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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20180924Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 24, 2018 1 CITIZEN COMMENTS ............................................................................................................................... 2 CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS ................................................................................................................... 2 CITY MANAGER COMMENTS ................................................................................................................ 2 CONSENT CALENDAR ............................................................................................................................. 2 Board Appointment ............................................................................................................................... 2 Minutes – September 17, 2018 ............................................................................................................. 2 ORDINANCE #29, SERIES OF 2018 – 230 Lake Avenue – Minor Subdivision ....................................... 2 ORDINANCE #23, SERIES OF 2018 – Changes to Title 24 of the Traffic and Motor Vehicle Code ........ 3 ORDINANCE #25, SERIES OF 2018 – Expanding Investment Options to include CHFA Debt ............... 5 ORDINANCE #24, SERIES OF 2018 – Sandwich Board Sign Regulations Code Amendment ................. 6 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 24, 2018 2 At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Skadron called the regular meeting to order with Councilmembers Frisch, Myrin, Mullins and Hauenstein present. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Toni Kronberg said election season is here. The city is taking pro con statements until October 1st. October 11th is squirm night. She said there needs to be more clarity in the numbers for city offices in value versus cost. 2. Ian Grey, city forester, said there will be open houses on October 10 and 17 from 3:30 to 7:30 at City Hall to talk about all things trees. They will showcase the new community forest management plan. CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilman Myrin said the Next Gen meeting is this week. He asked staff to share the appraisal of the Gravel Pit and 312 West Hyman lot sale. If there isn’t one for 312 he would like to have one. The Main Street crossings are still not consistent. If we are going to spend millions on the mobility plan we should get the crossings consistent. Scott Miller, public works director, said council has directed staff to talk about taking over all or parts of 82. We are close to coming back to you with that. We will have a decision for you soon. Councilman Hauenstein said I have a flag here from the 9-11 remembrance at the fire station. Each of the flags have a photo and a name to remember. Captain Martin Eagan Jr, division 15. Keep the first responders in our thoughts. Councilwoman Mullins also thanked the fire department for putting on the memorial. Mayor Skadron talked about modifying Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. From that conversation we started something called the Shining Mountains film festival. Sunday October 7, marks the 1st ever film festival. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS Steve Barwick, city manager, spoke about Amendment 74 – if approved, it would allow compensation to private property owners due to any government action or inaction. There are no minimums or exclusions. Any zoning, setback variance, paving, anything under the sun is eligible for a lawsuit for any amount that government action has changed the value of their property. This does not stop at city boundaries. CONSENT CALENDAR • Board Appointment • Minutes – September 17, 2018 Councilman Frisch moved to adopt the consent calendar; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #29, SERIES OF 2018 – 230 Lake Avenue – Minor Subdivision Sarah Yoon, community development, stated the property is located in the Hallam’s addition and the R6 zone. It was part of the 1977 approval with five conditions. One of them was any proposed dwelling requires HPC review. At the time it was an empty lot. This discussion is about the historic overlay to amend the condition to remove the HPC review. Since the original approval a building has been constructed. The existing structure is not historic and was never designated. Only properties on the Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 24, 2018 3 historic inventory or in a historic district are to be reviewed by HPC. Staff finds the criteria for a minor amendment are met. The public hearing is scheduled for October 22. Councilman Frisch said three neighbors get together and agree to come up with their own little deed restriction between themselves and lock themselves into an HPC regulation. Time goes on and all of a sudden they want to unwind a private deal, but they need to come here because that private deal got the stamp 20 years ago by the city. Chris Bendon, representing the owner, stated it was an outcome of the subdivision review by the council at the time. The context of that time period wat the HP program at the time was in its infancy. This application landed in the center of that. There were several legitimate historic resources on the property. This was a vacant lot. Looking back, there is nothing