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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19840723Regular Meeting Aspen City Council July 23, 1984 Mayor Stirling called the meeting to order at 5:05 p.m. with Councilmembers Blomquist, Walls, Knecht and Collins present. MINUTES Councilman Blomquist moved to approve the minutes of June 11, 25, 1984; seconded by Councilman Knecht. All in favor, motion carried. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION 1. Jerry Garwood, owner of Arka Abode, 5old Council the city is talking about relocating the loading zone on Durant in fron~ of his building. Garwood said he is concerned because he has a lot of heavy freight coming in every week. Garwood said relocating the loading zone across the street will not gain anything safetywise and could be a traffic hazard. Acting City Manager Ron Mitchell said the police and engineering departments recommended the loading zone be moved across the street as there is not sufficient rooms for trucks to pull in the angle side to get out of the traffic.. Mitchell said the city contacted the freight companies, who did not seem to have any objections. Councilman Blomquist asked if there was a way to have a loading sone in the mall of the building. Charles Hopton, manager of North of Nell, said this building has always had a loading zone in front of it and there have no~ been any accidents. Mayor Stirling moved to put this item on the agenda; seconded by Councilman Blomquist. All in favor, motion carried. 2. Joan Lane said the Jenny Adair park smells; there is a pond which is for storm drainage and the pond isn't working because it is full of debris. The city has spent a lot of money for land in this area, and the city should clean up Jenny Adair park because it is an ugly mess. Mitchell said he will talk to the parks department to see when this park is on their schedule. Councilwoman Walls pointed ou5 the weeds are shoulder high in the park. Edith Dunn said this park has no~ been maintained; there is no sign telling it is Jenny Adair park; there is no easy trail to the park; it is never mowed. Mayor Stirling asked Mitchell to get a repor~ on the park, maintaining it, mowing it, as well as the pond on the east side of Mill street. If there is no money budgeted, the Council will consider this in the budget hearings. 3. -David Zaagman thanked Council for being generous 5o the Coors Classic. It was a great bike race. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1. Councilman Knecht said in light of the Coors Classic bicycle race, there is a proclama~ tion honoring Mark Joseph for all the work he did to organize the bicycle race. Mayor Stirling read the proclamation. Council gave a round of applause for Joseph. Mayor Stirling said he will proclaim a day for Alexis Grewal, who will participate in the Olympi~s bicycle race. Councilman Knecht said Monroe Summers did a fabulous job, and Council gave a round of applause and thanks. 2. Councilman Collins said Council has a letter from Kelly Bloomer of Canyon Cable TV that they plan to do work downtown. Councilman Collins said it sounds like this will generate significant construction activity in the commercial core. Acting City Manager Ron Mitchell told Council he has met with the cable company and they are aware of the city's requirements. Canyon Cable wants to get started so that they can offer television service to their customers befor the end of the year. Councilman Blomquist said the business community is unhappy about construction in the middle of the summer. Jay Hammond city engineer, said this is not deep trenching and would appear that any particular alley will not be cut up for more than a few days. Hammond said Canyon Cable is attempting to push this construction as late in the season as possible. 3. Mayor Stirling said there will be a meeting to analyze the Coors Classic and any citizens with comments should contact Monroe Summers. Mayor Stirling said he heard a lot of positive comments and some negative comments. Mayor Stirling said it is now clear that Alexi Grewal will be going to the Olympics and he will be proclaiming a day for Grewal. 4. Mayor Stirling said the Aspen Tennis festival was on ABC television for two hours and gave Aspen a lot positive coverage. 5. Mayor Stirling requested Council change the capital improvement work session. Councill scheduled this for Wednesday, August 15, 1984 at~5:00 p.m. 6. Mayor Stirling said the county will pay one-third of the cost sharing on the mudslide;ii the Ski Company and city will each pay one-third. This is an $18,000 proposal. Councilma~ Collins asked if any of this land is in the city. Mayor Stirling said none of the land where the slide was is in the city, but residents of the city may have been affected by the slide. Because there was potential jeopardy for the city, the City felt they should share some of the costs. Councilman Collins asked if the city is obligated to fixing the problem. Mitchell told Council the contract for the work in the mudslide area was signed by the Ski Company, but the city agreed to pay one-third. Councilman Collins asked if the! city has an opinion from the city's insurance company one'the liability. Mitchel said the city's insurers are aware of the mudslide but have not said one way or the other about the city's liability. City Attorney Taddune said once the city does something, the liability increases. Taddune said this is difficult to answer conclusively. Councilman Blomquist said the city engineer's office just received from the geological service a proposal to do a study of the mountain area, which will cost $7,000. Councilman Blomquisti! said this $7,000 cost should also be shared. Councilman Blomquist agreed the liability problem should be discussed before the city agrees to do anything. 