HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.regular.20210713
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL JULY 13, 2021
At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Torre called the regular meeting to order with Councilors Richards, Doyle, Mesirow,
and Hauenstein in attendance.
Mayor Torre announced that council has invited the Tibetan monks back for tonight’s meeting. They
have had two weeks here in Aspen and have made a lot of great connections and have shared blessings
of peace and hope. Mayor Torre introduced Serene Washburn and asked her to say a few words. Ms.
Washburn said they are so grateful to be here today. Everywhere they go and at every event, there are
the most warm and loving people. She said they can be contacted via www.aspentibet.com or over on
Facebook or at 970- 948-9275. Please come and visit the monastery as well.
One of the monks stated that they came to Aspen two weeks before and have had a wonderful time. He
said the people of Aspen are really hospitable and they have given many healings and talks on how to
preserve climate changes. This is very important, especially in Aspen. He said they want to spread a
message of compassion and said thank you very much for your support and for having us. The monks
presented appreciation letters to council. He said there are 1500 monks in their monastery and there is
a quantum physics center collaboration with Harvard and Emory so they can learn science and have
understanding and are very fortunate. He said they would love for council to be their guests of honor at
the monastery. They presented traditional kata prayer scarves to each council member and staff. Serene
said their last event is tonight at the Red Brick for a group prayer healing at 7:00 p.m. and tomorrow at
noon they will be on the mountain top in the meadow saying prayers to bring more rain and snow.
PUBLIC COMMENT:
Mike Triplett – Mr. Triplett said he lives at 627 W. Smuggler and before that in Basalt. In the past three
years, traffic in the west end has been a crisis. Thousands of cars pass through the west end each day.
He formed the safety group and initially got a petition signed over seven months ago. This group now
has over 25 members and represents a broad group of people who are frustrated. This is a serious safety
issue for the children and bikers of this neighborhood as well as dogs and people’s pets. There are no
traffic lights or policing. None of the cars stop at the stop signs and most speed right through. Everyone
is at risk, and he has two children. It’s up to you guys to prevent this and it has created an environmental
problem. He’s suggesting to turn this area into a pedestrian and bike ward. He would like police
presence. He’s more than happy to sit down to form a solution to this crisis and is open to ideas. He
would like to see change.
Mayor Torre said Scott Ormond was here at the last meeting. He is very aware of this an as issue and we
have asked for additional information. Mr. Triplett said they paid for a consultant to do a study and he’s
happy to share it with them. Sara Ott, City Manager, spoke with the police chief and said they’ve had
staff in the west end on a daily basis. There has been some enforcement for greater transgressions. She
said she can have Chief Linn reach out to Mr. Triplett directly.
Joyce Cohen – Ms. Cohen said she lives in Beaver Creek and has been petitioning towns about a puppy
mill ordinance. She said there are factory farms producing thousands of dogs in horrific conditions. You
folks have the ability to join 400 other towns in passing budget neutral ordinances to prohibit
purchasing animals from puppy mills.
Councilor Richards said she would like to ask Seth Sachson about this and his opinion on it.
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL JULY 13, 2021
Ms. Cohen said she’s happy to make a trip to Aspen to discuss this further. Mayor Torre asked her to
forward any additional information to council.
Mayor Torre closed public comment.
COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS:
Councilor Doyle said that he has already shared this with council, but Oakley, in Utah placed a
moratorium on any new construction projects that would tap into the city’s water system. This is only 15
miles away from Park City. Lake mead and Powell are at the lowest level in history, so the situation is
not getting better, but worse.
Councilor Richards said at the Club 20 policy meeting, they heard from Becky Mitchell, that all the states
in the river basin will institute rights to keep power generation levels up at Powell. She said John was
right to bring our attention to it. She said it was great today to have rain and hail, but the daily weather
is very different than the long going climate and trends. That’s what we should be worried about. We
depend on runoff on a constant basis to supply water for our needs.
