HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-11-06 Town Council MinutesVail Town Council Meeting Minutes
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
4:00 P.M.
Vail Town Council Chambers
The regular meeting of the Vail Town Council was called to order at approximately 4:00 P.M. by
Mayor Andy Daly.
Members present: Andy Daly, Mayor
Kerry Donovan
Kevin Foley
Ludwig Kurz
Greg Moffet
Margaret Rogers
Susie Tjossem
Staff members: Stan Zemler, Town Manager
Matt Mire, Town Attorney
Pam Brandmeyer, Assistant Town Manager
Lorelei Donaldson, Town Clerk
The first item on the agenda was the Consent Agenda. On the consent agenda was the
approval of the October 2 and 16, 2012, meeting minutes and approval of Resolution No. 32
and No. 33, which were both Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) leases for the
Frontage Roads.
Rogers made a motion to approve the October 2, 2012, meeting minutes and the motion was
seconded by Tjossem. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 6-0-1, with Foley abstaining
as he wasn't at that meeting. Foley made a motion to approve the October 16, 2012, meeting
minutes and the motion was seconded by Tjossem. A vote was taken and the motion passed
unanimously, 7-0.
Donovan made a motion to approve Resolution Nos. 32 and 33, and the motion was seconded
by Moffet. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0.
The second item on the agenda was the Town Manager's Report. There was no report.
The third item on the agenda was the Mill Creek Property appeal at 303/305 Mill Creek Circle.
Warren Campbell, Chief Planner, stated the Design Review Board (DRB) approved this with
conditions. Campbell said the DRB felt the landscaping was adequate.
Council asked about the distance from the bike path, adequate landscaping, the retaining wall,
grading and the length of the wall, and the encroachment on the stream tract from the patio.
Pam Hopkins, a local architect and Planning and Environmental Commission (PEC) member,
stated she was representing two owners, the Berkowitz' and William's. These property owners
are adjacent property owners to the 303/305 Mill Creek Circle property. The owners are
concerned about the encroachment of the swimming pool onto the setback.
Town of Vail Council meeting minutes of November 6, 2012 Page 1
Donovan said she disagreed with DRB's findings regarding the placement of walls and fences.
Rogers said the town boards do a thorough analysis. She said it would be easy to override the
DRB's decision but the findings by the DRB were unanimous. She is not going to override their
decision. Rogers made a motion to uphold the DRB decision based on the findings in the
memorandum. Tjossem seconded the motion. Further discussion ensued.
Kyle Webb, Architect, reviewed the power point presentation with Council. He said the
neighbors didn't have any issues with the house. The conditions of the approval with DRB have
been addressed and the grade of the wall is being raised only in the middle portion of the wall.
A vote was taken and the motion passed, 4-3, with Daly, Donovan and Foley opposed.
The fourth item on the agenda was the Lionshead Welcome Center Sign Package appeal at
395 East Lionshead Circle.
Warren Campbell, Chief Planner, stated on October 3, 2012, the DRB unanimously approved,
with conditions, an amended sign package for the Lionshead Welcome Center. The
approval included the condition that the information "i" proposed for the north and south sides of
the tower element was not included in the approval. The DRB recommended the Council
uphold the DRB decision based on the findings in the memorandum that was attached to the
agenda.
Donovan asked about the sign above the entry way and drop off signage and asked if they can
made a decision based on necessity and not following the town's codes and DRB findings.
Campbell said he understands that the Council can speak to the uniqueness of the building and
maybe make findings that no error was made but that a need to get people to the building is
necessary.
Tjossem said the Council was told in previous meetings that a tower with a beacon of light
would be part of the building: there were multiple meetings with merchants and community
members stating the building would be well signed. She was frustrated that the tower was
reduced five feet and now the building can't have an "i" on it. In the future, she wants to know
what the findings are from the PEC and DRB before the Council funds a building. Donovan said
the intent was to pull people down to Lionshead. Zemler stated he was provided current
information on the number of guests visiting the Lionshead Welcome Center. He said they
should address the appeal first and then have an additional conversation on how to get people
to the facility. Rogers agrees with Tjossem and feels that Council was victim to a bate and
switch. She said locals know where to go, but guests do not. Moffet said he agreed with
Donovan and said the DRB didn't go out of their approval process. Moffet says if they apply the
law as written they need to uphold the DRB decision.
