Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20191210Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 10, 2019 1 CITIZEN COMMENTS...............................................................................................................................2 COUNCIL COMMENTS ............................................................................................................................2 CITY MANAGER REPORTS....................................................................................................................2 BOARD REPORTS ....................................................................................................................................2 CONSENT CALENDAR ............................................................................................................................2 Resolution #129 AND #131, Series of 2019 – Water Treatment plant Basin Residuals Removal.......................................................................................................................................................3 Resolution #132, Series of 2019 – Reudi O&M Contract.............................................................3 Resolution #123, Series of 2019 – Strategic Focus Areas ..........................................................3 Resolution #1144 and #145, Series of 2019 – Lease Extensions for City Office Space at 201 N Mill Street .........................................................................................................................................3 Resolution #122, Series of 2019 – 2020 Mill Levy ........................................................................3 Resolution #138, Series of 2019 – Schematic Design Contract – Pedestrian Mall Project....3 Minutes – November 26, 2019 .........................................................................................................3 NOTICE OF CALL UP – 202 E Main Street – Conceptual Major Development, Relocation, Setback Variations and Floor Area Bonus .............................................................................................3 ORDINANCE #33, SERIES OF 2019 – 1001 Ute Subdivision – Major Amendment to a PD and Associated Reviews ...................................................................................................................................3 RESOLUTION #136, SERIES OF 2019 –..............................................................................................4 RESOLUTION #137, SERIES OF 2019 – Grey Lady – Temporary Use Request ..........................6 RESOLUTION #139, 140 AND 141, SERIES OF 2019 – Approving Donation Agreement, Settlement Agreement and Deed Restrictions for 777 Gibson LLC...................................................7 RESOLUTION #143A, SERIES OF 2019 – Perpetual Deed Restriction for Centennial Rentals ..7 238 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 10, 2019 2 At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Torre called the regular meeting to order with Councilmembers Hauenstein and Richards present. Mayor Torre said tonight listed under action items is the deed restriction for Centennial. That will not be voted on tonight. The negotiations will be continued up to January 15th. That resolution will not be considered for approval tonight. Jim True, city attorney, said we will consider Resolution 143A to amend the original purchase agreement. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Vince Thomas, homeless army veteran, said lives are in danger for the homeless. Not everyone can get into the shelter. There is a problem at the shelter with accountability. He asked to open one city or county building with oversight. Homeless are in danger. I’m hoping you can figure out something to do about this. Regarding Lee Mulcahy and his mother, he asked why they have not received a hearing on his petition. Councilman Hauenstein said we don’t have a blind eye and aren’t insensitive and we are trying to find a solution. 2. Lee Mulcahy spoke again about his dealings with APCHA and submitted papers to the Clerk. COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilman Hauenstein said the skiing is great. Councilwoman Richards wished everyone a happy holiday season. Slow down out there, the roads are icy. It’s time to change your tires. Mayor Torre commended the Klug foundation for Summit for Life. CITY MANAGER REPORTS Sara Ott, city manager, said we received notice from the Audubon society the golf course has been recertified for another 3 years as a sanctuary site. BOARD REPORTS Councilwoman Richards attended the CML policy meeting last week. She thanked staff for the comments on the policy proposals. She also attended the Colorado conversation where Governor Polis addressed the group. CONSENT CALENDAR Mr. True said regarding Resolution 122, the mill levy, there is a typo in the 2nd whereas where December 2 should be December 5. 239 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 10, 2019 3 Resolution #129 AND #131, Series of 2019 – Water Treatment plant Basin Residuals Removal Resolution #132, Series of 2019 – Reudi O&M Contract Resolution #123, Series of 2019 – Strategic Focus Areas Resolution #1144 and #145, Series of 2019 – Lease Extensions for City Office Space at 201 N Mill Street Resolution #122, Series of 2019 – 2020 Mill Levy Resolution #138, Series of 2019 – Schematic Design Contract – Pedestrian Mall Project Minutes – November 26, 2019 Councilman Hauenstein moved to adopt the consent calendar with the amendment to Resolution #122; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. NOTICE OF CALL UP – 202 E Main Street – Conceptual Major Development, Relocation, Setback Variations and Floor Area Bonus Sarah Yoon, community development, said this is a miners cottage located on Main Street. It is currently operating as the consignment store. There is an application for redevelopment to change the use to a single family home. HPC comments were regarding design compatibility and parking at the initial meeting. The revised project was found to meet all the criteria. It will maintain the historic Main Street alignment. The proposal is for a new basement with an above grade addition. They provided a preservation plan. They are requesting a 500 square foot bonus and to keep the existing home in its current location. They will be providing the required number of parking spaces on site. The approved design is 2,304 square feet of the available 2,420. 