Planning is underway for the future of crowd control at Colorado’s iconic Maroon Bells Scenic Area.

The latest development is a public workshop next week in Aspen, where people can add their two cents to an ongoing collaborative involving several agencies, including local and federal governments. The input is sought “before we get too far into the process,” Brian Pettet, Pitkin County’s public works director, said in a recent news release announcing the meeting.

The announcement came on the heels of a meeting in which county commissioners expressed hope that locals would be considered in an ongoing analysis of the postcard site, where Maroon Lake reflects the twin peaks.

“I’m one of the longtime locals that would love to go there more, but it’s kind of a hassle getting there,” said one commissioner, Steve Child.

Land managers have said visitation to the site has doubled in the past 10 years. In the wake of what they called “unprecedented” demand in 2020, reservations were enacted for vehicle parking and shuttle rides. Officials also recently reviewed bike traffic on Maroon Creek Road, and fees and permits are on the table for backpacking the broader wilderness.

A “comprehensive plan” is needed, according to a proposal commissioners accepted from the Volpe National Transportation Systems Center.

The proposal pledged to “address the impacts of increasing visitation by identifying sustainable levels of access while accounting for local economic and other community impacts.”

In the April meeting where commissioners agreed to contract with Volpe, they reviewed reservation data showing 91% of parking had already been booked for the season. To Commissioner Greg Poschman, that suggested some people would be left out.

“Is there any way reservations could be spread out over the course of the summer?” he asked.

That’s one of many questions to potentially explore, Pettet said.

The comprehensive plan “is really a blank slate on how we manage access to Maroon Bells,” he said.