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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-09-20 Town Council MinutesVail Town Council Meeting Minutes Tuesday, September 20, 2011 6:00 P.M. Vail Town Council Chambers The regular meeting of the Vail Town Council was called to order at approximately 6:15 P.M. by Mayor Dick Cleveland. Members present: Dick Cleveland, Mayor Kerry Donovan Kevin Foley Kim Newbury Susie Tjossem Andy Daly Margaret Rogers Staff members: Stan Zemler, Town Manager Matt Mire, Town Attorney Pam Brandmeyer, Assistant Town Manager The first item on the agenda was Citizen Participation. Louise Funk, former school board member and chairman for the committee for Ballot 3B, said for the past three years the Eagle County schools have suffered cuts of revenue from the state that the Eagle County schools have made $9 million in cuts outside of classrooms, bus rotations, computer rotations, and support staff. Also, the personnel in the accounting department have gone way down, and the school district has utilized reserves in order to keep the cuts out of the classroom. She said the only place left to make cuts will be in the classroom, cut student contact days down by three days and look at possible school closures. She said the Eagle County schools budget is bare bones. She is heading up a campaign to ask the voters for a mill levy increase with a cap of $6 million. This is a way for the school district to fill in the shortfall of funds for the next several years. Daly asked if this goes away in a few years. Funk stated it will never go away; it's a permanent funding increase. She also said pay for performance is 100% in Eagle County and is a trend setter. Bill and Melinda Gates recognized the Eagle County School District in education reform. Funk asked Council to consider a resolution in support of the Eagle County school system and Yes on 3B county ballot issue. Mike Cacioppo said in 2005, student expenditures were $10,200 per student and it has expanded each year. He said Onofrio stated the cost was $7,500 per student. He confronted Onofrio with the discrepancy in the figures. He said public school system Vail Town Council Minutes of September 20, 2011 Page 1 was misleading the public. Cacioppo stated that if the public wanted the truth to contact Onofrio. Cacioppo doesn't feel the residents of Eagle County need another permanent tax. Millie Hamner, Colorado State Representative for House District 56, introduced herself to Council and constituents and said she was getting reconnected to all the town councils and county commissioners in her jurisdiction. She said she was involved in the school 3B question in Summit County a year ago. She went from retired superintendent and is now a district representative. She taught for 23 years in the Eagle County School District. She has been appointed to the House of Representatives Education Committee and the Transportation Committee and is involved with the Colorado Municipal League. A legislative update was handed out, and she said redistricting may change the current districts she represents. Eagle County will be in her district next November. She has a two-year term and plans on re -running in November of 2012. The second item on the agenda was the consent agenda. Cleveland read into the record a request to authorize the release of a deed restriction on Lot 9, Block 7, Vail Village First Filing, and providing a replacement restricted employee housing unit that will be three times the size of the current employee housing unit now provided. Nina Timm, Housing Coordinator, said this deed restriction release of this unit is in compliance with the town's zoning and employee housing unit exchange program. She said this was similar to a request the Council has seen in recent meetings. Donovan asked to get with Timm at a later date to get familiarized with the process. Daly made a motion to authorizing the Town Manager execute the release of the EHU at Lot 9, Block 7, Vail Village First Filing and accept the exchange; and the motion was seconded by Newbury. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 7-0. The third item on the agenda was the Town Manager Report. There were four items under the town manager's report: 1) USA Pro Cycling Recap/Review; 2) Divas Half Marathon Recap; 3) Update on the Frontage Road Improvements; and 4) Municipal Site Redevelopment Update. 1) U.S. Pro Cycling Challenge. Adam Lueck and Ceil Folz, with the Vail Valley Foundation (VVF), thanked the Council and the community for supporting this event. Folz presented a short recap video of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge. She said there was estimated to be 30,000 people in attendance. All parties involved worked very hard to make this event a success. The bus services throughout the county and town Vail Town Council Minutes of September 20, 2011 Page 2 worked great. The lodging comparison at this time from last year was up; there was an increase of 18% on Wednesday, 31% increase on Thursday, 14% increase on Friday and 5% increase on Saturday compared to last year. The intercept survey would be available next week. She said the Vail exposure was fantastic; the cycling challenge was broadcast live to 161 countries; was the largest television event ever in cycling; the two hour live show was in 150 million households. The media impressions were amazing. Lueck said the tour tracker was an online mechanism for showing the race. The downloadable application numbers had 150,000 unique users, 580,000 launches of the application; it also cracked the top ten download list at #5; on the I -Phone it was #7, and #4 on the I -pad. The social media was also a success with their Facebook page at 43,000 hits on the tours and the website was a tremendous success with 2.5 million page views. Folz