HomeMy WebLinkAbout1993-02-02 Town Council MinutesMINUTES
VAIL TOWN COUNCIL MEETING
FEBRUARY 2, 1993
7:30 P.M.
• A regular meeting of the Vail Town Council was held on Tuesday, February 2, 1992, in the
Council Chambers of the Vail Municipal Building. The 'meeting was called to order at 7:45
P.M.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Peggy Osterfoss, Mayor
Mery Lapin, Mayor Pro -Tern
Jim Shearer
Tom Steinberg
Rob LeVine
Bob Buckley
MEMBERS ABSENT: Jim Gibson
TOWN OFFICIALS PRESENT: Ron Phillips, Town Manager
Larry Eskwith, Town Attorney
Pam Brandmeyer, Assistant to the Town Manager
Before beginning with this meeting's first agenda item, Ron Phillips announced that Bill
. Lowe, mechanic with TOVs Fleet Maintenance Department since October, 1981, had passed
away on February 1, 1993. There was a moment of silent prayer in honor of Bill's long-term,
committed service to TOV.
The first item on the agenda was Citizen Participation of which there was none.
Item No. 2 on the agenda was the presentation of plaque from the Colorado Department of
Transportation (CDOT) to TOV for its having achieved President Bush's 70% Seat Belt Usage
Safety Honor Roll. Mary Lawrence, TOV Safety Manager, introduced Duke Smith of CDOT
who described the program, and advised 75% seat belt usage was hoped for by 1995. Marvin
Leach of CDOT presented the plaque to Mayor Osterfoss, and he advised that TOV would
appear on the National Honor Roll in D.C.
Item No. 3 was a Consent Agenda consisting of two items:
A. Approval of Minutes of the January 5,1993, and January 19, 1993, Vail Town
Council Evening Meetings.
B. Ordinance No. 2, Series of 1993, second reading, an ordinance of the Town of
Vail, Colorado, decriminalizing traffic infractions; deleting the availability of
jury trials and jail sentences for such violations; and making amendments to
Title 10 of the Municipal Code of the Town of Vail.
Jim Shearer moved to approve the Consent Agenda, with a second from Mery Lapin. A vote
was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 6-0,
Item No. 4 was Ordinance No. 1, Series of 1993, second reading, an ordinance repealing and
reenacting Ordinance No. 41, Series of 1991, to provide changes to Area A requirements for
SDD No. 4 that concern the development plans for The Waterford and The Cornerstone
Development Building Sites; and setting forth details in regard thereto. The applicants were
MECM Enterprises and Commercial Federal Savings. Council had received a memo dated
February 1, 1993, from Larry Grafel, Public Works Director, prior to this meeting advising
that a meeting with Ned Gwathmey, Eustaquio Cortina, Jerry Mullikin, Frank Freyer, Kent
Rose, Greg Hall, and Larry had been held on Friday, January 29, 1993. The memo stated
that meeting was positive and great progress had been made by the parties trying to
resolve/determine what needed to be done, and at what cost, to bring Westhaven Drive up
to TOV standards, but indicated it was not possible for all necessary information to be
received and reviewed in time for this second reading. Ned Gwathmey requested this item
be continued to the next evening meeting, February 16, 1993, and asked for guidance as to
. what Council would ask for as a guarantee that the required work would be done. Larry
Eskwith recommended either an irrevocable letter of credit TOV could draw on if certain
terms and conditions were not met by the applicants, or funds set aside in a bank account
TOV could draw on with certain terms and conditions pursuant to an agreement. Larry felt
bonding companies would be reluctant to enter into any kind of surety agreement for this
type of project. Larry said an estimate which was not a hard bid would not be 100%
accurate, but felt an agreement could be entered into which would require the posting of a
letter of credit from the applicants that exceeded the estimate. There was discussion about
what the range of costs might be. Tom Steinberg asked Larry if it would be wiser to stipulate
that this road should be brought up to TOV standards at no expense to TOV before a
Certificate of Occupancy (CO) was issued for any new building. Larry said that was a
possibility, but TOV would not have access to funds to get that done which could create a
situation where buildings were constructed, no CO issued, and the road might not be
completed. After brief discussion, Council and Ned Gwathmey agreed they wanted
arrangements for either a set aside in a bank account or an irrevocable letter of credit and
a developer's agreement laying out all of the terms and conditions of how that collateral was
to be used. TOV would then be able to draw on that collateral should the required work not
be done by a certain date. Mayor Osterfoss said, as part of this process based on estimates,
an amount would be ascertained, and, in addition to that, a contingency would be set up so
that TOV would have a dollar number Council was comfortable with. That was acceptable
from Mr. Gwathmey's perspective. Shelly Mello said 125% of the estimated cost to cover the
work and any overage or delays was the percentage generally used. Rob LeVine moved to
continue Ordinance No. 1, Series of 1993, until the February 16, 1993 evening meeting, with
a second from Jim Shearer. Before a vote was taken, Mayor Osterfoss expressed appreciation
• for the cooperation of all involved for working toward the resolution of this long unresolved
problem. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 6-0.
