HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources Advisory Board - Minutes - 03/18/20151 | P a g e
MINUTES
CITY OF FORT COLLINS
NATURAL RESOURCES ADVISORY BOARD
Date: Wednesday, March 18, 2015
Location: 215 N. Mason Conference Room 1A
Time: 6:00–8:30pm
For Reference
Bob Overbeck, Council Liaison 970-988-9337
Susie Gordon, Staff Liaison 970-221-6265
Board Members Present Board Members Absent
John Bartholow, chair Nancy DuTeau
Kelly McDonnell Alexa Barratt (resigned)
Harry Edwards
Luke Caldwell
Jeremy Sueltenfuss
Bob Mann
Joe Halseth
Staff Present
Susie Gordon, Staff Liaison
Dianne Tjalkens, Admin/Board Support
Christine Macrina, Publicity/Marketing Technician
Katy Bigner, Environmental Planner
Sara Fassione, Environmental Services Intern
Guests
David Tweedale, citizen
Call meeting to order: John called the meeting to order at 6:00pm
Public Comments: none
Announcements: Susie Gordon introduced Environmental Services intern Sara Fassione. Chief
Sustainability Officer position candidate community meeting is happening tonight. It will be taped
and available online soon. Mary Pat Aardrup, Healthy Homes, is seeking volunteers to be trained to
audit homes for indoor air quality. West Central Area Plan was unanimously adopted by Council last
night.
Joe Halseth attended West Nile Virus meeting this evening and they are doing fact finding this year
rather than changing their master plan.
Approval of Minutes:
Luke moved and Harry seconded a motion to approve the February 2015 NRAB minutes as
presented.
Motion passed unanimously, 7-0-0.
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AGENDA ITEM 1—City Clerk’s Office Updates
Christine Macrina, Publicity/Marketing Technician in the City Clerk’s Office, provided a preview of
new processes and training opportunities being developed to improve the efficiency of boards and
commissions that report to Council.
Last year the Council and the City Clerk’s Office started a process to improve boards and
commissions. City Council is committed to the public engagement process. Boards and commissions
did not feel they were getting sufficient direction from Council. With the help of staff liaisons the
City Clerk’s Office tied each board to a primary, secondary and third highest connection to one of the
seven key outcome areas. The board’s work plan also ties into these outcome areas. Staff would like
to get specific feedback on projects from boards, and get broad feedback from boards and the
community at super board meetings. Election day is April 7. May 2, the new Council will have a
retreat at which they will receive Council liaison assignments. May 19 the appointments will be
finalized. Christine will provide information to the Council liaisons about their boards and
commissions, including membership, vacancies, work plans, etc. Christine is starting on a staff
training protocol for boards and commissions, and then will begin working with the City Attorney’s
Office on board member trainings. Clerk’s Office is working to improve communications between
staff, boards and commissions, and Council. In the future Council agenda items will be assigned a
level for which they need outreach to boards and commissions, outside stakeholders, and/or
community. Christine is seeking feedback on improvements and communications.
Discussion/Q & A:
• Members opinion of receiving information (e-mails) from City Clerk's office?
o Good to receive more information than not enough.
• Human Relations Commission has requested sending information on their forum to other
boards. Is that appropriate?
o Yes, but helpful to note why being directed to the NRAB if not related to natural
resources, to help understand why relevant.
• How was interview process for new members (there were seven interviewees, even without
doing much recruitment)?
o Smooth, but short. Not much interaction; only 10 minutes. No chance to ask
questions of the Council interviewers.
o Meeting seemed a little like "box checking".
o Asked biggest challenges facing City that would be before this board. Was not
answered sufficiently.
• Would it be helpful to have questions for both sides prepared in advance?
o Interesting for Council members to think about the function of this board and what
input they are looking for. Board could help develop questions. Board membership is
a significant time commitment. Good to learn what your role is.
o One problem is that boards overlap. Identifying outcome areas is a step in the right
direction. NRAB has interest in culture, river, air quality, natural resources, etc.
When interest is broad, it’s hard to get focus. Having direction from Council on two
to three things would like to see focus on each year would be helpful.
o Stated function is to advise Council, but interacting with staff is also important, e.g.,
giving them dry run before going to Council and giving input and recommendations
on projects.
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• Members are encouraged to contact Christine with additional suggestions.
• Members request that messages from other groups/boards come through the City Clerk’s
Office rather than directly from staff or community.
• Christine provided copies of Board and Commission Manual.
