Public comment and an abbreviated environmental assessment are next for the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport’s Airport Layout Plan.
Meanwhile, citizens’ groups opposed to the plan — whose Nov. 5 ballot question (that sought to give voters authority on ALP runway changes) was rejected soundly — have conceded defeat for now.
The Pitkin Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved the amended ALP at its meeting last Wednesday, with public comment to come during the plan’s second reading on Nov. 20. An ALP is a document that depicts both existing facilities and planned development for an airport. The Federal Aviation Administration requires airports to maintain an approved ALP.
Updating the airport’s ALP has been a multiyear process, hitting roadblocks over community concerns related to growth, climate and most notably, the elimination of a modification of standard that currently allows less separation between the runway and taxiway than is required of an Airport Design Group III airport. With greater separation, a wider runway and a shift of the runway to the west, the airport can become a full ADG III facility, which will allow planes with wider wingspans to access it.
“We got all the way to the 2-yard line. Now all we have to do is punch at the other 98 yards,” said Brad Jacobsen of aviation consulting firm Jacobsen Daniels, which has been contracted to work in the ALP with airport staff.
If the BOCC approves the ALP on second reading, the next step will be a supplemental National Environmental Policy Act process. The six-year window between the last environmental assessment in 2018 and today prompted the FAA to seek supplemental data.
“It will not be a full environmental assessment, but it will be looking at a number of items that were already considered,” said Jacobsen. “They've indicated to us that there's 16 or 24 different categories that they want to look at. They're really focused on air quality, noise, climate and traffic.”
Jacobsen said the FAA will lead the process, setting the scope of the study and requesting technical analysis from the county team.
Commissioner Kelly McNicholas Kury has flipped her vote on the matter. In May, when the BOCC first considered the amended ALP, she cast the sole nay vote to reflect community tension over the issue.
All of the Election Day (Nov. 5) votes had not been counted by the post-election BOCC meeting on Nov. 6, but McNicholas Kury decided to vote in favor of the ALP because of the wide margin by which ballot question 1C, the county’s measure to “reaffirm” authority over the airport, led.
“Given the very decisive direction we heard on 1C and on [citizen-sponsored question] 200 yesterday, which I assume will hold between now and second reading when all of the ballots have been processed, I am prepared to support this,” she said. “That does not mean that this is a license for the BOCC to bow and cower to whatever the FAA wants.”
The mostly complete, unofficial vote count shows 1C prevailed 66.8% to 33.2%. Ballot question 200, supported by issue committee Our Airport Our Vote garnered 39.8% support, while 60.2% of ballots cast voted it down.
Chuck Butler, who led the signature-gathering effort to get question 200 on the ballot, said he and his group are disappointed in the outcome of the election. Conceding the loss, he said he’s proud of the effort behind 200.
In October, OAOV issue a press release with messaging from Denver-based law firm RechtKornfeld PC that warned of a possible legal battle if both 1C and 200 passed. That did not happen, and Butler said neither he, the group, nor anyone else he knows is planning legal action.
“The outcome is disappointing. It's clear that the trajectory of this community and the people in this community is one that is growth-minded,” he said. “This is not the aspect that so many of our supporters have come to know and love.”
The BOCC and other 1C supporters have said the airport is not a growth driver.
“I just want to be certain that the community understands that the commissioners share the values that have been expressed by this community, especially the people who've been so concerned about rampant growth and growing too big,” said Commissioner Greg Poschman. “I just think it's important to state that at the end of this contentious election.”
When the airport transformation process gets to the point of terminal and facility design, the BOCC will have more opportunity to plan specific community goals on climate.
The ALP is available to view online in the Nov. 6 BOCC meeting agenda and in person at the county administration building, 530 E. Main St. in Aspen.
