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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 11/04/1992MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. - CONFERENCE ROOM NOVEMBER 41 1992 For Reference: Will Smith, NRAB Chair - 221-0425 Vacant, Council liaison Tom Shoemaker, Staff liaison - 221-6263 Board Members Present Will Smith, Hal Swope, Tim Johnson, Deni LaRue, Phil Friedman, Craig McGee, Steve Erthal, Bill Miller Board Members Absent (excused) Terri Knudsen Staff Present Tom Shoemaker, Julie Bothwell, Linda Devocelle, Kevin McBride Linda Devocelle introduced herself. She is the new Environmental Education Specialist for the Natural Resources Division. Approval of Minutes It was moved, seconded, and unanimously approved that the Minutes of the October 7, 1992 NRAB meeting be accepted as written with the following changes: Page eight, paragraph nine should read as follows, "Miller stated that at the September 16 meeting a representative from Greeley raised the concern that their intake structure is just downstream from the Fort Collins facility and any construction work that takes place in the river could cause a sedimentation problem." It was discussed and decided that Agenda item 6b, Wastewater Treatment Plant 1, be tabled until a later date. New Business Stormwater Quality Three -Year Strategic Pla Kevin McBride, Water Quality Coordinator, Stormwater Utility, was present to discuss the Strategic Plan for addressing stormwater quality. He stated that he was looking for input from the Board on the plan. One of the first technical aims of the plan is to set some goals. The goals that will be set depend to some extent on regulatory requirements placed on the City by Federal and State governments. NRAB 11/4/92 --2 McBride stated that this program is not completely comprehensive with respect to everything that the Stormwater Utility does that relates to water quality. Because stream systems are the ecological integrator of chemical water quality and habitat the Utility is taking a broad view of water quality. They realize that the design of conveyance systems, erosion control, and other facilities all have impacts. Also, there are a lot of things that other departments are doing that will affect water quality. McBride's focus in this work plan is to address stormwater runoff solely. Friedman asked how one would regulate storm runoff in the sense that it happens because it rains and nobody can control rain. McBride answered that EPA has reviewed their water quality program and concluded they have mainly cleaned up point sources. While some great progress has been made in specific areas, nationwide attainment of national goals of fishable, swimmable water has not occurred. EPA concluded that the biggest water quality problem in the United States, from a national perspective, is wet weather runoff. This can be runoff from industrial sites, mines, urban areas, or to some extent sewer overflows where the storm and sanitary systems are combined and they overflow. But, EPA has said they are going after stormwater runoff. McBride stated that part one of EPA's Federal Stormwater Program addresses cities over 100,000; Fort Collins is under 100,000 and is not yet regulated. EPA regulations will require that the discharge of pollutants be controlled to the maximum extent practicable. So regulated cities will need to use best management practices to try to clean the water up to some extent once it is in the system. These practices could include Hazardous Materials Management Programs, Transportation Plans, and other practices that affect stormwater quality. These will all be done by various departments within the City. The Stormwater Utility, whether it be in the next phase of the permitting, or when Fort Collins goes over 100,000, will put together a package that identifies all the things that we are doing as a City to protect the environment and the stormwater runoff in the city. Certain industries are required to monitor for certain things, so there are monitoring components to the permits. Friedman asked if they are making certain industries monitor their own storm runoff to ensure they are not transporting pollutants off their site. McBride answered, yes, and noted that EPA is making this requirement of cities too. McBride stated that there are three parts to the overall Stormwater Quality Program: Management Plan, National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit, and Education. Ll ' NRAB 11/4/92 --3 The Management Plan is the technical arm of the program. It involves setting water quality goals; assessing the water quality that is currently coming out of the storm sewers to see if it meets those goals or not; identifying the causes of any of the problems that are found; determining alternatives for dealing with those problems; implementing those alternatives; and then going right back to assessing the water quality. One of the problems they face is the highly variable nature of stormwater runoff from storm to storm and year to year. All sewer treatment plants and industrial discharges come under the NPDES program and stormwater runoff will now need to be permitted under NPDES. This is how the Stormwater Utility will interface with the Federal and State governments and tell them what is being done to meet water quality objectives. Fort Collins does not currently require an NPDES permit for the stormwater system, but will eventually come under the program. Education is the part of the overall program that involves educating the public with regard to the water quality impacts of individual actions, and informing industries and commercial activities as to new requirements for design and maintenance of their facilities. Public education efforts will address public groups (schools, citizen groups, and governmental agencies) and private groups (industrial and commercial). Swope asked what pollutants other than gas, oil, and heavy metals would be monitored? Was there concern over nitrates and phosphates? McBride answered that while there is limited data on nutrients, these data are being collected and he thinks they will be a major concern. Bacterial contamination and fecal coliform have also proven to be high. Smith stated that he