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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.19780327Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 27, 1978 Mayor Standley called the joint meeting with the County Commissioners to ord~i at 4:05 p.m. with Councilmembers Isaac, Johnston, Wishart, and Van Ness; Commissioners Child, Edwards, and Kinsley, City Manager Mahoney, COunty Manager Ochs, and C~unty~Att0~ney Stuller present. 1. Communications Agreement Amendment. This amendment is a result of a letter from CBI, and County Attorney Stuller submitted a memorandum explaining that the head of the Communications Center must be a sworn police officer. Ms. Stuller stated this amendment Cc~a~unications to the joint communications agreement is to make sure this is a condition of employment. Agreement Councilwoman Johnston moved to approve the amendment to the joint agreement; seconded by Commissioners Edwards. Mayor Standley said that if a person were selected for this position, they would then be sworn be either the police department, sheriff or both. Ms. Stuller answered yes, they would be selected by the Communications Board. Ms. Stuller pointed out that the definition of a law enforcement officer is that they dedicate 50 per cent of their time to law enforcement. Neither the City nor County Manager qualify. All in favor, motion carried. 2. Water Conservation. Bill Lorah explained that his office had been contacted to see what they could contribute to water conservation. Lorah stated he had a lot of experiencei concerning water saving devices. Lorah said at this point his preconceived notions are Water these; if you are on a reservoir and you only have so many acre/feet, it is very important~ Conservation to save every drop. If you are on a flow-through system, like Pitkin County, it's not that big of a deal. If you are talking about water saving devices like bricks in toilets, and if you stop irrigating one acre of grass, this i~ worth about half a million bricks. Councilman Behrendt came into Chambers. Lorah pointed out that retrofiting houses, etc., with water saving'devices isn't worth it. Economically it doesn't make it. For new buildings, there are certain advantages. Lorah said the proposal from the County was to take all the material he had and summarize the pros and cons so that the Boards can make a management decision. Commissioner Kinsley asked about sewage flow, decreasing the flows from showers and toilets to reduce the sewage. Lorah said if you reduce the amount of flow, you are reducing the concentration also. Lorah stated if one can institute water saving measures and reduce the amount of water needed, it may put off for several years new plant expansion. Aspen City Council March 27, 1978 Lorah stated the major consumption of the system is outside the house. Lawns that are too big, an acre or more per house, are using too much water. Watering plants and gardens is a good, high use. Mayor Standley pointed out the City was dealing with lawns through enforcin~ meters and sprinkling regulations. Lorah agreed the City could encourage water savings by education. City Manager Mahoney pointed out that the issue is should the City and County employ a $500 study to answer some of these questions for the future. Mayor Standley suggested the minutes can constitute a file for future use. 3. Citizen Part.ic!pation. There were no comments. Council and Commissioners went into executive session at 4:20 p.m. They reconvened at 4:40 p.m. Commissioner Edwards moved to offer the job of planning director to Karen Planning Smith and have the managers discuss salaries with Ms. Smith; seconded by Councilman Director Behrendt. Ail in favor, motion carried. City Manager Mahoney asked Council if they had any instructions regardin? the opening for City Attorney as Ms. Nuttall will be leaving the end of May. Mayor Standley said the City City would advertise ~n the Colorado Municipal League Bulletin and in the Colorado Attorney Lawyer. The Council will then review and rank the applications. COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES Councilman Isaac moved to approve the minutes of the March 13, 1978, meeting; seconded by Councilman Behrendt. All in favor, motion carried. ACCOUNTS PAYABLE Councilwoman Johnston said she had questioned the lack of unauthorized purchase orders, and Finance Director Butterbaugh had told her they were all 1977s. Councilwoman Johnston moved to approve the accounts payable; seconded by Councilman wishart. All in favor, motion carried. Mayor Standley said he had asked for a cash flow report because of the discussions regarding supplemental appropriations and where the City is financially. Ms. Butterbaugh Cash flow presented a cash status report on the first of the year; the City is paying as they go report along. As of December 31st, the City is coming off slow month revenues of September and October. In the opera%ing accounts there is $406,000 in accounts payable and $378,000 cash on hand. There ~s $275,000 ~n saving for the Aspen Mountain tank, and $15,000 in escrow to assure repairs for the Red Mountain Road. Ms. Butterbaugh told the Council that the City, coming off a bad year as last year, is in reasonably good shape. Mayor Standley stated the sales tax reports supply by the State showed Aspen dropped 2 per cent last year over the year before. The up-dated figures compiled by CU showed that Aspen actually had an ~ncrease of 2/10 per cent even though the skier visits were only 60 per cent. Ms. Butterbaugh said the City is continuing to spend pretty close to what the revenues are coming ~n. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION 1. Jeffrey Sachs told Council he wished to speak regarding the construction of the pro- posed tank on Aspen Mountain. Sachs requested a member of Council make a motion to put Aspen Mountain this on the regular agenda. Sachs said he requested time on the agenda, but was denied Water Tank that opportunity. Sachs had submitted a letter to Council explaining this issue. Councilwoman Johnston moved to put this on the agenda because of the submitted letter and the fact she was not here for the discussion; seconded by Councilman Wishart. All in favor, with the exception of Councilman Behrendt. Motion carried. Mayor Standley said this would be discussed after Councilmember Comments. COUNCILMEMBER COMMENTS 1. Councilman Isaac said he would like the park dedication ordinance on the agenda. City Attorney Nuttall said she has drafted the ordinance and will distribute tomorrow. Park Dedica- This will be on the next Council agenda. Councilman Isaac said he would also like the tion ordinance proposed Charter changes on the next agenda. 2. Councilman Isaac said he would like Council to get with Mark Danielson to go over the housing guidelines. These were discussed last meeting, but a~ the same time some Housing applications were being discussed. Council suggested first getting the guidelines and Guidelines then setting up a study session. 3. Councilman Isaac requested that Mayor Standley write letters of appreciation to P & Z and staff members who gave extra time to the growth management program. Mayor Standley said he would do that. 4. Councilman Wishart moved to put Ordinance #3, Series of 1978, back on the agenda for reconsideration; seconded by Councilman Wishart. All in favor, with the exception of Councilwoman Johnston and Mayor Standley. Motion carried. 5. Councilwoman Johnston said it was suggested to her that the City use the fire hoses Clean streets to clean the streets. Galena street, after being cleaned, looks excellent. Mahoney told Council the City planned to clean 3 to 4 blocks a~ a time and that they are using fire hoses. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March Zl, ±~1~ 6. Councilman Behrendt gave the City a commendation on the clean up so far and hoped that the City keeps it up. 7. Mayor Standley told Council he had received a letter thanking the Council for the donation to BOLD program. 8. Mayor Standley said the Dorothy Nuttall had resigned as City Attorney effective the end of May due to relocation of residence outside Pitkin County. The Staff will adver- City Attorney rise for applicants and interview after applications are received, resignation WATER TANK ON ~SPEN MOUNTAIN Jeffrey Sachs had submitted a letter to Councilmembers discussing his concerns on this issue. Basically, Sachs represents owners of condominiums at the Mountain Queen. Sachs stated he believed that their rights as property owners were being violated; that the Aspen Mountain City was not complying with its own zoning code. Sachs said he had loomed at the plans Water Tank and at the location. There is an informal opinion from the City Attorney that this project is exempt pursuant to the essential services exemption contained in the Municipal Code. Sachs said if the City proposes to build a structure that is 70 by 30 feet high, only partially buried, stores one million gallons of water and is above" the 8040 greenline, and is a conditional use and may perhaps violate the viewplane, the City is relying on an exemption which does not anywhere in the zoning code refer to this item. The essentia~ services exemption talks about transmission and distribution facility; mains, drains, pipes holes, wires; nothing described in that paragraph describes a major structure. Excluded from the exemption are maintenance and business facilities. Sachs stated it is clear what is intended by the ordinance; it was intended to go through the easement procedure for transmission of electricity and water to the citizens of the community. Sachs said the ordinance was not intended to allow the City to build~a ~arge structure without going through the zoning code procedures. Sachs stated he was concerned; Aspen Mountain is Aspen's best scenic aspect. Something is going to be constructed up there and there has been no public input. The 8040 green- line concerns are present, however, P & Z will never look at it. The Conservation zone conditional use will allow citizens to come before P & Z and voice their concern about the conditional use for that property. The concerns to be addressed by P & Z such as mud flow, rock avalanche, run off drainage and soil erosion are present and obvious. However, the City has decided to just go ahead and build it without P & Z review or public input or hearing. Sachs said his clients want to look at the plans and want to have P & Z review it. Sachs said he brief review of