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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 10/16/2003-• a MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. October 16, 2003 For Reference: Linda Stanley, Chair 493-7225 Eric Hamrick, Council Liaison 226-4824 Sarah Fox, Staff Liaison 221-6312 There was not a quorum present at this meeting — NO ACTION TAKEN Board Members Present Nancy York, Mandaz Sunthankaz, Linda Stanley, Katie Walters Board Members Absent Ken Moore, John Long, Everett Bacon, Cherie Trine, Jim Dennison Staff Present Natural Resources Department: Terry Klahn, Lucinda Smith, Sarah Fox Transportation Plannine: Mark Jackson Guests t/ RA Plummer, PBS&J Consultant The meeting was called to order at 5:15 p.m. Minutes The minutes of the September 18, 2003 could not be approved due to a lack of quorum. Transportation Master Plan Update, Mark Jackson Jackson said the project is approaching adoption. It's been a two year effort in collaboration with the City Plan update. Essentially the entire master plan has been re -written. • Stanley: I'm happy to see the comments we sent were incorporated. • Jackson: We received a lot of comments from air quality staff. I really like the environmental chapter. You don't see that in a lot of plans. • Jackson: There were some folks who thought we were trying to get rid of VMT as a measurement. We are looking for other ways to measure, but we will still incorporate VMT, we're not looking to get rid of it. • York: What other triggers are you looking at? • Jackson: They're not necessarily triggers. We're looking at an ongoing mobility index or mobility tracking, tracking system performance, crashes, level of service. We're looking at accessibility and mobility for all modes of travel. • Stanley: What is the difference between transportation corridors, and enhanced travel corridors? • Plummer: Transportation corridors focus on the arterials of the master street plan. Enhanced corridors focus on prioritizing alternate modes, bike, ped, high frequency transit. Air Quality Advisory Board Thursday, October 16, 2003 Page 2 of 4 • Jackson: A clear example of an enhanced travel corridor is the Mason Street Corridor. • Plummer: It's not excluding the auto, but trying to separate them. In the City Plan document there's a section on enhanced travel. • York: It looks like everything is in the center of town, or east, yet we anticipate CSU developing the foothills campus. • Jackson: We're trying to connect the primary activity centers. The foothills campus is not an intensive plan from a person, trip making perspective. We still think there's potential for the Elizabeth corridor in the future. • York: I was reading that Howes and Mason might go back to two-way streets. What's the advantage there? • Jackson: It will offer better circulation and service for the downtown area. • York: Will the capacity be the same as it now? • Jackson: That's a good question. It will hold a lot of capacity, but still function as a minor arterial. The other advantage is from a commercial/economic standpoint. • York: What about updating Carpenter Road, it's not in our GMA. • Jackson: Expanding the GMA boundary has been looked at. • Stanley: In the fiscally constrained CIP , does it assume the BCC will be extended? • Plummer: No, it's based on what is happening today. It may be conservative in some manners, and optimistic in others. We're trying to give a snapshot of what things look like today. • York: What trends do you consider when you forecast? • Plummer: We look at what's been happening, and how Council funding has been. We use stuff from the state demographer. • York: One of the things I'd like to see considered is the future availability of fuels. If we build up a road system, and then the cost of oil is astronomical, the financial burden on people is huge. I'm an advocate for transit. • Plummer: We've tried to hold to the idea of a multi -modal system. We've had complaints that City Plan only mentions automobiles three times. • Stanley: Where it counts is the funding. It all sounds wonderful in the principles and policies, but when you look at the funding, 84% is spent on road type improvements. • Plummer: There are hidden things in that. Buses need to drive on pavement too. If the buses are stuck in traffic the transit system is not working. • Plummer: The signal system is funded by a grant. That's something that will be in the fiscally constrained CIP. It will mitigate congestion. The only roadway projects that will be included are street oversizing with state and federal dollars, or developer contributions. There's no significant capital to fund these. • Stanley: I really do not think Carpenter Road should be in as high a priority. We're paying for Windsor, Loveland, and the County's bad development. I don't want my money going there. When we have a lot of problems inside Fort Collins it's a bad place to be spending our money. • York: When we looked at the plan it showed the Mason Street Corridor ranked as 76. • Plummer: It's number 6. • Stanley: It should be number 1. • Plummer: As part of the prioritization process, some of the other projects came up. • Stanley: It should be high. Once we show people how neat it will be, then there's hope for people using their bikes to commute. Air Quality Advisory Board Thursday, October 16, 2003 Page 3 of 4 • York: Whey you look at all of the projects, why does Carpenter Road have a higher priority than some of those others? • Plummer: It's where the funding comes from? Carpenter is probably development and street oversizing dollars. The only ones you can fund are the ones with funding from sources other than capital funds. • Stanley: Would you find out where the Carpenter Road funding is coming from • Plummer: Yes. • Stanley: There are a lot of reasons against widening that road. A lot of money has been spent in the natural areas. When you put a four or six lane road through a natural area, what you're doing is compromising the value of those natural resources. I would like to see the City get compensated for the loss of values for those areas. Those are expensive investments. • Stanley: Suppose Harmony goes to six lanes. In twenty years is Harmony full? What's the end game thinking in terms of building bigger roads? Why not spend more money on alternative modes and get people changing their behaviors. We're just putting our pain off. • Plummer: What's tough is the influx and outflux of people. That's not changing. It's getting worse. • Stanley: What are we going to do in the future? What will you recommend in forty years? • Plummer: That's why we have to determine the maximum facility size. There is a choke point. • Stanley: We're dishonest to the public when we say we're going to do the road projects, and we give them hope. But there isn't hope. • Sunthankar: How do you change people's behavior? • Stanley: Tell them what's going to happen, and how much it costs. • Sunthankar: You're going to convince them to jump out of their cars? • Stanley: If we leave it the way it is, but we provide alternatives, people will change their behavior. • York: In the air quality survey people said they'd ride their bikes if it were safer. People say that they're willing to drive less "if', but we never get to the "if'. • Plummer: In general Fort Collins is trying to do the right things. Environmentalists are trying to do the right things. There's some struggle. The region is growing so rapidly, and changing peoples travel behavior. • York: We're stuck at this place. I understand that most people drive by themselves. People enjoy that. We're stuck because we haven't completed the bike paths. The bus system is totally inadequate. And, then there's the health impacts. I just ready a study about the very fine particles that migrate through the brain, and are associated with brain tumors. We have a lot of cancer. • Walters: If more people knew the real truth it would be different. We're getting these great presentations, but not everyone gets it. • Sunthankar: There were too many tax projects at the same time. • Stanley: You've heard our concerns. 2003 Air Quality Budget, Lucinda Smith Smith distributed a document outlining the budget for the entire Natural Resources Department. She said that members can call John Stokes if they have any questions. Air Quality Advisory Board Thursday, October 16, 2003 Page 4 of 4 Air Quality Plan, Lucinda Smith Smith said that staff has been looking at the remaining polices and talking about them. When staff gets through them we'll call together the subcommittee. The meeting was adjourned at 7:25 p.m. Submitted by Terry Klahn Administrative Support Supervisor