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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.apz.20070102 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION - MINUTES JANUARY 02, 2007 ELECTIONS FOR CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR..................................................... 2 COMMENTS ............................................................................................................ 2 MINUTES .................................................................................................................2 SMUGGLER RACQUET CLUB CONCEPTUAL PUD ........................................ 2 1130 CEMETERY LANE RESIDENTIAL DESIGN STANDARDS VARIANCES ............................................................................................................ 3 MOTION TO RECONSIDER ASPEN HIGHLANDS VILLAGE PUD AMENDMENT ACTION....:.................................................................................... 5 1 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION - MINUTES JANUARY 02, 2007 Ruth Kruger opened the Planning & Zoning Meeting at 4:30 in Council Chambers. Commissioners present were Steve Skadron, John Rowland, Dylan Johns and Ruth Kruger. Brian Speck was excused. Staff present were Jessica Garrow, Chris Bendon Community Development; Jackie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk. Ruth Kruger asked if there were any waivers that could be done for Ron Erickson to get back on P&Z because of his knowledge ofthe code and longevity in town. Chris Bendon replied that would be a charter amendment that would have to go to a city vote. ELECTIONS FOR CHAIR AND VICE-CHAIR MOTION: Steve Skadron nominated Ruth Kruger as Chair person and Dylan Johns as Vice-Chair; seconded by John Rowland. All infavor, APPROVED. COMMENTS Ruth Kruger asked if the other commissioners and staff were planning on a get together for Jasmine for all of her years of service on P&Z. Jackie Lothian will meet with Joyce next week. Chris Bendon wished the commissioners a Happy New Year. Bendon said that on January 16th staff was hoping to schedule a lunch meeting with P&Z and HPC and Norrie Winter. Steve Skadron asked if the Chart House was part of the Dancing Bear several years ago. Chris Bendon replied at the time it was not. MINUTES MOTION: Steve Skadron moved to approve the minutes of December 19, 2006; seconded by Dylan Johns. Ruth Kruger abstained. All infavor, APPROVED. Chris Bendon noted that the agenda order will be reversed for C, A & B. CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARING: SMUGGLER RACQUET CLUB CONCEPTUAL PUD Ruth Kruger opened the public hearing. Jessica Garrow stated the applicant was revising the entire application and requested a continuance to February 6th. MOTION: John Rowland moved to continue the Smuggler Racquet Club Conceptual PUD to Feb. 61\ seconded by Steve Skadron. All infavor, APPROVED. 2 .,,"__-_~_-_c..~""'_..__ ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION - MINUTES JANUARY 02, 2007 PUBLIC HEARING: 1130 CEMETERY LANE RESIDENTIAL DESIGN STANDARDS VARIANCES Ruth Kruger opened the public hearing for 1130 Cemetery Lane. Jessica Garrow said this was a hearing for the residential design standards variances for a new duplex, which requires 3 residential design standards variance; for the garage width, garage setback and the entry door setback. Garrow said that staff did not support the granting of the requested variances. Garrow said the standards state the width of the living area on the first floor shall be at least five (5) feet greater than the width of the garage or carport. The proposal includes a garage width offorty-three (43) feet (each garage is 21 Yz feet wide) and the living area is approximately 25 feet; there were other ways to accommodate vehicles on this lot and there was a large discrepancy between the amounts of garage that faced the road as opposed to the living area that faced the road. Garrow said the second variance was garage setback; the standard states the garage shall be setback almost 10 feet further from the street than the front most wall of the house. The proposed design shows the garages are forward of the living area; staff recommends denial of the variance for the garage setback. The design does not minimize the presence of garages on the street as the intent of the standard. Garrow stated the 3rd variance request was for entry door setback; the standard states that the entry door shall face the street and be no more than 10 feet back from the front most wall of the house. The proposed design shows both garages forward of the living area; staff recommends denial of the requested variance because there were other ways to accommodate cars on this site. Glen Horn stated that he was here on behalf of Gideon Kaufman and Carole Hershey. Barbara Long was the architect on the project. Horn described the area and said that P&Z reviewed the adjacent lot for John Elmore and Jack Miller and across the street was the elevated bike path. Horn said that given the topography most owners will spend time in their back yards; there was not a lot of pedestrian activity for this lot or the lots across at Pitkin Mesa, which are above on the mesa. Horn explained that Cemetery Lane bordered the front of the lot and there were topographic changes on the lots. Horn said that standards could be varied when there was an appropriate design or pattern of development considering the context in which the development is proposed and purpose of the particular standard; in evaluating the context the reviewing board may consider the relationship of the 3 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION - MINUTES JANUARY 02, 2007 proposed development with the adjacent structures on the immediate neighborhood setting or a broader vicinity as the board feels is necessary to determine if the exception is warranted. Horn said the photos showed the topography of the lot and how difficult it would be to construct driveways and get vehicles to the back of the lot. Horn said