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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 02/03/1999MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE February 3, 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, Reagan Waskom, Phil Murphy, Rick Harness, Bill Miller, Nate Donovan Board Members Absent Randy Fischer Staff Present Natural Resources Dept: Terry Klahn, Susie Gordon, Tom Shoemaker Plannim Pete Wray Guests Sally Craig, Planning and Zoning Board Karen Wagner, Chairperson of the Larimer County EAB Agenda Review No changes. Brief Announcements Bill Miller: Beginning in October the Larimer County EAB began a self -assessment process. On February 16 there will be a meeting with the County Commissioners, manager and one or two other staff members. The goal of this meeting is to define the role of the EAB; advisory to Council only, solicit and obtain citizen input, or form a more formal relationship to departments? The City's NRAB and Natural Resources Department were used as models. Phil Murphy asked if there was progress on getting the two boards together. Miller advised that a lot of people were not in favor of attending another meeting. Rick Harness: Attended the City Noise Ordinance working group meeting on January 10. They are reviewing and updating the entire noise ordinance. There is interest in having a new section that sets decibel limits and time -of -day limits for domestic power tools. They are looking at setting different levels on weekends and weekdays. People who earn Natural Resources Advisc,., Board February 3, 1999 Page 2 a living using this equipment were brought in to discuss potential impacts. A member from law enforcement said that something like this might be extremely difficult to enforce. Right now law enforcement uses its discretion in writing tickets if it deems a particular noise level is unreasonable. Don Rodriguez: LOCO is soliciting, on the Web, input for the distribution of future lottery funds. As of today there were 556 survey entries. Tom Shoemaker added that the draft strategic plan is available for review. Shoemaker also stated the City has been invited to submit a request for additional funding. Kelm Ohlson: The environmental brown bag sessions are generally the first Friday of the month, from noon to 1:30 p.m. Phil Murphy, Don Rodriguez, Reagan Waskom and Bill Miller asked to be added to the electronic notification list. Kelly Ohlson: The County Planning Commission has a vacancy. The deadline to apply is February 9, 1999. Review Minutes January 6: • Page 2, Committee Reports, change "The DDA and DVA" to "The DDA and DBA" • Page 6, Ohlson comments; change from " I don't have a problem with regulation" to "I don't have a problem with regulation being the last step" and change from "Here are my specifics" to "Here are some more of my specifics". • Page 6, Ohlson comments, #1: change to "What about the poisonous products that we're allowing in home construction?" • Page 7, Ohlson comments, #3: change to "make sure we have the adequate number and location of monitoring sites. The minutes were unanimously approved as amended. Mt. Vista Subarea Plan, Pete Wray Pete Wray stated that he is here tonight to present the plan that has evolved from the draft plan that was previously presented to the NRAB. He is requesting a recommendation to Council for adoption of the plan. Discussion • Ohison: Will the natural areas be City owned? Yes, agreements have been reached (Shoemaker). Is this good news or bad news? It's good news, they are dedicating Waterglen, it's not costing anything. We will do habitat enhancement. We negotiated to pay $163, 000 for Waterfield that's a bargain. • Shoemaker: We should change the map to show actual areas. • Ohlson: Can we follow up on the park location, is it where we want it? We're real comfortable with the park location. We can get you the plans, but we are very comfortable with the location. Natural Resources Advisory Board • February 3, 1999 Page 3 • Ohlson: Can we get the natural areas shown in a darker color green? It would represent things more fairly and accurately. 7hat's a good idea. • Ohlson: Are there other areas, sensitive areas, which will be protected? The two areas we've talked about, the Waterfield and Waterglen site, are what we're aware of. • Ohlson: Need to reference City Plan when determining trail placement. 7ne principals and policies area subset of City Plan. Make sure the trails are placed as sensitively as possible. • Ohlson: We need representatives from the NRAB to be built in at the beginning of the process to amend the Bikeway Plan. • Murphy On page 7, it's not accurate to include Natural Areas Sales Tax monies in Parks & Rec funding. • Ohlson: The City's policy is there is no more of that money. As of today's policy it is not accurate to include Natural Areas Sales Tax monies (Shoemaker). • Miller: Are Latimer County Natural Areas taxes available for P & R? It can be used for trail development and regional parks. It cannot be used for active park development. • Donovan: By active, do you mean programmed? I mean neighborhood parks. • Donovan: Thanks for returning and allowing us the opportunity to review this plan again. • Ohlson: We need to do some wordsmithing, reiterate very careful trail placement. Motion (Bill Miller) Move that the NRAB recommend to Council adoption of the Mt. Vista Subarea Plan. Kelly Ohlson requested the chair work with staff to reiterate City policy and NRAB's strong support for locations and structure of trail placement. Need general statements about trail placement in natural areas, as well as along irrigation ditches and other areas. Make sure we don't do it in reference to just natural areas. The motion was approved unanimously. Update on Flood Plain Task Force, Rick Harness • Rick Harness stated he and Randy are soliciting comments from the board to be presented at the next meeting. • Tom Shoemaker stated that Bob Smith and Randy Fischer had a conversation regarding Randy's concerns, and the process problems have been dealt with. • Bob Smith has asked to be put on an upcoming NRAB meeting agenda. • The next meeting of the task force is next week. • Kelly Ohlson thanked Randy for his excellent work. • The most contentious issue will probably be not allowing new development in the 100-year