Environmental Quality - Goal 7 with Action Items

7. Development: Ensure the Aspen Area has environmentally responsible development.
a. Require all construction in the Aspen Area go through an “environmental review” prior to receiving a building permit. Create minimum environmental standards that apply to all development in the Aspen area.
b. Expand the residential and commercial REMP programs to cover all development, including inside and outside structures.
c. Coordinate the Land Use and Building Codes to allow and encourage the use of on-site renewable energy systems, like photovoltaics.
d. Explore the idea of reducing the ability to pay a fee (cash-in-lieu) instead of providing on-site mitigation for environmental requirements.
e. Require the deconstruction of buildings, rather than the demolition of buildings in order to increase the amount of construction and development materials that are recycled.
f. Explore opportunities to create incentives in the building process for using the Pitkin County landfill. This could include giving discounted access to the Pitkin County Landfill, coordinating landfill/building permit fees when a building is deconstructed instead of demolished, or prioritizing building permit review based on the amount of construction and development waste that is recycled.
g. Explore opportunities in the state to recycle construction and development waste that cannot be accommodated at the Pitkin County landfill, including the possibility to recycling sheet rock at the plant in Gypsum.