HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19970128Asoen City Council Continued Meetin~ January 28, 1997
Mayor Bennett called the continued meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. with
Councilmembers Richards, Paulson, Waggaman, and Marolt present.
ASPEN MOUNTAIN PUD CONCEPTUAL APPROVAL
Stan Clauson, community development director, told Council the purpose of this
meeting is for an explanation of the project. Staff has forwarded P & Z's final
resolution. Clauson requested a site visit; this was scheduled for Monday, February
3 at noon. Council, the applicant, staff will meet at the south side of Silver Circle
Ice rink, tour the Grand Aspen site and then the Top of Mill site. Council also
scheduled a special joint meeting with P & Z for Monday, March 3 at 5 p.m. Staff
will have a memorandum summarizing the issues emerging from P & Z review.
Clauson told Council in September, P & Z recommended approval of the conceptual
PUD for lot 5 with conditions and recommended denial of conceptual approval for
lot 3. Clauson said this is step 2 of a 4-step process.
John Sarpa, representing Savanah Limited Partnership, said this project has a long
history and many things have been discussed, agreed upon, negotiated, and
analyzed. Sarpa said the challenge is how to integrate those agreements with the
present community and land use codes.
Sarpa told Council Savanah is the largest taxpayer in the community based on the
assessed values. Savanah was very involved in the Aspen Meadows. Savanah
made donations of about 40 acres of land to insure the long term viability of non-
profit institutes at the expense of a lot of money and development Savanah might
have otherwise had. Savanah decided to provide those institutions with ownership
of their land and take a modest development because they knew there were other
issues in the fitture. Savanah has tried to be a giving part of the community since
then and take the community' s interests at heart. Sarpa said this is the last piece of
a very complex PUD process.
Sarpa reminded Council in 1983, John Roberts bought about 12 acres in 5 lots from
Hans Cantrup. These lots were the Ritz Carlton site, lot 1; Summit Place, 3
residential condominiums lot 2; Top of Mill, lot 3; Galena Place, 4 residential units,
lot 5; and the Grand Aspen site, lot 5. Lot 5 used to cover the ice rink, which was
spun off into lot 6. Roberts went through the city process and in May 1985 received
approval for the Aspen Mountain PUD. Roberts received approval for 447 lodge
units and 54 residential units. The lodge units were split between lots 1 and 5.
Roberts had approval for 33 units on the Top of Mill site.
Asoen City Council Continued Meetin~ January 28, 1997
In August 1987, Savanah purchased these properties and started meeting with the
city both to extend the approvals and get their own approvals. The first amended
PUD was adopted in 1988. This went to the electorate and was finally ratified by
the voters in February 1990. This election question was the entire Aspen Mountain
PUD, not just the Ritz.
Sarpa said the result of Savanah's acquisition was a smaller development with fewer
units. The lodge units were reduced from 447 to 342 units. The PUD states there
will be no more than 342 hotel units split between the Ritz and Grand Aspen sites;
specifically no more than 292 hotel rooms for the Ritz site and no more than 50 for
the Grand Aspen site. The Ritz actually contains 257 hotel rooms.
Sarpa reminded Council the ice rink parcel became a key factor in the negotiations
with the city. This parcel was zoned commercial and LTR and was a very valuable
block. Savanah felt in order to preserve what was trying to be done with the Ritz
and the residential units, they were willing to put an ice rink on that lot rather than
some type of development. Savanah felt that the residential units would be as
important to them as the hotel sites. Sarpa said there was not a reduction in the
number of residential units; 54 units remain constant and is comprised of 33 units on
lot 3 and 14 units on top of the Ritz. Savanah agreed in order to make the Ritz
building shorter and to reduce the mass, they would drop these 14 units off the
building and transfer these to lot 5. Sarpa reiterated their approvals are for 342 hotel
units and no more than 47 residential for a total of 389 units.
