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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2000-01-08 Town Council Minutes• VAIL TOWN COUNCIL - MINUTES TUESDAY, August 1, 2000 7:00 P.M. The regular meeting of the Vail Town Council was held in the Town Council Chambers on Tuesday, August 1, 2000. The meeting was called to order at approximately 7:00 P.M. COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT:Ludwig Kurz, Mayor Sybill Navas, Pro Tern Chuck Ogilby Diana Donovan Kevin Foley Rod Slifer Greg Moffet STAFF MEMBERS PRESENT: Bob McLaurin, Town Manager . Tom Moorhead, Town Attorney Pam Brandmeyer, Assistant Town Manger The first item on the agenda was Citizen Participation. Waldir Prado, owner of the Vail Village Inn, announced plans to redevelop the Chateau Vail property in a way that will contribute to Vail's momentum in renewal and reinvestment. Prado, who has received town approvals for redevelopment of the nearby Vail Village Inn property, has put that project on hold due to lawsuits that have been filed to block the project. Prado said the $120 million Chateau Vail project will convert the former Holiday Inn site to a 5-Star, 244-key hotel that will feature numerous amenities including a convention center and spa. He said he expects to break ground on the project next spring pending approvals by the town. Carol Hymers thanked the Council for publication of a citizens brochure outlining Council meeting procedures, as well as, Council's support of the Rotary Club's recent health screening in Dotsero which served 55 children. On another note, Hymers, representing the Glen Lyon Neighborhood Association, said that while the neighborhood group supports community facilities on the lower bench of Donovan Park, concerns remain regarding mass and size. Paul Hymers asked for clarification on the De-Brucing ballot measure ordinance. He was asked to hold his questions until the agenda item came up later in the meeting. Dan Telleen, owner of Karats in Vail, provided an up-to-the-minute parking update in which he noted that a town vehicle was being stored in a prime parking space in the Village structure. Telleen has asked the town to consider parking vehicles elsewhere to allow more spaces and added accessibility for guests. 1 August 1, 2000 Town Council Evening Meeting Minutes • Wolfgang Triebnig, the general manager of the Lodge at Vail, expressed concerns about the impacts of the recent Big Head Todd concert along Gore Creek Dr. He suggested such concerts be held elsewhere to allow more space and added accessibility for guests. Bob Fritch, owner of the Sitzmark Lodge, also raised concerns about the concert, suggesting that Vail can no longer be "all things to all people." Fritch cited instances of property damage and other disturbances associated with the event, which he characterized as loud and intrusive. Fritch said it was time for Vail to decide what kind of resort it wants to be and which type of guest it should serve. Kaye Ferry, representing the Vail Village Merchants Association, congratulated the town for a productive event, noting that Vail's bars and restaurants were packed. On another topic, Ferry formally presented a refund to the Town Council for $12,126 for unused funds associated with a Y 2000 grant request for a "Turn It Up" guest service training party as well as direct support for the program. Ferry said the program became self-sustaining in 1999, resulting in a refund (with the exception of money spent for the training of 71 town employees and the production and distribution of guest service buttons). The second item on the agenda was the Consent Agenda. Greg Moffet moved to table the July 11 and 181h meeting minutes. Foley seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0. Moffet moved to approve the second reading of Ordinance No. 15, Series 2000, Ordinance 12-10, Vail Town Code; with specific regard to Vail's commercial core area parking maps; and setting forth details in regard thereto. Slifer seconded. A vote was taken and the motion • passed, 6-1, with Donovan Opposing. Moffet moved to approve the second reading of Ordinance No. 16, Series 2000 - Amendment of the Cable Franchise Agreement. Navas seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0. Moffet moved to approve the second reading of Ordinance No. 18, Series 2000 - Vail Heights Buy Down Unit. Foley seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0. The third item on the agenda was the first reading of Ordinance No. 17, Series of 2000, an ordinance removing the requirement for Planning and Environmental Commission presentation on the Design Review Board. Chapter 4, Design Review Board, of the Municipal Code, states that "The design review board shall be composed of five (5) members. Four (4) members shall be residents of the Town, appointed by the Town Council, and the fifth member shall be a member of the Planning and Environmental Commission of the Town. " The PEC, upon motion (7-0), has recommended that the Town Council consider making changes to the code removing the requirement for PEC representation on the DRB. The reason given for the motion was that the amount of time necessary to attend both the AEC meetings and the DRB