Item No. 5 was Resolution No. 2, Series of 1993, a resolution authorizing the purchase of an
unplatted piece of land commonly known as the Vail Commons property, and more
particularly described in Exhibit A attached hereto and made a part hereof ("the Property").
Larry Eskwith explained this resolution would authorize TOV to purchase a parcel of land
located on the North Frontage Road, commonly known as the Vail Commons property. He
noted negotiations had been ongoing for a considerable period of time, and terms had now
been agreed upon by the Seller. The purchase price for the parcel, approximately 6.9 acres,
was $3,161,972. The closing was scheduled for April 2, 1993. Larry said the only
contingency that could affect the potential purchase of the land by TOV, other than title,
survey, or environmental problems, was that the Seller wanted to obtain an appraisal which
would show he was selling the property to TOV for less than fair market value because he
wanted to take a charitable deduction for that portion of the differentiation between the
purchase price and the value. Larry advised if that appraisal did not show the value of the
land to be sufficient, then the Purchaser would have the opportunity to terminate the
contract. Other than that, the contract was fairly standard. Tom Steinberg asked if TOV
had an environmental report back on the property yet, but Larry said he did not want to
expend funds on an environmental report until he had a signed contract, but the contract was
totally contingent on TOV being satisfied, in its sole discretion, with the results of the
environmental survey. Tom Steinberg moved to approve Resolution No. 2, Series of 1993,
with a second from Mery Lapin. A vote was then taken and the motion passed unanimously,
6-0.
Item No. 6 was a review of a sign variance request for Curtin -Hill Sports (previously Vail Ski
Rentals), 254 Bridge Street/Lot 1, Block 5A, Vail Village 1st Filing. The applicants were Jack
Curtin and Teak Simonett. At 8:05 P.M., the applicant had not yet arrived, and Mayor
Osterfoss directed Tim Devlin to make an effort to call the applicant before beginning
discussion of this item.
While waiting for a response from Jack Curtin, Council discussed a Work Session item moved
to the Evening Meeting, TOV reorganization. Steve Barwick distributed a proposed schedule
entitled "Schedule of Activities for Development of New TOV Management/Budget Systems"
which showed how TOV might proceed with all of the reorganizations discussed within the
last few weeks. Steve asked Council for feedback on the schedule, and, if Council agreed to
the recommended Steering Team, asked for Council member appointments to the Team. He
reviewed the recommended Team composition. He said this group would be charged with
investigating the various aspects of the program and making recommendations to the Town
about formal changes in TOV's management and budget systems. Establishment of the Team
would take place at this meeting, per the time frame on the handout. Steve reviewed the
2
time frame in full, beginning with a first meeting on February 18, 1993. For six weeks, the
Team would start meeting with each department to assist the departments with development
of their mission statements and operational goals. In mid -March through mid -May, sub-
groups of the Team would be appointed to start investigating TQM performance
measurement, cost accounting, and expenditure control budgeting. By the end of May, the
Team was to have prepared recommendations for those areas and how they would fit into
TOV's plan. During June, the Team would integrate all of those recommendations into one
formalized program for TOV, and adoption by Council of the formalized program was
scheduled for the first Evening Meeting in July, 1993. Steve said discussion concerning
actual outcome measures of the mission statements and the operational goals would follow
that. He felt if the proposed time schedule was adhered to, the 1994 budget process would
largely be based upon this type of system rather than TOV's traditional line item approach
to budgeting. Mayor Osterfoss said she had hoped for more representation from TOV staff
than shown on Steve's handout, perhaps one person from each department. Rob LeVine felt
there was merit in that idea because one of the things Council had be told in response to the
studies done was there was not as much team feeling between departments as there was
within departments. Consensus was reached to include one staff representative in addition
