Aspen names Ben Anderson as new community development director

Aspen officially has a new community development director.

After having recently served as Aspen’s interim community development director, Ben Anderson has accepted a conditional offer to fulfill the director’s position after former Director Phillip Supino resigned in November.

“Ben has proven that he is a strong leader and has the support of the community development team,” City Manager Sara Ott said in a statement. “I am confident Ben will excel in his role advancing the community’s priorities for the built environment.”

Anderson said that while accepting the position came with “some apprehension,” his decision to step into the role ultimately came down to the encouragement and support of colleagues within the community development department.

“I’ve been here for about seven and a half years and I still find the work and the issues that this place is facing to be really interesting and challenging professionally,” he said. “It forces me to be creative and thoughtful, so I like that.”

According to a press release, Anderson, who started his career with Aspen as a planner in 2016 after working in land use in Flagstaff, Arizona, brings nearly a decade of land-use planning to the position. In 2020 he was promoted to principal long-range planner, followed by a promotion to deputy community development director in 2022.

After working 15 years as a high school social studies teacher in Arizona, Anderson made the jump to land use planning, choosing Aspen specifically to learn more about the town’s “unprecedented success” regarding affordable housing.

As community development director, some of the duties that Anderson will now be responsible for include administering the land use and building codes; advising city leadership and providing policy guidance and recommendations regarding planning and land-use issues; and overseeing the planning, zoning, building, historic preservation, and environmental health and sustainability departments.

Additionally, Anderson will be in charge of finding the city’s new planning director after Amy Simon announced her intentions to step down from the position in January, which Anderson admits will be no easy task.

“Firstly, Amy can’t be replaced, I don’t think there are many people that understand and care about this town more,” he said. “She holds a great deal of institutional knowledge; in the history of this town, I think she’s going to go down as one of the people, along with other notables in Aspen’s history, that have allowed Aspen to continue to hold onto a lot of things that are important about it. She’s going to be a hard person to replace.” 

Anderson will officially start in his new position after Aspen City Council confirms his appointment during a special meeting at 12:15 p.m. on Tuesday, where a confirmation is required by the city’s charter.

“I think despite the challenges of Aspen, it’s a place that a lot of people, both our residents and visitors, love,” he said. “Because of that there’s a lot of responsibility in this position but I will say also just as someone who is into working on the issues that community development is tasked with, this town has a legacy of doing really interesting things and pushing boundaries, doing the right thing and serving as a leader for other communities, particularly other mountain towns who are struggling with the same issues that we are. Aspen continues to take risks and try to respond to these really difficult issues and I look forward to continuing working with the community in finding balanced responses to those things.”

To reach Jonson Kuhn, email him at jkuhn@aspentimes.com.