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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20220426 1 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 26, 2022 At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Torre called the regular meeting to order with Councilors Doyle, Hauenstein, Richards, and Mesirow present. PUBLIC COMMENT: Martha Hammel – She said she’s a full time Pitkin County resident. She is here to address what they are doing to keep mushrooms out of the hands of children. This hasn’t been an easy task and are trying to find creative ways to reach teens. She thanked Councilor Richards for asking that question of the group. They said they would like to create the advisory committee now instead of waiting for the ballot. They are interested in collaboration. They have a petition they are currently circulating and have 160 more days to collect signatures. Mayor Torre, Councilor Richards, and Councilor Hauenstein thanked her for their efforts. Ken Citron – Mr. Citron said he is providing commentary on the action item on the agenda. Jing has an enclosed temporary structure that was erected for COVID protocols. They are aware of other restaurants making applications for their temporary structures and are planning to do the same. If the roof structure on the patio is permitted to remain until the end of the summer, they are prepared to remove all of the walls at this time. They are aware that they will need to pay mitigation costs for the structure, etc. He is asking for the same accommodations as Mezzaluna, for example. Mayor Torre asked about capacity. He said the structure seems smaller than what their patio was before. Mr. Citron said he didn’t know, but thought it was about the same. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS: Councilor Doyle said this summer is expected to be the worst for wildfires in Colorado. There are big fires burning in Arizona and in Mexico right now. He thanked the Ski Co. for another successful ski season. Councilor Mesirow said that town has felt really nice lately and has been a refreshing return to what he remembers. Mayor Torre said the residential building work that has been going on has two opportunities for public comment this week. The first is an open house in City Hall on the 27th between 4-6pm and then a pop-up listening session on the pedestrian malls between 11-1pm on the 30th. Grateful Shred will be playing at Belly Up later this evening. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS: City Manager, Sara Ott, said there will be a prescribed burn in the Hunter Creek Valley coming up so please do not be alarmed. Mayor Torre asked about the roundabout work. Ms. Ott said they are still in the demolition phase. She said the buses are still the best mode of transportation during the work. BOARD REPORTS: Ms. Ott said the Airport Advisory Committee met last week and there is continued work on the layout plan so it can be submitted to the FAA for consideration. The closure begins May 1st – 15th for annual pavement maintenance. 2 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 26, 2022 Councilor Hauenstein said he wanted to mention that the high school play for Into the Woods was magnificent. Councilor Richards said she had a briefing on Friday for Club 20 for heads up on potential ballot measures. Mayor Torre said he had an ACRA meeting this morning where Ben Anderson and Philip Supino gave an update on the moratorium work that is being done. CONSENT CALENDAR: Councilor Doyle motioned to approve the consent calendar; Councilor Mesirow seconded. Roll call vote: Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. FIRST READINGS: Ordinance #08 – Moratorium Extension – Philip Supino, Community Development Director & Ben Anderson, City Planner Mr. Supino said this ordinance would extend the moratorium by two months. This ordinance would only affect Ordinance #06, Series of 2022. There are four constraints to this process: time, the pandemic, the wickedness of the problem, and the divisiveness of some of the issues being discussed. All four of those are in play with this extension. Transparency and exclusivity take time. If council approves on first reading tonight, the second reading will be set for May 3rd in a special meeting. Mayor Torre said he expressed his disappointment for the extension in an article in the paper today, but he wants to be clear that he is not disappointed with staff. It’s unfortunate, but necessary. The work you all have done is super and he appreciates it. Councilor Richards asked Mr. Supino if they have all of the contracted workers under contract and that the work is being done currently and Mr. Supino said yes. Councilor Hauenstein said at second reading, he would like to see all of the outreach they have done. Councilor Doyle said since they have chosen a date, he is concerned about not having to extend it again and is confident that they have chosen this date wisely. Mr. Supino said that staff chose this date with the end game in mind. Councilor Mesirow said he knows everyone has put their best foot forward and we aren’t going to hit our timeline, so we will take ownership. He recognizes that this additional time will have a negative impact, but it would be less fortunate to deliver the final result that will benefit the entire community. He thanked staff for their hard work. Councilor Hauenstein motioned to read Ordinance #08, Series of 2022; Councilor Richards seconded. Roll call vote: Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. Deputy City Clerk, Mike Sear, read Ordinance #08. Councilor Richards motioned to approve Ordinance #08, Series of 2022 on first reading; Councilor Mesirow seconded. 