HomeMy WebLinkAbout2008-07-01 Town Council MinutesVail Town Council Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
6:00 P.M.
Vail Town Council Chambers
The regular meeting of the Vail Town Council was called to order at
approximately 6:00 P.M. by Mayor Dick Cleveland.
Members present: Dick Cleveland, Mayor
Mark Gordon
Farrow Hitt
Kevin Foley
Kim Newbury
Margaret Rogers
Andy Daly
Staff Members: Stan Zemler, Town Manager
Matt Mire, Town Attorney
Pam Brandmeyer
The first item on the agenda was Citizen Input.
Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival representative John Giovando announced the
summer season was off to a great start. He thanked the town and the community
for its continued support.
Vail Farmers' Market representative Rick Scalpello invited Council to a special
concert at the upcoming market. He then reported a recent increase in
marketing efforts to offset competition and the recent economic downturn. He
also announced a new market manager had been hired and that he was stepped
down.
Vail Homeowners' Association President Alan Kosloff reported closures on
Beaver Dam Road have caused undue duress on local residents. He
encouraged Council to do whatever was possible to expedite construction
progress. He then thanked staff for their efforts in alleviating the problem.
Vail Mountain Chief Operating Officer Chris Jarnot reported a new sculpture,
"The Edge," has been completed as part of the Front Door project. He invited the
Council and community to attend a ceremony to welcome the new public art on
July 5.
The second item on the agenda was the Town Manager's Report.
➢ Summer Parking Update.
Town Manager Stan Zemler explained the town was attempting to preserve
parking in the Vail Village parking structure. "It's estimated 55% of the vehicles
entering the structure are construction -related ... We are currently conserving 300
spaces until 10:00 a.m... The town is trying to send as many vehicles as we can
to LionsHead ... We think we have identified some additional spots outside of the
Village and LionsHead ... We are going to rub someone the wrong way no matter
what we do here." Hall reported the number of construction workers has
increased over the past year. "When we are holding 300 spaces we are holding
our breath." Hall said the Vail Village structure held around 200 vehicles
overnight. Zemler explained an additional 300 parking spots could be created by
moving vehicles to the LionsHead parking structure. "Maintaining shopper
parking in LionsHead is the second piece of this." During a pause for pubic
comment, Mike Laturno asked if Frontage Road parking could be allowed year-
round. Hall responded that both structures are attempted to be filled before
Frontage Road parking was allowed. Laturno then asked if parking in the Front
Door parking garage was possible. LionsHead business owner Tommy Neyens
expressed concern the parking problem was being moved to the LionsHead
parking structure. Rick Silverman asked if the town would be liable to damages if
an accident occurred due to Frontage Road parking. He then urged Council to
create more parking. Vail Village shop owner Ghiqui Hoffman said her
customers had complained about the appearance of trucks in the parking
structures. Hitt said the town had taken several steps to alleviate the problem.
Hall commented, "We have 1,000 spaces available in the Village parking
structure at 6:00 a.m... How we want to distribute those is up to us." Village
restaurant manager Matt Morgan said he was cautiously optimistic about
voluntary parking compliance. "It's disturbing that we are in this place." Rogers
suggested requiring pick-up trucks to park in the LionsHead parking structure.
Daly said the town must react quickly and effectively to maintain summer sales
tax revenue. Newbury urged caution in regard to filling the LionsHead parking
structure with construction workers as they have had limited retail activity due to
construction over the past few years. Foley said, "Who cares where people
park ... Let's get this thing managed ... It is a town -wide problem not just Vail
Village." Gordon commented, "We did not foresee the success of our
redevelopment." Gordon then proposed building a significant number of parking
stalls at Ford Park. "It's important to remain reasonable." Cleveland said Roger's
proposed solution had some merit. Laturno said part of the casual summer
atmosphere was the availability of free parking.
➢ Response to Audit Report.
Finance Director Judy Camp explained a recent audit finding reported the town's
parking payment system was inadequate. She explained a recently purchased
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credit card charging system continued to be revamped. Parking and Transit
Manager Mike Rose stated the new system would be tested in an isolated
fashion to identify any further issues.
➢ Revenue Update.
Budget and Finance Reporting Manager Kathleen Halloran reported when all
sales tax returns are received for the month of May, collections for the month are
expected to be $617,735, up 13% from May, 2007. Year-to-date sales tax
collections of $11 M are up 6.8% from 2007. For comparison, inflation as
measured by the consumer price index was up 4.2% compared with the prior
year. Use tax collections began as of January 1, 2008. As of June 24, collections
total $303,384 of unbudgeted revenue. Construction permit revenue currently
totals $1.4M, up 1.3% from this time last year. The increase is due to major
redevelopment projects, which make up 80% of the total. Construction permit fee
revenue from non -major projects is down 30% from this time last year. Real
Estate Transfer Tax collections through June 24, 2008, total $3.6 million. This
amount is a 16% increase from this time last year primarily due to recent sales of
major redevelopment projects. The overall real estate market in Eagle County is
down 25% in sales dollars and down 43% in sales transactions as of April, 2008.
