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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19880208Regular Meeting Aspen City Council February 8, 1988 SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES 1 Proclamation - Harold Whitcomb 1 Proclamation - Aspen Restaurant Association 1 Proclamation - 30th Anniversary of Buttermilk Mountain 1 Proclamation - Sister Cities Week 1 COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1 CITIZEN COMMENTS 2 ORDINANCE #65, SERIES OF 1987 - Non Conformities 3 LIQUOR LICENSE HEARING - Aspen Improv 6 ORDINANCE #3, SERIES OF 1988 - False Alarms 6 COORS CLASSIC 7 RESOLUTION #3, SERIES OF 1988 - Ballot Questions 10 BOOTING OF CARS 11 REQUEST FOR SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET - Wheeler Opera House Assumption of Ticket Office 12 RFTA RECOMMENDATIONS 15 ORDINANCE WATER PERMIT BEFORE BUILDING PERMIT 17 18 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council February 8, 1988 Mayor Stirling called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. with Councilmembers Gassman, Isaac, Fallin and Tuite present. SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES 1. Proclamation - Harold Whitcomb The Mayor and Council proclaimed January 30, 1988, Dr. Harold Whitcomb day for his many years and new approaches to the practice of medicine in Aspen. 2. Proclamation - Aspen Restaurant Association The Mayor and Council proclaimed January 24, 1988, as Aspen Restaurant Associa- tion day for their help with community events, support of Tipsy Taxi and their unified voice in key issues. 3. Proclamation - 30th Anniversary of Buttermilk Mountain The Mayor and Council proclaimed the week of February 11 through 14 Buttermilk week. Council presented the proclamation to P. J. Jones, mountain manager, and Bob Maynard, president of the Skiing Company. 4. Proclamation - Sister Cities Week The Mayor and Council proclaimed this week as sister cities week. There were delega- tions from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany; Chamonix, France; Davos, Switzerland, Aspen's official sister cities, and from Shimakappu, Japan. Mayor Stirling said since 1983, Aspen has made a new effort to enlarge and re-establish an international network. There have been visits by Aspen to sister cities and visits from officials of the sister cities to Aspen. The week will have programs to share ideas and solutions to common problems. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1. Mayor Stirling told Council he received letters following the legislative tour held in Aspen. The town of Granby felt this tour created more opportunity to interact. There were also letters from Colorado Ski Country USA and from Representative Joanne Braugh complimenting Aspen on the tour. 2. Mayor Stirling said he received a letter from Park City, Utah, to confirm getting together with Council in April. Mayor Stirling referred this letter to City Manager Bob Anderson. 3. Mayor Stirling said he would like to discuss the results of the meeting with the county on high occupancy vehicle lanes under VII(f) . 4. Mayor Stirling said a request came in a 4 p.m. today to hang a banner honoring Monique Pelletier and Beth Madsen for their ski races. Council agreed to waive the banner fee. 1 Regular Meetincl Aspen City Council February 8, 1988 5. Councilman Tuite told Council the RFTA board has approved up to $15,000 f or funding the parking study. 6. Councilman Tuite told Council after the vote at the last meeting regarding the resolution to the Department of Highways, he met with a lot of people and received a lot of information. Councilman Tuite moved to reconsider Resolution #4, Series of 1988; seconded by Councilman Isaac. All in favor, motion carried. 6. City Manager Bob Anderson told Council he attended the legislative conference of the Municipal League. Much of the time was spent talking about the highway financing. Anderson said he will defer discussing this until VII(f) CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Terry White brought up the handicap parking at the post office. White told Council he got no response from the post- master and asked if there is any pressure the city can put on the post office about the handicap parking. White gave Council some pictures of the spaces. White said the handicap people cannot park in the spaces because the spaces need to be cleaned up. White said the post office is shoveling the snow into the handicap parking area. Councilwoman Fallin agreed t he parking situation is poor at the post office. Councilwoman Fallin pointed out the city has tried to deal with the post office whose response is this is federal property. Mayor Stirling moved to direct the city manager to call the postmaster and to try and work something out and to report back as soon as possible; seconded by Councilwoman Fallin. All in favor, motion carried. White presented pictures of the handicap parking at McDonald's and across from the Wheeler. White said the parks department cleans off the snow and shovels it in front of the handicap parking signs. Mayor Stirling moved to direct the city manager to follow this up to be sure the handicap spaces are cleared and monitored by the police department; seconded by Councilwoman Fallin. All in favor, motion carried. 