Former mayor urges council to revisit Aspen entrance plan, proposes 'split' alignment

Former mayor Tory told the City Council she supports more study of alternatives to the current preferred plan for the Aspen entrance, saying a five-lane entrance and additional traffic signals at the end of Main Street would harm the neighborhood.

"There's a much better, more elegant solution...that maintains our character a lot more," Tory said, urging the council to consider a modified split alignment that would separate access to McLean Flats from Highway 82. Tory said the council's earlier decisions had narrowed options and that the city should work with CDOT on a community-character enhancing solution.

Mayor Richards replied that past leadership had opportunities to request a new EIS and that previous screening by Jacobs Engineering found the three-lane bridge would not pass NEPA screening. The mayor said the city and Jacobs had evaluated multiple options before returning to the preferred alternative.

A separate public commenter identified as Tony pushed staff and council to explain why the reevaluation did not fully revisit light-rail alternatives, noting funding defeats in 1999 and 2003 and arguing that changed conditions should be considered in any record-of-decision reevaluation. Council members acknowledged the procedural questions and directed staff to examine the legal and technical implications of counting prior analyses toward any new effort.

The council did not make a policy change at the meeting but heard repeated requests to schedule fuller work sessions and to clarify whether a supplemental EIS or a new EIS would be required if the preferred alignment were materially altered.