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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/16/2025 - AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD - AGENDA - Regular Meeting Air Quality Advisory Board Monday, June 16, 2025 5:30 – 8:00 PM (dinner for Board members and presenters served at 5:15 pm) 222 Laporte Ave | Colorado River Room Conference Room (first floor) Meeting link for hybrid access (requires internet access): fcgov.com/aqab-teams-meeting 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 6. PREVIOUS BUSINESS 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Elections; 5:45-6:00 The Board will nominate and consider candidates for Board Chair and Vice-Chair. (Action) b. Air Quality Measures for OMAPs Reporting; 6:00- 7:00 Jacob Castillo, Chief Sustainability Officer, will seek board input and recommendations on air quality measures to demonstrate progress toward the ENV 1 strategic objective, supporting the City’s Organizational Measures, Analysis, and Performance (OMAP) reporting process. (Discussion) 8. OTHER BUSINESS ● 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 ● Our Climate Future: https://ourcity.fcgov.com/ourclimatefuture 9. ADJOURN Air Quality Advisory Board SPECIAL MEETING Tuesday, April 29, 2025 – 12:30 PM 300 Laporte Ave, CIC Room 1. CALL TO ORDER: 12:34 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present – ● Dan Welsh (Chair) ● Michael Johnson ● Michael Cheeseman ● Howard Gebhart ● Christina Swope b. Board Members Absent – ● Mark Houdashelt (Vice Chair) ● Adam Schmidt ● Maria Moore ● Matt Ayres c. Staff Members Present – ● Selina Lujan de Albers, Staff Liaison ● Micah Warners d. Guest(s) – ● Vara Vissa ● Uday Vissa 3. AGENDA REVIEW No changes. 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION Vara Vissa identified herself as a former AQAB member. She stated she lives on Taft Hill and Trilby and that she is concerned about several things, including: the nearby location of the new behavioral health center that is not accessible by public transportation, the location and activities of the County landfill that cause dust and high levels of methane in residential neighborhoods and natural areas, lack of City accountability and communication with residents, and that the new residential recycling and trash program has caused more garbage truck traffic and greenhouse gas emissions, not less. Vara also said that it is difficult to access the board agenda to find where the meeting will be held. Additionally, she has had trouble joining board meetings virtually through Teams. Chairman Welsh thanked Vara for coming to the meeting and expressing her concerns. Lujan de Albers invited Vara to email her directly for the agenda if she has trouble finding it in the future. Vara emphasized that the agenda should be easily accessible online to everyone. Vara and Uday Vissa left the meeting. Lujan de Albers clarified for the board that since it is at the landfill, the source of the fugitive dust is outside of City limits and outside of City jurisdiction. Chairman Welsh asked if the landfill itself monitors the dust. Lujan de Albers said she is unsure, but the board can get more information from Cassie Archuleta, if they choose to pursue it. Gebhart stated the landfill would be subjected to state regulations. Chairman Welsh said his job is to monitor fugitive dust and that local monitors may not be ideally situated. He said he would know if satellite monitoring picked up fugitive dust that exceeded EPA standards. He does not want to invalidate Vara’s concerns, but he does not think there is any regulatory recourse that could come from direct monitoring of PM10. Swope asked for clarification on what PM10 is and other board members explained it is particulate matter that is 10 micrometers or smaller, which is what is federally regulated, along with PM2.5. Gebhart said due to her proximity to the landfill, Vara probably experiences a lot of dust in high wind events. Cheeseman agreed with Chairman Welsh that there is likely no regulatory recourse. Chairman Welsh acknowledged the board values Vara’s insights and complaints, but there is not much they can do, other than perhaps following up with the landfill and monitoring agencies. He said they would set aside the conversation for now in order to get to the planned content of the special meeting. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES None to approve. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None covered. 7. NEW BUSINESS Micah Warners, Outreach & Education Specialist from the Environmental Services Department (ESD) stated the intention of the meeting to select a topic to collaborate on and strategize about. The results from a survey Warners had previously sent to the board show that there was a tie between interest in air quality index (AQI) awareness and indoor burning/winter air quality. Warners and Albers de Lujan stated that AQI is coming up sooner in ESD education and outreach strategy. Chairman Welsh Indicated a preference in focusing on AQI awareness since indoor burning and winter air quality are essentially subtopics of AQI, and since the winter season has just ended. Lujan de Albers highlighted the potential for covering both topics by starting with AQI and later covering indoor burning and winter air quality as the season approaches. In response to Swope’s question of if the board always does an outreach and education effort, Chairman Welsh said no, but the board would like to see more education and outreach regarding air quality. Due to restrictions, board members cannot claim to represent AQAB or the City. However, individuals can engage in outreach efforts and acknowledge they are on the board. AQAB would like to do more direct outreach and education efforts. Albers de Lujan clarified specific information about why code does not allow board members to represent the City in this way. There are alignment opportunities with ESD to contribute to the department’s existing