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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 06/04/1997MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 CONFERENCE ROOM - 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. JUNE 411997 For Reference: Phil Murphy, NRAB Chair - 491-6303 Bill Bertschy, Council Liaison - 484-0181 Tom Shoemaker, Staff Liaison - 221-6263 Board Members Present Phil Friedman, Bill Miller, Jan Behunek, Kelly Ohlson and Katy Mason Board Members Absent Craig McGee, Linda Kirkpatrick, Ed Secor and Phil Friedman Staff Present Natural Resources Dent: Susie Gordon, Sally Maggart; Advance Pl nning. Department: Timothy Wilder Guests None The meeting was called to order at 8:45 p.m. following attendance at a Larimer County Partnership Land Use Plan presentation at the County Courthouse. Review and Approval of Minutes With the following changes, the minutes of the May 7, 1997 Regular Meeting were approved as written: Kelly Ohlson clarified that his absence on May 7 was due to a conflict with a CPAC meeting the same night. Bill Miller deleted "up front" and inserted "would be required" on Page 4, first bullet. Miller inserted ."could go out of business" in the last bullet. Miller inserted "especially with plastics" at the bottom of Page 4. Kelly Ohlson said that the fourth bullet on Page 4 should read public `vote" instead of "initiative". The minutes of the May 21, 1997 Special Meeting were approved as written. Natural Resources Advisory Board June 4, 1997 Page 2 Agenda Review Bill Miller said that he would like to add rip rap, prairie dog relocation efforts, the prairie dog study area next to Sutherlands and the proposed meeting on growth issues to the agenda. Kelly Ohlson said that he would like to add to the agenda the naming of natural areas and communications to Council. It was decided to do City Plan Performance Indicators before the Partnership Land Use Plan portion of the agenda. Announcements None City Plan Performance Indicators, Timothy Wilder ISSUE Timothy Wilder, City Planner, explained that indicators will be used to evaluate the performance of City Plan. He said that the list will be refined and presented to the Growth Management Committee on July 14. Wilder explained that the asterisks indicate key indicators. Susie Gordon, Senior Environmental Planner, explained that the original intent is to generate a report in two years saying specifically what has changed since the plan was adopted. She said that a close eye will be kept on whether multi modal activity centers are happening, how much zoning is happening and, if not happening, it would have to be reconsidered or done differently. DISCUSSION • City Plan is also about people. Performance indicators are needed that deal with the reaction of people to numbers. • Indicator #17 deals with a lot of things of concern to the Board. Data collection could be done similar to the annual bird count. • Staff will have to be specific if talking about the price of housing as a key indicator. • These are not performance indicators, they are trend indicators for policy makers. Any one of these can be attacked academically. • This is "bogus". There are a couple of years of development proposals backlogged under the old process. • It is a mistake to tie this to City Plan. • Is City Plan meant to address wildlife issues? • Focus should be on regional distribution and looking at housing growth and wildlife statistics, population and VMT, etc. • Some indicators make sense and are true performance indicators, others are related to different things. Different labeling and packaging is suggested. Natural Resources Advisory Board June 4, 1997 Page 4 • "Do-gooders" are separating mothers and newborn pups. • Soap suds cannot be healthy for animals. • Council will have to come out with a position and needs to hear from the Board in the next week or two. • Information about the role of prairie dogs needs to be provided to the public. • A committee is needed to meet with staff and Councilmember Bertschy to make a decision regarding fumigation. • City policy needs to be reexamined. • Put off fumigation until next year while the issue is studied. • The Coterie is a prime area for prairie dog education. DECISION Bill Miller made the motion that the Natural Resources Advisory Board and staff send a letter to Council requesting that the City suspend gassing operations for 1997, that a broad -based task force be created to reevaluate the Chy's policy on prairie dog control and that Natural Resources Department staff and the City of Fort Collins strongly examine the possibility of including the Coterie into the Natural Area program. Kelly Ohlson seconded the motion. With the following amendment, the motion passed unanimously (5-0). Kelly Ohlson suggested the wording "minimize gassing" or "eliminate gassing this year". This was accepted by Bill Miller as a friendly amendment Growth Issues Meeting Bill Miller reported that Fort Collins has been recognized as one of 15 cities where growth is a big issue. Peter Kostmayer is interested in having a convention and seminar of green groups here. Will Smith attended a panel discussion in March; interested community members are invited to attend another meeting Wednesday, June 11, at 7:00 p.m. at the Poudre Fire Authority office in the parking garage on Remington and Mountain. Comments - Kelly Ohlson • The County Plus plan has been out for a month and should have been sent earlier to Boardmembers for review. • A better job needs to be done by the Chair and staff to get Board concerns to Council. • A retreat is needed with new board members and Council liaison. • There is concern about what is happening at Taft Hill and Prospect where fill is going in. • What happened to the budget subcommittee? There is no staff follow up and more staff is not being requested in the budget. • In the future, staff should not be naming the natural areas; Council should do this. The Nix Natural Area is the final straw. These people do not have any concern about natural areas. There are people who work hard for natural areas and will never have a natural area named for them. The Natural Resources Department has no credibility. 0 i Natural Resources Advisory Board June 4, 1997 Page 5 Other Comments Jan Behunek said that there are always things that could be done better, but the Board and the Natural Resources Department are doing a number of good things and he does not have a complete loss of faith. Katy Mason suggested that the Board examine the policy of naming natural areas. She said that she is not sure it is necessary for Council to do this; the Board should make the recommendation to Council. Goodbye Katy Phil Murphy thanked Katy Mason for her participation on the Natural Resources Advisory Board. He said that her insights have been valuable. Katy Mason said that she wanted to thank staff for their good work. She said that she is concerned about the Council not hearing enough from the Board and about what the Board does. Mason requested that Board minutes continue to be sent to her. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 10:35 p.m. t Natural Resources Advisory Board June 4, 1997 Page 3 • Trends are interesting, but bad science. • Air quality visibility is monitored, but not listed. • Wildlife population and land development need to be fleshed out. • Loss of agricultural land needs to be included. DECISION Wilder will send the Board a revised list of indicators and the Board will make a decision at the July meeting. NRAB Recommendation to City Council regarding the Partnership Land Use Plan ISSUE Council is seeking input for their recommendation to be made on June 17. DISCUSSION • Focus on Chapter 6, Environmental Concerns. • Hold a special meeting or subcommittee meeting. • Send a bullet list of recommendations to Council. • Be sure to touch on water issues in terms of the 100-year floodplain, implications of what is said and not said about a mainstem dam and protecting lands from flooding. • Conservation is an important point. DECISION Phil Murphy, Bill Miller, Kelly Ohlson and staff will meet next week to draft a memo to Council. They will contact absent Boardmembers Craig McGee, Ed Secor and Phil Friedman. ADDITIONAL AGENDA ITEMS Rip rap Bill Miller noted that last month's meeting minutes said that the presentation on the use of rip rap was deferred to this meeting. The minutes were incorrect; they should have said "July" meeting. Prairie Dogs ISSUE Bill Miller said that the Prairie Ecosystem Alliance is pushing hard to relocate prairie dogs. He said that he is concerned because orphan pups are being taken to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal site where they do not have a chance to survive. Miller added that City owned land by Sutherlands, where the Coterie is located, is for sale. He suggested that the Natural Resources Department consider acquiring the land from the Light & Power Department with natural area funds. DISCUSSION Fumigation of prairie dogs is the most appropriate way to go, given the resources.