re talking about, like, 94 kids but 24 employees and trying to solve a problem but kind of adding to it while doing that,” Rose added. “And I think that explanation will be very, very helpful to everyone involved.”
Ott said the proposed project is so far in the entitlement process, and staff has yet to be directed on figuring out a funding plan for the facility.
Tuesday’s first reading of the ordinance, which includes several project reviews for the facility, passed unanimously.
“I’ll go back to the number one issue I have with constructing this facility is actually being able to staff it and the staff having housing,” Ott said. “I think that’s going to be the bigger hurdle than having the children to fill it.”
