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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19880209Continued Meeting Aspen City Council February 9, 1988 PM10 STANDARDS - Public Hearing l CASTLERIDGE - Waiver of Land Lease 12 PARKING CONSULTANT 13 RESOLUTION - Highway 82 EIS 14 17 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council FebruarX 9, 1988 Mayor Stirling called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. with Councilmembers Isaac, Fallin, Gassman and Tuite present. Councilman Tuite moved to continued the items from last night's regular meeting to the end of the agenda; seconded by Councilman Gassman. All in favor, motion carried. PM10 STANDARDS - Public Hearing Mayor Stirling said Council has to consider what is the right thing to do for the health of the community aside from the demands being made from the federal government. Torn Dunlop, environmental health department director, read a goals statement from his office: to improve, maintain and preserve the quality of life in Aspen by offering constructive resolution to the problem of air quality deterioration cause by human generated impacts; to act as an information collection agency and resource for the community in compiling data for response to requests for actions in monitoring and seeking solutions to air pollution problems; to keep an open channel to the community and not lose sight of the input that citizens may have to this most perplexing problem; to represent to the elected officials the current and changing conditions of forces outside the Aspen area that are driving the need for immediate response to achieve compliance with federal laws; to represent the city and county in negotiations with state and federal agencies concerning demands for action that poten- tially may have a dramatic impact on the lifestyle of the citizens and visitors. Mayor Stirling said there are six categories which are pollution related matters; the ozone, sulphur dioxide, nitrous oxide, lead, particulate matter PM10, which are 10 microns are smaller, and carbon monoxide. This public hearing is addressing PM10 standards in response to demands being made by the federal government. Lee Cassin, environmental health department, told Council this local implementation plan was recommended by their department and the Clean Air Board, and modified by Council at first reading. Ms. Cassin said the purpose of the plan is to reduce PM10 pollution to safe levels. Ms. Cassin said the plan elements are very difficult ones; however, there is not a known way to reduce PM10 levels without taking these steps. Ms. Cassin said each strategy is going to involve compromises and working out details along the way. Ms. Cassin said it is the commitment of the environmental health department to research any new technologies that may be developed to clean up fireplaces, these can be used. Ms. Cassin said the environmental health department is committed to continually monitoring and analyzing the data to try and 1 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council February 9, 1988 determine any correlations to find any solutions that might be appropriate. Ms. Cassin said the program Council adopted on first reading is the best one to provide healthful air quality; however, they are open to any approaches that may be devised. Ms. Cassin recom- mended changes to the local implementation plan to allow in addition to gas logs and removing fireplaces, if a new technology provides clean burning fireplaces, this would be an option. The EPA is willing to allow this intent stated in the LIP. Ms. Cassin told Council no such technology exists now. Ms. Cassin said the health department pledges to ask the EPA to revise the LIP at any time that data or technology changes. The local implementation plan is a flexible plan that should be changed if new technology develops. Ms. Cassin reminded Council the current data shows violation of the total particulate health standards in most years. Ms. Cassin said total particulate are only measured every six days. If this is violated 3 times a year, it means Aspen violates at the rate of 18 days a year. Ms. Cassin said the reason Aspen got in the number 1 category comes from not only the worst day but the average level during this time, the number of relatively high levels during that time. Ms. Cassin said the causes and effects of the high PM10 levels are very complicated; there are lots of factors that combine to make high pollution days. Ms. Cassin said staff is making a recommendation based on the best scien- tific analysis available. PM10 levels are influenced by tempera- ture, wind speed, time of day of winds, barometric pressure, inversion, number of people in town, what the snow is like. The most important thing about the PM10 levels is you cannot take one days total particulate and know what the PM 10 level will be on that day. Ms. Cassin told Council the commissioners adopted the same local implementation plan as Council on first reading. Ms. Cassin said the LIP for the county did not include things germane only to the city. The county supported the plan in full. These measures would apply in the metro area and go to the water plant, T-Lazy- 7, the airport business center, and Difficult campground. Ms. Cassin said the first item in the plan is the continuation of the voluntary education program and addition of new programs as they become appropriate. Ms. Cassin said the department wants to do a wide range of programs. Item #2 is to adopt ordinances to require future fireplaces to have gas logs in them for new construction. Ms. Cassin adding language stating if any new fire place technology is developed with emissions equivalent to certified stoves as determined by their office, such fireplaces could be installed. 