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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/16/2024 - AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD - AGENDA - Regular Meeting (2)Air Quality Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING – September 16, 2024 Location: 222 Laporte Ave. & via Zoom -https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86300101872 7:00 CALL TO ORDER / ROLL CALL 1. AGENDA REVIEW 2. COMMUNITY MEMBER PARTICIPATION 3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 4. NEW BUSINESS 7:10-7:30 Council Memos: Budgeting for Outcomes & Urban Forestry Strategic Plan The board will consider taking formal action to approve the joint memos, discussed during the prior joint meeting with NRAB, related to the City of Fort Collins 2025-26 budget and Urban Forestry Strategic Plan. If discussed during the prior joint meeting, the board will select and vote on a representative to speak at the public budget hearings. (Action) 5. OTHER BUSINESS / UPDATES Board Member Reports Six Month Calendar Review https://www.fcgov.com/cityclerk/planning-calendar.php Revisit action items from previous meetings & preview of next meeting City Websites with Updates: Air Quality Advisory Board webpage: https://www.fcgov.com/cityclerk/boards/air-quality-advisory Natural Resources Advisory Board webpage: https://www.fcgov.com/cityclerk/natural-resources.php Our Climate Future: https://ourcity.fcgov.com/ourclimatefuture 6. ADJOURN 1 07/15/2024 - Minutes Air Quality Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING Monday, July 15, 2024 – 5:30PM 222 Laporte Avenue, Colorado River Room 1. CALL TO ORDER: 5:31PM 2. ROLL CALL Board Members Present– • Dan Welsh (Chair) • Mark Houdashelt (Interim Vice Chair) • Matt Ayres • Michael Cheeseman • Jeremiah Gorske • Adam Schmidt • Maria Moore Board Members Absent– • Kaori Keyser • Michael Johnson Staff Members Present– • Selina Lujan de Albers, Staff Liaison Guest(s)– • None 3. AGENDA REVIEW Chair Welsh reviewed the published agenda and noted he has compiled information from members regarding budget offers into a spreadsheet for review. 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION None. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Members discussed the June minutes and completed missing information as to who was speaking. Houdashelt made a motion, seconded by Cheeseman, to approve the June minutes as amended. The motion was adopted unanimously. 2 07/15/2024 - Minutes 6. PREVIOUS BUSINESS Chair Welsh stated he spoke with the Natural Resources Advisory Board Chair and Vice Chair regarding the joint meeting conduct and potential joint memo regarding budget offers. Additionally, he noted the City Manager’s recommended budget will come out August 30th following the joint meeting with the NRAB on August 19th, which is pending Councilmember Ohlson’s approval. Lujan de Albers stated she would write the memo to Councilmember Ohlson and requested the Board determine whether there will be subsequent joint meeting dates to include in that memo. Chair Welsh suggested appointing a representative from each Board to craft a joint memo to Council which will ultimately need to be approved by both Boards; therefore, there is the possibility for a second joint meeting to be held in September. Lujan de Albers stated staff is looking into whether two representatives from each Board could collaborate on the memo without violating open meetings laws. Members discussed the possibility of the AQAB also submitting its own independent memo regarding the budget offers. Houdashelt noted Schmidt and Moore were to be working on researching what needs to be done for the Board to engage in public outreach and education. Moore stated initial inquiries have been sent to Davina Lau in the City Clerk’s Office. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Review of Budgeting for Outcomes (BFO) Offers Moore commented on the downside of building electrification and stated her enthusiasm for electrification has decreased significantly since the last meeting. A member questioned whether there is a way to quantify the amount of money that is being proposed to be spent versus the actual relative greenhouse gas emissions reductions or air quality benefits that are occurring. He specifically mentioned the budget offer related to purchasing new electric buses. Mark stated there is no lifecycle analysis of the air quality impacts versus the economic toll. Moore noted some of the downsides of electrification were in Cassie Archuleta’s presentation. Jeremiah commented on the environmental justice side of dealing with battery recycling and the source of precious minerals. Houdashelt noted there was a meeting wherein staff members were told they did not need to include greenhouse gas metrics, which are generally considered speculative, when developing offers