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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20160125Regular Meeting Aspen City Council January 25, 2016 1 CITIZEN COMMENTS ............................................................................................................................... 2 COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS ............................................................................................................ 2 CONSENT CALENDAR ............................................................................................................................. 3 Resolution #5, Series of 2016 – Additional Design Services for Burlingame Ranch Phase II single Family Homes #1-4 ....................................................................................................................................... 3 Minutes – January 11, 2016 .................................................................................................................. 3 ORDINANCE #1, SERIES OF 2016 – Hotel Jerome – Planned Development ........................................... 4 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council January 25, 2016 2 At 5:00 pm Mayor Skadron called the regular meeting to order with Councilmembers Frisch, Mullins, Daily and Myrin present. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Freddie Wyatt, Munch & CO, event producer for the cannabis industry and for the X games cannabis events asked the Council to look at a private cannabis club for Aspen. It would need to be regulated on site private and a safe place for Aspen. People can buy but they are not allowed to recreate on the streets, mountains or hotel rooms. It could dove tail into the special events and private consumption sections for cannabis use in the crowds. It is here and not going anywhere. Denver has reopened this. Mayor Skadron asked if this is happening anywhere else. Mr. Wyatt said they are based in Washing DC and have been asked to look at this there as well as in Las Vegas. He would like to do it here as a juice/coffee bar. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS Councilwoman Mullins said spill the beans is happening again. It is productive when there are enough people for a good discussion. It will be Tuesdays from 3 to 4. Look for the ads in the paper. It is a nice way to talk to Councilmembers. She said she would like Council with Staff to discuss the pros and cons of changing the charter so Council can have some input on the hiring of the community development director. Anything we do now will not have an effect on the current hiring process but would be something that would be voted on in November. In thinking about the Staff members that have the most impact on the community we might consider the same thing for the Chief of Police. She suggested a work session about the pros and cons and possible ballot question. Councilman Daily stated he supports Councilwoman Mullins idea of a work session. Councilman Myrin said last week was gay ski week and was fantastic. It is put on by Aspen Out, a local volunteer organization. This year’s numbers were up twice from last year. There was a media sponsor through Logo TV that begins airing on the 28th. All the money raised goes to non-profits with some to local scholarships. Next year is the 40th year. If there is a way at a work session to include public comment live on line during meetings from people watching at home it would be interesting to find out how other municipalities do that or if there is a model to work with. Councilman Frisch gave a hats off to Aspen Hall of Fame and Helen, the Anderson Brothers and Boogie for their contributions. 39 years is a long time for any event and it is a great way to kick off the year with ski week. Regarding the marijuana clubs, the last time this was discussed at the moment there weren’t any other municipalities in Colorado that had these types of clubs. The suggestion was we were not going to be a leader. It would be interesting to know what Mayor Hancock is doing but he is not opposed to discussing the issue. Jim True, city attorney, said we do have zoning against private clubs. Use of marijuana in public is prohibited by the constitution. This is where the definition of private club becomes a problem. The state is grappling with the issue. There is legislation being proposed and we are not sure how that will address the constitution problem. There is also discussion about amending the constitution to address this issue because the whole state is grappling with this issue. He is not sure what Denver has done. We are in the same place that it is a problem throughout the state that other communities are looking at. I think it would take an amendment to the constitution Regular Meeting Aspen City Council January 25, 2016 3 and it may happen in November. Councilman Frisch said he is open minded to the discussion to a non-alcoholic venue in time. Mayor Skadron gave a thanks to ACRA for a successful Winterskol and the team at Aspen Out for a successful gay ski week. He gave a heads up that X games starts on Thursday. CONSENT CALENDAR Resolution #5 – design services for Burlingame Councilwoman Mullins asked how many single family homes. Chris Everson, asset, replied four. She asked for the total construction cost. Mr. Everson said it is yet unknown since they plan on going out to bid this April. They will come back in May for a discussion on the total cost per home, what income levels to serve, potential subsidies and what sales process to use. At last check with the housing office there were 20 to 30 interested parties in the homes. Subsidies may affect the lottery process. Councilwoman Mullins said the fee seems high. Are you satisfied it is in line? Mr. Everson said it has gone up. Based on his estimates the increase in design costs did bump the design fess from 7 to 11 percent of construction costs. It includes architecture plus civil engineering, draining, retaining, landscape, irrigation and mechanical. Councilman Myrin asked what were the unacceptable impacts for the neighborhood mentioned in the memo. Mr. Everson said the improvements in 2015 included new public parks and the expansion of BG phase I parking. Part of the phase 2 approval was a requirement to increase parking. That work is now complete. Trying to construct these homes while doing the parking and parks it became clear that work was not going to happen at the same time. Councilman Myrin said there are a bunch of consultants for sound and other things but nothing that speaks to heat tape and leaks like we are dealing with at Centennial. Is there someone who looks at that? Mr. Everson said the budget includes 11 percent as design fees. The budget is based on using 22 percent of construction costs for soft costs. The other 11 percent is QA services like you are talking about. We will get reports from those third parties to make sure builders are building to spec. Councilman Myrin said more important is to make sure spec addresses those issues. Mr. Everson stated the architect is the same that was used for all the BG phase 2 buildings. We want a tight building enclosure and pay attention to snow shedding and sun angles. Those are held over from the previous work that was done. Councilman Daily said the memo talks about the designs were taken to the HOA and they said they would rather see a stricter adherence to the affordable housing guidelines. Where do the designs differ from those? Mr. Everson said in the 2010 to 11 timeframe we worked on the design process and at the time we believed we could gain efficiencies by working on our own. The ordinance allowed for the duplexes and was crafted in a way that allowed for the duplexes but created conflict because it said they should conform to the HOA design guidelines for Burlingame ranch. Last summer we came to you to talk about that conflict. We went back to the HOA and their preference was to avoid the duplex all together. Councilman Daily asked if the new design does that. Mr. Everson replied yes.  