Councilor Mesirow said he wants a download from Rachel on water issues and she said she would be
happy to share her information with him.
Councilor Hauenstein advised everyone to be careful out there. There are lots of guests in town, so take
a deep breath and relax. Protect yourself at all times. He appreciates Mike’s concerns about the west
end. We have existing children and pedestrians in this town that we need to give attention to. Riding
through town is taking your life in your own hands. He yelled at someone who almost hit some people
who were walking in front of them the other day. He advised people to just slow down.
Councilor Mesirow said he bought his first road bike today. He made an observation over this week as
he came across a couple of overflowing trash cans. The business was doing well but doesn’t have
enough employees and is a very stark reminder of the impact of our housing challenges and how it
affects our community.
Mayor Torre said he wants to remind everyone of the monks having an open healing session at the Red
Brick this evening at 7:00 p.m.
AGENDA AMENDMENTS: None.
CITY MANAGER COMMENTS:
Ms. Ott said she spoke with Seth Sachson about the puppy mill situation. She has forwarded his reply to
council after he took a look at the material presented by Joyce. She followed up on last night’s
conversation on the joint BOCC meeting. She said Nicole re-dropped the packet material into Dropbox
from the work session last night. They are holding joint and hybrid interviews for the APCHA board.
Council agreed with the joint hybrid interviews. She stated that the county is advertising for the
positions. She also addressed what is going on with I70 and Glenwood Canyon and said it is staying
closed until 9 pm. There hasn’t been another mudslide, it is just preemptive. The west Rifle exit is the
diversion for all traffic at this time. She went on to say that a few weeks ago, the city received its first
tranche of recovery dollars. She is working on preparing a work session for later this year to see how to
engage around these dollars as there are some limitations. We’ve put those funds into a fund balance
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL JULY 13, 2021
until we can have an educational session and will discuss at a CML conference in September. She said
the state ended its emergency declaration recently and we are still incurring expenses due to the
pandemic. Anytime you would like, we can put in to motion to end the emergency declaration.
Councilor Hauenstein said as long as there are resources available to us or advantages to stay in the
declaration, he’d like to stay there. Recovery takes much longer than the incident itself.
Ms. Ott said the city of Aspen to Parachute is working on a regional strategy to address common issues.
There is a second DOLA grant that was awarded so she is excited that it offers us leverage together. It’s
technical, so more facilitation work, to identify common areas. It’s a huge first step on the regional
discussion. This is something we started the pandemic with and is pretty excited to head down this
route. Last thing, a few months ago, you approved the CMP program jointly with other government
entities. We have 40 applicants between the jurisdictions, and she is excited about bringing together
professionals from local governments.
Mayor Torre asked about the joint board advertisements. She said the newspaper has been effective. He
wants to make sure that eyes are on it to put forth as city and county residents. We don’t need to
separately do it, but he wants to make sure that everyone is included. Ms. Ott said that people who live
in Snowmass are not immediately disqualified, but they do have a different housing board there.
BOARD REPORTS:
Mayor Torre said they had a lengthy discussion last night, so there is probably not much to say today.
Councilor Richards said she forgot to say earlier that the Biden administration has opened up open
enrollment to people who were on unemployment in 2021, to the Affordable Care Act to get health
insurance for the balance of 2021 for free. It’s a great introduction to people to get some very basic
health screenings done.
CONSENT CALENDAR:
Councilor Richards motioned to approve; Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote: Doyle, yes;
Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried.
NOTICE OF CALL UP: 121 West Bleeker – Sarah Yoon, Historic Preservation Planner
Ms. Yoon said this project received conceptual approval from HPC at their second hearing on May 26th.
They received approval to remove a detrimental addition which was added in the early 1990’s and
approval to construct a new addition that is set back from Bleeker Street. Setback variations were
awarded for the rear and east yards and a floor area bonus of 205 square feet was awarded. The final
design was a unanimous vote and staff is recommending council uphold the board’s decision.
Council asked clarifying questions.
