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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20150316Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 16, 2015 1 CITIZEN COMMENTS AND PETITION ................................................................................................... 2 COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS ............................................................................................................ 2 BOARD REPORTS ...................................................................................................................................... 2 CONSENT CALENDAR ............................................................................................................................. 3 Resolution #31, Series of 2015 – Public Projects Code Amendment, Policy Resolution ............................. 8 Ordinance #9, Series of 2015 – Limitations of Variances Code Amendment .............................................. 8 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 16, 2015 2 At 5:00 pm Mayor Skadron called the meeting to order with Councilmembers Frisch, Mullins, Romero and Daily present CITIZEN COMMENTS AND PETITION 1. Jasmine Depocter said Bert has lots gotten a lot of traction from the petition and a lot of traction from the size of the art museum. Now may be a good time to rethink the 50,000 square foot public building. It will be awfully big. 50,000 square foot is really big. 2. Torre told the Council he would like to comment about consent items C, F and G. He also said at last Monday’s regular meeting Councilwoman Mullins commented she was in favor of the Castle Creek bridge process with engineering. She said it was 2.7 million dollars and if it didn’t work it could be reversed. He said he is concerned that it is a big expense and two Councilmembers view it as an experiment. He asked for clarity from the other Councilmembers. Councilwoman Mullins replied she is not sure she used word experiment. It is an attempt at a solution. She agreed to take more time and spend more money for a more permanent solution. After the meeting she heard from many cyclists that it needs done sooner rather than later. She does not consider it an experiment but a possible solution. If compromises are too difficult we have not made permanent changes so we can go back and reline the bridge. In the meantime it is increased safety of cyclists and the way to go. She said she stated what she thought should be done. Councilman Daily said it is a work in progress. Councilman Frisch replied his assumption is the bridge could better enhance safety for the cyclist without harming traffic. He is waiting to hear back on further studies. Mayor Skadron stated he would never treat the City budget different than his own. Torre said it has been suggested that engineering is looking at a traffic study. He suggested putting orange cones on the bridge and we will find out what the impacts are. He sent an email today about land use code changes and said to let the petition run its course. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS There were none. BOARD REPORTS 1. Councilman Romero stated at the RFTA board there continues to be deliberation and debate around the master plan and access control plan which is a vital compliance element. They are standards and specifications of the Rio Grande rail line. There are conversations with Glenwood and Carbondale and the standards do require physical requirements that might trigger public improvement projects that cross over the rail line. They are in final negotiations with the Clean Energy Collective. There is a 20 year plan for a hybrid contract with mostly solar arrays. 2. Councilman Frisch said Council met last week and lot of the members are going on spring break and Council needs to have two meetings a month. Jim True stated the charter requires two meetings a month. 3. Mayor Skadron attended the CAST meeting in Denver. They are legislative meeting with ski towns and there are 34 members. Mayor Skadron is president of CAST. The mission is to strengthen the relationship of the front range and mountain communities. Michael Berry, Fiona Arnold, Shailen Bhatt, CDOT director, and Kevin Bommer from the Colorado Municipal League were in attendance. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 16, 2015 3 CONSENT CALENDAR Resolution #30 – Contract for Virtualization Upgrades Jim Considine, IT department, told the Council they provide services including pc’s, wireless, SIRE agenda application and they are all hosted on servers. Each application typically has its own server. There are around 25 City workgroups and all have at least one application. The virtualization system hosts the servers that run the applications. In 2008 we had 40 physical servers. This brings in three physical servers that host all of those applications and soft wares. It will eliminate 35 physical devises. This will take the servers and data and replicate it to a disaster recovery site that will be located at the Red Brick. If the data center here can’t function all the applications could run out of the Red Brick. Councilwoman Mullins asked where the data center is. Mr. Considine replied here. Councilwoman Mullins asked if there is anything at