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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.1115171 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 15, 2017 Chairperson Bill Guth called the meeting to order at 8:32 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Amanda Tanaka, Bill Dinsmoor, Charles Cunniffe, Terry Butler, Steve Fante, Bill Guth, Kiki Raj and Erik Klanderud Staff in attendance: Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk Other attendees: Kathy Strickland, Market Manager Jeff Isaacson, Jeffreezz Peter Forte, Forte Farms Palisade Jeff Armstrong, Abundant Life Organic Farms Christian LaBar, Two Roots Farm PUBLIC COMMENT: Jayne Gottlieb of Shakti Shala was in attendance and commented on allowing subgrade and second level businesses into the Saturday market. She said she and her partner in attendance would love to be a part of the discussion. Mr. Guth let her know that CCLC has discussed the second level business issue a lot and they welcome her to apply as a vendor to the market under the criteria of the market and her application will be reviewed and considered along with all others. He informed her that if she can mold her concept to the qualifications of the market, to please apply as CCLC is always welcoming new vendors. Mr. Cunniffe stated that the market is already very full and is primarily a farmer’s market and artisan market. The businesses that have the criteria to fit the market, are welcome to apply, but CCLC can’t just open it up to any business to apply if they don’t fit the criteria. Ms. Gottlieb said she wants to stay and be a part of this discussion and Mr. Guth thanked her for coming, but said there is nothing more to discuss regarding that subject and repeated she is more than welcome to apply, but we need to move forward with the agenda for the meeting. Ms. Gottlieb said she does not feel respected and exited the meeting. COMMISSIONER COMMENTS: Mr. Guth showed the group an ice sculpture video and mentioned that they do this in Dillon. Mr. Klanderud said it was presented to ACRA a few years back and he agreed that we need to brainstorm ways to improve Winterskol. Mr. Guth asked Mr. Klanderud to give some feedback to whoever is in charge of Winterskol and let them know how CCLC is feeling. Mr. Klanderud said he would. Ms. Butler mentioned all of the new pop-up shops coming to town and said the malls look unusually quiet right now. Mr. Klanderud mentioned that both BB’s Kitchen and Ellina recently sold their leases and will be closing. 2 Ms. Tanaka mentioned that she has a friend in commercial real estate and people in that industry have changed their focus because of so many pop-ups in town. Mr. Dinsmoor said that pop-ups close up and leave town abruptly leaving employees and bills unpaid, which creates a transient culture. Mr. Klanderud mentioned that Councilman Ward Hauenstein is looking at collecting taxes ahead of time by requiring businesses to create an escrow account similar to what Michael Fox had to do. Mr. Hauenstein is looking at escrow before a certificate of occupancy is issued so it would be part of the permitting process. Changing gears, Ms. Raj mentioned to the aggies that CCLC has been considering moving the market to Sunday and want their feedback. Ms. Strickland said that Avalanche cheese is 20 ft. and not coming back. Aggies replace aggies. Hopefully someone is coming in to replace with another cheese booth. Mr. Guth said many of us would love to see more aggies than artisans and if they gave the aggies the runway to add more vendors, he asked if they would be interested. Mr. Cunniffe said this needs to be addressed by a specific need (mushroom grower, etc) to expand the offerings. There are various suppliers providing canned goods beyond the fresh crops and asked if that is possible for more people to do. Mr. Armstrong said they bring a volume in June that’s calculated by the previous year’s sales. If there are any specific requests, they do have the capacity if they see the demands. Mr. Guth said they would love to see more vendors provide more “value-added” offerings because it’s a shame when people sell out super early. If they can bring other items out later after selling out of the fresh stuff, it would be awesome. Mr. Isaacson said the aggie board can bring this up with the other aggies in the market immediately to offer non-perishables that don’t have to be used right away, as long as they are Colorado made. Mr. Dinsmoor asked what mechanism do they employ to find a replacement for the cheese booth? Is it word of mouth? Ms. Strickland said she emails everyone and reaches out. Mr. Isaacson said it’s a pretty tight knit thing. Mr. Armstrong said they need to plant seeds to advertise or communicate that there is a market for it in Aspen. Mr. Isaacson said they don’t put out a newsletter or produce anything to send out. CCLC mentioned that they feel the market needs: okra, mushrooms, more exotic greens of all kinds, a great bakery, whole grains, gluten-free and sourdoughs. Mr. Guth brought up the CO-OP booth regarding small time farmers starting out who don’t have enough product etc. to share a booth with each other. Mr. Isaacson said they do think it’s interesting and said Aspen Tree is trying to encourage these guys and people with backdoor gardens. Mr. Cunniffe said they need a group of people who enjoy the comradery and making the commitment to each other and