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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19880809Continued Meeting Aspen City Council_ August 9, 1988 Councilman Isaac called the meeting to order at 5:10 p.m. with Councilmembers Tuite and Gassman present. RITZ CARLTON HOTEL REVIEW (Aspen Mountain Lodge) Alan Richman, planning director, said Council can review the architecture and site planning first. Richman told Council at the completion of the architecture and site design review, P & Z was without concern about the project. The only comment P & Z made was that some of them felt better about the project before the changes occurred in the resolution level review, before the big portion was removed from the Mill street area. Some members preferred the more continuous facade. The conclusion was that it was not worthwhile for them to pursue a redesign of the project back to its former configuration. Richman reminded Council the city was dealing with a design that changed gradually in response to concerns that were raised. Richman said the project in January was a different project than that presented to P & Z and Council in June and July and one that everyone felt was a better project. Richman said the areas staff was having trouble with were the massiveness, or overall facade and height; the scale and style of the building; whether the height was within the limits set under the previous PUD, how much more visible the height might be with the design proposed; and whether the open space was benefiting the public. Richman told Council these 4 issues came up during staff review and later during the P & Z scoring in April The project did not score as high as it had in 1985, although it is still above the threshold. P & Z found that the project will remain eligible for its GMP allotments, but it was a project P & Z was prepared to place conditions on to improve the score to be considered for a positive recommendation. (Mayor Stirling came into the Council meeting) Richman said when the staff looked at the mass of the project, there were concerns that there was an unbroken facade on Mill street; that there was a roof form that instead of being pitched was more of a mansard style; and that the building was "squared off" at the ends. Richman told Council the previous design had the building angled at its northern ends. Richman said the angling in the previous footprint opened up the views towards the mountains to a greater degree than the squared off look. Richman said staff was concerned that the footprint seemed to be creeping up towards the mountain. Richman said staff was looking for some breakup, and the current design has achieved that break up in several ways. There are now 3 separate components of the hotel. Richman said when the roof form changed, P & Z started to f eel more comfortable with the design and massing changes. 1 Continued Meeting Aspen Citv Council August 9, 1988 Roy Haggard, architect, pointed out that the roof element makes up a majority of the upper portion of the building, but the roof now springs back at 45 degrees and enables the dormers to be more pronounced. P & Z felt this was more in keeping with the design intent instead of a flat mansard roof. Haggard said the appli- cant is pursuing either stamped metal or slate for the roof materials. Haggard said the primary facade of the building will be masonry with sandstone or limestone detailing at the cornices, and heads of windows. Haggard said the balconies will project only enough to allow the balcony doors to open and get some air. The balconies are not intended to lounge on. Haggard said there is an alternate balcony design to help break up some of the monotony of the hotel. The roof will be sloped down into some ornate leader boxes, which will carry all the internal leaders down through brick pilasters. Haggard showed a character drawing of what it will look like under the porte-cochere where one enters the hotel. Haggard said the hotel will introduce a base material which is an archit- ectural pre-cast flagstone, the rest of the building will be principally masonry. Haggard showed a typical dormer and balcony, the ski entrance, the cornice pieces carrying the leader boxes, the architectural frieze as it rolls across to delineate the base of the building. Richman told Council some of P & Z were concerned about some of the more ornate features of the building, like sculpted bowl and spires. Haggard told Council they have eliminated a lot of the frivolous architectural ornamentation. Haggard said certain areas warrant the application of things that make more of an architectural statement. Haggard said the building is a very lively building. They have scaled the design back down and gotten more simple. The building will come off as a traditional style building with very clean details. Richman said P & Z's main concern was that the architecture was neither unique nor borrowed from a local style. Richman said the building has been toned down, and P & Z is more comfortable with the project. Richman said staff and P & Z were concerned about the 42 feet to the midpoint and 55 feet for elevator towers written into the PUD agreement. Richman told Council he felt these limitations were not generic limitations that any design would be required to meet. Richman said the approval given by the city in 1985 was for a specific design with specific roof forms. Richman said the mansard form does accomplish what the city was looking to accomplish with the 42 and 55 foot height limitations. Richman said the increased setback