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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19820426 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 26, 1982 Mayor Edel called the meeting to order a~ 5:05 p.m. with Councilmembers Knecht, Collins, Parry and Michael present. MINUTES Councilman Knecht moved to approve the minutes of March 8, 22, and 24, 1982; seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, motion carried. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION 1. Mark Danielsen, representing HBC Investments, told Council they were encountering some difficulties with the subdivision agreement approved by Council ~n the 700 South Galena project. Danielsen requested to the placed on the agenda. Councilman Parry moved to add this to the agenda; seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, motion carried. 2. Bill Martin was present before Council in February about property at Third and Smuggler which was rented to Butch Clark. Martin said the thing is out of control, for a few weeks a couple of pieces of equipment were moved around. Since that time, the lot looks terrible. Mayor Edel said he had walked by and there are huge pieces of equip- ment all around the block. City Attorney Taddune told Council that Clark had leased an empty lot on which to house the equipment. It was the suggestion of the WSIA that it was better to have the equipment on the street rather than on the lot. Taddune said he was not sure a contractor could arbitrarily use the streets. Councilman Collins said he felt this was being used as a staging area rather than just for what is being built on the lot. Taddune said he would look into this and report back. Councilwoman Michael said she wanted this taken care of by staff and not waiting two weeks. 3. Dave Farney said he felt that three stoplights are enough and the four is too many. Bill Martin said he supported this also. Mayor Edel said at the last Council meeting the vote for the fourth stoplight was 2 to 1; someone on the prevailing side would have to vote to reconsider. Councilwoman Michael said she is not in a position to change her vote because when the highway department did their survey, Galena and Main was the second highes~ pedestrian intersection. The whole stoplight issue began with a petition from the Court- house. Mayor Edel said he had voted for this originally but had changed his mind after he heard about the pollution effects from another stoplight. Councilman Parry said Aspen has had auto disincentive; this is supposed to be a pedestrian oriented town and it should be kept a pedestrian oriented town. Councilwoman Michael pointed out the state highway department had failed to syncrhonize the lights. Once the patterns are set, the Council can go back and see how it is working. Councilwoman Michael said in deference to the absent Councilmembers and because this is a matter of importance, she would move to reconsi( Councilwoman Michael moved to reconsider the issue of the stoplight at Galena and Main; seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Knecht moved to place this on the agenda; seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, motion carried. 4. Alan Richman, planning office, requested a work session to go over the short-term accommodations report. Council scheduled this for Tuesday, April 27 at 5:00 p.m. Mayor Edel said there have been requests from the Commercial Core and Lodging Commission for a work sessmon to get with Council for expenditures from the improvement fund. The Pitkin County financial advisory board would like to meet with Council and present the plan for the eighth penny sales tax. The CCLC and PCFAB meetings were set for May 3rd at 5:00 p.m. CO~qCILMEFiBER CO~ENTS 1. Councilwoman Michael moved to place the housing task force report on the agenda; seconded by Councilman Parry. All in favor, motion carried. 2. Councilman Parry asked City ~nager Chapman to check on the Plum Tree; there is a lot of debris left out there. City Manager Chapman told Council this was the city's and he has had the police department take care of this. 3. Councilman Parry pointed out that contractors have dumped dirt along the highway out by Buttermilk on the left hand side and asked if they could alos dump on the right hand side. City Engineer McArthur told Council this would have to get permission from the state highway department, and McArthur said he was not sure they would want dirt on the other side. McArthur said there is some natural vegetation on the rmght hand side; also it is hard to keep control with what the contractors are dumping. Mayor Edel asked that McArthu~ work on this with the contraccors and state and get back to Council. 4. Mayor Edel asked for a report on the status of the Prospector Lodge. City Manager Chapman told Council the ex-building inspector drove past the Prospector and noticed it was not being built according to the plans remembered. The building department checked this and found the plans as approved were not being followed. The contractor told the building department they wanted to make changes and the changes being made raised sub- stantial whether this would leave the building in conformance with the FAR. The building department mssued a stop work order. Chapman told Council the architect had met with the city attorney and himself to explain the changes. The architect explained that Cantrup had ordered the changes in the building that the architect advised him to forget about because changing the building becomes a long approval process. The nemghbors and HPC have gone over