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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19840709 R~ular Meeting Aspen City Council July 9, 1984 Mayor Stirling called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. with Councilmembers Blomquist, Walls, Knecht and Collins present. MINUTES Councilman Knecht moved to approve the minutes of May 29, 1984; seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, motion carried. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION 1. Jim , Inner Varsity Christian Fellowship, said his group would like to set up a table with literature and information and distribute it in the mall. Acting City Manager Ron Mitchell said this should go to CCLC for a recommendation. .2. David White, P & Z member, said he felt the volunteer city groups should get something from the city, like a pool pass or golf pass, for their time and effort. Mayor Stirling said his attitude is to take no tickets or passes. 3. Mari Peyton said she would like to reserve time to speak about the Aspen Mountain Lodge. Mayor Stirling said there would be time for this. 4. Pat Dobie, county engineer~ said the cOunty is redoing the landscaping around the airport terminal. The county would like to buy 30,000 square feet of bricks from the city. Councilman Collins asked what the inventory of bricks is. Mitchell said the city has about $70,000 worth of bricks. Mayor Stirling asked for a report back from staff. COUNCILME~ER COMMENTS 1. Councilman Blomquist moved to appoint Dick Knecht to the Nordic Counsel; seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, motion carried. 2, Councilman Blomquist said he would like to introduce a resolution on the agenda about the flooding situation and give some general indication of where the city is going. Councilman Blomquist moved to add this resolution to the agenda as 8A; seconded by Councilman Knecht. All in favor, motion carried. 3. Councilwoman Walls said in the alley south of R. Pea's there have been some tables placed in the right-of-way. Council asked Ron Mitchell to check this out. 4. Mayor Stirling presented and read a proclamation to Wilton Jaffee, Sr. Jaffee explained to Council how he helped acquire the Aspen Historical Musuem through the 333 Club. 5. Mayor Stirling presented a proclamation for the Aspen Institute of Humanistic Studies and gave the proclamation to Eva Pauper, who is running the Institute for the summer. 6. ~ayor Stirling said the new city manager is arriving this month; there is an informal reception for Hal Schilling on July 16th at 7:00. Schilling starts work August 1st. 7. Mayor Stirling said there will be a work session July 12 at 5:00 to discuss traffic, parking, curb and gutters and general circulation. There will be a work session july 16 at 5:00 p.m. to disucss capital improvements, funding, priorities; and transportation. ~=~u~ ~ux~l~ Aspen clty Council July 9, 1984 streets should be vacated providing the applicant give information on the value and quid pro quos, etc. Vann said the applicant has given information as to why they feel nothing is appropriate. Vann said he feels there is a public trust. Councilman Blomquist said he feels the vacation is technically not a problem with traffic and is endorsable. Councilman Knecht moved to accept the vacation of Dean, Lawn and Mill streets, and give the applicants the city-owned lots on Mill street in exchange for the full Koch lumber property; seconded by Councilman Blomquist. Councilwoman Walls said she feels this request is justified. Councilwoman Walls said she would like the city to have some safeguards to prevent the applicant from closing these streets to the public.. Councilman Knecht said the city will be getting a park and will be giving up some small streets that the city won't have to maintain. All in favor, motion carried. Vann said the other issues dealing with the Koch lumber parcel are the pending lawsuit, and in the applicants proposal, which was not to give the city the entire parcel, the applicants would provide, at their cost, a Ski Club facility. Mayor stirling said he does not feel the Council's motion changes the proposal. Councilman Blomquist said the city gave up their rights to the streets when they passed this motion. Councilman Collins said the city should reserve their rights to these streets because it might not be known what they need in the future. Jay Hammond, city engineer, said the city should reserve utility access through the rights-of-way, with the exception of Lawn street. The city should retain service and circulation rights. Vann said the Council has determined the appropriate trade for the city-owned lots on Mill street and Lawn street involves the entire Koch lumber parcel. The vacation recommends keeping the service rights and utility easements. Mayor Stifling moved on the vacations of Dean and upper Mill street, the city retains circulation rights and utility easement rights; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. All in favor, with the exception of Councilmembers Blomquist and Knecht. Motion carried. Mayor Stifling moved the litigation be dismissed and the Ski Club building be rebuilt as described by the applicant; seconded by Councilman Blomquist. All in favor, motion carried; Rezoning. Vann showed Council the existing eight city lots. The city-owned land is zoned conservation, public and R-15/PUD. The applicant had requested portions of this land to be zoned L-2. The Top of Mill project can be built in either R-15/PUD/L or L-2 zone. The only benefit of rezoning is in the calculatiOn of FAR. Council resolved the FAR issue in the conceptual approval of the lodge. The planning