Pitkin County is moving forward with its long-awaited airport modernization project.
County commissioners voted to proceed on May 27, overruling the Planning and Zoning Commission’s recommendation.
Kaya Williams has been covering the airport project for the Aspen Daily News.
She spoke with Aspen Public Radio’s Michael Fanelli about the disagreement and what to expect in the coming year.
The conversation below has been edited for clarity and length.
Michael Fanelli: The county commissioners recently overruled the decision of the Planning and Zoning Commission. What was their objection, and why did the commissioners disagree?
Kaya Williams: The Planning and Zoning Commission spent a lot of time going through these plans, and they were looking at things that ranged from environmental impacts, air quality, noise, to more visual and scenic character. Now, the Pitkin County commissioners are acting in a broader scope. So part of their review in their decision to overrule had to do with the economics. The FAA has basically told Pitkin County, “We're not going to give you grant funding if your runway stays in the alignment it is.” That's been a huge impetus to make the wider runway. So Pitkin County said, “We want the FAA grants.” That's an economic decision. They also pointed to this “Finding of No Significant Impact” from an environmental analysis that the FAA did as kind of a rebuttal to these concerns about air quality and noise, to say, “Look, the federal government already looked at these. They issued a Finding of No Significant Impact, so we're going to take that and factor that in.”
MF: On that point of air quality that you mentioned, I know one of the big sticking points is related to these ultrafine air particles, right? Can you tell me what the debate has been on that?
KW: So this has actually been coming up in county conversations for a much longer time than this Planning and Zoning review. There are some citizens who have been talking to the county, encouraging them to think about ultrafine particles, look at ultrafine particles, and measure those for years. The thing is, there's not a federal standard set by the EPA that says, “This is too many ultrafine particles, and this is not enough.” They have standards for a lot of other pollutants, but the science is still emerging on these teeny, teeny, tiny particles. That's part of the health concern, is that because they're so small, when you breathe them in, they can permeate a lot of your body surfaces.
So, Pitkin County isn't currently measuring those. Part of their justification is that there aren't national standards. But people would like to see the county have a baseline, so that if and when those standards come up, we actually know whether we're above or below them. Some folks have argued that should inform how the airport is designed. The county has said, “We're considering these things, we're going to talk about them, but we're going to do that on a track and still proceed with airport modernization as we've planned it to be on this schedule.”
MF: Part of the redesign is that the airport is getting a whole new fancy terminal, and the designers of that terminal have really ambitious aspirations for sustainability. Is that still looking realistic at this point, that the airport becomes a beacon of sustainability?
KW: That's certainly what the county commissioners would like. They've come up with this “most sustainable airport in the world” concept.
MF: That’s a high bar.
KW: That's a really high bar. And so they're striving for it, and there are a lot of ways that you can achieve things like that. A terminal redesign might be more energy efficient, for instance. And you can think about things like the fuels that go into airplanes. You can think about maybe different kinds of aircraft that will be able to land here in the future that are more environmentally friendly. That being said, there was a meeting with the Airport Advisory Board and the Board of County Commissioners earlier this year, where there was a member of the AAB who also works in the climate science space who pointed out there's this goal to reduce emissions by like 30% over a certain stretch of time. And she noted that that's going to be a hard number to hit. So, “most sustainable airport in the world” is this great guiding philosophy. I think time will tell how much they're able to achieve that and how.
MF: The airport’s going to close for almost eight months next year to accommodate this construction. How significant of an economic impact are local businesses bracing for with that?
KW: Some local businesses are even taking advantage of it, let's say. Hotels might say, “Hey, my customer base is probably not going to be as big as usual. This is a great summer to do that big renovation that I've always wanted to do, but didn't really think I could close for.” Aspen Snowmass, Aspen One, which owns the Aspen Skiing Company, has put out a release that says, “Rest assured, we are still going to operate, and you can still come here and enjoy the season.” But as far as exactly how many people are going to show up or not going to show up, still to be determined. We are expecting a little bit of a hit to the economy, but some of these business partners have said that, long range, a more modern airport could draw in more people. And so you're going to feel the pinch in 2027, but as Aspen One leaders have said, “This is part of our long-term business sustainability to have an airport that people want to fly into.”
