HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.cclc.010423
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REGULAR MEETING ANNUAL AGRICULTURAL MEETING JANUARY 4TH, 2023
Chairman Jeb Ball started the meeting at 8:35 a.m.
Commissioners present: Amanda Tanaka, Bill Dinsmoor, Terry Butler, Angi Wang, Kiki Raj, and Jeb Ball.
Absent was Charles Cunniffe.
Staff present:
Diane Foster, Assistant City Attorney
Pete Rice, Civil Engineer
Trish Aragon, City Engineer
Nicole Henning, City Clerk
Ms. Wang motioned to approve minutes; Ms. Butler seconded. All in favor, motion carried.
Ms. Raj entered the meeting at 8:37 a.m.
Presentation: Entrance to Aspen with Janette Darnauer
Ms. Foster said she is here to introduce the Entrance to Aspen project and to help answer any questions.
She asked the board how many times personally they’ve voted on the subject. She said there have been
15 elections on this and the community started voting on this in 1975. There have been 27 votes so far.
She showed a video and gave short presentation with real drone footage of the area.
castlecreekbridge.com is the website to visit for more information.
Ms. Aragon explained what’s changed and why now. She said it’s 62 years old and it was designed to last
for 75 years. We are at fair rating at this point. Also, wildfire, more and more is playing into this because
we only have one evacuation route.
She showed the “preferred alternative”, which includes the current plan for the realignment of Highway
82 and a new bridge. The record of decision is a federal document which was finalized in 1998.
Ms. Foster explained the advantages for this preferred alternative and the disadvantages. It’s a transit-
based solution, so it doesn’t solve the traffic issue.
Ms. Tanaka asked if this new alternative doesn’t pass with the voters, then what happens. Ms. Aragon
said the bridge has to be repaired and functioning. We have to start looking at Power Plant too so it can
be used for commercial vehicles. It’s unchartered territory for CDOT.
Ms. Raj asked about CDOT doing something with Independence Pass and the light rail potential. Ms.
Aragon said not right now, there isn’t potential for light rail. Ms. Foster agreed and said it’s crazy
expensive and it’s not scalable. It could be possible for the future, however.
Ms. Raj said she’s in favor of this, but she feels like the voters will kick it down the road again.
Mr. Dinsmoor asked why this failed in the past. Ms. Aragon said the roundabout wasn’t built until the
90’s and the bus lane wasn’t there so we didn’t have all of this infrastructure until recently. Ms. Foster
said It was 48/52 on nearly every ballot, so it was always a very close vote and there is no way to really
know but she said she thinks people are concerned because this really doesn’t solve traffic issues.
People are also concerned about town character.
Ms. Butler said RFTA needs to be free and Ms. Foster agreed.
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REGULAR MEETING ANNUAL AGRICULTURAL MEETING JANUARY 4TH, 2023
Mr. Rice said he’d love to talk more with Ms. Raj offline regarding transit issues.
Ms. Tanaka brought up fire danger and Diane confirmed this plan would triple the lanes out of town.
Mr. Dinsmoor and Ms. Raj both feel community character will be an issue with people voting no against
this.
Ms. Tanaka mentioned the bridge replacement in Glenwood Springs and how it was a big character
change as she grew up there. Ms. Foster has spoken with the city manager there about how they dealt
with it. She said most of the electorate in Aspen has turned over in the past five years as well.
The board asked about parking structures.
Ms. Butler said the way for them to sell this is that they need to have their yes or no answers ready and
really clear about all the issues. Ms. Raj said they will need to lean heavily into safety. That is the way to
get a yes vote.
The presentation and discussion ended at 9:35 a.m.
Ms. Henning said Kathy Strickland is coming to the next meeting for Saturday Market vendor evaluations
and she asked the board about extending the Saturday market meeting on the 18th by a half hour. The
board said they would like to go till 10:30 a.m.
Mr. Ball announced the aggie meeting prior to Christmas and said Ms. Henning sent minutes last night
to read over and asked Mr. Dinsmoor to give a recap of the meeting.
Mr. Dinsmoor said it was poorly attended. He thinks they are vulnerable to continuing. He said paying
the aggies to come here is a good idea instead of charging them. We should waive their fees. They all get
up at 2 a.m. and drive their trucks to be here. Ms. Butler and Ms. Raj agreed that we should pay them.
Mr. Dinsmoor mentioned the two Jeffs getting free booths. His sense is that the active search and
vetting for new farmers was not there. He spoke about the nonprofit issues as well.
Ms. Raj said she would like to reach out to farmers to see what we can do to ease their burden. Mr. Ball
said it falls on the responsibility of the Jeffs and we should give them that task and ask them to follow up
a few times a year via Zoom or whatever, so they don’t have to drive. The Redstone meeting was a
letdown. He’s happy to talk to Kathy about this meeting going forward.
Mr. Ball said we need to find out who is going to the Carbondale, Basalt and Glenwood markets and
why. We should give this to the Jeffs.
Ms. Butler said we need to be proactive with them and Mr. Ball agreed. We need to ask them to do a lot
more now to start getting people back to Aspen.
Mr. Ball thinks they could have a report done by the end of March and give us a recap of what they
discovered. The board all agreed. We will give them the option of coming in person or a Zoom call.
Mr. Ball suggested getting revenue information for all the farmers from the finance dept. Ms. Henning
said she will check with them.
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REGULAR MEETING ANNUAL AGRICULTURAL MEETING JANUARY 4TH, 2023
Mr. Dinsmoor said he would like to pursue the Hunt paradigm after we get through the market
meetings. We should encourage council to write some new code to protect us from the Hunt syndrome.
Mr. Ball and Ms. Raj agreed.
Ms. Butler motioned to adjourn; Ms. Raj seconded at 10:00 a.m. All in favor, motion carried.
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Nicole Henning, City Clerk