The Pitkin County Solid Waste Center expansion came in $9 million over its engineer’s estimate — the sole bid on the project totaling roughly $40 million against a projected $31 million — forcing county staff to cut $11 million in scope from a voter-approved bond project before a contract can be signed. The Pitkin County Board of County Commissioners received the update Tuesday, April 28, at a work session that also drew public opposition to a proposed one-way traffic loop in the Aspen Airport Business Center, a full overview of the Public Health Department, and a late-session legislative update. Commissioner Greg Poschman was absent.
Landfill Expansion: One Bid, One Problem
Pitkin County voters approved a bond of up to $22 million for the Solid Waste Center expansion in November 2024; the final bond sale generated $25.2 million. After an RFP closed March 13, staff received one bid — from FCI Constructors — at approximately $40 million. Public Works Director Brian Pettet, attending his final work session before retiring May 1 after more than 30 years with the county, attributed the lack of competition to subcontractor shortages across the valley and state, and to the project’s industrial-grade hazardous waste building requirements, which narrowed the pool of qualified bidders.
Staff and FCI have worked weekly since March to reduce costs through value engineering. The four major cuts are: eliminating a planned Mercantile building ($5.5 million), dropping a wash bay addition to the operations and maintenance building, scaling back solar installation to the admin building and scale house only while roughing in all other buildings for future panels, and eliminating a public drop Z-wall structure. Smaller specification changes and targeted subcontractor re-bidding account for the remainder. Combined, the reductions total approximately $11 million, bringing the revised estimate to around $28 million.
Solid Waste Center Manager Tyler Carvell told the board the Mercantile program is not disappearing — only the building. The footprint becomes an asphalt pad expanded into a public reuse hub incorporating books, textiles, plastic film, and roll-off drop containers. Carvell said he plans to bring a full mercantile plan back to the board in July. A final project cost and scope presentation is scheduled for September, with contract signing targeted for late September, civil work beginning in October, and vertical construction starting spring 2027.
Commissioner Francie Jacober asked whether a bear-proof electric fence — estimated at $1.8 million — could be incorporated now. Pettet said a deeper conversation with Colorado Parks and Wildlife is needed first and that building a fence during active construction is difficult. He suggested the county’s upcoming lateral cell expansion may offer better timing, when earthwork equipment will already be on site. Commissioner Ted Mahon said starting leaner is not a bad outcome. Commissioner Patti Clapper noted that outsize bids have become a pattern across county projects.
The board asked no further questions. Commissioners thanked Pettet for his service.
AABC Traffic Plan: No Funding, Public Opposition
County Engineer Andrew Knapp presented a multimodal transportation plan for the Aspen Airport Business Center, developed with consultants Alta Planning + Design and SGM. The AABC’s road network, built for commercial and light industrial use, now serves a mixed residential, commercial, educational, and industrial community. The approaching Lumberyard development will add traffic pressure and trigger the Highway 82 Access Control Plan — a binding agreement among Pitkin County, the City of Aspen, and CDOT — closing the existing right-in, right-out access into the AABC and connecting the area to a new traffic signal at the Mountain Rescue access point via a new frontage road.
The plan presents two options. The one-way option converts AABC 300 and 400 roads to one-way couplets, adding a 5-to-6-foot sidewalk on one side and increasing on-street parking from 120 spaces to 179 — a 50 percent gain. It includes two raised intersections, nine speed tables, and one speed dip. Estimated cost if built in a single phase: $3.8 million. The two-way option maintains existing circulation, narrows lanes to fit a 5-to-10-foot sidewalk, adds 13 speed tables and one speed dip, and gains only four net parking spaces. Estimated cost: $3.2 million. Both estimates carry a 30 percent contingency and assume single-phase construction; phasing increases costs.
Traffic counters deployed in the AABC after phase one public outreach showed average speeds of 20 to 25 miles per hour — within the posted limit — though some drivers reached 40 miles per hour. The consultant team concluded the primary problem is not speeding but the absence of sidewalks, unclear intersection markings, and poor wayfinding.
Clapper raised immediate cost concerns. Road and Bridge does not have funding for a $3 to $4 million project, she said, and the county was never brought into discussions with the Lumberyard developer about impacts to county-owned roads. She also questioned who would enforce parking rules, who would clear new sidewalks of snow — noting the county has no ordinance requiring adjacent property owners to do so — and whether adding parking would encourage more single-occupancy vehicle trips. She called for a board site visit and said she would push to reopen the access control plan’s right-in, right-out closure.
Commissioner Jacober said GPS systems cannot navigate the AABC’s numbered road designations and recommended the board consider naming the streets. Her daughter rides RFTA from Carbondale several times per week to a dance studio in the AABC and walks without sidewalks along the roadway. Clapper responded that street renaming would burden small businesses with new letterhead and address changes. Commissioner Mahon asked whether the one-way configuration could be tested with signage only — no construction — before any capital commitment. Knapp said that approach is worth exploring. Mahon also identified the Sage Way and AABC 500 intersection, where drivers accelerate to catch the Highway 82 signal, as the most dangerous point in the network.
