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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.apz.20250917 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2025 Commissioners in attendance: Max Twarjan, Deana Juskys, Charlie Tarver, Maryann Pitt, Eric Knight, Tom Gorman, Ken Canfield and Teraissa McGovern. Staff present: Daniel Folke, Planning Director Jeff Barnhill, Senior Planner Ben Anderson, Community Development Director Jim True, Special Counsel Tracy Terry, Deputy City Clerk Commissioner Comments: Mr. Tarver asked how to do planning, does he have to do the research himself. Mr. Anderson said they need to have a conversation with staff. Ms. McGovern asked Mr. Anderson how the commissioners get information from the city to start planning. Mr. Anderson replied that they have two jobs as commissioners, reviewing projects against criteria and propose changes to the Land Use Code. Ms. McGovern asked for a list of the policy resolutions that are currently open so they know. Mr. Anderson replied yes and that they would all come before this board eventually. Mr. Knight entered the meeting at 4:35pm Ms. Pitt asked if there is any update on when they will be updating the Aspen Community Plan. Mr. Anderson said that they could talk to city council about that. There are a lot of topics floating around. He said that it needs to happen with majority vote in this board. Staff Comments: None. Public Comments: None. Minutes: Mr. Canfield moved to approve the minutes for January 7th, 2025, and the motion was seconded by Mr. Gorman. Ms. McGovern asked for a roll call vote. Roll call vote: Mr. Twarjan, abstain; Ms. Juskys, abstain; Mr. Tarver, abstain; Ms. Pitt, yes; Mr. Knight, yes; Mr. Gorman, yes; Mr. Canfield, yes; Ms. McGovern, yes. Motion passes. Minutes: Mr. Canfield moved to approve the minutes for May 7th, 2025, and Mr. Gorman seconded. Ms. McGovern asked for a roll call vote. Roll call vote: Mr. Twarjan, abstain; Ms. Juskys, abstain; Mr. Tarver, yes; Ms. Pitt, yes; Mr. Knight, yes; Mr. Gorman, yes; Mr. Canfield, yes; Ms. McGovern, yes. Motion passes. Disclosure of Conflicts of Interest: Mr. Canfield is a regular contributor to the Aspen Music School and Institute but believes he can access this application without regard to his contribution to these organizations. Mr. True told him it is not a conflict of interest. Ms. Juskys is a fellow and believes she can be impartial. Mr. Tarver has contributed financially and believes he can be impartial. Submission of Public Notice for Agenda Items: Notice was provided. REGULAR MEETING ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2025 Public Hearing: Aspen Meadows Affordable Housing Project - Major Planned Development Amendment - Use Variation - Certificates of Affordable Housing Credit - and Other Relevant Reviews Applicant Presentation: Jessica Garrow-Design workshop Ms. Garrow said they are bringing an application to amend the planned development. She emphasized these are three of our longest standing nonprofits in the community who are not developers but have a real critical housing need and were working to address it on their own properties without asking for city land or financing. They are a huge economic driver for the community. Ms. Garrow explained the project was driven by the real need for housing for the long-term success of these organizations, united under housing the Aspen idea, mind, body, spirit. She said that some people are commuting from as far as Grand Junction. The housing would create significant peak trip reductions: 51% for the Aspen Institute, 54% for the Music Festival, and 66% for the Physics Center. The proposal includes 60 deed-restricted units across three parcels: Aspen Institute: 13 units for full-time, part-time, seasonal, visa, and intern staff. Music Festival: 13 units for full-time, part-time staff, program participants, and faculty. Physics Center: 30 units for academic program participants. Richard Stettner from the Aspen Institute explained a bit about the Institute, its programs, attendees, and needs. The housing would reduce Highway 82 traffic and allow on-site storage instead of trucking supplies from Rifle. Jenny Elliott from the Music Festival explained that when they began, everyone lived in Jerome. Now that is not the case, so they are always looking for places for staff faculty and students to stay in the summer. They are a part of this community and housing is their biggest risk. A lot of their staff live in Snowmass, adding to the highway traffic. Josh Frieman, Chair of the Board of Trustees at the Physics Center explained that lack of affordable rental housing for their visiting scientists is really threatening the survival of the Aspen Center for Physics. The housing plan is aimed at shoring up the institution and ensuring that it can continue contributing both to the community and the world of knowledge for decades to come. Ms. Garrow said they are requesting 10-year vested rights, they need a longer vesting period to make sure that they coordinate on construction and have time for fundraising. She explained the zoning, site plan, parking and transportation, trails, and site proposals. Board Questions: Mr. Twarjan said most of his questions were answered. Mr. Canfield asked how they decide on the number of units to include. Mr. Stettner responded that they analyzed the amount of staff they have and put together a model that was larger and they reduced it to fit the neighborhood. Ms. Elliott said they started with parking and retention, they ended up with 13 units. Mr. Frieman said they looked to see what was reasonable to maintain the serenity of the campus and bringing everyone from Snowmass Village. Mr. Canfield asked how they will decide who gets the units. Mr. Stettner said the first priority will be the staff along with seasonal and J1’s. They will have a policy for this. Ms Elliott said they already have a policy for this. They would give first priority to year-round staff, then either faculty or summer staff focusing on people who spend most of their time