Sarpa said this proposal is 304 units; 257 at the Ritz and 47 residential. The
applicant is not proposing to build any of the 50 hotel units. Sarpa said any
combination of hotel and residential would make a more dense building because of
the things one needs to support hotel units. Sarpa said the applicants have done
everything they can to minimize this project and to spend time and effort to reduce
the project to fit within the surrounding community. Sarpa reiterated the residential
units are an integral part of all the previous discussions with the city.
Sunny Vann, representing the applicant, presented the affidavit of public hearing
notice and posting of the signs. Vann told Council all the drawings have been
labeled with exhibit numbers. The applicant will retain the colored renderings and
will supply staff with black and white drawings with exhibit numbers to be retained
through the process. Vann told Council the application contains comparisons of the
Roberts and Savanah approvals, room and unit counts.
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Asoen City Council Continued Meetin~ January 28, 1997
Vann showed lot 5 with the surrounding blocks and their development. Lot 5
contains 86,000 square feet and includes portions of the vacated Dean street. The
site is zoned LTR. Lot 5 is relatively flat and contains little vegetation. The Dean
street right-of-way is to be subtracted from the gross land area for purposes of
computing allowable density and FAR for this site. Lot 5 currently contains the
Grand Aspen hotel with 150 units, a subgrade parking garage and some surface
parking lots. Vann pointed out an alpine trail easement on the rear portion of the
site platted with the original PUD. The applicants obtained approval to delay the
demolition of the Grand Aspen hotel until October 1998.
Vann showed lot 3, Top of Mill, with surrounding development and the Aspen
mountain ski area on the south and east.. Lot 3 is zoned LTR, R-15 and
conservation. The entire site is also mandatory PUD. Vann pointed out the Top of
Mill goes all the way to the west under the lift and includes an open space and ski
easement. Vann said the topography of the site has been altered by fill from various
other projects. The proposal is based on underlying terrain mapped at the time the
PUD plats were recorded.
There is an existing access road. Manmade improvements to this site are the Aspen
Valley Ski Club and a duplex. The PUD agreement obligates Savanah to a
replacement building on a site of the Ski Club's choosing or to make a cash-in-lieu
contribution. The Ski Club lots originally belonged to the city and were conveyed
to Roberts as part of his negotiated approval. Top of Mill is encumbered by an
open space easement on the west side of the property and was platted at the time of
the Roberts approval and two trail easements, the Aspen mountain trail easement
and the Top of Mill trail, which is a pedestrian only trail and cannot be used or
improved until the city acquires connecting trail easements to the east and west.
Vann said the 8040 greenline runs through the center of the property.
Vann noted there were extensive utility improvements made to the site as part of the
Aspen Mountain PUD and were sized to accommodate all of the development of the
PUD. Exhibit 1 is the master site plan for lots 3 and 5 of the PUD; exhibits 17 and
18 which are existing conditions maps for the Top of Mill and Grand Aspen hotel
site depicting the existing zoning and topography of the site.
Exhibits 2 and 4 are conceptual site plans for lot 5 and 3.
Vann said the parameters for this project were 47 residential units split between lots
3 and 5. The PUD agreement does not specify how many units are supposed to go
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Asoen City Council Continued Meetin~ January 28, 1997
on each lot. The basis for the 47 units was 33 units on Top of Mill that had
conceptual approval at the time the PUD agreement was executed and 14 units that
were located in the Ritz and were moved to lot 5. Vann said because Top of Mill
only had conceptual approval, the PUD talks about the final decision about the
distribution of those units being determined in the approval process. Vann told
Council Savanah decided to abandon the conceptual approval obtained by Roberts
because the 33 units did not work. Savanah is requesting conceptual approval for
lot 5 and a new conceptual approval for Top of Mill.