116 will remain on the lot. No TDRs will be permitted to be severed. Staff recommends council uphold HPCs approval. Councilwoman Richards said it is disappointing to see it turning back into residential. If that is allowed by right it is what it is. Mayor Torre said I echo that. I can’t say there is anything I find out of line except the overall goals and values. This building in this area being turned into residential is a loss to our community. Councilman Hauenstein asked are there other applications at HPC that have been approved that avoid the ordinance changes we made earlier this year. Jennifer Phelan, community development, said this was the last one in the door. Mayor Torre said this will not be called up. ORDINANCE #33, SERIES OF 2019 – 1001 Ute Subdivision – Major Amendment to a PD and Associated Reviews Mr. True said for this item the Mayor is recused. With the Mayor’s recusal the only action is to continue this. I think you should open the public hearing for comment then continue this till next week. Councilman Hauenstein opened the public comment. There was none. Councilman Hauenstein closed the public comment. Councilwoman Richards moved to continue Ordinance #33, Series of 2019 to December 17, 2019; seconded by Councilman Hauenstein. All in favor, motion carried. 240 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 10, 2019 4 RESOLUTION #136, SERIES OF 2019 – Garrett Larimer, community development, said this application is for a dimensional variance to increase floor area. The property is located in the R30 zone district. It is adjacent to hunter creek and abuts the city limit boundary. This is the only review requested. Council is the final authority. In 2017 an application was submitted to redevelop the property with a single family home. There were stream margin and dimensional variance requests. A setback variance was requested to allow for a driveway access pier. Vehicular access was a major conversation at P&Z. There are steep slopes and site access complications. Parks and engineering supported the proposed design due to reduced impacts to the site. The result was the elevated driveway and auto court were included in a deck area exemption calculation and floor area calculation. Two other designs were presented. One with a meandering driveway. A number of trees would be affected. The second alternative was to provide terracing of grade to bring finished grade up to the elevation of the driveway and auto court. These were not supported or approved. The applicant was informed the elevated deck access would count towards the deck area exemption. If a deck exceeds the 15% exemption it counts towards the floor area for the home. The proposed design exceeded the 15% deck exemption so portions of the deck area contributed towards the maximum allowable floor area, and exceeded it. Deck had to be removed in order to comply. After approval was granted the applicant submitted for an administrative determination because they disagreed with Staff’s position. The administrative determination identified definitions in the code that supported that position. It identified two paths forward for the applicant if they continued to disagree with staff. One was they could appeal the determination to the hearing officer or apply for a floor area variance that would be considered by city council. The applicant pursued the appeal to the hearing officer. During that process a settlement was reached eliminating the elevated driveway and concrete pier from being included in the deck area exemption calculation. The current request is to reincorporate the decks that were eliminated. To qualify for a dimensional variance there are three review criteria that must be met. The first is that a variance must be generally consistent with the purposes, goals, objectives and policies of the code. Staff feels that an increase in allowable floor area does not meet this criteria. Second is the variance is the minimal variance that will make possible the reasonable use of the property. Staff does not believe that this is met. Reasonable use is allowed under the current conditions without the floor area variance. A building permit has been issued to comply with the requirements of the code. Lastly, the literal interpretation and enforcement of the terms and provisions of the code would deprive the applicant of rights commonly enjoyed by other properties in the same zone district and would cause the applicant unnecessary hardship as distinguished from mere inconvenience. Staff has found the application does not meet this criteria. The request is for convenience for additional exterior living area and does not create a hardship. Staff is recommending council deny the request. It is not consistent with the purposes and goals of the land use code. It is not necessary for reasonable use of the property. Literal interpretation of the code does not deprive the applicant of rights enjoyed by other properties and literal interpretation of the code does not create an unfair hardship. Councilwoman Richards asked what is the total FAR. Mr. Larimar replied the maximum allowed is 5,075. The applicant has landed a TDR which increased it to 5,325. Councilwoman Richards said the request to recapture the decks would represent a 10% increase. Is this property eligible to land another TDR. Mr. Larimar replied no. Rick Neiley, representing the applicant, said we didn’t lose 275 feet as a result of the determination. We lost 715 square feet. We are seeking to reincorporate small decks that don’t impact the bulk or mass. The auto court would be considered at grade and we could utilize the 241 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 10, 2019 5 FAR as decks. That was not our preferred alternative. When we came in for stream margin review this issue came up. The terraced approach is perfectly acceptable and code compliant but is more