thought there was a group at CSU who completed extensive measurements of ground water supplies for nitrogen contamination for parts of Larimer and Weld County. McBride said that he was sure they had and did find a nitrogen problem in Larimer County. Its source is likely the farming practices, but it is certainly conceivable that fertilizers that are put on lawns are going down in the ground water and then coming out in places like Spring Creek and causing problems there. So there are heavy metals, organics, particulates, nutrients, and bacterial contaminants which are all likely to have different sources. It is going to be awhile before the nature of the existing stormwater quality is understood. Erthal asked how the monitoring process is conducted. McBride answered that the management plan is the technical arm of the program and it is driven by monitoring data. The monitoring program will not be the same every year. In a given year, the program may be a continuation of the previous years with the addition of a few constituents or it might be a whole new program NRAB 11/4/92 --4 where they say, "generally we have collected enough chemical data and we need to go out and do some biological monitoring." McBride stated that at present they sample both dry weather flows (ground water discharge, irrigation return flows, or things that are happening when it is not raining), and storm events. They have automatic samplers that are triggered when it rains and pull water into a sampling vial for later analysis. So they actually have two different kinds of problems to worry about: a source that is connected all the time and is dumping things on a continuous basis; and what happens when there is actually a storm. McBride stated that the reason it is called a three-year program is because, at present, the need is to bring all these different components together into one comprehensive program. McBride presented the timeline in which this will be done. This winter the data collected to date will be interpreted; they would like to have some preliminary goals set before that time so that they have something to compare the data to. They will then interpret that data, assess the health of the stream systems, and they will try to identify the causes of any problems that are found. That will drive the next monitoring program. Then they will start to develop alternatives to address the various causes and then follow through with implementation of these alternatives in 1994. McBride stated that there are certain things going on in the NPDES permit at the same time. At the present they are developing information about the utility and its legal authority. As they interpret and assess the data they have now they will write the "source identification" part of the permit telling the regulators, "this is what we have looked for and this is what we know right now about the sources of our pollutants." McBride stated that public education will be an ongoing process and is a major block which they will have to develop as they go along. Johnson asked if the fecal coliform that has been identified is from animal sources or from sewers during some large water discharges. McBride answered from both, there are probably some cross connections with the sewers and there is certainly some coming from people walking their dogs. McBride stated that one of the first things scheduled will occur in December when the State is going to come and join them while they speak to the industries in Fort Collins that may need permits. By 1993 they will be contacting all the commercial entities. McBride stated that there is a management program that has to be included in the NPDES permit. They may not necessarily NRAB 11/4/92 --5 want to include all the parts of the City's management plan because there may be some goals internal to the City that they do not want to have as regulatory criteria. This would avoid having an overzealous regulator fine them for not meeting some goals set by the City itself that perhaps go beyond state or federal requirments and are known to be difficult to meet. That is the reason for having the two separated. Whatever the City tells the State will be done will become a regulatory requirement. McBride stated that the City needs to decide how they are going to implement their alternatives by the end of 1994 and get together with the State to obtain the NPDES permit. October 1, 1992 was the deadline for industries and also the end of a moratorium period during which the Federal and State agencies could not regulate Cities under 100,000. McBride stated that these permits are for a five year period. They are to be fully implemented by the beginning of 1995. other than dealing with some major obvious problem, they are going to need that time to collect data to determine if they are really having an impact or not on water quality. When the permit is renewed again in the year 2000, they will go through the exercise again to assess water quality. Swope asked if we should be aiming to meet regulations for cities that are over 100,000 since Fort Collins is nearly there. McBride answered that everything the City is doing is based on the regulations for cities over 100,000. McBride stated that the Clean Water Act is up for reauthorization so all of it could be changed, but with the results of the November 3 election it is unlikely to get less strict. Fort Collins would not be likely to be considered over 100,000 until the next census. Smith recommended going around the table to hear Boardmembers' comments. Smith stated the document was well written. He recommended a short description of terms be included in the NPDES section (e.g., what is meant by general information, legal authority, source identification etc.) to make clear the differences from the management plan. This would make it more useful as a tool for explaining it to people. Smith recommended not using the term goals. Goals normally implies a fairly numeric or specific achievement. He suggested "objectives." Miller stated that objectives are durable and goals are nice, but hard to reach. He said that it is a good start. McGee thought that it was still a little vague at this NRAB 11/4/92 --6 point. In the management plan he supports going