the Red Brick now. Mr. Considine said three physical hosts will be repurposed there. Councilwoman Mullins asked how often will we be upgrading and can we anticipate it. Mr. Considine stated we replace the physical servers every five years. This is a replacement of what was in place five years ago. Councilwoman Mullins said there is 33,000 dollars for implementation. How many people does that include and for how long. Mr. Considine replied it is one engineer for eight to ten days. Mayor Skadron asked if it a necessary backup. Mr. Considine stated it is an insurance policy and absolutely necessary. Mayor Skadron asked if there is an alternative. Mr. Considine said we could run on the old equipment and take the risk without any backup. Mayor Skadron asked if it is the industry standard. Mr. Considine said we had it with Pitkin County. This is the best practice and virtualization has saved us lots of energy over the past five years. Most businesses operate this way these days. We now have the ability to move the backup anywhere. It is minimizing the cost associated with a disaster recovery site. Part of every new technology is to look at what can be hosted externally. This is not one of them. Mayor Skadron said we have a data center with a redundant system. Mr. Considine said it is redundant cooling. We also implemented a stand by generator. Mayor Skadron said it is a necessary back up but needs a simple explanation. Mr. Considine said the server systems we are replacing are replacements. We are upgrading to the latest operating systems. This is standard business. Councilwoman Mullins said it has to be upgraded every five years not surprising. It’s hard to see so much money going towards it but it is a shift in business. Mr. Barwick said we are creating a separate backup center. Mayor Skadron stated it is replacement of hardware that outlived its useful life and the creation of a backup system were losing with the split from the County. Resolution #27 - RLB Contract Jack Wheeler, asset, stated at the November 17 work session Council authorized the RFP for the building replacement project. There were six responses with RLP coming in at the middle of the pack. They interviewed three firms and selected RLB. Councilman Frisch said the police department is losing space. Other city departments are losing office space including engineering and it needs to add up to 50,000 unless there are other aspects. There is a lack of efficiency of current space and it needs to be laid out clearly. The problem is not understood and we need to break down what is being replaced and what is being added. He supports the project but is not sure the problem is understood. It needs more community buy in. Mr. Wheeler said they explained the problem to people who participated. Who is losing space and when. If city hall is taken out of play the square footage grows. The overall criteria grows with a renovation or move. The design team includes public outreach consultants. We understand not Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 16, 2015 4 everyone understands the problem and wants to continue dialog further. Mr. Barwick stated housing has already been moved out. The office spaces in the Yellow Brick are inappropriate with child centers upstairs. We are faced with losing all the office in down town except the Wheeler and this building. You can’t build modern offices to standards of this building. He pointed out there is no increase in the average office size in the new building. There will be more meeting rooms. The only growth in office space is 3,000 square feet for all additions of staff over the next 40 years. The rest is all public space. Councilman Frisch said the difference between replacement and expansion will be laid out. Councilman Romero said the construction manager contract is for 470,000 dollars and the proposed design contract is for 2.3 million. Would the combination of nearly 2.8 million dollars get us to the level of conceptual or building permit. Mr. Wheeler replied construction documents. Councilman Romero said it feels like a large risk commitment in the face of not a lot of strong will to get to the yes. He understands we have to advance the intelligence of options and the need to inform the community with data and concepts. It seems we would want to have milestones built in to hedge the risk. That should be brought back to Council with an exit ramp for each milestone. There needs to be an appropriate mechanism to protect the community. Mr. Wheeler said it is built in. We can terminate at any point. It is better to buy the whole package than to piecemeal. There is a specific schedule with design milestones. He cautions we need to go slow and circle back to pick up as much of the community as possible and define the problem. Councilman Frisch said we do all the studies but don’t know where the buildings are going to go. He asked if we are studying both locations. Mr. Wheeler said there are two options that Council pointed to that match what was heard from the public. The first stakeholder meetings for this phase are coming up in April. Councilman Daily asked for a sketch of what role the construction manager project services group will do. Mr. Wheeler said they will manage and compile the budget and cost controls