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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 09/23/1996MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD SPECIAL MEETING 281 CONFERENCE ROOM - 281 NORTH COLLEGE 23 SEPTEMBER 1996 For Reference: John Fooks, AQAB Chair - 229-5225 Will Smith, Council Liaison - 223-0425 Brian Woodruff, Staff Liaison - 221-6604 Board Members Present John Fooks, Susan Bilo, Dave Gallup, Eric Levine, Raymond Sons, Nancy York Board Members Absent Harry Edwards, Pete Perkins, John Scanlon Staff Present Brian Woodruff, Susie Gordon, Clark Mapes, Tom Vosburg, Patty Haughey (recorder) Guests none Convene The meeting began at 4:45 p.m. 1. Comments & Recommendations on City Plan Principles & Policies Staffinember Susie Gordon introduced Clark Mapes to the Board. Staffinember Brian Woodruff began the presentation on City Plan. He reviewed various components of City Plan to frame where we are in the process. Woodruff stated the Visual Preference Survey (VPS) was the first element, and then the Vision and Goals document and Structure Plan were adopted. This next step, Principles & Policies, further defines the VPS and Vision and Goals document. Principles and Policies will guide the implementation process of City Plan. Staffinember Clark Mapes stated that next year, these new products coupled with planning documents that have been written over the last few years and policy background excerpts from existing plans, the City will have a new Comprehensive Plan known as City Plan. Staffinember Susie Gordon further explained the way the comp plan is now is that there are many single elements or documents. City Plan will be a global inclusion of all the existing plans. Boardmember York voiced objection to using the words "shall" or "should" in the document - "will" or "must" conveys a much firmer tone. Example: The streets must connect [instead of "should" connect]. Staffinember Susie Gordon responded that semantics are addressed in the Introduction - Page 1, Paragraph 3. The Committee discussed that the purpose of the Principles & Policies is guide implementation. Boardmember.York stated that the Principles & Policies document does not reference the Bicycle Plan. She asked if the Bicycle Plan has been adopted. Staff was not sure. Staffinember Woodruff will find out. Staffinember Clark Mapes stated policies regarding bicycles will be included in the transportation section of the document. Staffinember Gordon asked how the Board wanted to review the Principles & Policies -- page - by -page, or by section? Gordon stated she would like to clarify that staff is still working on a compressed schedule, and the Board's comments are important. Gordon stated there is a Study Session tomorrow (9/24) night, and Principles and Policies is scheduled for Council in mid - October for adoption. The final draft printing of the document will occur the first week of October. Boardmember York suggested reviewing the document from the general to the specific. She added there are a lot of "shall's" around transportation issues and has very strong feelings that "must" and "will" are much better words. Boardmember Levine concurred. He added there are also a lot of "qualifying" terms. Staffinember Gordon responded that this document is intended to lay out principles and policies, not implementation. Chairman Fooks stated he views the Principles & Policies document as a contract for the City and its citizens. A contract is useless unless it has some force. Gordon responded a lot of the details will come with the implementation package. Chairman Fooks asked about the Policy N-1.4 Home occupations. Staffinember Vosburg stated the new ordinance would modify the existing ordinance, including signage and parking, and will make changes based on the recommendations developed through process. This specific policy statement is significant because the existing home occupation ordinance requires off-street parking, which is a disincentive to having a home occupation. Staffinember Gordon added that folks who have home occupations help reduce VMT. Boardmember York spoke of "traffic circles" -- like they have in Boulder-- spawn signs. Staffinember Gordon responded that level of detail would not be investigated in policy, but rather implementation. Gordon continued to say that if traffic circles are considered as a way to conduct traffic calming, when the implementation guideline is drafted in the Street Standards document, as the guideline is developed, sign pollution will be addressed. Staffinember Mapes thanked Boardmember York stating that was a good point to make. Boardmember York asked if Street Standards is part of City Plan? Staffinember Vosburg responded the Street Standards are part of the Master Transportation Plan, which is a sub - element of City Plan. Chairman Fooks stated he has a level of discomfort adopting City Plan with the general elections in March -- where perhaps the City could have two new Council members and Mayor. What if this new concept is not to the liking of the newly elected officials? Staffinember Vosburg responded if this Council adopts ordinances - they then become law. Future Council will have the legislative flexibility