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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20031209Special Meeting Aspen City Council December 9, 2003 Mayor Klanderud called the special meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. with Councitmembers Torre, Richards, Paulson and Semrau present. BURLINGAME RANCH AFFORDABLE HOUSING; COWOP RECOMMENDATION Mayor Klanderud said this meeting is to answer the threshold question of whether m proceed with Burlingame affordable housing project or not. Mayor Klanderud said Burlingame has been on the city's agenda for 6 or 7 years. Mayor Klanderud said the ofiginal proposal is 225 units on 5 acres of city-owned Burlingame Ranch and 20 acres'of the Zoline parcel: 12 free market units plus the ranch house and a cabin by the river. This discussion is not about the free market units. Councilman Semrau said Council's decision tonight would be to proceed or not with phase I, up to 110 units, and does not commit the city to phases II and III. This is not a commitment to 330 units. David Bentley said most people he knows who moved to Aspen in the 1970's live in affordable housing. This project will provide housing for people in 30 years from now. Bentley said the public has had input on this project in meetings and in elections. The advocates will try and protect this project because it is Aspen's hope for the future. Bentley beseeched Council not to let this project die. Rick Jones, chairman ACRA. stated the current ACRA board has not reviewed the current proposal and is not taking a position on it. Jones said in June 2001, the Board strongly endorsed the original proposal Jones noted the economic sustainability committee issued a report approved by the Chamber board supporting the building of additional affordable housing in Aspen. Tom McCabe said he has been a supporter of Burlingame. Connie Harvey said this process has not been as good as it can be. Ms. Harvey said ideas have been ignored, like dividing the town into areas and letting each area take care of a number of affordable units. Ms. Harvey said this project will cut offthe wildlife between Deer Hill and Maroon Creek. Jan Collins asked Council can proceed when they do not have a complete inventory of rental and ownership units. The city does not know the vacancy rates, does not know how long ownership units have been an the market. The city is subsidizing these vacant units. Tim McFlynn stated he supports the need for much more affordable housing but does not support housing at Burlingame. The question is what is the optimal use for Burlingame and what is the right place to add affordable housing. McFlynn asked Council to continue to pursue and to share other locations for housing. Molly Ireland told Council she has lived in 3 different affordable housing projects. Ms. Ireland said this has meant being able to live in Aspen, to house visiting athletes, to house foreign exchange students, music students. Ms. Ireland ~aid she has been able to volunteer at the schools, at church, for local non-profit events because she is here in Aspen. Ms. Ireland said giving back is what makes a community. Peter Martin, county P&Z, said he said the honor &thousands of volunteer hours on the Aspen Area Conununity Plan is at stake as well as the honor of the city. David Guthrie read a resolution unanimously adopted by the Housing Board recommending the Burlingame Special Meeting Aspen City Council December 9, 2003 Ranch parcel be developed for affordable housing based on the vote August 2000, the strategic plan identifies this parcel 2~d as a priority for development, that City Council move forward with Burlingame Ranch. Scott Gallagher, emergency room doctor at AVH, said many physicians fall outside the category guidelines yet do not make enough to purchase a house in Aspen. Gallagher and other physicians support additional RO tots or units. Richie Cohen urged Council to continue with this project. Cohen said this community is poorer for families and employees moving down valley. Cohen said not approving this project would be short sighted; it is an opportunity to provide up to 330 affordable units. Jannette Whitcomb said she moved to Aspen because she loved the community, because it is a community. Ms. Whitcomb said she wants to raise a family and live in Aspen and more affordable housing will help. Jennifer Albright Carney said this type of housing will give people a chance to stay here and to raise a family. Ms. Carney said she and her husband represent those kinds of citizens who voted to approve Burlingame, who want to live here and who want to continue to make Aspen their community. Erik Skarven said he has been involved in Burlingame for 7 years, from the original charettes to this meetingl This is the future of Aspen. Skarven said the demand for ownership units continue to increase due to the lack of increase in supplyl This project will house individuals and families that will create Aspen's future. Jim Curtis stated he has been involved in affordable housing for a long time and is very supportive of Burlingame. Curtis encouraged Council to proceed with the project and to do the best project possible, not dependent upon the number of units. Burlingame is an opportunity to do a majority of family~oriented