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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2012-05-01 Town Council MinutesVail Town Council Meeting Minutes Tuesday, May 1, 2012 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 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 The first item on the agenda was a Proclamation No. 4, Series of 2012, designating the month of May, 2012 as "Building Safety Month" in the Town of Vail. Ludwig Kurz read the proclamation for "Building Safety Month" into the record. Moffet made a motion to adopt Proclamation No. 4, and Foley seconded the motion. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0. Martin Haeberle, Chief Building Official, thanked Council. He said there will be several events supporting building safety month throughout the month including: disaster mitigation; drought resistant landscaping; fire safety; a tour of the fire station; backyard safety and others. The second item on the agenda was Citizen's Participation. Brandmeyer introduced Shane Gremer on behalf of Safebuilt. Safebuilt is celebrating their 25`h anniversary and is giving back to the community of Vail. They presented a check to Red Sandstone Elementary School Principal Katherine Lange for $1,000. Lange thanked Gremer and Safebuilt for the generous donation. Daly thanked Safebuilt for investing in Vail's community. Chris Moffet, wife of Councilmember Greg Moffet, brought in a cake to celebrate Greg's birthday. The Council and attendees sang happy birthday to Greg. Jeff Layman introduced himself to the Council and the community as a candidate for commissioner for Eagle County. He stated Peter Runyon is term limited and cannot run again. He said he has the knowledge, skill and abilities to serve county residents well. He said he is not a one issue candidate. He said he will remember that Vail is a predominant economic driver in the county. He said the Primary Election is June 26 and the General Election is November 6th. He asked people to vote at both elections. Town Council May 1, 2012 minutes Page 1 Jamie Duke introduced himself as the new Chairman of the Board for the Colorado Ski Museum. He thanked the town for 37 uninterrupted years of support. He said there has been confusion on what the museum's role is in Vail. He said the board passed a resolution at their last meeting which clarified their role and responsibilities in the Vail area. The intent is to serve local and state ski museum roles. The museum was originally funded by the Town of Vail, Vail Resorts and the Forest service. The museum's site is ideal and as a community and statewide museum. He read the resolution into the record. The Resolution will be attached for the record. Daly thanked Duke for the clarification regarding their important role to the community and the ski and snowboard industry. The third item on the agenda was the Town Manager's Report. Greg Hall discussed the re -zoning of the Golf Course Clubhouse and said the application to the Planning and Environmental Commission (PEC) had been submitted for General Use zoning. If all goes as planned, this project will be in front of Council on June 5, 2012. A text amendment will also clean up the code language. Zemler addressed the replacement of one of the fire trucks. He said the replacement would be a wild land fire fighting truck, which is a Type 7 vehicle. The current Type 6 vehicle will be added back into the fleet. The new truck will truly be a wild land fire truck to enhance Vail's ability to respond to any wild land fire issue. The Eagle River Fire District and Eagle Fire District have these vehicles and this will bring the total up to about 6 or 7 wild land fire trucks that can be utilized across Eagle County. Tjossem asked if a fire is on Forest Service or BLM land, would Vail go after it as if it's in Vail. Zemler said initially, the Vail Fire Department would definitely strike immediately until other resources arrived. The objective is to contain the fire as quickly as possible. The fourth item on the agenda was a review of the ballot language and voter poll for a proposed tax increase for the purpose of creating, sustaining and ensuring a dedicated funding source for qualified athletic and cultural events and programs in the Town of Vail and supporting operations and infrastructure in the Town of Vail related to special events. Kelli McDonald, Economic Development Manager, reviewed the memorandum with Council. She said staff is requesting the Council review the ballot language and voter poll questions presented by Magellan Strategies and provide direction for the polling scheduled to begin May 7, 2012. At the April 3 meeting, Council directed up to $15,000 be spent on a voter poll to gauge support for a proposed tax increase. Such taxes would require approval by the Vail electorate. The proposed ballot issue of an annual levy of an additional one and one-half percent (1.5%) lodging tax and one-half percent (.5%) sales tax on all transactions the town's existing tax applies to, except for the sales of food for home consumption, is projected to generate $4.5 million annually, commencing January 1, 2013 and expiring on December 31, 2017. In 2012, the Council allocated approximately $2.4 million in funding and $300,000 to in - kind services for a total of $2.7 million for this same purpose. David Flaherty, with Magellan Strategies, discussed the proposed language and the voter