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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 11/27/2001MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. November 27, 2001 For Reference: Eric Levine, Chair 229-5225 Eric Hamrick, Council Liaison 225-2343 Brian Woodruff, Staff Liaison 221-6604 Board Members Present Eric Levine, Nancy York, John Schroeer, Linda Stanley and Harry Edwards Board Members Absent Mandar Sunthankar and Jim Dennison Staff Present Natural Resources Department Brian Woodruff, Sally Maggart and Lucinda Smith Utilities: Doug Swartz and Patty Bigner Building & Zoning: Felix Lee Guests 20 CSU students The meeting was called to order at 4:35 p.m. New Home Studv Doug Swartz, Energy Service Engineer, presented information on the results of a comprehensive new home study. He explained that the study included market research and inspection of new homes under construction, as well as completed homes, to evaluate the impact of the energy code. Swartz provided an overview of the study. • Compliance vaned and violations were commonplace. • The study looked at health and safety, comfort, and building durability. • It was learned from the study that things needed attention, but there has not been a large outcry from the public. • Most homes had comfort problems related to window design, overheating and temperature changes throughout the house. • The issues are endemic to Front Range housing. • Other design/architectural problems included insulation and air sealing problems. • The quality of workmanship varied, even within the same house. • One concern was that a "too tight" code would create indoor air quality problems by trapping pollutants. The City's energy code is not that restrictive. • The average size air conditioner unit installed is two times what is needed. This represents more cost for the consumer, less performance, and shorter life time for the equipment • Taped ducts and holes in ducts create problems. The ductwork should be substantially airtight. Air Quality Advisory Board November 27, 2001 Page 2 • Combustion safety is a concern with water heaters, furnaces, fireplaces and gas stoves. Gas ovens put out the most carbon monoxide. • Spot ventilation fans are supposed to provide better air quality, but it is not clear if they really work; only 10 percent of the kitchen hoods tested were vented. Indoor air quality is not being considered as homes are designed and built. • The biggest chunk of energy dollars is spent on electric baseload, e.g., refrigerators, computers, and entertainment items. These are not regulated by code. Space heating, which is regulated by code, represents about 30 percent of bill, while air conditioning is only about 10 percent of the annual energy cost. • Air conditioning is increasing in Fort Collins, and continues to be added as a retrofit. This is a utility issue because the large power draw during the summer peak, and lesser energy use during the rest of the year, represents revenue loss to the utilities. A large amount of overloaded transformers are being replaced. • Builders and buyers do not generally think about things "behind the drywall". There is no testing, a lot of predictable problems and lost opportunities that are difficult to deal with once the home is built. • There are opportunities to build better performing homes at little increase in cost by understanding design and construction details and doing testing for feedback on what works best. Swartz said that there are three recommendations: #1 is to build awareness, #2 is to discuss the problem to determine if there is one or if there are valid issues to be explored in more detail, and #3 is to get the stakeholder group to talk about what might be done, explore options, get an action plan and determine the resources to make it happen. He noted that these would take some time to evolve. Felix Lee, Director of the Building & Zoning Department, said that it is important to realize that the construction industry along the Front Range has exploded. There are only eight building inspectors, and they are barely keeping up with the demand for basic health and safety inspections. Lee added that staff could only do spot checks because of time constraints. At one time, inspections were limited to 11 or 12 minutes because there were two inspectors out with serious health problems and an overload of inspections. Stanley asked if there are any new inspectors being funded in the next budget. Lee responded that an additional plan check position has been added that will help the field inspectors. Harry Edwards said that he is encouraged that the City is looking at the issues. Nancy York asked about the solar orientation ordinance. Swartz said that the ordinance requires 60 percent of the lots to be solar oriented, within so many degrees of true south. He added that in the study, about 50 percent of homes met that criterion. York suggested recognizing the builder who does the best with solar orientation to create an awareness of the energy efficiency of new homes. Stanley asked how much of the inspection cost is being supported by fees. Lee responded that fees are set at a level that offsets operating expenses. Because his department does not have an "enterprise fund," however, collected fees go into the general fund and are not specifically earmarked for building and zoning. Air Quality Advisory Board November 27, 2001 Page 3 York noted that installing air conditioners that are two times larger than needed seems like an easy problem to address. Swartz said that contractors are encouraged to calculate load to house size correctly. He added that local contractors do not know how to do load calculations correctly, and it is not a simple thing to fix. Schroeer asked if the Board should write Council to support hiring more inspectors. Swartz said that the Board could weigh in however they want. He said that some gains could be made on regulatory issues, but bigger gains will be made when the building industry realizes that testing of the finished product is to their benefit. John Schroeer made a motion to craft a