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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 04/25/2000CDC -oy-oq MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. April 25, 2000 For Reference: Eric Levine, Chair 229-5225 Scott Mason, Council Liaison 226-4824 Brian Woodruff, Staff Liaison 221-6604 Board Members Present Nancy York, John Schroeer, Eric Levine, Jim Dennison, Mandar Sunthankar, Chris Kavanaugh, Linda Stanley Board Members Absent Harry Edwards, Raymond Sons Staff Present Natural Resources Department• Brian Woodruff, Terry Klahn Transportation Planning_ John Daggett The meeting was called to order at 7:09 p.m. Minutes The minutes of the March 28, 2000 meeting were approved as written. Review and Update Action List 1. Letter to Ken Moore. Done 2. Air Quality Survey. Done, there will be a section in the survey for opinion. 3. Memo to Council on Holnam recommendation. Done. 4. Memo to Council on the Mason Street Corridor. Done. 5. Parking and transit issues in the siting of the new performing arts center and library. ' Woodruff said these issues have not yet been scheduled for Council. Nancy York asked if would be appropriate to make a recommendation to Council. The board unanimously approved the following motion. The Board recommends that City Council should direct the City Manager to make site selections for the public library and performing arts facility based on excellent alternative -mode access (transit, cycling, and walking) and good use of existing parking. For the same reasons, the Board further recommends that Council strongly consider sites in the Downtown Civic Center as top priority for these facilities. 6. Information on anti -smoking campaigns in other communities. Jo Birckmeyer is assembling. Review Council six-month planning calendar May 2 — New Urban Street Standards May 9 — TransFort Strategic Plan May 23 — City Plan Monitoring Project Process for Population Growth Review Sept 12 — Mason Street Transportation Corridor Master Plan Air Quality Advisory Board April 25, 2000 Page 2 Agenda Planning May: LUTRAQ initial recommendations to City Council Visibility project update June: Second-hand smoke ordinance — outreach plan ClimateWise campaign and "Shift Gears for Clean Air" Short Discussion Items • Change regular meeting time/place? Rescheduled to May meeting. • TDM stakeholder meetings, Nancy York and Chris Kavanaugh York and Kavanaugh were unable to attend the two stakeholder meetings. Woodruff said the TDM program is coming out with a report about their findings and their strategic plan for the next several years, and suggested getting a copy of the report, or having someone from TDM update the board. • Holnam Update The permit is now on hold due to community pressure and press articles. At this point, it is not known how long the permit will be on hold. Holnam will be requesting a modification to include wood and are planning a trial burn in June. With six members voting in a favor, and one member abstaining, the board approved the following motion. Whereas Holnam's air pollution permit application is currently on hold; and whereas City residents comprise the most significant population group affected by Holnam's emissions; therefore the Board recommends that City Council request that Holnam grant the City active involvement as a stakeholder in the permit review process. TransFort Strategic and Operating Plan — John Daggett Daggett gave a presentation which outlined four basic components of the proposed plan; 1) existing services, 2) identifying transit needs, 3) goal clarification, and 4) the development of an operating plan to support the Strategic Plan. The direction that is needed from Council is if the plan should be focused primarily on productivity or service. Discussion • York: if there were not buses on the routes that serve students, do you think students might take bikes or walk? We believe about 213 of the student's bike or walk to school. Almost 314 of the students live within a mile of campus. When it snows, the buses are packed. We won't capture more bike/ped commuters by eliminating bus service. • Levine: The bus fleet is miniscule. • York: How closely do you work with the rest of transportation in coming up with a transit plan? Work a lot with other planners. We're trying to synch up CSU and the Mason Street corridor plan. We also work with Current Planning to ensure there are transit friendly designs in terms of buses. • Woodruff: I'm struck by the fact that you don't seem to be talking about funding, are there any constraints? My perspective is that if you implement successful transit, it will grow. Council's resolution for the 2000-01 budget places indicates that transit is a "secondary" service priority. Air Quality Advisory Board April 25, 2000 Page 3 • Levine: How much money is generated in user fees? It's minimal: in a 3 million dollar budget, it's about $600,000 in user fees. • Stanley: When looking at productivity versus coverage, if you go for coverage, then you're looking down the same road we're on — empty buses. Go for productivity, instead. • Sunthankar: We would like to provide as extensive service as possible. Would it be possible to come up with a series of maps that show alternative combinations of productivity and geographic coverage? That's the next step. The Transportation Board also struggled with that. Productivity is the answer, service to the community is the purpose. • Levine: We should be talking about commitment to a real transit system. • Kavanaugh: Right now we have a broken down system, it's very unpopular. • Stanley: If we can show how good the service can be, we may be able to convince people that it could be better. • York: There are other things to improve transit, such as racks on the buses that facilitate bikes. We can afford an eleven million -dollar parking structure, but we don't have a transit system. With seven votes in favor, the board unanimously approved the following motion. 1. That City Council opt for a more -productive transit system, maintaining geographic coverage while decreasing convenience (increasing headway) in outlying areas. 2. That City Council gives transit a higher priority with an increase in funding. 3. That City Council makes the public aware, that, while transit is subsidized openly by public funds, automobile travel is likewise subsidized by public funds, but those subsidies are hidden from public view. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 9:43. ACTION LIST — frnm April 2S maaiino ACTION ITEM WHO BY... DONE L Information in packet on anti -smoking Jo June campaigns, and their benefits, in other Birckmeyer communities 2. Memo to Council on Holnam Brian, Eric May 3. Memo To Council on TransFort Strategic Brian, Eric May Plan 4. Memo to Council on Library and Brian, Eric May Performeing Arts Center sites