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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 02/27/1995MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 CONFERENCE ROOM - 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. FEBRUARY 27, 1995 For Reference: AQAB Chair, John Fooks - 229-5225 Alan Apt, Council Liaison - 224-9798 Brian Woodruff, Staff Liaison - 221-6604 Board Members Present John Fooks, Susan Bilo, Pete Perkins, Harry Edwards, Eric Levine, Tom Wyatt, Rob Cagen, Bill Eckert, Lynne Baker Board Members Absent None Staff Present Brian Woodruff, Sally Maggart, Chris Thompson, intern, Linda Devocelle (for the Radon Presentation) and Tom Shoemaker (partial) Guests Ted Liles, MAT Emissions (partial) The meeting was called to order at 4:35 p.m. Review and Approval of Minutes On a motion by Harry Edwards, the minutes of the January 23, 1994 meeting were unanimously approved. Harry noted that Tom Wyatt's last name is misspelled'on page 5. John Fooks questioned the headline title on the first page, first paragraph, last sentence, under "Public Input". Committee Reports_ a. Transit Development Plan liaison: Susan Bilo will represent the board on a citizen advisory committee working on a detailed five-year action plan to improve transit in Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley and Larimer County. The regional plan goal is to reduce single -occupant vehicles by 10 percent, in order to improve air quality and relieve congestion. The planning effort is assisted by REA Consultants of Denver, funded by local and federal monies. The plan will be completed in September. Susan will report in April on the next meeting, to be held the end of March. The results may pertain to the boards decision making process. Brian noted that a Transportation Development Plan (TDP) is required every five years by the federal government. Air Quality Advisory B� February 27, 1995 Page 2 b. Process Committee: Susan reported that committee -proposed Bylaws will be discussed later in the meeting. The committee v -neet Wednesday to discuss procedures to adjust the Air Quality Action Plan. C. Work Plan Committee: Tom Wyatt reported the committee -proposed work plan will be discussed later in the meeting. Staff Reports Brian Woodruff introduced the new intern in the 'natural Resources Department from CSU, Chris Thompson. Chris will help compile the data : the biennial report. Brian noted that the report was quite lengthy this month because he tried to give an overview of past week aff meetings. He will try to keep future reports to one page. Bill Eckert said he did not i copy in his packet. Sally will send him one. Brian also noted that the a copy of the ordinance that created the Air Quality Advisory Board was included in this month's packet. UNFINISHED BUSII John Fooks asked for olunteer recorder for ..ae Bike Rack items (items not on the agenda). Pete volunteered. Rob Cagen said he reviewed the work plan and would like to see the board do something with visible emissions from cars and restaurants such as Burger King. Pete put this on the Bike Rack. Rob said he would like to see more citizen activism; enough complaints could result in an ordinance. Bill Eckert noted that in the late 1980's, Aspen solved a problem with smoke from restaurant grills by adopting an ordinance. He thought For. Collins should be able to do the same. AOAB Bylaws Susan reviewed the changes in the draft that were made by the Process Committee. In Article H, Section 1, "a.", Bill noted that the words, "improve and maintain" should not be used rrgether. Lynne Baker suggested changing it to "maintain and/or improve". The board men: agreed. In Section 5, Lynne suggested striking out having work sessions "on Monday" and replace with "as needed" to allow more flexibility. This was agreeable to all board members. Air Quality Advisory Board February 27, 1995 Page 3 After lengthy discussion on Article VI, Section 6, referring to board member conduct with respect to the media, a motion by Hairy Edwards to accept Section 6 as written was adopted unanimously. In Article VIE[, Section 3, "a.", second sentence, the "T" in "the" should be capitalized. In Article X, Section 1, first sentence, the board agreed to insert "and evaluation of accomplishments" following "setting forth the activities". In Article XI, Section 1, the board agreed to eliminate "or desired". On amotion by Pete Perkins, the bylaws were unanimously accepted, as amended during the meeting. AOAB 1995 Work Plan After advising the board that the majority of the items on the work plan are a reflection of the Air Quality Action Plan, Tom Wyatt asked for discussion. Brian pointed out that these are examples of what activities the board can do to implement the action plan. John asked if everything was included in the work plan. Brian answered that things could come up at Council level that are not reflected in the plan. Eric Levine noted that the time frame is wide; some activities require support only to staff while some belong entirely to the board. Tom asked if the board wanted the categories divided. Pete suggested the board set priorities among activities according to their importance. Rob suggested the committee define which items will require in-depth work by board members, as opposed