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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcoa.cclc.min.081909COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF AUGUST 19, 2009 Chairperson, Terry Butler called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Commissioner in attendance: Bill Dinsmoor, Don Sheeley, John Starr, Mark Goodman and Roger Haneman. Andrew Kole, Fred Ayarza were excused. Staff: Kathy Strickland, Chief Deputy City Clerk Commissioner comments: Terry brought up the issue of Mustang in the middle of the mall and the un- organization. The chairs are messy and you can't get through. Don agreed that you can't get from one end of the mall to the other. John said there is incompetence in serving and the performance is unacceptable. Terry said the chairs are messy and pulled out and left everywhere. The center of our mall is a mess. Don said it looks like nothing is organized. Bill pointed out that the last person out of the restaurant should make sure that the area is keep clean and chairs put away. Don said it is ridiculous you can't cross over and you have to go the whole way around to get across the mall. Terry said she is not in favor of the outside dining. Terry also mentioned that the CCLC gave them too much space. Bill agreed that they don't need so many chairs or tables. John said he feels the owner is not the right vendor for the spot. Don said he would rather have a hot dog stand instead of all the chairs etc. Mark pointed out that people are all over the place and it is nice to see activity on the mall. The area needs policed and the chairs locked up. Roger said one of his issues is outdoor storage on the mall. Bill said we need to know what time the non-kitchen employees come in. Terry said she feels the Mustang area is taking away from our malls. COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF AUGUST 19.2009 Recycling skins: John said he has complained about the recycle monsters and disagreed with the concept from the beginning. I was told that covers would be on and nothing has been done in two years. What is going on with the skins? Tom Rubel said council had other things that were more important. It was in the budget but we had more projects then we could get done and it was a very little priority with council. John said the Parks Dept. told us one thing and then it isn't dealt with. I would like to hear from Jeff Woods. Bill said in the paper Torre was adamantly against sidewalks in the west side of Wagner Park. There is a safety issue and there is plenty of room. Tom said it was in the plans years ago. Bill said it doesn't compromise the playing fields and I would encourage Parks to go forward with some kind of walkway on that side. With the new restaurant etc. that area is getting a lot more pedestrians walking on the street. Terry asked if the Parks budget was cut. Tom said even more this year. Terry said in the past that area was a sleepy section of town and now I see a lot of people milling their way through that part of town. Terry asked staff to e-mail Engineering - even a walking path would work since that section of town has been developed. Mustang Restaurant: Tom said he talked to Greg Jurgensen several times. Tom said Mustang isn't cleaned up at the end of the night and it looks bad for the City. Terry said the area is in disarray. Roger said we don't want the mall to be a storage area for furniture. Don: Snow polo would like to be in Wagner Park. What are the possibilities with bringing it back to Wagner Park? COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF AUGUST 19.2009 Tom said loading in and loading out is difficult on Monarch Street. There are safety and neighbor issues with the horses. Parking has an issue with it and so does RFTA. Tom said packing snow for the Nordic event is an issue. If we pack it early it stays packed and there is more labor involved. Events don't pay for the labor. Terry said we lost HBO and I would hate to lose Snow Polo. There are a lot more people in Wagner Park than Rio Grande. It would be sad if we ever lost this special event. Roger said if we had artificial turf would that be an issue. Tom said the infill structure for food and wine would be an issue. Nancy Lesley expressed her concern that that corner is tight with Brexi and the trailers and it is a safety issue. Special Events: Bill said Special Events was given funding and where are we on events. Nancy Lesley, Special Events said they are marketing on three events. The Criterium was the first event. We went from 8lentries to 151 due to marketing. The Triathlon was sold out and we added a new division to the triathlon. It was swim and bike and that sold out. The duathlon was sold out. It is a run bike run event. We haven't done that for some time. We had 300 people. We are boxed in with the number of people allowed due to the forest service and RFTA's insurance. Nancy said the next event is the Golden Leaf this fall. It is a half marathon from Snowmass to Aspen. It is named in trail runners as one of the top ten events in the country. There are 800 participants tops and we are 150 away from the 800. It focuses on Denver and Utah cycling clubs. The non-sports event is the community picnic at the golf course. It is a family outing. We are having conversations with Ski Co. about partnering with a three day event, two days before XMAS and one near new years. On Dec. 22"d and 3 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF AUGUST 19, 2009 23rd between 3:30 and 4:30 kids would ride up the gondola with Santa and the kids can ski down. You could get your picture taken with Santa under a XMAS tree in the gondola plaza. We would team up with anon-profit. We would have a bon fire and book reading and Carolers. For New Years Eve we would bring families in town at Wagner Park for the bon fire at 5:00 p.m. Possibly do an 8:00 p.m fire works and then again do something at 10:00 p.m. Don said he would like to see something occur 12 days out like the 12 days of XMAS. Don suggested that Nancy work with the ACRA in addition to the Ski Company. Nancy said the bon fire will be on a trailer. Don also suggested doing something before XMAS to get an event every day before XMAS in order to get people here every day. Terry said with a special event every day you really need to advertise it. Have hot chocolate etc. on the malls or near the kiosk: John suggested that the event be tied into the retail businesses. AACP: Ben Gagnon discussed the updates for the AACP with the board. The AACP, Aspen Area Community Plan with probably be presented to the Planning & Zoning the first of September. Outside vending, sidewalk sales: Kathryn Koch pointed out that council is interested in relaxing the rules for outdoor sidewalk sales. The idea is for retailers to dispose of their inventory during the shoulder season. This would occur three weekends or so in Sept. Does the CCLC support the idea? Debbie Braun, president of the ACRA is in favor and will do a blast a-mail to all of their members. We would let businesses use the city rights-of--ways. They wouldn't be able to spill over the sidewalks but we can give some relief. There would be no amplification and no alcohol permitted. 4 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF AUGUST 19, 2009 Don suggested two weekends be chosen. It is a great idea for retailers to get rid of inventory and it would bring people in during the shoulder season. John suggested it be tied into a special event with guidelines etc. Steve Barwick, City Manager: Don and John pointed out that our malls are unattractive. We need to have guidelines as to what is permitted on the malls. Steve said there is a work session scheduled in September with City Council to evaluate all the concerns, sandwich boards, mall outside seating etc. A video is being prepared. Don said we need to reach out to our guests. Mark said businesses during the sales should only be allowed to sell what they have in their stores. We need to market from the Front Range and Grand Junction. Steve said Sally, our PR person can do some outreach. John also brought up the recycled bins and the skins to cover them. Steve said Parks can get one or two and we can see what they look like. Steve also pointed out that in California the recycled bins are bright and shiny containers. Don and Terry brought up Snow Polo and the possibility of bringing it back this year to Wagner Park. Don said Snow Polo brings in 300 people from all different countries and they stay at the Limelight. Wagner is closer and more people go there. They were in Wagner then had to go to the Rio Grande when no more events were allowed in Wagner. Since Council has allowed more events in Wagner it would be great if we could give it a chance this year. Steve said he would reconsider and discuss it. MOTION.' Mark moved to adjourn; second by Terry. All in favor, motion carried. ~ Meeting adjourned at 11:00 a.m. at leen Stric land, Chief Deputy Clerk 5