Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 01/05/1994MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 CONFERENCE ROOK - 281 N. COLLEGE JANUARY S, 1994 For Reference: Bill Miller, NRAB Chair Chris Kneeland, Council liaison Tom Shoemaker, Staff liaison 493-7693 221-2950, 221-6263 Boardmembers Present Phil Friedman, Will Smith, Ryszard Chojnacki, Tim Johnson, Lisa Howard, Hal Swope, Craig McGee Boardmembers Absent (excused) Katy Mason, Bill Miller Staff Present Tom Shoemaker, Julie Bothwell, Mike Powers, Edith Felchle Miller was out of town for his father's funeral so Friedman chaired the meeting. Introduction of Ner Boardmember Ryszard Chojnacki introduced himself to the Board. Approval of Minutes It was moved and seconded that the minutes of the December 8, 1994 NRAB meeting be approved with the following changes: Smith noted that on page five, paragraph seven "ssues" should be "issues."; page seven, paragraph eight, "development" should be "development." Johnson suggested shortening the summary of recycling program recommendations on page two by stating, "Shoemaker mentioned several major issues related to recycling programs:" Johnson noted that page three, paragraph five is unclear regarding Mason's statements. Bothwell will check the meaning with Mason. Legislative Issue Smith stated that the Larimer County Environmental Advisory Board is concerned about proposed legislation related to governmental authority to charge for waste hauling. The bill would have some serious effects on limiting the options available to the City for future recycling and waste collection programs. Shoemaker answered that the City is aware of the Bill and has expressed opposition. The Legislative Agenda that Council adopted included policy statements that said "we do not like anything that limits our options, we do like everything that improves recycling." This bill if adopted by the legislature would basically put out of business any municipal waste collection service because it would prohibit municipalities from charging residents for their service in preference to a private service. 1 Poudre River 8tu4v/P1an Mike Powers, Director of Cultural, Library and Recreational Services was present to discuss his preliminary ideas for another study of the Poudre River that was included by City Council in the 1994 budget. Powers stated that the study was an outgrowth of the "Riverwalk Feasibility Study" proposed by Challenge Fort Collins. He noted that the original study area was a very short stretch of the river from Martinez Park to Lemay. Council directed that the study area include the whole river from Overland Trail out to I-25 and that the scope include more than the . riverwalk concept, but also ecological and natural area considerations. Powers noted that this expansion in scope and study area presents a challenge with the $40,000 budget that was allocated. He said that this budget would not allow bringing in a consultant to set up a large community outreach effort, to ask the community what it wants for the river, and then launch a large data collection effort. He noted that the river has been the subject of numerous studies and his preliminary thinking is to bring in a consultant to take an objective look at all the past studies and try to figure out a land use approach that brings all the pieces together from the past studies. Staff would then begin a citizen outreach to ask if the composite vision misses anything critical and reflects community desires. Powers said that, ideally the results would be presented to the community in a form that is near completion; staff and the consultant would then take input from various community meetings, turn it into a final product, and present it to Council. Powers asked Boardmembers if they thought this was a good way to attack the project? Friedman asked what would a new study accomplish that the previous studies before have not? Powers stated that it would help create an overall land use strategy on all parts of the river. Powers stated that it could also help to reconcile what he sees as conflicts on the horizon; the community can come together and reach an agreement about the future of the river. Shoemaker stated that he agrees with Powers in that we do not want to start from scratch. A lot of time was spent in the LOS looking at the various studies and plans, so he feels that the study can go beyond "jump starting" a consultant by laying out what is known at present and identifying conflicts and issues that are not addressed. He feels that there is some value in getting an objective outside view, if nothing more than getting the extra help to put the pieces together. There are also some specific gaps that could be addressed in such a study, including design guidelines and recommendations on LDGS criteria. McGee asked if staff feels that the values of the community are reflected well enough in the studies for a consultant to be able to put something together? Shoemaker answered that it depends a lot on the Oq consultant. Given current workloads, staff is going to need help to do this study just from a logistics standpoint in compiling data and maps. McGee said that it would be okay to give the consultant some basic ground rules and design parameters consistent with the studies, but he is not sure if there is a clear set of directions that could be provided to the consultant. There is a public outreach piece needed to have people provide input on what they want this stretch of the river to look like. Smith stated that with the number of studies out there, it seems that some objectives could be very well defined to enable a group of citizens to reconcile conflicts and assemble a composite plan from the various plans. Then the City could take some portion of the funding and concentrate on the public outreach portion. Johnson stated that he felt uncomfortable about going out of town to hire a consultant to come back with "our vision." He prefers a process that would come to each Board that would be involved and ask them what their sense and vision would be, then present that to the Council and let Council make a decision on which vision they prefer. Otherwise we could spend all the money on a plan that puts us at war with each other. McGee feels that it makes sense from a staff workload standpoint to have a consultant pull these pieces together, but he is concerned if we really can provide the design parameters. Smith commented that he is not thinking of a consultant, but a facilitator, someone who would take a citizen group and a collection of documents and go through a facilitated process to try and come up with some things that could then be brought forward to the public outreach process. He suggested Kari Van Meter Henderson. Johnson recommended that the Natural Areas Committee meet and walk the river and come back to the Board with a strong proposal in terms of their vision. A committee meeting was set for 9 a.m. on Saturday, January 22, 1994. Members will meet at the Silver Grill. Natural Areas Education Program Edith Felchle, Natural Resources Division, was present to review staff plans for developing the Natural Areas Education Program, including the "Master Naturalists Program". Felchle stated that approximately nine months ago, staff and the Education Committee met to talk about the possibility of a Master Naturalist Program and who might get involved. Staff was looking at it in terms of the overall natural areas education program, including an effort to get people out into the natural areas so they can begin to appreciate and enjoy these areas. Staff was also looking at education for people who do not consider themselves outdoor types, but to make sure that have education that would help them realize some of the benefits that they are getting from the natural areas. ki Edith reminded the board that Shoemaker had handed out some information at the December 8, NRAB meeting that dealt with some of the general thoughts that staff put together on the overall program and some specific ideas about the Master Naturalist's Program. These included who would be certifying the Master Naturalists and some of the things that the Master Naturalist would need to know. Felchle stated that the reasons that Staff was looking at it that way was to make sure that people who are certified as Master Naturalists have correct information and know the basic information that people who go out in natural areas need to know. Felchle stated that staff has determined the fastest way to implement the program is to hire a part-time temporary person who would put together the overall framework for the natural areas education program, assess the need for and interest in the Master Naturalist program, and then put that program together in such a way that it could be implemented by existing staff. Felchle stated that the timing for the position is February or March, which will fit closely with the process for defining the management plan for the Cathy Fromme Prairie. She said that before designing an education program that looks at getting people out into a"natural area, staff really needs to know what the management plan is going to look like so know where people can use the site with the least impact to resources. Felchle asked the Board for its comments and concerns. Friedman stated that it sounded good and hit every aspect of what staff needs to get someone to create this concept. He asked who would actually do the training. Felchle answered that one person would be responsible for coordinating the training, but she expected that no single person -could do the training because of the different types of expertise needed. Smith stated that he felt the proposal was complete. The only thing missing is a little bit of the history of how the emphasis on purchasing natural areas had come about, including some of the history of the ordinance and how much money is associated with various acquisitions. Some people are interested in the economics and process required to develop the program. He asked if the Master Naturalists program was uncertain to occur, because of the statement, "Evaluate the Master Naturalist Program." Felchle clarified that the idea was to evaluate some of the assumptions that have been stated, such as the assumption that the schools would like to take