Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutNATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD - MINUTES - 09/17/20251 09/17/2025 - Minutes Air Quality Advisory Board and Natural Resources Advisory Board JOINT MEETING Wednesday, September 17, 2025 – 5:30 PM 222 Laporte Avenue, Colorado River Room 1. CALL TO ORDER: 5:31 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present– • AQAB • Dan Welsh (Chair) • Mark Houdashelt (Vice Chair) • Howard Gebhart • Maria Moore • NRAB • Kelly Stewart (Chair) • Dawson Metcalf (Vice Chair) • Kelen Dowdy • Leslie Coleman • Sharel Erickson • Xavier Pereira • Teagan Loew b. Staff Members Present – • Selina Lujan de Albers, AQAB Staff Liaison • Honore Depew, NRAB Staff Liaison • Katherine Bailey, Utilities Energy Services Program Manager • Grant Stump, Environmental Services Lead Specialist c. Guest(s) – • Emelie Mollersten • Adam Hirschhorn 3. AGENDA REVIEW No changes. 2 09/17/2025 - Minutes 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Emelie Mollersten stated she is a new City employee and is present to observe the meeting. Adam Hirschhorn stated he is present to expand the Boards’ knowledge base and discussed climate warming and implications on air quality and natural resources. Depew noted Mr. Hirshhorn forwarded an email to staff that will be sent on to Board Members. 5. NEW BUSINESS a. Building Performance Standards (BPS) Update Katherine Bailey, Utilities Energy Services Program Manager, stated Building Performance Standards support the Our Climate Future big move 6 related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2030. She noted buildings are the number one contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and most of the opportunity to improve that is in the performance of existing buildings, primarily with regulatory pathways as opposed to incentive-based pathways. Bailey stated Building Performance Standards are the single most powerful, impactful policy action that can be taken to improve the performance of existing buildings. She noted BPS requires buildings to meet carbon or energy performance targets by specific deadlines and can include multiple standards thereby allowing for flexibility. She also noted the targets become stricter over time. Bailey commented on the environmental health, physical health, and economic health benefits of BPS , many of which benef it the community as a whole. Bailey outlined some recent Council direction, including the formation of a customer journey map and a technical support pilot wherein the City partnered with building owners to explore compliance options for six covered buildings, including a technical assessment, contractor bids and/or estimated costs, and direct support to building owners. Bailey detailed the customer journey map objectives: creating a shared understanding of the BPS journey for a variety of stakeholders including City Council, City staff, building owners, property managers, and tenants, supporting a smooth and effective rollout by addressing key barriers early, complementing existing engagement and communication strategies to enhance stakeholder buy-in, and identifying potential points of friction and mitigation strategies. Bailey discussed the key themes that resulted from a review of historical documentation and engagement findings as well as interviews with building owner representatives. Those themes included the need for clear, accessible, and responsive information, uncertainty about the hidden costs of compliance, concerns about a cumbersome process, the need for timeline adjustments, planning tools, and vetted vendor lists, the importance of understanding the ‘why’ behind the policy to improve buy-in and reduce resistance, and the importance of vetting and selecting qualified contractors. Bailey showed the visual representation of the building owner representative BPS journey map and noted detailed information is available for each of the identified potential pain points and City support and mitigation strategies. AQAB Vice Chair Houdashelt noted building energy use has been monitored for some time and questioned whether building owners are truly in the dark about what to expect. Bailey noted all buildings have been benchmarked per an ordinance that has been in 3 09/17/2025 - Minutes place since 2019; therefore, all buildings that would be covered by BPS are already familiar with their current energy use. However, telling owners that they need to do something to change energy use can still be a large ask. A Board Member asked about the initial communication with building owners. Bailey replied there is an implementation guide and initial contacts will include a variety of options for people to acquire information. Bailey provided additional details on the technical support pilot, which examined six buildings: municipal (the City Spring Creek Parks Shop), multifamily, two office buildings, a mixed-use historic building, and a restaurant. She stated participating buildings were intended to demonstrate potential pathways to compliance and real -world scenarios. She noted all buildings must meet a maximum reduction cap. Bailey outlined the key takeaways from the pilot, including significant variability in costs for upgrades, variability in the recommended upgrade measures, and the fact that maximum reductions were technically feasible in all six buildings. She noted some of the pathways were easy wins, pathways exist that avoid potential legal challenges and that do not require fuel switching. AQAB Member Moore stated it seems as if much of this work should have already started given the 2030 goals and asked if the BPS will take effect next year. Bailey replied staff will be going before Council for a fourth work session next month and they may provide guidance to go to a First Reading. AQAB Member Moore recommended having different plans and thresholds for different types of buildings. She also commented on the importance of protecting small businesses in Fort Collins and encouraged leniency on penalties for small businesses. She stated she would prefer to see penalties assessed on corporate buildings and offices. Additionally, she suggested using some of the 2050 tax revenue to help subsidize