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A midvalley distillery surrounded by residential zones is being required to implement a thorough mitigation plan for noise impacts or risk being shut down by Pitkin County.
The Pitkin Board of County Commissioners approved their annual review for Emma Fields LLC, also known as Aspen Distillers, with heavy conditions at their Sept. 25 meeting.
The facility sits at 50 Distillers Way, near Hoaglund Ranch Road east of Basalt and in unincorporated Pitkin County. Vodka under the brand name Aspen Vodka is distilled at the site. Original approvals forecast the distilling of gin and whiskey. The structures sit on formerly unzoned property.
The noise-canceling mitigation must address exterior mechanical equipment, including, but not limited to the chiller, two exterior vents and the noise and vibration emanating from the electrical transformer on the property.
Other conditions include proof of occupancy in the three affordable housing units and the prohibition of operations — including deliveries — outside of 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday.
At the meeting, Chris Bendon of local planning firm BendonAdams presented the findings of three noise studies conducted at the facility and inside a nearby home. The applicant pursued the studies across three separate dates, June 30, July 1 and a shorter report from Aug. 14, at the behest of the county.
Denver-based firm Engineering Dynamics found the facility to be in compliance with county noise allowances, 55 decibels during the day or 50 at night. The firm’s findings were inconclusive as to the source of tonal noise and did not recommend noise mitigation.
“The A-weighted sound level measurement data presented in Section 2.1 of this report shows that noise from Distillery operations is compliant with Pitkin County 6-36.040 Noise Ordinance residential noise limits and that no further noise mitigation is required,” the firm’s report summary said.
Bendon said a continuation of the meeting for legal teams to better flesh out a noise mitigation plan would be best. Aspen Distillers is owned by Dr. Matthew Patel, who could not attend the meeting because of a previously scheduled commitment, Bendon said.
“The [decibel] limit is 55, [Engineering Dynamics] measures a 55, which equals compliance. My perception from sitting through all these [meetings] is that that’s not good enough for this board,” Bendon said. “I think we need to sit jointly with county staff and come up with reasonable installations that are responsive, so that if the board says we need to install these things, I have confidence that we can actually do it.”
The commissioners blasted back at Bendon and Chris Bryan of Aspen law firm Garfield & Hecht, also representing the applicant, saying that a continuation without any mitigation plan would be unfair to neighbors impacted by noise.
“My blood is running about the color of my [red] jumpsuit right now, with where we are at today,” said Commissioner Kelly McNicholas Kury. “We have a resolution in front of us with conditions because you guys offered none, because you guys are holding on to the position that we should ignore neighbors who have complained about their experience of your operation. I voted in favor of this, and I am now deeply regretting it.”
Commissioner Steve Child agreed. He cast the sole vote against the project back in 2021.
“I’m not inclined to continue this,” he said. “We’re getting complaints from the neighbors about noise and the vibration … but the people’s health is at risk, and I’m not willing to continue this any further. This needs to be fixed, and it needs to be fixed now. And if it costs a million dollars … maybe it’ll cost a million dollars for Dr. Patel to fix this.”
The 8-acre parcel is surrounded by Highway 82 on one side and residential areas on the others. Elizabeth McCracken and Michael Murison of 24 Eddie Lane said the noise and vibration impacts from the distillery have been difficult.
The 18,000-square-foot Aspen Distillers facility has been recognized with a LEEDv4 BD+C Platinum certification, the highest standard of the U.S. Green Building Council for building efficiency. Forbes featured the distillery’s sustainability chops in an article.
Despite the national recognition, Murison and McCracken said the impacts of the facility have been nearly impossible to live with, pushing the board to require mitigation immediately and not continue the discussion again.
“Mitigation is necessary to resolve this. They paint a great picture about LEED, Forbes magazine, World’s Biggest carbon neutral distillery,” he said. “It’s a beautiful picture on a global scale. But I’m local, I’m feet [away] and I’m suffering. You can paint the greatest picture in the world, but the guy next door, I’m suffering.”
Complaints to the county date back to November 2023, McCracken said. As the 2023 annual review continued with delays over issues with fire suppression tanks, the problem only extended, they said.
The next annual review meeting date is set for Jan. 22. The review will include data on full-time employees and generated vehicle trips, progress on the noise mitigation projects and more.
“I want to make sure incentives are clear and that we’re really serious about having reasonable grounds to shut it down until we solve a problem that’s perceived by more people than can be ignored,” Commissioner Greg Poschman said. “We’re all at the end of our rope.”
Bendon said he fully understood the potential consequences and would convey that to his client.