After a contentious meeting last week between Pitkin County contractors and real estate agents, updates to the Renewable Energy Mitigation program are on hold until later this spring.
REMP oversees offsets for high-carbon footprint buildings in Aspen and Pitkin County. One part of the program requires homeowners to pay into a fund when they install things like heated driveways or hot tubs. The equation for that mitigation hasn’t been updated since the program began in 1999.
REMP takes in about $1 million a year; the majority of those funds are redistributed throughout the community through CORE grants and rebates, so that community members or larger businesses can afford to update their buildings to be more efficient.
Mona Newton is the Executive director of CORE, she says the program is critical.
"If we're going to get ahead, electrifying and net-zone building is where we need to go," said Newton.
The county and city building offices will continue to reach out to stakeholders and could reconvened discussions this spring.