said the joint organization sharing was fantastic. Vail was the only tour site that had a joint Local Organizing Committee (LOC). The merchant feedback was great and the resource sharing was also a success, thanks to the police departments from Vail, Breckenridge, Avon and the sheriff's department. Public notifications were great, there were very few complaints and the food venue layout was ideal. Lueck said areas for improvement came out of the wrap up meeting with the LOC. Improvement areas included refinement between LOC and lodging community. Over 30 properties were utilized. Managing last minute changes was a challenge, and role responsibilities needs refinement. Next year the VVF and communities need to build on this year's success and plan on how to make it bigger and expand it next year. They need to allow more local vendors in the tour and Vail's local branding needs to be included more. The decal stickers may not be enough. They need to come up with what is the next new cutting edge piece to make Vail unique and make Vail stand out. Lueck said other challenges are Vail merchandising, creating a jersey that is Vail specific tied to the race and expanding ancillary events. 30,000 people followed the tour and moved from place to place with it. There is an opportunity to packaging with other host communities to get these guests into the hotels instead of camping and collaborating with other host communities to get as much lodging revenue as we can. Folz stated the VVF has great relationships with Medalist and tour folks. There are over 40 cities bidding for next year's race. The VVF will do all they can to bring it back next year. The time trial was a pivotal point in the race. The Request for Proposal's (RFP's) came out and they want to jump back in the process. The recap for the whole tour was happening next week with all the other organizers and representatives from the other cities meeting in Vail. She said the budget was $440,000 for the total cost to bring this event to Vail and Avon and the town gave $200,000 of that amount. Folz also thanked Vail Town Council Minutes of September 20, 2011 Page 3 Lueck for a fantastic job, as he worked every single stage of the event as well as the local stage. Daly asked what Vail was applying for next year. Folz said the time trial was the focus as it's the only piece of the original Coors Classic as part of the tour. It would be great to be able to always say Vail is a constant part of the tour. The VVF will be looking at this point with Medalist. She said the time trial ties all the races together. Rogers said this was an awesome event. Folz said Sean Hunter from Medalist was in Vail with his family and the story in the Vail Daily that week was great. Cleveland said the vibe in town was one of the best in the community for years and thanked the VVF for a job well done. He said people who have been in Vail for years said it was one of the best days ever in Vail. Foley said it looked great on television as well as he was out of town. Council thanked the VVF for a job well done. 2) Divas Half Marathon Recap. Laurie Asmussen, was hired to assist with the Continental Event, Divas Half Marathon on August 19-21, as a local producer, said the economic impacts were given to Council, staff and the public. She said the town welcomed this event and thanked the town staff for all their help. She also thanked the community for their patience as there were extensive road closures. There were people from 39 states participating in this event. They stayed in Lionshead for approximately three nights. The producers of the event were happy with the results. Vail was their sixth site and they want to come back to Vail. She said this event was recruited by the local marketing district. Newbury asked that in the future the event organizers need to take into account people on bicycles around town, as it was difficult to get into town on bicycles. Asmussen said the producers and organizers learned a lot this year. They had challenges including the routing, timing, signage and other items need to be addressed next year. Donovan said the Continental group used the same banners and arches as other event sites and said next time they need to have more Vail branding in the event. Cleveland agreed. Asmussen said the altitude was a challenge for this event as they were expecting more people plus in -state marketing needs to be more refined. Cleveland said the local marketing district needs to be included in the process to help the event organizers make this event better. 3) Update on Frontage Road Improvements. Greg Hall, Public Works Director, said CDOT has required the town to come up with a plan on how the town utilizes the frontage roads for parking. State traffic engineers came up with a plan on when the town can utilize the frontage roads. There is a 4 to 30 day overflow that is the standard that is in place between Ford Park and Pulis Bridge. This area needs 10 feet of hard surface to meet the standard. Adding two feet of asphalt to the roads meets Vail Town Council Minutes of September 20, 2011 Page 4 this standard. The town is currently using the Frontage Road more than 30 days. Other areas being utilized are the frontage roads near Middle Creek, Safeway and West Vail Fire Station. Estimates that have been done show it will cost the town a significant amount of money; over $4 million in improvements in one to two years. The concept was to implement over three years. The Ford Park area improvements are being done this year. The Main Vail roundabout to Aspen Lane is completed. Making improvements to the Lionshead area is scheduled for 2012. The proposal includes work on the Frontage Road near Cascade in 2013 and moving down to West Vail past Cascade. CDOT wants the Safeway area done in 2013 and Cascade in 