2. Gideon Kaufman asked if Council is going to address the consent agenda at the first of the meeting. Mayor Stirling said there is a proposal on the consent agenda to bring the consent 2 Re4ular Meeting Aspen Citv Council February 8, 1988 agenda to the beginning of the meeting. Council said they have no problems with anything on the consent agenda. ORDINANCE #65, SERIES OF 1987 - Non Conformities Alan Richman, planning director, reminded Council after the meeting two weeks ago, it was suggested there may be some problems in the approach taken to non-conforming structures. Council said they were willing to look at alternatives regarding the way willful destruction of a non-conforming structure is handled. Richman told Council he developed the alternatives on the concern when there is complete demolition on a willful basis, that the city and the neighbors have a right to expect that structure to come back into conformity. Richman stated this is willful demolition; the ordinance is very clear in the case of non-willful demolition, not caused by the owner, that the owner has the absolute right to built the structure back to its current status. Richman said one alterna- tive is similar to the original approach of the ordinance. When there is willful demolition, if the investment has a dollar value equal to 50 or 75 percent of the value of the land and the structure, the structure has to be rebuilt back to conforming status. Richman told Council this provision comes from the Uniform Building Code, which states if one invests 50 percent of the value of structure in its upgrading, the structure must come into conformance with all UBC provisions. This was a 1976 UBC provision which was eliminated from the UBC in 1979. Richman said he would not recommend this approach; the dollar value is not a determining factor. Richman told Council the city ought to look at how much of the structure is demolished. The second alternative is to look at the percent of the non-conformity itself that is demolished. An example is if an area of a structure sits in a setback, you could look at the part of the structure that is in the setback. If it all were demolished, the structure should be brought back into conformity. Richman said the principle problem with this approach is that it would be very difficult to measure. Richman said this approach would also encourage people with nonconform- ing structures not to touch that portion of the structure. Richman said the approach he feels will work is to look at the percentage of the entire structure that is demolished. Richman said staff recommends 75 percent; however, there are sections of the UBC that are much stricter than that. Richman told Council there are some provisions in the UBC that require 75 percent willful demolition. Richman told Council when he says 75 percent willful demolition, he is not looking at interior remodel. Richman said if someone is leaving 4 walls standing, there is no 3 Re4ular Meeting Aspen CitvCouncil Februarv 8, 1988 reason to require the structure to come into conformance. Richman said the city may want to bring a structure into confor- mance when the structure is coming down in its entirety. Richman explained that is why he used 75 percent not only of the floor area of the structure but also the exterior wall area or the foundation. Richman said non-conforming uses employs that 50 percent of the value of the structure as well. Richman suggested using the same kind of approach of 75 percent of demolition of the structure as a measure. Richman said Council may want to be more strict with a non-conforming use than a non-conforming structure. A non-conforming structure has a less severe impact on the neighborhood than a non-conforming use. Mayor Stirling opened the public hearing. Gideon Kaufman said the planning office has clarified some points, which is good. Richman said he is going to change damage to demolition, so that putting on new siding is not interpreted as damage. Richman said the structure should be forcibly demolished for this provision to come into effect. Kaufman said his problem with this ordinance is the FAR, this is hurting the person with the small house. If a person has an 800 square foot house and wants to expand it by 600 square feet, he has to tear down the non-conformity. Richman agreed if the ordinance does what Kaufman says, it would be unfair. Richman said the ordinance talks about demolishing or destroying 75 percent of the floor area. For the structure in the above example to be required to be made conforming, 600 of the 800 square feet would have to be demolished. Kaufman said the smaller the house, the larger the burden. Councilwoman Fallin suggested an exception for under a certain square footage. Richman reiterated one has to be tearing down the walls to have this ordinance apply. Kaufman said he is concerned about houses that encroach in the setbacks who would have to tear out the house and f oundation and start over. Norm Batchelor asked about the definition of demolition, in the case of taking a wall off and reusing it in the new structure. Richman said demolition is defined in the new code, and he will have to see how it applies to this ordinance. Mick Spalding said he has a multi-unit, multi-ownership building that has severe foundation problems. Spalding said the owners are faced with a large expense to bring the building back to where it is. The owners have asked if they could rebuild what they have, take the f oundations out and rebuild what they have. Richman said if the building is non-conforming and the building has to be torn it, this ordinance would require