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HomeMy WebLinkAboutTransportation Board - Minutes - 09/17/2008MEETING MINUTES of the TRANSPORTATION BOARD September 17, 2008 6:00 p.m. Community Room 215 North Mason Street Fort Collins, CO 80521 FOR REFERENCE: Chair: Gary Thomas 482-7125 Vice Chair: Ed Robert 2244864 Staff Liaison: Mark Jackson 416-2029 Administrative Support: Polly Bennett 224-6058 BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT: Sara Frazier Bill Jenkins John Lund Kip McCauley Shane Miller Ed Robert Garry Steen Gary Thomas Scott VanTatenhove CITY STAFF PRESENT: Mark Jackson, Transportation Group Director Polly Bennett, Executive Administrative Assistant Jeff Scheick, PDT Director Ann Tumquist, City Manager's Office Susie Gordon, Natural Resources ABSENT: OTHERS INATTENDANCE Sid Simonson Wade Troxell, Council Liaison, 221.6505 Dale Adamy, Citizen, 290.9213 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order by Chair Thomas at 6:00 p.m. with a quorum present. 2. AGENDA REVIEW The Discussion Item will present first, followed by the Action Item. The Board approved the Agenda unanimously with that change. 3. PUBLIC COMMENT Dale Adamy (Air Quality Advisory Board). Dale stated that he is not here on behalf of the Board, although his topic is air -quality related. Hydraulic hybrids were discussed at a recent RMI2 meeting. Thinking about the large buses, his interest is in retrofitting them for hydraulic hybrids. Last month's minutes, under "Why Now?" do not reflect lowering emissions. He would like to see smaller, low - emission vehicles on low -ridership routes for efficiency regarding pollution. 13 demand response vehicles — are they used quite a bit? Could they be used on a fixed route during low -ridership cycles? He rode Route 1 for an entire day and estimated that there were only four riders that were on for the entire loop. Robert: It might be a good idea to contact Marlys directly. She gave us some interesting information about this. Regular Meeting Minutes September 17, 2008 Page 2 Troxell: CO is a company that participates with the City to test retrofit kits for developing countries. Good information during the Trash Services Study. Miller: Would this work for heavy vehicles? Troxell: It is weight -based. This is an accumulator. 4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (August 2008) Robert moved to approve the August 2008 Transportation Board meeting minutes. Lund seconded. The motion carried unanimously. 5. COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT Wade Troxell, Council Liaison Council members unanimously accepted a proposal for reports regarding Transportation and Economic Health presented at a Work Session twice a year. Jackson: I really appreciate the opportunity, Wade. Troxell: I want to express my personal opinion that a recommendation on Trash Services is not warranted. I think the real issue is waste diversion. With three haulers serving the town, the issue as framed is not relevant. 6. DISCUSSION ITEMS a. PDT — The Movie! — Jeff Scheick, Executive Director, Planning, Development & Transportation Scheick — We put this together to introduce the `hew kid on the block" so you will understand the connection between our Departments. Frazier: So much has been said in past years about the difficulty in planning. Does the public at large still feel that Fort Collins is not friendly to developers? Scheick: I am visiting with developers throughout the area this summer (14 so far) and am hearing that they respect and appreciate what staff is doing, and believe they are getting great service. Frazier: Is it more about growth/no-growth? Scheick: No, I don't perceive a growth/no-growth issue. Steen: How are you getting this out? Scheick: We are showing it at the Boards, on Channel 14, the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary, Homeowners Associations, anywhere we can get it shown. Robert: I noticed a news article recently about Joe Olson. Our community does not do a good enough job thumping our chests. This is an example of something that should go on a Denver network. It lends credibility to what is already credible. Steen: I spoke to someone during CityWorks 101, not knowing what all goes on in the City. This is another opportunity like that. Jackson: I want to recognize Jeff for having the vision and wherewithal to pull this off during the first 6 months of his tenure. I wish you could see the looks on the faces of the crews and staff when they see this movie. They fight up. ACTION ITEMS a. Trash Services Study —Ann Turnquist, Project Manager, City Manager's Office The study began earlier this year with a consultant who produced the study. Tonight's meeting is our last act of public outreach. We take this to Council next week to narrow down options. A component addresses the impact of trash trucks on city streets. The current system is an open competition system. Anyone