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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 11/20/2003MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. November 20, 2003 For Reference: Linda Stanley, Chair 493-7225 Eric Hamrick, Council Liaison 226-4824 Sarah Fox, Staff Liaison 221-6312 Board Members Present Ken Moore, Katie Walters, Linda Stanley, Everett Bacon, Mandar Sunthankar, John Long, Nancy York, Jim Dennison Board Members Absent Cherie Trine Staff Present wn NaturalalResources Department Terry Klahn, Lucinda Smith, Sarah Fox, Liz Skelton, Brian Woodruff Building and Zoning Felix Lee Transportation Planning Mark Jackson The meeting was called to order at 5:20 p.m. `2 Q Minutes J With no changes, the minutes of the September 18 and October 16, 2003 meeting were unanimously approved. Residential Building Code • Stanley: Your cost estimates look fairly close to what you had before. Is that right or are they higher? • Woodruff: They are higher. We had estimated $522 before, and it is up to $590 now. We've also made the assumption that the gravel that goes underneath the slab to create the space is being brought in already because that is by far the majority of situations for housing here in Fort Collins. The $590 does not include the gravel. • Walters: Wasn't that an argument in the past, that the gravel and things like that increase the cost? The gravel goes in most times anyways. • Woodruff: That's right. We tried to make an estimate that's based on reality in Fort Collins. We didn't count things that were cost -attributable to the radon system, but were already on site. We thought that would be double counting. Another example of that is in crawl spaces we used to think that there were extra costs for putting the plastic sheeting down on the soil. The building code is going to call for a moisture barrier in all crawl spaces for moisture purposes. • York: Why is the active system $310 more? Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 2 of 14 • Woodruff: The numbers in the active column are all $310 more than the numbers in the passive column. We are saying that it costs $310 to make a passive system into an active system. That is the cost for the motor and the labor to install it. • Walters: We've also established that for people who are do-it-yourselfers, that could be a project that they could do it by themselves. • Woodruff: Absolutely. • Walters: This explanation about the 3-PicoCurie limit is good. The EPA recommendation is to mitigate when your lowest lived-in level is above 4 PicoCurie. Residential Building Code, cont. Felix Lee distributed a copy of PowerPoint presentation, Draft Revisions for IECC • Lee: The distinction about the IRC from previous codes is it is more user-friendly, there are more diagrams, illustrations and it is there to be flexible and not exclude specifics. The next step is a formal recommendation to Council. • Lee: There are new requirements in terms of surface moisture getting into the foundation system. It requires that during construction you have to protect the materials so they are not exposed to any moisture, and that the building is dry before it is covered with moisture barriers. It also requires that before it is approved for occupancy there will not be any visible signs of significant signs of moisture. • Dennison: How does that play out? I think one of the big issues with the mold issue in 'this part of the world is damp crawl spaces. I am confident that homebuilders are going to want to be indemnified from having to be responsible if you have a damp crawl space. Are they supposed to determine if they have built a house that has a damp crawl space and ought to have a vapor barrier before approval? • Lee: No. The City has required that any interior surface require a moisture barrier. • Dennison: Any exposed soil, is that what you mean? Lee: Yes, any interior soil surface has to have a vapor barrier on it. • Dennison: Is that complied with, typically? • Lee: Yes. Fort Collins has a provision that would allow a non -vented crawl space to deal with the energy loss problem. Building science is showing that you either isolate the crawl space completely, or make it part of the conditioned space. • Lee: The proposal is simply this: If you have a (sub-terranium) below -grade crawl space in this condition, the recommendation from the task force in Denver, (and which I and the staff supports) is that this be continuously ventilated. You have an extremely watertight membrane attached to the foundation with a heavy material sealed with urethane caulk, there is a continuous running fan. This constant airflow keeps this dry. Which, by the way, if you poke it through the roof and using the same fan, you have a radon system as well. • Woodruff: This is a situation where you have air continuously pulled up through the fan. It is an active system. I think what Felix is proposing is that for this particular case, this is the fix for both moisture and radon. That would be the case even if all the other houses are built with passive systems. • Lee: That's right. • Woodruff: We're not saying that all systems have to be active systems, just the ones that are built like this. They need an active system to fix both problems. • Sunthankar: How much does it add to the cost of the house? Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 3 of 14 • Lee: This would be comparable to an active radon system. The piping and the fan is all identical. I can't speak on the structural floor system, I don't know. • Woodruff: The operative thing here is that we are reducing the cost. If you have a moisture control system and a radon system, you are paying twice for the evacuation of gases. We have combined the two into one and reduced the cost by going with this system. • Lee: The cost issue is a good one because I heard you mention the cost before as you were talking about it. I guess which comes first? The Council says yes, we agree that this is a concern and National Institute of Health does agree that airborne contaminants (particularly in the form of mold spores) is aggravating and compromising people that already have problems with respiration. I think it is well documented. There are skeptics out there who say that it is overkill. I don't think that is true. • Lee: The model code sets the basic passive system that is identified by the EPA. We have some minor tweaks, but it's essentially the same thing. To date that is the current staff recommendation. Council is asking staff to consider an active system. • York: What was their feedback from the builders about active or passive systems? • Lee: The builders will be in on the Council hearing. The Building Review Board met today and vocalized that they aren't supporting radon at all. • York: They don't think it is a problem? • Lee: There are a lot of people that doubt the inferential data. There is a lot of skepticism out there. The big concern is they are looking at this code because it is a quantum leap from earlier code. I heard today if all the proposals were implemented today, the cost of an average modest house would be $5000 extra. • York: Additionally? • Lee: Yes. • Moore: It would be 1-2% of average cost of the home. • Lee: That's right. • Stanley: How many builders are already doing RI8? • Lee: Some of the higher end builders are. • Stanley: Kelly went to that energy -home -thing today. He said one of the things they talked about is doing Energy Star things. They really reduce the amount of energy in a new home. Callbacks for things going wrong in a house have gone down more than 40%. It actually pays off at the end because there are so many fewer complaints. • York: The thing about radon is that this is going to make the house tighter and therefore maybe exacerbate the radon problem. • Lee: That's a good point. • Dennison: I believe it will then exacerbate most of your indoor air quality issues. • Lee: But what comes with a tighter house is adequate ventilation. • Dennison: So there have been some changes on that side of the equation. • Lee: That's a good point. • Stanley: Jim studied moisture problems and indoor air quality so I would like to hear any comments that he has. • Dennison: The obvious thing is if you do something to minimize the moisture in the basement/crawl space and prevent moisture from coming in because of lack of barrier, it may serve to reduce the incidence of mold problems. That one that you were talking about with active radon and the moisture issue with the house with the sub -basement Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 4 of 14 crawl space looked like a pretty interesting idea. There is always going to be that trade off of cost. • Dennison: I personally feel we should support reasonable improvements in the building code that would make it easier to reduce the radon risk and also benefits the indoor air quality. • Long: On the first part of the presentation, you talked about the International Code accepting other materials; does that include straw bale construction and other? • Lee: Yes. The building official has to monitor the indoor air quality methods and materials. • Stanley: Let's suppose you did a little housing development in Fort Collins with all straw bales. How difficult would that be to get through the department? • Lee: From a technical point of view, there wouldn't really be any issues. The issues I see are technical documentation, and prescribed standards recommended by a professional. • Stanley: If someone brought in California or Arizona standards? • Lee: I would consider those, yes. • Stanley: Looking at alternative materials is really important. You don't want one of the barriers to be: "Oh my god. You can do it but it's so hard to get through that nobody ever does it because it's not practical." • Lee: A green advocate attended one of the seminars when it was here in Fort Collins, and found it very interesting. I think it makes sense, sustainability is a big question. I would do whatever I could from a technical point of view to consider it, given that my first job is health and safety. There are known