Another parameter is the right to develop up to 50 lodge units on lot 5. This
proposal contains no lodge units. The agreement gives the right to put up to
115,000 square feet of FAR on lot 5 and to count lot 6 for open space purposes in
the development of lot 5. The city gave a credit for the open space of the ice rink
for the development of lot 5. Sarpa told Council the 115,000 square feet of FAR is
a reduction from the Roberts approval of 150,000 square feet and this proposal is
actually 96,430 square feet on lot 5. The PUD agreement did not impose an FAR
limit on Top of Mill.
Vann said Savanah's concept is to maximize density on the lower portion or lot 5
where the base of the mountain transition is. The plan is for 30 units on lot 5 in a
multi-family configuration; the majority of which are one building adjacent to Dean
streets with some units on the rear portion of that site. There are 17 units proposed
for the Top of Mill site. Vann said these 47 units are exempt from growth
management. The majority of these units are derived from reconstruction units and
awarded as part of the prior approvals based on the demolition of existing
residential structures located throughout the PUD. The rest of the unit were
competed for within the GMP. The affordable housing requirements associated
with the GMP process were mitigated by Savanah. This proposal does not contain
any of the 50 lodge units that are part of the PUD agreement.
Vann said Dean street is proposed to become a public pedestrian parkway as part of
this application.
Vann said the Top of Mill units are clustered in buildings going up the site. The
lower portion of the site has 2 triplexes; there are 3 duplexes and 5 single family on
the top of the site. The parking on lot 5 will be in a subgrade parking garage
accessed off Mill street provided at 1 space per bedroom. Vann pointed out there
has been a code amendment for the number of parking spaces for residential units
and this will provide more parking spaces than required.
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Asoen City Council Continued Meetin~ January 28, 1997
The open space requirement on lot 5 is 25 percent excluding the vacated Dean
street. The actual open space on lot 5 is 39 percent excluding the vacated Dean
street right-of-way. Vann reminded Council the applicant is entitled to an open
space credit for the ice rink. The credit is not required in this application because
they exceed the 25 percent open space requirement.
The proposed development on lot 5 complies with all the parameters of the PUD
agreement and complies with all dimensional requirements of the underlying zone
district except for the building located adjacent to vacated Dean street. Vann
pointed out the application requests a PUD variance to vary the height above the 28
feet allowed to 43 feet in the center portion of the building. The allowable FAR for
the site is 115,000 square feet; the FAR being proposed is 96,430 square feet.
Vann said there were no limitations imposed on lot 3 as part of the PUD agreement
other than the total number of units combined with lot 5 cannot exceed 47 units.
Vann said the prior conceptual approval for 33 units obtained by John Roberts has
expired. Vann showed a rendering of this conceptual approval with an excavated
subgarage and one large building on top. Vann showed a rendering of the Top of
Mill site subdivided into 8 separate parcels to accommodate the 17 units in various
types of buildings.
Vann showed 2 open space parcels proposed for the subdivision. One will provide
a landscape buffer looking up from town; the other parcel is on the west side and
contains the ski easement. Vann said they plan to modify the boundary of this
parcel to reflect actual ski usage. Vann said the proposal requests a rezoning for a
portion of Top of Mill currently zoned R-15 to LTR. Vann explained the city
adopted land use code changes after the adoption of the PUD agreement which
would make it impossible to meet the parameters of the that agreement. The
conservation land will not be rezoned. Vann said when the 33 units were proposed,
there was no density requirement in the LTR zone, only an FAR requirement. One
could take all the land zoned LTR, come up with the FAR and put as many units as
could fit in that FAR. After the adoption of the PUD agreement, a density
requirement was imposed on the LTR zone. When this change was made, no one
realized this would affect the PUD agreement.
Two things are being proposed by Savanah to accomplish the PUD agreement; one
is a rezoning, and second is a code amendment to address what uses can be placed
in which zone districts. Vann said the applicants tried to find a way to make the
Asoen City Council Continued Meetin~ January 28, 1997
parameters of the PUD agreement fit the current regulations. The applicants have
acknowledged where it does not fit and have proposed a solution to solve the
problem.