improvements for small businesses. Bailey replied there are different targets for different buildings and noted buildings under 5,000 square feet are not covered, which totals about 900 buildings. She stated about 1,400 buildings are covered, and they use over 40% of the entire electricity use. She noted the smaller buildings that are covered, between 5,000 and 10,000 square feet, have a maximum reduction of 15%, which should be very achievable. Bailey noted the City was recently invited to apply for a grant of potentially up to $5 million that would specifically go to help building owners navigate BPS, including augmenting existing rebates. She also commented on a Denver pilot project’s initial findings related to most building representatives not being aware of existing financial resources which have covered an average of 40% of project costs and through navigator-style technical and financial support, participants have achieved double the requi red reduction on average. Bailey stated it is likely 5-8% of the total greenhouse gas reduction would occur regardless of BPS adoption given regular improvements and equipment replacement that are part of ‘business as usual.’ In summary, Bailey stated BPS involves an upfront investment with gradual payback, 4 09/17/2025 - Minutes and by 2050, rate payers in BPS covered buildings would avoid $630 million in energy costs. Additionally, she noted BPS supports positive health outcomes community-wide and reduces natural gas use through efficiency and support of strategic electrification. She stated the local BPS policy protects business owners by mitigating upfront costs and focusing on achievable goals. Bailey outlined the topics for the next Council work session, including final BPS policy framework recommendations, an extended compliance timeline, maximum reduction caps, and alternatives to prioritize expanding the incentive-based framework using 2050 tax dollars. A Board Member asked about the discussion between the desired reduction of use and the infrastructure investment still necessary to maintain levels of service. Bailey replied having enough efficiency should assist with being able to push out the time for construction of local renewables. AQAB Member Moore stated there are many things that are not costly that can be done now. A Board Member asked how wide sweeping the technical support navigator program will be and whether owners will need to apply. Bailey replied the hope is that it can be offered to everyone. NRAB Chair Stewart stated it seems both Boards are intending to submit memos on the topic prior to the next Council work session. b. Our Climate Future (OCF) Strategic Funding Plan Overview Grant Stump, Environmental Services Lead Specialist, stated the OCF Strategic Funding Plan is a strategic guidance document that can be used for priority setting and the Council budget process to help inform a strategic approach to spending 2050 tax dollars and other revenue sources. He provided some background on Our Climate Future, which is meant to guide Fort Collins toward a more sustainable future while focusing on the needs of its people. He stated OCF has three goals: an 80% below 2005 baseline level reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, 100% renewable electricity by 2030, and 100% landfill diversion by 2030. Stump noted the 2050 sales tax was approved in 2023 with half of the dollars going to Parks, ¼ going toward transit, and ¼ going towards climate. He stated a full year of those funds is about $5 million for climate. Stump stated the purpose of the OCF Strategic Funding Plan is to create a strategic guidance document that includes a projection of the revenue coming in that funds and supports OCF efforts over the next 15 years, proposes and recommends how those funds are spent, and provides a Next Moves plan. He stated the goal is to provide the Plan by the first quarter of 2026. Stump outlined the allocation criteria process, which aims to ensure alignment of allocations with revenue forecasts and to make recommendations on the most strategic allocations to achieve the community’s goals while incorporating OCF big moves and 5 09/17/2025 - Minutes Council priorities. Additionally, he noted the allocation approach includes multiple time horizons, identification of allowable uses for funds, the inclusion of resilience, mitigation, and equity impacts, and a process for allocation recommendations. Stump identified the allowable uses for each funding stream: the climate portion of the 2050 tax, remittance fees from disposable bags, and Utilities funds for energy services. He also detailed the allocation criteria for mitigation, resilience, and equity and summarized the Next Moves Plan. He commented on upcoming key dates and next steps. Stump requested suggestions for how to connect this Plan to the broader climate initiative context and what criteria should be considered during the allocation process for air quality and natural resource impacts. NRAB Vice Chair Metcalf commented on the importance of ensuring tangible outcome items are provided in order to maintain community trust. AQAB Member Moore commented on the importance of emphasizing education and outreach. A Board Member commented on Depew’s presentation on this topic and how it emphasized how the Strategic Funding Plan would help balance the long-term pull of what is needed with short-term cycles. She stated that piece seemed to be missing a bit in this presentation. AQAB Vice Chair Houdashelt commended the long-term vision which he stated was missing in the original climate action framework. He stated he would like to see additional information about the impacts of various initiatives and expressed concern about this bridging two different Councils. He also encouraged collaboration across the City organization in terms of department buy-in and budget. Stump replied there are cross-departmental teams working on developing next moves to help with budget alignment. Depew stated the direction has been to try to create a process that is more proactive as opposed to the responsive manner in which the first couple years of 2050 tax allocations have occurred. 6. ADJOURNMENT • 7:10 pm Minutes approved by a vote of the Board on 10/15/2024