professionals that can provide the background information and documentation. • Bacon: Are we making recommendations? I was looking at this March 20`h letter, it still seems relevant to me. Are we going to support active radon systems?? • York: How seriously do you consider radon? • Lee: If I were building a house, I would put in a passive system. The questions that people have aversions to will be: why have fan running all time if I don't need it? And the noise, the wear -and -tear and the maintenance on it. Even though it is a 5yr lifespan fan — it will eventually need service. But I definitely think that the cost -benefit is worth it. • Woodruff: The board usually gets to make a recommendation to the Council at a study session or in a regular meeting. There is a public hearing coming up on Dec. 16`h, do they need to go to the lectern to be part of the public process? • Lee: I don't know why they wouldn't. • Stanley: I certainly would go, if we had a recommendation. I would represent the Air Quality Board. I would love to see anybody else down there just speaking as a citizen. • Woodruff: The Poudre Health Services District is aware that Council wants to consider the active and passive options. They are in the process of studying and doing the calculations on cost -benefits of the active system. They haven't finished it yet but they've told me that they expect the cost to be an order of magnitude greater for the active system. If you require active in all homes, it's more effective at reducing the radon, more life -years saved overall. But the cost of the life -years saved is 10 times what it is for the passive option. • Stanley: Why would that be? Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 5 of 14 • Woodruff. It's because you have about a $40 per year operating cost. Which includes the cost of the electricity and you have to replace the fan periodically. They have a five-year guarantee on them. The typical life is seven or eight. • Bacon: How would you know when your fan goes out? • Woodruff: A meter tells you that the fan is running. When that meter goes to zero then you might have to fix it. It is usually a manometer. • Sunthankar: Have you looked at the attic fan as a substitute for air conditioning? • Lee: The code is neutral. We're proposing more efficient air conditioning be installed. The only requirement is that the home be heated to 68 degrees. There is no cooling requirement. • Sunthankar: The attic fan could be also used to pull the air up and do the radon mitigation at the same time. • Lee: You don't want that sucking through the house. • Sunthankar: No, through the walls, right? • Lee: An attic fan, no. It's a huge hole in the thermal envelope. They are notoriously leaky. They are certainly beneficial in the summertime. The other thing is, as you said they are very powerful. They can downdraft appliances. One has to be very careful how they are used. • Bacon: If I was goin� to make a recommendation, I would say we should reiterate what we said in March 20` in your letter. The things I would caveat is maybe update some of the numbers. We used $200 for incremental and now we are saying $310. 1 don't know if we still want to do a radon test at resale. My suggestion would be you would want to do that in case the system is faulty in some way. I'd just reiterate as well with the energy code changes that seem to be making the houses more airtight. It seems to me that there is an increased need for radon mitigation because the houses are airtight, so once it's in there it's not going to get out very easily. • Stanley: Are you making a recommendation? • Bacon: I don't think so. I don't mind making it but I wanted to know what the rest of the group was thinking. • Walters: I don't want to make a recommendation; I'd just like to say that I don't want to see another memo. I just want to see us reference the ones that we've already given to them. • Stanley: I do think the energy code stuff is a big step up. I'm really happy to see that you guys are closing some of those holes. Because I think that consumers will be a lot happier in the end. • Bacon: At the same time we are recommending that we like the energy code changes, we are recommending the active system which does have some energy use associated with it. Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 6 of 14 Nancy York made the following motion: That we reference our position of March 20`h regarding radon mitigation and that we support the interior moisture control and ventilation aspects of code and all of the energy conservation aspects of it. The motion was seconded by Bacon • Moore: I would still like to see a minimum of passive. The active is a good alternative. I would rather at least see passive, better than nothing at all. • Sunthankar: Do you want to offer an option of at least passive? • Walters: I think that if we are recommending active they'll know we'd much rather have something than nothing. • Stanley: I'll make sure that that's spelled out. • York: Maybe I should add that particularly the heating and