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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.apz.20071106Aspen Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes -November 06, 2007 COMMENTS ............................................................................................................ 2 MINUTES ................................................................................................................. 2 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST ................................................................................... 3 300 NICHOLAS LANE PUD AMENDMENT, SUBDIVISION, GROWTH MANAGEMENT REVIEW AND RESIDENTIAL DESIGN VARIANCES......... 3 308 E HOPKINS (LACO) GROWTH MANAGEMENT REVIEW ....................... 3 1 Aspen Plannine & ZOnInE Commission MeetinE Minutes -November 06 2007 Dylan Johns opened the regular meeting at 4:30 pm in Council Chambers. Commissioners present were Michael Wampler, Cliff Weiss, Stan Gibbs, Jim DeFrancia, LJ Erspamer and Dylan Johns. Brian Speck and Dina Bloom were excused. Staff present Jim True, Special Counsel; Jennifer Phelan, Sara Adams, Jessica Garrow, Community Development; Jackie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk. COMMENTS LJ Erspamer said that he had read the Commercial Design Standards and it talked about conceptual and final phases and the reviewing body has the discretion to consider some guidelines from the other phase during the review process if deemed necessary. It talks about body and he is an individual, does it mean meet the approval of the body to discuss this. Jennifer Phelan responded that it doesn't mean that needs the approval of the body; it was a standard that might be in the final that comes up during the conceptual. Phelan said that some issues might be discussed that are more appropriate at the beginning phase rather than at the final. Phelan noted these were new commercial design standards, which might afford more flexibility. Dylan Johns asked the commission to send a thank you letter to John Rowland. Jennifer Phelan said that she would organize that. Jennifer Phelan mentioned that 300 Nicholas Lane will be continued. There were some code amendments with regard to the Commercial Core Moratorium and SCI Zone District that were still in effect and Council wants to move forward with those amendments and suggested some special meetings in January on the 8`h 15`h and 22"a Cliff Weiss made a correction to the October 2"a minutes on page 12, finishing the thought that was there to add: if legal fees were reimbursed to the homeowner, should the homeowner win a delisting case. Stan Gibbs made the correction to page 10 (October 2"a) strike he and add his house, on page 12 add (at the top of the page after list) for 10 years. LJ Erspamer said that Stan added to the motion was and create a fznancial incentive package on page 13. It was put into the Resolution. Erspamer said that on page 2 under Minutes correct ~euld-xet to could not and page 11 that to than. Dylan John correction was to the September 4`h, page 4 add and that the code provision seemed like it could be applied broadly. MOTION: LJErspamer moved to approve the minutes of October 16`h, October 2"d September 18`" and September 4` with the corrections noted above; seconded by Jim DeFrancia. All in favor, APPROVED 7-0. 2 Aspen Planning & Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes -November 06, 2007 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST LJ Erspamer asked the policy on conflicts of interest. Jim True said that it was not a land use code. It was in the ethics code that if you are within the boundaries that require the disclosure of the notice then you are deemed to have a conflict. LJ Erspamer and Dylan Johns stated conflicts for the 300 Nichols Lane PUD hearing. Jennifer Phelan said that she would look into the conflict policy. Johns said that his firm had done some very preliminary work on 308 East Hopkins with the current ownership to look at this lot but have long since abandoned and have no financial tie to this project. True responded that was an appropriate disclosure but did not think that required a disqualification. Lennie Oates disclosed that one of the principals of 308 was also the landlord of commissioners Wampler; they are not asking for a recusal this was just a disclosure. PUBLIC HEARING: 300 NICHOLAS LANE PUD AMENDMENT, SUBDIVISION. GROWTH MANAGEMENT REVIEW AND RESIDENTIAL DESIGN VARIANCES Dylan Johns opened the public hearing for 300 Nicholas Lane. MOTION: Jim DeFrancia moved to continue the public hearing for 300 Nicholas Lane PUD Amendment, Subdivision, Growth Management Review and Residential Design Variances to November 20`h; seconded by Michael Wampler. All in favor, APPROVED. PUBLIC HEARING: 308 E HOPKINS (LACOI GROWTH MANAGEMENT REVIEW Dylan Johns opened the public hearing for 308 East Hopkins, the LaCocina Growth Management Review. Sara Adams provided proof of notice. Jim True said the notice appears satisfactory. Sara Adams explained that this was a substantial amendment to a development order for 308 East Hopkins to convert a basement to commercial space. P&Z will be looking at the substantial amendment and also a growth management allocation for the new commercial space in the basement. Adams noted that when this project came in for a development order there were no available allotments so that's why this wasn't brought up a couple months ago when you heard the LaCocina application for the first time. The