impactful to the site. The FAR we are asking to reincorporate is available to us. The access does not affect stream margin review. It is an alternative we don’t wish to pursue. At the same time we don’t think we should be penalized for coming up with a really good innovative approach to dealing with the steep access to the property. Councilwoman Richards said you said if we had terraced we could have done this, isn’t the measurement from natural grade not built up grade. Mr. Neiley said you can put in landform structures. For a driveway it can’t be more than 24 inches above finished grade. David Johnson, architect, said we are the architects of this building. He showed images of the access to get on grade to the site. We met with engineering and reviewed multiple times and came up with the stair step idea. We didn’t like the impacts to the site. He showed images of the preferred design that minimized tree removal. What we ended up doing was keeping the structure that was in place and reducing the deck space. He showed images of the original proposed design. The new design is literally the same footprint. All we did was move the railings back to the door. We eliminated one of the decks completely but kept the trellis. The mass of the structure remains the same. Councilwoman Richards said the decks will be livable space. You will be able to put furniture on them. Mr. Johnson stated they are about 5 feet in depth. Mr. Neiley said variances are deviations from the code which would not be contrary to the public interest when special circumstances or conditions, the literal enforcement of the provisions of the code would result in undue and unnecessary hardship. Variances shall only be granted in accordance with the terms of the code. Nothing we proposed would be contrary to the public interest. What we have proposed is innovative access to minimize site disturbance and to preserve as many trees as possible. The code requires us to show the grant of a variance would be generally consistent with the code. We have an alternative that is permitted by the code. We are trying to promote the objectives of the code and are being penalized. You have to look at reasonable use and the alternatives available. It is more reasonable to use the elevated driveway and auto court. We are asked to give up something otherwise available to this property. We don’t want to go back to the former terraced alternative. We believe we have the right to do that but don’t think it is the right thing to do. Lastly regarding variances the literal interpretation and enforcement of the terms and provisions of the code would deprive the applicant of rights commonly enjoyed by others in the same zone district. We are not asking to increase the available FAR for this site. It exists. We spent a lot of time trying to figure out what is best for the site. We think it is a hardship. The design deprives the property of a right that could be enjoyed otherwise. I think we meet the criteria and there is a unique set of circumstances. It is appropriate and reasonable to grant the variances. Councilwoman Richards said it sounds like you took the approval you were able to get with the intention of coming back for a variance. Mr. Neiley replied not entirely. We went through the process with staff and came up with a program that would allow consideration of this. P&Z didn’t have the authority to make a determination as to how the auto court would be considered. The consequence was instead of doing a major alteration of the structure was to remove the decks. The objective was to restore this and respect the design and access. Mr. Johnson said the design was linear in nature. There was a strong theme that the house be broken up horizontally. We changed materials to give it a lighter feel. Councilwoman Richards said she is also concerned about the night light effect of the glass design. 242 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 10, 2019 6 Mayor Torre said I don’t have any questions but wonder about alternative uses and design of the entry. I see there are other options. Mr. Neiley said the house was designed when this issue came up. It went through stream margin. Changing the design wasn’t on the table. The issue was use, the elevated access or build the site up. Mayor Torre opened the public comment. There was none. Mayor Torre closed the public comment. Councilman Hauenstein said it is a beautiful site and house. I do agree with staff. I don’t think reasonable use of the property is at question here. I can’t support a variance. Councilwoman Richards said I wish I could find a reason to support your request. I’m struggling. I understand the house is fully designed. I can’t help to think if you made is a foot narrower how much more space would it give you. It strikes me as disingenuous to get approvals then come back and ask for more. Councilman Hauenstein moved to deny Resolution #136, Series of 2019; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. RESOLUTION #137, SERIES OF 2019 – Grey Lady – Temporary Use Request Kevin Rayes, community development, said the request is for a temporary use to place a plastic and canvas tent on the site of the Grey Lady. The request for 105 days from December 18 to March 31. The space is 788 square feet in area. It is intended to be used as an extension of the indoor seating and Saturday winter market. The property is located in the historic district and commercial core. He showed photos from the previous year. The historic guidelines state buildings must respect the historic form. Materials shall be non reflective, shiny or glossy. It is not appropriate as primary material. Staff finds this criteria is not met. The applicant is proposing canvas and plastic materials. They are not necessarily durable. Architectural details should reinforce the historic context. They should be colors or finishes traditionally found downtown. Brick, stone, metal or wood. Traditional application like running bond. Staff finds this is not met. This is not traditional materials or application. There have been previous requests. This is the 6th annual request for a structure here. In 2013 the former tenant received HPC approval to construct a wooden trellis to be used as a shade structure. The proposed tent would cover the structure and is not permitted in the historic district. All the previous requests were recommended denial from staff. In the prior years there have been issues with the applicant installing before the permitted date and keeping it up after. Staff understands the value of the area to the restaurant. Councilwoman Richards said this was the open space requirement. Mr. Rayes said it was the original public amenity for this building. Councilwoman Richards asked is it really public amenity or is it seating for the restaurant. Ms. Phelan replied outdoor dining is a permitted use in the amenity space. What we have seen over time is it is valuable space. It was originally approved by the HPC for sun shades at the top. Councilwoman Richards asked is the challenge the Saturday market, the enclosure not hitting the historic mark or is it creating year round FAR. Ms. Phelan said it is a little bit of both. We can administratively approve tents for 14 days. With something more permanent you see materials that are not compatible with the downtown. I think the market was added to create more vitality and using the space for a longer period of time. Councilwoman Richards said if it is converting from public amenity to year round what is the mitigation. Ms. Phelan replied it is a prorated rate over a 30 year time period. Councilwoman Richards said I really like the winter market aspect. I’m concerned with how many other outdoor spaces would love to have a tent. 243 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 10, 2019 7 Mayor Torre said I just realized I live within the 300 feet. There is not enough council for a quorum. Councilwoman Richards Moved to continue to December 17, 2019; seconded by Councilman Hauenstein. All in favor, motion carried. RESOLUTION #139, 140 AND 141, SERIES OF 2019 – Approving Donation Agreement, Settlement Agreement and Deed Restrictions for 777 Gibson LLC Mr. True said there are 3 resolutions regarding this item. The property owned by an LLC managed by Peter Fornell. This is a small piece of property that was created a number of years ago. The Oklahoma Flats trail crosses the property. Mr. Fornell, on behalf of the LLC that owns the property, sought a variance from the Board of Adjustment to allow construction and setbacks. The Board of Adjustment granted the variances. Following that there was a series of litigation filed against the city and LLC by neighbors asserting the variance was improperly granted. There have been a number of discussions regarding this. Mr. Fornell, on behalf of the LLC decided it would be appropriate to donate the majority of the value of the property to the city in exchange for $300,000. The neighbors have agreed to contribute half and open space and trails has authorized half for the acquisition of the property. Their decision was unanimous. There are 3 items that need approved for completion of this for a closing between December 22 and 31. The 1st resolution is to approve the donation agreement, 140 approves the settlement agreement regarding outstanding litigation other than a quiet title over a small piece of the property based on adverse possession. This is a relatively complicated transaction involving donations that will obtain tax benefits and the use of open space and trails funds. Everyone has come together in a cooperative matter despite contentious allegations in the litigation. We feel this is in the best interest of everyone involved. Councilwoman Richards said she is very happy the neighbors have come together with Peter to work on this. Councilman Hauenstein said we have discussed this a number of times in executive session. I am very happy to see that this will allow all parties to get what they agree upon. I think this is the right outcome. We have the right results and I support this. Councilwoman Richards moved to approve Resolution #139, Series of 2019; seconded by Councilman Hauenstein. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Hauenstein moved to approve Resolution #140, Series of 2019; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. Mayor Torre moved to approve Resolution #141, Series of 2019; seconded by Councilman Hauenstein. All in favor, motion carried. RESOLUTION #143A, SERIES OF 2019 – Perpetual Deed Restriction for Centennial Rentals Mr. True said after some conversations, what we propose is resolution 143A which will amend the purchase agreement for the Centennial deed restriction. The current purchase agreement is set to require an agreed to deed restriction by this Friday or the council will need to terminate this agreement. The amendment is to extend to January 15, 2020. We felt if we extended the deadline it would give us time to work to resolve the deed restriction as best we can. There are some terms of the deed restriction we have not agreed to at this point. I want to make certain we don’t face the possibility the original purchase agreement which states the deed restriction in the original agreement is approved does not happen. The new resolution approves the amended purchase agreement extending the deadline to January 15th. 244 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 10, 2019 8 Councilman Hauenstein said all we are doing is extending until the 15th of January. Mr. True replied correct. Sam Brown, general partner of the general partner of Centennial Aspen II. We have had a very useful and thoughtful discussion since council passed the resolution to move this forward last month. The proposal today is radically different then the original one. Given time and good will I think we should be able to get there. I think we can figure this out in a couple of weeks. Mr. True said I would note as the original agreement says and the amendment says, if Mr. Brown needs to terminate they have the same right we have. Councilman Hauenstein moved to approve Resolution 143A, Series of 2019; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. At 6:50p.m. Councilwoman Richards moved to adjourn; seconded by Councilman Hauenstein. All in favor, motion carried. Linda Manning City Clerk 245