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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20060425 Special Meetinl!: Aspen City Council April 25. 2006 Mayor Klanderud called the special meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. with Councilmembers DeVilbiss, Johnson, Torre and Richards present. Mayor Klanderud explained the Council adopted an emergency ordinance at the regular meeting last evening to adopt a 6 month temporary moratorium on the acceptance of any new land use applications seeking a development order for properties located in all zone districts except affordable housing and residential zones with an exemption for essential public facilities by a 4 to I vote. Amendments were presented and voted on at the Council meeting. John Worcester, city attorney, said 3 separate amendments were proposed dealing with hiring a consultant and including incentives lodge development, scrape and replacement development, and a moratorium on all building permits. Worcester noted the packet includes Ordinance #19, which was the ordinance presented to Council at the April 24th meeting. There is Version A, which incorporates the consultant and incentive lodge amendments. Version B incorporates the consultant and incentive lodge amendment plus scrape and replace. Version C incorporates the amendments in A and B plus a moratorium on all building permits. Worcester explained the "consultant" amendment is the moratorium ordinance including a provision authorizing the city manager to hire consultants to help staff review the land use code during the moratorium. The incentive lodge amendment was to make sure the moratorium included any development sought under the lodge incentive section of the code. Worcester told Council in Section 3, exemptions from any moratorium are listed. There is a definition of the term "redevelopment application". Worcester said he added an appeals section to allow applicants to seek relief from adverse decisions of the community development director. There is also an appeal provision for an applicant to prove financial hardship. Worcester said version B incorporates the changes of version A as listed above and includes the "scrape and replacement" moratorium as discussed by Council in March. Worcester said this moratorium is on the acceptance of any demolition permits for single family and duplex development anywhere in the city. The exemptions listed in version A are included and have exemptions to modify the scrape and replace. Version C incorporates all the moratorium of versions A and B and also includes a moratorium of the issuance of any building permit within the city. Worcester said Council agreed" they did not want this moratorium to apply to minor improvements and the cutoff has been defined as any development that increases the floor area of a building would be included in the moratorium. Councilman Torre said he cannot support a moratorium on scrape and replace projects and questioned exempting Smuggler. Councilman Torre suggested exemptions for local community mymbers as well. Councilman DeVilbiss said he does not think Smuggler will turn into McMansions but that cannot be translated to other zones. Councilwoman I Special Meetinl!: Aspen City Council April 25. 2006 Richards said the amendments were presented in order to be able to have public comment. Mayor Klanderud opened the floor for public comments. Milton Zale said he is opposed to the emergency aspect of this ordinance. Craig Ward said this will have a huge impact on the community. Gwen Dickinson said she cannot understand the emergency aspect, the public safety. Ms. Dickinson said there was a long process to get where Aspen is today. Ms. Dickinson said systems are in place to take care of health, safety and welfare. Anne Wycoff said development has been proceeding too rapidly; there seems to be a frenzy of developments. Ms. Wycoff said this frenzy may be endangering what makes Aspen unique. Ms. Wycoff said she supports Aspen evolving but at a less fast pace. Les Holst stated the issue is preservation of community and community of Aspen as an ideal. Community is about people, not development. Holst said it is Council's job to preserve the Aspen ideal and the community. Joshua Saslove said he is concerned about the trickle down effect of a moratorium on the entire community. People have made investments and plans on the rules in effect at the time. John McCormick said Council needs to listen to all members of the community. A moratorium is not the manner to address the problems of the community. Bruce Hatch said a moratorium might buy 6 months to stimulate a community discussion to think about development and then move ahead. Without a moratorium, the building momentum will continue until Aspen is overbuilt. Ed Foran said every person in this room and every employee and every second homeowner is part of the lifeblood of the community. Foran said there are unintended consequences and one would be to cut off that lifeblood. Eric Cohen said he worked on the infill amendments and does not think they should be thrown away in one day. Cohen said if one respects the public process, they should have an aversion to a moratorium with no public