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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 01/23/19970 MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 CONFERENCE ROOM - 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. JANUARY 23,1997 For Reference: John Fooks, AQAB Chair - 229-5225 Will Smith, Council Liaison - 223-0425 Brian Woodruff, Staff Liaison - 221-6604 Board Members Present John Fooks (until 6:30 p.m.), David Gallup, Susan Bilo, Harry Edwards, Raymond Sons, Eric Levine, Pete Perkins, John Scanlon, and Nancy York Staff Present Natural Resources Department: Sally Maggart, Brian Woodruff, Linda Devocelle, Lucinda Smith, and Margit Hentschel; Planning Department: Clark Mapes; Transportation Del2arr_ment: Susanne Edminster Guests Sonja Bisbee, reporter for the Coloradoan. She reported that her article on air quality took second place in state competition. The meeting was called to order at 4:30 p.m. Agenda Review Item 1 under New Business and the SIP Committee report postponed until next month. Approval of Minutes With the following changes, the minutes of the December 16, 1996 Regular Meeting were approved as written: John Scanlon said that Page 3, last paragraph, should read "decreased" instead of "increased". Harry Edwards said that "energy" should be eliminated on Page 2, second paragraph under the heading AQ Tech. Review and Update Action Log See attached. Air Quality Advisory Board January 23, 1997 Page 2 Pete Perkins reported that the Benchmarking Team (Susan Bilo, Lucinda Smith and Pete Perkins) met over the phone. He acknowledged Smith's excellent job on the report and noted that it is a document worth reading. Smith said that a citizen survey will be used to narrow the focus of the study. Perkins noted that the funding is only $2,500 this year. Harry Edwards asked for help in understanding the final work product. Smith said that the report would include a summary of the whole process; specifically, recommendations of what has been identified as best practices applicable in Fort Collins. The product would be a recommendation as to what is best for Fort Collins and how can it be included in the Action Plan. Edwards asked how best practice is determined. Smith responded that the consultants would help; there is a science to it and those with experience would assist. I/M: Lucinda Smith Lucinda Smith, Environmental Planner, reported that the Non Testing I/M Committee met January 15. They discussed process, set a mission, agreed that the group would use an informal process of voting, and discussed roles and responsibilities. It was decided that Smith would chair the committee and a recorder will be determined. Smith said that the committee discussed a range of strategies about public information, remote sensing and economic incentives. The next meeting will be February 19 from 10:00 a.m. - noon. Nancy York said that she is interested in following the work of the committee. Smith said that she will send York the minutes after they are approved. David Gallup said that Smith has done a great job, especially with achieving good balance with the committee selection. Stationary Sources: Brian Woodruff Brian Woodruff, Environmental Planner, said that he is working on a project regarding review of new sources of air pollution and he is seeking board help. He said that he will be contacting John Scanlon, John Fooks, Pete Perkins and Harry Edwards for assistance. AQPP Evaluation: Nancy York Nancy York said that the committee has met three times and will set the next meeting time after this meeting. OLD BUSINESS Wood Smoke: Linda Devocelle Linda Devocelle, Environmental Education Specialist, asked the board to appoint a representative 0 Air Quality Advisory Board January 23, 1997 Page 3 to the February 18 Council session. John Fooks volunteered. Devocelle referred to the point of sale ordinance and explained that she is in the process of drafting a memo to council noting the discovery of two points of contention that make the ordinance difficult to write and implement: 1.) How to determine the decommissioning of antique stoves in homes; and, 2.) The city attorney's office is concerned about singling out woodstoves and woodstove inserts; if taken to court, it will have to be justified as to why fireplaces are not cited. Devocelle reported that there will be a housekeeping item on solid fuel burning appliances on the February 18 Council agenda to clarify the present language regarding wood cooking stoves in restaurants. She distributed a copy of the draft agenda item summary. Radon Devocelle said that she sent a memo to Council the beginning of January stating staff s recommendation as well as the Air Quality Advisory Board's decision. The instructions were if Council did not respond by January 10, it would be assumed that they accepted staffs recommendation. There has been no response from Council. Devocelle added that the Board needs to appoint a representative to present the board's position at the Council meeting. Eric Levine volunteered. Capital Improvement: Susanne Edminster Susanne Edminster, Policy Analyst, reported that transit was the big loser in Council's final CIP list. Projects of interest to the board that made the list are: • Roadway project that will meet the new City standards for street development with bikeways, detached wide sidewalks, signalized crossings and pedestrian safe zones. • Pedestrian program that will increase sidewalk connectivity, improve crossings and visual interest. • Mason Street Transportation Corridor to create high frequency public transit, bikeways and pedestrian ways from Cherry to Harmony Road. • Northern College Corridor Project to provide bike and pedestrian access. • Prospect to Summit View multimodal connection. • Northeast Truck Route. • Link between Drake and Horsetooth on Taft. Pete Perkins asked about the Overland extension. Edminster explained that it is shown on the Master Street Plan and the Park Master Plan and dialogue is still continuing with the community. Nancy York asked if the Transit Development Plan is integral to the City Plan. Clark Mapes, City Planner, responded that it is integral in terms of the Structure Plan and the future transit network. Air Quality Advisory Board January 23, 1997 Page 4 City