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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.031517COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF MARCH 15. 2017 Chairperson Bill Guth called the meeting to order at 8:39 a.m Commissioners in attendance: Bill Guth, Bill Dinsmoor and Kiki Raj. Absent were Steve Fante, Charles Cunniffe and Terry Butler. Staff in attendance: Mitch Osur, Parking Service Director; Dan Nelson, Downtown Coordinator; Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk; Linda Manning, City Clerk. Announcements: I received an email from Fred Ayarza on March 9th stating that he is not going to be spending much time in Aspen moving forward and that he didn't feel it was fair to hold a spot on CCLC so he was resigning. I told him to stop into a meeting when he is in town sometime and he said he would love to do that. Since Ms. Butler was absent, she had me read a statement to the group regarding her feelings on the mall leases being taken away and included these thoughts: Ms. Butler feels very strongly that it should be left where it is and that Aspen wouldn't have outdoor dining if it weren't or CCLC and she feels that as a commission, they have done a lot of important things over the years and do not get the proper recognition for it. She ended with the sentiment: "If it isn't broke, don't fix it". I also notified everyone that Kathy Strickland must apply for a special event permit for the market this year as she was notified by the special events department. Mr. Guth noted that when he applied for a special event permit previously, he was made to get approval from the surrounding neighbors in which Mr. Osur replied that is not the case and he would get a copy of it and bring for Mr.. Guth to see. Mr. Osur and Ms. Manning felt it was just a matter of communicating the events to the neighbors and Ms. Manning pulled up a sample neighbor notice and read to the group. After the announcements, Ms. Strickland's email to the group was addressed with a question regarding Heir Vintage and whether to let them in the market this summer. The group responded with a unanimous no, but Ms. Raj noted to please apply on time next year. The group moved on to the design of the bags, the group felt they didn't like either design that was presented. Ms. Raj offered to do her own sketch and bring it to the next meeting and Mr. Guth said he will take a look around town with friends of his who make local bags, etc. Mr. Dinsmoor mentioned that Ms. Strickland has a budget for market bags and he would be interested in finding local sponsors for them or possibly let business owners add flyers to the bags. The group decided to reconvene on the bags for the next meeting when they have more information. Ms. Strickland also stated a concern in her email regarding the impending demolition permit for the Daily News building and how it will affect the Saturday Market. Mr. Guth stated that we need to find out exactly where Mr. Hunt stands on his timeline with tearing down the building. Mr. Osur replied that from what he knows, Mr. Hunt is still behind the 8 ball on that building permit. Mr. Guth recommended that Ms. Strickland or myself keep up with the Building Department on when Mr. Hunt actually submits the permit. I mentioned the Aspen Pedestrian Mall stake holder listening meeting to the group and passed around a couple of flyers. Mr. Guth said that he is a registered member and hasn't received notice about the stakeholder meeting, but advised that two members should be there from CCLC. The last item COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF MARCH 15. 2017 on Ms. Strickland's email for discussion was concerning ACRA and a subgroup working with them to get better exposure for local businesses. Mr. Dinsmoor said that this topic was presented in a previous work session, which he attended. Mr. Guth said that this should be spearheaded by ACRA and that they have a lot of non -local chamber members. He also wondered how they can prioritize some members over others and said we need to hear from them if they are interested in working together moving forward. Mr. Dinsmoor said he thought that is why Mr. Klanderud is part of CCLC; to be the liaison between both sides and help figure these issues out. Mr. Osur said they should make some decisions and that he can be the liaison between the groups. Ms. Raj said in response that she doesn't feel that we can really make any decisions regarding this issue, but Mr. Guth said that he isn't wasting his time not making decisions anymore and that is why he is here, to get things done and move forward. Mr. Osur mentioned that ACRA will be running an ad for a "Shop Local" campaign in The Aspen Times and Aspen Daily News and will be more of a "Shop Aspen" campaign. He suggested that CCLC should find a way to communicate with ACRA to move forward on this together. He also mentioned that some of the local businesses feel that the market is ruining their businesses. Ms. Manning asked Mr. Guth if he sees a difference in the market effecting his business and he replied that it is a benefit because there are more people in town walking around and stopping into his restaurant. Mr. Osur agreed that it is a benefit for the town and he would like to do a survey to find out how most businesses really feel about the market. Mr. Guth said the benefit to the community is much greater than a few people complaining. Ms. Raj said at her gallery, Saturday is always their worst day all year round regardless of the market or