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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20120402 Special Meeting Aspen City Council April 2, 2012 Mayor Ireland called the meeting to order at 5:05 PM with Councilmembers Johnson, Skadron and Torre present. ORDINANCE #11, SERIES OF 2012— Code Amendment Land Use Amendment Process Jessica Garrow, community development department, reminded Council this ordinance amends the process for changing the land use code. Ms. Garrow reminded Council this process change has been discussed at work sessions and P&Z recommended in favor of this change, which clarifies the process to includes annexed pieces, it includes consolidation of some step, adds language about notice requirements. Ms. Garrow said the current situation is that staff gets direction from Council for amendments to the land use code, staff works on the amendment and then takes it to P&Z who is handed specific language without opportunity for their input on the larger policy issues. Ms. Garrow said the proposal is when an idea come up, staff talks with interested groups both within the city and outside the city and holds open houses to get broader community input. This would then go to Council for an endorsement; Council would pass a resolution either forwarding the amendment or stopping the process. After staff drafts the language, this will come back to Council in ordinance form. Mayor Ireland opened the public hearing. Bill Wiener stated he support this and has been asking for a process change like this; it is a great move. Mayor Ireland closed the public hearing. Councilman Skadron moved to adopt Ordinance#11, Series of 2012, on second reading; seconded by Mayor Ireland. Roll call vote; Skadron, yes; Torre, yes; Johnson, yes; Mayor Ireland, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #12, SERIES OF 2012 —Code Amendment Height and FAR CC and C-1 zones Jessica Garrow, community development department, said as well as amending the height and FAR calculations in the CC and C-1 zones, it also amends miscellaneous calculations on calculating height. Ms. Garrow presented exhibit E public comment received to date from Stan Clauson and Adam Roy; exhibit F HPC resolution asking Council to maintain the historic floor to ceiling heights as allowed in the CC and C-1 districts and to allow three story buildings; exhibit G a graphic of heights along the mall, Mill street and Galena; exhibit H a memo from Councilman Frisch regarding the code amendments; exhibit I, amendments proposed by Mayor Ireland to the ordinance. Ms. Garrow told Council there was a lot of discussion of heights during the P&Z and community AACP sessions. A common theme was suggestions to look at the allowed mass and scale downtown. Ms. Garrow said historically in the down town, first floors are taller than upper floors and more transparent than upper floors, both for health safety reasons and for display of goods. These ceiling heights are generally between 12 and 14'; second floors are 10 to 12'. 1 Special Meeting Aspen City Council April 2, 2012 Currently the CC and C-1 zone districts there are allowances for two and three story buildings; two story buildings can go to 28'. In the CC zone a three story building can be 38' to 42' and C- 1 36' to 41' is allowed. Total allowed floor area in the CC zone is 2.75:1 total, broken down 2:1 floor area for commercial, lodging .5:1 by right and up to 1.5:1 if you have smaller lodge rooms. There is no limit on affordable housing and free market housing is by right .5:1 and can go up to .75:1 with equal amounts of affordable housing. Allowances in the C-1 zone are similar except commercial is only 1.5:1 floor area. Ms. Garrow explained that ceiling heights are not in the zone district but are in the commercial design guidelines, which require a 9' minimum floor to ceiling height on all floors and a first floor floor to floor height, which is 13' to 15' including floor to ceiling and any mechanicals between the ceiling and the floor above. Ms. Garrow noted the memorandum lists 4 options for Council to consider; absolute minimum, eliminate the allowance for a larger ls`floor; reduce the allowances for a larger 1' floor; restrict 3`d floor uses. Ms. Garrow said the building code requires a minimum ceiling height of 7'6" on all building levels and with a 2' mechanical area, a 3 story buildings could be 28'6". Ms. Garrow stated staff does not favor this absolute minimum alternative which does not create very livable areas and has a squished effect on the rooms. The second option of eliminating the allowances for a larger 1" floor would maintain a 9' floor to ceiling for all floors and 2' of mechanical would equal a height of 33' and 3' of mechanical would equal a height of 36'. Staff does not recommend this option either because staff feels the larger first floor is important and is indicative of the development pattern. The reduced 1" floor would be 11 to 13', which is recommended for the C-1 zone district and assumes a 3' mechanical would result in a building of 37' to 39'. Staff recommends for the CC zone district the 13 to 15' floor to floor, plus 3' of mechanical would equal a 37' to 39'. Staff is recommending a maximum height of 38' in the CC zone. Ms. Garrow noted both CC and C-1 are predominantly commercial, which uses should be encouraged, especially on the ground floor. Restaurant and retail are allowed on all levels; offices are prohibited in CC on the ground floor to encourage vitality. Ms. Darrow pointed out lodging is allowed on all upper floors. Free market and affordable multi-family housing is allowed on all upper floors. The CC zone does not allow