Plan: Clark Mapes Clark Mapes, City Planner, explained that City Plan is in the final implementation phase with the rewriting of the land development codes and rezoning of the entire city. He referred to Brian Woodruff s memo on reducing traffic growth through City Plan. Mapes reviewed some of the changes of interest to the board: • Higher density resulting in benefits that accrue in mobility and conservation. • Pedestrians and parking lots are treated differently in the new code. Parking and vehicle operations will not be allowed to interrupt pedestrian flow. • Better requirements for street connectivity. • Level of service standards for multimodal systems will allow better bike and pedestrian flow. Susanne Edminster noted that changes to the street oversizing fee will not go to Council until after City Plan is adopted. She added that more can be done with design guidelines and criteria than with an impact fee. The impact fee has a rational nexus; a clear and measurable impact would have to be shown to require a developer to pay an impact fee. Fooks asked how to ensure that this would be fair and not inhibit infill. Edminster said that this is also a concern with developers; she will return with a presentation. She added that a developer cannot be forced to do better than actual, according to City Attorney Steve Roy. York asked if a LOS manual has been adopted. Edminster replied that it has not; it is intended to be part of the package going to Council in March as part of City Plan implementation. Harry Edwards asked how City Plan is connected to air quality. Mapes responded that there would be a chance to reduce vehicle miles traveled with activity centers and development patterns supporting transit. Woodruff added that a computer simulation on how much traffic would be involved was done during the Structure Plan. It showed a reduction in the growth rate of VMT, even below the population growth rate. Edminster reported that every developer has to have a traffic impact study. Mitigation measures include extra access for transit, bikes, pedestrian and limiting parking to encourage employees to vanpool, carpool, and get the SOV off the road. Edwards requested that the Chair instruct visitors to devote their energy to connecting the plan to air quality. Pete Perkins agreed that the presentation should be more focused on air quality issues. Woodruff asked how the board wanted to proceed in order to be comfortable in February on the code changes. Fooks suggested a modeling approach to VMT and SOV, tons of particulate and standard emission factors. Edwards said that may not be enough. It would be helpful to understand the various elements of the plan that will impact air quality. He asked if traffic flow issues could be Air Quality Advisory Board January 23, 1997 Page 5 modeled. Woodruff responded that they could to some extent and this can be reviewed at the next meeting. Edwards asked if the air quality connection to the plan is through VMT alone. Woodruff responded that it is. Raymond Sons noted that the most important thing, transit, was lost in the CIP funding. There is a need to develop a method for long term funding. Fooks said that the next meeting will be February 27, as scheduled. He left at 6:30 p.m. and Vice Chair Edwards presided over the rest of the meeting. NEW BUSINESS Transportation Board Coordination Deferred to next meeting. Proposed New AQ Standards: Lucinda Smith Lucinda Smith, Environmental Planner, reported that the Clean Air Act requires air quality standards to protect the public health with an adequate margin of safety and be reviewed every five years. She explained that Council has asked the Board to look at the standard and provide comments in response to a letter that they received Smith explained the chart on the EPA Proposed Air Quality Standards located in the board's packet. She showed where Fort Collins is relative to the standards. Eric Levine made the motion that the Board draft comments to EPA's proposal to the effect that the comments address relaxations in monitoring requirements in accordance with the City's policy goals, with the request that Council submit comments to EPA. Nancy York seconded the motion. Levine suggested that comments address the monitoring relaxations; instead of three violations in concentrations of particulates, 18 will be permitted over three years. Concentrations of PM10 can increase 35 percent under EPA's proposal. Edwards said that he cannot digest this. Gallup agreed. Perkins said that he has not studied it and he thought that the State's visibility standard would likely prevent particulate levels from rising close to proposed standards, which Levine is afraid of. Levine noted that EPA is proposing a relaxation that is not consistent with our policy plan to improve air. Perkins suggested that there are other things that might not make it as bad as we think. At this point, Woodruff apologized that this was put on the agenda as a last minute item. He said that Council has asked staff to sort this out and formulate a response. He distributed a memo that explained what staff is doing on the issue, e.g., the same thing Levine has in the motion. Air Quality Advisory Board January 23, 1997 Page 6 David Gallup offered a motion to render the first motion moot. He said that there are many questions remaining of overlap and conflict with the state and local actions and policies. He made the motion to have a special meeting to discuss this issue within the next two weeks and focus on just this issue. Edwards ruled the motion out of order because there is a motion on the floor. Eric Levine made the motion to table his motion. David Gallup seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously (8-0). David Gallup made the motion to call a special meeting to discuss the proposal, this and only this issue, before the Board, and there is no need to build a special agenda around other materials. Susan Bilo seconded the motion. Pete Perkins made a friendly amendment to add SIP. Gallup accepted the amendment. The motion passed unanimously (8-0). The Special Meeting will be held Wednesday, February 5 at 4:30 p.m. CO Redesignation A memo to Council is needed. The deadline is February 18. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 7:05 p.m.