Group hoped Aspen airport runway decisions go to public vote. It now has enough signatures for a November ballot question

A Roaring Fork Valley nonprofit hoping to influence major decision-making policy changes at the Aspen airport learned on Wednesday it gained enough signatures to establish a November ballot question.  

The ballot question, spearheaded by Our Airport Our Vote, will amend Pitkin County’s governing document, the Home Rule Charter, as well as require a public vote on the airport runway. 

The amendment will prohibit county officials from making decisions regarding the expansion or relocation of any runway at the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport beyond the dimensions and locations that existed on Jan. 1, 2024, without voter approval. It also clearly defines “runway.”

Runway is now defined as, “that portion of the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport designed or set aside for use by aircraft in landing, taking off, or taxiing or moving of aircraft on the ground. A runway shall be construed to include any projection or extension for use as an approach zone but shall not include: land area dedicated to solely to the temporary or permanent storage of aircraft for maintenance or other purposes; or the land and improvements used as part of the airport terminal.”

“This issue committee, we tapped into a very clear need for people wanting to be heard,” Citizens Against Bigger Planes founding member Chuck Butler said. “Pitkin County voters want to be heard. They don’t want deals to be made in back rooms and closed-door sessions. And that’s why we named this committee Our Airport Our Vote.”

Our Airport Our Vote is an issue committee working with key players from Citizens Against Bigger Planes. The issue committee was formed to comply with laws surrounding the petition and ballot question, Butler said.

Citizens Against Bigger Planes is a local organization founded by Roaring Fork Valley residents. It opposes expansion of the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport due to adverse effects on health, welfare, and quality of life of Pitkin County residents that larger airplanes may bring.

The new committee, however, does not go without opposition.

“They insist that anytime we want to make a change, that has to go to a vote of the public,” Pitkin County Commissioner Greg Poschman said. “And you can see how cumbersome that becomes because it’s really a technical matter more than anything. And, quite honestly, it’s really hard to understand how all this works and what the rules of the (Federal Aviation Administration) are and how we should work with them.”

He went on to say that it is rare to put something in the charter that prohibits county authorities from doing what they are obligated to do, for both the county as elected officials and as partners with the Federal Aviation Administration.

“An analogy would be telling the highway department that we want to change the configuration of the state highway, which doesn’t work like that,” Poschman said. “It’s the same with the Federal Aviation Administration. So, hold on, fasten your seat belts, folks: This could get very interesting, and it could be very consequential. I think there’ll be some serious regret if this ballot measure were to pass in its current form.”

The next step is for the county to certify a title for the ballot question. This means the appropriate language will be decided upon for how the question’s title will appear to voters on the ballot. 

The first reading will be Aug. 14, and the second reading will be Aug. 28. The final ballot language will be submitted on Sept. 6, Pitkin County Clerk and Recorder Ingrid K. Grueter said.

“So, they set the title, and then that ballot question comes through to our office to get on the ballot through the Board of County Commissioners,” she said.

Some county commissioners have also considered petitioning for their own ballot question in opposition to Our Airport Our Vote’s question. Poschman said he and other commissioners would make that decision in the next two weeks.

“I think that it is unfortunate that there has been a significant distortion of the effects of the airport modernization between the Citizens Against Bigger Planes and the Aspen Fly Right,” Pitkin County Commissioner Franci Jacober said. “If a ballot measure passes, the consequences are extreme. And, you know, I’m part of this coalition that’s going to work to try to educate the public about what the true consequences are on ballot measures.”

The coalition Jacober is referencing is the Community Coalition for a 21st Century Airport, which was announced on Monday. 

Forty-seven charter amendment petition packets were submitted last Wednesday at the Pitkin County Clerk and Recorder’s Office. These petition packets were gathered from 21 volunteers and included 1,203 signatures from Pitkin County voters, which exceeded the required 772. Two hundred and three votes were not certified.

“I think that speaks for itself in the span of really only three to four weeks,” he said. “We had 40 days, but we really had this in three weeks.”

The Clerk and Recorder’s Office had 15 days to verify the signatures, by means of name and address identification, county registered to vote in, and signature date, but verification happened within a week.