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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.apz.19990928ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 28, 1999 Steve Buettow, Acting-Chairperson, opened the special Aspen Planning and Zoning Commission Meeting at 4:05 p.m. The following commissioners were present: Steve Buettow, Ron Erickson, Tim Mooney, Roger Haneman and Jasmine Tygre. Bob Blaich and Roger Hunt were excused. Staff in attendance were: Joyce Ohlson, and Stephanie Millar, Community Development; Jackie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Joyce Ohlson, Community Development Deputy Director, noted that next week P&Z would be meeting with City Council to address any issues or ideas to talk with council about. Ordinance 30 and ADU issues were to be addressed. The Housing Authority issues were questioned because Council and BOCC were represented on the housing board but not on the P&Z or HPC. There was a question of the role of P&Z in housing issues. Tim Mooney said that the metro area included areas that City P&Z could not vote upon but yet it affected the city. Ron Erickson said the AACP restricted growth but how would the employee housing be brought into line with all of the affordable housing. Mooney said that Bob Blaich had a memo with issues to discuss with council. Mooney asked to have city and county ordinances compliment one another. DECLARATION OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST None PUBLIC HEARING: LIGHTING ORDINANCE Steve Buettow opened the public hearing. Stephanie Millar stated that Community Development was asked to draft a lighting ordinance to manage the level of light trespass caused by exterior illumination. The goal was to preserve the small town character and feel and one of the components was the ability to see stars on the dark sky. Millar said that through research from what other communities have done to address this problem, the light level could be lower than what was currently allowed in Aspen. The draft lighting ordinance was intended to maintain health, safety and welfare of the residents of Aspen through regulation of exterior lighting to help preserve small town character; eliminate escalation of nighttime light pollution; reduce glaring and offensive light sources; provide clear guidance to builders and developers; encourage the use of improved technologies for lighting; conserve energy; and prevent inappropriate and poorly designed or 1 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 28, 1999 installed outdoor lighting and light trespass. Millar said that Mitch Haas held several work sessions and P&Z recommended that staff utilize Basalt's recent lighting ordinance to phase work with various city departments. Other jurisdictions were also reviewed as well as a lighting consultant. Millar said that holiday lighting and historic fixtures were dealt with in the exemption sections of the draft. Lighting plans were only required for subdivisions, PUDs, special review, environmentally sensitive areas and commercial or multi-family building applications. Enforcement will be carried out on a complaint only basis, as it was with all other zoning issues. Existing lighting will be considered legal non-conforming for 3 years, after that time they will be expected to comply bringing up to date but only if someone calls to report a problem. Millar noted that Stream Margin Review and all street parking sections of the code had some minor changes to ensure that the lighting sections of the code were referenced. She said that sign lighting were addressed in the new sign ordinance. She said that she was surprised that there were no members of the public in the audience. Ron Erickson stated that 3 years was a long time for anyone to come into compliance especially when no one would come into compliance unless there was a complaint. Buettow noted that a year would be long enough. Erickson said that 6 months was long enough and if there was a complaint, then extend it for 30 to 60 days. Millar responded that Basalt's was 5 years and communities range between 2 years to 40 years on an amortization period. Tim Mooney said that exemptions of holiday lights could remain up from Thanksgiving to March 1 st. He asked if that time period was really necessary. Millar replied that with inclement weather. Mooney asked if the lights could at least be turned off on January 15th. Erickson agreed. Erickson asked why the gazebo needed to be illuminated in March. Joyce Ohlson asked for clarification on the types of lights. Millar answered that this ordinance applied to commercial and residential lighting. She asked if there were any more issues. Roger Haneman stated that there were 3 different standards used for measuring light; lumens, foot-candles, and watts; he asked if there was any reason why one couldn't be used. Millar responded that she would check with the consultant to tighten up the language. Erickson asked for the definition of what scintillating lights were. Millar replied those were lights that moved erratically. 2 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 28, 1999 George Detko, public, said that he moved here from Florida about 5 years ago and was involved in the lighting ordinance in Vero Beach. He stated that there was a great interference with sea turtles from ocean front lighting. Detko said that it was with great difficulty that the ordinance passed because people felt it was their right to light up anything and everything because they paid $2,000,000.00 for their property. He noted that he now runs down Rio Grande Trail at night and the houses along the Roaring Fork River were purposefully doing the same thing, lighting up the river. He asked how this ordinance would address these large houses along the river. Erickson noted the ordinance said that lighting directed towards the Roaring Fork River or its tributaries was prohibited. Ohlson replied that was one of the reasons for initiating this; it was to minimize the lighting of the river, environmentally sensitive areas, which were included in the stream margin review process. Buettow stated that he asked Sarah Oates to look into the one yard with the lights down by Slaughterhouse Bridge at the mile and '/4 mark on the Rio Grande Trail. Detko noted lights like those also kill your night vision for probably 15 minutes after you pass by them. He said that in Florida the ordinance was drafted to read that direct lighting couldn't be visible from the mean high water line at sand level. Millar responded that it was those types of lighting that this ordinance attempted to address. The light that hampers vision, the light spread, light being contained by the property lines, glare and visibility of light bulbs. Detko commented that inside lighting was also addressed because of the huge expanses of glass and prohibition of flood lighting outside. Detko said it was the 3rd house to the west on the north side of the river from the Oklahoma Flats Bridge that had the lighting from the inside which lights up the river. It was noted that it was the Gary Moore House. Buettow asked if these comments could be incorporated into this ordinance prior to the council presentation. Millar stated the 3 issues to be included were: ~) change the compliance period from 3 years to 6 months or a year; © reduce the holiday lighting period to November 15th to January 15th; ® Simplify the levels of measurement. Erickson stated that equally important was the time period of 30 to 60 days for having to come into compliance after a compliant was registered. Mooney requested that some sort of communication with the county begin to address lights that affect the city. He mentioned that the lights at Ruthie's Restaurant and at Buttermilk have been on for about 4 weeks, even though those properties were located in the county they affected the city. 3 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION SEPTEMBER 28, 1999 MOTION: Tim Mooney moved to recommend City Council approve the lighting Ordinance, finding it met the criteria with the changes reflected in P&Z Resolution/499-31. Ron Erickson second. Roll call vote: Tygre, yes; Haneman, yes; Mooney, yes; Erickson, yes; Buettow, yes. APPROVED 5-0. Meeting adjourned at 4:50 p.m. into a work session with County P&Z on Buttermilk. Jackie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk. 4