office requests Council deny the request of rezoning from public to L-2 and rezone the public parcels at the time the trade is affected to R-15/L, which is consistent with the adjacent land. The R-15 is a transition zone between L-2 and conservation. The R-15 zone allows construction of single family and duplexes. Mayor Stirling moved to rezone the publicly zoned land to R-15JPUD/L subject to the trade; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. Councilman Blomquist suggested zoning this lodge so that some buildings could be clustered and getting a better trail solution. Gleister said he would prefer the R-15/PUD/L. Councilman Blomquist said he feels L zoning gives better flexibility. Vann said the staff would prefer not to have multi-family zoning in this area. All in favor, motion carried Vann told Council he will prepare a resolution on the residential components of this project for the next meeting. Council can address employee housing separately. AUDIT REPORT Dave Steiner, Kevin Bauer and Mark Johnson of Schneider & Shuster were present to give Council the audit report. Mark Johnson said the audit is in three sections; introduction, financial section and statistics. Johnson told Council the city received a clean, unquali- fied opinion, which is the highest opinion that can be given. Johnson pointed out the city had an increase in assets of $3,400,000 in 1983 over 1982~ This increase is netted against the transfer of buSes to the transit agency. In the liabilities and fund equity, there are two new bond issues. Johnson pointed out in the combined statement of revenues, expendi- tures and changes in fund balances, there is a deficiency in 1983 of revenues over expenditures, which is a result of issuing several bond issues in 1982. Bil Dunaway questioned a discrepancy. Ms. Sonfield said the fiduciary fund type expendable trust column was not in the report last year. Dunaway said this statement does not end and start with the same figure. Johnson said there are notes to the financial statements~ Kevin Bauer told Council the auditors support the Council adopting the financial policies. These policies aide the city in budget and forcasting; they provide an excellent management tool, and opens up communication between the city and the public. Bauer said in on-going construction projects job status report are important. Bauer told Council the city has begun to implement an accounts receivable plan. Bauer suggested the use of a collection agency to help on some of these debts. Ms. Sonfield told Council the staff is working on this as part of the plan, The final comment is on office management. The city has had discussions on restructuring city hall. Bauer said the auditors support this; it will strengthen internal controls and will provide more efficient operations in the city. Councilman Blomquist moved to accept the 1983 audit and to extend congratulations to the finance department for their excellent job; seconded by Councilman Collins. Councilman Knecht said he would rather wait and make sure Dunaway gets his question answered. Ms. Sonfield told Council the city and county jointly are requesting proposals for the 1984 audit. Council decided to wait on the motion until Dunaway is satisfied. Regular Meeting Aspen Ulty ~ouncl± ~u±y ~, SHADOW MOUNTAIN EQUITIES TIMESHARE Colette Penne, planning office, told Council this is located in the L-3 zone; P & Z has given approval for a conditional use. There was a three-bedroom residential unit that P & Z gave a change in use exemption to put into the lodge category. There are 11 studio units and one three-bedroom unit; an office-lobby area; two employee units, and a large basement used for storage. Ms. Penne said each purchaser would have a deeded 1/15 frac- tional estate. There are seven weeks to be reserved for maintenance purposes. The owners will purchase one ski week, one summer week and one spring/fall week. The applicants are also requesting a parking exemption for the two employee units. Ms. Penne said all units in this project will be timeshared. No units have been placed under contract. The applicant has complied with the marketing and sales techniques; the applicants have said they will give no gifts. The common areas and amenities are lobby, swimming pool with jacuzzi jets. This is a small complex and the amenities are limited but adequate. There are 14 parking spaces, which the applicants will stripe, and there are 14 free market bedrooms. There are not specific parking spaces for the employee units. P & Z felt it was justified to give a parking exemption as the parking lot probably won,t be full. There is some on-street parking in the neighborhood. Ms. Penne said the employee units will be owed by the association with no assessments. There was a major upgrading of this lodge in 1981 and was constructed in conformance with the 1979 UBC, which we are currently using. Mayor Stirling asked how the assessment fees compared with other timeshare projects. Boon Schweitzer said it is slightly higher to cover the license fee and required reserves. Ms. Penne told Council there is one handicap unit, which meets the state statute. The fees include operating expenditures and reserve funds for interior and exterior maintenance and repairs. There will be a Board of Manager~ composed of owners and elected by owners. Schweitzer told Council there will be a property manager from the inception of the sales forward. This should satisfy the needs of the owners until a permanent managing agent could be approved by the association. Ms. Penne said there are four reserve accounts which are part of the assessment fees; furniture appliance; exterior