2 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council February 9, 1988 Ms. Cassin told Council item #3 is requiring registration of stoves and fireplaces. Item #4 is requiring existing fireplaces to be retrofitted with either gas logs or new technology if one comes along. Item #5 is that dirty stoves be replaced with certified stoves. Existing stoves that are certified would not be required to be replaced. Item #6 is the use of the hardest sanding material that is safe and at a reasonable cost. Item #7 is storage of the flusher truck at the RFTA bus barn so that the city can flush more days of the year and more hours during the day. Ms. Cassin pointed out that item #8 is to evaluate a parking restriction program on Main street to see if it will make it easier to clean the streets more effectively. Ms. Cassin said she included a experimental program to see whether mixing sand with magnesium chloride or double washing improves dust levels. Item #10 is the auto disincentive and bus clean up package. Item #11 is voter approval for construction of a parking structure. Suzanne Caskey, Clean Air Board, said these recommendations are designed to bring Aspen into compliance with standards based on health. The body has a natural carrying capacity and has evolved over time so that it functions well in a specific ambience and can tolerate only so much change in that ambience. Ms. Caskey told Council the National Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee determined standards they feel the human body can tolerate. Aspen's outdoor air is not healthy and too often has not met the health standards. Ms. Caskey pointed out that people cannot escape pollution that they walk, ski and run in. There is no substitute for clean air. Ms. Caskey told Council the Clean Air Board considered why people burn wood and tried to satisfy those needs. People do use wood to heat their homes. Certified stoves are up to 95 percent cleaner than traditional dirty burners. Ms. Caskey said fire- places are quite inefficient in delivering heat. Ms. Caskey said offering much improved gas logs as an alternate will make fire place users happy. Ms. Caskey said dealing with wood burning is a challenge because of the issue of the individual rights versus the community good. In this case, the right of the community is its health and is the center of the discussion. Ms. Caskey stated this is a community problem and the solutions that are right are those that are equitable and share the burden equally across the community. Steve Arnold, director of technical services of the state, told Council in the mid-60's there was a national concern over air pollution problems in major cities. There was an effort mounted to monitor air pollution levels to determine what typical 3 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council February 9, 1988 pollutants were in the atmosphere and to come up with reasonable standards for health implications. Arnold said in 1971 EPA established the first set of air pollution standards including 5 pollutants, of which one is total suspended particulate stan- dards. Colorado has had air pollution monitoring for particulate in 75 communities around the state since the early 1970's. Arnold said when the standard was established for total suspended particulate, it was based on limited health effects information. When Congress passed the clean air act, they demanded EPA reevaluate the standards on a 5 year basis. Arnold told Council in 1981, the EPA came to the conclusion that a fine particulate standard should replace the total suspended particulate standard. In 1981 EPA put together the air pollution criteria documents and a synopsis of the best scientific evidence available dealing with particulate air pollution. In 1984 a recommendation was made to the EPA on a PM 10. The standard was a range between 50 and 65 micrograms per cubic meter for an annual average standard and between 150 and 350 micrograms per cubic meter for a 24-hour standard. Arnold told Council the reason there are two different standards are because there are two different types of health impacts. The short term health impacts are those experienced with a heavy dose of particulate levels, and then spend time trying to remove those particles from the body. The EPA reviewed the standards and concluded there was reasonable evidence for establishing the standards at the lower end of the proposed ranges. Arnold said these are health based standards that are the culmination of 10 years of evaluating scientific studies. Mayor Stirling opened the public