7. Councilwoman Walls said the city does have an animal waste ordinance and owners are responsible for removing the waste. Councilwoman Walls pointed out there is a lot of horse manure on the streets in town and why aren't people cleaning this up. Mitchell told Council the CCLC has been reviewing this problem, and someone is supposed to clean up after the horses. Monroe Summers said the question is whether to have voluntary compliance or force the horses to wear diapers. Summers said the CCLC has been reluctant to do the latter. Mayor Stirling asked that staff follow this up with the horse owners. 8. Councilman Blomquist said at the meeting about the Coors Classic, people representing other summer events, such as the tennis festival, should be invited so they can talk about? scheduling and everything does not happen at once. VOLUNTEERS FOR PEACE - Windstar Lisa Everett told Council this is an international volunteer work camp program and is fairly new in the United States; however, the program is well developed in western Europe. The program consists of 6 to 20 volunteers of different nationalities coming together and working together. At Windstar, these volunteers are building a playground and a biodome. There were two visitors from the Soviet Union. The volunteers introduced themselves; Ian from England; Eric and Jean from France; Margarits from E1 Salvador and Gabriella from Mexico. Ms. Everett said she just wanted to let Council know about this program. Windstar hopes to expand the program next year. The cost of producing a work camp is very low. NORTH OF NELL LOADING ZONE Mayor Stirling moved to stay with the existing parking situation on Durant street with the loading zone where it is now, and have the engineering and police departments meter this and report back in six months; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. Mayor Stirling, Councilmembers Walls and collins in favor; Councilmembers Knecht and Blomquist opposed. Motion carried. TRANSIT COMMITTEE Dwight Shellman, member of RFTA, said before the budget process begins, the city may want to look at service, fare and route policies in order to make recommendations to RFTA. Shellman told Council that Dick Fenton, Joan and John Cooley and Willie Gamel have agreed to serve on this bus committee. The purpose of the committee is to look at the service levels, routes, vehicle types and fare policies and to make recommendations to Council. Shellman said the committee will try to restrict its activites to practical and acheivable short term improvements recommendations to Council. Shellman asked that Council request the RFTA staff to provide such information as the committee's requests. Councilman Knecht pointed out none of the proposed committee members live in the city. Shellman said these people had indicated they are interested in working with Shellman. ~egu±ar ~eetlng Aspen City Council July 23, 1984 Councilman Collins moved to appoint this committee; seconded by Councilman Blomquist. Helen Klanderud, county commissioner, said the city, county and Snowmass had decided to have a transit agency with strong citizen input. Ms. Klanderud said there were two citizen task forces prior to the establishment of the RFTA; there was a lot of citizen input and thought. Ms. Klanderud said she is concerned that the city not add to a burgeoning bureaucracy; this seems to be adding a watchdog co~mlittee to the RFTA. Ms. Klanderud said the RFTA worked hard to get a very lean staff, and one thing that is not being done is long range planning. Ms. Klanderud said the work of this committee seems to duplicate the work the RFTA Board was appointed to do. Ms. Klanderud said adding another committee would do a disservice to RFTA and the staff. Monroe Summers said to appoint a task force without a bus user is not a proper balance. Summers said someone should be appointed to the task force who can speak for the riders. Eve Homeyer, RFTA member, said she is concerned because the proposed members of this committee are all down valley people. Ms. Homeyer asked why the city would be interested in appointing county residents to represent the city. Mayor Stirling said he is concerned about the balance of the membership. Mayor stirling said he does not envision this committee as an overseeing committee but to assist the Council in understanding the major commitment to transportation. The city is giving over $1,000,000 to RFTA. This committee should give the Council a better idea about what citizens think about transportation and to give some guidance during the budget process. Councilman Blomquist said there should be taxpaying city-residents on this Board. The Council should give s~me residents time to offer to serve. Councilman Blomquist said he wants to know what is wrong with the system, why the ridership is going down. Councilman Blomquist said he feels this committee would benefit RFTA. Councilman Collins agreed there ought to be a city resident bus-rider on this committee. Councilman Collins said the Council needs specific information in terms of the city's role in this partnership. Councilman Collins said this task force is appropriate to look at the city's operation and make recommendations to Council. Shellman said the RFTA has been having problems getting reports from the staff. Shellman read some ridership statistics from city routes. Shellman said he is concerned about the city buses going around town empty when the city is giving so much money to RFTA. Shellman said at some point, the public cost of transpor- tation is not proportional to,the benefit. Acting City Manager Ron Mitchell said when the election was help about the sales tax, the city and county had said the service levels would not change for one year. Councilman Collins amended his motion to add a fifth member to the task force who is a city resident; seconded by Councilman Blomquist. Mayor Stirling said this should be expanded by at least two city-residents. Councilmembers Collins and Blomquist accepted this. Mayor Stirling said these should also be riders. Ms. Klanderud said she does not think it is fair for Council to instruct the staff to answer questions they have already answered to the RFTA Board or for the TDP. Councilman Blomquist said this will be a supplemental effort to the work of RFTA. Councilmembers Collins, Blomquist and Mayor Stirling in favor; Councilmembers Knecht and Walls opposed. Motion carried. Councilwoman Walls said if the Council is going to appoint a committee like this, it should have more city residents and city bus riders. The Council should appoint people who are interested in making a success of the bus system rather than destroying it. Councilman Blomquist said it will be healthy to have alternatives for the bus system. PERSONNEL RULES AND REGULATIONS Patsy Malone, personnel director, said the rules and regulations are submitted to Council every year. These rules have been changed slightly; there are no budget implications in these changes. Mayor Stirling asked how many CETA employees the city has. Ms. Malone said 7 in animal control, traffic control and Wheeler Opera House. Ms. Malone said this money is given by the government and cities, towns and state compete for the positions. TheSe positions have to be supervised. Some departments do not have enough supervisory personnel to utilize the CETA program. Mayor Stirling asked about overtime for personnel attending classes. Ms. Malone said employees receive comp time for attending classes over and above normal work time. The call baCk procedure is when a police officer has quit for the day and due to an emergency has to report back to the city. Mayor Stirling asked who qualified for non-comp hours at opposed to comp or overtime. Ms. Malone said these are professional, administrative or technical employees and are designated as exempt employees. Ms. Malone said non-comp time cannot be redeemed for pay but can be used for time off. Mayor Stirling said he feels a lot Of time can be accrued like vacation and sicktime. Ms. Malone said employees can only accumulate two times an annual accrual amount; after that the time gets dropped. There is a cap on time that can be accrued. Ms. Malone said the department heads are encouraged to make sure employees take their vacations yearly. Mayor Stirling said 12 days a year seems like a lot of time for sick time, and accruing sick leave does not seem like a good practice. MS. Malone said there is a maximum on sick leave accrual. Councilman Blomquist moved to approve the Employee Assistance contract and request the new city manager to examine and report to Council on personnel rules and regulations and comparable worth untillAugust 13th;~ seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, motion carried. RESOLUTION #23, SERIES OF 1984 - Aspen Mountain Lodge Residential Conceptual PUD Sunny Vann, planning director, presented a resolution approval the residential portion of the Aspen Mountain Lodge projects liSting conditions which must be met prior to prelim- inary PUD and three conditions not specifically tied to preliminary PUD. The third WHEREAS reflects the fact that the second request for rezoning has been withdrawn, the rest of the resolution is similar to the P & Z resolution. Condition 1 involves the trade for the Koch lumber property. Vann said the agreement for the trade would come back as part of the preliminary or final PUD and may be a separate ~ agreement. The agreement would be that Council is trading the Top of Mill property for