AGENDA ITEM 2—Georgetown University Energy Challenge
Katy Bigner, Environmental Planner, updated the board on elements of the Georgetown challenge,
including the Lose-a-Watt Campaign being rolled out to the community, which could put Fort Collins
in the running for a $5M cash award.
Lose-a-Watt is the Georgetown Energy Prize. It is a $5 million competition to advance energy
efficiency within communities. Focuses on natural gas and electric use, specifically residential,
municipal, and K-12. Efficiency benefits include cost savings, resource conservation, GHG
reductions, and benefits to consumers. Few people take action at this time. Georgetown is viewing
this as a research project. Prizes have spurred innovation in the past. Fort Collins is one of 50 semi-
finalists, and is well positioned to win. Energy efficiency is a priority in many City plans; the process
will be valuable to the organization and will leverage community partnerships/engagement. To
become a finalist we must be a top performer on energy reduction. Next steps include finalist round
(~10 cities), at which point judging criteria changes to analyze innovation, replicability, and
community engagement. The competition uses 2013/14 as baseline data. Winner will be announced
mid-2017. If Fort Collins wins the $5 million, the money must be used for community benefit and
promoting energy efficiency. The City is gathering input on desired use of prize money. Utilities
offers many efficiency programs already, and will leverage them to increase adoption rates. Efforts
toward community engagement include ramping up social media, targeted messaging, and applying
the crowdfunding model (use platform through Community Funded so individuals/groups can
develop and finance projects through tax-deductible donations). Also revamping FortZED’s
Community Energy Challenge model with an Eco Leader program: individuals can get training to
affect change in social networks. WorkWise is a program for employers to challenge employees.
Individuals can register for Monitor My Use (fcgov.com/utilities). Through beginning of May, free
home energy assessments are available (larimerworkforce.org/energy) for both renters and
homeowners. There are rebates from Utilities and Xcel. Visit www.lose-a-watt.com for more
information. Seeking partners: host neighborhood discussions, create workplace challenges, become
an Eco Leader, mobilize schools, follow on social media, report what you do, etc.
Discussion/Q & A:
• Residential only?
o Residential, municipal buildings, and K-12.
o What is lowest hanging fruit among those categories?
PSD is energy leader at this point. They are interested in education
component. Residential lighting is lowest hanging fruit: change to LED or
CFL bulbs. Offering incentives/discounts. Encouraging conservation as well,
especially for those who cannot afford upgrades and/or live in rental units.
• Anyone done analysis on which groups have greatest potential for savings so you can target
marketing?
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o Low income populations are often high energy users, because of inefficiency of
living spaces. Renters often cannot address upgrades.
• Targeted goal?
o Baseline data is not complete yet. Goal is to double energy savings by end of 2016.
Energy savings goal has been 1.5% per year, which was surpassed in only in 2013.
Will work on framing tangibles.
• Time Magazine has article about Desert Sunshine 580MW photovoltaic in Mohave.
California has goal of reducing energy usage 1/3 by 2020. Turning to entrepreneurs to
develop innovative models. Using public/federal land to build power plants. Using separate
private contractors to design, construct, and maintain. Federal government is guaranteeing
some of the loans. Private investors taking on financial risk. Storage issue has not been
solved yet. Phase change materials being tested now.
• Katy will return to the board to discuss Climate Adaptation later in the year.
AGENDA ITEM 3—Road to Zero Waste Plan
Susie Gordon, Senior Environmental Planner, discussed Zero Waste implementation projects
ramping up for 2015, preliminary calculations of 2014’s community waste diversion level, and
current recycling market issues affecting operations of the Larimer County’s recycling center.
Community Diversion Rate
City has been actively involved in recycling and waste reduction. The Community Diversion Rate is
how we define goals. Began measuring 20 years ago, when 17% diversion (by weight) was estimated
to be occurring. 1999 Council set goal for 50% diversion, which was surpassed in 2013. Diversion
has been increasing steadily.
Three categories of waste diversion are calculated using data obtained from licensed haulers and
from surveys of other activities within the community:
• Residential/Commercial: 45.5%
• Industrial: 83.2%
• Overall combined level: 69.6%
Landfill/Recycling Market Factors
Larimer County Landfill has 11 years left according to County calculations. When closes, then what?