hearing. Mr. Stewart asked what the city has been violating the last 3 years. Ms. Cassin answered it was the 24-hour health standard for particulate levels for total particulate. Ms. Cassin said Aspen has not measured the PM10 standards until 3 weeks ago. Mark Freidberg endorsed the remarks of Suzanne Caskey and urged Council to pass this plan. Freidberg said the best test of clean air is how people feel when they breath. Freidberg urged Council to seriously address building a parking structure and expanding the malls to do something about the auto disincentive program. Freidberg said the only way to get people out of their cars is to take away the parking spaces and to have a parking structure for these cars. Donnelly Erdman asked how the particulate are differentiated in measurements. Erdman asked if particulate from sanding and from fireplaces can be differentiated when measured. Ms. Cassin showed monitoring samples from various locations in the county. Ms. Cassin said wood smoke particles are very fine, which is why there is a health implication in breathing these. Ms. Cassin said there are ways to chemically distinguish what the sources 4 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council FebruarX 9, 1988 are. This will not be done until at least this summer. Ms. Cassin told Council there are 4 times as many fireplaces in the metro area as wood burning stoves. Ms. Cassin reminded Council staff did a study asking people how often and how much wood they burn. Marty Stouffer commended Council and staff for undertaking this work. Stouffer said this plans seems to delay the day of reckoning for 3 years. Stouffer asked what might be done immediately on this plan, like licensing wood vendors to certain types of wood. Stouffer said he favors this plan. Carolyn Miller said people who live here year round seem to be paying a penalty for their fireplaces for the visitors coming in using their fireplaces. Mayor Stirling said Steamboat Springs or- dinance excludes single family dwellings from the requirement of installation of gas logs. Ms. Caskey said the CAB and staff looked at this solution and decided it was not the best way to go. Ms. Caskey said it was felt that the whole community should stick together and carry the burden. Ms. Caskey said if lodges and condominiums were singled out, they would fight this all the way. Ms. Caskey said if lodges were singled out, multi-family short term buildings should be singled out also. Jennifer Heistad, who lives at the base of Aspen mountain, told Council her windows are black from the air pollution. Ms. Heistad asked if there could be a ban on morning burning through- out the town. Ms. Heistad suggested making wood less available. Anne Austin questioned residents being penalized for the sake of tourists. Ms. Austin said it is her right to have a fireplace. Ms. Austin said she is making a single family residence versus condominium argument; the condominiums are the main source of the problem right now. Ed Thrasher agreed the homeowners should be allowed to retain their fireplaces and cut down on the rental fireplaces. Thrasher suggested the voluntary no burn programs should be continued. Jim Martin said he feels there is a rush into this program based on inadequate information. Measuring for this type of particle was just started two weeks ago. Martin said whatever the city adopts should be measured and should not be hurried. Dr. Bob Sawyer said there are a lot of good things going on in Aspen with this program; however, there is not a good data base yet. Dr. Sawyer cautioned about the over-emphasis on such contamination being related to health effects. Sawyer said the potential is very low for that. Molly Campbell, Gant, agreed this is proceeding too fast. Ms. Campbell said she cannot understand why, if there are 3 bad days, there are such serious problems. Ms. Campbell said if the city adopts a program, it should be carefully thought through, it 5 Continued Meetinct Aspen Citv Council February 9, 1988 should address parking structure, fireplaces, roads, and an equitable program. Ms. Campbell said Aspen is a resort community and virtually everyone's income is dependent upon the resort community. Ms. Campbell said it is unfair to discriminate against second homeowners because they are also citizens of this community. Ms. Campbell said there are less than 2,000 fire- places in lodges and condominiums, out of a total of 8500. Gene Reardon asked if there is a kind of wood that is less offensive. Jim King, state air pollution control, said certain types of wood could burn 10 percent cleaner but no more. Sally Roach said she has worked very hard on the voluntary program and feels this is getting a much better response from tourists than locals. Ms. Roach said she feels this program is being rushed into and has major problems with the numbers from the state and from Washington. Viscount Stewart pointed out the numbers have only been measured for two weeks. Stewart said it is a shame the lodge owners should have a total ban on an activity they feel is important for their revenues when these numbers are somewhat in question. Stewart said he questioned the all or nothing attitude in