it be brought back into confor- mance. Mayor Stirling asked if this would be viewed as willful or non-willful, if an owner had to tear a building down in order 4 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council February 8, 1988 to solidify the project. Richman said the determining factor would be if the building came down through a conscious choice of the owners. Richman said people could get around the provision by never demolishing 75 percent of the building in one year. Don Helmich said this ordinance deals with all zone districts and effects buildings like Aspen Square and North of Nell, which are non-conforming. Helmich said these buildings are getting old. Helmich read from the purpose section, which states, "The purpose of this article is to regulate and limit the continued existence of those uses", and "it is the intent of these articles to permit these non-conformities to continue but not to allow non-conformities to be enlarged or expanded". Helmich said these two phrases are inconsistent. Helmich said if there were a fire in an old building and only part of it were destroyed, it would make sense to tear it totally down and rebuild. This is a mixture of willful and non-willful destruction. Helmich said the existing law is fair and equitable and seems to work pretty well. Helmich said he could not buy insurance if the city is going to reduce the amount of real property replaceable. This ordinance as presently exists confiscates people's property. Bil Dunaway asked if the 75 percent demolition in the third alternative is either or the walls or the FAR. Richman said it is 75 percent of both floor area and the walls or the foundation. Kaufman said there may be complexities not even considered when this is applied to condominium complexes. Mayor Stirling closed the public hearing. Mayor Stirling said there are new things brought up that Council needs to address. Mayor Stirling suggested thrashing this out at a work session. Richman said Council could do this as part of the code simplification work session. Richman said the entire land use regulations will be noticed as a public hearing and will be before Council and Council can address this section then. Councilman Isaac said he would prefer to bring this ordinance back before the end of March. Richman told Council he will put together a group to help address these issues before it comes back to Council. Mayor Stirling entered into the record letters from John Werning and Mick Spalding. Councilman Isaac suggested there are some condominium complexes that ought to be brought to the zoning code. Richman said the one limitation to be less strict on may be the number of dwelling units per parcel. Mayor Stirling moved to continue the public hearing to March 14, 1988, and instruct the planning director to broaden and under- stand this issue better; seconded by Councilwoman Fallin. All in favor, motion carried. 5 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council .February 8, 1988 Councilman Isaac said he would like to know what other com- munities do. Kaufman said there are strong ramifications from a legal and liability point of view in the sale and purchase of units in condominiums. Helmick said if the city is going to take action to remove some property rights, that is confiscation. LIQUOR LICENSE HEARING - Aspen Improv Councilwoman Fallin moved to table this item indefinitely; seconded by Councilman Tuite. All in f avor, with the exception of Councilman Isaac. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #3, SERIES OF 1988 - False Alarms Fred Gannett, city attorney's office, told Council this is a discussion item. The principle owner of Westec has requested to be present during the public hearing. Councilwoman Fallin suggested having first reading tonight and not schedule the public hearing until the first meeting in March. Councilwoman Fallin said Council has been working on this since last October. Councilwoman Fallin moved to read Ordinance #3, Series of 1988; seconded by Councilman Isaac. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #3 (Series of 1988) AN ORDINANCE REPEALING AND RE-ENACTING SECTIONS 8, 8- 1/2-6, ADDING SECTIONS 8 1/2-1.1, 8 1/2-6.1, 8 1/2-7.1, 8 1/2-9.1, AND DELETING SECTION 8 1/2-5(b) OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE OF ASPEN TO CREATE A PERMIT REQUIREMENT FOR ALL ALARMS SYSTEMS USERS AS DEFINED HEREIN AND SETTING NEW PERMIT FEES was read by the city clerk Councilwoman Fallin moved to adopt Ordinance #3, Series of 1988, on first reading; seconded by Councilman Isaac. Councilman Tuite said he would like to hear from Westec at the second reading. The Council put this off in order to hear the input from the alarm companies. Mayor Stirling asked why the alarm fee is over two times what the actual cost is. John Goodwin, police chief, told Council the actual expense is about $25.00. There is an additional amount as an encouragement for people to take care of their alarms. City Manager Bob Anderson said there is also cost that goes beyond the actual time of the officer, in taking the officer off whatever he is doing and putting him in an emergency mode to answer an alarm. 