PitCo BOCC supports shifting runway instead of taxiway in airport planning document

In an effort to beat the clock on a failing runway and soon-to-expire Congressional funding for the airport, the county endorsed shifting the runway 80 feet west instead of the taxiway 80 feet east in a major planning document.

The Pitkin County Board of Commissioners (BOCC) unanimously approved on first reading an amendment to a 2020 resolution that codified support for the ASE Visioning Committee’s Common Ground Recommendations, which informed the yearslong effort for a new Airport Layout Plan (ALP).

The document is necessary in pursuing major renovations at the airport on both the airside and the terminal side. 

“I wish we could say we don’t need the FAA, we don’t need their funding, we don’t need their oversight,” said Commissioner Patti Clapper. “Some things are just out of our control and out of our hands. And the repercussions of trying to get out of those things can be even more traumatic for our community.”

Second reading is scheduled for a special meeting at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, May 1. 

The need to reconsider the shift arose after a January meeting between the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and representatives from the county, the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport, and consultant firm Jacobsen Daniels. 

The local representatives brought a draft ALP, informed by the Common Ground Recommendations, to the FAA. The federal officials said that shifting the taxiway would result in the need to relocate the Air Traffic Control Tower — an expense that the county would have to shoulder as it would be the county’s preference to shift the taxiway and not the runway.

The FAA also flagged the need to extend the west-side taxiway, eliminate a midfield crossing in the “high energy zone” of the runway, and extend access to the departure of the runway. 

At their March 21 meeting, the Airport Advisory Board voted 6-1 to recommend amending the Common Ground Recommendations ALP to shift the runway, not the taxiway.

Brad Jacobsen of the aviation consultant firm Jacobsen Daniels said that the runway shift instead of the taxiway shift is the only divergence from the Common Ground Recommendations. 

The only reason the Visioning Committee preferred a taxiway shift instead of a runway shift is that it would save time and money by sparing the airport a runway reconstruction. That point is now moot as the airport runway is in dire need of a full reconstruction due to groundwater damage. 

Groups like Aspen Fly Right and the newly-formed Citizens Against Bigger Planes have pushed back on a new ALP, taking particular issue with the FAA’s demand that the airport eliminate its “modification of standard” — or bending of regulations — that allow the airport to limit wingspan to 95 feet instead of the 118 foot standard for comparable airports.

They’ve advocated for the county to assume control of the Fixed Base Operator and fund the terminal expansion itself with the revenue and bonds.

The county is in negotiations with current Fixed Base Operator Atlantic Aviation for a 30-year contract. 

Jacobsen rejected that premise, saying that the state of the runway requires FAA involvement. 

“Because the one way needs to be reconstructed, there is no viable path forward to keep the runway in its existing location and maintain the existing 95-foot wingspan restriction,” he said at Wednesday’s county meeting.

The FAA has funded maintenance on the runway, but now that its state requires a full reconstruction, the FAA has said it will no longer fund maintenance, and reconstruction requires an accepted ALP.

“When it comes to rebuilding the runway, who pays does not determine the runway/taxiway dimensions or locations,” said County Manager Jon Peacock. “An FAA-approved Airport Layout Plan (ALP) does.”

The FAA has an approved ALP for the airport from 2015, which incorporates none of the Common Ground Recommendations or the four main community goals for the airport, which included:

1. Safety in the air and on the ground
2. Reduce greenhouse gas and other pollutant emissions by at least 30%
3. Manage the growth of airline enplanements to be consistent with community growth management plans with input and assistance from the Airport Advisory Board 
4. Reduce noise by at least 30%

Even the Common Ground Recommendations acknowledged the need to eliminate Aspen’s exception to FAA regulations that limit plane wingspan. 

Commissioner Kelly McNicholas Kury expressed a desire for staff to present more information on financial models related to the airport ahead at the second reading meeting. 

“I continue to think it’s a bit unfair for the community to have not had the benefit of some of the financial conversations that we as a board have benefited from in executive session due to ongoing contracting negotiations,” she said. 

If the amended ALP passes on second reading, the county will take the document back to the FAA and aim for construction on the runway to start within a year, capturing federal funding from Congress.