The City of Aspen earned national praise from the American Planning Association’s Small Town and Rural Planning Division last week, winning the “Outstanding Planning Initiative” award for its work with the Aspen Area Community Plan public outreach process.

“Overall, we were impressed with the breadth of the process,” said president of the Small Town and Rural Planning Division, Dave Gattis, during the APA conference in New Orleans last week. “This is a model project for other small towns. It was innovative, creative and most of all – fun.”

The Outstanding Planning Initiative Award is given to an outstanding initiative or program in public education, workshops, ordinances or enforcement that promotes planning in small towns and rural areas.

The judges were also impressed with the sheer participation numbers for the AACP update, especially given the relatively small number of people in Aspen. To date, more than 1,000 community members have been engaged in the process.

The award will be presented locally in Aspen at City Council on Monday, April 26, at 5 p.m. For more information on the AACP, visit www.aspencommunityvision.com.