Tom DuBois, chairman of the DRB, said they don't usually see the signage until after the initial
approval. This was the second application for signs on this building. He said he drives past
Lionshead twice a day and says there is signage to help folks find their way to Lionshead. You
can't see the "i" from the west. There is a new wayfinding program that will help direct people in
this area. Also this is the newest building in Lionshead and draws people to the building on its
own. He said the town has a very effective sign program.
Town of Vail Council meeting minutes of November 6, 2012 Page 2
Moffet made a motion to uphold the DRB decision and the motion was seconded by Kurz.
Further discussion ensued. Council members want to revisit the site and find other alternatives
that may work at this building and to review sign standards as they are inadequate to address
information centers. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 6-1, with Rogers opposed.
Further discussion on the town processes with a "looping system" when the town is the
developer and when the project is modified through the PEC and DRB process ensued. If the
project is modified after Council approves it, changes and information need to get back to the
Council.
Zemler said they need to find out what didn't work and should not jump to conclusions or
second guess the process. He wants to look at trip points and not just guess at what happened.
He said the numbers have doubled from moving the booth from the Frontage Road to the new
space. He said if Council wants a better solution, staff will come back to Council with
alternatives to consider.
The fifth item on the agenda was a Council dinner break for one hour. Council took a dinner
break until 6:10 p.m.
The sixth item on the agenda was Citizen's Participation. Nicola Ripley, with the Betty Ford
Alpine Gardens, Wendy Rimel with the Vail Veteran's Program and Traci Flowers with the Vail
Symposium requested Council declare December 4, 2012, as Colorado Gives Day. They read
the declaration and the twenty nonprofits taking part in Colorado Gives Day in Eagle County into
the record.
Moffet moved to declare December 4 as Colorado Gives Day in Vail, and the motion was
seconded by Donovan. Further discussion ensued. It was determined that the proclamation
would be read into the record and approved at the November 20, 2012, meeting prior to
Colorado Gives Day.
The seventh item on the agenda was a recap of the four Ever Vail development applications
and the action taken on the master plan amendment.
Mire said they are continuing all the applications to the December 4, 2012, meeting for
decisions and approvals for first readings.
Warren Campbell, Chief Planner, recapped all the applications and approvals to date on all the
reviews and what still needed to be addressed. He also reviewed the memorandum and power
point presentation with Council. Campbell requested Council continue the major subdivision
and Ordinance Nos. 7, 8 and 9, Series of 2011, to the December 4, 2012, public hearing.
Moffet made a motion to continue the major subdivision and Ordinance Nos. 7, 8 and 9, to the
December 4, 2012, public hearing and the motion was seconded by Kurz. A vote was taken
and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0.
The eighth item on the agenda was first reading of Ordinance No. 16, the 2013 Town of Vail
Budget.
Kathleen Halloran, Budget Manager, stated the budget appropriates a total of $55.3 million
across all funds for 2013. She discussed the sponsorship for the U.S. Burton Open, Birds of
Prey and benefits and salaries in more detail. Daly said the budget is approximately balanced.
Town of Vail Council meeting minutes of November 6, 2012 Page 3
He said if they intend to provide money to the U.S. Burton Open they would have to tap the
general fund balance.
