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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.regular.20201208 1 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL DECEMBER 8TH, 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. CITIZEN COMMENTS: Lee Mulcahy – Mr. Mulcahy said he has proposed a new settlement to APCHA. He referenced an article in the paper about APCHA and evicting people during the pandemic and read an excerpt. He said you all know me because he used to work three jobs when he was a ski instructor. You can’t do this and not let us rent it back. He said he is justified to use force against an attack. All it needs is three votes to direct staff to look at the settlement, and he urged council to do this. Andrew Isreal – Mr. Isreal said he is here in an effort to protect Wagner Park and is here representing the non-profit, Protect Wagner Park. He still remains steadfast in his desire to keep open spaces open to the public. He said that based on past history, Food & Wine causes damage to the park, and feels the solution is to put the tents on the streets. Corey Bryndal – Mr. Bryndal is here representing the Motherlode. He lives in Crested Butte, and has a 48 year run and is looking for a lot more. He has made many upgrades for the event this next year and it has low to moderate effect on Wagner Park. He said they have good proximity by using Wagner, and the dates would be September 3rd, 4th and 5th. The finals happen at Koch Lumber Park. We want to preserve the Labor Day date and have adequate field capacity. Please work with us to make this the best event possible. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS: Councilman Hauenstein said he would like to see an agenda item added for the Food & Wine discussion in September. Councilwoman Richards said it’s important to be safe and not let up. The vaccination is exciting, but it’s going to take time. Let’s continue to keep our guard up these last few months. She’s so tired of zoom meetings, but let’s hold on a little longer. Councilwoman Mullins said she is still thinking about Art and the terrible loss. Everyone is dealing with such loss in many different ways right now. Let’s try and celebrate the holidays and be thankful for the people you have around you. We are going to get through this. Councilman Mesirow wished happy holidays to everyone. Mayor Torre said this is potentially the last public meeting for the year. He is wishing a wonderful end to 2020 and looking forward to turning the page on the calendar. He is remembering Art Daily again and said he will not soon be forgotten. He served on council and served as a source of inspiration for so many of us. Best wishes to his family right now. We are still fighting for our community and our livelihoods. We need continued community collaboration and cooperation. Testing is more available than it’s ever been. We have seen numbers turning in a different direction, but let’s continue the 5 commitments of containment. Let’s get through the holiday season without full closures. AGENDA AMENDMENTS: City Manager, Sara Ott, suggested putting the Food & Wine discussion under Action Items. 2 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL DECEMBER 8TH, 2020 CITY MANAGER COMMENTS: Ms. Ott said we will be publishing an info only packet on December 18th. The Board of Health is meeting this Thursday at 1:00 and then there will be a community meeting at 6:00 pm. Join via Pitkin County website. The testing has been expanded throughout the valley. They are giving over 500 tests per day at this point. There is access at the airport, city hall, Snowmass city hall, Clark’s, etc. She asked to bring attention to the info only packet on update on the Bidwell building, parking and the arts and cultural impact study. City Attorney, Jim True, pointed out that Ms. Simon is doing her Action Item first and then the ordinance so they are in order and are clearly related. It would be more appropriate to put the Food & Wine discussion ahead of Resolution #104. BOARD REPORTS: Councilwoman Mullins said there is a RFTA meeting this Thursday that she will attend. Councilman Hauenstein said there was a committee meeting for CORE. Councilman Mesirow said there is an APCHA meeting tomorrow. There will be an adoption of a workplan and strategic plan. A survey will go out to the public as well. CONSENT CALENDAR: Councilwoman Richards asked if someone should explain the Mill Levy for the public. Mayor Torre said he would also like a brief summary of the TIA update. Finance Director, Pete Strecker, gave an overview on Resolution #96 – Mill Levy Certification. Civil Engineer, Hailey Guglielmo, gave an overview on Resolution #101 – TIA Services Agreement. Councilwoman Mullins motioned to approve the consent calendar; Councilman Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. ACTION ITEMS: Sara Ott said that last night and today, ACRA, representatives of Food & Wine and representative of Ruggerfest had discussions on how to make this work. Ruggerfest said they are willing to adjust their schedule by one week to accommodate the change of dates for Food & Wine to take place in September this year. She encourages council to hear an update from ACRA. She said that the Motherlode would have to be moved to another location for this year only. Debbie Braun of ACRA thanked everyone for the care and conversation surrounding this. They made contact with Ruggerfest last night and look forward to working with them in collaboration. We reaffirmed the dates and choices. Devin Padgett, said we had great conversations today with Ruggerfest and came to an agreement of them being willing to work with us and now we just need to work out an arrangement with the Motherlode. We are in a good place now and had all positive and collaborative conversations. 3 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL DECEMBER 8TH, 2020 Austin Weiss, Director of Parks and Rec, said we have provided other locations to the Motherlode in the past. There are a number of other sites to relocate matches to and it has been a success in the past. Councilman Hauenstein said he wants all three events to take place and hopes that the Motherlode can find a way to make this work. He encourages Corey to work with the city. Councilwoman Mullins said these are three wonderful events and she’s looking forward to it. It’s a great ending to the summer. Councilwoman Richards said she’s wondering if it’s time for a motion to direct Sara to continue working with Food & Wine to make this happen. Councilwoman Richards motioned; Councilwoman Mullins seconded. Councilman Mesirow offered his support and appreciation for everyone working this out. He liked Andy’s suggestion of using the streets instead of having cars there in the future. Mayor Torre said there are several items about this that aren’t comfortable. We have to make tradeoffs. In this request, September is a busy month. He enjoys Food & Wine being in June kicking off the summer, so he is looking forward to moving this back to its June home. This is an opportunity for us to work together. Ms. Ott said she can bring back the street closure policies back to council as a refresher. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. Resolution #104, Series of 2020 – 211 West Hopkins Councilwoman Mullins is recusing herself from the next two items since she is a neighbor. Amy Simon introduced the item at 211 W. Hopkins. This is a 6000 square foot lot containing a Pan Abode home, which were very popular in the 50’s and 60’s. This has all the classic features and was built in 1956. This went to HPC for conceptual review twice. The 90-day period is going to expire this month, so we would like to pass a resolution extending the timeframe to January 30th. Regarding Ordinance #22, Series of 2020, which proposes voluntary designation. They would lift the Pan Abode and put a basement underneath. The non-historic addition would be demolished and stripping down to the original cabin. The applicant would build a detached second home along the alley. They are asking for a small floor area bonus and they need to do some tree removal. The Parks department has agreed to the tree removal and to have the fees waived. They want expedited permit review and need to accommodate a transformer on the property. HPC conducted design review and it did come for notice of call up. HPC is recommending approval and they have a lot of excitement behind this project. Sara Adams of Bendon Adams, said they will save the full presentation for second reading in January. We are excited about this. Councilman Hauenstein asked if this happens often that the negotiation period is extended, and Ms. Simon said yes. 90 days is a very quick turnaround to do public noticing and have the review process, so it’s quite normal. 4 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL DECEMBER 8TH, 2020 Mayor Torre asked about designation and Ms. Simon said Mountain Rescue is an example of a Pan Abode as a designation. Councilwoman Richards motioned to approve Resolution #104, Series of 2020; Councilman Mesirow seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. Councilwoman Richards motioned for first reading of Ordinance #22, Series of 2020; Councilman Mesirow seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. City Clerk, Nicole Henning, read Ordinance #22, Series of 2020. Mayor Torre said he’s interested in the other Pan Abodes and the program and what it seeks as far as preservation. Councilwoman Richards said she would like to have this separated in the future. She is not interested in calling up. There is no desire to call up from Councilman Mesirow or Hauenstein. Councilman Hauenstein just wants to make sur that his concern regarding the tree fee waiver is addressed. Mayor Torre asked if it’s appropriate to remand back to HPC or if they should have this discussion at second reading. Mr. True said it’s appropriate, under this context, to address this at council at second reading. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. Sara Ott made an announcement that Amy Simon is to be the new Director of Planning after being the Interim Director for the past 10 months. The council congratulated her. PUBLIC HEARINGS: Resolution #106, Series of 2020 – Aspen Mini Storage Budget Pete Strecker introduced the item. Mr. Strecker said that back in February the city purchased the land adjacent to the Lumberyard using the housing development funds and the intent was to expand the footprint for housing in the future. The city has continued to operate the mini storage and is the sole member of the LLC. We need to adopt a budget for this operation and are anticipating about $620,000 in gross revenue, with a net profit of $470,000, which will flow back into the housing development fund. Mayor Torre opened the public hearing. Mayor Torre closed the public hearing. Councilman Hauenstein motioned to approve, Councilwoman Mullins seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. Ordinance #21, Series of 2020 – Compensation of Mayor and City Council Jim True said this has been brought to council at council’s request. The charter gives council authority to change or increase compensation. This proposed ordinance would increase for first time since 2001, 5 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL DECEMBER 8TH, 2020 compensation for mayor and council by 1000 per month for council and mayor. This also includes participation in the city insurance program and provides for CPI increases that go into effect at the time of new term. He put one provision into the recitals regarding an acknowledgement that the job and time commitments have increased significantly since 2001. Councilwoman Richards said the county commissioners are at much different levels, but she can live with this either way. It’s important that it passes. It’s been 20 years since anyone has touched it. Councilman Hauenstein said he agrees that it’s been 20 years. Without the CPI, this would continue slipping further behind. He supports the CPI. Councilman Mesirow said he supports the CPI. Progress is progress. This year it’s an awkward conversation, but he wants to provide the best opportunity for people moving forward. Ward motioned to approve Ordinance #21, Series of 2020; Councilwoman Richards seconded. Councilwoman Mullins said it’s a good ordinance and she supports the CPI. Clarification of the insurance benefits is very important. She still thinks it should be tabled until next year, but she has no issue with council needing to be better compensated, but again, she sees others suffering. She’s uncomfortable with supporting this tonight. She would review again in 2021. She’s respectful of the work that has been put in but is also aware of the suffering going on around us. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, no; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 4-1, motion carried. Jim True introduced the executive session regarding 312 W. Hyman and the Aspen Film Isis Lease. Councilman Hauenstein motioned to move into executive session, Councilman Mesirow seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried.