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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD - MINUTES - 11/20/20241 11/20/2024 - Minutes Natural Resources Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING Wednesday, November 20, 2024 – 6:00 PM 222 Laporte Avenue 1. CALL TO ORDER: 6:01 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present – • Dawson Metcalf (Chair) • Kelly Stewart (Vice Chair) • Matt Zoccali • Barry Noon • Lisa Andrews • Teagan Loew b. Board Members Absent – • Kelen Dowdy • Sara LoTemplio • Todd Simmons c. Staff Members Present – • Honore Depew, Staff Liaison • Katherine Bailey, Energy Services Project Manager • Dave Kemp, Trails Senior Planner d. Guest(s) – • Rob Cagen 3. AGENDA REVIEW The approval of minutes item was moved to the end of the meeting pending quorum. 4. COMMUNITY MEMBER PARTICIPATION Rob Cagen stated he was formerly Chair of the Parks and Recreation Board and has also served on the Air Quality Advisory Board. He stated he is seeking a new Board position with the City. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – OCTOBER 2024 Noon made a motion, seconded by Vice Chair Stewart, to approve the October 2024 regular meeting minutes as amended to correct a wording error. The motion was adopted unanimously. 2 11/20/2024 - Minutes 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Building Performance Standards (BPS) – Katherine Bailey, Energy Services Project Manager Katherine Bailey, Energy Services Project Manager, stated Building Performance Standards (BPS) is a proposed regulatory policy that would require existing commercial and multi-family buildings to meet performance or efficiency targets in Fort Collins. Bailey stated BPS not only benefits environmental goals, but also benefits health, safety, comfort, and resilience. Bailey noted some buildings are already meeting targets. Bailey stated two Council work sessions have occurred since she last came before the Board and another work session is scheduled for January, which is a bit of a delay from the original schedule. Bailey noted there has been some community trepidation around the policy, primarily revolving around associated costs. She stated environmental and economic goals can be seen as interwoven rather than conflicting. Bailey stated BPS as a policy has the potential to be the most impactful direct policy action the City can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 in alignment with Our Climate Future. She noted additional electrification will be needed to meet those goals as well. Bailey stated every year that goes by not adopting this policy equates to about one-half of a percentage point toward the 2030 emission goal. She also noted BPS would be impactful on reducing natural gas use, and would actually have more impact on reducing natural gas use than electrification when looking out to 2030. In terms of economic impacts, Bailey stated the total program cost associated with BPS is $290 million; however, administrative costs include programs that are already ongoing. The projected cost from the community side is $226 million, which would be the cost for updating local buildings, which is about $200,000 per building, which is about the same as the average cost of a tenant finish over the last ten years, or about 1% of the last purchase price of all the buildings being covered. Depew asked if the administrative costs are annual or over the life of the program. Bailey showed a slide indicating when costs are expected to be happening and noted, because it is an efficiency program, there are savings that directly result from reducing energy use. She stated the policy would pay for itself by 2039 in terms of energy savings only, and by 2050, the benefit is $2.50 in energy savings for every $1 spent. Bailey noted some feedback has indicated this would be better if a regulatory pathway did not have to be used and incentives could be used instead; however, rebate and incentives have been in place since 2002, and those programs have accounted for a large portion of historic savings, but those programs have not been able to decrease overall community electric use. Additionally, there is declining opportunity in the rebate and incentive space. Bailey commented on the fact that it is cheaper to save energy than to buy or produce more energy, and she discussed strategic electrification which involves efficiency first. 3 11/20/2024 - Minutes Bailey provided additional information on the intersection of environmental and economic health, citing insurance and health costs specifically. Noon asked if the trend in climate change and warming has been included in the model projections. Bailey replied it has been to a degree, though the dramatic swings that are likely to occur moving forward are difficult to capture. Noon noted increases in efficiency may be offset to some degree by increases in demand for energy driven by climate change. Bailey noted savings revolves around electric of gas bills avoided, though rates will continue to increase. Bailey commented on the fact that buildings are a community asset and the community as a whole will benefit from improvements to those buildings; therefore, there is a need for a conversation about how many ratepayer dollars should be invested into local buildings to take some of the financial burden off building owners. Bailey again noted there will be a Council work session on BPS on January 13th and stated the request for stakeholders between now and then is to share an understanding of the costs and benefits of BPS, environmentally and economically, with the community. She also requested feedback on how to make the presentation more human-oriented and asked the Board members if they would like to provide input to Council. Vice Chair Stewart asked about