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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 06/27/2022 AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR Monday, June 27, 2022, 5:30 – 8:00 pm via Zoom 0 6 /26/22 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER 5:32pm 2. ROLL CALL • List of Board Members Present − Karen Artell – Chair − Wayne Chuang − Greg Boiarsky − Mark Houdashelt – Vice Chair − Dan Welsh • List of Board Members Absent − Jason Miller − Greg Clark • List of Staff Members Present − Cassie Archuleta, Staff Liaison − Jason Komes, Senior Environmental Specialist − Ron Simms, Deputy Fire Marshall & Battalion Chief, Poudre Fire Authority • List of Guests − N/A 3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION • No public comment 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES • Greg B moved and Dan seconded a motion to approve the April AQAB minutes as amended. Motion passed unanimously 5-0. 5. PREVIOUS BUSINESS 1. STAFFING CHANGES − Cassie shared that Kelly DiMartino was named our new City Manager. − Jackie Kozak-Thiel, who is the current Chief Sustainability Officer, will be leaving the City. She currently oversees Environmental Services, Economic Health, and Social Sustainability. Recruitment will start soon. AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 0 6 /27/22 – MINUTES Page 2 2. AQ EARTH PROJECT − Jason shared that per AQEarth grant implementation, installation of stationary air quality monitors was completed at three schools and mobile monitors on PSD buses and fleet vehicles. They will start to see data come in and will have to work out how they want to utilize or display that data. Updates on the program and project will be provided as available. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Outdoor Residential Wood Burning − Jason Komes, Senior Environmental Specialist, and Chief Ron Simms, Deputy Fire Marshall & Battalion Chief with Poudre Fire Authority (PFA), provided an overview regarding the City’s outdoor burning program and potential consideration of additional outdoor wood burning restrictions (e.g., a full ban). − Chief Simms and Jason have collaborated on enforcement because of PFA’s ability to respond to fire safety calls. Information is shared between entities and used in pursuit of enforcement on current rules related to air quality nuisances and fire safety. − City Council’s interest in outdoor burning began in 2015. From 2016-2018, staff gathered information and conducted surveys on interest in pursuing further restrictions on outdoor burning. In 2019, new policy was adopted, including requirements that wood fires are extinguished by 10pm and be at least 15’ from a neighbor’s property line. − For complaints, educational letters are sent and may be followed by a notice of violations (NOVs) for persistent issues. The City is currently pursuing issuance of a first citation. − Staff is proposing further restrictions to simplify enforcement and decrease impacts. Chief Simms stated there is an urban fire risk concern, and they have heard concerns from citizens. − It is a win-win relationship between PFA and the City’s Air Quality team because PFA is available 24/7, and they provide educational materials to potential violators and then share the data with Jason. Then Environmental Services can do a more robust follow-up. PFA also supports areas of Larimer County and Timnath and would support their fire restrictions being adopted by Fort Collins as well. It would be easier for the crews to just say there is no backyard burning vs going through the specifics of each jurisdiction’s code. AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 0 6 /27/22 – MINUTES Page 3 − Cassie had an opportunity to put the idea in front of Council and thought that now was the right time to bring up the conversation again because of COVID impacts, the Marshall Fire, and recent large wildfires. It was last discussed in 2018. Council did not commit but showed some interest. − A Board member stated that they would rather not wait until someone’s house has burned down to increase restrictions and commented about a neighbor burning after midnight. They asked what communication mechanisms for the community are and how they are advertised. Interest was expressed in simplification of communications options. i. Jason stated that PFA does their own outreach and education, but the primary resource for communication of complaints is Access Fort Collins. There is also a nuisance hotline, and Jason also gets direct emails or calls. Rules and information about complaint procesesshave been advertised over the years on social media, mailings, utility bills and ads in the Recreator. Greg B, from an actionability point of view, believes that the fewer options people can go to for information, the better; make it easy to find in one place. − Questions were posed about the process of educational letters and NOVs, if they tend to resolve the problems, and if there is a community push to make the restrictions stricter. Jason stated that the enforcement process starts with a complaint. If it is the 1st complaint, they will send an educational letter without any evidence collected. The letter is worded in a non-confrontational way, just stating the rules, and both owners and tenants are notified, if applicable. If it is a second occurrence at the same location within a year, they will have to investigate for evidence to support the claim. If this violation is confirmed, an Notice of Violation (NOV) is sent. Based on the numbers, there are not a lot of repeat occurrences after the initial educational letter and even fewer after the NOV. In terms of a community push, they have had some vocal community members that are concerned and have asked for a full ban. − Question - how do the complaints get to PFA vs the City and how does PFA collaborate with the Forest Service? It is confusing and concerning to have fire restrictions that are different for different governmental agencies. Chief Simms agreed that it is confusing and their crews get confused as well because each ordinance can read differently. He believes that if everyone knows you can’t do backyard burning in the City of Fort Collins, it would be simpler to understand, even though it is a complex issue. PFA serves Larimer County, Weld County, City of Fort Collins, and the Town of Timnath, so Chief Simms must keep track of all four; the simpler for them, the better. Regarding how people call, it goes back to the AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 0 6 /27/22 – MINUTES Page 4 education piece and what the fire is like. PFA gets called on a range from no serious danger to 12’ flame heights and calls at midnight when people are just tired of the smoke. They respond to all calls whether emergency or non-emergency. − A question was posed about resources used towards these emergency calls, especially when it might reduce PFA’s ability to respond to a true emergency. Chief Simms stated that is where he finds relief, knowing that they have this partnership with the Air Quality team because typically when Jason sends the letter, the burning stops, and they no longer have to go back to a property. One challenge in a college town is turnover of new students and repeated responses. 911 has become a catch- all for all kinds of stuff, not all of which are emergencies. There was some board support for bringing the complexity to City Council and letting them know that streamlining and simplifying the process will make people safer. − Question - Arepeople being safer with ditch burning? Chief Simms stated that for ditch burning, they generally try to wait until conditions are not windy and dry; but, eventually ditch riders may have to burn because the water is coming. Ditch burning can cause a lot of calls from concerned citizens. − One Board member stated that from an air quality perspective, an overall ban is a bit of an overreach because it is not a large enough public health threat, and another was hesitant to reconsider without some type of research, community input, or survey because it was so controversial before. Cassie thinks now there could be some persuasion because of situations like the Marshall Fire. − Question - How would enforcement be different if there was a ban in place because there will still be people that burn when they are not supposed to? Jason stated the ban could simplify gathering of information and evidence but is wondering if they could pursue other options like restricting burning on air quality advisory days. Dan shared that the Denver Metro Area has a hotline that states what times and days are permitted for open burners, depending on the conditions. − Question - Are the complaints evenly spread throughout the City or are they concentrated in specific areas?. Jason stated there is not a square mile within the City that doesn’t have at least a few complaints, but there are slightly more in the northwest potion of the City. − Jason stated that it was helpful talking to the Board, as they are a diverse group and have different opinions. What is clear is that not everyone is head over heels about a total ban, which is probably representative of how the community feels about it. There is the recognition that it would simplify the outreach, enforcement, etc. Jason acknowledged that what they have right now is manageable but there are AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 0 6 /27/22 – MINUTES Page 5 inconsistencies. − The board expressed appreciation for the partnership with PFA and did not consider a recommendation at this time. b. 1041 Rules − Kelly Smith was going to provide a preview of an initial draft of 1041 Regulations. She could not make the meeting, so Karen sent a link to the draft regulations. Cassie mentioned that regarding timeline, they were ahead in inviting Kelly and they have her tentatively rescheduled for August. There will be an opportunity to provide feedback then. The topic will go to Council in October. 7. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS • Wayne shared that the RAQC will be bringing the full SIP draft to the RAQC Board this coming Board meeting on July 8th. • Mark sent a list regarding 2022 State environmental legislation that wentonly to Cassie and Karen. There was a fair amount that passed. The only thing that the Governor vetoed involved EV parking requirements as part of the building codes. Mark does not believe this will affect Fort Collins much due to the City’s stricter building codes. He did state it could affect requirements for affordable housing as the State legislation did not carve out an exception there, but Fort Collins did. There was also a bill that passed to establish at least six new air quality monitoring sites within the State. He was interested to know how Fort Collins could get one. • Karen mentioned that she sent a video on Larimer County Public Health’s Air Quality update, and they talked about some temporary monitors going up near Wellington and Carter Lake. Karen believes that, depending on the results, one or more could become permanent monitors. Dan believes placement was determined by availability of infrastructure. Cassie also mentioned that the City is having a conversation about putting a permanent monitor east of Fort Collins, as the State has identified potential high ozone in that area. The City was awarded a grant for additional regulatory monitoring and is beginning siting conversations with the State and County. • Dan mentioned that Tom Moore will replace Gordon Pierce as the Director of the Technical Services Program within CDPHE Air Pollution Control Division. Tom was a longtime employee of Western Regional Air Partnership, working with 15 western states. Dan believes he is a great replacement for Gordon as he is knowledgable and his roots go deep in the air quality community and even Fort Collins. He was once the Chair for the Air Quality Advisory Board. AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 0 6 /27/22 – MINUTES Page 6 9. OTHER BUSINESS • 6-month Calendar Review − The Board discussed inviting Tom Moore to a meeting to hear about his new position and his perspective. Cassie will reach out to Tom. − Currently July is scheduled to have discussions on budget. The budgeting process for the City is complicated, so Cassie was going to cover the process, air quality budget offers, and what opportunities the Board will have for input. That discussion could be moved because Council will continue to discuss the budget up until its adoption in November.Karen is also interested to know the City’s role with Colorado Communities for Climate Action (CC4CA). This was added as a prospective topic on the planning calendar. − Jason’s last meeting on the Bicycle Advisory Committee is in July, so the Board will need to pick their next representative at the next Board meeting. − Cassie will find out if the Board has received any applications for additional Board Members. 10. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 pm.