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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.apz.20090106City PlanninE & Zoning MeetinE -Minutes -January 06, 2009 COMMENTS ...........................................................................2 MINUTES ...............................................................................2 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST .......................................................2 PITKIN COUNTY JAIL GROWTH MANAGEMENT .......................2 ASPEN INSTITUTE GREENWALD PAVILION SPA AMENDMENT ...2 ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON AND VICE-CHAIRPERSON.8 City Planning & Zoning Meeting -Minutes -January 06 2009 LJ Erspamer opened the regular meeting in Council Chambers at 4:30pm. Commissioners present were Bert Myrin, Mike Wampler, Cliff Weiss, Stan Gibbs, LJ Erspamer and Dina Bloom. Jim DeFrancia and Brian Speck were excused. Staff present were Jim True, Special Counsel; Jennifer Phelan, Errin Evans, Jason Lasser, Drew Alexander, Community Development; Jackie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk. COMMENTS Jennifer Phelan said the next regular meeting will have the Aspen Jewish Community Center and the Aspen Valley Hospital District Ambulance requesting a year round permit for the tent cover for the ambulance. Phelan noted on February 3`d will be a joint P&Z and Council Meeting to work on the AACP and February 17`h there were some land use cases; after that it will be AACP meetings until April. LJ Erspamer said that there was a Rocky Mountain Land Use Seminar coming up. Jennifer Phelan replied that Com Dev has to check the budget so she will get back to P&Z on the Seminar. Cliff Weiss thanked staff for putting the entire packet on the WEB. Jennifer Phelan introduced Drew Alexander, planner technician, who will be representing a case tonight. MINUTES MOTION: Bert Myrin moved to approve the November 18, December 2 and December 16, 2008 minutes. LJErspamer made a correction to the 12/16/08 minutes page 4 regarding the roof height as corrected from the parapet; seconded by Mike Wampler; all in favor, APPROVED. CONFLICTS OF INTEREST LJ Erspamer said that he was still working at the Pitkin County Airport as a seasonal part-time. PUBLIC HEARING: PITKIN COUNTY JAIL GROWTH MANAGEMENT LJ Erspamer opened the public hearing. Errin Evans stated that the Planning & Zoning Commission saw the SPA Amendment for this addition to the county jail and now the review before P&Z is the growth management under essential public facilities and no mitigation is required at this time because the new structure will 2 City Planning & ZOriing Meeting -Minutes -January 06, 2009 be used to store computer equipment. Evans said that storage space is not considered net leasable area. There will not be any employees working in the addition except for routine maintenance and no new employees will be generated. Staff requested approval of this addition as an essential public facility and does not create any need for growth management mitigation. Bert Myrin asked if other offices wanted to use this as storage and would that be the same. Jennifer Phelan replied that if there was a front desk then there would be an employee there and would require employee mitigation; this was just purely containing the necessary mechanical for the City/County IT. Myrin asked if the spaces that were vacated by the storage in City Hall, The County Buildings or the Wheeler and placed in this storage area would those other vacated storage spaces be used for employees. Evans said they would have to mitigate at that time and there was a disclaimer in the resolution. Kristin VanHess, Stan Clauson and Associates, said she was representing Jodi Smith from the County and this should be considered an essential public facility. Jodi Smith clarified that it was a server equipment room that will keep the City/County operations going. Smith said the existing closets that they were vacating equipment were located in the basement of City Hall, Jail, Courthouse and Courthouse Plaza basement and could not be used for office spaces and there would be some equipment remaining in those spaces. MOTION: Cliff Weiss moved to approve Resolution #001-09 and recommend City Council approve the request for the exemption of growth management mitigation for 485 Rio Grande Place; seconded by Mike Wampler. Roll call vote: Myrin, yes; Gibbs, yes; Bloom, yes; Weiss, yes; Wampler, yes; Erspamer, yes. APPROVED 6-0. CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARING: ASPEN INSTITUTE GREENWALD PAVILION SPA AMENDMENT Erspamer opened the continued public hearing on the Aspen Institute Greenwald Pavilion. Jason Lasser, community development department, told the Commission there have been changes since the last public hearing. Lasser noted that the tent cannot be located on the utilities and pointed out where the utilities run. The tent is now north of the utilities. Another change is to reduce the width of the asphalt; there is a 6' wide asphalt cart path and a 16' gravel service truck area. Lasser said this reduces the amount of asphalt on the property. The cart path has been moved from 3 City Plannine & ZOnInE Meetine -Minutes -January 06 2009 the 15' top of slope strip. The applicant is working with the parks department who has approved the proposal with the idea it will be refined. Lasser said staff would like landscaping around the temporary port-a-potties. In the winter both the tent and port-a-potties will be gone. Lasser reiterated the Board approved the concept of limiting the use of the pavilion to 8 events. The Aspen Ideas Festival, which is one week long, would be considered 1 event. Lasser said the resolution of approval has 8 conditions, one of which is limiting the number of events. Staff recommends approval; the changes have improved the application. Gibbs brought up Section 5, fire mitigation, and the width of the road. In the winter when there is no