the Koch lumber property and dismissal with prejudice of the Koch lumber suit. Vann did not include the street vacations as part of this trade. Alan Novak, representing the applicant, said they would like to reflect the fact that the city would like Koch lumber as a park and the applicants would like to donate the remainder of the property as a park that does not reflect 1 to 1 square footage for Top of Mill. The applicants would provide a deed for that donation at final PUD approval. Vann said he and the city attorney would work out appropriate language to reflect this situation for the resolutionm Mayor Stirling moved to direct the attorney to work with the planning director to redraft condition ~1 to be based on the gift proposal from the applicant; seconded by Councilman Blomquist. All in favor, motion carried. Vann said condition ~2 is based on representations from the applicant and will return at preliminary and final for specific review. This is the concept of relocation of the Ski Club and their vacation of the present lots. Condition ~3 deals with the geological problems associated with the development of the Top of Mill property. Councilman Blomquistil suggested a new condition requiring the applicant to include on the plat and on each deed the statement that the site is on an alluvial fan and might possibly be in a potential land~ slide path as shown on the 1972 U.S.G.S hazard, map and absolving the city from all liability of said hazards. City Attorney Taddune said the geological question will be addressed at preliminary approval. Vann agreed this condition might be presupposing the outcome of the geological surveys. It would be premature to state the nature of the problem until after the survey has been done. Vann said if there is a problem after the study, the applicant will be required to mitigate the problem; if they cannot, the application is denied. Novak said the facts should be gotten before printing anything on deedS. Councilman Blomquist moved that the City Council reserves its rights to make such disclosures in the public interests with regards to the geological hazards; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. All in favor, motion carried. Vann pointed out on August 13 agenda there will be a discussion of the geological survey and funding this. Joe Wells pointed out the applicants support the undertaking of the study but are concerned that condition 3 may be in conflict with the final condition about submission of preliminary PUD within 6 months of this resolution. Mayor Stirling said there is no intention on that part by Council. Condition 5 deals with the vacations of streets, which is not binding until Council passes vacation Ordinances. Council had no problems with conditions 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, Condition 10, Joe Wells requested that Council drop the reference to the width of the trailli at 10 feet in Top of Mill and Summit street to allow the applicants the opportunity to present this in more detail. Mayor Stirling had no problem with the request. Vann said the planning office doesn't either; this was taken from Councilman Blomquist's motion. Van~ said he is willing to leave the specific width of the trail to preliminary. Mayor Stirling moved to delete 10 feet from condition 10; seconded by Councilman Blomquist. All in favor, motion carried. John Doremus said in condition #11 "acceptable trail easement" should be easement and the width should be left out. CouncilmanBlomquist said this should be the standard 8 foot easement, which allows for two bicycles to pass or a pick up trail to clean the trail. Council left condition ~11 as is. Conditions 12, 13, 14 are all right with Council. Well said in condition ~15 there is a requirement that the performance bond be posted prior to preliminary; the applicants feel this should be a final plat condition rather than pre- liminary. Vann said the staff does not have a problem and would recommend "appropriate performance bond prior to final PUD approval so as to prevent . " Council agreed with that change. Conditions 16, 17 and 18 were all right with Council. Vann said condition 919 is a Code provision requiring the verified units to be constructed on site and not transferred off the PUD site and must be reconstructed within a certain time period. Condition #20 is to make a condition of this approval all the representations of the conceptUal PUD/ subdivision and the residential GMP application. The final condition is to put staff on notice there is a time frame associated with conceptual approval. Councilman Blomquist moved to adopt Resolution ~23, Series of 1984, as amended in conditionS 1, 3, 10 and 15; seconded by Councilman Knecht. All in favor, motion carried. ASPEN MOUNTAIN LODGE EMPLOYEE HOUSING Sunny Vann told Council most aspects of employee housing of this proposal does not involve Council review with the exception of Ute City Place. This requires an exemption from growth management, conceptual review, and a subsequent rezoning to RBO. This replaces a project which was previously approved as a mixed free market