at the Meadows. REGULAR MEETING ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2025 Mr. Canfield asked what the plan for pedestrian access to the tent and Harris Hall if the walkway is removed. She said the walkway will still be there and they are adding another walkway at 4th street. Ms. Pitt asked if they contemplated into making a road across the field. Ms. Garrow replied that area has conservation rights. Mr. Canfield asked if they have already raised money for a portion of the project. Mr. Stettner said they have raised a significant amount of money already. Mr. Canfield asked if they could get by with 3 years. Mr. Stettner said that is not comfortable, maybe somewhere in between. Ms. Elliott said it is more about planning to try and build it as quickly as possible; they have some of the money but not most of it. Mr. Frieman said they don’t have a history of fundraising, so they are in the beginning stages of starting a fundraising campaign. As soon as they have the funds they want to build and build quickly. Mr. Canfield asked when they expect construction would be finished. Ms Garrow replied without an approval in hand they can not move forward in planning. As each partner moves forward they will take tme to think about what kind of construction they will be looking for. There is a goal of coordination as much as possible and as short of time frame for construction as possible. Physics is very strongly motivated as the years go by housing costs get higher and they lose more participants. Mr. Gorman asked if the 20 spot parking lot is only for people using the essential public facility. Mr. Frieman responded it will serve anyone who is serving as a physicist on a given week. Mr. Gorman then asked if there is a possibility of incrasing the parking and Mr. Garrow replied there is no space to add more parking. Mr. Gorman asked if visitors will be allowed to bring vehicles. Mr. Frieman replied they will not be allowed to or there will be a strong constriction to ensure that parking lot doesn’t overflow. There will be 2 golf carts, and they are beefing up their bike fleet. Mr. Gorman asked if the new easement will coincide with a street area with auto traffic on it. Ms. Garrow said they are proposing to move the trail away from the housing into a better view of the public. Mr. Gorman asked about the units being much smaller that APCHA allows and are the visiting physicists ok with that size. Ms. Garrow replied that everyone has talked about these units having access to the kitchen and laundry facilities of the dorms. Mr. Gorman asked about holding the housing credits. Mr. Stettner replied there is an audit coming up that will potentially generate FTE’s that they have to mitigate for and they would like to reserve some of the credits for that process. Mr. Tarver asked if they have considered capping employee generation growth. Mr. Frieman said they have five employees and that is how many they will have, they do not plan on growing. Ms. Elliott said they already have caps. Mr. Stettner said they do not have caps, but they have employee audits and they don’t plan on growing employees, the purpose is to house existing employees. Staff Presentation: Jeff Barnhill, Senior Planner Mr. Barnhill went over the application. He described the site location, proposed development, planned development project review, the ACP easement situation, use variation, growth management review, transportation and parking, and vested rights as noted in the staff memo. Staff does recommend approval of this project with the conditions outlined in the resolution. They would like to see adjustments to the ACP parking mitigation, the replacement easement, and the vested rights. REGULAR MEETING ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 17TH, 2025 Board Questions: Mr. Tarver asked if there can be a condition of approval for parking enforcement. Ms. Juskys asked for clarification on the easement. Mr. Barnhill replied that typically easements are for the public good, not utilizing public right of way that the city already owns. That is the essence that the parks department was trying to get at. Ms. Pitt asked for him to expand on the vested rights concern. Mr. Barnhill said that is just the amount of time to get the building permit in, so they typically don’t support more than 3 years. Mr. Gorman asked if it is necessary that the project be considered in its entirety or it that up to council. Mr. True replied that this was submitted as one application and as of right now needs to be considered as one project. How council decides to more forward with it is up to them. Mr. Canfield said staff is recommending approval even though there are three pieces that staff does not approve. Mr Barnhill said yes staff is in support of this project but would like to see more thought go into those few things. He said they would recommend approval if there were changes made to those three items. Mr Barnhill asked if the commissioners feel the asking and vested rights are sufficient. If not, they need to go back to the drawing board. Mr. Canfield said it puts them in a weird position if there are concerns, shouldn’t those be addressed finally before it comes to P&Z. Staff has leverage over the applicants before approval but once approved, they lose that leverage. Mr. Anderson said in this case they are a recommending body, so he thinks it’s reasonable to identify the concerns and see if the commission agrees or disagrees with staff before it moves forward. Ms. McGovern asked if the trail improvement is the same as the 1994 application. Ms. Garrow said that the easement was never properly vacated and was only available on a landscape plan. Motion: Mr. Canfield moved to continue this application to October 15th, 2025; Ms. Pitt seconded. Roll call vote: Mr. Twarjan, yes; Ms. Juskys, yes; Mr. Tarver, yes; Ms. Pitt, yes; Mr. Knight, yes; Mr. Gorman, yes; Mr. Canfield, yes; Ms. McGovern, yes. Motion passes. Adjourn: Mr. Canfield moved to adjourn; Mr. Gorman seconded. All in favor. Tracy Terry, Deputy City Clerk