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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 01/25/2000MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. January 25, 2000 For Reference: Eric Levine, Chair - 229-5225 Scott Mason, Council Liaison 226-4824 Brian Woodruff, Staff Liaison - 221-6604 Board Members Present Eric Levine, Harry Edwards, Raymond Sons, Jim Dennison, Nancy York, John Schroeer, and Mandar Sunthankar Board Members Absent Chris Kavanaugh Staff Present Natural Resources Department: Brian Woodruff, Sally Maggart, Sarah Fox, Aaron Fodge, Lucinda Smith, and Susie Gordon Guests Ken Moore, Nelsen's Auto Tech Center and Lori Anderson, CSU graduate student The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. Minutes With the following changes, the minutes of the November 23, 1999 meeting were approved as written: Page 3, 3'd paragraph add: "bicyclists are represented as a negative in the context of the program". Review and Update Action List 1. Ongoing. 2. Done. Since some Board members could not open the e-mail attachment, Brian Woodruff provided an overview of Council's study session regarding boards and commissions. Nancy York suggested setting an alternative time for the board meeting because the Council liaison cannot attend the Tuesday meetings. Mandar Sunthankar suggested planning a retreat and inviting Councilmember Scott Mason in order to get a dialogue started on what the board expects 3. Done. Included in packet. ADD: Brian will get information on the memo from John Fischbach referred to in the Transportation Board agenda. Review Council six-month planning calendar — March 28 and April 4: Mason Street Corridor Agenda Planning - February — Mulberry/Lemay roundabout: Eric Bracke will be making a presentation to the board. Air Quality Advisory Board January 25,2000 Page 2 — Susanne Durkin will be scheduled to discuss the Mason Street Corridor Project. Short Discussion Items — Progress report on LUTRAQ Team, Brian Woodruff The team met once and will meet again Friday. Suggestions will be made by next month on how to involve the Air Quality, Transportation and Planning and Zoning Boards. — Report on TDM stakeholder meetings, Nancy York and Chris Kavanaugh York said that she and Chris did not attend. She said that she will go to the next meeting. OLD BUSINESS AOAB 2000 Work Plan. Eric Levine Levine said that the focus of the work plan would be on vehicles mile traveled (VMT), tailpipe emissions, visibility, pollution prevention, and secondhand smoke. Woodruff said that redesignation does not have to be a major work plan item this year. Woodruff said that he is encouraging Board members to also focus their effort in working with the LUTRAQ team on VMT growth. He added that there will be opportunities within that process to strengthen City programs. Woodruff added that funding for public transportation is lacking and alternative sources of funding need to be found. He suggested that the Board make recommendations on that issue because without transit funding, VMT goals will fall short. Mandar Sunthankar noted that indoor pollution is not mentioned. Eric Levine said that secondhand smoke would address one aspect of that. Nancy York asked if there was any more consideration of additional monitoring at the busiest intersection in the City. Woodruff responded that staff had asked the State Department of Health to clarify their judgement about adequacy of the existing monitor. He added that there is a good chance that funding for an additional monitor will be approved through the City budget process. Harry Edwards said that more detail is needed on the work plan. Woodruff explained that it is intended to identify high priority issues. Edwards said that he would like to see secondhand smoke on the agenda and have a staff presentation. He noted that the City's 1984 ordinance was on the cutting edge then but we are not in a leadership position any more. Woodruff said that he would schedule a presentation. Sarah Fox, Environmental Planner and Outreach Specialist, said that she is the staff lead on updating the ordinance. She explained that it is part of the Air Quality Action Plan approved by Council. Fox explained that an interdepartmental team went to the Council's Health and Safety Committee for further guidance. The Health and Safety Committee is interested in hearing where the residents of Fort Collins are on the issue and directed staff to talk to the public. Air Quality Advisory Board January 25,2000 Page 3 Fox said that a detailed outreach plan should be ready by the end of February. She said that the Health and Safety Committee will make their recommendation to the full Council based on public outreach. Edwards said that he wants staff to come up with an ordinance for Board consideration. Woodruff explained that the City Manager has directed staff to work with the Council Health and Safety Committee on this, and it would be inappropriate to work on a separate ordinance for the Board. He noted that Board members are able to make a recommendation to Council but are not empowered to direct staff work. Jim Dennison said that he would like to see something happen before too long but does encourage outreach. He added that public education can grow out of it. Fox will provide information and make a presentation at the March meeting. Sunthankar said that the Board can make a recommendation to Council after the presentation. Dennison noted that the work plan is not cast in concrete. He said that it gives a general overview of the priorities for the year and if issues come up on an ad hoc basis, they could be addressed. Harry Edwards made the motion to approve the 2000 Work Plan. Raymond Sons seconded the motion. Eric Levine noted that redesignation should be changed to 200I. With that change, the motion passed unanimously (8-0). NEW BUSINESS Air Ouality Surveys "Focus Group" Cheryl L. Asmus PhD Dr. Asmus said that she is