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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD - MINUTES - 04/21/20251 4/21/2025 - Minutes Air Quality Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING Monday, April 21, 2025 – 5:30 PM 222 Laporte Avenue, Colorado River Room 1. CALL TO ORDER: 5:31 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present – • Dan Welsh (Chair) • Mark Houdashelt (Vice Chair) • Michael Johnson • Adam Schmidt • Michael Cheeseman • Howard Gebhart • Christina Swope • Maria Moore • Matt Ayres (arrived late) b. Board Members Absent – • None c. Staff Members Present – • Selina Lujan de Albers, Staff Liaison • Honore Depew, Environmental Services Climate Program Manager • Dashiell Bubar-Hall, FC Moves Transportation Planner • Brian Tholl, Energy Services Director d. Guest(s) – • Sonia Koetting 3. AGENDA REVIEW No changes. 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION None. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – MARCH 2025 Members discussed changes to the minutes. Vice Chair Houdashelt made a motion, seconded by Cheeseman, to approve the minutes of the March 2025 meeting as amended. The motion was adopted unanimously. 6. PREVIOUS BUSINESS Lujan de Albers noted there is a survey to be completed by members prior to next 2 4/21/2025 - Minutes week’s special meeting related to education and outreach. Members discussed the possibility of participating in EcoFest in June and agreed to discuss it at the special meeting. Chair Welsh noted Air Quality Awareness Week is the first week of May and stated CDPHE does a number of things for that, including a social media guide and public outreach event at City Park in Denver on May 2nd. Vice Chair Houdashelt noted the Board sent a memo to Council as part of its last meeting in support of directing staff to study a large methane user fee and stated the Natural Resources Advisory Board also sent the same memo to Council. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Introductions of New and Existing Members New members Howard Gebhart and Christina Swope, as well as existing members, introduced themselves and commented on their experience in the air quality realm and interest in serving on the Board. b. Discussion with Council Liaison Kelly Ohlson Councilmember Kelly Ohlson welcomed the new members and thanked the existing members for their service. He discussed his service on City Boards and Council over the past 40 plus years and commented on his interest in air quality. He discussed the changes in the role of the Council liaisons over time and stated he will only attend Board meetings as the liaison if asked. He noted he is not running for reelection in November. Councilmember Ohlson encouraged the Boards to write separate memos from one another to maximize impact for Council. He encouraged the Board to weigh in on the budget and to provide any information to Council prior to work sessions. Councilmember Ohlson discussed the Council election and priority setting process which results in the Council work plan. He also encouraged the Board to weigh in on work plan items prior to Council’s development of its work plan. He discussed his history in leading the ballot measures supporting Natural Areas funding. Michael Johnson stated it was gratifying to hear Councilmember Ohlson’s feedback on the Board’s memos and input. He asked how the Board could better engage with Council other than just providing memos and asked if there is anything about the content of memos that would be more valuable. Councilmember Ohlson replied he would attempt to encourage council to be better about providing follow-up and suggested memos include what the Board would like Council to do with as much supporting information and data as possible without being overwhelming. He encouraged the Board to ensure communications are written in their voice, not that of the City organization. Moore noted Board members have been having discussions about their role 3 4/21/2025 - Minutes as a Board and stated many members have expressed frustration about just writing memos. She noted the Board has come to the conclusion that it wants to conduct more education and outreach efforts and asked Councilmember Ohlson for his opinion. Councilmember Ohlson encouraged the Board to demand staff get presentations before the Board early enough that its input has an impact. He stated he is a huge proponent of Boards and Commissions and stated the advice and expertise received from their members leads to better policy. Additionally, he stated Boards exist to advise staff, though not to direct staff. Vice Chair Houdashelt noted staff sometimes does not have presentations ready in time for the Board to hear them and provide meaningful feedback to Council before work sessions . He stated there are instances in which it seems staff is making presentations to Boards simply to check a box. Councilmember Ohlson noted Council works on a two-year work plan, not a twenty-year work plan, and it has been difficult over time to have the City organization understand that. Chair Welsh suggested it may be important to follow-up with staff regarding how Board suggestions were implemented. Councilmember Ohlson stated that would be a fair request for Boards to make. Lujan de Albers noted staff is seeking feedback from members of the Board when presentations are made and stated she and Honore Depew have been encouraged by leadership to creatively think about the strategic partnership with Boards and Commissions. Councilmember Ohlson thanked Boardmembers for their work and reiterated the importance of early timing for advice to Council. Moore stated the Board needs to determine how it is going to function to make recommendations. Chair Welsh stated part of that underscores the importance of having information prior to the presentation. Moore noted the Board rarely provides memos to Council and lacks time after presentations to discuss. Members further discussed options for providing input to Council and agreed to revisit the topic. c. Overview of Council Priority 6 and the EV Readiness and Electrification Roadmap – Honore Depew, Dashiell Bubar-Hall, and Brian Tholl Honore Depew, Environmental Services Climate Program Manager, noted he is the staff liaison for the Natural Resources Advisory Board and stated that that Board struggles with the same issues regarding being more impactful. Depew noted one of Council’s adopted priorities is to reduce climate pollution 4 4/21/2025 - Minutes and air pollution through best practices with an emphasis on electrification. He stated the work of this priority is deeply aligned with the City’s core environmental mission. He discussed the main reasons for the development of the Our Climate Future plan, which also ties to concrete implementation strategies. He noted the plan includes greenhouse gas emission reduction goals and measures progress to targets, along with a commitment to equity and community resilience. He noted the plan was originally a joint update of three plans: Energy Policy, Road to Zero Waste, and the Climate Action Plan. Additionally, Depew noted the plan includes a goal of providing 100% renewable electricity to the community by 2030, and in partnership with Platte River Power Authority, the City is on a pathway to reach or come very close to reaching that goal, depending on how it is accounted for.. Depew commented on data associated with how air quality is measured. Members discussed how the air quality index is affected by both particulate matter and ozone. Vice Chair Houdashelt stated it will be important to separate these so that Council will know what the focus should be in terms of improving air quality. Chair Welsh stated the two most significant things that are contributing to the air quality index (AQI) are likely wildfires and ozone, and it is important to lean into the things that can be controlled, which is largely the ozone side. He stated it is important to think about regional collaboration to encourage the other contributors to poor air quality to be more accountable. Chair Welsh noted that while electrification can go a long way toward reducing emissions and negative contributions to air quality that come from mobile sources, it is important to put additional emphasis on the need for minimizing the emissions coming from electrical generation. Depew discussed the methodology for greenhouse gas accounting and the community greenhouse gas emissions inventory. He also outlined the electricity source makeup over time. Vice Chair Houdashelt stated Platte River Power Authority is no longer going to be carbon neutral by 2030 and asked if that is factored into the electricity source makeup. Depew replied PRPA’s integrated resource plan gets them to about 90% of the 2030 goal. Brian Tholl, Energy Services Director, stated the definition of 100% renewable electricity is important and the current Our Climate Future goal is a consumption-based goal, which is different than PRPA’s resource diversification policy operational goal. Swope asked if the possibility of a large data center is included in the electric forecast. Tholl replied that no large scale data centers are included in the forecast at this time . Depew noted the City’s Economic Health Office has not been pursuing a data center and has not seen them as a strong and robust part of the economy, as they have few associated jobs and are a large drain on electric resources. Depew commented on the use of the new sales tax revenue from the 2050 Tax for climate related issues. He went on to provide an update of some of the key initiatives that were highlighted with this Council priority when it was first adopted, including electrification of buildings, transportation/fleet 5 4/21/2025 - Minutes vehicles, and small engine equipment. He also discussed some of the regulatory initiatives that are currently underway or pending, including building performance standards . Economic and behavioral based efforts include the EV Readiness Roadmap and efficiency incentive efforts. Moore asked when this will be presented at the Council work session. Depew replied it will be presented May 13th and stated he is requesting Board input as part of this conversation and in any follow-up. He also noted the Board could provide direct feedback to Council and this item is an update, not an item on which Council will take action. Moore stated the Board has had some doubt about the Our Climate Future plan in general in terms of specifics. Depew replied staff is working through an extensive enhancement of Our Climate Future to better support staff and community members in leveraging the tools of the framework; however, the most important deliverable will be toward the end of the year in the form of an OCF Strategic Funding Plan to help lay out the pathways forward for Council for utilizing new and existing revenue. He stated he welcomes continued and more strategic advising conversations with the Board. Michael Cheeseman asked how much knowledge Council has about virtual power plants (VPP). Tholl replied that council is moderately aware of VPP efforts primarily because there was a budget offer submitted specific to virtual power plant enhancement. . He suggested having a quick definition of what it actually means in terms of