Councilor Richards said she is not interested in calling up this project.
Councilor Mesirow said his blood is boiling with these projects. He’s at a 10 and said this is a horrendous
outcome for the community and the bottom level is basically a hotel. To his eyes, it’s overwhelming the
historic resource and its extremely frustrating.
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL JULY 13, 2021
Councilor Doyle said he agrees with Skippy. It’s frustrating to see this. This is the code we have, and
they’ve met all the criteria and here we are.
Councilor Hauenstein said he would like to call it up. With the size and mass and the impact that this has
on the community, he’s not inclined to give any variances on the setbacks.
Amy Simon, Planning Director, said this historic house is setting roughly in the center of the lot, so the
area where the applicant can add on is limited.
Councilor Richards said the point she comes back to is if you really want to tackle this problem, the
community should talk about a moratorium. She respects private property rights. We should think about
who we would be serving or punishing.
Councilor Mesirow tends to agree. For the sake of saying it, we are only seeing this because of a call up
opportunity, but this same thing is happening all of the time and we never see it. What we see matters.
Mayor Torre is either way on this. This starts a bigger conversation that isn’t appropriate for this project.
He’s still trying to take in the setbacks and implications. This was a unanimous vote. It’s code compliant
and returning to the community what some community says we want, which is historic preservation of
this nature. He is not sure that calling this up will get them there.
City Attorney, Jim True, said if you call this up, you have a hearing and then make recommendations.
You can’t provide direction to HPC. You only make recommendations that they can consider.
Councilor Hauenstein said that what’s allowed by the code without variations is substantial. It’s a huge
impact and it’s allowed. We’re getting a big enough home as it is. He has full respect for Sara and Amy
and the applicant, but we have to do something. It’s not right to grant variances on this size of a project.
Mr. True said he gets concerned about a desire to change the code with an application that is complying
with the code and in existence.
Councilor Hauenstein motioned to call up the project at 121. W Bleeker; Councilor Doyle seconded.
Councilor Richards said she isn’t going to support the motion but understands why others are. She’s
concerned that making this the example may not be the best way to start this process. She doesn’t want
to muddy the process. She suggests we move forward to support the ComDev staff.
Roll call vote: Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, no; Torre, yes. 4-1, motion carried.
PUBLIC HEARINGS: Ordinance #16, Series of 2021 – Aspen Center for Environmental Studies – Kevin
Rayes, City Planner
Mr. Rayes this is the second reading, and the first reading took place about a month ago. They are
planning to do a minor expansion and improve access to property by building a roundabout.
Ryan Walterscheid and Brett Lohr of Forum Phi along with Chris Lane, CEO of ACES were present. Mr.
Lohr said they are currently working with the city engineering and parks departments on the
roundabout improvements. He gave a virtual tour around the property from the roundabout to the
welcome center and Bird of Prey building. He said they are not adding any employees and just making
the current space work better. He explained the improvements and the addition of dormers. He said
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL JULY 13, 2021
there is a current schematic tree mitigation plan. They plan to restore the canopy and restore any trees
that have to be removed.
Mayor Torre asked about the visitor center and the 815 square feet addition and Mr. Lohr said that is
spread amongst two floors and will expand their workplace.
Mr. Rayes said the request for the Center for Environmental Studies is for a minor amendment and
growth management review. The property is just over 25 acres and is in the academic zone district. It is
adjacent to the Roaring Fork River and Hallam Lake. He showed a site plan with improvements on site.