poll his company will be doing for this issue. He said due to trends, a cell phone cannot be used to Town Council May 1, 2012 minutes Page 2 poll voters. They have to attempt to call land lines and then cell phones. He proposed a three mode interview approach. The first attempt will be to call land lines for three nights, then attempt to contact registered voters by cell phones (they will comply with federal regulations); and then attempt to contact people via on-line email addresses. A web -based survey will be on- line and they will send emails to registered individual voters. To participate in the online survey, they are requesting the first and last name of the person and their birth year. Once the survey is taken, it's locked in so they can't vote again. He said through the three modalities, they hope to get 300 surveys done. He reviewed the ballot language with Council. Rogers said the ballot language needs to be consistent with what the survey questions are asking. Daly said they haven't had a discussion on how the funds will be allocated relative to existing organizations and to new events. Also, if this moves forward, will approximately $2.1 million be put into special events and other activities, what type of return are they looking for and what is the urgency to get this done now. Kelli McDonald, Economic Development Manager, said this is not the time to discuss how the funds will be allocated as this was discussed previously by Mia Vlaar. Daly said he doesn't want to put the cart before the horse. Rogers said she has the same concerns and wants to know how they will be allocating it. Will it be the same as we are currently doing or will it be different. What if a constituent asks the question, what is Council going to tell them. Tjossem said there were tiers that were part of the original proposal and descriptions of each tier. She said the application process is extensive. She asked if Rogers and Daly would be comfortable moving forward with just the criteria of the tiers. Rogers said the Council hasn't agreed to use the tiered system. Rogers said people don't like to raise taxes. Zemler said this is time sensitive and needs to stay on track. McDonald said the results would be brought to Council at a June meeting. She stated the criteria and details of the tiering method would need to be finalized prior to going on the November ballot in July if they have a positive response from the survey. Donovan said there are a lot of questions to be answered prior to getting it on the November ballot. Tjossem said Council may decide to hold off on getting it on the November ballot. Daly said the model is good but there are already groups that have expectations of the amount of funds they will be receiving. Daly asked if there is a savings to the town, shouldn't there be a property tax refund to the taxpayers. Moffet said the five-year sunset clause on this is a great concern to him. If they reduce taxes, how would the town fund events after the five years. Michael Kurz, Vail resident, said they are listing twelve events in the poll and most are iconic events. He asked what percentage of these particular events is part of the total events. He said the ones chosen are problematic. He said these are events everyone likes. He wants more balance between iconic events and lesser known events in the poll. He said there is a question about what percentage the town would put in and if the promoters put in less money, are we funding the promoters or should they return money to the town. Town Council May 1, 2012 minutes Page 3 Rich ten Braak, with the Vail Chamber and Business Association (VCBA), said the VCBA members have discussed this issue but they are waiting for the poll results. Michael Cacioppo said the ballot language is too vague. He read the sunset language and said that was the only part of the ballot language that made sense. He said not having sunset language would not get this passed. He asked Flaherty what other projects he has polled in Eagle County. Flaherty said he handled the Eagle River Station (ERS) poll. Jim Lamont, representing the Vail Village Homeowners Association (VVHA), asked how the on- line poll would work. Flaherty said they want to link and post the survey on the town's website. They would match the person and their address. Lamont stated the ballot language should say "draft ballot question" as there needs to be flexibility to change the ballot language after the poll is done. This is a time sensitive issue which needs to get it into the process, but they need flexibility on how the language will read. This is an economic development tool. Mia Vlaar, representing the Athletic and Cultural Events (ACE) group, thanked those who participated in the discussion and said they had valid comments. She said the point of this discussion is to get the poll done and see if there is community support for the ballot initiative itself. Tjossem asked Vlaar to explain why a sunset clause was included. Vlaar said this was to take what they are proposing, have a cohesive process to see if it works and then go back to the voters again after the sunset, to see if the community wants to keep it. Donovan said Lamont's comment to add "draft ballot question" to the language is important and is an honest way to proceed. She said Kurz' comments to add more variety of events to the poll survey is valid. Tjossem also agreed with Donovan. Rogers said her concern is the language as is, is too narrow. Flaherty said they have time to put this off in the next two weeks. Daly said the current committee and two council members should meet and modify the language. He feels the best thing to do is to table this item to the next meeting. Further discussion ensued. Donovan made a motion to make the language more narrow and add "draft" to the survey poll document, and the motion was seconded by Foley. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 4-3 with Moffet, Rogers and Daly opposed. Rogers said she thinks this process is placing the cart before the horse. The fifth item on the agenda was Resolution No. 22, Series of 2012, a resolution approving the sale of real property in the Town of Vail legally described as a part of the Southeast Quarter of Section 6, Township 5 South Range 80 West of the 6t' Meridian According to the Map Thereof Recorded in the Office of the Eagle County, Colorado Clerk and Recorder; and Setting Forth Details in Regard Thereto. Matt Mire, Town Attorney, said a revised Purchase and Sale Agreement was handed out and is at the back of the room for the public, and a copy was placed in front of Council. He reviewed the resolution changes and said the resolution approves the sale of the property. Town Council May 1, 2012 minutes Page 4 Daly asked Mire if they were going to add the language to the resolution to move forward with the sale of the property to encourage the long term residence of the Steadman Clinic and the hospital to stay in Vail. George Ruther, Community Development Director, stated that language was in the ordinance. Moffet made a motion to approve Resolution No. 22, Series of 2012, and the motion was seconded by Rogers. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 7-0. The sixth item on the agenda was first reading of Ordinance No. 2, Series of 2012, an ordinance amending Chapter 12-6, Residential Districts, Vail Town Code, pursuant to Section 12- 3-7, Amendment, Vail Town Code, to establish a new zone district, Vail Village Townhouse (VVT) District, and setting forth details in regard thereto; and Resolution No. 7, Series of 2012, amending Chapter VI I, Vail Village Sub -Areas, East Gore Creek Sub -Area (#6), Vail Village Master Plan, pursuant to Chapter VIII, Implementation and Amendment, Vail Village Master Plan, to include recommendations related to a new Vail Village Townhouse (VVT) District, and setting forth details in regard thereto. George Ruther said this process has been on going for two years. Staff identified there was a blatant and clear need that this section of the code needed to be cleared up. He said they have seen about three or four projects come through and this process is very time consuming. He said staff has worked long and hard on a solution that achieves the objectives in an equitable fashion. This ordinance has created an incentive that allows for redevelopment to occur. This will be an easier and clearer process. Creating the design guidelines will maintain and preserve the character of the neighborhood. Tjossem reminded the Council that staff came up with a creative way to solve a problem that the town has been grappling with for a very long time. Rogers said this is a well drafted ordinance, and the process has gone on for over two -and -a - half years. She asked what the final decision was on the gross residential floor area (GRFA): was it 1.25, 1.35 or 1.50. Council had given a recommendation of 1.25. Campbell said the final recommendation by PEC was 1.35. Dominic Mauriello, representing some of the homeowners, said they wanted the GRFA to be 1.50. He said at that time these were built, there were no design guideline principles in place. Mauriello reviewed a three-dimensional model with Council with regard to the GRFA. Further discussion ensued regarding height, GRFA, setbacks, number of stories, etc. Kyle Webb, Architect, showed another model that tested and maxed out the GRFA. He showed what is allowable under current code and what could happen now but probably couldn't be built. Mauriello said they could get away with not having GRFA but no building could be more than 1.73 GRFA. He said Council should consider not having GRFA. Moffet was concerned about that comment. Rogers is concerned with the height being 43 feet. Town Council May 1, 2012 minutes Page 5 Mauriello said the need for 43 feet is to allow for a ridge and down slope toward the creek. He said this is not noticeable from the street side. Campbell pointed out one of the design standards is that the roofs are pitched and sloping and in keeping with the character of the neighborhood. Rogers is concerned there will be too many tall buildings in town around Vail Trails East. Further discussion on height and setbacks ensued. Tjossem said the other buildings around this area are four and five levels. This is a different scale. The design guidelines preserve the neighborhood and will allow the owners to redevelop. They need incentives to regenerate and upgrade their 1960's buildings. She said staff has done a lot of work in this process and will vote in favor of this ordinance. Kurz said Tjossem explained it well and agrees this area needs to be improved. Council needs to be serious about future economic viability and incentivize to have these redeveloped. Donovan said staff has addressed the concerns of Council and appreciates their efforts. The guidelines encourages the