air conditioning proposed changes. The added insulation as well; improvement in windows. • Stanley: I can put all that into the memo. The motion unanimously passed. Master Transportation Plan • Jackson: We've gone to the Planning and Zoning Board and got unanimous recommendation of approval. We got a unanimous recommendation of approval from the Transportation Board last night. • Stanley: Without any changes? • Jackson: Not with Planning and Zoning Board. They have a couple of caveats. Transportation Board should be OK. They've got a couple of statements of things they would like to see emphasized and some minor concerns. I think the Natural Resources Board really liked the environmental chapters and the context sensitive design discussion, and they had some serious concerns about some of the Master Street Plan elements. We did go to Council, and got really good feedback. They generally support it, but they need more time to get some of the capital improvement project analysis. We are going to go back in late January. There are a couple of substantive changes that we have made; there are two elements that I wanted to let you know about: one is that we have decided to pull the recommendation to upgrade Prospect to a 6-lane major arterial from consideration. • Bacon: What are the projected volumes? • Jackson: It will push just that much more traffic onto Prospect, Vine, Monte Vista, Harmony, Carpenter. We are still maintaining the recommendation to upgrade Carpenter to a 6-lane arterial. • Stanley: Last time we asked you to find out where the funding for Carpenter road is coming from. Is it going to be paid for by street over sizing fees, or is it going to be paid for by Loveland and Windsor who are causing most of the problem? • Jackson: The least favorable option is that City capital is expended for it. Street over - sizing could pay for the upgrade between a 4 and a 6-lane arterial facility. CDOT is currently entertaining the notion of swapping roads out and taking that road over as a state highway. It could end up being federal and state funds. • Stanley: What roads would they swap? Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 7 of 14 • Jackson: There are some roads near Berthoud that they have right now in their system. Carpenter road is identified by the MPO as a regionally significant corridor, which makes it more eligible to receive state funds dispersed by the MPO. The other substantive change that I wanted to talk to you about was the enhanced fiscally constrained network. We're taking it out of the master document and treating it as a separate appendix. It's diluting the important message, which says that given the existing funding streams, combined with the existing deficiencies, combined with forecasting demand on the system, we are in serious, serious trouble. The final thing is that in the final chapter we're going to add a little bit more text instead of just referring back to the main body of text. • York: It's mentioned here that only roadway projects funded by street over -sizing — are these six -lane streets included in that? • Jackson: Harmony will be and Mulberry could potentially be. I don't think either one of those fell into the fiscally constrained. The fiscally constrained network only takes a micro -slice of the needs because there's so few funds. Street over -sizing would be used on Harmony, because Harmony was a high -priority corridor. Harmony is considered on that street plan now as a 6-lane major arterial. • Stanley: Could you give us an example of a City that has had really fast population growth that has built their Master Street Plan and done wide roads and kept building roads and everything just works really well? • Jackson: Nobody has had success trying to build their way out of congestion. To answer your question, no I don't off the top of my head. I think that strategic improvements in intersection capacity can do an awful lot for your mobility. But, if you're a vibrant growing community, ultimately you're going to be back at square one looking at increases in capacity. I think the answer is in many ways what we try and do with City Plan; a mixed, balanced multi -modal system that offers people choices. • Stanley: I actually like what a lot of what the Transportation Plan has to say in terms of the multi -modal and trying to get people out of their cars. It's just that we continue to put all of our funding into building bigger and bigger roads and we give people the hope that traffic congestion is going to ease or at least it's not going to get any worse. But we know that's in fact not the case. • Jackson: There is nothing in that document that says we're going to make congestion better. • Stanley: We need to start letting people really understand what the tradeoffs are and how costly they are and that it's not going to get any better. • Jackson: I absolutely agree with you. What the Transportation Board did is include those types of messages in their memo to Council. • York: RTD revealed their plan for light rail to reach all over the metro