Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-01-18 Town Council MinutesVail Town Council Meeting Minutes Tuesday, January 18, 2011 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 Andy Daly Kerry Donovan Kevin Foley Kim Newbury Margaret Rogers Susie Tjossem Staff members: Stan Zemler, Town Manager Matt Mire, Town Attorney Pam Brandmeyer, Assistant Town Manager The first item on the agenda was Citizen Participation. Sue Dugan, Vail resident, said she was recently in Australia and there were cameras everywhere and they are not a problem. Foley extended condolences to the "Dickey Pete" Peterson family. The second item on the agenda was the Town Manager's Report. There was none. The third item on the agenda was the consent agenda: Approval of the December 7, 2010 and December 21, 2010 meeting minutes. Foley made a motion to approve the minutes of December 7, 2010 and December 21, 2010, with typographical correction changes; the motion was seconded by Donovan. A vote was taken and the motion passed 7-0 for the December 7, 2010 meeting minutes. On the December 21, 2010 meeting minutes the vote was 6-0-1, with Cleveland abstaining as he wasn't in attendance at that meeting. The fourth item on the agenda was a discussion of the 2015 World Championships. Stan Zemler stated the purpose of the discussion was to provide staff with direction about whether or not to plan to add funding to the first supplemental in 2011, the first payment of $250,000 as requested by the Vail Valley Foundation (WF) and by doing so, the Council is supporting, in concept, the Vail Valley Foundation proposal, acknowledging that annual appropriations will be requested going forward. A total of $1.25 million is to be paid out over the next 5 years. He said the `Qualifiers" would be held at Golden Peak and Vail would be the center of special event activities. Rogers read through the proposal and Beaver Creek will have the races and Vail will have all the other special events, however, on the second to last page, it states Vail wouldn't get the final closing awards ceremony. Ceil Folz, Executive Director of the VVF, said the closing ceremonies are tied into the final race. Vail has all the formal awards but once the race ends on closing day, there is a closing ceremony at the end of the final race. The final race and closing ceremonies happen within one hour. She said by protocol, the final races and final ceremony happen together. She stated once the world cup finishes, everyone leaves. Rogers reiterated there won't be any awards or events for the last night of the championships in Vail. Folz said that is correct and that historically the closing ceremony is very small. Donovan asked if there was the potential of Vail doing something that evening. Folz said yes that could be a possibility, a volunteer party or something. Daly said he had requested an itemized list of what the impacts for 2015 for Vail would be and a specific itemization of what Vail would get in exchange for their funding contribution. He stated he is uncomfortable designating and dedicating the full funding amount when they don't know what Vail will get. Folz said it's hard to get very specific four years out. She said there are a lot of Vail folks on various 2015 sub -committees. She stated Vail and Beaver Creek will have equal representation on all advertising, venues, etc. Daly said the biggest benefit and impact will be the vignettes that will be on television and he wants to see Vail well represented. Folz said it would be VVF's responsibility to get Vail in the vast majority of vignettes made. Newbury said she wants a list of who is on what committee since Folz said Vail is well represented on the committees. Folz said Zemler has a master list of committees and committee members. Rogers stated she is not comfortable voting in favor of the funding until Council knows what the other partners are putting in for their funding. Folz said Beaver Creek is putting in $1.5 million. Donovan said she would be voting in favor of the funding, however, for the record, there are lots of community members upset that Vail isn't going to have any races in Vail. She said this has crystallized for everyone that racing is part of our heritage, history and future of Vail. Daly said they had met with the VVF and Vail Resorts and they had made a firm commitment to develop Golden Peak and that Vail will host women's racing and hoped it happens sooner than later. Rogers asked if Beaver Creek has committed to the $2.5 million. Folz said they have a meeting on Thursday morning and feels confident Beaver Creek will commit. Cleveland said the positive is the funding is in increments and future councils will have to make additional commitments. Rogers said once the Council approves the $1.25 million in payments, there will be high pressure to pay the full amount in the future. Dally made a motion to approve adding $250,000 to the supplemental appropriation realizing that other Council's will have to approve further funding. The motion was seconded by Tjossem. Foley said this is a tough decision for him, however, seeing a spike in international visitors in the long run, and getting international business and guests are what the town is trying to attract and this will continue to bring them to Vail. A vote was taken and passed 7-0, to bring a supplemental appropriation to the Council. The fifth item on the agenda was a follow up discussion regarding the Comcast Franchise Agreement renewal. Matt Mire, Town Attorney, stated Comcast has a presentation, and then the Council can ask questions of staff and the Comcast representative, Janet Rinaldi, and then provide staff with direction. Mire said in 1995, the Town of Vail (the "Town") entered into a cable franchise