Why?

Our Airport. Our Vote.

CABP believes that an issue as important as spending half a billion dollars to expand the usage of the Aspen airport; increasing airplane and passenger traffic and forever changing the character of the entire Valley deserves to be decided by a vote of the people. 

Airport Expansion Risks Unbridled Growth and the Quality of Life

Increasing the number of airplanes and therefore passengers that fly into Aspen means more crowding in our community. Pitkin County is a special place that deserves to be protected, not flooded with even more people.

Growth and Quality of Life 

What bigger planes and an expanded runway layout means:

Overcrowding

More planes means more people, which means even more traffic, congestion on Highway 82, longer lift lines, fewer available dining reservations, busier hiking trails, and camping reservations, and driving up the cost of rental/real estate for locals/workforce etc.  

Airplane Noise & Pollution

A bigger runway means more commercial and private planes. More planes means more take-offs and landings, and with that, more noise, and more engine exhaust. 

Health & Environment

Aspen Ski Co’s signature ski school is at the base of Buttermilk, less than a quarter of a mile from the end of the runway. Children and adults are breathing in those fumes every day. Similarly, there are numerous existing and proposed employee housing complexes within a mile of the runway, is the air quality safe for people?

Safety 

Additional people means a strain on all services, but especially small emergencies, fire dept. and medical teams and facilities. With limited staff and beds available that can barely handle existing numbers. A large plane accident will overwhelm emergency services.