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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19931206Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 6, 1993 Mayor Bennett called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. with Councilmembers Paulson, Richards, Reno and Waggaman present. PROCLAMATION - Neighbor to Neighbor Awareness Week Mayor Bennett and Council proclaimed December 6 to 12 Neighbor to Neighbor Awareness Week and encouraged the support of all merchants and citizens of Aspen. DONATION CELLULAR PHONE TO RESPONSE Chris, Cellular One, told Council his company donates a cellular phone to a non-profit organization. This program has been expanded to include the Aspen area. Response applied for and was awarded a cellular phone and free air time for two years. Peg McGavock, director of Response, received the phone. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Phoebe Ryerson said Council has to listen to the fact that young families and long time locals are moving out of the valley. This is no longer a family town but is for high paying rentals and fashion shops. Ms. Ryerson said over 80 percent of the valley is tax free land. Mayor Bennett said Council is working hard on accessory dwelling units and affordable housing. 2. Ruth Baxter, on behalf of the Aspen Snowmass Nordic Council, voiced concerned about plowing the Marolt bridge into town. Ms. Baxter pointed out the Nordic skiers use this bridge to get into town. Ms. Baxter said people can walk on packed snow but skiers cannot ski on concrete. 3. Jim Curtis encouraged Council to continue with the HOV lane experiment long enough to be able to evaluate both the good and bad points. Curtis said if the experiment is stopped to quickly, Council will be making future transportation decisions without being able to take advantage of this experiment and its feedback. 4. Craig Ward agreed the city should not plow the trails but should maintain the status quo this year. Ward suggested if Council is going to make changes that they discuss it in August instead of when the ski season has already started. 5. Brad Onsgard, Aspen police department, announced an upcoming seminar on child abuse and neglect. This is sponsored by the police department and child care resource center. Dr. Hendrike Cantwell is a well known speaker in this field. The workshops are free and open to the public. 1 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 6, 1993 COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1. Georgeanne Waggaman said she went to Colorado Springs to the annual AIA conference to receive an award for the Aspen Area Community Plan. Councilwoman Waggaman presented the award to Council. Mayor Bennett said this also goes to the hundreds of people who worked so hard on the plan for two years. 2. Councilwoman Richards told Council there is a CAST mee ting the end of this week. CAST will be developing a video for the legislative tour. Transportation and transportation funding will be the big topics. Councilman Paulson said Aspen is an exceptional community; people in the state look to Aspen for creativity. 3. Councilwoman Richards moved to table Red Brick Management Agreement to December 13; and to withdraw Ordinance #56, 1993; Landmark Designation 834 West Hallam; seconded by Councilman Paulson. All in favor, motion carried. 4. Amy Margerum, city manager, requested a date for a study session on the separate liquor licensing authority. Council scheduled this for January 17 at 5 p.m. 5. Council scheduled a work session with P & Z and BOCC to go over the suggested changes to the growth management system January 18 at 5 p.m. 6. Dan Blankenship, RFTA general manager, requested a work session to review alternative fuels for buses for 1994. Council scheduled this for December 15 at 5:30 p.m. 7. City Clerk Kathryn Koch reported on Boards and Commission vacancies. There are 3 opening on the Wheeler Opera House Board. All vacancies are being advertised; deadline for applications is December 30th. Councilwoman Richards asked about persons serving on two boards at once. John Worcester, city attorney, told Council it would take a Charter amendment to allow persons to serve on more than one regular board. Councilwoman Richards suggested sending letters to people who participated in the Aspen Area Community plan to see if they are interested on serving on any board. 8. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to table Ordinance #60, Series of 1993, to January 10, 1994; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. Tom Baker, housing director, told Council the appropriate notices need to be done. This will not affect the building season. All in favor, motion carried. 