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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.regular.20210511 1 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MAY 11TH, 2021 At 5:12 p.m. Mayor Torre called the regular meeting to order with Councilors Richards, Mullins, Mesirow, and Hauenstein joining via video conference. SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES: Mayor Torre announced two proclamations for the Month of the Young Child and Arbor Day. Councilor Mullins read the Month of the Young Child, which was presented by Shirley Ritter, Kids First Director. Ms. Ritter shared her screen and played a video of children at the Red Brick because they couldn’t come to council in person this year. Mayor Torre read the second proclamation for Arbor Day. Matt Kuhn, Parks Director, said a few words and introduced David Coon, City Forrester. Mr. Coon said they are excited to be celebrating Arbor Day this Saturday in Paepcke Park from 9-11 a.m. There will be activities and rides for kids and will be doing a demonstration on planting trees. This will be the 29th Arbor Day in Aspen. PUBLIC COMMENT: Lee Mulcahy – Mr. Mulcahy said he is grateful for many things. He has an exhibition in Chicago next week and is excited. He asked about the executive session earlier this evening. Mayor Torre confirmed that Mr. Mulcahy was on the agenda for the executive session. He read an excerpt from the Aspen Times regarding APCHA. He said his family left peacefully, and he begged council not to do this to his mother. Mayor Torre closed public comment. COUNCIL COMMENTS: Councilor Mullins said she’s going to be leaving a bit early tonight. Councilor Richards said she will be away from Aspen until June 1st so she will miss the next regular meeting. She said she will be attending the Club 20 board retreat in Grand Junction this weekend. Councilor Hauenstein said he is pleading with everyone to get vaccinated for the good of the community and for your own health. He will also be out of town next week but will be in attendance virtually. Councilor Richards asked everyone to please get vaccinated. She read a report that said 99% of people hospitalized this year with COVID, were not vaccinated. Councilor Mesirow wished Ward and Rachel great trips and said they’ve earned them. He’s lucky to be back from a trip of his own and said there is nothing like leaving Aspen to make you appreciate it when you get back. Mayor Torre said there has been a request from bike rental shops in town about utilizing the right of way for their rental fleets. In order to maintain limited capacity in the shops and manage people, they’d like to have a fleet available outside. This summer, use of the ROW, has been approved for restaurants and not retail. But this is a bit different of a situation. Phillip Supino, Community Development Director, said they are happy to entertain support for local businesses. Staff feels confident about responding to this. 2 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MAY 11TH, 2021 Councilor Mesirow remains supportive of them using the ROW this summer. We want to avoid pitfalls from last summer, but he has no problem with this. Councilor Richards said it to her it looks like bike shops have rented spaces that aren’t big enough for bike shops so she can see this coming back next year and it’s not due to COVID. This is awkward. We are taking money out of the paid parking fund to give these parking spaces away. She’s not going to say no, but we need to take a closer look at this. Councilor Hauenstein said he doesn’t like one offs. We said no retail for the summer. If this is classified as a service instead of retail, then maybe it can be justified. He is supportive of the shops being able to use the ROW. It’s good for the community and they played by the rules last year, so he hates to see them penalized. Councilor Mullins said she is in support. They were categorized as an essential service last summer and they did a great job. The spaces leased were adequate two years ago, but with COVID, the demand for bikes has exploded. Let’s give some flexibility again this summer and take another look next summer for normal use of the ROW. Mayor Torre is torn. There are good points on both sides. He wants to issue a forewarning that this won’t be permanent moving forward and is relief in a difficult time. Councilor Richards said that we should find out from Mitch Osur what the cost has been to the parking department. Sara Ott said that staff should remind these shops of the 6-foot rule for the ROW same as the restaurants. Please do this in form of a motion so we have clear direction from you. Councilor Hauenstein asked to make this a formal resolution for the next meeting. Ms. Ott asked for a motion for clarity. Councilor Mullins motioned to allow bike shops in the ROW with the 6-foot rule observed as well as