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HomeMy WebLinkAboutcclc.min.011900 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF JANUARY 19, 2000 Chairman Jon Busch called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. Members in attendance were Bill Dinsmoor and Eric Cohen. Terry Butler and John Starr were excused, COMMISSIONER COMMENTS Bill relayed that he supported the BOCC in regards to the moratorium. It is appropriate to look at where the county is going in regards to huge houses, land consumption etc. Eric's feeling is that the City will wait to see what happens with the county before addressing any city issues. Eric informed the board that he has a concern with individuals falling on the street trying to get across from the Ajax Motmtain Bldg. and the Aspen Square. A suggestion would be to "pedestrianize" that area and have a tunnel underneath the gondola plaza to the other side of the street. That area is very dangerous. The city of Boulder is very successful with pedestrian flow. Bill stated that the DEPP committee identified that area as a problem area. If was suggested that a raised walkway go through that area so that there is no curb to walk off of. City Manager, Steve Barwick relayed that he is familiar with the area in Boulder and one issue is that Boulder has grades to work with so that they could open up the entrances and approach it from different angles. One other issue with the problem area is the numerous buses dropping off skiers at that area. Jon relayed that Acme Bar & Grill and Howling Wolf are handing out flyers on the streetlights etc. throughout town everyday. Staffwill send out code violations. CITY MANAGER - STEVE BARWICK Bill brought up the concern that some businesses claim all their sales are out of state. Has any notion been made concerning enforcement and the collection of sales tax for the city. Steve said audits are done to ten COMMERCIAL CORE & LODG/NG COMMISSION MINUTES OF JANUARY 19, 2000 businesses throughout thc year. Those particular businesses relayed that they had no direct information or explanations about what they were to keep regarding records. Rules and regulations were then published and all the auditors in town and accountants were educated. Some businesses have been fined but in general there are records as to what corresponded. There is no way to know what is in the box being shipped unless you do undercover work. Eric and Bill feel a certain amount of fem' should be put on the owner. Eric said his company had a very clear policy regarding shipping. Steve said if the board feels strongly about investigating businesses they need council's support. If fraud is proved you can disembowel everything for back for five years. Bill felt that all sales clerks should be dispersing the "right" answer to individuals purchasing merchandise. Steve relayed that the issue is a matter of tax fairness. Ifa driver of a business drives to Red Mountain to deliver a painting it is not taxable to the City. The customer must walk out with the item before being taxed. The place of transaction must occur in the City. Jon relayed that in the CCLC charter the board has the broad ability to initiate action, which has impact on the businesses. Jon also relayed to Steve that approval of lighting projects throughout town was taken away from the board. Staff relayed that the decision was made to have internal department sign off on lighting. Steve said he sees a variety of different areas for the group to operate in. One is the physical level like the DEPP project. How does it function and look. Where do the cars go and park. Where do we have pedestrian car/problems. Another area is landuse. Do we need more of one particular district or another. Economics is another area. This is one area that the city COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF JANUARY 19, 2000 has not paid much attention to over the last 20 years. It is time to take a good hard look at the Aspen economy and how it operates and how it is taxed. Major changes to the Aspen economy are going on. Bill relayed that one of the realities that CCLC has been involved in is unless the board has a "champion" or a dept. head or city council member who is firmly with the board on the issues it simply tums into posturing and goes nowhere. CCLC wants to know the issues that everyone can agree on and what they should concentrate on in order to get things passed or ordinances adopted. Steve agreed that the CCLC needs to decide what major issues are important and make sure they are important to city council. It is important to get agreement up front. Jon said the CCLC went to the city with an ordinance on newsracks which had numerous public hearings and council relayed that they wanted a cooperative thing and it is not working. Jon requested that housing come to the next meeting to discuss infill. Steve felt ifinfill is the direction a person needs to be on the committee for a full year. It will also take approximately $50,000. to review the infill. CCLC has also discussed having a liason with the ACRA. The ACRA director is interested in taking more positions on city issues. Steve said the business community and the city are not closely associated enough. It is not that we have to have an aligned interest but we need to be talking and working with each other. The AACP has a section about changes to the aspen economy and how does it work and now do we improve it perhaps without increasing the number of tourists in town and how do we tax it. Some issues will need state legislation. Our economy is more fragile than we though it was. We need to get more efficient. This board needs to get aligned with what city council wants. 3 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF JANUARY 19~ 2000 APS - TRASH Brain Flynn relayed that he has discussed the wildlife protection ordinance with APS and several of their containers have been approved for that issue. They are a new trash hauler ~nd would like impute on what CCLC's role is. Jon said the goal is to clean up the alleys and open them up and get the delivery trucks in the alleys. The solution, although not perfect is a common compactor and eliminating all dumpsters in the public right-of- way. It reduces congestion in the alleys. Residents in the downtown core complain of dumpster noise at 6:00 a.m. Bill relayed that the goal is to get as many dumpsters out of the donwtown and convert the dumpsters to centralized compaction. There is an ordinance that states that is the goal of the city. Seth Necamp stated that compactors could be serviced by front load trucks. There are also options of putting magnetic card readers on the compactors and each person pays for what they put in. WAGNER PARK Scott Chism is the new landscape architect for the Parks Department. He is the project manager for the Wagner Park bond project. Rebecca Shickling, Assistant Parks Director, relayed that they have a fairly aggressive time schedule for breaking ground on Wagner Park. Scott relayed that he is gathering data with regards to the redevelopment of Wagner Park. Some concepts that have been discussed are: Redevelop the restroom/maintenance building and possibly integrating some seating. Looking at the field itself and possibly lower the field so it creates a recessed play field and add an edge of seating around the field. The alley will be looked at and possibly be expanded to accommodate delivery traffic and get it off the mall directly. A mechanism is in place and there are a certain number of hours that deliveries are allowed to occur and then it goes 4 COMMERCIAL CORE & LODGING COMMISSION MINUTES OF JANUARY 19, 2000 back to pedestrian access. The children's playground will be retained as much as possible but the equipment will need to be upgraded. Regarding the arrangement of the building mass, possibly there will be two structures that would create a framework when you come imo the park. There are no formal plans. Bill relayed that is the big picture that Jeff Woods has been articulating. CCLC feels it is important to create other infill structures underneath or around the park to accommodate an event production; electric, gas, soft structures, fiber optics. They also felt that the ACRA should be involved. Rebecca requested that a CCLC member be added to the task force. They are shooting for a fall construction start. It will be a focused task force. Jori felt that at the enu~vay at the end of Cooper a performance space should be added. Possibly an arch with a built in wall that could come down so that the space could work in either direction. Bill asked what other sporting events Wagner Park is being used for beside rugby. Scott said softball will be eliminated. Rebecca stated that the budget is $750,000. She also relayed that she will bring a meeting time schedule for the board to rewew. The comprehensive plan is the way to go. Jon also felt that a band stand performance area or raised space should be built so it can function for ceremonies. Wagner Park is the way it is today due to drainage problems. MOTION: Jon moved to adjourn; second by Bill. All in favor, motion carried. Meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m. Kathleen J. Strickland, Chief Deputy Clerk 5