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Aspen staff flag multi-million-dollar needs at ARC and Ice Garden
Summary
City parks staff told council that the Aspen Recreation Center and Aspen Ice Garden have urgent infrastructure needs, including replastering pools and replacing cooling systems; staff said full overhauls could reach eight figures.
Parks staff asked the council to prioritize facilities work in upcoming capital budgets, noting that even modest infrastructure work can be expensive in Aspen's market. "A remodel of our parks campus, a relatively modest remodel is near $5,000,000," the director said while outlining facility cost pressures.
For the Aspen Recreation Center, staff identified replastering the lap pool and upgrades to boilers, electrical systems and HVAC as 2026 priorities. For the Aspen Ice Garden, staff said replacing the cooling system is a planned expenditure. The presentation warned that a comprehensive ARC expansion would likely be in the eight-figure range and would exceed current fund capacity without bonding or other revenue sources.
Scott Chisholm and other business-services staff said the city relies on in-house construction and facilities teams for much of this work, which can reduce costs compared with contracting. Council members asked staff to return with a facilities master-planning timeline; staff said the master plan for the golf/tennis/Nordic campus and a facilities master plan for the ARC and Ice Garden will come forward in the next few months.
