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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.apz.20160202Regular Meeting Minutes Planning & Zoning February 2, 2016 Mr. Walterscheid, Chair, called the Planning & Zoning Commission (P&Z) meeting to order at 4:30 PM with members Jason Elliott, Kelly McNicholas Kury, Jasmine Tygre and Brian McNellis. Keith Goode, Skippy Mesirow Jesse Morris, and Spencer McNight were not present for the meeting. Also present from City staff; Jim True, Jennifer Phelan and Jessica Garrow. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS There were no comments. STAFF COMMENTS: There were no comments. PUBLIC COMMENTS: There were no comments. MINUTES – January 5, 2016 Ms. McNicholas Kury moved to approve the minutes for January 5th and was seconded by Mr. Elliott. All in favor, motion passed. DECLARATION OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST There were no declarations. PUBLIC HEARINGS Lift One Lodge - PD Amendment – Public Hearing Mr. Walterscheid opened the public hearing and asked Staff to confirm the applicant’s request for a continuance. Ms. Jessica Garrow, Community Development Long Range Planner, stated the applicant has requested a continuance until March 1, 2016. Mr. True confirmed the applicant’s notice had been appropriately provided. Ms. Tygre moved to continue the hearing to March 1, 2016 and was seconded by Mr. McNellis. All in favor, motion carried. Mr. Walterscheid then closed the hearing. Later in the meeting, two members of the public entered the meeting and requested time to provide public comment on the Lift One Lodge hearing. Initially, P&Z did not believe they could take comment on a closed hearing. After conferring with Mr. True and confirming it would be acceptable to take comment under the circumstances, Mr. Walterscheid then reopened the hearing for public comment. Mr. Larry Mages, Lift One condo owner and president of the board, along with Mr. Bruce Wank, a member of the board, were present to comment. Mr. Mages stated they are concerned with three primary things: 1 Regular Meeting Minutes Planning & Zoning February 2, 2016 1. The ski corridor which he believed is documented in a recorded easement, is to be maintained and not be surrendered as part of what the applicant is requesting. 2. The obligation to maintain this corridor is not in any way be interfered with. 3. It be certain a lift can be built up the corridor to connect from about Dean St up to the bottom of the lift. They have heard the applicant has told the Gorsuch people building above him that he might not allow a lift through his property. They believe the ordinances, regulations require it and would like to ensure it remains a part of the planned development and part of his obligations. Mr. Walterscheid then closed the hearing. OTHER BUSINESS Election of Chair and Vice-Chair Mr. Walterscheid opened for discussion to elect a chair and vice-chair for 2016. Ms. Tygre stated she would prefer to wait until more members were present. Ms. McNicholas Kury asked Mr. True if the members could discuss this via email. Mr. True replied no, because it would constitute a meeting and subject to a notice when more than two members are communicating, it is technically a meeting. He added you can communicate one on one with members, but no more than two. Ms. Phelan asked if it could be discussed at tonight’s meeting and Mr. True stated they could. Ms. McNicholas Kury stated she is not particularly interested and feels Mr. Goode and Mr. Mesirow would be great candidates. Mr. Walterscheid agreed with her ideas on candidates, but was not sure of their interest. Mr. McNellis suggested nominating those two candidates. Mr. True stated the election is supposed to occur at the first meeting of the year, but is acceptable for the current chair and vice-chair to continue until an election can occur. He did suggest not waiting too long and added they have the authority to decide with the members in attendance at tonight’s meeting. Mr. McNellis asked if they could elect them tonight. Mr. True answered they could elect tonight and the individual could decline and a revote would be necessary. After discussion, Ms. Tygre moved to nominate Mr. Goode as chairman and Mr. Mesirow as vice- chairman for 2016, seconded by Ms. McNicholas Kury. Mr. Walterscheid requested a call to vote. Ms. McNicholas Kury, yes; Mr. McNellis, yes; Mr. Elliott, yes; Ms. Tygre, yes, and Mr. Walterscheid, yes for a total of five to zero (5 – 0). The motion passed. Mr. Walterscheid stated he would run the remainder of the meeting in their absence. This ended the business for the meeting and Mr. True stated he would return to the council meeting but would be available if needed. 