classes out in natural areas. Shoemaker stated that the emphasis is on designing the program and looking at ways to implement the program. The guidance he has given is to try to make the program possible without adding anymore staff. There will be some annual cost associated with implementing the program and staff needs to know what that will be. Johnson stated that as more natural areas are added it might be advantageous to hire a naturalist on staff. Shoemaker stated that since 4 staff is still early in the program, he has not reached that point yet. The areas that staff specifically are not making any commitments about additional staff needs are in the maintenance area. Shoemaker stated there is a clear need for additional emphasis on open space and natural areas management as a distinguishable entity within the City structure and for increasing staff in this area. Shoemaker stated that the Natural Resources Division, the Open Space and Natural Areas Management Team, and the IAS study group felt that a position that is primarily focused on interpretation, education, and enforcement out in the natural areas is needed also. Swope stated that when it comes time to market this program he certainly hopes that greater emphasis is placed on schools because there you are working with people that do not need reeducation. Natural Areas in Core ]Leas of Fort Collins Shoemaker stated that at the December 8, NRAB meeting he gave a brief introduction to this project. This is one of the 1993-1994 Council Policy Agenda Items to reevaluate opportunities for natural areas protection and/or acquisitions in the core parts of the city. Shoemaker stated that he views it as a three part project. The first part is looking at the policy questions: How do the existing policies in the NAPP and the existing implementation guidelines relate to the core area of the city? In order to get a sense of that, staff went ahead and did a complete inventory of undeveloped lands in the core parts of the city to be sure that no natural areas were previously overlooked and to identify lands that had some potential to be turned into natural areas through habitat restoration projects. This work showed that the strict application of the policies that were previously adopted relative for the acquisition program do not give a lot of flexibility to do some things in the core area of the city because the core area has been highly developed and there is not much opportunity. Staff is recommending to Council that some specific adjustments be made in the policies to allow some additional flexibility to give some of these natural area values to residents of the core. The second part of the study is the inventory process - completion of the data base to identify potential acquisition sites. Staff has completed most of the work on that, but Council asked that staff look at some additional areas. The third part is prioritization and evaluation of how these other parcels in the core might relate to priorities citywide. Staff's recommendation is that they complete the additional inventory and then look at priorities in conjunction with the annual priority setting process. Shoemaker would like feedback on the report, including specific recommendations on the policy language. Staff did present the policy language to Council at their worksession on December 28, 1993 and Council agreed that it looked good. If the Board concurs, then staff will be presenting it to Council for adoption on January 18, 1994. 5 Shoemaker described the core area as the downtown neighborhood planning area, the east side neighborhood planning area, and the west side neighborhood planning area. Staff included two additional areas in the study because of ongoing neighborhood planning efforts: the Prospect/Shields area down to Drake and out to Taft Hill and the North College area. Key issues in the two additional areas are potential natural areas, so staff wanted to get ahead of the game and get them inventoried. Council asked staff also to include Spring Creek out to Lemay and the Buckingham and Alta Vista areas. Shoemaker stated that Karen Manci, Natural Resources Division drove every street in the area and looked at every vacant piece of ground over 1/4 acre in size. He stated that there are some general conclusions from this work: (1) There are some key natural area features in this area such as the Poudre River, Spring. Creek, and Dry Creek; (2) the City has been active in the past with public open space that has natural area values associated with it (i.e., Martinez Park, Larimer County's McMurray Natural Area, Gustav Swanson Natural Area, City Park, Grandview Cemetery, Ross Open Space and parts of Rolland Moore Park.); and (3) these areas were not ignored in the previous analysis and there are a number of high priority sites already identified. Shoemaker stated that there are some additional natural area sites that do merit some additional evaluation (i.e., portion of Low Dry Creek). At the same time, there are some areas that are classified as natural areas, but because of restriction on the way they are laid out staff does think that there is much value in trying