Hearing officer approves entry gate and call box for private road at 737 North Spruce Street

Pitkin County’s hearing officer approved an activity envelope and site plan on March 18 for an entry gate and call box on an existing private road at 737 North Spruce Street, finding the application met local land-use standards and attaching conditions including further permit review by Aspen Fire Protection District.

The approval covers installation of two gate pillars, a separate call-box pillar and associated underground utilities and revegetation work along the private access; the applicant also requested three years of vested property rights. "So, therefore, with the one change that Mitch had suggested ... I approve the activity envelope and site plan for 737 Spruce Street subject to the conditions of approval and the determination that was attached to the application," the hearing officer said during the hearing.

Staff planner Franco Palumbo told the hearing officer that the project is within the county’s urban growth boundary and that the proposed activity envelope avoids slopes greater than 30 percent and otherwise meets the site-development standards in chapter 7 of the Pitkin County Land Use Code. Palumbo said the work would be limited to previously disturbed areas adjacent to the existing roadway, that any topsoil salvaged during work would be reused for revegetation, and that revegetation would occur within one growing season of construction where feasible.

Applicant representative Mitch Haas of Haas Land Planning described the work as a small-footprint improvement on previously disturbed ground and showed a conceptual "access utility landscape envelope" to cover utility runs and sensors that will be installed under or adjacent to the pavement. Haas said the gate will be about 5 feet tall, the call box is a compact standing box (with an optional camera noted on the plans), and that roadway sensors and small pavement cuts would be needed so the gate detects approaching vehicles and operates reliably.

A representative for the applicants, Kurt Sanders, told the hearing officer that objections from a neighbor had been addressed by a private agreement tied to the properties and that the neighbor had consented in advance to filing and obtaining approvals. After an on-site review with the applicant, Georgie Gleason withdrew her objection at the hearing; the other named objector, David McCluskey, was not in attendance.

Palumbo noted Aspen Fire typically requires a Knox box and that the access/gate would be reviewed at the time of an access or gate permit by Aspen Fire Protection District. The planning engineer also asked that the applicant provide a civil-engineering turning-movement diagram and signage plan at the time of the access permit to ensure no parking along the access would block passage to the properties served by the gate.

The hearing officer approved the activity envelope and site plan subject to the conditions in the staff determination, including adding the applicant’s requested change to paragraph 4 and an explicit finding responding to the objections referenced in the record. The applicant agreed to provide a PDF of the presentation and final drawing set for the hearing record.

Next steps for the project include the applicant securing required access/gate permits, review by Aspen Fire Protection District (including possible Knox box and access-permit conditions), and building or inspection sign-offs for final approval. The approval grants three years of vested property rights as requested in the application.