2 Regular Meeting Minutes Planning & Zoning February 2, 2016 AACP Update Mr. Walterscheid turned the floor over to Ms. Garrow for an update on the AACP. Ms. Garrow stated each year City Council adopts a set of top ten goals. One of the goals is to better coordinate the Aspen Area Community Plan (AACP) into the land use code and has been defined as a two year goal (2015 to mid-2017). There have been a lot code amendments undertaken to implement parts of the AACP, but Council would like to see additional work in this area. In November 2015, Staff met with Council in a work session to narrow in on the top items to be better incorporated from the AACP. Council outlined a number of work areas Staff is preparing to embark on and Staff wanted to check in with P&Z to ask how they would like to be involved as they initiate and move forward on the various efforts and does P&Z have suggestions for Council regarding the prioritization of their efforts. She noted the department is currently down a couple of staff members so their efforts may not progress as fast initially until they are fully staffed sometime in April or May. They expect to hire consultants for most of the work because it does require some outside expertise. The top items Council wants information on for implementing into the code include: 1. Develop an understanding of the zoning history including how we got where we are and why we have the regulations we have. Staff is working on this internally and hopes to have a white paper finished mid-month which will be shared with P&Z as well. The paper tracks from the first zoning ordinance in 1956 and includes changes throughout the years including infill and the moratorium until current time. 2. Update the commercial design guidelines which is now about ten years old. Specifically, this efforts will look at public amenity space, call up provisions, a varied downtown area, pedestrian malls, and public amenity space on the public malls. Staff is currently reviewing submittals from a released a Request for Proposal (RFP). They anticipate starting work in the March \ April timeframe and expect a 10-12 month process. 3. In regards to off street parking and mobility, explore how we can tie our new transportation mitigation system to our parking requirements. The system requires any net new trips generated by a development to be offset through transit services or bike pathways. And if the applicant goes above and beyond their mitigation requirements, would there be ways to offset the parking requirements. Staff is currently reviewing submittals from a released a RFP and anticipates this will also be a yearlong project. 4. Look at housing mitigation and understand the rules currently in place. Staff is not sure this will turn into a work program item or not. 5. Look into regulating use and if there are ways to encourage locally serving businesses. This may include looking into an overlay regulating international chain stores and how do we make sure the use mix keeps the town vibrant in the future. 6. Explore view planes. Staff is recommending moving forward on the parking and commercial design guidelines followed by regulating the land use issue. Staff is also looking into the possibility of hiring a single land use code expert firm or individual to help oversize the whole rewriting of the code. Mr. Walterscheid asked if this process would be similar to the one used recently to modify the residential design guidelines including bringing in an outside firm to speak with architects, planners and 3 Regular Meeting Minutes Planning & Zoning February 2, 2016 various commissions. Ms. Garrow answered yes, particularly on the design guidelines. She anticipates a different public outreach and community engagement strategy for each item to connect with folks who may be interested in the commercial use mix, but may not be interested in parking and mobility as an example. Mr. Walterscheid said he was involved in the residential design standards and after they were done, it then came to P&Z and he feels it may have been more valuable to engage the commissions throughout the process instead of at the end. Ms. Garrow added they are looking into doing something different and asked in general if the commission would like to be involved more or would they prefer to view the changes once the language is written. Ms. Tygre stated she would have to think more about it. Mr. McNellis stated it would require a lot more work from the commissions and thinks it is fine but wants to make sure the commissions are aware of the amount of time involved. Mr. Walterscheid feels P&Z has a general understanding of what is going on and would benefit from being able to participate earlier in the process before the drafting of the language. He added perhaps Council should also be involved earlier than they currently are in the process. Ms. Tygre asked if the outreach would be in the form of public hearings or informal clicker sessions. Ms. Garrow did not feel clicker sessions would be used but the method used may depends on the topic. Ms. Garrow thought it may make sense to have a couple of small technical advisory groups including a member of council, historic preservation