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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 05/05/1999MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE May 5,1999 For Reference: Phil Murphy, NRAB Chair - 491-6303 Bill Bertschy, Council Liaison - 484-0181 Susie Gordon, Staff Liaison - 221-6265 Board Members Present Phil Friedman, Randy Fischer, Kelly Ohlson, Phil Murphy, Bill Miller, Nate Donovan, Reagan Waskom Board Members Absent Don Rodriguez, Rick Harness Staff Present Natural Resources Dent Terry Klahn, Susie Gordon, Tom Shoemaker Transportation: Tom Frazier Guests Sally Craig, Planning and Zoning Board Agenda Review Miller: Discuss interest in a joint meeting with the Larimer County EAR Miller: Provide feedback on the Strengthening Board Effectiveness Seminar. Ohlson: Request a memo to Council regarding proper trail placement as trails are repaired/replaced due to flood damage. Committee Reports Solid Waste Committee: There was a meeting with the trash haulers April 29. Only one of the six companies, S&S Sanitation, attended. Went through the list of brainstorm ideas formulated at the initial meeting. Susie Gordon will provide an update at the May 19 meeting on the "interim" solid waste reduction plan. Horticulture Site Selection Committee: Randy Fischer said he has heard there is serious consideration being given to Ross Open Space as a potential site, and added that if this is true it needs to be nipped in the bud as quickly as possible. Susie Gordon said Jim Clark asked her to hold the memo to Council, as negotiations with CSU are still pretty sensitive. Fischer added that he hopes they don't think if negotiations are going badly with CSU that they can somehow justify using a natural area. Kelly Ohlson said we need to make sure we're comparing apples to apples when comparing Lee Martinez Park to Natural Resources Adviso., Board May 5, 1999 Page 2 CSU property. If it comes out that there is an $82,000 shortfall for the CSU site we need to make sure it's legitimate, and that costs for using Lee Martinez Park haven't been deliberately "low -balled". Ohlson added that the Oxbow site hasn't been ruled out either. Phil Murphy requested the notes from this discussion be forwarded to Don Rodriguez. Follow up on communiques to Council Copies of memo's forwarded to Council were provided in the information packets. Mobility Report Card, Tom Frazier The Mobility Report Card is a tool designed in 1995 to give communities in the North Front Range an opportunity to measure a goal of making a 10% modal shift from single occupancy vehicles to other modes of transportation. The survey included: • A survey of households providing data on travel mode and total household travel. • Actual counts of all travel modes in the different communities (Greeley, Fort Collins, Loveland). • Updated regional travel model (Vehicle Miles Traveled). Survey results included: • The proportion of people making their weekday trips by SOV has remained about the same. This is positive in light of the high periods of growth. • Total automobile travel in the region has increased approximately 20.3% region -wide In Fort Collins the increase is almost 26%, double what was projected in 1995. • The VMT increase is driven in part by the increase of higher income households. • Carpooling has increased. • Didn't get a lot of responses on walkingtbicycling, so don't know how accurate those figures are. Recommendations: • Accelerate the TDM program. • Expand'IDM awareness. • Foster additional employer and employee participation in'IDM programs. • Continue the TDM evaluation program. • Implement survey of carpool database members. • Pursue greater Front Range vanpool program cooperation. Frazier said we won't see a lot of changes in the way people are traveling as long the type of development and housing continue. It will take City Plan at least seven, maybe more, years to make a difference. Discussion • Miller: Under City Plan, with the incorporation of city centers, VMT will be held down. Well, it should slow it down. People won't have to travel as far. With the Natural Resources Afsory Board • May 5, 1999 Page 3 Mason Stcorridor providing bikeway, transit and pedestrian access people won't have to use cars, that should help with YMT and single occupant vehicles. • Friedman: I read that when it comes to SOV commuting trips, as opposed to shuttling trips, commuting plays a smaller role in the generation of SOV than does everything else. Is that true? Yes, the non -work trip is at a higher percentage than the work trip. Is there an effective way to reduce non -work SOV trips? It has to do with education and awareness. We're working on three big areas in our education/awareness piece; workplace, schools and universities. We've been working with different groups to try to set up car pools. for example, soccer and other after -school activities. • Miller: Has the study looked at making a determination as to whether people are using their trips efficiently? No, the study is not that detailed • Donovan: Has there been any thought given as to how a ballot initiative might be drafted that would be more likely to be approved by the voters? Yes, but the City's in the budget process now. As far as a new election there has been no direction to move ahead. • Friedman: Did the survey point to any areas where we can better encourage alternate modes, e.g., bikes and pedestrians, by looking at where the infrastructure could be improved? No. • Ohlson: When was this presented to Council? At a work session in March. How are they planning on using this information? The planners are meeting about that issue. Council is waiting to see how staff incorporates it into different plans. It looks like a lot of good work, I'm curious of the ramifications. The piece about City Plan and urban planning is very important. In another four years we'll have a good idea if things are beginning to shift or not. If not, there are some real hard decisions to be made by Council. • Donovan: What is congestion pricing? In downtown Denver they charge $25.00 a day for parking. Fort Collins is in the $20.00 per month range, looking at going to $36.00 a month. • Murphy: Anything as far as a correlation between VMT and gas prices? No, we didn't look at that. There have been quite a few studies elsewhere. The high prices in California have not changed the VMT, but in Europe, where it's really expensive there have been changes. 