can buy a truck, get a license, and compete for customers. We currently have three haulers for residential, 11 for commercial. All work under "pay as you throw" pricing. All offer single -stream curbside recycling service. HOAs Regular Meeting Minutes September 17, 2008 Page 3 and neighborhoods can choose a single hauler. There are no recycling requirements for commercial. Issues: • Cost of street wear by multiple trash trucks. • Neighborhood aesthetics • Air quality • Truck noise • Recycling diversion rates Key findings: Three haulers, two trucks (trash/recycling) in residential areas, average 8 trips per week. Current cost to City $354,000 per year to repair streets damaged by trash trucks. The service can't be eliminated, as it is an essential service. How can we reduce it? Enter Trash Districting. Trash trucks are often found to be overloaded, which has an exponential effect on street damage. If we can effectively enforce loading of trucks, we could reduce the cost of repairing damage significantly. The landfill does not have a scale. Air Quality — more trucks lead to more vehicle emissions in neighborhoods. Trucks get only 2.8 miles per gallon. 271 tons CO2 per year emissions from trash trucks. Diversion rates — City's goal: Increase diversion from 27% to 50%. Curbside residential currently captures 7% of community's waste stream. California has a state mandate that communities achieve a 50% diversion rate. Loveland already achieves that. Alternatives under consideration: • Districted trash service — City awards trash service contracts through a competitive process. Multi -year contracts awarded. All single-family residences would be in a districted system. Additional conditions on haulers including minimum diversion rates, standards for vehicle age, appearance, emissions. Possible City billing for residential trash service. • Regulation of haulers — Incremental approach. Focus on emissions and noise, standards for recycling, vehicle load restrictions, and reporting requirements. Protects choice and current hauler's interests. No improvement in vehicle miles traveled or number of trucks in neighborhoods. • Focus on increased recycling — City -owned single stream rollout recycling containers. Enhancements to the "Pay as You Throw" system. Single City -contracted recycling program. Add yard waste service to recycling ordinance with cost built into all rates. Other recycling programs (commercial?) Additional possible actions: Require haulers to provide more data Hauler requirement to offer yard waste service with cost built into all rates Further regulate trash vehicle weights Community feedback: What questions does the study raise? Which option do you prefer? What concerns do you have with options? What should City Council do with this issue? Thomas: Is there a staff recommendation? Regular Meeting Minutes September 17, 2008 Page 4 Turnquist: Council asked us to gather feedback before finalizing a staff recommendation. It goes to Council next Tuesday evening. McCauley: You mentioned taking away recycling from the providers. Doesn't that increase the amount of trash truck traffic on residential areas? Turnquist: It would reduce the number of recycling haulers. McCauley: Loveland has an exceptional yard waste recycling system. Gordon: The emissions that can be avoided are based on the reduction of vehicle miles from having fewer trucks on the street. McCauley: You might look at methane reduction from less trash in the landfill. Lund: When contracting or selecting a company for trash districting, what prevents price gouging? Turnquist: They would have to compete for the contract based on price. The City of Lafayette just did this. They were at $20 per month before, and ended up with approximately $13 per month. Miller: Why are commercial businesses excluded from the study and focus? They produce a tremendous amount of trash and things that can be recycled. Turnquist: There are state laws that prevent us from legislating commercial operations. Miller: My suggestion would be to transfer the cost of the wear and tear on streets to the trash haulers. That may be a way to preserve customer choice. Base it on their vehicle miles traveled and require them to report it. Lund: On the first round of negotiations when you single out a trash hauler, you will get a good price. However, when the small haulers are eliminated, the price will rise exponentially. Turnquist: Other communities haven't experienced that. People are sympathetic toward the small local haulers. Gordon: The contract would be for 5 years. Unsuccessful bidders would continue to provide commercial service. Steen: What percentage of a neighborhood or HOA does a hauler service on average? Turnquist: Between 10 — 50% but we do not know exactly. Clausen: When you mentioned that anyone could buy a trash truck and provide service, what is the process? Is there a fee involved? Is there any