Major redevelopment projects such as Arrabelle, Forest Place, One Willow
Bridge and Vail Plaza account for 54% of year-to-date 2008 collections. This is
significantly higher than the 26% from June 2007, and is the reason Vail's RETT
revenue is performing much better than the rest of the county. RETT collections
from property transfers not related to major redevelopment projects dropped by
28% year-to-date as of June, 2008 compared with 2007. This is more in line with
the sales decrease across the county. Daly said the increase in RETT collections
was largely attributable to recent closings on residential units at the Arrabelle at
Vail Square. Rogers asked if staff was aware of the percentage of sold units in
other large projects.
➢ CDOT Incident Management Plan.
Police Chief Dwight Henninger provided Council with an update on efforts by the
Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to create an 1-70 incident
management plan for Eagle County. "A component of the plan will be the addition
of a tractor -trailer parking lot in the Dotsero area." Henninger also announced
creation of a vehicle access placard for East Vail residents to help with traffic flow
during 1-70 closures. A draft of the complete incident management plan will be
released in September. Daly asked if additional funding was available so as to
improve the maintenance of 1-70 and avoid closures. Henninger said Colorado
Department of Transportation staffing was at 1980's levels. Zemler said staff was
working on funding to increase the connectivity of fiber-optic camera
transmissions and variable message signage. During a pause for public
comment, Tommy Neyens asked if the town could link the town's web -site for
road closure information and updates.
The third item on the agenda was the Consent Agenda.
a. Approval of 06.03.07 and 06.17.08 minutes.
Gordon moved to approve the consent agenda with Hitt seconding. The motion
passed unanimously, 7-0.
The fourth item on the agenda was a Betty Ford Alpine Gardens Out -of -Cycle
Contribution Request.
At the June 17th meeting, Council requested additional information from Betty
Ford Alpine Gardens concerning their request for funding to replace three
bridges in the garden. This agenda item and the attached memo are in response
the request for information. Daly moved to approve the request with Hitt
seconding. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0.
The fifth item on the agenda was an Emergency Generator Bid.
Fleet Manager Todd Scholl asked for approval to award the bid for the
Emergency Generator Project to JL Viele Construction. The town received four
bids and Viele Construction was the low bid at $179,660. The project is budgeted
at $175,000 in capital project; the project requires additional funding from the 911
Authority Board which authorized $25,000, and the Fire Chiefs which endorsed
the use of $50,000 from the Dispatch Fund Balance, for a total project budget of
$250,000. The budget line items are:
➢ Viele Bid
➢ Arch/Engineer
➢ Generator
➢ Contingency
➢ Grand Total
$179,660
$17,500 (so far)
$33,500
$19,340
$250,000
Bringing the municipal/Police Department building emergency lighting up to code
was an unforeseen cost when the budget was originally put together. Staff also
required contingency money as there may be unforeseen items come up as the
project gets underway. Daly asked if the other participating 911 agencies were
paying their fair share. Communications Manager Joe Ribeiro said the 911
system was paying back the town over a period of time. Daly moved to approve
the bid request with Rogers seconding. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0.
The sixth item on the agenda was the 2008/09 Parking Task Force
Recommendations.
Public Works Director Greg Hall said the 2008/09 Parking Task Force
Recommendations include:
➢ Temporary use of the town -owned Chamonix property in West Vail, 180
spaces; requires review by the Town of Vail.
➢ Use of the west side of the North Frontage Road, Wendy's to Chamonix, 35-
60 spaces; requires review by the Colorado Department of Transportation.
➢ Limited use of Donovan Park lot during non-event days (39 last season), 70
to 90 spaces.
➢ Park and ride TBD in Avon, 100 spaces.
➢ Park and ride at U.S. Forest Service office lot in Dowd Junction, 50-75
spaces.
In addition, the following spaces will be available this coming season:
➢ Vail Front Door/Vail Village Club, 200 spaces.
➢ Arrabelle Club parking, 100 spaces.
The Parking Task Force also recommended increases in mass transit to service
the park and ride lots as well as increased bus service to accommodate the
suggested expansion of parking in West Vail. Also, six designated bus stops
were recommended to be added along the South Frontage Road during peak
times. Introduction of a privately -managed van pool service for commuters is in
the works, as well as a recommendation to allow private parking lots to be used
for peak period public parking. Vail Resorts representative Chris Jarnot said he
thought the Task Force provided a good process. Jarnot explained Frontage
Road parking did not always correlate with the number of skiers on the mountain.
"It becomes very difficult to pin it down." Jarnot explained private parking spaces
will lessen public parking demand. "We understand this is a serious challenge for
us ... It's the weakest part of the experience our guests encounter in the
wintertime." Rogers asked if Vail Resorts would be amicable to allowing public
parking at the Vail Mountain Club. Jarnot said he would examine actual garage
usage when it comes on line. Rogers spoke in support of vanpooling. She then
asked if large employers could sublet parking spaces at Middle Creek. Rogers
also encouraged expanding parking in neighborhoods that received substantial
bus service. Representing the Vail Homeowners Association, Jim Lamont
pledged to assist in making "equitable and good decisions." During a pause for
public comment local restaurateur Matt Morgan said he found it was hard to
believe there was no correlation between parking shortages and skier days.