duplex or single family uses. Ms. Garrow said in CC and C-1, one is allowed a by right .5:1 floor area for free market residential and this can go up to a .75:1 only with equal amounts of afford able housing. Staff proposes historic properties maintain the existing by right .5:1 and for non-historic properties .5:1 will be allowed only with equal amounts of affordable housing. This increases the 30% mitigation requirement to 100% mitigation. Ms. Garrow noted the current code requires mechanical or roof top equipment be setback 15' and staff proposes all mechanical equipment be setback a minimum of 20' from the street and that the footprint be minimized as much as possible. P&Z suggested all railings and renewable energy systems be setback from the street equal to the amount they are tall. Ms. Garrow said this 20' requirement on a corner 30' lot will make the location of this equipment a challenge. Councilman Johnson asked how the view planes will affect development. Ms. Garrow said there are 5 protected view planes; one from the Cooper Street Pier building and one in front of the Wheeler that affect development in the commercial core. The others are from Glory Hole park, Wagner park and the courthouse. 2 Special Meeting Aspen City Council April 2, 2012 Councilman Skadron asked the maximum height in the residential zone district bordering C-1. Ms. Garrow said that depends on the uses and to the east is mixed use which allows 28 to 32'. Ms. Garrow said Council needs to keep in mind that lowering the heights in the CC and C-1 zone district will put pressure on other zones. Mayor Ireland presented amendments to the ordinance described as slow start to start with a restrictive height standard that upon deliberation could be revised upward. Mayor Ireland said the current problem is pressure to convert or demolish buildings and rebuild with a penthouse on top. Mayor Ireland noted almost all applications propose penthouse space. Mayor Ireland said problems with penthouses are they encourage redevelopment of existing structures that do not need to be redeveloped. Mayor Ireland noted another problem is high end speculation works its way into the cost of land precluding some uses. Penthouse development may prevent redevelopment for other, newer uses in the future. Penthouses also may prevent other uses in the building, like restaurants or bars. Mayor Ireland said adopting this amendment will lower heights until Council can agree on what uses justify increased height; Council may want to allow lodge units. Mayor Ireland noted his amendments eliminate single family and duplexes uses in the CC zone because that is not an appropriate use for a small, constrained commercial downtown. Mayor Ireland said it is specifically spelled out that Council can amend the code for uses they find appropriate. Mayor Ireland said his amendment requires a 25' setback for mechanical and elevator overruns. Councilman Skadron said if single family and duplexes are disallowed, yet affordable housing is allowed, is this unfair. Mayor Ireland said single family or duplexes would not be occupied or vital; affordable housing would be occupied. The downtown space needs to be protected by a higher and better use. Mayor Ireland noted the south side of the Cooper avenue mall is low scale development; it would be too bad to destroy those views of the mountains with a 36 to 38' penthouse building. Councilman Johnson said the AACP recommended a process and creating 3-D models of downtown and heights was part of that. Councilman Johnson stated he is concerned the pendulum may swing too far the other way. Mayor Ireland noted Council can revise up but they cannot revise down because projects get into the pipeline, 28' is a slow start and can be revised upward after a more deliberative process. Ms. Garrow suggested changes to Mayor Ireland's changes, such as eliminating the phrase "locally serving businesses as defined in the code" as they are not defined in the code. In the allowed exceptions to height, Mayor Ireland's amendments have a 25' setback and this will not work on a 3000 square foot lot on a corner as it would leave 5' for mechanical systems and elevator overruns. Ms. Garrow said the 20' setback is more flexible. Mayor Ireland said he would like to signal in the ordinance that Council is going to have a discussion about further uses and heights in the commercial core. Ms. Garrow suggested "upon adoption of future code amendments or incentives to encourage certain uses, 3`d stories may be permitted". Mayor Ireland agreed to take out the locally serving business reference as well as going with the 20' setback rather than 25'. Councilman Johnson asked at what point does this ordinance become something other than what was approved on first reading. Jim True, city attorney, said the Charter allows Council to make amendments at second reading. 