units. Frank Peters stated he has been involved in Burlingame for 8 years and stated there has been a lot of process surrounding this project. Peters said the shape of development at Burlingame was guided by the concerns of the neighbors who have been involved since the begi~ming. Sheri Sanzone, housing board, noted the Council has had studies, a public vote, housing studies with this project at the top of the list, many people at this hearing in favor, and money to pay for the infrastructure. Karen, high school teacher, said the only reason she is here is because of employee housing. The school district has trouble retaining teachers. Mark Pearson told Council he and his family own a flee market home in Aspen. Pearson said they discuss moving to the mid-valley in order to have less of a mortgage and more money to devote to other things. Pearson stated he strongly supports affordable housing and would like to see more options for affordable housing. J. E. DeVilbiss stated without affordable housing, he would not be able to live in Aspen. DeVilbiss urged Council to support this project. Steve Saunders supports Burlingame and that the city should move forward with the project. Roger Haneman told Council he and his family have been trying to locate in affordable housing. Haneman said if Council does not go forward, it will take another 8 years to be at this point with no housing being built. Mark Uhfelder said he is opPosed to building a Special Meetin~ Aspen City Council December 9, 2003 huge development, which will be a boondoggle. Uhfelder said he would like to see a location more integrated into the city explored for affordable housing. Uhfelder said he does not see where the great need for affordable housing exists. John McBride said one of the biggest issues with this project is what is the real market. McBride said he has not been able to find out the number of employees in Aspen. Council should detemfine what is the real break even number, including the public money put into the project. Dave Bellack. Aspen Ski Company, stated the biggest challenge they face as an employer is the ability to retain long term working residents and families. Bellack said Burlingame is the last opportunity to produce for sale housing in the valley in a reasonable number for long term working residents. Jim Baker, Anderson Ranch, told Council they have had historic use of the Soldner property. Anderson Ranch plans to use this facility more in the future and they are very sensitive to the density and impact to that property. Stephanie Soldner, adjacent property owner, asked where the access road will be. Mayor Klanderud stated the COWOP recommendation is to have it on the east side Ms. Soldner said it is true affordable housing is needed; however, this is not an urban environment. This proposed project is not on Aspen scale. This is not an ideal location and other sites for housing can be found. Ms. Soldner urged Council not to go forward with this project. Mark Friedberg said his concern is there has not been an effort to deal with the impact of this project on the schools, the hospital, law enforcement and the rest of the infrastructure. Friedberg said more affordable housing is important; however, this may not be the right time. Evan Griffiths said he was on the original task force and urged Council to follow the lead of the voters and the task force. It is necessary to. house families in the community. Griffiths urged Council to continue with the project. Molly Campbell, Gant general manager, stated she is supportive of this project and the city should move forward. Mick Ireland passed out a report based on the city's community plan, the housing master plan. and census bureau data. Ireland said there are about 7800 units throughout and beyond the valley supplying workers to this community. About 1900 are deed restricted affordable housing and 1700 are free market units of people who work in this community. Ireland said most of the t700 units will be converted into second homes and vacation use as the median age ora free market local resident is 60. Ireland said in less than 10 years, ~ of these people will be at retirement ago. The master plan states none of these 1700 units will be sold at affordable rates. Ireland said there are 17,000 on the book jobs in this community and the state demographer expects this to increase to 25,000. Ireland noted the school enrollment has increased 20 students in the last 5 years and during that time 457 affordable units have been added. Ireland stated there is no evidence that adding affordable housing is crushing the school system. Ireland noted Aspen is losing retail business because there is not the support base for tourist-oriented businesses. Patti Clapper, County Commissioner. said Council has a moral obligation to the voters to uphold a vote taken by the electorate of the city. Shelly Roy, County Commissioner, said even with 330 units, the affordable housing pool will be short 981 units. Jack Hatfield, 3 Special Meeting Aspen City COuncil December 9~ 2003 County Commissioner, said the BOCC supports this project; it is about community,. vitality and Aspen's future. Scott Orman supports Burlingame. Orman said he and his wife both work in Aspen and have 2 children and would like to