in the roof starts to make a big difference for P & Z. Richman told staff felt comfortable that the roof could protrude through the 42 foot limit, if along the 2 Continued Meeting Aspen Citv Council August 9, 1988 facade in other locations, the roof was lower. Richman said staff preferred a variety in roof design. Haggard showed comparisons with the previous Roberts design. Haggard said the Blue Spruce building is two guest floors above retail. The front of the hotel is 3 guest floors above the entrance. There is a single loaded corridor to come up to the full 5 floor height. Haggard showed the location of the notch between the Dean street and Mill street wings. Haggard showed various height locations of the project. Richman told Council P & Z had recommended that both of the side wings of the main building be moved in by a module in an attempt to increase the setbacks on both Mill and Monarch street. Richman told Council this does not show up in the final recommen- dation for approval as there was a trade off because moving the building in tended to elongate the building. P & Z felt it was more appropriate to increase the garden area. Richman told Council a minority position of P & Z is that Council ought to be looking at greater setbacks in return for height variations. Two P & Z members suggested for each 1 foot above 28 foot height limit, the city increase the setback requirements by 1 foot. Richman said the city should be thinking about this type of approach, to have more specific criteria, for the planned unit development regulations in the future. Richman said the f ourth issue discussed was open space on site. Richman told Council on lot 1 the majority of the open space is within the courtyard. P & Z had concerns about this open space. In the original design, the open space was viewed from Monarch street but not entered from Monarch street. Richman told Council there were several design changes to help respond to open space. One was opening up the garden to access from Monarch street as well as increasing the size of the garden. The penetration on Mill street creates greater access of both visual and pedestrian access. The applicants have proposed to dedicate the lot in front of the Grand Aspen. This previously had a building on each corner. Richman said staff and P & Z started looking at the PUD more in an entire context, which made P & Z more comfortable. Richman told Council, ideally, P & Z would have like to flip the building around and opened up the open space to town. P & Z recognized they were in a PUD amendment situation with an approved design with a footprint, and in their opinion, these changes were improvements, although not ideal. Richman pointed out the overall growth management scoring was essentially similar to the 1985 score. The project scored a couple of points lower, but it is way above the thresholds. Richman said if there is any reason for a lower score, he feels the staf f and P & Z are being tougher on the project . The staf f 3 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1988 and P & Z were applying the criteria in a more strict interpreta- tion. Richman pointed out that the attitude of the community in 1983 about redevelopment in the lodge district is different than the attitude of 1988. The community is looking for more and greater things in the lodge district than they were in 1988. Richman told Council the P & Z felt the Ritz design is an improvement over the Roberts' design in terms of architecture and site design, after the changes. Councilman Isaac asked what is the elevation change from the south end of the garden to Juniata street. Haggard said it is 14 feet. Haggard said instead of one retaining wall, they have introduced a series of sawtooth planting beds. Mayor Stirling asked if the gardens are large enough for functions. John Sarpa said that was a strong part of the discussion about the internal gardens. Sarpa told Council Ritz has a tradition in its other facilities of hosting events. Harvey showed the garden about 112 feet by 85 feet; there are 3 separate gardens. Harvey told Council the underlying code in this zone for setbacks is 10 feet front and rear yard and 5 feet side yards. Harvey showed where the project is 112 feet and where it is 30 feet. Harvey told Council on Mill street this ranges f rom 19 to 24 feet back f rom the property line to soften the scape of the project. Harvey told Council on Monarch the project is between 13 and 20 feet in setbacks; the Roberts plan was at the property line. Harvey showed the project is 35 to 50 feet from the center line of Dean street. Mayor Stirling asked if the bridge is all right for trucks backing in and turning. Richman said this is discussed in the technical issues. The staff was looking for 14'6" for a span of the bridge. Richman said there is a 15 foot section in the middle of the bridge which will meet that 14'6"; the rest of the span is 14 feet. Richman told Council staff feels comfortable with truck t urning capabilities and with the emergency vehicle access. Haggard said P & Z was concerned about the pedestrian edge. Haggard said the project has introduced a series of horizontal planting beds along Monarch. There will be Norway pines of 15 to 20 feet planting along the building. Richman said this design is trying to be compatible with the pattern being set by Little Nell hotel and by the Galena street district. Richman said the applicants have coordinated well with those two pro- jects. Councilman Tuite said he would prefer a slate roof rather than a metal roof. Harvey said it would