area and to Longmont. • Jackson: If the voters approve the tax. • York: But people want alternative transportation. • Bacon: They don't want to pay for it. • York: You read in the newspapers that seniors want it. I just did a little exercise: I took Timberline road, widening it to 4, which is $11,400,000 and I divided that in the cost of a bus route, to operate for a year. A bus route could operate for 57 years, or 57 bus routes could operate for one year. When you add in the differential for operation and Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 8 of 14 maintenance, that's another $5000. That $5000 is enough for more than one bus route itself. One of the problems is that our buses don't go where they need to go. If we were to have a bus system that worked, VMT would go down and it would save money right off the bat. • Walters: I think TransFort bases their bus routes on who rides and so if nobody is riding, they're not going to add any. I understand what you are saying and I completely agree with you. I think that the money is there, it's being spent on these things that are not necessarily encouraging people to drive but certainly not encouraging them not to drive. • York: They had these transportation forums at the University. Tom Frasier told those in attendance that they were going to add another route, but it was coming in 2008. That was the big news: 2008. • Jackson: The TransFort situation is dark. They came up with a very workable paradigm shift that if funded you could start building that system from its most productive spines outward. • York: I know that you have to have the infrastructure before you can build. Maybe a first step would be allowing a bus to be some of that capacity generation. • Stanley: You mean the adequate public facilities thing? • York: That's the word. • Jackson: There is a lot of talk of looking at `in lieu of types of solutions for APF particularly in constrained areas like Old Town. There is no way you are going to tear up College Ave to build more lanes because it would take out your core business district. Can you do `in lieu of types of things like TDM, or transit, or bicycle/pedestrian? • York: I hope in our recommendation that we bring up some of the numbers. • Jackson: The fiscally constrained network, and I cannot stress this enough, isn't even about choice. It literally comes down to there are so few funds it's virtually the color of money. We have a few funds that we receive from Federal Transit Administration that we can use for transit and we have some funds that can only be used for roadway. • York: The million dollars from the general fund is out? • Jackson: Oh absolutely. There is no dedicated capital. • York: And then you add into the TransFort scenario that the feds pay 50150 at minimum. What about showing on the Master Street Plan the roadways outside of our urban growth area? • Jackson: No, we're not. Those roadways are shown for regional contextual purposes. They reflect other adopted plans from outlying communities, from the County, from the MPO. • Stanley: County Road 5, is that one of those? • Jackson: Yes. What we decided to do is two things: we'll show those roads that lie outside of the growth management boundary in a different line type. Where they'll be solid bar lines internal to the GMA they'll be dash lines or some sort of different line type. We'll add a textual kind of caveat or textual note at the bottom in the legend box that says: The roadways outside the growth management area boundary shown in dash lines are shown only for regional contextual purposes and do not imply that the City of Fort Collins has a financial responsibility. • Stanley: How'd the Transportation Board feel about that? • Jackson: Very good. Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 9 of 14 • Stanley: I've still got a question about the Mason Street bicycle lanes? Where are those at in terms of priority? I'd like to see them at number one, right up there. • Jackson: They are considered high priority projects. Technically, they rank fifth. The reason that they don't rank higher is because it's not the highest need bike/pedestrian corridor in the City. Those would be Plum and Elizabeth because those are primary routes feeding in and out of the university. • Stanley: Do you still expect those to get done in the next 6 months? • Jackson: Yes, part of it. The Mason bike trail, the bicycle/pedestrian portion of that, will start construction in 2004. At minimum, it will be from the south transit center to the Spring Creek Trail. They are finalizing design work on it. They are coming into incredible fiscal constraints being imposed on them by the railroad, and by every neighborhood having an agenda. There are some things that we wanted to do, that we might not be able to do in the first cut. Like make a connection to the Fossil Creek Trail in the south, we wanted to put safe lighting on a regular basis. The lighting estimates came in as high as $650,000. • Sunthankar: I just want to comment that as the economy grows the more people