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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.apz.19610926 ,.,..,. REGULAIl MEETING OF THE PLANNING AND ZONING COMMISSION September 26, 1961 The re{,'Ulnr moeting of the Planning and Zonine Commission came to order at 71-'0 P.M., September 26, 1961. Those present werel Fred Glidden, Jack I~all!l. James Harkalunas, Wolf neyer, Herbort llayer, 14'illiam James of the Planning Commission; and Waddy Catchings and Francis Kalmes of the Board of Adjustmont. Tho minutes of the moeting of June 1), 1961, wore read by the Socr8tary. Jack Walls. The minutes were approved as read. Mr. Bayer stated that the proposal of the street!! and siden.Talks, lthioh l<as to be the first order of business, had been superseded. There follolied n 1'ull disoussion of the John Doremus map, lthioh the Commission badly needs. The City Counoil has stated that it would be willing to pay for half the map, but the County w111 not pay its half. )lr. Glidden ltill brine the matter up again before the County Commissioners at their next meeting. The City Planning Commission's budget was reviowed, and it l..aS found that around $160 will be le1't from the 1961 budget, which oould be added to some of the 1962 budget, and the purohase could be mado by the City. Another map is being made by the Fritz Benediot offioe, a city map 1'or the city zoning book, which will replaoe the one in it n01<. ^ discussion thon took plaoe with reeard to the oombining of oity and oounty zoning boards and boards of adjustment, and Mr. Glidden said that he had not got in touch with Dr. Edmundson. He talkod to Mr. Delanoy on his objections to such a plan, and said they did not make sense to him in that they ".ere that "we could operate better separately", and ~Ir. Delaney gave legal reasons why it l{Quld not liork. Mr. DRyer stated that the Zoning Commission had tltO major , problemsl tho regulations are really never enforoedl our lawyers are not bohind us. We must have proper enforcement behind the regUlations, or nothing is done. We have no Sian Committee. r - 2 - Guido's situation was then disoussed. The other problem, Mr. Bayer said, was that we have oity and oounty zoning boards, i oity and oounty boards of adjustment. Four groups to do the same kind of work and the work overlaps. Ue feels that a regional board for the oity and oounty oould do the same job better, and one board of adjustment. Also one set of regulations. Mr, Glidden is to brine this matter up again to the County Com- missioners. Mr. Bayer stated that this was only an advisory board. There followed disoussion of sign. and exeoution of the penalties whioh were found in the oode. of both the oity and oounty. The County Attorney. upon being direoted by tho Board of County Commissioners, is to immediately institute an injunotion, abate- ment, eto. to prevent or remove .uoh violation. It was felt - that the County Attorney is ready to '&ke aotion against Guido, and it i. up to him to initiate prooeedings. In genoral, with regard to signs. the County attorney feels that we have to go ea.y as we might lo.e the oase if'it went to oourt. Mr. aayer .. stated that he would rather .ee us lose. but make an attempt at reinforoement. It oould not be a worse situation than the pre- sent, with no onforoement. Delaney's view i. that in the State of Colorado zoning has had rough treatment in the Supreme Court. Aotion might be .tarted with regard to Guido aftor the next County Commissioners' meeting. Mr. Bayer stated that this i. not the only oasel that the ,previous building inspeotor and sheriff have started poor preoedents. and enforoement i. Tory diffioult. Mr. Kalme. suggested inoluding something in the oode. on ~_l/~~ 1Uvjf'~ temporary signs for speoial events, regulat~na the si&o, length ~ of time they are to be up, eto. and have them taken down by a oertain time. Ue suggested having to get permits for them. Mr. Markalunas said that you have to get permits now. There followed disous.ion on the interpretation of non-oonforming use whioh oannot be extended, in the oounty and oity. The Viking is a violation, as the name, and thus the sian, was ohanged. T I, - :3 - Research is being done by Mr. Stewart now with reBard to yiola- tion of the law by a police magistrate. The Maroon Dells Restaurant Tiolation with regard to setbacks was disoussed, and the zonlng for tourist rather than business in that area. Mr. X.1mes reyealed that Mace will be allowed to display and .ell only edible. at this restaurant. and that the Board of Adju8tment is to reYiew the floor .pace to be used for this operatlon before it is done. Questlon was raised about the enolosing of the poroh, which is at present a Yiolation. Dis- cussion followed. Mr. Bayer Bsked Mr. Markalunas whether or not the letters had gone out to the gas oompanies. Ue said they had not, and Mr. Bayer urged that this be done as quiokly as possible. There followed the readlng of Trafton Dean's letter with regard to aesthetlo oontrol of architeoture for Aspen, a copy of whlch is to go to the members of the P;anning Commisslon and the Board of Adjustment. Copy of this letter with proposed resolutions are attached hereto. Pros and cons were discussed. If adcpted. these recommendations would be in the form of an amendment to the oode. to be done by ordinance. Hr. BAyer stated that he has presented to the city Counoil the road, sidewalk and parking plan for the oity, and had the feeling that the Clty Council approved all lts proposals. ex- oepting the olosing of the streets. Mr. Stewart is to oheck the lega11ty of a l' area to be kept by the oity on eBoh side of the street. A question is whother the people wl11 take care of the adjoining Tacant property. The meeting adjourned at 91-" P.M. Jack Valls, Secretary Recorded by nette Gallagher -- TRAlTON L LUI .;, ASSOCI -n~s - 2:;00 9ROP.D\~AY. BOULDER, CO;~ORt\DO September 25. 1961 H,,"l3Gl;:,t Bayer Aspen, Colorado D4lar HCl"h0!'(;: ]'ollowing your phlinS call, we have checked further cn the possihilities of amending ~he City of Aspen zoning ordinanoe as it relates to "Building Roview". In partioular, we have re,iew~d ~arious publication~ and legal reports which indica~e th~ possibilities for aesthetic control through zoning. Gen- erally, llhese reports are not favorable tcward aosthet:l.o control, oxoept in oities where a \I'$)%,;;> distinctive style of architecture was established mnny years ago and is being continued. Where th,!' architeotural styles are mixed, such as they are in Aspen, we certainly expect tho courts to look unfavorably on zoning for aosthetic reasons only. This 10 especially true in Colorado where the Supreme Cou~t has been very careful to pr.Qtoct ind~vi- dual property rights against the requirements of?Ub1ic law. In spite of these problems, we kno!f 1':o.'Olll exp(;lZ':S.onco that you and othe~ members of tho Planning Commission in Aspon believe that a moro effective means of integrating now construction with the characteristics of Aspon must be established. Due to the questionable legal validity of this matter, I would suggest that final notion on all building review cases (involv- ing aesth~tic control) should remain with the City Council. Th~ present wording which states that the City Council may obtain to:!!timcny "Cram looal architects or other qualified personnal" could be amended to be mandatory. Also, the individuals thus advising the City Counoil could be appointed on an annual basis by the City Council with the number of such advisors and their designations made more definite. Thus the building review section of the zoning ordinanoe could b0 amended to improve the a~~lnistrativo processing of permits requiring aesthetio compati- bility. Such an amendment would assist with the objectives of having now struotures developed in keeping lnth desirable features of Aspen wi.thout getting into the controvorsial questions of actual materials used, location, or speciCic uses. In o~der to accompliSh this improved method of review. we would suggest that Section IX ot the Aspen zoning ordinanoe be amendGd as she~n on the enclosed sheet. Sinooroly yours, Trafton Bean TB/Ch Enclosur& ------ Section IX !!UILDING REVIEW A) PurpOll8 With the purpose of conserving the value o~ existing buildings and land in the City of Aspen as resulting partioularl" from the unique histor:l.cal and alpine oharacteristios of this community. the City Counoil shall review all building and sign permits in order to be sure that new buildings and struotures are not at extreme variance with the established exterior architectural appeal and functional plan of the str~otures already looated in the immediate neighbor- hood nnd in the City. The City Council shall restriot its review in each case to the effect of the proposed construotion on the health, safety, morals, and general ~olrare o~ the City of Aspen, keeping partioularly i~ mind the special features of existing struotures and surrounding topography whioh have established special land values and prosperity for the entire oommunity. B) Method of Reviow Before a building permit for any structure shall be issued by the City Building Inspector, the plans for such structures shall be approved by a majority of the City Council. following a rooommendation from a Build- ing Review Committee.P Suoh Building Review Committee sh111 oonsist of five mombers appointed annually by the City Counoil and being parsons with special know- ledge oC arohiteoture or real estate values. For eaoh case, requiring the approval of the City Counoil and a reoommendation from the Building Review Committee, the permit shall be either approved or di5appr~ved by the City Counoil within 30 days from the date of application. or otherwise the lack of aotion by the City Council shall be deemed to be an approval of suoh permit.