and employee housing. Vann said Council must endorse this conceptually as a reasonable solution to the employee housing problem. Councilman Blomquist said he has received complaints about the Copper Horse not having any parking. Vann said P & Z has placed the parking issue as a condition in this change of use. Vann said change in use of an existing building is a one-step review before P & Z, the Copper Horse is being changed from a dorm use to 100 per cent deed restricted employee housing. P & Z felt the nature of the use would be no differ; however, the parking is sub- standard. The P & Z asked the applicants to address how they will alleviate the problem. ~eguiar ~eetlng Aspen City Council July 23, 1984 Jim Curtis said the applicants plan to house 1985 employees both from the lodge applicatio~ and the residential application as well as displacement of existing employee housed on the property. In the lodge application, the applicant is committing to house 60 per cent of the net new employees. Curtis pointed out the Council adopted a recent Code amendment a minimum threshhold of 35 per cent of employees. This proposal is exceeding the thresh- hold by quite a bit. Curtis said the applicants tried to identify the type of housing that would be suitable for the different employees, and also to disperse the housing in town and in the metro area. There are three levels Of housing; the dorm room with shared facilities, which will be the Copper Horse for seasonal and one-year employees making under $11,000 a year. The second type of housing is private room with private facilities; this is planned for the Alpina Haus. The next type is one- two- and three- bedroom apartments, which will be the Ute City Place and Airport Business Center. This accommodates people making $13,000 to $18,000. This is an attempt to match the employee housing types with the affordability of these employees. Curtis said about 56 per cent of the housing provided will be deed restricted to the low income. John Doremus said the housing proposal has been looked at by the planning staff, P & Z and the housing authority. The first proposal on Ute avenue has been rejected. Alan Novak told Council the applicant felt there was concern from the neighborhood for employee housing in the Ute avenue area..even though an employee housing project for this area had previously been approved. Vann told Council this housing proposal provides employee housing Without substantial increase in construction. This proposal also ties up housing which has been used for employee housing and places it under 50 year deed restriction. This proposal 'also applies to various income groups and different types of accommodations. Councilman Collins asked how the number 195 was arrived at. Curtis said 145 employees are the net result from the lodge application, 20 employees from the 700 South Galena project, and 30 employee replacement lost on the existing site. Councilman Collins asked how many more employees are not being provided for. Curtis said about 120 employees. Vann pointed out not all employees will be new arrivals. Councilman Collins said this proposal would displace employees to make new restricted units available, such as at the Airport Business Center. Vann said the housing that is being converted is not 100 per cent occupied year-round by employees. Vann~said it is atmost impossible to build new housing to the scale this project requires for a number of reasons. This will deed restrict housing in the inventory, which is being lost by attrition. This also ties up housing for i 50 years and deed restricts it. Vann pointed out Council just voted that it was onerous tO require more than 35 per cent of the net increase of employees; this proposal is 60 percent. The proposal is somewhat less than 60 per cent because of displacement. Curtis said the housing authority has reviewed this proposal and has conceptually agreed. Councilwoman Walls said Council has previously agreed it is better to convert existing housing than build new housing. David White, P & Z member, said he would like to see more employee housing on-site. The P & Z did agreed that the metro area does keep losing employee units, Council asked this be broUght on August 13 to finish up and formalize the action. SUNNY PARK ANNEXATION City Attorney Taddune reminded Council a petition for annexation election had been filed by the Smuggler Mountain area. Pitkin Council later filed an annexation petition for the Sunny Park area. A petition for annexation election takes precedence over an annexation petition. Taddune told Council he has talked to the Smuggler Mountain group on how to remedy their petition and nothing has been done. Taddune recommended Council find the petition for annexation election does not meet the state statutes standards. If Council feels their questions regarding the Sunny Park annexation have been answered, they can pass a resolution of intent to annex. Councilman Blomquist pointed out One of the goals of Council is annexation so that people around the city can participate in government affairs. Councilman Blomquist