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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20170522Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 22, 2017 1 SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES .................................................................................................. 2 CITIZEN COMMENTS ............................................................................................................................... 2 COUNCILMEMBERS COMMENTS .......................................................................................................... 3 CITY MANAGER COMMENTS ................................................................................................................ 3 BOARD REPORTS ...................................................................................................................................... 3 CONSENT CALENDAR ............................................................................................................................. 3 Lassiter Electric Contract for Electrical Upgrades in the Aspen Ice Garden and Red Brick Venter for the Arts .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Resolution #91, Series of 2017 – Short Range Transit Plan – Professional Services Agreement ........ 4 ORDINANCE #16, SERIES OF 2017 ............................................. –Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance 4 RESOLUTION #90, SERIES OF 2017 – Lift One Lodge Extension of Vested Rights ............................... 4 ORDINANCE #34, SERIES OF 2017 – Mountain View Planes ................................................................. 6 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 22, 2017 2 At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Skadron called the regular meeting to order with Councilmembers Frisch, Daily and Myrin present. SCHEDULED PUBLIC APPEARANCES Black diamond award. Steve Barwick, city manager introduced Janine Guerrero from the Housing Department. Recently there was a major renovation to the Aspen Country Inn involving the common and residential units and the temporary relocation of the residents. This was very worrisome to us. Janine was the liaison to the construction team and residents. She knocked it out of the ball park. We expanded the roll to make it as smooth as possible. She acted as the conduit for complete communication with the residents. We received no major complaints from the residents. Swear in new police officer. Kirk Wheatley, police department, introduced Lauren Sumner. Lauren stated she is originally from Fort Collins and the former manager of Hickory House. Mayor Skadron swore in Lauren. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Heidi Zuckerman, director of Aspen Art Museum, told the Council the art museum was awarded the Institute of Museum and Library Services National Medal Award. They are 1 of 30 museum and libraries named as finalists and 1 of 10 winners of the national medals. It was given the award due to its service to the community. Supported by Senator Bennet and community members. Ongoing efforts to provide services to schools and rural communities, services to seniors, at risk youths and adults. Multiple community days are scheduled with various partners. The award highlights their efforts to make it a true community resource. 2. Emzy Veazy III commented on a variety of topics. 3. Mike Maple thanked Aspen for trash day. It is one of his favorite services from the city. He appreciates the food tax refund. It was established in 1970 when the sales tax was 1% and most cities exempted food from the sales tax. It started off at 7 dollars and grew to 21 in 1972. In 1998 it jumped up to 50. 20 years later it is still 50. 50 in 1998 was a poor demonstration of what citizens paid for food tax and it is much worse now. Look at the spirit of it and as you increase fees with inflation the food tax refund should be as well. The chirping crosswalk is pretty annoying but the city response was impressive and I appreciate you taking on that challenge. There are other problems with Main Street other than the chirping indicators. Main Street from the round a bout into Aspen is in horrible shape. Pretty sure CDOT is responsible for it. Some may be tied to our love of trees. Grand Ave bridge detour will be an absolute disaster and he encouraged council to participate in those discussions. We can keep independence pass open. Encourage CDOT to keep the pass open as long as possible. The extension of vested rights for lift one lodge is a red herring. Wait for the results of the lift study. 4. Ryland French spoke about the electric vehicle ride and drive event on June 9th from 12-3 in the Community banks parking lot. Test drive multiple vehicles and learn about tax credits. 