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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20180702Special Meeting Aspen City Council July 2, 2018 1 At 5:15 p.m. Mayor Skadron called the special meeting to order with Councilmembers Hauenstein, Myrin, Mullins and Frisch present. Mayor Skadron said we will be discussing resolution #99 regarding the contract to purchase 517 East Hopkins to become the possible home to Aspen city offices. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Bruce Etkin said he is promoting the Armory. We have a problem with City offices and need to find a place for them quickly. Pass an ordinance for them. We need one location for city offices. Recently there have been great articles in the papers for alternate uses for the armory. Council should reconsider and ask staff to update costs for all solutions including under one roof, one time and done. The city architect said it would save around 10% in annual operating costs to be located in one building. All options should be explored. 2. Lorenzo Semple said he was in favor of Hunt’s hotel plan for Main Street. He has strong opposition for the Hopkins Street purchase. Council deserves better than a fractured option. His preferred option is the Galena option on land we already own. The city has waited patiently while every entity in town, private and public, have built their own state of the art facilities. The lawsuits against the city really bother me and I take them personally. They create decisiveness and toxicity within the city. It feels like we are being railroaded into this and that spite is driving this. It does not feel like a good governing decision. I believe that given all the facts voters would vote for the Galena project. The Galena project encourages a more inclusive government. Maybe Aspen isn’t ready for a new city hall right now. We have to look at the long ga me. This feels like settling right now. 3. Toni Kronberg passed out handouts including letters to the editors in support for the 517 project. She said the community center could go on Galena plaza and that is what the civic master plan endorsed. Buying this property is a wise business decision and will give the city an additional piece of property to work with. It is right across the street from city hall and will keep everything down town. You don’t lose any options if you buy this piece of property. 4. Phyllis Bronson said she knows Mark Hunt is capable of doing beautiful work and that is not what I am objecting to. I’m echoing a lot of what Lorenzo is saying. She thinks Mark has trouble following through and has a big toy box right now. Her biggest issue is seeing our duly elected council undermined by lawsuits. This reeks of the art museum. She is afraid council will cave just like that. Jack Wheeler, asset, said the current option is to build 34,000 square feet at Galena. The cost is estimated between 42 to 46 million dollars. The development documents are complete. We do have a building permit ready to pull. The litigation timing uncertainty led us to look at other options. We are currently at 41,000 square feet and need 7,000 additional with 3,000 future growth needs. The request tonight is to enter into a contract for 517 East Hopkins for 23 million dollars with a 45 day due diligence period. A $100 per square foot tenant improvement allowance is included. The cost of the due diligence will be between $150,000 to $250,000. We need to be back in front of council at the end of July. This is a big undertaking. The sales price is the only thing that is absolutely certain. There has been a lot of concern over basement space in the plan. There is 13,500 square feet between this building and that of basement space. We are carrying $46.5 million at Galena and the Armory. It is an unknown start date due to the litigation. The 517 option is there and we would be spread out to 4 or 5 addresses. What we don’t know today is if it is a viable option. We need to put it under contract and do the due diligence. Special Meeting Aspen City Council July 2, 2018 2 Councilman Frisch asked is 30 days enough time to come back. Mr. Wheeler said it is a 45 day due diligence period. Councilman Frisch said if we were to get that land and we had a clean slate would we have a different building. Mr. Wheeler said this is a fairly good use of the space. There are some things we would like to look at to make it more viable for city offices to see if we can make it better. Councilman Frisch said it is using a healthy amount of the FAR for the space. Mr. Wheeler said part of the contract is we are buying a new building and that is the building we are buying. Councilman Frisch asked is there an option to just buy the land and not the approvals. I want to make sure that we are not just taking what happens to be there. Mr. Wheeler said we have not been offered just the land. Councilman Frisch said there is no great option in the City of Aspen to put 50,000 square feet and not cause heart ache to people. People talked about having a vote in November. What Bruce is talking about is a completely different plan. I don’t want to make a decision because I’m spiteful over a lawsuit or because a developer will make some money. Given it is a viable option, I’m good with giving it a sincere look. Councilman Myrin said he agrees with Adam’s last sentence or two. Aspen is growing and 517 will keep the Rio Grande open. This is a more marketable building 50 years down the road. He supports this. Councilwoman Mullins asked what is the 45 day date. Mr. Wheeler replied August 16. Councilwoman Mullins said in terms of making a final decision it is the August 13 meeting. Mr. Wheeler said there are two considerations with the July 30 date. Right now, I would consider we would revisit the current plan, the one roof solution and the due diligence on this option. We