2014. Middle Creek improvements are close to $1 million. He had a conference call with CDOT and they are in agreement with the town's plan. CDOT is willing to go with a long term commitment. Tjossem asked if the Intermountain Road neighborhood is ok. Hall said they still get calls as the road is rough. Cleveland said the long term goal is to have ample parking so the Frontage Road is not used at all. 4) Municipal site development. Steve Virostek, representing Triumph Development, reviewed with the Council what they have been doing for the last 4 months; working with the current municipal site and coming up with a medical office building and redeveloped municipal building, as well as a Steadman Philippon Institute. He reviewed site constraints, space requirements, formulating costs, alternatives, etc. The redevelopment of the site begins from the elevator in the Municipal Building and going west to the Community Development building. There would be 55,000 square feet for medical offices; 21,000 square feet for municipal use; with 19,000 square feet of usable space; and 220 below grade parking spaces. There is proposed to be a pedestrian bridge to connect this building to the Vail Valley Medical Center (VVMC), a relocation of the helipad and they will continue to study the design program for space for twelve doctors; 13,000 square feet for the Steadman Philippon Institute, and 8,500 square feet of space for the Howard Head group. The current site works for all the proposed uses and the VVMC, Steadman-Philippon clinic and Institute folks are excited about this project. The next steps would be to do detailed study of feasibility and preliminary discussion with CDOT, soil conditions, financial structure and formulate into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and further study that makes sense to all parties involved. Cleveland asked what the time frame was for the next steps. Virostek said an MOU is the driving factor and that can be done in the next 90 days to see if it makes sense to continue to investigate this site. A geotech analysis, CDOT requirements, finances and design can be studied during the next 90 days as well. Daly said in the memorandum, it was stated that the cost was $2.5 million for the current site. He wanted to know if this meant the town would have to come up with an additional $7.5 million. Zemler said 21,000 square feet is the correct number for square Vail Town Council Minutes of September 20, 2011 Page 5 footage for the municipal building and the cost would be approximately $10-14 million. Virostek said the site is difficult, CDOT has structural issues and they will begin budgeting the numbers. He said these are ball park costs and are conservative. They need to keep parking to two levels below grade instead of three and a half levels. Mike Cacioppo said this is the first he has heard of this project and wants to understand more about what it is. He said the taxpayer would have to come up with more money to build a new building for private medical offices and look at an ugly pedestrian bridge. He didn't think taxpayers would give up space to get medical office spaces. He can't imagine giving up any of this land to add two private businesses. He asked how much it cost the taxpayers to do this feasibility study. Daly said the town paid $33,000. The fourth item on the agenda was an appointment to the Building and Fire Code Appeals Board (BFCAB). A vacancy was created when a board member resigned. The Council interviewed the one applicant that submitted a letter of interest for this board which term expires March 31, 2014. Newbury made a motion to appoint Greg Conway to the BFCAB and the motion was seconded by Rogers. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 7-0. The fifth item on the agenda was Resolution No. 18, Series of 2011, a Resolution Approving a Compliance Agreement between the Town of Vail and Comcast of Colorado VI, LLC; and Setting Forth Details in Regard Thereto. Matt Mire, Town Attorney, said this was a result of an audit done in 2010. He said the Franchise Agreement remains in full force and effect and is extended on a month -to - month basis pursuant to Section 626 of the 1984 Cable Communications Policy Act on October 19, 2010. Comcast of Colorado VI, LLC ("Comcast") provides cable television service within the Town under a franchise agreement that expired on January 5, 2011 (the "Franchise Agreement"). The Town Council directed staff to hire a third party to inspect and audit the cable television system, and the associated report, found between 1,500 and 2,500 technical violations of the current Franchise Agreement. The Town and Comcast wish to enter into a Compliance Agreement (the "Agreement) to outline the terms under which Comcast will remedy the violations identified in the audit. Proof of compliance with the current Franchise Agreement is required prior to Council considering a new Franchise Agreement. Comcast has come up with a plan and most of the violations will be remedied by December 31, 2011. A $50,000 letter of credit is required and applies until a franchise agreement has been signed. This only addresses the violations in the report. Vail Town Council Minutes of September 20, 2011 Page 6 Rogers said this was a good compromise. James Harrison, resident of West Vail, said he thought the main government channels were supposed to be free and they are now included in the basic cable fee. He wants the town to check to see if they are supposed to be free. He also said Direct TV doesn't have these channels at all. He thinks this is a violation of the law. Mike Trueblood, from Comcast, said the limited basic tier includes the government channels. However, he doesn't know if the four government access channels are supposed to be free and separate from the basic tier. He will