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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.regular.20210309 1 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MARCH 9TH, 2021 At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Torre called the regular meeting to order with Councilors Richards, Mullins, Mesirow and Hauenstein joining via video conference. PUBLIC COMMENT: Will Hodges – Mr. Hodges congratulated Torre and Ward on their reelection. He thanked them for their work on the divestment. He thanked the finance director for his contributions. He only wants to speak up to urge council to pass a resolution to formalize an informal practice. This would be making a public statement that Aspen does not wish to invest in companies continuing to dig up and burn carbon reserves. Mayor Torre said he feels like we are doing a lot for this and is comfortable where we are going. We are taking first steps and we intend to keep moving forward. Councilor Richards thanked Will for his interest. She wants to start to find better ways to invest. It’s not just fossil fuels. When we start applying this standard, deforestation and other issues come up. Tendrils come up everywhere. Jim Stone – Mr. Stone said he is here supporting Will and divestments. He thanked Aspen for taking the deep dive and taking those first steps. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS: Councilor Mullins said there are appropriations to the ice garden coming up this year for interior upgrades. She lives across the street and she’d like to extend some upgrades to the exterior along with some type of snow guard to keep snow from sliding off and causing any damage. City Manager, Sara Ott, said that if council wants to bump this ahead for a study, they can do that to find some vendors for exterior work. Councilor Richards said this is our first regular meeting since the election. She thanked everyone who ran, and she congratulated Ward and Torre on their reelection. She congratulated John Doyle. She said she recently drove by the city shop by Castle Creek. You can tell that it’s been winter and it’s hard to keep grounds neat and clean. There will be lots of spring cleanup and this is one area that looks like it needs a good cleanup. She said it’s exciting to see the vaccine numbers increase across the state. We are also seeing the variants starting to explode. We can’t slow down now. We are going to have more visitors from Texas and other places over March and this spring. Councilor Hauenstein said congratulations to all and thanked the city clerk’s office and said they did a great job. His issue is with the USPS regarding ballots not reaching city hall on time and the possibility of accepting post marked ballots up to a certain point. He encouraged everyone to use the drop box instead of the postal service. This is a conversation he would like to have moving forward. Councilor Mesirow said congratulations to all candidates. Mayor Torre said congratulations to all and thank you to clerk’s office. He would like to have a work session on elections coming up and take a look at the USPS issue and discuss the election date and whether March is serving us. He wants to look at electronic voting. He would also like some 2 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MARCH 9TH, 2021 demographic information on who is voting and who’s not, etc. On pitkincounty.com, there is a survey on mountain migration sponsored by NWCOG about some of the impacts we’ve seen due to COVID, etc. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS: Ms. Ott said she just looked at the Board of Health agenda and there will be board appointments. They are done by Pitkin County and the BOCC. They do take advice from local municipalities. She encouraged them to have a brief conversation about this regarding recommendations. She introduced City Attorney, Jim True, to speak on an appeal item coming to council. Mr. True said many people are interested in the 1020 E. Cooper Avenue decision and HPC appeal. There will not be additional evidence presented at this hearing on April 9th at 4:00 p.m. He advised council not to read any new public comment received and to avoid any conversations with people out in public. He said any new public comments received via email should be forwarded to himself and the city clerk. Mr. True also mentioned that Resolution #028, Series of 2021 will be pulled from the consent calendar and it will be brought back once the issue has been resolved. BOARD REPORTS: Councilor Mesirow said he had APCHA, and they are working on resolution changes and things are starting to get checked off and they are moving forward. Mayor Torre said he had CAST last week and were addressed by the governor and state senators. He’s happy to talk about items with council. Councilor Richards said she feels it’s important to have our mayor on the Board of Health to represent us. She’s happy to see Ann continue as our alternate as well. CONSENT CALENDAR: Councilor Mullins pulled Resolutions #025, #027 and #029. Councilor Hauenstein pulled Resolution #030. Resolution #025, Series of 2021: Councilor Mullins said she wanted to stress again that whatever play equipment is chosen for Herron Park, that it be subtle colors and earth tones as opposed to bright colors. Material and color is really important to blend in with the landscape. Michael Tunte, Parks Department, said this has been an exhaustive process. There were 15 submissions, and we unanimously chose Earthscape. The use of wood as the primary material was key and we selected them to do a custom design with us. It was important that they understand what our values are in Aspen and what our local inspiration is. It’s a process we kicked off a month ago on community voice, with a pretty solid outreach program. Resolution #027, Series of 2021: Councilor Mullins asked Chris Everson to run through the reason for the increase of insurance coverage. 3 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MARCH 9TH, 2021 Mr. Everson said the city is not being singled out or unique in anyway, but this is the state of the insurance industry where condos are concerned. Resolution #029, Series of 2021 Councilor Mullins asked for a summary from Pete Strecker. Mr. Strecker summarized, and no further questions were asked. Resolution #030, Series of 2021 Councilor Hauenstein said he supports, but asked Pete to address it quickly. Mr. Strecker said the first-year cost is for implementation and it will be a unit-based pricing method moving forward. Councilor Mullins motioned to approve the consent calendar, Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. FIRST READING OF ORDINANCE #03, SERIES OF 2021 - 314 West Main Street – Establishment of Transferable Development Rights – Sarah Yoon, Historic Preservation Planner Ms. Yoon introduced the item. Councilor Richards asked that Ms. Yoon give an overview next time on the city TDR program. Where are the landing locations, rights, etc. Councilor Hauenstein asked if the property has been moved on the lot. Sara said the carriage house is in its historic location. He’d like discussion of the 500 sq ft bonus. Phillip Supino, Community Development Director, interjected that the 500 sq ft bonus was awarded to the Smith Elijah house, which is the adjacent property and of no relationship. Councilor Mullins motioned to read, Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. City Clerk, Nicole Henning, read Ordinance #03, Series of 2021. Councilor Hauenstein motioned to approve Ordinance #03, Series of 2021, Councilor Richards seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. FIRST READING OF ORDINANCE #04, SERIES OF 2021 – Establishment of Transferable Development Rights for 212 N. Monarch Street – Michelle Bonfils – Thibeault Ms. Bonfils-Thibeault introduced the item. Councilor Mesirow motioned to read Ordinance #04, Series of 2021, Councilor Mullins seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. Councilor Richards motioned to approve Ordinance #04, Series of 2021, Councilor Hauenstein seconded. 4 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MARCH 9TH, 2021 Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. ACTION ITEMS: ACRA Fund Balance Repayment Terms – Sara Ott Ms. Ott said this is regarding forgiveness and repayment of $200,000 general fund advance given to ACRA in 2020. This is an attempt to find some middle ground and hope that it meets council expectations. Councilor Hauenstein is very pleased with ACRA and he is happy with any accommodation that is made to make a compromise. He is appreciative of all the work ACRA has done during the pandemic. Councilor Mullins, like Ward, said she is appreciative of ACRA. She supported total forgiveness of the debt, originally, but she can support this as well. Councilor Richards will support the proposal as is. She pointed out that the city borrowed from ourselves to support the community for COVID relief and we need to repay the Wheeler Fund so we must be watchful of the dollars that we loan out to others as well. She thinks this is fair right now and appreciates ACRA as well. Councilor Mesirow said he is supportive of this compromise. He appreciates everything ACRA has done. Mayor Torre said that Eliza and her team did a great job in recovery efforts. Councilor Mullins motioned to accept the proposal; Councilor Richards seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. BOARD REPORTS: Councilor Mullins said she had RFTA, Reudi Water and Power Authority, CML and Housing Stability Coalition. Mayor Torre asked if RFTA is increasing capacity and Councilor Mullins said they are at 50% and she hasn’t heard that it will be increasing. She said ridership is up, however, which is great. Councilor Richards said that Ann is greatly respected with the CML group. She said Tara Nelson sent out an email today with all the upcoming bills and she thanked her for being on top of things and monitoring that. She thanked Skippy for doing testimony on Thursday. Mayor Torre said this Friday is a food distribution meeting held with the county. He’s going to send her some information so she can listen in as well. Councilor Mesirow spoke about psychedelic assisted therapy to help combat our mental health crisis here in the valley. Denver is utilizing this type of therapy as well as Oregon and California. He would like to bring this here to the valley and he is not asking for the city to be involved in any way. The next step would be to hold a work session and have some individuals from Denver to come speak with us and help guide us. Councilor Richards said this is reasonable and is supportive of a work session. Councilor Mullins said she is supportive of looking into this further. She would like to weigh the testimony of the professionals. 5 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL MARCH 9TH, 2021 Councilor Hauenstein said he has watched a 60 Minutes episode on how this is helpful. He is supportive of a work session and agrees that the medical community should weigh in on this as well. Councilor Richards said she had Club 20. She was on with the Executive Committee regarding the Colorado Outdoor Restoration Act. Mayor Torre said he had CAST and there were some great meetings. Councilor Hauenstein said he has CCLC coming to discuss the Saturday Market. _______________________________ City Clerk, Nicole Henning