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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19960422Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 22, 1996 Mayor Bennett called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. with Councilmembers Marolt, Paulson, Richards, and Waggaman present. COMMUNITY COMMITMENT TO CHILDREN AWARD Karen Short told Council she nominated the citizens of Aspen to receive an award given to outstanding contributions to PROCLAMATION - Education of the Young Child Mayor Bennett and City Council joined the National Association for the Education of Young Children in proclaiming April 21 through 27 as the Week of the Young Child and urged all citizens to recognized and support the needs of young children in the Roaring Fork Valley and City of Aspen. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION There was none. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1. Mayor Bennett said the transit tour to Switzerland and France was an excellent trip. The participants saw a lot of transit systems in general and rail systems that are profitable. The group saw transit systems in small communities with 100 percent mode switch to large communities with up to 59 percent mode switch. Mayor Bennett said these figures made the community’s goal of 38 percent seem modest and achievable. Mayor Bennett said Bill Vidal and ... Busher from CDOT were on the trip and found the information very exciting. 2. Councilwoman Waggaman reported she attended the passeng er rail study committee steering meeting in Denver last week. There are 54 representative from different municipalities throughout the regions where rail may be put in. Councilwoman Waggaman said this is only the first step but it is encouraging. The group is looking at where rail would be practical throughout Colorado. Studies will be done so that everyone will know what the rail conditions are. It is not known from where the funding will come. One of the things the state and communities are looking at is how much money will not have to be put into highways because of rail. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 22, 1996 3. Councilwoman Richards said she attended the CAST meeting with the state legislators. Transportation was one of the key topics of discussion. 4. Councilwoman Richards moved to add the Board Appointments to the consent calendar; seconded by Councilman Marolt. The slate of nominations is: · CCLC - Don Swales, Jack Stanford, John Starr · Board of Adjustment - Dan Martineau · HPC - Suzannah Reid (regular), Mark Onorofski · Clean Air Board - Dave Lendon · Kid’s First Board - Kim Kelly, Liz Means, Janet Raczak · P & Z - Tim Mooney, Dave Johnson · LLA - Gary Esary All in favor, motion carried. 5. Councilwoman Richards moved to move Ordinance #16, Series of 1996, Bell Mountain Extension of GMQS Allocation to the consent calendar; seconded by Councilman Marolt. All in favor, motion carried. 6. City Manager Margerum introduced the city’s new planner, Bob Nevins. Nevins was a planner for the housing authority and spent several years in Australia. CONSENT CALENDAR Councilwoman Richards moved to read Ordinances 10 and 16, Series of 1996; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #10 (Series of 1996) AN ORDINANCE OF THE ASPEN CITY COUNCIL DESIGNATING 616 W. MAIN STREET, LOT N, BLOCK 24, CITY AND TOWNSITE OF ASPEN, AS “H” HISTORIC LANDMARK PURSUANT TO SECTION 26.76.030 OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE ORDINANCE #10 (Series of 1996) AN ORDINANCE OF THE ASPEN CITY COUNCIL GRANTING A SIX MONTH EXTENSION OF THE 1993 LODGE GMQS ALLOTMENT AND Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 22, 1996 VESTED RIGTHS GRANTED BY ORDINANCE NO. 3, SERIES OF 1993, AND EXTENDED BY ORDINANCE NO. 51, SERIES OF 1994, AND EXTENDED BY ORDINANCE NO. 15, SERIES OF 1995, FOR THE BELL MOUNTAIN LODGE REDEVELOPMENT, 720 EAST COOPER AVENUE CITY OF ASPEN, PITKIN COUNTY, COLORADO were read by the city clerk Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt the consent calendar as amended; seconded by Councilman Paulson. The consent calendar is: · Minutes - April 8, 1996 · Transportation Funding Request · Resolution #20, 1996 - Contract for East Cooper Street Improvements · Resolution #21, 1996 - Fleet Purchase Contracts; Farris & John Haines · Ordinance #10, 1996 - 616 W. Main Historic Designation · Board Appointments · Ordinance #16, 1996 - Bell Mountain Extension of GMQS Allocation Roll call vote; Councilmembers Paulson, yes; Waggaman, yes; Marolt, yes; Richards, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to continue North Maroon Creek and South Maroon Creek Annexation to May 13; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #11, SERIES OF 1996 - AH!/PUD Bleeker Street Victorians Dave Michaelson, community development department, told Council this ordinance would rezone to AH1/PUD for a lot at the southeast corner of Bleeker and Garmisch. The applicant proposes to demolish an existing fourplex and replace it with 1 free market units, 2 RO units, 2 category 4 studios and 1 category 4 one- bedroom. The applicant is requesting conceptual and final PUD in a consolidated review based on a determination by staff that a 4 step review would be redundant. The project is consistent with the NAACP as well as the intent of AH1/PUD zone. Staff supports this project and finds that the discrepancy between the 30/70 mix is minimal. The housing office has requested the studio units be category 3 instead of 4. The housing board has said they do not want to see this stop the project and it is appropriate for Council to make that determination. Michaelson told Council the difference in cost between a category 3 and category 4 is $101,000 to .... Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 22, 1996 Michaelson pointed out this project meets the need to scatter AH projects throughout the city. This is the first affordable housing project in the west end. This project is small scale residential development and fits the character of the community as well as providing employee housing. The project is compatible with the zone districts surrounding it. Michaelson said the occupancy under the new development may be less than what is there now. There is not adverse impacts to the natural environment in this redevelopment. Michael said the FAR is 1:1 and the applicant is proposing about 6100 square feet on a 6,000 square foot lot. Michaelson noted there is no off-street parking on this. There are no minimum standards in residential zone districts; under the maximum requirements, the applicant could not exceed 11 off-street spaces. The applicant is proposing 4 single car garages and 2 parking pads. Staff recommends the additional parking requirements be met using the residential parking permit program. Michaelson said requirements are for landscaping the area used for parking on Garmisch and installation of sidewalks on both Garmisch and Bleeker as the responsibility of the applicant. P & Z has recommended approval of the rezoning to AH1/PUD as well as the parking special review. P & Z included 12 conditions. Tim said the feel changing the studios to category 3 would sacrifice the overall quality of the project. The neighbors are supporting the project as proposed. Tim said they tried to meet all the requirement of the community plan, to make this a Victorian to fit the neighborhood. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. Sam Cox support the project which would provide a niche between affordable housing and free market units. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Councilwoman Waggaman said there is a much bigger need for category 3 and she would like to see at least one studio be category 3. Mayor Bennett said he likes the project and the fit with the neighborhood. Mayor Bennett said the city has always insisted in lower category units in AH projects. Councilwoman Richards said the smaller the project is, the harder it is for the free market to carry the rest of the project. Councilwoman Richards suggested one of the studio units be sold at low or mid-range of category 4, rather than category 3. Mayor Bennett suggested establishing a clearer policy about what is expected out of AH projects. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 22, 1996 Councilman Marolt said this fits into the scheme and will be a good addition to the neighborhood. Councilman Marolt said he does not want to see any further restrictions on it. Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt Ordinance #11, Series of 1996, allowing 2 studios at category 4 with one of the 2 selling at the mid-point of category 4; seconded by Councilman Paulson. ?Roll call vote; Councilmembers Paulson, yes; Richards, yes; Marolt, no; Waggaman, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #12, SERIES OF 1996 - Amending Penalty Provisions of the Municipal Code David Hoefer, assistant city attorney, told Council last year the state legislature amended state law to allow municipalities to raise fines and jail terms for municipal offenses. This ordinance would put the code in compliance with sate law and is not intended to raise revenue nor to put people in jail. This ordinance raises the maximum fine from $300 to $1000, allow the court costs up to $50 and allows judges to jail juveniles up to 48 hours. The ordinance also provide a method for judges to obtain fines from defendants by posting a bond or post dating checks. Hoefer told Council the Municipal Judge is in favor of approving this ordinance. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. There were no comments. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Hoefer noted this increase in penalties will apply to all municipal offenses. Staff feels this increase might help to deter some violations. Council asked that staff notify various groups that would be interested in this ordinance. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to adopt Ordinance #12, Series of 1996, on second reading; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Marolt, yes; Paulson, yes; Richards, yes; Waggaman; yes Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #15, SERIES OF 1996 - Water Treatment Plant and Affordable Housing Project - Conceptual SPA Review Amy Margerum city manager, told Council the city is proposing an affordable housing project on city property to house emergency and other personnel. These are conceptual plans that still need to go back through P & Z for final design approval. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 22, 1996 Staff is looking for preliminary approval of the concept of this project. The benefit to the city of housing essential or emergency personnel is enormous in saving of response time, property damage and taxpayer’s money. Ms. Margerum said she would like the city to set an example as an employer. Ms. Margerum noted the city is fortunate to own 6 units, which has helped to recruit or retain employees for the city. Ms. Margerum told Council for this project the city will donate the land but will not use any affordable housing funds for the construction of the units. The individual buyers will take out a construction loan. David Hauter, asset manager, said this project includes overall infrastructure and road improvements from Castle Creek to the upper water plant. Another portion will be a reworking of the upper plant in order to consolidate water operations and add a storage building which will store equipment currently being left outside. The 22 affordable housing units are a third distinct project. The fourth project is the new office space for the water plant to replace that being lost to the housing project. Hauter said the road improvements and infrastructure could be started in the fall of 1996. A responsibility of the contractor will be to integrate the scheduling for the entire project through 1997. A new incident commend center will be built near the housing project; this center will be available to other emergency response personnel in the community. Hauter said the goals of this housing project are to provide entry level family- oriented housing for employees close to their jobs; preserve the character of the Aspen community by investing in housing; provide housing for emergency response personnel; create an infill neighborhood; maximizing the density and mix of housing and preserve open space for this site. Hauter said the project tries to embody all the green design principles. Steve Barwick, assistant city manager, pointed out these are all planned to be “for purchase” units. The project will not use housing/day care funds. The proceed from the same of 3 Cemetery Lane units will help finance this and to make it more affordable. The project is self-supporting. Barwick said the city may look at purchasing some of these units to be rented to employees. These units are capped at 3 percent of cpi, whichever is less, which is the same as the current housing authority guideliones. Barwick noted subtracted from that is 1.33 percent which will go to paying the asset management fund back for future capital replacements in the project. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 22, 1996 Hauter showed Council the overall site plan for the housing project. In the townhouse area, every home has a private view; there is a central open space. There are individual carports with storage, which will also serve as a buffer from Doolittle drive to the units. Tom Stevens, project planner, told Council the overal parcel is 54 acres; the housing will be located on 5 acres or 5 units to the acre. Stevens said Twin Ridge is 5.5 units/acre as a comparison. Stevens said Doolittle Drive has to be brought up to the city’s minimum standards; the gradient will be reduced, the overall width will be expanded. Stevens said Doolittle Drive bisects the areas appropriate for housing. Stevens showed Council a parcel to be left as open space in order to reduce the visible density. Stevens say in laying out the project, they tried to focus the units on the street, like in old communities, with front porches, all the public activity front on the common open space. The parking is 2 spaces per unit in a carport which includes storage. There are 3 guest spaces. The site design will try and help hide the parking. Stevens said there will be van pool service for the residents. The single family detached structures will be located across the road. The neighobrhood characteristics will be carried to this portion of the project. There will be attached garages for each unit. Stevens said there will be a trail from the site down towards Castle Creek. The exact location of the trail will be done at the site. Stevens pointed out there are lots drawn for each unit so these can be financed as fee simple units. Some traffic calming measures, such as bulbing out the pavement, will be incorporated in the design in order to slow down traffic and eliminate auto/pedestrian conflicts. Scott, architect, said some of the goals in the desing were to maintain southern exposure, the panoramic views, maintaining individual privacy yet creating a community open space. Scott said the residences are laid out in order to provide for cost efficiency in construction and energy conservation. The units are staggered in order to create more interesting facades. Scott presented renderings of these architecural ideas. Jay Hammond, project engineer, said because this is the water plant, there are a number of lines on site to be dealt with. Hammond pointed out a 20 inch transmission main running through the existing yard, down the slope through Castle Ridge and into town. This site plan has been configured to leave the corridor available so that the line is undisturbed through the site. There is also a large Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 22, 1996 diameter line along the western edge of the site. Because of the work to configure the single family homes and because this is an older line, it is being re-routed and over to Doolittle Drive and tied back into the line down the hill. Hammond said this is a chance to make some changes to the water plant to help with operations. Hammond said current activities will be relocated from the lower yard site to the upper site and are not improvements that are increasing activity at the water plant. Councilman Marolt asked about enlarging the existing reservoirs. Phil Overenyder, water department director, told Council this expansion is a long term proposal. Two reasons to look at reservoir expansion; there is less than one day’s storage of raw water available, and second, there is a potential water service agreement with Hines/Highlands to provide snowmaking water. Overenyder said if the city is able to route that water used for snowmaking into the reservoir first, the impacts on Maroon Creek will be reducing by storing the water on off times. Overenyder told Council this item has not been discussed with the asset management committee. Overenyder said Council has voiced concerns about the water plant site and the impacts of development on that site. Overenyder said the relocation of the chlorine response building, the 24 inch transmission line and the reservoir expansion have not been looked at by the asset management committee. All the rest of the pieces of the project have been reviewed. Dave Michaelson, community development department, told Council this project is consistent with the conceptual SPA standards. There are 9 conditions from P & Z review. Michaelson said the lighting of the trail is sensitive one. Michaelson told Council adjacent property owners have said they would like to be involved in the planning of the park area on the lower portion of the property. These conditions are all included in . . . . Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. Bill, manager of Aspen Valley Hospital housing, asked exactly where Doolittle drive would be improved. Stevens said the majority of this is on the city’s property. Bill asked about the pedestrian bike path from the property to Castle Creek. Stevens said at level of review, they have concentrated on the trail within the property line. Stevens said they would be glad to look at trail improvements within the right-of-way. Bill said the neighbors would like to see a more definitive project schedule and would like to know how long this is going to go on. Hauter said the major improvements to the road will be complete by Thanksgiving 1996. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 22, 1996 Karen Reiman said she is concerned about the traffic and ambulances entering at the same intersection at Castle Creek. Hauter said this is an intensely used intersection and is an existing problem. Councilwoman Richards suggested the city sit down with the hospital and ambulance district to see if something can be worked out. Councilwoman Richards said it is worth it to see if this project can help solve some existing problems. John Walla, Twin Ridge resident, said he feels 22 units may be too dense. Walla said he has concerns about the appreciation and that people would be better off if this were subsidized rentals. Walla said it will be difficult to bring the road up to standards because it is so steep. Leon Murray, police department, said these units may be priced too high for emergency response employees. Murray said the city should look at who they are trying to target for these units and set the costs to them. Barwick said the project budget has not been finalized. Staff feels it can be made very affordable for the employees. Staff did a survey to see the interest from emergency response and other personnel. Another survey with the latest unit figures will be done. These units will probably be a mix of categories 2 and 3. Ms. Margerum said these units will be comparable to housing guidelines, which are based on income. Councilwoman Richards said this project is not being subsidized by tax monies, which is a parameter for this project and will determine the cost of these units. The city is also interest in upgrading the water plant. Barwick reminded Council this is not just being built to meet the immediate needs but for city employees into the next century. Ms. Reiman said she does not want to have this housing start out as job-sensitive for emergency personnel and have it be something else in the future with no units available to emergency workers. Ms. R said the city should have carefully crafted guidelines. Barwick pointed out the deed restriction require within 180 days of termination, the employee has to sell the unit either to the city or to another city employee. Walla said the front row of buildings well be visible to all surrounding projects. This is too dense. The project should be 12 or 14 units. Mayor Bennett pointed out that projects visible from other sites is part of everyone living in this small valley., Affordable housing is crucially needed for Aspen to remain a community. Mayor Bennett said this makes the community stronger and Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 22, 1996 everyone benefits. Mayor Bennett said completing this project would be doing something the voters have reaffirmed; it is in a great spot, and will provide sorely needed housing for essential and emergency personnel. Tom Stevens said the planners have been sensitive to how visible this project is; one main goal was to make it as invisible as possible from the immediate neighbors. The units along the hillside have been backed up another 25 feet. The properties will be covenanted against the removal of scrub oak. the architecture has been stepped down so that the facade that faces the ridge is only one story. Councilman Marolt said this seems as being very progressive and is being designed and built by the people who are going to live in it. Councilman Marolt said he feels this is a wonderful design and also makes the water plant adequate for many years. Walla said the project is just too dense for the site. Councilwoman Richards said the bike path and the road will be looked at all the way to Castle Creek. Staff will get a full extended phasing schedule so that the neighbors will know what to expect. Ambulance and intersection improvements will be looked at with the hospital and ambulance district. Councilwoman Richards said there may not be an adequate chlorine evaluation program right now. Councilwoman Richards suggested a model of this project. Councilwoman Richards said she would like to see a list of what may happen if a unit is not sold or rented, uses as far as resale and occupancy. There is also work to be done on internal allocation of the units, price ranges for emergency works. Councilwoman Waggaman agreed the units should be priced for the people that should be in there. Councilwoman Waggaman asked why some of the drive in the open grass area could not be left grass. Stevens said the fire department requires a paving system that will hold a certain weight in all weather conditions. Councilwoman Waggaman said 3 guest parings spaces may not be enough for 22 units. Loren Ryerson, police department is concerned about the connection between the project and the rest of the trail system. The only way to get to public transit is to walk down the road. The city needs to provide a safe place and a safe alternative to driving. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 22, 1996 Councilman Paulson asked about the possibility of hydroelectricity. Hauter said this is not being specifically addressed. There is a lot of interest in hydroelectricity but there are some feasibility issues. Councilman Paulson said he wanted to see a traffic management system, like paying for a second parking space. Mayor Bennett said he has some concerns about the pedestrian nature of the design. Staff has heard these concerns. This design is only conceptual. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to adopt Ordinance #15, Series of 1996, on first reading with the provisions that all points listed by Councilwoman Richards be considered; seconded by Councilman Richards. Councilwoman Richards said she is looking at this project as long range planning for a healthy city government for the next 100 years. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Paulson, yes; Richards, yes; Waggaman, yes; Marolt, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. Councilman Paulson moved to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing potential litigation; seconded by Councilman Marolt. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Marolt moved to come out of executive session; seconded by Councilman Paulson. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Paulson moved to adjourn at 9:10 p.m; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. Kathryn S. Koch, City Clerk