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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19861203Continued Meeting Aspen City Council December 3, 1986 Mayor Stirling called the meeting to order at 5:10 p.m. with Councilmembers Isaac, Walls, Fallin and Collins present. CONCEPTUAL SPA - Roaring Fork Railroad Tom Baker, planning office, said he has taken Council's comments and re-written the whereases and conditions 1 through 5, in the resolution and is ready to discuss the rest of the conditions in the memorandum as well as the suggestion of having the train service terminate someplace other than the Rio Grande. Baker pointed out P & Z felt the commuter option is so important that they deleted the discussion of having the train stop somewhere else entirely. Baker said the first whereas statement has been changed to elaborate on the joint review process. Council was concerned about how the process would work. Baker said at the precise level, when the applicant is presenting information, there would be joint meetings. The decision making process will be separate meetings. There is a change in the second finding, which is an elaboration of the commercial GMP issue. Sunny Vann, representing the applicant, said it has been their understanding they would identify the direct impacts as well as secondary impacts. The code provision requires an applicant to fully mitigate direct impacts. Vann said he would like a better understanding of what the staff is getting at with the inclusion of secondary impacts being mitigated. Alan Richman, planning director, said this was included at Council's suggestion. Councilman Isaac said he was not so concerned about mitigating secondary impacts as he was having them identified. Richman suggested this could be changed to "mitigating its growth impacts and identifying secondary impacts". Vann said in (d), the code provision requires this project to be scored although it is not in the criteria for exemption. Vann said he assumes the station is being scored, not the railroad. Council agreed this should read the "station component" of the application. Vann said he also assumes this would not be in competition with commercial applicants but is just seeing if this can pass the threshold. Staff agreed. Baker brought up the last sentence in condition #1 and the discus- sion about the lack of hard data that is available. Council felt this should be mentioned. Mayor Stirling said it is hard to quantify in planning terms this issue because much depends on the mode itself. Councilwoman Walls said she does not see a point of having this sentence in the resolution. Bruce Abel, RFTA said there are some places that the city can seek information about auto diversions and get some parameters on what is reasonable to expect. 1 Continued Meeting Aspen Citv Council __ December 3, 1986 Councilman Isaac moved to delete the last sentence in 1 and 2; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. All in favor, motion carried. Baker said another change in is condition #2 talking about the needed RFTA subsidy and availability of rail vehicles. Alan Blomquist suggested more employees will be housed in Aspen through the housing authority, and some kind of study of these numbers should be included in the commuter analysis. Mayor Stirling agreed with adding a clause about local housing patterns be analyzed in relation to commuter traffic. Mayor Stirling said he feels a need has been met and there probably will not be any significant housing projects in the next 5 years. Council agreed with adding this. Baker said condition #4 is new that the applicant and staff will identify what land use options will be displaced by the railroad proposal. Mayor Stirling suggested that "on the Rio Grande and related property" should be added so that this is more precise. Baker said condition #5 addresses an economic feasibility study, including an update of the status of agreements with entities outside Pitkin county. Councilwoman Fallin suggested this include Stapleton and the proposed new airport. Councilman Collins said this is going outside the realm of Council's responsibility. Council should be addressing the impacts and concerns of this area. Councilman Collins said all this other information is superfluous. Vann agreed the applicants would prefer not to address this. Vann said they do not want someone's opinions whether their market return should be a determining factor for a land use application on the Rio Grande. Vann said the applicants have to do economic work for their project and have agreed to make it available as an informational item but not be tied to how they will make the railroad work outside Pitkin county. Council agreed to leave the language in. Baker said condition #6 is about relocating the Rio Grande trail and that the snow dump and impound lot have been addressed in a different condition. Blomquist said there are two trails, a dirt trail and a paved trail. Vann said the applicants have to come up with a proposed relocation for the trail facilities currently there. Baker said condition #7 addresses the public/private cost sharing and costs of the benefit to the community. This includes compensa- tion for use of public lands, public improvements, relocations and alterations associated with the proposal, to assist the city, county, RFTA and special districts in evaluation public expenses. Baker said the staff wants to understand what is going to fall on the public in terms of costs of this proposal and what should be the responsibility of the applicant. Vann said the original proposal was this was a private/public partnership which will bring certain benefits to the community in exchange for use of certain 2 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council December 3, 1986 public facilities. Vann said this is to create a balance sheet on proposed costs, who is paying what, and what benefits accrue. Vann said this may require compensation to make this balance out. Vann said the applicants have not proposed a specific compensation. Vann said the applicants have always said they are looking for assistance from the government in the use of property for transpor- tation purposes. Vann said the applications believe they can demonstrate the benefits that will accrue balance out. Council may decide in reviewing this that