Aspen City Council approves Lumberyard construction manager, design firm
The Aspen Times archives
Tensions were as high as a Pay-Per-View Fight Night event at Aspen’s Tuesday night City Council meeting. Maybe not quite that high … but close. Maybe not close … but there were disagreements.
Council approved Eagle-based construction manager Dynamic Program Management and Denver-based engineering and design firm Cushing Terrell for the Lumberyard Affordable Housing Development Project, moving the project forward. But the votes were not unanimous, and both items were pulled by council member Bill Guth from the consent agenda, which generally means the staff thought there was no need for discussion, for a separate time; council member Sam Rose agreed with the arguments that Guth posed during the discussion.
The two councilors objected to contracting with the two companies at this phase of the Lumberyard project, which was only recently granted entitlements by City Council. Instead, both council members hoped to engage with a potential private developer before locking in a construction manager and an engineering/design firm.
Affordable Housing Development Project Manager Chris Everson told the council that involving a private development partner for Phase 0, which focuses on site and infrastructure, would most likely cause the project to lose at least a year, possibly two, stating that by selecting a development partner, it ultimately stalls the project’s progress.
“Once you select a (development) partner, you have to then put a lot of agreements in place, and it takes time to put those agreements in place,” he said. “You can wait a year, maybe more to get a developer on board, but we’re talking about doing two things at one time. Getting the infrastructure design underway, getting to those building permit applications, getting that infrastructure in process, and be selecting and forming contract agreements with a development partner at the same time. If you don’t want to do those things at the same time, you’ll have to do them in series, and that’s going to cost you time.”
He said the Request For Proposals (RFP) process would begin at the start of 2024 while applying for building permits at the same time, followed by the selecting a development partner while some infrastructure plans get underway.
Rose posed the question of whether or not a development partner would benefit from being included in Phase 0.
“In a perfect world, to me, you’d start with an RFP and then you’d do everything else; so it’s interesting to do Phase 0 and then do an RFP concurrently,” Rose said. “I just want to hear more reasons why the RFP shouldn’t be in the front of this project and Phase 0 needs to be done right now.”
Everson replied by reiterating that work could be accomplished towards completing Phase 0 while at the same time selecting a development partner and forming the agreements that are required to get the development partner working.
Mayor Pro Tem John Doyle was in favor of moving forward with the project for fear of losing a year or two on the project’s progress, as Everson suggested.
City Councilman Ward Hauenstein voiced concerns around uncertainties around exactly how much time could be lost, depending on the order of steps taken, but ultimately expressed approval for getting the project done as quickly as possible.
Guth agreed with Rose on the order of the steps taken and stressed the importance and need of getting the “RFP process right.”
“I think the project is not feasible without the right development partner,” Guth said. “I want to get this right because I know this will be the biggest public-private partnership this city will have ever undertaken.”
Guth further raised questions around whether consultants who specialize in aiding government entities prepare RFPs for public-private partnership and asked staff to consider why these consultants aren’t being involved.
Aspen City Manager Sara Ott responded to Guth’s question by suggesting his comments were “discrediting the amount of expertise” within the staff.
“We haven’t made that decision, quite frankly. You’re not just talking about one individual’s experience; you have my 25 years of experience in being on the government side of it, you have our public works director who has developed thousands of units here in Colorado and has been on the developer’s side of many of those agreements,” she said. “The direction we’ve been given is to advance this project as quickly as we can. I really don’t think there’s any more staff engagement with this; this is a decision the five of you need to come together on and let us know where we’re going.”
Guth clarified his statements, “to be clear” that he was not intending to question staff’s experience, motivations, or qualifications, stating, “those words did not come out of my mouth.” He further clarified his comments by saying that, in his opinion, advancing the Phase 0 work along with additional design work will distract steps in being able to proceed correctly.
“I don’t think there’s a rush on this. I think at some point in time, there’s a period of stall, whether that’s now or later,” Guth said. “I think from a cost efficiency standpoint, having the stall happen now versus after we mobilize and start construction is more responsible.”
Mayor Torre weighed in on the matter before the motions were set to a vote by saying that the process of starting the project with Phase 0 as Everson suggested does not guarantee a stall, whereas prioritizing the RFP does.
“For me, this is a $63,000 contract running through the end of the year, and I’m going to support it,” Torre said. “I am pro-housing in our community; I represent the members of my community that share that same sentiment, and I will be continuing to try to get as much affordable housing in the near term as I can, and I see this as a way to make that happen without delay.”
The final votes for each contract passed 3-2, with Guth and Rose against.
The Lumberyard is the largest affordable housing project ever taken on by the City of Aspen, comprised of three buildings, 277 deed-restricted units, and 435 parking spaces to be constructed in the ABC, behind Mountain Rescue Aspen. The project is expected to cost around $325-400 million with a final completion date years, if not a decade, away.
To reach Jonson Kuhn, email him at jkuhn@aspentimes.com.
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