the proposals. Stewart suggested putting off the dates of implementation until there has been more data. Edie Dunn said the pollution in this valley makes her physically sick. Ms. Dunn said she does not feel this is rushing the program. People are being effected by the air quality, and it does not take scientific evidence to prove there is a problem in this community. Sharon Mollica, Clean Air Board, said it does not take much to look around and see there is a pollution problem. Ms. Mollica urged Council to consider this as step 1 and to combine this with other areas of dealing with the pollu- tion. Pat Gannett said there is a parking problem and the city needs a parking structure. Gannett said he is curious as to how much volume the transient tourists is responsible for versus the local people and if there would not be an impact in putting gas logs into the locations where a lot of wood is being burning. Jim Colombo agreed there is a problem in town; however, the dimensions and the specifics of the problem will continue to be an item for discussion for a long time. Colombo said the citizens are concerned. The timing of Council's actions are premature and should be put off to analyze the information. Colombo said there are parts of the plan that can be implemented immediately. Replacing fireplaces can be a phased program that can be recalculated after the results of the voluntary program are seen. Councilman Tuite said he has seen the air get worse over the last 14 years. Councilman Tuite said tourists are Aspen's economy but so is the air. Councilman Tuite said he would like to see a plan 6 Continued Meeting Aspen Citv Council Februarv 9, 1988 where if the city reaches a state of acceptability, the full implementation of the plan could be curtailed. Councilman Tuite said he would like to see some assistance given to people who burn stoves for heating their residence. Councilman Tuite said he is prepared to adopt a comprehensive plan. Councilman Isaac said this plan will impinge on the rights of individuals; however, he was elected to uphold the health and safety of the community. Aspen has a problem. Councilman Isaac said he feels the plans is balanced, addressing fireplaces and stoves, traffic, cars and a lack of parking facility. Councilman Isaac pointed out the plan is not being done all at once, which will give the city a chance to have more complete measurement of what the pollution is made up of. Councilman Isaac said if the figures are wrong, the city will know it before people have to remove their fireplaces. Councilman Isaac said the city has to have a plan and cannot wait indefinitely. Ms. Roach said the state will be watching Aspen's pollution levels whether they violate these in the next 3 years or not. John, air quality division, told Council they recognize the uncertainty of the data. The state recommends anything mandatory not be put in place until they can do a chemical mass balance analysis of the new filter pads. John told Council this test is a way of verifying the computer modeling and the projections made. The state will take the filter pad and analyze what is on it during different seasons. John told Council they will be able to tell where the pollution comes from in this analysis. John told Council in the collection in Telluride, the violation s at different times of the year are caused by different sources. During the holiday season, 70 or 80 percent of the violation is wood burning, later in the spring 40 or 50 percent is street sanding. John suggested the effective date of any ordinances be after the state can look at these analysis. John told Council the clean air requires the plan in place will keep the town from violating the health standards in the future. That is the goal of continued monitoring. Mayor Stirling read into the record a letter from Murray Pope favoring 100 percent of the proposals, including phasing out of fireplaces. There is a letter from the Aspen Wilderness Workshop saying that air quality is deteriorating each year and there must be drastic legislation and strong enforcement. The letter stated Wilderness Workshop concurs with the suggestions in the plan and the plan may be weakened by not including elimination of fire- places. Mayor Stirling read a letter from David Bruton, thanking the Council for taking a stand to help reduce air pollution. Councilman Gassman said this plan is asking people to make sacrifices based on guesses. Councilman Gassman said this plan 7 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council February, 9, 1988 is making the assumption that people do not have the common sense to act in their own best interest. Councilman Gassman said people are voluntarily changing their wood burning habits because they are capable of making responsible decisions by themselves. Al Fiorello said it takes about 3 year s f or people to change their habits. Fiorello said there has only been a half-hearted voluntary program to date, without a lot of creativity. Fiorello urged Council to slow down and to not adopt this plan. Graeme Means supported cleaning up the air in Aspen. Jim Colombo pointed out the state has said the city should not implement parts