that in the application there were 17 photos of the Cemetery Lane Snowbunny neighborhood and the way the garages work there on the suburban neighborhood having the garages front onto the street. Horn said there was a side loading garage, which looks residential in nature; there was even a front door. Horn said the amount of space devoted to the front porch was 150 feet, which was triple the amount and 38% was single story when only 28% was required by the design guidelines. Horn said the architects have gone to great lengths to exceed the standards with respect to the front porches and the single story elements. Horn submitted letters into the record from Doug McPherson, Chet Winchester, John Elmore, Hans Schwarz and Howie Mallory; all were in support of the request for the variance. These were all neighbors that lived in the Cemetery Lane area. Ian Long stated that they made numerous visits to the building department and it was ajoint effort for the idea to do the side loading garage. Horn asked the commission to think about the street in front (on Cemetery Lane) and the hill that goes down just from this property and it was safer to have the cars on the property in garages because they can turn around on the property. Steve Skadron asked what more could be done to satisfy staff under this configuration. Jessica Garrow replied the reasons these variances were required because the garages were forward and staff does not feel that there were significant constraints for the garages to be forward; why not bring them back and the living area forward. No public comments. Dylan Johns said these were the same issues that the commission always runs in to on Cemetery Lane; he did not think that this neighborhood was configured in any way with the design guidelines. Johns supported the variance because there were adequate neighborhood contacts and specific site constraints such as the presence of the bottom of the hill, the slope, and visibility issues. 4 .__c_.._....~_,_~."~.,,~._~_"""'.~_,,, ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION - MINUTES JANUARY 02, 2007 Steve Skadron said that he was sensitive to the application of globally applying design standards but he could not support the variances because he agreed with staff. Skadron said that he thought there was a way to reconfigure this development to meet the constraints of the property. John Rowland agreed with Dylan on this and apologized to staff for not agreeing with them. Rowland said he did not think the residential design guidelines should be blanketing all the parcels in town; there had to be some flexibility. Ruth Kruger said that she typically supported staff recommendations however the rear garages were more appropriate for areas with alleyways and there was no alley access to this property. Kruger agreed with Dylan's comments on the appropriate design or pattern of the buildings and this was consistent with the neighborhood and there were site constraints which would allow support of this variance. MOTION: John Rowland moved to approve Resolution #002, series 2007 approving the three (3) Residential Design Standards variances requested by Gideon Kaufman to construct a duplex on the property located 1130 Cemetery Lane; seconded by Dylan Johns. Roll call vote: Skadron, no; Johns, yes; Rowland, yes; Kruger, yes. APPROVED 3-1. CONTINUED PUBLIC HEARING: MOTION TO RECONSIDER ASPEN HIGHLANDS VILLAGE PUD AMENDMENT ACTION Ruth Kruger opened the continued hearing for the motion to reconsider Aspen Highlands Village PUD Amendment Action. Jessica Garrow noted this was the continuance of the reconsideration for a change in use in Building 2 at Aspen Highlands PUD. At the hearing on December 5th Hearing P&Z voted to approve an amendment to the PUD for the construction of a mini golf course at that same hearing P&Z voted 2 in favor and 3 against on a resolution to approve a change in use for Building 2. At the December 19th Planning & Zoning Meeting staff requested that the commission make a motion to reconsider the application in order to clarify the action that had been taken on December 5th. Stafffelt this was needed because at the time of the December 5th meeting they were operating under an interpretation that said that a motion that did not pass with a positive vote then it was not an action and all boards need to take an action. Garrow said that there was a request to reconsider the motion and it was determined that the meeting needed to be continued to today for all of the board members to get up to speed. Staff does not support the change in use because it 5 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION - MINUTES JANUARY 02, 2007 does not meet the goals of the AACP; the PUD was approved with a certain amount of mixed use including a certain amount of retail space. Garrow said this change in use would eliminate 15% of the existing retail space at Highlands; this space was at grade in a prominent location along the pedestrian walkway and staff did not feel this was an appropriate location for residential space. Garrow stated the resolution was worded to deny so the record was clear. Glen Horn said that Bob Daniel can speak to some of Dylan's questions about leasing this space and the issues associated with that. Bob Daniel representing the applicant stated that they have tried to get retail into that space and recently they have turned to office space use. Daniel asked for the commission to weigh does commercial space end up with the same result as retail or is it closer to a free market residential unit in terms of usage. Daniel said that parking was a limiting factor to the marketing ofthat space for commercial; it was a relatively big space with between 4 and 6 parking spaces in the parking structure allotted to that space, which limits what type of tenant can be placed in that space. John Rowland said there was talk about rent ability and length of time the space has been vacant. Horn replied that it has been vacant ever since they received the certificate of occupancy, which was in 2002. Horn