beyond compliance; the City should work toward improving the quality of the stormwater runoff. He would like the City to take a proactive role and would like the sources identified that affect water quality. Friedman stated that he likes the plan. He feels that education should come before the management plan. If some groups hear about it, they may think it is another plan that will impose more regulations etc. without getting the chance to learn what it is really about. A component of education is needed prior to any kind of public introduction of the plan. McBride stated that it is not the City that is requiring the permits from industries, it is a State program. LaRue said that in the education element it is important to stress that all of this is part of the environmental plan, or it is in keeping with it so that it is not just a regulatory system, but part of a bigger plan. Johnson stated that the approach is straightforward and clear as to the direction they are going. He is glad it is finally getting started since the community has been waiting for something like this for awhile. When it is presented to Council he would like McBride to check with Shoemaker and record where it fits with regards to the EMP. Swope stated that he is glad to see stormwater quality addressed because it has been a serious problem for a long time. He thinks it is overall an excellent and broad plan. If it is intended as a guide for the Stormwater Utility, it is wonderful, but if is going to be presented to other groups then he suggested more detail relative to the pollutants that will be checked. McBride stated that the reason he hesitated to give that detail at present is because he is not yet familiar enough with all the data to give a real picture. Shoemaker stated that this approach is really consistent with what is being done in the Air Quality Strategic Plan. He expressed that McBride has laid it out well, and the permitting part of it is really comparable to the State Implementation Plan for air quality in which the City is giving the state the minimum. The Stormwater Quality Management Plan and the AQSP are comparable in that the community will set the goals. Shoemaker complimented McBride. He feels the program has already improved and is achieving results in local streams. McBride stated that if Boardmembers had any more thoughts on particular goals that they would like to see, he would appreciate any comments. He also stated that he hopes to come back with some hard data. NRAB 11/4/92 --7 Air Ouality Strategic Plan. Phase III Brian Woodruff, Environmental Planner, Natural Resources Division, was present to discuss the Air Quality Strategic Plan. - Woodruff stated that the AQSP is moving forward toward the release of a Phase III document about the middle of the month. He handed out a draft report on some of the things that will be seen in the document. He stated that he would like the Board to delegate to its committees the responsibility to review the document when it is out. The committees could review it during November and the Board could make comments or a recommendation in December. Woodruff stated that vehicle miles traveled (VMT) is rising about 3.6 percent per year. Meanwhile the emissions per mile (EPM) from vehicles is coming down primarily due to the replacement of older cars with newer cars in the fleet, along with other things. When you multiply those two things together you get the total emissions. Around the year 2000 total emissions bottom out and begin to come up again; this is of concern because the goal they have proposed for air quality is to continuously improve. So if automobile emissions increase after the year 2000, that would run counter to the goal. If the objective for automobiles is to keep the curve for total emissions level at the year 2000, that would be more consistent. To do that either VMT and/or EPM need to be brought down. Woodruff stated that VMT and EPM are suggested indicators in the plan. If Council accepts those, then they would measure those values every two years and present a report to Council as to how Fort Collins is doing on VMT and EPM. They also will have indicators for stationary sources (industrial and business sources), households and for indoor air quality, and will be asking for comments on those. McGee asked if there is actual data for 1991 and 1992. Woodruff answered, no, that these are basic projections. The VMT curve is an assumption of 3.6 percent growth per year which is customary around Fort Collins. He stated that they think that VMT is growing 30 percent faster than the population. Swope stated that he felt we are way past the time for assessing if we are going to continue to use mixed land use in neighborhoods. He said the assumed benefits of mixed land use need to be measured, because the miles travelled are going up instead of going down. Johnson stated that he is encouraged by the part that calls for continuously reduced emissions in the community, but this seems to run counter to some of the things that were mentioned from the presentation of NEATS at the October 7 NRAB meeting. He feels that there should be reconsideration as to whether the NRAB 11/4/92 --8 development of the community is entirely for rapid auto transit or whether other modes could be mixed in. Woodruff stated that if this plan is adopted it will become part of what the Transportation Plan has to deal with. Smith asked what the time line was for Phase III. Woodruff answered that they hope to have the plan available for review by the week of November 16 and present it to Council at their worksession on December 22. Woodruff stated that they are looking for comments that they can use to modify the plan. Smith asked if the Board would like to work on the plan as a Board or as committees. It was agreed to have a worksession, November 18 and review Phase III as one of the agenda items. Old Business NRAB 1993 Work Plan Committees worked on and submitted their goals for 1993 at the October 18 worksession. From those, Shoemaker drafted the Board's work plan for 1993. At the October 7 NRAB meeting there was discussion of an item that would address the use of alternative roofing materials instead of cedar shake shingles. The Board agreed to