Pitkin County commissioners voted to spend $120,000 for a wildlife crossing feasibility study on Wednesday.
The board is scheduled to hold a second hearing and final approval vote on March 25.
Roaring Fork Safe Passages requested $200,000 from Pitkin County Open Space and Trails to partially fund an engineering study on a proposed overpass and underpass north of the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport. The nonprofit recently raised a matching amount from private donations.
The Open Space and Trails board had previously recommended the county approve the full amount.
But the commissioners were split on how to proceed with the supplemental budget request, during an extended discussion that grew tense at times.
Commissioner Patti Clapper questioned whether it was legal to use Open Space and Trails funding for the study and suggested the board schedule a work session to discuss it further.
“That’s a delay,” said Commissioner Greg Poschman, a longtime supporter of wildlife crossings.
“This is a slow moving — very slow moving process, but it has to start sometime. And I think the level of commitment in the community is here to begin that,” Poschman said.
Poschman said the legal questions had been answered before.
In an attachment to the budget request, county staff wrote:
“The Open Space Fund may be used for acquisition and improvement of Open Space properties that meet specific purposes. One such purpose is ‘(p)rotecting natural biodiversity, including but not limited to incorporating or protecting significant wildlife habitat connectivity and corridors.’”
Open Space director Gary Tennenbaum told the board that the areas being studied for wildlife corridors were connected to Open Space properties.
“We're looking at Cozy Point South, which is part of Sky Mountain Park, and we're looking at the Roaring Fork Gorge,” Tennenbaum said. “So there are two properties that would be linked.”
Clapper acknowledged that many people had written letters of support for the project, but she questioned their understanding of the issue.
“I think the letters from people have been great — they've been very one-sided,” Clapper said. “There's a lot of misinformation in those letters as to where they think they're going to go and what problems they think they're going to solve with these overpasses, and I want to just make sure the public is also well informed.”
Safe Passages released a mitigation plan last summer that recommended building a wildlife bridge over Highway 82 near Brush Creek Road and expanding a tunnel near the airport.
Those would allow herds of elk, deer and other animals to cross the busy highway safely.
The Colorado Department of Transportation has found that more than half of collisions in the area just north of the airport involve wildlife.
CDOT research has also shown that wildlife crossings in other parts of the state have eliminated the vast majority of those accidents.
In an emailed statement, Roaring Fork Safe Passages executive director Cecily DeAngelo said the nonprofit is figuring out how to proceed with reduced funding.
“RFSP is working collaboratively with county staff to identify solutions that allow the project to move forward within this adjusted funding level, which may include prioritizing one location over another, a slightly longer timeline, or additional management support from the county in future years,” DeAngelo wrote.