6 Regular Meeting Aspen Citv Council Februarv 8, 1988 Roll call vote; Councilmembers Tuite, yes; Gassman, :yes; Fallin, yes; Isaac, yes; Stirling, yes. Motion carried. COORS CLASSIC Mayor Stirling said when Council had their budget hearings in the fall, they allocated $20,000 f or the Coors Classic bicycle race, which is less than the event calls for. This budget was contin- gent that the race be moved to a weekday, and some other issues. Patsy Malone, special events coordinator, said there was not a clear consensus whether Council wanted to bring this race back to Aspen. Ms. Malone reminded Council $25,000 was budgeted last year, $5,000 was added for the second stage and the :race came in $100 under budget. Ms. Malone said by allocating only $20,000 for the 1988 Coors Classic, the race cannot be put on. Michael Aisner, Coors Classic representative, told Council the event is now owned and operated by a non-profit group, Interna- tional Classics, Ltd. Aisner said there is a div:i.sion called International Classics Ltd, Concessions, which raiser the money, the profits from the sale of tee-shirts, posters, hags, etc. goes back into the race. The race receives its finances from Coors, the race entry fees from the individual cities, the s~~le of Coors Classic items, and other sponsors. The total operating budget for the race is $1,200,000; Coors gives less than 5C1 percent of that. Aisner pointed out it is imperative the race gets money from other sources. Aisner told Council the race will be concentrating efforts on national television. Aisner said they have worked ot~t a nightly update on ESPN and a one-hour special during prime tame every 3 or 4 days. Aisner said they feel this will give the best television coverage and will give more coverage to each one of the stages of the race. Aisner told Council they havE~ contracted with Rolling Stone magazine to have a 13 page pull out section with an extra 100,000 of these sections made available in stores. In the center of this is a two-page double s~?read with a map of all the stages. Aisner said there have been some questions on whether this race is going to remain in Colorado and whether there will. be a stage in Aspen at all. Aisner said the Classic needs to do what it needs to do in order to become a major national event. Aisner said the Classic needs to survive as a business. Aisner said the direction of the Classic has been to have a true challenge for the athletes, and that challenge is in the Rocky Mountains. Aisner said they are looking at replacing northern California with southern California, which will increase t:he overall visibility and national impact. Aisner told Council there is a 50 percent chance the Classic may be here without a women's 7 Regular Meeting Aspen Citv Council February 8, 1988 event. Aisner said if the U.S. Cycling Federation has to train the women for Seoul, Korea, they may run the race without the women's team. Aisner presente d a document with articles from the newspapers indicating 5 percent of the total print coverage for the 1987 Classic had Aspen datelines. The Aspen dateline was represented in 35 of 50 states that they collected clippings from. The most frequently used Associated Press photograph was a shot of the Aspen to Copper Mountain road race. Aisner said the v glue of press coverage to Aspen on the Aspen to Copper Mountain road race is significant. Aisner said the Coors Classic has some elements that go beyond just the coverage while the race is in town. There are over 100,000 pieces of goods sold nationwide that carry the Aspen name on it, including magazine, posters, etc. Aisner told Council last year a survey of the spectators was taken. Over 20 percent of the spectators indicated they have seen the race 5 or more years consecutively, and 6 percent indicated they had seen the race 9 or more years. 55 percent of the spectators in Vail indicated they w ere staying overnight. Aisner pointed out when this race is in a week day, it affects the ability of the race to draw spectators from the front range. Aisner said the Council should look at having the race on a week day versus a week end. Aisner said some of the communities the race is in really market the event. Aisner suggested doing events in the community that expose and use the Coors Classic, like art shows, local events, children's races. These would help maximize the day. Aisner told Council Aspen was the location that the Coors staff picked as their favorite. Aisner said their relationship with the community has been tremendous. Mayor Stirling said one of the concerns of the community is the issue of selling merchandise and selling it exclusively. Mayor Stirling asked if this merchandise could be sold through the local shops rather than on the mall. Aisner told Council Coors Classic had 10 accounts in Aspen last year. Aisner said this merchandise is available prior to the race. Aisner said it is important to have an on-going sales in town. The Coors Classic people are only in town selling for 6 hours out of the year. Aisner said these sales go directly into the organizations support and are very important to the Classic. Aisner told Council the Classic wants to have an on-going relationship with the retail community and with the sales of Coors Classic items. Mayor Stirling asked if they would be willing to give up the race day sales. Aisner said this is a critical issue and not one they would be willing to give up. Mayor Stirling asked if Coors Classic pays sales tax. Aisner said they do. Mark Joseph told Council the retailers can sell the Coors items year round. 