Snowmass history: Annexation of Snowmass

“Snowmass plans land annexation” informed The Aspen Times Aug. 24, 1978. “The trustees of Snowmass Village have been working hard in recent weeks toward an annexation that would more than triple the size of the new town.

When the town was incorporated a year ago, the developer withheld the open land since its growth was already plotted under a general submission approved by Pitkin County. That meant that the new town included only the areas with houses and buildings, some 1,000 acres. The proposed annexation would bring all the excluded lands into the town — the We[s]t Village expansion, Burnt Mountain, East Village, Sinclair Mesa, the golf course, the area near the Arbeiterdorf, the rodeo grounds, and Hidden Valley.

In all, another 3,000 acres would be included in the town of Snowmass Village — everything from Highline Road at the start of the gold course on up Brush Creek to the village. Snowmass Mayor Jack Schuss said ‘nobody likes a plan designed around an Aspen-Snowmass transportation system that is defunct. The times have changed enough since the general submission was approved that is the plan isn’t scrapped it has to be modified in a major way.'” Schuss went on to say

“We have been working hard on annexation. It all depends on whether there is a meeting of the minds be[t]ween the new developer, the Snowmass Land Co, Ltd and ourselves on what annexation means … if we annex, we will enter a joint master-planning process with the developer, plus Fritz Benedict and the Ski Corp. We’re talking to Bill Kane about Sno-Engineering being engaged by both the town and the developer. The developers and Ski Corp have agreed they want to take part and will pay 50% of the cost. We hope to avoid the adversary process. It’s possible because there’s only one major developer and we feel they’re interested in doing a good job of planning out the next 15 years.'”

Aspen Historical Society actively preserves and passionately presents local history in an inspired and provocative manner that will continue to anchor the local community and its evolving character. For more, visit aspenhistory.org.