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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20110523Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 23, 2011 HISTORIC PRESERVATION AWARDS..............................................................................................................2 CITIZENPARTICIPATION................................................................................................................................2 COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS....................................................................................................................2 CONSENTCALENDAR.....................................................................................................................................3 • Minutes — April 26, May 9, 2011.......................................................................................................3 • Resolution #33, 2011—Contract for 2011 Street Improvement Project..........................................3 • Resolution #34, 2011—Smuggler Mountain Open Space Water Rights...........................................3 • Resolution #35, 2011—Valley Fine Arts Lease..................................................................................3 • Resolution #38, 2011—Vehicle Replacement Contract....................................................................3 RESOLUTION #36, 2011 — Wheeler Restaurant Lease...................................................................................4 ORDINANCE #14, SERIES OF 2011— Code Amendment — Affordable Housing Criteria................................5 ORDINANCE #17, SERIES OF 2011— Code Amendment Solid Waste............................................................6 ORDINANCE #18, SERIES OF 2011—Supplemental Appropriations..............................................................6 RESOLUTION #37, SERIES OF 2011—Contract Ice Garden Compressor.......................................................6 REDUCINGBOTTLED WATER IN ASPEN.........................................................................................................7 RESOLUTION #31, SERIES OF 2011—Appeal Floor Area Ratio Code Interpretation.....................................8 1 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 23, 2011 Councilman Skadron called the meeting to order at 5:05 PM with Councilmembers Torre and Johnson present. HISTORIC PRESERVATION AWARDS Council and Sarah Broughton, Historic Preservation Commission chair, presented the 22°a annual historic preservation awards. These awards went to the Cortina lodge; Paepcke Auditorium, the Red Onion, 1291 Riverside Drive, and Triangle Park. The Elizabeth Paepcke award was presented to Jim Markalunas in recognition of long-time leadership and commitment to historic preservation. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION 1. Dawn Shepherd asked Council to consider supporting a community initiative, "meatless Mondays". Ms. Shepherd said this encourages people to not eat meat once a week to promote health and to help the environment. Ms. Shepherd said 20 restaurants have committed to a meatless entree beginning in June. Ms. Shepherd asked for support with the ZGreen citizen's certification page where it discusses diet. There is a correlation between meat consumption, CO2 emissions and water use and she would like the meatless Mondays included in ZGreen newsletter and some health promotion from Council. Councilman Torre said he has forwarded this to staff and would like some evaluation from the Board of Health for suggestions. Councilman Tone said incorporating this into the ZGreen program should be discussed further at a work session. 2. Andrew Kole, CCLC, said they support the request for funding for entertainment on the mall. CCLC started the program and garnered outside funds for the program and would like to see it continue. Kole told Council CCLC sent out a letter to all vendors in the Saturday Market that bottled water will no longer be sold. Kole said he hopes the water fountains are operable and there should be cups available for people who do not want to buy a bottle for water. Kole suggested allowing non -profits and kids buy the bottles from the city at cost and to sell them at the market to make money. Kole told Council there is a space for the first 6 weeks that has been offered to the bottle program. Councilman Tone said he would like to discuss "Six at Wagner" which may fall under the funding request to make a gathering, pre -dinner social spot. 3. Rob Ittner, Rustique Bistro, asked that Resolution #36, Wheeler Restaurant Lease be taken off the consent agenda. 1. Councilman Johnson said the Lacrosse tournament held last weekend in Aspen was a big success with a lot of families in town. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 23, 2011 2. Councilman Johnson announced the housing frontiers group is meeting tomorrow at 8AM in the Rio Grande meeting room to talk about ideas and sources of capital reserve funding. 3. Councilman Johnson noted Aspen mountain will be open for skiing this weekend, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday from 10 AM to 2 PM. 4. Councilman Torre commended city staff for a well run the criterium this weekend. Councilman Torre said he talked to participants and there were a lot of first time-ers. 5. Councilman Torre asked about the parks department sod give-away. Jeff Woods, parks department, told Council the parks department needs to scrape off 2" of sod at Iselin park before installing artificial turf. This will be given away free, first come first serve, this week. Councilman Torre said the reason for artificial turf is to extend the season of playing on Iselin field. 