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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.050422 1 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MAY 4, 2022 Chairman Jeb Ball called the meeting to order at 8:40 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Angi Wang, Bill Dinsmoor, Terry Butler, Jeb Ball, Charles Cunniffe, and Amanda Tanaka. Absent was Kiki Raj. Staff present: Nicole Henning, City Clerk Mike Sear, Deputy City Clerk Other attendees: Sarah Lasser of ACRA & Councilor Ward Hauenstein Public Comment: None. Commissioner Comments: Mr. Dinsmoor motioned to approve the minutes of April 20th; Mr. Cunniffe seconded. All in favor, motion carried. Mr. Ball announced the duct tape and diamonds idea for the 4th did not fly so it will be dropped, but he said he’s heard there is a lot of interest in applying for the parade. Ms. Tanaka entered the meeting. Mr. Ball said he walked the core with Sara Ott and Mike Sear recently and that Sara is interested in CCLC’s feedback for different areas. What would be super helpful is if we could decide if anything on this list are items we don’t want to weigh in on. It’s a handful of topics and he was very encouraged by the conversation with her. She asked about what the city can do to help CCLC. He said he stressed to her that it’s highly important to find a replacement for Mitch. She said she hopes to have someone within the next month or so. She doesn’t see it as a full-time resource, but she has someone in mind. He said they started out walking down the alleys and said it’s too bad Kiki isn’t here because the alley down by Baldwin Gallery is one of the worst. He asked if they would like to get involved with making recommendations on how to regulate the use of alleys, fines, infractions, etc. but wondered who monitors this? We’ve had this as a discussion item years ago as part of the big clean up push, but it fell by the wayside without any monitoring. Mr. Sear mentioned the beer kegs, etc. service stations, pot heaters. Mr. Ball said she’s interested in CCLC’s feedback on the topic and thinks this topic is worthwhile to make them cleaner and more functional. Mr. Cunniffe said his alley is clean and in great shape. Mr. Dinsmoor said CCLC worked on this several years ago and no one wants to enforce it. The cops don’t want to. The city hired someone as captain clean. They found scofflaws and he had authority to red tag, but Judge Peterson said he didn’t want people to come in with these without documentation, so basically it went from captain clean to captain cop and everyone hated it. As long as Brooke is the judge, he will want to see documentation. Mr. Dinsmoor spoke about compactors, but the trash companies 2 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MAY 4, 2022 didn’t like that due to expense. He’s happy to have everyone jump into this, but he’s been down this alley a few times before. Mr. Ball said there’s no reason we can’t at least try to help in some way. Mr. Dinsmoor mentioned having some business activity in the alleys. Ms. Wang said until we get them cleaned up, there’s no way to have business activity. Ms. Butler said what the city needs to do is hire a full-time alley person. Councilor Hauenstein said that enforcement is where the rubber meets the road. The city is about 10% understaffed right now and that comes down to workforce housing. You can’t just say let’s hire someone new because that doesn’t work anymore because it’s a chronic problem. Ms. Wang said we should table this until five years from now when they do all the mall infrastructure. Mr. Cunniffe said we should have a plan they can implement, but we should wait until after the 4th of July. Mr. Dinsmoor asked if there was an obit in the paper about Mitch’s dad, and Mr. Cunniffe said yes, Dick Osur. Mr. Ball said Sara said we won’t be planting as many flowers this year because we don’t have staff to do it. They said normally they use an outside temp company who sends 20 people typically and this summer there are 3-4 coming. Could CCLC volunteer to plant flowers? Ms. Tanaka said they should get locals to volunteer to plant and put an ad in the paper for volunteers. Ms. Wang suggested someone doing a story about it in the paper to get attention. Councilor Hauenstein suggested providing coffee and muffins for volunteers. Mr. Ball mentioned activation on sidewalks for retailers. Regarding bookstores, clothing racks, etc. He told sara that CCLC would def have an opinion about this. Mr. Cunniffe said we do that every Saturday and it’s called the farmer’s market. Mr. Dinsmoor mentioned a fall campaign and said it happened once and it was successful but there was no follow up. There was no entity in charge. Ideas only. Ms. Wang suggested an ad in the paper for the sidewalk idea. We need a budget for some of these things. Mr. Ball brought up food trucks on the Rio Grande, which is a more time sensitive topic. This is a temporary replacement for Taster’s and asked what CCLC’s point of view is. Ms. Tanaka said she’s all for it. Councilor Hauenstein said this spot was to be affordable eats and now it’s on the back burner. We put it behind the armory development. Council thinks if a food truck is possible, it could be great to replace with a food truck for now. Mr. Ball asked if we can we put this on our next agenda and that feedback sooner than later is helpful. Mr. Ball said there is probably some benefit to taking outdoor dining not from a policing process but under CCLC and said you guys had this years ago. This would be for the next year; 2023. It’s gotten out of hand the past two summers. Ms. Henning filled them in on what is happening this summer with dining. 3 REGULAR MEETING COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MAY 4, 2022 Councilor Hauenstein brought up Next Gen and being dysfunctional. They can’t get enough for a quorum, and they have no focus. He’s wondering if CCLC could do a joint meeting with them. Ms. Wang said we should do away with Next Gen. It was for the millennials and now it’s done. Mr. Cunniffe said they can plant flowers. Mr. Ball and Ms. Wang both agreed the city should do away with Next Gen. Mr. Dinsmoor brought up the Main Street bakery building. Does the city have any way to say you can’t just buy a building and board it up and wait ten years? It’s such an eyesore. Can council have a say in this? Councilor Hauenstein said it’s a question of can the government control a private property? Mr. Cunniffe asked if it falls under any zoning laws or dormancy laws. Mr. Sear suggested a fine for sitting dormant. Mr. Dinsmoor said it’s part of our purview and it’s just awful. Councilor Hauenstein said he will make a point of speaking with Jim True about it. Mr. Cunniffe also suggested a tax for vacancy that they could impose. Mr. Dinsmoor asked about the roundabout progress and if they are they on track. Councilor Hauenstein said it’s CDOT and said he will check on it for status. Mr. Dinsmoor said it seems like they are moving along well. Councilor Hauenstein said CDOT would not allow for night work on the roundabout. Ms. Wang said 720 E. Hyman sold, which is the Jean Robert building. There will be penthouses on the top level, and they are giving Jean Robert a chance to buy the bottom spaces but don’t think he’s going to. There are a lot of problems with that building. Councilor Hauenstein said they’ve come to ask for an extension of vested rights, but council denied it. Ms. Wang said the Aspen Sports Medicine building also under contract. Ms. Henning said the next meeting is on the 18th of May. Ms. Butler motioned to adjourn; Mr. Ball seconded. All in favor, motion carried. ________________________________ Nicole Henning, City Clerk