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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.apz.20020903ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION September 3, 2002 Jasmine Tygre opened the regular Planning and Zoning meeting at 4:30 p.m. in Council Chambers with Dylan Johns, Jack Johnson, Bert Myrin and Ron Erickson present. Eric Cohen and Roger Haneman arrived at 4:35 p.m. RUth Kruger was excused, staff in attendance were: David Hoe£er, Assistant City Attorney; Joyce Ohlson, Chris Bendon, Community Development; Jackie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk. COMMISSIONER, STAFF and PUBLIC COMMENTS Ron Erickson asked about the structure at Truscott with a bay; he questioned the use of the building and did not recall the building in the plans. Chris Bendon replied that there was some sort of maintenance building in the back. Bert Myrin inquired about a water vending machine at the Truscott tennis courts with bright lights at night; he quoted form the code on illumination. Joyce Ohlson responded that it would be looked into for compliance. Ohlson noted that Sarah Oates did look at the clock tower at night and the lights were off. MINUTES MOTION: Ron Erickson moved to approve the minutes from August 20, 2002; seconded by Bert Myrin. APPROVED 5-0. DECLARATION OF CONFLICTS OF INTEREST Bert Myrin noted that he had attended the retailers meetings. PUBLIC HEARING: INFILL LAND USE CODE AMENDMENTS Jasmine Tygre opened the public hearing on the Infill Land Use Code Amendments. David Ho&er stated for the record that proof of notice met the jurisdictional requirements. Tygre explained the order of the public hearing beginning with the staff report, commissioner questions and clarifications of staff and then public questions and comments. Chris Bendon stated that the Infill Report had been worked on for over 2 years and provided the proposed review schedule: 09/17/02 - Commercial Zone Districts, Pedestrian Amenity, View Planes, Calculations and Measurements. 09/24/02 - Commercial Design Standards, Historic TDR Program and Parking. 10/01/02 - GMQS, Subdivision, Engineering Regulations, Utility and Trash Service Area. 10/08/02 - Residential Zone Districts, Alley Houses, Calculations and Measurements and Multi-family Housing Replacement. 10/I 5/02 - Consideration of entire program. I ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION September 3, 2002 Bendon stated that this idea came out of the Aspen Area Community Plan, which suggested focusing development as opposed to sprawl development and focus the energy into the existing platted areas to allow for a natural rejuvenation process. Bendon stated that there were 6 general areas broken out with maps in the report delineating the Commercial Core and other areas. Bendon utilized a power point presentation depicting the areas of concern for development in certain areas like a new single-family house in the Lodge District being inappropriate. Bendon spoke of mixed uses in the Commercial Core being a proposal for re~talization for the downtown core. Bendon said that the Infill group found that the office district was mostly residential townhomes; in the multi-family zone districts the most recent development (15-20 years) was single-family development. This was a lowering of intensity of use across the board with a sense that locals and local businesses were being lost. The infill group wanted a land use code that focused on a vision for a vibrant exciting downtown, keeping the city strong and allowing for natural rejuvenation for multifamily buildings. There were certain disconnects in the current land use code concerning the relationship of the physical parameters of the site to the FAR with open space requirements. The private seCtor needed to see a profit, which was a threshold issue. Bendon stated that the recommendations for FAR, height and uses for each zone district were included in the report; this was the start for the review process. Bendon said that view planes, open space requirements or pedestrian spaces and the Transfer of Development Rights were important recommendations. Bendon pointed out that P&Z was the recommending body to City Council; City Council would then approve the code amendment by the adoption of an ordinance. Jeffrey Halferty, public, stated that he was the vice-chair of HPC and felt this was a strong program. Halferty commended Chris in his work. Bendon stated that Council did not pass an emergency ordinance to separate the commercial core from the entire infill report. Staff recommended leaving in the commercial core portion because it was part of the overall system and probably not the most critical part. Bendon stated that by leaving it in the whole it allowed everyone to understand the whole package because there were many interrelated components. Bendon noted the ground floor uses in the commercial core need to be reviewed with parking, FAR or process to complete the whole. Bendon said that retail worked best when it was a continuous retail experience; one shop after another without disruption. Bendon said that to optimize what commercial core space we have to minimize to a certain extent. 2 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION September 3, 2002 Bendon stated that as part of the infill process the definitions needed to be clearer for retail, office and service instead of everything lumped into professional business office, which included banking institutions. Bert Myrin asked what would be needed to change this tonight, so everything wasn't in the catchall. Bendon stated that if you wanted to pass the resolution now taking out what was allowed in the commercial core; the definitions would have to be clear in the text. Jasmine Tygre asked the purpose of doing use by floor; was it to increase vitality in the downtown core; to give a break to retailers or the basic purpose to limit use floor by floor. Bendon replied that if the use was set by floor then a certain street vitality would be proposed for the ground floor; in the past residential was not allowed on the ground floor in the core or below the retail level. Bendon stated that residential was clear. Tygre voiced concern for the intent for vitality and what the criteria would measure the intent of the use. David Hoefer asked is a study of the uses for this category had been done. Bendon responded that he went through the Commercial Core and currently there were 13 offices and 4 banks. Barry Gordon, public, stated that he represented the Retail Merchants Association as well as a large growing number of restaurateurs. Gordon noted that REMAX Real Estate went into another retail space in the core area; things were changing with a number of non-retail shops. Gordon said that office space should be prohibited because it does break up the shopping experience; he said that a Canadian Consultant was brought in to do a survey and presented it to ACRA and City Council. Gordon gave Whistler as an example of extreme success and they do not allow offices on the first floor. Gordon stated that the shopping experience in Aspen has been going down