the plans and to change the plans was not in the best interest of anyone. The architect told Council he had authority from Mr. Cantrup that they no longer wanted ~o make the changes and were going back to the original design. Chapman told Council that in order to go back to the original design, they needed the stop work order removed. The city requested the architect submit a letter stating exactly that Chapman said if the building department was satisfied the work they were doing was work required %o take the building back to its ormginal plans, the building department would have the ability to rescind the stop work order; the stop work order was lifted. Patsy Newbury, building department, told Council the project started cutting back to that point to where mt was originally designed. Today the architect arrived with new plan amendments: Ms. Newbury told Council she would have to compare them to the original design. Sunny Vann, planning director, told Council this is a reconstruction of a use that is subject to conditional use process. Some stringent conditions were placed on this. Vann told Council that any modification whatsoever in the exterior is subject to review by HPC. Any modificiation of pro3ect under conditional use approval necessitate going back to P & Z. Vann said there is no way the project can submit to the building department for changes in plans unless it is something internal. Mayor Edel requested the staff keep Council posted. CAP'S ELECTION QUESTION' City Manager Chapman told Council this is a Council discussion item and came up in meeting~ with the county regarding the jail issue and aggregating land for the jail and performing arts center. The issue to be decided is how to proceed regarding Cap's which occupies a parcel of property which is critical to land for the performing arts center. The Council must decide whether they want to dondemn the property or to trade land for Cap's. The staff will have ~o set language for a referendum that ~s scheduled for June 15th. The Council has to decide no later than May 10th what to do about Cap's and how to proceed. Mayor Edel said there are a number of options being worked on; this is not saying exactly what the Council will do. City Attorney Taddune pointed ou~ that either condemnation or exchange of lands has to go to the vo~ers. Richie Cohen told Council that the time frame for the actual movmng of Cap's is somewhere between 12 months and two ~ears. What the performing arts center group needs to know from the voters is that the land can be available. If another, better solution comes up, it could be acted upon. All the arts group ms interested mn is getting permission of the voters to move Cap's out of their present site to another site on the property. Chapman said to do both options on the ballot would probably gmve the voters the wrong message. Mayor Edel said he felt it was important for the voters to know this may not be the way the city will go. This is a specific questions to the voters but there may be other ways to go. City Attorney Taddune said this is talking about exchanging land which is currently in use for a public purpose for the site currently occupied by Cap's. Taddune told Council the city would have to make an independent analysms with respect to any other transfer of land. Chapman told Council the other parcels of land to be used by the performing arts center are parcels the county is giving to the city with the intent it be used for a performing arts center. Councilman Collins said some of the land down on ~e Rio Grand~ is public land and it is being used to transfer for a ~ail. The question should go to the voters on making that kind of arrangement. Richie Cohen told Council that the ideal solution for Cap's is to be moved to the northwest corner, lust south of McFarlins. At this point, any other solution ms unacceptable. Councilman Collins said the city is making a bunch of land swaps on the Rio Grande, even ..~ though two pieces don't directly swap. Councilman Collins pointed out some of the parts ' of swap are ited together, and the city can't extract one piece and say they are going to !vote on that switch but not the rest of them. Councilman Collins said as long as the piece is part of the total, it seems the city could have to get the approval of the voters for the whole thing. City Attorney Taddune said every piece of this does not necessarily have the same legal ramifications. Mayor Edel said the pieces the city is trading to the county, none of them is in the public use now. Taddune told Council in the land exchange documents, the fact has been recited both the Council and Commissioners are of the opinion the land is not currently in use for a public purpose. The agreement also says that in the event a court determines the land is in use for a public purpose and requires an election, the county would agree to underwrite the costs of that election. The exchange is conditioned upon the outcome of that election Taddune said the staff has resolved this in favor of no election except for the parcel that would be part of Cap's exchange. Chapman told Counci~ there is just one parcel of land that the city currently owns which is on the table right now; that is the parcel which the county needs for the jail. This was purchased for transportation not open space. Taddune said the county does not have the same Charter requirements to go to the voters as the city does. Chapman pointed out the county is selling the city the Oden property specifically for the purpose of a perform ing arts center. The county has the right under