memo supporting department training. It died for lack of a second. York said that she is outraged that homes are not being built property regarding energy efficiency. She added that until builders start building correctly, they should not be allowed to build so many hones. York said that she is interested in putting forth a motion to send that message to Council. Stanley said that she is willing to meet with Levine to write a memo to Council that summarizes what has been discussed and makes a recommendation of support. A CSU student asked if the study applied just to homes or to apartment housing, as well. Swartz responded that the study was for single family, detached homes. He added that he would anticipate similar results with multi -family and commercial buildings because similar energy codes apply to all buildings. York asked if it was expensive to do the study. Swartz said that the energy rating cost is around $250, and the performance rating cost is about $500-600 per house. Levine said that he is interested in looking at the best practices and the budgets that go along with best practices. Review Minutes & Action List of October 23 2001 meetin With the following change, the minutes were accepted as amended: Page 2, 3`d paragraph from bottom, add ... mitigate "the airborne pathogens". Six month alannine calendar Levine noted that there are air quality implications in all the study sessions listed. He asked what action is meant for truck mobility on December 18. Woodruff said he did not know, but would find out. Woodruff reminded the Board that they received a presentation on the truck study at the August 21 meeting. At that time, Boardmembers did not think it necessary to receive another presentation. Levine said that the Board didn't feel the need to weight in or spend too much time on it because nothing is going to happen. Stanley said that she would hate to see all that money spent on a bypass up north. She noted that the Board feels strongly about getting the trucks out of town and on to I-25 as the most cost-effective solution. Air Quality Advisory Board November 27, 2001 Page 4 December meeting The December meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 18 in Conference Rooms A & B. Levine said that he would let Mandar Sunthankar and Jim Dennison know about the change. It will be Harry Edwards' and John Schroeer's last meeting and they want double chocolate cake! Action list Item #2 was not done. Update on Carbon Monoxide Redesignation This item was not discussed. Radon Program Review Linda Stanley asked if radon mitigation would be discussed during the next building code amendment. Woodruff said that Felix Lee agreed to put it on the table for discussion. Stanley noted that this has been going on a long time. Lucinda Smith said that, according to the midcourse correction on the Air Quality Action Plan for 1999 and 2000, it is between one and two years late. Woodruff noted that the purpose of the radon program review memo in the packet was to reiterate the eight recommendations that staff made last spring, and to address whether Council's guidance is needed. He noted that staff already has the direction to move forward on the recommendations. Harry Edwards asked who would make the final decisions on the eight measures. Woodruff responded that staff could decide all except 41 and #2. Levine said that he wants to know why the Natural Resources Advisory Board wants a point -of -sale radon -testing requirement (#7). AOAB 2002 Work Plan 1. Radon. 2. VMT reduction. • Mason Street Corridor progress updates. • Council's policy agenda calls out VMT reduction. • Finance election in November will broadly cover transportation and how to bundle. • The Regional Transit Authority Study is starting in 2002. Regional planning is also on Council's Policy Agenda. 3. Wood smoke. Lucinda distributed a background memo. • Two amendments are proposed to the Air Quality Action Plan. • Point of sale and policy changes would come to the Board. 4. Second hand tobacco. • Going to Council's Health & Safety Committee in April. • Stanley wants to weigh in on it. She said that she had been speaking with Council members and knows what they will accept. Woodruff encouraged Board members to do that kind of work with Council. • Edwards said that the Board recognizes the need to update the ordinance and that staff is making good progress. He said that Sarah Fox is proceeding in a deliberate manner, and he felt that the outcome would be positive Air Quality Advisory Board November 27, 2001 Page 5 5. Air quality code reviews. There was a good presentation today. 6. Public outreach. • Town meeting/open house, in conjunction with Transportation Board, Planning & Zoning Board and Natural Resources Advisory Board, involving air quality. • Get input about radon, VMT reduction, and Air Quality Action Plan. • Could build support for second hand smoke and other programs and take the pulse of the community. • Woodruff noted that there would be a public outreach component to City Plan and Air Quality Action Plan updates in 2002. He would hesitate to do public outreach without a specific objective in mind. • Stanley said to leave this in general terms, because results from public hearings are so inconclusive. 7. Clean fuels. • Review what Transfort is doing to replace diesel fleet. • Hydrogen Task Force will report to the Board in January. • Opportunity to tie into Mason Street Corridor. 8. Process. Coordinate with other Boards. Gather input. Agenda plarming. 9. Other: Participate in Air Quality Plan Update and CO redesignation. Linda Stanley made a motion to adopt the work -plait as amended. Harry Edwards seconded the motion. It passed unanimously (7-0). Adiournment The meeting adjourned at 7:25 p.m. ACTION LIST — from November 2001 meeting ACTION ITEM - --- ------- WHO BY... DONE 1. Draft letter on the CO redesignation, and Brian December circulate via e-mail for comment. 2. Draft memo in support of "Behind -the- Eric and December Drywall" program for review at December Linda meeting. 3. Complete and submit 2002 work plan Eric and 30 Brian November