to those that require only review of staff work. John recommended interfacing with the work plans of certain other boards. Brian said that he will set up a meeting with the chairs of the Planning and Zoning, Natural Resources, Transportation and Air Quality Boards, to coordinate efforts among boards. John suggested the Process Committee could prioritize the work plan. This was acceptable to all board members, and the Process Committee agreed to discuss it at its meeting on Wednesday. State Implementation Plan Process_ Due to lack of time, this agenda item will be carried over to the next meeting. The outline that Brian included in the meeting packet represents 90 percent of the presentation. Air Quality Advisory Board February 27, 1995 Page 4 Radon Linda Devocelle, Environmental Education Specialist for the Natural Resources Department, presented background information about radon. Radon results from uranium decay; it breaks down, becomes inhalable and damages lung cells. USEPA rates Larimer County and most of Colorado as Class 1, meaning high likelihood of radon above 4 pico-curies/liter. A reading of 4 pico-curies or higher poses potential health risks. Data is based on studying uranium miners, as there is not much data on people exposed to radon in homes. The goal is to limit exposure in homes to 4 pico-curies/liter. Linda passed out an EPA document on Radon Mitigation Standards. She noted that indoor air quality is a concern and the radon level is something that can be controlled. This can be done by installing a pipe through the concrete floor of a basement up through the roof (passive), or using a fan to draw the radon up through the pipe (active). Currently there are no building codes in Colorado that require these systems, nor any requirements to test for radon. Linda said the first line of attack is to provide information to homeowners. Eric suggested home buyers should receive an EPA fact sheet about the risk of radon. Linda noted that existing homeowners are the largest target group, and it is more difficult and expensive to install the passive system in an existing home. Eric suggested further that the board should recommend some kind of action as this is an important indoor air quality issue. He felt new homes should be measured for radon and the information should be presented in every new home transaction. Chris Thompson pointed out that, from the point of view of an epidemiologist, the data used by EPA is not very good. He felt it would be extreme to require radon preventive measures in all new homes, based on EPA's data. He said that community exposure to radon is not clear, as there is no good data at lower exposure levels. The board thanked Linda for her presentation. Council Inquiry on Air Quaftcpr= , Council had asked the board to respond to Kelly Ohlson's suggestion for an annual air quality report. Brian noted that the staff has an assignment report on the progress of air quality indicators every two years. He passed out a draft outline of such a report, which would have three parts: (1) Ambient air quality data, (2) Air quality indicators, and (3) Air pollution contributions, by source. Brian suggested that Part 1, ambient air quality data, be reported annually, and a report with all three parts be done on alternate years, as planned. Parts 2 and 3 require extensive effort, and the data do not change that much from year to year. At this point, John moved to extend the meeting five minutes. The board members agreed. Harry Edwards felt that the projections included in the biennial report outline do not respond directly to Kelly's request and concern. Brian agreed they do not respond to the concern, but r Air Quality Advisory Board February 27, 1995 Page 5 they are part of the biennial reporting of the Air Quality Plan. John thought that Part I on ambient air quality data is exactly what Kelly is asking for. On a motion by Rob Cagen the board unanimously authorized the chair to reply to Council and Mr. Ohlson, along these lines: the board plans to report air quality data annually, air quality indicators biennially; the board thanks Council and Kelly Ohlson for taking the time to request such reports, and thanks Kelly for taking the time to meet with them. NEW BUSINESS - These items were not discussed as the meeting time extension had expired Clear Bike Rack - The following items were on the Bike Rack: 1. Wood burning comments that came into the Natural Resources Department. 2. Visible smoke violators (oil -burning cars, Burger King, etc.) Can the AQAB do something about this, i.e., a hot-line to report "violations"? 3. Radon Issue: Do we want to include this issue in our Action Plan? Update Action Log Draft Next Agenda Announcements. Adjourn The meeting adjourned at 6:40 p.m. At this point Ted Liles passed out emissions inspection reports for two vehicles. He felt the first vehicle failed because it was tested on a warm day, and oxygenated fuel is only good in cold weather. The second vehicle was equipped to run on either gasoline or propane -- although it failed on propane, it was given an emissions sticker because it passed on gasoline. The board thanked Mr. Liles for his concern and suggested he attend a future meeting when time could be allotted on the agenda to further discuss this issue.