to the Director from each department on the Team, including Buck Allen from the Municipal
Court Department. Steve noted it was an ambitious schedule, but felt if focus was
maintained, it could be accomplished. Tom Steinberg was concerned about embarking on this
project and the possibility of then changing direction after receipt of a final report from the
staff working on it. Steve said there were no guaraxitees, but felt there was enough staff buy -
in in the general principles of the programat this point that, as long as all concentrated on
those items, what would be developed would be an acceptable product. Mayor Osterfoss said
she felt the efforts that would be started in the next few weeks were basically foundation
efforts, and, if there was a need to make some changes in direction, that could be
incorporated into the process. In the spirit of moving forward on this project, there was
discussion about how department members would be appointed or elected. Mayor Osterfoss
asked Larry Grafel, given the diversity of his Department, if one individual could be chosen
who others would feel to be representative of that entire Department. Larry felt he had to
do a lot of talking about the focus wanted, but felt, at this time, one staff member could be
representative to the whole PW Department. He asked that the option to have more than
one representative from PW be held open temporarily. Mayor Osterfoss then volunteered to
participate. Bob Buckley and Jim Shearer stated they felt Jim Gibson would volunteer if he
were present. Mayor Osterfoss said she volunteered because she felt it would be meaningful
for her to be in touch with the process. Mery Lapin stated he was interested in participating
from the budgeting standpoint. Bob Buckley, having experience with TQM through VVMC,
stated he might want to attend some of the meetings. Council agreed to wait to hear from
Jim Gibson and would then finalize their selection process and advise Steve.
Jack Curtin had arrived, discussion of agenda Item No. 6 began. Tim Devlin gave a quick
overview of the proposed sign variance versus what was recommended for approval by the
DRB as well as the staff. He said Curtin Hill Sports had proposed a sign variance involving
• two sections of the sign code. The first was from size; the second from number. Community
Development Department's memo dated January 6, 1993, to the DRB included full details
concerning the description of the request, background information, findings and staff
responses, and staffs recommendation. Tim said staff recommended to DRB that four signs
did not meet the criteria discussed in that memo's item 3 A,C,D, but staff did feel three signs
did meet all four criteria, and they supported one additional sign and recommended denial
of the extra sign area. He said the DRB, on January 6, 1993 recommended Council approve
three signs and left it up to the applicant as to which three signs they wanted to leave. Tim
said the applicant, at that time, expressed to the DRB that he would like one free standing
sign, one hanging sign, and one awning sign. Tfm discussed the conditions of approval from
the DRB agenda from January 6, 1993. Applicant Jack Curtin was surprised to learn Curtin
Hill Sports had 20 window signs. He stated the three signs (free standing, hanging, and
awning) were acceptable to them, and added he was working with Town staff to bring the
various signs into conformance with the sign code. After brief discussion, Rob Levine moved
to approve the staff recommendation with regard to the Curtin Hill sign variance request
based on the findings indicated in the staff memo dated January 6, 1993, establishing
hardship and general appropriateness, with a second from Jim Shearer. Before a vote was
taken, Tom Steinberg asked if this decision set any precedent regarding signs. Kristan Pritz
said they felt comfortable with the decision given the four building frontages, and felt the
criteria for a variance had been met by the applicant. A vote was taken and the motion
• passed unanimously, 6-0.
There being no further business, Tom Steinberg moved to adjourn the meeting to Executive
Session, with a second from Rob LeVine. A vote was taken and the motion passed
unanimously. The meeting was adjourned to Executive Session at 8:45 P.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Margaret A. Osterfoss, Mayor
ATTEST:
Pamela A. Brandmeyer, Acting Town Clerk
Minutes taken by Dodanne S. Deto
C , J
0 C9MINSFEB2.93