not. Mr. Dinsmoor asked the group regarding the people that are complaining; would they rather have the Saturday Market go away completely? He said they should reach out to ACRA or Ms. Strickland to represent them there in some way. He went on to suggest having a sandwich board featuring a specific shop or recognizing a special or sale going on at another store. He stated that CCLC would absolutely accept this for every Saturday, but they aren't going to do this for the other businesses, they need to take that initiative upon themselves. He then also suggested putting something on the Saturday Market bag we have as well and said that maybe the people that feel they are being hurt by the market, should pony up and try to be more of a part of it. Ms. Manning suggested to maybe pair a market member up with a brick and mortar and have some type of scavenger hunt to involve them in the Saturday Market. Get a stamp at each place you go and get a bag at end of 18 weeks or something to that effect. Mr. Dinsmoor asked who was crowing so loudly about the Market and Ms. Manning said, Palasso and Chequers are two of the chief complainers. Mr. Osur said that the market is not going anywhere and they should find a way to work with you guys so let's find a way to work together. COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF MARCH 15. 2017 Mr. Dinsmoorsaid the ads in the paper are fluff, but Mr. Guth disagreed. Ms. Raj said she isn't the typical Aspen shopper, but she would never walk around to other businesses to get a stamp. Mr. Nelson said that he and his family walk through the market a lot and their favorite part is going somewhere for lunch. Mr. Osur asked if CCLC would consider closing the Market at 2:00 pm instead of 3:00 pm and said that he has spoken to five vendors and they are happy to close at 2:00 pm. He said the vendors have told him that there is no business between 2:00 pm and 3:00 pm. Ms. Raj said that the veggies are always gone by 2:00 pm and then the farmers are just left sitting there. Mr. Dinsmoor said we are already committed till 3:00 pm for this year, but would be open to seeing what the vendors have to say about it. Ms. Raj agreed that she would like to see some type of survey results. Mr. Osur suggested that he and Kathy can send out a survey monkey and Ms. Manning said that was a good idea. Mr. Osur mentioned less Hayes has said that all the vendors she has spoken to would love to close at 2:00 pm. He stated that if the survey reflects 80% or above, we should make the decision to close at 2pm. Mr. Dinsmoor said that he would like to see some good data supporting this. Mr. Osur agreed, that we will let the vendors decide. Mr. Guth changed the topic to parking ideas and said that he has seen short term parking spots in other cities that seem to be very effective, such as, 3, 10, and 15 -minute parking spots. He said there is no charge for short term so you would just run in and complete an errand in the core for better convenience and access to things. He said, it seems to work brilliantly in other places. Mr. Osur asked where do you draw the line on when you give a ticket with a 3 -minute spot? The other issue is that it would be difficult to enforce because there is not enough staff. Mr. Guth suggested that Fed Ex would be a good place for this when you are just trying to get in to drop off a package, but cannot find a parking spot anywhere in the vicinity. Ms. Raj said that she likes the idea of the parking garage being free with validation. She feels that the people that are using the garage aren't high value consumers, but more moderate. She thinks that it might be a good idea if we can quantify that and said we get a lot of low cost tourists in the fall. Mr. Guth said he wonders if the occasional tourists know that the parking garage is free in the evening and Ms. Raj said we should have a sign on the street that says "free parking this way with validation". COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF MARCH 15. 2017 Mr. Dinsmoor said that a longtime ago, there was signage for that and they used to have a battery powered meter that you could hang in your car and you use it exactly for the minutes you are parked and it deducts money as you use, etc. Mr. Osur said that everyone loved those meters and the reason that stopped is the company went out of business and said they are currently experimenting with a new brand and if it works, they will be rolling it out to the public. He said it's an in -car meter and it bills you for whatever you buy. It's real time parking and the locals loved it and testing actually started last week with the City service vehicles. Ms. Raj said that she has heard a lot of complaining about the increased costs so effectively, her employee driving has cut in half and she has noticed that it's made a huge difference. Mr. Guth asked Mr. Osur what it costs to rent a private space in the core and Mr. Osur responded that it could be anywhere between 5000 and 20,000 a year. Mr. Osur asked the group what they think of progressive tickets and said the cost would raise every time you get one. Mr. Guth asked what percentage of people don't pay their tickets and Mr. Osur answered that the City Manager doesn't want us to be aggressive and that we have a soft hammer and is not sure of an exact percentage. He mentioned that cars which have five or more unpaid tickets, will be towed. Mr. Guth then asked for an update on the mall leases and Mr. Osur said the City still wants to control it and want CCLC's input, but