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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20040323Continued Meetin~ Aspen City Council March 23, 2004 Mayor Klanderud called the continued meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. with Councilmembers Richards, Semrau, Torre, Paulson and Mayor Klanderud present. RESOLUTION #23~ SERIES OF 2004 - Bar/X Ranch Soldner Access Road Agreement John Worcester, city attorney, presented the proposed agreement between the Bar/X ranch, the Soldners and the city for the western alignment access road. Worcester gave Council a map indicating where the road will go. Worcester said the Soldners will grant to the city parcel B in order to accommodate the western alignment for the road. The city will grant to the Soldners a triangUlar parcel carved out by the road and the ranch. Worcester noted the original deal was that Bar/X would grant to the Soldners a parcel of land along their boundary equal in size to the land that the Soldners were giving up and this has changed. Worcester said Bar/X was going to grant to the city a 37-foot wide utility easement running the entire length of the property line. There will also be a 60-foot temporary construction easement for 24 months. There are two small slivers of land; one which the city will quit claim deed to the Soldners and the other sliver will be worked out. Worcester said it is represented the Soldners and Bar/X are in agreement with this. Worcester said beside the 37-foot wide utilitv easement and the temporary construction easement, Bar/X will also grant to the city a 15,000 square foot staging area for the contractor. The city will mitigate the environmental and aesthetic disturbance caused by the construction of the western access road. This may include berms and vision and sound dampening methods. This has not been defined. If there is a dispute, it will be taken to arbitration. The method of arbitration will be selected at that time and if that is not agreed on, the state statutes will be followed. Worcester said the city does not want to build walls and the Soldners feel walls may be necessary. So reasonable sound dampening methods has not been determined. The city has agreed to correct the annexation map after this deal is completed. The city and Bar/X will enter into a 4th amended pre-annexation agreement to incorporate compensation from Bar/X to the city including $25,000 from the initial sales of the free market lots up to a total of $300,000. Another condition was to compensate for the loss of sagebrush Continued Meetin~ Aspen City Council March 23, 2004 with a payment of $25,000 to a local environmental organization from the initial sale of the free market unit. For a period of 50 years on the resale of these, there will be an additional $10,000 payment to the city and 1/3 of the $10,000 going to the Soldners for compensation. Worcester told Council Bar/X will incorporate these commitments into covenants on the titles for sales of free market lots. Bar/X will construct a temporary ditch to relocate the permanent ditch and then move the ditch back. Worcester pointed out the agreement states if Bar/X develops a cultural use center, the traffic generated by that center will use the westerly road. The anticipated traffic is an average of 88 trips/day. Worcester said the Soldners have asked for two water hookups from city service up to a maximum of 4 ECUs/hookup, total of 8 ECUs, at any time in the future. Worcester told Council the use all 8 ECUs, is an approximate value of $64,000. The Soldners also want to continue to use the wells on their property. The city asks that people grant the water rights to the city and then enter into a raw water agreement to lease back the water. This is an issue of being able to control the use of raw water and regulate it. Fred Peirce, representing the Soldners, said this agreement is acceptable to them. Worcester told Council he has talked to the Zolines' attorney and this is acceptable to them also. Councilwoman Richards said she thought the additional payment on the free market lots was to help offset the higher cost of the westerly road as well as the potential mitigations. Councilwoman Richards said the city is agreeing to go to arbitration if the mitigation methods are not enough while at the same time the funding source is being depleted. Peirce said there are two provisions and the one Bar/X is paying for compensating additional engineering and staff costs remains, which is the $25,000 per lot to a total of $300,000. Peirce said the $25,000 was going to an environmental organization and the Soldners requested 1/3 of that be given to whatever non-profit organization is operating the Soldner ranch. Councilman Torre said he was hoping that money would go to purchase open space because by agreeing to this alignment, more sagebrush habitat is being damaged. These funds would be used to preserve that type of habitat throughout the valley. Ed Sadler, assistant city-manager, said the directions given to the engineer were to spend no more than $300,000 on the realignment. Sadler told Council that berms and walls were not included in the costs of re- Continued Meetin~ Aspen City Council March 23, 2004 engineering. This will probably also require new drainage. Councilman Torre asked if the grade on this .alignment allows for a usable trail. Sadler said the maximum grade would be 6% and it will be usable. Councilman Semrau asked if the Soldners have defined "noise mitigation". Stephanie