By Abigail Eagye
September 25, 2006
Aspen's Jewish community is looking to build a sense of community. More specifically, they'd like to build a community center.
Without a home of their own, said Rabbi Mendel Mintz, "We go hotel hopping and the like for all our programs, like this weekend for Jewish New Year."
That means lugging books from site to site, including the heavy, awkward scrolls of the Torah. It also means the Jewish community lacks a kosher kitchen, making it difficult to host lunches, dinners and life-cycle events, Mintz said.
To centralize their activities, the Jewish Resource Center Chabad of Aspen has plans for a new building to house a Jewish Community Center. The proposed center would be built at 435 W. Main St., where the L'Auberge cabins currently sit.
But the center would offer more than just Jewish services.
"We expect this to be a Jewish Community Center with the emphasis on 'community,'" Mintz said. "We'll have programs for the whole community."
In addition to creating a space for a Hebrew school and Jewish services, the proposed structure would allow the center to offer programming for the entire Aspen community - a preschool, as well as teen and adult educational programming. The center would also be able to accommodate special events for up to 200 people.
The redevelopment of the L'Auberge would preserve six of the nine existing cabins and designate those six as historic sites. The other three cabins would be relocated, assuming an acceptable site is found for them.
As part of the approval process, the City Council will decide whether to designate the center as an "essential public facility." That designation would allow for modest exceptions in some of the city's requirements for development. In this case, the notable exceptions would be for parking and affordable housing mitigation.
At the suggestion of the Historic Preservation Commission, the developers downsized the building to a smaller size than code allows and lowered it to reduce height impacts.
Lowering the building, in particular, precludes the center from building subgrade parking.
Three of the six cabins to remain onsite would be used for affordable housing, to house some of the employees the new center is expected to generate - although those cabins compensate for less than 60 percent of the anticipated new employees.
The 60 percent mark comes from the Aspen Area Community Plan, which sets that percentage as the city's goal for housing employees in the city. Councilman J.E. DeVilbiss has cast a critical eye on past developments that offer below the 60 percent mitigation standard.
But a memo from Ben Gagnon, the city planner for the project, states that essential public facilities regularly are given some leeway for affordable housing. He cited the Aspen Recreation Center and the Red Brick Arts and Recreation Center as exceptions.
The current plan has earned support from the HPC, as well as from the Planning and Zoning Commission, which noted the preschool's value to the community, Gagnon said in his memo. Preschools are "rare," he wrote, and an "extremely valuable asset to the community."
According to Shirley Ritter, director of Kids First, Pitkin County's June census showed that the county's preschools are operating near capacity. That was before the community lost roughly 40 spots - the same amount the Jewish community center's preschool would offer - when Columbine Kids in Basalt announced it was closing. City and county officials are still looking for ways to resuscitate the school, although nothing is certain. So, the addition of a preschool in Aspen could help keep options open for some families.
"I think it's always good when parents have good choices," Ritter said. But, she added, there's a greater need for infant and toddler care than preschool-age care.
The City Council will take public comment on the proposed center at tonight's meeting, scheduled for 5 p.m. at City Hall.
Abigail Eagye's e-mail address is abby@aspentimes.com
September 25, 2006
Aspen's Jewish community is looking to build a sense of community. More specifically, they'd like to build a community center.
Without a home of their own, said Rabbi Mendel Mintz, "We go hotel hopping and the like for all our programs, like this weekend for Jewish New Year."
That means lugging books from site to site, including the heavy, awkward scrolls of the Torah. It also means the Jewish community lacks a kosher kitchen, making it difficult to host lunches, dinners and life-cycle events, Mintz said.
To centralize their activities, the Jewish Resource Center Chabad of Aspen has plans for a new building to house a Jewish Community Center. The proposed center would be built at 435 W. Main St., where the L'Auberge cabins currently sit.
But the center would offer more than just Jewish services.
"We expect this to be a Jewish Community Center with the emphasis on 'community,'" Mintz said. "We'll have programs for the whole community."
In addition to creating a space for a Hebrew school and Jewish services, the proposed structure would allow the center to offer programming for the entire Aspen community - a preschool, as well as teen and adult educational programming. The center would also be able to accommodate special events for up to 200 people.
The redevelopment of the L'Auberge would preserve six of the nine existing cabins and designate those six as historic sites. The other three cabins would be relocated, assuming an acceptable site is found for them.
As part of the approval process, the City Council will decide whether to designate the center as an "essential public facility." That designation would allow for modest exceptions in some of the city's requirements for development. In this case, the notable exceptions would be for parking and affordable housing mitigation.
At the suggestion of the Historic Preservation Commission, the developers downsized the building to a smaller size than code allows and lowered it to reduce height impacts.
Lowering the building, in particular, precludes the center from building subgrade parking.
Three of the six cabins to remain onsite would be used for affordable housing, to house some of the employees the new center is expected to generate - although those cabins compensate for less than 60 percent of the anticipated new employees.
The 60 percent mark comes from the Aspen Area Community Plan, which sets that percentage as the city's goal for housing employees in the city. Councilman J.E. DeVilbiss has cast a critical eye on past developments that offer below the 60 percent mitigation standard.
But a memo from Ben Gagnon, the city planner for the project, states that essential public facilities regularly are given some leeway for affordable housing. He cited the Aspen Recreation Center and the Red Brick Arts and Recreation Center as exceptions.
The current plan has earned support from the HPC, as well as from the Planning and Zoning Commission, which noted the preschool's value to the community, Gagnon said in his memo. Preschools are "rare," he wrote, and an "extremely valuable asset to the community."
According to Shirley Ritter, director of Kids First, Pitkin County's June census showed that the county's preschools are operating near capacity. That was before the community lost roughly 40 spots - the same amount the Jewish community center's preschool would offer - when Columbine Kids in Basalt announced it was closing. City and county officials are still looking for ways to resuscitate the school, although nothing is certain. So, the addition of a preschool in Aspen could help keep options open for some families.
"I think it's always good when parents have good choices," Ritter said. But, she added, there's a greater need for infant and toddler care than preschool-age care.
The City Council will take public comment on the proposed center at tonight's meeting, scheduled for 5 p.m. at City Hall.
Abigail Eagye's e-mail address is abby@aspentimes.com
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