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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20091117Continued Meetin¢ Aspen City Council November 17, 2009 Mayor Ireland called the meeting to order at 4:08 p.m. with Councilmember Skadron, Romero and Torre present. Councilman Johnson was recused due to conflict of interest. RESOLUTION #96, SERIES OF 2009 - Extension of Vested Rights -South Aspen Street Chris Bendon, community development department, reminded Council this was continued from last week's regular meeting due to the late hour. Bendon said this request to extend vested rights is for the townhouse project approved in 2003, 14 free market townhomes and 17 affordable housing units. Bendon said staff felt approval of this project was inconsistent with the Aspen Area Community Plan which calls for lodging at the base of Aspen mountain. This property is zoned for lodging. Bendon noted after this approval, the city adopted changes to the zone district that would affect this property. Bendon said staff supports pursuing lodging on this site and the applicant is in a COWOP for a lodge project on this property. Bendon noted there have been several iterations of a lodge project as well as the Lift One neighborhood master plan, which was a year long planning process. Bendon said there have been previous extensions of the townhome project based on continued pursuit of a lodge. Bendon told Council the vested rights on this project expire January 2011 and there is a request to extend the vested rights to January 2016. Bendon told Council this request is more time than necessary to sustain pursuing a lodge. Bendon said there are options on the length of the extension based on what is necessary to sustain the lodging discussion and a reasonable time to restart a building permit process if the lodging discussion ends. Councilman Torre asked how many extensions there have been on this property. John Sarpa, applicant, said it has been two or three over 6 years. Mayor Ireland asked if there are policy reasons for not granting an extension. Bendon said if the Lodge at Aspen Mountain project is not approved, staff feels six to twelve months is what is necessary to restart the townhouse application. Council's support for extensions have been based on getting lodging on this property. Sarpa, Aspen Land Fund, told Council over the last 4 months the proposed lodging project has had significant change and redesign. The scale and mass have been reduced; the visual impacts have been changed. Sarpa stated his objective is to have the comfort to be able to continue with the lodging approval process. Sarpa told Council the applicants are in negotiation to extend their existing loans. In the bank's assessment, in order to give breathing room for their collateral, they have requested a minimum of 3 year extension of the vested rights to 2014. Sarpa said adding six months to the end of the current extension would not be enough time to go through the process, file a plat, and get a subdivision improvement agreement approved and a development order. Sarpa noted if the hotel were approved tomorrow, it takes several years to complete the process. Sarpa noted there is architectural work as well as legal work to be completed after approval. Mayor Ireland asked what work on the Continued Meetin¢ Aspen City Council November 17.2009 ~,... hotel has to do with extended vested rights on a project that will not be built if the hotel is approved. Mayor Ireland said Council has stated if the lodge is approved, the townhouse approval goes away. Sarpa said it would be unwise to let go of the vested rights of the townhouses approval prior to the time the hotel project could be built. Things can go awry between approval and actual development. Mayor Ireland asked why the city should approve an extension for something they do not want to see built. Sarpa said the applicant is trying to work out an arrangement with their lenders to let the applicant work that out with the city. An extension is the value of the lender's approval. Sarpa noted there is no right to build until the plat is done, until the subdivision is approved, until the development order is approved. The lenders want to keep their collateral until there is a right to build something. John Worcester, city attorney, noted if the COWOP is approved by Council, the approval does not go into effect for 30 days during which time a petition could be filed to refer the project to the voters or a 106 action in District Court, both of which hold the approval in abeyance. Mayor Ireland said in the previous approval of the Lift One neighborhood master plan, the city provided that the townhouse approval stayed until the COWOP approval was final. Mayor Ireland said the city has never had the intent of making the townhouse approval disappear and he would not have an issue with a condition stating that townhouse approval stayed until the Lodge at Aspen Mountain was ready to go. Mayor Ireland said extending vested rights is not to increase one's collateral. Sarpa said the triggers previously agreed to were that the vested rights for the townhouses expired upon the acceptance of the master development agreement, which follows the subdivision agreement and the platting, which could take up to 4 years. Sarpa said this extension could be for 3 yeazs or the signing