process. Cohen said the public process was done with the infill amendments. Dwayne Romero said everyone is in favor of evolutionary development and change with measure and pacing. Romero said he feels the development community has the interest ofthe community at heart. Bob Daniel said Council should consider process, a definitive time line with a plan and a strategy. There should also be preparation. Daniel said the Entrance to Aspen is a fundamental issue for the entire community and the moratorium will not address that problem. Public projects should be part of the moratorium. Bill Stirling said people came to Aspen because it was a great place. Aspen has evolved into becoming a commodity. The community is feeling overwhelmed by the intensity of construction activity. There is an increasing sense ofloss of the last great good places. Debbie Braun, ACRA president, said this is a difficult decision for Council. Ms. Braun told Council she e-mailed the ACRA membership requesting their thoughts on the proposed moratorium. Ms. Braun said a lot of members are out of town for this action. 2 Special Meetinl!: Aspen City Council April 25. 2006 Fred Peirce said it is appropriate for Council to review zoning to make sure it is suitable for the community. Several years ago, staff and P&Z met with neighborhoods to see if the zoning worked for them and changes were not recommended at that time. Peirce said he does not feel an emergency exists. Gene Hyder stated he is against this moratorium and Council should consider development on a case by case basis. Mick Ireland said Pitkin County has $1 million residential property per capita, which is more than twice anywhere else in the state. Ireland said there is an emergency, set in motion by economic forces and entities with a lot of money. Ireland said without a moratorium, the city will be forced to process applications under the laws they do not like. Ireland said in Aspen 100 units in one year is a tremendous impact on the community and generates expectation there will be similar levels of development. Ireland said the Council has the opportunity to limit and pace development; however, without a moratorium, they will not be able to do that. John Olson said there is a process to be followed. Olsen urged patience on whatever action is taken. The moratorium is a knee jerk action. John Kelly said no emergency exists when it takes 8 weeks to get a building permit. Kelly said there are not many single family and duplex structures left undeveloped in the city. Kelly said those property owners should be able to redevelop. Kelly said a moratorium is a bad idea, Herb Klein said he does not think the moratorium is a good idea. Klein said the city has a quota system and they should have the data on what has been applied for in order to get a sense of whether this is an emergency or not. James Lindt, community development department, told Council there have been about 15 residential applications out of an available 18 and no commercial applications. Peter Fornell said everyone worked hard on the infill process and Council processed code amendments on a zone by zone basis, which incentivized some development. Bill Lipsey said it is hard for leadership to understand what the citizens oftown want to do. Council often hears one side of an issue. Lipsey suggested another location for Council to invite the community to an open mike, advertised meeting and let everyone talk before any decisions are made. Stan Hajenga, Mountain Chalet, said the community spent 2-1/2 years establishing the lodge amendments to help save small lodges. Hajenga said this process eliminates people from commenting because many business owners are not in town. Hajenga agreed there is merit to relooking at some recent code amendments; however, there is a process in which to do that. Hajenga said there are other things the city can do and not adopt a moratorium. Stan Clauson told Council Aspen has remained interesting, existing and worth coming to. One cannot freeze a town. Council can create methods to encourage redevelopment in ways they want to see happen. Clauson said he does not feel the bullet points in the ordinance listing the reasons for the emergency are adequate. Clauson said lodge occupancy rates are up, skier visits are up and sales taxes are up, Clauson said the community looked at the infill code amendments as essential to bring the renewal of the 3 Special Meetinl! Aspen City Council April 25. 