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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.1220171 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF DECEMBER 20TH, 2017 Chairperson Bill Guth called the meeting to order at 8:35 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Bill Guth, Bill Dinsmoor, Steve Fante, Amanda Tanaka, Charles Cunniffe, Kiki Raj. Staff in attendance: Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk Mitch Osur, Parking Services Director APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Mr. Guth motioned to approve, Mr. Dinsmoor seconded. All in favor, motion carried. PUBLIC COMMENTS: None. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: Mr. Fante mentioned that ACRA is handling the pet fashion show for Winterskol. He said he received a call from Seth at the animal shelter and was told they are handling it this year and it was arranged through ACRA and is being sponsored by Only Natural Pet store, who are donating thousands of dollars of food to the shelter. He feels that it’s a promotion just for that store and he has two issues with it, which are relative to the community and his business, but was told he is welcome to participate. Everyone on the board would agree about bringing Winterskol back as a big event. They especially miss the collecting of pins and the parade since those were such iconic pieces to the event. Mr. Osur said that the intent with the pet fashion show is to get everyone in town involved and not to just promote Only Natural Pet. Mr. Fante said for him, this is a conflict of interest and Mr. Osur agreed. Mr. Guth asked who is paying for Winterskol and Mr. Osur said ACRA and mentioned it is part of their operating budget. CCLC needs to tell council to put pressure on ACRA to do a better job with Winterskol. Mr. Guth said he feels that they do really well with social media and their website. The board agreed that they want Debbie from ACRA to come to a meeting. Ms. Henning will reach out to Mr. Klanderud on this. Mr. Dinsmoor asked what the plan is if it doesn’t snow and Ms. Tanaka said she has noticed the hotels and stores are advertising all of the other things you can do in Aspen besides ski. Mr. Dinsmoor mentioned snowmaking and said the town invested in this idea with the Ski Co., but feels there is a real disconnect where the responsibilities lie and represents a bigger part of the community. He feels that as soon as the lifts open, people will come. This commentary circled back around to the Christmas market. Mr. Fante said he recently spoke with a customer who used to live in Germany and mentioned how passionate he was about the market. He said the conversation sparked his interest in the idea. Mr. Dinsmoor asked if this could be an alternate plan for them or if there is a different way to market Aspen to help them out. 2 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF DECEMBER 20TH, 2017 Mr. Osur said he still has a concern that a hotel in Aspen in December is still going to cost $500 and asked why someone would spend all the money involved to come here and not ski. For him, he feels that we need to offer discounted flights, hotels, etc. Mr. Dinsmoor asked if this is going to get done with personal enterprise or if it is something that the city will get done. Mr. Guth asked about the guys who did a great job with the art fair at the ice garden and said someone should check with him to see if he would be interested in putting together a winter fair, which would not be solely art related. Mr. Raj suggested that everyone get behind Ryan Chadwick to support him and see where his winter market is going to go. Mr. Osur said he spoke with a man named Ryan, who does the ice castles. He said he will typically only build an ice castle if it is close to a big city. He currently has one in Dillon. He would need ten million gallons of water, which would cost between $60-$70,000. On a negative note, they would need the venue starting in October to build the infrastructure. He works to track people in a hundred-mile radius and the ice sculpture takes up a half acre of land. There are ice walls ten feet thick up to 30 feet high with lights and only do business at night from 5pm to 10 pm. It would open on the weekends at noon, but is mostly an evening activity. There are currently two big concerns as it might be a problem for food & wine. He would knock it down in March, but it takes until the middle of June to melt so they are not sure if it would disappear by then. He’s going to come to visit sometime in Jan/Feb to walk the town with us and give us his thoughts. He is currently not sure he wants to do it because he is not sure he will make money. He gets all ticket revenue and would raise the prices for Aspen. He is based out of Salt Lake City and he got kicked out of Breckenridge and Park City so he went to Dillon and Midway instead. He really enjoys working in Dillon because it is close to Denver, but he is intrigued and willing to try it one year. If anyone wants to join their walkabout, Mr. Osur invited everyone to please come. Mr. Guth asked if this is something they can pitch to the city to subsidize. Mr. Osur said that his economic impact in each city is 6 million, or so he says. Taking the park for 5-6 months isn’t well received by the city and it would be putting Food and Wine at risk. But, Mr. Guth said, that if it’s something to be enjoyed by everyone, it could be perceived differently. Mr. Osur agreed and said it’s open to patrons in 30 minute increments and he sells tickets online and on site and would cost $800,000 to build it. Mr. Osur suggested that a group should go to Dillon and check out the current ice castle there and get all the details first and then go to council. Mr. Dinsmoor thinks they should also research entertainment companies to help plan events and do better things for winter. New York Times had an article about the most visited cities in the winter and they all have winter markets and experiential entertainment like the Tough Mudder. That’s the key. Mr. Guth seconded Ms. Raj’s earlier comment regarding Ryan Chadwick. She has a good point to support the guy that’s already started something through private enterprise. Back to the idea of the ice castle, Mr. Dinsmoor suggested bringing in a dozer to knock it all down and spread the ice out or haul the ice away. He said they can all walk him around and figure out which park is best. 3 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF DECEMBER 20TH, 2017 Regarding the mobility lab, Mr. Osur said the concept is that they are drowning in cars. Mr. Cunniffe said it’s the perspective. Mr. Fante said Aspen is being compared to other cities that aren’t anything like us. Mr. Osur said the goal is to try alternative forms of transportation. No employee should be allowed to park in the downtown core as it’s killing businesses. He said they recently moved 20 percent of the employees out of the core and that opened up parking spaces, which helped everyone, but now, all of the locals are parking in the downtown core and we still don’t have room for the tourists. Mr. Osur mentioned the 4th of July and how everyone used public transportation that day to get into town. Mr. Cunniffe said that you can’t compare every day with July 4th. That’s an anomaly. If we do this, the first 30 days everyone will be pissed and then people will start figuring out how to get to town. There are way more upgrades that need to happen with RFTA. Dogs, late night service, etc. Parents will not take a car seat or carrier on the downtowner. No one is going to carry a booster seat around with them. Mr. Guth adjourned at 10:15 a.m. ___________________________________________________ Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk