COUNCIL ACTION FORM

ORDINANCE ALLOWING CERTAIN ALLEY-ADJACENT CUSTOMERS TO OPT OUT OF CURBSIDE RECYCLING PROGRAM

At its October 13, 2026, meeting, the City Council was presented with a report following up regarding the criteria to allow for certain alley-adjacent customers to opt out of the residential curbside recycling program. The City Council directed staff to prepare an ordinance that would allow for customers to opt out of the program and its associated fee if all the following criteria were met:

1. The property must abut an alley,
   
   
2. The property must not have a primary driveway access that goes to a street frontage ("primary" means the only driveway if only one driveway exists, or the driveway connecting to the garage if more than one exists), and
   
   
3. The property must not be receiving recycling collection service in an alley.
   

There are a handful of affected properties that have driveways both on the street-side and the alley-side. Adding the concept of a primary driveway (one that leads to a garage or generally serves as the location where vehicles are parked) allows each property to be evaluated based on how it is currently utilized rather than on access scenarios that may not reflect the practical use of the property.

The addition of clarifying that the property must not be receiving recycling collection service in an alley is intended for those alley customers where Aspen has agreed to collect recycling in the alley with their Automated Side Loading equipment. Those properties would not be eligible to opt-out of the monthly fee.  

The use of these three criteria results in as many as 333 of the 913 alley-block properties becoming eligible for the opt-out. This aligns with the proportion of properties that staff had originally envisioned would be eligible for opt-out.

Staff has prepared an ordinance that enacts these opt-out criteria. In the interest of allowing the opt-out provisions to take effect more quickly to bring to a close this issue which has been pending for the past several weeks, staff is requesting that the City Council consider suspending the rules in order to approve the ordinance on all three readings and adopt it.

1. Approve the attached ordinance allowing recycling opt-out if a property: a) abuts an alley, b) does not have a primary driveway access that goes to a street frontage, and 3) is not receiving recycling collection service in the alley and suspend the rules and allow for second and third reading and adoption. 
   
   
2. Direct staff to modify the criteria in the draft ordinance.
   
   
3. Do not approve the attached ordinance.

After completing a detailed property-by-property review, the City Council has directed staff to prepare a modified set of criteria to provide relief from paying the recycling fee in circumstances where participation in the curbside program is truly impractical. The revised criteria allow for an opt-out for the majority of alley-adjacent customers who have contacted the City with concerns about the pickup location. Therefore, it is the recommendation of the City Manager that the City Council adopt Alternative No. 1 as described above and staff is requesting that the City Council suspend the rules, approve the third reading, and adopt the ordinance.