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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.0607171 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF JUNE 7TH, 2017 Chairperson Bill Guth called the meeting to order at 8:33 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Bill Guth, Bill Dinsmoor, Terry Butler, Steve Fante, Amanda Tanaka, Erik Klanderud. Absent were Kiki Raj and Charles Cunniffe. Staff in attendance: Nicole Henning; Deputy City Clerk, Mitch Osur; Parking Services Director Mr. Guth asked for comments on the draft minutes from May 17th, 2017 and there were none. Mr. Guth motioned to approve; Mr. Fante seconded. Public Commentary: Jayne Gottleib of Aspen Shakti Shala. She is currently located in the basement of the Aspen Core Building and is the only existing business in the building at this time. She says she has a following, but it’s a challenging space. She said she is now stuck in the space and has spent over 7000 in parking alone. She said that it has been her mission to bring vitality and vibrancy to Aspen and she has an opportunity presented by Jacqueline with Dragonfly Jun to share her booth space with the relationship being symbiotic and give her some presence. She stated that signage in town isn’t the easiest and she would love to have this presence in the market. She would love to have a small sign, schedules to hand out and has made some really playful yogi wear. She wants to put her brand out there to let people know she’s still alive and kicking and not closed. Mr. Dinsmoor empathized with Ms. Gottleib regarding being a business owner in Aspen and the challenges many face. Mr. Guth stated that he is open to her if she makes her clothing locally. Mr. Fante commented that since she is in a service industry kind of business, maybe she should do an instructional kind of thing like morning stretch, demonstrating poses, etc. Mr. Guth agreed that this would be a great idea so to not use the booth just for advertising. Mr. Dinsmoor spoke on the appropriateness of adding Ms. Gottleib to the market at this point. He mentioned Jean-Robert’s gym who used to be in the market doing massage for a couple of years. He said this was on the outer limits of what we are trying to do. We’ve gone through the process and filled up the booths at this point and does not want to breach the partnership we have with the current members. He then suggested that she get involved with ACRA to fill their one weekend spot. Mr. Guth said that we have to give her some credit for being a local Aspen business owner, not someone from Hotchkiss. Ms. Tanaka said she feels that Jayne’s space is different and such a community space, not just a yoga studio. Mr. Guth suggested that we let her try the first week of the market and observe and circle back around to attend a follow up meeting maybe with Ms. Strickland. 2 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF JUNE 7, 2017 Mr. Dinsmoor suggested we go the first week as scheduled, check out Jacqueline’s booth, speak with Ms. Strickland, have Ms. Gottleib consider her plan for the booth and then have Ms. Gottleib and Ms. Strickland attend the next meeting on June 21st for a ruling. All were in agreement. Mr. Guth welcomed new member, Amanda Tanaka. She stated that she has lived in Aspen for 14 years and is the new owner of Katebaby & Kids. Commissioner comments: Mr. Dinsmoor reiterated that he wants Ms. Strickland at the next meeting and explained the idea of the Saturday Market to Ms. Tanaka, which he referred to as the “granddaddy of revenue and attendance.” Ms. Butler gave an update on the tree that was a little bit sick that she mentioned to Mr. Nelson in the previous meeting and said they cut the tree down. They waited as late as they could, but the flowers are weak because everything is about six weeks behind and they are doing a drip system this year instead of a spray. She also said that it has been a weak off-season and Mr. Osur read from the paper that April was down this year by four percent. Mr. Dinsmoor said it’s a painful month to do business. We can expect a busier summer than last year according to Mr. Klanderud, but occupancy will be a little skewed because Sky is closed. Mr. Osur said the visitor center sees 100+ visitors a day and has grown immensely. Visitors coming in the off-season are confused about businesses being closed. Mr. Dinsmoor commented that Aspen voters are happy to have town not busy and most local people are happy it’s slow except maybe business owners. Mr. Klanderud stated that the Destination Aspen crew have been asked if they should stop advertising Aspen because locals are so annoyed about all of the visitors, but after 2008, that was the goal to generate more visitors and more business. He also stated that Ski Co’s model is great because they have parties throughout the year for all employees to keep their spirits up and we need to find ways to do that for everyone in town in the service industry. Mr. Dinsmoor said that the City officials don’t want longer seasons because they make sure that everyone gets April and May off. Mr. Osur agree that we’ve done it to ourselves. Mr. Guth commented that this is an ACRA issue, not a city government issue. Mr. Klanderud mentioned