County secured property suitable for new landfill 10 years ago near Wellington. Current landfill
could become a transfer station. County commissioners are also interested in a waste-to-energy
model. The recycling center is likely to stay at the current site. Currently operated by WM/Recycle
America (MRF-Materials Recovery Facility), who was only company to bid for the job. Possible
conversion to commingled trash/recycling sorting facility ("dirty MRF"). Commissioners plan to
hold a forum this fall to engage stakeholders. Expenditures to run landfill and associated activities:
$4.9 million/year. Revenue is $7 million. Surplus goes into reserves to budget for future needs
including 30 years monitoring at landfill site after closure, landfill replacement and facilities. Landfill
volumes dipped in recession but are again rising. Recycling has increased. However, price received
for recyclable commodities has gone down dramatically. China had been main purchaser (paying
high prices due to lack of own resources), which resulted in closing of processing plants in the U.S.
Due to faltering economy, China has become more discriminatory in what is accepted. There has
been too much contamination. Costs the MRF money to sort and ship recyclables. Haulers have been
accustomed to receiving money for recycling, but now have to be charged. Haulers are not happy;
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cheaper to landfill than recycle. City has ordinance for haulers to collect single stream recyclables at
no charge to customers, but now the financial structure has changed. “Pay as You Throw” ordinance,
which is 20 years old, requires hauling companies to:
• Provide recycling at no charge
• Variable rates
• Must provide data to City
• Prohibition of cardboard in trash
In 2013 Road to Zero Waste (RZW) project, Council adopted zero waste by 2025 goal. Caroline is
leading project to get consultant help and community involvement. Staff and consultant will look at a
variety of concepts (extending ordinance to multifamily and commercial, curbside yard-waste
collection, potential fee on haulers bills passed through to City, rates issue, etc.). Will engage haulers
to develop something that will work for them.
Recycling Center
Developing new recycling drop-off site; have identified site at Timberline and Prospect, south of
electric substation on 3.2 acres. Current recycling center (Rivendell) will move there. New center
will accept hard to recycle items. Other planning work is to adopt sustainable materials management
approach and look at potential for waste-to-energy and more regional planning. Facilities needed to
manage waste are big and require partnerships, especially for composting. Much compostable
material is still going to landfill.
Discussion/Q & A:
• Foothills Mall?
o Condition of URA financing is high diversion rate. Have focused on recycling. All of
the steel has been recycled. Much cement and concrete has gone to City’s crushing
facility to be reused for road base. About 79-80% waste diversion overall.
• Single stream has impacted quality of recycling as well and also incurs costs to sort out
materials.
• Single component that has taken biggest dip in prices?
o Hard to say. Even metal has taken a dip. Plastics market fluctuating. Price of oil has a
lot to do with this. Manufacturers use more virgin oil when oil prices are low.
o Glass is also a problem material due to weight.
o If new technology for sorting, or new manufacturing nearby that uses recycled
plastic, these can help.
• Data on per capita waste generation?
o Landfill tons per capita came down 2% since last year.
o Composting numbers come from where?
Hageman’s, CSU, and Gallegos. A-1 Organics in Eaton is closest commercial
composting facility.
To be permitted to accept food waste, composting facility must go through
more stringent licensing process.
Hageman’s: Do they take construction materials?
• Accepts non-treated lumber. Does not compost on site, takes to dairy
northeast of Fort Collins where combined with manure waste.
o Not counting backyard composting.
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No way to calculate.
Could you survey?
Encourage backyard composting. Transporting waste increases carbon
footprint. Compost waste is heavy.
• Envision that trash costs will increase in response to this?
o Yes. In perfect world, would cost more to throw away as an incentive for diverting
more waste. But Larimer County is competing with private landfills. Colorado has
some of lowest tipping fees in U.S. Good climate for landfilling, less risk of ground
water pollution due to dry climate.
• Per capita numbers are not MSW, but include industrial?
o Yes.
• The City runs a crushing facility. They take concrete and asphalt for free. High demand.
Cheaper than new product for making road base.
o Toilets, tile and brick, too. Porcelain and ceramics coming in from Boulder since no
facility there.
• Landfill already has pull from surrounding communities. Would it be possible to get more of
reusable materials here?
o Conceivably, but people more likely to throw away if alternative involves
transportation and/or higher costs.
• How do you get data on recycling?
o Mostly from haulers. 85-95% of residential customers participate in curbside.
Cardboard ordinance has brought more commercial accounts on board with recycling.
• Targeted audience for educational programs?
o Multifamily complexes and businesses. Will do onsite audit and give information on
setting up recycling program.
o Biggest issue is knowledge of what is recyclable and what is not.