Four units are employee housing. The scope of work is for the Bird of Prey building and the visitor
center, and then the roundabout. He showed a photo of the entrance looking from Puppy Smith. It feels
a bit dangerous with cars parked illegally and has a confusing entrance currently. They will construct a
roundabout to make this easier. They will avoid encroaching into the Jenny Adair wetlands. They are
working with parks and engineering to figure out the best scenario for ACES and would like council’s
blessing. He showed the conditions around the parameters of approval. The Bird of Prey building is
pretty cramped so they will be adding dormers for light and fenestration, and the visitor center is at
capacity. It’s become much more popular over time. They want to expand and showed the existing
elevations on screen. He read the conditions of approval. The language sets the guardrails for the
applicants and staff moving forward. He read a second condition regarding the wetlands. Affordable
housing is case by case basis for essential public facilities. The applicant makes the proposal based on
employees and referred to APCHA for a recommendation. The applicant believes that no new
employees will be added, and staff agrees with this assessment. There was a condition of approval
discussed at first reading requiring future audits of two and five years. If we determine that new
employees have been generated, this will come back to city council for assessment. We have
coordinated with the applicant to draft some language regarding this condition. We have discussed the
voluntary deed restrictions becoming mandatory deed restrictions. There are four buildings that provide
affordable housing and none of them have deed restrictions on file. The deed restrictions will be in
perpetuity and the applicant would work out the details with APCHA. Staff recommends approval of the
planned development project review and the growth management review.
Mr. Lohr said the applicant is amenable to this requirement for two units. Mr. Lane said they use the
other two units for people traveling from all over the world, so they appreciate the flexibility.
Councilor Richards said thank you to Chris and his team. There is good work being done here and she is
glad to see demand for the programming to expand. She applauds him for seeing the need to start
building employee housing long ago.
Mayor Torre opened the public hearing.
Mayor Torre closed the public hearing.
Councilor Mesirow asked if they would entertain an agreement that if ACES sold the property, those
properties would be deed restricted for workers upon the sell. Mr. Lane said they may have something
in play already from selling on the free market because it would go to a major conservancy or Audubon
first. Worst case scenario, it becomes a nature preserve and everything shuts down.
Councilor Richards said this is a reasonable ask.
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REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL JULY 13, 2021
Councilor Hauenstein said the workforce housing was built by the county before there was a
requirement for it, and everything we can do to lock this in is important. There seems to be no barrier to
injury. He said there are a lot of cottonwood trees where the roundabout will go, and he would like to
take the trees in the worst health and would prefer to see that alignment to get rid of the bad ones and
keep the good ones. He has no objections to this application. This is a fantastic community asset.
Mayor Torre said he is wondering about the language for the deed restrictions, and Mr. Rayes read it.
Mayor Torre suggested removing the term APCHA qualified to make it clear that this is shifting from a
voluntary to mandatory restriction. Mr. True said we do need language that would allow APCHA and the
city attorney to review the amended deed restriction prior to recordation. We also probably do not
need the last sentence.
Mr. Walterscheid asked if they could talk about the Jenny Adair language as well. Haley Guglielmo, City
Civil Engineer, said we thought this was a good opportunity to clean this up with a maintenance plan.
The city is working towards an agreement currently.
Matt Kuhn, Parks Director, said he understands and said we were in a similar boat and the intent is to
wrap up an agreement. He made a suggestion that a condition #6 would reference that a maintenance
agreement is initiated in good faith and completed prior to the grant and would give us a few more
years to buy more time for a CO, and the agreement would be recorded prior to the issuance of the
building permit. It would not hold up any permits.
Ms. Ott asked to take a five-minute recess.
Mayor Torre called for a 15-minute break at 7:10 p.m.
Mayor Torre reopened the meeting at 7:35 p.m.
Mr. Rayes said they we were able to come to an agreement. The City of Aspen and ACES shall negotiate
in good faith and shall execute a maintenance and operation agreement regarding the operations of the
Jenny Adair wetlands no later than September 1st, 2022.
Councilor Richards asked if the deed restriction language is acceptable to both parties and Mr. Rayes
said yes.
Councilor Richards motioned to approve Ordinance 16, Series of 2021; Councilor Hauenstein seconded.
Roll call vote: Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried.
Councilor Mesirow motioned to adjourn; Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote: Doyle, yes;
Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Richards, yes; Torre, yes. 5-0, motion carried.
______________________
City Clerk, Nicole Henning