commission (HPC), P&Z, along with design professionals and community members to identify the issues within the design guidelines. Additional public types of outreach could be conducted possibly including small and large open house groups, walking tours to identify likes and dislikes of particular buildings and character areas. She added they will also use a web site and online surveys which have provided good feedback for recent projects. She noted another initiative had success using chalk boards placed around the city to gather passerby comments from folks who may not normally engage in a survey or meeting. Mr. McNellis suggested P&Z and HPC commissions could each elect a representative to attend each of the meetings and report back to their commission. Ms. McNicholas Kury was not sure one individual could appropriately represent the different viewpoints of the P&Z members. Mr. McNellis thought perhaps representative may not be the best word, but have someone there who could report back the pulse of the initiative would be beneficial. He also suggested any member could attend at any time. Ms. Garrow stated they have done this in the past with Convenience and Welfare of the Public (COWOPS) projects where both boards elected a representative. Ms. Garrow is interested to know if any of the items on the list identified by Council should be at the top of the list. Ms. McNicholas asked if they have established any prioritization at which Ms. Garrow stated the most recently scheduled slot at a January 26th work session with Council to discuss the list was continued to the end of February. She hopes to provide some of P&Z’s feedback to Council at the work session. Ms. McNicholas Kury feels they see a lot of comments with transportation and parking in regards to the mitigation and how should it relate to an overall goal for the city in way that is non-conflicting. Mr. McNellis agreed and feels it is a defining situation that will come into play with future development with a lot of passion on both sides. Mr. Walterscheid feels it has been difficult to discuss because everyone seems to be pulled in different directions and at times the direction from Council and Staff seem to be at odds with one another. Ms. McNicholas Kury feels the use question really jumps out regarding who should be operating and where and feels it is an issue that will continue to gain energy. Mr. Walterscheid asked what discussions have occurred regarding the use mix and is it done anywhere else. Ms. Garrow stated one of the goals is 4 Regular Meeting Minutes Planning & Zoning February 2, 2016 to save the nooks and crannies, longer time local stores, and mom and pop stores while also recognizing a number of now international chains now in Aspen so there needs to be a balance to ensure there is an appropriate mix downtown including restaurants and retail. Our community has the conversation every five to ten years with the last time about ten years ago. Other communities have tackled this including Carmel and Martha’s Vineyard who have implemented quotas on specific uses. Another idea is to identify community spaces subsidized by the government for a local business to start or move on. She stated similar to Justice Snow’s operating out of the Wheeler at a subsidized rate. She stated currently Aspen has the SEI zone district to define a finer set of use. She then mentioned Basalt has defined an overlay to encourage different business in their historic downtown. She added legal counsel would have to be hired for advisement to ensure there are no violations of existing legislation. Mr. McNellis asked what specifically was Council interested in with regard to housing. Ms. Garrow replied Council is interested in understanding why buildings get credit for existing space if they did not mitigate for the space when it was originally developed. Right now in growth management, if you have a historic building built in the 1800’s that was never mitigated and the owner now wants to expand it and technically triggers demolition. The owner gets credit for what previously existed and they only have to mitigate the net new area. Council wants to investigate if this has to be done or not. Ms. Tygre responded this situation has always bothered her. Ms. Garrow stated she is working on this currently with Mr. True. Both Mr. Walterscheid and Mr. McNellis stated they are interested in this item. Mr. McNellis then asked about any discussions regarding subpar construction and that the housing stock is getting a bit old and some HOA are suffering with upkeep without the revenue in their own budget to address some of the recent failures. Ms. Garrow stated this is another Council goal to tackle this separately. Mr. McNellis stated he would be interested in this item as it is being discussed. Ms. Tygre stated she does not feel she is in a position to prioritize any of the items. Mr. Elliott did not have anything to add at this time. Mr. Walterscheid stated he