Two longtime AABC property owners in the audience — invited by the chair to comment, unusual for a work session — pushed back on the one-way option. Rob Schneider, who said he has 50 years of experience at the Business Center, said roughly 80 vehicles back out of angle parking along the proposed one-way loop daily, and that a moving and storage business near the old gate location regularly double-parks large vans for hours, which would block a narrowed one-way street entirely. A second longtime AABC property owner said routing one-way traffic through the residential section adds unnecessary volume to a quieter area. Both opposed closing the right-in, right-out access and said the Lumberyard planning process excluded AABC stakeholders.
Knapp said a final plan with phasing options and grant funding opportunities will be presented later in 2026. Construction is not feasible before 2027.
Public Health Department Overview
Public Health Director Jordana Sabella led a department-wide overview, presenting staff and programs across three divisions: administrative, programs and partnerships, and environmental health. The session replaced an annual overview that was skipped during last year’s budget cycle. The department operates under a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment main task order running through 2027, under which the BOCC chair has authority to sign individual task orders without a board vote each time.
Key program highlights included the PACT co-responder program — a partnership among the county’s three law enforcement agencies, Public Health, and Health Solutions West — which draws $400,000 from a state behavioral health grant, $200,000 from a federal Department of Justice grant in its second year, and up to $140,000 from a three-year MOU with Pitkin County, the City of Aspen, and Snowmass Village. A new behavioral health facilitator hired April 13 will coordinate implementation of the county’s behavioral health strategic plan. The department also received a full $403,000 EPIC grant in partnership with Aspen Family Connections, beginning July 2026.
Health Promotion Coordinator Peter Mueller reported that the flavored tobacco prohibition ordinance adopted last month is in effect. He has visited all three tobacco retailers in unincorporated Pitkin County; all are clearing prohibited products from shelves. Mueller is also working with Basalt, Rifle, and Parachute on tobacco retail license ordinances and said Garfield County commissioners have expressed openness to a county-level ban if Rifle acts first.
Environmental Health Manager Kurt Dahl’s team handles on-site wastewater permitting, air quality monitoring, the radon testing program, noise complaints, disease investigation, emergency preparedness, and Smuggler Mountain Superfund site oversight. The department is working to build the Roaring Fork Valley’s first Medical Reserve Corps, currently enrolling volunteers. State public health funding for planning work decreased this year due to budget cuts at the state level.
Commissioners directed staff to publicize the PACT program through NWCCOG’s monthly newsletter and the National Association of Counties. No votes were taken. The board said it prefers the work session format over the formal budget presentation for department overviews.
Legislative Update
Management Analyst Levi Borst reported 687 pieces of legislation active with 15 days remaining in the Colorado session — well above a typical year’s 400-plus. The final CCI steering committee meeting of the session is Friday.
The board changed its position on SB 26-101, the local government landfill methane emissions bill, from monitor to support. As introduced, the bill would have exempted local governments from compliance consequences under Regulation 31 and established a generous waiver process; a strike-below amendment removed those provisions. The amended bill instead makes grant funding available to local governments through the Community Impact Cash Fund and the Local Government Mineral Impact Fund for methane capture infrastructure. Borst noted Pitkin County is borderline for the tonnage threshold that triggers surface emissions monitoring requirements and could eventually need methane capture equipment. Commissioners indicated support with nods.
SB 26-092, modifying elected commissioner salary categories, passed the House 57-6 with 2 abstentions and goes to a conference committee to reconcile House amendments with the Senate version. SB 26-155, the homeowners’ insurance reinsurance bill — referred to by the board as the hail bill — passed Senate second reading and moves to the House; Borst said the county may want to testify again in a House committee hearing.
Other updates: the county enforcement authority bill awaits signatures. The micro-grid resilience bill has passed both chambers. The HOME Act on housing development was signed by the governor; Pitkin County is effectively exempt. Bills the county opposed — wind energy removal from state goals, a wildfire resiliency code board change — have died. The on-bill utility repayment program is in appropriations. The negligently luring bears bill is in Senate committee Thursday. Two competing data center bills remain unresolved.
Commissioner Jeffrey Woodruff reported that letters on the Aspen Mountain Mining Corporation matter and the BASICS Act, approved last week, have been signed and sent. He also reported that U.S. Senators Bennett and Hickenlooper are both carrying the county’s CDS request for the airport at the full $5 million. The county did not receive a doula grant for a public health nursing position or a water well grant for Home Park.
Future Agendas
A housing retreat, previously scheduled, requires rescheduling due to conflicts; June 5 or June 12, 9 a.m. to noon, are under consideration, with the CMC Mortgage Commons space in Basalt as a potential venue. A joint meeting with the City of Aspen, originally set for June 2, moved to June 22, 4 to 6 p.m., to avoid conflict with the CCI summer conference. The Mountain Emergency Managers Association caucus is set for May 2 and will be publicly posted.
Support Independent Local Journalism — High Country Advocate was created as a real alternative to regional media that too often silences dissenting voices while taking sides in the political struggle. Producing in-depth, unflinching reporting like this series and others is expensive: servers, editing, research time, and legal review all add up quickly. If these articles have informed you or given you new perspective, please consider supporting HCA with a paid subscription — every subscriber helps keep this reporting strong and independent. 