said he would like to see the county as a partner in the larger annexation and have it done right. Mayor Stirling moved to pass Resolution #15, Series of 1984, intent to Annex Sunny Park; seconded by Councilman Blomquist. All in favor, motion carried. RECONSIDERATION/CLARENDON TRAIL AMENDMENT Councilman Knecht moved to reconsider; seconded by Councilman Collins. Ail in favor, with the exception of Councilman Blomquist. Motion carried. Sunny Vann, planning director, told Council the applicants feels that the prior approval of the Clarendon plat involved substantial dedications of land, they also paid a park dedica- tion fee, and granted trail easements and easements for expansion of rights-of-way. The applicants feel the request for an additional trail is inappropriate. Vann said the plan- ning office has not commented as trail easement did not bear any relationship to the request for PUD amendment. The planning office reviewed several trail alignments, and the applicants have an alternative alignment. Gretchen Greenwood said the previous motion was that the trail alignment be both acceptable to the homeowners and the Council. Ms. Greenwood said the alignment was not acceptable to the homeowners; it enfringed upon their privacy and was not as originally planned when people bought their condominiums. Ms. Greenwood pointed out all the easements the Clarendon condominiums granted the city. There is an easement for the extension of West End street, which is a substantial easement. There is a 10 foot strip along Ute Avenue, which was recorded on the plat, for the use of a trail easement. Councilman Blomquist said this is a key link to the city trails system and could be put right up against the Spruce trees. Ms. Greenwood showed photographs of the proposed bicycle path. The city has an easement to put the trail right along the property line. Councilman Knecht said he liked Ms. Greenwood's proposal and it would clean up the south side of Ute avenue. Councilman Blomquist moved to table this and meet with the applicants at the site and flag and acceptable route; seconded by Councilman Knecht. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council ~u±y z3, ±~q Larry Yaw told Council the large group of trees distinguishes the privacy from public land. Yaw reiterated the homeowners have given the city a lot of easements and dedication! The homeowners feel this trail request would reduce privacy and the value of their homes. Also, this request was not anticipated when they purchased the units. There is an alterna~ tive on this site for a trail. Joe Edwards pointed out when the city signed the subdivi- sion plat in 1975, the 8 foot trail easement was given on the city'side of the spruce trees, that was acceptable at that time. Edwards pointed out in the city code, Section 20- 18, when there is a resubdivision, no further land dedications can be required. Edwards said it may be illegal to require an additional trail easement. Councilman Blomquist amended his motion to continue the meeting to July 24 at 1~00 p.m. to meet on site and flag the trail routes; seconded by Councilman Knecht. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE ~22, SERIES OF 1984 - Bureau of Reclamation Agreemen{/Ruedi Mayor Stifling opened the public hearing. There were no comments. Mayor Stirling closed the public hearing. Councilman Knecht moved to adopt Ordinance ~22, Series of 1984, on second reading; seconded by Councilwoman Walls. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Collins, aye; Blomquist, aye; Walls aye; Knecht, aye; Mayor Stirling, aye. Motion carried. ELECTION ISSUES Mayor Stirling said the Council could put in the paper an informational outline on the two questions for the special election to be held July 31, 1984. These are the land for the performing arts center and the cable television permit. One question is will the first issue raise taxes; the answer is no. AnOther question is why aren't the conveyance documents to Arts West Aspen spelled out in the ballot; the answer is that the conveyance documents are complicated and some issues are yet to be resolved. City Attorney Taddune told Council Cap's problem has not been solved. Council said they would rather see this question deleted. The next question about voters having a say in terms of the conveyance is yes, because this will be acted on by ordinance with a public hearing. Mayor Stirling said he feels it is important t~ get information out to the voters before the election and to appropriate money for the ad. Andy Hecht suggested that it be made clear to the voters that their vote will not Dffect Cap's AutO Supply. Councilman Collins! said he would prefer to see the ad ask broader questions than these presented. Councilmanl Collins pointed out this land is worth about $2,000,000 and there is a cost for the tax- payers in this land trade. Councilwoman Walls pointed out this land was conveyed to the city for the purpo~only of a performing arts .center. Councilman Collins asked if the impacts of~:this center on the city have been looked at, fiscal, environmental, social, etC~ Councilman