5. Toni Kronberg said the Memorial Day celebration will be in Connor park. She passed out a handout about the lawsuit to review city office approval. She asked council to remand the decision back to council to follow the civic master plan. On Monday, she turned in a referendum petition to bring the same question to a vote. She will submit an initiative petition tomorrow to make Galena plaza a specially designated space and keep Galena Plaza a view plane and make it a truly open space. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 22, 2017 3 COUNCILMEMBERS COMMENTS Councilman Myrin said regarding the food tax he mentioned at the January 9th meeting for a process to increase that. He would be interested in looking at that. Thanks to staff and council for working on quieting the beepers on Main Street. It would be nice to continue to work on making those more quiet. On the dams, he is not supportive on perusing the can and will message. It is an expense we don’t need to persue. We learned about the golf course inground storage and it might be a possibility if we need storage. Encourage what the space actually is. Councilman Frisch said 50 dollars then is 75 now. Normal cities don’t have it because a vast majority of the tax is paid by the residents. We can explore it a little bit. If the idea is to offset the total we can look at it. We need to be careful. Hats off to Trish and the team for acting quickly on the chirping. There are better solutions longer term for safety for residents and guests with vision issues for chirping only when needed. Hats off to Steve for stimulating the compact of mayors and to Ashley and her team. Councilman Daily agree with Mike and his thoughts on the food tax increase. Mayor Skadron said on the Grand Avenue bridge, starting August 14th, the bridge will be closing for 95 days. Peak travel times will be mostly impacted. We are doing everything we can at this end of the valley to see what we can do to get people to avoid those peak travel times. Big congrats to Sunday Abarca, senior at high school for 2 state records in track. He broke the state record, the one he set last year. Big thank you to Ashely Perl and the EH team for pulling off the compact of Colorado communities. We created something from nothing. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS Mr. Barwick said the food tax refund is on the 2018 budget topics to discuss On the cancelation of the Hallam Street and Castle Creek bridge project. We received no bids for that project. At this point the plans are to put the two projects together and rebid for 2018. The temporary changes to the bridge were wildly popular. We could talk about this at a future work session. Councilman Frisch said last year was a temporary extension with a fence. This year is just bollards. In an ideal world, I would love to see a temporary solution but 90,000 dollars for a few months it a lot of money. Mr. Barwick replied yes. Trish Aragon, engineering, said the earliest an engineer could get in there would be mid summer. Councilman Myrin said he is ok waiting a year. It’s been that way a long time. BOARD REPORTS Mayor Skadron said RFTA looked at the IGA with Garfield county and the Access Control Plan. These are the guidelines that define where the trail can be accessed. There is pressure to liberalize the agreement and I oppose that. He is proposing some new language to ensure the corridor is protected. CONSENT CALENDAR Reso #89 – electrical upgrades to Ice Garden Councilman Myrin asked if this will enable a future change to electric. Jeff Pendarvis said they were approached by the recreation department who identified upgrades to ice garden and red brick. These are just deficiencies. There are upgrades in 2019 and that will address those. Councilman Myrin said this seems like it is changing the services to the building. Mr. Pendarvis replied that is correct. The problem is the current equipment causes constant problem to the existing equipment that interrupts services. Reso #91 – Short Range Transit Plan Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 22, 2017 4 Councilman Myrin said he is concern about an outcome that would replace a fixed route with the downtowner if we haven’t figured out the barrier for tips for locals who use it multiple times a day. There is resistance from some people. • Lassiter Electric Contract for Electrical Upgrades in the Aspen Ice Garden and Red Brick Venter for the Arts • Resolution #91, Series of 2017 – Short Range Transit Plan – Professional Services Agreement Councilman Frisch moved to adopt the Consent Calendar; seconded by Councilman Myrin. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #16, SERIES OF 2017 –Water Efficient Landscape Ordinance Lee Ledesma, water, stated there will be a minimum 12 month pilot program. Parks will be lead on implementation on reviewing documentation and doing site visits. Councilman Myrin asked for more about the pilot. Ms. Ledesma said everything in the standards will be required. Compliance will be required. Not required are meeting the water budget of 7.5 gallons per sq ft. Post installation issues would not effect a certificate of occupancy being issued. If parks need more time the pilot could be extended. Councilman Myrin said this is a lot of information for a citizen to figure out and a need to hire a professional to figure out. Ms. Ledesma said we met with 20 to 25 private sector landscape installers and designers and for the most part they are doing this already. The one request we got was to come up with a spreadsheet to calculate the water budget. I have done that already. The other suggestion was a checklist. Those would be in place before this starts. Councilman Daily said he seconds the idea of proceeding with the 12 month pilot program. It is a smart approach. Councilman Frisch said he is for it. He raised concerns we don’t turn in to suburban Scottsdale. He wants to make sure we don’t have to hire a Ben Carlson to figure it out. The overall goal is right on. Mayor Skadron said the promotion of efficiency is right on. Mayor Skadron opened the public comment. There was none. Mayor Skadron closed the public comment. Councilman Daily moved to adopt Ordinance #16, Series of 2017; seconded by Councilman Frisch. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Daily, yes; Frisch, yes; Myrin, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. RESOLUTION #90, SERIES OF 2017 – Lift One Lodge Extension of Vested Rights Councilman Daily recused himself. Jessica Garrow, community development, stated Lift 1 was approved in 4 lots. The property is comprised of a timeshare, affordable housing and two parks with the historic lift 1. If there is a decision to relocate the lift there would need to be amendments to the design and approvals as well as changes to the construction documents and updates to the approval documents. Currently the vesting goes through November 28, 2018. The applicant is requesting an extension for three years. Staff supports involvement with a one year extension. If amendments are warranted another extension can be discussed at that time. We included a condition in the ordinance that any general regulations related to life safety continue to apply. There are a number of review criteria council may consider including compliance with the conditions of the original approval as well as the standards related to progress of pursuing the project. They are moving forward with the project. Staff supports the one year. Exhibit D is an administrati ve matter. There are four lots, two are owned by the city, Willoughby park and lift 1. They have consent by Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 22, 2017 5 the city. Exhibit E is a letter from lift 1 condo. There is one requested change to the Resolution to correct a reference to Ord 41. Councilman Myrin said the logic is the duration of the time to work on moving people from one place to another. How long do we expect that to take. Ms. Garrow said there is a meeting tomorrow with the consultant. We are not sure when to expect the final report. We are confident some type of extension will be needed. Councilman Myrin asked will it take one year or six months. Ms. Garrow said if changes are needed it will take more than one year. Councilman Myrin said if Gorsuch was approved this would not be a moving target. Ms. Garrow said it depends on what version of Gorsuch. Councilman Frisch said it still feels like we are working backwards a little bit. I still want to keep all the options open. He thinks this applicant has been acting in good faith this entire time. He is supportive of one year. He appreciates they came in this far in advance. If they need more time they can come in again. I think there is a better option out there. Sunny Vann, representing the applicant, said the purpose of this is to allow the lodge to park the building permit while they pursue a lift alternative with their neighbors. It will give time to work on a solution to the lift, preparing a new land use application and submitting permit plans. We are asking for certainty we will have that time available. Michael Brown, owner, said this is step one of achieving the larger community goal of getting the lift further down the slope. It is a complex issue we are ready to tackle. It requires more time then less. Mayor Skadron said the value to your property increases if the lift comes lower. Is that true if it comes across your property. Mr. Brown said as long as you are above the lift it doesn’t matter. Mayor Skadron opened the public comment. 