buy affordable housing in the future. Bob Langley said he woutdn't be here without the affordable housing program. Langley said Council should say yes to Burlingame. This community is made up of sub-communities, like Highlands affordable housing. Council should give Aspen a chance to blossom and to have dynamism. Wendy Blakeslee told Council she and her family live in affordable housing. Ms. Blakeslee urged Council to build Burlingame and make it available to all income levels. This will create a community. Ms. Blakeslee said businesses have trouble keeping employees because they cannot stay. Tom Cardamone said it is the city's responsibility to answer the question of what are the costs of creating housing, wherever that housing is. Cardamone said these costs include environmental costs. Cardamone said providing affordable housing is important; however, ali the community costs - schools, hospital, water, sewer - need to be addressed how they will be paid for. Jackie Kasabach stated she is in favor of keeping the promises made to the voters on Burlingame. Ms. Kasabach said the community uses the terms "economic stability" and "community" a lot and affordable housing is the essence of addressing these. Ruth Kruger said if the city heeds the advise of the downtown consultants, there will be a resurgence of vitality and business in Aspen. Ms. Kruger said Aspen will need affordable housing. Marcia Goshom said there have been many missed oppommities for affordable housing over the past 20 years. Ms. Goshom noted the wildlife report does not state this is a critical habitat that needs to be protected. If Council gives up the opportunity to develop Burlingame, it will not come again. Colleen Burrows noted she and her family own free market housing. Ms. Burrows said the more one's property is worth, the more taxes are paid to the community. This is an important consideration. Ms. Burrows said she keeps hearing that the school system is almost full. Ms. Burrows said Council should be cautious, this development has a lot of impact. Denis Murray stated in the late 1980's, the voters agreed to taxes to get money for housing. There was an election on Burlingame in 2000. Murray told Council he participated in the COWOP process on this; there were compromises in the process from the beginning on every aspect of the project. Murray noted prospective buyers will be from this valley and who have worked and lived here. Cheryl Erickson said the voters have spoken and asked why there has to be a vote from people elected by those voters. Melinda Sangren said she and her husband have been in 31 housing lotteries. Ms. Sangren said she and her husband want to live in Aspen as they work in Aspen. Terry Schaffer said Aspen's housing program started in the mid-70's and this community would be a very different place if there were not the affordable housing inventory in place. Schaffer urged Council to support Burlingame. Karen Thornley said young people cannot afford to stay year in Aspen. Neil Ross asked about commitments to build infrastructure. Mayor Klandemd said if the affordable housing is not built, there are obligations to the Zolines that will be discussed. Ross said this project is proposed for 4 Special Meetin~ Aspen City Council December 9, 2003 tess than 5% of the property. Ross said sprawl would be if this proposal were to build one house per acre on all 300 acres of this property. Ross said if Council takes into consideration the economics, the environmental and the social impacts they are doing a disservice by not approving the Burlingame project. Steve Bossart told Council he was hired as project manager for the ARC. Bossart said he has lived in 5 other resort communities and they are all having difficulties. Bossart said Aspen is much more ora community with people of al! backgrounds interacting. Lisa Gonzales-Giles said she feels there is a sense of entitlement, "I work here, I deserve a house here". Ms. Gonzales-Giles said when the Burlingame vote was held, the costs to the community were not known. The kindergarten class is the largest ever; the graduating class was the largest ever. Toni Kronberg said everyone wants housing. Ms. Kronberg said the urban growth boundary was changed during the Aspen Area Comnmnity Plan process so that Burlingan~e could be included. Ms. Kronberg stated she is not in favor of this project. The impact of the traffic congestion will this project will be unimaginable. This project will destroy a beautiful piece of property. This concept is not in the right place. Harry Teague said he was recently on a panel with 5 people who had made major contributions to the community and 4 of these 5 people live down valley. Teague said Aspen is in a crisis time. Teague noted what emerged from these Grassroots conversation was an urgency about a sense of community. Teague said the Council needs to deal with the cost and sacrifices to use up pristine land in order to continue to have a vibrant community. Teague agreed the sacrifices of the environment are priceless and immeasurable but they measure up against the price of a vibrant community that cares about the environment. Teague agreed the issue of sprawl is a serious one. Teague suggested there be boundaries to contain development. Michelle Selby said