would be interested in the commercial design guideline discussions. He stated they talked a lot about the intent during the residential design guideline discussions. With intent of each statement, they tried to outline specific ways to achieve them to remove subjectivity as much as possible. He hopes this will be a goal for the commercial guidelines as well. Ms. Garrow summarized stating parking, uses and commercial design guidelines are a rough prioritization. In regard to commercial guidelines, Mr. McNellis wanted to add the need to look closely at green roofs. Mr. Walterscheid remarked it would be nice if the commercial guidelines were actually in the land use code as the residential guidelines are now and not use references. Ms. Garrow followed by saying she would have an update after the meeting with Council later in the month. Ms. McNicholas asked if there is any energy to build public art as an amenity in our environment. Ms. Garrow stated is something that hasn’t been looked at holistically. Occasionally, a member of the public requests to have a piece of art in a public amenity space for a building. She thought it could come into the commercial design guidelines conversation as well as with another Council goal which is looking at the pedestrian malls and looking into a plan there for public art. Currently when the City is given art, it goes on the mall without a lot of rhyme or reason. Mr. McNellis added Basalt is looking into public art specifically with local artists for designated places for rotating pieces. 5 Regular Meeting Minutes Planning & Zoning February 2, 2016 Ms. Garrow asked for anything else to pass onto Council related to AACP implementation. Ms. Tygre is very happy Council is doing it and the other P&Z members agreed. Ms. Tygre thinks it’s important for the public to know it is being worked on. Mr. Walterscheid stated until the AACP is codified, it is just a recommendation that can be dismissed or accepted. Ms. Garrow stated it is difficult because it covers so many topics and not all is specific to land use code, some is policy and programs the City, County and other folks need to be involved in the implementation. Ms. Tygre added implementing the aspiration of the AACP to code is challenging because of diverse opinions. Mayor Steve Skadron then entered the meeting. He expressed thanks to the members for serving on the commission. Ms. Tygre reiterated how all the P&Z members agree that it is important for Council to address the modifications to incorporate the AACP in the land use code and she feels it is important for the public to know this is a priority. Mayor Skadron noted they have already completed quite a few. Mayor Skadron asked Ms. Tygre if she had any priorities. Ms. Garrow noted parking had been identified as a priority earlier in the meeting. Mr. Walterscheid explained the commission receives various viewpoints and feels there is no clear direction; Council may want less parking spaces; some P&Z members want even less parking spaces than minimum required and neighbors want more than the minimum. Mayor Skadron asked what they would like to see and Mr. Walterscheid states clarity would be nice and noted if someone comes in with more than the minimum, it is seen negatively as it may be promoting traffic. Mr. McNellis and others noted this debate happens frequently between what is desired and what is logical based on the use and the location. Mr. Walterscheid added the residential neighbors get very upset when P&Z tries to minimize parking and then it just shuffles into the neighborhood. Ms. Tygre added until all the members of P&Z and Council give up their cars, she does not want to reduce parking because just saying no is not an answer. Mr. Walterscheid agreed and stated for people living on the other side of the bridge or up the pass it is not as convenient to get around without the use of a vehicle. Ms. Tygre stated back in the day, folks worked on the mountains during the day and in restaurants at night and they needed to shower and change and it won’t work with a bus schedule. The people need both jobs and to tell them to leave their car at home is arrogant. Mr. Walterscheid and Mr. McNellis stated it is a similar situation for parenting and noted the winters especially are very difficult to rely on public transportation. Mayor Skadron stated is a much bigger discussion than how much parking a development should or should not be allowed. He added he is attending a valley wide transportation summit with CDOT and valley participants to discuss parking and transportation from a valley wide. He added the Roaring Fork Transportation Authority (RFTA) is reaching capacity in regards to the parking and ridership. He has stated with both Council and with the RFTA that he does not want any more bus trips coming into Aspen which is currently about 900 buses per day. He does not want to burden the community any more. He feels it’s time to push next generation