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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 05/28/1997MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING NEIGHBORHOOD RESOURCES CENTER 405 CANYON AVE. MAY 28,1997 For Reference: John Fooks, AQAB Chair - 229-5225 Scott Mason, Council Liaison - 226-4824 Brian Woodruff, Staff Liaison - 221-6604 Board Members Present Susan Bilo, Raymond Sons, Pete Perkins, Harry Edwards, Nancy York, David Gallup and John Fooks Board Members Absent John Scanlon and Eric Levine Staff Present Natural Resources Degarr_ment: Tom Shoemaker, Brian Woodruff, Susan Caplan, Lucinda Smith, Linda Devocelle and Sally Maggart Advance Planning Den rtm .n : Timothy Wilder Guests Scott Mason, the new Air Quality Advisory Board council liaison, said that he will be attending the meetings on a quarterly basis. Will Smith, former council liaison, thanked Pete Perkins and Susan Bilo, outgoing members, for their contribution to the board. The meeting was called to order at 7:05 p.m. Approval of Minutes With the changes noted in the April 23, 1997 minutes, the minutes of the March 27, 1997 meeting were approved as written. With the following changes, the minutes of the April 23, 1997 meeting were approved as written. John Fooks and David Gallup will provide their revisions to be attached. Review Action L oe See attached. Review Council Six -Month Planning Calendar • Policy Agenda adoption on June 17 • Land Use Code on July 15 Air Quality Advisory Board May 28, 1997 Page 2 SPECIAL INFORMATION ITEMS City Plan Indicators, Timothy Wilder, Advance Planning Timothy Wilder, City Planner, distributed information on performance indicators used to evaluate City Plan. He noted that air quality indicators are spelled out and the Air Quality Plan will be used for information. Pete Perkins suggested that the benchmarking survey might help focus in on what is important to citizens. Wilder said that he was not aware of the survey but is familiar with the process. Wilder said that there will be a final list of indicators in July. He cited the mode split and vmt key indicators on page two. Harry Edwards asked what the outputs of analysis will be. Wilder responded that it depends on the indicator. He added that the report will be completed in 1998 and adopted indicators may have to be revisited because of the limited timeframe. David Gallup asked if there are any creative ways to collect data on the mode split. Woodruff said that methodology has been developed and there is a report available. Edwards asked if information would be available in time to feed into the discussions pertaining to SIP. Woodruff responded that it depends on when SIP gets started, but the information probably would not be available in time. John Fooks noted that there is a lot of information and the Board might want to discuss this at the next meeting. Electric Vehicles and Clean Cities, Susan Bilo Susan Bilo announced that she will be moving to Salt Lake City in July. She requested that the Board continue with the Clean Cities program. Bilo added that a coordinator will be hired through DOE funding to work with the corridor committee that meets once every two months in Fort Collins. Bilo said that the committee is working on a corridor map, fueling stations and directional signs. Bilo cited an article on the first page of the May 28 issue of the Coloradoan newspaper. She said that it reported on a global warming conference. Linda Devocelle, Environmental Education Specialist, said that Susan Bilo has been one of the most participatory members of the Clean Cities committee and she will be missed. ACTION ITEMS Air Quality Action Plan Work Schedule John Fooks said that this is an adjustable plan and he would like to entertain a motion for approval. David Gallup questioned the nontesting committee report to Council scheduled for July. Lucinda t Air Quality Advisory Board May 28, 1997 Page 3 Smith, Environmental Planner, said that the preliminary report will be made to the board in July and the final committee report will not be available until August. Susan Caplan, Environmental Planner, said that the original proposal was to have the whole board work on the four main chapters of the Action Plan; another suggestion would be to have a committee convene to work on details and bring the results to the board. Susan Bilo said that she, Nancy York and Eric Levine worked with staff on the Policy Plan and the process worked well. York added that a committee is a better way to go because it frees up board meeting time for other issues. Harry Edwards made the motion to create an executive committee to deal with the necessary changes in the Air Quality Action Plan with the understanding that major changes would be presented to the Board for