to be funded with the new climate tax. Lujan de Albers stated there is a current staff member who is attempting to 3 07/15/2024 - Minutes quantify the greenhouse gas impacts related to offers connected to the 2050 tax. Houdashelt stated the Fort Collins Sustainability Group had a meeting with climate staff during which the group was told that staff would be able to estimate greenhouse gas emissions reduction if given a list of all offers that have a climate impact. He noted it will likely be difficult to provide accurate estimates for all items. Members discussed the difficulty in creating a cost benefit analysis for offers. Chair Welsh noted offers do not always have to be fully funded for the requested dollar amounts. Houdashelt noted some of the funding is provided by dedicated sources. Chair Welsh commented on Moore’s point that the more things are electrified, the more electric power is necessary, and the generation of electric power is a contributor to air quality and climate issues. Members discussed the offer for a FTE for a Healthy Homes navigator and direct household support. Members expressed general support for the offer. Lujan de Albers provided additional detail on what the offer would fund. Members discussed the offer for the Air Quality Monitoring Fund. Houdashelt stated the offer does not make clear what is actually being funded. He also expressed concern that the AQMAC has done very little to this point and stated providing the group more funding is troublesome. Chair Welsh stated he observed that many of the offers focus more on climate than air quality directly, which is why the air quality monitoring fund offer rated of importance for him. Houdashelt questioned how the offer will help improve air quality. A member stated it may not be about directly improving air quality but about knowing what air quality needs to be improved in the future. He stated he viewed the offer as an investment in the future of air quality monitoring. Moore commented on the importance of trusting staff as air quality professionals and noted this is their request. Lujan de Albers noted Cassie Archuleta is the owner of the budget offer and Chair Welsh stated the amount of the offer is $100,000. Members disagreed on support for the offer and opted to return to the topic. Members discussed the offer related to hiring full-time employees for Our Climate Future. Houdashelt stated he would have liked more detail in this offer. Matt commented on the vagueness of the Our Climate Future plan. 4 07/15/2024 - Minutes A member stated the staff may be needed in order to determine how to best spend the tax revenue. Moore concurred and stated the City does not have the resources or studies to move Our Climate Future forward. Chair Welsh stated he would like to have seen more specifics in the budget offer. Moore stated she feels the offer is vague as the City has no idea how to begin efforts toward implementing Our Climate Future. Lujan de Albers stated the FTEs would help facilitate and implement the programs associated with Our Climate Future and the Municipal Innovation Fund, Community Leadership Grants, and Community Consultants will roll into the Our Climate Future initiatives. Houdashelt noted these positions would need to be funded on an ongoing basis. Moore asked about the actual language of the ballot initiative. Houdashelt replied the language implies 25% of the tax revenue goes directly toward reducing greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution. Chair Welsh noted the tax is ongoing. Houdashelt did not oppose the staffing aspect, but expressed concern about bundling in the other aspects of the offer which make for an ‘all or nothing’ situation. Most members expressed general support for the offer. Chair Welsh noted some of the conversation could be included in a memo outlining a request for additional specificity. Houdashelt expressed concern about the lack of budget offers tied directly to meeting the 2026 emissions reduction goal. A member suggested the Board should provide a memo related to that concern. Members discussed the budget offer related to a 1.5 FTE for an Urban Forestry Planner. Moore opposed the offer stating more could be done in terms of public outreach and not just addressing 15% of the city’s trees. Michael C. noted the 15% number relates to public trees. A member stated planting trees does not address the root cause of air quality issues. A member expressed support for the offer, but stated it is not one of the Board’s top issues. Michael C. concurred and stated it is not as important as some of the other offers in terms of air quality. 