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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 02/22/2000OO-oZ- IZ MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. February 22, 2000 For Reference: Eric Levine, Chair - 229-5225 Scott Mason, Council Liaison - 226-4824 Brian Woodruff, Staff Liaison - 221-6604 Board Members Present Eric Levine, Harry Edwards, Raymond Sons, Jim Dennison, John Schroeer, Chris Kavanaugh, Nancy York, Linda Stanley Board Members Absent Mandan Sunthankar Staff Present Natural Resources Department Brian Woodruff, Terry Klahn, and Lucinda Smith Transportation Planning Susanne Durkin Guests Ray Moe, Ballofet and Associates Armando Ballofet, Ballofet and Associates The meeting was called to order at 7:05. Minutes The minutes of the January 25, 2000 meeting were approved as written. Eric Levine requested that the board write a letter thanking Ken Moore for attending meetings and going beyond the normal amount of effort in pursuing an appointment to the AQAB. Council appointed Moore as first alternate to the board. Eric Levine asked for clarification to Page 4, the 71h paragraph, in the minutes, referring to the new air quality surveys. Brian Woodruff said there would be a presentation on the survey at next months meeting. John Schroeer said he feels the survey is way to long, and a lot of people will not take the time to complete it. Action List 1. Done. 2. Eric Levine spoke with Scott Mason and Chuck Wanner regarding AQAB-specific follow up .on the Boards & Commissions study session. Levine said it would basically be left to each board to determine the number of members needed. Council will try to provide one or two orientations per year for new board members. 3. Done. Yes, the City Manager's memo on Board/Commission requests does apply to the AQAB. Brian Woodruff suggested it might be worth additional discussion at a future meeting. 4. Done. Information was included in packet. Air Quality Advisory Board /October 26, 1999 Page 2 5. Will be provided in March. 6. Done. Information in packet. There will be a presentation on the second-hand smoke ordinance at next month's meeting. Review Council six-month olannina calendar March 14 — Study Session - Mason Street Corridor April 4 — Mason Street Corridor Conceptual Design April 25 — Campus West Subarea Plan May 2 — New Urban Street Standards May 9 — TransFort Strategic Plan * * Brian Woodruff will investigate to see if these items should be included on a future AQAB agenda. NEW BUSINESS Mason Street Corridor — Susanne Durkin, Transportation Planning Manager Susanne thanked the Board for its commitment to the Mason Street Corridor project. Durkin gave the Board an update of where they are in the process and how they came out in terms of the survey work that has been completed. Regarding the decision on which transit mode to use, Eric Levine asked what the best process for a Board recommendation to Council would be. Durkin said she would be happy to return to the March meeting�and review the presentation that will be made to the lead team. Ray Moe reviewed a power point presentation that had been previously presented to the lead team. The presentation covered survey results and travel model assumptions. Discussion • York: It appears a lot of the data goes clear to Lemay and emphasizes auto travel. When we did the corridor study, we stayed pretty close to College. It may appear like we're focusing on vehicles, but these are actually 'person trips". We're hoping to change "person trips" from the auto to an alternative mode. These are 'person trips" we're hoping to extract from the vehicle. • Levine: Most of the members of this board feel that transportation efficiency is a means to an end regarding health impacts. We're looking at three alternative types of transit. The recommendation will be for the least polluting possible, that will do the job. This will likely add to the cost, but that's what we're recommending. • Kavanaugh: How does Burlington/Northern fit into this? What would happen if they didn't move the freight train? It is not necessary for them to move the freight trains. They were very supportive; they just want us to mitigate any safety concerns. • Sons: You touched upon the likelihood that the corridor would not alleviate congestion on College. Is it not likely that in ten years the congestion will be worse? The State will not take on the expense to widen it. We can't get everyone down the corridor today. If you can make a clean "tube ", my guess is we'll get an attractive ridership. Yes, College may get worse, but would it better without this? • Edwards: I'm troubled by a conclusion that the Mason Street Corridor will draw in folks who may park close. If so, the project will have an adverse affect on air quality. We'd be Air Quality Advisory Board /October 26, 1999 Page 3 attracting more cars near the corridor. We're hoping, with the results of the surveys, that we'll start providing connectivity. You'll get off I-25 and hit the Park and Ride to get on a high frequency mode to the corridor. We have to be visionary. • Edwards: My conclusion is that this project will likely have an adverse affect on air quality. College will stay saturated, and the Mason Street corridor will draw in more vehicles. Emissions will be created that are not presently going into the system. It's not our hope to attract more people, but to offer options to those who already travel the corridor. • Ballofet: If we don't have a transit alternative and people still need to get to work, they'll start traveling on the side streets and the congestion will spread throughout the other local roads. • Levine: I love the visionary stuff, but it's the more mundane matters that worry me. The voters wanted it to be used exclusively for alternative modes. What percentage of the corridor now has auto use, and how will that be defined? We're still working on answering some of those questions. In terms of where cars won't be, there won't be cars from Prospect south, within a 100 foot right of way from the tracks. We can't control what happens on the CSU campus. • Levine: I visualize this as a transportation greenbelt, aesthetically appealing with community connections. That would be a tremendous help in getting people to use alternative modes. It's a hard sell to get people out of their cars. There's a whole aspect to the study that we haven't addressed tonight. • Schroeer. In looking at the big picture, it seems the Old Town area is set the way it's going to look for a long time. Why would there be many increased trips to the downtown area? And, contrary to that, how are we factoring in the rapid growth of North College? A lot of people will be traveling to the south end of town. There will be some increase in Old town. Overall I would agree with you, we won't see a huge increase in the number of jobs. • York: Will there be phasing in of plans. Yes, we will site the transit center. We're looking at the old Fossil Creek Nursery site. • Stanley: You talked about the 2020 forecast. The City Plan number of 2.2% annual population growth is way off Are you going to use a range or numbers, or what will you do there? Right now we're using the City Plan forecast. It's consistent with the Regional NFR model. There is a process that will update to the 2025 forecast. • Edwards: Linda's point is a hot button question. Mobility Report Card data indicate that VMT is growing faster than population. Short Discussion Items — Progress report on LUTRAO Team Brian Woodruff Woodruff explained that the mission of the LUTRAQ Team is to develop a comprehensive program to reduce the growth of VMT and see that it is carried out. The team is scheduled to go to Council Growth Management Committee with initial recommendations on May 8. The team is charged to have participation from three boards, AQAB, Transportation, and P&Z. Volunteers are currently being recruited from these boards. The commitment is for a half -day meeting to go over a lot of information, plus some reading to prepare for the meeting. That meeting will probably be in March, possibly the 3`d week. There is also the possibility of a follow-up meeting in April. Eric Levine, Ray Sons, and Linda Stanley volunteered to attend the meeting. Nancy York would like to be informed of the exact dates of the meeting. Air Quality Advisory Board /October 26, 1999 Page 4 — Woodruff briefly reviewed the handout; Issue Paper Outline: Land -Use -Code Air -Quality Criteria dated February 21, 2000. The question is whether to try to regulate air quality impacts on a project -by -project basis rather than a system -wide basis. The LUTRAQ process should address this question. Meanwhile, it would be prudent to do some modeling to determine whether existing or planned intersections may become CO "hotspots." Any comments regarding the paper should be directed to Brian. Eric Levine asked that Brian give the Board a monthly update on the project during short discussion items. — AOAB 1999 Annual Report —Brian Woodruff The report has been completed and sent to the City Manager's Office. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at 9:45 p.m. ACTION idST—from Fnhrnar 0'f ACTION ITEM WHO BY... DONE 1. Information in packet about effectiveness of Lucinda, February parking cash -out programs and about the Brian Downtown Parking Garage: # spaces, to whom are they allocated, price of parking, and incentives for carpooling. 2. Letter of appreciation to Ken Moore Brian, Eric 3. Will air quality survey include opinion Brian questions that Dr. Edwards suggested? (Re. mandatory radon testing, stricter second-hand smoke ordinance