get better and have tax approvals in the election. • Stanley: I had a question about Carpenter Road. I just can't accept that it's going to be 6-lanes. That may be your recommendation to Council but I personally hate the idea because of where it's located, because of our natural areas down there. I know that you said that it's already 4-lanes and we knew that when we bought those Natural Areas. Will there be some sort of reimbursement to Larimer County and the City of Fort Collins for what I think is the lost value of those natural resources? • Jackson: I honestly can't answer that. I honestly don't know. • Stanley: This is my recommended wording: TC 1.7 - Transportation corridor shall be designed in a manner that avoids impacts on resources, where avoidance is impossible, impacts will be minimized and mitigated, in addition to compensating the community for the lost value of the resource. • Jackson: I understand where you are coming from with that, and there's a lot people who share your concerns with the Carpenter Road issue. The Transportation Master Plan speaks a lot to context sensitive solutions that talk about dealing with environmental, topographical, existing development, and really trying to tailor and make the best compromise to the situation that you can. I think that anything that would go on out here would have environmental analysis work that's going to be necessary. I think one of the best compromise statements was something that I heard last night from the Transportation Board. They said that: while we understand the pressures and demands that are driving the need for this to potentially someday be a 6-lane major arterial roadway, it is important that we also recognize at the same time that there are serious environmental constraints that will need to be addressed satisfactorily as part of any project. I think that's powerful. • Jackson: My final wrap up statement is that this plan tries to be more comprehensive than anything else we've ever written, we've tried to incorporate elements that haven't been seen before, including environmental considerations. We've taken the capital and the funding analysis to a whole new level. We've done a ton of different outreach. It's not going to be perfect for everybody. I think it's better than what we had in `97. '97 was a good start, but this is a whole different ballgame that we find ourselves in. Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 10 of 14 • York: I think you've done a great job, laying it out. I don't agree with the road enlargements and I don't know why you put them in there. • Moore: I know it encourages more driving but I am an inevitable-"ist" and I feel it is going to come. I know there is disagreement about that. Ken Moore made the following motion: That we support the transportation plan as they'll recommend to the City Council. • York: I was working on motion that goes in a different direction. That the Air Quality Advisory Board takes serious the new studies identifying fossil fuel dependent vehicular emissions as a serious health threat, and contributor to premature death. That the Air Quality Advisory Board has great concerns regarding climate change, which is severely impacted by burning fossil fuels. The Air Quality Advisory Board recognizes that continued dependence on a finite resource (oil) is likely to threaten this community's future economy. As the population is likely to double in 20 years at our current 3% population growth rate and roadway capacities cannot meet future needs. That we appreciate that TransFort is dedicated to clean -fuel buses, recognize that TransFort's route cost per year... that's where I stopped. It's got a bigger bang for the buck. • York: I would like us to recommend that we meet future capacity needs with a transit system, that we don't widen roads to 6-lanes. I think we should recognize that the Master Street Plan was well researched, the information has been laid out before us, but this board does not feel that we should continue our dependence on the automobile. Thus meeting City plan, our own board's goal and the Transportation board's goals: to reduce vehicular miles traveled. • Stanley: The main reason I can't support the motion is for two reasons. One, Carpenter Road. I just don't agree with that one. Also, I would like to see if we were to make a motion that said `at some point in the future things are going to become congested again and we have to decide what it is we are going to do, how we are going to allocate our resources'. The motion was seconded by Sunthankar and failed with 2 votes in favor (Sunthankar, Moore), 3 votes opposed (Stanley, Walters, York), and 1 abstention (Bacon). Nancy York made the following motion: That we commend the Master Street Plan's analysis. That we recommend that we meet our future capacity needs by building a transit system for all these reasons mentioned. I would even like to put in the example that I made here about just one street being widened as an example that a bus route could operate for 57 years or 57 bus routes for one year for what it costs to widen that road. The motion fails due to lack of a second. Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 11 of 14 Katie Walters made the following motion: That we recommend adoption of the Master Transportation Plan update with the understanding that our emphasis is on transit, and we would like to for the continued research into gaining funding for that resource to be expanded. • Stanley: How about if we said `alternative modes' instead of `transit'? The motion fails due to lack of a second. • Stanley: Here insofar every motion fails. Do you think that we can come to any sort of compromise? • Bacon: The comment that I would make is that I will abstain on any of these. It seems to me, with all the work that's gone into the Master Plan, it doesn't seem prudent this late in the game to submarine the work that been done. I certainly sympathize and agree with some of things that you say Nancy, but they're too strong of words in my opinion. I kind of like what Katie was saying, but I'm not sure our emphasis is on transit. I think our emphasis is on multi -modal options and solving the problem with various innovative solutions. That doesn't necessarily mean we widen all the roads to 6-lanes. To me, if I was going to make a motion I would continue to say, `I think the work has been done, it's been a good process, and voices have been heard and I move for approval of it'. • York: This is an auto -dependent plan. There isn't any question about that. • Bacon: I'm not questioning that either. • York: This is so far away from an alternative transportation plan. • Bacon: I think there's elements. I think there's a lot of multi -modal considerations in the plan. The reality of it is I think we have an auto -dependent society that is going to continue to vote that way for the long-term future. I understand the need to move in those directions, I think we are moving in those directions. Our bike system is excellent in this town, and it's getting a lot better with the things that are going with Mason and these other connections. We need to move forward with that. If we don't want to do roadway widening then the problem has to be tackled at: Are we going to grow at all or are we going to put a big boundary on this City? If we are going to grow and allow people to keep coming into this City and attract new development and new businesses, we have to keep change with that pace. • York: I know we have to change. Part of what I was saying is that we're not going to meet the needs of doubling of our population in 20 years by widening roads. We're not meeting the needs of our population now. There's a whole bunch of other people who can't get around. • Bacon: I think the process that Mark is implementing lets those people come to the table and help this plan. • York: The thing is for 57 years you could operate... • Bacon: No offense, but we'd have to check the math. Does that include the bus replacement and all that? • York: Actually it's underestimating because I left out all these maintenance costs. • Bacon: When all is said in that 57 years have you served more people than you would've been served with a 6-lane roadway? I would argue that you haven't even come close; it's not a drop in the bucket. Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 12 of 14 • York: If the buses go where people need to go frequently enough given the daily -added congestion. You know that the gasoline prices are going to go up because oil is a finite resource. We're just burning through the oil. Then you add the things such as war... • Stanley: I'm going to turn over the chair to Walters. Maybe I can offer a compromise. • York: Make a motion. • Sunthankar: I just want to make the comment that I think the plan that Mark has is the most practical and something that is realistic. It has much better probability that it will go through and pass. The City has done the best they can with alternative transportation systems. People don't want to go by bus. You could have 50 buses there and people won't go, in my opinion. • York: We have an example where the bus goes from where the people live, to their destination on campus. Those buses are full every day. They are standing room only. • Sunthankar: And that's why those bus routes have not been canceled. • Sunthankar: Whatever you do, people have to pay for it. People don't want to pay for it. This is the only plan that has had some future. Linda Stanley made the following motion: We recommend approval of the Transportation Master Plan with some serious concerns or reservations concerning its auto dependency and the lack of funding for alternative modes of transportation. I would like to say something about that they're spending 84% on roads and that doesn't give alternative modes a fair chance and in order to give those alternative modes a fair chance we need to look at ways to improve the funding. Something to show City Council that we like the way the plan has gone in terms of principles and policies, it's where it actually gets implemented, where