3 Special Meeting Aspen City Council April 2, 2012 Mayor Ireland moved to adopt Ordinance #12, Series of 2012, on second reading amending it from first reading as presented in exhibit I with the following changes, page 2, paragraph (8) replaced by language suggested by staff that upon passage by Council, 3 stories may be permitted to encourage uses defined by Council at that time; page 3 eliminate "local serving businesses as defined in the code",page 5 the same change on page 2 in paragraph 3, and page 7 to change the setback to 20'; seconded by Councilman Skadron. Mayor Ireland opened the public hearing. Pat Sagal stated he supports the proposed amendments suggested by the Mayor. Sagal said the former Council intended to be creative and to have a better downtown; however, it has created penthouses that do not add to the vitality and there are too many variances in the downtown development. Lorrie Winnerman said penthouses have added vitality and people using penthouses spend money at restaurants and shops. Jim Smith said he is concerned about the rush of applications for development in the CC and C-1 and he is concerned while Council deliberates even more applications will come in at heights the community finds unacceptable. Smith encouraged passage of this with the Mayor's amendments and to give Council a chance to deliberate right choices. Amy Bertsal suggested Council listen to the staff proposal as the community development department staff is educated in land use and architecture and Council should take into consideration what they have determined as appropriate and what makes sense. Junee Kirk said a 28' height limitation is a good place to start; it fits in with the historic pattern of Aspen; it fits in with the pedestrian scale and with the built environment. Ms. Kirk said 3 stories equals 51' which is not appropriate. David Corbin, Aspen Skiing company, said his concern is that of process and this approach. Corbin said he supported Council's adoption of the AACP and listed some action steps from that document which include maintain and improve the tourist based economy, to conduct periodic analysis of Aspen's competitive edge, to replenish the declining lodging base at all mixes and to use the balance to incentivize development as well as the utilization of 3-D models of downtown development to define and insure what compatible heights would be. Corbin said those steps have not been taken. The community and staff spent 3 years working on the Aspen Area Community Plan to answer these types of questions. Corbin noted the vitality and desirability of the lodging base is essential. Corbin said for the sustainability of the community, an analysis and assessment of the lodging base is critical and those steps have not been initiated. Corbin said staff's recommendations are reasonable and rationale and well thought through and have been vetted in the public process. Corbin noted the Mayor's amendments are new and may not have been thought through and may not have the clarity for the community in the land use code. Corbin pointed out in the AACP discussions, there were many comments about looking for more clarity in the land use code. Corbin said the exceptions to the 28' should be made clear and concise now and not conditioned upon a future act. Mayor Ireland said if the code allows 38' and penthouses, the community will be stuck with penthouses that will preclude the development of any lodging. Mayor Ireland noted most of the recent applications contain penthouses. Corbin reiterated if there is the desirability to preserve other uses that could go above the 28' height limit, Council should make that explicit using the existing code language. Lindsay Smith said she supports the mayor's ordinance and the fact that 4 Special Meeting Aspen City Council April 2,2012 Council can fall back and then can add language so the city does not get a lot of applications for tall buildings. Bill Wiener supports the 28' height limit and it will help to preserve the 30' lot width. Wiener said the HPC did not address the look and feel of the historic districts. Wiener said tourists come to Aspen because it has character and community. Wiener said he does not agree that penthouses add vitality. Kathleen Wanotovitz asked how the economics of this proposed amendment will limit penthouse development. Mayor Ireland noted this allows free market development but requires 100% affordable housing mitigation. Ms. Wanotovitz pointed out one of Council's goals is engaging 20 to 40 year olds, people that will make the downtown vital in the future and suggested people from that demographic be brought into the discussion, talk about what makes messy vitality; what do developers need to create the type of project the community wants. Walt Madden said he is glad to see the Council attempt to deal with free market residential units as that is not sustainable model for the future. Madden supports Council adopting something that is a sustainable future for Aspen. Ricki Newman said it has been unsettling to see a lot of tall square boxes being developed and messy vitality existed with smaller, different buildings. Ms. Newman said this will give the Council more control over how the community wants to see Aspen grow rather than how the developers want to see the town grow. Bert Myrin submitted an article from the Aspen Daily News that addresses activity in the downtown where a penthouse owner gets control over commercial space. Myrin said this code amendment is a good alternative to a moratorium and sets values for things the Council wants to see. Helen Klanderud said she has concerns about the process and considering this at a special meeting rather than a regular meeting. Ms. Klanderud said this code amendment is a radical departure from what exists now. Ms. Klanderud said all 5 Councilmembers should be present to vote on this. Ms. Klanderud said community members were probably not aware of the amendments proposed by the Mayor. Ms. Klanderud noted HPC has oversight over this area because it is a historic district. Ms. Klanderud said she does not agree that Aspen has lost vitality in the CC and C-1 because of the current code. Ms. Klanderud said she feels the amendments are vague. Mayor Ireland closed the public hearing. Councilman Torre asked if historic projects like the Crandall building including the penthouse could still go through the process. Ms. Garrow said that will depend on what Council does with the height; the Crandall project was a negotiated process and it could still be allowed through negotiation. Mayor Ireland said the Council should go forward to define what it is they would consider for taller buildings and do it in a deliberative process. Mayor Ireland said Council has the ability as legislators to amend ordinances during the process. Councilman Johnson agreed there is some sense of urgency with the applications that have come in. Councilman Johnson said this feels like a mini-emergency ordinance. Councilman Johnson asked what the timeline might be. Mayor Ireland said the lodging study can be completed in a couple of months and this could be done in 6 weeks if it is a priority. Mayor Ireland stated the lodging study is an important predicate; Mayor Ireland pointed out all lodging is not the same and the study should be done so Council will know what types they want to encourage. Mayor 5 Special Meeting Aspen City Council April 2, 2012 Ireland said within 3 months, Council could create a definition around things they would allow to have extra height. Councilman Johnson asked if concern is the continual submittal of applications to the current height limits. Councilman Skadron said that has happened already. Councilman Johnson noted there are some economic factors in development application. Councilman Johnson said his concern is that the Council does not get around to writing this legislation or the lodging study. Mayor Ireland said he has consistently talked about creating incentives for lodging as has Councilman Frisch. Mayor Ireland said all Council agree on the importance of the lodging sector. Councilman Johnson said this code amendment is taking away about 1/3 of the possible revenue out of a building and capping the supply at 1/3 less, which may cause the rents to increase. Councilman Johnson said the market demands higher ceilings on the first floors. Mayor Ireland said the problem with penthouse development driving the market is that it precludes redevelopment for other uses. Councilman Johnson stated he is not necessarily willing to remove penthouse options. Mayor Ireland said without adopting this code amendment, applications can come before Council at these heights and uses and be by right. Mayor Ireland said not everything needs 3 floors. Mayor Ireland said he wants to see this code amendment passed then work with sectors of the community to create incentives for actual hot beds. Councilman Johnson said Council has set a precedent of not making decisions of this magnitude without have all 5 Council present. Mayor Ireland suggested passing this ordinance and then to have reconsideration April 9111 and put it on the table for discussion, to have it debated and if there are 3 votes, it will not be reconsidered and that week is not lost before the ordinance becomes effective. Mayor Ireland said this way the timeline will not be jeopardized. Mayor Ireland said he is willing to put this to reconsideration so that Councilman Frisch can participate and to persuade Council not to pass or to pass the ordinance. Mayor Ireland said he would make a motion to reconsider as long as all 5 Council are present at the April 9th meeting. Councilman Johnson said he would like more time to understand the implications of this. Councilman Skadron asked if adopting this amendment will prevent Aspen from having a healthy economy. Councilman Skadron noted one of the reasons he suggested a 28' height limit has to do with Aspen's competitive advantage, which is being diminished because of current codes. Councilman Skadron stated Aspen claims its competitive superiority by proving value through differentiating itself from the competition, which is the term "small Victorian mining town". Councilman Skadron said the Chamber uses that term in marketing Aspen. Councilman Skadron said Aspen's competitive advantage results from managing and preserving that core competency. Councilman Skadron noted his time on the CAST board going to ski towns all over the Rockies has pointed out that other towns are doing a better job of preserving their core competencies. Councilman Skadron said marketing Aspen as a small Victorian mining town carries an expectation and sprawling penthouses do not fulfill that expectation. Councilman Johnson agreed Aspen should honor its small town character; however, Aspen has a big city tourist base. Councilman Johnson said taller first floors are part of Aspen's history. Councilman Tone noted the last time he was on Council they spent hours and hours trying to write a code to better Aspen and to create vitality and to give people opportunities for redevelopment and mistakes were made. Councilman Torre said this is a chance for Council to 6 Special Meeting Aspen City Council April 2,2012 get it right; Councilman Torre stated he will support third floor development, primarily in the commercial core, of some sort. Councilman Torre said he wants the heights below 50' so there is respect for the historic nature of Aspen. Councilman Torre stated inaction on this amendment is to leave the city open for the type of development Council does not want. Councilman Torre said the code amendments of 10 years ago have not done what Council's intention was, they have not created more vitality. Mayor Ireland agreed he will support some 3`d floor development and Council needs to decide what and where it is appropriate. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Tone, yes; Johnson, no; Skadron, yes; Mayor Ireland, yes. Motion carried. Mayor Ireland moved to adjourn at 7:20 PM; seconded by Councilman Torre. All in favor, motion carried. , Kihryn Koch City Clerk 7