Daly wanted to address compensation as staff has proposed a 4% increase. He asked Krista
Miller from Human Resources to address this item. Miller stated regression charts were
included in the agenda packet. She stated these were actual wages paid by both the town and
the other entities. She reviewed the charts in further detail with Council. She said staff
compared with the usual comparison groups as they have done in the past. The Town of Vail
was also compared with Mountain States Employer survey statewide with both public and
private sector entities. The figures are actual annual based wages paid to specific people in
organizations. She said they balance out with folks that are at entry level and people who have
been working for the town for years. Daly asked if certain positions are capped. Miller said
every position is capped except those that report directly to Council. Miller says once they are
capped they cannot get a base pay increase. They may get a bonus and that has to be
approved by the Town Manager. She said 5-10% of staff is capped. She said the charts were
for salary only and didn't include benefits. She said a five-year history was asked for and in
2007 Vail paid slightly higher than the average payer. However, in 2012, the town is a below
average payer, and across all the other payers there is about a 3.0% to 3.5% difference.
Miller said Vail evaluates, tracks and compares other mountain resort communities. She said
the comparisons show Vail below by about 4% and this is why staff is asking for a 4% increase.
Six out of eight entities identified what they are proposing for next year. Vail is about a one
percent premium on retirement benefits and below average for health benefits. She said trying
to get a true apples -to -apples comparison is difficult. The town is targeting a wellness -based
health program. There is only one health program next year and that has a wellness
component attached.
Daly stated he has asked members of the Colorado Association of Ski Towns (CAST) at their
last meeting for their salary figures on what they have and he will have comparisons at the next
Council meeting. Daly said that he also checked with the Town of Gypsum, which has a 3%
increase; the Town of Eagle is giving no raises and is struggling; and the Town of Avon is
getting their salaries to their 2010 levels (which is an increase) but plan no increases beyond
that figure. He also said Eagle County has a 3% merit pool this year.
Zemler said in fairness, only one of those towns is Vail's peer group. If Council is looking at
shifting direction, staff needs to know this. Daly said in a six year salary history, staff has done
well with salary control, but he wants more background information. Rogers said rather than
having a 4% merit increase, she prefers splitting it and using 2% merit increase and a 2%
bonus. She wants high performers to be rewarded accordingly. Foley wants 2012 actuals.
Halloran says there have been vacancies throughout the year so there are savings.
Moffet said he wants to compare figures to Vail's competitors. He said Vail is not like regular
municipalities. He stated he already feels town staff has higher exemplary performances and
interaction with customers that you don't see in other municipalities and other entities. Staff is
also challenged with higher housing costs and transportation. Most of the staff have to drive or
take a bus to get to work in Vail and have to pass other municipalities to work here. They could
go work at other places. It is important to maintain a culture of high performance employee
behavior. The Council needs to be mindful of those challenges. Donovan agreed with Moffet.
She said the 3.5% to 4% will be on par with places that Vail compares itself to. She is
comfortable with the base salary increase of 4% to get back to being competitive. Kurz agrees
Town of Vail Council meeting minutes of November 6, 2012 Page 4
with Moffet and Donovan's assessment and believes the success the town has had is in part,
due to the town employees. He is comfortable with the 4% increase and feels it is appropriate.
Daly said the general fund is approximately a 61/39 split and will require a super majority split
that has been in place for the past five years. Rogers doesn't feel enough money has been
given to special events and wants more money allocated to them. She said the easiest way is
to change the allocation from a 61/39 split to 62/38 split.
Moffet said he is not opposed to the idea but the CSE has a special event budget and he is not
convinced they need more. The Council should be circumspect about additional spending. If
the Council is comfortable that marginal spending will pay for itself, fine, but if not, they need to
be confident this is the way to go. Rogers said the CSE has done an analysis and they will
always have event producers who want funding. The CSE assesses the value of all the events
and does a detailed analysis of what works and what doesn't. She said marketing the events
well is what it takes to have a successful event. Tjossem agrees that special events don't have
enough money and they are the economic driver of the town. She wants to tap into the town's
reserves to pay for additional special event funding. She wants the same percentage for CSE
as the Vail Local Marketing District (VLMD) to grow special events. However she
acknowledged that the VLMD has a permanent funding source to use and special events do
not.
Daly said another way to fund special events is to build in additional revenues, have a bigger
surplus and allocate more to special events. Moffet said money is seductive. He is inclined to
budget to a baseline for special events and permit luxuries incrementally when they outperform
the baseline budget. The special events need to continue to out perform best guesses and the
Council needs to be confident this will work.
