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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19930809Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1993 Mayor Bennett called the meeting to order at 5:10 p.m. with Councilmembers Richards, Reno, Paulson and Waggman present. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Hans Gramiger requested Council scheduled an executive session at the end of the meeting to discuss property acquisition. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to add this to the end of the agenda if that is reached by 9 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Paulson. All in favor, motion carried. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1. Mayor Bennett said Council had a round table meeting on the Entrance to Aspen last week. Mayor Bennett said this was an amazing event. Many people made this possible; Merv Adelson, Fritz Benedict, Molly Campbell, Jim Curtis, Terry Hale, Shelley Harper, Jim Iglehart, Margot Pendleton, Tony Scheer, John Starr, Harry Teague, Denny Vaughn, Bill Tuite, Bob Braudis, Jim Hooker, Jack Carr, Gerald Hines, Bob Maynard, John McBride and Jim Pearce, CDOT, the Federal Highway Administration, Jim Bixby, John Howell, Tom Lewis, Bill Eager and Dick Bauman. This was an exciting occur- rence. 2. Councilwoman Waggaman said citizens do not attend Council meetings because they are televised. It is hard for Council to get feedback when there are no citizens at the meetings. 3. Councilman Reno told Council the housing authority discussed extension of the real estate transfer tax and decided not to go to the electors this November. The Housing Board wants to take a year to work on this before putting it to the voters. 4. Cindy Wilson, assistant city manager, reminded Council they need to appoint a member to the Regional Transportation Board. Councilmembers Waggaman and Richards agreed to share the appoint- ment. 5. Councilwoman Richards as ked how the sidewalk at Smuggler is progressing. Bill Efting, assistant city manager, said the curb and gutter will be poured next week and the sidewalk in the next two weeks. CONSENT CALENDAR Councilwoman Richards moved to approve the consent calendar; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. The consent calendar is Minutes - June 28, 1993. All in favor, motion carried. 1 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1993 LIQUOR LICENSE TRANSFER - New York Pizza Kathryn Koch, City Clerk, told the liquor license authority this is a transfer of a beer and wine license located on the Hyman Avenue mall. Kevin Jones is the sole owner of the company. The business will stay much the same. The referrals from staff have been positive. Councilwoman Richards moved to approve the transfer of the beer & wine liquor license from John Zabriskie to Kevin Jones; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. LIQUOR LICENSE TRANSFER - Village Grille Kathryn Koch, city clerk, recommended the transfer be approved but the license be held until all staff has completed the alcohol awareness training. The license includes the Aspen Mine Company on the Hyman Avenue Mall as well as the Slope located below. Councilman Reno moved to approve the transfer from William Burwell d/b/a Aspen Mine Company to Paterson Property Investment d/b/a the Village Grille with the caveat the clerk's office hold the license until the entire staff completes the alcohol awareness training; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #43, SERIES OF 1993 - Sund Lot Split Kim Johnson, planning office, told Council this parcel is located at 935 East Hyman and consists of 12,000 square feet. This lot split will divide it into two 6,000 square foot parcels. The applicants intend to develop a single family residence on one lot and a duplex on the other lot. Staff supports this request. There are discussions with staff and HPC on the landmark designa tion; however, this is not part of this lot split approval. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. There were no comments. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Alice Davis, representing the applicant, noted that typically which lot is to be single family and which duplex is noted in the lot split. In this instance, staff recommends it be either lot so that the boulder can be worked around. Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt Ordinance #43, Series of 1993, on second reading; seconded by Councilman Reno. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Paulson, yes; Waggaman, yes; Richard, yes; Reno, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. 2 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1993 ORDINANCE #44, SERIES OF 1993 - Adopting General Election Code Kathryn Koch, City Clerk, told Council the city uses the Municipal Election Code. This ordinance would adopt the General Election Code, which counties and school districts use. This ordinance will adopt the general election code for this November only. Pitkin County is having an election in November, which will be conducted as a mail ballot. This ballot will include the Town of Snowmass Village, Starwood Water District, the School District. If the city is going to have an election in November and plans to be on the mail ballot with the county, the election question will have to be certified to the county clerk by September 7th. Ms. Koch told Council because Aspen is a home rule city, they may opt out of the mail ballot procedure and have a regular polling place election. If Council chooses to have their own election they do not need to adopt this ordinance. Council will have to call a special election by August 30th. The amendment #1 mailing will go to all voters and will include the city question and pros and cons. This will also be mailed with the ballots. Council wanted