solutions. Mayor Skadron noted in a broader discussion he thought the base lodge parking situation could have been a classic test case for the community to be discuss the future of transportation. He thought it could have been an interesting debate where the developer would have been required to come back with a solution and felt it was lost opportunity. Mr. Elliott stated it seems we run into conflicting goals for situations when the proposed development is for a lower price point that may be interesting to families and sporting teams who would logically drive to their destination. But if we tell them they cannot park at their destination, it seems to be conflicting. Ms. McNicholas Kury noted when visiting Telluride, they ban all parking in town for big festival weekends. You can drop off things and then you are given a location to leave your car. Shuttles are then available to take you to places. Mr. Elliott stated that may not work for situations where a family is visiting town for a hockey tournament and needs there vehicle 6 Regular Meeting Minutes Planning & Zoning February 2, 2016 to go between the venue and hotel. Mayor Skadron stated Mr. Hunt had proposed a next generation hotel product Aspen does not yet have and it attracts a different audience. This audience has different habits than what we have today. He thought it should be Mr. Hunt’s burden, not the city’s burden to define it. Ms. Tygre asked if anyone knew how the economy hotel in Basalt was doing at which Mayor Skadron replied the Element hotel is a gigantic success and the patrons are using buses or driving to Aspen. Ms. Tygre noted we had nothing to do with it being built and asked what could be learned from it to incorporate it into something we’re doing in regards to parking and transportation. Mr. Walterscheid responded the community probably would not accept the same approach because they are serving a mass and scale of economy allowing them to build a larger building with parking all around it. The community has been clear they don’t want anything that large. Mayor Skadron relayed an interview between the Israeli President and the Palestinian Authority President and how the actions by each entity was integrated and not independent of each other. He wanted to respond to Ms. Tygre’s earlier comment stating Aspen had nothing to do with and he feels the fact we don’t have a similar product, it creates an opportunity down valley and now Aspen has the traffic impacts. Mr. Walterscheid noted the community really stretches from Aspen to Glenwood Springs. Mr. Walterscheid noted opponents of the Base 2 Lodge have stated town is at its maximum occupancy during holidays and wanted to know how to limit who comes into town without stifling businesses. Mayor Skadron replied the premise is you are always welcome in Aspen Colorado and he would never support a direction stating don’t come here or you’re not welcome here. Mr. Walterscheid doesn’t want it to feel like it is a country club where you have to pay dues to be a part of it but sometimes feels is a bit of the dichotomy that goes on with those who want to live here and those that have lived here for some time. Mayor Skadron mentioned the uphill economy discussed recently at Council and it really grows from the idea around the preservation of a mountain town culture and a community retaining its core values. He feels our core values are in our ski roots and it distinguishes us from everybody else and fosters a community fabric. Mayor Skadron also noted not everybody who wants to come here can come here. He feels we shouldn’t build affordable housing for the sake of it and had a discussion with the Next Gen Commission that just because they want to live here does not mean the community is responsible to build a house for them. He mentioned at a micro level, the Chamber’s marketing program could be tweaked and at the last Chamber Board Meeting he asked about the relevancy of the board which is happening with chambers around the country. The chamber has an aggressive program and we have a lodging tax generating $2 million towards marketing the community. He wondered if should be tweaked so it is not about more and more and more. Mayor Skadron noted these conversations are happening in every ski town. The changing demographics in the state is putting pressure on the ski towns and he feels the biggest challenge for the community is the clash of values between the town’s unique character and from people moving here with expectations similar to those from the suburban areas from which they came. Sometimes he feels downtown is turning into Cherry Creek Mall. Ms. Tygre mentioned how the Thrift Shop is booming for both locals and tourists. He mentioned there is a group that has gotten together to look at legislation to limit retail chains. 7 Regular Meeting Minutes Planning & Zoning February 2, 2016 ADJOURN Mr. Walterscheid then adjourned the meeting. Cindy Klob City Clerk’s Office, Records Manager 8