will be working with the architect who designed the building over there. Councilwoman Mullins said she would like to see the proposed scheduling for the buildout and a summary of additional land use approvals and do we have any latitude to change the design. Mr. Wheeler said we are having the conversation with Jessica on this. We are in a tough spot since the building was approved under the old code. There is not a lot of leeway there. Councilwoman Mullins said overall, she is really torn. Originally, I think we came up with the very best solution. This is a band aid approach and does not adequately meet the needs and does not get people out of the basement. It may be a 25 year solution and some subsequent council will have to work on this in 10 years. The other project is stalled and we do owe something to the staff to have a decent place to work. Councilman Hauenstein asked if it does require a modification of the land use it is considered a referendum act. Andrea Bryan, assistant city attorney, said she cannot definitively say that. It may end up in the same situation we are in now that requires a court. Councilman Hauenstein said it is troubling for me that two citizens of Aspen were persuaded by a non resident as a puppeteer. There were 38 public meetings dating back to 2014 and landed at the approved 37,000 square feet. I want to make sure the community knows that the pending litigation is costing the community millions of dollars a year. Compromises were made to satisfy the public and you too Toni. It is accepted by all parties that the city needs new offices. It is important to get new offices built as soon as possible but I don’t want to get rushed into making a temporary solution to a longer term problem. I want to get the right solution to start with. It took years to decide on the Galena parcel. Some of the factors that should be factored in include does the site fulfill our current and projected future need for the City of Aspen, is it as green as it can be, is it the most efficient for staff, has it been fully and publicly vetted, is it an efficient use of tax payer funds, what are the unknowns in construction that can or will affect cost, is or should it be subject to a public vote, what are the construction impacts to the town, best customer service to the community, and reduce congestion and parking demands in the core. If we decide tonight to enter into contract it stands unless we have a meeting to withdraw that. I feel strongly that if we were going to look at another solution we need to look at all the solutions. I understand Bert’s concerns about adding more construction to town. I believe in public private partnerships and think we could work with Mr. Hunt and make this work. Is it the best solution, I’m not convinced it is. I think the decision to move to Special Meeting Aspen City Council July 2, 2018 3 the Galena /armory solution is. The integrity of government requires we honor our commitments. Council in the past has dishonored its commitments and is setting a precedent here again. The lawsuits here are based on flawed foundations and costing the town valuable time and resources. I cannot support this. I do not want to have a special meeting to withdraw the approval. We have no assurances that 517 won’t end up in a lawsuit. We owe it to the employees to give them a good place to work. Laurie Winterman said the idea to go from here across the street is phenomenal. The park is phenomenal. You would be slicing off park vitality having the building by the park. Mayor Skadron thanked Lorenzo for his comments. What I can’t understand is why a 40,000 square foot building once built that juxtaposed current with historic, cleared away 100 year old cottonwood trees, added zero affordable housing and used COPs got no pushback is complete hypocrisy. The one question I can’t answer is this. I’m unable to gauge the level of tolerance the community has for the premiums were spending for the most efficient, least expensive option. Where we are now is 12 million in additional costing. Factored into this is another 12 million dollars. We have the legal fees and construction delays. Where I believe we should go is ultimately a vote. It should be one of options. A at X cost, B at 2 X and C at a percentage of X. To get those numbers I think we need to enter into the due diligence. Councilman Frisch said some think we could have a vote in November without entering into the due diligence. Mark Hunt said he is truly trying to be part of the solution here. He said he appreciates the comments as well. This is not the Mark Hunt project. There is an issue and there is a solution. The plan that tied this together was a one roof solution. To me it is relatively simple. The biggest tragedy is the park is 15 – 20 million dollars. To put an office building there is a colossal miss. We are all better than that. If you want to go to the vote you may have had it right. I’m a fan of having the city in the core. I think it is a way better solution. Mayor Skadron said thank you, I believe you when you say you want to be part of the solution. He asked about the possibility of a vote. Mr. Hunt replied I can’t. I have someone who is prepared to take that space and is waiting on council. If this isn’t something you believe in and isn’t the direction to go I would rather know sooner than later. I need to move forward too. Councilwoman Mullins said she supports going ahead with the due diligence. Councilman Myrin moved to approve Resolution #99, Series of 2018; seconded by Councilman Frisch. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Mullins yes; Frisch, yes; Hauenstein, no; Myrin, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. At 6:30 p.m.; Councilman Frisch moved to adjourn; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. All in favor, motion carried. Linda Manning City Clerk