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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 09/01/1999'MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE SEPTEMBER 1, 1999 For Reference: Randy Fischer, NRAB Chair - 226-5383 Bill Bertschy, Council Liaison - 484-0181 Susie Gordon, Staff Liaison 221-6265 Board Members Present Phil Murphy, Nate Donovan, Randy Fischer, Jan Rastall, Reagan Wascom, Kelly Ohlson and Don Rodriguez (at 6:15 p.m.) Board Members Absent Bill Miller and Rick Harness Staff Present Natural Resources Dept: Mark Sears, Susie Gordon, Tom Shoemaker and Sally Maggart Utilities: Bob Smith Advance Planning: Timothy Wilder Guests Sally Craig, Planning and Zoning Board Linda Hopkins, Board of Realtors The meeting was called to order at 6:00 p.m. Agenda Review No changes Election of Officers After a motion was made by Phil Murphy and seconded by Nate Donovan, Randy Fischer was unanimously elected Chair. Nate Donovan made a motion to elect Bill Miller Vice -chair. Reagan Wascom seconded the motion. Bill Miller was not present and the voting was postponed to the September 15 meeting. Boardmembers thanked Phil Murphy for his past three years of service as Chair. Aouroval of Minutes With the following changes, the minutes of the July 21, 1999 Special Meeting were approved: • On Page 1, Jan Rastall noted that she worked with Elderhostel, not Elderhaus. Natural Resources Advisoryltd • September 1, 1999 Page 3 • Flood Protection Projects - Ohlson asked what is being allowed to protect the existing structures. Smith said that the master plan gives options, with the goal to protect property. • Reagan Wascom asked for a definition of "substantial' dryland access. Smith responded, 51 percent. Randy Fischer distributed a draft motion for the Board's consideration. The motion states that "The NRAB sends the following recommendations to City Council on August 18, 1999, regarding Staff Recommendation for Revising the Poudre River Floodplain Regulations: 1. In accordance with our role as advisors to Council, the NRAB strongly recommends adoption of the stormwater utility's Staff Recommendations as submitted on August 18, 1999, without modification. 2. We further urge Council to expedite the proposed schedule for considering Staffs recommended revisions by eliminating redundant committee meetings and study sessions. 3. Finally, the NRAB recommends that a moratorium be placed on development within the Poudre River's 100 year floodplain to prevent inappropriate development from occurring prior to adoption of the revised floodplain regulations. Fisher said that, as a task force member, he thinks staff recommendations have exceeded expectations. He asked for boardmember support to unanimously approve the recommendations to Council. Fischer amended the motion to change "without modification". Additionally, he noted that the schedule drags out the process by going through all Council committees and study session two months before Council action. Fischer urges Council to expedite the proposed schedule. Ohlson said that he will support staff recommendations. Rastall said that she is uncomfortable that schools are not included in the critical facility category. Nate Donovan made a motion to approve the draft motion presented by Randy Fischer with the addition of schools in the definition of critical facilities. Jan Rastall seconded the motion. Rastall accepted the friendly amendment made by Donovan to place `temporary" moratorium in point 3. of the draft motion. The motion passed unanimously (7-0). Downtown River Corridor Implementation Program: Timothy Wilder City Planner Wilder explained that the objective of the program is to implement the vision of City Plan with the coordination of existing and planned projects and the identification and prioritizing of new projects. He said that the north side of the river is in the floodplain and is seen as a good area to protect. The south side of the river is out of the 100 year floodplain and could see development. Wilder said that there will be a community meeting on October 6 to review recommendations and projects. He said there are two categories on the draft recommendations; those not affected by the Floodplain Task Force and prioritized, and those affected but not prioritized. The latter will wait for a formal decision by Council. Natural Resources Advisory Board September 1, 1999 Page 4 Wilder noted that the most important projects are stormwater improvements on Linden St., the Udall Master Plan implementation, streetscape improvement at Jefferson/Riverside, Linden, Willow and Lincoln Streets, and off-street public parking. The very important projects include the environmental and cultural interpretive program, and the Poudre River trail amenities. Wilder noted that trails will be designed away from the river as much as possible. Wilder said that the old fort site urban design feature is planned to pull people back from the river into the heart of Willow and Linden Streets to create more of a pedestrian environment. Ohlson suggested including features to honor the Native American population. The gateway at Mulberrry and Riverside project is to enhance the old pickle plant site and determine what use is appropriate, redevelopment, park or natural area. Enhancement will be done with landscaping and clean up. Ohlson said that he would prefer the building torn down. Tom Shoemaker noted that the Parks Department and the Water Utility Department own the site; the Natural Resources Department did not contribute to the purchase, but will assist in enhancement efforts. Wilder explained that embankment stabilization is planned for the area below Ranchway Feeds. Don Rodriguez said that he is curious why embankment stabilization and wildlife corridor enhancement are not part of all projects. Wilder explained that they are considered in larger projects. Mark Sears, Natural Areas Program Manager, said that there are no significant benefits unless they are tied in with a large project. Ohlson asked how much of a benefit is the stabilization project at Ranchway. Wilder said it is protecting an important historic site in Fort Collins. He added that it might become a private project. Rodriguez asked if it came out in the public process that this was an important site. Wilder said that it was not explicitly said. Fischer said that the Board just made a recommendation to Council supporting hard structural engineering projects to protect existing structures as part of the Master Drainage Plan. He said that a better solution might be to restore the Oxbow site. Ohlson asked how the committee concluded that embankment stabilization is more important than cleaning contaminated sites on the river. Shoemaker said that the City would know the liability involved before purchase and the previous owners would be responsible for the cleanup.. Wilder noted that the Cache La Poudre River Natural and Recreational Enhancements project is controversial and the viability needs to be explored. Ohlson suggested breaking out the natural and recreational enhancements