5 07/15/2024 - Minutes Chair Welsh noted the intent of the Urban Forestry presentation to the Board was seeking a memo in support of the Urban Forestry Strategic Plan and stated the topic does not have to be a key point in the budget memo. He summarized the Board’s position as one of general support but not a top priority. Members discussed an offer related to strategic electric design assistance for affordable housing. Adam stated the offer was well written and will help improve access to consultation for buildings that are more efficient without having to hire a separate firm in order to do so and would provide no cost pre-approved design plans for efficient construction. Chair Welsh suggested this offer could support the use of the climate tax dollars. Members expressed support for the offer, specifically noting that this item will help with making buildings more efficient, which will lead to less power generation needed. Members discussed an offer related to purchasing electric lawn and garden equipment for City use. Chair Welsh stated the change would have a direct air quality impact noting two-stroke engines have a disproportionate air quality impact and are not regulated in the same manner as vehicle emissions. Members expressed support for the offer, particularly given it would be phased into effect through 2030. Members discussed an offer related to in route charging for Transfort buses. It was noted that the majority of funding for this item is from a grant. A member stated the scope of this offer is too narrow to be considered as one of the Board’s top priorities. Members expressed general support for the offer. Members discussed an offer related to a virtual power plant. Schmidt opposed the offer stating he does not want Fort Collins to be the guinea pig for the technology. Additionally, he stated there is virtually no data proving this would be beneficial and it requires individuals to opt in to be useful in the first place. Chair Welsh asked Schmidt if he feels this offer should specifically be opposed. Schmidt replied he would like to see the item put on hold until more data is available to prove it would be useful to the community. A member commented on information from Utilities that stated virtual power plants can lower energy bills for consumers in addition to reducing emissions and research suggests that leveraging distributed sources during peak 6 07/15/2024 - Minutes demand is up to 60% more cost effective than relying on gas plants. Additionally, he noted the Colorado Renewable Energy Society supports virtual power plants in Colorado. Houdashelt expressed support for the offer and stated it would be in his top five to support. Cheeseman stated this offer is interesting in that it is trying to improve the way we use what we already have, though it does have a higher price tag. Members generally declined to express support for the virtual power plant offer. Members discussed the budget offer related to community renewable purchase power. Houdashelt noted it is an ongoing offer. Lujan de Albers stated the offer will likely get funding. Members expressed support for the offer. Members discussed the offer related to the mini-grant expansion to address climate housing nexus in affordable housing. Members had varied opinions on the offer with three members expressing support. Members discussed the offer related to Transfort bus replacement. Houdashelt stated this item will help the City meet its 2040 goal of 100% electrification of the bus fleet. Four members expressed support for the offer. Members discussed the budget offer related to the Poudre Express Regional Transport. Members expressed support for the offer. A member requested input regarding the offer related to the Active Modes Plan Infrastructure Implementation which would hopefully help to take vehicles off the roadway. No members expressed opposition to the offer; however, Moore stated it is not an AQAB issue and should not be in the memo. Other members disagreed stating air quality will be directly impacted by increasing active modes. Houdashelt stated this item is not in his top 15. Three members expressed support for the offer; however, they agreed it would not be part of the memo. Members continued to discuss the Air Quality Monitoring Fund offer. A memberstated it seems members would all support some version of the offer, but not exactly as is. He suggested a separate memo could be written indicating the Board does not like how the offer is written, but does support monitoring. Chair Welsh stated he could bring the Board’s concerns to the AQMAC meeting on Thursday. Members expressed support for that path. Members expressed support for the offer with the suggestion of adding more funding to provide more specificity or more extensive AQ monitoring. 7 07/15/2024 - Minutes Chair Welsh stated he would be willing to work on the memo. b. Urban Forestry Strategic Plan Memo This item was tabled for discussion at a future meeting. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS None. 9. ADJOURNMENT 8:12pm Minutes approved by a vote of the Board on XX/XX/2024.