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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 03/25/1998kk, q8- OL{ - O/ MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING NEIGHBORHOOD RESOURCES CENTER 405 CANYON AVE. MARCH 25,1998 For Reference: John Fooks, AQAB Chair - 229-5225 Scott Mason, Council Liaison - 226-4824 Tom Shoemaker, Staff Liaison - 221-6263 Board Members Present John Fooks (until 8:45 p.m.), Nancy York, Raymond Sons (until 9:45 p.m.), David Gallup, John Schroeer, Harry Edwards, and Eric Levine Board Members Absent Mandar Sunthankar and John Scanlon Staff Present Natural Resources Department: Tom Shoemaker, Brian Woodruff, Sally Maggart, and Lucinda Smith Guests Jeff Eisert, Natural Resources Department intern The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Approval of Minutes The minutes of the February 25, 1998 regular meeting were approved as written. Review and Update Action List See attached. Other Eric Levine distributed a memo that he wrote to the Mayor and City Council Members dated March 23, 1998, regarding the Rate of Growth Effects on Air Quality. Harry Edwards said that he was concerned that Levine represented himself in the memo as Vice Chair of the Air Quality Advisory Board. Edwards said that the implication is that Levine is speaking for the entire board. Brian Woodruff said that according to AQAB by-laws members are encouraged to announce their affiliation with the Board in making statements about air quality but they should not represent it as a position of the Board. John Fooks said that he was not in a position to make a ruling until he studies the by-laws closer. Tom Shoemaker said that the policy in terms of communications will be clarified at the next meeting. Levine said that he wrote the memo because he was not going to be able to attend the particular Council meeting addressing the Air Quality Action Plan. Air Quality Advisory Board March 25, 1998 Page 2 Review Council Six -Month Planning Calendar • Street Maintenance and Multi Modal Transportation: Study Session late July • Trash Districting: Council Study Session May 12 Monitoring Review. Timothy Wilder Timothy Wilder, Advance Planning Department, explained that data collection for City Plan monitoring projects occurs through records gathered from various departments. He said that the data collection phase will continue until fall when the draft report with specific indicators measurement is due. Wilder said that the report will contain an analysis of the indicators for one year. He added that the second report will occur in the year 2000 when trigger mechanisms take place. Wilder noted that an ad hoc committee is being formed to discuss the projections and how they should be treated in the future. David Gallup questioned that the threshold triggers would not be checked until 2000. He said that he is concerned that it might be too late to catch up and do a mid -course correction if the wrong percentage growth rate is used. Fooks said that the Board is trying to ensure that the plan stays the course and improves air quality. He added that City Plan might not be the mechanism to do it; the Air Quality Action Plan might be the only mechanism. Woodruff agreed. He said that the focus should be on what action to take. Levine said that he likes the idea of updating and monitoring with triggers. He added that his concern is about the thirty percent discrepancy in the compounded growth rate of vehicle miles traveled (VMT). Levine said that VMT growth should be linked to population growth. Shoemaker noted that it is important to understand that the focus is on the land use part of City Plan. He added that the proposal is to form a joint committee of staff and representatives from the Natural Resources Advisory Board, Planning & Zoning Board, Transportation Board and Air Quality Advisory Board to address the issue. Levine said that the procedure does not address contingency planning. He added that the City is great at studying a problem, but not timely at making decisions and moving ahead with solutions. Edwards said that the data indicate that the trend line is linear, not exponential. He asked what the basis is for the growth rate. Wilder said that City Plan is based on a 2.2 percent growth rate over a 20-year period. Woodruff said that Ken Waido, Chief Planner, could help with the demographics. Edwards and Levine volunteered to represent the Air Quality Advisory Board on the ad hoc committee. Air Quality Advisory Board March 25, 1998 Page 3 State Implementation PlanBrian Woodruff Brian Woodruff, Senior Environmental Planner, noted that the Board's packet contained a draft recommendation to Council on redesignation. He said that he is seeking comments on the issue from the Board to convey to Council. John Schroeer suggested mentioning the AIR Program as a contributing factor for better air quality. David Gallup asked what the likely response of the North Front Range Council would be. Woodruff