City offices clarifications

First, I am confident that the city will make either option work and work well. I am and have been consistently in support of city offices located at Galena Plaza, Option B: Rio Grande Place on this ballot. The following are clarifications, additional information and corrections of statements we have heard. More importantly these are some, not all, of the items that should be considered when making a decision about this facility that will serve the city for the next 50 to 100 years.

Green Space: Option A provides no new open space; Option B increases Galena Plaza by almost 40 percent.

Retail/Office: Option A takes 37,500 square feet of retail/office space off the market; Option B uses no downtown square footage.

Number of roofs: Option A provides three municipal offices with another 3,000 square footage of office space which does not yet have a location; Option B provides two municipal offices.

Cost: Option A — $49 million to $52 million ($45 million purchase price plus tenant finish), the purchase price is also $5.5 million to $7 million above the appraised value; Option B — $46 million to $49 million (estimate by Shaw Construction, which just finished the Aspen Police Department on time and on budget).

Energy Efficiency: Option A — there is opportunity for energy savings, but it may be an expensive retrofit; Option B — using Aspen Electric (100 percent renewable) and geothermal the building will have minimal carbon footprint.

Parking: Option A will require a currently undetermined number of parking spaces on Hopkins for city vehicles; Option B removes 17 to 20 parking spaces that can be replaced in the parking garage.

Civic Master Plan: Option A has no reference to the Civic Master Plan; Option B completes the Civic Master Plan.

Vote Option B for city office space location.

Ann Mullins

Aspen