Collins asked if the results have been looked at if the performing arts center fails. COu an K.necht moved that Council not publi~this memorandum; seconded by Councilman ~l__omq~t. All in favor, with the exception of Mayor Stirling. Motion carried. NORDIC FUNDING REQUEST Craig Ward told Council they have formed a non-profit corporation. Last week they had a Board meeting, made up of Dick Knecht, Jeff Tippett, George Madsen as ex-officio members and elected officials; Peter Forsch, Skip Hamilton, A1 Burnum, Rob Burnett, Greg Mace, Dick Jackson and Bob Wade. They formed working committees to address four different programs of the Nordic Counsel. The purpose of the Nordic Counsel is to stimulate growth of Nordic skiing in the Roaring Fork Valley. The trail network system is one of four programs; it will provide the public with a free groomed trail system. The second program! is to promote Aspen asa Nordic resort. The third program is to assist local school programs, providing equipment, scholarships. The fourth program is to help co-sponsor Nordic events. The Nordic Council will enhance the overall economic health of Aspen. Raoul Wille said he feels the Nordic Counsel will be of great benefit to the community. They will broaden the trails and offer more places to ski. Ward said the PCPA supports the Nordic Counsel and their programs. The Aspen Ski Company is enthused about the programs. Ward said he is asking Council for their support. Ward said he feels very strongly about what the Nordic Counsel is trying to do, and he would like an appropriation of $5,000 rather than wait for the 1985 budget. Councilman Collins asked about other sources of funding. Ward said the Nordic Counsel is establishing a funding program; he has gotten support of eight businesses, and is going to corporate funding groups. Ward told Council he does not have a finalized budget but is working on it. Councilman Blomquist suggested giving $2,000 for the remainder of this year; budgeting $5,000 for next year as two months of their program will be in 1984. This would give some! encouragement to this program. Mayor Stirling agreed this is a fantastic program, and there is afuture benefit for the city. Mayor Stirling said the Council ought to wait until the budget hearings under the parks department and consider this in context of the budget. Ward told Council both the parks and recreation directors are supportive of this program. Ms. Sonfield told Council this program will not save either the parks or recreation departments any money in their budgets. Ms. Sonfield pointed out of the non- profit organizations funded by Council, this is a large request for a new group. Ms. Sonfield said this money is not appropriate out of the land fund; therefore, it will have to come out of the general fund. A lot of money has been spent out of the general fund in 1984, and the fund balance is decreasing. Councilman Knecht said he is very excited about this concept and the group of people that are coordinating it. Councilman Knecht said he would like to see the Nordic Counsel finalize their budget and bring it to Council With the rest of the non-profit organizations. Ward said one of the sentiments he has heard is that this is a large benefit to the municipality and the resort, people are hoping the city will support this. Ward said he is coming forward now because muCh of the work in putting together either a downhill or Nordic ski area is year-round. This is a newly-conceived idea and needs seed money. Councilman Blomquist moved that it is the intent of the Council to include $5,000 for the Nordic Counsel in the 1985 budget with the understanding and expectation that a draw can be made January 1; seconded by Councilman Knecht. Ms. Sonfield pointed out there are so many non-profit organizations coming to Council with requests for funding, the Council needs to prioritize them. Mayor Stirling said he would prefer to proceed on that basis. Councilman Collins said he would rather go for the interim contribution to get the Nordic Counsel started this year. Councilman Blomquist amended his motion to give an interim grant of $2,000 of seed money to the Aspen Nordic Counsel and commit to hearing them in the 1985 budget process; seconded by Councilman Knecht. A~i in favor, with the exception of Mayor Stirling. QUARTERLY PERFORMANCE REPORT Cindy Shafer, finance department, presented the second quarter performance report. Ms. Shafer said in the general fund, most departments will be within their budgets. Ms. Shafer pointed out exhibit B, which are the additional expenditures Council has made from January through July 16; the total is $544,000 net of the revenue items. Ms. Shafer urged Council to try not to grant extra funding requests until the budget hearings. The cash balance in the general fund is the lowest it has been since 1981. Ms. Shafer said in the land fund the revenues look slightly better; the finance department is anticipating a shortfall from the budget. The long range plan does show the land fund can afford to relive the RETT fund of their debt service of $100,000 in 1984 only. Ms. Shafer