Elected officials want more info on two major Brush Creek lot-area projects
Members of the Elected Officials Transportation Committee took gradual, tentative steps Thursday toward looking more closely at two large projects centered on the Brush Creek park and ride lot.
The committee — which includes elected officials from the city of Aspen, Pitkin County and the Town of Snowmass Village — unanimously authorized EOTC administrator David Pesnichak to take a closer look at a proposal by the Aspen Jewish Congregation to build a new synagogue complex adjacent to the lot, located at the intersection of Highway 82 and Brush Creek Road.
Specifically, Pesnichak will focus on access to the proposed facility through the existing park and ride space. Standards he will review include whether the AJC proposal would hinder traffic at the intersection on a daily basis or during special events, whether it would increase maintenance or operational costs and if transit services would be negatively affected.
The AJC proposal, which would include a worship space, Hebrew school, possible day care and parking lot, is in its infancy stages and must go through many separate processes with the city of Aspen, Pitkin County, the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority and the Colorado Department of Transportation before it can be approved.
The other major project that saw incremental movement Thursday is a proposed trail between the Brush Creek park and ride lot and the Aspen Business Center. The two options studied by an engineering firm are estimated to cost between $20 million and $29 million.
Elected officials were asked Thursday whether they wanted to begin spending $75,000 from the city of Aspen, Pitkin County and the EOTC on a public process to determine if the trail would be worth it to area residents and visitors.
The unanimous answer was: not yet.
Members of the committee asked Pitkin County Open Space and Trails Director Gary Tennenbaum to come back with more information about what the public would be asked and whether other options besides the two studied by the engineering firm would be considered.
Pesnichak said he would bring back that information to the three individual elected bodies rather than wait for the next quarterly EOTC meeting.
Wet spring means more bugs, like ticks
Between rainstorms, people and their dogs will venture outside. There they will find more insects such as ticks and mosquitoes, thanks to a big winter and wet spring.
