COUPLE’S ENT FLAP
s ignite Aspen fury
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noow diss A wealthy Neww York t a giant the foot ountain he area’s blasting a garish Alexandra Steeel, 31 — er New y Mayor and her cott, 37, 27,000chapel r in a ir wed But the setup —— which ks haulding to the encauses say. “What’s happeninng right now is over the toop concerning anything that’s ever happened on thet Little Annie Basin,” Glenn Horn, of the Littlee Annie Homeowners Assoociation told The Aspen Timmes.
“The impacts willl be felt with the vegetation and ground recovery . . . There was no notice to the neighbors about the impact of all the activity. There’s no type of erosion control.”
The tent was built on private land belonging to wedding planner John Miller, allowing the couple to skirt the area’s zoning rules, residents claimed.
In April, Miller requested a commercialuse permit from Pitkin County officials for the wedding.
County planning staffers initially rejected the request, citing the “scale and intensity of the operation.”
But a month later, Miller successfully petitioned the county, saying the wedding was no longer “commercial.” He said he wouldn’t be charging the couple — after learning the bride’s father was Robert Steel, a chair of The Aspen Institute and former deputy mayor for economic development in New York City.
Now the pristine natural area could take years to recover, locals charged.
“The intensity of this event is extraordinary. It’s quite the ordeal,” said Cindy Houben, head of the Pitkin County Community Development Department.
“There’s a lot of concern regarding the recovery of the basin after this event.”
County Commissioner George Newman blamed city slickers’ flimsy morals.
“It’s unfortunate people come to our county because of the beauty and bring their values with them while not caring or not understanding our values,” he said.
Even Miller conceded the nuptials were a huge undertaking but urged critics to chill out.
“The wedding is a larger project than I thought it would be. However, the interruption it is causing is for a very short time,” he said in a June 12 letter to The Aspen Times. “Can we just live and let live, sit back and enjoy where we are privileged to live?”
Alexandra Steel lives in the West Village. The couple often attends charity events, including the New York Botanical Garden Winter Wonderland Ball.
They didn’t return calls seeking comment.