7here are numerous opinions on that issue. Strengthening Board Effectiveness Miller: Thought the seminar would be a "great thing", but in reality the topic was more for executive boards of corporations, or City Councils. There was about 50 minutes on advisory boards at the end of the day, it didn't sound like he was too enamored of advisory boards. Susie Gordon: As a staff liaison, it was very useful. The true test will be to see if Council buys into some of these principals. Sally Craig: The NRAB is already operating at the level Carver was discussing, but not all boards operate as well as the NRAB. Boards should advise directly to Council, with no go-betweens, some boards don't do that. He made a strong point of Natural Resources Advisc. Board May 5, 1999 Page 4 working as a cohesive group, one member doesn't come out and tell staff to do something. It could be effective for many boards to use his ideas. • Donovan: We can learn and grab a few kernels. The "ends and means" discussion was important. Staff can figure out the means as long as the ends are defined. Another one of Carver's ideas is that advisory boards are designed to advise, and not to do public relations with citizens • Murphy: As a board we need to look at future issues more closely. We seem to get into detail way above and beyond what we should be working on. We can provide unique input, we come in with a great deal of knowledge. • Ohlson: There's not a staff that gets along better than Natural Resources and we're as functional as a board as is possible. If every other staff and board functioned like this, we'd be better off. • Miller: Can remember when the NRAB never got involved in the budget process. John Fischbach extended the invitation. It's in response to the reality that you have something important to say, as well as what he's experienced in past years. Council Policy Recommendations & Budget Review, Tom Shoemaker Shoemaker stated that at the last meeting the board brainstormed, working essentially on one list with two objectives of providing; 1) input to Council on their policy agenda and 2) early input into the budget process. Staff took the list and separated it into two draft memos for board consideration tonight. The board reviewed the brainstorming list item by item and identified items they felt to be essential. The following items were recommended to Council and staff with regard to Council Policy agenda and budget discussions. ■ Protect and preserve the natural Poudre River corridor and restore damaged stretches to more natural conditions. ■ Continue to aggressively acquire natural areas, following directions given by previous council to use a variety of funding mechanisms and partnerships. ■ Support continuation of "Help Preserve Open Spaces" tax to provide long-term management of natural areas program. ■ Accelerate and intensify efforts for reducing growth rate of VMT. ■ Adopt radon standards for new construction and point -of -sale testing requirement. ■ Increase the location and numbers of air quality monitoring stations. ■ Create a Pollution Prevention Program to provide assistance to small and medium sized businesses. ■ Expand recycling opportunities with projects including but not limited to working with Larimer County to expand the recycling plant, providing one or more additional drop-off sites and better opportunities for multi -family complexes. ■ Actively participate in decisions involving landfill issues, in relation to recycling and waste diversion opportunities that it provides to the community. ■ Establish more stringent regulations regarding development in the 100-year flood plain. ■ Ensure that growth is paying its own way. Natural Resources AdRsory Board • May 5, 1999 Page 5 ■ Increase interaction with Larimer County and regional entities concerning land use. ■ Ensure that variances and deviations from the Land Use Code do not negate City Plan. ■ Provide adequate staffing to inspect and enforce LDGS conditions and City Plan Land Use Code implementation. ■ Discourage new HOA covenants, and encourage revisions to existing covenants, that are environmentally unfriendly (such as requirements to use bluegrass, prohibitions on clotheslines, compost bins and solar panels). ■ Conduct more water quality monitoring and reporting for streams and Poudre River. ■ Pass and implement Best Management Practices to protect water quality in streams and Poudre River. ■ Protect watersheds that supply Fort Collins with drinking water. Review Future Agenda Items May 14. 1999 Field Trip May 19, 1999: City Separators Project Downtown River Corridor Plan Solid Waste Diversion Projects June 2. 1999: Cities for Climate Protection Review Action Log ■ Bill Miller asked the NRAB to consider a joint meeting with Larimer County Environmental Advisory Board. ■ Memo to Council: Flooded sections of trails need to be relocated with sensitivity for natural resources. • Forward comments about Horticulture Center site selection to Don Rodriguez. ■ Forward concerns to Council regarding the issue of dogs in natural areas (natural areas use parameters). ■ Memo welcoming new Council. ■ Memo on contingency plans if/when City Plan "triggers" are activated. ■ Schedule Futures committee meeting. Announcements • Ohlson: Asked staff to review the Land Use Code revision to make sure there's nothing in there the board would be opposed to. Staff agreed to double-check. • Gordon: Compost bin sale is Saturday, May 8. • Shoemaker: High level discussions are occurring regarding approval of a sewer line near Heron Lake. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 10:00.