compensation for the City that includes wear and tear? Turnquist: The Company has a license and pays $30 per year per truck; proof of insurance. VanTatenhove: Do trucks use only a right -side collection? Gordon: We made an assumption to arrive at two passes on the street because we do not have data on the type of truck used. VanTatenhove: Could we require haulers to provide that information and then do another study? Robert: In our neighborhood, we found that delivery vehicles were the most frequent users of our streets. They found 45 trips per week. Gordon: On the coasts, most municipalities provide the trash service. The trend is that people are looking for greater efficiencies. The best way they can do that is through contracts setting performance measures and goals. Robert: The recycle vehicle is much lighter. Turnquist: Some of them are compactors, which are heavy. Robert: could the same vehicle as the recycle vehicle pick up yard waste? Turnquist: There is an option to have alternate weeks for yard waste and recyclables. Lund: What do you do with yard waste on the off week? Gordon: We encourage people to leave clippings on the lawn. Steen: Is there anywhere that citizens can take yard waste now? Gordon: Hageman's Earth Cycle on east Prospect Road accepts yard waste 6 days a week. Weitzels on west Mulberry also accepts yard waste. Regular Meeting Minutes September 17, 2008 Page 5 Steen: I am hearing two different issues here. One is to increase recycling; the other is to reduce the number of trucks on the streets. Incentives would work for recycling. As far as reducing trucks, why are neighborhoods not getting together to contract with one hauler? Turnquist: It is a good theory, but the choice issue is so important to some people that they will not participate. Gordon: The newer developments do entertain that option. The older neighborhoods are more resistant. Turnquist: That is the question for Council. Which option? Jenkins: There is an education element regarding reducing consumption. VanTatenhove: You mentioned the City getting involved in billing. Can you explain? Turnquist: We might want to do the billing so every customer gets the same bill and is charged the same amount, etc. Gordon: The City already sends out a monthly Utility bill. Haulers send quarterly bills because the amount is so small. VanTatenhove: How much would it add to the City's budget? Gordon: Another line item would not be difficult to accommodate, but we really don't know what it would cost. Administrative costs get absorbed in the hauler's bid. Turnquist: Under "Pay as You Throw" pricing, billing is complicated. Lund: If you are talking about another line item on the Utility bill, does that mean they are going into the trash business? Turnquist: It is an option, but the Council is not interested in that. Lund: It is easy to add a bag to the bill, but do they reduce your bill if you do not fill a 65-gallon container? Gordon: That is where the customer would subscribe to a lower volume of service. Robert: No matter how small the pile, the trucks still go down the street. Do I understand that paving in the last 10 years is being done to prevent this damage? Turnquist.- The newer subdivisions are built to a higher standard. Gordon: The haulers think everything is better than it was 10 years ago. McCauley: Is there a safety mechanism to prevent collusion? Turnquist: The haulers here 25 years ago paid huge fines for that. They are very careful. Jackson: Ann, you mentioned the impact of overloaded trucks, and that the landfill doesn't have scales. Could that be a collaboration? Turnquist: We may be able to work with Larimer County and the City of Loveland to put a scale at the Larimer County landfill. Scales cost approximately $150,000 for installation. Gordon: Haulers also run to the Waste Management landfill in Ault and the Erie landfill. Clausen: Are we voting on the districting issue? Turnquist: The Air Quality Advisory Board made comments. We think you should focus on... Steen: We are interested in reducing VMT. Robert: Implementation would be deferred to the experts. Clausen: My concern is to preserve choice of the customer, but to reduce the wear and tear on the street. I think it is reasonable for the City to recoup those costs in fees or licenses. Gordon: Some communities require an odometer reading and fee. Jackson: We came within a whisper of passing a Transportation Maintenance Fee that would do just that. Clausen: Trash service is a nuisance when there are four trucks on a street, but if they aren't covering the cost of the damage they incur, that isn't fair to citizens. Districting, however, has a note of unfairness. Frazier: What have the other boards said about air quality? Turnquist: One recommended districting. Steen: Is there a way to find out what HOAs are doing? Gordon: There are many HOAs out there. It would be very difficult to find out who their contacts are. Regular Meeting Minutes September 17, 2008 Page 6 Turnquist. We were optimistic that we would be able to do that. Thomas: Wear and tear on our streets is an issue that our Board should consider. The other issues are not proper for this Board. Why are we only focusing on trash trucks? We have three choices. 1. We can make a motion for a recommendation and vote it up or down. 2. We could elect not to take action and let the notes reflect our discussion. 3. We could put together a memo incorporating our discussion. Clausen: I move that we put together a consolidated memo of our thoughts and comments this evening. Steen: Second Discussion: VanTatenhove: I would like us to state our agreement to all three aspects of the study, but concentrate on reducing VMT. Robert: I would like to put it back to the neighborhoods to solve the problem themselves. The motion passed unanimously as made. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS Jenkins: Interesting article on new bike loops that detect bikes. Lund: None. VanTatenhove: I took my daughter to Tour de Fat. Also took her on her fast bus ride. McCauley: None. Frazier: Timing changes would make north south go faster, but east/west would be slower. I have the joy of hurrying to get to the green light that changes too quickly. You can't be everything to everyone. Robert: I attended the Bike Fort Collins meeting. It was an excellent exchange. Joe Olson did a great job responding to questions. Steen: I tried the transit system last week (brought my bike) and was impressed. Clausen: The railroad crossing at Mountain Vista— is the City responsible for it? They have stacks of concrete panels next to it. Are they doing something? Jackson: No ... that is a BNSF line. We notified them about the problem with the concrete panels that are shifting. We repair the approach on either side of the crossing. They were pulled off the project to cover problems with the flooding in Iowa and hurricanes. I will call Mike Herzig to see if he knows anything more. Follow-up 09.18.08: Mike Herzig, Street Oversizing and Capital Projects Manager reports: The BNSF is planning to repair their crossing at County Rd. 52 and Mountain Vista. They originally told us they were going to do it this past June. In talking to the Road Master last night, the materials have been trickling in over the last couple of months. He hopes to do it soon. He has said that he would coordinate with Erica Keeton to set up a closure and for patching the pavement approaches. Linden at Vine was another crossing he wants to repair but has no materials yet. Thomas: Last month Transfort spoke about wanting to expand their facilities (SB-1 money). The MPO chose to recommend a S485,000+/- VanPool program ahead of the transit maintenance facility. Rocky Mountain Rail Authority — we recommended that the City join, but Council declined. Their study on high-speed rail commenced. Do we want to invite them back? Regular Meeting Minutes September 17, 2008 Page 7 Jenkins: If we do invite them back and don't show any interest, is that a detriment in the future? Loveland and Greeley didn't join either. Note: After discussion, the Board decided not to invite them back. Robert: Is there any further decision on fences along the railroad? Quiet Zone? Jackson: We are negotiating for right-of-way. The railroad is gun shy about liability. There have been three incidents in the last year. The Quiet Zone is another issue. The railroad raised the hom decibel level due to liability issues. Thomas: Next month we need to discuss our Work Plan. Be thinking about it. 9. STAFF REPORTS: Jackson: I got good feedback on your trip to Transfort. I would like to talk to you about some more theme nights. Streets in winter. Traffic Engineering Primer at Traffic Operations. If you have suggestions, (CSU Energy Lab) let me know. Thank you, Ed, for talking about Joe's appearance at Bike Fort Collins. The Engineers have been good about raising their profile to the community. Helen, Joe, and Larry are being much more visible. We monitored the CSU game traffic. Joe Olson reported that the biggest traffic problem that day was the Tour de Fat. In early October, the connection of Drake Road to Ziegler will be open. Cafe Columbine Bakery Transportation invitation — October 14. Should be interesting. I asked Jeff to speak with Gary about my role as Staff Liaison as part of my performance review. Please feel free to talk to him as well. Next meetine: Lucinda Smith, Climate Plan. We may bring the Air Pollution Control Division for an update on the State plan. Update our Work Plan. Helen and the Engineering Department will tell you what they did on their summer vacation. 10. OTHER BUSINESS None. 11. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 8:14 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Polly Byriliett Executive Administrative Assistant Planning, Development & Transportation