the stakeholder pushback that has been received. Bailey replied that the principal pushback responsible for the delay relates to economic and cost concerns. Zoccali asked about whether there are incentives provided by the City to businesses to make the updates to buildings, and if so, are the funds federal and is there an anticipation that those funds will change given the incoming administration. Bailey replied the historic rebates and incentives have covered about 60% of project costs since the program launched in 2002. It is anticipated that there will still be Efficiency Works business funds and staff has also pitched to Council that additional dollars be made available to support under-resourced buildings and provide an early-adopter incentive. Additionally, she stated there is reason to be optimistic about the kind of Inflation Reduction Act dollars that would be supporting this type of program. There is also the potential for use of the 2050 tax dollars. Chair Metcalf noted most people will be considering the dollar amounts and suggested including a graph with information if nothing was done to help understand avoided cost savings. He suggested placing those two together might create a stronger picture for broader audiences. Bailey stated that would be a good inclusion and noted it is somewhat misleading to say ‘savings,’ when in reality it is avoided costs. Depew outlined the options the Board could take to provide feedback to Council. Vice Chair Stewart stated she would not like to see the program delayed and suggested the last couple slides would be more impactful at the beginning of the presentation. Noon expressed support for the Board submitting a short memo to Council as it would 4 11/20/2024 - Minutes allow for comments to be presented in a more clear and meaningful fashion. Other members concurred. Chair Metcalf asked Noon if he would be willing to do a first draft. Noon replied in the affirmative and stated he would need assistance from other members. Zoccali made a motion, seconded by Vice Chair Stewart, for the Natural Resources Advisory Board to create a memo providing comments on and expressing support for Building Performance Standards. The motion was adopted unanimously. b. Strategic Trails Plan – Dave Kemp, Trails Senior Planner Dave Kemp, Trails Senior Planner, noted the Strategic Trails Plan (STP) was previously the Paved Recreational Trails Master Plan and commented on the importance of trails in forming 15-minute cities while also serving a recreational purpose. He noted serving historically underserved neighborhoods, schools, and parks and natural areas are priorities. Kemp outlined the three phases of the project: vision and needs, proposed trails and policies, and the formation of a draft Strategic Trails Plan. He detailed the Our City interactive web page that has been utilized in the process. Kemp discussed a diagram outlining plan congruence in the 15-minute city spectrum. Loew asked about trails being placed along irrigation ditches. Kemp replied some ditch companies, such as New Mercer, have allowed for the inclusion of trails; however, other ditch companies do not want trails along their ditches. Noon commented on the need for a way to float the Poudre River through the city noting there are diversions that keep that from occurring. Depew asked how much interaction exists between the paved trail work and Natural Areas and Utilities around the river itself. Kemp replied the departments work together frequently and commented on a forthcoming document titled The Poudre River Reach Four analysis which takes into account the flow of the water and the diversions mentioned by Noon. Kemp discussed the new Poudre River Trail connection which will be completed this weekend. Vice Chair Stewart asked what entity is responsible for maintaining the rare outhouses along trails. Kemp replied they are typically maintained by Parks or Natural Areas. Zoccali asked how many of the proposed trail areas have the potential for encountering long-term groundwater dewatering issues. Kemp replied that is the next step in the process given the new state mandate to monitor water quality. He stated it is important to look at new ways to design underpasses so as not to encounter the need for monitoring groundwater quality. 5 11/20/2024 - Minutes c. Annual Work Plan Members discussed the former Work Plan. Loew suggested incorporating the Strategic Trails Plan and Building Performance Standards. Depew commented on various ways the Work Plan could be organized. Chair Metcalf noted some of the newer members are not present and suggested the possibility of sending out the document for review by all members and considering it in December. Zoccali supported Loew’s suggestion and the idea of a broad list with more specific items underneath. He noted the ECMC put a stop work order on the oil and gas operator in Fort Collins and is forcing them into the orphan well program. Depew noted members cannot make comments on a shared document; however, one member could take on revisions. Chair Metcalf tabled the action on the Work Plan until the December meeting and stated he would work with Depew to revise the document for review at that meeting. 7. OTHER BUSINESS/UPDATES Depew noted every member whose term is expiring does need to reapply. He discussed topics for upcoming meetings. Zoccali stated he is not particularly interested in hearing about the One Water approach specifically as his understanding is that it is more about how a utility organizes itself operationally and strategically around water. Depew noted the Board and City will be shifting from Zoom to Teams for all meetings and reviewed the topics discussed at the recent Super Issues meeting. 8. ADJOURNMENT • 8:14 pm Minutes approved by a vote of the Board on 12/18/2024