tent, fire trucks would have no reason to go out there. Gibbs suggested eliminating the sentence that states, be careful plowing to not rip out the pavers. Lasser agreed that could be eliminated. Myrin asked if there is a concern, under essential public facilities review, if there are employees generated. Lasser said that is one of the reviews of the Board. The applicant provided an employee mitigation analysis and staff put a condition into the resolution that an audit should be done in 2 years to see if that is still the case. Myrin said his concern is going beyond 2 years and what happens and will employee mitigation be addressed. Jennifer Phelan, community development department, pointed out the applicants would have to apply for an SPA amendment to have more than 8 events. Myrin said his concern is that things grow over time and tents turn into permanent structures. Wampler asked about each event being 10 days long and that would take up almost the entire summer season and asked should this be limited to a number of days rather than a number of events. Lasser said the applicant requests an event counted as a week long; there needs to be some flexibility to develop new events or to phase out old events. Jim Curtis, representing the Aspen Institute, told P&Z the applicants have tried to respond to all the concerns heard from the Board. Curtis noted page 2, item 3, the Institute is fine with the number of events. Curtis said from 2005 to 2008 events at the Institute, the Aspen Ideas Festival is a 7 day event and every event thereafter is a one day event, an afternoon lecture. Curtis said "events" seems a more straightforward way to define what is allowed at the tent. Curtis said the applicant agrees with limiting the number of events and the prohibition against private parties. Curtis told the Board that in 2008, the Institute spent, for 4 events, $104,000 for shuttles, bikes and transportation mitigation. Curtis said the 4 City Planning & Zoning Meeting -Minutes -January 06, 2009 management of the Dalai Lama event and the transportation plan caused less impact on the west end than other events. Curtis said for the Paepcke Auditorium application and the affordable housing audit City Council eliminated the requirement to provide mitigation for any increase in employees after an audit in 2 years. Curtis said the applicants have no issue with providing an audit but request elimination of the requirement to mitigate for any increased employees. Curtis said limiting this to 8 events and based on the past 3 years experience, no new employees were required. Curtis said the 1991 SPA, the original documents both the Institute and the Music Association were found to be essential public facilities and in subsequent approvals for the Institute's renovations, the Council consistently acknowledged the Institute should be considered an essential public facility and the mitigation provision was deleted. Curtis requested that provision be deleted in this resolution. Weiss asked if the Music Associates had a commitment to transportation when they received approval for their new tent. Curtis said in the 1991 SPA approval, there was exhibit B, the transportation plan, which listed things the parties agreed to and those plans have been implemented, except for the closure of Fourth Street. Curtis said the buses travel down Third Street and exit on Fifth Street. Weiss asked what criteria staff is using to mitigate the traffic impacts. Tricia Aragon, city engineer, told P&Z she has worked with the Institute to develop an event mitigation plan, which will have the same goals as the 1991 Aspen Meadow traffic mitigation plan which is to mitigate the impacts on the west end through promoting alternate means of transportation, the pedestrian bikeways and traffic control for larger events. Myrin asked how the letter from the housing authority ties into the applicant's request to change the housing mitigation. Curtis said the applicant has no problem providing employee counts to city staff in two years or whenever is requested. Curtis said the applicant feels that it is just justified that they are an essential public facility and in recognition of that they should not have to provide mitigation for any increase in employees. Lasser said the housing office would like the data regardless and staff feels that is reasonable. Erspamer opened the public comments portion of the hearing. Paul Taddune, representing Pitkin Reserve homeowners, asked if any condition addresses the height of the tent. Curtis said the height is addressed on the drawings; it is 25'6" to the ridge. Ms. Phelan said the drawing with a specified 5 City Planning & Zonine Meetine -Minutes - January 06 2009 height can be an exhibit to P&Z's resolution or to Council's ordinance. Taddune said the height and dimensions were discussed at HPC and are of significant concern to adjacent property owners. Taddune asked what happened to plan B and the statement that the utility department did not favor it. Lasser said there was a development review committee meeting and read from the utilities department, "If in your comments moving the tent south over the utilities, you are saying that the tent with the accompanying pad will be over the utilities and not just the entrance, which was discussed and approved by the water department at the DRC, it is unacceptable". Lasser said the staff will not allow the tent to be located over the utilities. Taddune said he feels the alternate location is a better solution and solves more problems. Lasser said plan B was not reviewed by DRC prior to having it submitted to P&Z at the last meeting. If staff had reviewed it, it would not have been up for consideration. Taddune said the neighbors would like to see the color of the tent more compatible with the surroundings. Erspamer closed the public hearing. Weiss said he would like the limits of "events" changed to a number of days and suggested "not to exceed 20 days". Weiss agreed