the market. Mr. Dinsmoor said the problem is, they don’t have anything to grow and sell until August. Mr. Forte said it hurts them because the others are selling goods for much cheaper. Mr. Armstrong agreed and said those not knowing how to price things is a problem, but maybe they could put together a recommended pricing schedule for them. Mr. LaBar said he really likes this idea and he has spoken with others about this because they have a lot of smaller producers. He feels that consistent quality would be the biggest hurdle because everyone has different standards for fresh produce, etc. Mr. Forte said this is free market capitalism at its finest and a lot of factors play into it working out, but he feels they should try to make this work. Mr. LaBar said he alongside his partner, Harper, are the largest volume producing farm in the Roaring Fork Valley and they are currently growing on 3 quarters of an acre. There is just not the production there right now, but there is a big transition happening and there has been talk about forming a farming hub with growing space to rent out and a commercial kitchen was talked about with 3 shared larger scale equipment. There is the intention for it to grow quite a bit. Mr. Guth asked if he sees total production growth and Mr. LaBar said absolutely. They are currently trying to find a new home for their farm. Being here is expensive and it is not easy to put up a green house on a farm since permits are required for everything. There are a lot of hurdles. Mr. Guth asked if this was something the aggies might want to spearhead and Mr. Isaacson said that he sees a need for it, but there are a lot of questions to answer like, who is going to man it, how’s the money going to flow through, taxes, etc. There are enough farmers and people to make this work, however. He said they had previously reached out to people in Carbondale and was surprised at how many people were in the background unsure of how to get into the market, but were very interested in participating. Ms. Strickland addressed other issues saying that after this year, we need to be consistent on both sides. Everyone needs to have a product for the entire season. Last year, we let Zephyros in with their flowers and they were not there the entire time. There needs to be more equality among the vendors. She noted that the aggies voted to let them come in late, but they should have had to do something to comply with the rules and thinks it was a mistake to let them in, in retrospect. She said if they are allowed back, they could have them bring veggies or something to make up for it like potpourri. She also noted that they had 20 ft. this past summer and now he is asking for 30 ft. for next year, but he couldn’t fill the 20 ft. in the first place due to lack of product. Mushrooms could be a possibility for them or smudge sticks, dried lavender, etc. MOTION: Mr. Cunniffe moved that we stick to the rules that have been set, Ms. Raj seconded. Mr. Cunniffe spoke about the science center again and recapped the idea for Ms. Strickland and she really loved the idea. Ms. Raj and Ms. Tanaka circled back to changing the day of the market and asked if the aggies would be interested in changing to Sunday just to say they did their due diligence by asking the question. Ms. Tanaka mentioned that Vail moved their market to Sunday and has been very successful. Mr. Isaacson stated that any Sunday market will not perform as well as a Saturday market. Mr. Forte said that it would diminish their business. All four aggies agreed that producers are not interested in changing the market to Sunday as it would harm them and noted that other markets are positioned around us, such as; Basalt, Crested Butte, etc. Ms. Strickland recapped the survey results for everyone regarding closing early and the second-level businesses being able to apply. Siam Castillo was in attendance and commented regarding second-level businesses and said she finds it surprising that Ms. Gottleib was at the meeting arguing anything because this past summer she was either late opening or just didn’t participate. She said they were very nice, but everyone was so crowded in their spots due to allowing her space late in the game. Ms. Strickland suggested not having a full-time disaster relief booth, she feels that anyone who wants a special spot, needs to reach out to the Mayor and go through the proper channels like the participant we had this past summer. The board agreed and Mr. Cunniffe said having full time booths like this would change the nature of the market. The next item was having political booths and the board was unanimously against this. 4 MOTION: Mr. Guth motioned against having political party booths at the market, Mr. Fante seconded. Mr. Dinsmoor motioned to amend this motion to include religious booths as well. By voice vote, all in favor, motion carried. Ms. Strickland notified everyone that the market will not be losing 70 feet this next year as she received an email from Mark Hunt stating he will not be pursuing a demolition permit yet. Mr. Guth asked if anyone else noticed the LED arrow on Mill St. that was installed by the parking department and he said it was ironic since LED lights technically aren’t allowed in the city. Next agenda: Kathy’s contract and the mall renovation presentation. Mr. Guth motioned to adjourn 10:02 a.m. _____________________________________ Nicole Henning, Deputy City Clerk