Snowmass faces challenges in potential transit center renovations

Snowmass Town Council is short on time and money for a potential transit center renovation.

Council must approve a renovation plan for the 30 year-old Snowmass Mall Transit Center by March 2025 to secure a $13.5 million federal grant to use for the project, according to Snowmass Transportation Director Sam Guarino. If they secure the funding, they will still need to raise $20 million of additional funding to meet the expected costs of the projects. 

A new transit center could improve current safety concerns and make Roaring Fork Transportation Authority and shuttle buses accessible from the same location, which is not currently the case at the Snowmass Mall. Shuttles load and unload in Daly Lane, below the mall, while RFTA buses service the transit center slightly above the mall. 

Council member Tom Fridstein said in a Wednesday meeting that council should proceed as if they will go through with the project despite funding questions so they don’t miss the grant opportunity. 

“We need to get started as if we’re moving forward, although we can pull the plug at any point,” Fridstein said. “But if we don’t get started, we’re going to miss these deadlines.”

The $13.5 million is one of multiple federal and state grants the town secured while planning to renovate the transit center in 2022. The town never approved the design because of its obtrusive scale and potential safety hazards, as it required pedestrians to cross in front of transit traffic to load buses and shuttles. 

Local businesses also argued that the expected 3.5 years of project construction around the Snowmass Mall would affect traffic and revenue. After discontinuing the project, the town was required to return most of the grant funding. 

But it can still use a $13.5 million federal grant it originally received to use for the previous project if they dedicate the money to the new design by Sept. 30, 2025, according to Guarino. To meet the September deadline, the town needs to start contracting the grant with the Colorado Department of Transportation and the Federal Transit Administration by the end of March. 

“Functionally, if we are going to be the kind of town we aspire to be, we need to have a really good transit system where people don’t have to use cars,” Fridstein said in support of the new design.

The two-floor design presented by the transportation department would add an additional floor to the current Snowmass Mall Transit Center, where RFTA buses load and unload, and would widen it to extend over what is now Lot 6. Lot 5 would consist of two floors to account for the loss of parking. 

In the proposed design, five RFTA buses can load and unload at one time from the top floor while one waits in a staging area. Six shuttle buses can also load and unload on the bottom floor, while two buses wait in staging areas, more than doubling the capacity of the existing center.

The proposed design would also address the town’s safety concerns from the 2022 proposal, as well as safety concerns regarding the existing center, which becomes overcrowded during the busy season due to lack of space and high transit demand, posing risk to pedestrians, Fridstein told The Aspen Times on Tuesday. 

Council member Cecily DeAngelo said the new design would give her peace of mind.

“I would be comfortable putting my kids in future years on the bus … and knowing that they would be safe,” she said. 

But should the council propose the design in time to keep the federal grant, they will still have to find additional funding sources to finance the project. 

The $13.5 million combined with an additional $2.9 million in town funding and $6 million in county funding would give the town $22.4 million to put toward the project, according to Guarino. It would fall $18.2 million short of its expected cost if they move forward with a 28-month construction process, one of the options proposed by the transportation department. 

It also falls $21.6 million short of the expected construction costs if the town moves forward with a 40-month construction window, their alternative option. 

Snowmass Town Manager Clint Kinney worried they would have difficulty finding the required funding, if they approve the design. 

“This is a big gap,” Kinney said.

Fridstein said he is confident they will find a way to finance the difference.

“Nothing’s cheap. If we want to do this, and if we’re $20 million short, you know, we can find $20 million,” Fridstein said. 

Unlike the previous project, Fridstein predicted construction of the new design would only affect mall transit access for six months, as much of the construction would be of additional parking and infrastructure apart from the existing center, reducing its effect on Snowmass Mall businesses.

A new transit center would also jumpstart part of a Snowmass Mall remodel, which would include the addition of 22 new units of workforce housing for town use, as per their agreement with the mall owners, The Romero Group. 

Council member Susan Marolt also voiced concerns about the scale of the transit center design, as it includes the construction of a two-floor parking garage in the place of the existing Lot 5.

“Is that going to be a mass and scale problem when people are looking at it?” Marolt asked. “That we’re actually now having two, two level structures.”

Guarino said rather than build upward, they would sink the parking lot into the ground and add the second level so it is close to ground level, minimizing the obtrusiveness of the two floors. The council will further analyse the design in an additional sketch.

The council decided to continue progress with the project by reaching out to the community, specifically to business owners, to gauge how residents feel about the proposed project. They will also involve architects to refine the design and pursue ways to fill the funding gap.

Guarino said he will inform the Federal Transit Authority and let them know the town is making progress with the design.

Skyler Stark-Ragsdale can be reached at 970-429-9152 or email him at [email protected].