intent. She is not comfortable about the 1.35 GRFA in the ordinance. She could support the ordinance without the 1.35 allowance. Moffet said current successes are key to the ability to adapt. He doesn't see this as damaging. He is fine deleting 12-6j-9, but is okay to keep in if other Council members want it left in. He said Council wants this area to be as nice an investment as the rest of the community. Rogers said getting over the character of the neighborhoods is the hard part for her. She feels this changes the character of Vail. She wants to go with 1.25 GRFA. Kyle Webb said the perception is the same from the street whether it's 1.35 or 1.25 GRFA. He said other parts of the neighborhood have changed. Owners have put their redevelopment on hold waiting for this ordinance. Mauriello said these units could be condominiumized and become larger. There could be lots of things that can be done that could make it bigger. Daly said what is being proposed dramatically facilitates the development process without penalties. Staff has done a terrific job coming up with guidelines. He is uncomfortable passing this without GRFA. He is comfortable with the staff recommendation of 1.25 even though the PEC recommendation was 1.35. Moffet made a motion to approve Ordinance No. 2 with the staff findings in the memorandum, with a change from 1.35 to 1.25 for the GRFA. The motion was seconded by Donovan. A vote was taken and passed 6-1, Foley opposed. Staff requested the Council table Resolution No. 7, Series of 2012, to its May 15, public hearing to correspond to the second reading of the associated Ordinance No. 2, Series of 2012. Moffet made a motion to table Resolution No. 7 to the May 15, meeting to be heard at the time second reading of Ordinance No. 2 is heard. The motion was seconded by Donovan. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 7-0. Town Council May 1, 2012 minutes Page 6 The seventh item on the agenda was Resolution No. 20, Series of 2012, a resolution authorizing the Town Manager to sign a Wireless Communications and License Agreement between the Town of Vail and NewPath Networks, LLC; and setting forth details in regard thereto. Ron Braden, IT Director, said the 4G cellular service is with Crown Castle. He said this agreement is to bring 4G wireless to Vail and revamp the existing wireless network now in place. He said the Council wished to enter into a wireless communications and license agreement with NewPath Networks, LLC to enhance the wireless communications services and to avoid unnecessary disruption and administrative burdens throughout the town. Moffet made a motion to approve Resolution No. 20, Series of 2012, a resolution authorizing the Town Manager to sign a Wireless Communications and License Agreement between the Town of Vail and NewPath Networks, LLC; and setting forth details in regard thereto. The motion was seconded by Kurz. Foley asked if this agreement is replacing Century Link on the WiFi side. Braden said yes, this is a free and working WiFi system that will bring it up-to-date and the town will get much better service. The 4G service parameters are not in this agreement as that will be with various carriers. Daly said there is no way for us to force Crown Castle to ask for guarantees to provide service for a world class resort. There is nothing that guarantees better service and may not get us in a better position. Braden said the carriers will hold Crown Castle to do this. He said technology changes from year to year and is hard to nail down. He said the communication expert reviewed the technical aspects of the agreement and signed off on this agreement. Mire said Ken Feldman looked at this agreement and had some concerns and Mire had questions as well. He said he shares some concerns and wants a work session to discuss the agreement as a 30- year term with no ability to raise standards should be addressed. Rogers asked if it will be free WiFi across the town. Braden said yes. Moffet made a motion to withdraw his previous motion at this time. Kurz withdrew his second of the original motion. Moffet then moved to table this item to the May 15th meeting, and the motion was seconded by Foley and Kurz. Donovan asked for copy of what the coverage areas are, not just the cellular. Braden said the goal is to provide town wide coverage. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 7-0. The eighth item on the agenda was the Ever Vail project. Warren Campbell, Chief Planner, stated staff requests the major subdivision and Ordinance Nos. 7, 8 and 9, Series of 2012 be continued to the June 5, 2012, public hearing. Moffet made a motion to continue the major subdivision and Ordinance Nos. 7, 8, and 9, Series of 2011 to the June 5, 2012 public hearing. The motion was seconded by Kurz. Town Council May 1, 2012 minutes Page 7 Foley asked why this item was being tabled again. Daly said it's because the developer improvement agreement hasn't been done. A vote was taken and the motion passed, 7-0. The ninth item on the agenda was adjournment. As there was no further business, Foley made a motion to adjourn and the motion was seconded by Donovan. A vote was taken and the motion passed unanimously, 7-0. The meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m. Respectful Submitted, AtteAndy Daly, Mayor \ st: J c � A_t Lore'fei Cionaldsbn, Town Clerk 0�1N•OF .f SEAL �a•...•....0 ORPV Town Council May 1, 2012 minutes Page 8