said that the likely response is that they will say whatever Fort Collins wants is okay. He noted that the Council is the formal lead agency and will transmit the recommendation to the State. Raymond Sons said that staff s recommendation is a cogent laying out of reasons why the City does not want redesignation. John Fooks said that if there are two violations with the current SIP, the City would have to build in IM240. Woodruff said that an unexpected violation would mean serious action would be needed to reduce emissions. He said that the IM240 contingency measure is an EPA requirement and would only have to be strong enough to offset VMT growth for a year. Nancy York said that she felt that there is not a true measure of CO at the Laurel and Mason monitoring site. Woodruff said that he would put that as a future agenda item. Woodruff said that the Air Quality Control Commission is making this one of their highest priorities. They want local areas to have their own programs and would be disinclined to insist that Fort Collins redesignate. Gallup asked if the loss of funds is the real crux. Woodruff responded that it is one of the factors. Fooks asked if the redesignation plan is federally enforceable. Woodruff responded, no. Raymond Sons made the motion to support the staff recommendation and endorse Brian Woodruff s memo to Council to not seek redesignation. John Schroeer seconded the motion. A friendly amendment to make the staff recommendation a joint memo from staff and the Air Quality Board was accepted by Sons. The motion passed 6-0, with Chair John Fooks not voting. John Fooks was ill and left the meeting. Vice Chair Eric Levine became Acting Chair at this point. Senate Bill 182 Lucinda Smith, Environmental Planner, said that the legislation dealing with several elements of the air emissions inspection program was introduced in the legislature on March 5. She noted that the bill is scheduled to go to HEWI (Health, Environment, Welfare and Institution Committee) tomorrow. Smith said that staff has evaluated the bill from the air quality perspective and has taken a position that will be presented to the Legislative Review Committee tomorrow. Air Quality Advisory Board March 25, 1998 Page 4 Smith explained that the bill proposes a remote sensing clean screening program in Greeley and establishes a pilot study for clean screening in Denver. She said that it extends the sunset date for the AIR program from 2002 until 2020 and calls for periodic audits of the program starting in 2000. Smith said that the biggest problem with the bill is that it proposes to eliminate the emissions program at the time of change of ownership. She said that while the overall bill has positive features, there is an opt -out provision that causes some concern. Harry Edwards made the motion to recommend supporting the staff position on Senate Bill 182. John Schroeer seconded the motion. After the following discussion, there was a call for the question and the motion passed 5-0, with Eric Levine abstaining. Edwards said that he is concerned about clean screen remote sensing replacing the tailpipe emission program. He explained that the clean screen program measures the concentration of CO in the exhaust, whereas the tailpipe test attempts to simulate the actual driving cycle. Smith said that the clean screen program could result in a six to seven percent decrease in CO benefit, but the cost savings would outweigh the slight loss of CO benefit. Eric Levine asked how long the Greeley test program ran. Smith responded that the pilot ran for over 12 months. Levine said that he questions the methodology based on one pilot program, and the efficacy of the Greeley test because it was voluntary and those who chose to could ignore the test, thus losing any trend. He said that he is concerned about the opt out provision and has no faith in the Air Quality Control Commission to promulgate the rules. Diesel Truck Idling Project Jeff Eisert Jeff Eisert said that he is an environmental health student at CSU working in an internship program with Lucinda Smith. He said that his product is a study of the air quality impact of idling diesel trucks, and he is seeking comments from the Board. Eisert said that the conclusion from his survey is that idling is not of significant concern because of the low amount of complaints, and engines are shut off to save gas and lower the wear and tear on the engine. Harry Edwards asked about the number of complaints. Smith said that Eisert has not received any directly, but on the average there is one complaint a year. Raymond Sons suggested that Eisert should do an independent spot check on idling trucks. York suggested including the City's Streets Department trucks. Items For Next Meeting Agenda • Report from Dr. Lawson: June • Clarifying Board's By-laws: April • CO Monitoring Discussion: April • Discussion on Alternative Fuels Vehicles: April Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 9:48 p.m.