Vann said the Top of Mill, assuming the rezoning to LTR, complies with all zone
district requirements; there are no PUD variances required for height, setbacks,
open space requirements, etc.
Vann told Council both these lots are zoned mandatory PUD, which is a 4 step
process, conceptual and final. P & Z has had conceptual review and has made their
recommendations. The PUD process is designed to allow variances in dimensional
requirements in order to come up with a better site plan. Subdivision is also
required because of splitting Top of Mill into 8 parcels and also because the city
code states the development of more than 3 residential units is by definition a
subdivision. The only thing being physically subdivided are the 8 parcels at the Top
of Mill. This is conceptual subdivision and tracks concurrently with the PUD
process. There is a rezoning for the Top of Mill; the code says this occurs with the
second phase of the PUD process.
Vann said the property is also subject to the 8040 greenline. This is P & Z only
review and this review occurs concurrent with the final subdivision process. Both
lots 3 and 5 are in the Wheeler Opera House view plane. This is subject to view
plane review by P & Z and will happen concurrent with the 8040 greenline review.
Vann said the applicants have made a case that this view plane review is to control
development in the foreground; 8040 is to control growth at the base of the
mountain. The code amendment is a two step process with review by P & Z and
Council.
P & Z has made a recommendation regarding the conceptual subdivision PUD
application. P & Z has recommended approval of lot 5 with conditions and denial
for lot 3, Top of Mill. Vann told Council staff has recommended approval of
conceptual subdivision PUD for both lots.
Vann said the original PUD covered lodge units and 54 residential units. A large
number of the lodge units were demolition and reconstruction credits, for which no
housing mitigation is required. Some units were competed for and these had
employee housing mitigation. There was an attdit done in 1995, which was required
as a condition of the Ritz Carlton approval.
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Asoen City Council Continued Meetin~ January 28, 1997
There were 54 residential units approved and ratified in the PUD agreement. 3 of
these were built in Summit Place and derived from reconstruction credit; 4 of the
units were built at Galena Place, a growth management competition; the rest are the
47 units for this review. Out of 54 units, all but 12 were reconstruction credits and
do not trigger affordable housing mitigation. The units obtained through the growth
management process required housing mitigation and this was included in the
housing mitigation for the lodge. The affordable housing solution for this PUD was
a negotiated solution and included a component of replacement housing to offset the
reconstruction credits. Both the planning office and housing office have concurred
that there is no flirther affordable housing requirement triggered by this proposal for
the 47 units.
City Attorney John Worcester asked if the easement with the Ski company has been
renegotiated. Sarpa said it has not. There is a letter in the file stating the Ski
company will agree to the easement changes if the applicant get the development
rights. Worcester asked about the 50 lodge units. Vann said the PUD agreement is
silent about these units. The agreement requires that following the receipt of final
development approval for lots 3 and 5, the PUD agreement will be amended to
reflect the parameters of that approval. The applicants have no proposal for these
units at this time.
Councilwoman Richards asked for a memorandum outlining if any of the employee
housing units were assigned to specific projects and who controls and manages the
affordable housing. Are these units available for general public or just Savanah
employees. This application does not impose any new or additional requirements on
the affordable housing previously provided.