Daly said to keep in mind they are reducing reserves by $875,000 for iconic events such as the
2015 Championships and U.S. Burton Open. The Council still has very big funding choices
ahead that will impact the reserves. Further discussion ensued. Daly asked to get a report from
CSE and Adam Sutner and get suggestions on how they can spend what they have now and
what events the CSE would use additional funds on.
Zemler said instead of giving carte blanche to the CSE for funding, in the past, the Council has
set aside a set amount of money for other possible events that may have value in the future.
Then the Council can allocate those funds. The Council can change the split in the future. The
simple way is to budget a set amount of money to set aside and the CSE can bring an event to
Council to see if they want to fund it. Foley said additional marketing dollars for special events
should come from the VLMD and not from the CSE.
Peggy Wolfe, representing Highline Sports, gave a presentation on the U.S. Burton Open
request and what the benefits are for the community. She said this event is for Vail Mountain
and the snowboarding community. The funds would make this a lifestyle event and have more
parts of the event in town and off the mountain. They are showcasing this event and it has a
360 degree approach. There would be kid's snowboarding lessons and a terrain park at Solaris;
a live feed of the competitions in Solaris and also brings events and activities into the town. This
would get people involved in what snowboarding has become.
Rogers asked what the total budget was for this event. Wolfe said the total is $3.5 million,
which includes the request of $500,000 from the town. Vail Resorts, Inc. is contributing
$100,000 cash and $668,000 of in -kind services. The dates of the event are February 25-26,
Town of Vail Council meeting minutes of November 6, 2012 Page 5
2013, for practice and February 27-March 2, 2013, for the competitions. Currently, the sponsors
are Mini Cooper, Nokia, Pepsi/Mountain Dew and Paul Mitchell.
Donovan said U.S. Burton Open is the premier, proven snowboarding event in the world.
Additionally, it would provide a slope style event and half pipe event which would start to get
equal time between alpine skiing and snowboarding. She said the staff recommendation of
$250,000 for the first year is reasonable. She asked if this event would be broadcast
internationally and nationally. Wolfe said yes. Rogers said the biggest success televised for
Vail was the U.S. Pro Cycling event.
Council asked if in -kind services have been requested. There will be daytime events and two
concerts at Solaris Plaza so there will be in -kind services requested. Donovan asked about the
ROI with Stratton Mountain. Moffet said marginal room nights will be up and which raises
revenues for the town so he wants to be careful. He is inclined to be as reasonably supportive
as possible. Wolfe will come back and address what the town gets for a $250,000 contribution
versus a $500,000 contribution, plus she will give a detailed account of what in -kind services will
be requested. She said there will still be events in town regardless of the contribution amount.
Additional 2013 contribution requests, capital projects funds, RETT funds, heavy equipment
fund, VLMD funds and conference center funds were discussed.
Further discussion ensued regarding funding of the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens (BFAG) at a
higher level. Ripley stated the town doesn't fund the BFAG to the degree other municipalities
fund their gardens. Gwen Scapello, a member of the BFAG board, said the gardens could
possibly be funded at a higher level through Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) funds. The
BFAG is specifically a destination draw to Vail for several organizations and individuals. It has a
unique and singular national plant collection of Colorado alpine plants. Horticulture Magazine is
highly recognized in the botanic garden community and this garden has received awards. They
are growing and improving, open twelve hours a day, seven days a week. Operating costs will
increase to cover transportation costs to get people back up to parking due to the construction
in Ford Park. Daly, Donovan and Kurz stated they didn't want to fund operational expenses for
the BFAG.
Moffet made a motion to approve first reading of Ordinance No. 16, and the motion was
seconded by Donovan. Daly stated the budget may be adjusted after the Council hears the
CSE funding requests at the November 20, 2012, hearing to see if the special events budget
would be amended and if the split may be amended.