8 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council ,February 8, 1988 Councilman Isaac asked what the fee will be if the women do not race. Aisner said it will be the same. The women's race adds very small percent of the press text. Mayor Stirling said he feels the women's race in Aspen is very important and a wonderful race. Mayor Stirling said there is a lot of concern f rom the business community on what the effect is that day. There is a challenge with housing in Aspen due to the thorough on-going business. Mayor Stirling said Aspen does not need this race the way some other towns may need it. However, the race bring s a panorama of color to the summer season. Mayor Stirling said the coverage on ESPN is new and was a missing link from last year. Mayor Stirling said this coverage is worth a lot of money to the town. Joseph asked if the bedding fee could be re-adjusted because the race is being held during the week. Mayor Stirling said the event was run for 2 or 3 years without a bed fee and was a remarkable effort for the town and strained the lodging com- munity. Spence Videon, ARA, told Council this is the last busy part of the season and the lodges have to have some money. This money barely covers the maid service. John Hamwi said the positives of bring people to town is great; however, it is the town's busiest time. Hamwi said the race set up seems to be not mindful of some businesses situation, like bathrooms right in front of restaurants. Hamwi told Council he does donate meals to the Coors Classic; however, the Coors Classic people should be more mindful of the community. Aisner said the point is well taken. Aisner said if there are these type of problems, the race coordinators should know about them early enough can work on the problems in advance. The problem is learning about these problems the morning of the event. Mayor Stirling moved in addition to the $20,000 already allocated in the budget to allocate an additional $10,000 out of the contingency f or a ceiling of 530,000 f or the 1988 Coors Classic; seconded by Councilman Tuite. Councilman Isaac said he feels it may be premature to allocate 510,000 more. It is not known if the women will be racing. Ms. Malone said if the women do not come, actual dollars can be taken out of the budget for the beds not rented. Councilman Gassman said at some point this event crosses from being a bicycle race to being ancillary to selling items. Councilman Gassman said most of the color f rom thi s race comes from the advertising signs up and down the streets. Councilman Gassman pointed out the town started a sign code in the 1950's. Councilman Gassman said the city is buying advertising and using a bicycle race to do it. Councilman Gassman said he does not think the city should be buying advertising. 9 Rectular Meeting Aspen City Council February 8, 1988 Councilwoman Fallin said she is not in favor of giving additional funding. The $30,000 does not include the overtime of city employees. Councilwoman Fallin said the $30,000 is in excess of what other communities are giving. Councilwoman Fallin said the race becomes a burden f or businesses at this time of the year. Councilman Gassman said what he questions is spending public funds to sell Coors, and there is a conflict how the city spends their money. Aisner said in the 1980's there are no events that do not have sponsorship attached to it. This event has a $1,000,000 budget, and the only way that budget works is that companies obtain exposure through these events, as does Aspen. Aisner said he would like Council to give him a better idea of what they want to accomplish through the race. Aisner said Council should look at this as if they were buying TV time. Aisner said Aspen is put on hats which are sold all over the country, which is part of the trade that communities make in terms of benef its to the com- munities. Aisner said some other communities do not spend as much money on the race event. The problem is that in Aspen the housing has to be paid for. Mayor Stirling said it is a legiti- mate role for the city to be the sponsors of this race. All in favor, with the exception of Councilmembers Fallin and Gassman. Motion carried. Councilman Tuite said the consensus is that weekends are out for this race. Councilman Tuite said he is voting on this event on a year by year basis. Councilman Tuite said there is a burden on the community for this event. Aisner reiterated he would like a letter from Council spelling out the objectives are in marketing this race. Aisner said they are in editorial control of the television coverage. Councilman Isaac said he would not have supported this request without the TV coverage. Councilman Isaac said this is a lot of money for the taxpayers to be paying for a one day event. RESOLUTION #3, SERIES OF 1988 - Ballot Questions This is the proposed ballot for the April 5, 1988, special election with 3 separate issues, exchange or disposition of city hall; sale of the ice garden; sale of 1600 square feet at the base of Shadow Mountain in block 47. Mayor Stirling said the proposed Charter amendments will be scheduled for a later election. Bil Dunaway said Council should re-adopt as a ballot issue the use of the Marolt property for dormitory housing. Dunaway said because the PCPA is against this should not preclude the voters from deciding how they want their property used. Dunaway said housing f or hourly wage employees is needed. 