Hello,
 
You are receiving this invitation as a member of Aspen’s development community. Please join one of two virtual information sessions about Land Use Code and affordable housing amendments that will be presented to Aspen City Council on April 12, 2021.
 
Informational Sessions:
 
Tuesday, April 6 | 12:00 - 1:15 p.m.           or         Wednesday, April 7 | 4:30 - 5:45 p.m.
 
Please contact Ben Anderson to RSVP for either of the sessions.  

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Background

 
Community Development staff has been working with Aspen City Council over the past year on ideas to better coordinate the Land Use Code and Council’s affordable housing goals. In October 2020, Council passed a Policy Resolution (No. 79, Series of 2020) that gave direction to staff to pursue code amendments in four areas:

1. Update to the affordable housing fee-in-lieu calculation.
2. Improvements to the Affordable Housing Credits program to bring additional incentives to the private sector in pursuing Affordable Housing projects. 
3. Improvements to the Multi-Family Replacement section of Growth Management Quota System to clarify and improve development outcomes.
4. Existing credits and incentives related to affordable housing mitigation, including lodge unit size and density, existing residential floor area credit, and exemption of residential sub-grade area.

Staff are working to study and evaluate these areas of the code and will be making recommendations to Council to make the following amendments:

1. A new fee-in-lieu table and methodology for annual and 5-year updates moving forward. 
2. Four new policies in the Affordable Housing Credit program intended to bring additional incentive to the program. 
3. Clarification and re-organization of Multi-Family Replacement language; no policy changes at this time.
4. An elimination of the lodge incentives related to affordable housing mitigation.

Staff continues to study other topics in the policy resolution and will likely bring future amendments related to Multi-Family Replacement and Affordable Housing Mitigation Credits and Incentives. However, staff will not be making recommendations for policy/code changes on these topics at this time.

Amendment Process Timeline

 
Work Session with City Council                                            Monday, April 12        4:00 p.m.
Planning and Zoning Commission (public hearing)              Tuesday, April 20       4:30 p.m.
First Reading – City Council                                                 Tuesday, April 27       5:00 p.m.
Second Reading – City Council (public hearing)                  Tuesday, May 11       5:00 p.m.

Zoom Information Sessions

 
Staff has set up two information sessions for the public and development community. These will be held virtually via Zoom. Please RSVP to Ben Anderson and follow the appropriate link below to attend.

            or         
If you are unable to attend either of these information sessions, are experiencing Zoom fatigue, or have any questions, please reach out as I am happy to discuss individually or send information.
 
Sincerely,
 
Ben  
 
Ben Anderson
Principal Planner
Community Development Department
City of Aspen
 
Ben.Anderson@CityOfAspen.com