include it in their 1993 work plan. After some discussion Johnson moved and Friedman seconded that a statement would be added as number 41 and would read, "Encourage the use of alternative roofing materials to eliminate the use of materials from old growth forests, i.e., cedar shake shingles." It was unanimously accepted. McGee stated that item 14 implies too narrow of a focus on purchasing recycled products. Smith recommended that it read, "Review Fort Collins' waste minimization efforts through their purchasing policies and the effectiveness of those currently in place. For example, the City of Fort Collins should employ procurement of recycled products whenever possible." Johnson recommended that the first three lines in 1c be omitted and that lb and is be combined to read as follows, "Urging City Council to establish a vigorous natural areas acquisition program, using traditional sources of funds, along with any monies generated by the 1992 sales tax and lottery initiatives. Also pursue non-traditional methods to include cooperative agreements with other entities, such as Colorado State University and private enterprise." i NRAB 11/4/92 --9 Johnson recommended that item 29 should read as follows, "Evaluate the City of Fort Collins' Open Space and Trails master plan for inclusion of natural resource values, and for criteria that would make the trails system a functional transportation system. Interact with the Parks and Recreation Board as appropriate." Johnson moved and Swope seconded that the NRAB's work plan for 1993 be accepted. It was unanimously accepted. Shoemaker stated that staff will make the changes. Solar Orientation Letter to Council Smith handed out a draft letter that he composed regarding the Solar Orientation Ordinance. The concerns are based on a collation of the questions from the October 7, NRAB meeting and some comments from Jan Meisel, Planning Department. The objective of the letter is to make more visible some of the concerns regarding how the ordinance has been implemented through the first review period. A lot of the commentary that was made was that many of the developments were already underway and there was not a lot that could be done, so it is important to wait and see what happens to the next 350 units. Smith stated that he had talked with Meisel and this factor was part of the concern, some of that is still there, but the City has not strongly supported some of the actions. Johnson stated that he felt the letter explained the Board's point of view and feels that it should be presented to Council. Erthal agreed. Smith recommended that Joe Frank and Jan Meisel from Planning also review the letter before presenting it to Council. Erthal suggested that the last paragraph be strengthened. It was changed to read, "Given this initial summary, we eagerly await the report on the next 350 lots and expect to see substantial improvement towards compliance. But given the current performance, we believe additional measure are needed to meet the intent of the Fort Collins Solar Orientation Ordinance.." Johnson moved and Erthal seconded that the letter be accepted and presented to Council. It was unanimously approved. Johnson suggested that a copy of the letter be presented to the Planning and Zoning Board. NRAB 11/4/92 --10 Committee Reports (scheduled) Draft letter regarding NEATS Smith presented a draft letter that he wrote from the Board's comments on the NEATS presentation given by Rick Ensdorff, Transportation Department, and some members of the NEATS committee, at the October 7 NRAB meeting. The study will be presented to Council at their December 15 meeting. Johnson suggested that paragraph two, third sentence: "There are residual concerns." be omitted. He also had a concern with paragraph two, sentence six, "Planning with the Pipe" since not everyone knows what that means. He would like it to be more clear. He also asked how will this plan help meet the Air Quality Strategic Plan in which continuous improvement of air quality is proposed as a community goal? He does not remember hearing that being addressed. Swope suggested that a third paragraph be composed to look at the larger system and the concern that some portions of the plan implementation appear to already be set in concrete. Smith recommended that this be given to the Transportation Committee to work on and presented to the Board at a later date. Committee Reports (Unscheduled) Smith presented a letter that he drafted regarding the Shields Street redesign from Laurel to Prospect. The issue is in the air at the present time because there are two objectives from the City in direct conflict: (1) neighborhood compatibility; and (2) fostering use of nonmotorized modes of transportation. Mark Sears, Engineering Department will be asked to make a presentation at the December 2 meeting to discuss what those designs look like. Discussion of the letter was tabled until then. Announcements There will be a worksession on November 18 at 5:30 with the location announced at a later date. The items that will be discussed are the Air Quality Strategic Plan, Brian Woodruff; Poudre River Landscape Opportunity Study, Kari Henderson; and Water Treatment Plant 1. Miller stated that he spoke with Kari Henderson and Council is already taking under advisement the issue of whether they are going to continue their support of the Poudre River Heritage Area designation and if not what will happen to the funding that is already allocated. He suggested that the Board may want to address this issue. 0 NRAB 11/4/92 --11 Shoemaker stated that the Heritage Area did not pass, so it does seem an appropriate time for Council to reconsider where we are going. There has been some question of whether or not the money could be redirected to various places including natural areas acquisition. Miller would like for it to be looked into with a little more depth and for the Board along with some staff take the lead in it. Johnson stated that for the Board to make a decision like that they should hear just where the legislation went and where it was stopped. Shoemaker stated that since Henderson will be at the worksession, she could be asked to give an update on this issue. Adiournment The meeting adjourned at 9:32 p.m.