9. Amy Margerum, city manager, told Council the Power Plant road 2 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 6, 1993 is closed due to construction at the city shop, not HOV lane. This should be open by December 18th. 10. Leon Murray, Aspen Police Department, told Council the police department is putting on a fraud prevention seminar to help businesses in loss prevention techniques. Murray said the police department will also do on-site trainings for businesses. Councilwoman Richards suggested Grassroots tape these presentations for business to use. 11. Randy Ready, transportation director, told Council the HOV lane has been in place since November 3. The HOV lane is westbound from 3 to 6 p.m. open to buses and cars with 3 or more riders. Ready told Council traffic counts were done November 11 and December 1. On November 11, there were 929 vehicles in the SOV lane with 1214 people. One December 1 there were 1015 vehicles in the SOV lane with 1303 people. In the HOV lane November 11 there were 6 violators and on December 1 there were 30 violators. The number of vehicles with 3 or more passengers increased from 7 to 37 and the number of buses increased from 12 to 28. Ready said staff does not feel the HOV experiment is negatively impacting the single occupant experience. Tom Stephenson, police chief, told Council there has been fairly good compliance from drivers. The police department has not issued tickets but is keeping a list of repeat offenders. Stephenson encouraged Council to stick with the experiment. The HOV lane generally works when there is not bad weather or accidents blocking up the traffic. Ready told Council the city is working on flex time so as not to clog up the westbound traffic during the heavily congested 5 to 5:30 time. Staff feels the experiment is working. Councilwoman Richards said there ought to be some communication so that the traffic lights at Mill and Main could be run manually when traffic backs up that far. Councilwoman Richards said the short term meters are not explained very well; what space they designate, how much, etc. Mayor Bennett said he feels the HOV lane experiment may not work and would like to see a contingency plan to adjust the HOV lane or to eliminate it. Mayor Bennett said he is concerned about Christmas season traffic. Mayor Bennett suggested investi- gating opening up the parking lane to traffic during high traffic days or weeks. Stephenson pointed out tourists and visitors do not necessarily add to the 5 to 5:30 traffic numbers. Stephenson said Council has to give the HOV lane enough time to work for people to change their driving/transportation patterns. Councilwoman Waggaman agreed she would like to see staff develop a contingency plan. Ready told Council there is a valley car pool matching service at 920-4410. 3 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 6, 1993 CONSENT CALENDAR Councilman Reno moved to adopt the consent calendar as amended; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. The consent calendar is: A . Minutes - November 8, 22, 1 993 B . Resolution #83, 1993 - Contract to Purchase Snow Dump Land C . Resolution #86, 1993 - Request Extension of Recordation Marolt Housing D . Resolution #84, 1993 - Color ado Income Tax Program for Historic Preservation All in favor, motion carried. LIQUOR LICENSE AUTHORITY - New Liquor License Planet Hollywood City Clerk Kathryn Koch reported the file, posting and publication to be in order. Planet Hollywood has a 15 year lease from Andre Ulrych for the building at 312 S. Galena St. The building is not ready and any license approval should be conditioned upon receipt of a certificate of occupancy and a food service license. Chairman John Bennett opened the public hearing. Mickey Herron, representing the applicant, told Council this is a request for a new hotel and restaurant liquor license, although this space has been a licensed establishment since the 1940's with the Eagle's Club through 1993 with Ebbe's. Herron noted this is located in the CC zone district where food service establishment is a permitted use. Herron introduced the manager, Steve Bauer, and presented a petition signed by 187 persons supporting the need for a new liquor license. Bennett asked for opponents. There were none. Steve Bauer, manager, told Council this will not be ready to open by Christmas but will open between Christmas and New Years. Bauer told Council he has attended the alcohol awareness training and will have a training for the staff at Planet Hollywood. Ms. Richards asked if this will be a private club in anyway. Bauer said there may be times when parts of the restaurant are closed for a benefit but it will not be a private club with membership. Bennett closed the public hearing. Ms. Waggaman moved that based on the evidence presented at this public hearing relating to the application of Planet Hollywood for a hotel and restaurant license with extended hours, the licensing authority finds that the needs of the neighborhood have not been met and the license is hereby granted, with the stipulation that the food service license and certificate of occupancy are granted 4 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 6, 1993 beforehand; seconded by Ms. Richards. All in favor, motion carried. 