1. Mariska Laskey, South Point Condo, said she is concerned about livability. Their building is currently encompassed in dust. Less time is better but she also wants to have the best development. She is not opposed but be cognizant of the impacts. She wants to be kept in the loop. 2. Tom Todd, attorney for Norway Island, Gorsuch Haus, said they support the recommendation for a one year extension of vested rights. We play a key role and look forward to working with the partners to locate the lift further down the hill. We recognize vested rights need to be extended in order to explore relocating the lift. 3. Toni Kronberg thanked council for listening to the community to explore bringing the lift further down the mountain. Mayor Skadron closed the public comment. Ms. Garrow said the change to the resolution should also change to condition 2, P&Z reso should be 2016. Mr. Brown said he would appreciate any consideration to any timing on the length of time. To forgo that opportunity is incredibly costly. They want to give this the fair shake it deserves. Every day the lodge doesn’t get built and the opportunity for the lift to move down the hill is a good day for the community. Councilman Frisch moved to adopt Resolution #90, Series of 2017 with one year vesting extension and correction to scrivener’s errors; seconded by Councilman Myrin. All in favor, motion carried. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 22, 2017 6 ORDINANCE #34, SERIES OF 2017 – Mountain View Planes Ms. Garrow stated this is the last item from the AACP LUC process. This was continued from the April 24th Council meeting. This ordinance will expand the Wagner park view plane. All the other view planes will be maintained. It will expand the applicability of view planes on periphery lots. It adds the mail box exemption where the current code triggers a view plane review. It creates view pane review standards as well as defines minimal impact and strengthens the applicability. The ordinance also creates the fore, mid and background standards. These were based off the site visit in the fall. Foreground criteria applies if a development proposal infringes on a view plane. No view plane shall be infringed and no exemptions apply. This is a P&Z review. There is a 15 foot maximum height allowance. All buildings must meet the minimal impact. Ceiling heights for interior remodels is 9’6” and tied to existing growth management language. There is a three foot exemption for slopped lots. All variations are subject to Referendum 1. The 15 foot height allowance is the lowest height practicable. It is still 13 feet lower than the underlying zone district. It is based on basic construction requirements. P&Z or HPC must conduct a review to ensure these guidelines are being met. Staff recommends approval of the ordinance as written. It strikes a balance of ensuring a strong protection of the view planes and works well with the other land use ordinances. Councilman Daily said he appreciates all the work staff has put in on this. It strikes the balance with the folks that are impacted by this. It is a measured new regulation. This is a fair and balanced approach for the community and effected landowners. He appreciates the work put in to this. Councilman Frisch said it is mostly on track. Councilman Myrin had some questions on the foreground. How high is Jimmy’s and Grey Lady. Ms. Garrow replied the new version is 13.6. Councilman Myrin said the picture of Cooper St, there is retail in 13.5. He is leaning more towards the few buildings with 13 foot. Ms. Garrow said it is what is needed for an all inclusive building based on a lot of work with architects and the building department. P&Z would be using the minimum impact standards. It would be part of the conversation. That is an almost unachievable height. Councilman Frisch said we are trying to get to a reasonable interior height. Bert is saying 13 worked on paper. Staff is saying you need 15.5 to execute. Philip Supino, community development, said we are not saying you need that. Up to 15 with the minimal impacts gives an attractive minimal building that doesn’t infringe on the view plane. 15 is not by right by any means. There are design based standards as well as considerations of the view plane, lot topography and adjacent structures. Councilman Myrin said the ordinance page 3, if it can’t be seen with the naked eye and is blocked by vegetation, it can be taller. Mr. Supino said there is no reference to vegetation in the ordinance. Alan Richman, consultant, said the earlier versions was 15 is the allowed height. This version says P&Z says it may or may not be. The criteria is it may not alter the view. If it does it ends right there. Councilman Myrin said in the definition section #4 talks about vegetation. Mr. Supino said that is an example that may or may not present a problem. Councilman Myrin suggested removing the word vegetation. Ordinance page 5 – height measured from finished grade, is that different from elsewhere. Ms. Garrow said typically it is finished. This makes the most sense given the exemptions. Councilman Myrin said on page 6 explain foreground location greater than 50 percent of the lot line. Ms. Garrow said it is related to setback features. If they are under the view plane there is a setback requirement. Councilman Myrin said on foreground setback, would the effect be to push mechanical to the side you see. Mr. Supino said in this example the effect would be to push the mechanical into the view plane. It would force you to design to the lowest height possible. The roofs are frozen in time. There could be no additional mechanical on the roof than there is there today. Councilman Myrin said on page 6 shall not be visible from the reference point and street level. Ms. Garrow said it is from the point of the view pane. Councilman Myrin said page 7, 1 A, site topography tightens exceptions. He suggested strike other constraints. Ms. Garrow is fine with that. Mayor Skadron opened the public comment. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 22, 2017 7 1. Chris Bendon stated the ordinance is ready to go. He is representing four property owners. Two are hamstrung in the current conditions. The regulations have been well vetted. It is a good balance of protecting the views and reasonable use of the properties. It is a rational way to provide for small changes. It is a rational additional that encourages remodel over redevelopment. 15 feet is the shortest you can get to still produce a reasonable building with a practicable set of uses. It strikes an appropriate balance. It is at the place where this is an adoptable ordinance. 2. Gideon Kaufmann said to adopt the ordinance as it is proposed. 3. Toni Kronberg asked about Section A – jurisdiction and how it applies to section G – jurisdiction. Ms. Garrow said the standards are outlined and we feel the references are correct and don’t need additional ones. Mr. True said it is redundant. Mayor Skadron closed the public comment. Councilman Myrin said striking the vegetation on page 3 and other constraints on page 7 were both about foreground issues. Owners built things that were smaller and what we are doing today is upzoning and filling in the space and possibility filling in the space in front of the Wheeler. Those concern me. It is adding development where there was no development before. Councilman Frisch said if the Aspen Grove building goes through a remodel it can’t be any bigger. Ms. Garrow said from a height standpoint it can’t get an taller. Councilman Frisch said if it gets torn down and rebuilt it would be shorter. Ms. Garrow replied it would have to be. Councilman Frisch said 95 percent of this is slam dunk great work. I don’t want to lose sight of that. I think the fore ground is well though out. 9.5 feet is not too tall. The reality is if we are to agree at 9.5. I’m not sure what Bert is looking for to make it better. It is a huge improvement on community view planes. Councilman Daily said he agrees with what has just been said. This has been a long process and a significant improvement over existing legislation. It encourages improvement of existing over redevelopment. He supports what we got. Mayor Skadron said one concern is trying to write an all inclusive instruction manual. The big ideas get lost in the minutia. He will support this as well for the reasons stated. It creates a set of criteria that never before existed resulting in a balance between reasonable building while protecting public view. This is a response of the unintended consequences of Referendum 1. Which was ultimately a great disservice to the community. Mr. Bendon said Bert had 2 suggestions. He is fine with the vegetation. The second change refers to site topography or other constraints. He said he thinks you want P&Z to look at other constraints that are real constrains. He gave the example of a significant tree, access point or a real constraint. Gideon’s property. There may be constraints that are real constraints that a board might need to have flexibility around. Councilman Myrin said this gets back to what Adam said about a building fitting under a 15 foot bridge. His fear is lot line to lot line development. He would pass this tonight if it did not have the foreground in it. Councilman Myrin moved to adopt Ordinance #43, Series of 2017 with amendment to omit vegetation and other constraints; seconded by Councilman Frisch. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Frisch, yes; Myrin, no; Daily, yes; Mayor Skadron, yes. Motion carried. Executive session Jim True request Council go in to executive session pursuant to C.R.S 24.6.402.04 b, e, a conference with attorney regarding pending litigation, Castle and Maroon Creek diligence case, Marie Antionette Kronberg case v City of Aspen, and determining positions relative to matters that may be subject to Regular Meeting Aspen City Council May 22, 2017 8 negotiations; developing strategy for negotiations and the potential purchase, acquisition, lease, transfer, or sale of any real, personal or other property interest. Councilman Myrin moved to go in to executive session; seconded by Councilman Frisch. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Frisch moved to come out of executive session at 9:15 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Myrin. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Daily moved to adjourn at 9:16 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Myrin. All in favor, motion carried. Linda Manning City Clerk