2006 community. People need to be able to move forward in a consistent manner in order to do a good job. Clauson stated he does not believe there is an emergency. Michael Hoffinan said this will cause negative disruption to most of the people in town. A moratorium will undermine the citizen's faith in the land use code and in the governmental process. Hoffinan said the infill regulations were the result of a thoughtful five year process. Paul Taddune said Council should look at the negative consequences of a moratorium and it may affect the opportunity for revitalization of some projects. Taddune said Council should look at items in the AACP that they want to encourage. Robin Schiller said a moratorium on building permits will affect projects that have already received approval from Council. There are projects that have spent years and lots of money on receiving those approvals. Schiller said in a seasonal economy 6 months is a long time. Dale Paas said his property is part of the aging bed base of Aspen. Paas said he worked with small lodges and with the community to enact amendments to encourage redevelopment. If this project is postponed, it may affect the intent of their project. Tim Semrau said he is interested in good governance and leadership that will bring the community together. Semrau said the city spent years on infill and there has not been a project reviewed under those regulations. The projects that have been reviewed have been PUDs. Semrau stated it is incumbent for Council to get the correct facts. One of the reasons for the emergency ordinance is traffic levels. Semrau said these levels have remained the same for years. Another reason for emergency action is that the city is not meeting to goal of housing 60% ofthe work force in Aspen. Semrau noted the city has been working on affordable housing for years and has not yet met those goals. Semrau suggested Council bring the community together and get all the facts on the table. Gerald Grayson said he is just about to get a building permit having gone through the process in an organized way. A moratorium on building permits would cause a large hardship. Jerry Bovino said everyone wants the best for Aspen. There are fluctuations in construction and in economics. Bovino said people are expected to follow the rules and the city should not change them and should follow those rules. Richie Cohen said he did not support the infill amendments; however, the city approved those amendments and is seeing the results of it. Cohen said adopting a moratorium is saying to people forget the rules and don't rely on them. Cohen said the moratorium is a mistake. Toni Kronberg said she supports a moratorium for 3 months so Council can take time to clean up the land use codes. Ms. Kronberg said one should not lose sight of why people moved here or come here to visit. Ms. Kronberg noted almost every view from Main street has been obliterated. Mayor Klanderud thanked everyone for coming and noted the city is planning a community forum. Charlie Tarver said a lot of people spent a lot of time on infill and it would have been a big help if people had spoken up during those hearings. Tarver said people in the town have a history of not being part of the solution but bickering about whatever solution is 4 Special Meetinl! Aspen City Council April 25. 2006 arrived at. Ruth Kruger, P&Z member, reminded Council in 2000, there were 30 vacancies in commercial real estate down town. There may be 6 vacancies now. Ms. Kruger said the city hired Frick and Beer to report on the resort and recommendations for vitality. Ms. Kruger said real estate and the economy are cyclical. The robust economy has fueled building. Ms. Kruger said the land use code amendments should be tested before going with another emergency ordinance. Ms. Kruger said this is reactionary and may cause property values to go up. Brain Speck, P&Z, said this is an inappropriate way to take a breath and slow down; there are decisions that have been made that are heading the community in the right direction. Dylan Johns, P&Z, said he though the infill code amendments seemed like a good solution to accomplish some of his personal goals, like affordable housing. Johns said the rules may need to be tweaked to get more of what the community wants. Johns said the moratorium is a drastic step. Johns said hiring an outside consultant to help review the code is a good idea. Mayor KIanderud stated the infill process did take 5 years to finalize. Originally a citizens task force was appointed, who made their recommendations to P&Z. P&Z spent 18 months reviewing those amendments, approved them and forwarded them to Council. Council felt the entire infill code amendment was too large and broke the infill code amendment into sections and reviewed each one and held public hearings and adopted them one by one. Councilwoman Richards thanked everyone for coming and for their thoughtful comments. Councilwoman Richards stated she believes in a lot of the premises behind the infilllegislation. Councilwoman Richards noted building and economies go through cycles and infill was developed during a down cycle. Councilwoman Richards said she feels some of the incentives adopted were overly generous. There have been profound changes in Aspen's market value over the last 2 years. Councilwoman Richards noted there have been comments made about the emergency nature of this moratorium. Councilwoman Richards said moratorium is a tool for communities to develop land use planning; it has an effect of freezing them, closing the door on new applications. Councilwoman Richards said if a community feels the need for changes, this stops applications from coming in to be reviewed under a code the Council feels should be amended. Councilwoman Richards said any legislation of actual changes will go through the entire procedure, research, outside consultant, P&Z and public hearings. An emergency ordinance has the intention of shutting the door to allow a community to review the code and to hear proposed code amendments. Councilwoman Richards noted the city's progress report contains the top 10 goals for 2006; goal #3 confirm or amend the infill lodge code amendments and #4 is confirm or amend the allowable pace of growth and consider regulations to slow the pace of redevelopment. Councilwoman Richards stated there is a need for a moratorium and a community time out. 5 Special Meetinl! Aspen City Council April 25. 