agreement with TCI Cablevision. Several years later, TCI was purchased by AT&T and finally Comcast. As part of this agreement, the Town was given a fiber optic network connecting all five municipal buildings. The franchise agreement ended on January 4, 2010. The agreement provides for continuation of service on a month to month basis until a new agreement can be reached between the Town and Comcast. As part of the franchise renewal process, and pursuant to §8-5-12(A)(1) of the Vail Town Code, the Council is required to consider, among other things, whether the cable operator has substantially complied with the material terms of the existing franchise and with applicable law. Accordingly, on October 19, 2010, Council directed staff to have a technical audit conducted to determine compliance and to return to Council on January 4, 2011. The Town did not have the audit report in time for the January 4th meeting, so the discussion was tabled to today's date. He said the audit was just posted to the town's website. Rinaldi said Comcast was unrolling some upgrades in October. She said Comcast is working on correcting the items in the audit and they have addressed about a third of them. Daly wanted to know what third of the items they had addressed. Rinaldi said there were 75 items in the audit that needed to be addressed and that the 800 to 2500 is an extrapolation of issues they identified according to the number of plant miles. Rogers asked if Comcast has information that shows the audit information is wrong and Rinaldi said no. She stated some of the bonding and ground issues were being addressed and the multiple dwelling unit issues were started prior to the audit. She said new product and services were being addressed but they need to work with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and there are multiple steps that need to be worked out. She said On -Demand should be in place by November, 2011 and the final piece of Comcast Digital Voice will be completed in June, 2011. Cleveland asked if it was safe to say Comcast didn't provide a level of service compared to other cities. Rinaldi said the franchise agreement only addresses video services. Daly asked if the agreement didn't touch on voice or internet services. Rinaldi said it didn't. Mire said Council needs to set a time frame in which to address the alleged violations. Sue Dugan, resident, said she has gone through waiting for a year to get cable service. She had a bad service line and has had a very bad service experience that has lasted years. James Harrison, resident, said Comcast said they don't have basic cable services but on television it says they do have it. He asked why there aren't basic services in Vail, and Channel 5 representatives say anyone should have access to the basic services. Rinaldi said they do provide basic services and are required to have basic tier services open for public access. Mark Hollenbeck, a member of the Village Center Homeowners Association (VCHA), asked when the CDOT fiber optic will be completed. Rinaldi stated the video on demand will be available at the end of February and voice on demand at the end of June, 2011 and the full fiber optic will be completed by the end of June, 2011. She said negotiations were completed in August, 2010 and there are a number of items that need to be accomplished first. Hollenbeck said the VCHA is still having a difficult time getting the level of service as promised. He said it takes one to three days to get a receiver replaced and on average, once a month 7-10 receivers need to be replaced. He said equipment is constantly having issues. He said Comcast does a poor job rewiring or grounding their equipment and have it be safe to the public. The VCHA have had several electrical surges so their system may not be grounded properly. He said they always have to monitor their technicians to make sure everything is put back in place. He said the bottom line is the service needs improve dramatically. He wants to know what checks and double checks will be in place from now on, how they will handle 2015 championships demands, high definition is an issue and wants to know what kind of leverage does the town have to make Comcast correct issues. Rinaldi said Comcast wants to be involved in planning where the media centers will be for the 2015 championships and work with the town on it. Comcast wants to participate to the extent they can and on the marketing side there are many opportunities as well. Cleveland asked if the Comcast/NBC merger will have an effect on the town. Rinaldi said it's too early to say as it was just announced today. Mike Geneff, a VCHA board member, thanked the Council for doing the audit and urged them to set a timetable for the remedies. He said one glaring issue is customer interviews in the audit and they need the Council's continued help to get issues resolved. He said the Council has an opportunity to represent citizens of Vail and get high quality service to its citizens. Mire stated for the record, several phone calls and emails were received on this agenda item. He said they need to set timeframes for remedies and the town code provides for posting of a $50,000 letter of credit. Newbury stated as they are negotiating the franchise agreement to improve product and services, a letter of credit needs to be posted within seven days and due to the number of infractions, they should be asking for a $100,000 letter of credit. Newbury made a motion for Comcast to post a $100,000 letter of credit within seven days and 30 days to remedy audit violations; the motion was seconded by Rogers. Foley said a lot of equipment and stuff is under snow and it would be difficult for Comcast to comply in 30 days. He said there should be a time table that