1994 BUDGET AND SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING Rob Umbreit, budget director, summarized the amendments made in supplemental requests at Council's November 30th meeting. Umbreit said the ditch management program in the water department was dropped. Staff will schedule a work session with Council. Council reviewed the list of supplemental budget requests deleting mall flower baskets of $6400, temporary labor at the Red Brick school of $9566, the trails maintenance of $82,250. The revenue for accessory dwelling unit will be addressed when change are made to the land use code. The Paws spay/neuter program was reduced by 50 percent; the county should cover the other 50 percent. The radio/phone technician was reduced to $24,000 as the police department had already budgeted $6,000 for radio mainte nance. Council approved all other supplemental requests suggesting the streets signs be coordinated with CCLC, HPC and staff. Amy Margerum, city manager, suggested staff meet with the Nordic Council, Neighborhood Advisory Committee, and other interested groups to work on the issue of trail maintenance. Council approved the asset management plan general fund open items of $57,200 for the pavement management system. Steve Barwick, assistant city manager, told Council they should approve $118,000 as a placeholder for the data processing plan. The city has adequate funding and it appears the county also has funding. The details of how this will be split with the county are still being worked out. Council agreed to the mall restrooms in asset management. Umbreit said he will add to the final appropriation ordinance $100,000 to increase the transportation fund reserves. This will take the parking fund close to its limit. Council agreed to the transfer to the transportation fund reserve. The city is also still working on the animal control budget with Pitkin County. Staff recommends approving the present budget for animal control. Mayor Bennett asked for public comment in this continued public hearing. Councilwoman Richards moved to table the public hearing to December 13; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. All in favor, motion carried. RFTA 1994 BUDGET (RFTA RESOLUTIONS 4 & 5) Dan Blankenship, RFTA general manager, pointed out Resolution #4 summarizes revenues and expenditures and adopts the 1994 budget. 5 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 6, 1993 Resolution #5 appropriates the money to specific purposes in the budget. Blankenship said RFTA is going to provide a significant amount of additional service in 1994. RFTA has budgeted over 2 million miles of service, representing a 34 percent increase over 1993. Blankenship said the down valley service will be greatly expanded with 1/2 hour frequency. Blankenship said revenue is projected at $6.3 million; capital revenue is projected at $5.8 million. Money is budgeted to buy new buses and to retrofit existing buses with emission devices to reduce the emissions by at least 50 percent. Councilman Paulson said he would like RFTA to think about a 5 a.m. bus from Carbondale. Blankenship said the budget is going up 28 percent over 1993. The projected ridership is going up 15 percent. Councilwoman Richards moved to approve RFTA Resolutions #4 and #5; seconded by Councilman Paulson. All in favor, motion carried. RFTA 1993 SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET APPROPRIATION (RFTA RESOLUTION #3) Dan Blankenship, RFTA general manager, said this request is to spend additional money in 1993 and to recognize additional revenues in 1993. Blankenship reminded Council RFTA needs their approval whenever the budget varies 10 percent and $10,000. Blankenship noted RFTA has significantly increased the maintenance staff reflected by increased expenditures. Blankenship said the Rubey park expansion will be done in 1994. The Galena street shuttle vehicles have not been purchased yet. The money for these expenses is being transferred to 1994. Councilwoman Richards moved to suspend the rules and extend the meeting to 9:30 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Paulson. All in favor, motion carried. Councilwoman Richards moved to approve RFTA Resolution #4, supplemental budget appropriations for 1993; seconded by Councilman Paulson. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #59, SERIES OF 1993 - 409 E. Hopkins Extension of GMQS Allotments Leslie Lamont, planning office, told Council this is a request to extend the 1990 growth management allotment for commercial space 6 months to July 24, 1994. The land use code allows for a request to the GMQS extension as long as the application is received prior to the expiration. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. Tom Smith, representing the applicant, said they would like to 6 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 6, 1993 leave open the possibility, if the Code does not change, to request another extension. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt Ordinance #59, Series of 1993, on second reading; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Paulson, yes; Richards, yes; Waggaman, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #61, SERIES OF 1993 - Extension of GMQS Allotments - Asia Leslie Lamont, planning office, said this is a request for a 6 month extension of the growth management allotment. Ms. Lamont told Council the plans for this project are in the building department; the applicant needs to meet several conditions of approval. This 6 month extension is to April 10, 1994. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. There were no comments. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to adopt Ordinance #61, Series of 1993, on second reading; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Waggaman, yes; Richards, yes; Paulson, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #62, SERIES OF 1993 - Repealing Section 23-60 City/County Water Trust John Worcester, city attorney, told Council the water trust fund is no longer in existence and this amends the Municipal Code to delete reference to the water trust. Mayor Bennett opened the public hearing. There were no comments. Mayor Bennett closed the public hearing. Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt Ordinance #62, Series of 1993, on second reading; seconded by Councilwoman Waggaman. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Richards, yes; Waggaman, yes; Paulson, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. RESOLUTION #85, SERIES OF 1993 - Commercial GMQS Allocation Kim Johnson, planning office, told Council this resolution allots square footage in the CC and C-1 zone. Ms. Johnson told Council there was only one application in 1993; the Galena Plaza project. P & Z found the scores met the minimum threshold, which allows Council to allocate the 440 square feet of new net leasable commercial area. Ms. Johnson told Council this project does not 7 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 6, 1993 require any further review by Council except the next agenda item, which is approval of vested rights. Ms. Johnson said the housing mitigation has not been finally adopted by the Housing Board. This allocation has been separated with the understanding that nothing can take place until the housing mitigation has been adopted by Council. Ms. Johnson said there will be deed restriction of all the units currently on site. HPC reviewed and approved this project. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to adopt Resolution #85, Series of 1993; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #64, SERIES OF 1993 - Galena Plaza Vested Rights Councilwoman Richards moved to read Ordinance #64, Series of 1993; seconded by Councilman Paulson. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #64 (Series of 1993) AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF ASPEN, COLORADO, VESTING FOR A PERIOD OF THREE YEARS THE DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS FOR THE GALENA PLAZA SITE SPECIFIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN APPROVAL LOCATED AT 420 E. MAIN STREET (E. HALF OF LOT L AND ALL OF LOTS M- S, BLOCK 86, TOWNSITE OF ASPEN) was read by the city clerk Kim Johnson, planning office, told Council P & Z granted approval of the site specific development plan including land use reviews, special review for parking reduction, open space reduction and FAR bonus. The total project includes an increase of 4400 new net leasable area. The applicant has requested the site specific approval also be granted a 3 year vested rights. Councilwoman Richards moved to adopt Ordinance #64, Series of 1993, on first reading; seconded by Councilman Paulson. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Paulson, yes; Richards, yes; Waggaman, yes; Mayor Bennett, yes. Motion carried. Councilwoman Waggaman moved to adjourn at 9:25 p.m.; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carried. Kathryn S. Koch, City Clerk 8 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council December 6, 1993 PROCLAMATION - Neighbor to Neighbor Awareness Week 1 ............. DONATION CELLULAR PHONE TO RESPONSE 1 ............................ CITIZEN COMMENTS 1 ................................ ............... COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 2 ................................ ......... CONSENT CALENDAR 4 ................................ ............... LIQUOR LICENSE AUTHORITY - New Liquor License Planet Holly wood 4 . 1994 BUDGET AND SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING 5 ........................... RFTA 1994 BUDGET (RFTA RESOLUTIONS 4 & 5) 5 ...................... RFTA 1993 SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET APPROPRIATION (RFTA RESOLUTION #3) 6 ................................ ....................... ORDINANCE #59, SERIES OF 1993 - 409 E. Hopkins Extension of GMQS Allotments 6 ................................ ........... ORDINANCE #61, SERIES OF 1993 - Extension of GMQS Allotments - Asia 7 ................................ ...................... ORDINANCE #62, SERIES OF 1993 - Repealing Section 23-60 City/County Water Trust 7 ................................ ... RESOLUTION #85, SERIES OF 1993 - Commercial GMQS Allocation 7 .... ORDINANCE #64, SERIES OF 1993 - Galena Plaza Vested Rights 8 ..... 9