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Staff outlines causes of stalled Aspen projects and shows nearly $900M in recent permit valuation
Summary
Community Development staff told council that over the last three years the city issued nearly 1,500 building permits totaling about $900,000,000 in permit valuation and grouped slow-moving projects into three categories — active permits with slow progress, dilapidated properties without permits, and Lift 1 corridor developments requiring sequencing agreements.
Ben and Bonnie from the Community Development Department briefed the council on a set of properties that have generated persistent community concern. Using GIS snapshots, staff said the department has seen a significant number of issued building permits and a comparable set of large applications under review. "Over the last 3 years, we've issued nearly 1,500 building permits with nearly $900,000,000 worth of permit valuation," staff said. They divided problem sites into three buckets: (1) properties with active building permits but long-standing delays (for example, Aspen Club and the former Crystal Palace and corner properties on East Cooper), (2) dilapidated properties without current permits (404 Park, 500 West Hopkins) and (3) large Lift 1 corridor projects with special sequencing obligations tied to prior approvals.
Staff described the operational reasons for delays: repeated design change orders that require land-use and building-permit rework; complex plan-file histories stored across Bluebeam iterations; and a local dynamic in which high property values and tax treatment can encourage owners to keep structures while waiting for better market conditions. The Buckhorn/Boomerang property was cited as an example of a permit that has been in review since about 2020. Staff said some projects show optimistic pre-application activity, while others stagnate for years because of market, design and historic-preservation complications. The department also noted that certain permit and change‑order workflows were not nimble and that staff are exploring ways to reduce processing inefficiency.