efforts so the board can play a bigger part without having to update code. Warners said the two opportunities for the board are to meet and help strategize for the department’s efforts and for individual members to provide expert information or assist at an event. Gebhart agreed that AQI is the bigger topic and added that AQI education is more likely to have an impact. There may be opportunities to align with other efforts as well. Cheeseman agreed that AQI is the overarching topic that covers fleet electrification, wildfires, and the impact of transported smoke from non-local fires that residents may not be aware of. Therefore, focusing on how to weigh risk and reward on low air quality days. Chairman Welsh mentioned the EPA app called Air Now, which shows the current local AQI and can be leveraged by community members. CDPHE posts on the state website as more of a regulatory process and reports 8-hour ozone events after the fact. Cheeseman mentioned Purple Air as another low-cost resource and the board noted that it only monitors smoke and not ozone; another goal of AQI education is that people know the difference and know that both contribute to bad air quality. Warners transitioned to outlining his draft plans for the AQI education topic. He defined target outcome for if the education is completely successful, all community members utilize appropriate tools to know when AQI is high and appropriately assess the risk of engaging in outdoor activities. He defined audience as general residential, time of year as primarily in the summer, and tactics used would include website, newsletter, events, and social media. Evaluation method is currently undefined. Warners asked the board for feedback. Gebhart noted an additional outcome would be the public taking actions to reduce the potential of a bad air quality day, particularly on high ozone days. He suggested amplifying the work the CDPHE is trying to do to minimize bad air quality. He noted this outcome as most important, with people minimizing their personal risk as secondary. Chairman Welsh suggested starting more broadly with an initial goal of even 50% members of the public being able to identify what the term AQI means and how to find the current AQI. Then, the goals can progress to understanding what it means and how to leverage the information to protect personal health and take action to minimize pollution. Gebhart agreed that basic education is priority, including what ozone alerts mean and how that relates to AQI. Cheeseman suggested using targeted messages based on audience. Warners asked if the type of impact they want to have would be by targeting the biggest polluters or by general basic education. Johnson suggested referencing what other cities and jurisdictions are doing and what type of tools and websites they are using. Gebhart listed a few organizations already working on air quality education and agreed that directing people to existing resources may be more efficient. Johnson and Cheeseman said California has good resources. Cheeseman said academic research shows that partnering with local community groups has a high impact. Swope said she supported targeted education toward the biggest polluters over general public education. Chairman Welsh said educating the public is going to have biggest effect in catalyzing the large-scale changes in things like our reliance on oil and gas, rather than industry education. Gebhart said educating the public helps them understand their own contributions to precursor emissions and bad air quality. The board agreed that AQI education helps the public protect their own personal wellbeing, as well as reducing individual contributions to bad air quality and drive societal change. Warners solicited additional feedback on tactics and evaluation methods. Chairman Welsh noted that relying on community-based organizations (CMOs) can be tough because those organizations are often polarizing. Gebhart suggested being selective about not leaning on organizations that don’t rely heavily on activism. He also thinks we can use the organizations in a constructive manner as a vehicle to spread messaging rather than to fully engage. The board agreed that boundaries and communication need to be set with CMOs so roles and support expectations are clearly established. Board members suggested working with HOAs, Spanish-speaking groups, landscaping companies, Poudre School District, athletic groups, and groups that show interest. Lujan de Albers emphasized the importance of knowing what success looks like. She suggested providing ideas for evaluation criteria in future meetings. Warmers outlined next steps as synthesizing board input in ESD and then bringing the work back to the board for further advisement. Chairman Welsh expressed satisfaction with the work done in the meeting and looks forward to working on it more in future meetings. 8. OTHER BUSINESS 9. ADJOURNMENT ● 2:01pm Minutes approved by the Chair and a vote of the Board/Commission on XX/XX/XX 4/29/25– MINUTES Page 1 1 5/19/2025 - Minutes Air Quality Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING Monday, May 19, 2025 – 5:30 PM 222 Laporte Avenue, Colorado River Room 1. CALL TO ORDER: 5:35 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present – • Dan Welsh (Chair) • Mark Houdashelt (Vice Chair) • Michael Johnson • Adam Schmidt • Michael Cheeseman • Christina Swope • Matt Ayres • Maria Moore (arrived late) b. Board Members Absent – • Howard Gebhart c. Staff Members Present – • Emily Olivo, Lead Environmental Sustainability Specialist • Jacob Castillo, Chief Sustainability Officer d. Guest(s) – • None 3. AGENDA REVIEW No changes. 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION None. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – APRIL 2025 Members discussed changes to the minutes. Schmidt made a motion, seconded by Johnson, to approve the minutes of the April 2025 meeting as amended. The motion was adopted unanimously. 