ultimately the City is going to be in charge. He mentioned that it is the reason he got his new job. He thinks that the majority of people are doing the same thing every year and that the act of bringing them in every year before the board is a waste of time. He said if they have something new or a different scenario than the norm, we will bring them in front of CCLC. Ms. Raj and Mr. Dinsmoor both agree that if you aren't bringing people in always, things fall apart. There are people that think they are doing the same thing, but they aren't because there was no enforcement. Mr. Dinsmoor said it's the City's deal, but having his feedback from having done it for a long time, it's a different relationship with meeting with the City than meeting with peers. Ms. Raj said we're not arguing, we're cautioning. People are different in this scenario. Mr. Dinsmoor stated that a change in manager can change everything, but off you go- go ahead and good luck. Mr. Guth added that another item of caution would be to think about what happens when we have too many applicants for a given block. Mr. Dinsmoor responded by saying we've had this happen before and we had to shorten some people in the past. Mr. Guth stated that we (CCLC) believe we have a lot to offer and we're happy to do it, but if you guys want it, ok. We're just afraid if the city takes this, it's going to fall apart and people are going to back away from doing this. Mr. Dinsmoor commented that what the city charges for mall leases should be only enough to cover overhead and should be as cheap as we can make it and it should COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF MARCH 15. 2017 represent the cost to do it. Ms. Raj offered that it is just adding extra work to you guys and that's the whole point. Mr. Dinsmoor said that his point is hypothetical and another opportunity for the city to say they are charging more for more staff time. He said he would like to see the leases cost less. He stated that we have the time to do it and have been dancing a fine line every year. Mr. Osur replied to him saying, "you have a listener here." Mr. Guth thinks it's a shame that food vendors have been allowed into Wagner Park for the World Cup; going back to the special event permits issue. Mr. Osur responded saying that by law, if you have alcohol, you must have food available regarding a liquor license special event permit. Mr. Osur recommended that we review upcoming council meetings and ones that CCLC should be represented at so moving forward, there is more involvement. Mr. Guth brought up the agenda item V: CCLC vision and mission, but Mr. Osur said that we are out of time, but we need to figure this out in our next meeting. Mr. Dinsmoor said that we have done this so many times, but we can do it again; it's not a new thing. This is old stuff, but we are happy to do it one more time. Mr. Osur replied that for CCLC to make a difference, we also have to come to the council meetings and speak up. Ms. Raj stated that Ms. Butler and Mr. Dinsmoor have attended a great deal over the years. Mr. Dinsmoor said, Mr. Osur has been around us long enough and the best opportunities are the work sessions and there is typically no dialogue and then onto the next. The advocacy of going and trying to do this - it's hard that they don't ask one question. It's really hard to do. Mr. Osur said that council has a new vision and they understand they have a problem and that's why they need his help. Mr. Dinsmoorstated that they have a new perspective because they have an election coming up. Mr. Guth wondered if it is valuable to formalize notes from our meetings and show up as a representative? Mr. Osur said he would need to ask Ms. Manning that question. Mr. Dinsmoor said that people don't read the packet; it's too huge and loaded down with information. I think it's hard from their side of the table. Work sessions are next best for in person communication instead of written notes. Mr. Osur said that this is where CCLC should make a huge difference; pop up stores and trunk shows. This needs to be on the agenda next time along with the work session schedule and council agendas. It's a big issue and we need to come up with ideas and have a plan. The pop up restaurants, street vendors COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF MARCH 15. 2017 like the Brothel, etc and make a stand. We can make a difference with council and they are aware they have an issue so now is the time to take the lead. Let's try again, Ms. Raj stated; I agree, let's try again. This is where we need the vision and the mission commented Mr. Osur. Ms. Raj reminded everyone that they need to approve minutes and she is making a change, third page at top to "would". Mr. Guth said again, fantastic job with the minutes. MOTION: Ms. Raj motioned to approve the minutes from March 1'`, Mr. Guth seconded. All in favor, motion approved. Mr. Dinsmoor asked Mr. Nelson about landscaping in the roundabout and Mr. Nelson said the head lady of the flower crew is having another baby next month so Patty is leading the crew this year and we can now see a binder of the whole summer so he will make sure to share with the group. Ms. Raj said the goal is to keep the roundabout looking like weeds and annuals. Seasonally gorgeous, Mr. Dinsmoor said. Mr. Osur stated to put alleyways on the next meeting's agenda. Ms. Manning said that alleys should be part of the whole mission. On that note, Mr. Guth motioned to adjourn at 10:05. Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk