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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.regular.20200922 1 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2020 At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Torre called the regular meeting to order with Councilmembers Richards, Mesirow, Mullins and Hauenstein joining via video conference. PUBLIC COMMENT: Lee Mulcahy – Mr. Mulcahy said he is grateful for many things. He is grateful for being a sponsor for the last Lauren Bobert fundraiser and thinks she will be the next congresswoman. There was an article in the paper that stated APCHA has a new public comment policy. He said it was written by the police and forwarded to APCHA. This is concerning. He will be having his court of appeals hearing tomorrow, which will be their first actual hearing to discuss violations. He is grateful for the opportunity. Please watch the court of appeals tomorrow at 9 am. Mayor Torre said that Lee had passed on some videos earlier in the day to share. He had questions of how to handle them and is looking into it how to do it effectively moving forward. He doesn’t want to violate freedom of speech. Sarah Pletts – Ms. Pletts said she is requesting that the City of Aspen fund and create a significant permanent installation or sculpture to Janet Garwood who was devoted and dedicated to the arts and education in Aspen. She has broken down 6 main things that she did which changed people’s lives in Aspen. All of these things are still functioning, and she worked a full-time job well into her 80’s. She would like to do a permanent memorial for her to honor her and how she changed the face of the town for all. Council comments: Councilwoman Richards said she is going to be away next week on a little honeymoon and won’t make the town hall meeting Wednesday evening. Councilman Mesirow said tomorrow and on the 30th there will be open meetings to discuss what we do this winter to discuss COVID and community and with the lumberyard. Election day is also very close, so please get registered or update your registration. Mayor Torre said a big thank you to Jimmy Yeager who hosted a meeting with Pitkin County Health and for being so engaged in the conversation ranging from communication, restrictions, testing, etc. He reminded everyone of the town hall meeting tomorrow morning at 9 am. Aspencommunityvoice.com to register for this meeting. This past week, he lost a good friend. It’s another opportunity to speak to mental health and if anyone needs someone to talk to, please call the Hope Center. This year has been difficult for a lot of people and there are shoulders are out there. To Christian Dusold, rest in peace. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS: Sara Ott said she has one item regarding an email from Pete Strecker looking for feedback on running the 2020 budget workshops. There are some additional requests in the transit fund, which we will bring back in a couple of weeks. BOARD REPORTS: Councilman Hauenstein said he had a CORE meeting on Thursday and they had some good discussions, which he will give more info on later. 2 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2020 Councilwoman Richards said she got a copy of the Club 20 ballot issues and summarized for council. Councilman Mesirow said he has a board meeting today for Burlingame looking at annual budget and will give more detail later. Mayor Torre said Board of Health was last week and they reviewed enforcement issues, schools, restaurants, RFTA and moving from using the Corona Meter and now the Corona Virus Dial. We are supporting it and to move over to the state “Dial” guidelines. CONSENT CALENDAR: Councilman Mesirow motioned to approve the consent calendar, Councilwoman Mullins seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. PUBLIC HEARING: ordinance #13, Series of 2020 – Vacation Rental Business License Regulations – Phillip Supino Mr. Supino said that two weeks ago, they got this over the finish line before budget season begins. There is no formal presentation for tonight because there have been no changes between first and second readings. Mayor Torre asked what other cities are doing on this. He said that in other communities, the rental properties must have a business license. He asked if this is correct and Pete Strecker said yes, this is typical in other communities. Mayor Torre said he is advocating for that and there is a lot of pushback we’ve received on this regarding reporting. His understanding is that you would be tracking these rentals and filing taxes and breaking out taxes per unit. He’s confused on where the extra work comes in, as the tracking should already be done. Councilman Mesirow said its new and complicated. But the reality is that x and y do the same thing. The service delivered is the same. This is obviously a great step forward for the town, and we are all on the same page on 95% of this. Council discussed at length. Mayor Torre opened the public hearing. Nick Bokone – Mr. Bokone said he lives in Conifer Colorado, but he is here representing the Aspen Board of Realtors and is seeking equality. If you consider a free-standing home as a business, so are individual units. Tracy Sutton – She is here to represent REMAX Signature Vacation Rentals. She’s trying to wrap her mind around what the purpose of this is. Mayor Torre named several purposes. Ms. Sutton continued to ask questions of the Mayor and Mr. Strecker. She said they do a lot of transactions and collect sales tax and she gets concerned about the software and asked about it being “easy to upload”. She wants to know how the software functions and what it is compatible with. Mr. Strecker continued to answer her questions. Tricia McIntyre – Ms. McIntyre said she was reiterating what Skippy said about this being fair. She talked about doing batches of sales tax and breaking down each unit for Condohotels. She said it’s not fair for them to fill out all the paperwork when someone from the Gant, for instance, doesn’t have to. 3 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2020 She’s asking for fairness and being allowed to send one sales tax form in. She continued a conversation with Mayor Torre and Pete Strecker. Ed Foran – Mr. Foran said he is a resident of Aspen and broker at Douglas Elliman. He sent an email summarizing his concerns and his position. He doesn’t want to be redundant. Tracy and Tricia covered the same concerns. The conclusion they are coming to is that there are quite a few questions as to how this is supposed to work and there isn’t 100% clarity, are we sure we’re ready to pass this ordinance with this much ambiguity? He thinks more questions need to be answered. We’re standing by and would love to help. Ashley Chod – Ms. Chod asked how long it takes to receive a business license and Mr. Strecker said it doesn’t take long and that his staff can handle the load of everyone applying at once. Ms. Chod was curious if this process would take place before the busy holiday season. Ms. Chod said a lot of her concerns and comments were answered by Tracy’s conversation and she feels the same as Ed and that it seems like a lot of unknowns at this point. We should make sure it’s done right and that it doesn’t hinder businesses. Ben Wolf – Mr. Wolf said he is with Frias Properties and he is also looking for fairness. We would ask for consideration on how this language might look regarding Condohotels, etc. We aren’t all under one roof, but we are all doing the same exact thing. Exceptions should be applied to everyone doing the same work. He’d like more input on what kind of workload goes into the outreach of people who aren’t in compliance. You’re hearing from a lot of people who have been following the rules and the issue is with the folks who haven’t been. Mayor Torre said it’s a complicated process and this is step one to get into compliance. We have penalties available at our disposal. Mayor Torre closed the public hearing. He said what he has heard is encouraging. The process won’t be extremely onerous. The city has been behind on this and we need to make steps forward to catch up. Councilman Hauenstein said the question that has been asked is what do we want out of this and he wants a full picture of what the rental units are. The town is really full but lodging is down, so there are a lot of unaccounted rental units out there. It’s fair to ask someone to spend $150 a year on a business license for renting their place out. Councilman Mesirow said it’s an interesting conversation all around, and he’s generally supportive of this and suggesting to pass this with a fairness amendment. He wants to make sure that someone like Tricia is treated the same as the Gant. Councilwoman Mullins said a prominent theme tonight is fairness. We need information about the bed base and what is really going on in town, as Ward suggested. We also need to know the condition of the units and set a baseline for what the units need to be and monitor that. She said Torre was right about the software and she got a sneak peek and it’s doing things we couldn’t a year ago. It’s fascinating and she supports it. Everyone needs to have their individual licenses, in terms of fairness. Councilwoman Richards said thank you to all. We probably need to table this and do an additional second reading a couple weeks from now. She thinks that is where this is going. 4 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2020 Mayor Torre asked when tax remittance is done and Mr. Strecker said it is done at payment. He said we need to think about a start date for compliance and dealing with the holiday traffic. Mr. Strecker said this is a very proven software. We aren’t the first to take this on. His team can handle the volume of business licenses and currently do over 2000 a year. We’ve been beta testing and this software has an automated component for vacation rental. Councilman Hauenstein said he opposes a continuance. City Attorney, Jim True, said a hearing it on October 13th would be prudent and explained that it will be affecting many additional owners. Councilman Hauenstein said a continuance is proper after hearing Jim’s explanation. Councilwoman Mullins motioned to amend Ordinance #13, Series of 2020, with the deletion of the last sentence of section 3 regarding Condohotels, Councilman Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. Councilman Hauenstein motioned to continue Ordinance #13, Series of 2020, as amended, to October 13th, Councilwoman Mullins seconded. Mr. Supino mentioned that the motion was to amend section 3, but said the definition of Condohotel is in section 2. Councilwoman Mullins said she is fine leaving the definition in section two. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. Council took a fifteen minute break. PUBLIC HEARING: Ordinance #14, Series of 202- – Isis Building Debt Refinancing – Pete Strecker Mr. Strecker summarized the refinancing plan for the Isis. With approval tonight, we can close the deal on October 23rd. Mayor Torre opened the public hearing. Mayor Torre closed the public hearing. Councilwoman Richards motioned to approve Ordinance #14, Series of 2020, Councilman Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. PUBLIC HEARING: Ordinance #15, Series of 2020 – 2020 Supplemental Adjustment for APCHA and Component Unit Funds - Pete Strecker Mr. Strecker said this encompasses 1.3 million for re-appropriation of last year’s budget for Home Trek to finish the project, appropriation for a single family home acquisition and two new requests for strategic planning and outreach. Mayor Torre opened public hearing. Mayor Torre closed the public hearing. 5 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2020 Councilwoman Mullins motioned to approve Ordinance #15, Series of 2020, Councilman Mesirow seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. ACTION ITEMS: Resolution #081, Series of 2020 – Roadway for Restaurant and Retail Recovery – Pete Rice Mr. Rice said this request is to extend the summer outdoor dining for a couple of weeks in the right of way. Mayor Torre asked if this is for restaurants and retailers and Mr. Rice said yes, it’s for both unless you tell us differently. He said a lot of the retailers are starting to take down already. Mayor Torre saw the retailers were bringing in outside vendors and this is an issue for him. He also saw this past weekend there was a mobile shoe store in Galena Plaza. He is concerned about pop up retailers in Aspen. He does not feel that the retailers are using their spaces as intended and wants to know others thoughts. Councilman Mesirow said he is supportive of the extension. He felt positive about the summer activations. Councilwoman Mullins said she is looking forward to the town halls to see what people think about all the changes and what was allowed this summer. Winter is coming and the outdoor uses will diminish. She is happy to continue as suggested by staff, for two more weeks. Councilwoman Richards said she supports the extension. For her, town has started to slow down a bit. She’s not worried about a continued loss of parking over this extension period. It’s important when you have a trunk show or something and there are questions about a short term business license. She is ok with letting the experiment ride a little longer. Councilman Hauenstein said this is low impact and he’s moves to pass the resolution, Councilwoman Richards seconded. Mayor Torre said there was a condition that these retail spaces be used seven days a week for retail, and not just for the weekends, and Mr. Rice agreed that things have been a little more relaxed this summer. We are taking comments and know what’s going on and will address it. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. Councilwoman Mullins motioned to adjourn, Councilman Mesirow seconded. Roll call vote: Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Mullins, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried. ______________________ Nicole Henning, City Clerk 6 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL SEPTEMBER 22ND, 2020