to acquire them. Shoemaker stated that beyond the areas that would classify at the present as a natural area staff, Manci looked at other areas in terms of whether they make sense to acquire for habitat creation projects; some did and some did not. There were some key areas that do have some potential (i.e., Spring Creek.) So staff identified some of those. He said that staff is also looking at how they might relate to education opportunities about wildlife habitat. Another area that staff looked at was the opportunity to do several things with various City Departments (i.e., places where stormwater is looking at a potential channel or detention pond.) At this time Shoemaker asked Boardmembers for their concerns and comments. Johnson stated that this represented a tremendous piece of work and would really like Karen Manci to hear how much the Board appreciated her work. Johnson stated that with regard to Spring Creek to the east of College between Stover and Lemay, there are a number of pasture areas that would make good additions. Shoemaker answered that staff will go all the way over to Lemay and extend the inventory. 21 . 0 Johnson commented that with regard to the policy suggestions he feels that both of them are easy to understand and the idea is to acquire and restore lands. He strongly supports them. Howard agreed with Johnson. Chojnacki asked if there needs to be something in there that says, "to spread the required acquisitions more evenly throughout the City as well"? Shoemaker answered no, that in other areas there are lands with existing resource value that are available. Other areas of focus are: major habitats along the foothills, Fossil Creek area and the Poudre River. Smith commented that instead of distributing them evenly, one of the areas of major concern is the entire River Corridor. The River Corridor if done correctly, serves the west side neighborhood, east side neighborhood, Alta Vista, and Buckingham. It does not make sense to try and preserve small areas, that would be better in the hands of Parks and Recreation as an undeveloped park as opposed to a natural area. So concentrate on the major segments. He has no problem with the policy language, but thinks everyone needs to keep the basic picture in mind that the effort to acquire a lot of little areas comes at the expense of building a more cohesive system of larger areas. McGee and Swope agreed. Shoemaker stated that Council also echoed the Board's sentiments that some of these might be more categorized as open space but not natural areas. Between the several departments engaged in open land activities, there is a need to look at the funding available and try and apply that to some of these areas as well. Council also mentioned the notion of having walking access for citizens like the Neighborhood Park concept. Friedman stated that he liked the idea of emphasizing restoration of some of these areas because within the core area that is one of the definite constraints. Some of these areas may need to be acquired because of their importance, but they also may need to be restored because they were trashed. Johnson moved and Mcgee seconded that the Natural Resources Board endorse the additions on the NAPP as stated on the bottom of page five of the report. Shoemaker restated that the Board also wanted to convey the message that " This is fine, but let's don't dilute the effort from the larger contiguous areas." The Board agreed. The motion was unanimously approved. Reovalinc update At the December 8, 1993 NRAB meeting Shoemaker presented a draft report on the recycling program and Boardmembers gave their recommendations. Shoemaker presented the draft report, along with Board's recommendations to Council at their worksession on December 28, 1993. 7 Council strongly concurred with the Board on implementing the short term changes that were discussed with respect to the current ordinance and with respect to the education programs. Although Council did not say for staff to go ahead and develop the long term alternative plan, they did not throw out the idea either. Council did agree to shift the focus from what has been an emphasis on recycling alone to integrated waste management and waste reduction. The direction that Shoemaker received was to go to the NRAB and the community and set some waste reduction goals, and let those goals drive the program structure and the implementation steps needed. One step that Council does want to see is some data relative to the truck traffic (1) the effects of all the trucks on the streets - air, noise, wear on the streets etc. to see if it supports the assumed concerns, and (2) a survey of citizen concern relative to the traffic. Staff will be coming back to the Board with ordinance changes for short term types of things and will be putting together a detailed work program. Smith recommended that this subject be referred to the Recycling Committee. Annual Report The Annual Report is due to the City Clerk's office January 15, 1994. Shoemaker drafted a report and asked that Boardmembers review it and call or fax Bothwell with their changes or comments by January 12 1994. Education Committee