10 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council February 8, 1988 Councilwoman Fallin agreed but said this particular election is not the right one. There is not enough time to get information out to the voters. Councilwoman Fallin said she would hate to see something so critical be voted against because of the timing. Councilwoman Fallin agreed the voter should make this decision. Mayor Stirling said Council is having a work session February 15th with the PCPA and the Music Associates on the issues of the Red Roof and dormitory housing. Mayor Stirling said there is another Council meeting on which Council could add this question if something comes out of the work session. Councilman Isaac said the M.A.A. has a long term problem that needs to be addressed. The 50 rooms at the Red Roof Inns will not solve this problem. Councilman Isaac agreed this issue should go on the ballot but it needs support from community groups. Tom Erneman, M.A.A., said the problem is housing; th e best site is decided either by Council or by the electorate. Council agreed to discuss this issue at their February 15th work session. Councilman Isaac said he would prefer to pass this resolution now and add another question, if needed, at the next Council meeting. Mayor Stirling said he would prefer to table this resolution until the next meeting. Councilman Isaac said in question #1 he would like "for the purpose of consolidating city and county office space" added. Councilwoman Fallin pointed out the Council decided they did not want to get that restrictive. Councilman Tuite moved to adopt Resolution #3, Series of 1988; seconded by Councilwoman Fallin. Mayor Stirling said he opposes this resolution because he does not approve of the sale of city hall. It is Council's respon- sibility to do something with the building. Mayor Stirling said there are better alternatives than selling the ice rink, also. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Gassman and Mayor Stirling. Motion carried. BOOTING OF CARS (Councilman Tuite left due to a conflict of interest) . Council- man Gassman objected to receiving this information so late. Councilman Gassman moved to table this to February 22, 1988; seconded by Mayor Stirling. Fred Gannett, city attorney's office, told Council he contacted NIMLO and the Colorado Municipal League 7 weeks ago, and just received the information this week. Councilwoman Fallin said Council had an unofficial rule that anything handed out on Monday 11 Regular Meeting Aspen Citv Council February _8, 1988 was not discussed. Councilman Isaac pointed out the community is waiting f or Counci 1 to take some action. Council can discuss this to give some direction where they want to go. City Attorney Taddune said Council should decide whether they have an interest in passing legislation to regulate the booting of cars. Taddune said Don Lemos is present to present the problem from the parking lot owners point of view. All in f avor , with the exception of Councilman Isaac. Motion carried. REQUEST FOR SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET - Wheeler Opera House Assumption of Ticket Office Bob Murray, director of the Wheeler Opera House, reminded Council the Arts Council has been running the box office. The Arts Council started the box office to get the allegiance and coopera- tion of all the arts groups in town. Murray said the box office has been a great convenience and success. Murray said this success has caused some problems, like space. Tickets are sold at the Wheeler for other events than those at the Wheeler. Murray told Council the original thought was to have the Arts Council start the box office, and then the Wheeler administration would take it over. Murray said the Arts Council wanted to continue operation of the box office for one more year. Murray said there have been some problems, like the box office not being open on Monday. Murray said the hours of operation and the services, if possible, need to be expanded. The ticket office is very much a part of any theatre operation. Murray said the ticket office, having been established, needs to grow and in order to do that it should be under the Wheeler administration. Murray total Council the total cost would be $43,150 with $24,000 in revenues. Murray said the local groups pay the box office 5 percent of their gross ticket sales for their services. Murray said he would like to expand the hours to 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. Murray said $11,000 would be needed for physical changes. Murray told Council he has investigated some computerization for the ticket operation. Murray said the investment will sav a in man hours as the business continues to increase. Councilman Isaac asked why this operation has been to be subsidized when some ticket operations are making money. Murray said those operations sell millions of tickets and get 15 percent of the ticket sales. Murray reminded Council the Wheeler is a community house. It was not an easy task for convince local groups to sell their tickets through the Wheeler box office. 