Aspen City Council to tackle hospital project

ASPEN – A busy two days awaits the Aspen City Council.

Council members meet Monday at 5 p.m. to deal with a few high-profile items, including the third and fourth phases of the Aspen Valley Hospital expansion, construction contracts for the second phase of the Burlingame Ranch affordable-housing development, a negotiation for historic designation of the Ellie Brickham Building at 602 E. Hyman Ave. and revisions to municipal-code amendments designed to make city government more business friendly.

At a work session starting Tuesday at 4 p.m., the council will take up the proposed redevelopment of Galena Plaza and the question of where the Aspen Police Department and the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office will park their patrol vehicles in the near future. Also on the agenda is a planned discussion of a proposal to implement a 20-mph speed limit on most Aspen streets.

A week ago, council members held the second of several scheduled public discussions on the hospital project. The topic that gained the most discussion was lighting, with members of the public and council members voicing issues with the brightly lit parking lots and other areas of the hospital campus off Castle Creek Road, where the second phase of the project is still under way.

Hospital officials said they have hired a consultant to address the lighting issue and added that they are working with residents of nearby areas to alleviate their concerns.

The third phase, according to plans, primarily involves a two-story addition, with basement space, on the west side of the existing hospital building. The greatest amount of expansion, 33,000 square feet, would occur on the ground floor of the new addition, according to documents submitted to city planners.

The fourth phase proposes a 6,500-square-foot addition to the hospital’s existing ground floor with an 1,800-square-foot basement as well as renovations of the existing building.

A public hearing on the hospital expansion also is scheduled Monday.

Both meetings will be held in the basement of Aspen City Hall at 130 S. Galena St.