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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 07/06/1994MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 CONFERENCE ROOM - 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. JULY 6, 1994 For Reference: Bill Miller, NRAB Chair - 493-7693 Chris Kneeland, Council liaison - 221-2950 Tom Shoemaker, Staff liaison - 221-6263 Boardmembers Present Bill Miller, Phil Murphy, Tim Johnson, Arlene Blum, Craig McGee, Phil Friedman, Katy Mason, Staff Present Tom Shoemaker, Edith Felchle Staff Present For.Portions of Meeting Gale McGaha Miller, Steve Comstock, Kevin McBride, Karen Manci Guests Present For Portions of Meeting Brian Janonis (RBD Inc.) Approval of Minutes After making the following changes, Tim Johnson moved and Phil Friedman seconded the motion that the Minutes of the June 1, 1994 meeting be approved; motion passed unanimously. Changes: Page 2 - Paragraph 4, second sentence - "Criag" should be changed to "Craig" Page 3 - Paragraph 7, second sentence should read, "Shoemaker said yes, and noted that the purchase price was $8,000 per acre." Paragraph 8, second sentence should read, "Tom Shoemaker replied that the City has the responsibility to protect public safety. In staff opinion, the City should grant an easement for the proposed road so that it would line up with Fossil Creek Drive. Page 4 - Paragraph 5, sentence 3 should be changed to reflect "Phases II and III" instead of "II and II." Page 7 - Paragraph 2 should read, "Craig McGee asked if there is a requirement that the IRP select the least cost process." 1 t Master Plan for Biosolids and Water Treatment Plant Residuals Gale McGaha Miller of the Fort Collins Water Utilities said the purpose of this agenda item was to get NRAB input on the biosolids management plan. She said NRAB concerns will be incorporated into an appendix that will be presented to Council. She presented a slide show that summarized the Master Plan For Biosolids and Water Treatment Plant Residuals Executive Summary. She noted that the master plan is a 15-20 year planning tool and that heavy metals are the main concern in Fort Collins. She described the location of Meadow Springs Ranch as extending from the 125 Buckeye Road exit north almost to the Wyoming state line. She described the many studies that have been done to determine sludge application impacts. Some ranchers had feared that the sludge would dry and, in wind storms, become an air quality problem. Monitoring, however, has not shown that to be a problem. McGaha Miller noted that application will be avoided on certain parts of the ranch, including historical, archeological, and wetland areas, as well as drinking water capture areas. They expect to begin the demonstration project with applications in cell 100 in 1994. Applications will occur on one cell/year, with each cell on a three-year apply/rest/graze cycle. McGaha Miller noted that the utility expects to phase out the present Resource Recovery Farm around the year 2000. She invited board members to tour the Meadow Springs Ranch. Steve Comstock, also of the Water Utilities, noted that the part of the ranch that is in Weld County comes under Weld County Health Dept. annual review and that there have been some control concerns from neighbors. He also noted that farmers welcome sludge application to their land. The sludge is applied free of charge, and the City pays all regulatory fees and expenses. Mason asked what other areas do with their biosolids. McGaha Miller replied that in Colorado, agricultural land application is the most common. Johnson asked what the Weld County Health Department concerns were. Comstock replied that the main concerns were odor and well contamination, and that these concerns had to be treated as legitimate even if they were, in reality, only perceived concerns. Friedman asked if manure, since it also is a biosolid, comes under health regulations. Brian Janonis of RBD Inc. replied that manure is considered "agricultural" and is therefore basically unregulated. Murphy asked how many acres of Meadow Springs Ranch will be subject to application. McGaha Miller replied that at the current rate, 750 acres will receive application annually. In response to a question from Friedman, Comstock said that the Weld County Health Department has the authority to halt operations at the ranch if they choose. He noted, however, that most of the ranch is in I.arimer County and therefore reverts to state regulations. Johnson recommended that the NRAB Natural Areas Committee review the management plan and come back to the board in August with a recommendation. It was decided that the board will tour the ranch on Friday, July 22. Board members should meet at the Service Center, 700 Wood Street, at 9:00 a.m. The tour will take 2 approximately four hours. Board members should let McGaha Miller know if they plan to attend the tour. Board members who cannot attend on the 22nd are welcome to join other tours that will be taking place. Stormwater Quty Em=m Overview Kevin McBride of the City's Stormwater Utility began his presentation by reminding the board that the utility's monitoring has shown no major chemical concerns in stormwater quality. He said that the utility is currently in the process of determining its role in water quality. He said the utility considers flood control, water quality, and viable ecosystem maintenance to be compatible goals. His slide show demonstrated the utility's proposed approach to dealing with watershed management of land, receiving waters, and tributaries in the urban setting. Slides demonstrated various levels of management ranging from "Grade A" (highly desirable) to "Grade D" (highly unacceptable). On issues dealing with land, the need is for education and regulation; decisions will be up to policy makers. In dealing with tributaries, the utility is leaning strongly toward passive treatment. In dealing with receiving waters, the utility's master plan needs to address habitat protection. He noted that this approach to watershed management fits into the City's Framework For Environmental Management and into the Natural Areas Policy Plan. He said that, in order to implement this watershed approach, the stormwater master plans need to be revised to address natural resource issues and design criteria (e.g. removal of concrete connections, less curb and gutter, vegetative filter strips, etc.) Johnson asked what the timeline was. McBride