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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19930927Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 27, 1993 Mayor Bennett called the meeting to order at 5:10 p.m. with Councilmembers Waggaman, Reno, Richard and Paulson present. PROCLAMATION - Queenstown, New Zealand, Sister City Mayor Bennett said the city is honored by the presence of Margaret McQue, deputy Mayor of Queenstown and a delegation from that city. Aspen and Queenstown officially became sister cities in 1992. Mayor Bennett, Council and the people of Aspen declared the week of September 26 through October 2 as Queenstown Sister City week. Gifts were exchanged. Deputy Mayor McQue thanked Council for the honor and the chance to share problems and solutions. PROCLAMATION - Week of the Young Child Mayor Bennett and Council declared the week of October 4 through 9 as Week of the Young Child in Aspen. Kim Kelley thanked the city for their continued support of the family and of children. Shirley Ritter told Council Kids First has been extremely important in the community. Ms. Ritter told Council there will be a kids parade October 8 and a carnival October 9th. PROCLAMATION - Roaring Fork Transit Agency Councilwoman Richards said RFTA has made great progress with valley wide transportation service. Their ridership has increased 43 percent over the past 5 years. Council presented Dan Blankenship, general manager RFTA with a proclamation acknowledging RFTA's valuable service to the community. PROCLAMATION - World Population Week Mayor Bennett said in 1994 there is an international conference on population, family planning and the role of women. Mayor Bennett and Council declared October 22 through 28 as World Population Awareness Week and commended all organization focusing on this problem. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Craig Glendenning reminded Co uncil he developed the East Cooper affordable housing project. During the process, he requested estimates from different departments in the city regarding expenses on this project. Glendenning told Council they were quoted $60,200 for the water tap fees and received that quote throughout the project. Glendenning said he knew this was the city's best guess; however, when it was discovered they were in zone 2 rather than zone 1 the water tap fees went up to $147,000. Glendenning requested Council address this at their next meeting. 1 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 27, 1993 Bob Gish, public works director, told Council said when staff received the address for this project, it was in service area 2 which doubled the water tap fee. Gish said when the staff was made aware of this error, they contacted the applicant and told them only way to take care of this is that the difference could be financed over 10 years. Mayor Bennett said he feels applicants have a right to rely on information from staff. Amy Margerum, city manager, said the information was given without an address and the project was right on the border of two service areas. Ms. Margerum said it is caveated that persons should not rely on estimates without an accurate count of ECUs, services area, etc. Ms. Margerum said since this happened, staff will no longer give estimates unless they are in writing. Ms. Margerum said Council has discussed reviewing the AH and there could be a better way to develop an AH project. Councilman Reno said he is willing to look at this situation because the final number was so different. Councilman Reno said he feels there are certain things the public has to be able to rely on. Councilman Reno said there is a stage in a project where applicants have to have numbers on how much the project is going to cost. Councilman Reno said he is willing to discuss a compromise. Councilwoman Waggaman said Council needs to look at the overall picture of affordable housing. Councilwoman Richards suggested Council might also look at the service areas. Councilwoman Richards said she is willing to look at this; however, if Council is going to waive tap fees as additional incentive for affordable housing, it needs to be distributed fairly throughout the project. Councilman Paulson said he is also willing to look at this. This is a small town and the government can show it cares about its people. Amy Margerum, city manager, said she is not comfortable discussing the services areas at the next meeting. That is a major discussion for staff. Staff will have a report done about the tap fee for the next meeting. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1. Councilman Reno moved to table the Aspen Ski Company Water Service Agreement and to withdraw Ordinance #50, Series of 1993, 935 East Hyman Historic Designation; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. 2. Councilman Reno moved to appoint Jack Stanford to the CCLC; Jim Iglehart to the Board of Adjustment and David Schott to the Board of Appeals and Examiners; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. 2 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 27, 1993 3. Councilman Paulson noted that "No Problem Joe" recently died. "No Problem Joe" had a heart bigger than Aspen and was always willing to help and asked for nothing in return. 4. Councilman Paulson brought up an article from the Aspen Illustrated News of 1966 which stated the town must develop transportation facilities other than the automobile and that Aspen must make an effort to get people out of their cars and into more efficient transportation. Councilman Paulson said the community was talking about the same problems 25 years ago and the problems still exit. 5. Councilman Reno said the housing authority is preparing their budget. If Council has any issues for the housing authority they should let Councilman Reno know. 6. Councilman Reno pointed out Telluride limits the number of cars allowed into town during festivals. Councilman Reno said it was encouraging to see this system work. 7. Amy Margerum, city manager, said staff received over 20 0 suggested names for the ice rink. This will go to P & Z who will recommend 5 names to Council. This will be on the October 12 Council agenda. 