the sale agreement, if the eden property is not used for that specific purpose, the county has the right to buy it back. This parcel does not fall under the requirement of going to the voters because the city is buying it with the express purpose of using it for a performing arts center. The city has not decided how to convey that property for a performing arts center; it may be a land lease. Taddune said it is his opinion that each~arcel of land that goes out of city ownership has to be analyzed on the basis of its own part/cular facts. With respect to the above- mentioned land, not the Cap's exchange, the staff has analyzed it in terms of the Charter ~ requirement and do not feel that a vote is necessary. Because of the ambiguity, Taddune has covered the city's interes~ in the exchange agreement. Councilman Collins asked if each exchange stool on its own. Taddune answered yes. Chapman said the county considers the parcel they need for the zail to be a separate and discreet transaction. The under- standing is the money the city uses to buy the Oden property, the county will use to buy ! the Bealmer property. If the county cannot buy the Bealmer property, the county will come back regarding the eden property. This exchange is very complex. Chapman said that based on the use that this particular parcel of land will go to, which is "public use" for a jail, there is not a vote required. Councilwoman Michael moved to direct the staff %o draft a resolution placing the Cap's land trade question on the June 15, 1982, ballot; seconded by Councilman Knecht. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINA~CE ~19, SERIES OF 1982 -Code Amendment Adopting Criteria for Hearing Rezoning Applications Alan Richman, planning office, told Council one of the frequent complaints in the planning office is that when making application for rezonlng., the applicants do not know what they will be reviewed under. The intent of streamlining the Code is to give people a process they can understand and criteria by which to move ahead in the process. There is an August 15 deadline for rezoning applications; the planning office wanted to move one of the streamlining processes forward because there have been a number of rezoning applica- tions. The plannin~ office has tested some criteria over the past year which seem to be healpful as a guideline in looking at applications for rezoning. The planning office is asking Council to adopt a series of criteria to help applicant to know what they might be reviewed under. In the proposed ordinance, the section that is being changed is (d) with seven criteria regarding caompatibility with surrounding zones district; impact on traffic, road safety; air and water quality impact; community need for the zoning; compatibility with the master plan, etc. This is not regulatory but an aide to applicants. Richman told Council the rezoning process is clear cut but the criteria has never been specified. This is telling the applicant the areas they are mos~ likely to be reviewed under. Councilman Collins said he felt some of the cr±teri~ are very soft and very general. Richman pointed out the existing Code does say that a market feasibility analysis can be required by the P & Z. Councilwoman Michael said this has to be a generalized ordinance because rezonlngs are from ~wo house sites to something very major. Councilwoman Michael questioned whether the P & Z should be given the option of requiring a~'market feasibility analysis. Councilwoman Michael said she felt the goals coul~ be achieved w~thout putting the market feasilibility powers in the hands of the P & Z. - ~ · ? a ..... ~- a~ Council- woman Michael said the ma~n focus of P & Z is land use and planning. Maybe the Council should have the ability to require a feasibility study or to ratify it if planning wants it. Councilman Collins said if the applicant is putting together the study and spending money and presenting it to Council, Council is not going to refute it. Councilman Collins questioned the need for all these; the market feasibility is in the Code now and hasn't been asked for for years. Councilwoman ~icbael said she was not sure the Council has the capability and decide whether a project makes financial sense; that is up to the developer~ Councilman Parry said he would like the reference to the market feasibility deleted. Councilman Parry moved to read Ordinance ~19, Series of 1982; seconded by Councilwoman Michael. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE ~19 (Series of 1982) AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 24-12.5 OF THE ASPEN MUNICIPAL CODE BY THE ADOPT OF CRITERIA FOR THE EVALUATION OF REZONING APPLICATIONS was read by the city clerk Councilwoman Michael moved to adopt Ordinance ~19, Series of 1982, deleting under (d) (4) the following, "including, whenever the planning commission shall deem it necessary, a market feasibility analysis"; seconded by Councilman Parry. Gideon Kaufman said he did not understand the need that applicants can only come forward Once a year for a rezoning request. Kaufman said it can present an undue hardship to only be able to come forward once a year for this. Sunny Vann told Council after the adoption of the last rezoning of the city, it was felt the city did not want to have to deal with individual disagreements with that rezon~ng on a regular basis. In order to minimize staff, P & Z and Council time dealing with these, they will be dealt with once a year on an annual basis. Vann pointed out an applicant can petition P & Z or the Council to sponsor an amendment to the zoning Code and it could be done outside the annual basis. Mayor Edel requested the planning office look into requests on more than an annual basis and return to Council with a recorm~endation. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Knecht, aye; Collins, aye; Parry, aye; Michael, aye; Mayor Edel, aye. Motion carried. G~ EXEMPTION FOR EMPLOYEE UNITS - City Plaza Building Alice Davis, planning office, said there are four employee units at the City Plaza Office building, which received a 1982 GMP allocation and is located at 517 West Hopkins. These are four studio units which meet all the requirements and received a bonus FAR of .5 for th~se.. None of the referral agencies had any problems with this. Councilman Collins moved to approve the City Plaza subdivision exception for the purpose of exempting the four studio employee units from the GMP, subject to the applicant's submission of a deed restriction limiting these units to the City's low income housing price guidelines; seconded by Councilman Parry. Councilman Knecht pointed out there is no on-site parking for the units. MS. Davis said none is required in the commercial zone for employee units. Councilman Knecht asked if there is a process for review of these employee units in the GMP. Ms. Davis said employee units are now being subtracted from the quota; this exemption is because it is commercial. These units are subtracted from the quota. Mayor Edel asked the staff to prepare a paper so the Council knows.the exact process of subtracting and adding to the quota. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #20, SERIES OF 1982 - Street Vacation Adjacent to County Courthouse City Attorney Taddune told Council this is one of the steps involved in the county land transfer agreement. City Engineer McArthur said this is the road easement behind the Bealmer property and the city's triangular portion the city is going to trade to the county. The city should not vacate the street to the Bealmer property because Bealmer has a right to have access to his property. Mayor Edel questioned doing this now. McArthur said the city is vacating the street piece in the triangular portion for the jail. McArthur suggested not vacating that portion of the Bealmer prcperty until the county has purchased the Bealmer property. Taddune said the Council should approve this ordinance on first reading for timing purposes so the county can consolidate land for the jail. Councilwoman Michael requested staff clear up exactly what the city is vacating~ Councilman Parry moved to read Ordinance #20, Series of 1982; seconded by Councilwoman Michael. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE ~20 (Ser~es of 1982) AN ORDINANCE VACATING PORTIONS OF A 16 FOOT PUBLIC RIGHT OF WAY RESERVED BY DOCUMENT OF RECORD AT BOOK 193 PAGE 320 OF THE RECORDS OF THE PITKIN COUNTY CLERK AND RECORDER AND ADJACENT TO THE PITKIN COUNTY COURTHOUSE was read by the city clerk Council Parry moved to adopt Ordinance ~20, Series of 1982, on first reading; seconded by Councilman Knecht. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Michael, aye; Parry, aye; Collins, aye; Knecht, aye; Mayor Edel, aye. Motion carried. RESOLUTION ~12, SERIES OF 1982 - Annexation of Hallam Lake Mayor Edel said he did not understand the reason for this annexation; what is the benefit to Hallam Lake and to the city. City Manager Chapman said the only reason he could think of is tha~ the staff met with Hal Clam and members of the A.C.E.S. board during budget time when they requested funds for maintenance. They indicated the Board had asked them to pursue annexation into the city since they were requesting funds from the city and the county did not have funds. A.C.E.S. felt it was more appropriate if they were in the city. City Manager Chapman said he had indicated that Council did not consider whether groups were inside or outside of the city for funding. Councilwoman Michael moved to table the Hallam Lake issue and aske Hal Clark, Howie Mallory to come in and explain their reason for requesting annexation; seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, with the exception of Councilmembers Knecht and Parry (who did not care). Motion carried 700 SOUTH GALENA City Attorney Taddune told Council his assistant, Gary Esary, has passed on this proposali which Taddune find acceptable. When this came up for discusslon, Council suggested gettin~ some type of performance bond with respect to demolition being complete. Taddune said as a practical matter, a demolition bond at the same time as a financing arrangement is inconsistent. Mayor Edel asked how it would be guaranteed that the project is not left half standing. Taddune said the applicant is proposing to demonstrate a performance bond in regards to the construction; that the applicant will construct by a certain period of time. Secondly in the event construction is not completed in accordance with the code, the applicant is agreeing to $200 liquidated damages per day. Taddune said if the Council agrees to this conceptually, the attorney's office will see that the agreement protects the city's interests. Mayor Edel said if the building is brought down halfway and constructs never starts, who is responsible for taking it down and pays the cost of this. Mark Danielsen told Council a performance bond provides that the project will be completed through the ~ monies set forth in ~hat bond. One of the provisions to assure this is, "any such~ completion bond shall be sufficient to complete the project as approved upon default of either subdivider or contractor and