replied that they want to write a resolution, and will be going to a Council worksession on August 23. Mason asked how it will be determined how many areas will be managed as "Grade A" and how many as other grades. McBride said the revised master plan will identify all the options and their associated costs and then choices can be made. Miller asked how some of the "Grade D" projects in established areas of town can be redone. McBride replied that no doubt it will be determined that some will merely have to remain "Grade D." Johnson moved and Mason seconded the motion that NRAB send a letter to Council supporting this watershed management approach. Friedman suggested that the letter include answers to the specific questions McBride had posed in his memo. The board agreed with the concepts in questions one and two and said that question three would require an individualized approach. The motion passed unanimously. Er'apgwd Management Guidelines for Cfty Qpn Sam and Nahw l Areas Karen Manci of the Natural Resources Division said she was coming to the board to answer questions about the proposed guidelines and to receive the board's comments. She said there were very few public comments, and those few can be easily addressed. She said many of the comments related to enforcement. She said existing ordinances dealing with enforcement in parks can be revised to include natural areas. Management plans can be developed for natural areas that are not in the Fort Collins city limits, and those areas can be posted. 3 Miller stressed that he would like to see the guidelines mention the need for an open space ranger-, McGee asked about the curfew that was stated as 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. Manci said that was an error and has been corrected to be 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. Friedman suggested rewording the Raptors section on page 8 to reflect the possibility of mitigating circumstances associated with threatened or endangered species in removal of trees (e.g. bald eagle nesting). McGee moved and Friedman seconded that the board approve the management guidelines. Johnson offered an amendment to the motion: "strongly encourage a ranger enforcement program to be added to the natural areas program this year." The motion, as amended, passed unanimously. It was clarified that "this year" in the amendment referred to budget year '95. Fossil Creek Estates lwdak Shoemaker said that staff was unable to approve Phase I of Fossil Creek Estates until Fish and Wildlife had reviewed it. He said that all appropriate agencies (Fish and Wildlife, Army CORPS of Engineers) concluded that Phase I was okay with respect to the bald eagle site but that Phases II and III would have to be submitted to formal Section 7 consultation. After this determination, staff approved Phase I and P & Z approved it on June 27. Shoemaker said he expects appeals. After the appeals, a proposal will be brought to NRAB concerning the easement on the Fromme Prairie. Miller said he spoke at the P & Z hearing. He said Paul Eckman (a City attorney) had said that after a development received initial approval, there basically is no way to legally change the development. Johnson stressed that the easement idea isn't settled yet and the idea should be brought up firmly. He said a small group of people can probably come up with many options. Friedman asked why the City is required to give an easement. He felt the City shouldn't be required to give up its land to make a private development safe. Shoemaker said that the City does not have to grant the easement. But we are legally required to avoid "land locking" a development. He said that as a general policy, we don't want to give such an easement. This particular instance involves multiple City requirements, and there is actually verylittle loss of habitat involved. Other Business Shoemaker mentioned that Council will look at LDGS changes on July 19. These changes will, among other things, raise the basic number of points needed for a development and will make it very difficult to develop south of Harmony. This will be an interim change for a period of 18 months. There was discussion about whether NRAB should review these changes and comment to Council. It was noted that since Council will vote on the changes July 19, there is not enough time for NRAB to review and make recommendation. Shoemaker said NRAB had reviewed similar material a couple of months ago and had made recommendations to Council at that time. Johnson stressed that the board should follow up on the cost of growth study. 4 Friedman reported that he attended the IRP open house and that there will be open houses held in the other three cities. He said there was an article in the Coloradoan, but it was one-sided. He said Fort Collins Light and Power would still like to hear from people regarding IRP. He said the person to call would be Jay Hopper with PRPA. He said there is a public meeting for PRPA board on August 13 and a public hearing to adopt the IRP in October. Friedman reported that Council Member Will Smith had sent him a copy of a memo from Mike Smith (of the Water Utility) regarding Joe Wright Reservoir. A group is being formed by the Northern Water Conservancy District to monitor the water recovery process. Mike Smith, in the memo, recommended that the City of Fort Collins not be involved in the group because the CWC is too conservative and the extent of monitoring will be extensive and costly. The memo went on to state a preference for Fort Collins to monitor through the State Department of Natural Resources. Miller requested that the minutes reflect the board's informal show of support for Mike Smith's position. Friedman reported that there will be a meeting July 14 from 2:00 until 4:00 p.m. regarding Water Treatment Plant #1. The meeting will be at 700 Wood Street in the Water Utility offices. Johnson noted that his new address is 1337 Stonehenge, 80525, and his new phone number is 416-0821. Friedman asked if staff could supply the board with one -page mid month updates on items of continuing interest. Shoemaker said he would prefer to send such updates in the regular packets, in order to avoid an additional mailing. Mason suggested that updates not be required at all times but that the Chair request updates when needed. Shoemaker reviewed his list of action items from this current meeting. The board concurred with the list. The meeting adjourned at 10:30 p.m.