Pitkin County planning commission continues airport location-and-extent review, seeks more air-quality and visual data

The Pitkin County Planning & Zoning Commission on April 14 continued its review of the county’s location-and-extent application for the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport modernization, asking staff and the applicant for more detailed information on terminal size, noise and air-quality monitoring before it renders a final finding.

Commissioners heard presentations from J. R. Fielding, an airfield program manager with Jacobs and Daniels, and Diane Jackson, the airport director, who described the project’s long public process, the airport advisory board’s year-round sound monitoring program and a parallel emissions-monitoring effort coordinated with consultants. Charles Cunniffe of CCA outlined current schematic terminal plans and noted the Airport Layout Plan allows up to 140,000 square feet; the design team described a roughly 128,000-square-foot scheme with about 33% below grade and a target of seven “flex” gates.

Why it matters: Commissioners said they must decide whether the proposed location and extent — defined under local code as size, scale, intensity and visual impact — conform to the Aspen Area Community Plan and other local…