HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.regular.20210427
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 27TH, 2021
At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Torre called the regular meeting to order with Councilors Richards, Mullins, and
Hauenstein joining via video conference. Councilor Mesirow was absent.
CITIZEN COMMENTS:
Miller Ford – Mr. Ford said thank you for his appointment to Next Gen and said he’s looking forward to
it. He’s working on a mental health agenda currently and said he has questions for council. The public
health budget was said to be running 4.2 million according to the Times and asked if that number seems
correct. Councilor Richards said that’s a county budget. He said he sent them all an article and hopes
they read it to develop a common vision, a strategy, and an action plan.
COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS:
Councilor Hauenstein reminded everyone to get vaccinated.
Councilor Richards said ditto to Ward’s comment. We need to get back to in person learning for
students and back to some normalcy.
Councilor Mullins said ditto to Rachel and Ward’s comments and that she hopes people are out enjoying
the nicer weather recently.
Mayor Torre said it’s off season and mentioned the parking rates will be reinstated May 3rd. During this
slow time in town, we need to have mental health awareness. We need to look at anxiety and a mental
health reset in May and this is a time to take care of ourselves.
CITY MANAGER COMMENTS:
Sara Ott said if someone in the community is looking where to get a vaccine, please direct them to
vaccinefinder.org. Also, there has been an ongoing regional conversation that is gaining traction. They
are asking what a positive recovery looks like from a COVID standpoint for the valley. They are working
with DOLA to have a regional conversation facilitated by community builders. She was on a call with 70
reps this past week to provide some framework for funding. Lastly, she’s asked Bill Linn to join tonight
regarding how CDOT will handle details on I-70 detours.
Mr. Linn updated council on what would happen if Glenwood Canyon were to close again due to a fire or
other emergency. CDOT is not planning to detour traffic at all. They are planning for closures to be short
(2 hours). Last year, the traffic was stopped at the canyon and sent much of the traffic up Independence
Pass. We want the pass removed from the rerouting options. CDOT has agreed to man the turnaround
rate at Independence Pass this year. We are prepared to deal with any surprises that come this summer.
Councilor Richards said she was concerned when she read the article in the paper. If they end up with a
more catastrophic event and have a long timeframe of closure, she’s concerned about westbound
traffic. She asks that they create a contingency plan for worst case scenario and asked how they will
monitor and work with the Twin Lakes side of Independence Pass.
Mr. Linn said that Lake County doesn’t have the staffing to man that side. CDOT can man some of the
time, but he’s not sure how long they will have the capacity to man it.
BOARD REPORTS:
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 27TH, 2021
Councilor Richards said that Colorado will be getting another congressional district. She said most of the
Club 20 group as a whole are endorsing that all rural counties should be kept together, and she’s
abstained from the votes on the endorsement. She sent to council the current congressional map and
the map that Club 20 has endorsed. This is a lot of shot in the dark for her. We will have a lot more
transparent and legitimate process, but she doesn’t know what maps they are currently looking at.
Councilor Mullins said she had CML last week but was unable to attend. Councilor Richards said she
attended the meeting and will give an update at the normal board reports meeting.
Mayor Torre said he had an ACRA board meeting with Mitch Osur regarding city plans for the summer. A
huge part of the meeting was about encouraging vaccinations and the herd immunity threshold. Lodging
this summer is looking promising and it will be a very busy summer in Aspen. We don’t want to feel
overrun by visitors and we want to create a positive experience.
CONSENT CALENDAR:
Mayor Torre pulled Resolution #042 – Certificate in Public Management Program.
Ms. Ott said this is a national program that several colleges throughout the country offer to assist public
sector employers. She equates this programming to the last year of your bachelor’s degree. It includes
everything from leadership innovation process, finances, human resources, etc. Aspen has been
negotiating with CU Denver to offer this program in the valley.
Mayor Torre said it’s great to strengthen our City of Aspen team.
Councilor Mullins thanked Ms. Ott for looking into this as continuing education is vital. She asked for
some details about Resolution #043 – Construction Change Order #1 for Burlingame Ranch Phase 3
General Contractor.
Councilor Hauenstein reminded the public that we study each of these items carefully even though we
don’t ask to pull all of them.
Councilor Mullins thanked Chris Everson for breaking down the reasons for the request. She said a big
part of is an escalation in material costs. She asked how much is left in the contingency.
Mr. Everson said this batch of change orders will not be the last. We will still have a little over 10% in the
contingency.
