Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.regular.20200609 1 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL JUNE 09, 2020 At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Torre called the regular meeting to order with Councilmembers Richards, Mesirow, Mullins and Hauenstein joining via video conference. SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES: Annie Denver Recognition Proclamation – Mayor Torre read the proclamation. Annie Denver spoke about the John Denver Sanctuary and said it is everything she and Jeff Woods and the Parks Department ever dreamed about and has been her delight and her joy. Jeff Woods Retirement Proclamation – Mayor Torre read the proclamation. Jeff Woods thanked council and spoke about his time with the city. Council thanked both Jeff and Annie for his service to the city and for the John Denver Sanctuary. Janice Voss, Pitkin County Clerk – Ms. Voss spoke about the upcoming election for the June 30th primary. She said she is excited to follow Annie and Jeff and congratulated both. She said that ballots dropped yesterday, and each party will receive their own ballot. She asked everyone to vote by mail to curb the spread of COVID. She advised people to go to pitkinvotes.com if you haven’t received a ballot. She talked about the three drop boxes on Main Street, in Snowmass and in Basalt. The 17-year olds who registered and turn 18 on or before election day, will also receive their ballots in the mail and will be able to vote. Mayor Torre read a letter which was published in the newspaper and was signed by himself, city council, the Chief of Police, Richard Pryor, and Sara Ott regarding the death of George Floyd. Council commented on the rallies and protests they attended over the past weekend. CITIZEN COMMENTS: Sandy Mulcahy – Ms. Mulcahy spoke about APCHA and the district court regarding the case against Lee Mulcahy. Shawn Cox – Ms. Cox read an excerpt from a letter which is in our public record regarding lack of trust in the government and APCHA regarding the case against Lee Mulcahy. Lee Mulcahy – Mr. Mulcahy said cited an article called Death in Texas. He said there is a hearing on July 29th at 2:30 online. He asked Skippy to speak with the APCHA board on his behalf and mentioned defunding the police. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS: Councilwoman Richards said she has major concerns on reopening when there are places and restaurants flaunting the rules. She found the story in paper highly disconcerting. She said we will have a second shut down because of some business owners not caring. She thinks the city needs to hire and augment enforcement. She says we should change LLA rules so council can pull liquor licenses from local businesses. She said the chaos at Scarlett’s was over two weeks ago and we haven’t seen any punishment. Ms. Ott said a cease and desist order was issued to Scarlett’s and it serves as a warning and Pitkin County did not feel it was necessary to put out media releases around this. To close them down, 2 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL JUNE 09, 2020 requires a level of evidence. The cease and desist was issued last Thursday. They were also in touch with the state on that same day, and Mr. Sandler is aware of this. She said hand sanitizer stations have been placed throughout the core and more have been ordered. Regarding the staffing question that was brought up, she said the ten full time contact tracers who will be consumer protection and enforcement when they are not contact tracing. The county has already begun the hiring process for these positions. She said last week we distributed to go stickers to all restaurants along with a fresh set of rules from the state. Mayor Torre said this is not enough and we shouldn’t rely on the county but need to have our own ambassadors out there. Councilwoman Mullins said she supports everything Rachel brought up and she likes the idea of a street team focusing on education. Noncompliance in town is very disturbing and it is important to adhere to our guidelines. Councilman Hauenstein said he is outraged by the incident at Scarlet’s. Councilwoman Richards said time is of the essence. Jim True said we are in touch with Pitkin County on regular basis on issues that we are aware of or that come up. Richard Pryor is working with his staff to monitor the town and we are trying our best to make sure the required enforcement does happen. Ms. Ott said she needs clarity on the enforcement piece and council may need to adopt their own public health order. We have some things we need to navigate so we can understand your enforcement and education ideas. She said maybe she can provide an info only memo hopefully next week. Mayor Torre said we’re a little behind and another week is another week lost. Ms. Ott asked that council respect staff and not pressure us to not do our best work. 72 hours is not a reasonable expectation. Mayor Torre said that nerves are frayed. He is greatly impacted by hearing of new cases in the valley and of the businesses that are complying yet being affected. He mentioned the board openings and said interviews will be held on June 22nd. He went on to mention mental health in the valley and that there have been a couple of losses in our community. There are resources available to people and this is a time when person to person reach out is really needed. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS: Ms. Ott said Austin Weiss has been appointed the Interim Parks and Rec Director and he will assume those duties starting on Monday. We will not be filling that vacancy in 2020. Jeff Woods is on the line to provide a parks and rec update. Mr. Woods said they have been working really hard on getting facilities back open. They’ve opened up day camp, tennis, youth center and these are methods of supporting families. They’ve opened the basketball courts, pickleball, etc. This is an evolving day to day situation. He thanked Courtney Devito for her hard work on all of this as well and thanked the public for their patience. 3 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL JUNE 09, 2020 Pete Rice updated council on the use of the right of way in town for restaurants and businesses. Mitch has done a great job in the last week on this. We have four places ready to go tomorrow for the street plan. Staff is ready to go and the planters are ready that Rachel requested. The restaurant row people are on tight budgets and don’t want to spend the money to come out into the streets, so they have decided not to close that street down. For now, we will focus on the restaurants who do want to come out. There are 20 some restaurants so far who have reached out to move into the right of way. Councilwoman Mullins said so far, she doesn’t support the decking or solar stations at this point. Councilman Hauenstein said he would like to see these things, but we don’t have the money in the piggy bank to do this for everyone. He’s open to some more funding for this, but let’s see what happens over the next couple of weeks. BOARD REPORTS: Councilwoman Richards said that Club 20 had their semi-annual board meeting and she has been re- nominated as secretary. Mayor Torre said the Board of Health will be going to every two-week meetings now. Councilman Mesirow said at the last APCHA meeting, they adopted the 2021-2025 strategic plan, which included a new mission statement. PUBLIC HEARINGS: Ordinance #06, Series of 2020 – Establishment of TDR - 920 E Hyman Avenue Second Reading Sarah Yoon This is a request to establish one TDR. This is a historic single-family home in the RMF zone district. This is an HP benefit and helps reduce added mass and scale and provides property owners the opportunity to recoup property value lost due to development. Staff recommends that council approve the establishment of 1 TDR. Mayor Torre opened the public hearing. Public hearing closed. Councilwoman Mullins supports issuing the TDR. Councilman Hauenstein gave some kudos to the architect on this plan. He will be supporting this. Mayor Torre said he has struggled for years with the TDR program and landing sites. Councilwoman Mullins motioned to approve; Councilwoman Richards seconded. Mayor Torre said he is interested in a work session to have a further TDR discussion and will do some info seeking prior to this meeting. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. RESOLUTION #026, SERIES OF 2020 - Lacet Subdivision – Amendment to Resolution #058, Series of 1994 Garrett Larimer 4 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL JUNE 09, 2020 This was continued from April 14th, 2020. This is an eight-lot subdivision. One lot contains affordable housing units. This is east of the Roaring Fork River off of Highway 82. This subdivision was approved in 1993. Mr. Larimer provided a walking video in the packet and asked council if they would like to watch the video. Council did not wish to watch as they’ve done their own site visits. The original requ3est was to treat the 25-foot buffer like a setback, limiting activities to landscaping and utilities. The alternatives would be to keep restrictions in place or split the 25 feet into distinct buffer and setback. All other areas outside of the building envelope are subject to the allowances as established by the Land Use Code. This resolution has no impact on existing easements, and the pedestrian access easement remains unobstructed and open for pedestrian access. APPLICANT PRESENTATION: Sarah Oates Ms. Oates heard councils concerns last time. She developed a list of things that are consistent with the current buffer and things that are disruptive to neighbors. There would be no pools, hot tubs, mechanical equipment, no driveways. All adjacent neighbors are in support of this. She is not trying to misrepresent any objections. Mayor Torre opened the public hearing. Public hearing was closed. Mr. Larimer mentioned both letters from Jackie Mastrangelo. She sent a letter to council and provided additional comments expressing concerns with the proposed amendment. An