that he had a conversation with restaurants in the fall asking them to stay open longer and there was no interest from them. 3 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF JUNE 7, 2017 Moving on, Mr. Osur mentioned that one of his goals is to get a “Code of Excellence” in place for all businesses in town to be uniform. He stated that there are certain expectations for the outside of stores and maintaining spaces and we need to get the businesses to all live by these codes. He said that CCLC should take this on as a project if everyone is interested. Mr. Guth said he is worried that everyone will work so hard on it, but have zero teeth and it will be forgotten among other businesses in town. Mr. Osur said that he has the ability to write tickets and can walk into a store as a code officer and ask them to fix whatever it is and tell them there could be a fine involved. Ms. Tanaka and Mr. Fante pointed out that it has a lot to do with the landlord too and it would be an important component to this program. Mr. Dinsmoor changed the subject by saying he would still love to see the City do something with the roundabout weeds. This is our welcome to the City. Mr. Osur said the mayor likes it the way it is. Ms. Butler said that they have been upset about this for the past four years. Mr. Osur brought up art shows and said that about seven months ago, retailers went to Council about them. He said there are two sponsored ice garden art shows and the retailers claim it is killing their business, but he feels pop ups are killing their business. He was working with ACRA to make these art shows work because they bring in millions of dollars. Ms. Butler said it’s the internet and Amazon killing their businesses. Mr. Osur then said that the City is prepared to not do the art shows at the ice garden. Mr. Guth asked who the organizer of the shows is and Mr. Osur said it is the Parks department who leases the venue to them and is actually organized by private entities. ACRA is starting their “Shop Aspen” campaign next week and will be handing out maps at the farmer’s market. Mr. Klanderud said this is their response to the retailers by giving a footprint of market and blocking off the core basically to promote chamber businesses. All chamber businesses will be listed with a map and ads to go and shop Aspen locally. On the Saturdays of the art shows, ACRA will be doing an art walk with 17 galleries on board to encourage people to shop in the galleries after the show is over. On July 1st-9th, the chamber has been given a lounge area space where they will have the maps and “Shop Aspen” material. During the show in August, we will have a presence and will be pairing up with the Sojourner magazine for the art walks. Mr. Osur said this is an example of how the City, ACRA and local businesses can work together. Mr. Guth said he agrees and asked if there a lot of locals at these art shows, in which Mr. Osur said about 50 percent are local and the other half are from out of town. People are coming to town specifically for these events, according to Mr. Klanderud. He stated that it’s the billionaires and their buyers that are coming. 4 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF JUNE 7, 2017 Mr. Dinsmoor asked who the four people who are that complained to Council. Mr. Osur reminded him that City council makes these decisions and iff four people come and complain, Council has to make them happy since they are voted in by the citizens of Aspen. Mr. Klanderud said it’s a great opportunity for us to expand our presence in the community even though it’s a lot of work, but the upside is tremendous. Mr. Fante said he saw a cool shop local campaign in Asheville NC with a creative logo that was put in the window of all stores and it really created a sense of community. He suggested that Aspen has a really good looking logo to go with the “Shop Aspen” campaign. Mr. Osur said they are going to survey people coming to the art shows to find out where they are staying, eating and activities they are doing besides the show and where they are coming in from to give businesses in town some perspective. Ms. Butler commented that a lot of the vendors who are well to do and spend money in town, often stay at her hotel. Mr. Dinsmoor asked what is happening with the concerns of the four people and the pop up shops. Mr. Osur said the City is hiring an enforcement officer to check on Air Bnb’s and pop ups at hotels. There is discussion happening with Jim True to have blackout dates in order to tell people that they can’t have a pop up during that timeframe in the core. Mr. Guth asked what would happen if they have a 31-day lease and said that there are always ways around this. Mr. Osur said that all we can really legally do is enforce the sales tax, but the hotel room pop ups are against the law so whenever someone gets an invite to these, they will need to forward it to him. We have the right to take a business license away and close a hotel down for 30 days if they allow the room boutiques. Ms. Butler’s hotel is the only one in town that can legally hold trunk shows in rooms. Mr. Guth moved to adjourn at 10:00 a.m. _____________________________________ Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk