The way John Bennett sees it, a shortage of housing options in Aspen is an “existential threat” to the Aspen Center for Physics.
The former mayor of Aspen is a longtime volunteer and supporter of the nonprofit, which has historically rented condos and rooms in town for visiting scientists. But the supply has shrunk, and the cost has grown. More of those big thinkers and innovators are now staying in Snowmass Village, spending additional time commuting instead of conducting research. And Bennett worries that could impact both the caliber and longevity of the nonprofit's programming, with reverberations in the broader scientific community.
“If (The Aspen Center for Physics) can't get the top scientists from around the world to visit here, and don't have a place to put them up, then they could stop functioning, which would be really, really sad,” Bennet said, “not just for Aspen, but for the entire nation, because the work done here is extraordinarily important to the field of physics.”
Hence the nonprofit’s plan for seven new buildings with dozens of units at their campus in the West End — totaling 66 bedrooms for visiting scientists and their families.
The concept is being developed in tandem with plans for affordable long-term housing at the neighboring Aspen Institute and Aspen Music Festival and School, in a concept all three organizations are calling “Housing the Aspen Idea.”
While the physics center has short-term leases for participants in mind, the Institute and the music festival are thinking more about long-term options for employees. In doing so, they’re joining a cadre of other local organizations — from the Aspen Skiing Company to the Aspen School District — that have decided to develop their own housing units to stay in business for the long haul.
“Every organization in this valley is either building housing or worrying about housing,” Bennett said at a community open house for the project on Wednesday. “That's ubiquitous. It's universal.”
Plans by the Numbers
Each cultural institution has developed their own housing proposals, with different occupants in mind.
The collaboration among them is meant to address bigger-picture impacts on the campus (such as utility needs) and eliminate redundancies in the land-use application process, which involves considerable public input and review from the city of Aspen. The Aspen Meadows campus, where all three nonprofits are based, is zoned as a “planned development” that will require amendments for these housing projects; planners have also been mindful of preserving architectural character and open space on campus.
At the Aspen Center for Physics, 27 units with 66 bedrooms would be distributed across four multifamily buildings behind Stranahan Hall and three single-family homes with studio ADUs along North Street. Plans indicate a heavy emphasis on bike transport for visiting physicists, as well as restrictions on who can bring a vehicle.
Current plans also include the replacement of an existing building with a new structure for meeting and office space. New development would total about 32,500 square feet.
The Aspen Institute is proposing 13 units with 26 bedrooms in a single building, located on the site of the clay tennis courts near Aspen Meadows Resort. The units are intended to house staff of the institute and resort, as well as interns and visa students, with long-term leases of four or more months.
The Aspen Music Festival and School is proposing 13 units with 17 bedrooms across four buildings, located just east of the music tent parking lot. They intend to use the housing for full-time and summer staff, faculty, and visiting musicians.
Cost projections are amorphous this early in the planning stages, but each development is likely to have a lot of zeros in its grand total; the city of Aspen’s own affordable housing plan puts a $1 million price tag on the development of a single unit.
Community Input Encouraged
The concept for these neighboring projects was first announced in May, with plans that had already been in the works.
Nonprofit officials said they’ve been meeting with other organizations in the valley to gather insights on building and development.
Wednesday’s open house was the second of two community meetings on the idea, meant to gather public input that could be taken into consideration as planners and designers fine-tune their proposal for city review.
Many attendees on Wednesday expressed support for the organizations involved and for the principle behind their projects. Richard Stettner, who oversees facilities and operations for the Aspen Institute campus, said he’s also heard enthusiasm from his colleagues: Some current staffers have been priced out of their free-market options, while prospective new hires have declined positions after they struggled to find housing.
But it will still take more than a decade for these concepts to manifest.
“You're like, ‘Man, I wish this project was already done, because then we could help them out,” Stettner said.
And — as is wont to happen in this town — parking and traffic impacts have emerged as some of the biggest concerns from the public. The physics center is planning six new parking spots with its entire new development, emphasizing bike transport instead; the music festival is planning 15 spaces, while the Institute is planning 29.)
“It’s a concern across Aspen,” said Evalyn Gates, a trustee of the physics center. “So (we hear) the support for, ‘Yes, we want you to stay. Yes, we want you to thrive, but we don't want more traffic or cars parked in the neighborhood.’”
The size and density of the physics center project also raised some eyebrows among community members who shared their thoughts on feedback boards at the event. On a bullseye graphic to gauge public approval, there were mixed responses.
Gates and Bennett both noted that the development will not expand the number of physics center programs or participants; rather, it will support the same number of attendees onsite rather than elsewhere. Both suggested that visiting physicists will be mostly car-free in Aspen, largely relying on bikes to get around.
They also recognize the value of community input and involvement in this process. The current proposals are relatively fleshed out, and planners are aiming to submit a land use application to the city in the fall, but there is still time to make changes to the concepts.
“One thing in science is, you want to hear the ideas, you want to hear the concerns,” said Gates, a theoretical physicist and cosmologist. “You put it all in together, and that's where you get the strongest results.”
Once the land use application is submitted, amendments to the planned development are subject to review by the city of Aspen — with a process that could also involve public input. That would be followed by a building permit application, and more review, before organizations can break ground; each nonprofit is projecting a 10-year timeline to build.
In the meantime, project organizers are offering tours of the prospective housing sites. Opportunities for community engagement are listed at housingtheaspenidea.com.