there needs to be a limit so that there are not 8 events lasting 75 days. Weiss said the limit is to address concerns about traffic and parking and overlapping with events at other venues. Weiss said there is frustration over transportation; however, it has more to do with Music Associate events and what promises they may have made in 1991. Weiss said the Institute has done what they can to address transportation and those impacts. Weiss agreed he likes plan B; however, he will accept staff's recommendation. Wampler said there is give and take in all applications; the Institute is asking for approval and P&Z has to trust they have the community's best interest in mind. Wampler said for the surrounding property owners, there should be a prohibition against something happening every day. Wampler said he would accept 20 days. Myrin suggested adding "as an essential public facility" before no private events shall be held as an explanation. Myrin noted in Section 6, the sentence that "no structures shall be permitted over the utility easements", he would like to see the easements before accepting that condition. Curtis said the 1991 SPA recorded agreement shows the easements. Gibbs asked if an essential public facility is not allowed to have private events. Lasser said that was a condition because noise affected adjacent property owners, not because this was an essential public facility. Gibbs said that qualifier may not 6 City Planning & Zoning Meetin¢ -Minutes -January 06, 2009 be necessary. Ms. Phelan said an essential public facility is one which serves an essential public service and is available for use by the public and meets the needs of the community. Ms. Phelan said the Institute does hold private events and it is not prohibited from doing so. Gibbs asked if the resolution defines the times during which the events are allowed. Curtis suggested this be the third Monday in June and ending the 4`h Friday in August. Curtis said he is comfortable with a limit of 20 days; he would like to confer with his clients on the time period. Gibbs agreed transportation is an issue; however, the larger impact is from the Music Associates. P&Z added the Aspen Institute transportations costs as an exhibit to the packet. Erspamer went through the conditions of approval in the resolution. P&Z amended conditions #3 to read "events at the Greenwald Pavilion shall be held on no more than 20 days per year". Weiss said if the applicants need to modify that in any one particular year, they can apply to P&Z. Ms. Phelan pointed out this is a recommendation to Council and they can consider the event limit. Weiss asked about adding a condition on the allowed height of the tent. Ms. Phelan said the site section and elevations and plan with the height noted will be added as an exhibit. Weiss moved to approve Resolution #35, Series of 2008, approving an SPA amendment and growth management review for asummer-only tent at the Aspen Institute, as amended; seconded by Gibbs. Wampler, yes; Myrin, yes; Weiss, yes; Gibbs, yes; Erspamer, yes. Motion carried. PUBLIC HEARING: 533 EAST HOPKINS (KENICHI RESTAURANT) GROWTH MANAGEMENT REVIEW LJ Erspamer opened the public hearing for the Kenichi Restaurant Redevelopment, 533 East Hopkins Growth Management Review for affordable housing. Jim True reviewed the legal notice. Drew Alexander, community development planner, summarized the Kenichi project as a 242 square foot expansion proposal to an existing restaurant use; it was an administrative review of a minor expansion of a commercial use but the expansion of new net leasable falls under the Planning & Zoning purview. Alexander stated that Kenichi was asub-grade restaurant. Alexander said an overview affects the calculation of employees generated thus affects the fee; basically there was a 25% reduction in the employees generated if it was asub-grade space and page 3 of the memo includes table 1.1 regarding the fee calculations. For affordable housing review there was a required recommendation from APCHA, which includes the acceptance and fee. Community Development 7 City Plannine & Zonine Meeting -Minutes -January 06 2009 Staff also recommends approval with the cash in lieu payment for the housing mitigation. Cliff Weiss questioned the math for the 25% reduction. Alexander replied under the table there was an explanation. Weiss asked the zone definition of basement space because for him that would mean 4 walls underground. Jennifer Phelan responded there was a definition for ground floor of a structure with the natural grade elevation of the surrounding area; these basement spaces have been dug around with a moat around and are considered basement space. Adam Ryan introduced himself and Brian Beasey from the David Johnston Architecture Firm. No public comments. Cliff Weiss commented that he did not entirely agree that this was a basement level and that they were entitled to this 25% reduction. Bert Myrin said that he had the same concern as Cliff and the code refers to sub-grade as the definition of an area was below the natural or finished grade of the ground. Myrin said that when you are in that restaurant you are certainly below the finished grade or ground and because the Housing Authority has supported this and that was why he would support this. MOTION: Bert Myrin moved to approve Resolution #002, series 2009, approving the Growth Management Review for affordable housing through acash- in-lieu payment for the property legally described as Block 94; Lots G-I, City and Townsite Aspen, 533 East Hopkins Avenue; seconded by Mike Wampler. Roll call: Gibbs, yes; Weiss, yes; Bloom, yes; Wampler, yes; Myrin, yes; Erspamer, yes. APPROVED 6-0. OTHER BUSINESS: ELECTION OF CHAIRPERSON AND VICE-CHAIRPERSON MOTION: Cliff Weiss moved to nominate to re-elect the chair, LJErspamer and vice-chair, Stan Gibbs seconded by Mike Wampler. All in favor, APPROVED. Adjourned at 6:45 pm. Cu, . ckie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk 8