follow up with Comcast. He said technically you have to be a subscriber to access these channels. Comcast provides the channel space to the local provider but these channels may not be accessible to subscribers. Mike Cacioppo, said back in 1970's the Vail public was entitled to four channels and most of the time it was free. Prior to cable there was an over the air translator which got poor signals. He said the town doesn't have to have a renewal franchise agreement. He asked if the Council was doing anything to encourage competition to bid for a cable franchise agreement. Cleveland said there has been no viable competition so far. Cacioppo stated that Comcast should provide multiple cameras, switchers and much better equipment in the Town Council Chambers if they are going to be a monopoly. Stan Cope, representing three Vail lodging properties, said they have several concerns. Comcast won't discuss contracts with lodging properties for the new HD channels for less than five years long. The private sector should have a say in this agreement and what is negotiated. The issue is Comcast is the only alternative at this time. Guests love the local channels; weather, ski school update, etc. and the only way to get those is to have Comcast. The community needs help negotiating bulk rates for lodging properties. He wants an audit as the cost of renting boxes for every HD television will increase their costs 50%. They used to get free boxes and now paying $5-$10 per box for each television. Daly said to get with Ron Braden, town IT Director, to get the issues so the town can look at the issues during the negotiation of the franchise agreement. Trueblood said three devices for standard definition are free and Hi -Definition boxes will be extra and each subscriber needs a box for each television set. There are many issues to address during the new franchise phase. Foley made a motion to authorize the town manager to sign and enter into the compliance agreement with Comcast and approve Resolution No. 18, and the motion was seconded by Rogers. A vote was taken and the motion passed, passed 6-1, Newbury opposed due to continued criticism of Comcast's performance in town. Vail Town Council Minutes of September 20, 2011 Page 7 The sixth item on the agenda was the East Vail Utility Project Award. Chad Salli, Project Engineer, said the East Vail berm utility project is located in the Bald Mountain neighborhood on Town of Vail Tract A and I-70 Right of Way. The scope of the project includes relocation of water and sanitary sewer mains and drainage improvements to facilitate the west phase of the sand storage berm. The town received six bids for the project, with Schofield Excavating, Inc., the apparent low qualified bidder. He requested the Council authorize the Town Manager to enter into an agreement, approved by the town attorney, with Schofield Excavating, Inc., in an amount of $193,285.16 to complete the project. Cleveland asked what the town's portion of this project is. Salli this is for the utility relocates. He said the town will pay for it and be reimbursed by the partners. $10,000 from the water district is in their minutes. The rest is on good faith as the homeowners in that area said they would pay their share of costs in 2007 or 2008; and in 2006 CDOT said they would contribute an undetermined amount. Rogers said her concern is if there is not a commitment in writing, they may back out. Daly made a motion to approve the East Vail Utility Project to Schofield Excavating, Inc., subject to executing an IGA from CDOT for a minimum of $100,000 as well as getting written confirmation of $20,000 from the homeowners and from the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District for $10,000; the motion was seconded by Rogers. A vote was taken and passed 7-0. The seventh item on the agenda was a discussion of the 2011/2012 Winter Parking Plan. Greg Hall, Public Works Director, stated each year the council approves the winter parking policy objectives, parking rates, parking pass prices and use rules outlying parking areas and any operational changes for the upcoming season. He went through the memorandum and power point with Council. Revenue neutral didn't happen as Solaris took away from revenue. Jason Bastick, representing Solaris, stated their parking garage had available parking 20-40 days depending on time of year, similar to the town. Solaris hasn't decided on what next year rates will be; possibly $22-25 rate on weekends and $20 in the summer from Monday through Thursday. Vail Town Council Minutes of September 20, 2011 Page 8 Discussion of different pass structures and where they can park was discussed in further detail. Frontage road placards near Middle Creek was cut off at 60 vehicles and 50% of those vehicles were from Four Seasons Resort. Cleveland said to discontinue the Frontage Road placard and replace it with the pink pass to simplify the process to work on the Frontage Road and at Ford Park. Newbury agreed with Cleveland. Tjossem asked if improvements would have to be done. Hall said not until 2014. Staff's recommendation to charge oversized vehicles (RV's) for parking in the charter bus lot at $25 per vehicle was also approved; however buses were to remain free. The town staff will also work with the Nordic Center at the Vail Golf Course Clubhouse for peak and non -peak skier parking arrangements. Mike Cacioppo asked what people do if they have a gold or silver parking pass if the structures are full. Hall said the town holds back spaces for those pass holders. Cacioppo said overall the structures work fine. He asked to have enforcement in the structures and if a vehicle takes up two spaces they need to be ticketed. He sees this all the time and wants this enforced. He also wants signage stating there is a stop sign at the exit