12 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council _February 8, 1988 Councilman Tuite asked why the Council was not approached by the Arts Council for funding for more hours and staff than having the city take this on. Murray said generally because the financial abilities of the Arts Council are stretched to the limit. Councilman Tuite said it may be cheaper to subsidize another day of ticket sales than adding the entire operation. Councilman Tuite said the Wheeler does run on a deficit. Murray said there also i s the human f actor of independence . The box office has been operated solely away from the Wheeler, and the independence has proven awkward. Murray said the box office has to be part of the Wheeler operation and cannot be separate from it. Murray said the Ballet Aspen has a grievance against certain policies of the ticket office. The M.A.A. has a grievance with the space. Murray told Council he has discussed this plan with the ARA because they are part of the space. They are willing to cooperate providing they do not lose any space. Murray said the public has been trained to use the Wheeler box office for everything and he would not like to lose this advantage. Councilwoman Fallin asked if the M.A.A. will be part of this box office. Murray said this is where the computerization will come in. Councilwoman Fallin asked if the city takes this over, is there an agreement that the M.A.A. will sell their tickets there. Tom Ernemann, M.A.A., said at this time they cannot say that. There are financial consideration. The M.A.A. sells $500,000 tickets during the year. Councilwoman Fallin said if the city gets a computer, will they be able to hook up so that people can buy tickets for events in Denver and Grand Junction. Murray said that would be a goal but would not happen immediately. Murray said the M.A.A. does sell their tickets at the box office. Murray said if the operation were streamlined, the city would have a better chance of having the M.A.A. sell the tickets through the box office. City Manager Bob Anderson said if this is dealing with a munici- pal department, it should not be on the agenda. Anderson said this should have been considered during budget time. Anderson pointed out that Bob Murray is also responsible to the board of directors of the Wheeler, who wanted to bring this up now. Anderson noted the Council has a very small contingency fund f or the entire year. Mayor Stirling moved to allocate a ceiling of $30,000 to staff the box office under the aegis of the Wheeler Opera House Board, doing th e physical work up to $11,000 and charge staff to research the computer and report back within 60 days, and that the money be allocated out of the Wheeler fund balance; seconded by Councilman Isaac. 13 Regular Meeting Aspen Citv Council__ _February 8, 1988 Mayor Stirling said Council has already made a contribution of 55,000 to the Arts Council for the ticket office. Mayor Stirling asked if some of that money would be available to apply to this project. Spence Videon, ARA, said there are some physical issues the Council should be aware of. Videon said this move would affect the Visitors Center and he would like Council to separate the salaries and the physical upgrade until the ARA and Wheeler have a chance to work this out. Videon told Council the Visitors Center has generated a 30 to 40 percent traffic increase each year. Videon said with the proposed physical plan, there would be physical chaos. Mayor Stirling agreed that should be worked out but that is up to staff and ARA. Rita Hunter, community theatre, told Council they have concerns about turning this operation over to the Wheeler. The community theatre has been represented by the Arts Council, who is inter- ested in the arts. Ms. Hunter said the theatre group would not be able to afford it if the percentage rates for tickets were raised. Council asked why the M.A.A. does not sell their tickets through the box office. Tom Ernemann said they sell a lot of ticket s at the tent, which would mean tying the two operations together. Ernemann said the M.A.A. has a system in place, which works, and a big investment in their operation. The box office is an unknown. Eve Homeyer, Wheeler Board, told Council there are a lot of fingers in the pie and no direct chain of command in this operation . Ms . Homeyer said it seems that the Wheeler admin- istration is responsible f or the box office, and they are not. Ms. Homeyer said there would have to be a small increase in the percent of ticket sales, like 6 or 7 percent. Jenny, ticket office, said she is concerned about the budget proposal for the ticket office. Jenny told Council as of July 1st they went to a no frills operation, and the total no frills budget is 544,000. The ideal budget with current services is 572,000. Jenny said the budget she came up with a wish list from everyone was $100,000. Murray said he used the figures from the Arts Council to present a budget and did the best he could. Mayor Stirling said this proposal may need more refining. Anderson agreed this is premature and is coming from the Wheeler board rather than staff channels. Mayor Stirling withdrew his motion. Mayor Stirling moved to direct the city manager to work with the director of the Wheeler, the Wheeler Board and the Arts Council, and the ARA and come back to Council by March 14, 1988, with a refinement of this proposal; seconded by Councilman Isaac. 