of the master development agreement. Sarpa noted the bankers have given what they feel it would take to be comfortable that their collateral is protected. Sarpa said he is requesting the minimum amount of time for extension to continue with the hotel project. Bendon said one option is a replacement extension for the townhouse project is handled as part of the ordinance approving the lodge project. Bendon told Council the applicants work with the new COWOP has made a lot of progress and they aze redesigning the lodge project. Bendon said he feels the extension of vested rights for the townhouses has an effect on the continuation of the lodge project. Councilman Romero said the current expiration for the townhouses in January 2011 and he is confident there will be a decision on Lodge at Aspen Mountain before them. The conditions of approval can address these overlaps and the detailing of the documents. Lennie Oates, representing Alpine Banks, said their position is that they support the applicant's proposed resolution and an acceptable extension of the vested rights will be a necessary condition of any extension of the applicant's loan with Alpine Bank. Councilman Romero asked if the bank is requesting a minimum 3 year extension. Oates said they would like a longer extension but they need a minimum 3 year extension. Continued Meeting Aspen City Council November 17, 2009 Councilman Romero concurred the on-going COWOP for lodging solution by this applicant is positive, and it would be unfortunate to have that process come to an abrupt halt. Councilman Romero said the approval of a townhome project on this land helps to assemble some value on this land. Councilman Romero said Council is not asked to opine on land values but this extension would show the community a level of assurance on the COWOP review continuing forward. Councilman Romero stated he would consider a vested of less than 5 years knowing that a lodge application will take at least 2 or 3 years to get through approval and documentation. Councilman Romero said he would be willing to approve 2 years on top of the January 2011 expiration. Councilman Skadron noted staff's option 2 allows the expiration date of the townhomes to move with pursuit of the lodge application. Councilman Skadron asked if that is the same goal as Councilman Romero's. Councilman Romero stated that does not fully address the concerns of the bankers. Mayor Ireland said his concern is that the applicant has a vested right to build; however, the applicant may not ultimately own the land and build the project. Subsequent owners could ask the city for the right to get out of some of their obligations. Mayor Ireland said he would prefer not to see townhouses built on this property. Mayor Ireland stated it makes his leery to have two simultaneous sets of approvals for very long. Bendon noted as soon as the lodge discussion is over, it is denied or withdrawn, there is a 6 months buffer for the townhouse project. If the lodge is approved, the approval ordinance could deal with the vested rights for the townhouse. Sarpa said that type of approval would throw the applicant into turmoil. Sarpa told Council he is trying to find a minimum way to extend the vested rights for the townhouses that will satisfy their bankers. Sarpa said the 6 month buffer option does not work for the bankers. Councilman Romero asked if 24 month buffer would work. Sarpa said he would have to discuss that with the bankers. Council took a recess. Sarpa told Council his bankers have said 24 month extension is good, longer than that would be better. Mayor Ireland said 24 months seems like a lot of time and once the applicant pulls out of the process, they should be able to act more quickly than that. Councilman Skadron said he would support option 2 modified to 24 months. Mayor Ireland opened the public hearing. Toni Kronberg said she is on the COWOP and would like to see this awin/win situation. The COWOP is making great gains and is working hard toward an acceptable project. Ms. ICronberg said the townhouses are inconsistent with the Aspen Area Community Plan and she supports the premise of lodging on this property. Ms. Kronberg stated she would rather see 3 or 5 year extension so there is no lapse in time and that the developer would be forced into building townhouses. Cliff Weiss, P&Z member and COWOP member, said it is difficult to determine when that process will be done and suggested Council approve a 3 year extension. David Continued Meeting Aspen City Council November 17, 2009 Schoenberger, COWOP member, agreed this COWOP is doing an incredible job and he would like to see approval of a 2 or 3 year extension. Schoenberger said he feels the final product of the COWOP will be supported by Council and he would like the developer to have time to succeed. Councilman Romero moved to approve Resolution #96, Series of 2009, extending to January 28, 2013, using the language in option 2, mirroring the 24 months period for the statutory vested rights for the South Aspen subdivision PUD, for 24 months of the cessation of the process but no later than 2013; seconded by Councilman Torre. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Torre moved to adjourn at 5:20 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Skadron. All in favor, motion carried. /~~~~ ~~ Kat .Koch, City Clerk 4