working on the air quality survey and would like to send it to Board members and City staff as a pilot. She said that she needs to know from the Board what goals and objectives in the Air Quality Action Plan can be answered using the survey as an indirect measure of whether the appropriate things are being done and how educational materials and incentives are working. Asmus said that questions are being taken from four previous surveys and incorporated into an outdoor and an indoor survey. John Schroeer asked why there are 36 questions for wood smoke, three for commerce and 26 for motor vehicles. Asmus said that a lot of the questions are redundant and could be eliminated. Asmus suggested inserting informational blurbs that explain the technical questions. She said that the information could be sent to a control group and could be used as an educational tool. Levine said that he liked the approach of a control group to determine if the information changes the group's response. Asmus said that Lori Anderson, a CSU graduate student, is putting together what these items are measuring. Levine said that he would like to see if the survey is addressing the issues in the Board's work plan. Asmus said that she would like to see the work plan. She added that she could replace some things with current issues. Air Quality Advisory Board January 25,2000 Page 4 Levine wanted to know what the survey would be used for. He said that Fort Collins has endless studies and surveys and drags their feet on action. Asmus said that these questions would tell which actions work best. She added that she would like to build it to address what is in the Board's work plan. Woodruff explained that the initial reason for the surveys was that certain air quality indicators in the Air Quality Action Plan could only be measured with surveys. He added that the information is used for different purposes, not measuring just one thing. Susie Gordon, Program Manager, added that surveys have been used to establish baseline information and learn about trends. She said that there is a commitment to retain how the information is obtained so it can be used for comparative analysis.. Woodruff noted that some questions about motor vehicle travel could be eliminated, because they are covered better in the Mobility Report Card. He explained that volunteers are solicited to log all trips for a single day. It is done every two years and is more detailed and accurate than a survey. John Schroeer said that if you want to find the increase in mileage driven, it is simple to look at Mobile 5 data to determine the average fuel economy of a vehicle, take the number of vehicles in the City and the gallons of gasoline that dealers buy. Woodruff said that we have a methodology from EPA on that and are starting to use it now. Woodruff explained that part of the current marketing campaign is to identify myths and facts about motor vehicles and motor vehicle travel. He added that the approach of giving information and asking about it could be used to test educational materials and determine what works and what does not work. Woodruff explained that staff is trying to create a survey instrument to work consistently every two years. Edwards said that he would like two additional opinion questions added: One is if mandatory radon testing should be done in new homes, and the other is if tighter control of indoor tobacco smoking is needed. Edwards asked how long it would take to fill out the survey. Asmus responded that it would take about half an hour. Edwards asked what response rate is expected. Asmus said that the survey will be mailed to one percent of the population and, with persistent follow-up, it is hoped to get a 60 percent response rate. Asmus said that she would like to get the survey out soon. She asked if the Board would like to have the survey include the information blurbs. Levine said yes. Levine suggested dropping the lawn mower question. York said that she would like to see a blurb explaining the health impacts of motor vehicle exhaust. Smart Trios/TDM follow-up, Brian Woodruff Woodruff explained that Linda Dowlen, TDM Marketing Director, put together a wish list of items that would supportTDM as a follow-up to her presentation last month and it is included in Air Quality Advisory Board January 25,2000 Page 5 the packet. He said that he would like to add two items for consideration: One is the City's practice of paying for City employee's parking, and the other is when new businesses promise to provide alternative -transportation programs for employees, there is no enforcement follow-up by the City. Woodruff suggested that Board members decide what type of communication to Council would help support the TDM efforts. After some discussion, it was decided that Board members needed more information and time to put together a memo of recommendation. Lucinda Smith will include information on parking cash out programs in other communities in the board's next packet. Mandan Sunthankar suggested using billboards for the education campaign. The meeting adjourned at 9:40 p.m. Af ,rrnv i reT r___ - � V.Y VNY ACTION ITEM UN, LJ uGGllp WHO BY... DONE L Research other communities' use of air Brian February guality criteria in development review 2. Contact Council member Scott Mason Eric February regarding AQAB-specific follow-up to tonight's study session on Boards and Commissions 3. Does Manager's memo to Transportation Brian February Board, "Board and Commission Requests/Recommendations to City Council," apply also to AQAB? 4. Information in packet summarizing USEPA Brian February mobile -source air-toxics stud 5. Information in packet about effectiveness of Lucinda, February parking cash -out programs and about the Brian Downtown Parking Garage: # spaces, to whom are they allocated, price of parking, and incentives for carpooling. Memo to 6.rCommCouncil Health and Safety Sarah February ittee on second-hand smoke