about the property that is historic. We are not sure why HPC would be reviewing this. It is a 1980’s building. There is no historic credibility to the property. Councilman Frisch said he is more concerned if outside people can make an agreement outside of council then change it years later. Jim True, city attorney, said to clarify, this was not designed to restrict the property to HPC rules. It was an area for it to go for review. The language did not bind it to HPC laws. Councilman Hauenstein, said the 7th whereas, is that council finds the development proposed meets or exceeds the standards. He is not sure why there would be historic review on it. I don’t see any reason why there would be any historic review on this property. I haven’t seen any development plans so I’m not sure why there is that 7th whereas. Phillip Supino, community development, said there are no development plans, it is boilerplate language. Councilman Myrin asked did the neighbors get noticed. Mr. Bendon said they will before second reading. Councilman Hauenstein Moved to read Ordinance #29, Series of 2018; seconded by Councilman Frisch. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #29 (SERIES OF 2018) AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO APPROVING MINOR AMENDMENT TO A SUBDIVISION FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 230 LAKE AVENUE, AS LEGALLY DESCRIBED AS LOT 16, HARMON GROUP TOMLINSON LOT LINE ADJUSTMENT PLAT, AS SHOWN ON THE PLAT RECORDED JANUARY 17, 1990 IN PLAT BOOT 23 AT PAGE 77 AS RECEPTION NO. 319178. Councilman Frisch moved to adopt Ordinance #29, Series of 2018 on first reading; seconded by Councilman Hauenstein. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Frisch, yes; Myrin, yes, Hauenstein, yes, Mullins, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #23, SERIES OF 2018 – Changes to Title 24 of the Traffic and Motor Vehicle Code Mitch Osur, parking, said there were work sessions April 2 and June 26. As we have raised prices in the core we have moved more and more vehicles into the residential zones. We are recommending four changes to council with the first no unattached non motorized vehicles may be parked in the residential zone. Residents may purchase three, three day permits per year. The second change is to residential permits. Starting November 15, a maximum of four resident and one guest permits per residence per calendar year and three for next year. Councilman Frisch said this is regardless of the size of house or lot. Councilwoman Mullins said this is also if they have a garage or a driveway. Mr. Osur replied correct. Councilman Frisch asked if staff talked about the equity or fairness if someone has a driveway that can hold two cars and a two car garage, and someone has a property with no off street parking they are treated the same. Was it discussed, or should we discuss it. Mr. Osur say part of it is we do about 1200 of these a year. That means I would Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 24, 2018 4 potentially have to visit all of those. Our policy is consistency. We treat everyone the same. We have not limited it to if you have a driveway or a garage. Councilman Frisch said it goes back to the fairness of let’s say sandwich boards. I would just be ready for that conversation to come up. Mr. Osur said the third change is oversized vehicles. They shall not be eligible for a residential permit or a guest permit. Oversized vehicle means any vehicle that exceeds any of the following. 24 feet in length, eight feet in width, eight feet in height, or a manufacture gross rating of 10,000 pounds or more. It doesn’t mean they can’t park in town. They can pay $8 to park in town just like anyone who doesn’t have a permit. The fourth change is in any residential time restricted zone, a vehicle is only permitted one visit per day during enforcement hours. The last change is to electric vehicles and NEVs. Hybrids will no longer be able to park for free in the residential zone because they are no longer state of the art. EVs and NEVs for 2019 will be able to park in residential zones for free. They will need to register with the parking department. NEVs can continue to park for free in the core but only for the four hour limit. Councilman Frisch said he will support where we are but thinks we should not be giving away any parking for any reason. He is happy to treat NEVs differently than normal electric cars. There was something in here that the city manager should sign off with the residential appeal, but I would rather keep it at the department level. Mr. True said he would suggest adding after city manager his designee. Mr. True said the charter states an ordinance goes in to effect 30 days after the second reading approval unless the ordinance itself sets forth a later date. In this instance Sections 1 and 2 are proposed to go in to effect November 15, that is when the residential passes circulate. The section about the EVs will not go in to effect until January 1, 2019 and unless renewed will terminate December 31, 2019. Councilman Frisch asked if we want that to terminate the end of next year. Mr. Osur said we did since there was some support that suggested that maybe in 20 we could charge the NEVs for a season pass. Councilwoman Mullins said she supported NEVs and EVs parking for free for the 4 hour limit. Mr. Osur said the majority of council decided EVs could park in the core for the 4 hours and