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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcoa.cclc.min.11192008COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2008 Chairperson, Terry Butler called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Bill Dinsmoor, Roger Haneman, Don Sheeley and Andrew Kole. Excused where Fred Ayarza, Mark Goodman and John Starr. Parking Meters Tim Ware said the hangers where purchased as a payment option. They are very popular in Aspen. We leased 30,000 units to date. We were the only city in the world to have that success. We are a small community and the residents are well off and we only have one parking zone and one rate throughout town. We had a lot of things in our favor. We are the first city to have a hand display parking system. The program that we currently have is archaic. The company said they would no longer support us. Don handed out the brochures on the smart card program. Tim said it is not easy to operate. We don't want to get caught in an in car operation again in case the company pulls the plug. With the smart card you pay for the meter and there is an additional fee for the smart card which costs $40. Time said our proposed play is pay by your cell phone. There are no overhead costs. It costs .35 to make the call. You are calling a call center not Canada. It is very simple to operate. No fee. It doesn't run out and you don't have to travel to the parking office. You have the same options as the in car meter. It will send you a test message when you expire. Blake Bitch, parking supervisor did a power point on how the new program works. Blake said you can create your own account and you can pull up your parking history for tax purposes. The cell phone is like the user id and password. You just put your credit card number in. Tim said the number 2400 is the location code for Aspen. It registers that code. This is a payment option only. Don inquired about the .35 fee. Tim said it is a user convenient fee. There is no additional card fee. It is a 30 minute transaction for $1.00. It is done in hour increments. You don't have to call in unless you use under the minutes. Roger asked about the in car meters and the percentage of users. Tim said the majority of meters are in town. 60% of our traffic is in town meters. Andrew suggested the Parking Department do a 15 minute TV piece to show customers how to use the meter. COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2008 Steve Barwick, city manager said the finance window and Laura McCade need to be taught how to handle the setup when customers come in. Terry clarified that you can call in and setup your account. Roger asked if you have a problem who do you contact. Tim said PCI is a compliment secure site. The fee goes on your credit card once a month. Tim said they will fire off in downtown and then we will kick off in residential day passes. Tim asked the CCLC members to volunteer for a week to understand how the program works. Don asked if the meters take money on Sunday. Tim said the meters do not take money on Sunday and holidays. Bus lane: Don said with the new bus lane there are new spot traffic backups. Past Maroon Creek club can you make it two lanes or synchronize the stop light at Buttermilk or Maroon Creek Rd. Randy Ready, Assistant City Manager said we will keep an eye on it. We are monitoring the traffic. The bus lane ends at the Buttermilk signal. Bill said at the height of the season this will be a nightmare. Tourist won't get it. People are going down Smith hill instead of the highway because they don't like to sit. Randy said there are three elements involved with the bus lane. Environmental clearance Local vote open space 8.5 million dollars of transit funds. Don said he understands there is no way to move the lane but the signals can change. What happens if there is an accident? Randy said the emergency responders will be using the bus lane without their lights and the RFTA bus drivers are prepared. Randy said only school buses and RFTA buses can use the lane. Bill Dinsmoor said there is no wiggle room. Randy said in order to change the lane you would need federal or state approval and voter approval is needed. Randy pointed out that the lane is for mass transit use only. You go from Ruby Park straight to Buttermilk. Randy said you can park at Brush Creek and get in town. Don asked what happens when it snows. Randy said under CDOT you can use 2 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2008 Magchloride. Everyone including the Chief of Police is aware of the bus lane Buttermilk to Thiack is in the county. Bill said there is an uptake of the use of McClain's flats. Randy said the use has been going up for several years. Bill said there is wildlife game and it is a residential area. It is an intended consequence. Randy said they recognize people are using McClain flats road. Randy pointed out that we have had 37 votes on what to do with the entrance. We are working to get this tweaked and it is a big step forward. Terry said the one area at Burlingame past Buttermilk gets congested. I feel I'm missing one lane. Expansion of market Steve Barwick said in order to expand the market we need all the information compiled in advance. There are parking issues that need worked out and the Fire Marshall needs to be contacted. Tim Ware said he will review the issue. Dave Whittlesey, agriculture representative for the Saturday Market. Dave said presently the ags don't want the expansion. A lot of the food patrons tend to go down one street and turn the corner. The ags are against it due to the economy and their business was down this year at the market. Dave said will we dilute the market or cause harm to some existing vendors? Terry said we can give a little more space between the booths. Have a Kid friendly area on the street or in the park. Possibly have a milling social area. Maybe have two or three new vendors with different products. We would have a better venue instead of creating competition. Dave said he is trying to get a fish vendor in at the market and one of the existing vendors would like to sell Iamb next year if the space is available. Terry said she feels people would stay longer if there was the milling social area or an area for kids to do art etc. Dave said the farmers are concerned about competition. Someone will buy a necklace rather than meat. There is only so much money going around. 3 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19, 2008 Tim said his concern is the traffic pattern and shutting off an east west street. Where would you go? Bill said there is always the fear factor and we need to be aware of the economy. Bill suggested pursuing the ushape - The u shape may bring a physical connection to the mall. It seems that it would work. Andrew said people are looking at free things to do. Terry said her hotel is a block away. If we wrapped around half the horse shoe people walking down the mall will see you and come down Hyman. We need to somehow connect the malls. We are trying to get tourist to spend the maximum in town and we want business and commerce down town. We are not here to dilute the market. How can we be proactive and get the dollars to Aspen and keep the funds in the pockets. Food at the market -Dave said he did Boulder's market this year. They have the biggest market in the state. They have an entire food court with different ethnic foods. They take in 5 or 6 million dollars. Kathy Strickland, Market manager said patrons were looking for something quick to eat at the market and so were the vendors as they cannot leave their booths for long periods of time. Andrew suggested 1 to 2 snacks rather than a meal at the market. Roger said feeding the kids on the street is preferable. Restaurants are very difficult with children. Terry said with the expansion we would get more customers for the farmers Andrew said expanding to Hyman there would probably be no more than 7 to ten spaces. We would need to keep open the spaces in front of existing businesses. Don said politically we have to get our ducks in a row. If we had kid and environmental stuff it would be a winner. We need to get Parking and the Fire department on board and then talk to council before moving forward and talking to the businesses. Terry suggested that each CCLC member talk to one business person on Hyman and get their view point. Try to neutralize the business owner. MOTION: Andrew moved that the CCLC explore the expansion of the market, second by Don. All in favor, motion carried. Bill said we also need to focus on something that can be affordable for the family at the market. Maybe we should use more advertising money for that. 4 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 19. 2008 Terry pointed out that 50,000 new customers could possibly walk by the existing businesses on Hyman. The businesses could also open up early on Saturday to draw from the market. MOTION: Terry moved to adjourn; second by Andrew. All in favor, motion carried. Meetin adjourned at 10:30 a.m. Kathleen J. Strickland, Chief Deputy Clerk 5