not be a standing seam roof. Haggard said the primary intent is to get some texture and design pattern out of the roof. Richman told Council architecture and site design is the only area where P & Z does not have recommend- ations for conditions. Mayor Stirling asked if the applicants 4 Continued Meetincr Aspen Citv Council _AuQUSt 9, 1988 have calculated the height of the elevator shaft. Haggard showed drawings of the elevator shafts. One projects 62 feet above existing grade to the ridge of it. Haggard showed the location of the penthouse as it relates to the building and the site line of what would be seen from the street. Haggard said it is 35 feet back to the main guest elevators. The elevators on Mill street do not take up as much of the facade and come up to 58 feet above existing grade. Harvey pointed out when a section of the building was eliminated, another section of elevators had to be added to service the hotel rooms. Mayor Stirling asked if the public could walk in on the Mill street side and walk all the way into the courtyard. Harvey said there is a conditioned corridor that runs from the main lobby to Mill street. Haggard showed Council the worst case scenario where it is 46 feet above existing feet but pulled back away from the facade. Haggard showed store front windows that load internally which will soften the pedestrian edge. Councilman Isaac said he would like to go over the handicap access with the architect. Haggard pointed out the upper terrace, which loads directly from the first occupied guest floor. The entry level is at grade. Haggard showed other access points. Haggard showed Council the suite arrangement layouts. There are 5 different suite designs. The standard room in the hotel will be a complete bedroom and bath compartment. The suite is two modules with a bedroom compartment and a parlor module. The executive suites are in the corners of the building. Mayor Stirling asked if there will be a whole floor of suites. Haggard said there will not be an all-suite floor; there will be suites on every floor. Sarpa said the design will intersperse the suites throughout the hotel. Councilman Isaac said he is concerned about putting a hide-a-bed in the suites. Harvey presented a memorandum from Horst Schulze, president of Ritz Carlton, stating using hide-away beds in suites does not exist in any of their hotels as it is not in keeping with the standards expected by the market. Harvey submitted the letter to the record. Harvey told Council Ritz does have a program for families to encourage children and provide rollaways for children. (Councilman Gassman left the meeting.) Sarpa told Council the applicants have been working on an analysis of the employee housing situation. Harvey said the applicants are responsible for 161.5 employees for the Ritz Carlton. Harvey said the applicants are deed restricting 4 rooms in the Grand Aspen hotel for employee housing. When the Grand Aspen is removed, these 4 units will be replaced at a location satisfactory to Council and P & Z. The Alpina Haus is currently short term rental in the winter and offered to music students in the summer. Councilman Isaac asked if the Alpina Haus will be 5 Continued Meeting Aspen Citv Council Auctust 9, 198.8 available to music students next summer. Harvey said the applicants have discussed using the Alpina Haus as construction worker housing. (Councilwoman Fallin came into the meeting). Harvey said he would prefer to find another solution for con- struction workers as they can travel on the roads better than music students. Harvey said he does not have a specific answer. Harvey said the applicant housed 120 music students this summer, and they will try and honor that commitment again next year. Harvey told Council the Alpina Haus will provide new housing f or 46 employees. The Copper Horse will supply new housing f or 43 employees. Harvey reminded Council in 1986 Hunter Longhouse was about to go into default and into the free market. Hunter Longhouse and the applicant worked out a proposal for the applicant to make a loan to the non-profit housing corporation of $250,000. The terms of the loan are no payments for the first 2 years and a 10 year loan at zero interest. Harvey said the $250,000 over 12 years in a bank would be about $600,000. The credit for this was a total of 69 employees. This totals 158 with 4 rooms at the Grand Aspen for 162 employees. Harvey said employee housing is a community-wide problem which has been incurred to a large extent by some of the other projects in town. Harvey reminded Council when the Ski Company hotel and the Jerome were going through the process, Centennial was sitting with more units than people. The perception was there wasn't that much of a problem. Harvey said the 7 rooms at the Holiday House and 19 rooms at the Cortina seemed to be adequate. Harvey said the applicants have seen the community-wide housing problem and want to build some housing now to use a credit for future projects. Harvey said the applicants want to put Ute City Place under contract. Ute City Place was a project originally approved for this hotel. It is 22 units housing 37 employees. Harvey said the applicants intend to close on Ute City Place this fall and construct it as soon as possible. Harvey said he is con- cerned that in 3 or 4 years they will be in a situation like Hunter Longhouse, that this is not perceived as new employee housing because it is already housing employees. Harvey said the applicants intend to use this housing for future demands for whatever project is acceptable. Harvey said the applicants want to do the Ute City Place project now because the property is available, it has zoning in place, and they have plans for it. Mayor Stirling said Ute City Place would be finished about the same time as the hotel. The applicants would be putting new workers in it. Sarpa told Council the applicants have had preliminary discussions with the housing authority on joint cooperation on Ute City Place. Mayor Stirling said Ute City Place plus the Alpina Haus and Copper Horse would be housing 6 Continued Meeting Aspen Citv Council Auaust 9. 