HomeMy WebLinkAboutWater Board - Minutes - 01/30/2003Fort Collins Utilities Water Board Minutes
Thursday, January 30, 2003
City Council Liaison Water Board Chairman Water Board Vice Chairman
David Roy Tom Sanders 491-5448 John Morris 491-0185
Staff Liaison Secretary
DeEtta Carr 221-6702 Heather Anderson 221-6700
Roll Call
Board Present
Chairman Tom Sanders, Vice Chairman John Morris, John Bartholow, Ted Borstad, Tom
Brown, Jim Finley, David Lauer, John Morris, Rami Naddy, Robert Ward and Doug Yadon
Board Absent
Bill Fischer
Staff Present
Dennis Bode, DeEtta Carr, Carrie Daggett — Assistant City Attorney, Laurie D'Audney, Matt
Fater, Susan Hayes, Jim Hibbard, Marsha Hilmes-Robinson, Brian Janonis, Sue Paquette, Glen
Schlueter, Bob Smith, Mike Smith, Bill Switzer and Wendy Williams
Guests
Steve Bolton — Wingshadow, Bob Dehn — Wingshadow, Al Jakubauskas — citizen, Diane Jones —
Deputy City Manager, Dale Morehouse — Citizen, Kathy Mickelson — Wingshadow, Marcus
Rich — Diad, Inc., Steven Rogers — URS, David Roy — City Council Liaison and Mark Sprenger
— Emergency World
Meeting Opened
Chairman Tom Sanders called the meeting to order at 3:12 p.m.
Approval of Minutes
Board member John Morris made a motion to approve the October 24, 2002 minutes with
amendments. Board member Rami Naddy seconded the motion. The minutes were approved
unanimously.
Board member Doug Yadon made a motion to approve the December 5, 2002 minutes with
amendments. Board member John Bartholow seconded the motion and also motioned to
reaffirm the motion made by David Lauer on December 5, 2002 that Ranch -Way be allowed to
park the eight tandem trucks in the designated area from September 1 to March 31, 2003. Board
member Ted Borstad seconded the motion, Board member Rami Naddy abstained and the
motion was approved unanimously.
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January 30, 2003
Update on Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District (NCWCD)
Gene Schleiger stated that the Poudre River run-off from May to September, 2002 was the
lowest on record. Our average runoff is 288,000 acre-feet and in 2002, we received 95,000 acre-
feet. The lowest previous runoff was recorded in 1954 with only 106,000 acre-feet.
The Pleasant Valley Pipeline project will receive the notice to proceed in February 2003. The
pipeline is projected to be 99 percent complete by December 2003 with final inspections in
January 2004.
Horsetooth Reservoir Project is on schedule with Spring Canyon Dam and Dixon Dam mostly
completed. It is expected to begin filling by September 2003.
Floodplain Variance for Wineshadow, 1225 Redwood Street:
Bob Smith, Stormwater Planning Manager, explained that the application was to request a
variance to the City Code, Section 10-53(4) on Critical Facilities. The Code states that no new
critical facilities shall be constructed in the 500-year floodplain nor shall the existing use of a
structure in the 500-year floodplain be changed to a use that would be considered a critical
facility.
The requested variance would allow a change of use to an existing structure located in the Dry
Creek Floodway. The request is to change the use from "assisted living" to "group home, school
and daycare facility."
Timeline of events are as follows:
• December 2001 — Applicant entered the City's development review process by
attending conceptual review.
• July to October 2002 — City Council adopted rezoning of property.
• August 2002 — Remapping for Dry Creek was completed.
• October 2002 — Applicant submitted the Wingshadow Project Development Plan to
City's Planning Department.
• November 2002 — During Stormwater's staff review of the plan, the critical facility
issue was raised. Staff could not approve a floodplain use permit for the project and
recommended denial.
• January 2003 — Applicant requesting floodplain variance to allow the use of the
building to be changed to allow a school, daycare center and group home (teen
homeless shelter).
The demographics for the site show a 3,700 cubic feet per second (cfs) for a 100-year discharge
with a velocity of 0.7 feet per second. The 100-year water surface elevation is 4,965.6. The
main level or first floor elevation is 4,966.4, which is 0.8 feet above flood elevation. The crawl
space floor is 3.2 feet below the 100-year flood elevation. There is water against the building on
the entire length of three sides, varying between 0.1 and 1.0 feet deep. There is an island of dry
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January 30, 2003
land against the front of the building. Based on the City's 2-feet contour mapping, there would
be 1-2 feet of water in the parking lot.
The Dry Creek Flood Control Project (City of Fort Collins and Larimer County) has been
identified as priority. The project would remove the Wingshadow site from the 100-year
floodplain. The approved 2003 Stormwater Capital Improvement Budget includes money to
initiate the design and right-of-way acquisition for the Dry Creek Flood Control Project. In a
memo to City Council last year, staff identified that this project will be the next project after the
Sheldon Lake Project. The construction is proposed in phases so that the improvements in 2004
should remove the building at 1225 Redwood from the floodplain.
Staff compiled the following options for the Board to consider:
Option 41: Deny the variance request.
Option 92: Approve the variance request without conditions.
Option #3: Grant the variance request based on Section 10-38 (c) and (d) of the City Code to
allow the use of the existing structure, located in the Dry Creek floodway, to be changed to use
as a school, daycare center and overnight group home (teen homeless shelter), with the following
conditions intended to help mitigate the risk.