• Commercial and industrial numbers: has anyone proposed a carbon credit?
o It is coming. California is creating carbon market.
o Turning negative into positive is incentive for corporations.
• Trash haulers are really unhappy and staff working hard to see how quickly need to respond,
or address in context of universal recycling ordinance that should be complete in 4-6 months.
• Have County Commissioners been hearing same argument?
o Yes, but the prices at the MRF are not county’s decision. Selection process was
completed in fair and competitive way, but only one application for the five-contract.
• What is next for this board?
o Work planning. NRAB represented in public involvement process. Bob is engaged.
Many stakeholder meetings to come. Complicated, so important to have informed
engagement of those willing to spend time on issue.
• RFP for consultant, will create group after that?
o Caroline has monthly meeting with core group to delve into options before staff
makes recommendation to Council.
AGENDA ITEM 4—NRAB 2015 Work Plan
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Chair John Bartholow reviewed the board’s list of interests and goals for 2015, to help bring new
members up to speed and to refine and prioritize the work plan.
John will be asking for help from members on drafting memos, priming presenters, etc. He tallied
items from work plan and identified members who have interest in these topics.
Discussion/Q & A:
• Luke requested being added to water resources and Poudre River topics.
• Joe Halseth agreed to continue as liaison to West Nile group, though NRAB does not have a
seat as the three-member panel was disbanded. on the Technical Advisory Committee is
extremely divided into pro- and anti-spray. Does not foresee change coming this year, but
important to stay engaged.
• Kelly asked to be involved with Nature in the City and Master Trails Plan.
• Joe Halseth added to Transportation as liaison to BAC Bicycle Advisory Committee
• What is a Community Solar Garden?
o Private company provides funding for solar panels, which sells shares to community
members. Like a CSA for solar.
o Harry agreed to be engaged in this topic.
• Members requested to email additional items to Bob Mann.
AGENDA ITEM 5—Other Business
Review City Council’s 6-Month Planning Calendar
• May 2: City Council Retreat. If BOB2 passes, Council will have to prioritize funding. NRAB
may wish to encourage Council to start on Poudre River Downtown Plan. Bob will draft a
memo for the board’s review.
• May 12: Water Supply & Storage (Halligan/NISP)
• June 2: Economic Health Strategic Plan
• Unscheduled: Plant Investment Fee; Dust Control Manual
• Development plans south of Harmony at I-25. Old gravel pits with wetlands. Would like to
keep abreast of those types of developments. Wetlands are valuable habitat. Currently
privately owned. Old state law allows the area to be refilled. Is this a topic the board would
like to address?
• Harry attended super board meeting on Affordable Housing. Number one goal is to increase
number of affordable rental units. Relevant to mission, as Climate Action Plan (CAP) could
impact new units: must be energy efficient. If go with electric heating, ground source heat
pumps, will add $20-30K per unit. Also an overlap with Nature in the City: new affordable
units on now vacant land mean less nature in the city. Coordination necessary.
Election
Bob and Harry were nominated for Vice Chair. Harry declined nomination.
Jeremy moved to elect Bob as Vice Chair of the Natural Resources Advisory Board for 2015.
Luke seconded. Motion passed unanimously, 7-0-0.
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Announcements/Open Board Discussion
• How should we be evaluating presentations? Critiquing models? Suggesting things to move
forward?
o Good question before presenters come: What does presenter want to gain?
o Suggest invitation to Council liaison, to talk to the board about which issues are
primary.
o Board has asked and continues to ask. As citizen, a great opportunity to learn and ask
questions. Roles: helps staff credibility to Council if presentations have been made to
boards related to issue. Sometimes staff doesn’t ask for much more than an
endorsement; not requesting input - projects have gone through vetting process before
coming here. Can feel like the board is a “rubber stamp.”
Saw one presentation about native tree planting, and were able to affect
change to the plan.
Board liaison roles to BAC, RZW, CAP, there is more opportunity for input.
Have incredible staff that does thorough analysis.
o Get to see projects from development through implementation.
• Describe process by which staff comes to present to board, if not requested to attend.
o Some items must go to various boards. Also have list of items the board is interested
in and bring when project is ready.
o Work plan compared to Council agenda, can also elect to give input or get
information.
o Sometimes requests come from the community as well to present here.
o Continue to ask presenters to give information ahead of time. Also would like board
members to provide questions for presenters in advance.
Meeting Adjourned: 8:14pm
Next Meeting: April 15