Tommy Neyens encouraged focusing on getting skiers to use outlying parking
areas. Local restaurateur Brian Nolan said he was excited the town was working
proactively to solve the parking issue. He also encouraged having developers
provide construction parking mitigation plans. Cleveland said it was imperative
Vail Resorts share the financial burden of providing additional parking services.
He also encouraged using the Holy Cross lot for guest parking (as opposed to
Vail Resorts employee parking). Daly said he thought Jarnot had done a
meaningful job of working with the town to eradicate the town's parking woes.
"Parking on the frontage road is not a superior guest experience. He then asked
for the Parking Task Force to provide some long term solutions. Newbury
encouraged exhausting all parking possibilities before allowing parking on the
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Frontage Roads. Hitt expressed gratitude for the cooperation shown by Vail
Resorts. "When it gets down to money time I think everyone will be surprised."
Foley moved to approve the Parking Task Force recommendations with Daly
seconding. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0.
The seventh item on the agenda was a request for first reading of Ordinance No.
5, Series of 2008, an ordinance approving a major amendment to Special
Development District (SDD) No. 4, Cascade Village, pursuant to Section 12-9A-
10, Amendment Procedures, Vail Town Code, to allow for the development of the
Cornerstone Site,
On February 19, 2008, Council held a public hearing to consider Ordinance No.
5, Series of 2008, an ordinance approving a major amendment to SDD No. 4,
Cascade Village, on first reading. At that meeting, the Council voted unanimously
to table the public hearing to their regularly scheduled meeting of March 18,
2008, citing concerns over the proposed amendments to the SDD, building
height, public benefits, parking and employee housing mitigation. The applicant
submitted subsequent requests to table the hearing to the Council's regularly
scheduled meeting dates of April 1, May 20, and July 1, 2008, to properly
respond to the Council's previously stated concerns and to work with staff to fully
analyze previous amending ordinances for SDD No. 4 prior to returning to the
Council for further consideration of the development plans and first reading of
Ordinance No. 5, Series of 2008. On January 28, 2008, the PEC voted
unanimously to forward a recommendation for approval, with conditions, of an
application for a major amendment to SDD No. 4, Cascade Village, pursuant to
Section 12-9A-10, Amendment Procedures, Vail Town Code, to allow for the
development of the Cornerstone Site. Applicant representative Rick Pylman
informed Council about the changes made to the projects original application.
Pylman said the project would create the most accessible skier drop off location
of any of the four portals in Vail. Rogers said she did not consider a new lift
ticket office a public benefit. Newbury asked if the onsite employee housing units
(EHUs) would be located above ground. She also encouraged providing storage
for the onsite EHUs. Applicant legal representative Tom Ragonnetti explained
there was a miscalculation of Gross Residential Floor Area (GRFA) within Area
A, Cascade Village. "A project is legally approved but it can't be built," referring
to the Cascade Residences Project which was approved in 2007. He then
clarified that allowing for additional GRFA would not set precedent. Gordon said
he thought an improved skier access portal would be a public benefit. Liftside
Condominium Association legal representative Beith Aires, representing the
Liftside Condominiums Homeowners Association, expressed concern the eastern
portion of the building would be too high. Hitt moved to enter a brief Executive
Session with Rogers seconding. The motion passed unanimously, 7-0. Newbury
moved to end the executive session. The motion passed. Newbury then moved
to approve the ordinance with the conditions listed on pages 26-28 in the staff
memorandum, dated July 28, with Rogers seconding. Discussion was held
regarding the motion. Newbury amended her motion and Rogers amended her
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second, to include additional conditions of approval. The motion passed 6-1,
Foley opposed.
The eighth item on the agenda was a request for first reading of Ordinance No.
12, Series of 2008, an ordinance amending Chapter 12-16, Conditional Use
Permits, to allow for the administrative review and approval of specific conditional
uses.
Planner Bill Gibson explained that on June 23, 2008, the PEC voted 6-0-0 to
forward a recommendation of approval for the prescribed text amendments of
Ordinance No. 12, Series of 2008. "The purpose of the ordinance is to
streamline the development review process ... This will create efficiencies for our
customers as well as staff." Rogers said the ordinance would better allow staff to
deliver service. She then moved to approve the ordinance with Gordon
seconding. The motion passed 4-3 with Daly, Foley and Hitt opposed.
The ninth item on the agenda was Adjournment.
Newbury moved to adjourn with Hitt seconding at approximately 10:15 p.m. The
motion passed unanimously, 7-0.
op
STEAL
ATTEST:
Lorelei Donaldson, Town Clerk
Dick Cleveland, Mayor