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HomeMy WebLinkAboutminutes.council.20180122Regular Meeting Aspen City Council January 22, 2018 1 CITIZEN COMMENTS ............................................................................................................................... 2 COUNCIL COMMENTS ............................................................................................................................. 2 BOARD REPORTS ...................................................................................................................................... 3 CONSENT CALENDAR ............................................................................................................................. 3 Resolution #3, Series of 2018 – Intermountain Transportation Planning Region IGA ........................ 4 Resolution #11 Series of 2018 – Lighting system replacement for ARC ............................................. 4 Resolution #16, Series of 2018 – Contract modification with Cherry Road Technologies Inc for support services related to Oracle ERP Financial and Human Resource management system .................... 4 Resolution #9, Series of 2018 – Contract with USGS for O&M of Maroon Creek Gaging Station ..... 4 Resolution #13, Series of 2018 – Hallam Street and Castle Creek Bridge Improvement Consultant contract .......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Resolution #2 Series of 2018 – Hallam Street and Castle Creek Bridge Improvements Construction Contract ......................................................................................................................................................... 4 Resolution #12, Series of 2018 – Hallam Street and Castle Creek Bridge Improvements Construction Manager Contract .......................................................................................................................................... 4 Resolution #15, Series of 2018 – Parks Fleet – Compact Street Sweeper ............................................ 4 Minutes – January 8, 2018 .................................................................................................................... 4 ORDINANCE #4, SERIES OF 2018 ............................................................................................................ 4 ORDINANCE #21, SERIES OF 2018 – 500 W. Hopkins Ave. (Boomerang Lodge), PD Amendment ...... 5 Regular Meeting Aspen City Council January 22, 2018 2 At 5:00 p.m. Mayor Skadron called the regular meeting to order with Councilmembers Frisch, Myrin, Hauenstein and Mullins present. CITIZEN COMMENTS 1. Bob Morris said he is reporting back on the dog bag issue. He passed out dog bags for council to consider. Driving up Mill close to the Jerome he doesn’t understand why the man hole covers are so recessed into the street. They are more like potholes. Trish Aragon, city engineer, said they are recessed for plowing purposes. Over time the recess will be less. He also suggested the first 10 minutes of parking be free. 2. Dick Butera spoke about the 488 Castle Creek Road affordable housing project. He hopes council is concerned why he is sad. The numbers presented to council are wrong and off by millions. Now it is losing the 9% tax credit and means another 5 million is missing from the total. The developer is being paid 2.7 million dollars in fees. He still gets the fees even though we don’t get the tax credits. He volunteered to take over Mr. Bradshaw’s role with zero fee. The density is too much for the property. It is by far the worst small real estate proj ect I’ve ever seen. 3. Michelle Schindler, Attorney with Matthew Ferguson law firm. She represents citizens concerned with 488 Castle Creek. They received the memo dated December 5th and are concerned council passed the ordinance based on inaccurate information related to the tax credit funding. They submitted a CORA request and asked council to expedite it. Jim True. City attorney, said we received the letter from Matthew Fergusson and staff will address the CORA request based on state law. The request is quite extensive and involves numerous documents. 4. Toni Kronberg spoke about the Lift 1A study and talked about aerial connection. She said council should look at the big picture and have the study be more detailed. 