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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 02/17/1999MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD SPECIAL MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE February 17, 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, Don Rodriguez, Kelly Ohlson, Phil Murphy, Bill Miller, Nate Donovan Board Members Absent Rick Harness, Reagan Waskom, Randy Fischer Staff Present Natural Resources Dent: Terry Klahn, Susie Gordon, Lucinda Smith, Aaron Fodge, Henry Jeanes Advance Plannine: Timothy Wilder Park Plannine: Janet Meisel -Burns, Wally Piccone Guests Sally Craig, Planning and Zoning Board Jeremy Gingerich, CSU student Agenda Review • Kelly Ohlson asked that an agenda item be added that would provide time for discussion and announcements that may not be brief, but would generally take five minutes or less. • Bill Miller: Update on meeting of Larimer County EAB with County Commissioners. Cities for Climate Protection: Lucinda Smith Lucinda Smith introduced the Cities for Climate Protection Campaign to the board. She stated the City has received a grant to assist in developing a local action plan to reduce greenhouse gases in Fort Collins. A staff and citizen committee has been working to develop ideas on how to accomplish these reductions. Smith asked the NRAB for feedback on measures under consideration, and for additional ideas the board would like staff to consider. Natural Resources Advisu,, Board February 17, 1999 Page 2 Discussion: • Murohv: Why would someone not want to plant trees? A study in Atlanta showed that tree planting reduced energy consumption (for air conditioning and heating). 1 advocate that you tackle this issue, it's something people can do as individuals to accrue benefits. • Friedman: There were strong concerns about human impacts and changing the and climate's ecosystem. Everyone had questions about tree planting. • Murphy: Using vegetation to reduce cooling needs is wise. Need to use the proper types of vegetation. • Ohlson: Comments 1. Use fewer acronyms. 2. Municipal emissions: If this is referring to the city government that needs to be made clear. Some people may not understand the phrase "municipal emissions". 3. Municipal Energy Manager: Would favor this position if the resultant savings in dollars paid for the position. If not, would prefer more environmental planners and positions in the Natural Resources Dept. 4. Address the issue of potential health problems related to greenhouse gas. 5. Most of the focus seems to be on internal City government. I agree the City must get its own house in order first, but external impacts must also be examined. Good point, also some of the things that look internal may actually be external; government interacting with citizens and business, and outreach. Maybe we need to shift the way it's presented. 6. How much staff time do you anticipate will be directed toward this program? Unless Council assigns an energy manager there won't be just one person. It wild take pieces from many people, for example to begin an audit of City buildings. There is no real estimate of how much time will be involved. 7. The ramifications of the increase in VMT numbers are staggering. • Rodriguez: Why aren't CFC's mentioned? There are limited resources, plus it's dropping off and somewhat being handled already. It's also partly resource driven, the tools are just not there. • Rodriguez: Does Poudre R-1 have an energy conservation team? Yes, they have a great plan. Fifty percent of the savings in costs are returned to the school. • Rodriguez: Might the City share a position with the schools? If we did that then private business might wonder why the City won't share a position with them. • Rodriguez: Is there any partnering with the Rocky Mountain Institute? No. • Rodriguez: People aren't knowledgeable about the benefits of whole house fans versus air conditioning. There needs to be an incentive plan to highlight whole house fans, they're perfect for this climate. Utilities is looking at expanding the ZILCH program to include whole -house fans. • Friedman: The issue with compact fluorescent bulbs is the difficulty in retrofitting. In an existing home most bulbs won't fit, or look ugly. It's easier in new construction, there are larger fixtures available for installation. New construction may be the best way to approach encouraging the use of compact fluorescent bulbs. Natural Resources A9sory Board • February 17, 1999 Page 3 • Friedman: It was disappointing not to have better representation on the citizen committee from the building and business communities. There was not one large industry there. Need to try to do a better job of getting more people involved. • Ohlson: Staff needs to make it clear that every effort was made to get people to the table. Agree with Phil Friedman, it's never too late to extend outreach. • Friedman: There may be lots of good ideas among homebuilders. We may dream of the impossible and not think of things that are possible and effective. • Friedman: How would having trash picked up every other week reduce the amount of trash? It would reduce truck traffic. There may also be different sized containers, it's a status symbol, of sorts, to have a small container. People would try to reduce. • Friedman: The overriding sentiment from the citizen committee was getting the biggest bang for the buck. Go after measures that are do -able and big, don't invest a lot of effort and capital on the small ones. • Smith: Windmills are a good way to achieve results. Potential deregulation plus limitations in the transmission lines are important issues affecting decisions about turbines. • Rodriguez:. In California there was a tax incentive for groups to jointly purchase wind power, but long term maintenance became an issue. Once the tax break was realized the turbines would stand idle. • Ohlson: Regarding trash pickup every other week, we should get the base rate to $2.50 instead of $5.00 for trash collected only twice a month. If biweekly pickup were rewarded more people would be open to it. Smith advised she would update the board in April or May, depending on the board's schedule. City Plan Monitoring, Timothy Wilder Timothy Wilder said this draft report is a work in progress, but he wanted the board to have an opportunity to see it before it goes to Council for study session. He