said the RETT fund cannot afford the $96,000 for the Wheeler construction with- out some help. There is a long range problem between the growth of revenues and the growth of expenditures. The water fund shows that it will be operating on cash balances of other funds until at least 1988, at which time it may be able to support itself. Ms. Shafer told Council the utility connection charges for 1984 collected are very low. The water'connection fee for Centennial is factored in the projections somewhere between 1984 and 1988. Ms. Shafer pointed out the department director, Jim Markalunas, has been trying to hold expenditures, which could result in savings. The electric fund is the best of all the city funds. The long range plan budgets the~in lieu of tax payments to the asset replacement fund of 3 per cent. The golf course fund looks good and does appear over long range there will be money to fund minor capital improvements~assuming it receives subsidies from the general fund for debt service. The Ice Garden fund shows a break even position, including all subsidies. The revenue projec- tions may be optimistic given the current programs, CoUncil thanked staff for the report and said it is very helpful. WHEELER FUNDING Sheree Sonfield, finance director, said Council has to look at the alternatives for fund- ing and the financial positions of those funds. Ordinance ~25, 1983, says any bond~ issues pledged by revenues in the land fund must be available for payment out of that fund. Ms. Sonfield said the general fund is at the lowest fund balance since 1981 and at the end of 1984 will be $800,000. Ms. Sonfield saidi~Council should carefully consider taking this $96,000 out of the general fund because of the financial position. The land fund can afford this, and is obligated legally from the bond ordinances. There are some unknowns, such as what the real estate transfer tax fund. The RETT has come in 70 per cent over year to date; if that continues, there may be $100,000 in the RETT. Mayor Stirling asked ~ if CounCil could wait to see how the. RETT psrforms before making a decision. Ms. Sonfield said these expenditures have to be budgeted somewhere. Ms. Sonfield suggested that the land fund could be paid back at some point. The recommendation is to use the land fund with the hope there will be additional revenues in the RETT to offset this expenditure. Councilman Blomquist moved not to take the money from the land fund; seconded by Councilman Collins. Councilman Knecht said he has not voted for this $96,000 in the past. Councilman Knecht said Council should sit down and figure out what to do with the Wheeler fund and how it will be paid for. The Council worked and worked on a budget to be financially feaSible, and it has gotten out of control. Councilman Knecht said the Council knows how much the cost of the Wheeler is, and they have to figure out hoW to finance it. Council agreed. Ron Mitchell said this would be appropriate during budget hearings. Councilmembers Collins and Blomquist in favor; Councilmembers Walls, Knecht and Mayor Stirling opposed. Motion NOT carried. Mayor Stirling moved to table Wheeler Opera House funding until budget hearings with commitment by Council to make a decision about strategies as related to the RETT fund into the future; seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, motion carried, ENCROACHMENT REQUEST - Levitz Jay Hammond, city engineer, outlined the encroachment locations on a plat. These are not significant encroachments. There are existing encroachments in the overhangs of the two garages. There is an existing stone foundation along the westerly property line. There is a request for further encroachment for posts to reconstruct the fence around the property. Hammond said no city departments had a p~rticular concern. The streets depart- ment has been plowing the alley with the existing encroachments. Hammond recommend to improve the encroachment request subject to two minor conditions; one is to relocate the trash dumpSter, the other is to remove the portable john prior to November 1st. Karen Smith, representing the applicant, told Council the applicant is re-orienting the house to First street, which is the reason for the walkway encroachment. 3764 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council July 23, 1984 Councilman Knecht moved to approve the encroachment for Levitz with the two conditions requested by the engineering department; seconded by Councilman Collins. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Blomquist moved to continue the meeting to Tuesday, July 24, 1984, at 1:00 p.m. seconded by Councilman Knecht. All in favor, motion carried. Council left Chambers at 10:00 p.m. Continued Meeting Aspen City Council July 24, 1984 Mayor Stirling, Councilmembers Collins and Knecht met at the south side of the Clarendon at 1:00 p.m. to look at the trail alignment. Mayor Stirling moved to put the trail on the north side of Ute avenue along the street and the south side of the Clarendon property; seconded by Councilman Knecht. All in favor, motion carried. Council adjourned.