both in the residential zone. Councilwoman Mullins said under recommended action, I think you are missing the last bullet point in the memo. Councilman Hauenstein said in Section 1, what is the enforcement now for a trailer. Mr. Osur said they can park for 72 hours then they have to move. In the residential zone you have to move every 72 hours with or without a permit. Councilman Hauenstein said you are saying you can’t park there without a permit. Councilman Hauenstein asked about clean air inspection. Section 3 says every vehicle should pay if they take up a spot. NEV or EV should not be treated any differently. There should be consistency with the 4 hour downtown and 2 hour residential. Mr. Osur said the way the residential zone works is you can park for free for 2 hours. The way the NEV and EV works is they can park for free in the residential zone all day anyways. They are treated differently in the core. Councilman Myrin said when the mailing goes out for the permits include the phase out for the four to three. Mr. Osur said we have a new policy for education. We sent out 1500 letters a month ago. We do a mailing in October. Everyone who currently has a permit has received a letter. Councilman Myrin asked is there a process to avoid issuing permits to oversized vehicles. Mr. Osur said there are 1200 residents who get residential permits and there are not a lot of oversized vehicles. Councilman Myrin said one visit per day in residential zones, how does that work. Mr. Osur said in the same zone, if you park in the A zone you can park there once a day for 2 hours. Then you have to move to a different zone. Councilman Myrin said a residential permit reduction from four to three you need to change the text from four to three. He asked for a comment about the garage. Mr. Osur said the garage is free from 5 pm from 5 am unless you work in a business in the city and talk to your manager then you can park from 3 pm until 5 am. We’ve had a few restaurant people take advantage of that. Councilman Myrin said the garage, we get emails that say it is full frequently is there a plan to add 30 spaces in the basement. Mr. Osur said we are working on a presentation and we will explain our philosophy. We would love to add 30 spaces but are not quite there yet. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 24, 2018 5 Mayor Skadron asked how to we hope the community will evolve from this. Mr. Osur said the unattached vehicles will eliminate storage on the street and make citizens happy. Those with trailers won’t be happy about it. Mayor Skadron said what then happens to the person storing the trailer. Mr. Osur said they find storage or someone’s driveway. He said he doesn’t anticipate an issue with the residential permits. Oversized vehicles might be an issue. There was a discussion about Sprinter type vehicles and daily use. Councilman Hauenstein asked if there could be a permit for these types of vehicles that are actually used for daily use. Mr. Osur said if that was the case everyone would say they are used daily. Mayor Skadron said the overall policy is to free our street parking from serving as mini storage. What are we really experiencing here. Is this the next chapter in Aspen’s maturation. We no longer have the capacity on our streets because of the number of people who are living here that allows the individual to pursue the lifestyles they want to pursue. There are implications to this policy far beyond the good things we are trying to initiate here. To some degree we are suggesting to people if you live in Aspen, think twice about living here because you can’t necessarily do everything in your life you want to be doing. If you want to be a snowmobiler, now there is no longer a space for you to store your snowmobiles. Councilwoman Mullins moved to read Ordinance #23, Series of 2018; seconded by Councilman Frisch. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE NO. 23 (SERIES OF 2018) AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO, AMENDING THE MUNICIPAL CODE OF THE CITY OF ASPEN BY AMENDING TITLE 24 TRAFFIC AND MOTOR VEHICLES Councilman Frisch moved to adopt Ordinance #23, Series of 2018 on first reading with amendment to add or designee to point C after city manager and to add (be) to point D; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Myrin, yes; Mullins, yes; Frisch, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #25, SERIES OF 2018 – Expanding Investment Options to include CHFA Debt Pete Strecker, finance, said this is a technical request to allow us to invest in CHFA bonds to allow us to be the construction lender for AHP projects. Mayor Skadron said this is not a money matter. Councilman Frisch said we are expanding investment opportunities. Mr. Strecker replied correct. We need to expand our ordinance to take advantage of what the state allows. Councilman Myrin asked what fund eventually will the money come from. Mr. Strecker replied the 150. Councilman Myrin asked how much. Mr. Strecker replied he thinks it is 16.9 million roughly. Councilman Myrin said that comes out of the housing fund. How much is in there now. Mr. Strecker replied 30 million. Mayor Skadron open the public comment. There was none. Mayor Skadron closed the public comment. Councilman Frisch moved to adopt Ordinance #25, Series of 2018; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Myrin, yes; Frisch, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 