goes through spring. Rogers said she feels strongly about the time frame because the contract negotiation has been in the works for a year, the town has had problems for years and apparently Comcast is not willing to do this of their own volition and liquidated damages should begin if they don't fix the issues for every violation. Donovan said the comments from the citizens are overwhelming negative. She said Comcast is not creating a world class experience. A vote was taken and passed 7-0. Daly said he wanted to address additional issues as the level of frustration within the community, poor quality of service, terrible customer service and lack of commitment by Comcast needed to be addressed. Daly made a motion to direct the town manager to look at condemnation of the cable system to enable a competitive bidding process; the motion was seconded by Rogers. A vote was taken and passed 7-0. The sixth item on the agenda was second reading of Ordinance No. 1, Series of 2011, an ordinance amending Section 12-16-7(A)(2), Use Specific Criteria and Standards, Vail Town Code, pursuant to Section 12-3-7, Amendment, Vail Town Code, to allow for "beauty and barber shops with exterior frontage on a public way, street, or walkway" as a conditional use outside of the Commercial Core 1 and 2 zone districts and outside of the primary and secondary pedestrian mall within the Lionshead Mixed Use 1 and 2 zone districts as defined by the Lionshead Redevelopment Master Plan, and setting forth details in regard thereto. Warren Campbell stated they fixed the typographical error and specific definitions for beauty and barber shop definitions were clarified from first reading and requested the Council approve, approve with modifications, or deny the second reading of Ordinance No. 1, Series of 2011. On December 13, 2010, the Planning and Environmental Commission (PEC) held a public hearing to discuss the proposed amendments to the Town's zoning regulations and a conditional use permit application to allow for a "beauty and barber shop" within the Ritz -Carlton. The PEC forwarded a recommendation for approval, for the proposed zoning regulation amendments to the Council. Additionally, the PEC approved the conditional use permit request for a beauty and barber shop in the Ritz -Carlton, on the condition that the ordinance amending the regulations regarding the ability for the land use to have exterior frontage on a public way, street or walkway was adopted by the Council. On January 4, 2010, the Council approved the first reading of Ordinance No. 1, Series of 2011, by unanimous vote. Staff was directed to examine the current definition of beauty and barber shops and bring forward amendments which would address the differences between a beauty and barber shop. Foley made a motion to approve on seconding reading Ordinance No. 1, Series of 2011; the motion was seconded by Newbury. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0. The seventh item on the agenda was a request for a continuance of Second reading of Ordinance No. 15, Series of 2010, an ordinance amending Chapter 12-6, Residential Districts, Vail Town Code, to establish the Vail Village Townhouse (VVT) District, and setting forth details in regard thereto. Ruther, Planner, planner, requested the Council table the second reading of Ordinance No. 15, Series of 2010, to the Vail Town Council's February 15, 2011 public hearing. On October 5, 2010 the Vail Town Council approved the first reading of Ordinance No. 15, Series of 2010, by a vote of 5-2-0 (Rogers and Tjossem opposed). At subsequent public hearings, the Vail Town Council tabled the second reading to allow staff and the applicant time to gather additional information for the Council's review. Since those hearings, Staff has continued to collaborate with the applicant and the Town's consultant, Winston and Associates, to establish a new zone district that allows for redevelopment yet preserves the existing character of the neighborhood. Newbury made a motion to table the second reading of Ordinance No. 15, Series of 2010, to its February 15, 2011 public hearing. Daly seconded the motion. Foley asked what had been happening. Ruther stated they are working with the applicant to clarify all the issues. And will come back with a model and getting it right. A vote was taken and passed unanimously, 7-0. The eighth item on the agenda was a request for a continuance of Resolution 23, Series of 2010, a resolution amending Chapter VII, Vail Village Sub -Areas, East Gore Creek Sub -Area (#6) to include recommendations related to a new Vail Village Townhouse (VVT) District, and setting forth details in regard thereto. Ruther requested the Council table Resolution 23, Series of 2010, to the Council's February 15, 2011 public hearing. He said on January 4, 2011 the Vail Town Council tabled Resolution 23, Series of 2010, to its January 18, 2011 public hearing to allow staff and the applicant time to gather additional information for the Council's review. Since that hearing, Staff has continued to collaborate with the applicant and the Town's consultant, Winston and Associates, to establish a new zone district that allows for redevelopment yet preserves the existing character of the neighborhood. Daly made a motion to table Resolution No. 23, Series of 2010 to its February 15, 2011 public hearing; the motion was seconded by Tjossem. A vote was taken and passed unanimously, 7-0. The ninth item on the agenda was adjournment. Foley made a motion to adjourn, and Daly seconded the motion. A vote was taken and passed unanimously, 7-0. The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m. Of Respectfully Respectfully submitted, O•00 SXZ/ •, �Q Richard D. C evelan , Mayor Attest: greleii onald o , Town Clerk