shall name the city as a beneficiary as its interests may appear. The performance bond shall provide for the completion of the project regard- less of what stage its in". Danielsen told Council that all the conditions and approvals were meant to insure that the project would be completed and in a timely basis. The completion bond insures both. Councilman Parry moved to accept the subdivision agreement subject to City Attorney Taddune s approval; seconded by Councilman Knecht. Danielsen read the amendment "subdivisioner also agrees that prior to delivery to him of the building permit, although the permit may be issued, either subdivider's contractor purchase, execute and be bound by a performance completion bond or (2) subdivider himself will obtain such a bond as required by the final plat approval of the Aspen City Council. Any such completion bond shall be sufficient to complete the project as approved upon default of either subdivider or contractor Furthermore, subdivider agrees to pay to the city as liquidated damages $200 per day for each day he is in technical violation of the provisions of section 7-141[d) of the Aspen Municipal Code, even if such violation is excused or a variance granted, therefore, by appropriate city representatives or Boards. Such damages shall have been agreed to between the parties as required to mitigate the impacts on the neighborhood caused by such delay in construction". City Attorney Taddune said he would like ~ chance to firm up the language before it is signed. Danielsen said they need to have the final plat recorded and apply for a building permit this week. All in favor, motion carried. QUARTERLY FINANCIAL I~EPORT Finance Director Sheree Sonfield told Council the finance department is putting together a performance report to be given every quarter. This is to watch the performance of the city, to identify problems. Each department has submitted a budget on a monthly basis. Chapman told Council the staff has set the targets for revenues separate from the targets for expenditures. Councilman Knecht complemented the city manager and the finance depart- ment on this project and report. City Manager Chapman said one of the pruposes of this report is to check on problems and he was shocked to see streets department being over by $40,000. This is because of the heavy snow removal. This was the staff can look at ' the impacts and see how to deal with them. Chapman pointed out the problem in the Ice Garden fund may be the utilities; the staff estimated a 15 per cent increase an utilities and the actual figure is more like 25 per cent. ~ CONSENT AGENDA Councilwoman Michael moved to approve the consent agenda; seconded by Councilman Parry. These items are liquor license transfer - Eastern Winds; Liquor License Renewals; Red Robi] at the Red Onion; The Crystal Palace; Pinocchio's of Aspen; Paragon. All in favor, motion carried. STOPLIGHT AT MAIN AND GALENA Councilwoman Michael said she felt it was time to bite the bullet for the pedestrian problem on Main street. This is the second busiest intersection. Mayor Edel said he changed his opinion on the report of the environmental health department. Councilman Parr~ said there will still be emissIons on the side streets with cars waiting to cross. Tom Dunlop told Council the highway's research and development division had told them that if no light was installed and the cars did not have to stop, there would be roughly 60 kilo- grams or 30 pounds per day of carbon monoxide; if the light is installed and the cars are required to stop, the level of carbon monoxide would rise to 240 kilograms or 559 pounds per day. This is a four-fold increase of carbon monoxide generated per light. Dunlop told Council the amount of carbon monoxide generated is dependant upon the cycle time. Councilman Knecht moved not to have the stop light on the Courthouse corner; seconded by Councilman Collins. Councilman Collins said he would like to see Council and staff look at the entire section of Main street with a median down Main street, turnouts every other street. Councilman Collins said he would like some input on channelizing the traffic, keep the traffic moving and improve the situation for the pedestrians. Councilmembers Collins, Knecht and Mayor Edel in favor; Councilmembers Michael and Knecht opposed. Motion carried. HOUSING TASK FORCE REPORT Councilwoman Michael told Council she has been working with Harry Truscott and Helen Klenderud to reconstitute the housing task force. Because of the county money situation, this will be a maximum two month task force. The task force will recommend the structural organization for an independent housing authority with by-lawy and financial ~ aspects. The original task force was polled to see who wan~ed to continue; these~are Prina Stanley, Peter Forsch, Joe Nazarro, and Harry Truscott. For the financial aspects, Jim Patterson has agreed to serve. The county commissioners reappointed the group and added a commissioner, who is Helen Klanderud. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council April 26, 1982 The housing director, Jim Hamilton, wants representatives from the commissioners and from Council so that decisions can be monitored by elected officials. Councilman Parry moved to approve the seven members for the housing task force and that Councilwoman Michael be Council's representative; seconded by Councilman Knecht. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Collins moved to adjourn at 7:00 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Parry. All in favor, motion carried. ~ch, City Clerk