in order to keep longevity, the work force needs stability, workers with commitment and values. Ms. Selby said although she and her family live down valley, the participation with their children are in Aspen. Eric Cohen, P&Z and CCLC member, told Council he has just purchased a house down valley as there is nothing available in Aspen where a couple can raise a family. Cohen noted the Aspen School District has a very high turnover, much due to the housing situation. Allison Anderson said they, too, have been looking for housing large enough in which to start a family. Pepper Gomes gave Council a letter from John McBride. Gomes said he is in favor of affordable housing but not of building affordable housing. Gomes said votes are overturned all the time. Gomes said Burlingame is a bad project. Charlie Tarver said he has sat on committees on all aspects of life in the valley. Tarver said the community is losing citizens, which is contributing to its loss in vitality. Tarver said the idea of building housing at Burlingame is a good. John Harrison supports the idea of affordable housing. Harrison said doing nothing, too, has a downside. Harrison said the pluses outweigh the minuses and this project should go forward. Sara Haneman supports Burlingame. Ms. Haneman said 12 out of 13 couples in a recent birthing class are vying for affordable housing lotteries. 5 Special Meeting Aspen City Council December 9, 2003 Pamela Zoline said with the development of the Maroon Creek Club, Tmscott, the MAA housing, Airport Business Center and North 40, this project is not sprawl. Ms. Zoline said there is a notion that there is a better site lurking out there. There have been years spent analyzing lands available for affordable housing. Ms. Zoline noted much of this land will be preserved for open space. The impacts of all these residents living down valley and commuting is more harmful to the environment than having them living at Burlingame. John Lifton said they have been in the process of planning this property for 8 years. Lifton said the rock of this community is the Aspen Area Community Plan, which states the most important things are land for affordable housing and preservation of open space. Lifton said they worked out a plan for Burlingame putting those values up front. Lifton noted they could have subdivided this property for land for starter castles. Lifton said they preferred to put together a plan with the city that preserves an operating ranch and conservation easements to preserve open space and provides land for affordable housing. Patrick Segal complimented the city and Zolines for the efforts in this plan. Segal said this is a good plan. Segal suggested doubling the number of units on Burlingame. Councilwoman Richards stated the 1993 AACP had an urban growth boundary extending to Aspen Village for affordable housing. It was acknowledged that affordable housing could not all be accomplished within immediate metro area. During the updated community plan, the urban growth boundary was retracted up to the airport into town. Councilman Semrau said all long term affordable rental units are full. The seasonal rentals should be full this week. Councilman Semrau noted for the last two sales units, there was the same demand as in the past. Councilman Semrau said employment in Pitkin County has not dropped, according to state statistics. Councilman Semrau measured the distance to Burlingame from the Hotel Jerome; it is 3.1 miles. It is 2.2 to the ARC and schools. Councilman Semrau said the extrh .9 mile to Burlingame does not cancel the project for him. Councilman Semrau stated the assumption that this will remain pristine land if this project is not developed is not true. Councilman Semrau said the North Forty build out is 154,000 square feet of FAR. The FAR already granted to the Zolines for their 18 dwellings is 153,000 square feet. Mayor Klanderud said the AACP identified the need for 800 to 1300 additional units, and Burlingame was listed among the potential housing sites. The vote in 2000 was an advisory vote. In this ballot question, there was noth!ng about costs. The ballot question had to do with the city entering into a pre-annexation agreement with the Zolines. The ballot question did not state exactly what will happen. Mayor Klanderud said this issue did not have to go to the electorate. Council could have preceded with a pre-annexation without an election. Mayor Klanderud said this is not a decision to sell Burlingame; the property will still be there for the future. Mayor Klanderud said the North 40 was developed in an existing populated area, which included services and infrastructure. Mayor Klanderud said this development will be on land historically used for ranching and this is sprawl. Mayor Klanderud said in order to be a diverse community, projects Special Meetin~ Aspen City Council December 9, 2003 need to address the new, young, old and very old. Mayor Klanderud said the city needs to take into account that the average age in the already deed restricted units will be increasing. In order to continue to house younger people and families, housing will have to continue to be built. Mayor Klanderud noted the 2003 housing department study lists 2,197 deed restricted units in the housing inventory. This does