crowdsourcing energy from batteries already plugged into the grid. Chair Welsh suggested providing statistics related to the number of EVs in the city and whether there is support from EV owners and the City to buy into the virtual power plant. Depew provided a timeline for the strategic refresh of Our Climate Future, including the Q4 S trategic Funding Plan work . He stated the best time for this Board to engage would be in May and/or July when the first draft of the updates is complete. He noted that the initiatives that will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and climate pollution will also help reduce air pollution. Dan Welsh commented on the importance of regional collaboration in air quality issues. Chair Welsh suggested putting pressure on other entities which are less accountable for emissions that lead to the local ozone problem, though he acknowledged that is difficult. Swope asked what Depew would like Council to take away from the air quality index graph. Depew replied he would like Council to know there is a lot yet to be done and there is a large negative impact on the community from a number of sources, the majority of which come from transportation, oil and gas, and small engines. Moore noted Fort Collins no longer has oil and gas emissions issues and suggested the graph either needs to be focused on what Fort Collins can control or it should be made with more of a regional focus. Dashiell Bubar-Hall, FC Moves Transportation Planner, discussed the EV 6 4/21/2025 - Minutes Readiness Roadmap (EVRR). Staff would like to have final documents submitted to the State regarding the EV Readiness Roadmap by the middle of June and noted it is a high-level document that includes strategies. He also noted this is not a Council-adopted plan, but staff will be providing Council with a memo after completion. Bubar-Hall noted there are tangible greenhouse gas reduction benefits associated with transitioning from internal combustion vehicles to EVs, and that shift also aligns with many of the City’s sustainability goals. He stated Colorado is the number one state in terms of new market share of EVs and noted there are many more options for EVs, and they are more attainable than they have ever been. Bubar-Hall commented on the three levels of charging: level one which is trickle with a regular outlet, level two which requires a 240-volt outlet, and level three which charge the fastest but which are the most expensive. He outlined the format of the EV Readiness Roadmap document, including the educational component and strategies and recommendations for how to increase EV adoption and support current EV owners. He noted the document contains a focus on equity and discussed the vision and goal areas of the document. (**Secretary’s Note: Boardmembers voted to approve extending the meeting.) Bubar-Hall noted EV battery production produces greenhouse gas emissions, and locally and in the United States, it takes about 20,000-25,000 miles to overcome that battery production before carbon savings compared to an internal combustion vehicle begins. He noted there is a 50-66% carbon emissions savings over the life of an EV, and that number will increase over the next years. Bubar-Hall outlined the community outreach process that was part of the EVRR and discussed the key takeaways from the survey, including public charger barriers and issues with EV battery depletion in cold weather, though those issues are improving. He noted the main priority from the survey was expanded public charging infrastructure; however, half of the EV owners who responded stated they have never utilized a public charger. Bubar-Hall discussed the focus group of almost entirely Spanish speaking residents of multi-family and mobile home communities. He stated those residents expressed interest in having additional charging infrastructure near their communities. Members commented on the importance of having wayfinding for charging devices. Bubar-Hall noted the use of public chargers has increased post- COVID; however, that is mostly offset by maintenance costs. He stated the City has been told to avoid installing level three chargers as much as possible as they are extremely expensive to install. Bubar-Hall noted Fort Collins’ capacity fees are a bit prohibitive and Tesla and other charger providers tend to opt out of providing chargers here. He stated the capacity fees work as intended for the most part with buildings but are 7 4/21/2025 - Minutes somewhat of a mismatch with charging infrastructure and need to be reworked so the private sector will start installing level three chargers. He stated that process is being led by Utilities and options for enhancements are being evaluated. Bubar-Hall stated there are approximately 5,300 EVs and plug-in hybrids in Fort Collins, and they account for about 20-25% of new vehicle purchases. He stated there are currently 147 public level- two ports and six public level- three ports in Fort Collins, and those numbers probably should be higher. He stated it will be important to support and incentivize the private sector to add them. He also noted the Building Code was updated two years ago to include a charging infrastructure requirement, and those developments are essentially just getting built now. 8. OTHER BUSINESS a. Board Member Reports Vice Chair Houdashelt noted the CDPHE Air Pollution Control Division is hosting some upcoming on-line meetings on ozone and ozone pollution reduction. b. Six Month Calendar Review c. Revisit Action Items from Previous Meetings and Preview of Next Meeting 9. ADJOURNMENT ● 8:31 pm Minutes approved by a vote of the Board on 5/21/2025