5. Lee Mulcahy said he does not know why an APCHA board member refused to answer his questions. He asked the Mayor and Adam to be recuse from his interview for the HPC. He said the Aspen art museum has come after him and Adam was a previous board member so he should recuse himself. COUNCIL COMMENTS Councilman Hauenstein said it feels like winter outside. Councilman Frisch gave a kudos to AVSC for the bonfire last Friday. He attended the hall of fame dinner and gave kudos to Lester Crown, Bobby Mason and Bob and Tee Child. He tanked Bob Morris for bringing up the 5 to10 minute parking option. To Dick, I’m not sure what finances we were hoodwinked on but would love to know the incorrections. To Barry and Chris, a few people have contacted me about a 2.5 million fee. It would be helpful to have some clarity on that. The plan was it was going to cost the city the same as a private developer but save some staff time. Councilman Myrin asked about the dog bags again. Matt Kuhn, parks, said we have a stock of the green bags we need to exhaust. We usually go through half a million bags a year or 10,000 dollars worth. We will be purchasing a new stock for the summer. Councilman Myrin said he was sincere when he said he did not know what 488 Castle Creek would cost. They are big numbers. I didn’t realize what they were. He is not sure what the best way to receive the numbers from Dick is, but I think we should and if there is a possibility to involve him with a zero fee, we should. Mayor Skadron suggested Bert, Barry and the team take some time to understand the numbers. We are hearing from a neighbor who doesn’t want to see the project. If you believe there is an alternative perhaps we can discuss it. Steve Barwick, city manager, said it was laid out in the January 9th packet. We are happy to go over it with anyone. Councilman Myrin asked on the CORA if we can release information sooner that would be great. Councilwoman Mullins said she likes Bob’s idea on the 10 minute free parking. She thinks Dick is off base on his numbers. He needs to put his concerns in writing. She talked about the number of bids on the recent South Aspen affordable housing units. Clearly there is a demand and we need to get the housing. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council January 22, 2018 3 There is going to be a census in 2020. The data is essential for funding and decision making in the private sector. She asked what can we do to support the census and suggested a letter or additional funding. Mr. Barwick replied we are working on that. In the past we have asked for additional money to go around. This year we are working with other CAST members to see if there is something we can do regionally. Mayor Skadron congratulated the organizers and attendees of the 41st annual gay ski week. It is a vibrant and fun event. He recognized the hall of fame and wished good luck to Bobby Mason and to Lester Crown and Bob and Tee child. Thanks to Jeanette Darnour and the board for a great evening. BOARD REPORTS Mayor Skadron attended the RFTA meeting last week. They adopted mandated changes to drug and alcohol policies for drivers. The big issue me and Jim have been working on is ensuring we have proper language in the access control plan. This is what is used to preserve the bike trail. There were some desires from down valley communities to have more flexibility in the trail. We have a plan to preserve the corridor for years to come. He also attended the CAST meeting in Mountain Village last week. There is a focus on transportation this year CONSENT CALENDAR Resolution #3 – Intermountain transportation planning IGA. Councilwoman Mullins asked about the representative from Aspen. John Kruger, transportation, replied the representatives vary. Some elected and some staff. It can be anyone. Currently he attends. Councilwoman Mullins asked if there has been no previous council action. Mr. Kruger said we had and IGA in the past. CDOT likes a check in every once in a while to continue to be a voting member. Resolution #2 – Hallam Street and Castle Creek Bridge construction contract Councilman Hauenstein thanked staff for reviewing the project. This is difficult. It is a lot of money. He emailed 40 to 50 people seeking comments from community members. He sees the value of the project but the number scares me. It had positives and negatives. He can support it but would like to see the 400,000 contingency contain the Cobra fence back in the project. He understands it was removed due to the cost. He agrees that widening the bike path is good. It has community benefit. He wants to make sure we are increasing pedestrian and bicycle ease of use but don’t lose sight of controlling traffic. As we focus on that I don’t want to lose focus on keeping the west end traffic under control. He will support this but would like to see the Cobra fence back. Ms. Aragon said the rough cost estimate for the fence is one million dollars. Mr. Barwick said we will bring this back with a better cost estimate and how much is actually gained for the biker. Ms. Aragon said we can come back and go through the full