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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 07/22/199877 o7-io Air Quality Advisory Board July 22, 1998 Page 1 MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING NEIGHBORHOOD RESOURCES CENTER 405 CANYON AVE. July 22,1998 For Reference: Eric Levine, Acting AQAB Chair 229-5225 Scott Mason, Council Liaison 226-4824 Tom Shoemaker, Staff Liaison 221-6263 Board Members Present Harry Edwards, John Schroeer, David Gallup, Mandar Sunthankar, John Scanlon, Steven Perich, Eric Levine, and Raymond Sons, Board Members Absent None Staff Present Natural Resources Department: Linda Devocelle, Terry Klahn, and Lucinda Smith Transportation: Susanne Edminster, Randy Hensley Guests Lisa Silva, CO Department of Public Health and Environment, Air Pollution Control Division Tim Johnson, Transportation Board Chair The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. Approval of Minutes With the following changes, the minutes of the June 24, 1998, meeting were approved as written: Page 2, Paragraph 3, 1" Sentence: Change the sentence to read: Eric Levine commented that he is not comfortable with removing the VMT part of the Plan. Review and Update Action List Due to the heavy agenda, this item was inadvertently overlooked. Review Council Six -Month Plannine Calendar July 28 Transportation Funding Study July 30 N Colorado Regional Cities Planning Session Aug. 25 "Seeding Initial Development" Study Mountain Vista Sub -Area Plan and Northeast Truck Route Project Amendment to Fossil Creek Area Plan Air Quality Advisory Board July 22, 1998 Page 2 Sept. 15 Choice Streets System Comprehensive Program Sept. 22 & Oct. 13 1999 Budget review Oct. 27 Revisions to the Master Street Plan NEW BUSINESS Presentation on Mason Street Multi -Modal Corridor -Susanne Edminster-Transportation Susanne Edminster, Transportation Services, outlined details regarding the RFP for the proposed Mason Street Multi -Modal Corridor. She explained that currently there is no safe North/South bicycle route through town. The Transportation Board wants an enhanced travel corridor, exclusively for multi -modal, i.e., bus, bike, and pedestrian use. The first step will be a visioning process, which will help define what the corridor might look like. The next step is to establish how specific objectives will be met. The City has set aside funding to cover the first stage of the project from Prospect to Harmony. Federal funding is also being sought. It will be about 18 months before the project is ready to be presented to Council. The RFP is requesting that the consultant provide several design options and a detailed cost analysis. Harry Edwards asked if there were any figures regarding the impact of the corridor on air quality. Edminster replied that there is nothing definite now, but that an air quality assessment is part of the RFP requirements. Edminster said the goal of the corridor is to provide a more convenient and safe means of accessing alternative transportation. Only time will tell if people will choose to make the mode shift if a suitable corridor is in place. Edminster said a special committee, representative of the Fort Collins' community, will be formed to take the process from initiation to presentation to Council. She asked if the AQAB would like to appoint a representative to this board? The position will need to be filled by December. She anticipates monthly meetings at first, but meetings could become more frequent toward the end of the process. John Schroeer made the suggestion that the board should have a liaison. The board decided to delay a decision on participating until all new members were on board. AO Action Plan Special meetines and Board Retreat-NRD Staff • There will be an AQAB retreat held on Tuesday, September 22, at a location to be announced (possibly Tamasag). Staff will make arrangements for ridesharing. • The October Board meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 4, from 3:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Dinner will be provided. The meeting will be used to finish review of the 2000-2003 Air Quality Action Plan and as the Board's retreat. Presentation on Emission Sticker Compliance - Lucinda Smith Lucinda Smith provided details regarding the Emission Sticker Compliance Study. She explained that the purpose of the study was to define the compliance rate. A former state police officer was hired to gather the data in university, municipal, and private employee lots in the cities of Fort Collins, Greeley and Loveland. Due to the fact that most locations requested Air Quality Advisory Bo• • July 22, 1998 Page 3 anonymity, only averages are available. Non-compliance averaged 25%, which was much higher than anticipated. Eric Levine asked if it was known if the non -compliant vehicles were high emitters. Lucinda stated that there is no survey that simply estimates average tail pipe emissions of expired sticker vehicles Lucinda said the City is planning a follow-up survey in Fort Collins, through the Clean Air Colorado grant, to verify the data using a protocol designed by the CO Department of Public Health and Environment. Air auality Monitoring Plan Committee - Lucinda Smith The Air Quality Monitoring Plan is due to be updated. Staff would like a sub -committee to review the revised draft in August. The draft will then be presented to the full board in September. This committee would meet only once. Mandar Sunthankar volunteered for the Monitoring