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Home My WebLink Aboutminutes.council.19971014Asoen City Council Regular Meetin~ October 14, 1997 Mayor Bennett called the meeting to order at 5:05 with Councilmembers Vickery, Markalunas and Paulson present. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Janet Garwood, Aspen Snowmass Council for the Arts, noted that the Red Brick master plan is an information item. Ms. Garwood said this plan was put together with extensive work from the Council for the Arts along with the city' s recreation department and the non-profit user groups. The groups worked on this plan with what the building can mean to the community and west end in mind. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1. Mayor Bennett said the community has been shocked and saddened by the death of John Denver. Mayor Bennett extended the city' s condolences to John Denver' s family and friends. Mayor Bennett read a letter of condolence from the city of Shimakappu, noting they are sending a $1,000 contribution to the Windstar Foundation. 2. Councilman Markalunas said there is a candlelight service for John Denver at 6:30 this evening in the mall. There is also an event at the Hotel Jerome for Neighbor to Neighbor this evening. Neighbor to Neighbor is a fine organization which does wonderrid things for the community. 3. Mayor Bennett said the representatives of Aspen Meadows, Lot 5, have requested their extension of vested rights be dropped. Councilman Paulson moved to remove Ordinance #27, Series of 1997, from consideration; seconded by Councilman Markalunas. All in favor, motion carried. CONSENT CALENDAR Councilman Paulson moved to adopt the consent calendar; seconded by Councilman Markalunas. The consent calendar is: Asoen City Council Regular Meetin~ October 14, 1997 Minutes - September 8, 22, 1997 Resolution #80, 1997 - Approval of Construction Contract - Parks Maintenance Building Resolution #79, 1997 - Contract to Purchase Vacant Land 0002 Willjams Way All in favor, motion carried. RESOLUTION #81, SERIES OF 1997 - Tax Exempt Financing Reauthorization Act - Transfer of Ownership in Hunter Longhouse Project Tim Whitsitt, representing the applicant, said this is to reconvey the improvements of the Hunter Longhouse from the housing attthority to Aspen Pitkin Employee Housing Inc., a non profit organization. This transfer constitutes a reissuance of the bonds. APEH's bond counsel said this requires a public hearing to hear any concerns about the project. The comments will be forwarded to the appropriate federal attthority. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. There were no comments. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Councilman Vickery moved to adopt Resolution #81, Series of 1997; seconded by Councilman Paulson. Whitsitt told Council the housing attthority has approved the reconveyance of the bonds. These revenue bonds are supported by rents from the project. No public fitnds are dedicated to these bonds. Whitsitt pointed out this is one of the cheapest category 3 project in the city. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #35, SERIES OF 1997 - Code Amendment, Farmers' Market Mitch Haas, community development department, reminded Council their concerns at the first reading were that they would like a simpler, streamlined process for farmers' markets, and not a costly process. Staff recommends amending Section 15.04.350, Vending on Public Parks and Rights-of-Way, to have a process which would streamline the application and bring it to a vending agreement with Council after a public hearing before Council. This would be more simple than a conditional 2 Asoen City Council Regular Meetin~ October 14, 1997 use and allows more flexibility for sites. There would still be a public hearing, referral comments, and conditions on the agreement. Haas recommended adopting the conditional use amendment and also having the staff drab an amendment to the vending section of the code. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. There were no comments. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Councilman Paulson moved to adopt Ordinance #35, Series of 1997, on second reading; seconded by Councilman Markalunas. Mayor Bennett said he likes the vending agreement approach. Mayor Bennett noted Council has reaffirmed code and process simplification as one of their top priorities. Mayor Bennett said he would like to keep this process as simple as possible, not use every single condition outlined. Mayor Bennett said if no one applies, the city should be proactive and be the applicant and create a farmers' market as an experiment. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Paulson, yes; Vickery, yes; Markalunas, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. RESOLUTION #78, SERIES OF 1997 - Barbee Annexation John Worcester, city attorney, reminded Council they earlier passed a resolution stating this land was eligible for annexation. Worcester showed Council where this parcel is located. This parcel is part of a larger application for an affordable housing project. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. City Clerk Kathryn Koch reported the notifications are in order. Stan Clauson, community development director, told Council this land does have 1/6 contiguity and it is practical to extend urban services to this parcel. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Councilman Paulson asked if this would cause a problem in pmting the Nordic trail on the Midland right-of-way. Sunny Vann, representing the applicant, told Council the property does not include the Midland right-of-way. There is a trail on the 3 Asoen City Council Regular Meetin~ October 14, 1997 Midland right-of-way. The right-of-way separates this property from the city-owned Koch park. Vann said the trail can be discussed during the land use review of the parcel. Vann noted this parcel is currently both in the city and the county and it is necessary to bring it into the city in order to go through city review for an affordable housing project. The property will be zoned AH and conservation. The conservation portion will be dedication to open space. Councilman Vickery moved to adopt Resolution #78, Series of 1997; seconded by Councilman Paulson. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #36, SERIES OF 1997 - Bell Mountain Lodge Extension of GMQS and Vested Rights Mitch Haas, community development department, told Council this is another request for a 6 month extension of the 1993 lodge GMQS allocation and vested rights. The applicant is also requesting a waiver of the land use fees. This would extend the expiration date to February 1999. Haas told Council the applicant has been granted 5 extensions. Approving this extension will allow time for flirther exploration of the Independence Pass Plaza project with jeopardizing the applicant' s redevelopment approvals. The application has been working with the city for 3-1/2 years. Haas said there is a community benefit in giving an extension to allow flirther study of the Independence Pass Plaza. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. Stan Clauson, community development director, told Council staff and the applicants are moving forward with the Independence Pass Plaza project. There is a drab of the financial analysis. Staff plans to bring the financial and urban design findings before Council in November. Council can then decide whether to have a roundtable, an election, or what to do next. Clauson said staff hopes this will be the last extension for this project. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Councilman Paulson said he will reluctantly support this project; however, he does not want to see this project used as a precedence by other developers. Mayor Bennett said he feels this is a private project with a clear public benefit and an extension for the good of the public makes sense. Amy Margerum, city manager, reminded Council a majority of Council requested studies on the economic viability 4 Asoen City Council Regular Meetin~ October 14, 1997 and urban design. The owners of Bell Mountain Lodge are waiting for the city and the results of these studies. Councilman Vickery said he remains interested in investigating the Independence Pass Plaza project; it has value for the community in the project itself as well as the urban design principles the city is operating under. Alan Richman, representing the applicant, told Council through the GMQS allocation, the Bell Mountain lodge can build a 40 unit lodge to replace the existing lodge and include on-site affordable housing and parking. Richman said there have not been any large changes in the land use code that would affect this project since its initial approval. Councilman Vickery asked about the approval for residential units on this space through the 1996 small lodge lottery. Richman explained after the small lodge lottery was adopted, his clients submitted under both residential and commercial assuming there would be strong competition. Bell Mountain Lodge was successrid in both residential and commercial. Since the project received that allocation, Council went through rezoning of small lodges. This site was rezoned RMF, which does not allow commercial. This allocation has been returned to the city. It cannot be used on the site of the Bell Mountain Lodge. The applicants have been pursuing the residential application and submitted one in August. They will go to P & Z this month. The residential project, if approved, would work equally well if Independence Pass Plaza project is built or without that project. Richman said in 1994, the applicants and Council had extensive meetings trying to establish the parameters of this project. At that time, the city stated they would be comfortable with residential rather than lodge units at this site. Richman said residential units are a better return for the applicants and will give them the financial ability to reduce the flee market FARs on the project. In 1994, the FAR was 1.7 or 1.8 to 1 and the surrounding neighbors and Council had a problem with that FAR. The applicant can drop some of that space in exchange for putting residential units on the Bell Mountain site. Councilman Vickery asked about affordable housing units. Richman said the plan is submitted with 7 town houses and 5 ADUs. Richman said if the Bell Mountain site becomes an element of Independence Plaza, there is deed restricted category housing instead of ADUs. The ADUs will be replaced by a parking garage. Councilman Vickery questioned RMF zoning for this site and said he would rather see vertical zoning with commercial and residential. Asoen City Council Regular Meetin~ October 14, 1997 Councilman Vickery moved to adopt Ordinance #36, Series of 1997, on second reading and to waive the land use fees for the application; seconded by Councilman Markalunas. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Vickery, yes; Markalunas, yes; Paulson, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. SCHEDULE HOUSING BOARD INTERVIEWS Staff told Council they need to interview the candidates for the joint position on the housing board. Six people have been interviewed by the County Commissioners. Councilman Vickery said Council may have already interviewed some of these candidates. Council asked staff to schedule 1 or 2 interviews before the work session October 20th. Councilman Markalunas moved to go into execmive session at 6:20 p.m; seconded by Councilman Paulson. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Markalunas moved to come out of executive session at 6:45 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Paulson. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Markalunas moved to adjourn at 6:45 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Vickery. All in favor, motion carried. Kathryn S. Koch, City Clerk CITIZEN COMMENTS ..........................................................................................1 COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS .......................................................................1 CONSENT CALENDAR ........................................................................................1 Minutes - September 8, 22, 1997 .........................................................................2 Resolution #80, 1997 - Approval of Construction Contract - Parks Maintenance Building ...............................................................................................................2 Resolution #79, 1997 - Contract to Purchase Vacant Land 0002 Willjams Way...2 6 Asoen City Council Regular Meetin~ October 14, 1997 RESOLUTION #81, SERIES OF 1997 - Tax Exempt Financing Reauthorization Act - Transfer of Ownership in Hunter Longhouse Project .......................................2 ORDINANCE #35, SERIES OF 1997 - Code Amendment, Farmers' Market .........2 RESOLUTION #78, SERIES OF 1997 - Barbee Annexation ..................................3 ORDINANCE #36, SERIES OF 1997 - Bell Mountain Lodge Extension of GMQS and Vested Rights ...................................................................................................4 SCHEDULE HOUSING BOARD INTERVIEWS ..................................................6 7