additional letter was also sent to council yesterday. He also mentioned Tim Murray’s letter on page 74 of tonight’s packet, who also objected to the project. Mayor Torre said he was amenable to the typical 10 ft zone in the setback. Councilman Mesirow expressed a lot of the same concerns as Rachel last time. We don’t just change things because people want them changed. He is willing to compromise on this, however. He will accept this with a few more restrictions. Councilman Hauenstein said he can see both arguments. Councilwoman Richards said she doesn’t see us going back to relocate utility boxes. Councilwoman Mullins said things do change and she is supportive of staff’s recommendation. She feels that ComDev has come up with a good solution. Councilwoman Richards suggested a modified resolution. Phillip Supino the amount of research required to find out regulations on a site-specific development approval like this one, is kind of mind blowing. This is in response to council’s requests over the past 9 months to not continue to miss details like this. That was the root of staff’s position on this application. Councilwoman Richards said she appreciate this. We do have a complicated code. She empathizes but still wants to find a way. To not zone it not like you mean it, is a hard argument. She’s leaning toward approves staff’s recommendation. Councilman Hauenstein said it is what it is, but hopes we see fewer of these going forward. 5 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL JUNE 09, 2020 Councilwoman Mullins motioned to approve Resolution #026; Councilwoman Richards seconded. Mayor Torre won’t be supporting this and would prefer a typical neighborhood setback standard. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, no. 4-1, motion carried. ORDINANCE #08, SERIES OF 2020 - Comcast Franchise Agreement and Customer Service Standards Jim True Mr. True said this item started several years ago when the franchise agreement terminated at the end of 2017 and negotiations have been taking place ever since. We now feel this is acceptable and in the best interests for the City of Aspen. APPLICANT PRESENTATION: Ken Fellman and Andy Davis Mr. Fellman said the city would not benefit by doing a shorter term. There were some FCC restriction negotiations and it was unclear who would get the upper hand. The most recent FCC restrictions have limited what governments can do and Aspen is a part of this. Mr. Fellman is a petitioner in this court appeal. Mr. True pointed out that we are talking about an eight-year term to coincide with other communities. Mr. Davis gave an update on the latest features of Comcast and their response to COVID-19. Mayor Torre opened the public hearing. Public hearing is closed. Councilwoman Richards motioned to approve Ordinance #08, Series of 2020; Councilwoman Mullins seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. Councilwoman Mullins motioned to approve Resolution #046, Series of 2020; Councilwoman Richards seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. RESOLUTION #045, SERIES OF 2020 – Extension of Temporary Use, Silver City Ice Rink, 433 E. Durant Avenue Amy Simon Ms. Simon said the equipment, which is used on the ice, uses a chemical which needs to be phased out this year. We came to council last fall for alternatives. They may decide to reprogram the space in the future, but in the meantime, they had asked council for temporary use of a large chiller. The chiller sits in a corner of the property. That temporary use approval was to only last until March 31st, but due to COVID-19, they couldn’t do the work, so they’ve asked for a 180-day extension, which is all that council is allowed to grant. The applicant would like a longer extension. APPLICANT PRESENTATION: Chris Bendon of Bendon Adams Mr. Bendon said their budgeting has changed for the year and the cost for the unit for an entire year, is less than moving it twice. They will need to use this chiller through the next winter. 6 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL JUNE 09, 2020 Councilman Hauenstein said he wondered why the applicant can’t just wait and apply for a temporary use in the fall and do it at once. Ms. Simon explained the code and why they need to extend it now. Councilwoman Richards said it’s her goal to keep the ice for the next winter and she is in favor of supporting the extension. Jim True explained that it doesn’t make sense to move the chiller and bring it back in the fall because it costs more to do that, which is why staff recommended an extension. Councilwoman Richards moved to approve the Resolution #045; Councilwoman Mullins seconded. Mr. Bendon asked if they could have this approved through September 31st instead and Ms. Simon said no. Mr. Supino said they will work with him on the enforcement side of things. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0 motion carried. Councilman Hauenstein motioned to adjourn, Mayor Torre seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. ______________________ Nicole Henning, City Clerk