not include Burlingame Parcel D, which is under construction, or the units planned at Obermeyer. This does not include any units in the free market that may be housing employees. Mayor Klanderud said there are property owners who need to rent a room in their house or halfa duplex in order to allow them to stay in Aspen. Mayor Klanderud stated she supports affordable housing; however, this is up to 330 units on pasture land that will require a new road and a lot of new infrastructure. Mayor Klanderud said she prefers an approach to affordable housing that builds smaller projects and builds them incrementally. This gives the community an opportunity to absorb the housing. Mayor Klanderud said the government needs to be careful not to lose the things that brought people here and that keep people here. Mayor Klanderud said they city may need to look into pre-sales. Mayor Klandemd said it would be a tragedy to build Burlingame and not have buyers interested. The Zolines have extended the pre- annexation agreement to December 2004 so that the city has time to determine if this is the best possible plan to meet the community's housing needs. This will be there for a long time and it is important to take the time to make sure it is what needs to be there. Mayor Klanderud said she will not vote to go forward with Burlingame. Councilman Torre said the community is entitled to great people who want to be in the community. Councilman Torte said it is nol getting easier to be in Aspen and it is becoming more difficult for Aspen to live up to what it is. Councilman Torre said Aspen needs those type of people in the commumty; it needs citizens to volunteer. Councilman Tone said the Burlingame project serves a great opportunity to move forward with these goals. Councilman Torre said not doing Burlingame would be more detrimental to the community. Councilman Torre said the Council intends to make this the best project it can be. Councilman Torre moved that Council direct staff to move forward with the bid process for the infrastructure for the Burlingame Ranch project; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. Councilman Semrau asked if this includes going forward with phase I. Councilman Torre said Council needs to have a discussion on phase I. A work session has been scheduled early January to discuss the details of phase I. Councilman Semrau noted he would not vote for the infrastructure unless the intent is to build housing. Councilman Tone said he sees phase I to contain 100 plus or minus units. Mayor Klanderud stated if this project does go forward, she would like to make certain it is the best project the community has ever built, quality housing as well as preserving the open space. Councilman Paulson said Council needs to analyze where the community is going. Councilman Paulson said even a low rate of growth will produce increased traffic, loss of Special Meeting Aspen City Council December 9, 2003 open space, higher rents, stressed residents, and a decrease in livability. Councilman Paulson said on-going growth will have to be recognized as an unacceptable policy option. Councilman Paulson quoted from Ibn Fodor, "Better is not Bigger". Councilman Paulson stated he is upset this project is proceeding without more analytical work. Councilman Paulson said Aspen needs to get down to what is important to the quality of life in the community. Instead of proceeding with the infrastructure, the city should find out the true need of the community. Councilwoman Richards noted humanity is part of the environment. Council should remember that when going forward with this project. Councilwoman Richards said she is comfortable the demand is there for quality phases at Burlingame Village. Councilwoman Richards said this is a land bank for the community to grow. Councilwoman Richards said the vacancy rate in affordable units in less than 2%. This project would be ownership, not rental, which builds wealth in a community. Councilwoman Richards noted many potential housing sites have been lost. The Council has committed to not build on Aspen Mass. Other sites lost are the forest service, Cozy Point, land by Aspen Village. Burlingame may be one of the last available housing sites. Councilwoman Richards said she finds this an appropriate site for affordable housing. This project will be buying permanent community members. This is an investment in the community. Councilwoman Richards stated it is important to move forward with this project. Councilman Semrau said Council has heard every angle of the Burlingame project. Councilman Semrau said the reasons he heard not to do Burlingame are not sufficient to hold the project up. The reasons to do it are that this is about the life blood of the community, about people living here. Aspen is great because of its people. Councilman Semrau stated this is a vote for people and for vitality. All in favor, with the exception of Mayor Klanderud and Councilman Paulson. Motion carried Councilman Semrau moved to continue Resolution #98, Series of 2003, to December t5; seconded by Councilman Torre. All in favor, with the exception of Mayor Klanderud and Councilman Paulson. Motion carried. Councilman Semrau moved to adjoum at 7:40 p.m.; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried.