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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.05152019 1 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MAY 15, 2019 Chairperson Jeb Ball opened the meeting at 8:42 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Bill Dinsmoor, Jeb Ball, Kiki Raj, Charles Cunniffe, Terry Butler. Absent were: Amanda Tanaka, Steve Fante and Angi Wang. Staff present: Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk Mitch Osur, Parking Services Director Jim True, City Attorney Other attendees: Councilman Ward Hauenstein MOTION: Mr. Dinsmoor moved to approve the minutes of April 17th, Mr. Cunniffe seconded. All in favor, motion carried. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: Mr. Dinsmoor said he would like to speak later regarding the airplanes west of us and bring the board up to speed on what he has learned. Mr. Hauenstein said he would like to get CCLC’s comments on the proposed tobacco ban as well as the city manager hiring process. Mr. Cunniffe said the team who is working on the new city offices project would like to come make a presentation to CCLC at some point and would like to get this scheduled. NEW BUSINESS: Alternatives for the Saturday Market Mr. Osur said that he and Mr. Ball spoke with Parker Lathrop in the fire department about putting the booths back to back in the middle of the street. Mr. Lathrop said he would be ok with a 16-foot fire lane as opposed to a 20-foot fire lane. Mr. Osur said, however, that he spoke with a few of the vendors about doing this and they hated the idea. Mr. Cunniffe said he loves the way it is now and thinks the layout really works as a community gathering place. He said he disagrees with accommodating 2nd tier spaces, but he was also absent last time for the executive session with Jim True. Mr. Hauenstein asked how many 2nd tier businesses are affected by this and Mr. Ball said it’s just a few. Mr. Hauenstein wondered if we are creating a bigger issue if we’re just dealing with a couple of businesses. Mr. Cunniffe suggested holding it on Monarch where the arts fair takes place because the park is there to take some of the relief and there are no 2nd tier businesses. Mr. Osur and Ms. Butler agreed that they like having it in the middle of the core. Mr. Cunniffe said that once you start the degradation, suddenly the vendors who actually qualify are being diluted and it’s not fair to them. The market would lose it’s character and we don’t want that to happen. Mr. Dinsmoor said that we don’t have to give them a 10x10 booth anymore and asked why we are doing that anyway. Mr. Cunniffe suggested doing a red carpet or an obvious entryway or walkway into the retails stores to bring people in. He said it’s a lot easier to get people into their stores than get the retailers out into the market. Mr. Osur said that he and Mr. Ball can speak with Mr. True about this next week. Mr. Hauenstein suggested in the interest of transparency and openness, having three boards weigh in on the options and see what they prefer. Mr. Cunniffe liked this idea and said it can be viewed as we are trying to be more inclusive without interrupting the flow of the market. Ms. Butler said that in twenty years, they’ve had almost no problems like this until they started having the Mary Catherine’s 2 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MAY 15, 2019 pop up. Mr. Cunniffe said the bottom line is that the market generates people presence in town and if someone says it affects their business in a negative way, that’s bs. These people wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for the market. NEW BUSINESS: Georgia Brown / Pure Barre Mr. Ball filled the board in on what is happening with both businesses. Ms. Henning also distributed a letter from Shane Brown to the board. There was discussion about Mr. Brown pulling out of the market four weeks early last week as well as no application being submitted this year. MOTION: Mr. Dinsmoor motioned to deny allowing Georgia Brown and Pure Barre into the market for 2019 due to not complying with the rules, Ms. Butler seconded. All in favor, motion carried. Mr. Dinsmoor gave an update on the airport issue. He said the airport is looking at autonomous and electric airplanes. He said they are being told that they have to consider a larger plane and expand the airport. It’s well on its way and the planes are being made by Lester Crown. We were told before this thing started, there are a number of wealthy folks in Aspen who have these plans and have lobbied to make this change. Our question is why we are doing this. He said that Rifle is interested in accommodating. Mr. Cunniffe said that he has been going to these meetings for a long time and specifically meetings involving Rifle and he said they are not interested, but he doesn’t want to comment further on this topic. Mr. Hauenstein said that FIA has control over the runway and the taxi way. Once you get to the terminal, that is where the county has control over growth. The separation between the taxiway and the runway at our current airport is out of compliance. We are being required to be in compliance now and we’re going to have to do the runways and limit the growth by the number of gates in the terminal. Mr. Dinsmoor said that for him, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. FLAVORED TOBACCO: Mr. Hauenstein asked the board how they feel about flavored tobacco. Ms. Raj said she feels it’s culturally punitive. Mr. Osur said he feels the city should get rid of flavored vaping first and then deal with flavored tobacco later. Mr. Hauenstein said that he is against all tobacco. When we outlawed alcohol, we spun organized crime. It bothers me that at 21 years old, you can make your own bad decisions. Mr. Cunniffe agreed and said its nicotine candy. Ms. Raj said they can all agree on that. Mr. Cunniffe said he supports just banning it all together. Mr. Dinsmoor agreed as well as Mr. Ball and Ms. Raj. It’s easier to support a total ban, than just a flavored ban, said Ms. Raj. Mr. Osur expressed his concern about this and said it will never fly. Mr. Cunniffe said they are not making a decision, just a recommendation. Mr. Osur said the board is here to represent the retailers and you feel comfortable telling your community this? Mr. Cunniffe said that council will make its own decision and we all feel that tobacco doesn’t belong in town. Mr. Osur said the board should be voting based on how the community feels. Mr. Hauenstein said that council has heard the first reading and the ordinance can be approved on the second reading. 3 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MAY 15, 2019 Mr. Cunniffe said that the board represents the commercial core in the interests of the community. He thinks it’s better if people aren’t smoking it here, but if we are creating a better atmosphere in our local area. It would improve the perception of what Aspen is. Ms. Raj agreed and said there should be no use of tobacco in the core and then later we could ban tobacco sales in the core. Mr. Hauenstein mentioned Mike at Local’s Corner and said it would be an economic hardship for him to stop selling tobacco products. Mr. Dinsmoor said he agrees with Mr. Cunniffe. It says a lot about a healthy environment to not have any tobacco products here. The cost to the community is greater to keep it around. MOTION: Mr. Dinsmoor motioned to approve no sale of tobacco products in the core, Ms. Raj seconded. All in favor, motion carried. MOTION: Ms. Raj motioned to approve no public consumption of any tobacco products, Mr. Dinsmoor seconded. All in favor, motion carried. Mr. Osur said if you have a law and it is not enforced, we look like a bunch of idiots. Ms. Raj asked Mr. Hauenstein if he would convey CCLC’s discomfort with selectively banning flavored tobacco at next Monday’s council meeting and Mr. Hauenstein agreed. ENGAGEMENT ZONES: Mr. Osur said the engagement zone proposal is still moving forward and he will present to the new council after they are assembled. He said he would still like for CCLC to be the approvers of these applications. TIRE CHALKING: Mr. Osur said there is a big debate about chalking tires and is now against the law and considered a trespassing item. He said the issue came about around seven years ago when GPS tracking devices were being installed on cars of mobsters. The US Supreme Court made a ruling that you can’t anticipate someone breaking the law and said it’s a 4th amendment issue. In the same vein, it is against the law to touch a vehicle if it’s hasn’t broken the law. You can chalk the ground around tire, but you cannot touch the tire. He said that most states are going to follow this process. Beginning June 1st, chalking tires here in Aspen will no longer be allowed. MOTION: Mr. Dinsmoor moved to adjourn at 9:55 a.m., Ms. Raj seconded. All in favor, motion carried. _______________________________ Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk