Eagle County is intentionally making it more expensive to install outdoor amenities like pools and snowmelt systems to disincentivize energy-intensive features.
Eagle County commissioners updated the Exterior Energy Offset Program in January 2025, but decided in August to phase in the heightened fees over the next few years.
Commissioner Matt Scherr said the goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“The whole point of the program is to try to stop the emissions to begin with,” Scherr said. “It isn't about creating money in the fund — we would rather not have to pay to offset things. We would rather people just not emit.”
The program is similar to efforts in other mountain communities, where hot tubs, pools and heated driveways use an outsized amount of energy, often in the form of natural gas.
Aspen was an early adopter of a Renewable Energy Mitigation Plan in 2000, and Aspen City Council put a cap on outdoor energy use in 2023. Pitkin County did the same in 2024.
Eagle County has had sustainable building codes in some form since 2006, but it adopted the exterior-focused codes along with a few other municipalities in 2015.
But Scherr said prior to the program changes made last January, the fees didn’t capture the true cost of those outdoor features.
Scherr said the updated formula can be “pretty significant” for some larger projects.
“You find out that the cost of melting snow with a snowmelt system is actually so high now that… maybe it's better to just pay a couple of guys to shovel the walk,” Scherr said.
The fee is calculated based on emissions and square footage, factoring in the social cost of climate change. That money is reinvested in things like home electrification and weatherization, rebates for energy upgrades, and EV charging infrastructure.
Builders can also choose to install onsite solar panels or battery storage to offset their outdoor emissions and reduce the one-time fee.
The program includes exemptions for snowmelt systems smaller than 200 square feet, and pools or hot tubs smaller than 64 square feet.
Scherr said some builders were surprised at the cost of the new fee, so to give them time to change plans, permits submitted this year are only subject to 50% of the fee.
That’s up from 25% in 2025, and will increase to 75% in 2027 and 100% in 2028.