6. Councilman Torre said he was surprised to learn that Bentley's is closing June 61h and that corner will be dark for the 4`h of July weekend. Councilman Torre asked if Council is interested in extending the availability of Bentley's for an extra month. Randy Ready, assistant city manager, said the original lease was extended to July 15`h in order to get through the 4`h of July. The operator has decided he wants to terminate and close June 7`h. This will allow the demolition to start sooner and the project will be completed sooner. Councilman Torre said he would like to know what the operator wants to continue operation until July. 7. Councilman Skadron noted the Given Institute has withdrawn their request for an appeal of fees. (Mayor Ireland came into the meeting). 8. Councilman Torre said there is a Ruedi Water and Power Authority meeting next week. 9. Councilman Skadron said RFTA Board has a presentation on BRT. RFTA also discussed what is allowed on the trail system. Congressman Scott Tipton has indicated he may not support the BRT grant. CONSENT CALENDAR Mayor Ireland moved to adopt the consent calendar as amended; seconded by Councilman Torre. The consent calendar is: • Minutes —April 26, May 9, 2011 • Resolution #33, 2011 —Contract for 2011 Street Improvement Project • Resolution #34, 2011 — Smuggler Mountain Open Space Water Rights • Resolution #35, 2011 —Valley Fine Arts Lease • Resolution #38, 2011 —Vehicle Replacement Contract All in favor, motion carried. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 23, 2011 RESOLUTION #36, 2011— Wheeler Restaurant Lease Councilman Johnson said one issue is that CAM, common area maintenance, is not addressed; however, there is no need for a typically defined CAM as this property has no common area. Councilman Johnson noted the rent increase is off the base rent and there is no mechanism for inflator, 3% or cpi, whichever is greater. Councilman Johnson said the required hours of operation are stated in the application but they are not in the lease. Councilman Johnson said another issue is the base rent plus a percentage rent after a certain threshold. In the lease, there is a cap for the first 3 years of $145,000 and why is this cap needed when the city is giving this tenant a favorable rent for them to be successful and the city should participate in that success. Randy Ready, assistant city manager, said this is the first time the city has gone into a percentage of gross and there is no cpi increase built in. The negotiations were based on the assumption that business will increase and the percentage to the city will increase. The base rent of $117,000 will be paid for the first $1.5 million; anything above that, the city will get 8% of that gross profit. That does have a cap. Ready told Council the hours of operation will not be an issue; the tenants propose to be open year round. Councilman Skadron asked if the difference of size for the new restaurant at 2618 square feet is taken from Valley Fine Arts. Jeff Pendarvis, asset management, said some of the space comes from Valley Fine Arts and some comes from efficiency of relocation of walls. Mayor Ireland agreed there should be participation in the upside. The city is providing 2500 square feet of space for $145,000. Councilman Skadron asked for public comments. Rob Ittner, Rustique Bistro, questioned the affordability clause and how that is addressed. Ittner said this is viewed as the city government subsidizing an asset in exchange for maintaining affordability in this restaurant. Ittner said Council needs to determine what "affordability" means as one restaurant cannot necessarily be compared to other restaurants. Ittner said if this restaurant's prices are lower, they will take business away from other restaurants. Ittner pointed out this lessee will not pay property taxes or have CAM charges. This space is being subsidized at some level to create a community space, which is a good thing. Ittner said being part of the restaurant community in Aspen is being part of creating the best dining area in the world. Ittner said one question is why is the city creating a subsidized lease and the major reason is the affordability clause. The city needs to clearly define that clause. Councilman Torre noted along with the subsidized status for the lease is that part of the operation requirements is that the tenants be open throughout the off season; they do not have the flexibility not to be open. Ready reminded Council hours were spent on the affordability clause with the restaurant consultants, the overseeing group, tenants. Ready said when Council used the affordability clause for the Cooper Street Pier building, the data was to survey all the restaurants in town and be in the bottom third. Ready said this requires agreement on 5 comparable restaurants, full service sit down with table service with similar types of cuisine. The group picks 5 common menu items for comparison. It is the tenant's intent to be affordable. Michelle Kiley, tenant, said only in Aspen does a restaurant tenant pick up the entire CAM cost. Ms. Kiley said many people now consider $45/square foot to be market rate. Ms. Kiley said she Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 23, 2011 requested the upper end cap because they are raising money for the construction and the cap is to help answer to the mandate of affordability. Ms. Kiley said the tenants are committed to making this a great community resource. Ms. Kiley pointed out generally in bar/restaurants, a lot of money is made in the bar and the tenants do not want the Wheeler Bar and Grill evolving into a large bar operation. Councilman Johnson said he would like the 3 issues - CPI increase, the cap and the standard operating procedures, to be addressed before Council adopts the lease. Councilman Torre moved to continue Resolution #36, Series of 2011, to May 24 at 4 PM; seconded by Councilman Johnson. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #14, SERIES OF 2011— Code Amendment — Affordable Housing Criteria Sara Adams, community development department, told Council projects that require growth management review for affordable housing are reviewed by P&Z to make sure they meet certain criteria. One of these is affordable housing units 50% of the net livable area is required to be above grade with no flexibility to vary this requirement. Staff proposes to keep the 50% but allow flexibility through special review with criteria based on the livability of the subgrade units. The main reason for this requirement is to prevent unlivable spaces; however, there is no differentiation between livable and unlivable. The code amendment proposes specific criteria to provide quality tradeoffs through extra storage, larger units, and more natural light, private patios. The code amendment takes into account the impact of these units on the neighborhood. This code amendment responds to steep grades. This is discretionary and is based on a recommendation from the housing board. Staff recommends approval of this code amendment. Councilman Skadron opened the public hearing. Mitch Haas told Council he has worked with this requirement over the years and the problem is how to design a building on a slope where part of the unit is underground. There is uncertainty for the designer when one won't find out if the units are acceptable until halfway through the process. Haas requested Council add some certainty to this, what is acceptable, what is being avoided and add those to the standards. Councilman Torre asked if this code amendment comes with aspirationals. This code amendment is alleviating some issues by making this a case by case review. Councilman Torre said this amendment is trying to give some flexibility without listing every criterion. Ms. Adams read the purpose of the code amendment, recognizing the developer has options. Councilman Skadron closed the public hearing. Councilman Johnson moved to adopt Ordinance #14, Series of 2011, on second reading; seconded by Councilman Torre. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Torre, yes; Johnson, yes; Skadron, yes; Mayor Ireland, yes. Motion carried. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 23, 2011 ORDINANCE #17, SERIES OF 2011— Code Amendment Solid Waste Ashley Cantrell, environmental health department, told Council the purpose of this code amendment is to allow trash haulers to start hauling compost. Ms. Cantrell said the definition of compost is a general accepted definition. Councilman Skadron opened the public hearing. There were no comments. Councilman Skadron closed the public hearing. Mayor Ireland moved to adopt Ordinance #17, Series of 2011, on second reading; seconded by Councilman Torre. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Johnson, yes; Skadron, yes; Mayor Ireland, yes; Councilman Torre, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #18, SERIES OF 2011— Supplemental Appropriations Don Pergande, budget director, told Council this increases the total appropriation from $84.8 million to $102.9 million. Of the $18.1 million in requests, the majority or $12.5 million, of those are carry forward funding requests; $3 million is the carry forward savings program and $2.5 million is new requests, most of which Council has reviewed. Pergande outlined the new funding requests. Councilman Skadron asked if the Wheeler chiller system is related to the restaurant space. Pergande said it is not. Councilman Skadron asked about the Kids' First funding. Shirley Ritter, Kids First, told Council these are not city funds; they are outside grants and contracts and allocated for services in Glenwood. Councilman Skadron asked if the money in the water fund is related to the hydro project. Pergande said the $200,000 for the Thomas reservoir spillway to create an unmanned mitigated route for safety in the event of an overflow and is not part of the hydro project. Councilman Skadron asked if the $367,000 expenditure for the Ice Garden compressor was expected or budgeted. Tim Anderson, recreation department, told Council when the staff did maintenance several years ago, they found the parts are no longer available. Anderson said staff also found out the EPA is phasing out R22 Freon, which is being used and needs to be replaced; the compressors are not going to last. They have lasted 50 years and the EPA has mandated the change. Mayor Ireland asked what is offsetting funding. Pergande said these could be grants or transfer of funds. Councilman Skadron opened the public hearing. There were no comments. Councilman Skadron closed the public hearing. Councilman Johnson moved to adopt Ordinance #18, Series of 2011, on second reading; seconded by Mayor Ireland. Roll call vote; Councilmembesr Torre, yes; Johnson, yes; Mayor Ireland, yes; Councilman Skadron, yes. Motion carried. RESOLUTION #37, SERIES OF 2011— Contract Ice Garden Compressor Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 23, 2011 Councilman Torre moved to adopt Resolution 437, Series of 2011; seconded by Mayor Ireland. All in favor, motion carried. REDUCING BOTTLED WATER IN ASPEN Ashley Cantrell, environmental health department, reminded Council they directed staff to figure out what to do about bottled water. Ms. Cantrell told Council she has worked with businesses, CCLC, HPC, Saturday Market, parks and the water department to come up with a plan. The goal of this is to reduce the amount of bottled water purchased in Aspen and to generate awareness around plastic water bottles. Ms. Cantrell said staff purchased bottle filling stations in