hill. Gordon read the petition with hundreds of signatures from locals and visitors alike. Bob Blaich, public, stated that he was very much involved in the whole process on infill; he commended Chris for the job that he has done. Blaich said that the infill process encompassed affordable housing, affordable businesses for shopping to create new vitality. Blaich said as an infill committee they did not want to get into defining those principal functions for the definitions. Heidi Semrau, public, asked how the infill work meshed with the economic sustainability. Bendon replied that the economic sustainability group recognized the work that the infill committee did. Semrau said that her small retail shop had a great summer in sales. Semrau said that everything needed to be looked at to make a hearty downtown environment and not have more huge corporate museums. Peter Fornell, public, stated that he supported the infill program and appreciated all the work done to get where they were today; this was not just the commercial core 3 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION september 3, 2002 that was being dealt with but 5 or 7 zone districts. Fomell said that what was appropriate was to review the concerns of the people all in it's venue and the con~nercial core was only about 5% of the overall infill program affected; there were many other dis~cts more affected by thc infill so he urged the commission not to get hung up with one small portion causing a hang up and an emergency but rather to continue to review the entre process. Susan O'Neal, public, spoke about the petition and how she talked to the people on the street. O'Neal said that the sales tax revenue was important for the street level must be sales tax generating. E~nie Fyrwald, public, stated that he was in retail for 28 years and now he was in the real estate business; he said that he understood both sides. Fyrwald said that the Little Nell was a good example of more store fronts that generate tax revenues and suggested moving city hall, the fire house, chamber office in the Wheeler, 3 houses next to city hall, bus station, court house, the annex and banks to create more retail space. Fyrwald suggested creating storefronts in the alleys. Lorrie Winnerman, public, stated that the idea to keep the town vital to create creative mixed uses. Wirmerman said that there were many uses and the small boutique real estate offices added charm to our town. Charles Wolf, public, stated that he represented the Cooper Street Bar and Restaurant and read from the plan regarding the views and view planes. Wolf said that he did not agree that the malls were dead because the Cooper Avenue Mall was more viable and attracted more people because it had more sm~light. Phil Rothblum, public, stated that he was on the infill committee and commended Chris for the job that he did. Rothblum said that he bemoaned the fact that the small craft retail stores were gone but that was the retail world today. Rothblum said that the building owners were shooting themselves in the foot for allowing offices to replace the retail shops. Toni Kronberg, public, stated that she wanted to see the vacant lot at Hunter m~d Hyman as open space or a park. Kronberg said that one of the objectives of the infill program was make the community healthy and a popular destination resort. Kronberg noted from Chris's memo that there should be a prohibition or a limit on office uses on the ground floor in the commercial core. Kronberg suggested that the offices or banks kick in a percentage of their transactions to cover the sales taxes lost. Kronberg asked if this was infill or upfill; were we urban or resort. She asked what were we marketing as a town. 4 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION September 3, 2002 Tygre said that the public comments were very thoughtful and well stated. The cormnissioners stated 4-2 that they did not want to pull out the use issue from the infill ordinance; Johnson, Cohen, Haneman and Tygre were the 4 against; Myrin and Johns were the 2 in favor. Tygre stated that the issue was a lot more complicated that what could be passed tonight. Jack Johnson said that there were many different uses for downtown including retail that did not enhance. Dylan Johns said that he questioned some of the boutique retail shops but perhaps they did add charm and character. Johns said that there was a lot of first floor space available now. Eric Cohen said that the problems with the down turn in tourism and subsequent decrease in sales tax dollars can be attributed to the current use on the first floor. Cohen said that there was a much bigger picture and Aspen was now in a more competitive market for the tourist dollar. Cohen said that the size did not seem to make a difference in the retail store. Cohen said that physical things could be done to create more interaction on the first floors; physical zoning dealing with open space had problems. Cohen said the vibrancy created was not just as simple as the use. Cohen said that the issues of open space, physical dimensions, height and FAR were probably more important than the actual use. Roger Haneman said that his mother commented on pictures of the houses in the windows of the storefronts; he said that it did create vitality. Haneman said that it was important to keep the entire ordinance together. Bert Myrin said that the owner of Aspen Drug was on the infill committee. Myrin said that the infill group did not feel was the commercial core was an integral element. Myrin said that this was a small enough town to address something for it's own merits. Ron Erickson returned. Tygre stated concern for the vitality of the downtown; she mentioned that a long time ago the town was concerned that retail was pushing out the restaurants. Tygre said that the fist floor prior restaurant spaces were then cut up into smaller retail spaces so the landlords could charge more money for the spaces. Tygre stated that this was too important to pull out at this point and to discuss the uses that make the downtown vital. 5 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION September 3, 2002 MOTION: Eric Cohen moved to continue the meeting until 7:15 pm; seconded by Ron ErieksOn. APPROVED 7-0. Joyce Ohlson said that there was criteria by which to judge the objectives for the next meeting. Ohlson stated that Chris has done a lot of work and this was not just commercial core that will benefit the entire infill project. Bendon suggested rereading the return to vitality section. Johnson said that he agreed that the sales tax base needed to be maintained but to also maintain the awareness that we were not just consumers. Haneman said that he pictured downtown as a place where he needed to go every day for something; whether it be retail, banking or whatever. MOTION: Ron Erickson moved to continue the public hearing on the Infill Land Use Code Amendments to September 17, 2002 and the work session on GMQS to September 10, 2002; seconded by Roger Itaneman. APPROVED 7-0. The commission adjourned at 7:15 p.m. J~kie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk 6