development order was granted in July for a mixed use building with a commercial component on the first floor, 2 free-market residential units and 3 affordable housing units that mitigate for the free-market units. Adams stated according to the land use code to convert the basement to commercial space the applicants need to mitigate for .63 employees, 3 Aspen Planning & Zoning Commission MeetinE Minutes -November 06 2007 which is in the Planning & Zoning Commission's purview to allow cash-in-lieu for less than 1 employee; that was why P&Z was hearing this instead of City Council. Adams said that was based on a recommendation from the housing board (included in the packet), which housing recommended denial of the request because housing felt that the .63 employees was generated by the basement. Housing said that if P&Z felt that cash-in-lieu was appropriate then they suggested category 3 calculation for the employee mitigation. Adams noted that our land use code stated category 4 was in place for the calculation for cash-in-lieu; community development recommended category 4. Adams stated that staff found that it was an appropriate request and recommended approval of the project with cash-in-lieu for the .63 employees and the growth management allocations to convert the basement space. Staff felt that downtown vitality was really important and basement space was extremely important to local businesses; the overall project had a good balance of affordable housing, free- market and commercial. Sunny Vann, representative for the applicant, said the space in question was originally part of the application, the project was originally envisioned with a restaurant on the ground floor. Vann noted that the basement was discussed with Council and they would have gotten approval for the basement from P&Z had there been sufficient quota to go around, but since there wasn't sufficient quota they went ahead with the basic project with the understanding that they would come back to apply for the basement; in other words had sufficient quota been available they wouldn't be here today. The project as designed complies with all of the code regulatory requirements including the provision for payment of cash- in-lieu; that provision of the code was adopted for specific cases like this in which there was less than a requirement for a full affordable housing unit, which is the 1.25 employees. Vann said to not create an undue economic hardship was the ability to pay cash-in-lieu and specifically granted at the discretion of P&Z. Vann said he was surprised that the housing authority has routinely accepted cash-in-lieu in these types of situations took the position that they did. Vann said that there are other practical hardships associated with this building that it can be expanded further, it is impacted by the Hotel Jerome view plane, and the code prohibits an affordable housing unit in the basement of a building. Vann said they accept the category 4 cash-in-lieu mitigation under the regulations that were in effect today. LJ Erspamer asked if they got the notes from the housing board meeting. Jennifer Phelan replied they were emailed to the Planning & Zoning Commission. Sara Adams provided LJ with a copy. 4 Aspen PlanninE & Zoning Commission Meeting Minutes -November 06, 2007 Cliff Weiss asked if it was housing that requested category 3 rather than category 4. Adams replied yes, it was in their recommendation. Michael Wampler asked the cash difference between 3 and 4. Adams answered about $50,000.00; at category 3 it was $127,585.; at category 4 it was $79,644. Stan Gibbs asked where the 126,420 and the 202,517 come from; what do they represent. Phelan replied that it was in the housing guidelines; there were different cash-in-lieu payments for different categories of mitigated employees. Phelan said payment in lieu fees range from $126,420. for a category 4 employee versus a category 1, which is $256,000. Phelan said the housing authority did a study to see how much it costs to mitigate for a different category employee; category 4 is the middle income category according to the housing guidelines; category 1 is low income so the project would be subsidized more with a category 1 employee being housed. Phelan said that's where you get the spectrum of amount; I think that they have done a study of how much it costs to build in Aspen. Gibbs asked if the housing guidelines define the various categories. Phelan responded they do. Gibbs asked why cash-in-lieu was appropriate for this development from a staff point of view. Adams replied that the way that they see it doing a substantial amendment to a development order that has already been approved was a done deal; the applicant was very upfront about the basement conversion but couldn't be discussed because there weren't any allocations for growth management, so staff knew that this was coming. Adams said that it was more important to have a useful basement space than storage; there was a trade off in creating that vitality downtown in creating different types of spaces that have different rents and a mix of people. Charles Cunniffe, architect, said the building was considerably pushed down because of the view plane so there was less built space than they would have without the condition of that view plane. Adams said that the goals of the AACP were important and met. Vann said that this building was predicated on the basement and the ability to pay the difference on cash-in-lieu; they were not in the position to redesign