of this plan for 3 years until the state is sure of their numbers. Colombo said that itself should be a warning signal, that the state is not really sure what the problem is or the degree of the problem. John Leahy, state department of health, told Council at the end of this winter season, the state will have an adequate sampling to do a chemical mass balance analysis. Ms. Cassin said the staff and clean air board recommended the 3 years because they felt people needed time to plan and to save money for clean burning devices or gas logs. Marty Stouffer pointed out a big problem is street dust or sand. The plan states that the "hardest material available will be used at a reasonable cost". Stouffer said that statement could be very subjective and suggested that "at a reasonable cost" be clarified. Stouffer said he feels a substantial increase in cost is warranted if it would eliminate the problem. Ms. Cassin pointed out she picked some deadline for the plan, which are December 31, 1988. Ms. Cassin said the plan has to include when the ordinances go into effect so Council should determine the effective date of any proposed ordinances. Mayor Stirling told Council Garmisch-Partenkirchen required every tourist accommodation to install gas logs 10 years ago. Gar- misch, too, has an air quality program. Mayor Stirling pointed out a big issue with the clean indoor act was side stream smoke, which the no n-smoker cannot control. Mayor Stirling said the same thing is true of fireplaces, the smoke cannot be contained within one's house. Mayor Stirling said stopping the deforesta- tion is also very important. Another issue is what is in the best health interests of the community. Mayor Stirling said the city is one of the major polluters, which the city is trying to address. Mayor Stirling said another participant is the Roaring Fork Transit Agency. The city recently passed a resolution including the use of smaller buses, increasing the bus headways, an aggressive marketing program, high occupancy vehicle lane on highway 82. Mayor Stirling said as a property manager, he would like to broadcast clean air to tourists. People come to a resort f or 8 Continued Meeting Aspen Cites Council February 9, 1988 clean air. Mayor Stirling said scientific data can be argued f or years. There will always be another school of thought. Mayor Stirling said he would like to see the city go forward with this plan . Mayor Stirling asked who will oversee and lead the voluntary program. How will the effects be measured and how will the program be enforced. Mayor Stirling said the momentum is greater than last year because this is a grassroots effort. Tom Dunlop told Council this should be a community-wide effort. The environmental health department can help manage and promote the voluntary efforts, but are not experts in marketing and survey- ing. Mayor Stirling said the environmental health department is the logical group to be the center to assist the whole community. Councilwoman Fallin suggested Council appointing an ad ho c committee to provide leadership, marketing and PR. Councilwoman Fallin said the Wilderness Workshop can take an important role in this program; they have people and expertise that can lend itself to this program. Councilman Tuite asked staff to discuss not putting any wood in lodges. If a guest wants wood, they have to request it. Molly Campbell agreed the lodges should be involved in this effort. Ms. Campbell said the lodge owners are some of the most highly informed people in town about the problem. Councilwoman Fallin said tourists will go to the grocery store and buy the fake logs. Councilwoman Fallin asked if these are cleaner or dirtier than wood fires. Leahy said they tend to be dirtier than wood. Councilman Tuite said when tourists in lodges ask for wood, they will also have a one to one contact about proper burning and the air pollution problems. Council agreed to go forward with the voluntary program. Number 2 is the proposal to require with all new construction that gas logs be installed. The intention is to adopt this ordinance by December without designating when it would be implemented. Mayor Stirling suggested implementing this as soon as possible. Mayor Stirling read a letter into the record from Carolyn Diffenbaugh opposing the fireplace ban as this is a necessary heat source for some people as well as one of the few luxuries people enjoy. Ms. Diffenbaugh points out that many Aspen homes are all electric and gas fires would be a burdensome expense and is a poor substitute. Councilwoman Fallin said in the '70s citizens were told to replace all non-renewable fuel sources. Councilwoman Fallin said she has problems telling people to put gas back in their homes when they were told to take them out in the '70s. Ms. Caskey agreed the clean air board has struggled with this also. However, watching a piece of wood burn is a true luxury; one gets 9 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council February 9, 1988 very little heat from it and loses a lot of heat from the house. Ms. Caskey said the only pure way is to remove fireplaces. Ms. Cassin told Council she has amended #2 to add if an alternative