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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20160509Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 1 SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES .................................................................................................. 2 CITIZEN COMMENTS ............................................................................................................................... 2 COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS ............................................................................................................ 2 AGENDA ADDITIONS AND DELETIONS .............................................................................................. 3 CONSENT CALENDAR ............................................................................................................................. 3 Resolution #51, Series of 2016 – Parks trash/recycle can replacement contract approval ................... 5 Resolution #57, Series of 2016 – Noxious Vegetation Contract Approval .......................................... 5 Resolution #60, Series of 2016 – Wheeler Ditch Forebearance Agreement ......................................... 5 Resolution #58, Series of 2016 – Purchase Contract for Pickups ......................................................... 5 Resolution #56, Series of 2016 – Purchase Contract for One-Ton Trucks ........................................... 5 Resolution #59, Series of 2016 – Contract Amendment for Engineering Services for Oklahoma Flats Trail 5 Resolution #64, Series of 2016 – Laserfiche Scanning and Migration Services .................................. 5 Resolution #65, Series of 2016 – Change order for CCA for additional utility design ........................ 5 Resolution #66, Series of 2016 – Shaw construction contract change order Mill tenant finish contract 5 Resolution #62, Series of 2016 – Real estate contract for 420 Pacific Ave .......................................... 5 Resolution #67, Series of 2016 – ARC Fitness Project Design contract Hagman Architects LLC ...... 5 Minutes – April 25, 2016 ...................................................................................................................... 5 Councilwoman Mullins moved to adopt the Consent Agenda; seconded by Councilman Frisch. All in favor, motion carried. .................................................................................................................................... 5 NOTICE OF CALL UP – 540 E Main St (Police Station) ........................................................................... 5 NOTICE OF CALL UP – 534 E. Cooper Ave ............................................................................................. 5 ORDINANVE #11, SERIES OF 2016 – 540 E. Main police station) Planned Development – Project Review .......................................................................................................................................................... 6 ORDINANCE #1, Series of 2016 – Hotel Jerome – Planned Development ................................................ 7 ORDINANCE #10, SERIES OF 2016 – 530 E. Main St. (Courthouse Plaza) – Major Public Project Review ........................................................................................................................................................ 11 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 2 At 5:05 p.m. Mayor Skadron called the regular meeting to order with Councilmembers Mullins, Frisch, Myrin and Daily present. SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES Mayor Skadron welcomed the children visiting city hall and read the Month of the Young Child Proclamation. Eva Jankovsky, kids first, told the Council that Wednesday is read with me day, May 19th is the 26th annual Children’s Parade starting at the fire barn. Over 300 children will be participating and the parade ends at the fountain. Councilman Frisch read the Arbor Day Proclamation. Ben Carlson, city forester accepted it and said this is our 24th year as a Tree City. Our new tree inventory is available on the forestry page of the website where you can learn about the trees in our community and the benefits of each tree. He thanked Chris Foreman for all the work he did for the city. Mayor Skadron also thanked Chris for his great work over the years. He learned so much from Chris, thanks and good luck. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Emzy Veazy III talked about restaurant grades and other cities have them and Aspen should have them. 2. Peter Fornell said zoning dictates what our community looks like. The MU zone along Spring is 100 percent free market with their lights out. Current zoning in CC is causing something that we don’t want to look at 20 years down the road. We don’t want to see C1 and CC become affordable housing zones. When he sees developers making applications for affordable housing in these zones he thinks to himself is this what we want to see, if not there needs to be some easing of use in the commercial core. He is speaking specifically to the Daily News building. He urged Council to look at zoning in the commercial core. 3. Toni Kronberg asked Council to pull Reso 67 the Arc contract and make her comments then. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS Councilman Myrin said the restaurants in Hawaii all have a piece of paper outside that says pass or fail. He is not supportive of having something cluttering every window with a grade system. The comments that Peter made are valid and we are working on zone changes now. We need to pay attention to that going forward. Councilman Frisch welcomed back Bert. He said he has been in New York and London in the past month and they have the letter grading. I haven’t heard of any problems that haven’t been resolved by the City. The focus is to remain on the moratorium but we do have a city to run. Hunt has 9 commercial projects in town. He is not bringing a shortage of retail to town. We need to be aware of that when what goes where. My memory says we would not be opposed to bringing affordable housing to downtown. The larger point is let’s make sure we want to stimulate what we want where we want. Councilman Daily said he appreciates Peter coming up. We are in the midst of a close review of the zoning. The uses of the next 50 years is being reviewed. He agrees we need to look at this. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 3 Councilwoman Mullins said like Councilman Frisch, she has been out of town the past few weekends, in Fort Worth and Grand Rapids. We can really learn from some of these other cities. It is good to get out of town once in a while. Mayor Skadron said the Arbor Day celebration is this Saturday in Paepcke Park. The Hunter Creek controlled burn may be happening on Saturday as well. The Aspen Energy Challenge is still going on for the 5 million dollar prize. Go to aspenenergychallenge.com and do your part. Get five free LED light bulbs this month. We are still in second place. Steve Barwick, city manager, said there will be a worksession on June 7th on the Old Power House. AGENDA ADDITIONS AND DELETIONS We will continue tonight’s meeting until 5:30 tomorrow for executive session. Resolution #63 – officescapes contract will be pulled. CONSENT CALENDAR Reso 65 –change order for CCA and 66 – Shaw construction, Councilwoman Mullins asked if it is a shared cost for the change order. Jeff Pendarvis, asset, stated the agreement is with the county to share the costs for the design and the work for the utility improvements in conjunction with the county and APD projects. Councilwoman Mullins asked if that is reflected in what they are asking. Mr. Pendarvis said no all the costs are born here but there is an agreement to share all the costs. Councilman Frisch asked for an overall where are we on the Mill buildout. We lose the lease Aug 1st. Mr. Pendarvis said we lose the lease August 1. We submitted for the building permit. We need to get going on the buildout for the rest of the space. Reso 67 – Arc fitness project design Jim True, city attorney, stated he has a change to the resolution. Toni Kronberg asked what can the public expect and will they be involved. How will the design be approved and what is the funding source and will it need to go to the voters. Can we keep the ball rolling for the outside pool and hot tubs as well. Tim Anderson, recreation, replied the public will be involved. The ARC advisory committee will be involved as well. We don’t have dates yet. All that is being approved now is conceptual design. We will then open the discussion as to funding. Jeff Woods, parks, said he is comfortable they can build a good facility but don’t have a cost right now. Mr. True said although Mr. Hagman has signed the contract his attorney noticed some changes in the contract. We have looked at the changes but he has not looked at the changes in the contract. He has modified the resolution to say the contract will be satisfactorily to the city attorney and the city manager. Reso 59 – Oklahoma Flats Councilwoman Mullins asked what the addition is for. Matt Kuhn, parks, said we contracted for this last year. We got the bid back and the costs were almost double what we budgeted for. To bring the project in to budget we had to change significant factors for the wall and that changed the costs. It was a sole source contract. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 4 Mayor Skadron asked for the expected completion date. Mr. Kuhn said we break ground next week with a two month construction period. Some trees will be removed and some will be replanted. Resolution 61- White & Smith LUC contract Councilwoman Mullins said this is a significant contract. It is valuable to say who the firms are and why they were chosen Jessica Garrow, community development, said the team is led by Mark White, a nationally known expert with rural and small town experience. He worked for Aspen during the last moratorium and is considered one of the leading expert on land use code changes specifically sign code changes. He wrote the American planning association model code. Alan Richman is the local rep for the project. Kendig Keast Collaborative is the final firm. They are experts in combining community plans into codes like the AACP. There are four aspects to the contract. The overall aspect is to make sure it is legally defensible and that they are internally consistent as well as the audit piece. They will work directly with staff. They will recommend commercial mix strategies. Thirdly they will examine the legality of requiring housing mitigation for existing commercial spaces. The final piece is to update the sign code. Councilwoman Mullins said she is looking forward to working with them. Councilman Frisch said he is not sure if we have done this in the past. We have the AACP and most buy in to it. The development community plugs in the numbers and this is what we should do to maximize profits. Have we never really run the numbers? Ms. Garrow said we have this conversation ever 10 years or so, so we are due. It goes from having quotas or to how the Green Bay Packers are run. We have had the discussion, we are due for it and it is a healthy discussion to have. Councilman Frisch said the AACP does not ask for high end retail but that is what Mark Hunt is bringing us. Ms. Garrow replied that will be part of the discussion of the commercial mix issue. Reso 60- wheeler ditch Councilwoman Mullins said this is a milestone agreement for the health of the roaring fork. Phil Overeynder, Trish Aragon, Karen Wodgsland Dave Hornbacher, Phil Overeynder said we are improving the stream health by using a very senior water right and changing uses during certain times. We are asking to go with a longer term agreement. This is a 10 year agreement. Karen – great thing to have in the toolbox. Trish Aragon, engineering, said this is a small amount of water but a significant step towards improving the health of the river. Resolution 64 – Laserfiche services Councilman Myrin asked if this is for ComDev and building. Ms. Garrow said it is focusing on the Building portion for the large plan sets and address files. Councilman Myrin asked where is the paper currently stored. Ms. Garrow replied in the building department in the Daily News Building. Rebecca Wallace, community development, stated we are hoping the large plan sets will be scanned before we move. Some of the address sets will have to move to the new building. Councilman Myrin asked if we are buying space to store the paper. Ms. Garrow replied no. Councilman Myrin asked if the goal is to eliminate all paper documents. Ms. Wallace said all of the paper documents will be scanned. We are moving towards E plan reviews. