What to expect from Aspen ballot issue 2B: Debt for Lumberyard affordable housing project

Aspen will ask voters on Nov. 4 whether or not they will allow the city to go into $70 million in debt to partially finance the Lumberyard affordable housing project. 

The city predicts the 277-unit project, which will be located across Colorado Highway 82 from the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport, to cost a total of $250 million. Construction is estimated to be finished by Dec. 31. 2030, according to the city’s 2026 Proposed Budget – Capital Improvement Plan. 

The ballot question limits the city’s repayment of the debt to just over $152.5 million, with a maximum annual repayment capped at $6.5 million. 

According to Pitkin County’s coordinated election TABOR notice, which reports public feedback on ballot measures, proponents of issue 2B said a “yes” vote on ballot question 2B “supports construction of highly energy efficient, transit-oriented one-, two-, and three-bedroom housing units at the AABC, a neighborhood with a pub, bakery, restaurants, a grocery, and liquor store.”

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The proponents continued, “Your ‘yes’ vote on ballot question 2B will help local businesses find workers and help current workers, families, and friends move closer to Aspen, saving them thousands of commuting hours a year traveling to Aspen jobs and reducing tons of carbon emissions annually.”

Opponents of the issue said, “The costs of the Lumberyard are going to be socialized to the public; those costs include not just this bond, but also a major new traffic impact on Highway 82 that will negatively impact the entrance to Aspen. Meanwhile, the profits to be reaped from this project are going to be privatized among the builder/developer Gorman and the business who want to employ APCHA’s worker bee tenants but not pay a living wage.” 

The opponents added, “This project is corporate welfare.”

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.