2006 Councilwoman Richards listed all the projects already approved and not yet built or under construction and a list of projects in the application stage. Councilwoman Richards stated she supports a moratorium on accepting new applications. There is plenty of work for construction crews within approved projects. Councilwoman Richards said the rate of growth is one of the primary reasons to examine the land use code, the amount of growth and how it is paced. Councilwoman Richards said she feels 28,000 square feet of commercial growth/year is too much. Council recently cut the growth rate from 37 residential units to 18 residential units/year. Councilwoman Richards said she has found out that subdivisions do not count toward the 18 units/year. Councilwoman Richards said she feels the process has to be thorough and cannot be rushed. Councilwoman Richards agreed communities have to change and to grow. Councilwoman Richards said any changes in the land use code will have to serve the community into the future. Councilwoman Richards said everyone has been to towns that have too much building and kills the community. Councilwoman Richards said the city has only one chance to get this right and she is willing to go through community comment and review to make sure this is right. Councilwoman Richards stated she supports a moratorium on new applications but not on residential building permits. Councilwoman Richards noted Council has already asked staff to work towards developing a pacing mechanism on single family residential development. Councilwoman Richards said she does not support a moratorium on projects already approved. Councilwoman Richards said she will support Ordinance 19-A with the consultant and the infilllodge code amendments. Councilman Johnson said he reviewed the infill code amendments as a P&Z member. Councilman Johnson said the infill code amendments recognized the code requirements were onerous and were preventing redevelopment. Councilman Johnson stated infill was a way to increase vitality by allowing increased heights and density in exchange for affordable housing in the commercial core and for maintaining locally serving businesses. Councilman Johnson said as enacted, the code is not getting the goals he supported. Councilman Johnson said he wants affordable housing downtown and he would like to discuss a way to replace locally serving businesses that are being lost. Councilman Johnson noted he bases his land use decision in the land use code. The land use code should be a codification of the Aspen Area Comprehensive Plan. Councilman Johnson said the applications he has seen this year do not get the community anywhere closer to the stated goals. The code does not help meet the affordable housing goals and it seems tobe going backwards. Councilman Johnson stated the code does not help maintain or replace locally serving business or help the small lodges. Councilman Johnson said under infill regulations, the city is getting minimal increases in lodge rooms and maximum increases in the free market residential economic drivers. Councilman Johnson stated he cannot support that and does not feel that will take the community into the future. Councilman Johnson said the changes he seeks are to make changes to the infill amendment and to bring it in line with the AACP goals and the goals ofthe economic sustainability report. Councilman Johnson stated he understands when community 6 Special Meetinl! Aspen City Council April 25. 2006 members say they want to rely on the code and a moratorium causes concern about trusting government. Councilman Johnson said stated the overall need for a moratorium exists. Councilman Johnson stated he supports Ordinance 19-A with the lodge incentives and the consultants. Councilman DeVilbiss agreed a moratorium is a drastic remedy, to which he has given substantial thought. Councilman DeVilbiss noted there is a goal of housing 60% ofthe work force in Aspen, which is stated in the AACP. Councilman DeVilbiss said in an effort to incentivize lodge development, the affordable housing mitigation was cut in half to 30%. Councilman DeVilbiss said he is troubled that 25% of a lodge development is by right free market. Councilman DeVilbiss said he does not like the 42' height allowance. Councilman DeVilbiss stated he would like to see realistic cash-in-lieu payments. Sections of the infill are vague and subject to interpretation. Councilman DeVilbiss said he does not agree that a PUD can cover two different pieces of property. Councilman DeVilbiss said scrape and replace development requires nothing other than a building permit. Councilman DeVilbiss said he does not have the votes for a moratorium on that but would like to see it