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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.regular.20211123 1 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL NOVEMBER 23, 2021 At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Torre called the regular meeting to order with Councilors Doyle, and Hauenstein in attendance and Councilor Mesirow joining via WebEx. CITIZEN COMMENTS: Joy Stryker – Ms. Stryker thanked Council members and staff for responding to her recent email regarding STRs. She asked Council to consider one category that does not include second homeowners, timeshares, fractionals, property management companies or LLC ownerships working with companies like Vacasa. She said her and her husband are an example of an owner operator STR and that they fill a niche for affordable lodging, making up for the loss of many small hotels. She said they are not diminishing the availability of worker housing due to zoning restrictions. She asked when Council reviews future STR regulations that they consider local and full-time property owners who operate seasonal and year-to-year STRs. Mayor Torre asked Ms. Stryker about some details about what they rent in their home. Ms. Stryker answered that they rent two bedrooms and a den area with a separate entrance. Mayor Torre asked about her number of rental nights. Ms. Stryker responded that in 2019 they had 69 rentals nights. Councilor Hauenstein commented that he believed that they would be having a robust and holistic discussion on STRs for 2023 and that she didn’t need to worry about 2022. He voiced concern over large homes that have become residential lodges and their impact on the neighborhood. Councilor Doyle agreed with Councilor Hauenstein and mentioned that they are just beginning the process to look at the issue. Mike Maple – Mr. Maple said he was excited to see activity at the base of Lift 1 but would like Council to consider starting construction of the Dolinsek Gardens Park in 2022. He thought it would benefit the community to have the park built before the major construction of Lift 1 started. He then expressed disappointment in how the City communicates with its citizens. He believes that the Council meeting agendas should be published in the paper. He believes that having to go to the website to find out where a meeting is happening is inconvenient and that the website is hard to navigate. He commented on the staff memo from the last meeting regarding public outreach and its impact on support for proposals. He said that public communication is not about developing support but about gaining public input. He said that it is rare that staff reaches out to address concerns brought up at meetings. Public Comment closed. COUNCIL MEMBER COMMENTS: Councilor Hauenstein wished everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Mayor Torre referenced Mr. Maple’s comment on the timing of Dolinsek Gardens. Ms. Ott said the immediate need of the Dolinsek Gardens is to tear down the existing structure which is an unsafe structure to keep up in the community. She would be concerned about starting to develop the parkland with the extent of the construction happening at Gorsuch and Lift 1. Mr. True agreed. Mayor Torre then commented on the communication part of the printed agenda. He recalled a meeting where they talked about posting the agenda at the front door of City Hall and asked Ms. Ott if the 2 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL NOVEMBER 23, 2021 agendas are not printed in the newspaper. Ms. Ott said that Council decided to make the online posting the official posting and referenced the scheduling challenges with the newspaper’s deadlines and when the agenda is finished. She also added that it is three clicks to get to the agenda on the website and that staff would be more than happy to show someone how to navigate through the website. Mayor Torre said he would like to have the conversation about putting the agenda back in the newspaper or some other type of hard copy means. Ms. Ott said that staff has been making plans to make the agenda available to the public at the new City Hall and that they could ask the newspapers again if they would be willing to adjust their deadlines. Mayor Torre talked about and complimented a few mental health events that have occurred including one at Here House and one hosted by the Aspen Police Department. He referenced an event happening on Nov. 29th called “Aspen Together”. He wanted people to be aware that these are difficult times for a lot of people and that sometimes a simple hello can help someone get through a difficult day. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS: Ms. Ott first described the mental health event happening at the Wheeler on the 29th. This includes a “fair” style portion, a guest speaker from Mind Springs and a panel discussion. She then let Council know about a memo they would be getting for the Housing Retreat scheduled for December 6th and 7th. She then thanked the community referencing the 1200 people who live or work in Pitkin County that got vaccinated last week, including children and a significant number of boosters. She then noted several future vaccine opportunities in Pitkin County. Councilor Hauenstein pointed out that there were over 40 people at the Here House mental health event including three members of Council. He also recommended the community, even if vaccinated to exercise safety measures because of breakthrough cases. BOARD REPORTS: Councilor Hauenstein reported on the CORE board meeting. He said he feels good at where CORE is going. He commented on the amount of methane emitted by retired coal mines and the attempts being led by CORE to capture it. Councilor Doyle said the main takeaway was the financial health of CORE. He said they talked about how it is up to local leaders to come out with climate actions plans. CONSENT CALENDAR: Resolution #121, Series of 2021 – Isis Theatre Sublease / Draft minutes of Nov. 9th, 2021 Councilor Hauenstein motioned to approve the consent calendar; Councilor Mesirow seconded. Roll call vote: Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motioned carried. NOTICE OF CALL UP: 1020 E. Cooper Avenue – Amy Simon - Planning Director Ms. Simon informed Council that HPC has granted conceptual approval for 1020 East Cooper Ave. She reminded Council that it is an affordable housing credits project that involves the restoration of a historic resource and the construction of a new building behind. She reminded Council that HPC had denied this project and that Council remanded this back to HPC for reconsideration. She said what is in 3 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL NOVEMBER 23, 2021 front of Council are design review topics and not the affordable housing aspects. She then described the project as a 4-unit affordable housing development and reminded Council that after HPC had talked about this over the past year and neighborhood engagement discussions had occurred that in the end one unit had been removed for the project and the rear detached structure was lowered one story. Those changes led to the HPC approval. Councilor Doyle thought the packet was very detailed and checked a lot of boxes in the affirmative for him. Councilor Hauenstein had no desire to call this up and is happy it was approved. Mayor Torre said he had no desire to call this up, but said it made him think about the process regarding HPC approvals. He said it might be something Council should be talking to Community Development staff about, regarding what’s acceptable, what HPC is reviewing and what the parameters of development are going forward. Councilor Mesirow also had no desire to call it up and thought they ended up with a historic resource that will now respect the historic resource and house workers that we need. He questioned what we could do going forward so that more projects return an outcome like this. FIRST READINGS OF ORDINANCES: Ordinance #24 Series of 2021 – Revised Affordable Housing Mitigation Requirements for Single-Family and Duplex Development. Ben Anderson – Planner Mr. Anderson stated that they were in front of Council a few weeks ago for a policy resolution regarding this topic that was passed by a 5-0 vote. They are now back for consideration of first reading of this Ordinance. He responded to a few comments made by Mr. Maple earlier in the meeting. They did not include the Planning & Zoning discussion in the packet due to the timing of the packet review process that happened before the Planning & Zoning meeting even occurred but would talk about it in his presentation tonight. He pointed out an email exchange with Mr. Maple concerning a request for additional documentation which was presented back to Mr. Maple on the 15th of November. Mr. Anderson then showed a slide of Policy Outcomes for Land Use Code Amendments including credit for Existing Floor Area and Gross Floor Area rather than Net Floor Area. He then reviewed the criteria for the adoption of a code amendment. He then went over the Code changes that would be required to make this amendment happen including the definition of Floor Area, Growth Management administrative applications, Reconstruction Limitations and Measuring Floor Area. He then reminded Council that the Land use Code allows for a deferral of the mitigation requirements for property owners “qualified as a full-time, local working resident.” The mitigation requirements would be applied in the future if the property was transferred to someone who didn’t meet that criteria. He stated that this would change the mitigation requirements, not the calculation of Allowable Floor Area and that basic development rights would remain unchanged. He then showed a slide highlighting the public process to this point including public hearings, a newspaper article, and emails to members of the development community. He talked about the Planning & Zoning recommendation for the Nov. 16th meeting. They provided a conditional recommendation in a 3-1 vote with direction to evaluate the APCHA deferral agreement and provide additional clarity throughout the code on different floor area types. He said staff recommends Council pass Ordinance No. 24, Series of 2021 on First Reading. 4 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL NOVEMBER 23, 2021 Councilor Mesirow was in full support of this and appreciated P&Z’s comments. He was in support of the mitigation requirement be set at the time of the development and if deferred that the requirement look back to the time of development if the property switches hands to a non-full-time resident. Councilor Hauenstein motioned for first reading of the Ordinance. Councilor Mesirow seconded. Roll Call vote. Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. The Deputy City Clerk read the Ordinance. Councilor Hauenstein said he would like to see notes from P&Z. He said he would like to have a discussion vetting at what rate a deferred mitigation should be at the time that it does need to be mitigated. He would like to have this discussion at second reading. He said this is a good Ordinance that starts to address pressures put on the community. Mr. Anderson said that they would come back prepared for further discussion, but the choices would be to either work on the APCHA deferral agreement or move through with the Ordinance with direction to work on it later. Councilor Doyle motioned to approve Ordinance #24 on First Reading. Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote. Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. Mayor Torre asked Councilors if they had any concerns or interest in having more of a discussion with Community Development on topics of Land Use Code matters as they related the Aspen Area Community Plan. Councilor Hauenstein said he had been giving this a lot of thought and feels there has been some distance put between where we are and what our aspirations are as expressed in the AACP. He encouraged everyone to revisit the plan. Councilors Doyle and Mesirow were in support of more discission. And had similar thoughts to Councilor Hauenstein. PUBLIC HEARINGS: Ordinance #20, Series of 2021 – 2022 Electric and Water Rates and Fees. Tyler Christoff – Director of Utilities Mr. Christoff explained that this Ordinance contains the annual updates to utility rates and fees which were reviewed by Council on October 19th at a budget work session and at First Reading of the Ordinance on November 9th. No changes had been made since those reviews. Staff is seeking Council support for this Ordinance. Mayor Torre mentioned he had been hearing from concerned citizens asking why their electric rates are going up again. He said he explained to them that we are in year four of the five-year plan, spreading the cost of service. He pointed out that what he sees is that the average or small residential customer is seeing a 1% change in their billing. He asked Mr. Christoff to speak to the purposeful change here. Mr. Christoff reiterated that average rates are going up by less than 1%. He said the utility is impacted by the same cost escalations as any other industry. He pointed out that there are rate pressures 5 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL NOVEMBER 23, 2021 especially on the electric side as the region and country make the move toward renewable energy. He said that our cost per kilowatt hour is some of the lowest in the country. Mayor Torre asked if the rate structures are reflective of making sure the necessary funds are available for future electric and water infrastructure needs. Mr. Christoff said yes that the rates not only fund the operations but their ability to reinvest in the infrastructure. Mike Maple was on WebEx and commented that it was difficult to get on the meeting. Mr. Maple said he strongly believes that public utilities should be delivered on a cost basis. He is uncomfortable with being charged dramatically more than the cost of providing utilities. Mr. Christoff said he believes Mr. Maple was referring to the surcharges under Stage 2 water shortage declaration. In tiers 3 and 4 there are surcharges that are intended to disincentivize use in those larger user groups. Councilor Doyle asked what the main factors are that contribute to our low water rates. Mr. Christoff said that what helps is the quality of our source water contributing to less treatment costs. Councilor Hauenstein moved to approve Ordinance #20. Councilor Doyle seconded. Roll call vote. Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motioned carried. Ordinance #21, Series 2021 – Fall Supplemental Andrew Kramer – Budget Manager Mr. Kramer said the total Fall supplemental request for this year is for just over 1 million dollars, including a half a million in new budget requests and then several other technical adjustments. He noted that nothing had changed since first reading. Councilor Doyle motioned to approve Ordinance #21. Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote. Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motioned carried. Ordinance #22, Series 2021 – 2022 Fee Ordinance Andrew Kramer – Budget Manager Mr. Kramer explained that the Fee Ordinance is a regularly occurring update to the fees charged for certain services and that all the fees had been covered in detail during budget presentations. He pointed out that they are requesting three amendments since the first reading. These changes do not change anything from the 2021 fee ordinance. They are not new, just things that were accidentally left out. He requested Council approve the amended version of Ordinance #22. Councilor Doyle motioned to approve Ordinance #22 as amended. Councilor Hauenstein seconded. Roll call vote. Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motioned carried. EXECUTIVE SESSION Mr. True went over the specific items of discussion: Litigation – Frontier, LLC v. City of Aspen, Case No. 2109 CV 030060 6 REGULAR MEETING ASPEN CITY COUNCIL NOVEMBER 23, 2021 Councilor Hauenstein motioned to go into executive session. Councilor Doyle seconded. Roll Call vote. Doyle, yes; Hauenstein, yes; Mesirow, yes; Torre, yes. 4-0, motion carried. ____________________ Mike Sear, Deputy City Clerk