Plan Comm. Jim Dennison, new AQAB member, will be asked to participate. Cities for Climate Chanee and Regional I/M Committees- Lucinda Smith Lucinda Smith told the board that the Cities for Climate Change is beginning to focus on a local action plan and will be forming a staff technical team and a Citizen Advisory Committee. The Citizen Advisory Committee will meet once a month (maybe six meetings) and include one public open house. The committee will include environmental and business interests, the Electric board, and Transportation Board. City staff and consultants will do the vast majority of the legwork, but need input from citizens. Once the draft is complete, it will be presented to the AQAB at least twice, firs for discussion and comments and second for approval of the final plan. Lucinda asked the board if they would like to appoint someone to be on the committee so that the board could be more thoroughly involved in development of the plan. Eric Levine volunteered for the Cities for Climate Protection Citizen Advisory Committee. Regional Inspection and Maintenance Committee Until last month, John Schroeer was a citizen representative on the Regional I/M committee, but recently became the State Dept. of Health representative. Smith asked board members if they wanted to appoint a representative. The board postponed the decision until all new members are on board. Transportation Funding Advisory Committee Recommendation Randy Hensley Tim Johnson The Transportation Advisory Committee was set up to advise the City Manager on the best way to address transportation operations and maintenance shortfalls. The committee has identified an annual funding gap in Transportation Maintenance of about $3.1 million and in Transportation Operations a gap of $7.3 million annually. The committee considered numerous funding sources and related issues in addressing these shortfalls including a $ .36 sales tax. There is also a potential for receiving state funds, but nothing is guaranteed. Air Quality Advisory Board July 22, 1998 Page 4 John Schroeer asked how the increased Fort Collins' city sales tax would compare to Loveland, Greeley, Longmont and the Denver area. Randy Hensley said the new sales tax makes our tax rate higher than closer cities, but lower than the Denver metro area. Hensley said he would provide a comparison of tax rates of cities similar to Fort Collins for the board's next packet. Harry Edwards asked if any property tax collected by the County flows toward transportation. Hensley said there is a small levy called the Road and Bridge levy, but it is a source the City has no control over. Harry Edwards made the comment that a more equitable tax would be an increase in the gasoline tax. Tim Johnson said the legislature is in charge of that. Harry Edwards stated that we don't have any idea what impact a sales tax increase will have on air quality. Hensley said a long-range goal for accomplishing air quality objectives in the future is a 10% modal shift in single occupant vehicles to some other mode. This factor, as well as an updated traffic signal system, will impact air quality. Raymond Sons made a motion recommending City Council act favorably on the transportation funding proposal. The motion was amended by Dave Gallup to request that City Council communicate to elected state representatives for the Fort Collins region the urgency of utilizing existing state tax surpluses and increasing gasoline taxes to address future transportation short falls. The motion passed with John Scanlon abstaining. Mandan Sunthankar asked for a presentation about the new traffic signal system. Draft Memo: Legal Interpretation of the Clean Air Act Linda Devocelle said that staff member Brian Woodruff had drafted a memo for the board's approval that will ask the North Front Range Transportation and Air Quality Planning Council to seek legal clarification from the US EPA regarding whether the state could create and impose a maintenance plan upon Fort Collins when Federal law states the plan must be developed by an appointed group of representatives approved by the governor. That appointed group is the NFRT&AQPC. The memo would be forwarded to Ron Phillips, Executive Director of the North Front Range Transportation and Air Quality Raymond Sons made a motion to send the memo. Steven Perich requested clarification on the issue. Lucinda Smith gave brief overview and said that staff will provide additional written background for Perich. Eric Levine stated that the disadvantages of redesignation are substantial. Harry Edwards stated that it is important to note that there has been no carbon monoxide violations in the last few years, and that this fact has nothing to do with the status of air quality in Fort Collins. John Schroeer seconded the motion. The motion passed with Steven Perich abstaining. Other Business Linda Devocelle said that John Daggett and Pete Wray will not be available for a presentation on the Mountain Vista Sub -Area Plan and NE Truck Route Update at the next meeting because of Air Quality Advisory Board • July 22, 1998 Page 5 standing meetings that conflict with the board's regular meeting time. If the board wants to hear the issues before August 22, it will be necessary to schedule a special meeting or reschedule the regular meeting. The issue was not resolved and staff said they would follow up as soon as possible. Items for Next Meeting Agenda Adiournment: The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m.