building, property tax, and license fee. The reserve fund assessments cannot be suspended or reduced in first five years from close of the first sale. The managing board should be take to determine expenses and possible change the assessment amount. The applicants agreed that the initial deposits will remain in escrow but the assessments from that point should be determined by actual costs. Ms. Penne said the staff feels this is a good approach. Ms. Penne said the occupancy standards will be met; the studios can only be occupied by two people. The studios did have lofts with beds~ however, the building department felt these were_unsafe. The lofts can only be used as storage and this will be covenanted. Councilman Blomquist asked if these were Saturday to Saturday integrals. Schweitzer said they are. Councilman Blomquist said he would like Council to investigate changing the timeshare ordinance so as not to aggravate the Saturday arrival date. Ms. Penne said the lodge condominiumization, which must be done prior to timesharing, limits an owner's use to 14 days. There is a possibility that an owner may buy more than one integral and be there longer than 14 days. The staff recommends this be lengthened to 30 days. The two ordinances are in conflict. Councilman Blomquist said the 14 day limit should apply so these are turnover units. Barry Edwards suggested changing condition #5 to 14 days. P & Z gave this conditional use approval and felt the project was compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. This complies with the L-3 zone district. The FAR is .75:1. The engineering department requested the applicant to agree to join in an improvement district if there is one in the future. Councilman Collins said he takes exception with the comment that this project is compatible with the surrounding neighborhood. Councilman Blomquist moved approval of the Shadow Mountain Equities timeshare project as recommended by the planning office and P & Z with the conditions listed; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Collins. Motion carried. TRAFFIC LIGHTS ON MAIN STREET Mayor Stirling said this will be discussed at the work session July 12th. Mayor Stirling said he would like to do away with the four-way walk at Mill and Main. Mayor St~rling said he would like to shorten all the cycles at all lights. This will be brought up at the work session. Councilman Blomquist moved to accept the audit for 1983; seconded by Councilman Knecht. All in favor, motion carried. COORS CLASSIC BUDGET Monroe Summers reminded Council the City Manager had brought a memorandum outlining the budget for the Coors Classic. This was about $20,000 for all items to make the Coors Classic happen. This was $8,000 for the race itself, $15,000 for the lodging - which has been donated, and two meals for 600 people. Summers told Council there has been a great volunteer turnout for this every; however, no one has offered to buy the food. Summers presented Council a budget to cover the supplies, food, toilets, etc. to put on these meals. Summers requested $6,421 for a total cost of $13,971. Councilman Knecht moved to approve the balance of the budget request; seconded by Mayor Stirling. All in favor, motion carried. ..~ ....... ~ Aspen City Council July 9, 1984 NEALE STREET BRIDGE REPORT Mayor Stirling said the city received a new report indicating the Neale street bridge may be below the flood plain. The city has work planned on the existing bridge at $80,000. This is a recommendation to spend $140,000 to bring the bridge two feet above the flood plain, which would increase the city's matching funds. Chuck Roth, engineering department, told Council the city should hear back next month about the increased request for funding. Councilman Blomquist said he would like the city to reapply for sufficient cross section to handle the 100 flood and document the reasons for that. Roth told Council he has done that because of the shortness of time. Roth said he does not know if the state will respond favorably. Councilman Knecht said he is 100 percent in favor of redoing the bridge while the city has the funds and do it this summer. Mayor Stirling moved to stay on track with the existing proposal and continue to work on getting supplemental funding, and that the staff advised Council at the August 13 meeting where this stands;seconded by Councilman Knecht. Councilman Blomquist said every bridge put in the river that is too small is a potential dam. Councilman Blomquist said the city should adopt a standard for 100 year flood plain through the entire town. All in favor, with the exception of Couuncilman Blomquist. Motion carried. FLOOD PLAIN RESOLUTION Councilman Blomquist said he has been doing research on the Roaring Fork. Councilman Blomquist showed a map of the river showing islands across the Visual Arts Center and previous channels~and other islands in the Roaring Fork. Councilman Blomquist said the city owns all the land on the south side of the river from Herron park to the Mill street bridge and the city should remove the fill from the river. This would increase the capacity of the flood plain through this area. Councilman Blomquist said it is the Aspen One fill that caused the problem at the Visual Arts Center. Mayor Stirling said at the last Council meeting, Council directed staff to do research and to bring to Council a recommendation in August on how to proceed with this problem. This is already in the process of being done. Mayor Stirling said in the resolution, it states the city was remiss; that is not known to be true. Mayor Stirling said Council cannot appropriate a dollar amount until there is a report