the title situation showed some skiing easements relating to this property. One of the easements, although it may nOt affect this property, says the Aspen Ski Corp shall not erect any buildings or structures on the land encumbered by the skiing easement. If these restrictions exist, the City will have to condemn the land. Sachs said he understood the project had already been bid and had a primary contractor, and the project is ready to go subject to some geological reports. Sachs asked where the citizen input was. Ms. Nuttall told Council the Aspen Ski Corporation had a title search done and they have, in fact, rendered the City a merchantable title to that easement. Second, regarding the lack of public input; this item has been subject to a study session that was announced at a Council meeting and was open to the public and press. This was followed by a news article at the Aspen Times. The next public meeting was the Council meeting following that; there were no people present to offer any public input. This has been a very open process;, commencing years ago looking at a number of alternative sites. Ms. Nuttall pointed out that the City is absolutely bound to restore the land; it has to be r~stored and has to be revegetated. The City has this obligation. Ms. Nuttall said the section referred to by Mr. Sachs is titled, General Exemption for Utilities, and although the title is not part of the ordinance it is utilized by the Courts to determine the intent. It is clear that a water tank is part of the distribution or transmisslon system. The tank is not referred to specifically; however, there is a section in the ordinance which covers exemptions, businesses and maintenance. A tank does not fall in either one of those exemption. Ms. Nuttall said there will be a 7 foot part of the tank that is not covered, but it will be required to be camaflouged with tree planting in front. The tank will, literally, be invisible. Other than construction, this will not constitute any consideration under view plane or 8040. Bill Kane, planner, said this should be a common sensical evaluation of the planning procedure of the code; you would have to find that a water tank is part of the City dis- tribution system. A water tank by its definition is a system designed to provide adequate storage facility for distribution of water to the City. Aside from practical planning considerations, one wou~.~ have tc find the tank would be exempt. The purpose for sections of the code like that is to exclude the potential for a neighborhood interest to interfere with the public interest. Kane said the Council should weigh the consideration about the exemption procedure and judge the reasonableness of whether a water tank is essential to the public interest. Councilwoman Johnston said normally she would consider a water tank in the public good, but her concern is when a water tank was originally proposed the Council was told that a tank was needed at the east end of town for distribution of water. When snowmaking Aspen City Council March 27, 1978 came into being, the tank went from Aspen/Mountain Valley to Little Nell and then jumped further west. Councilwoman Johnston said this should be looked at very carefully and see if the City Ks serving the eastern end of town with water. Ms. Nuttall answered that when Aspen Mountain was first considered as a site for a water tank, snowmaking was not even mentioned, it came in late. Ms. Nuttall said she had spoken with Jim Markalunas at length about whether this site would be adequate for public water supply. The engineering has demonstrated that his a very acceptable site for water supply purposes. Councilman Behrendt said he had voted for the building permit for Mountain Queen, Sachs' clients, and they had strongly represented to Council they were building small group of buildings that would be inconspicuous. Councilman Behrendt stated he regreted his vote because, unlike the water tank, the Mountain Queen is not undergrcun~ and does drastically cut the community off from the mountain. Councilman Behrendt pointed out the Council has insisted all along the water tank be an invisible project. Mayor Standley asked if there were a ma2ority of Council disagreeing with the way the Council and administration has handled the project, and want it to be dealt with any other way. Councilwoman Johnston said she would like to see this reviewed by P & Z; it is a sizable structure and impacts the most seen point. Councilman Behrendt said perhaps the City was remiss on PR, and the Council could ask the administration to speak to the condominium association about the project and show them a model. Councilman Van Ness agreed with the way this was handled. Councilman Van Ness said the exemption was intended to cover something of this sort. Councilman Isaac said the code ~s clear that this structure should be exempt. Mayor Standley said he would go along with the majority of Council. COG REPRESENTATIVE FROM COUNCIL Mayor Standley told Council he has been on COG since he had been elected to Council and does not want to be on COG anymore. A lot of the COG meetings are very important. COG represeta- Mayor Standley pointed out that Pitkin County puts in Sll,000 a year to COG; they put in tire: Isaac & more and take out less than any other county. Right now we have to belong to COG or Behrendt Pitkin County does not get any A-95s or pass-through money. Mayor Standley said that COG was financially mismanaged. The new COG director, Tom Glass, does have empathy for rural involvement, and will probably see that COG becomes more effective. Mayor Standley suggested having a COG representative and a COG alternate. Tom Isaac was appointed as the COG representative and Councilman Behrendt was appointed as the alternate. PRIDE IN ASPEN Mayor Standley reminded Council he had brought this subject up in January, and stated there is no way the City can hire enough people to pick up all the trash dumped around Pride in town. Mayor Standley said he felt this was a problem of transient people and a lack of Aspen/cleanup pride in Aspen. Mayor Standley had suggested that the administration put together a campaign program to deal with this. Mayor Standley suggested an ad hoc committee of government and non-government people to work on this. City Manager Mahoney reported he had met with Jim Holland, Tom Dunlop and H. J. Stalf to ge~ the program underway. H. J. Stalf told Council he had met with Geri Fox, Chamber of Commerce, and they concluded the City has to get their house together first. Stalf said that Tom Dunlop has been having trouble with the bus~ness community. Stalf told Council that the parks department will be responsible for collection of the garbage cans in town instead of Aspen Trash, who will not pick up trash on the ground. The parks department hired a person assigned to clean up town everyday, five days a week. Tom Dunlop, Sanitarian, told Council he had been trying to deal with business owners in town who generate a lot of trash. Their attitude is that it is not their fault. Dunlop 5old Council he has tried talking to them, posting notices on the back door saying, keep your ~rash picked up, showing them what the problem is. Dunlop said he is at the point where he has been citing people and they are paying surcharges to have their garbage picked up. Dunlop said the problem is not just the visitors but people that operate businesses just don't care. Dunlop said he gets no response from issuing tickets. He has issued 50 citations, sometimes four and five in one place, and the people just keep paying the bills. Dunlop explained ~o Council that he tickets offenders, goes back in 24 hours and if the trash is not picked up, he calls Aspen Trash. Aspen Trash sends ~wo men and bills the person for time and a half for two men round trip from the Business Center. This could be $50. Dunlop told Council he had ticketed some people once every three weeks. Dunlop said it is a physical impossibility to walk the alleys every single day and then follow up the next day. Councilman Behrendt asked about closing the kitchen for these offenses. Dunlop pointed out he could not do that as the kitchens are licensed under the State of Colorado. Dunlop said the attitude of the conumunity will have to change if this problem is going to be solved. Mayor Standley asked if police officers could write these citations. Dunlop said he had re-written the ordinance so that the sanitarian or his designated agen5 could write citations. Dunlop told Council he had tried delegating this to the mall officer and the fire marshal, and it has a good effect for the first two weeks. This is a very boring task. Mayor Standley said he did not wan5 to deal with the specifics at this time but to put together an ad hoc committee. Mayor Standley suggested the Chamber, the City, Chris Cassatt said he would be interested, Jim Ward, a Mall Commission person, perhaps Ellen Anderson for this committee, give them a deadline and get some performance out of the committee. As many members as needed from the City could be involved. The committee should develop a specific program and bring it to Council. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council March 27, 197~ Councilwoman Johnston moved to have the Mayor appoint a commission, an ad hoc committee, to concern themselves with the problem of cleaning up the City; seconded by Councilman Behrendt. All in favor, motion carried. 1980 CENSUS BLOCK - Request for funds Karen Smith, planning office, asked Council to encumber $700 to provide a valuable service. The Census Bureau is offering a study and will report statistics on a City block basis. This has not been done for Cities Aspen's size. All that needs to be done is indicate the City's interest by a letter from the Mayor by April 1. The funds need to be encum- 1980 Census bered with a down payment this year and the balance by January 1, 1980. Ms. Smith said request for there is a good chance that some of the fee will be refunded. Ms. Smith told Council funds the mid-census will be done in June 1978. Councilman Behrendt moved to approve the block census be paid for; seconded by Council- woman Johnston. All in favor, motion carried. CITY MANAGER 1. Aspen Grove Building. City Manager Mahoney explained to Council he had had a request from attorneys for Birkwood to place construction material on Cooper street and to do some excavating in the alley. Mahoney said he thought this was a Council decision, but City Engineer Ellis pointed