Report Friedman talked with Councilmember Kneeland and faxed her a memo regarding the reorganization of the Environmental Action Awards and she was very supportive of it. She did recommend that the timing issues with the schools would be hard to work with. She said that the involvement of other Boards is a good idea, but that most Boards have enough on their agendas and probably would not be interested, except for those Boards that have a specific relationship to what the NRAB is doing. She liked the idea of the awards being presented at the Environmental Fair and liked the idea of basing it on categories rather than the type of individuals or group involved. Friedman rewrote the memo and it was included in the Board's packet and also presented to Council. Smith stated that the memo is clear. He stated that under categories there may not be submissions for awards in all those categories and the committee should make it clear that awards will not necessarily be given in each category. He recommended that "Land Use" may need a little more explanation or clarification. Ryszard stated that if the awards were a little bit more clear in the whole community's mind, they could provide more visible recognition in 8 businesses (i.e., Better Business Bureau plaques.) He suggested some type of logo that would be recognizable and allow people who see it to say "oh this business received an environmental award." He recommend presenting the award to businesses/groups who take environmental action on an ongoing basis instead of only as a short time effort. Shoemaker stated that changing the venue is going to help, but there also is a need to give some serious thought to publicity and recognition. Friedman stated that the committee will meet and present more ideas for larger recognition at the February 2 meeting. Committee Report Smith stated that the Larimer County Environmental Advisory Board met and there will be a "VISTA" Review at Norlarco Credit Union, 700 Whalers Way on January 11, 1994 at 6:30 p.m. The reason for the meeting is that Larimer County will be trying to get together a focus group that will meet every Tuesday until March to get all of the details worked out as to what might be considered in design requirements for improving/maintaining the visual integrity of our horizon. Smith announced that a manufacturer of Electronic Boards has come to town and is talking to the county about "givebacks" or incentives for locating here. There will be siting concerns regarding the effects on air quality, because most electronic manufacturers have some set of volatile organic compounds that can create a problem. He stated that there was discussion of the BPI Protection Bill in Grand Junction and gave Kudos to City Council for their action. The bill would make it so that no government entity could force somebody to pay a city fee for trash hauling if they have hired a private contractor. It would put the Loveland program, Thornton's program, and any of the programs that have high success rates out of business. Shoemaker announced that the Loveland -- Fort Collins Corridor Study is proceeding. There were focus groups that worked through the Fall and they got to a certain point. A new task force is now being formed to continue the effort of taking the initial concepts and trying to come up with a preferred alternative and implementation plan. Larimer County is accepting applications now. Announcements Friedman stated that there was an article regarding the Joe Wright Reservoir Special Use Permit in the December 23 1993, issue of the Triangle Review. Friedman stated there was an article in the December 30, 1993 issue of the Rocky Mountain News re: a new product for sanding streets "Realied Plus." The ceramic rock product is advantageous because there is less salt used, it is light so it does not damage paint and windows of cars, and it does not crumble so it reduces air pollution. It is being experimentally used in different cities in the Denver metro area. He suggested that the Transportation Department look at it. Smith announced that C4 will meet January 10, 1994. Rick Ensdorff, Transportation Department will be present to talk about what Transportation plans are for the City and region. Smith stated that the City has done almost nothing since the beginning of December to keep the bikeways useable for bicyclists. Several members of C4 have called the pothole patrol number and Dave Stringer with the Engineer Department and nothing is being done. Shoemaker recommended that a service request be sent to the City Manager's office. Shoemaker announced that mid March is peak time for the Sandhill Crane migration in Central Nebraska. The Audubon Society holds a conference each year including field trips and he proposed some kind of a City sponsored long weekend field trip to view the habitats firsthand and get a look at some of the other water developments. Some boardmembers said they would be interested in going. Shoemaker announced that the Board and the Natural Resources Division will meet at Bisetti's at 5:30 p.m. for dinner before the February 2 NRAB meeting. Aiournment The meeting was adjourned at 9:15 10