Mayor Torre read all of the items on the consent calendar.
Councilor Mullins motioned to approve the consent calendar; Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Roll call
vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
FIRST READING OF ORDINANCES:
Ordinance #05, Series of 2021 – City of Aspen 2021 Spring Supplemental Request – Pete Strecker,
Finance Director
Councilor Richards motioned to read Ordinance #05; Councilor Mullins seconded. Roll call vote:
Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 27TH, 2021
City Clerk, Nicole Henning, read the ordinance.
Mr. Strecker said that city sales tax was down 19% in December, 34% in January and 20% in February.
We had a large spike in COVID cases around this time and pushed us into the red zone and tourism
pulled back. This wasn’t how we wanted to start the year off, but March was phenomenal, and we were
up 15%, even over 2019. Travel interest is returning, and June is looking great. The airlines are
anticipating a big summer with increased daily flights, and a new direct flight has been added to Austin.
33% of Aspen is fully vaccinated and new cases are declining. The 2020 ending fund balance increased
59 million. Our spring supplemental is roughly a 40 million dollar ask.
Andrew Kramer, Budget Manager, went through the new requests, which represent 2.1 million dollars
of this packet. He said there are five new positions being added as well as the citywide reinstatement of
the merit program for employees, which is ongoing. The one-time additions included are for Planning
125k, Building 127k, Police 176k, Parks 188k, Golf Course 30k, and Employee Benefits 70k. He also went
on to explain the city savings program, which include central savings and departmental savings. He said
the Operating Carry Forwards are about 3.3 million and Capital Carry Forwards are about 29.1 million.
Councilor Mullins thanked them for the thorough presentation. She said they are in great shape for
second reading.
Councilor Mullins motioned to approve Ordinance #05; Councilor Richards seconded.
Councilor Richards said this is a happy supplemental due to what we went through last year. The city
showed great caution and restraint to get us to this good place.
Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Ordinance #06, Series of 2021 – Component Units 2021 Spring Supplemental Request – Andrew
Kramer, Budget Manager
Councilor Mullins motioned to read Ordinance #06; Councilor Richards seconded. Roll call vote:
Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Nicole Henning read the ordinance.
Mr. Kramer said that all funds have been discussed regarding compensation and for APCHA, there is a
spending increase. The other two items are transfers which needs to be made. These are all
straightforward increases.
Councilor Hauenstein motioned to approve Ordinance #06; Councilor Richards seconded. Roll call vote:
Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Ordinance #10, Series of 2021 – Fee-in-Lieu – Ben Anderson, Planner
Councilor Richards motioned to read Ordinance #10; Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote:
Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Nicole Henning read the ordinance.
Mr. Anderson shared slides and said the presentation is for all four ordinances. This is in response to a
work session that took place on April 12th. On April 20th, the Planning & Zoning Commission reviewed
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 27TH, 2021
the proposed amendments and provided recommendation in support (Resolution #03 Series of 2021)
with one addition. He said they chose to parse out the ordinances for tracking purposes, but please feel
free to consider them as a group.
Councilor Richards said she’s concerned about income off of rental properties in the calculations. We
haven’t been able to see 50% proceeds after maintenance and repairs. This is addressed once every five
years, so it will be locked for a period of time. She wants to see this move forward but is concerned. She
would like staff to work with finance and APCHA to look at additional revenues that have been allocated
to rental properties.
Mr. Anderson said it’s a fair question and fair point and he will try to bring back some information in
response to her request.
Councilor Richards also suggested that category 2 is a little low for mitigation. She also asked him to look
at this for a future conversation.
Councilor Mullins supported and thanked Rachel for her in depth analysis.
Councilor Mullins motioned to approve Ordinance #10; Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote:
Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Ordinance #11, Series of 2021 – Four Improvement to AH Credits Program – Ben Anderson, Planner
Councilor Mullins motioned to read Ordinance #11; Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote:
Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Nicole Henning read the ordinance.
Mr. Anderson said these are four relatively minor improvements. Planning and Zoning is supportive of
these ideas in general. They want us to work on underlying problems related to the credits program and
hopefully give more certainty and security.
Councilor Mullins said she is supportive and said it was well explained in the memo.
Councilor Richards said it seems reasonable to her. She said this is worth seeing how it plays out.
Mayor Torre said he also has some reservations, but he sees the benefit and is willing to see how it
plays.
Councilor Mullins motioned to approve Ordinance #11; Councilor Richards seconded.
Councilor Richards noted that there’s nothing in the HPC guidelines about a 100% affordable housing
project.
Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Councilor Richards said she would love to see examples at second reading of how many actual
bedrooms it would create.
Ordinance #12, Series of 2021 – Multi-Family Replacement – Clarity and Clean-Up – Ben Anderson,
Planner
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 27TH, 2021
Councilor Hauenstein motion to read Ordinance #12; Councilor Richards seconded. Roll call vote:
Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Nicole Henning read the ordinance.
Mr. Anderson said this is just a clean-up and no major changes.
Councilor Richards said she understands this is just a clean-up, but she thinks it would be valuable for
council to see some past examples of how multi-family replacement has been used in the community.
Let’s make sure we’re looking at the full history of this and take a look back as we look forward.
Councilor Hauenstein asked for clarification on specific sections and Mr. Anderson explained.
Councilor Mullins motioned to approve Ordinance #12; Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote:
Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Ordinance #13, Series of 2021 – Lodge Credit and Incentive – AH Mitigation – Ben Anderson, Planner
Councilor Richards motioned to read Ordinance #13; Councilor Mullins seconded. Roll call vote:
Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Nicole Henning read the ordinance.
Mr. Anderson said this item also came out of council discussion and changing priorities. In 2017, council
eliminated existing credit for commercial development and lodging wasn’t included in that discussion. In
redevelopment scenarios, unless a lodge project was previously mitigated for their lodge rooms, their
existing lodge rooms don’t go as credits towards their mitigation and also eliminating the incentive
around lodging size and lodge density that provide mitigation breaks.
Councilor Hauenstein asked for a definition of boutique lodge. Mr. Anderson read the definition as
between 10 and 14 lodge units.
Councilor Hauenstein motioned to approve Ordinance #13; Councilor Mullins seconded. Roll call vote:
Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Council took a 15-minute break and reconvened at 7:15 p.m.
PUBLIC HEARINGS:
Ordinance #08, Series of 2021 – 1001 Ute Avenue Subdivision/PD | Minor Amendments to Project
Review and 8040 Greenline Review – Kevin Rayes, Planner
Applicant, Chris Bendon of Bendon Adams, showed the parcel onscreen broken into lots. He explained
how the TDR program came to be while he was the Community Development Director for the city and
how it works. He showed 1011 and 1001 Ute Avenue on screen from an aerial view and where the TDR’s
would land on each property.
Councilor Richards said there is a staff recommendation of denial in the staff memo. One of the key
factors behind the recommendation is if this property is redeveloped. That FAR would stay with the
property and be developed differently. She asked Mr. Bendon if he has any language or conditions to
assuage the concern of staff and councilmembers.
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 27TH, 2021
Mr. Bendon said he doesn’t have any specific language. He thought it might be an issue, but Leatham,
the owner, has no interest in redeveloping the property. But at some point, maybe.
Mr. Rayes said this hearing is on lot 1 and lot 2. Each lot has 5040 above grade floor area built to the
max allowed. This was memorialized in Ordinance #24, Series of 2006 and is located in the R15 zone
district. The applicants are interested in expanding these dwellings. They have open porches currently
and this would increase the FAR of each house. They should meet the following goals: 1. There exists a
significant community goal to be achieved through such variations. 2. The project is compatible with or
enhances the cohesiveness or distinctive identity of the neighborhood and surrounding development
patterns including the massing and scale of nearby historical or cultural resources. Staff feels the criteria
is not met and they are recommending denial of this request to land TDR’s within the 1001 Ute Avenue
Subdivision/PUD and denial of 8040 Greenline Review.
Councilor Richards asked where TDR’s are allowed to land in the city. Mr. Rayes said in the R15 zone
district, if a property has a net lot area below 15,000 sq ft. and it’s non historic, one TDR can land there.
If it’s above, then two TDR’s can be landed there.
Mayor Torre opened the public hearing.
Jeff Halferty – Mr. Halferty said he is an HPC member of 22 years. He knows Leathem and Chris pretty
well. He said when the TDR program was created, it was meant to take care and preserve. This is exactly
what the program does. He feels this is a great way to use the TDR program.
Mayor Torre closed the public hearing.
Mayor Torre asked if it’s possible for the applicant to ask for fewer TDR’s and Mr. Rayes said they
certainly can if the applicant is open to it. Mr. Bendon said they are open to that.