flood plain. • Donovan: Confused on the 500-year flood plain which prohibits critical action. Does this mean all future critical facilities would not be allowed? Yes. Natural Resources Advise Board February 3, 1999 Page 4 • Sally Craig Aren't they allowed with a variance from the water board? Yes, but it's hard to get a variance. • Donovan: The idea of real estate disclosure is fine, landlords should be required to explain the danger. • Harness: There was discussion about trying to do that a different way, maybe something on the utility bill. • Ohlson: People have a right to know, renters shouldn't be second class citizens. • Friedman: Renters often don't have or want to spend the money for insurance of any kind, especially flood insurance. You can look around and not even be aware that you are in a flood plain. There should be some kind of disclosure, not voluntary, but not realtor based. The City needs to take the lead in informing people. • Donovan: We should recommend no development in the 100-year flood plain. • Miller: We've been on record in the past, including no City owned facilities in floodplains. • Murphy: Rick and Randy are looking at this intently. I'm glad to hear we will have a presentation. We're going to have to rely on Rick and Randy to let us know when we need to chime in. • Friedman: We should encourage the committee to dig its heels in the ground and have resolve, and not let the construction community sway their opinion. Anyone building in a flood plain incurs a huge cost to society. • Harness: Any.future comments can be e-mailed to me. Land Use Code Revisions, Tom Shoemaker Tom Shoemaker stated that he is here tonight to answer questions and receive feedback. He would also like to get a final recommendation from the board. Shoemaker and the Board reviewed the document page by page. Don Rodriguez made the following motion: Move that we support the Land Use Code revisions as brought forth today. Kelly Ohlson made a friendly amendment, with which Rodriguez agreed, that the following issues be addressed: 1) concerns about larger buffers, 2) acknowledge the large amount of compromises and collaborative efforts that occurred, 3) acknowledge and thank staff for the work that went into this document. The amended motion passed unanimously. Tom Shoemaker thanked the board for their efforts, and stated that this product would not have been as good without their effort. Fossil Creek/Huntington Hills Land Acquisition, Tom Shoemaker Natural Resources Advisory Board • February 3, 1999 Page 5 Tom Shoemaker stated that he worked hard to get the costs of this proposal down, and now strongly recommends the Board endorse this project. The previous price of $313,000 has been reduced to $150,000, of which Parks will pay $35,000. We will be going into the project with $75,000 for restoration. Bill Miller made the following motion: Move that we recommend the Natural Resources Department go forward with the acquisition of the Fossil Creek Natural Area, as per the revised proposal. The motion passed unanimously. Natural Area Regulations, Tom Shoemaker Tom Shoemaker reviewed changes made to the Natural Areas Regulations since the board last reviewed them. • #5 Removed the word "over" in reference to flying kites. • #6 Throwing objects — tried to capture that is referring to man made objects. • #9 Horses — Clarified that the 10-feet limit is flexible in instances of imminent danger and safety considerations. • #17 New addition: Reckless or unsafe behavior by equestrians is not acceptable. • #18 New addition: No depositing or scattering of cremated remains (human or animal) without a permit. Phil Friedman will attend the Council Study session Tuesday, February 9, 1999. Tom Shoemaker stated these changes weren't necessary for enforcement, but they do clear up potential misunderstandings. Natural Area Philosophies Postponed Review Future Agenda Items: March 17, 1999: Meadow Springs Ranch Update Floodplain Task Force April 7. 1999: River Corridor Plan Committee Reports Solid Waste Committee The Solid Waste Committee held a meeting February 3, 1999. The discussion focused around the need to move on from the districting issue. This will be an opportunity to look at some new issues over the next couple years. Dan Sherman, from the Larimer County Recycling Center, attended the meeting. Susie Gordon stated he is very Natural Resources Advisa , Board February 3, 1999 Page 6 supportive of what we're trying to do and has some good ideas. Items discussed at the meeting included: • Pay -As -You -Throw: A roundtable with the haulers was discussed as an opportunity to get input and hear their problems. Try to make pay -as -you -throw work. • Expand and centralize a public drop-off site. Possibly work with CSU and their drop- off site. • Construction and demolition material: This issue must be worked out carefully with Larimer County, Dan Sherman had good information about things he worked on in California. • Expansion of the recycling facility: The facility would like to take a look at receiving more material, but they're operating past their capacity. Looking at getting a rail transport site. They are expanding the landfill entryway, building a new gate and may install a scale to weigh the trucks. Discussion • Friedman: Must get to the bottom of pay -as -you -throw. It needs to be fixed in a big way. It's time to move on with that and come up with an answer. We've tried the carrot approach, and it hasn't worked. We may need to go to the stick approach. Some haulers are concerned about losing market share if customers are charged an extra buck. Must get these guys into the 20a' century and using new technology. Flagstaff has a municipal trash system, it's very efficient. There's one truck on every street once a week. Basically everything that can be put in the Larimer County Recycling Center can be picked up curbside and commingled in Flagstaff. • Murphy: The intent of meeting with the haulers is to establish a dialogue, try to figure out where they're coming from. I'm looking forward to hearing what they have to say. • Olson: My perspective is that its time to crank up the volume. • Murphy: The goal is to have a legitimate pay -as -you -throw system. Review Action Log See update in packet. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 9:50.