HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 09/15/2021
NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD
TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR
September 15, 2021 5:30 – 8:00 pm
Via Zoom
9/15/21 – MINUTES Page 1
CALL TO ORDER - 5:30PM ROLL CALL
List of Board Members Present
Kevin Krause
Dawson Metcalf
Drew Derderian
Barry Noon
John Skogman
List of Board Members Absent
Danielle Buttke - chair
Samantha Williams
Hillary Mizia
List of Staff Members Present
Lindsay Ex, Staff Liaison
Richard Thorp, Watershed Program Manager, Utilities
Sydney Phillips Grace - Utilities Watershed Technician
Kelly Smith, Sr. Planner
List of Guests
none
1. AGENDA REVIEW
No changes
2. COMMUNITY MEMBER PARTICIPATION
N/A
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES - JULY & AUGUST
Barry moved and John seconded a motion to approve both the July and August
NRAB draft minutes as presented. Motion approved unanimously 5-0-0
4. NEW BUSINESS
AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD
TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR
9/15/21 – MINUTES Page 2
a. Managing Urban Lakes Quality Management Guidance and Policy Development
Update - Richard Thorp and Sydney Phillips Grace
The City's urban lakes provide important resources for the City such as recreational
opportunities, wildlife habitat, irrigation water, and are part of the City's Stormwater
infrastructure. Management of the lakes in Fort Collins have significant challenges
such as not all lakes are owned by the City, management responsibilities are unclear,
and there are various water quality impacts from land use and climate change.
There have been increasing water quality issues with these lakes and that is why staff
from Parks, Natural Areas and Utilities are working to develop an urban lakes water
quality management plan with technical guidance.
The scope of this project is limited to City-owned lakes within the City's Growth
Management Area (GMA). The Lakes Water Quality Guidance will be both a technical
resource to support implementation of the policy for water managers and a
geodatabase with an associated map and software package. It is not a prescriptive
water quality management for all of the lakes, but it will be available as a resource to
private lakes managers.
The project is aligned with City Policy to sustain and improve the health of the Cache
la Poudre River and its watershed. It is currently budgeted from Natural Areas and
Parks until the 2022 budget is adopted.
The Guidance Plan
A draft of the guidance plan is currently being circulated and should be finalized
soon. In 2022 there will be public outreach, policy adjustment and approval by
Council.
All 304 city-owned lakes within the City's GMA have been graphed and
ownership of these lakes has been identified, along with the various
management categories.
Current water quality issues of City lakes and best practices to mitigate those
issues have been identified and prioritized.
Actions to be taken to create a Lakes Water Quality Policy:
Conduct community outreach to understand the diverse perspectives in the
community, especially children who use the lakes for recreation.
Send targeted surveys regarding known issues.
If there is enough money, conduct in-person or virtual facilitated workshops.
Staff will return to the NRAB with the results of the various outreach efforts and a draft
policy for the board's consideration and recommendation.
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TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR
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Discussion
Barry - Q - What are the indicators you are measuring to assess water quality of
the lakes? A - This is not a water quality plan, so we are not measuring water
quality.
Barry Q - So are there any on-going monitoring programs for water quality? A -
Yes, for a few lakes, like Rigden lake, but most don't need that type of
monitoring. This plan is a first step type of guidance for water managers to help
them develop a water management plan that could include water quality
monitoring, depending on the amount of resources available to do that.
Barry - Q - Water quality affects the fish population that are often consumed by
people. There might be a health issue if there are heavy metals in the lakes. A -
Colorado Parks and Wildlife are considering doing that type of monitoring.
Dawson - Q - What determines a body of water to be a lake? What is going on
with the lakes within the City that aren't managed by any department in the city?
A - Standing water bodies such as ponds, lakes, temporary lakes, retention and
detention ponds, and reservoirs fall under the term "lake". The unmanaged
lakes are being addressed and examined. It is a work in progress.
Dawson - Q - Where are you gathering best practices to manage these lakes? A
variety of regional sources are being researched and gathered by our
consultants.
John -Q - Will best practices address lakes that have not been managed well
and how to remedy that? A - It will mostly be a listing of best practices and what
they help to mitigate, their cost and where they have been used, based on our
interviews, consultants, and surveys.
Kevin - Q - It would be nice to see transparency on how the City manages these
lakes and what is used. A - That is not within the scope and budget for this
project but it would be helpful for the community to do that at a later time;
perhaps in a web map of the City's lakes.
b. Approaches to Regulating Areas and Activities of State Interest Pursuant to
Powers Established in State Law Commonly Referred to as 1041 Powers - Kelly
Smith, Sr. Planner
Definition of 1041 regulations
1041 Regulations allow governments to identify, designate and regulate
activities of state interest through a local permitting process. The purpose
is to give local governments control over development projects occurring
within their jurisdiction, even when the project has statewide impacts. A
local government must designate the areas or activities of state interest
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and adopt guidelines pursuant to state statutory procedures and limitations
to regulate them through a public hearing
The areas of state interest are: mineral resource areas; natural hazard
areas; historical/natural/archaeological resource areas and areas around
key facilities.
The activities of state interest to be regulated are: new/expanded
water/sewer treatment; municipal/industrial water treatment; highways and
interchanges, public utilities, new communities, solid waste disposal; mass
transit; airports; geothermal resources; and nuclear detonation areas.
Local communities do not usually designate areas unless it is for a very
specific area or reason within their jurisdiction.
Process of determining need to use 1041 powers within the City of Fort Collins
In May, 2021 Council asked staff to investigate what would be necessary to
implement 1041 regulations in Fort Collins. In July staff determined the 1041
regulations would support City policy and regulatory goals.
The City will hold a public hearing on September 21 to determine what areas of
interest the city would regulate. No development can occur until designation and
guidelines are adopted. Once designation and guidelines are adopted,
applications for permits can be accepted. Items to be discussed at the hearing
are:
The intensity of current and foreseeable development pressures
The boundaries of any designated area
Why the designated area or activity is of state interest
The dangers from uncontrolled development of the area or conduct of such
activity
The advantages of developing such area or activity in a coordinated manner.
The three options for local 1041 regulations that will be presented at the
September 21 hearing would:
1. Address immediate development pressure. This option would regulate:
Immediate development pressure. State statues are flexible and allow
more activities and areas to be designated over time.
2. Address development with lowest authority but potential for highest impact -
This option would regulate:
New/expanded domestic water, municipal/industrial water projects,
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highways and interchanges - plus public utilities
3. Address all potential development and includes projects that may be
regulated by the City's Land Use Code. This option would regulate:
New/expanded domestic water, municipal/industrial water projects,
highways and interchanges, public utilities, plus public transit
Next steps
Outreach to boards and commissions
September 21 City Council public meeting to consider two ordinances to
designate water and also highway projects to be regulated that would enact
a development moratorium in those areas. If Council expands the scope of
this project, another public meeting will be held at a future date.
A fourth ordinance is being considered that would appropriate funding to
support this project.
The NRAB was asked to give feedback on the project and their preference of the
three ordinances.
Discussion
Kevin - Q - Can you explain the advantages of doing these projects one at a
time or all at once? A - A limited scope would have more concentrated
engagement and expedite the process. Doing projects sequentially could
add confusion to the community, and may not capitalize on engaging the
same stakeholders simultaneously.
Dawson - Q - You said you have discussed this with 30 other communities,
in those conversations have you discussed the timing of doing the projects
one at a time or all at once? A - Yes, we discussed this and there were
mixed opinions. One disadvantage to regulating everything is that many
communities don’t end up using the regulations. Some communities even
expressed there were times they should have used them but forgot they
had them because it had been years since adopting them and never using
them.