on how to proceed. Barry Edwards, city attorney's office, said before the city admits or denies anything, it has to look into the facts, which are not known yet. Mayor Stirling agreed the resolution is premature. The Council needs the report from engineering. Acting City Manager Ron Mitchell said this will be a sizeable project and should be looked at with the other capital projects. Also, the Council will have to make a decision about the snow dump. Councilman Collins said the Council should look at the river channel throughout the entire city. Paula Meyer, Oklahoma Flats resident, said their house has water in it and she would like to see the city do something about this problem. Fritz Benedict has a plan for this area, which the city should look at. Councilman Blomquist said something of a mitigating nature has to be done this fall when the river is low. Mayor Stifling moved to reaffirm the action taken at the June 25th meeting and to have a report back to Council no later than August 13; seconded by Councilman Blomquist. All in favor, motion carried. WHEELER OPERA HOUSE COST REPORT Jay Hammond, city engineer, told Council this report is coming forward now because until just recently, it was not clear to what extent the project would extend beyond the time construct. Hammond said partly due to problems with contractors, partly due to changes in the project, the project has been pushed beyond the closing. Hammond told Council the work associated with the ARA and basement offices was appropriated at $63,000 however the work went ahead at estimates of $70,000. The actual cost was $86,000 and the net increase is $23,000. The sanitation district tap fee was not anticipated, and this is $8,800 for the change in fixtures between the original structured and reconstructed building. The change orders above contingency reflects change order amounts above the actual budget for the project. This figures is approximately $400,000. Of this amount, $97,000 was at the request of the architects, $81,000 at the request of the structural engineer; $74,000 resulted from changes by the Council or the Wheeler Board; $10,000 from the project manager and $160,000 in general category. Eammond said some examples of these are replacing street barricades, replaing two arched windows because of fire damage, replacing window sills which were deteriorated. These items were not anticipated in the original contract. The city did considerable work to finish tenant spaces as a landlord. Hammond said of the $400,000 the amount over budget is $21,200. Hammond told Council the city needs to maintain the construction manager and the architect through the end of July. Hammond said the staff does not feel they can drop these services at this time. There is $9700 for new items identified since the building has gone into completion. There is a storage space behind the concession stand which is not ventilated. The city owns the equipment, and it will fall apart if the space is not ventilated. There will also have to be work on the roof. There was trouble this winter with large chunks of ice coming off the roof, and the roof should have the snow melt improved. There is $13,700 for installation of a phone system, which had to be purchased and was not in the budget. Councilman Collins said the original budget was $3,500,000 and the total construction costs are now $4,300,000. Councilman Collins said he would like to see this in a breakdown, in a spread sheet. Hammond said the staff is not at a point where they are comfortable with the figures to bring them forward. Hammond said this will be done shortly. Mitchell said the sources of revenue for this $96,000 are either the land fund or general fund. Mitchell said Council could give the staff authority to go ahead with the work and look into the details of appropriation. Regular Meeting Aspen City Councl± ~u~3 ~, ~ Mayor Stifling moved to accept the obligation for the city of the additional $96~000 in costs, and instruct the finance director to research the possible alternative sources to fund this, and report back July 23; seconded by Councilman Blomquist. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Knecht. Motion carried. Councilman Knecht said the Council has to examine how to cover the deficits during the budget hearings. WHEELER OPERA HOUSE LIQUOR LICENSE APPLICATION Mayor Stirling opened the public hearing. City Clerk Kathryn Koch reported the posting, publication, and file to be in order. Barry Edwards, city attorney's office, explained that the Wheeler Opera House Association has the exclusive right to use the premises. The Wheeler Opera House Association is a non-profit organization. There were no opponents to the liquor license. Mayor Stirling closed the public hearing. Councilman Knecht moved that based on a public hearing, the city Council finds that the needs of the neighborhood have not been met and the liquor license is approved; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Collins. Motion carried. SUNNY PARK ANNEXATION Glenn Horn, planning office, said the city attorney had requested research on any increased development rights resulting from lot line adjustments. Horn said his analysis is if the lot line adjustment is approved, it will not affect the development rights. In terms of fiscal impact to the city, there is no net negative impact; there is a positive fiscal impact for the county because the parcel will be more marketable. Pat Dobie, county engineer, told Council when the Smuggler master plan was developed, a second access into Centennial was noted. The most logical place for that access was through Park Circle. The county purchased a lot with the intention to separate off a right-of-way for access into Centennial, add a piece of property from county-owned land, make the parcel whole again. 