explained that staff worked with the Council Growth Management Committee to develop a list of indicators for monitoring City Plan. A list of sixteen indicators was approved by the committee, five of which were categorized as "trigger" indicators. This report is focused on looking at the results of City Plan, and it should be noted that to date, we have not processed any new projects under City Plan. They are still coming in under the previous LDGS regulations. Discussion • Miller: This board has said for over a year the rates of certain things need to be more accurately reflected. • Ohlson: I appreciate your pointing out that this report is unpolished, but you don't have to worry about that. We appreciate the opportunity to be able to provide input when it makes a difference. Natural Resources Advisu.y Board February 17, 1999 Page 4 • Ohlson: The population growth number of 3.8% for 1998 is pretty staggering. You might want to include a visual, or at least a footnote to explain how these numbers are determined. • Wilder: In the year 2001, we'll have to go back and revise the population figures . The base will be higher than was projected in City Plan. . • Ohlson: Explain how you will prove the cost of housing relates to City Plan. How are you going to determine that the cost of housing per square foot has risen? • Friedman: You can't look at the cost per square foot, or the fact that there are two or three more thousand dollars in fees. It's the 3,4,5,6-car garage homes, and the fact that people put in five sinks at $500 a piece. • Wilder: We do have a City Plan goal listed in this document to encourage the production of housing that meets the needs of all Maybe we need to look at other things and new policies in regard to what kinds of housing we want to provide. • Ohlson: The City is responsible for two dollars in every 100 dollars, it's a scientific debacle to tie the cost of houses to City Plan. There are many factors that lead to the cost of housing; number of bathrooms, square footage. It's hard to tell if any of the costs are attributable to City Plan. • Murphy: City Plan is about the people and their needs. It's much bigger than the Land Use Code and housing. While the cost of houses and population is important, the other story is how people feel about the community. Wilder advised the board that if they are interested in making additional comments regarding the draft report, the best place to go would be the Council Growth Management Committee. Update to Parks & Recreation Policy Plan and Master Plan Map, Janet Meisel -Burns Janet Meisel -Burns requested comments from the board regarding changes to the Parks and Recreation Policy Plan. All proposed changes to the Implementation Table were reviewed. Also reviewed were changes being proposed by the adoption of the following Subarea Plans; Fossil Creek Reservoir Area Plan; Mountain Vista Subarea Plan; and the West Central Neighborhoods Plan. Motion by Kelly Ohlson: Move that the NRAB support the proposed changes to the Parks and Recreation Policy Plan as presented. Ohlson also noted that Parks and Recreation Planning staff should be commended for their work, specifically with regard to the need for sensitive treatment of trail placement. The motion was approved unanimously. Other Business • Bill Miller — Larimer County Environmental Advisory Board: The EAB has received permission to deal directly with staff. Previously, the EAB had worked only with the County Commissioners. They will have the opportunity to get involved in the process Natural Resources Adlisory Board • February 17, 1999 Page 5 before staff goes to the Commissioners with projects. Staff will be encouraged to be sensitive to the EAB presence. • Susie Gordon: Wally Piccone has resigned from the City and accepted a position with GOCO. • Draft Memo — Trash Districting: Staff is looking at the possibility of a partnership with CSU for a centralized recycling drop-off site. Kelly Ohlson stated the need to get recommendations to Council in a timely manner so budget requests can made in this budget cycle. Kelly Ohlson and Susie Gordon will finalize the memo to Council. • Kelly Ohlson asked to be provided a list of members of the Gateway Park Committee. • Kelly Ohlson mentioned that when a member of the NRAB is representing the board on a committee they need to be careful about representing one person's viewpoint. If he's representing the board he needs to present the board viewpoint, not a single member viewpoint. • The Board discussed the need to develop a process for receiving feedback from Council regarding suggestions made by the NRAB. Committee Reports Horticulture Site Selection Committee — Don Rodriguez The committee will meet tomorrow (Jan. 18) to review an appraisal of the CSURF site. The City wants to move the frisbee golf course out of Edora Park. Will Smith is pushing for Lee Martinez. The committee's discussion was centered around moving it behind the Holiday Inn. There are nothing but positive signs about the CSURF site being selected for the horticulture center. One reason is that CSU is moving full bore regarding plans for the old Fort Collins High School. Review Minutes January 27, 1999: • Don Rodriguez: Page 2, 1" paragraph, last sentence; change to "He added that the site was not seriously considered at this time." Page 5, P paragraph, change to "The City's position is that a portion of the site will be usedas a neighborhood park. An additional $180,000 will be supplied to the hort center if they will provide neighborhood park amenities. Most major hort centers I've seen have a park of some kind that adjoins them. It's totally consistent to have a horticulture center adjoining a park. • Kelly Ohlson Page 5, 1& Bullet: Ohlson clarified the intent of his comment regarding the monitoring of the rate of compliance of dogs off leash and the Natural Areas Rangers. His intent had not been to criticize the rangers, but to address the need for monitoring the improvement of compliance as a result of having rangers on patrol. • Phil Friedman said he likes the expanded version of the minutes. The minutes were unanimously approved as amended. Natural Resources Adviso , Board February 17, 1999 Page 6 Review Future Agenda Items: March 17, 1999: Meadow Springs Ranch Update Flood Plain Task Force Update April 7, 1999: River Corridor Plan Adjournment - The meeting adjourned at 10:20 p.m.