of the Vail Transportation Center. Daly made a motion to approve the winter parking plan with modifications as noted earlier, and Donovan seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 7- 0. The eighth item on the agenda was a presentation of a revised concept plan for Lionshead East Mall Plaza Streetscape Project. Tom Kassmel said options were presented within the past few weeks. He described the changes and the proposed new plan. Mary Hart discussed where they started and where they were now. The new plan included a bus shelter that is smaller and is now 30 feet back. Leaving room for a bit of lawn and boulders brings the plan into budget. Other things that went away are the two crosswalks and paving and snowmelt on the bus loop. This has a clear path into the core of Lionshead and meets budget. Tjossem said they did a good job hearing their concerns and bringing it into budget. Kassmel discussed other alternatives and additional costs for additional alternatives. Bob Lazier said he supports the crosswalks being heated and would prefer to see the arch where it is now. He said to price additional costs out as alternates. Daly agrees. Newbury liked the compromise and getting it under budget. Rogers is concerned about the loading and delivery areas. Get the deliveries out of this area all together and only have courier services. Vail Town Council Minutes of September 20, 2011 Page 9 Tjossem made a motion to approve the modified design concept and moving the archway and Newbury seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion passed 6-1, Foley opposed. The ninth item on the agenda was a work session to focus on addressing several questions that were raised at the August 2nd Town Council public hearing which focused on wrapping up the discussion pertaining to the proposed Master Plan amendments for the Ever Vail development. Warren Campbell, Chief Planner, responded to the questions Council had from the previous hearing and asked for clarity on several topics so amendments to the proposed text contained within Resolution No. 6, Series of 2011 can be wrapped up and presented at a future hearing for a vote. One of the topics discussed was the view corridor over the Eagle River Water and Sanitation District (ERWSD). In review, staff believes there is value to adding a fourth view corridor to the project and said there is a very good view to the Gore Range from the project. The ERWSD submitted a letter in objection to this view corridor. Cleveland suggested the height step -backs to Glen Lyon office building site be reduced from three to four stories to two to three stories maximum. Mauriello, applicant representative, discussed the timeline of the project. He explained why the applicant meets the current requirements and compared other projects in town to this project. He said the applicant wants to stick with the language that is there today. They want to keep this unchanged in the master plan. Cleveland said he wanted step backs along Gore Creek and this presentation has not changed his mind. He feels this needs to be mitigated. Rogers agrees with Cleveland. Tjossem stated Council needs to remember this requirement would require the applicant to increase other stories to other buildings. Foley said they just want to see step backs. Cleveland said doesn't want to see three stories along the creek. Daly is comfortable with the way it was presented. A show of hands from the Council; from Donovan, Cleveland, Foley and Rogers; directed the applicant to have two to three stories as the guidelines for the buildings along Gore Creek. Additional discussion on the view corridor ensued. Council said there is a need to protect the view but a view corridor doesn't need to be created. Diane Johnson, representing the ERWSD, said the district is not asking for the relocation of the ERWSD be a requirement of this application. She said a study done in January of 2009 stated it was possible to relocate within Ever Vail way down the road. Vail Town Council Minutes of September 20, 2011 Page 10 Jim Lamont, representing the Vail Homeowners Association (VHOA), said the plant is forever. He wants to know how the public can be assured that there will be a qualitative and aesthetic element to the ERWSD down the road. Campbell said the same regulations would apply and the same design standards would apply. Rod Slifer, a resident, said having been involved in the discussion for Ever Vail, it's important to keep it moving forward. He said what makes Vail great is improving the product for a great community and great skiing. Ever Vail will add to the resort experience and don't lose sight of that and keep this process moving forward. Andy Norris, a resident on Westhaven Drive, gave a brief background of the area. When the Glen Lyon Office Building (GLOB) was approved, it had to receive over 75% written approvals for the GLOB site to be moved into the Lionshead master plan and that included height covenants for this area. The neighborhood is in support of Ever Vail. Campbell said staff will be back with the changes discussed tonight. The next steps are to focus on the Developer Improvement Agreement (DIA) and preparing the applications and memorandums that need action in conjunction with the DIA, including the Master Plan. Daly made a motion to continue the hearing to the October 4, 2011 public meeting and the motion was seconded by Donovan. A vote was taken and passed, 7-0. The tenth item on the agenda was adjournment. As there was no further business, Foley made a motion to adjourn and the motion was seconded by Newbury. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0. The meeting was adjourned at 9:36 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Dick CleveINI, Mayor �- - Donaldsoh, Vail Town Council Minutes of September 20, 2011 Page 11