approval. Nancy York seconded the motion. Edwards noted that it is common to have an executive committee for a recurring task that does not tie up the whole board. The advantage is to spend quality time on other issues and policy formation as opposed to tasking. Fooks said that the Board is dealing with documents that are a driving force for the Board and every member should be intimately aware of the wording. He added that he understands the work is time consuming and is not sure what the solution is. Susan Bilo suggested that after each committee meeting, there be a short report to the Board. Edwards said that the radon committee is a good example of doing the work well. He added that there is a lot of excitement in a committee setting and he would like to argue in favor of spending more board time on policy issues; the Board does not need to spend an hour on the Action Plan every meeting. Susan Bilo made the motion to table the motion made by Harry Edwards until after the following agenda item on the wood smoke portion of the Action Plan. John Fooks seconded the motion. David Gallup said that he is not sure of the connection between the motion and the wood smoke issue. Woodruff said that what is confusing matters is if it is appropriate to have a committee work on the Action Plan. He noted that today's agenda item on wood smoke has a different approach. Edwards said that he is prepared to go with the agenda and deal with the issue of forming an executive committee relative to the Action Plan and, when done, move forward with the next item. Edwards said that he does not want to rule out wood smoke. Fooks asked for a vote on the motion to table the motion until after Item 2 on the agenda. The motion passed (6-1). Fooks said that he would like to see the Board review the commercial item in June, the mobile item in July and the indoor item in August. Nancy York made the motion to accept the Action Plan and the undertaking of one of the events each month. Susan Bilo seconded the motion. After the following discussion, the motion passed Air Quality Advisory Board May 28, 1997 Page 4 unanimously (7-0). David Gallup said that this would hamstring the executive committee the board is talking about forming from the standpoint of dictating to the committee what they will have to look at first. Edwards said that his vision for the committee is that it will deal with the business of the future rather than what is already scheduled. He added that he does not want the establishment of an executive committee to overturn work done. Caplan explained that the schedule is dictated by a need to adopt the 1999 Action Plan in March 1998 to be in synch with the budget process. She added that there are other hoops, i.e., review by Council, Tom Shoemaker, Greg Byrne and John Fischbach, and this left four months to work on four chapters. Caplan noted that the mobile chapter is where it is because that is when the latest vmt information is going to be available. Fooks said that there is a purposeful manipulation to monopolize time; this is a non -item and this is making an issue of making an issue. Gallup said that he resents Fooks looking at him and saying "purposeful manipulation". Fooks said that he is not accusing Gallup of that. Air Quality Action Plan Update: Wood Smoke, Linda Devocelle Linda Devocelle, Environmental Education Specialist, said that this is an interim tweaking of the plan to get it on schedule with the two year budget cycle. This portion has been reviewed by staff and comments have been received from board members. Devocelle asked for comments on the first page and asked if the data are appropriate. Fooks asked what the frequency is for the next data point. Devocelle responded that an update is done every two years. York said that she would like the actual number of complaints shown. Devocelle noted that the Zilch loan program will be restructured to focus on wood stove removal and expanded to deal with radon mitigation. Perkins asked what the loan would be for on wood stove removal. Devocelle responded that the loan would be for removal, roof sealing and dismantling. York noted an error on page 13 that should read "wood stove to gas stove", not "fireplace". York asked how many loans are made. Devocelle responded that there are 45-50 per year. Woodruff noted that $30,000 is being requested in 1998 and again in 1999. Fooks suggested going to the Health & Safety Committee to prepave the way on these two items if the board feels it is a measure worth supporting. Shoemaker explained that the Air Quality Board could underscore this recommendation with a separate memo to Council since they are in the budget process now. Devocelle said that the biennial wood smoke survey will take place in March 1998. She noted that the woodburning