the benefits do not balance out, and compensation will be required. Mayor Stirling said Council is on record indicating this is a possibility. Baker said it has been staff's understanding that there will be compensation for the use of public lands. What this entails is not known at this point. Baker said he is using compensation to mean relocating the impound lot or snow dump, for instance. Councilman Isaac said compensation could mean the commuter service. Baker said condition #8 discusses the sewer line and to prepare an engineering study of the effects of the rail system on the sewer trunk line and methods of mitigation, if any, to the satisfaction of the sanitation district. Vann said they will work with the sanitation district; however, they are not clear the relations of the sanitation district to the line, whether it is a fee simple ownership or they have easements. Mayor Stirling said the sanitation district controls the line, and this is not the city's business. Baker said condition #9 says the applicants shall work with all public and private utility companies to develop an acceptable utilities plan. Vann said this condition is fine. Condition #10 deals with the drainage plan, which shall be acceptable to the city engineer and shall be submitted as part of the precise SPA plan. Vann said he would like this condition to be specific that it relates to the plan of the railroad. Baker said condition #11 was submitted by the environmental health department dealing with noise, including a noise contour map which will illustrate the noise impacts on property throughout the city. Vann said he feels this conditions is excessively broad. Vann said he does not have a problem identifying the noise impacts on the city but the noise implications in Woody Creek are not a criteria for the approval of this land use application in the city. Vann said even if they get the land use approval for the Rio Grande, if they cannot resolve the problems outside the city's jurisdiction, they will not bring a train in. Vann requested this condition be clarified so that it addressed the noise that directly impacts the city and residential areas adjacent to the right of way. Council- man Collins suggested this state the noise contour map along the right-of-way to show effects on land uses adjacent to that right- of-way and the appropriate authority will address these. 3 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council December 3, 1986 Baker said condition (b) deals with the air pollution not only from the railroad but from other uses associated with the railroad and other uses on the Rio Grande. Steve Burstein, planning office, said condition (c) deals with water pollution hazard. Baker said condition #12 deals with the site design issue, and that the applicant will submit plans to deals with the visual impacts. Condition #13 deals with the stream margin review to deal with improvements within 100 feet of the high water line. Baker told Council condition #14 deals with the concern that P & Z had that they were not aware of all the information that required the length and number of tracks on the Rio Grande site, and that the applicant shall investigate reducing these on site. Vann said his understanding of this condition is that they are to justify their proposal as submitted. Vann explained the configura- tion is dictated by engineering concerns and also to try and maintain as much as the Rio Grande as possible for other uses. The number of tracks is dictated by the size of the train, which the applicants will have to document by economic study. Baker said condition #15 deals with employee housing issue, that the applicant will indicate how many employees will be generated and how the requirements will be addressed. Condition #16 is that the applicant shall explore the potential to share the terminal facilities with uses that are part of the Rio Grande plan, like having a bus or airline satellite facility. Condition #17 states the applicant shall submit an emergency response plan to the satisfaction of the public safety board. The public safety board has indicated they would like drawings on the entry and exit points to the vehicles that will be used. Vann said he has no problem addressing this condition as long as they are not held to standards they cannot comply with. Baker said the safety board's concern is how to access a vehicle that is in trouble. Burstein said another aspect of this condition is cutting off Mill street and the access to Red Mountain. Baker said condition #18 deals with the staff's concern about the Snowmass passenger and how they will get to Snowmass. Baker said since this condition was written, the applicant has indicated there will be buses waiting at the Rio Grande site to take the passengers to Snowmass. Staff would still like the applicant to look at optional stopping at Woody Creek and dropping off Snowmass passengers there. Baker said condition #19 deals with a potential airport shut down due to snow and transportation service to Aspen. Councilwoman Walls said this seems a silly condition; what can the applicant do other than transport passenger to Aspen who want to travel by train. Baker said the point of the condition is where the additional cars will be stored. 4 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council December 3, 1986 Baker said condition #20 addresses construction and impact. The applicant shall identify construction impacts and develop an impact plan. Baker said staff is looking for a schedule that is sensitive to the high season in Aspen. Condition #21 is that the applicant shall not represent the city as a partner in the railroad proposal. Vann said the applicants are pursuing financial partners for the project, and P & Z is concerned that they did not represent the city is a party to this as a means of attracting capital. Baker said condition #22 deals with the safety aspects along the route. Condition #23 states the applicant shall detail the fire hazard potential to landscape along the right-of-way and measures to mitigate it. Baker said this condition was put in because of what people remember about steam engines. Baker said the fire safety hazard from diesel engines is minimal. Baker said condition #24 is that the applicant shall provide commitments to and financial guarantees for completion of