Another airport-related issue on PitCo voters’ radar | News

Voters will apparently be asked to approve or reject a proposed amendment to Pitkin County’s Home Rule Charter that would give county commissioners the authority to decide on the current and future design and planning of the local airport without the ability to challenge those decisions at the ballot box.

The Pitkin Board of County Commissioners will take comments from the public at a regular meeting today on the ballot question, which is still in the works but has a tight deadline to be placed on the Nov. 5 ballot. The ballot will go to the floor for final reading and approval on Aug. 28.

At a special meeting Tuesday, commissioners worked on wording the question, which was drafted in response to a petition-initiated question asking voters to amend Pitkin County’s Home Rule Charter so that the BOCC no longer has authority over the airport.

Organizers of the Our Airport, Our Vote petition, an offshoot of the group Citizens Against Bigger Planes, are fighting the county’s plans to widen and relocate the runway to accommodate planes with larger wingspans than currently allowed. The ultimate goal of their ballot question is to strip the BOCC of authority over the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport.

According to a memo from the Pitkin County County Commissioners, “The BOCC believes it is necessary to pursue the proposed Home Rule Charter amendment because a citizen group, Our Airport Our Vote, has collected enough signatures to put a competing Home Rule Charter amendment before voters in the general election. The proponents of the citizen-initiated Home Rule Charter amendment seek to strip the BOCC of its power and authority over the airport with their amendment.”

Supporters of a recently approved airport layout plan argue that the improvements are necessary to meet the demand of private and commercial aircraft that currently or will not have access to Sardy Field in the future. They point to the year-and-a-half of meetings and gatherings of volunteer committees of residents, business leaders and elected officials that formed to discuss the airport’s vision.

“For me, the voting question highlights what has emerged from 18 months of collaborative effort that helped us develop a vision and recommendation for the BOCC, especially the positive things,” said Commissioner Patti Clapper.

Without authority over the airport, the BOCC and the county would not be eligible for grants or funds from the Federal Aviation Administration, advocates of redesigning the airport’s runway claim.

“As currently worded, this is not an approval of any current project or any specific plan; it simply reaffirms the BOCC’s authority over all pending projects, including the project currently proposed in the ALP (airport layout plan) submitted to the FAA, as well as any future changes to the airfield,” Ry Neiley, the district’s interim attorney, told BOCC members.

Opponents of the plan say the airport and any improvements could finance themselves through general and commercial fuel sales. They also argue the airport does not need all the improvements and upgrades that its supporters have called for.

“This is not an easy issue, even without a vote,” said Commissioner Patti Clapper. “You can study (the airport) for 20 years and still have questions. It’s that complex.”

If voters reject the citizens’ petition and approve the BOCC’s proposal, the result would “not be meaningless” because changing the charter “would be a further declaration of the body’s authority over the airport,” Neiley said.

The proposed text of the amendment would not be included on the county ballot question.

The proposed amendment reads: “Notwithstanding any provision of the Home Rule Charter to the contrary, the Board of County Commissioners shall have the power and authority to approve and implement a physical plan, including the location and design of the airfield, and an associated regulatory plan for the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport that complies with the Airways Improvement Act of 1982, as amended, and the rules, policies, and regulations of the Federal Aviation Administration, and that, in the opinion of the Board, will improve safety, reduce air and noise pollution, improve accessibility to the airport, reduce vehicular traffic to and from the airport, and reduce carbon emissions; and to take any other action necessary to obtain grants from the Federal Airport Improvement Program for improvements to the airport that are determined by the FAA to be necessary or desirable; and to ensure that the County does not violate any existing grant agreements with the FAA, including, but not limited to, violating any representations required of public airport sponsors as terms of such existing grant agreements.”

The amendment would also solidify the BOCC’s authority to “authorize an extension or relocation of a runway that would otherwise be prohibited by any other provision of the Home Rule Charter.”