analysis. Councilwoman Mullins said the discussion was price and was the benefit worth the cost. Pete Rice, engineering, said the final discussion was what worked for the living lab worked and we are matching that. To put the fence on would also mean construction issues. Mayor Skadron said it is the improvements the 4.6 million is buying and the cost benefit of the rail. Councilman Hauenstein said if we are spending 4.6 million he wants to make sure we are doing the best we can. He wants to see if the Cobra fence is possible and worth it. Councilman Myrin said he thinks it would be a big improvement on the space. He supported it when Ward was not here. Mayor Skadron said he is interested in a project with the appropriate amount of safety for cyclists and pedestrians. Unless the Cobra fence has additional safety for the users and a reasonable amount of money I’m not supportive. Councilwoman Mullins said she is also not supportive. We studied it extensively and we were satisfied we did not need the fence. She thinks we should move ahead with the design as is. Mr. True said resolution 9 says the contract is for 90,000 when it is 90,724. It can be changed through an amendment. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council January 22, 2018 4 Mayor Skadron said resolution #2 will be included to support. Should council desire a change do we include resolution 2 in the vote. Mr. Barwick said you would approve this and if you want to make changes it can be adjusted in the future • Resolution #3, Series of 2018 – Intermountain Transportation Planning Region IGA • Resolution #11 Series of 2018 – Lighting system replacement for ARC • Resolution #16, Series of 2018 – Contract modification with Cherry Road Technologies Inc for support services related to Oracle ERP Financial and Human Resource management system • Resolution #9, Series of 2018 – Contract with USGS for O&M of Maroon Creek Gaging Station • Resolution #13, Series of 2018 – Hallam Street and Castle Creek Bridge Improvement Consultant contract • Resolution #2 Series of 2018 – Hallam Street and Castle Creek Bridge Improvements Construction Contract • Resolution #12, Series of 2018 – Hallam Street and Castle Creek Bridge Improvements Construction Manager Contract • Resolution #15, Series of 2018 – Parks Fleet – Compact Street Sweeper • Minutes – January 8, 2018 Councilwoman Mullins moved to adopt the Consent Calendar without Resolution #2 and with the correction to the dollar amount for resolution #9; seconded by Councilman Frisch. All in favor, motion carried. Councilman Hauenstein moved to adopt Resolution #2, Series of 2018; seconded by Councilman Frisch. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE #4, SERIES OF 2018 – Amendment to Sales Tax Ordinance Regarding Refund for Tax paid on Food Don Taylor, finance, told the Council at the December meeting council discussed options related to the sales tax refund of the existing tax code. Currently it is 50 dollars to city residents with evidence of being registered to vote. The discussion was to raise that to 55. We are also updating a provision that has been in place before I came here to refund an additional 50 to seniors. Councilman Hauenstein said he will support this. He would like to leave the options open to relook at the amount. There has been public feedback that it was an insult to only increase it 5 dollars. Councilwoman Mullins said seniors get $15 more. It costs the city $170,000 to do the refunds. She asked about staff time. Mr. Taylor said he estimates that staff time is 30,000 to 40,000 dollars. Councilman Myrin said he would like to see this on auto pilot and increase to reflect so it zero’s out the impact of food tax for the community. A 20 year cycle between adjustments and only 5 dollars makes no sense. He suggested we use the increase in the city managers compensation over the same time period as a gauge for the increase. Mr. Barwick reminded council that the fee ordinance adjusts fees as well. Councilman Myrin said he thinks the amount given should be based on a formula and zero out the amount of tax paid. Councilman Frisch said this increase was a good will gesture. To honor the inflation of the original tax, in theory it should be 120 dollars. Good will and honoring inflation are different. There is also zeroing out the tax. I think it would be bad to peg anything to one salary. There are a lot of reasons why wages get set. It would be a disservice to the community to peg it on any one person. He is still fine using the inflation adjuster. The bigger discussion is do we want to continue a good will gesture or go off of Regular Meeting Aspen City Council January 22, 2018 5 inflation. He is happy to do this now and study