the money is spent. • York: Are we going to mention anything about climate change or the health effects? • Walters: Let's have a second on that and then we can go into discussion. Ken Moore seconded the motion. • Bacon: If there's discussion, again, I'm going to abstain. I will say I like the motion on the floor. What is good for roads (the 84%), that not only buys you the roadway, but it buys you bike lanes, it buys you sidewalks, it buys you something for the transit buses to use. 84% is a little bit misleading, saying that it is only going the auto people; it's everybody on those roads. Is that 84% split out Mark? • Jackson: That is split in the enhanced fiscally constrained analysis. • Bacon: So 84% is benefiting alternative modes. You're buying the parkways, sidewalk, bike lanes... • York: What you're buying is dependence on fossil fuels. • Bacon: Well yeah, that's America. • York: This is a 5-year plan, Mark? • Jackson: It's updated every 5 years but it is a 20-year plan. To answer your question, the current transportation expenditures in 2003 ($44 million), 74% was streets and related 24% was transit, with the remaining 2.4% going to other multimodal alternatives. It also buys you the system and the capacity on which the transit system runs. • Stanley: OK I won't use the percentage in there! Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 13 of 14 • Stanley: But if you didn't build the road and you built the sidewalks? There is difference in cost there. If you built Mason Street corridor without being able to have cars on it, the cost would be significantly less. The point that I was making is that the biggest chunk is for the streets. • Bacon: The thing that surprises me is that 24% went to transit. I'm all for transit funding but 24% is getting you 1 % of the trips? That's a lot of money for transit when you're getting 1% of the trips. Where you're not doing anything until you get your roadway needs with that 24%. Nothing at all — 1 %. • York: Well you won't unless it goes to where people want to go. • Sunthankar: People don't want to go by the bus. • Moore: Call the question. • Stanley: Just so you guys know I didn't mention Carpenter road in there. • Sunthankar: Let it go. The motion passed with 3 votes in favor (Sunthankar, Walters, Moore), 2 votes opposed (York, Stanley), and 1 abstention (Bacon). Workplan • Walters: o Climate protection ■ Continuing evaluating existing programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions ■ Support the Fort Collins local action committee ■ Continue working on appropriate inspection and maintenance program for automobiles • Continue working on BMT reduction • Encourage use of alternative modes • Continue to encourage the City to investigate and purchase alternative fuels and low emission vehicles for City vehicles as well as the TransFort bus fleet. ■ Evaluate ozone issues from summer 2003 and investigate things to prevent that exceedance next year. • York: I hope we have an anti -idling campaign. • Stanley: You know how we made the input on the Air Quality Marketing Plan? We will hear more about that right? I would like to see that on our work plan then. o City Plan Update ■ Provide policy recommendations on the Transportation Master Plan • Provide policy recommendations on the City Plan Update and the Air Quality Action Plan ■ Provide policy recommendations on the Building Code Update • Assure Air Quality related municipal codes are adequately enforced • York: We might expand the radon mitigation to include indoor air quality. o Miscellaneous 0 Air Quality Marketing Plan Air Quality Advisory Board 06-19-2003 Page 14 of 14 • Wood smoke issues in the City ■ Evaluate programs that provide incentives to upgrade to low pollution equipment when the home is sold ■ Focus on public outreach and education about air quality issues in Fort Collins • Continue to evaluate and investigate health impacts of poor air quality ■ Encourage programs that protect public health in Fort Collins ■ Evaluate the health and air quality implications of mosquito spraying in Fort Collins, provide a recommendation for summer 2004 • Stanley: You put Air Policy in there somewhere right? That goes under City Plan. • York: What about off -road diesel issues? • Stanley: That's a good one to have on there, it keeps coming up now and again and EPA has recommended changes, right? • Moore: The changes EPA has recommend is that the engine manufacturer after 2004 is supposed to make a less polluting. • York: I think we should continue to be watchful of bio-diesel. • Bacon: The one that I heard about was the loophole in smoking ordinance that may be revisited? • Fox: There is a private club exception that the Council allowed, and revisiting it would only be if the Council decides that they're not interested in having it anymore. There's going to be rewording possibly. • Walters: Do we want to include something about smoking again? • Sunthankar: I believe Air pollution covers it for now. Meeting adjourned 7.51 PM Submitted by Liz Skelton Administrative Secretary I