barriers; Councilor Mesirow seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS: James R. True, City Attorney, announced that council completed the executive session and do not need to reconvene this evening. Ms. Ott said that beginning June 1st, city council and other commissions can meet in person again and city staff will be back in offices. They have some options as the city is offering two days of remote work and three days in office. The public will have a short check in process upon entering city hall. We’re excited to see everyone back. Mayor Torre gave appreciation and kudos to Ms. Ott. A lot of people have been chomping at the bit to get together and be in public spaces. You’ve done a great job balancing health and safety while also creating access. You’ve really tried to make as many community assets as possible available. Ms. Ott said she will pass this along to staff as well for all of their hard work. 3 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MAY 11TH, 2021 BOARD REPORTS: Councilor Mullins said she hasn’t had any meetings but will be really busy coming up. She has RFTA, CML, Sister Cities, Ruedi, and CCLC. She thinks it would be helpful to put who is on what board on the city website. It might be useful for people to have this information. Mayor Torre said he is supportive of that. Councilor Hauenstein said has RFTA and Sister Cities coming up. He said Sister Cities is having a meeting in the Sister Cities plaza on Thursday at 5:00 p.m. for a dedication to Don Sheeley. Mayor Torre will have some words of dedication. Councilor Mesirow had no updates. Councilor Richards said she has the Club 20 board retreat this weekend. She voiced some concerns about APCHA. Mayor Torre asked her if she thinks they are moving in a positive direction. She said Diane is doing a great job in the interim director. It’s important to get a good director in there. There are important management issues coming forward. The staffing of APCHA is skeletal and she sees a need for some real economic analysis, but not sure we have the staffing for it. Mayor Torre said he has Board of Health this Thursday. CONSENT CALENDAR: Mayor Torre pulled Resolution #047, Series of 2021 for discussion. He asked Tyler Christoff, Utilities Operation Manager, about the disparity in some of the quotes and bid prices that were presented. Mr. Christoff said there hasn’t been much electric work in Aspen in a number of years. Many of the contractors haven’t done work in Aspen and are not familiar with the City of Aspen. Councilor Hauenstein motioned to approve the consent calendar; Councilor Richards seconded. Mayor Torre said he appreciates the meeting minutes, and he feels the clerk is doing a great job with them. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow; yes, Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. PUBLIC HEARINGS: Ordinance #05, Series of 2021 – Spring Budget Supplemental – Andrew Kramer, Budget Manager Mr. Kramer summarized the ordinance for council and said the request is 40 million. The only change from first reading is for $75,000 to APCHA for the remodeling project due to additional renovations. Mayor Torre opened public comment. Mayor Torre closed public comment. Councilor Hauenstein motioned to adopt Ordinance #05; Councilor Richards seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. Ordinance #06, Series of 2021 - Spring Supplemental APCHA and Component Unit Funds – Andrew Kramer 4 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MAY 11TH, 2021 Mr. Kramer said the only change is the aforementioned $75,000 and an oversight to add the capital carryforwards to this document which were all preapproved. Mayor Torre opened public comment. Mayor Torre closed public comment. Councilor Richards motioned to approve Ordinance #06, Series of 2021; Councilor Mesirow seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. Ordinance #10, Series of 2021 – Land Use Code Amendment – Affordable Housing Fee-in-Lieu Update – Ben Anderson, City Planner Mr. Anderson said this ordinance and the others to follow are a direct response to Council direction and conversation at a work session on April 12th, 2021. On April 20th, 2021, the Planning and Zoning Commission reviewed the proposed amendments and provided recommendation in support (Resolution #03, Series of 2021), with one addition. Mr. Anderson said the consultant team is also present tonight if council has questions on the FIL methodology for Julie Herland of TischlerBise and Tyson Smith of White and Smith Planning and Law Group. Staff is recommending approval as presented of this ordinance and all others presented tonight. The highlights of Ordinance #10 include: 1. Use actual land and development costs from real projects. 2. Identify land, soft and hard development costs per square foot of net livable. 3. Identify Total Development Costs per FTE (400sf of net livable = 1 FTE). 