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County seeks private parking manager for Buttermilk, HHS lots and airport kiosk; lease scheduled for airport site
Summary
Pitkin County announced it selected a national parking-management firm (SP Plus) to manage several county parking lots, including Buttermilk and Health & Human Services lots, and will present a small airport-tenant lease for the BOCC to consider; commissioners requested details on pricing, EV charging and staff parking enforcement.
Pitkin County public-works staff told commissioners Feb. 11 they have selected a professional parking-management firm to operate and enforce parking at several county locations, including Buttermilk, the Health & Human Services lot and airport parking, and that the county will ask the board to approve a small airport lease to support the firm’s local operations.
Public Works Director Brian Pettit described operational goals: reduce chronic misuse of county parking (long-term parking in short-term lots), improve reservation reliability, enable license-plate-based enforcement, and provide a single technology platform to manage multiple lots. The county’s request for proposals sought a vendor able to manage a range of situations—from paid day parking at Buttermilk (roughly 300 spaces) to staff- and client-focused parking at Health & Human Services (about 60 spaces) and airport short-term and employee parking.
Pettit said the county will keep a small number of free spaces for transit riders (up to 30 “Rafta” spaces near a bus stop at Buttermilk) while introducing paid parking for other spaces. The selected firm, SP Plus, will deploy license-plate readers, a reservation system to hold spaces for reserved customers, and data analytics to track usage and reduce lost-ticket disputes. The county expects improved enforcement of time limits and the ability to detect vehicles staying beyond permitted periods.
Commissioners asked several operational questions in the work session. Commissioner Francie Jacoba asked about EV charging access; Pettit said the public chargers at Buttermilk are ski-company–installed and currently sit inside the area the county proposes to keep available for transit riders. Pettit said upgrading county chargers (Brush Creek Park & Ride and county public-works chargers) depends on grant funding the county did not receive; staff is exploring alternatives. Commissioner Jeffrey Woodruff asked about year-round staffing and suggested staff parking enforcement and refunding policies be clarified; Pettit said the vendor’s reservation system can assign and hold spaces and can be configured to charge for unused reserved spaces.
Pettit told commissioners the airport item on the regular meeting agenda the next day is a lease for a small onsite facility the operator will use as a kiosk and operations office; the larger parking-management contract is a county procurement item and will be coordinated with the airport and ski interests. Pettit said the firm would work with the ski company to preserve drop-off access and keep certain ski-operator-managed lots free as in past arrangements.
No formal lease or contract award was approved at the work session; commissioners asked staff to return with details about pricing policy, EV charging plans, and operational controls to protect staff parking during peak periods.