6900 square feet of land will be subtracted for the road right-of-way; 6900 square feet ~! will be added and keep the same developability of the lot. Dobie told Council this lot will have to go through 8040 greenline review. Dobie said there was a question raised about the access of the lot. The county is constructing a new road through county-owned property, which will also be access to Smuggler mountain as well as this property. Dobie said he did not feel adjusting 6900 square feet in and out of the city will not have any significant cost or benefit to either party. Selling this parcel will enable the county to put money back into the road and bridge fund. The last question is the conflict between this and the Smuggler mountain annexation. Dobie said Council can find the Smuggler Mountain annexation petition not in compliance with the state statutes. Dobie pointed out there has been no action on this petition in three months. Dobie said Council can approve this annexation request subject to finding it does not interfere with the larger annexation. The county could be asked to support the Smuggler Mountain annexa- tion. Barry Edwards said Taddune's memo of May 22 asked the county to give the city attorney's office their thoughts. Edwards requested this be tabled until the city has been given the requested information. Councilman Blomquist said Council has adopted annexation as a priority. Councilman Blomquist said he would rather see this small annexation as part of a larger annexation. Councilman Blomquist said he would like to annex the entire area and to get moving. Mayor Stirling said his question was related to giving larger density in an annexation; it has been indicated this will not happen. Councilman Blomquist moved to table this until July 23; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. Councilmembers Walls, Blomquist and Collins opposed; Mayor Stifling and Councilman Knecht. Ail in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE ~20, SERIES OF 1984 - Handicap Access Amendment Councilman Knecht moved to read Ordinance ~20, Series of 1984; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE 920 (Series of 1984) AN ORDINANCE REPEALING SUBSECTION (j) OF SECTION 7-141, PERTAINING TO AMENDMENTS TO THE UNIFORM BUILDING CODE, 1979 EDITION, AND AMENDING SUBSECTIONS (k) AND (1) OF SECTION 7-141 BY RELETTERING SAID SUBJECTIONS (j) AND (k) RESPECTIVELY was read by the city clerk Councilman Knecht moved to adopt Ordinance ~20, Series of 1984, on first reading; seconded by Councilman Collins. Roll call vote; Councilmember Blomquist, aye; Knecht, aye; Collins, aye; Walls, aye; Mayor Stirling, aye. Motion carried. ORDINANCE ~21, SERIES OF 1984 - Dog Control Councilwoman Walls moved to read Ordinance #21, Series of 1984; seconded by Councilman Knecht. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Blomquist. Motion carried ORDINANCE ~21 (Series of 1984) AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SUBSECTION (b) OF SECTION 5-30 OF THE MUNICIPAL CODE TO PROVIDE THAT A DOG SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE RUNNING AT LARGE IF, WHEN ON THE PREMISES OF AN O~ER, POSSESSOR OR KEEPER SAID DOG IS NOT LEASHED, CONFINED OR ACCOMPANIED BY A RESPONSIBLE PERSON WITHIN THE SIGH AND HEARING OF SAID DOG was read by the city clerk Regular Meeting Aspen City Council July 9, 1984 Marie Seery, Animal Control Officer, told Council they feel this ordinance is a necessity in the city. It works well in the county. Mayor Stirling said this ordinance does not go as far as he would like, but it is a compromise and is what the county is doing. Councilman Blomquist said he would like to strike the last line; this ordinance is an invasion of privacy. Ms. Seery said the purpose of this ordinance is not to go onto private property and remove a dog that is not doing anything. This ordinance states that dogs must be tethered or under voice control when on private property. As soon as a dog is off private property, it has to be on a leash. Councilman Knecht moved to adopt Ordinance #21, Series of 1984, on first reading; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Walls, aye; Blomquist, nay; Knecht, aye; Collins, nay; Mayor Stirling, aye. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #22, SERIES OF 1984 ~ Memorandum of Understanding/BOR - Ruedi Councilman Knecht moved to read Ordinance #22, Series of 1983; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE ~22 (Series of 1984) AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE APPROVAL OF A MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT (Annexed hereto) BETWEEN THE BUREAU OF RECLAMATION, THE CITY OF ASPEN, AND PITKIN COUNTY CONCERNING THE CONSTRUCTION, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE OF THE RUEDI HYDROPOWER PROJECT was read by the city clerk Councilman Knecht moved to adopt Ordinance ~22, Series of 1984, on first reading; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Knecht, aye; Blomquist, aye; Walls, aye; Collins, aye; Mayor Stirling, aye. Motion carried. PERSONNEL RULES AND REGULATIONS Councilman Blomquist moved to table to July 23 agenda; seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, motion carried. COMPARABLE WORTH STUDY REPORT Councilman Blomquist moved to table to July 23 agenda; seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, motion carried. Councilwoman Walls moved to adjourn at 9:40 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, motion carried. Kathryn S. ~, City Clerk