said ll25 square feet of this space was identified for a condominium meeting room, the remainder of the space was given a CO for commercial space. Horn said no interior partition walls have been installed it was all one space (3200 square feet plus the 1125 square feet). Horn said the Condominium meeting space was never acquired by the Ritz Carlton for meeting space. Rowland asked what the last marketing effort to rent it was. Daniel replied that in general there were food services and other commercial that do not require foot traffic; one of the biggest expenses at Highlands was the common area maintenance because of the service that Highlands provides, which was between $12.00 and $17.00 a square foot before base rent. Dylan Johns asked if the landlord was paying the CAM (condo association maintenance). Daniel replied currently; it was much like dues for a homeowners common area expenses and would not increase the CAM costs for the other retailers or homeowners. Kruger said what makes the maintenance costs so high is that everything is snow melted. Public Comments: 1. George Sabinski stated that he owned 5 properties at Aspen Highland Village and was a member of the town home association; he just learned about this from the newspaper yesterday and was not notified of this change in use. Sabinski said the applicant has done a great job with this planned unit development; a terrific 6 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION - MINUTES JANUARY 02, 2007 concept and example of partnership between the developer and the municipality to create a new and vibrant community with a whole new village. Sabinski suggested postponing the change in use vote because the stakeholders who have invested in these units would like to work with the developer to create the vitality and vibrancy that was originally anticipated and promised to these stakeholders. Steve Skadron said his feelings for a change in use from retail to free market does contradict the original intent of the PUD and he could not support this. Skadron said it serves to eliminate the possibility of any kind vitality in the future. Dylan Johns stated there were things that could be done to potentially use this space; the parking situation was not any worse than downtown Aspen. Johns said that if it were rented as office space it would be potentially a lot easier to convert from office back to retail space. Johns said that he was not at a point where all other avenues have been exhausted. John Rowland said that he loved Highlands Ski Area but he believed the Village had some shortcomings that need to be addressed to get that vitality. Rowland suggested that this building obtain a mixed use. Garrow responded that it was a PUD. Rowland said that he would like to ensure flexibility in whatever vote was taken. Ruth Kruger agreed that once it was converted to residential it would remain residential. Kruger said with the amount of square footage of this space it could maybe house 40 people in an office and she said it would bring vitality but she doubted that 40 people would take the bus to Highlands to go to work. Kruger said some people think once you get outside the round about that you could be in another state. Kruger said this space has been vacant for 4 years and she couldn't give the space away; they did a lot of marketing. Johns said that he did not disagree that it would be a tough retail space to fill. Kruger said it was in the Ritz building adjacent to residential at the end of the mall; she said there was no walk by traffic but rather a destination location with no parking. Kruger said it was social engineering to have parking this way and it was not a functional retail location. Kruger said it would be a great idea to make it mixed use. Johns said that he wanted further options. Horn said that Bob would pursue the office option because if you got someone there you would not loose it forever to residential; it would be commercial. Horn asked if that condo meeting room switches to the category of commercial thereby making it in the commercial/office pool. Horn said that they and staff could write a recommendation. Daniel said that 1125 square feet conversion could off set 7 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION - MINUTES JANUARY 02, 2007 some costs. Johns asked if the space has been finished. Daniel provided the history on the space, which was a condominium room that was attached to that building that was anticipated that the 73 tourist accommodation units would be in a pool and might need a meeting space but subsequently they went through timeshare approval process. Daniel said that after the PUD and Timeshare approval they did not want this meeting space and did not need the space because they had other meeting space. Horn said that they could write that up. Chris Bendon said this was a good solution because it does not remove the commercial space as a long term consequence for the potential vitality and staff viewed this as an interesting opportunity. Bendon provided option to proceed as analyzing the proposal and the credits for mitigation and come back with a more formal response; another option in terms of how to proceed would be, if comfortable with the proposal, would be to make a motion contingent on the representations concerning employee mitigation and you could see the follow up resolution. Bendon said if the commission wanted to see a staff response to a formal proposal then this hearing could be continued. Skadron asked if there was a definition of commercial. Bendon responded that staff would add to this. Garrow replied in the PUD there was a list of what can go in the spaces, which can be provided. Johns said that assuming the credits were there he didn't need a lot of documentation. Daniel said they were documented with Housing. MOTION: Dylan Johns moved to continue the public hearingfor the Aspen Highlands to February 6th; seconded by Steve Skadron. All infavor, APPROVED. Meeting adjourned. ~'_i ,{l kie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk 8