A requirement that an appropriate engineering firm determines the number, location, and
alarm thresholds for precipitation and/or flow -monitoring gages in the Dry Creek Basin
required giving Wingshadow personnel a minimum 2 hours of warning of a potential
flooding situation.
A requirement that an appropriate service provider install, operate and maintain until the
facility is no longer in the 100-year floodplain, a system of gages and notification equipment
that would directly notify Wingshadow of potential flooding situations between April 15 and
September 15 of each year. This system should include enough redundancy to ensure a high
probability of success, both in the detection and effective communication of the flood risk,
and should be independent of the City flood warning system. In the case of an emergency,
the Poudre Fire Authority could not provide this specialized service.
• A requirement that an appropriate service provider write a formal emergency response plan
for the evacuation and sheltering of facility occupants in connection with a flood event. The
plan should include redundant and alternative means of carrying out evacuation and
sheltering, staff training, practice drills, and a communication plan.
Michael Smith, Utilities General Manager introduced Diane Jones, Deputy City Manager and she
offered additional comments. She identified the matter before the Board as a real dilemma that
needs to balance the safety needs of our citizens with the provision of a needed and valued
community service. She is aware that the Water Board must make its decision based on the
criteria and various factors that are within the City Code. She spoke specifically about four of
those factors:
I
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January 30, 2003
• Availability of alternate locations — Wingshadow has searched for nearly three years for a
suitable site to consolidate its services.
• Neighborhood compatibility and acceptance — The Redwood Street location is compatible
with surrounding uses. The food bank is near by, social services are in the neighborhood and
bus service is close to Wingshadow.
• Importance of service to community — Wingshadow addresses the needs of some of the most
vulnerable citizens of our community, which are the youngsters. These youngsters don't
have families to guide and support them as many others do in the community.
• Safety of building occupants — Wingshadow will assure there is minimal risk and protection
of life is of utmost importance.
Diane knows the Water Board must base its decision on the criteria that is in the City Code. She
hopes the Board can be reasonably assured that the proposed measures affords an adequate level
of protection to the occupants that will use this site, so she urges you to seriously consider option
#3 and remember the services that are provided by Wingshadow to the youngsters in our
community.
Bob Dehn representing Preuss Foundation and Wingshadow introduced himself to the Board.
He thanked the staff, Jim Hibbard and his group for working with them in a positive manner to
try to help mitigate any possibility of risk for these kids.
Preuss Foundation is a group of Christian business people from the Fort Collins — Loveland area
that have come together to put out $1.7 million to open up this home. Wingshadow has been in
existence for 10 years. Our goal is to have 120 kids as we open in the summer and have a
homeless shelter for youth ages 10 through 17. It will be the first homeless shelter in Northern
Colorado for teens. They want to hire a firm to help with the compliance, the evacuation plan,
and the emergency response that might be able to help us mitigate this risk. This location is very
important to us and to the community. He hopes the Board understands that they believe in the
safety of these kids, and they want to help them.
Bob introduced Mark Sprenger from Emergency World. Mark explained that Emergency World
has been contracted to address the issues of compliance, evacuation planning, and emergency
response. They are nationally recognized specialists in virtual response and training and are
currently involved in many state and national home security initiatives. He stated that
Emergency World is very qualified to assist in the particular piece that they have been asked to
do.
Diad, Inc. has been hired to help with the early warning flood notification. This company has
helped the Fort Collins Utilities with their current flood detection and notification system. Bob
also explained that Wingshadow will be working with URS of Denver, Colorado, who are the
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January 30, 2003
original consulting engineers responsible for the remapping of Dry Creek and the most versed to
guide the location and placement of detection monitoring devices for early warning notification.
URS is also well versed in understanding the actual risk impending to life and property.
Bob Dehn stated that Emergency World has begun the design and development of a simple yet
complete evacuation strategy to ensure that in the event of flood notification, the Wingshadow
staff can quickly, safely and efficiently take the necessary steps to evacuate, relocate, shelter and
protect each and every person that resides at the facility.
In closing, it is Wingshadow's professional opinion that the risks and threats associated to this
variance are low and certainly manageable. The critical factors in favor of the Board granting
this variance are as follows:
This application will not increase or alter the present risk of the structure.
There is a very low impact and minimal flooding velocity should a flood occur.
In the event of an actual flood, ample lead-time exists for notification due to the vast
area of Cry Creek.
Today's technology can provide very high degree reliability for the notification of
warning that is both accurate and reliable. The devices are constantly polled and
knowledge of when the devices are not in operation can be obtained immediately.
A responsible 24-hour staff is capable and willing to execute an evacuation and
shelter plan.
Steve Bolton of Wingshadow thanked the Board for letting them speak and share with the Board
what they are doing. He emphasized when Wingshadow was started, it was to protect kids who
were in the streets and in places where they were not being protected. Steve wanted the Board to
know the need for the homeless shelter is astronomical. Poudre School District has over 560
kids that do not have a place to call home.
After a very long and lengthy discussion, Board member Tom Brown made a motion that they
grant the variance as indicated in Option #3 with the addition of a fourth bullet that Staff report
to the Water Board when the conditions have been fulfilled. Board member Rami Naddy
seconded the motion. Eight members were in favor and two were against.
Master Plan & Floodplain Revision Process
Jim Hibbard stated that staff is ready to bring to the Board the review of the entire City's Master
Plans as well as all of the Floodplain Regulations.
Tom Sanders requested the Engineering Subcommittee review prior to making the presentation
at the next Water Board meeting.
Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 5:50 p.m.
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DeEtta Carr, Water Board Liaison