this building to provide a full unit for less than one employee. Weiss asked Sunny why not just agree to a category 3 for this last unit because the other affordable units were category 3. Vann responded that they were entitled to do the three units upstairs at category 4; they exceed the total square footage that's required for mitigation under the code purposes but the applicants agreed to do 5 Aspen Planning & Zonine Commission Meetin¢ Minutes -November 06 2007 them as category 3. Vann said the remainder, which is the small cash amount we were entitled to category 4 and it was at their discretion not the discretion of the housing authority; so if they are allowed to make the category 4 cash-in-lieu payment under the code. Jim DeFrancia asked if they were obligated to provide housing for one employee but really only obligated by .63; in essence you would contribute almost 50% more than what was obligated. Vann replied that 1.25 was the cut off point; one unit determined to be a studio, which is 1.25 employees. DeFrancia said that the issue for cash-in-lieu when it was less than one employee to be accommodated for was deemed appropriate as part of the code, a matter of policy and makes good sense. Adams replied that was an accurate description. No public comments. Michael Wampler requested two votes on this first whether PBcZ allows cash-in- lieu instead of and the second would be whether it was cat 3 or 4. Dylan Johns asked if P&Z has that ability. Sara Adams said staff understands that P&Z was only authorized to do category 4, it was not an issue on the table because the land use code dictates the cash-in-lieu was calculated at a category 41eve1 not a category 3. Vann said that applicants need to rely on the regulations and this project has been in the works since early 2006; there was a lot of effort put into it to design a project that was well received by P&Z, City Council and staff. Vann said the project was desirable under the infill regulations without some of the problems the infill regulations came up with; substantially below the maximum allowable height. Vann said it provides affordable housing in excess of the minimum requirement under the code and does it in a way that produces a product, which is beneficial to the community. MOTION: Jim DeFrancia moved to approve Resolution 030, series 2007, approving with conditions, a Substantial Amendment to the Development Order adopted under Ordinance 027, series 2007, and Growth Management review for expansion of new NLA commercial space for the property located at 308 E Hopkins; Michael Wampler seconded by. Roll call vote.• Erspamer, yes; Weiss, yes; Gibbs, yes; Wampler, yes; DeFrancia, yes; Johns, yes. APPROVED 6-0. Discussion of the motion: Gibbs asked staff about Section 4.074b that says cash-in-lieu payment may be accepted by the Planning & Zoning Commission upon a recommendation of the Aspen Pitkin County Housing Authority; the way he 6 Aspen Planning & ZorilriE Commission Meetin¢ Minutes -November 06, 2007 read that was that he doesn't have the discretion unless they recommend that P&Z does allow that. Phelan explained that you need the recommendation from housing for the cash-in-lieu payment and it doesn't mean you have to agree with that recommendation. Phelan said P&Z's purview was to consider that recommendation and also consider the Aspen Area Community Plan and the bigger picture of what is appropriate in this instance. Gibbs suggested rewriting of this portion of the code. Jim DeFrancia supported Stan's observation; it was a question of grammatical context and just needs to be written more clearly. Cliff Weiss said that he did not have a problem converting this basement to leasable space but he was stuck with category 3 versus category 4. Phelan reiterated that the requirement in the code was category 4; Council asked Housing to update their Guidelines. Dylan Johns said that when the commission strays away from the code that we move into difficult zones involved; he said based on the staff recommendation if you are truly against it then vote against it. DeFrancia said that the code was the code and if Housing or P&Z did not like the regulations then we should undertake the initiative to change it otherwise the reg is the reg and if they are entitled to 4 they are entitled to 4. Johns said that the space was already there and there was not an opportunity to stuff that .63 employee into the building; he said that he was a huge fan of mitigating on site and he can see where housing was going with this desire for more money towards the fund to mitigate for that employee. Jim True clarified the discretion was to deny the cash-in-lieu and if you accept cash-in-lieu it would be category 4 calculation but your discretion was the housing authority recommending the denial of category 4. John Provine, one of the owners, said that Walt Harris and Charles Cunniffe were also owners and all locals. Provine stated that before Council they emphasized that they were putting a locally serving restaurant on the ground floor; it was substantially under the rent that they could get for a typical retail space. Jim True and Jennifer Phelan requested the commission appoint a chair and vice- chair and elect again in January. MOTION: Jim DeFrancia moved that Dylan Johns be confirmed as the chair of P&Z; seconded by LJErspamer. All in favor, APPROVED. MOTION: Dylan Johns nominated LJErspamer as vice-chair; Stan Gibbs seconded. All in favor, APPROVED. Adjou ed a 5.45 pm. ckie Lothian, Deputy City Clerk 7