technology is developed in the interim that allows burning wood cleanly in fireplaces, that would be allowed. Councilman Isaac said there is a problem in Aspen with fire- places, and he cannot see allowing any new fireplaces to be constructed. This would only make the situation worse. A state employee told Council gas logs are 99.9 percent cleaner than wood burning. Ms. Cassin told Council there is enough gas available to service all the fireplaces for two years. Colombo said gas is a resource that the Council has little control over. In ten years there may not be any gas. Mayor Stirling moved that #2 be included in the plan as written but not start a first reading on the ordinance until the city has the results of the PM 10 study in July; seconded by Councilwoman Fallin. Councilman Tuite said he would like to see this implemented as soon as possible. The more fireplaces built, the more of a problem there is. Everyone was opposed. Motion NOT carried. Councilman Tuite asked why this is dated December 1988. Ms. Cassin said she is trying to realistically schedule this so that Aspen is in compliance with the plan. Councilman Isaac moved to start implementation of an ordinance restricting new construction of fireplaces on or before June 1, 1988; seconded by Councilman Tuite. Councilman Isaac included in his motion as #2 is presented by staff. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Gassman. Motion carried. Mayor Stirling said #3 is to adopt ordinance requiring all existing and future fireplaces and stoves to be registered. Councilman Tuite said he would like to see the date of this requirement moved up. Councilman Tuite said he would like to see this include possible financial aid. Council requested this be implemented by June 1, 1988. All in favor, motion carried. The next part of the plan is to adopt ordinances requiring existing fireplaces to have gas logs installed Mayor Stirling moved to adopt ordinances following this descrip- tion but not start any work on first reading until the PM 10 work 10 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council February 9, 1988 is done; seconded by Councilman Isaac. Mayor Stirling said the first reading should be by July 1st after the information is available. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Gassman. Motion carried. #5 is to adopt ordinances requiring existing stoves to be replaced with certified stoves or stoves having equivalent emissions as determined by the environmental health department within 3 years of approval of the strategy. Mayor Stirling said this, too, will be implemented contingent on getting data from the PM 10 study. Mayor Stirling moved to adopt #5, as above; seconded by Council- man Isaac. All in favor, motion carried. Mayor Stirling said #6 should be to use the hardest sanding material that is safe and available and eliminate "at reasonable cost". All of Council is in favor of this. #7 is to store the flusher truck at the RFTA barn, which the city is already doing. #8 is to evaluate a parking restriction program on Main street. Mayor Stirling said he would like to have this more clearly presented so Council can understand what the implications are. Mayor Stirling moved to have a parking restriction program presented to Council on or before May 1, 1988, for Council to evaluate; seconded by Councilman Isaac. All in favor, motion carried. #9 is to conduct experimental program to determine whether mixing sand with magnesium chloride or double washing improves dust levels. Mayor Stirling moved to charge the streets department to continue working on all experimental programs related to removing sand from the streets; seconded by Councilman Gassman. All in favor, motion carried. #10 is to advocate to the Commissioners and RFTA auto disincen- tives measures to reduce emissions including 5 minute idling ordinance, research other fuels. Councilwoman Fallin said the 5 minute idling has to go beyond RFTA to include all buses and trucks. Council said this should apply to all internal combus- tion engines. Mayor Stirling said this ordinance should come to Council on or before May 1, 1988. Council is all in favor of #10. #11 is to seek voter approval for construction of a parking facility according to the transportation plan. 11 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council February 9, 1988. Councilwoman Fallin moved to support #11; seconded by Councilman Tuite. Councilwoman Fallin said the date of the election should be set by the second meeting in June 1988. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Gassman and Mayor Stirling. Motion carried. #12 is to actively seek the cooperation of Pitkin County in the adoption of the LIP elements. Mayor Stirling said the county has adopted this on first reading, and the city will continue to work with the county. Councilman Tuite said he would like to see the city cover the Rio Grande and Spring street that are not paved. Councilman Tuite said he is not saying to pave this but to cover it with some- thing. All of Council is in favor of this. Colombo suggested the city adopt an ordinance outlining the types of wood and dryness of wood that can be burned. Ms. Cassin said this should be covered in the brochures and educational mater- ials. Ms. Cassin said staff feels it is a bad idea to do it in the form of an ordinance. Dunlop said the manpower spent trying to control that specific element is less productive than time spent towards a more responsive program. Council agreed to add this into the educational process. Councilman Isaac moved to adopt the plan as approved and amended by Council; seconded by Councilwoman Fallin. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Gassman. Motion carried. CASTLERIDGE - Waiver of Land Lease Assistant City Manager Mitchell said the owners of CastleRidge have asked for a moratorium on the land lease payments until February. Staff is recommending Council not invoke the contract default clause. Mitchell told Council staff is investigating the options on the Castleridge bonds for refinancing or selling the units to try and deal with the long term issue of making the rents affordable. Mitchell recommended the city not require payment of the land lease until the staff has come up with the recommended solution. Mayor Stirling said he has serious problems with selling the Castleridge units. Councilmembers Isaac and Fallin agreed. Mayor Stirling pointed out this is the last significant source of pure rental housing. Councilwoman Fallin said the city should learn a lesson from Silverking. Mitchell told Council the owners are willing to pay interest on the money. Mitchell said an option is not to suspend the payment 12 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council February 9, 1988 and the owners will have to decide what to do. The city can then invoke the default clause. Mayor Stirling said the owners have made every other payment on time, and the city will be getting interest. Mayor Stirling moved to suspend the February 20th land lease payment for no more than 60 days for interest to accrue on that outstanding payment while long term options are reviewed, not including selling the units, to deal with the projected cash flow problems; seconded by Councilman Isaac. All in favor, motion carried. PARKING CONSULTANT Assistant City Manager Mitchell reminded Council they approved $25,000 during budget hearing for a parking consultant to work on the parking structure at the Rio Grande and Bell Mountain. Mitchell told Council staff has completed and put out a qualific- ations statement. The city received about 15 qualification statements, reviewed those and narrowed it down to 6. Mitchell said these 6 were invited to Aspen to make proposals; the city received 4 proposals and interviewed the consultants last week. Staff is recommended RML, which is a planning and design firm in Denver working with Gibson Reno, as a local architect, and has included a financial consulting firm as well as a firm that did the majority of the work on the transportation element, as part of the team. Mitchell told Council two proposals came in at $35,000, one at $56,000. Mitchell told Council the proposal included that the budget was 535,000. Mitchell said the reason staff is recommend- ing the f i rm at 550 , 000 i s that the process they detailed to the city will carry this project from the point of hiring the firm to the point of an election. Mitchell told Council the available budget is 525,000 from the city plus 515,000 from RFTA. The consultants can work within that but will lose the end of the process at the election. Mitchell told Council the consultants are looking both at the Rio Grande and Bell Mountain sites. Mayor Stirling said the consultants are in a position to do the work for 540,000 and that ought to be the city's ceiling. Councilman Gassman said he does not want to spend more than was budgeted. Councilman Tuite asked what portion of the 550,000 can be used if the parking structure is approved, like preliminary site work. Mitchell said all the information will be usef ul to develop construction documents and financing. Mitchell said it will not be work that will lessen the actual cost of the parking structure. Councilman Isaac moved to allocate another $5,000 and request another 55,000 from RFTA to support the parking structure study; 13 Continued Meeting Aspen Citv Council Februarv 9, 1988 seconded by Councilwoman Fallin. Councilman Tuite said he thinks RFTA will come up with the entire $10,000. Councilman Isaac withdrew his motion. Councilman Isaac moved to request from RFTA $25,000 to help fund the parking study; seconded by Councilwoman Fallin. Councilman Isaac amended his motion to include authorizing the city manager to execute the contract as soon as possible; seconded by Council- woman Fallin. Councilman Gassman pointed out this is all the city's money. It was clear how much money the city had and that is how much should be spent. Councilman Tuite said he sees a definite need in town for a parking structure, and does not want to see a "no" vote at an election because the city has not done the background work. Councilman Tuite said he is prepared to go to $50,000 to get a comprehensive look at a parking structure. Mitchell told Council this group included a lot of citizen involvement in their proposal. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Gassman and Mayor Stirling. Motion carried. RESOLUTION - Highway 82 EIS Councilman Tuite said since Council passed the resolution regard- ing the entrance to Aspen and the EIS, people have contacted him regarding their concerns about eliminating the straight shot from the EIS. Councilman Tuite said the Council's resolution is not going to stop the highway department from looking at the straight shot; because of the federal funding involved, the highway department has to look at everything. Councilman Tuite said he voted for the existing alignment because of his concerns. Councilman Tuite agreed that every alternative should be looked at. Councilman Tuite said he would prefer to tell the highway department what the speed should be coming into town. Councilman Tuite said he would prefer the highway department look at all approaches and that the Council's resolution include the speed limit coming into town. Jay Hammond, city engineer, said the resolution did not specify a speed limit but did request the highway department consider flexible design alternatives, including lower speeds, narrow alignments. Councilman Tuite said the city knows what the speed limit in town is and would like to see the resolution include that the Council finds 25 mph an acceptable speed into town. Mayor Stirling recommended continuing with that clear recommenda- tion and give little alternative. The speed limit might be 30 or 35 at the Maroon Creek bridge, and the speed limit has to be 25 mph at the Castle Creek bridge. Councilman Gassman said he likes 14 Continued Meeting Aspen Citv_Council Februarv__9, 1988 the idea of telling the highway department what the city wants the speed to be. Councilman Gassman said he would also like it clear if the highway department is going to study the straight in approach, it is on their own without agreement of the city. Mayor Stirling said the resolution agrees with that view, if the highway studies that approach, they are going against the recommendation of the Council. Councilman Gassman said where the speed limit is reduced is where the back up starts. The back up is not caused by the size of the highway. Councilman Tuite said the resolution he would like to see would state while the highway department has to look at all the approaches, the city Council strongly recommends the existing alignment be looked at hard and that the Council wants a 25 mph entrance into town as of Castle Creek. Councilman Tuite said this addresses the speed limit and the entrance. Councilman Gassman said the highway department asked Council to comment, and there are only two things he wants them to look at. Mayor Stirling suggested adding to the resolution that the speed limit be no more than 25 mph at Castle Creek. Councilman Tuite moved that the resolution be amended for the highway EIS study to state while Council recognizes the EIS will look at all existing alignments and entrance into town, we prefer the existing alignment and that any entrance be such that 25 mph speed limit be possible as of Castle Creek; seconded by Councilman Isaac. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Gassman and Mayor Stirling. Motion carried. Councilman Gassman requested that the session to evaluate the city/county manager be rescheduled as he will not be in town February 15th. Council rescheduled this February 23 at 5:00 p. m. Councilwoman Fallin moved to approve the consent calendar; seconded by Councilman Isaac. The consent calendar is (a) Appointing Don Gilbert to NMPP; (b) Liquor License Renewal- Shooter's Saloon; (c) 1010 Ute Avenue Exemption from GMP Expira- tion; (d) Acceptance of Property Dedication - Marqusee; (e) Reorganization of Agenda - Consent Calendar; (f) Waiver of Banner Fee - Sister Cities; (g) Minutes - January 11, 1988. All in favor, motion carried. City Manager Bob Anderson told Council Governor Romer made a presentation on his program for highways. The Governor has $57,000,000 for highway 82. The Governor is seeking municipal support for a financial package that will make that possible. Anderson said the legislators he spoke to had a glum view of 15 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council February 9, 1988 anything passing this legislative session. The CML staff concurred there is a very slim chance of anything passing this session. Anderson said the county f eels it would be premature to urge an HOV until the city and county get the results of the $20,000 study. Anderson said if a delegation goes to see the Governor, the tack should be that the city wants to see something pass and how can the city help get something through the legisla- ture. Councilwoman Fallin said since the Governor is already in favor of highway 82, it would be better to spend the city's energy talking to key legislators. Councilwoman Fallin recom- mended the city work with the legislative committee that oversees the highways. Councilman Isaac agreed the money is being held by the legislature and that is where the city should spend their energy. Councilwoman Fallin moved to adjourn at 8:50 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Isaac. All in favor, motion carried. ~~ Kathryn Koch, City Clerk 16