HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/22/2010 - Plan Fort Collins Key Policy Choices - Air Quality Advisory Board
Natural Resources Department
215 North Mason
PO Box 580
Fort Collins, CO 80522
970.221.6600
970.2214.6177 Fax
fcgov.com/naturalresources
M E M O R A N D U M
To: Mayor Hutchinson and City Councilmembers
From: Eric Levine, Chair, Air Quality Advisory Board
Date: July 22, 2010
CC: Darin Atteberry, City Manager
Ken Waido, Chief City Planner
Lucinda Smith, Senior Environmental Planner
Subject: AQAB Recommendations on Plan Fort Collins Key Policy Choices
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Fort Collins’ air quality as well as its citizen, environmental and economic health will be impacted
by many of the proposed new directions and policy choices. The key policy directions proposed in
the Energy, Air Quality, and Waste Reduction sections of Environmental Resources Plan Fort
Collins document (June 2010) will positively improve air quality as well as the ability of the City to
achieve its goals in the adopted Climate Action Plan. These policies support the City’s long-
standing goal to “continually improve air quality as the city grows”. It is urgent to move forward
with policies and actions to address issues such as non-compliance with the ground level ozone
standard and making progress now on the city’s carbon reduction goals.
The Air Quality Advisory Board recommends that the City Plan include focus on those policies that
will have the best potential for supporting an increasingly attractive as well as innovative,
sustainable, and connected city.
1. Focus Key Policies on High Priority Air Pollutants
The City’s top priority air pollutants include ozone, greenhouse gases, and fine particles. The
AQAB supports continued development of air quality policies, strategies, and programs to focus on
these pollutants. The programs should include education, incentives, price mechanisms,
regulations, partnerships and regional cooperation as appropriate.
2. The AQAB recommends adoption and implementation of all the key policy choices
contained in the Energy, Air Quality, and Waste sections.
Each of these policies has a direct positive impact on the city’s air quality and its ability to meet the
objectives of the Climate Action Plan.
• ENV1 – Reduce Net Energy Use
• (The AQAB recommends that this key policy choice be labeled “Reduce Net Fossil
Fuel Energy Use” to be clear that the focus is on reducing carbon intensive fossil
fuels.)
• ENV2 – Modernize the Electric Grid
• ENV3 – Improve Energy Performance of Existing Buildings
• ENV4 – Employ Price Mechanisms
• ENV5 – Invest in and Promote Transportation Fuels and Efficiency for Clean Air
• ENV6 – Reduce Carbon Intensity and Consumption
• ENV7- Reduce Solid Waste and Divert It from Landfills
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3. The AQAB has a vision of a new transportation system paradigm that meets diverse
community needs and addresses air quality problems. This vision combines enhanced
travel corridors and a district (activity center) focus with significantly increased mobility
management.
Because transportation is a major source of air pollution in Fort Collins, we believe the
City Plan should adopt a transportation direction that will contribute to cleaner air, provide viable
transportation choices, support achievement of the Climate Action Plan goals, and achieve an
effective and affordable system transport solution.
We support transportation and other City policies and actions that will achieve urban densities,
connected activity centers, and retain a positive character for the future of Fort Collins. While none
of the transportation key policy choices currently listed in the Transportation section have this
balance, we urge the City Council to seek a new paradigm that combines enhanced travel
corridors/district focus with more significant mobility management. We believe this would come
closer to providing Fort Collins with a more effective and affordable system transport solution and
at the same time contribute to cleaner air. Examples and elements of this new vision and paradigm
include:
• Mason Corridor,
• connected activity centers,
• low speed safe multi-modal corridors for bicycles, electric carts, pedestrians, scooters, etc.,
• an optimized transportation system that offers travel corridors with fewer stops, more
roundabouts, yield signs, and grade-separated crossings,
• focus on maintenance and modification of existing roads to meet the new transportation
paradigm rather than expansion of the currently designed road system.
4. As the City moves from policy to implementation, we offer the following recommendations
to City Council:
• Mandatory approaches will be needed alongside incentives, education and partnerships in
order to reach City goals. We urge Council to consider the full range of implementation
mechanisms available.
• It is critical to identify and address funding needs.
We urge the City Council to recognize that different motivating factors can be applied to different
policies, and careful analysis of the best motivational approaches for each policy could
significantly improve acceptance and implementation of key policy directions. Motivating
factors that have worked well in Fort Collins include peer pressure, rationality (does it make
sense?), cost:benefit (making the business case by demonstrating that cost savings can be realized ) ,
and regulation (must do it).
• Lastly, we urge City Council not to focus on quick fixes, but instead focus on long-term
solutions.
We appreciate the Council’s challenges in creating Plan Fort Collins and are available for further
discussion on this important topic.
Respectfully,
Eric Levine
Chair, Air Quality Advisory Board