Waive Safety Codes

Dangerous Requests to Waive Safety Codes

To fit 163 units onto a 20.4-acre site, Aspen One is actively seeking a Variance from Improvement Standards (VIS) to legally bypass critical Eagle County safety and roadway regulations. Rather than right-sizing the development to fit the physical constraints of the site and surrounding roads, the developer is asking county regulators to lower basic public safety standards.

Key Safety Code Variances Requested (VIS Permit)

• Road Width Reduction Waiver: Eagle County land use codes require internal subdivision streets to maintain a minimum width of 30 feet to guarantee adequate clearance for emergency response vehicles. The developer’s VIS request asks to construct internal streets significantly narrower than this mandatory 30-foot threshold. Narrowing streets impedes large fire engines, ladder trucks, and ambulances—especially when vehicles are parked along curbs—creating severe response delays when seconds count.

• Dead-End Unit Cap Waiver: Eagle County enforces a strict fire safety cap of 25 units on dead-end streets to ensure emergency vehicles can safely maneuver and turn around. The revised EJ Crossing layout places 28 units on a single dead-end node. Trapping nearly 30 households on a single dead-end street without compliant turnaround access creates an extreme hazard during a fast-moving wildfire evacuation.

• Level of Service F (LOS F) Waiver: Requested to legalize adding an estimated 1,000+ daily vehicle trips onto a roadway network and intersection (JW Drive and Highway 82) that is officially documented as operating at a failing capacity (LOS F) during peak hours.

• Private Maintenance Shift: A request to keep internal road management, maintenance, and snow removal under a private HOA rather than dedicating the infrastructure to standard county public maintenance, risking unplowed routes during winter emergency evacuations.

Declared "INSUFFICIENT" by County Planners On July 15, 2026, Senior Planner Janet Aluise formally rejected Aspen One's submittals (including the Subdivision Sketch Preliminary Plan, 1041 Permit, and VIS) with an official INSUFFICIENT determination letter. Eagle County Community Development cited over 20 major technical deficiencies, explicitly calling out non-compliant road designs, missing access easements near Gillespie Drive, and a complete lack of analysis justifying why county safety standards should be waived.

Safety codes exist to protect residents, first responders, and surrounding neighborhoods. Asking local leaders to waive road width rules and turnaround caps simply so a developer can pack more units onto failing infrastructure sets a dangerous precedent and puts human lives at risk.