8. Amy Margerum, city manager, pointed out the asset management plan work session was moved to October 5 with the general fund budget. In its place is an executive session to discuss the city attorney position. 9. Amy Margerum, city manager, told Council the staff is working on the Rio Grande park, on the irrigation system and elements of the master plan. 10. Aspen's state senator, Linda Powers, will be available to meet with Council Friday, October 1, at 4 p.m. in the Council Chambers. 11. Amy Margerum, city manager, requested Council add a resolution and contract with Elam construction to the consent agenda for 1993 street paving projects. Councilwoman Richards moved to add Resolution #72, Series of 1993, contract with Elam Construction, to the consent agenda; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. 12. There is an Energy Town Mee ting October 6. Councilman Paulson will represent Council. 3 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 27, 1993 CONSENT AGENDA Councilman Reno stepped down due to conflict of interest on Resolution #64, Series of 1993. Councilwoman Richards moved to approve the consent calendar as amended; seconded by Councilman Paulson. The consent calendar is: A . Minutes - August 30, September 7, 13, 1993 B . Resolution #64, 1993 - Contract - City Shop C . Resolution #65, 1993 - Child Care Investment Committee Member - Ken Mayle D . Resolution #66, 1993 - Reappointment of Municipal Judge E . Resolution #67, 1993 - RFTA IGA/Garfield County F . Resolution #68, 1993 - Creating Parking Enterprise Fund G . Resolution #69, 1993 - Designating City Enterprise Funds H . Resolution #70, 1993 - Nordic Trail Easement Pearce Golf Course I . Resolution #72, 1993 - Contract Elam Construction Streets Project All in favor, motion carried. LIQUOR LICENSE AUTHORITY BUSINESS John Worcester, assistant city attorney, said the Authority needs to determine whether there is probable cause to believe the licensee, Downtown Sports Center, has violated the liquor law. Rachel Richards said she would like to move forward based on the evidence presented in the file. Georgeann Waggaman agreed. John Case, representing the licensee, told Council there is language detrimen tal to his clients in the "Order". Worcester said he would work with Case to re-word the Order. Richards moved to cause to be served upon the licensee a Notice of Hearing and Order to Show Cause why the license for the Downtown Sports Center should not be suspended or revoked; seconded by Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. Richards moved to schedule the hearing for Friday October 22nd at 8:30 a.m.; seconded by Paulson. All in favor, motion carried. Worcester requested the Authority's permission to hire Sandra Stuller as special counsel to represent the Authority. The Authority agreed. ORDINANCE #46, SERIES OF 1993 - Central Bank Condominiumization Kim Johnson, planning office, told Council this will divide the bank and small office building to the east for ownership interest, not to create new lots. Ms. Johnson told Council staff has deleted 4 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 27, 1993 a condition regarding allocation of parking on the site. The property contains 21 spaces. Ms. Johnson noted a change in the ordinance citing a land use section. Sunny Vann, representing the applicant, said the applicant agrees to all the conditions. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. There were no comments. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Councilman Reno moved to adopt Ordinance #46, Series of 1993, on second reading as amended; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Richards, yes; Waggaman, yes; Reno, yes; Paulson, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #48, SERIES OF 1993 - Ute Park AH Subdivision GMQS Exemption Kim Johnson, planning office, noted this is a request to restruc- ture the pricing of the deed restricted units from three category 3 and four category 4 to all seven category 4. There will be a price cap of $135,000 and the caveat of a preference to category 3 household incomes. Sales price for the four original category 4 units will be capped at $180,000. Tom Baker, housing director, told Council the Housing Board is considering changes to the AH zones; however, staff does not recommend a change in city policy on water tap fee waivers. Any recommendations from the Housing Board will be brought to Council. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. Gary Gleason, purchaser of a unit, told Council a major factor of the price increase for these units is a result of this being the first AH project to go through the process. Gleason requested Council consider using housing funds to cover half the water tap fee. This would make the price increase $4500 and $9000 rather than $9,000 and $18,000. Baker pointed out there will be a lot of affordable housing units built in the future and making any decisions on water tap fees will have long term implications to the water fund. Mayor Bennett said he is willing to look at water tap fees and AH projects. Councilwoman Richards said there were other costs like the special improvement district, avalanche prevention and sewer fees. Councilwoman Waggaman said Council has to have a policy and stick to it otherwise they will be addressing requests like this for the next 20 years. Councilman Reno said if housing is the priority for the community, all efforts should go towards that. However, Council and the community have indicated there are other priorities like transportation, parks and recreation. Amy Margerum, city manager, said if the request is to grant the purchasers of these units a one-time dollar amount, this is absolutely inappropriate. The category could be set at a different 5 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 27, 1993 level but a cash donation is not the way to go. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt Ordinance #48, Series of 1993, on second reading; seconded by Councilman Reno. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Reno, yes; Waggaman, yes; Paulson, yes; Richards, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #51, SERIES OF 1993 - Appropriations Councilman Reno moved to read Ordinance #51, Series of 1993; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #51 (Series of 1993) AN ORDINANCE RECOGNIZING GENERAL FUND REVENUES OF $33,100; APPROPRIATING GENERAL FUND EXPENDITURES OF $196,100; TRANSFERRING $5,000 FROM THE GENERAL FUND TO THE PARKING IMPROVEMENT FUND; TRANSFERRING $517,875 FROM THE GENERAL FUND TO THE TRANSPORTATION/PARKING FUND; APPROPRIATING PARKING IMPROVEMENT FUND EXPENDITURES OF $22,398; RECOGNIZING HOUSING/DAYCARE FUND REVENUES OF $1,815; APPROPRIATING HOUSING/DAYCARE FUND EXPENDITURES OF $574,815; APPROPRIATING TRANSPORTATION/PARKING FUND EXPENSES OF $517,875 was read by the city clerk Rob Umbreit, budget director, said this is the third appropriation ordinance of the year and recognizes expenses approved by Council since the last ordinance. Amy Margerum, city manager, noted this ordinance contains appropriations for new computer equipment for the manager's office. Umbreit pointed out the ordinance includes a $5,000 contribution from the AVIA for the rail study. Umbreit brought up pedestrian improvements, which are generally done from the asset management fund. This ordinance assumes funding for pedestrian improvements out of the property tax revenues. Umbreit said this could also be accomplished by transferring $150,000 to the parking improvement fund. Ms. Margerum said the policy decision is whether or not Council wants $150,000 transferred to the asset management plan from fund balance. All capital improve- ments come out of the asset management plan; it is easier to track that way. Councilwoman Richards said that funds for additional pedestrian improvements should come from unallocated excess reserve cash balance and be tracked through asset management. Council agreed. Umbreit said he will amend the ordinance for second reading. 6 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 27, 1993 Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt Ordinance #51, Series of 1993, on first reading; seconded by Councilman Reno. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Paulson, yes; Waggaman, yes; Reno, yes; Richards, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. SALES TAX AUDIT Gail Cabe, finance department, told Council a sales tax audit of 10 businesses was recently completed. Ms. Cabe told Council the businesses that were selected are the type most likely to send items out of town. Ms. Cabe said as a result of this audit, staff has sent out assessments totalling $34,312. Ms. Cabe noted certain problems were discovered like lack of controls, calculation errors, incomplete records. Ms. Cabe said the budget for this audit was $10,000. The city may collect up to 30 to 50 percent of the assessments or between $10,000 and $15,000. Amy Margerum, city manager, told Council finance staff is visiting local businesses every month and discussing way to improve their record keeping. This was the first year of city self collection of sales tax. Council commended staff on their work. RESOLUTION #71, SERIES OF 1993 - Bus Priority Lane on Main Street Randy Ready, transportation director, presented Council with two options for this bus priority lane. Ready said staff would like to proceed with option 1 this fall. Ready reminded Council the bus priority lane was tried out on the 4th of July weekend and met with success. Council indicated they were interested in a permanent bus lane. Ready told Council there is a 20 minute delay of westbound traffic in the afternoon commute hours. Ready said staff would like to increase the number of people using transit, to improve the traffic safety on Main street, and to provide an immediately implement able and visible program. Ready noted this program uses existing Main street lanes and does not propose any parking changes except the elimination of two spaces at the end of Main to allow a better turning radius. This plan will change the merge pattern. There will be a traffic control officer to halt traffic and allow buses. Tom Dalessandri, police department, told Council they will use cones, signs, a signal light and officers to implement this lane. Councilwoman Richards said she would like the signs for this program reduced or combined as much as possible. Councilwoman Richards noted residents of the Villas have requested a crosswalk across 7th Street and perhaps that can be incorporated in this program. Paul Hilts, RFTA, thanked Council and staff for the work 7 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 27, 1993 on this experiment. Councilwoman Waggaman said she is concerned this may cause more pollution and more car traffic further into town. Dalessandri told Council there is no solution to the traffic jam without widening Main street all the way out of town. This is not the answer to the problem. Staff hopes it will encourage people to ride the bus. This bus priority lane will be a comple- ment to the park and ride lots. Mayor Bennett suggested allowing car pools to also use this lane rather than just buses. Ready said the rationale has been to start with buses, see how it works and then expand it to car pools. Ready told Council the way this is designed will make it easier for police personnel to tell which vehicles should be allowed in the HOV lane. Ready said staff also wants to make sure the HOV lane is not as crowded as other lanes right at the start; the buses should be accommodated first. Council felt that car pools should be accommodated as if they are not this would feel like a disincentive to car pooling. Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt Resolution #71, Series of 1993, creating a HOV lane, option 1 with the modification to allow high occupancy vehicles with 6 or more passengers to be allowed in the HOV lane; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. Councilman Reno suggested the number of passengers be 5 rather than 6 because of design of automobiles. Councilwoman Richards amended her motion to allow high occupancy vehicles with 5 or more passengers; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #52, SERIES OF 1993 - Gordon/Callahan Vested Right Councilman Reno moved to read ordinance #52, Series of 1993; seconded by Councilman Paulson. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #52 (Series of 1993) AN ORDINANCE OF THE ASPEN CITY COUNCIL GRANTING PERPETUAL VESTED RIGHTS FOR THE ALLOWABLE FLOOR AREA FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENCE ON AMENDED LOT 9 OF THE GORDON/CALLAHAN PUD/SUBDIVISION LOCATED ADJACENT TO THE ASPEN CLUB SUBDIVISION OFF OF CENTENNIAL CIRCLE, CITY OF ASPEN, PITKIN COUNTY, COLORADO was read by the city clerk Leslie Lamont, planning office, reminded Council the recent amendment for this subdivision was to change the subdivision from 4 lots to 1 lot; rezoning the property rural residential, and an 8 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 27, 1993 agreement for a 12 foot trail easement on the property and relocation of the bridge easement. Ms. Lamont told Council at that time the applicants received vested rights for 3 years. The applicants volunteered to put a floor area cap of 8500 square feet on the property. Ms. Lamont pointed out rural residential does not have a floor area limitation. Ms. Lamont said if the code were to change before this structure is built, or the definition of floor area is changed, this could affect the 8500 square foot house. The applicants request permanent vested rights for an 8500 square foot house as defined in the code. Ms. Lamont told Council staff supports this because of the down zoning of the property to 1 lot, the preservation of the open space and the dedication of the trail easement to the city. Councilwoman Richards said for granting permanent vested rights, Council set a guideline there has to be a clear and distinguishable public purpose. Councilwoman Richards said she would be willing to grant a 5 or 7 year vesting but perhaps not permanent. Councilman Reno said he feels this subdivision is a significant trade off. Before the last amendment, 4 houses at 4,000 square feet could have been built. Brooke Peterson, representing the applicant, said this is extremely important to his clients given what they want to do, that when they are marketing the property and whenever a person builds, they can build an 8500 square foot house. Peterson said it would be difficult to find another situation where there is such a substan- tial reduction in what already been approved and not many, if any other, properties can offer this. Councilwoman Waggaman pointed out the purchasers will also be getting the benefit of the view and the open space. Jed Caswall, city attorney, pointed out the city has the benefit that this house will never be bigger than 8500 square feet. Councilwoman Richards said not approving this permanent vested rights might force the property owners to build the entire 8500 square foot house right now. Peterson said he would like, for consistency, all the documents refer to January 9, 1991. Council agreed. Councilman Reno moved to adopt Ordinance #52, Series of 1993, on first reading changing the date to January 9, 1991; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Waggaman, yes; Paulson, yes; Richards, yes; Reno, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. Councilwoman Richards moved to adjourn at 8:00 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Reno. All in favor, motion carried. 9 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 27, 1993 Kathryn S. Koch, C ity Clerk 10 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council September 27, 1993 PROCLAMATION - Queenstown, New Zealand, Sister City 1 ............ PROCLAMATION - Week of the Young Child 1 ......................... PROCLAMATION - Roaring Fork Transit Agency 1 ..................... PROCLAMATION - World Population Week 1 ........................... CITIZEN COMMENTS 1 ................................ ............... COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 2 ................................ ......... CONSENT AGENDA 4 ................................ ................. LIQUOR LICENSE AUTHORITY BUSINESS 4 .............................. ORDINANCE #46, SERIES OF 1993 - Central Bank Condominiumiza- tion 4 ................................ ...................... ORDINANCE #48, SERIES OF 1993 - Ute Park AH Subdivision GMQS Exemption 5 ................................ ................. ORDINANCE #51, SERIES OF 1993 - Appropriations 6 ................. SALES TAX AUDIT 7 ................................ ................ RESOLUTION #71, SERIES OF 1993 - Bus Priority Lane on Main Street 7 ................................ .................... ORDINANCE #52, SERIES OF 1993 - Gordon/Callahan Vested Right 8 ... 11