the project, trail realignment and any other improvements that are part of the plan. This condition also states if the Roaring Fork Railroad should abandon the project, the area should be restored to its pre-project condition or to allow the city to retain the fixed assets of the railroad. Vann said he is concerned about what "fixed assets" encompasses. Vann said he would like to see this condition written more generally and have the applicants suggest something as part of the improvements agreement. Vann said he feels it is reasonable to protect the city's interests to see the project gets completed and it is reasonable to have a provision if they cease to operate. Baker said it is staff's intention that the city have the option to have the trail replaced at the applicant's cost or to gain control over the tracks in place. Baker said there was a suggested change from P & Z, which wold break this into two conditions. The second part would read, "Should the Roaring Fork Railroad discon- tinue service between Aspen and Denver or discontinue as a business, an agreement shall provide for (1) commitments to and financial guarantees for restoration of the project area to it's pre-project condition or (2) transfer of fixed assets of the railroad to the city at the option of the Council". Baker said this would make it more clear the choice is the Council's. Vann said he would like the specifics of this negotiated as part of the development agreement. Council agreed to have this split into two conditions and to leave it in as a condition at this stage. Vann said this addresses that the applicant should have sufficient resources to complete the project, and if it fails the Council has two options. Vann said the applicant will define what constitute the assets as part of the agreement. Mayor Stirling said the ballot question talked about a period of time in which the 5 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council December 3, 1986 applicant has to perform or it reverts back to the city. Mayor Stirling asked if this should be a condition in the resolution. Baker said that is a good point and he will insert it in the resolution. Baker said condition #26 addresses the land uses at Hallam Lake and the Art Museum and the need to understand the impacts of the railroad on these uses, if there are any. Vann said the applicants will be doing a noise study, water quality, air pollution studies. From the results of these studies, the applicants will make statement on the impacts of these two land uses, which will be evaluated by staff. Baker said the Board of the Art Museum does not know what the impacts will be and would like to know what they are. Mark Friedberg said he is concerned about the impacts on the parking for the Art Museum. Baker said condition #27 is that the applicant will submit a complete precise plan addressing all conditions imposed and commitments made at conceptual review and address any other information deemed necessary by the planning staff. Councilman Collins asked if the city will require insurance to indemnify or hold harmless the city. Baker said he can get an opinion from the city attorney. Vann said there will be a developer's agreement that will get into the conditions placed on the applicant in exchange for the use of municipally-owned property. Baker said there has been a discussion to have an alternate alignment study done as part of the requirement for approval of this proposal. Baker said two suggestions have been the train stop at the airport, or just west of the bus barn. Baker said staff has concluded that the most significant potential benefit of train service to Aspen is the potential for a second corridor in the valley. Terminating train service at an alternative location would exacerbate automobile problems on highway 82. Baker said staff would like to insure any proposal to study an alternate alignment is a proposal that has the maximum potential benefit for the community and not something that will extend the review process out. Mayor Stirling said he is not interested in pursuing this as the ballot issue named the Rio Grande as the station site. Mayor Stirling said it would be counter productive for Council to press the applicant to pursue alternative locations for the terminus. Vann said it is the intention of the applicant to pursue a railroad terminating at the Rio Grande and let it stand or fall on its merits. Vann said to have to pursue other alternatives, which the applicant has no desire to implement, would be an unreasonable requirement at this time. 6 Continued Meetinct Aspen City Council December 3, 1986 Mark Friedberg said the large passenger train could stop at the airport and a commuter bus could come into town. This would achieve the transportation problems and would not bring the train along the Rio Grande trail. Friedberg said this would be less costly. Alan Blomquist said it would be good to have a balance sheet of the two options before a choice is made. Blomquist said the condition should require RFTA to analyze how they will combine rail bus and down valley bus and what the feasibility of each is, and how they are j usti f ied in using the 7th penny money . Mayor Stirling said conditions 1 and 2 address down valley service, constraints, etc. Councilman Collins said the applicant has made an application, and Council needs to respond to that. Councilman Collins said the city should not be telling a private entrepreneur to check out other alternatives to see how they fit in his plan. Councilman Collins said developing a terminus at the airport belongs back in the regional master plan for transportation. Councilman Collins said it is not fair to ask the applicant to do what the city or county should be doing to get a feasibility study. Councilman Collins said the city should go forward with this application as presented to the voters. Councilman Isaac agreed the electors said to bring the railroad into town, and that is what this application is for. Councilwoman Fallin said her personal preference is to have the railroad station stop at Woody Creek. Councilwoman Walls said she would rather see it stop at the airport than Woody Creek. Mayor Stirling continued the public hearing to December 8, 1986, as the first action item. Council adjourned at 7:10 p.m. ~'~ ~ , , /~~~ , Kathryn Koch, City Clerk 7