4. Identify revenue per FTE by Category – APCHA sales and rental rates. 5. Subtracts revenue per FTE by category from total costs per FTE. 6. = fee-in-lieu by category. He showed a table which shows the fee-in-lieu per category. They are also proposing a yearly evaluation which includes an annual update in quarter one, using Engineering New Record’s National Construction Index. This would be a request to Council in the form of an ordinance, and new cost calculation using actual projects and land acquisitions as possible every five years. He addressed a question from council at first reading. Mayor Torre opened public comment. Peter Fornell – Mr. Fornell thanked council for working so hard on this. He addressed the rental rate issue and asked them to take the private sector approach and add your rental rates based on prior year actuals for those buildings. This is the easy way to do it. He encourages them to include the private sector to be part of the solution. The council continued to have discussion with Mr. Fornell. Mayor Torre closed public comment. Mayor Torre asked Mr. Anderson to elaborate regarding Mr. Fornell’s point and discussion continued. Councilor Mesirow motioned to approve Ordinance #10, Series of 2021 with the condition that staff looks into land cost inflation a year from approval; Councilor Richards seconded. Mayor Torre said he greatly values Peter’s suggestions and concerns. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. Ordinance #11, Series of 2021 – Certificates of Affordable Housing Credits – Improvements – Ben Anderson, City Planner 5 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MAY 11TH, 2021 Mr. Anderson said the proposed amendments for Ordinance #11 are: 1. To provide clarity that AH Credits projects can be pursued in conjunction with other state or federal incentives for affordable housing development. 2. Allow for phased issuances of AH certificates to correspond with construction phasing. 3. 1.2 Multiplier for FTEs generated within a designated historic structure. 4. Flexibility for credit issuance in the deed restricting of existing free market multifamily residential development. He addressed a question from council at first reading. Councilor Richards thanked Ben for showing the math and the difference it would make. Mayor Torre opened public comment. Amos Underwood – Mr. Underwood said he has an issue with the multiplier effect. By giving a multiplier away, you are disincentivizing more affordable housing, so he doesn’t think it’s a good idea at all. Peter Fornell – Mr. Fornell said regarding phased issuance, he supports it completely. With regard to the multiplier, let’s let someone build a dollar and a quarter worth of work instead of giving them 1.25 worth of credits. Mayor Torre closed public comment. Councilor Richards said we can’t guarantee the number of FTE’s per given unit. This creates a little more value for those who want to turn a historic structure into an affordable housing project. She wants to move this forward. Councilor Hauenstein wants to move this forward. Councilor Mesirow said he wants to move this forward as is. He doesn’t want to send it back or overcomplicate it. This is the breadcrumbs of the program and they are all important. The really meaty stuff is in the hopper, but it needs to be done right and this is the first step. Mayor Torre asked for clarification regarding Amos’ comment. Mr. Anderson said he makes a fair point and staff definitely thought about it, but they still feel that it incentivizes affordable housing. Councilor Richards motioned to approve Ordinance #11, Series of 2021; Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Mayor Torre thanked Peter and Amos for calling in to share their thoughts. He had a huge issue with the multiplier at first, but as Rachel pointed out, we haven’t seen one of these completed yet, so if it’s not working for our advantage, we will revisit. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. Ordinance #12, Series of 2021 – Multi-Family Replacement – Ben Anderson, City Planner Mr. Anderson said this ordinance doesn’t have anything significant as far as policy change. This is a clean-up of the current code for readability and clarity. Councilor Richards made it clear that this ordinance has nothing to do with the multi-family discussion that is coming up next and Mr. Anderson confirmed. Mayor Torre opened the public comment. 6 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MAY 11TH, 2021 Peter Fornell – Mr. Fornell asked Mr. Anderson if this pertains to green market conversion to deed- restricted. Mr. Anderson said this is one of the possibilities here if multi-family units are replaced or redeveloped. Mr. Fornell said for the benefit of the next generation, we are losing the opportunity for people that don’t fit the mold for deed-restricted to buy free market real estate. We should put weight on this. Mayor Torre closed public comment. Councilor Richards motioned to approve; Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Councilor Hauenstein said he understands Peter’s point, but he doesn’t think anyone is losing an opportunity with these rundown marginal places. Mayor Torre said they will keep an eye on what Peter was saying and there is more work to be done here. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. Ordinance #13, Series of 2021 – Elimination of Lodge Credit and Incentives – Ben Anderson, City Planner Mr. Anderson said this ordinance is a reflection of some community priorities. Staff is proposing to eliminate the following: 1. Lodge density and unit size incentive. 2. Employee generation credit for existing lodge rooms in redevelopment scenarios. Councilor Hauenstein said this addresses his biggest regret from his first term regarding the Lift One corridor and loss of workforce housing mitigation so he is happy to see this go away. He thanked staff. Councilor Richards dittoed what Ward said. Councilor Mesirow said he supports this. He doesn’t feel they need more lodging in town. He asked how we can look at diversity of lodging as opposed to more lodging. Mayor Torre opened the public hearing. Mayor Torre closed the public hearing. Councilor Hauenstein motioned to approve Ordinance #13, Series of 2021; Councilor Richards seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. Resolution #046, Series of 2021 – Policy Resolution – Code Amendment – RMF and RMFA Zone Districts – Ben Anderson, City Planner Mr. Anderson said there are two parts to this. If council wishes to approve this resolution in a public hearing, we will then have first reading for a proposed Ordinance #14. This has been proposed by a third party. Council gave permission for the applicant to apply via Resolution #16, Series of 2021 and public outreach has been done. The purpose is to determine if council wishes to evaluate the merits of the proposed amendment. If yes, the council should approve the policy resolution and allow the ordinance process to proceed. If no, council should deny the policy resolution and the amendment will not proceed to first reading. Mr. Anderson described the proposed changes and explained the public outreach process. He explained that a resolution recommending approval was presented to P&Z and they voted to neither approve nor deny. One member clearly stated support, one member clearly stated opposition 7 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MAY 11TH, 2021 and four members had various reasons for not wanting to pass the resolution. Staff is recommending approval of Resolution #046 Series of 2021. Council asked several clarifying questions of Mr. Anderson. Applicant Presentation: Chris Bendon of Bendon Adams representing applicant, Tridell Real Estate. Mr. Bendon shared a map of Aspen with the proposed areas of town. He gave details on the RMF zone districts. He verified the language as Mr. Anderson described, adding to allow lots of 3,000 square feet for multi-family. He provided an analysis of mass and scale and a comparison of affordable housing and parking. He provided feedback from the community survey and said most respondents are full time residents and showed low support for additional density. He summarized the opinions and comments from the planning and zoning commission. Council asked questions of Mr. Bendon and Mr. Anderson and discussion continued. Mayor Torre opened public comment. Jim VeShancey – Mr. VeShancey said his comments have to do with community interest. Most of the community feedback has been negative. At the P&Z meeting, there were 36 people from the community present and every person spoke out against this resolution. If you have seen letters from the public, they are mostly universally against this. Michael Smith – Mr. Smith said he agrees with Jim. He said Rachel raised an interesting question and it goes to how the public feels about this. He has a residence in this district and feels this needs to be studied more. Get rid of the fee-in-lieu for parking. If you are going to allow max density, you have to go back to on-site parking. He thinks the city planning department needs to do more study on this. Mayor Torre said he would like clarification on the 81%. Mr. Bendon said 19 out of 100 respondents were supportive. Peter Fornell – Mr. Fornell said parking makes him mad. He thinks cars are a temporary affliction and he’s tired of this. Urban sprawl is a terrible thing. He wants to see people living in town and not stretched out. Marilee Susi – Ms. Susi has been a resident of east Aspen since 2005. She said this impact is far more than what is being presented. Mr. Bendon’s clients are out of town developers. Employee housing is not an incentive in this project, but just a profit-making