it later. Is there any more cost to the city if the amount is increased. Mr. Taylor replied no. Mr. Taylor said the 55 equates to a little over 210 dollars per person per month or just over 900 for a family of four. By my math most people get more money back in the refund then they spend in sales tax. Mayor Skadron said he will not support this. It is going in the wrong direction. It makes more sense to give a food tax credit to the low income families. He does not support indexing. This is paid out of the general fund which is used for recreation, HHS, arts and amenities we like in town. This is not an inconsequential thing. Keep Aspen exceptional and be careful with playing with these things. He would keep it at 50 but it needs rethought entirely. Councilwoman Mullins moved to read Ordinance #4, Series of 2018; seconded by Councilman Hauenstein. All in favor, motion carried. ORDINANCE NO 4 SERIES OF 2018 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING SECTION 23.32.150 OF THE CITY OF ASPEN MUNICIPAL CODE PERTAINING TO FOOD SALES TAX REFUNDS Councilman Hauenstein moved to adopt Ordinance #4, Series of 2018 on first reading; seconded by Councilman Frisch. Roll call vote. Councilmembers Hauenstein, yes; Mullins, yes, Myrin, yes; Frisch, yes; Mayor Skadron, no. Motion carried. ORDINANCE #21, SERIES OF 2018 – 500 W. Hopkins Ave. (Boomerang Lodge), PD Amendment Jennifer Phelan, community development, stated tonight was to be the continued public meeting with changes the applicant has made. Staff received a letter requesting withdrawal of the application today. Chris Bendon is here to say a few things. At this point the applicant is withdrawing. Mr. Bendon stated Jennifer is correct. Marshall and Eric did put a lot of energy into the project and changes. The numbers were very thin and there is a long list of issues still remaining. They felt it best to withdrawal the application. We spent serious energy on wanting to make this work. The property will come back in some other form, likely not a lodge. Mayor Skadron asked what happened between now and the time the info made it in to the memo. What was there was an interesting proposal. Mr. Bendon said there was lots of conversation with the applicant team and consideration of how this meeting would play out. Several of the issue would have dug in to the substance of the project that would not be recoverable. Councilman Hauenstein asked are you just withdrawing the amendment with the 2006 approval remaining in place. Mr. Bendon replied yes. Councilman Frisch said it is very disappointing and heart breaking to get the letter. He thinks your clients were trying to negotiate in good faith. He asked about the reasoning for the withdrawal. He is concerned where a lodge will ever show up in Aspen with more than 5 or 10 rooms. This is one of the only places left to see some type of lodging. If there is any way that something might work I was excited when I got the project and thought we could move forward. Mr. Bendon said if it were a simple and clear discussion the issue the community has been struggling would have been answered by now. There are a lot of fixed costs that are tough to deal with. There were a lot of ingredients in to that conversation. Withdrawing this application does not preclude us from coming back with another lodging application. Councilman Frisch said we have got in to the discussion of what’s the alternative. Affordable housing or free market. Regular Meeting Aspen City Council January 22, 2018 6 He appreciates we can only do so much. If there was a way to make sure we have tilted the table to get lodging over free market homes. Councilwoman Mullins said she is disappointed. The team worked hard reducing the height. She still had some objections with the character and the loss of the common space. To be realistic she does not want to demand something that will not pencil out. She is afraid this property will sit vacant for a while longer. She worries about demolition by neglect. We may need to have a conversation on how to protect the property. She asked Chris to thank his team for the effort. Steve Goldenberg asked what was rescinded and what was not. Ms. Phelan said the application that is before council tonight to modify the programming. That is what is being withdrawn. What is still active is the 2006 approval. Ms. Garrow said the current owner of that permit or a contract purchaser has 8 weeks from today to pick that permit up. Councilman Hauenstein said at the end of 8 weeks if not pulled the 2006 project is void. Ms. Garrow replied essentially. Councilman Hauenstein moved to adjourn at 6:40 pm; seconded by Councilwoman Mullins. All in favor, motion carried. Linda Manning City Clerk