Moffet made a motion to amend his motion to have second reading at the December 4, 2012,
public hearing. The amended motion was seconded by Donovan. A vote was taken and the
motion passed, 6-1 with Rogers opposed.
The ninth item on the agenda was first reading of Ordinance No. 14, an ordinance repealing
and re-establishing Special Development District No. 34, Flaum — The Valley Phase V.
Bill Gibson, Planner, summarized the memorandum stating they want to change the EHU
exchange in the SDD #34.
Dominic Mauriello, with Mauriello Consulting Group, representing Jim and Cookie Flaum, stated
the objective was to comply with the employee housing exchange program. However, it was
based on old formulas and was inequitable. The dual purpose of this request is to correct the
Town of Vail Council meeting minutes of November 6, 2012 Page 6
exchange program and have additional gross residential floor area (GRFA). He reviewed the
applicant's power point presentation with Council. If the GRFA is taken off, it would be 787
square feet over allowable GRFA. The 15% lot area is still less than the 18% that is average in
this neighborhood.
Donovan asked how many properties are affected. Gibson said three properties, but only one is
affected by the EHU, the Flaum residence. Gibson said this does not change the net in floor
area. Further discussion ensued.
Kurz made a motion to approve first reading of Ordinance No. 14, and the motion was seconded
by Moffet. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 7-0.
The tenth item on the agenda was second reading of Ordinance No. 15, an ordinance
amending Title 7, Vail Town Code by the addition of Chapter 10, regarding commercial
transportation regulations and setting forth details in regard thereto.
Mire explained the changes from first reading and stated Dwight Henninger, Police Chief, was
there to answer any additional questions from the Council.
Robert Lazier, owner of the Tivoli Lodge, said he was concerned with the loading area on
Hanson Ranch Road. He wants to limit the width of vehicles in this area to be no more than 80
inches wide (dual tires) be allowed in that area. Henninger said there are signs stating no
vehicles over 80 inches in width or more than sixteen passenger vehicles are allowed.
Jonathan Levine, owner of Hummers of Vail, said significant changes at the transportation
center have occurred in last two days. He was assaulted on Sunday evening. He wants to
provide safe customer service to guests. He wants to be able to use his larger limousine
vehicles on the upper deck after midnight.
Jim Lamont, representing the Vail Homeowners Association (VHA), said traffic congestion
problems are what the VHA are concerned about at the transportation centers. There is
concern about trying to experiment with a system to control permitted public conveyances. He
doesn't want to create an issue where certain conveyances are allowed and others not. He
said the town is beginning to regulate transportation in town when they should stay out of it.
Donovan asked about the AVI transponders. Henninger said the time, place and number of the
vehicle are what the AVI transponders record. Henninger said this is in the ordinance now so
they could use the transponders in the future.
Rogers made a motion to approve second reading of Ordinance No. 15, and the motion was
seconded by Kurz. Further discussion ensued. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 6-1
with Foley opposed.
Daly said Council would review how this is working in January, 2013.
The eleventh item on the agenda was second reading of Ordinance No. 13, an ordinance
amending the construction sign provisions and repealing the temporary site development sign
provisions of Title 11, Sign Regulations, Vail Town Code, and setting forth details in regard
thereto.
Town of Vail Council meeting minutes of November 6, 2012 Page 7
Bill Gibson, Planner, stated on October 16, 2012, the Council unanimously approved the first
reading of Ordinance No. 13, with the PEC's recommendation of limiting the size of construction
signs to no more than 8 square feet in areas within Vail's residential zone districts. There have
been no modifications to the proposed ordinance since first reading.
Moffet made a motion to approve second reading of Ordinance No. 13 and the motion was
seconded by Rogers. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 7-0.
The twelfth item on the agenda was adjournment.
As there was no further business, Moffet made a motion to adjourn and the motion was
seconded by Foley. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0. The meeting
adjourned at 8:30 p.m.
Res pe ully Submitted,
Attest:
Andrew P. Daly a o
L eljonaldson, Town Clerk
:o
COLOFtP
Town of Vail Council meeting minutes of November 6, 2012 Page 8