24, 2018 6 ORDINANCE #24, SERIES OF 2018 – Sandwich Board Sign Regulations Code Amendment Mr. Supino told the council this will extend the ordinance one year to September 2019. At which time there will be additional discussion. We are focused on one question tonight, how best to go about enforcing existing regulations the city has. Presently, sandwich boards are not a permitted sign type. However, those with a permit may be permitted with a date specific. There is the question of unpermitted signs that are displayed. Should they be allowed. There are questions among staff and attorney. What criteria would we enforce other than if it had a permit last year. Staff recommends adding language in the code to simply extend the date. There is alternative language which would grandfather permitted signs as well as any signs that were displayed as of September 12th of this year. This begs some question of the fairness of the inventory. Councilwoman Mullins asked are you recommending no enforcement. Mr. Supino said there is not language in the proposed ordinance about enforcement. We are not sure by what we would enforce other than the 2017 list of permitted signs. To date there are approximately 14 signs that have been displayed at one time or another without a permit. Councilwoman Mullins asked would you be trying to remove any signs that do not have permits. Mr. Supino said option 1 is if the sign is not on the 2017 permitted list it could be subject to removal. Councilwoman Mullins said it is challenging unless there is a series of fines and I don’t think we want to do something that aggressive. Jim Pomeroy, community development, said if they had either been in business when the rules changed or had wanted a sign they could have gotten one. It is a timing thing for many of them. Mr. Supino said the suggestion would be we would rely on the 2017 permit list. Mr. True said we are complaint driven. If there are complaints it becomes difficult for us to not enforce the code. Councilman Hauenstein said there is a moratorium on new permits. If you have a sign and no one complains you will allow it whether you were permitted in 2017 or not. If someone puts up a bootleg sign, unless someone complains you will allow it. Mr. Supino said the bottom line for us is without strong data about every sign in 2017 and every sign at the time you take action tonight, we are getting into soft legal ground as to enforce. Councilman Hauenstein said you are asking for flexibility in enforcement. If there is a complaint Jim will use the 2017 list. Mr. True said the difficulty is there are X number of signs that do not have the 2017 permit and will be non conforming. They are objects on the right of way. You could freeze this as objects as of September 28 and say these are objects and we are freezing the number of objects and they are ok under our code. Knowing right now there are X number that are out there. Councilman Hauenstein said this is the most flexible and gives a point to enforce from. Mr. True said what I’m suggesting is freezing and what they are suggesting is frozen from 2017. Mr. Supino said at what point in the day are you measuring the number of signs. Without firm data to support an enforcement action, our legal action gets more tenuous. It may be an outcome of that where someone is displaying a sandwich board without a permit for a number of months. Councilwoman Mullins said she will support option 1. You are on a little bit firmer standing when you get a complaint. We haven’t come up with a solution yet that is equitable to all the businesses in town. Councilman Frisch said to me I’m not here to punt but to continue a program that is best for the community. I’m fine with staff’s recommendation. Mayor Skadron opened the public comment. 1. Archie Eli, Aspen Psychic, said a year is a long time to wait to see if we can get it back. The sign I had was there for 16 years. At least allow what is out there to stay until the decision is made. Mayor Skadron closed the public comment. Councilman Myrin asked what is the penalty if someone puts out a sandwich board that doesn’t meet the requirement. Mr. Pomeroy said there is a fine schedule with a potential municipal court appearance. Councilman Myrin asked is there a way to have the ordinance allow a sign like Archie’s. Mr. True said the code was different when he had his sign enforced. Councilman Myrin asked can Archie buy space on Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 24, 2018 7 a sign that is for a building being torn down. Mr. True replied absolutely. If the sign is in existence and there. We can’t control what is on that sign. What you are talking about a business goes out of business and is not there that is a somewhat different conversation if the sign can be maintain. Mr. Supino said I would suggest if the business is no longer there they would be abandoning their permit. Councilman Myrin said he would have to find someone who has an existing business and share that sign. Councilwoman Mullins move to adopt Ordinance #24, Series of 2018 with Option 1; seconded by Councilman Frisch. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Myrin, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Frisch, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. Councilman Hauenstein moved to adjourn at 7:30 p.m.; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. All in favor, motion carried. Linda Manning City Clerk