for the long term and short term. They will ensure the payments are consistent with the services. They will write memos to Council and be involved with public outreach. The first step will be overall program level budgets with ancillary costs. Councilwoman Mullins stated she does not want the public to think we made assumptions that have not come from a consensus. She objects to calling this a building replacement project. It is more talking about utilization of the buildings we have than building replacement. We are not building something new just to build something new. She agrees that we need to have milestones for Council and the public with a decent exit strategy. She would rather the process take longer than shorter. As far as the role of RLB she asked what is the scope of work, cost estimating, public outreach. Rob Taylor, RLB, said they are trying to put their arms around the entire project. There are miscellaneous sub-contractors to manage. Getting the right team in place and monitoring of them. Cost estimating is a key component and so is public outreach. Mr. Wheeler said it is cost containment and keep track of what the systems are costing. They are also helping with sustainability efforts. Validate what the design team comes back with. Keep everyone on the same page all the time including accountability of the team. It is not an extension of staff. Councilwoman Mullins pointed out page 155 of the packet has a picture of art museum. She is not sure if it’s in there as a good example or bad example but would steer clear of it. Torre stated he met with Jack and Jeff last week. He thinks the public is not aware as we would want them to be. This is another example of his concern of the city’s dollars. This process has gone quickly. Council narrowed it down to two options and hired a project manager and architect firm. Is Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 16, 2015 5 there directive to take both options to construction drawings. The schedule is super aggressive. Two options were chosen, option one is most intensive and burdensome to go through and is literally making city hall bigger. Option four proposes that police is the furthest away it could be from the actual police campus. He proposed option two. His concern is about the contract. RLB is 470,000 dollars for a 20 month period. He believes this is an extension of city hall. It is worthy of three or four FTE’s. It is premature right now. The Cunniffe contract is 2.2 million. Is he working two different options to construction drawings. How can we be moving forward when we have not picked an option. Mayor Skadron said we are dealing with the realities of the marketplace and swiftly changing market. There are pressures of the police department also. We are under a burdensome deadline. Scott Miller, asset, said the RLB contract and the scope of work as is more commonly called an owners rep. When Burlingame one was completed they decided all large projects would have an owners rep to keep everyone accountable and financially accountable. Mr. Wheeler said they didn’t start with four options. They listened to the needs and space analysis for the City. It is a through process tied to a Council top 10 goal. They found deficiencies that needed addressed and some were brought on by lost space including the loss of police and building, engineering, city manager and canary space. They looked at our assets and how are we going to solve the problem. The four options came out of need. It was vetted by Council, staff and the public. It seemed like two options met the needs with currently held assets with goals formed along the way. The direction from Council is to put police at 540 Main. The County is building a new public safety building behind the courthouse annex. It made sense to put police there. The RFP for design and construction manager as advisor were very specific. The first milestone is to take options one and four to conceptual level design and cost programing to make an informed decision as a community for what is best. Charles Cuniffee said the two concepts with pricing first and community feedback will come first before Council choses an option. The contract is 12 firms working in collaboration. There will be an excess of 30,000 man hours involved in the next few years. The sense of urgency is from police and where are they going. It is not building replacement but space relocation. This is a 50 year outlook not just a fix for today. We need to act as good stewards for this town’s fate. Torre stated option four does not represent police going to 540 Main. Does the ancillary building next to Mill Street still stay. In option four and one it says “assumes reuses of armory for public benefit” and not sure what that means. A lot of this is employee generation and where does the City see that in 50 years. LEEDS certification is part of the contract. There is a lot of talk these days if that is necessary or just build to those standards and may want to look at that for going forward. More public vetting is appropriate. The space needs are there. Less is more, small is good. Mayor Skadron said it is the best way for accurate pricing and through community feed back to prepare the two options. Mr. Cunniffe said we have to study what the options mean. The work is necessary to make intelligent next decisions. Mr. Barwick said there are options four A and four B. Four B puts the police on Zupancis. Mayor Skadron said we are responding to market realities and attempting to solve the problem in a way that achieves program efficiencies using our own assets. Council is attempting to make an informed decision by preparing two options. It is an appropriate degree of stewardship and is necessary to make intelligent decisions. Resolution #32 – Construction Contract for Galena plaza Mr. Wheeler said this is to repair the water proofing on the garage. They have been talking about since 1999. It has come to a point where it needs repaired and the work is in conjunction with the Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 16, 2015 6 library project. The library will take around 30 percent of the cost. It is just sodding the north end until further discussion on municipal offices. It also leaves the stairs for further evaluation. Councilman Romero said it is a healthy contingency given the conditions. Mr. Wheeler said the contingency is around 500,000 dollars or about 10 percent. There are unforeseen conditions in the alley. They are doing everything they can to minimize risk. There will be Mill Street closures from April 1-10. Mr. Miller said the Sanitation District is replacing the sanitary line down the alley and it ties in to the middle of Mill Street. The connection is 15 feet deep in Mill Street. Due to soil conditions there will be an open excavation for up to 10 days. April 1-10 is the Aspen Consolidated Sanitation District closure. April 6-10 CDOT is working on the signal poles and there will be closures in the turn lanes at Main Street. April 11-24 ACSD and City of Aspen partial closure of Mill. Three to four weeks after April 10 CDOT will set the poles on Main Street. There will be one way traffic in and one way traffic out. Traffic in on North Spring to Rio Grande. Parking will be eliminated. Bleeker is one way behind the Jerome and loading zone. Trucks will go down North Aspen Street. The schedule time of the closure is approximately seven days but they are saying 10 to be safe. They are asking for a variance on work hours to seven to seven Monday through Saturday. Mr. Miller stated they are rebuilding the alley and all the infrastructure will be replaced and at the same time the Sanitation District has a sewer that needs replaced. It is not a development project but a replacement and repair. Councilwoman Mullins asked is CDOT work a separate reason. Mr. Miller said it is to replace the traffic signal poles. Councilman Frisch asked if the variance for construction is part of this or separate thing. Mr. Wheeler said the city engineer will approve it. Councilman Romero asked about the public outreach plan. Mr. Wheeler said they had dialogs with businesses along the alley. They are starting the 300 foot radius outreach. They are doing everything they can to minimize the impacts. Councilman Frisch asked if this can be done in May. Mr. Wheeler said there are several things driving this including food and wine. The library has constraints and steel deliveries in April. There is additional utility work in May. Councilman Frisch asked what are the current approved construction hours. Tyler Christoff, engineering, replied 7:30 to 5:30 Monday through Friday and 9 -5 on Saturday. Mr. Wheeler said the construction schedules are built from 7:30 to 5:30 right now. The only reason they would go into the hour and day variance is if they hit unforeseen conditions. They are asking for this as an insurance policy. Councilman Daily said it is a complex infrastructure project. Other than CDOT and San District does the PCL contract cover all the work for this project. Mr. Wheeler replied yes. Trish Aragon, city engineer, stated we have sites asking for extended hours all the time when they run into certain situations. This is not an unusual request that is approved. Jack is being proactive and we appreciate that. Councilman Frisch said he would rather they work later than start earlier. Mayor Skadron said this is significant. First is the full lane closure with the left turn down Main to Mill having both lanes closed for 10 days. He asked for sign that makes announcement starting on Wednesday. Mr. Christoff said they are working on outreach with the county for the caucus on Red Mountain. Mayor Skadron said he does not want to have one person show up to Council saying they did not know about this. CDOT is replacing the stop light towers. Work will continue to prepare the infrastructure in the alley through April 10th. Mr. Barwick said the reason for one way is semis will be using these streets. Councilman Daily asked if Spring Street can handle this traffic. Mr. Wheeler replied the road bed can. Councilman Daily asked if there is any need for temporary controls. Mr. Christoff said there will be a flagger at Spring and Main for peak hours. Mayor Skadron said we will get through this. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 16, 2015 7 Resolution #28 – Amendment to Resolution 10, Additional Vote Centers Linda Manning, city clerk, told the Council Health and Human Services in not available on election day or the potential run off day. The available vote center options include The Aspen Chapel, Cross Roads Community Church, Aspen Jewish Community Center, the Red Brick and the Truscott meeting room. Truscott is not ADA accessible and Staff does not recommend it. Councilman Frisch said for this transition year having one or two vote centers would be helpful. Councilman Romero said he is ok with adding a second vote center. Mayor Skadron said his preference is the traditional way but he is good with one additional center. Torre said when we looked at HHS it saw turnout of 150 voters where the Red Brick sees between 300 and 400 voters on election day. He asked Council to consider another vote center. We could see up to 1000 voters on election day. People can register on election day and vote. You can go to any place to vote. Torre mentioned govotecolorado.com is the easiest place to register to vote. Mayor Skadron and Council agreed on the Red Brick as the additional vote center. Resolution #35 – Complete Streets Project Mr. Christoff said this is the second phase of the Mill Street complete street project. It was originally identified by Council in 2009. Currently they are looking to proceed with phase two improvements from Rio Grande Place to Puppysmith. Councilwoman Mullins asked about the funding allocated. There was 698,000 dollars in 2015 and the total is still 698,000 and she asked why. Mr. Christoff said he would clarify it. Torre commented he is concerned with the design elements. His biggest concern is the center median and whether it is grass or raised concrete. There was a long discussion at Council about medians on Main Street. He also has concerns with the edge grass areas and irrigation. He stated his reason for concern is what happened at Gondola plaza. The design there was afoul of what the conversation was and questioned the end product. It is Councils obligation and responsibility to find the solution that best works for us in Aspen. He is checking in with Council to see if they did due diligence. Mr. Christoff said complete streets are a national concept. It take streets that were not specifically designed for conveyance of motorists and designs them so they are friendlier for everyone. It allows for equal and safe access for pedestrians, cyclists and cars. Staff has heard from the community about the median. They will place a temporary curb structure to try it out. If favorable feedback they would go to a more permanent solution. The landscape is irrigated and tied to the parks irrigation in Rio Grande park. Ms. Aragon said we learned from Gondola Plaza and can do and will do better at this intersection. Councilman Romero moved to adopt the consent calendar; seconded by Councilman Frisch. All in favor, motion carried. • Resolution #29, Series of 2015 – Toro Utility Cart Purchases • Resolution #30, Series of 2015 – Contract for Virtualization Upgrades • Resolution #27, Series of 2015 – RLB contract project #2014-158 Aspen Building Replacement Project – Construction Manager as Advisor • Resolution #32, Series of 2015 – Construction contract PCL for Galena Plaza project #2014-133 • Resolution #26, Series of 2015 – Design contract Charles Cunniffe Architects – Aspen Building Replacement Project #2014-157 • Resolution #28, Series of 2015 – Amendment to Resolution #10, Series of 2015 for additional vote centers Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 16, 2015 8 • Resolution #35, Series of 2015 – Mill Street Complete Street Phase II construction contract • Resolution #34, Series of 2015 – Development Review and Model Civil submittal – Contract for professional services • Board Appointments -2nd alternate for HPC and P&Z • Minutes – March 9, 2015 • Resolution #36, Series of 2015 – Concrete replacement and pedestrian improvement project • Cozy Point Ranch Historic Red Barn – History Colorado State Historic Fund award acceptance Resolution #31, Series of 2015 – Public Projects Code Amendment, Policy Resolution Justin Barker, community development, told the Council this proposed policy resolution to amend the land use code to align with state statures. The amendment will establish a review process for public entities that will be completed within the 60 day max as required by the state. Staff conducted an open house for potentially effected entities, met with P&Z and a work session with Council. If Council adopts the policy resolution, Staff will bring back the proposed ordinance. Councilwoman Mullins asked if we can actually turn around in 60 days. Mr. Barker said they can at lease render a decision. Councilwoman Mullins said the jurisdiction can overturn our decision and this is more as in good faith. Mayor Skadron opened the public comment. 1. Marcia Goshorn said this does need to be passed but if a district decides to build something they don’t need to ask. They do it to be nice. Mayor Skadron closed the public comment. Councilwoman Mullins moved to adopt Resolution #31; seconded by Councilman Daily. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Romero, yes; Frisch, yes; Daily, yes; Mullins, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. Ordinance #9, Series of 2015 – Limitations of Variances Code Amendment Jessica Garrow, community development, stated this is a code amendment that amends the code in four ways. It provides limitations on height and floor area, provides limitations for reductions on affordable housing, establishes the P&Z as BOA, and updates grammar and cleans up the code. It will limit variance requests and create clarity in the code for Council and community members. Council has reviewed this twice and has expressed some desire to have some flexibility but send the message that zoning is zoning and extra needs to be proved. Section one relates to housing mitigation and prohibits reductions in mitigation. There are two except ions for essential public facilities and Aspen Modern designations. Section two is related to heights and floor area. An applicant can only request two feet in additional height and five percent additional floor area. This puts a cap or limit on the request. Currently there is no max on height or floor area. Staff has removed the public vote provision. Section three is new review criteria. In addition to placing a cap on what can be requested through planned development Staff added two criteria the applicant needs to meet. The first is the proposed increase is necessary related to unique site condition. The second would allow Council to approve the increases if it furthers a stated community goal like affordable housing. Section four and five designate Planning and Zoning as BOA. Staff thinks the ordinance is ready and there is not much more to do without further direction. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 16, 2015 9 Councilman Frisch asked about the process an applicant goes through if they are not asking for two feet or five percent. The pushback to the up zoning is if someone wants the extra they have to spend the time and money to go to Council. Ms. Garrow said unless you need the height for a true site constraint the applicant will not voluntarily come to Council. Councilman Daily said he likes the additional review criteria staff proposed. It is healthy and balanced. It is a little additional flexibility and only when appropriate. It is healthier for Council to have a small and measured level of discretion. Shutting it all off is not good for the community. Council does not want broad unfettered authority. Council should be thoughtful governance with a small measure of discretion. Councilman Romero said section three defines two criteria that an applicant can request. For furthers stated community goals, is it staffs intent to tie back to the AACP. Ms. Garrow said it refers to the AACP and Council top 10 goals that are adopted annually. The community plan is no longer a regulatory document. Councilwoman Mullins stated she concurs with Councilman Daily. She is a little uncomfortable with the change to the BOA. There are arguments for and against the change. She is still not clear what the right decision is. Councilman Frisch said a few planners commented they don’t bother going there because they are too tough. Staff said it is easier to go through them. P&Z meets regularly and the community is better served going to a board that meets regularly and up on the code. Ms. Garrow replied it makes sense to have P&Z and HPC for historic properties. There are a lot of qualified folks on the BOA did not meet last year or this year and we are not using that board. They can become part of active boards. Councilman Frisch said nonprofessional developers who want to come and ask for an adjustment view P&Z too complicated how do we deal with this. Ms. Garrow said it is a misconception. It is the same process with either board and a better utilization of city resources. Councilman Frisch said he is ok with Staffs suggestion. Mayor Skadron said it should be removed. It clutters the specific objective of the land us code change. Mayor Skadron opened the public comment. 1. Marcia Goshorn said the land use code does need rewritten so it is understandable. If you had an addendum that allowed variances for ADA compliance or energy efficiency you wouldn’t need this. The County has a separate section of the code that deals with ADA and energy efficiency. A vent cap is counted in the height of a building. If it is a health and safety issue it should be allowed. It needs to be written clearly. She does not agree with getting rid of the BOA. It is a safety valve. Ms. Garrow stated the BOA does not review P&Z decisions. Those go to City Council. The BOA only reviews hardships not related to height and floor area. Our code has similar provision as the County for ADA and energy efficiency. 2. Torre stated that Ordinance 9 has become very restrictive. He feels like Council is tying their own hands. Someone can’t come in with an application for a variance for affordable housing mitigation. He said he thinks Council should let the referendum run its course. The Board of Adjustment only meets once or twice a year. What a great volunteer opportunity. Keep the BOA. 3. Neil Segal said the deliberative process this ordinance has taken demonstrates that the representative form of government works very well. It is fully consistent with the City charter section 3.4 which has never been amended. This Council is the governing body of the City and has the power to adopt laws and resolutions as it deems proper. It doesn’t say as the people deem proper. It has served us well for 45 years. The charter amendment like to cut that authority away. It forces Aspen to evolve to a series of votes. In the end, the phrase keep Aspen, Aspen really Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 16, 2015 10 means keeping the process that has served us well since 1970. The passage of this ordinance is important. 