meetings was excessive and difficult for working professionals to attend and was redundant give the role of the staff. Staff believes it is beneficial for town boards to have overlapping membership, so that each board understands the interrelationship of the boards and commissions. Staff believes that such a system would be beneficial also for the Town Council to have voting members present at the PEC and DRB meetings for this reason. However, staff understands the impacts of having volunteers in our community committing significant blocks of time to board meetings. The sizeable time commitments necessary for these boards negatively impacts the Town's ability to fill empty positions with qualified residents. George Ruther briefly summarized the memorandum included in the Council packets. Council expressed concern that there could be . potential loss of information being transferred between the PEC and DRB without having one 2 August 1, 2000 Town Council Evening Meeting Minutes member serve on both boards. Galen Aasland, a member of the Planning and Enviromental Commission, said the current requirement is too burdensome. As for communication between the two boards, this would be done with memorandums between the PEC and DRB. Moffet said he was impressed with the change in the "development review process" and thought communicating through memos was a good idea and is working well. George said PEC and DRB share reports between the boards on a weekly basis. Moffet said the Antlers project was a good example of the boards working together; furthermore, doing it concurrently eliminated a lot of problems. Donovan suggested appointment of some lay people to the boards (rather than design professionals) to help attract the applicants who have more time to serve. She also suggested reducing the number of the PEC members from 7 to 5, and asked for the item to be scheduled for additional discussion prior to the second reading of the PEC representation ordinance. Navas agreed that the lay person's view is important. Navas also mentioned that staffs point of view differs from members of the board and having one person on both boards enables communication between the boards without the interference of staff. • Moffet moved to approve Ordinance No. 17, Slifer seconded. For the record Slifer said Council is responsible for the appointment of the PEC and DRB Boards and Council has the ability to appoint a lay person. Foley suggested that Council keep a "close eye" on this arrangement for 6-months to see if it was working for all involved. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 6-1, with Donovan opposing. Donovan suggested that absenteeism of the board members be kept track of for future reference. The fourth item on the agenda was the first reading of Ordinance No. 19, Series 2000 - an Ordinance submitting to the registered electors of the Town of Vail at the regular municipal election to be held on Tuesday, the71" day of November, 2000, the question about whether the Town of Vail should be authorized to collect, keep and expend all revenues all received from its property tax levy in 2000 and each year thereafter as a property tax revenue change pursuant to article 10, section 20 of the Colorado constitution provided that nothing in this question authorizes the Town to increase its rate of levy without prior voter approval; Authorizing the Town Council to adopt annual budgets and amendments thereto to implement the approval of this referred measure; setting forth the ballot title; providing for notice of the election; providing for conduct of the election; providing further details in relation to the foregoing. In 1993 the Vail voters approved lifting (or de-Brucing) the revenue limitation impacts of Amendment 1 on all revenues except for property taxes. The Town was one of the first cities in Colorado to de -Bruce. Since then the Town of Avon and Eagle County have de Bruced all revenues, including property taxes. The Town is currently limited by how much property tax revenue the Town of Vail can collect. If our assessed valuation goes up 13%, the Town's percentage growth in revenue is limited by the Denver Boulder CPI plus our local growth factor (the percentage of new construction). These two percentages have totaled about 0 5% since TABOR was enacted. The base mill levy cannot be raised without a vote; this August 1, 2000 Town Council Evening Meeting Minutes provision cannot be de-Bruced. Assessed valuation is impacted by redevelopment or new construction and all properties are reassessed every other year. The next reassessment will occur in 2001 for property taxes collected in 2002. In 1999, the last reassessment period, the assessed value increased 13%, whereas, the Town's growth limit was 3.8%. This change would allow the Town's revenue to keep pace with increases in assessed valuation. When the budget was passed in 1999 for Y2000, Town Council showed interest in making this change. Council reviewed this issue at the work session on July 11, 2000, and directed staff to present this ordinance for their consideration. Donovan stressed the importance of providing voters with information about the impacts of a de-Brucing measure and cautioned the Town in asking too much from its citizens without big successes to gain voter confidence. Moffet moved to approve Ordinance No. 19, Series 2000, on first reading. Foley seconded. McLaurin said last spring 10 positions were cut and the town is in the process of cutting additional positions along with budget items. With the passing of the de-Brucing ballot measure it would mean an increase of $6.00 per $100,000 of private property value and $18.00 per $100,000 of commercial property value. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0. The fifth item on the agenda was the worksession to determine whether the Town should further explore a hotel on the project site; and whether to move forward with either a 2000 or a 2001 ballot initiative. If the Town Council would like to move forward with a 2000 ballot issue on the community facility project, then that decision must be made in August and two readings of an ordinance must occur on or prior to September 5, 2000. It is also important to acknowledge that mail -in ballots for the November election will be available to voters in October. So there would be approximately one month to refine the concept and inform voters of a ballot initiative. The Town Council can also choose to move a possible election into 2001 without significantly delaying the project since one year of private fund raising was planned. Staff believes that additional time is needed to develop the concept and to refine the design for the project and a 2000 ballot initiative is premature. However, if there is consensus among the Council on a preferred site plan, the uses, and how to frame a ballot initiative a schedule is provided for a 2000 ballot initiative in the staff memorandum. Total cost based on the preliminary work is 65 million dollars. Navas asked if this had to be a November election. Moorhead said anything that involves debt is a November election issue. Slifer said there are too many issues regarding the Hub Site to still be resolved in order to meet the November election deadline. Slifer moved to postpone the ballot issue for public funding until the November 2001 election. Moffet seconded. Navas hoped that council was not using this for an excuse not to moved ahead and make things happen. Donovan felt that all that was needed was finalizing some issues. Donovan said she would vote for the election to take place this fall, for to do so, would force Council to get their act together. Navas felt the product was not clearly defined at this time. Ogilby shared the same feelings as Navas. Donovan said Town of Vail couldn't bear 5 years of continual construction. The likelihood for a successful vote would be higher in 2000 than 2001. Foley said Beaver Creek did a fine job with their construction. Kurz said, realistically, the items that need to be accomplished can't be achieved by November, but agreed with Donovan that Council needs to keep their momentum going forward. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 6-1 with Donovan opposing. • Farrow Hitt, of Park Meadows Lodge, descried the concept as an "111' hour curve ball" and 4 August 1, 2000 Town Council Evening Meeting Minutes suggested allowing time for the Lodging Quality Initiative and the Marketing District Tax to predu66 effective results. His advice was to sell the hotel rooms that already exist. Hitt said Town of Vail needs a community center. Russell Forrest said the hotel was considered when the design team wanted to add vitality, and mass to the site. A market analysis of a learning center showed that it would generate an additional need for beds. Also studies showed that people wanted all amenities under one roof along with a conference facility. Moffet asked when did the hotel go from financing itself to barely funding itself. Russell Forrest said in the early stages it was thought the hotel would offset its cost, but a return of 15 —20% profits based on a 3-year plan, is not as much as what was initially anticipated. A hotel would not defray the capital costs of the community center. Moffet said he would move to direct staff to foster the redevelopment and enhancement of existing hotel properties near the project site. He suggested VVTC encourage existing hotels to commit rooms at a competitive price for meetings and functions. When refining the design for the project site, identify phasing plans that could allow the expansion of the meeting center and a future hotel if the market demonstrated a need in the future. Moffet said the Town needs to find ways to improve the transportation system from Vail Village to Lionshead. Navas seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 6-1 with Donovan opposing. Ogilby asked how many council members were in favor of a learning center. Foley asked what was the learning center. Navas said she could not support the election because the definition of the learning center was too vague. Moffet said as long as it was a 20,000-sq. ft. room he would be in favor of it Donovon said she thought the learning center was a "bunch of high-tech break out rooms." Ogilby asked how many would be in favor of a convertible conference center. Donovan said it would be too costly. 