Resolution #5, Series of 2016 – Additional Design Services for Burlingame Ranch Phase II single Family Homes #1-4  Minutes – January 11, 2016 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council January 25, 2016 4 Councilwoman Mullins moved to adopt the consent calendar; seconded by Councilman Daily. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #1, SERIES OF 2016 – Hotel Jerome – Planned Development Councilman Myrin recused himself because he received a notice of mailing. Councilman Daily said for the record last spring/summer his firm assisted the current owner of the Hotel Jerome in purchasing the Jerome. Since that time the firm has done no work. Holland & Hart and he have no current or recent involvement in this property. They don’t owe us any fees. We have a clean record. I don’t feel we have at present any professional relationship that would be impaired in any way by me voting on this application. Justin Barker, community development, said this proposal includes two properties, the Hotel Jerome and former Aspen Times. Both are zoned commercial core and designated historic. The Jerome property also includes a planned development overlay. The hotel currently contains 93 units and 93 keys. The former Times building is currently vacant commercial space. The proposed project includes merging the properties into one lot, a request for the City to vacate 56 feet of the existing alley, demolition and redevelopment of the rear portion of the Times, redevelopment of the courtyard, and reconfiguration of the amenities and some hotel rooms. The proposal adds five lodge units and nine keys. The original proposal included a fourth floor but has since been removed. The required reviews include conceptual design reviews, demolition, planned development project review, subdivision and growth management. The project would require two planned development variations from the commercial core dimensional requirements. The first is for the first floor minimum floor height for the Aspen Times building as well as the new lodge construction in order to reduce the overall height of the development. The second variation would be from the average lodge unit size in order to increase the allowable FAR for the lodge uses. This would not affect the overall allowable floor area for the property. The applicant has requested for this to be a combined review and have HPC serve as a recommending body on all conceptual level reviews and have City Council be the decision making body on these reviews. Staff recommendation is for approval on first reading and to schedule second reading for February 22. Councilwoman Mullins said this is an important project in town and a complicated application. She would like clarifications on a few things. She would like more information on the historic resource including how much is original. The memo says only 30 percent will be left. How much is the late 1880’s building. The references to the alley vacation were not clear if they are asking the City for it. How much land is being requested from the City and are easements needed. The Jerome already has a PD, she asked for discussion on why the subdivision process and the benefit of the Times coming in under that umbrella. In reference to the change in floor height, reassert you are keeping the original floor to ceiling height in the historic building and that is why it is non-conforming. The lodge unit density and using the FAR for 500 square foot or less but the units average 590 square feet. Are all the units 590 or is there one big one that is skewing the average. What is the public amenity exactly. Is it limited access and does it qualify. She asked for better illustrations of options A and B and why did HPC recommend one over the other and Staff reasons. She asked for clarification on the entry and drop off and better illustrations off the drop off design. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council January 25, 2016 5 Councilman Frisch said the average lodge unit size is going up but the existing rooms are staying and that is spreading the average up. Mr. Barker said the majority will remain untouched but two units will be expanded. Councilman Frisch said the code says over 500 it’s .5 then jumps up to 2.5. Is that something that is recent. Mr. Barker stated he is not sure but will include it for second reading. Councilman Frisch said for someone who walks towards it what does it look like now and what will it look like at the end from a non-technical aspect. He said he wants to see good representations of what we will see. Mayor Skadron had the same question about the average lodge unit size and the ratio, how did we get from .5 to 2.5. He asked to go through the nine keys and will they ever be used or is it a design feature to deliver four larger rooms. What is the effect on average lodge unit size if you are here asking for four 2,500 square foot rooms or that number subdivided by the nine keys available for each room. The existing partial vacation is not the justification for the total vacation, is it? Sunny Vann, representing the applicant, said the majority of the alley was previously vacated and portions of the hotel sit on it. The alley currently dead ends behind the Aspen Times building. They are requesting a vacation of a small piece that goes behind the Aspen Times, retaining the portion behind Carl’s. It allows for a substantial improvement to the courtyard and to separate the addition to the historic Aspen Times building. Councilman Frisch moved to read Ordinance #1, Series of 2016; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE NO. 1 (SERIES OF 2016) AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF ASPEN CITY COUNCIL APPROVING PLANNED DEVELOPMENT – PROJECT REVIEW APPROVAL, MAJOR SUBDIVISION APPROVAL, MAJOR DEVELOPMENT CONCEPTUAL APPROVAL, DEMOLITION, GROWTH MANAGEMENT APPROVAL, AND CONCEPTUAL COMMERCIAL DESIGN APPROVAL FOR A SITE SPECIFIC DEVELOPEMNT PLAN FOR THE HOTEL JEROME PLANNED DEVELOPMENT LOCATED ON PROERTIES COMMONLY KNOWN AS 310 & 330 E MAIN STREET (LEGALLY DESCRIBED IN EXHIBIT I TO THIS RESOLUTION), CITY OF ASPEN, PTIKIN COUNTY, COLORDO. Councilwoman Mullins moved to adopt Ordinance #1, Series of 2016 on first reading; seconded by Councilman Frisch. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Daily, yes; Frisch, yes; Mullins, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. Councilwoman Mullins moved to adjourn at 5:45 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Frisch. All in favor, motion carried. Linda Manning, City Clerk