project. There would be a tremendous amount of tree removal. The buildings will be square and monolithic structures with homes looking into other homes. She really believes that what is being shown, is not what is going to be built. A lot of the employee housing would not be on the property and he said this in the P&Z meeting. She said she disagrees with Peter and said everyone in Aspen has a car. We would be talking about at least 200 cars plus their guests. Sheri Sack – Ms. Sack said she is a full-time resident of this neighborhood. These changes must be made in a thoughtful way with impact studies and analysis. This proposal is not that. This is an independent one-off regulation change coming from a financially motivated entity not familiar with the neighborhood. Do this the right way and when done properly, it is easier to accept even if the 8 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MAY 11TH, 2021 community doesn’t agree with it. It’s great to say, in theory, that parking doesn’t matter, until you have to park your car. Jim VeShancey – Mr. VeShancey said at the P&Z meeting, the members were very conflicted with only one who was in support. He reiterated that this meeting is a perfect example of why community interest is not very strong. Mayor Torre closed public comment. He mentioned all of the emails from the public that have come in addition to the comments tonight. Councilor Mesirow said he lived in this zone district for a number of years. This is being pitched as an opportunity to house more individuals locally. Housing is our number one goal, but he doesn’t see this happening. If he thought this would deliver full-time, year-round, working residents, he could support it, but he doesn’t see that. These will just be more empty apartments. He won’t support or move this forward, as written. He could entertain, moving forward, is what would achieve people living in these units. Councilor Hauenstein said he cannot agree to send this forward. He doesn’t see any community interest in approving the amendment. Councilor Richards said she always looks at what the future is for our community with every decision that is made. She appreciates the comments and letters that they have received. She made clear for the record, that when APCHA discussed this and made a recommendation of support, she abstained and did not participate. There should be a larger look at this. She will not be supporting this tonight but feels there should be a larger look at all of the zone districts. She worries that all the affordable housing program has done is to allow commercial landlords to charge exorbitant rents that they never could get if they had to pay people a living wage in Aspen. Mayor Torre thanked Chris for his application and said the conversation tonight has been good. For him, in a different time, this could be an embraced proposal, but that is not the times we are in. He agrees that this should be looked at across all zones. Code changes like this should be beneficial to the community. Chris Bendon asked to make a few last comments. He feels this is a compromise worth pursuing. Councilor Mesirow thanked Chris. He appreciates this in a static environment, but this doesn’t hold weight for him in a dynamic environment. If we are going to consider more density, making sure it’s all RO, is the way to do it and then we can have our cake and eat it too. Councilor Richards said she appreciates Chris’ effort although she feels it’s not fully baked. She has a heavy heart about saying no, but it needs to be a little more comprehensive. This gets really challenging because we’re part of a community who wants our cake, wants to eat it and doesn’t want any calories. Mr. Bendon said the client is asking to continue this item and possibly work with staff on some of these issues. Councilor Hauenstein said this could come back later as another resolution with some changes made. He is still going to vote no on Resolution #046. 9 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MAY 11TH, 2021 Mr. True said this resolution could come back at a later date and isn’t in the position to continue and be modified. He suggested to pass and have first reading of the ordinance or to vote to deny this resolution. Phillip Supino, Community Development Director, asked to work with the applicant and bring back a clean and new resolution at a later date. Mayor Torre said he thinks that is the best path forward. He doesn’t hear the support for as proposed. Councilor Richards and Hauenstein both agreed with Torre. Councilor Hauenstein moved for denial of Resolution #046, Series of 2021; Councilor Mesirow seconded. Roll call: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. Councilor Richards motioned to adjourn; Councilor Mesirow seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. _______________________________ City Clerk, Nicole Henning