Mick Ireland’s Monday opinion piece about 1020 E. Cooper Avenue (“Can we give up anything for the greater good?” in the Aspen Daily News reads more like a propaganda hit job. Does Mick, former three-term Pitkin County Commissioner and three-term Aspen mayor, think that if he misstates facts that Aspen residents are gullible enough to believe him? This paper owes its readers the truth, so these are facts Mick omitted:
First, Mick fails to disclose that he was paid $5,000 in consulting fees for assisting Gorsuch Haus and Lift One Lodge developers (part of the Lift One committee), as reported in the Aspen Times, February 2019. Gorsuch Haus developers, Jim DeFrancia and Jean Coulter, are the same developers who’re proposing the much-too-large five-unit housing project on the undersized historic lot at 1020 E. Cooper Avenue — the former beloved home of Aspen columnist Su Lum, who was no fan of corporate developers. Perhaps this housing project is really about the Gorsuch Haus developers seeking to mitigate housing problems caused by their own developments?
Second, Mick attacks “various plutocrats masked behind corporate entities and LLCs” and claims the neighbors are the bad guys. Mick doesn’t know us. Fact is, the “corporate entities and LLCs” in this case are the developers — 1020 Cooper LLC is the applicant for the proposed housing project. The principals of that LLC actually are “people who don’t live here full time” — Jim DeFrancia, an executive at LA-based Lowe Enterprises, lives in a large home at Steamboat Springs’ exclusive Marabou Ranch. Jean Coulter lives on the Front Range. Conversely, many of the neighbors opposing the 1020 project — that will cram many residents into tiny units — actually live and work here. Another “plutocrat”-style “masking” move by the current developers was to purchase the 1020 property not by deed transfer but rather by buying membership interests in the LLC, which kept the transaction out of the public record.
Third, opposition to this project doesn’t equate to opposition to employee housing. Many times, we’ve voiced our support for affordable housing here. But this current project doesn’t comply with Aspen’s Historic Preservation Guidelines, particularly 11.3 and 11.4 that prohibit building a new structure that overwhelms the historic resource (in size and mass) that the project purports to preserve. We’ve repeatedly asked the developer to reduce the size of the new building — and HPC and members of city council have invited the developers to submit a scaled-back version — but the developers refuse out of desire for more profit and valuable FTE credits. In fact, in April, Mayor Torre suggested that it made sense to reduce the project’s size by 15-20%. It’s not the neighbors who’re preventing an affordable housing complex from being built. It’s the developers. It’s possible to have both — a properly restored historic resource that truly meets guidelines and a much-needed worker housing complex.
Fourth, it’s ludicrous for Mick to accuse one of the HPC members of not being “impartial” when the HPC, at three separate hearings, has identified design-related issues as being the primary problems of this project. No one on HPC is anti-worker. If anyone’s not “impartial,” it’s Mick — who obviously has his own agenda in ignoring the historic preservation criteria that this community has championed for decades. The answer’s not to impulsively upend Aspen’s long-standing historic preservation process. The neighbors have worked hard to ensure that historic preservation standards are being met and have, on several occasions, exposed errors in the applications submitted by the development team.
Fact is, Mick’s wrong to advocate for changing the rules to put the decision on preservation projects in the hands of city council. Politicizing HPC, or any city commission, is a bad idea. HPC’s primary directive is to preserve, protect and advocate for Aspen’s historic resources. And besides, city council already has call-up authority and can overturn HPC. Aspen has long-established, well-thought-out rules and guidelines that have served us well. The historic character of this town is one of its defining attributes and it’s a large part of what makes Aspen Aspen. We’ll all come and go, but with luck and dedicated efforts, Aspen’s historic resources will remain standing proudly and authentically for a very long time to come. So let’s all come together to agree that preserving Aspen’s unique and precious history is for the greater good.
Signed,
Tiffany Smith, Michael Smith, Stephen Abelman, Helene Abelman, Lou Stover, Ray Stover, Kristi Gilliam, Robert Koffron, Paulette Koffron, Mark Tye, Karen Watson, Karen Deguerin, Lisa Keogh, Nubia Gutierrez, Eduardo Bello, Thatcher Spring, Perry Spring, Brian Schroy, Leslie Concors, Bukk Carleton, Julie Peters, Shelly Summers
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September 01, 2021 at 04:00PM
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Sometimes the truth doesn't fit a narrative - Aspen Daily News
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