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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcoa.cclc.min.022013 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 20 2013 Chairperson, Don Sheeley called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Commissioners in attendance: Bill Dinsmoor, RileyTippet and Kiki Raj. Absent were Terry Butler, Hana Pevny, Siam Castillo and Andrew Kole . MOTION: Riley moved to approve the minutes of February 6t' second by Kiki. All in favor, motion carried. Ron Christen, Electric Department New circuits are being installed in the mall. Hyman mall will be the first one. The lamp poles are maxed out. They were meant for street lights and not freezers etc. Ron said there is a transformer in the alley on Hunter and you could run a #I extension cord to the tent if you needed to. We have a $50,000 project for 2013 dedicated to electrical upgrades. Part of the project is to analyze the safety issues on the malls and in the streams. We will work with an electrical engineer. The study would be around 4 to $5,000. Our holiday lighting is crippled due to old conduit etc. Kiki asked if new electricity would be involved. Stephen Elsperman, Parks Department said we are aware we need some more new power in certain areas. Ron said more trenching would need to occur to get more power. Bill said we have been talking about doing a winter market which would take an enormous amount of electricity. The XMAS market idea would possibly have electric heaters and we need to make sure the demands are there. Stephen said they are redeveloping the infill structure of Wagner Park. The construction schedule would be in the fall. We desire to have a high quality park experience and be able to handle special events. Ron said he would like to get the market electricity off the street polls. Don said the Parks Department group did a good job on the XMAS lights. Snowmaking Don asked if more snowmaking could occur next year so that we don't have the same problems like we had this year. The first part of December with snow was 1 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 20, 2013 very weak. We have been talking about a winter market like they do in Europe for those weeks and possible do a "singles" week. It is our job to come up with ideas. Donnie Lee, Gant said we need to figure out what to do short term and long term. If you fly to Aspen its $1,000 and if you fly to Jackson Hole it is $299. Festivities are positive things in our town. David Perry, Aspen Skiing Company said the early season is Thanksgiving to the holidays. Resorts do all kinds of things. Do you want to attract skiers or other people? We have great deals out there. We have been competing with the other resort. This is the second year we have had low snow. The winter market is hugely successful in Saltsburg. Snowmaking is a key element. Craig Cordes Pearce , restaurant owner said everyone is eating at 7:00 to 8:30. If you fill up at 5:30 you will have a good day. How do we get people here from Denver? David Perry said people are going to the mountains wherever the snow is. The real challenge in Denver is that they have to pass Copper Mountain, Breckenridge and Vail. Most people have bought a pass. Craig said with his website they are giving people ideas of what to do. If you recommend what to do the person will feel better about what they are doing. Bill said he could get good data from Chicago on who comes to their market. There is probably reasonable data from Denver. Bill mentioned that Beaver Creek has been approached to do a Winter market. We need a different winter break, "a fairy tail". We could do the event on the malls and it is the local businesses job to get people into their stores. Donnie said the festival looks sexy. Our community has a lot to offer and we could put on a nice festival. Do people come here because of the festival or does it build over time. We are different than Europe. David said we need to go with our strengths and we have fantastic dining. We have a great cultural community and great retail. Free concerts in Wagner Park. I don't think they would come for an XMAS event. They would come because of what Aspen offers. Snowmass has big groups booked in March. Craig said maybe we re-create a better walking path in the malls. 2 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 20 2013 Don said he is not sure it will bring in people. Don said we need to get some funding for the survey. Riley said when we attach the Aspen name there is more value in it. Kenny Smith, ACRA said Food and Wine was driven by the industry it is in. We should investigate every idea. It has to start small and then grow. We need to come up with amazing things to do on the mountain like Snowmass does. Anything to promote Aspen is a good thing. I am trying to reach out to the retailers and many of them are entrepreneurs. Bill said we need marketing collaboration. Don asked Steve Barwick for some seed money. David said to contact RFC out of Boulder for a quote on a survey. Kiki pointed out that people drive here in the fall. We have high end shopping. Maybe we could do a sales tax amnesty. Steve Barwick said council gave funding for another person to work on our special event calendar and where do we want to slot new ones and which ones should change. That person will work with the ACRA and individual companies. Donnie said we have always wanted the restaurants to get involved. We are all synergistically involved together. Don said Terry Butler brought up the article by Roger Marolt. Can we go to the top of Aspen Mountain with more snow? David Perry said snow making is a combination of water, electricity, labor and capital. We spend 3 million annually on operating costs for snow making. We keep transferring to more efficient guns. We have been strong on our energy reduction with snow making. We wanted to get the world cup down first and at the same time we made snow. We have a new Aspen Mountain master plan which would involve new water storage and the cost would be 5 million. To do snow making at the top of Aspen Mountain we buy our water from the City of Aspen. We have a 40 year contract 3 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 20, 2013 and we are in the last 8 years. We pump it up. We pay our pro-rated share. Cost of water $330,000 for Aspen Mountain. The cost of water is rising. Highlands is a separate contract with the city. Buttermilk we have ditch rights. Don asked if the Ski Co. could use grey water. Steve Barwick said yes. Bill said some of our tax dollars should be underwritten for Ski Co. David said if we proposed snow making for the top of Aspen Mountain to have that mountain open early would be accepted by the community. Steve Barwick said the general fund could be used for this kind of function, snow making. David Perry said the front and back end of the season are getting warmer. If you have a window of a few hours when the weather is cold to make snow you need to go forward. Kiki inquired about snow blanket on Snowmass. David Perry said to do it on a large scale is prohibitive. They are large thermal blankets and very expensive. 12 days of aspen update Hannah Christian, ACRA The event went really well. We brought back some of the events, ice skating. New events, cheese samples on the 28th. 30th pancake breakfast. These were good events. We did 50 skate rentals and we need to look at the school calendar for next year. We had an ice skating show from the skating team. We also should have DJ's so you can hear down the malls. Different advertising for next year would be recommended. With more money we could do much more. Riley asked how can we help you get more money? Hannah said possibly get a sponsorship. Hannah said people aren't going to buy just nuts. You need more than one cart. Possibly have several vendors next year. 4 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 20 2013 Riley as we talk about collaborating we need to get more things tied into the community i.e. popcorn wagon. Billy Taylor, market vendor said we had 6 bikes at first and sold 120 bikes a the market. This year we were reduced to ten feet. Riley said taking into account with the Gap etc. we don't know about spacing. We need to keep some order. Bill said the space comedy is a concern. MOTION: Riley moved to adjourn; second by Kiki. All in favor, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 10:41 a.m. Kathleen J. Strickland, Chief Deputy Clerk 5