6. PREVIOUS BUSINESS (**Secretary’s Note: The Board took up the following items prior to the approval of minutes.) Chair Welsh noted elections for Chair and Vice Chair will occur in June and stated he is willing to continue in the Chair role; however, Vice Chair Houdashelt does not wish 2 5/19/2025 - Minutes to continue. Chair Welsh noted he has drafted a memo from the Board in support of the Natural Areas Strategic Framework and stated the Board has received a statement from Honore Depew regarding his presentation at the last meeting. Additionally, he noted the Board had an education and outreach meeting with Micah Warners. Chair Welsh read Depew’s statement regarding how Board input was directly applied in support of informing Council for the upcoming work session related to supporting electrification efforts and 100% renewable energy goals. Jacob Castillo, Chief Sustainability Officer, introduced himself and discussed the update to Council regarding its priority around reducing climate and air pollution with an emphasis on electrification through best practices. He stated there was some policy discussion emphasizing that the current roadmap highlights Building Performance Standards and Energy Code. He noted staff is not making a recommendation to move forward with a large methane user fee as resources are being dedicated to already prioritized policy considerations. He noted a follow-up memo based on the meeting will be published next week. Castillo commented on questions from Councilmember Pignataro regarding being located next to one of the largest oil producing counties in the country and whether there is anything that can be done on a local level pertaining to that. He stated outreach and education remain valuable and one of the most important things that can be done is spending more time with the State regulatory agency and informing it of the deleterious effects of climate pollution on neighboring counties. Castillo noted Fort Collins is not currently on track to hit its 2026 or 2030 climate goals, though great work is being done. He stated it will take a significant ramp-up of incentives, regulation, education, and outreach to meet those goals. (**Secretary’s Note: The Board discussed and approved the April 2025 regular meeting minutes at this point in the meeting and Maria Moore arrived.) Members discussed the minutes of the recent education and outreach meeting held with Micah Warners and opted to vote upon the minutes at the next regular Board meeting. Chair Welsh summarized the meeting for members who were not present and noted the Air Quality Index was determined to be among the first education and outreach topics. He stated the plan is to continue working with Warners and have him establish some City initiatives around in-person engagement such as tabling at events or partnering with community-based organizations to broaden messaging. Chair Welsh outlined the drafted memo in support of the Natural Areas Strategic Framework. Members discussed whether it is appropriate for the Air Quality Advisory Board to weigh in on the topic. Moore made a motion, seconded by Ayres, to vote on whether to send the memo to Council. Yeas: ??? Nays: ???. The motion carried. Members further discussed what may need to be added to the memo to provide a 3 5/19/2025 - Minutes relation to air quality. ?? made a motion, seconded by ??, to vote on whether to send the memo to Council. Yeas: ??? Nays: ??? The motion failed. Based upon the previous vote, members concurred the Board would not send a memo on the Natural Areas Strategic Framework to Council. Chair Welsh commented on disliking the staff approach of ‘ticking a box’ to come before Boards on specific topics and requesting memos to Council. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Board Overview of Priorities and 2025 Workplan Members introduced themselves to Castillo and discussed their interest in the Board and what they would like the Board to achieve during their tenure. Castillo introduced himself and discussed his education and employment history. He commented on the importance of Boards and their impact on the City organization and community as a whole. Chair Welsh commented on the Board feeling as though staff presentations are received at the last minute which allows for little time for the Board to consider whether and how to weigh in. Members commented on the value of receiving presentations earlier so Boards can actually have some input and participate in the process of development of presentations and Council materials. Castillo noted he oversees environmental services, economic development work, and human services, which encompass the environmental, economic, and social triple bottom line, and he would like to bring that perspective to air quality. Moore stated she is encouraged by Councilmember Ohlson’s statements around Board involvement and expressed concern no actual action has occurred related to Our Climate Future and that no accountability has been taken for expenditures. She commented on the importance of research, accountability, and information. A board member commented on the fact that there are no large air quality related initiatives on Council’s agenda for the next six months, which seems concerning, particularly given we are not on track to meet 2026 or 2030 goals. Chair Welsh stated that it can be presumed that just because nothing is on Council’s agenda related to air quality does not mean nothing is happening at a City organization level which may be beyond six months out, and this is the time during which the Board should have involvement. Castillo commented on the current Our Climate Future refresh efforts and 4 5/19/2025 - Minutes stated it would be valuable for the AQAB to be a strategic thought partner. Additionally, he suggested the Board could provide valuable input for the 2050 tax strategic funding plan in terms of research and development, leveraging funds, and spending for the next 25 years. He asked if the Board would be willing to