Basalt and RFTA will each contribute $190,000 into Downtowner, free, on-demand mass transit to link the east and west sides of Basalt and travel within the town. RFTA officials also hope to see it boost ridership on RFTA buses loading in Basalt.
Aspen Times file
Basalt Town Council on Tuesday night voted 6-1 to spend $1.6 million to buy three-quarters of an acre of land near Willits as a base for its public works department.
The council debated several aspects of the potential purchase for months, mostly in closed-door meetings called executive sessions. Town officials were finally able to resolve issues to the satisfaction of the council majority. One of the biggest issues was cleaning up access to and from the site off of Highway 82 to the satisfaction of the Colorado Department of Transportation.
The property is sandwiched between the Aspen Basalt Campground and the Midvalley Medical Center, with access from Original Road, then a driveway. The town is buying the land from Shelton Properties LLC, which currently uses the site for storage of construction materials.