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 5  Resolution #51, Series of 2016 – Parks trash/recycle can replacement contract approval  Resolution #57, Series of 2016 – Noxious Vegetation Contract Approval  Resolution #60, Series of 2016 – Wheeler Ditch Forbearance Agreement  Resolution #58, Series of 2016 – Purchase Contract for Pickups  Resolution #56, Series of 2016 – Purchase Contract for One-Ton Trucks  Resolution #59, Series of 2016 – Contract Amendment for Engineering Services for Oklahoma Flats Trail  Resolution #64, Series of 2016 – Laserfiche Scanning and Migration Services  Resolution #65, Series of 2016 – Change order for CCA for additional utility design  Resolution #66, Series of 2016 – Shaw construction contract change order Mill tenant finish contract  Resolution #62, Series of 2016 – Real estate contract for 420 Pacific Ave  Resolution #67, Series of 2016 – ARC Fitness Project Design contract Hagman Architects LLC  Minutes – April 25, 2016 Councilwoman Mullins moved to adopt the Consent Agenda; seconded by Councilman Frisch. All in favor, motion carried. NOTICE OF CALL UP – 540 E Main St (Police Station) Jennifer Phelan, community development, told the Council when HPC grants conceptual commercial design review Council can call up the decision for review. HPC reviewed and approved the application after three meetings. Since the project requires multiple reviews some are final at HPC and some are final at Council. Commercial design review is final at HPC but the planned development is final at Council. Council is the decision maker at the PD and Staff recommends Council call it up and wrap it in to the planned development review at the public hearing for the project. The call up is because HPC is the final decision maker. You will discuss the design at the PD. If all the reviews had been consolidated there would not have been a call up process. Councilman Daily moved to call up 543 E Main; seconded by Councilman Myrin. All in favor, motion carried. NOTICE OF CALL UP – 534 E. Cooper Ave Amy Simon, community development, stated on April 13th HPC reviewed and approved a remodel proposal for the Boogies building. There will be some new commercial space built on the outdoor dining deck. It will be a rectangular building that consumes most of the lot. HPC reviewed the public amenity space. Currently there is about 600 square feet of open space on the site. The applicant is going to fill in some of that area with the remodel. The proposal is to provide 216 square feet of public amenity on site with the remainder as cash in lieu. They did volunteer to contribute an additional 10,000 in cash in lieu. HPC also discussed trash and recycling on site. It does not meet today’s requirement if a restaurant would operate here. They will increase the commercial on site and will need additional parking and pay with cash in lieu. The 4 to 2 vote was due to concerns with glazing on the corner of the building. One member had a concern with the scale issue. The fenestration and lighting are final review issues. There is still an application on this site that has status. In 2014 there was an application with a third floor and a free market residential unit. Until this applicant receives final HPC approval that is still an option for them. Councilman Myrin said the environmental health department recommended the trash/recycling be smaller and be change if it is a restaurant in the future. Ms. Simon stated it needs to be larger if there is a Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 6 restaurant in the future. Councilman Myrin asked where would that come from. Ms. Simon said they would have to remove some currently enclosed space or maybe a compactor. The code does not require a larger amount of space unless you actually have a restaurant. Councilman Myrin said we will never get another restaurant in town if we have a higher mitigation rate. If we have the ability to encourage the same requirement that a restaurant would have he would support that so the applicant does not have the burden of switching 50 years down the road. Mr. True said you can encourage anything but I don’t believe our code has the ability to do exactly what you are suggesting. Ms. Simon said you can pass the concern on to EH and they can increase everyone’s requirement. Councilman Frisch said the last thing we want to do is discourage a use more people would probably want to see than not. Our concern is we are losing restaurant use to retail use. Mr. True said he does not see how you get to where you want to get right now. Councilwoman Mullins said the applicant is removing an onsite affordable housing unit. How are they mitigating. Ms. Simon said they are coming to the next council meeting to discuss that. Councilman Frisch asked if they need approval because it is voluntary. Ms. Simon said they need approval because it is deed restricted. Councilman Frisch said there is a list on page 534 of the lofty goals that public amenity is to offer. He is not sure how a little strip of grass fits in to this. Ms. Simon said part of the issue is they are not demolishing the building. Planning wants to see on site amenity be a useful space. HPC supported working with what they had. Councilman Frisch asked if there was any talk about park benches in the nook or just place as much of the façade on the property as possible. Ms. Simon said we suggested more on site. The façade line is already in existence they are just bringing the windows forward. Councilman Frisch said we have seen this type of building a bunch. He appreciates it is being lowered. Mayor Skadron said this will not be called up. ORDINANVE #11, SERIES OF 2016 – 540 E. Main (police station) Planned Development – Project Review Jennifer Phelan, community development, told the Council the property is just over half an acre in size and has five structures on it and is designated historic. Two of the buildings have been found to have no historic value and can be demolished. Three have historic value. The applicant has proposed redevelopment on site with a police station, affordable housing and to either keep the historic resources on site or move offsite as well as reroute a pedestrian trail. The HPC had three public hearings. At the third hearing HPC approved the police station that is reduced in height from the original proposal, approved onsite affordable housing and recommended the three resources be relocated to Holden Marolt to be used as an interpretive museum. Councils review is for the planned development and growth management reviews. Staff recommends the public hearing for May 23. Alan Richman, representing the applicant, stated there were three hearings at HPC. The project came out better than it went in. Councilman Myrin asked where are the historic structures going to land at Marolt. Ms. Phelan stated she will include it in the packet. Mr. Richman said there is an approved PUD for Holden Marolt. Councilman Myrin said the structure for the affordable housing would support offices if there was a decision to switch to offices late in the game. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 7 Councilwoman Mullins said we are seeing lots of new things built in town and they are all looking pretty much the same. She would like to hear how this building reflects the Aspen character and why it is unique to Aspen. Councilman Frisch said it is a 46 foot height on the affordable housing. What does it look like from Main Street. What are we getting. Councilwoman Mullins moved to read Ordinance #11; seconded by Councilman Frisch. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE NO. 11 (SERIES OF 2016) AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO, APPROVING GROWTH MANAGEMENT REVIEW FOR AN ESSENTIAL PUBLIC FACILITY AND PLANNED DEVELOPMENT – PROJECT REVIEW FOR A SITE SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN FOR THE ASPEN POLICE STATION LOCATED ON PROPERTY COMMONLY KNOWN AS 540 E. MAIN STREET, CITY OF ASPEN, PITKIN COUNTY, COLORADO. Councilman Frisch moved to adopt Ordinance #11, Series of 2016 on first reading; seconded by Councilman Daily. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Frisch, yes; Myrin, yes; Daily, yes; Mullins, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #1, Series of 2016 – Hotel Jerome – Planned Development Mr. True stated that Councilman Myrin recused himself since he lives within 300 feet of the property. Justin Barker, community development, stated the properties are located at 310 and 330 East Main and include the Hotel Jerome and the Aspen Times buildings. The Jerome is zoned commercial core with a PD overlay. The hotel has 93 lodge units and 15,500 square feet of commercial space. The Times property is zoned as commercial core and has approximately 5,500 square feet of vacant commercial space. There are several aspects to the proposed project including demolishing the non-historic additions from the Times building, construct a new three story structure behind that building, combine the two lots into one, vacate 56 feet of the remaining alley, redevelop the current courtyard as well as reconfigure some existing lodge rooms and amenities. The project will add three lodge rooms, nine keys and nine bedrooms. The required landuse reviews include the planned development, subdivision, growth management, conceptual design reviews and demolition. All the reviews have been consolidated so Council is the decision making body. HPC served as a recommending body. There are three variations requested including the minimum floor to floor height, average lodge unit size and the maximum lodge unit size. The rest of the dimensions are to retain the existing or would comply with the underlying zoning. The minimum floor to floor height is required for the historic Aspen Times structure and the first floor of the new structure. Staff is supportive of the variation in the Aspen Times building since it is simply to retain the existing height in the historic building. Staff is also supportive of the variation for the new structure with the condition to increase the floor to floor to ten feet seven inches by six inches to keep the same floor to ceiling height as the upper floors. The second variation is for average lodge unit size. There are two allowable FARs for lodge uses in the commercial core zone district; .5 to 1 or 2.5 to 1. The second is if the average unit size is less than 500 square feet. The purpose is a result of a series of code amendments in 2011 and 2012 to encourage smaller units in the commercial core. The current average is 569 square feet and the proposal drops it to 568 due to the new units averaging 522 square feet. Staff is supportive of the 2.5 FAR. The third variation is for maximum lodge unit size. The zone district Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 8 allows 1,500 square feet and the proposal includes two units that would be 1,864. They are four bedroom units that could be locked off as individual units. Staff is supportive of this as they can be rented out separately. The subdivision review is required for the lot merger. Staff is supportive of this. It allows for better flexibility and design and prevents the ability to sell off the property separately. The other reason is for the request to vacate a portion of the alley. Approximately 170 feet of the alley has already been vacated. The applicant is requesting the City to vacate 56 feet. There would be about 44 feet that would remain. The vacation would not increase the allowable FAR for the project. Staff is supportive of this as well. The application requests 18 lodge pillow allotments for the new nine keys and comes from the 2014 growth management year. Those allotments are available for this project. The existing development generates 149.85 FTEs and the proposed generates 152 FTEs or a 2.47 FTE increase. The code allows up to 4 FTEs to be generated without mitigation for historic properties. This property has not taken advantage of that allowance. Staff finds the building design for the new construction is consistent with the surrounding development and meets the applicable design guidelines. In terms of public amenity it is mainly attributed to the courtyard right now. There are several additions that are improving the overall amenity space including providing a protected drop off area as well as adding a ramp on the west side and improving the crossings on Bleeker Street. The demolition review is required since several aspects of the Times are being modified. The original proposal only retained the first 30 feet of the Times. After further investigation the applicant decided to retain up to 53 square feet. Staff is supportive of the proposed demo since it would restore to the original design. HPC looked at this twice. The hotel changed ownership in 2015 and the project was revised including the removal of a fourth floor addition. Issues for Council include the demolition of portions of the Times structure, overall design of the Times and the new lodge structure, the three requested variations, the growth management allotments, the combination of the two lots into one and vacation of the additional 56 feet of alley. Staff recommends approval with the conditions in the ordinance. Section 4 paragraph two of the ordinance says the proposed development generates 148.47 FTEs and should be 152.32 FTEs. Included in the packet is some public comment for Council. Councilman Daily stated several variations were proposed and he compared them to a significant change in the addition with removing the additional height. The tradeoff for the community is marvelous. It is a very significant change in the plan. The community came out way ahead. Sara Broughton, Sunny Vann, Tony Delucia (general Manger) Sara Broughton, representing the applicant, showed images from the Sandborn maps and historic photos of the Jerome. Tonight’s proposal includes adding one key in the Hotel Jerome, revitalizing the courtyard, Main Street safety improvements, preserving and restoring the Aspen Times and adding eight keys in the addition. The lodging program will add 9 new keys for total of 102. It will provide lock offs for flexibility. There is no residential component. The existing fitness area on the second floor is proposed to be converted to a new lodge room. Safety on Main Street has been a concern. Improvements discussed include widening the sidewalk at Mill and Main, providing a drop off in front of the portico for improved safety. There is no elimination of on street parking with this proposal. For courtyard improvements the lawn is preserved as well as the outdoor dining. The pool is relocated and the ADA is improved. The courtyard remains the same size. As for preservation of the Times, we will preserve the false storefront on the south elevation as the most significant and eliminate the non-historic additions. We will maintain 53 feet and preserve the elongated proportions as well as restore a significant portion of the east wall. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 9 Mr. Delucia said the one thing that is lacking is the multigenerational accommodations. The rooms can be sold individually but there is a place for the larger families to stay as well. The Aspen Times adds to the whole character of what they are trying to do. The whole layout and design is inviting for the community. Dan Friedkin, owner, stated he has been coming to Aspen for 45 years. He cares about the community and loves the people. He is in the hospitality business because he loves it. They love the Jerome as it is and want to enhance and improve it. They do not want to see it become something different. Councilman Frisch said it is a pretty big deal to remove an alley. Was there ever a full connection to Mill Street. Sunny Vann, representing the owner, said the alley was officially vacated in 1951. Councilman Daily said he continues to be appreciative of this venue the hotel has provided for many years. Mayor Skadron said the demolition of the historic Aspen Times building involves not actual historic portions. Mr. Barker replied as far as we know. There is a very foggy area in the middle we are not sure of. We don’t have clear documentation for that section. We do know the roofing is non-historic. Mayor Skadron asked for a better understanding of the safety improvements and the portico enhancements. Ms. Broughton said the sidewalk comes quite a bit past the columns. The proposal is for a cut out to align Main Street to the columns for a drop off. Mayor Skadron asked what is the effect on the pedestrian. Ms. Broughton said the sidewalk remains and they will walk under the portico. Councilman Frisch asked if there will be a raised curb. Ms. Broughton replied most likely a painted line due to the snow plow. Mayor Skadron said on the exterior will the brick be different for the new portion. Ms. Broughton stated what is being proposed is wood siding. We feel it is important for it to be subservient to the brick of the Jerome. Mayor Skadron asked what is the relationship to the Times structure and its position to the new structure. On the model there is a small gap. Ms. Broughton replied it is a five foot gap. We felt it is important for breathing room. Mayor Skadron said the color of Times building matches the color of the Jerome trim. Is it by design. Ms. Broughton replied yes. We changed the trim color in 2012 and brought the color back. We are interested in maintaining the color on the Times building. Mayor Skadron asked if the alley vacation is different than the one at the Limelight. Mr. Vann said it functions because it allows for deliveries at Carl’s. It will continue to function historically as it has for Carl’s. It allows us to relocate the pool to an east west direction. Mayor Skadron asked how does the reservation system work to support the multigenerational programming. Mr. Vann said the Nell has it and the St. Regis has it. Mr. Delucia stated it would be through the front desk. Councilman Daily asked what kind of limitation is there on someone renting them for an extending period of time. Mr. Delucia said it is the same as any room, 30 days. Mayor Skadron opened the public comment. 1. David Corbin, Aspen Skiing Company, said it is a modest increase in the bed base. They gain nine keys. It is an important one. They favor it for that reason. The applicant and design team have done an impressive job in addressing the historic preservation. The overall site integration is very good. The keys are flexible. We continue to see the attrition of the bed base as a continuing threat. 2. Michael Miracle, Aspen Skiing Company, said the Jerome is a community asset with the J bar and Living Room. We owe it to this property to be as successful as it can at its primary business function which is renting rooms. He encouraged Council to support this. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 10 3. John Sarpa said this is the grand dame of our community. The historic part has been carefully taken care of. Staff recommended the height increase for a good reason. The floor to floor area is needed to be consistent and appropriate. The locks off are important. He encourages Council to vote yes on this. Let’s keep it around another 100 years. 4. Toni Kronberg applauds them for moving forward in a multigenerational mode. She talked about the safety in the drop off area. 5. Shawna Rahm, director of events at the Jerome, said this is an exciting opportunity to share with the community. Mayor Skadron closed the public comment. Councilman Daily said he appreciate the thoughtfulness and responsiveness of the ownership to HPCs proposed changes. The improvements to the Main Street entrance are really welcome. We are blessed with owners who are committed to excellence of the lodging experience combined with a true respect for preserving the historic significance. Councilwoman Mullins said this project went from very aggressive to a somewhat quiet project. We are suffering from development that is the sameness of architecture and this is just the opposite. Mostly by preserving the Times building as well as you have and allowing it to become a public asset. On the demo she is glad it has gone to 50 feet rather than 30. The design of the Times and the new lodge is quiet. It is a great job of preserving the resource. On the variations, historic preservation is not black and white. The floor height preserves the integrity and works very well. Growth management is fine. Her issue with the alley is to preserve the grid with the city. Generally she is not supportive of vacating alleys but that pattern has been lost so long ago she is fine to vacate in this situations. She would like to consider using true Bayer blue for the trim. The drop off needs to be improved. She would like to continue to use hollyhocks in the alley. She is very supportive of this. Councilman Frisch said he thinks we have a winner here. He thinks it is called an alley by technical nature. The focus on historic preservation is key and public safety is key. The size and shape is helpful. Looking back over the past