out that the Engineer can handle this. Mahoney requested Aspen Grove that the st~ff administrate this item. Councilman Behrendt asked the dates for this building- construction. Mahoney said he was aware of trash collection, and the fire department alley excavation has been notified. Mahoney told Council he would notify Birkwood they could do quite a street parking bit of work up to July first. Councilman Behrendt asked why the City could not specify the work be done before the llth of June. There are thousands of people coming for the Design conference then, Councilwoman Johnston pointed out that Main street is going to be torn up, ~Aspen Mountain is going to be torn up. Mahoney said he would insist they do not create congestion after July 1. Councilman Behrendt asked Mahoney to consider the June 11 date. Mahoney told Council that Birkwood will put barricades in the street, and will store their material somewhere else. They will have to have an excavation permit to dig in the alley and will have to block the alley. Mayor Stand,icy asked if Birkwood planned to block parking on the street. Mahoney answered yes. Mayor Standley said he was not interested in seeing Birkwood block the streets for parking. Councilman Behrendt agreed he did not want parking blocked after June 11. Mayor Standley pointed out that this parking is for the employees to have a place to park. Mayor Standley said if they are going to be working in the alley, they can park their trucks in the alley or at the Centre. The employees can put their tools in the Wiener Stube kitchen since it will be closed. The City will be providing parking spaces for em_ployees, which is exactly what the Council says they do not want to do to the exclusion of tourist parking spaces. RESOLUTION #4, SERIES OF 1978 - Support Assignment of New VHF Channel Councilwoman Johnston moved to read Resolution #4, Series of 1978; seconded by Councilman Van Ness. All in favor, motion carried. RESOLUTION #4 (Series of 1978) Res. 4, 1978 TO ESTABLISH A POLICY TO SUPPORT THE ASSIGNMENT OF NEW VHF Support Assign- TELEVISION CHANNEL TO GLENWOOD SPRINGS, COLORADO, TO TO ment of New VHF URGE THE FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION TO ADOPT A RULE Channel TO THAT EFFECT WHEREAS, the communities of Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle Counties de not have adequate access to local television service; and WHEREAS, the three above-named counties of the Tri-County Region are bound together by the Region's unique geography and common interests; and WHEREAS, the Tri-County Region is experiencing rapid and stable population growth and economic development; and WHEREAS, local television service is necessary to provide the people of the Tri-County Region with a local source of news, public afffairs, information, and entertainment programs; to provide the local governments and civic and community organizations with a valuable outlet to the communities they serve; to provide the commercial community with the most effective means of communication available for purposes of advertising and public service; and, to provide the substantial recreational population with a vital source of information concerning regional and local activities; and WHEREAS, Glenwood Springs, the county seat of Garfield County, is an appropriate and convenient location for a television station serving the Tri-County Region; BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Aspen supports the assignment of a new VHF television channel to Glenwood Springs, Colorado, and urges the Federal Communications Commission to adopt a rule to that effect, to provide a first local television service to the Tri-CoUnty Region of Garfield, Pitkin and Eagle Counties was read by Mayor Standley. Councilman wishart said his original fears about Grassroots have been allayed; in fact, this television station could benefit Grassroots. Councilman Van Ness moved to approve Resolution #4, Series of 1978; seconded by Council- man Behrendt. All in favor, motion carried. ~=~u~=~ ~l~n~ Aspen City Council March 27, 1978 ORDINANCE #7, SERIES OF 1978 - Appropriation for Switching Station Councilman Behrendt moved to read Ordinance ~7 S~ries of 1978; seconded by Councilman Isaac. All in favor, motion carried. Ord. 7, 1978 Appropriation ORDINANCE #7 Switching (Series of 1978) Station AN ORDINANCE MAKING A SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATION OF $34,114.00 FROM EXCESS ELECTRIC FUND REVENUES FOR THE 1978 PAYMENT ON PROPERTY PURCHASED FOR ELECTRIC DEPARTMENT USE AND APPROVING THE TERMS OF THE PURCHASE AGREEMENT FOR SUCH PROPERTY. was read by Mayor Standley Councilman Isaac moved to adopt Ordinance #7, Series of 1978, on first reading; seconded by Councilman Van Ness. Councilwoman Johnston asked if the City explored the possibility of leasing any portion of land from the Sanitation District for this purpose. CitY Manager Mahoney told Council that a lot of the Sanitation District's land is in the flood plain, and he did not explore that possibility. Councilman Behrendt pointed out the City has made commitments to everybody and is in a position to be sued if they back out. Mayor Standley said the Sanitation plant will be moving soon and that would be a great place. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Van Ness, aye; Wishart, aye; Johnston, nay; Isaac, aye; Behrendt, aye; Mayor Standley, nay. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #3, SERIES OF 1978 - Exemption of single family lot from growth management allotment Councilman Wishart moved to reconsider Ordinance ~3, Series of 1978; seconded by Council- Ord. #, 1978 man Isaac. All in favor, with the exception of Mayor Standley and Councilwoman Johnston. Exemption of Motion carried. single family lot from(t~P Planner Kane told Council this ordinance allows exemptiOn from the growth management reconsiderationi~ process, but not the subdivision regulations, the creation of a second building site from and existing lot upon which there is already an existing house. Kane explained that Ordinance #48, Series of 1977, has criteria which deals with projects on a larger scale.. It would be impractical to apply the ordinance to a case with an existing house and the creation of a second house. Ordinance #3 is also to deal with financial hard- ships, divorce or taxes. Mayor Standley said if these lots are not granted exemptions, people may build duplexes. Mayor Standley said he felt that duplexes give people a better change to end up in the local housing market than does two single family houses, especially in the West End. Councilman Wishart said he felt there was valid argument for exemption for hardships. Councilwoman Johnston said she did not want to see~any part of the growth management plan undermined. There are things that have to be changed; if the City takes them one at a time, they will be doing bandaid changes. Councilman Isaac said he had participated in writing Ordinance 48, and it was not the intent of the P & Z or planning office to have single family dwellings go through the process. The intent was for large scale develop- ment to go through the process. Single family units created by this will be inventoried and added to the quota. Mayor Standley said he felt people would buy these parcels of land and use this as a mechanism to defeat the purposes of growth management. Councilman Behrendt moved to adopt Ordinance #3, Series of 1978, on reconsideration; seconded by Councilman Wishart. Roll call vote; Councilmembers Behrendt, aye; Isaac, aye; Johnston, nay; Van Ness, aye; wishart, aye; Mayor Standley, nay. Motion carried. MALL COMMISSION PARKING RECOMMENDATIONS Curt Baar of the Mall Commission told Council the Comniission has been talking over various problems and has decided by resolution that the parking problem is the primary problem Parking i which has to be solved in order to make the existing mall function better and maybe have Recc~aaendationsll a chance to expand the mall at a later date. Baar pointed out the big shopping center mall oo~¥~'~ission!! going into the Trueman Property and the restricted parking in the downtown area could change the whole character and make downtown strictly tourist oriented. Baar said he felt the majority of the population wants to retain the character of downtown as the primary commercial area for locals. Baar stated the congestion has increased and the parking spaces taken away have not been replaced. Baar said the Mall Commission has decided to suggest to create parking close to the commercial area. This has been done in most malls. The most suitable area agreed upon by the Commission should be Rubey Park, which was originally acquired by the City for parking. The Commission is also suggesting Council consider the creation of underground parking. In addition, the Mall Commission is considering acquiring Independence Square property. Jon Busch, Mall Commission, told Council in the Commission's arguement, it was noted that if the town becomes so difficult to park and get around in, it will force Aspen into a regional shopping pattern and will destroy the whole downtown area. Busch said an argu- ment is that by forcing all traffic from downvalley into a major parking structure, that will force all the traffic through town. UNDERGROUND PARKING Mayor Standley gave Council a letter from Don Ensign. Mayor Standley said predicated on the mall vote defeat a year ago, and because most of Council would like to see the mall Underground expansion, the City has been through the Wagner Park undergrounding, and Jack Walls idea ~ parking of parking under the streets, amount of rental cars; there is a basic problem of trying to put 18,000 people in Aspen. Air transit for a week can handle 3-4,000 people. The City is stuck with the automobile on some level. Mayor Standley said he felt that parking with the mall is a problem, with underground parking, the City would be accommodating the automobile. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council ~arcn z/, l~ The City has looked at the economics of the Vail parking garage, which was not at first successful. Underground parking is $6,000 per space. Mayor Standley told Council he had come up with an idea, which he has talked over with Don Ensign. This idea is ~o deal with the mall thing and to get the financial monkey off the City's back and put it onto the private sector, who are the ones to have the direct gains to be made from it. Mayor Standley outlined his idea on the chalk board, to take the block of the Chase property and the City property of Rubey Park and make it available to the private sector for under- ground parking. Rubey>' Park above ground could be made into a full park. To size this underground parking would be to replace the parking eliminated from the mall expansion, and since it needs to be financially viable, to systematically eliminate other on-street parking in the downtown area to the same proportion it is necessary so that the under- ground parking would become replacement parking only. It would no~ necessarily add Underground additional parking. This would give the City a mall expansion and street beautification parking/Rubey program by allowing either rapid turnover or parkway landscaping. The ssreets would take Park on a lower-key pedestrian orientation, yet they are still vehicular. Mayor Standley pointed out that it may be that the number of parking spaces may be more than the City is willing to accept as a parking structure. Mayor Standley suggested taking the first level, or part of, and use it for the bus pick up, a transit station. This could make it more convenient to use the bus. The people would be out of the weather, out of the cattle guards, they could buy coffee, have ski storage lockers. Mayor Standley told Council he had taken this idea to Ensign and to Hans Cantrup who owns most of the Chase property. The City has a financing source to make the project look more viable, industrial revenue bonds, which cuts the interest in half. This parking was one of the recommendations in the 1973 Voorheis transportation study for Aspen. Mayor Standley said he wanted to know if Council was interested in the concept. Planner Bill Kane told Council on the negative side is to ~nsure that whatever number of parking spaces is selected, which is critically importnat, that the total parking avail- ability not be so much that it will undermine the ridership potential of the transportation system. On the positive side, the City is looking at a mall expansion, which would dis- place 63 spaces on the streets. With the fragmented parking policy, there is a lot of milling going on around town. There are both evils and benefits from having a central parking facility. On Monarch stree~ there will be an increase in traffic. In terms of total vehicular operation, car hours, it is possible it would be cut down because of the specific location. Kane told Council he would be cautious of the size of the facility so that it doesn't become a real high turn over facility. The area outlined is around 75 to 80,000 square feet. The number of spaces discussed in the planning office is 240, which includes dis- placement of Rubey Park spaces and the mall spaces. Kane said some study should be made of what constitutes legitimate replacement parking, and at.what point the facility would start eating into bus ridership and undermining transit. Councilwoman Johnston asked Kane if he had a preference of a parking center at this loca- tion or at the Rio Grande. Kane answered if this could be dealt with as a comprehensive transportation center also, he would prefer this location because of its proximity to lodging and the commercial core. Councilman Behrendt asked if the City would be putting a financial guarantee on this. Ms. Butterbaugh said there is no obligation with the City on industrial bonds. If payment is stopped, the responsibility comes back on the entity running the unit. Don Ensign told Council that Cantrup would like to pursue this idea in cooperation with the City. Ensign pointed out that the issue is not the number of cars but the number of trips in the downtown area. If there were a general place to park, people would park once and walk. Ensign Said there is no way to know this until there is an in-depth study done of imp~tions of a parking structure. Ensign showed Council some drawings of proposed plans for the top and of Chase property and Rubey park. Ensign said they are thinking about connecting with the County bike trail system on Dean street. This would have mass transit focused, car parking, and the skiing would come up to it. For the top of' the Chase property, Ensign envisioned a building with a nice urban court place and shops. Councilman Isaac asked how many levels down this would go. Ensign said they did not know yet but if there i$a bus turn-around, it would require a lot of space. There would be room for about 300 cars per level. Ensign said it is premature to talk about financing, amount of cars, type of contract parking. Ensign said he would like Council's conceptual approval to go on to the next step. Councilwoman ~ahnston sai~ she hated the thought.~of this for Aspen, making it like a big city accommodating more and more people and cars. Also the government ought to dwell upon the energy thing, how long will oil and gas be available. Councilman Isaac said he would like to see planning continued, also come up with differenct alternatives for Council and P & Z to study. Councilmembers Behrendt and Van Ness were in favor of studying this further. Mayor Standley was in favor of more consideration. Councilman Wishart moved to adjourn at 6:55 p.m.; seconded by Councilman Behrendt. All in favor, motion carried. Kathryn~. HauteUr, City Clerk