Dawson - Q - What kind of conversations are you having on how to
transparently communicate to the community so they understand this
complicated project with three options? A - Conversations with the
community will begin with the public hearing. We are hiring a consultant to
craft our future engagement with the public.
Dawson - Q - Can you explain how the public hearing will explain this
project? A - It will be a presentation of the various considerations, options,
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and costs, much like tonight's presentation. It will also be an opportunity for
Council to vote on the options and start the project.
Barry - Because the SPAR (Site Plan Advisory Review) process was
overruled in the NISP hearing the City must invoke 1041 powers. He is
concerned the City is not moving fast enough to keep up with the NISP
project and will be ineffective to oppose it. He urges the City to do Option
#3 and move quickly to adopt 1041 powers. Option #3 would address the
increasing development pressures to deny permits. This proposal is board
and irreversible.
Kevin - also supports quickly putting Option #3 in place.
John - also supports Option #3
Drew - also supports Option #3
c. Review and finalize NRAB memo drafts from August meeting
Barry created a draft of an NRAB memo to Council supporting Council's vote to
oppose use of City natural areas in the development of NISP infrastructure within
the City limits.
Discussion
John - suggested the letter have less in it about NISP and more about the
City's current procedures and how NISP is an example on what could go
wrong.
Kevin - According to the 1041 powers presentation, there could be another
way to deal with NISP.
The board edited the memo in the meeting and agreed to vote to send the
memo to Council. Barry will take this input, finalize the letter, and send to
Council for inclusion in their packet before the September 21 public
meeting. Kevin moved and Dawson seconded a motion to send this
memo to Council. Motion approved unanimously. 5-0-0.
d. NRAB 2022 Work Plan
Because not all NRAB members were present, the group agreed to postpone this
discussion to the October meeting.
e. 2022 City Manager's Recommended Budget Review - Lindsay Ex
Environmental Services Department added two budget offers as a result of the
finalized Council priorities at the last Council work session.
Construction and demolition waste - It is currently unfunded but being
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reconsidered for funding.
Additional local air quality monitoring for particulates distributed throughout
the community and website updates to help community better understand
real time local air quality.
For their information, Lindsay highlighted several BFO offers of interest to the
NRAB that are currently unfunded in the 2022 budget:
Municipal Innovation fund
Lincoln Center sustainable hall lighting
Contractual Specialist - Water Conservation
Large diameter tree pruning enhanced funding
Shift your Ride travel options program
Hourly conversion and increased FTE for active modes specialist
Construction and demolition position
Discussion
Kevin - perhaps ask if funds for some of the unfunded offers could be better
placed elsewhere for better environmental benefit.
John - maybe focus on which buildings are the least efficient and fix them
with the funds.
Kevin - it would be nice to have better air quality monitoring reports on the
website.
Dawson - Q - Can the outreach part of the air quality offer be separated from
the monitors for health messaging? A - Yes, a portion of an offer can be
recommended.
5. OTHER BUSINESS / UPDATES
a. 6-month Calendar review
b. Agenda planning
October meeting will include Building Code updates, budget
recommendations, work plan, recovery strategic plan, carbon inventory
update and discuss a memo Barry wrote about removing a diversion in the
river.
c. Kevin reported on the activities of the August Bicycle Advisory Meeting.
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They discussed Council priorities, including proximity to work and affordable
housing are top of mind for them. They also discussed the Mountain Avenue
reshaping and Safe Routes to School program.
Kevin also attended a webinar with a sister city in the Netherlands discussing
what bicycling has become there. They are linking up to Fort Collins as a similar
city to discuss current bicycling and multi-modal transportation and how to
encourage people to bike.
d. John reported there will be a methane emissions conference coming up at CSU in
October. It will be mainly looking at methane emissions from oil and gas.
e. Lindsay announced Honore Depew has been appointed as the City's Climate
Program Manager in the Environmental Services Department.
6. ADJOURNMENT
8:30 pm