Soldner said they have not had a lot of time to work on this. Peirce said they are aware the noise level will not be the same as it is today; they understand there will be impacts and want these impacts reasonably mitigated. Councilman Semrau noted there is a decibel sound in the code that is considered reasonable. Worcester suggested language that this noise will not exceed the city's noise ordinance. Peirce agreed using the city's noise ordinance as a starting point would be reasonable. Sadler said the road to the cultural center will have to be considered with the city's developer so these two roads can mesh. Worcester said he will add that to the agreement. Peirce pointed out the traffic figures for the cultural center come from the plan of having 13 units out there for students and teachers. Councilwoman Richards said she would like to make sure that agreeing to this does not bind future Council when they are reviewing an application for the cultural center. If Council agrees this road is for access, there will be no way to go cost sharing because the city is building the road to the cultural center and is taking the westerly alignment, which is what the Zolines wanted. Worcester said Council could condition the'cultural center upon reimbursing the city. Worcester said all this agreement says is if a Council agrees to the cultural center and if it is built, all the traffic has to go on this road. Councilman Torre asked if the new access road serves free market component of the Bar/X ranch. Worcester said he will have to look into this; the free market component by definition may include the cultural center area. Councilman Torre said he would rather the payments go to purchase of open space than a non-profit environmental group and that 1/3 goes toward maintenance of the Soldner property. Peirce said the Soldners are trying to preserve a feeling of the property that they grew up with; when the road is built, it will be a different property. Peirce pointed out as a result of this, the Soldners made a request to the Zolines for a contribution to an endowment to help preserve the property as it is now. The Zolines suggested the payment come out of the monies going to the city as a compromise. Stephanie Soldner said they want to be assured that the property will be taken care of and help will be needed with the maintenance. 3 Continued Meeting Aspen City Council March 23~ 2004 Ms. Soldner said the donations from the sale of the free market units at Bar/X are a small amount to pay to maintain this land. Councilwoman Richards suggested language that if the cultural center never occurs on this property, that the money is returned to the city. Councilwoman Ri'chards asked if a percentage of this maintenance money could be earmarked for mitigation in the case the Soldners and city cannot agree on what is "reasonable" mitigation. Ms. Soldner said at this point she would hesitate to link the two. Councilman Semrau noted the city is protected by arbitration. Worcester agreed the city would be protected from unreasonable requests; however, the decision would be up to the arbitrator. Worcester said he asked for the arbitration clause as it does give the city some protection from a dispute that the parties do not know how to resolve. Councilman Semrau said this agreement is acceptable in trying to help the Soldners as much as possible. Mayor Klanderud said she does not favor the road along the westerly boundary. Mayor Klanderud said she has concerns about the visual problems with the westerly site; the site will never look the same. Mayor Klanderud noted that all the impacts from the cultural center will fall on the affordable housing sites. Councilman Paulson said he feels this is being rushed through without giving thought to the decibel levels and the visual impacts. Councilman Paulson said he feels there may be unexpected costs to the city by pushing this through without knowing the final outcome. Councilwoman Richards said she originally supported the easterly alignment; however, she is supporting this alignment to try and mitigate the impacts to the neighbors. Councilwoman Richards agreed there are positives to moving this road. Councilwoman Richards said the cultural center impacts could be positive for Burlingame residents; this could be the beginning of a new campus like the Meadows/Music tent. Mayor Klanderud said she has agreed to make Burlingame the best possible project and this road alignment does not fit into that scenario. Mayor Klanderud said she has impacts on the affordable housing with traffic impacts on this proposed road. Councilman Semrau moved to approve Resolution #23, Series of 2004; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. Councilwoman Richards requested Worcester review the points brought up by Council. 4 Continued Meetin~ Aspen City Council March 23, 2004 Councilman Torre said the environment is valuable to this ~community. Also valuable are the people that made the community special and respecting these people is a hard trade off. Councilman Torre said he is willing to accept that trade off for the Soldners in this agreement. Councilman Torre said anything built at Burlingame is damage. Councilman Paulson said it seems like housing is put above everything else in this community. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Paulson and Mayor Klanderud. Motion carried. Councilman Semrau moved to adjourn at 8:00 p.m.; seconded by Councilwoman Richards. All in favor, motion carded.