into two categories. Wilder said that the issue is whether to manipulate the river stream bank, and if done, what it would look like. Fischer noted that the river is recreational only two months out of the year. He said that this should be a low priority and not make the list. He noted that the fish habitat is something else. If the river dries up, the Natural Resources Advisoryltd • September 1, 1999 Page 5 fish die. Wilder said that the staff recommendation is to look at the feasibility and determine the issues of the project. Rodriguez said that he has no objection to looking at the feasibility, but this is not a real high priority. Wilder said that he will come back to the Board once the other projects have been prioritized. He does need a formal recommendation from the Board by the middle of October. Review Future Agenda Items • BMP Design Criteria • Regional Trails to Greeley - placement, design and location • Gateway Project in October • Cities for Climate Protect in October • Natural Areas Program Update next two or three meetings • Gravel resource trade with LaFarge • Box Elder stabilization concerns • Jay Hardy from DDA at next meeting • Easements across natural areas at next meeting. Review general process on easements Review Action Lo¢ • Add: reiterate budget recommendations — Ohlson and Fischer • Comments on River Corridor Implementation Plan by October • BMP follow up - Mark Sears • Change Action Log into two lists - one for action and one as tickler. Date items. • Natural Area Committee will meet regarding GOCO Strategic Plan and Wildlife Sanctuary. • Follow up on changes to improve inspection of new development projects - Tom Shoemaker Susie Gordon distributed a follow-up memo to Council addressing funding issues for new solid waste reduction measures. Edits were made and the memo will be included in Council's packet. Committee Reports • Trails: No report • Solid Waste: Discussed memo Growth Management: No report Natural Areas: Met at Box Elder and discussed the river breaching in a couple of areas. Staff is working to mitigate. Fischer said that staffs work on this has made a big difference. Announcements • Randy Fischer said that he heard that the Parks & Recreation Board pulled the Lee Martinez and archery sites from the Poudre River Plan. Tom Shoemaker explained that staff made the joint decision because there are still some issues that need to be resolved. He added that the concern with Lee Martinez is to address the whole park in a satisfactory way. The concern with the archery range is a comfort level issue in protecting the historic use of the archery club. Shoemaker said that the NRAB will be involved. Natural Resources Advisory Board — September 1, 1999 Page 6 • Sally Craig reported that the Parks & Recreation Advisory Board discussed removing designated passive areas from the Gateway Park Plan and addressing them as active sites later. She wanted to make sure the conceptual plans are designed correctly. • Don Rodriguez asked if joint meetings of the Parks & Recreation and Natural Resources Advisory Boards have been productive. Shoemaker responded that they have been valuable for some common issues. Phil Murphy said that he met with the Chair of the Parks & Recreation Board and it was decided to delegate a joint committee for contentious issues. It was decided to get key staff together with the chairs and council liaison for further discussion. • Tom Shoemaker said that he has met with colleagues regarding a recommendation for dogs off leash. He reported that Parks and Utilities are looking at some of their lands as possible sites. It has been agreed that the trail system will not be used and it is extremely unlikely that any natural area would be used. Shoemaker said that there is a potential land donation from a private parry that could be used as a site for a dog park. • Kelly Ohlson asked about the source of funds being used for the aviation memorial. Mark Sears said that part of the funds left over from the Timberline Extension Project are available to be used for landscaping. Ohlson said that it would be more appropriate to spend the funds on restoration and public plantings as part of the Kingfisher Point restoration. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 10:25 p.m. Natural Resources Advisory Board September 1, 1999 Page 2 On Page 5, Kelly Ohlson said that he asked for a full accounting of Conservation Trust Fund "monies", not "projects". He noted on the same page that he meant to say we are not going after districting at this time. Six Month Plannin¢ Calendar • January 18 - Floodplain Amendments. • September 21 - Horticulture Center Site • October 26 - Natural Areas Program Update. The Board will have presentations at the next two meetings. • September 14 through November 2 - Budget Discussion, Public Hearings and Adoption. Ohlson and Fischer will work on rewriting a memo to remind Council of Board issues. • November 16 - Cities for Climate Protection Plan. The Board will have a presentation in October. • November 23 - Downtown River Corridor Implementation Plan. Poudre River Floodplain Regulations: Bob Smith, Water Planning Manager Smith explained staff recommendations that will be taken to Council's Health & Safety, Growth Management and Finance Committees before going to Council's Study Session on November 23. He said that most of the staff recommendations are in the Option C category, which are more restrictive. Smith noted that the definition of "floodway" and "floodplain" are one and the same in Option C. Discussion of staff recommendations: Remodels — Ohlson asked for clarification of "50 percent per project". Smith explained that remodeling would be allowed up to a cumulative total of 50 percent of the value of a structure. Ohlson said that the key phrase is "per project", and he noted that people could work around that. Redevelopment - Smith said that once a structure is gone, it will always be gone. Fischer asked how variances will be viewed. Smith said that variances are a quasi judicial decision made by the Water Board. He added that the code is written with certain criteria that can be considered. The Water Board needs to consider all factors, look at dangers, accessibility and effects of potential damage. Critical Facilities - Jan Rastall asked why retail facilities that have hazardous materials on site are not restricted. Smith explained that Poudre Fire Authority said that retail facilities are not a big issue because the materials are boxed up or sealed and would not leave the site. The critical issue in flooding is partially opened containers found in residential areas. Rastall said that it seems like common sense to protect the safety of people downstream. Smith said that restricting retail with hazardous materials could be included if the Board feels it should. Rastall asked if schools are restricted in the floodplain. Smith said that schools have not come up, but could be included. Lowest floor or floodproofing — Nate Donovan asked if the 500 year level flood level is used in most instances. Smith responded, yes.