14 Regular Meetinct Aspen_City Council February 8, 1988 Councilman Isaac said he would like staff to look at the pos- sibility of renting out space to Ticketron and have them run the operation. The city would then not be subsidizing the service and may have revenue. Bill Shorr said the Council should stop thinking about the Wheeler or the box office as ever making money or breaking even. Shorr said this is not possible. Shorr said their desire is to run things as efficiently as possible but the Wheeler will not make money. Councilman Tuite said he is not expecting the Wheeler to make money, but they are asking for another $20,000 to work a problem out. Council is hearing a request for an addition to the deficit. All in favor, motion carried. RFTA RECOMMENDATIONS Dwight Shellman, RFTA Board, told Council in drafting this resolution he tried to address what Council discussed at their study session. Paragraph 1 discusses the cross town shuttle which is almost exclusively a city concern, will be done with city buses and within the city. Shellman said the Council ought to act on the cross town shuttle now. Shellman said the down valley frequency increases is exclusively county consideration; this has already happened Shellman said Council could ask the RFTA Board to address what happens to these frequency increases in the off-season and the summer. Shellman said the cross town shuttle plan will need some help in locating bus stops and in traffic controls. Paragraph 3 addresses an aggressive marketing program. Mayor Stirling said the Council would like to know how much this is going to cost. Paragraph 5 discusses the high occupancy vehicle lanes. Paragraph 7 is small bus acquisition, which is happening. Shellman said RFTA is nearly ready to put out specs to start the bidding process. Shellman said paragraph 8 discusses further service improvements. Shellman said before the 1988 off season, the RFTA Board will evaluate all routes and frequencies and make recommendations for further improvements of service including reduction of cost, improvement of productivity within the existing budget, better utilization of existing bus movement to increase frequency, reduction of service during low use periods to avoid waste. Mayor Stirling said paragraph 1 is not near what he had in mind; however, in order to get a program going this winter, this is a good plan. Mayor Stirling moved to include in paragraph #1 on or before February 15, 1988; seconded by Councilwoman Fallin Councilman Isaac pointed out that is a week from today. Shellman 15 Regular Meeting Aspen Citv Council Februarv 8_,____1988 said RFTA has a meeting scheduled for February 16 and will try to get this accomplished by March 1 Mayor Stirling said he would accept March 1 in paragraph #l; seconded by Councilwoman Fallin. Eve Homeyer, RFTA Board, told Council she is not sure what RFTA is being obligated to. Ms. Homeyer said this seems the Council is moving back into running the bus system rather than working with RFTA management. Ms. Homeyer said these changes should happen at budget time. Mayor Stirling said this idea has been brought to the Board for almost a year. Mayor Stirling said this is a strong request the city would like to see happen. If it does not happen on March 1, Council would like to hear why. Shellman said this is taking the present city routes, filtering them through the business district and putting them on an alignment of Durant, Original, Main street. All in favor, with the exception of Councilmembers Isaac and Tuite. Motion carried. Spence Videon, RFTA Board, said this is not simply a matter of changing where buses go. Videon said the RFTA Board has adopted a work plan and has been working strenuously toward following through that plan which the Board prioritized. Videon said the RFTA board has come a long way in 4 years and is fiscally respon- sible. Videon said he will take is request very seriously; how ever, the Board was appointed to run the system in a fiscal manner and to be responsible for the operation. Councilman Tuite said he does not have a problem with the concept, but to expect staff to respond by March lst is not realistic. Council is all in favor of paragraph #2. Mayor Stirling asked to hear from the RFTA Board what more can be done with a marketing program and how much it will cost. Council is in favor of paragraph #3. Council is in favor of paragraph #4. Mayor Stirling asked if RFTA is proceeding to take the $20,000 and to the things discussed in the work session regarding the high occupancy vehicle lanes. Shellman said the staff is working on informal inquiries before putting together an RFP. Mayor Stirling moved to charge the RFTA to proceed with #5; seconded by Councilman Gassman. Councilman Isaac said Council cannot authorize RFTA to do engineering studies on the highway unless the highway department is willing to go along with it. Councilman Isaac said he favors the HOV but this needs to be coordinated with the highway department. Councilman Tuite said RFTA is working on finding an 16 Re4ular Meeting Aspen City Council February 8, 1988 engineer who the highway department respects to come up with a favorable document. City Manager Bob Anderson said the Commis- sioners are not opposed to this approach but it might be smart to do this work before going to the Governor and asking f or an HOV. All in favor, motion carried. Council favored the rest of the resolution as written. Council requested staff put this into resolution form to be forwarded to RFTA. ORDINANCE WATER PERMIT BEFORE BUILDING PERMIT Councilwoman Fallin moved to table this item; seconded by Councilman Tuite. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Tuite moved to suspend the rules and meet f or 15 more minutes; seconded by Mayor Stirling. Councilmembers Fallin, Gassman and Isaac opposed. Motion NOT carried. The Council meeting is continued to February 9, 1988, at 5:00 p.m. for the PM10 public hearing. Council left Chambers at 9:00 p. m. 1 Kathryn S Koch, City Clerk 17