Councilor Hauenstein is not going to support this. The square footage that is there now is beyond what
it should be.
Councilor Mullins said the TDR program is very important to town. She thanked Chris for putting
together this program in the first place. She said we need to be careful in terms of getting out of
balance. We don’t want to end up with developments that are way too large, and she supports denial.
Councilor Richards said she is torn. When you look at the subgrade floor area on these projects, it
doubles or triples the size of the house. Applicants need to think about next generations of owners as
well, so it also doubles her down on wanting to discuss what subgrade FAR is doing to our community.
To hear that homes are up to this much FAR, she can’t go forward with hiding TDR’s there, so she’s
voting no on this.
Mayor Torre agrees with council. He has an issue with 8040 Greenline Review. He can’t support four
TDR’s on one property.
Mr. Bendon said the city’s mitigation does count basement space and he said they would be willing to
hold open for whatever that new mitigation rate is and backfill fees.
James R. True said that if council in some sort of modified plan or further negotiations, he highly
suggests continuing this item.
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 27TH, 2021
Councilor Richards said she is supporting Ann and Ward’s positions and doesn’t need to see alternate
language.
Councilor Hauenstein said based on the information provided from 2006, he would like to move to deny
Ordinance #08; Councilor Mullins seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes;
Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Council took a five min break and reconvened at 8:41 p.m.
Ordinance #09, Series of 2021 – To Extend the Effective Dates of the Provisions for Face Covering
Regulations – James R. True
Mr. True said this doesn’t technically have to be a public hearing under emergency ordinance, but it’s
the Mayor’s decision to take public comment or not. Based on discussion that occurred at first reading,
he’s proposed language to consider continuing with a face covering but not mandated outside. You can
adopt as written or adopt with the amended language. The mask indoors would continue to June 7th.
This would require a unanimous vote tonight.
Ms. Ott said she wants to clarify the data most recently received from Pitkin County. She said 62% of the
county has been vaccinated so far and the goal is to reach 70% by the end of May. The CDC has released
information about wearing masks outdoors as of this morning and have said it is ok to not wear one if
distance can be maintained. Pitkin County has indicated that they will keep an indoor requirement.
Councilor Mullins said she saw the CDC statement this morning. It sounds similar to what Pitkin County
will be proposing.
Councilor Richards said she is really concerned about enforceability. She asked how people can follow
this on the Hyman mall. Governor Polis had a press conference today with a doctor who said the most
rapid increase they are seeing is among children. They believe this is because of the variance which
spreads more easily. She’s comfortable with the expiration of June 7th for masks outdoors and said it’s
only 40 or so more days in the name of public health.
Councilor Hauenstein said we have a high supply of vaccines and can’t give them away. He doesn’t think
we need an outdoor face covering with social distancing. If you’re fearful or uncomfortable, it’s your
option to wear a mask. It’s time to let this expire. There are 10% of people who choose not to be
vaccinated. It’s everyone’s choice. He doesn’t want to extend.
Mayor Torre his take is similar. He’s in favor of amending with Jim’s alternate language. He doesn’t want
to adopt the ordinance as written. He likes option two because it still has us requiring masks if social
distancing is not maintained and when indoors. It’s a culmination of the CDC report and it being off-
season. He was one of three people out walking around today on the mall. It’s a time where we can
allow it to happen right now.
Councilor Mullins said she could support this as written, but she could also go with option two.
Mr. True reminded council that if there aren’t four votes, this ordinance will die.
Mayor Torre opened public comment.
Mayor Torre closed public comment.
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 27TH, 2021
Councilor Richards motioned to approve the ordinance as written; Councilor Mullins seconded.
Councilor Hauenstein said can’t support it. He will go with option two. This will be same as county and
enough evidence for no masks outdoors.
Roll call vote: Hauenstein, no; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, no. 2-2, motion failed.
Councilor Hauenstein motioned to approve option two; Councilor Mullins seconded.
Mr. True said specifically section 2.1b and section 2.2b would be deleted and section 2.2c would be
amended to read that if indoor or outdoor and cannot maintain a distance of six feet, regardless of
duration, a mask shall be worn.
Councilor Richards said she will vote with the majority.
Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried.
Councilor Hauenstein motioned to adjourn; Council Mullins seconded.
Councilor thanked all of the members for their attention to these difficult matters tonight.
Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, no (because she couldn’t before); Mullins, yes;
Torre, yes. 4-3, motion carried.
_______________________________
City Clerk, Nicole Henning