3 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 26, 2022 Roll call vote: Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. PUBLIC HEARINGS: Ordinance #07, Series of 2022 – 2022 Spring Supplemental - Andrew Kramer, Budget Manager Mr. Kramer said this request is mainly made up of capital carryforwards. The second reading differs from the first in that, it increases the compensation by $477,000 instead of the projected $500,000. He explained other minor changes and gave an overview of everything else included in this request. Mayor Torre opened public comment. Mayor Torre closed public comment. Councilor Hauenstein motioned to approve Ordinance #07, Series of 2022; Councilor Doyle seconded. Roll call vote: Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. ACTION ITEMS: Resolution #057, Series of 2022 – 2022-2026 Affordable Housing Strategic Plan – Diane Foster, Assistant City Manager Ms. Foster said there are a number of edits to this document. She said thank you to council for your work on the decision matrix and the goal. The order on the decision matrix didn’t change, but the ranking. She said the goals appear on page 18 of the strategic plan itself. Mayor Torre said page 69 of the packet. Councilor Richards said mentioned using the term “rightsizing” instead of “downsizing” and she spoke about confirming numbers when we don’t have a reality check on them. Ms. Foster said that ACRA’s “rightsizing” language occurred after this work began and said this is a living document as far as edits in the future go. Councilor Mesirow said he has pages of minor edits and how we can continue to make changes. Ms. Ott said Ms. Foster was referring to scrivener’s errors. Ms. Foster agreed and said if they want to add a new tactic, it would be in a formal process and amend via resolution. Ms. Ott said her suggestion to council is to move forward without the edits at this time, you delay and have Councilor Mesirow submit his comments to staff and they will do a redline and bring back May 10th, or you ask Councilor Mesirow to circulate amongst you and that those edits be put on the running list of potential amendments. Councilor Hauenstein said he doesn’t want to hold up this document for wordsmithing. He said he welcomes Councilor Mesirow to send his edits to the councilmembers. He said it’s one of the best organized documents he has seen. Ms. Foster said this document was put together by a team of eight people. Councilor Hauenstein said the acronyms in the document, should be explained for the councilors and for the public. Councilor Mesirow said he doesn’t want to hold this up either. As long as his edits can be heard and considered, that’s all he asks. 4 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 26, 2022 Councilor Doyle said this is a great document and he doesn’t want to hold it up. Councilor Mesirow expressed a desire to increase the goal. He said he made an error which lowered the number. Councilor Richards is comfortable where the number is at. Mayor Torre said he feels it’s an aggressive, but achievable number. He is comfortable where they are with the goal. Council spoke about “buy down” language in the document. Ms. Foster summarized the changes being made to the document and Mayor Torre agreed. Councilor Mesirow motioned to approve Resolution #057, Series of 2022; Councilor Doyle seconded. Mayor Torre thanked Ms. Foster for all the work that has gone into this. This will help housing discussions immensely. Roll call vote: Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. COVID-19 Temporary Structures – Amy Simon, Planning Director & Philip Supino, Community Development Director Ms. Simon said there was a firm deadline set by city council regarding the structures that were built due to COVID. Ms. Simon summarized past structures and awning structures as temporary uses. Staff needs direction on the enforcement efforts related to temporary structures constructed during the COVID-19 pandemic and if there should be a continuation, modification or roll back as there seems to have been mixed messages put out there recently. She said she did a site visit at Mezzaluna and Mi Chola regarding the issues which were brought to council recently. Mayor Torre clarified they are talking about Mezzaluna, Jing and Mi Chola. Councilor Richards said she is going to stand by the removal of structures. She misses the umbrellas and attraction. She feels the structures are unattractive. For her, once you add a roof, it’s year-round dining and she wants to bring the public amenity space back. This was going to end when the pandemic ended so she has to say no to this. Mayor Torre said the request by Mezzaluna was not to keep the temporary structure, but to ask to keep their roof while they are awaiting their permit. Councilor Hauenstein said we did this to help the businesses survive when interior seating was reduced. He doesn’t believe we should make exceptions and he doesn’t like one offs. He appreciates the Creperie removing their structure. Al fresco dining is a thing to be pursued but should be pursued from a clean slate. Councilor Mesirow said these structures were a return to the messy vitality that was missing. This was a foot in the door due to COVID, but he was hoping they would go the other way and make it more common for restaurants and retailers. The right of way is where we can provide space for places and it’s disappointing that this is the direction we are going. He respects everyone else’s decision, and he doesn’t want to create an inequity. 5 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APRIL 26, 2022 Councilor Doyle said this is difficult, but he thinks the right thing to do is make it fair for everyone. These temporary structures should be removed. Mayor Torre said for these two locations in question, since they are in the permit process, are we having them remove these structures for the time being. Ms. Simon said they do have a permit in for Mezzaluna and the process to go through P&Z will take a few months. Mi Chola also has a permit in and would like to a retractable awning above the trellis already in place. It is also Jing’s intention to start the permit process as they would like to build a permanent expansion of their building. Mayor Torre said if a place has a covering over their patio, he is ok with it, but realizes it’s a lot more complicated than that. He’s only talking about private property and coverings over existing roofs. Councilor Richards said she sees this as precedent setting. Mayor Torre thanked staff and council for considering this. Councilor Mesirow motioned to adjourn; Council Richards seconded. Roll call vote: Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. _____________________________ Nicole Henning, City Clerk