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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.apz.20080129ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES January 29, 2008 Dylan Johns opened the special meeting in Sister Cities Meeting Room at 4:30 pm. Commissioners Cliff Weiss, Stan Gibbs, Jim DeFrancia, LJ Erspamer, Dylan Johns and Brian Speck were present. Dina Bloom and Michael Wampler were excused. Staff in attendance included Jim True, Special Counsel; Chris Bendon, Jennifer Phelan, Ben Gagnon, Community Development; Kathy Strickland, Chief Deputy City Clerk. COMMENTS: Jennifer Phelan requested that the next planning commission meeting end at 6:30 pm so that the P&Z Members could attend the caucuses. MINUTES MOTION: LJErspamer moved to approve the minutes from January I5`h; seconded by Jim DeFrancia. All in favor, approved. DECLARATION OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST Jim DeFrancia said that he had taken a public position in opposition of the Aspen Club so he would be conflicted on the Aspen Club future hearings. AGENDA ITEMS Dylan Johns thanked two former Planning and Zoning members with Resolutions for Ruth Kruger and John Rowland for their years of service. PUBLIC HEARING: SERVICE COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL (SCI) ZONE DISTRICT CODE Dylan Johns opened the public hearing for the service commercial industrial zone district code amendments. Ben Gagnon stated that he was special projects planner with the City of Aspen Community Development Department. Gagnon said that this was a public hearing for code amendments to the service commercial industrial zone district. Gagnon said that the zone district was established in 1975. Gagnon said that beginning on the page of the Resolution marked 17 changes were shown; while it has been difficult to keep the original SCI uses and add additional new uses. The addition of definitions for office use was part of the house keeping portions of the Resolution. Stan Gibbs asked if the medical office use always had to be the same use. Gagnon replied that it had to be an SCI use allowed in the zone district not medical office only. ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES January 29, 2008 Cliff Weiss asked if a pharmacy was considered medical. Gagnon replied the way it was written now no; it was medical services and the delivery of health care services not retail. Weiss asked if these changes would affect Obermeyer or just Puppy Smith. Gagnon replied that if it were passed the way it is right now it wouldn't actually allow medical offices on any part of the SCI Zone District because none of the parcels perform to this level; none of the parcels have .75 FAR, traditional SCI uses to allow you to get that extra .25. Stan Gibbs asked if there was a process for actually increasing that list that was in the code. Chris Bendon replied that P&Z was doing it now. Gibbs asked if there was some judgment that allowed staff to add uses. Bendon responded that when they were faced with that circumstance people are directed to a temporary use, which can be done for a certain amount of time administratively and Council can do for longer periods of time; especially for something that does not clearly fall in the zone district but staff feels strongly that it should. Weiss asked if it was to keep local serving businesses in this zone district. Bendon replied that it was a complicated zone district because it tries to accomplish a lot; Bendon said that for this zone district the business had to have an overwhelming public purpose to it. LJ Erspamer asked if the code addressed parking and traffic. Bendon responded that zoning does not but other sections of the code address parking requirements and the development reviews. Erspamer asked if the 1993 Rio Grande Master Plan was outdated. Gagnon replied it was no longer operative as a guiding document and was replaced by the Civic Master Plan. Erspamer asked if architectural offices would be located on the second floor only or also the ground floor. Gagnon replied that they would be limited to that parcel next to the river and on either floor. Erspamer asked for a detailed description on consignment retail establishment and asked if they were allowed to sell retail or what percentage could they sell retail. Gagnon replied that it was a conditional use so it has to go through P&Z to be approved. Erspamer asked about TDRs being 250 square feet and 500 square feet. Bendon answered that on the sending site they remove 250 square feet from the Historic property and the landing site has different options of receiving on a residential zones or you can land them in commercial zones to increase the unit size limitation but you don't get more FAR you get to allocate it differently within the units. Jim DeFrancia reiterated that one 250 sending to the core was a 500 receiving as to unit size. 2 ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES January 29, 2008 Dylan Johns asked what the mechanism was for the new parameters to be applied and how does this accommodate this shifting base of need. Gagnon replied that it depended on the use and the amendment was trying to recognize the trends of a district. Gagnon said the non-conformities section allows for the non-conformity to stay. Bendon stated that even when the code changes for the zone district the business or office becomes a legally created non-conforming but they are not forced out. Public Comments: 1. Tim Reed, owner of Aspen Manual Therapies, said that he was the reason that the medical office was added to this part of the code; he was a physical therapist and that was not a traditional use in the building. Reed stated that he was a one man team and not a clinic. Reed said if you look at the Puppy Smith Building 25% to 30% of the building was traditional SCI Zoned uses and the rest were non-conforming and were added on over the years. Reed said there hasn't been a clamoring for some of those businesses listed in the code and in effect it shuts out several other businesses like medical offices that might be able to take the ground floor of that building. Reed said that in the fall the leases were up and there could be as much as one third of the building vacant and what if those spaces can't be filled because of the traditional SCI Zoning. Reed asked if there was some way to remove the limiting of medical offices to the second floor before redevelopment takes place. 2. Bill Lipsey applauded staff for extremely clear and organized presentation and the proposed ordinance and the memorandum that clarified it; staff was responsive to Council's comments as well as hundreds of hours of user input over the last two years. Lipsey had questions on the resolution regarding the affordable housing and the height limit. 3. Bridget Bilinski said that she was the practice administrator at Aspen Medical Care currently located on Main Street. Bilinski applauded and agreed with the direction that staff was going regarding medical offices in situations of re- development. Bilinski said that the need for the medical community was much more immediate than can be addressed through re-development; she seconded Mr. Reed's comments regarding immediate change to the code which would allow for medical offices in currently existing SCI spaces. 4. Suzanna Reed stated that she was a SCI architect; she congratulated staff for the effort in cleaning up the zone and giving a sense of stability in their future. Reed said that the idea of the separation between the residential and commercial components was good. ASPEN PLANNING & ZONING COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES January 29, 2008 5. Scott Myblack said he represented Obermeyer as a resident and some medical offices. Myblack thanked staff for all of their help and agreed with most of what staff put forward. Myblack suggested taking the upper floors away from the medical office requirement. Weiss asked why was the fitness/martial arts component removed. Bendon replied that the fitness club has never been allowed so the gym came in and was there as a non-conforming use and the martial arts studio was the same. Gibbs asked why artist studio was still on the list. Gagnon responded that it was probably inertia; it's been there for a long time and has not translated to a lot of artist studios. Johns proposed an artist studio be a conditional use; the commission agreed. Johns proposed that catalogue store be replaced by catalogue store or intemet sales store; the commission agreed. Gibbs proposed replacing recording studio with broadcast media productions in basement or on upper floors; the commission agreed. The commission and staff discussed medical offices and upper floor requirements for medical offices and the commission agreed to accept the medical offices as written for placement. The commission discussed the 5 feet addition to the first floor and the 40 foot height limit. MOTION: Cliff Weiss moved to extend the meeting for a half hour; seconded by Brian Speck. All in favor. MOTION.' Dylan Johns moved to remove the section that added the additional 5 feet to the first floor seconded by Jim DeFrancia. All in favor. The commission discussed the proportion and floor ratio of medical offices in new buildings and existing buildings. Johns suggested the upper floor restriction be clarified to a date certain and the percentage would only apply prior to that date. MOTION: Jim DeFrancia moved to approve Resolution #5 with the amendments and changes seconded by LJErspamer. All in favor. r ranscn ed y Ja~~~othian, Deputy City Clerk '~ 4