year and a half with Base 1, Molly Gibson and Hotel Aspen the Jerome is a great compliment to everything we have been working on. It is important to work on lodging in town. The community is getting a huge return on investment in town. Mayor Skadron said it is technically more than allowable FAR but not a variation. It is a variation on minimum floor height. Mr. Barker said for FAR there is two different calculations for the zone district; 2.5 to 1 if less than an average of 500 square feet. Mayor Skadron stated he concurs with Councils comments. This will go a long way to serving the community in the years to come. It makes the Hotel Jerome better than it already is. Mr. Vann said lodging is only allowed in the commercial zone district if it is on all floors. Lodging includes associated commercial uses. There is no definitions in the code as to what these are. There are associated commercial uses in the proposed addition as well as two pure commercial spaces with no specific uses. They would like to be able to put any uses in there. Mr. True asked if they are asking for a modification of the ordinance. Mr. Vann said it is not in the ordinance but was in the 2014 pre application. Mr. True suggested a sentence in the ordinance section 16 to clarify that language. Ms. Garrow suggested the language say the commercial uses are permitted pursuant to the underlying zone district as defined from time to time. Mr. True stated it should be section 16 and section 16, 17, 18 and 19 be renumbered. Councilman Frisch said the commercial space would be treated like every other space Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 11 but if it is attached to a hotel it would be treated differently but this would treat it the same. Ms. Garrow said the issue with the St. Regis said sundries were defined. This would say uses in the commercial core zone district. Councilman Frisch asked if there are any uses that are restricted that might be normal commercial. Ms. Garrow replied office use. Mr. True stated the language Ms. Garrow offered would address the concerns. Councilman Frisch moved to adopt Ordinance #1, Series of 2016 with amendments; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Daily, yes; Mullins, yes; Frisch, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #10, SERIES OF 2016 – 530 E. Main St. (Courthouse Plaza) – Major Public Project Review Mr. Barker told the Council this application was submitted by Pitkin County and the property is currently 69,000 square feet located between Main Street and Rio Grand and zoned as public with a planned development overlay. The property currently contains the courthouse, jail and plaza building. The applicant is requesting a major public project review approval for a renovation and interior remodel of the existing courthouse plaza as well as a new three story addition between the plaza building and the jail. It is an effort to combine most of the county facilities to one location. The state statute requires the city to provide a decision within 60 days within the submitted application or the application is deemed approved. If the city decides to deny the application the BOCC would have the opportunity to overrule that decision. The 60 days would be complete on May 17th. The project is also subject to planned development, growth management and commercial design portions of the land use code. In terms of dimensions it is zoned as public and the dimensions are set as part of the PD process. The criteria for the dimension review relate to is it in line with community goals, are they appropriate with the character of the primary uses and compatibility with surrounding development. Staffs concerns are mainly towards the north side of the building where the height is proposed to go up to 45 feet. It is higher than any of the surrounding zone districts as well as the proposed floor area for the addition which is almost two times as large as any of the other structures on the property in terms of the floor area. Another concern relates to the addition and the distance it is located from the historic courthouse building. It is approximately 11 feet from the north east corner. It is out of character with what has been there historically and creates a pinch point. The architectural style is not in character with Aspen and does not strongly relate to either building. Staff is suggesting that the architecture be a little more close to one of the two of them, preferable to the plaza building. In terms of growth management it is considered an essential public facility and therefore no annual allotment on the square footage of the building and the employee generation is determined by HPC and Council ultimately determines what the mitigation rate will be. This type of use would typically generate approximately 101 FTEs. It is mainly a relocation of employees from other areas that would be vacated and relocated to this spot. APCHA reviewed and recommended a series of employee audits. It would include a current audit of what there is today and a 5 year and 10 year audit. If there is an increase then mitigation would be required. HPC supported this. Questions from first reading include what is happening to Veterans Park. It will largely be retained but the existing path would be effected. The cottonwoods would be removed but the final design is still in progress. What are the sustainability goals. The applicant will provide details. The TIA does not fully mitigate and there is a condition for that. Staff recommendation is for approval with conditions. Councilwoman Mullins said because of what we passed earlier this year we have 60 days to approve this. Can we require or ask for any changes. Mr. Barker said Council can include any conditions and unless the BOCC decided to overrule that with a majority vote they need to adhere to those. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 12 Councilman Myrin asked for affordable housing and moving out of spaces and in to this it seems like we are double counting spaces. Mr. Barker said the new development would typically require generation. They are not actually generating new employees. Councilman Myrin said if the county vacates 2,000 square feet at the armory and the city backfills at the armory do we then mitigate for that space. Mr. Barker replied no because it is existing space. Councilman Myrin said either the new space has to count or the previous space has to count. Ms. Garrow said the growth management differentiates between traditional commercial space and traditional net leasable and essential public facilities. Essential public facilities don’t have a set mitigation rate it is done through a review process with the final decision by Council. If it was a private applicant it would go under a commercial requirement and it would be a 60 percent mitigation rate. It is up to Council to determine what the rate is from 0 to 100 for the new space. Past essential public facilities have come through and have not been required to provide affordable housing at the time they have made the application but been have subject to an audit. Theater Aspen is an example. Councilman Frisch stated it is not government but essential public facility. Councilman Myrin asked could the county not have fast tracked this. Mr. Barker stated they could go through the typical land use review process. They have the opportunity and right to do either. Councilman Myrin said we can make suggestions. Is the best we can do put the suggestion from page 1116 in the ordinance. Mr. True said at some point the county has the decision to accept them or not. Councilman Myrin said the problem with a denial is it doesn’t convey what we want to achieve. The suggestions tells the community we tried. Councilman Daily said he understands Staff’s recommendations. He would like more understanding on the reduced mass. Mr. Barker said a logical standpoint would be to look at the allowable heights in the surrounding zone districts. Councilman Frisch said there are two buckets of concerns, the six technical questions and the process issue. There is the full legal ability to take the 60 day route or the normal process. He would like to know the thought process from the county on the express process. Mayor Skadron said Staff liked almost nothing and HPC agreed with Staff. My concerns deal with height and mass, set backs and the weird connector piece. He is curious why we are sitting here. Jon Peacock, Rachel Richards, Joe Disalvo, Janice Vos Caudill, Dave Detweiler, Jodi Smith, Richard Decampo, Dan Richardson, Dan Gliden, Colonel Merritt, Cindy Houbin, Steve Child representing the county Mr. Peacock said why this project, why now, why Aspen. Since 2006 the inadequate facilities have posed as a barrier to providing services specifically around operational spaces. Why Aspen. There are legal requirement in title 30 because Aspen is the county seat. In 2006 the civic master plan Pitkin agreed to keep key services in the core in order to be an anchor for the community. What is proposed – provide the old court house for the exclusive use of the 9th judicial district. Relocate the sheriff’s department, assessor’s office and treasurer’s office. Move the county community development department from city hall and environmental health to the down town. The city and county trade space with the police and community development departments. Dispatch is being relocated. As far as the public process to this point. In January of 2006 they completed a comprehensive facility master plan including meetings with all neighborhood caucuses and public surveys. A 52,000 square foot Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 13 additional space was suggested. In December of 2006 the civic master plan was completed. In 2014 the county revisited the 2006 plan and confirmed the goals of staying in the core and relooked at the programing and said 52,000 was too much. We identified 32,000 square feet of office space was adequate. We started a series of public outreach in June of 2015 including over 100 radio spots, 32 half page newspaper ads and three videos. We conducted open houses with 70 participants. This has been discussed at over 30 commissioner meetings. What we heard at the series of open houses was 81percent wanted to bridge the design styles of the court house and the plaza. 83 percent wanted to include energy saving measures. We were not told to meet minimum building code measures. Needs to be addressed included law enforcement, courts and better customer service spaces for clerk, assessor, treasurer and community development. And last on the list was a nice lobby. The architects developed three to four options for the community to look at and provide feedback on. The option that was selected was option four. We changed the roofline, windows and added the canopy and cover to get to this project. Our experience with HPC was positive and well received. Kim Weil, architect, showed a 3D review of the project. Councilwoman Mullins asked about the heights on the north side. Mr. Weil replied 42 feet to the garage door. Councilwoman Mullins asked about the set back between the addition and the courthouse. Mr. Weil replied about 11 feet. Ms. Garrow said the concern is at ground level with the covered stair well where it is more like five feet. Mr. Peacock said HPC requested removing the covered stairwell since it is not historic and the back porch. Joe Disalvo, sheriff, talked about the importance of public safety. He does not see this as a mixed use area. Sometimes twice a day they have inmates walking back and forth from the jail to the courthouse. It is not the best place for a park either. We have mixed this use for too long. It should not be used for public access between the two buildings. Councilman Frisch said the sheriff raised some valid concerns. Mr. Peacock said on Veteran’s Park there is no question the county considers this revered space. Dan Gliden and Colonel Merritt said in 1985 they had the idea of a memorial to veterans, specifically Vietnam veterans. Mr. Peacock stated as far as the consolidation of county employees it will be 69 from the plaza and 44 from the courthouse. Why is this desirable. It will lower capital costs. It is building on land they already own. There will be no voter tax increase. For traffic impacts they have no problem with the TIA study. There will be minimal to no impact on traffic or parking. They provides free bus passes, we cycle and community vans to employees. Dan Richardson, SGM, said it will be a greener sustainable building. High performance for the long hall. They will invest in solar projects in holy cross territory. For housing mitigation they are consolidating existing services and existing employees. These are not commercial spaces that are privately leased. Essential public services do have the ability to request an exemption from these and it is important to consider. Housing is a significant priority and a significant obligation of the county and city. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 14 The comparison of this project to the surrounding zone districts. The design is respectful to the existing courthouse and the same height of the existing plaza building. The fact we are building on this topography is causing the height issues. In response to the proposed conditions we are removing the corbel for condition one. Creating a stronger architectural relationship we are bridging the architectural styles and ask council to remove condition three based on public input. Reduce amount of glazing. One of the top goals was to provide natural light for both public and employees. We believe the glazing as proposed provides a good architectural break between the addition and the plaza and allows for the architectural distinction. The curtain wall allows for the brick and stand stone wall appropriately proportioned. He asked council to remove condition four. The biggest challenge is to reduce the mass and scale and set back. The only way to do this is to reduce the size of the building further. Mr. Disalvo said they currently occupy 3,000 square feet in the court house. The proposed is 8,000. It is small for 30 people. It is a modest building. They are doing 21st century police work in an 18th century building. 23,000 square feet will house all the county services. Janice Vos Caudill, county clerk, said the clerk’s office was one of the top three departments the citizens expressed concern over. We need the space. I think it is fair. Operations under one roof creates efficiencies. Mr. Peacock requested conditions one and two not be included. Councilman Daily said it is a really nice job. They covered a lot of territory and did it honorably. He appreciates the thoughtfulness. Mayor Skadron opened the public comment. 1. Toni Kronberg said the county did relentless public outreach. It is a perfect fit and fills in the spot. She agrees about the pathway and it is a security risk. The glazing is important and the public needs natural light. The community wants the canopy. 2. Steve Child said the jail will block the majority of the addition. He does not think the mass of the addition is the big thing. This is a modest building. A vast majority of employees ride the busses. Mayor Skadron said he believes everything you guys said. The requirement for space needs is a given. When you are reviewing an application and your expert staff says one thing and the applicant says one thing do you dismiss it. Mr. Child said there are times when we disagree. Mr. Peacock stated he thinks your staff has done an excellent job. He said the breadth of public interest is broader than a typical land use review. Mayor Skadron said we often conflict with Staffs opinion. It concerns me because we deal with the same issues. Mayor Skadron closed the public comment. Councilman Frisch said on housing not adding FTEs is a fair one. The audit is what we should be focusing on. An updated TIA will be provided. The first two deal with a smaller building. Three and four are time not bulk and mass. A comment about the fast track. Good hard work is somewhat tainted by the fast track. The community would have a better project if we sent it back and said work on it with point one and two. The ability to work more provides a better building and I think the community is losing that. He Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 15 thinks the building is good but it has the ability to be better. Staff sees a lot of buildings. My preference is the first four things stay. Councilman Myrin said they already signed leases in Basalt. The timeline is out of sync with what could have been done. It feels like we are under pressure. What Councilman Frisch said is important. We need to figure out what are the best things to put in this recommendation. Everyone is well meaning. Page 1169, the proposed service yard by environmental health is 16x8 for the trash/recycling area that should be 20x10. He would like to include a recommendation to meet the requirements by the City. Page 1163 the site plan shows the buildings are close together. He would like to see the space wider. Thanks for eliminating number five. He agrees with Staff on the others. Councilman Daily said he is supportive of the application as submitted. It is a pretty conservative approach. There may be places for improvement. The cottonwoods are a risk. Councilman Myrin said it is interesting that there are so few public comment. The idea the city is discouraging renewable since we have 100 percent renewable. He suggested the conference rooms be side by side by the lobby to share space. Councilwoman Mullins said the irony is it is the same thing we have been struggling with for customer service and rent versus own. You are trying to come in way below national standards but you still come in with a big building. In terms of public outreach there was quite a bit. Because of the topography and the mass of the jail the building from the north will not have the impact as it would if the jail is not there. She thinks there should be a greater set back between the addition and the courthouse. The glass partition is fine. She is so glad you got rid of the corbel. She supports the audit, it is the fair way. They should do the TIA analysis. She would rather they save every tree but trusts Ben as far as what ones need to go. They need to look a bit more at environmental health. She supports the project the way it is. Ms. Garrow said on the environmental health piece the DRC comments are in the packet. They are comfortable with the smaller size as long as it is enclosed. Speaking to the glazing it is important to make sure new buildings are consistent and compatible with what they are adjacent to and the general context. They recommend more punch openings on the upper levels and a more traditional window pattern. Mr. Barker said the architectural relationship is tricky here. Normally they would request the applicant come back with more design options. Ms. Garrow said the mass and scale from the north is important to look at what the adjacent zone districts have in terms of height limit but it is important to recognize the significant drop in grade. 38 feet is the height limit in the commercial core. It may be realistic for the front portion but something closer to 42 or 44 for the back. In terms of setback, a change could be to go back to HPC during the remodel to remove the non-historic stair and address that particular piece. Councilman Myrin moved to approve Ordinance #10, Series of 2016 with conditions to modify recommendation 2 to have the non-historic stair be examined by HPC during the renovation of the building and modify number 4 that the glazing be compatible with the design guidelines; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. Councilman Frisch asked for the best case scenario timeline. Mr. Peacock said the process will be roughly the same going forward. They will bring the conditions back to the board. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 9, 2016 16 Roll call vote. Councilmembers Mullins, yes; Daily, yes; Frisch, yes; Myrin, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. Councilman Myrin moved to continue to May 10, 2016 at 5:30 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Frisch. All in favor, motion carried. Linda Manning, City Clerk