Snowmass decides against federal grant for new transit center
Time crunch, lack of funding, and change of design scope contributing factors
SEH Design|Build/Courtesy Photo
Snowmass Town Council decided it will not pursue $13.5 million in federal grant funding to help fund a new transit center.
Tuesday’s decision came after council was faced with a March 3 deadline to submit a transit center design and budget to the Federal Transit Administration for final approval of the grant funding, which they’d already been awarded.
“As much as I would like to move forward with this project now,” Council member Tom Fridstein said, “I think the prudent thing is to not seek the federal grant by applying on March 3, but continue with the project.”
The town found themselves short on funding and parking as they approached the decision.
Between funding from the town, Pitkin County, Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, and the federal grant (if received) they could have used $23 million to build the new center, according to town staff. The current designs are projected to cost between $44 million and $49 million, leaving a $21 and $26 million financial gap, which would have disqualified them from the grant funding.
Town staff identified $26 million to $28 million of potentially available funding to fill the gap, discussing a reallocation of $8 million from the Brush Creek-Owl Creek roundabout project, as well as stakeholder funding from Aspen Skiing Company, the Romero Group, the county, and the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority, among other sources.
But they advised council to abandon the federal grant given the time crunch and the difficulty of attaining a written commitment from Romero Group and SkiCo by March 3.
“We continue to believe that this accelerated approach, with limited design (only being at a conceptual level) and limited public feedback thus far is not a good idea,” wrote Town Manager Clint Kinney and Transportation Director Sam Guarino when summarizing the state of the transit center.
The design included a two-floor structure in the place of the existing center and Lot 6 with combined bus and Village Shuttle access. Currently, the transit center, located above Lot 6, is separate from the Shuttle Depot, located on Daly Lane.
But with the expanded transit center design comes a loss in parking, which would make attaining the federal grant highly improbable, according to town staff.
A previous design included the replacement of the 123 available parking spots in Lots 5 and 6 with a two-floor parking structure to be constructed over Lot 5, bringing the project cost to $58 million, according to town staff.
Shifting gears to account for the funding shortfall, the town explored halving the lower level of the parking structure, or disposing of the design altogether, reducing the cost to between $44 million and $49 million but leaving them with at least a 30-parking-space loss.
Brian Saller, a Colorado Department of Transportation capital infrastructure project manager, wrote in an email to Guarino on Feb. 3 that reducing the parking would require a grant amendment request and review, which could take up to three months. He added that they’ve been told by the Federal Transit Administration that a grant application to reduce parking is “not desirable and would most likely result in a denied application.”
And the federal funding might not arrive regardless due to the ongoing murkiness surrounding President Donald Trump’s federal grant freeze, which was blocked by a U.S. District judge, but reportedly continues to affect some funding flows, according to Associated Press and ProPublica.
Despite their decision not to pursue the federal grant, council was happy with the progress they made on the transit center design and funding plans.
“It’s disappointing, but also exciting that we’ve gotten to the point we’re at, and we want to keep moving forward,” Mayor Alyssa Shenk said.
They plan to discuss the project further on Feb. 27.
Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at sstark-ragsdale@aspentimes.com.
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A second forum is scheduled for tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. at the same location, offering another opportunity for residents to weigh in on APCHA’s strategic plan.
