Aspen Times file
This February photo shows the U.S. Forest Service ’bone yard’ where materials are stored next to Crown Mountain Park. Debate has started on future uses.
Aspen Times file
A preliminary report on potential future uses of 76 acres of valuable public land in the middle Roaring Fork Valley suggests further investigation into recreation, conservation and possibly providing a site for affordable housing.
Eagle County chief financial officer Jill Klosterman stressed in a presentation to Eagle County commissioners Tuesday that the process is just getting underway and the staff has made no assumptions on the direction.
“We’re just listening to what the community was telling us,” Klosterman said.
A for sale sign posted in front of a home in Basalt on Thursday, April 29, 2021. All property owners will receive their new notice of valuation next week. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
Property owners in the Roaring Fork Valley can expect to learn from their county governments next week that their values went up significantly, but maybe not as much as they thought.
Colorado requires county assessors to reappraise property every two years in the odd-numbered years. For this year’s reappraisal, the new amounts will reflect the property value as of June 30, 2020.
That’s significant because the residential real estate market in mountain resort areas such as Aspen and Vail went nuts starting right about that time. Urban residents fled to the mountains to escape the COVID-19 pandemic and social unrest, and they snatched up mountain property. That resulted in record sales dollar volume in Pitkin County.
(Delridge/Roxbury box painted by Desmond Hansen last June)
2:57 PM: Less than an hour ago, a Minneapolis jury delivered its verdict in the trial of the former police officer who killed
George Floyd last May: Guilty on all counts. Here in Seattle, this is just in from the city:
Following the guilty verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial in Minneapolis, the City of Seattle is providing an update for residents. City of Seattle department leaders have been preparing to allow residents to have the space to grieve and honor the life of George Floyd.
While the City expects community members to grieve and remember the life of Mr. Floyd, the City is also reminding businesses and residents of appropriate steps to take should demonstrations occur. The Seattle Police Department, which has made significant changes over the last year, will be on standby for any peaceful, first-amendment gatherings.
Scott Condon/The Aspen Times
After more than a year of keeping offices closed to the public and conducting public meetings via video conference due to the coronavirus pandemic, the governments of Eagle County and Basalt are showing signs of in-person life.
Eagle County government has reopened offices in the Eagle and Roaring Fork valleys. County Manager Jeff Shroll also announced Tuesday that a program called Roaring Fork Fridays has resumed in El Jebel. The program gives constituents in the Roaring Fork Valley portion of Eagle County a chance to meet face-to-face with a revolving lineup of elected officials, top administrators and department heads.
A longtime Roaring Fork Valley resident agreed to a plea bargain Wednesday in a case where he fired a handgun to break up a dogfight near Crown Mountain Park in January.
Robert Guion pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and tampering with evidence. Charges of felony menacing and disorderly conduct were dropped by the Fifth Judicial District Attorney’s Office.
Guion faced a possible sentence of 12 to 18 months of imprisonment and a fine for tampering with physical evidence, a class-six felony. He faced a possible sentence of six months in jail and a fine for reckless endangerment, a class-three misdemeanor.
Instead, under terms of the plea agreement, he was given a deferred judgment where the guilty pleas will be removed from his record if he stays out of trouble for the next two years while under supervision of the probation office. The sentence by Eagle County District Judge Paul Dunkelman also requires Guion to perform 72 hours of useful public service and attend a firearm