People of the City of Aspen could be voting in regards to the development of a chairlift. According to the Aspen Times, the election will be held in early 2019 for a new chairlift at Aspen Mountain with new hotels adjacent the lift. The two hotels will be called the Gorsuch Haus and Lift one Lodge and will be located on Dean Street. City of Aspen planners pushed the project aggressively in an attempt to get the issue on the November 2018 ballot. That was deemed to be too narrow of a window to vet the land-use application.
The land-use application requires a a vote to alter the existing city code to allow the developers to start to build. Citizens of the City of Aspen will have a three question special ballot to alter the land-use code. Before this issue even gets printed on a ballot, it has to be first approved by the Historic Preservation Commission, City Council, and Planning & Zoning Commission. Some of the topics being discussed on the land-use application will be space needed for ski lift operations, mud flow, and grading.
People have mixed feelings about replacing lift 1A. On one side of the argument, people have said that the area around lift 1A is outdated and in desperate need of a face-lift, including new hotels, shops, and a new chairlift. The other side argues that it is an area that exudes the rich ski racing history of Aspen Mountain dating back to 1972 when it replaced Lift one, Aspen’s fist chairlift. (Aspen Times)