4. Phyllis Bronson stated she basically agrees with Ann and Art. There needs to be some discretionary aspects. She is concerned that Council needs to have discretion to a point. She is not sure this is the best way to do it only because of the timing. She is not happy with not seeing the AACP be reintroduced as an integral part of this discourse. The AACP has been dropped out. Mayor Skadron closed the public comment. Ms. Garrow said there is a deleted word on page 759 of packet. In Section two the word “no” needs added in. Mayor Skadron asked how the two feet above zoning allowance and five percent don’t become the basis of the application. Ms. Garrow said it adds additional scrutiny and review. Instead of just P&Z the applicant will come to Council for a much more lengthy and time consuming process. It only pertains to a unique site constraint or further some community goal. Mayor Skadron said this is quite complicated and he is proud of council. What you are seeing here is the most significant tightening of the land use code ever. What happened in 2003 was Council allowed heights to go bigger. All the big stuff built today came in under the old code. Previous Council rolled back those heights. Now you can only build a 28 foot tall building. This Council is taking a further step to ensure the character and built environment is appropriate, relevant that speaks to the tourist, guests and community. It is a significant tightening of the code as it relates to height, bulk and mass. Today a developer can ask for the moon. We are saying you can only ask for this much if there is a site specific constraint. Attempting to address land use codes in the charter undermines the entire principle of representative democracy. The charter is the City’s most important legal document and effects everything City government does. The charter amendment is the wrong place for land use code. It is absolutely intolerant for other views. He believes this ordinance is appropriate and he will support Staff’s recommendation with the exclusion of the BOA. Councilwoman Mullins moved to adopt Ordinance 9, Series of 2015 with amendment to Section two to add “no” and deletion of sections four and five. Seconded by Councilman Frisch. Councilman Frisch thinks the BOA is the right decision at the wrong time. At some point, relatively soon, he would like to see it brought back. Hats off to Mayor Skadron for his eloquent defense of the ordinance. He is supportive of keeping heights around 28 feet and FAR roughly the same. He would still like to see the housing discussion go away like the parking discussion. This assumes or validates we have the exact housing mitigation needed for all cases at all times. Councilman Frisch moved to strike that aspect from the ordinance. Councilman Romero appreciates that perspective, however there is lots of realization on hosing in various zone districts. Tone and tenor do matter. There have been quality decisions that reflect the greatest good for the greatest amount. He hope they have been a decent role model in exercising good discretion, well measured and well reasoned. His heart and head can get behind this. He does not support having dramatic changes appear in the charter. Councilman Daily stated he thinks housing requirements in the code are a critical component of land use policy. He does not want to leave it up to an application by application basis like parking. He would like to leave affordable housing untouched. If we want to do that do it on a broader basis. He is happy to keep the BOA and is in favor of the ordinance. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 16, 2015 11 Councilwoman Mullins said in terms of parking versus housing requirements the parking needs will change in town over the next 20 years. Housing requirements are going to continue to increase. In the next six months to a year we need to make sure to validate and reconfirm what we are asking as far as mitigation. We need to confirm we are asking for the right amount. For now it should be as stated in the ordinance. Mayor Skadron said he understands the sentiment. At this point he will concur with the rest of Council and take the lead from the AAC P. Housing is the responsibility of the entire community and we should have development that carries its own weight. Councilman Frisch appreciates housing and parking are different and a major part of the ordinance is FAR and bulk and mass. He will support staff’s recommendation but would rather have the other one and wants to have the support of the entire council table. He does believe development needs to pay its way on housing. Motion without a second dies and it goes back to the original motion. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Mullins, yes; Frishc, yes; Daily, yes; Romero, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carries. Councilman Frisch moved to adjourn at 7:40 pm; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. All in favor, motion carried. Linda Manning City Clerk