education program will continue and City Line and KCSU will be discontinued. Air Quality Advisory Board May 28, 1997 Page 5 Edwards asked what the vision is in terms of council action and if this is moving toward an ordinance. Devocelle responded that regulations are not being proposed in 1999 except for a review of the point -of -sale ordinance. York suggested including figures about how many Zilch loans are made, for what things, the payback and evidence of success. Devocelle noted that only one loan has gone sour and the money was eventually repaid. Edwards asked if the loans are secured by a lien. Devocelle responded yes, and added that the City can shut off electricity if the loan is not paid. Woodruff said that information could be added on what it costs the City to loan out money. He added that this could be made a performance indicator. Harry Edwards made the motion to take the motion from the table and place it before the board Pete Perkins seconded the motion. It passed unanimously (7-0). The motion made by Harry Edwards to create an executive committee passed unanimously (7-0). Fooks asked for volunteers for committee membership. He said that he would like to participate but he cannot guarantee that he will be able participate 100 percent. Fooks will call and ask Eric Levine if he is interested in being a member. Nancy York and Raymond Sons volunteered to participate. Edwards said that he will participate if Levine cannot. INFORMATION ITEMS I/M Non -Testing Issues. Lucinda Smith Lucinda Smith, Environmental Planner, said that the committee has met five times and has set the mission statement and goals. She added that they have received presentations on behavioral aspects, remote sensing and economic incentives. Smith listed the range of economic incentive options: 1) The use of block heaters - cold start strategy; 2) Sales tax or registration credit; 3) Combination repair and scrappage program to provide some dollar amount to repair or buy high emitting vehicles; and 4) Yard equipment emission reduction program. Edwards asked if environmental justice had been discussed. Smith responded that it had been touched on in relation to scrappage programs. Edwards noted that these programs hurt the poor people the hardest. Smith offered that it could be a voluntary program. York suggested job training money be identified to teach people how to repair their own automobiles. Smith said that she will talk about education next time. Smith reported that the committee approved the idea of bringing a proposal to NFRTAQ to look at emission testing compliance and develop an enforcement plan. She added that the technical advisory committee preliminary approved doing the study. Air Quality Advisory Board May 28, 1997 Page 6 Smith said that the Tech Night held on May 1 was attended by 41 technicians and the course critique was favorable. She added that a survey was distributed for the committee to get thoughts and concerns about emissions and positive information was received. The committee will meet on June 25, July 9 and July 23. Smith offered to send the meeting minutes to interested boardmembers. Liaison Meeting with T-Board/Joint Chairs, John Fooks/Brian Woodruff Brian Woodruff, Senior Environmental Planner, said that Transportation Board members Sara Frazier and Paul Perlmutter are interested in meeting with Air Quality Board members Nancy York and David Gallup to discuss work plan matters. Staff will make the arrangements. Attendance Policy, John Fooks Chair John Fooks asked that board members review the attendance policy. He stressed the importance of notification if a boardmember is unable to attend a meeting. New Source Review Committee, Brian Woodruff Brian Woodruff, Senior Environmental Planner, reported that stationary sources information is ready to be presented to the executive committee. He added that commercial and industrial issues will be addressed at the June meeting. Propose Items for Next Meeting Agenda • Review City Plan indicators (get comments to Susan Caplan) • Multi Modal Transfer Center presentation • Commercial element of the AQAP • Informational item for the public education program, Linda Devocelle • Informational item on growth & CO projections Other Business Nancy York suggested writing a letter to the editor of the Coloradoan newspaper recognizing commercial operations that signed on to the wind power program. She said that Steve VanderMeer can provide the list. Susan Bilo asked if there is an award offered to businesses for doing more than what is required. Tom Shoemaker responded that the Natural Resources Advisory Board sponsors an environmental action award. Fooks suggested that this be a discussion item at the next meeting. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 7:42 p.m.