Bill Poss, architect for the project, presented rendering
s of landscape plans, site sections, existing conditions, computer imaging and a
model of the project. The exhibits were marked as follows;
# 1 Master site plan lots 3 and 5
#2 Conceptual landscape plan, lot 5
#3 Conceptual landscape plan, lot 5
#4 Conceptual landscape plan, lot 3
#5,6,7 Site sections
#8 Sections, plans & elevations, lot 5
#9 Revised section, plans & elevations
#10 Conceptual unit plan - Dean street, lot 5
#11 Revised Conceptual unit plan - Dean street, lot 5
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Asoen City Council Continued Meetin~ January 28, 1997
# 12 Garage level plan, lot 5
#13 Plans, sections & elevations, lot 3 - parcel 1
#14 Plans, sections & elevations, lot 3 - parcel 3
#15 Plans, sections & elevations, lot 3 - parcel 7
#16 Plans, sections & elevations, lot 3 - parcel 2
#17 Existing conditions, lot 5
#18 Existing conditions, lot 3
# 19 Raberts development plan
#20 Architectural imagery
#21 Galena-Durant computer model, lot 5
#22 Rubey Park view, computer model, lot 5
#23 Paradise Bakery view, computer model, lot 5
#24 Wheeler Opera House view, computer model, lot 5
#25 3D computer imaging, lot 3
#26 3D computer imaging, lot 3
#27 3D computer imaging, lot 3
#28 3D computer imaging, lot 3
#29 Neighborhood context
$30 Model
Pass explained the changes that have developed since original submission to P & Z.
Poss said the applicants have tried to incorporate the city' s design guidelines of
street-oriented entrances, covered entry ports, porches, street facing principle
windows. Poss told Council they looked at 22 design concepts for lot 5. Lot 3 is
more of a transitional zone with more topographical changes on the site.
Poss pointed out on exhibit 20 how they used the Victorian architecture in the Dean
street building. The applicant is requesting a height variance for portions of the
building to 43 feet. Poss presented computer imaging to show the project on exhibit
24, which is the view of the site and proposed building from the Wheeler Opera
House and from the Paradise building. These computer imagings illustrate this
building will not impact the view. They also looked at the view impact from Durant
& Galena and from Rubey park. Councilwoman Richards asked the size of the
units on lot 5. Vann said they vary from 1900 to 4500 square feet.
Pass used the exhibits to show site planning, landscape planning, access, pedestrian
flow, elevations on both lots 3 and 5. Councilwoman Richards asked if the
proposed houses on lot 3 can be staked for height.
Asoen City Council Continued Meetin~ January 28, 1997
Mayor Bennett said there will be a joint meeting with the city P & Z on Monday,
March 3 at 5 p.m. More substantive issues will be considered on this date.
Richard Roth said he is not sure the statement that there are no affordable housing
requirements to be met is correct. Roth said the large size of this development
should be taken into the equation and the applicants should address affordable
housing. Mayor Bennett said Council expects an analysis from staff and from the
applicant. Councilwoman Waggaman said she would like a timeline on when these
will be built. Councilwoman Richards said she would like the square footage put on
the footprint drawings.
The property manager for Durant-Galena said they would like to see the height
poles back on the Grand Aspen site before Council does their tour so they can see
the 43 foot height from the ice rink but also from up on the mountain. Residents on
the upper streets are concerned about losing their view of town. They would also
like a computer generated view from the Durant and Fifth avenue looking across
town.
Michael Teschner entered into the record letters of August 13 and 16, 1996, from
Joseph Edwards and that portions of lot 3 should be rezoned before a development
application is considered. Councilman Paulson asked if increase in traffic is
addressed in the application. Vann said there is a traffic analysis, which has been
reviewed by the engineering department. Clauson pointed out the memorandum has
a procedure overview with the kinds of review that occur and at which stage. This
is step two of a conceptual review. Step three at P & Z contains additional reviews.
Anne Murchison said she would like clarification of the ski trail easement. Sarpa
said he has met with the parks department. The applicants have requested to vacate
the east/west traverse. The parks department has not agreed to that. The applicants
and parks department are working on a resolution. Ms. Murchison said she would
like to be able to get to Mill street from this trail. Teschner said there are legal
issues which he thinks should be solved before this goes flirther.
Councilwoman Richards moved to continue the public hearing to March 3, 1997;
seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried.
Councilwoman Richards moved to adjourn at 7:45 p.m.; seconded by Councilman
Paulson. All in favor, motion carried.
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Asoen City Council Continued Meetin~ January 28, 1997
Kathryn S. Koch, City Clerk
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