order to have them on hand to be installed before food & wine. These stations will be installed at the Rio Grande skate park to replace an existing fountain, outside city hall and attached to the wall on the mall bathroom building at Wagner Park. Ms. Cantrell told Council these will have separate meters so that staff can tell how much this program is being used and to try and equate that to some reduction in purchasing bottled water. Ms. Cantrell said another part of this campaign is purchasing water bottles that will be uniquely Aspen and selling these to recoup the costs. Ms. Cantrell said these can be sold at the Saturday Market by non-profit youth organizations for fund raising, paying the city for the bottles and keeping the rest for their fund raising. Ms. Cantrell told Council she discussed this some retailers and the bottles will be available for any of these to sell in their stores. The third part of this project is outreach, making sure the hotels are informed. Most hotels have their own deals with bottles. There will be an Aspen Tap sticker that can be given to hotels to stick on their bottles. Ms. Cantrell said to gauge success the city will stay in touch with businesses to check the awareness and check with grocers to see if there is an increase or decrease in bottled water sales. This is being funding by the environmental health and water department savings. Mayor Ireland suggested information on the sticker telling where the refill stations are. Ms. Cantrell said there will be maps and information about the program; however, she did not want the water bottles to have too much information that could be outdated. Councilman Torre suggested an in -room card for hotel rooms with maps for filling stations and other information. Ms. Cantrell suggested some facts on the Aspen Tap bottles with cards or attachments for the more temporary information. Councilman Johnson suggested a line below "Aspen Tap" such as "Better than bottled" or "Established in 1880" so that Aspen Tap is more directed towards water. Ms. Cantrell said the bids for bottles come in early June and staff would like to be ready to go with the project as soon after that as possible. Councilman Johnson said he will work with staff on how to get the next step realized. Councilman Skadron suggested a bolder color option for the logo on the bottle. Councilman Skadron said a goal is something one can quantify and what measurements will there be in this program. Ms. Cantrell said the measurement will be the increase in tap water and checking the meters. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 23, 2011 RESOLUTION #31, SERIES OF 2011— Appeal Floor Area Ratio Code Interpretation Chris Bendon, community development department, reminded Council this appeal of a code interpretation was continued from the last Council meeting. Bendon noted an updated code section from the original interpretation. Bendon said there was a delayed effective date on the code amendment, which he missed in his interpretation. Bendon said prior to the amendment, the code stated floor area includes that floor area within surrounding exterior walls of a building or portion thereof. The code talks about the definition of floor area ratio as the total floor area of all structures on a lot divided by the lot area to figure out how much structure is on that lot. Bendon said that with the indication of measuring a portion of the building, staff feels that the code predicts that there may be cases where a portion of a building lies on a lot with a need to figure out how much floor area is on that lot in order to calculate floor area ratio. Bendon said that does not materially change the code interpretation. Bendon noted applying for a code interpretation does not provide one with a vested right in an old code. Bendon said the code says floor area is attributable to the lot or parcel upon which it is developed and also talks about portions of a building. Staff feels this means if a portion of a building is physically situated on a lot, the floor is attributed to that lot. Bendon said at the last Council meeting, they requested some outreach to the owner of lot 1 of the Hill house condominiums. Bendon told Council he sent a letter to one of the owners of lot 1 who sent an e-mail stating she is open to discussing these issues with the city. Bendon told Council there was an unsuccessful mediation among these parties. Bendon said the mediation is independent of the code interpretation and staff recommends the interpretation be upheld as there was due process and it is within the director's jurisdiction and there was not an abuse of discretion. Mitch Haas, representing the applicant, said several remedies were suggested at the last meeting. Haas said the only way to resolve this is to move the boundary line, which cannot be done without the consent of the other owners of the Hill house, which does not seem possible. Haas said the only thing that occurred to him was having Wiener go through a voluntary historic designation and apply for a TDR which Wiener could then give to the neighbor. Mayor Ireland moved to approve Resolution #31, Series of 2011; seconded by Councilman Torre. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Torre moved to go into executive session pursuant to C.R.S. 24-6-402(4)(e) Determining positions relative to matters that may be subject to negotiations; developing strategy for negotiations; and instructing negotiators; seconded by Councilman Johnson. All in favor. Mayor Ireland moved to come out of executive session at 8:25 PM; seconded by Councilman Torre. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Torre moved to continue the meeting to May 24`s at 4 PM; seconded by Councilman Johnson. All in favor, motion carried.