to know how ballots returned undeliverable are handled, what happens if people move, will these be delivered to post office box or to physical address, will ballots be delivered to everyone on the rolls, what happens if a voter throws their ballot away. This type of voting could make voter fraud much easier. There is a concern that the ballot be will mailed before voters have a chance to educate themselves on the issue. Council- man Reno said the city really does not have a choice because the other communities have made the decision to have a mail ballot. Councilman Reno said if the city has a polling place election, there will be a loss of continuity, it will be confusing to the voter. Councilwoman Waggaman suggested the city adopt this and allow the county be an experiment on this type of election. Council said they would like the county clerk to answer some of their concerns. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. Phoebe Ryerson agreed this should be tried. Ms. Ryerson said the electric trolley should be approved. Ms. Ryerson suggested the roads not be sanded. Hydroelectric is air and noise pollution free. Historically there were trolleys in Aspen. Ms. Ryerson recommended Council approve the request for the Early Learning Center. Mayor Bennett closed the public hear ing. 3 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1993 Councilman Reno moved to table Ordinance #44, Series of 1993, until August 23; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. ELECTRIC TROLLEY FROM RIO GRANDE UP GALENA STREET Diane Moore, planning director, told Council there is not an established land use review for tracks, wires and routes. Ms. Moore recommended this be part of the SPA review, a four-step process to review the entire trolley proposal. Jon Busch, Aspen Trolley Company, told Council the trolleys have been deteriorating in the out-of-doors. It will take money to take care of them. Busch said this enterprise will be a private foundation; however, the Trolley Company cannot raise funds without a more permanent plan. Busch said there have been a number of studies on trolley operations in Aspen. These studies show that a trolley would be viable and recommended a Galena street shuttle. Busch told Council a number of routes have been considered over the years. One was up Galena street and looping down Mill street the other direction. The problem with this is the Mill and Main intersection; there are a lot utility conflicts on Mill street. The reason for the double route was to increase the service. One of the goals was that there was always to be a trolley in sight on Galena street. Busch showed slides of trolleys operational in other cities including overhead wires and narrow passages. Busch told Council he used the city's decibel meter to check noise levels in Aspen. Busch said the trolleys are electric, can be powered by hydroelec- tricity, are the cheapest energy source, and kick up very little PM 10. These trolleys are smaller than the buses and a little larger than the vans. Roger Hunt told Council in 1991, the trolley group successfully passed through P & Z a conceptual SPA amendment for the trolley barn at the Rio Grande site. At that time, Council initiated a Rio Grande master plan, which put the SPA approval on hold in order to identify all potential uses and users on the Rio Grande. The master plan has been completed. Hunt said the trolley use on the Rio Grande is compatible with other uses. Hunt said the trolley is a transportation alternative for Aspen. Hunt said the capital cost, before 15 percent contingency, is $1.77 million. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. Scott MacDonald said the trolley is a good idea and is historically compatible. Jim Markalunas stated he supports the trolley. It has a practical purpose of transporting people to the post office, and 4 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1993 also has attraction for visitors. This would help the pollution problem. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Councilwoman Richards said the concerns she has heard are the overhead wires, noise and the Disneyland aspect. Councilwoman Richards said the trolley could become a symbol of mass transit and mass transit use for Aspen. Councilwoman Richards said she would like the city to work on making the trolley corridors more pedestrian oriented at the same time. Councilman Reno said the trolley proposal has gone through numerous public meetings, recommendations from citizen boards. It is time for Council to act. Councilman Reno said an important aspect of this is that the private sector will be providing the capital. This partnership would be good for the community. Councilman Reno said the Galena street alignment needs to be looked at. Councilman Reno said overhead wires can be well-designed so as not to be a pole with wires hanging all over it. Councilman Reno said he would like to make sure the trolley barn has more review to see how it impacts the Rio Grande and property owners across the river. Councilman Paulson said he feels the trolley system is life giving. Councilman Paulson said he would like to see this started as soon as possible, even if it is only a partial route. Councilwoman Waggaman said she supports the trolley and would also like to see a short segment running as soon as possible. Councilwoman Waggaman said getting across Mill to the post office needs to be dealt with, perhaps with a stop light. Councilwoman Richards said she would like to follow the process laid out by the planning office. Mayor Bennett said he supports the trolley and like the fact it is being funded by the private sector. Mayor Bennett said the trolley has been endorsed in the Community Plan and by the Transportation Implementation Committee. Mayor Bennett said the connection from the ski mountain through the business community to the parking garage and post office is a good one. Mayor Bennett said trolleys have a historic authenticity which he likes. Mayor Bennett said he has reservations about the cost of operation and would like better numbers. Mayor Bennett agreed the SPA process is reasonable and would support an abbreviated process. Ms. Moore said under the abbreviated process there would be one meeting at P & Z and two meetings at Council. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to endorse the concept of the trolley and encourage it to proceed through the land use process using the consolidated SPA; seconded by Councilman Reno. 5 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1993 Councilman Reno said he would be willing to match the funds necessary to process this through the land use process. Council- woman Richards said she would prefer not to pre-judge Council's vote on this issue by funding it. Councilwoman Richards asked if the public meeting at P & Z can be advertised by a display ad rather than a standard legal notice. Staff agreed. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to amend her motion to endorse the trolley concept including its use of public property; seconded by Councilman Reno. All in favor, motion carried. RESOLUTION #55, SERIES OF 1993 - Additional and Contingent PM 10 Plan Control Strategies Lee Cassin, environmental health department, noted since last meeting, staff added to the additional control strategies maximiz- ing sweeping before and during President's weekend. Ms. Cassin said requiring the use of studded tires was not included because this plan contains enough measures to meet the standards. Ms. Cassin pointed out for the bus-priority lanes on Main Street during peak congestion periods, this will only be during peak traffic after 4 p.m. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. There were no comments. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Ms. Cassin said the city is getting credit for using a "maximum of 20 percent less sand". Ms. Cassin said the city may use 40 percent less sand; however, this is giving a margin in case of a heavy snow year. Councilwoman Richards asked about the possibility of sweeping the entrances to the Airport Business Center. Ms. Cassin said the city is the only entity with a sweeper. The county may contract with the city to do this sweeping. Councilwoman Richards asked if a study can be done to see if cars from out of town and down valley are bringing in the dirt and PM 10. Councilman Paulson asked about the effectiveness of liquid de-icer. Councilman Paulson said he feels this may be harmful to the environment. Ms. Cassin said this is not specific in the PM 10 plan but it is one reason the city is able to sand 20 percent less. Ms. Cassin said there is concern about liquid de-icer; it is not known how harmful it is to the environment. Mayor Bennett said he would like a report from the streets department on liquid de-icer. Council agreed. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to adopt Resolution #55, Series of 1993, without adding the word "paved". Motion DIES for lack of a second. 6 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1993 Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt Resolution #55, Series of 1993, with the addition of the word paved to attachment B #1, and deleting the first sentence of #4 in attachment A; seconded by Councilman Reno. All in favor, with the exception of Councilwoman Waggaman. Motion carried. POLICY DISCUSSION ON AMENDMENTS TO AIR QUALITY CODE - CHARBROILERS Barbara Umbreit, environmental health department, told Council during the wine classic it became apparent that Ordinance #74, 1992, would regulate grills for short term events just as restau- rant grills are regulated. Ms. Umbreit said environmental health department cannot recommend the unrestricted use of outdoor grills for any commercial event as grills pollute the air. Ms. Umbreit said it is unfair to regulate fireplaces and not to regulate grills, especially since grills emit a lot of pollution. Ms. Umbreit reminded Council before the charbroiler ordinance was revised there was a variance procedure through the Clean Air Board. When the air quality code was revised, the variance procedure was repealed. Staff recommends a maximum of 4 days per event in the summer between April and October. Councilwoman Waggaman asked if this will become an enforcement problem. Ms. Umbreit said she feels it will be a honor system. Ms. Umbreit said the restaurant association is happy with this compromise. Councilwoman Richards said restaurant emissions are a small percent of the PM 10 problem; however, visually they are a very large percentage. Councilman Paulson said he would rather see these reviewed by the Clean Air Board on a case because of the amount of pollution grills cause. Ms. Umbreit said some criteria would be needed in order to review these. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to direct staff to move forward with the following amendments to Ordinance #74; (1) deleting the language concerning grooved griddles and alternate control devices and (2) clarifying the regulation of grills at short term events to be a maximum of 4 days with the possibility of a variance proce- dure; seconded by Councilman Reno. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Paulson. Motion carried. GRANT REQUEST - Early Learning Center Cindy Wilson, assistant city manager, told Council the child care committee is recommending approval of a $25,000 grant to the Early Learning Center for the operation to the end of the year. There is also a request for $1,000 to hire an outside independent child care consultant to review the programs and to give recommendations on the operation. This will give the city a better idea of the long 7 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1993 term viability of the ELC and future subsidies needed. Councilman Reno asked how many children attend ELC in one year. David Laughren, representing the Early Learning Center, said between 70 and 100 children a month. Councilman Reno said the ELC has to look at the building maintenance or move into a place they can afford and not be responsible for building maintenance. Laughren said if the community can agree that affordable child care is a program worth having, like affordable housing, they can work on lowering the deficit to $15,000 to $30,000 per year. This is an expensive program to run. Councilman Reno said he wants to make sure the grants to the ELC go to the children rather than to maintaining the building. Councilwoman Waggaman agreed she has a problem paying for the school district's building. Councilwoman Waggaman said she supports this short term measure as long as they are working toward a long term solution. Councilwoman Richards suggested the city have a meeting with the school board and child care users after this outside independent study is done to look at the long term commitment. Councilwoman Richards said she would like to make sure there is a long-term commitment to the building if the Council is going to make a long term commitment to the ELC. Mayor Bennett said he would like to see the ELC rent out space they do not need. Councilwoman Richards moved to approve the request for funds to the Early Learning Center for $25,000 for continued operation plus up to $1,000 grant to be administered by the child care committee to hire an independent child care consultant; seconded by Councilman Paulson. Councilman Reno said during budget time, he would like the child care committee to look at different locations for ELC and the costs of these locations. All in favor, motion carried. Councilwoman Richards moved that the Council convene a meeting with the Early Learning Center and School boards after the recommenda- tions of the independent consultant have been received and take a long term look at the city's investment out of the housing day care fund and work to solve the ELC's problems; seconded by Councilman Reno. Mayor Bennett said he would rather see the School board, ELC board and Child Care Committee meet before Council joins them. Council- woman Richards said this is funded by tax payer money and Council should be involved. 8 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1993 Councilwoman Richards and Councilman Reno in favor, Councilmembers Paulson, Waggaman and Mayor Bennett opposed. Motion NOT carried. Mayor Bennett suggested Councilmembers Richards, Reno and Paulson meet with the School Board, ELC Board and Child Care Committee and report back to Council. Council agreed. Councilman Reno said he is concerned about where the money for the ELC is going. Council- man Reno said it should be going to child care, not other items. Councilwoman Richards moved to suspend the rules and extend the meeting to 9:20 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Reno. All in favor, with the exception of Councilwoman Waggaman and Mayor Bennett. Motion carried. RESOLUTION #57, SERIES OF 1993 - Transportation Funding and Implementation Randy Ready, transportation director, said this resolution authorizes the expenditure up to $484,000 of the projected $1.1 million available in the general fund over target reserves. Ready pointed out the RFTA down valley buses are not covered by this expenditure. They will be part of the one-half cent sales tax that will be voted on in November. The acquisition and operation of a park & ride lot is also not covered by this resolution. There are also no revenues or costs associated with parking enforcement, which at worst is a break even proposition. There are also no funds for the superblock garage or the east/west cross town shuttle. These are seen as later phases of the transportation plan. Ready said staff is ready to present alternatives on the bus/HOV lanes on Main street in order to move forward. This is a low capital investment with high visual impacts. Attachment A to the resolution is the appropriation requests for transportation implementation plan. Councilman Reno said the lease for the intercept lot should be long term for the city's investment of $300,000 to $500,000. Mayor Bennett said this may be partially funded by other entities. Councilwoman Richards said she wants the city to do a lot of vendor research on the parking meters before any are purchased. Councilwoman Richards said Council needs to look at the costs of creating a pedestrian corridor and not spend all the money at the intercept lot. It is the pedestrian corridors that will ultimately make the super block work. The cost allocation for this design work is very important. Councilwoman Richards said she would like to see a design competition for this. Mayor Bennett said Council has not defined this except in the broadest terms. Mayor Bennett 9 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1993 said this is a major new effort which has always been contemplated to be in phase II and would happen simultaneously with the super block. Councilwoman Richards said she needs the assurance that the city will start working on the pedestrian enhancements at a date certain. Councilwoman Richards said in order to make paid parking palatable, there has to be a daily improvement to life, not just more parking spaces available. Councilwoman Richards said she is concerned about implementing paid parking without implementing the pedestrian changes. Councilwoman Richards said she would like staff bring back a plan for pedestrian enhancement. Mayor Bennett suggested Buttermilk lot improvements be taken off the list and pedestrian enhancement added. Mayor Bennett suggested this be a theme of the Design Conference for next year. Mayor Bennett said before new projects are added to the list, there are major projects that need to be addressed, like residential permits, dial-a-ride, etc. Councilwoman Waggaman said until she has more assurance that other alternatives are going through, she will not approve the parking meter purchase and installation. Councilwoman Waggaman said she would like to only focus on those projects that will get this transportation plan through until the end of the year. Councilwoman Richards moved to table this to 5 p.m. August 10, 1993; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Reno and Mayor Bennett. Motion carried. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to suspend the rules and extend the meeting 3 more minutes; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to go into executive session to discuss acquisition of real property; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Reno. Motion carried. Councilwoman Richards moved to come out of executive session; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. Councilwoman Richards moved to continue this meeting to 5 p.m. August 10, 1993; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. Council left the meeting at 9:40 p.m. 10 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1993 Kathryn S. Koch, City Clerk 11 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1993 CITIZEN COMMENTS 1 ................................ ............... COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1 ................................ ......... CONSENT CALENDAR 1 ................................ ............... LIQUOR LICENSE TRANSFER - New York Pizza 2 ....................... LIQUOR LICENSE TRANSFER - Village Grille 2 ....................... ORDINANCE #43, SERIES OF 1993 - Sund Lot Split 2 ................. ORDINANCE #44, SERIES OF 1993 - Adopting General Election Code 3 . ELECTRIC TROLLEY FROM RIO GRANDE UP GALENA STREET 4 .............. RESOLUTION #55, SERIES OF 1993 - Additional and Contingent PM 10 Plan Control Strategies 6 ................................ POLICY DISCUSSION ON AMENDMENTS TO AIR QUALITY CODE - CHAR- BROILERS 7 ................................ .................. GRANT REQUEST - Early Learning Center 7 .......................... RESOLUTION #57, SERIES OF 1993 - Transportation Funding and Implementation 9 ................................ ............ 12 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council August 10, 1993 Mayor Bennett called the meeting to order at 5:05 with Council- members Richards, Reno, Paulson and Waggaman present. RESOLUTION #57, SERIES OF 1993 - Transportation Funding and Implementation Mayor Bennett said one item in the transportation action plan of the AACP is "to pursue the construction of a public parking facility beneath the Kraut/Buckhorn Lodge site". This was also recom mended as phase two of the 1987 transportation element. Another item in the plan was "to reduce the number of on-street parking spaces within the commer cial core by phasing out a portion of the parking spaces in conjunction with parking and transit alternative". The AACP implementation plan follow up calls for an east end parking structure; the improved Galena Street corridor, dial-a-ride, and collectivo. At the May 15th Council retreat, Council decided to do the dial-a- ride, cab coupon program and to appoint a small committee to make a recommendation to Council by August. Council also decided to begin a public campaign to let the citizens know what the city is doing and why and also to ask the planning office to produce visuals of the downtown after the transportation plan is implement ed. Drawings of Galena street when it is more pedestrian friendly have been done. At the Entrance to Aspen retreat, a consensus of the entire group was the importance of the in-town distribution system. The plan recommended by the consultants included dial-a-ride, in-town circulator, jitney and NEBs, which is a new element. Mayor Bennett said all these items are tied together; one cannot be done out of context of the others. Mayor Bennett said the city should stay with the adopted plans, should keep consistent doing things in the order they have outlined, and should have alterna- tives in place before doing other programs. Mayor Bennett said he feels the city is moving forward in a planned, comprehen sive fashion. Mayor Bennett stated he supports eliminating parking spaces in the downtown in order to make this area more pedestrian oriented. Mayor Bennett said he would argue against taking parts of the plan out of order. Mayor Bennett said he does not want to divert staff and Council from getting paid parking and the distribution system in town before the next element is done. Councilman Reno pointed out most of the plans talk about disincen- tives and incentives and these should be on a parallel track. Mayor Bennett agreed the alterna tives should be in place before any disincentives are enacted. Councilwoman Waggaman said she would like the plan to say that the meters will only be in place when the intercept lot is in place, when the frequent shuttle and enhanced 1 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council August 10, 1993 in-town bus service are running. Councilwoman Richards said she felt a consensus from the retreat was that the pedestrian elements would move forward at the same time as the disincentives. If Council's priority is pedestrian improvements, some funding should be moved up for these. If pedestrian improvements are not happening at the same time, the city will just be charging for congestion in the downtown. Councilwoman Richards said she would like a list of options from staff with their associated costs. Mayor Bennett said he feels taking away parking spaces in the downtown would have dire consequences to the success of the entire plan. Councilwoman Richards said the downtown plan is every bit as important as the entrance to town and they should be done concur- rently. Mayor Bennett said every discussion Council has had they have agreed to get the alternatives in place. Councilwoman Richards said she feels the incentives are walking around in a pleasant atmosphere, not available parking spaces. Councilwoman Richards said she has been working towards a pedestri an downtown for 26 months and has seen no changes. Mayor Bennett said he feels the city is not offering enough alternatives. Councilman Reno said there has to be some logical schedule for the disincentives and incentives to happen at the same time in an equal amount. Paid parking is a strong disincentive; there has to be a strong incentive to counterbalance this. Councilman Paulson said he does not feel paid parking will discourage parking. Randy Ready, transportation director, told Council phase I is primary capital expenditures; getting the equipment for paid parking, getting set up with residential permits, all day passes, design for the intercept lot, trial run for dial-a-ride , informa- tion center for the intercept lot. Ready said implementation of these programs will be April 1994. Diane Moore, planning director, told Council the process to select a site for an intercept lot and to go through the land use process takes a long time. One delay has been going through the Snowmass to Aspen Decision Makers group. Once the decision was made and the consultant team was formed, a land use application has to be prepared. This will be submitted to the and will go through the process, which will probably take to the end of the year. Councilwoman Waggaman asked what visible parts of the plan can be implemented this winter so that people can see the city is serious about this. Mayor Bennett said the Transportation Implementation Committee and Council concluded part of the plan cannot be done without the rest; it is a total plan. Councilwoman Richards said the residential parking program is a direct give back and should be 2 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council August 10, 1993 implemented as soon as possible. Councilwoman Richards said an HOV lane on Main street may push more cars into the residential areas. Councilwoman Waggaman said a bus/HOV lane would be a visible, obvious move. Councilwoman Richards said the short term parking meters could be installed this winter. Councilwoman Richards noted the Community Plan calls for a pedestrian corridor from the parking garage to the gondola. All the enhancements should be working at the same time paid parking is installed. Mayor Bennett said the city should create a comprehensive plan and a budget to go with it. Bill Efting, assistant city manager, told Council staff, with the help of the Neighborhood Advisory Committee, can come back in the next 4 weeks with a plan and a budget. Councilwoman Richards said she feels it very important the city give more than lip service to pedestrian improvements. These seem to get put aside as other transportation issues are addressed. Mayor Bennett said he is willing to begin reducing parking spaces in the downtown area before all alternatives are in place. However, Council has repeatedly affirmed they would have the incentives in place before other programs are done. Mayor Bennett said the community plan recommends reducing parking in downtown. Councilwoman Waggaman said if the intercept lot can be built next spring, then some pedestrian enhancement and paid parking can be installed in the fall of 1994. Mayor Bennett said the point of the transportation plan is to reduce congestion in the downtown. Moving parking from downtown Aspen to an intercept lot has not reduced parking. The goal of the community plan is to reduce to 85 percent full the parking in the downtown, to eliminate the 15 percent of circling automobiles. Councilman Reno said in order to control congestion, the city can (a) eliminate the downtown parking spaces, (b) eliminate the car from coming into downtown, or (c) make the price for parking very high. Councilwoman Richards moved to pass the transportation implementa- tion plan with the understanding that the city will not be charging for parking until the intercept lot and shuttle service is available and that $200,000 of the city's unallocated reserves is set aside to begin implementation of pedestrian enhancements as called for the pedestrian plan; seconded by Councilman Paulson. Councilman Reno agreed the incentives should be operating prior to the disincentive programs. Mayor Bennett said this motion and plan does not address in-town transportation systems and 50 percent of the problem is inside the town. 3 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council August 10, 1993 Councilwoman Richards withdrew her motion. Councilwoman Richards moved to approve funding for phase I of the Aspen transportation implementation plan with the understanding the city will not be charging for parking until the intercept lot and shuttle system to and from that lot and the enhanced in-town service, shuttle dial-a-ride, increased public information are available and $150,000 is set aside for implementation of the pedestri an and walkways plan whether for its design work or physical, capital improvements; seconded by Councilman Paulson. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Reno and Mayor Bennett. Motion carried. Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt Resolution #57 as amended by the previous motion; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. Councilwoman Richards moved to adjourn at 6:35 p.m.; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. Kathryn S. Koch, City Clerk 4