entertain non-air quality topics if it were more involved earlier in the process, which he suggested would be useful for staff. Moore stated the Board needs to be more limited in scope given it has its own work plan for 2025. Chair Welsh stated that type of thing would only be valuable for the Board if staff truly wanted the Board’s input, not if it was an exercise for staff to check a box related to providing presentations to Boards. A board member stated not every item may need a presentation in order for the Board to provide input. Castillo suggested the Building Performance Standards pilot program could be an item for the Board to consider. Chair Welsh commented on the value of thinking of things specifically, but also in terms of strategy and metrics in terms of what a successful 2025 looks like for the Board. Swope asked if the Board always only acts on staff-initiated items or whether it can initiate items. Chair Welsh stated he would like to see the Board originate initiatives or programs. Castillo noted the Board cannot direct new work, but can be thought partners in work with staff, which could then make both staff and the Board more effective in engagement with Council. b. Organizational Metrics, Analysis, and Performance Overview Castillo commented on the City’s longstanding process called Organizational Metrics, Analysis, and Performance. He stated the organization measures hundreds of quantifiable data points on a quarterly basis and over time, some of the measures have stalled. He stated the City does not necessarily have the right measures to know if the desired impact on the community is occurring. Castillo stated the City’s Strategic Plan is overhauled every five years and updated every two years. He stated one of the three environmental Strategic Plan goals, ENV1, is to implement Our Climate Future to advance our greenhouse gas energy and waste goals, reduce air pollution, and improve community resilience. He noted the main question around the goal is what the organization should be tracking to indicate to the Board and the residents of Fort Collins that the City is making a material difference in their lives and is making material progress in reducing harmful air pollution. Castillo stated he would like to have a richer discussion with the Board around the right set of measures to track the City’s contribution toward the reduction of air pollution and the right level of evaluation to help staff develop a more sophisticated set of measures. He also stated there may be a way to use the 5 5/19/2025 - Minutes current metrics more effectively and strategically. Members discussed metrics and indicators that can be impacted potentially better than AQI. 8. OTHER BUSINESS Chair Welsh stated Building Performance Standards will likely be discussed in July. Vice Chair Houdashelt discussed a presentation given to the Larimer County Board of Commissioners when it was considering the 1041 permit for PRPA’s new gas turbines which showed PRPA to be a major source of noxious emissions, though its plant is located just outside the non-attainment zone. a. Board Member Reports A board member stated he and a group of other scientists from NCAR and other organizations are meeting with Senator Hickenlooper’s office next month to discuss the impacts of the current federal administration on air quality science in general and asked the group to let him know of any items they would like to see included in the conversation. Vice Chair Houdashelt noted there are many issues currently seeking public comment, including the City’s Transit Master Plan, Front Range Rail planning, the State’s report on cumulative emissions from oil and gas, and hazardous oil and gas air pollution measurements. b. Six Month Calendar Review c. Revisit Action Items from Previous Meetings and Preview of Next Meeting 9. ADJOURNMENT ● 8:10 pm Minutes approved by a vote of the Board on 5/XX/2025 Strategy ENV 1: Implement the Our Climate Future Plan to advance the City’s greenhouse gas, energy and waste goals; reduce air pollution; and improve community resilience. (From the City Strategic Plan) Community Dashboard: https://fortcollins.clearpointstrategy.com/ ID Name Strategic Objective Cadence Q4 (2024) Status (Red, Yellow, Green, ENV 6 Percent decrease in municipal Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions from 2005 baseline improve resilience and to meet 2030 climate, energy and 100% renewable electricity goals. The 2024 Municipal Inventory will be available and reported in Q3 of 2025. Per Day achieve 2030 zero waste goals. This metric will be available and reported in Q3 of 2025. Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from 2005 baseline improve resilience and to meet 2030 climate, energy and 100% renewable electricity goals. The 2024 Community Inventory will be available and reported in Q4 of 2025. Healthy Homes (in-home, DIY and phone) outdoor air quality. team provided: - 14 in-home Air Quality (AQ) assessments - 26 DIY AQ assessments - 10 furnace inspections - 9 weatherization installations Additionally, 5 new Healthy Homes Educators were public educational events were held: The radon awareness event had over 120 attendees and a fire safety workshop provided 12 residents of Collins Aire MHP with fire extinguishers, carbon monoxide alarms, and smoke alarms. 26 DIY Indoor Radon Tests outdoor air quality. team provided: - 189 short-term radon tests - 18 long-term radon tests Outdoor Air Quality Index Link to AQI on Community Dashboard outdoor air quality. based on measured levels of ozone and particulate matter in the air. In Q4 of 2024, there were no significant air quality events and no unhealthy levels were rate achieve 2030 zero waste goals. This metric will be available and reported in Q3 of 2025. rate achieve 2030 zero waste goals. This metric will be available and reported in Q3 of 2025. ENV 53 Industrial materials diversion rate achieve 2030 zero waste goals. This metric will be available and reported in Q3 of 2025.