4-3 council members where in favor of a convertible conference center. Ogilby asked how many were in favor of a family center that includes a skate board park, then asked council if they had dealt with the hotel issue first rather than second would they have voted the same way. Kurz stated that the most successful hotel in the valley is the Hyatt and it would not have happened had they not received the land at zero cost. Joe Staufer, a former owner of the Vail Village Inn, said a hotel would be an inappropriate use of public land. 5 August 1, 2000 Town Council Evening Meeting Minutes • Porter Wharton of Vail Resorts urged the Council to keep its options open, challenging the Council to identify a city that has had success in building a conference center without a companion hotel. Navas asked in light of the fact there are 3 new proposals on the table at what point was the performing arts eliminated from the project. Russell Forrest said that Council gave direction March 14t" to create a convertible space. Donovan expressed opposition to a hotel in any phase as well as the sale of private parking spaces on the Hub Site property or any other private development such as dwelling units or fractional fee units to help subsidize the public amenities Ogilby and Navas asked that the last paragraph be worded to say that no hotel would be considered in Phase 1. Moffet expressed a desire to allow room for phasing a hotel and other expansions into the plan assuming the project would be "wildly successful." Kurz felt additional hotels rooms were premature thinking. Donavon said that some members of the community have the wrong perception that the Hub Site is being designed to accommodate VA. • McLaurin said at this time the Town has no preconceived idea who will operate this. The sixth item on the agenda was the Vail Valley Foundations request for funding in regard to the renovation of the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater. Slifer recused himself, as he is a board member of the Vail Valley Foundation. Ceil Folz of the Vail Valley Foundation presented a proposal to authorize the Town Manger to review a $300,000 cash -and -in -kind services. The proposal would be applied toward the $9 million reconstruction project, which includes improvements in four areas: accessibility for disabled guests; weather protection; service facilities; and performance improvement. To date Folz says about $6.7 million of the $9 million project has been raised. She said the town's contribution would represent about 3 percent of the total project. Groundbreaking is scheduled for August 29, 2000, and will be finished June 6, 2001. Foley moved to have staff proceed and come back with numbers. Moffet seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 6-0 with Rod Slifer abstaining. The seventh item on the agenda was the Holiday Festival of Lights Presentation and request for direction from Council. Todd Oppenheimer presented a slide presentation to the Council showing the different options that are available. Foley asked if vandalism would be a problem. Oppenheimer said that lights could be put in locations so that it would not be a problem. The Town Council directed staff to continue development of a recommendation for consideration. The project, which could be phased in over 3 to 5 years, would augment Vail's traditional colored lights with animated light displays, as well as, creative use of lighting on architectural features throughout town. Depending on the scope of the project, as much as $800,000 per year could be spent for the additional improvements. 6 August 1, 2000 Town Council Evening Meeting Minutes • The eighth item on the agenda was the Employment of Special Counsel in Village Center Association v. TOV, et al. The Village Center Association has brought a lawsuit against the Town challenging the Town Council's approval of the White Water Park. They have asked the District Court to review the Town record to determine whether the Council decision was in excess of its jurisdiction or an abuse of discretion. Due to the heavy load of litigation presently being experienced, it is requested that the services of Lasater & Associates, P.C., be retained to serve under the direction of the Town Attorney on this matter. Lasater & Assoc. has successfully represented the Town in other matters where our insurance carrier provided the defense. They have agreed to charge the same fee as that charged for insurance defense work which is $110 per hour. Moffet moved to retain the legal services of Lasater & Associates. Foley seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0. • • The ninth item on the agenda was the Town Manager's Report. In its review of the Town Manger's Report, Navas moved to roll -forward $30,000 in special events funding that was originally allocated to a Vail village -specific event for 2000. The funding will now be available for 2001 event. Moffet seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0. Foley moved to adjourn. Moffet seconded. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0. The meeting adjourned at 10:50 P.M. eta-,, Respectfully submitted,,. EA E T: Lorelei Donaldson, Town Clerk Minutes taken by Beth Salter Ludwig Kd Mayor 7 August 1, 2000 Town Council Evening Meeting Minutes