The Airport Vision Committee will present its Final Report to county commissioners during their Tuesday work session this week from 4 to 6 pm. Because this will be a virtual and informational meeting, only written public comments will be taken. Written comments may be emailed to info@asevision.com. The Vision Committee’s recommendations, which it approved on March 10 by a vote of 20 to 1, were originally scheduled to be presented to the BOCC in mid-March. The County’s COVID-19 response, which began in earnest on March 14th, postponed the presentation. The BOCC asked the Vision Committee to present its report this week to keep the airport vision process moving forward. The three leaders of the Vision Committee, Pilot John Bennett, Co-Pilot Meg Haynes, and Navigator Jackie Francis, will present the report to commissioners along with the other 20 members of the Vision committee using Zoom virtual meeting technology.
“We believe the Vision Committee’s recommendations would achieve the four ‘Core Community Goals’ we set for ourselves,” Bennett said. “Enhanced airport safety, a 30% reduction in greenhouse gas and other emissions, a 30% reduction in aircraft noise, and managed airline enplanement growth of about .8%. Together, these would increase the valley’s quality of life and represent a huge community accomplishment!”
The Vision Committee held weekly three-hour meetings throughout the beginning of the year before voting to approve its final advisory report to the BOCC.
“Our community has struggled with growth that threatens our community character. None of us want big, noisy polluting planes. We put a lot of time and effort into our core community goals, and we think these recommendations will help get us there. This is about improving our quality of life,” said Navigator Jackie Francis.
“Tremendous work has been done over the past 15 months by the four working groups involved in this remarkable public process,” agreed Vision Committee Co-Pilot Meg Haynes. This has been a wonderful community effort.”
The work session will be televised on CGTV Channel 11 and may be viewed online at www.pitkincounty.com/watchwebcasts. In-person public comment will be taken at a future BOCC meeting at a date to be announced. More information is available at www.asevision.com