addressed. Councilman DeVilbiss noted a e-mail dealing with local governments saying no to Hummer houses and a local government that has adopted rules that limit the maximum size of a single family house to 2500 square feet, 25% larger than the home that was removed or a .4: I floor area ratio for the lot. Councilman DeVilbiss withdrew his suggestion for a moratorium on scrape and replace. Councilman DeVilbiss said projects that are already approved can be issued a building permit and he would like that projects in the pipeline but not yet fully approved cannot get a building permit. Councilman DeVilbiss stated he can support that compromise. Councilman DeVilbiss supports the consultants and incentive lodge and added an amended building permit moratorium. Councilman DeVilbiss said if a project has not received final approval, it would not be eligible for a building permit. Worcester said the terminology from the land use code would be a project that has received a development order, which is a prerequisite for apply for a building permit. Mayor Klanderud asked about projects that have approval but do not have a development order. Worcester said the issuance of a development order is administerial and does not issue until all the land use approvals are obtained. Mayor Klanderud asked if final approval would be the cut off point. Worcester said if one is eligible for a development order, they could file an application for building permit. Councilman Torre stated he cannot support a moratorium on building permits until he knows where the cut off is and what type ofprojects would qualify and what would not. Councilman Torre said his concern is people's time, money and hard work. Councilman DeVilbiss said if the only thing between an applicant and a building permit is administerial review, they could get their building permit. Councilman Johnson said if Council has given approval in a Council meeting, regardless where it is after that, a building permit can be issued. Worcester reiterated if a project has received all land use approvals they need in order to receive a development order, they may proceed to a building permit. Worcester noted there is a break in the code 7 Special Meetinl! Aspen City Council April 25. 2006 when a person is eligible to receive a development order. One cannot apply for a building permit unless there is a development order, which requires all land use approvals be completed. Councilman Johnson asked the effect of the moratorium on lots at Burlingame. Councilman Johnson said he can support the building permit moratorium because Council is concerned about how many projects are going on at the same time. If Council is going to take steps to change the rate of growth and to change the proximities of projects and how much the community can tolerate, there are certain projects in the pipeline that will be affected. These projects may be reviewed and may be approved or not. Ifthere is no moratorium in place until such time as the code has been changed sufficient to regulate the pace of growth, there is the possibility of at least two summers of mega construction. Councilwoman Richards said the ordinance could be written so there is a moratorium on the issuance of building permits for projects that are currently in the pipeline to be reviewed under current code. Councilwoman Richards said single family residences could be exempt. Building permits can issue for projects within the zone district listed in the ordinances that are not single family houses if they have cleared Council. Councilwoman Richards said Council should define the intended outcome of the building permit moratorium on applications in the review process and whether it is to hold them until a construction management program and impact mitigation have been completed. Mayor Klanderud said she received a letter from owners of a mom and pop construction company stating if there is a moratorium, their company is finished. Mayor Klanderud said there are unintended consequences about adopting a moratorium. Mayor Klanderud said the community development department has been working with the construction community to implement ways to lessen construction impacts on the community. Mayor Klanderud stated she is concerned about the effects of a moratorium on the construction community. Councilman Torre stated he can support version A of the Ordinance with amendments. Councilman Torre said the PUD process has put an undue subjectivity on the process. This moratorium will increase fairness to level people's expectations about what the community desires and is willing to absorb. Councilman Torre stated he will only support a 6 month moratorium and will not support an extension. Mayor Klanderud said there has been much cooperation in the community over the last several years with the economic sustainability committee, with the infill task force, work with the contractors to try and come up with a construction management plan. Council has discussed a broader community forum, which is in the preparation stages. Mayor Klanderud said the city just began work on the Entrance to Aspen and the 1997 final EIS is undergoing a technical re-evaluation, which should be complete by the end ofthe year. There will then be community input to find a solution on which the community can agree. Mayor Klanderud stated previous moratoria and the land use codes have helped to preserve a beautiful community. This has been a result of much community work. 8 Special Meetinl! Aspen City Council April 25. 2006 Mayor Klanderud noted the high price of real estate in this valley is due to the beauty of this area, the eclectic mix of creative and committed citizens, and supply and demand. Mayor Klanderud said an unintended consequence of the moratorium may be to affect real estate even further. Mayor Klanderud agreed on the need to preserve locally serving businesses. Mayor Klanderud said both the AACP and economic sustainability report indicate the community should house 60% ofthe employees. Mayor Klanderud said the private sector as well as government should address this. Mayor Klanderud said she feels the reasons stated for an emergency ordinance are more perceptual and anecdotal than actual. Council took a 20 minute recess to allow staff to present amendments to the ordinance. Lindt told Council the intent ofthe proposed added language would be to prohibit new building permit applications in the zone districts listed in the ordinance with the exception of single family and duplex applications in those zones on vacant lots or replacement development. Lindt said the amendments allow for a land use application for a development order for growth management administrative review for development of single family and duplexes. Lindt said projects that have Council approval in these zone districts will have the right to apply for a building permit. Lindt stated land use applications submitted prior to today that do not have a development order, have the ability to continue through review under the current code but may not apply for a building permit until the end of the moratorium. Worcester outlined the changes; a new Section 2 reading, "Moratorium on the issuance of building permits. There is hereby invoked a temporary moratorium on the issuance by the community development department of any building permit for the development with the RMF, RMF A, CC, C-I, SIC/I, NC, MU, L, CL, LO, LP zone districts in the city of Aspen that would have the effect of increasing the floor area of any building. The floor area shall have the same meaning in this ordinance as the definition ofthat term as set forth in Section 26.104.100 of the Aspen Municipal Code" New section 3 will have a new bullet point under land use applications exempt from this temporary moratorium "administrative growth management review applications for single family and duplex development pursuant to Section 26.470.040(b)(l) ofthe Aspen Municipal Code." At the end of that section an addition to read, "applications for building permits exempt from this temporary moratorium shall be as follows: building permits for projects will not have the effect of increasing the floor area of any building; building permits for single family and duplex development". Councilwoman Richards asked about an appeals process. Lindt said there is an appeals process outlined in the ordinance and there are 2 different ways to appeal. One is to appeal a determination by the community development department that one are caught in the moratorium; the other is a hardship appeal. Councilwoman Richards asked the desired outcome of the moratorium on building permits. Worcester suggested adding an additional whereas clause that one ofthe reasons 9 Special Meetinl! Aspen City Council April 25. 2006 to include the issuance of building permits is that the city is reviewing a pacing system for the issuance of building permits. Councilman Johnson said all Council shares concerns about pacing and the rate of growth in Aspen. This should be the first task tackled. Councilwoman Richards suggested developing the scope of work for the consultants and to identify the areas of the code Council would like to see address. Councilman Johnson moved to adopt Ordinance #19, Series of2006, on second reading with the amendments as noted above; seconded by Councilman DeVilbiss. Councilman Johnson said his actions were not undertaken without good cause. Councilman Johnson stated it is necessary to take this action. Mayor Klanderud agreed changes are necessary in some sections of the land use code. Mayor Klanderud said she does not believe an emergency exists. Mayor Klanderud said she would have preferred to work with the community to get the desired results rather than to pass a moratorium. Councilwoman Richards stated she feels this is an appropriate time to stop and review to make sure the code is getting what the community desires. Councilwoman Richards noted single family and duplexes are not affected; projects already approved are not affected. Councilwoman Richards stated there are hundreds of thousands of square feet of construction already approved and not yet built. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Torre, yes; Johnson, yes; DeVilbiss, yes; Richards, yes; Mayor Klanderud, no. Motion carried. Councilwoman Richards moved to adjourn at 8:35 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Torre. All in favor, motion carried. 10