1988 about half of the workers generated out of the need for operation of the hotel. Richman said there are 28 units at Hunter Longhouse, each calculated at having 2 people. The applicants credit at Hunter Longhouse is 69. The housing authority is required to produce housing for 13 people as part of the obligation of the $250,000 loan. Richman said the housing authority is planning to add on to Hunter Longhouse. Harvey said the applicants' goal is to try and piggyback on the tax exempt financing f or the Ute City Place because it will create economies for both projects. Mayor Stirling asked if Council could make a condition of this amend- ment these additional units. Richman said the applicant is making a commitment to these units on the record. A P & Z requirement is that commitments on the record are made conditions of approval. Richman said the applicants will want explicit language that these units are in addition to the requirement for the project and that they will have the ability to use them as credits in the future. Councilman Isaac said his problem with the old formula is that it gave credit for employees that worked at the old Aspen Inn. Councilman Isaac said those employees are long gone. Councilman Isaac asked what the credit was f or these employees. Sarpa told Council there was a great discussion on that number, and it was concluded that whatever number had been operative to that point, which the Ritz should have used in their project, was low. That number was adjusted to give the Ritz less credit. Harvey said the credit went from 12.8 employees per 1,000 square feet to 9 and from .36 employees per lodge room to .20. Richman pointed out that the applicants received credit for 70 or 71 employees for the Blue Spruce and Aspen Inn. Harvey told Council there were 29 employees that lived in old housing units on the Ritz Carlton site. These units were demolished. Harvey said these people are living somewhere else, and the applicants are providing replacement housing in the employee housing numbers for these people. Richman said staff impacted them with a displacement requirement in the formula in 1983. Harvey said the applicants are getting credit for workers that are no longer there; they are also creating housing for people that are no longer there. Councilman Isaac said he would like a simple formula. For 300 employees, the applicants will supply 50 or 60 percent of the needs. Councilman Isaac said he is hesitant to give the applicants credit for future development for Ute City Place because he does not think they will be taking care of the needs for the Ritz. Sarpa reminded Council the applicants have agreed to an audit in two years. Councilman Isaac said the audit on addresses how many more employees the Ritz will have, not how many employees are not being housed. 7 Continued Meeting Aspen Citv Council August 9, 1988 Sarpa said the applicants feel the numbers they have and the formulas they have gone through with staff and P & Z, leads to 162, which is a reasonable number for the Ritz. Sarpa said the city needs more housing, which is why they are taking on building Ute City Place now, and the applicants will use those credits in the future. Councilman Isaac said he feels the applicants will need those rooms now, not for any future growth. Harvey said the applicants propose to provide housing for an additional 37 people at the time the impact of the Ritz occurs. Harvey said if the applicants use those credits prior to the audit, when the audit comes around, they will hav e to provide more housing. Harvey said the reality is that there is going to be housing for an additional 37 people in town to answer a problem. Harvey said the land cost at Ute City Place works out to $20,000 per employee. Taddune asked if the applicants will deed restrict this project at the time a PUD amendment is signed. Bob Hughes, representing the applicant, told Council Ute City Place will be tied into to their ability to use it for future credits. Harvey said this will be moderate income, which is $.85 per square foot per month. The project will be a mix of studios, one- and two-bedroom units. Mayor Stirling said Council will take this under advisement as to whether to accept this as applying to the Ritz or as the applicant is proposing, credit for future developments. Harvey said it is important to the applicants to get a reading from Council on architecture and site design because they are trying to do their foundation drawings for building permit. Sarpa reminded Council there are no conditions in the P & Z resolution regarding architectural design. Harvey said the applicants and Council can keep going over each issue or they can finalize each one as they get to it. Mayor Stirling asked if Council has any architectural or site planning conditions for this project. Councilman Isaac said he does not feel the need for any conditions on architecture or site design. Mayor Stirling agreed there is no intention of conditions, at this point. Richman told Council in the technical issues, staff has addressed certain things that could be considered site design. Mayor Stirling asked if there is full assurance that the hotel as presented is going to be presented that way. Richman said condition #19 will give the city the most assurance. The condition talks about what will actually be recorded. Richman said in the Little Nell hotel, elevations and detailed plans were not recorded. Staff found themselves in a quandary when review- ing the plans for final approval. Richman recommended avoiding this by recording an entire set of plans. Richman said he feels the city has adequate assurances. 8 Continued__Meetinq Aspen Citv Council Auaust 9. 1988 Mayor Stirling asked if floor area calculations are addressed. Richman said (e) asks for floor plans for each level indicating countable and excludable floor area. Richman told Council he has preliminary calculations indicating the countable area is within 190,000 square feet. This will be finalized on the final recording. Councilman Tuite asked the percent of open space. Joe Wells said it is 35 percent. Harvey said 25 percent is required in the code. Richman said this is a representation, not a specific condition. Richman said there will be 40,000 square feet of open space. Harvey showed on the site plan where the open space is that the applicants are getting credit for. The open space has to be open to the street. Wells told Council only the upper terrace counts in open space because the others are more than 10 feet below grade. There are two strips on Mill and Monarch, the tail of lot 1, which is the ski easement. There will be open space around the Blue Spruce. Harvey said the 35 percent open space is on lot 1. Councilman Isaac asked about the open space on lot 6. Richman said it is part of the PUD but is not counted towards the open space in phase one. Wells said phase one lot is 128,941 square feet; the building coverage is approximately 50 percent. This will give an idea of how much open space is not counting. Mayor Stirling said at the next meeting 1,3 and 5 should be worked on. Richman said items 7 through 13 and construction activities will also be handled by Jay Hammond. Mayor Stirling said Council should disclose any new conditions they would like added to this. Mayor Stirling said there will be a condition on the rezoning of the lots on Durant. Richman told Council in the parking, staff is dealing with a formula approach developed in 1983 which has been applied to the most current program Ritz is proposing. Richman told Council there is an increase in the parking from the 1985 agreement. Richman reminded Council the parking formula looked at the hotel in its various components with a factor of .66 parking space per room at 90 percent total occupancy of the hotel. Richman said this generates 175 parking spaces. Richman told Council P & Z accepted the previous f ormula and ended up with a requirement of a minimum of 220 parking spaces sub-surface along with 10 ground parking spaces. Richman said in the PUD agreement, there was a requirement associated with lot 5; the Grand Aspen was required to have 129 parking spaces while it was in operation. Richman said this is being maintained by the applicant with the spaces that exist below and at grade of the Grande Aspen. Richman said the actual numbers of parking spaces required f or the two phases is 359, which is more than was required in the prior PUD agreement. Richman told Council the actual parking plan shows 235 spaces rather than 220. Richman told Council of 9 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council August 9, 1988 the 220 sub-grade spaces, some 18 percent of them are at a dimension which will not meet the city's code standard. The city's code standard is 8'6" by 18"; these spaces are 7'6" by 16". Richman t old Council there is nothing in the code which provides for this type of variation. Richman said staff has been provided with evidence that national standards of 7' 6" by 16" is not an unusual standard. Richman told Council the applicant has submitted a request for a code amendment to allow the city to deal with this issue. Richman said there is nothing the Council can do to vary the size of parking spaces. Richman said P & Z was satisfied with the parking program and had no problem with spaces that did not meet the city's standards. Harvey told Council national standards allow up to 25 percent of parking spaces to be in the range of 7'6" by 16". Harvey pointed out the parking is in the back portion of the hotel on two levels. Councilman Isaac asked the height of the parking garage. Haggard said it is 7'6" clear to structure on the typical level. One level will have 13 foot clear for a portion of the garage and a section with 9 foot clear. Councilman Isaac requested the applicant designate some parking spaces for wheelchairs and make the spaces a little wider. Haggard said they will meet all the UBC requirements. Councilman Tuite asked if the entrance will be snow melted. Haggard said it will be with a trench to collect the runoff . Richman told Counci 1 P & Z accepted the parking plan; however, the code does not provide for the parking as presented. Richman said P & Z accepted this on the basis it makes good planning sense. Harvey said there is a percentage of compact cars. If this parking plan can accommodate more cars, they should go with it. Harvey said he feels comfortable with the parking plan. Mayor Stirling said the meeting will be continued f or one week from tonight at 5:00 p.m. w ~/ ~ ~ ' Kathryn S. Koch, City Clerk 10