to change them; however, this document is considered an advisory document; it is not a regulatory document and it cannot bind future Council. It clearly articulates what the community's values are now. If future Councils object to this vision, they can amend the document and replace it with a vision of their own. It is unconstitutional to bind actions of future legislative bodies. However, anything that is adopted as ordinance as part of implementation will be on the books and will require a legislative act to change. Chairman Fooks asked if there would be a preamble that describes the intent of the document so a new City Council member would know the context of City Plan. Staffinember Gordon replied yes, in a general way. Principles and Policies will be a stand-alone document that will guide the reader on City land use policies. Fooks asked if the preamble can include that the City promotes mixed uses and reducing the use of the single occupancy vehicle. Fooks stated he's worried about changing course. Government is constantly changing courses and it doesn't go very far very fast. Boardmember Levine agreed. Levine stated "wiggle" room in the document allows for different interpretations -- it's all things to all folks. This is a contract between the citizens who are here now and the City. These policies reflect how everyone feels about the direction of the City now. Staffinember Vosburg stated the purpose of the document will be made clear -- that is, to guide implementation. Staffinember Susie Gordon stated the original intent was to make this a living document. The reason it was formatted in this manner was to allow changes in policy without deconstructing the entire document. Boardmember Eric Levine stated if we are specific and state that the people of this town reached consensus on principles and policies, and we all agree on what we want implemented, then it should be specified with no qualifying language. It should be known this is where we stand and this is what we want for Fort Collins. Staffinember Vosburg explained the process if a change to Principles & Policies were to be made. If Principles & Policies is adopted by resolution, then there would need to be another resolution by Council to make changes. However, the chances that Council would amend the document without public process is pretty slim. Boardmember Gallup asked would there then be a question of what ordinances have been put in place as a result of the language that is in this policy guideline and are we going to necessitate a change in the ordinance if part of the language in the policy is changed? i • Staffinember Vosburg stated there are a lot of policies on the books that have not been implemented by ordinance. It has been a problem that policies that have been adopted have not all been implemented. He stated from a legal standpoint, it is not a problem to have your vision and policy documents out of sync. Gallup asked if an ordinance is already in place, does that mean the language in the policy cannot be changed without changing the ordinance first? Boardmember1evine stated the Board currently has an Air Quality Policy Plan and also an Air Quality Action Plan. The Policy Plan is specific and readable. The actions are derived from the Policy Plan. It's very straight forward. Boardmember David Gallup questioned the relaxed transportation issues. Why were they boiled down to one or two liners? Vosburg stated staff is considering adding the original statements back into the document. Board members began discussing some changes they want to suggest to CPAC. Staffinember Susie Gordon stated that CPAC is still reviewing the Principles & Policies document. Staffinember Brian Woodruff stated when he reviewed the transportation section of Principles & Policies, he reviewed the Vision and Goals document. It seems like Principles & Policies are just rewording the Vision and Goals. On the other hand, when he reviewed the various zones, there was quite a bit of detail about pedestrian orientation, bicycle lanes, etc. Each of the different type of zones goes into specifics on how the alternative modes would be implemented. Woodruff suggested reiterating the Vision and Goals statements in the community -wide sections instead of the rewording he sees in the draft. Staffinember Tom Vosburg stated the transportation section is different from the other sections because of the entire Master Transportation Plan, which has specific modal master plans related to each mode. Level of Service for alternative modes is another document which is very detailed. Vosburg stated the transportation section is more evolved than the rest of the document because of the Master Transportation Plan and all the sub -components. Many of the pieces have already been adopted. Vosburg stated to keep in mind that City Plan is an umbrella and there is a group of transportation plans that are moving primarily through the Transportation Board as the review body. Chair Fooks suggested referencing the detail, then when policy is written, time is not wasted working on the detail. Boardmember York stated this is where the Bike Plan is most noticeably absent. She also stated in the sections regarding connecting streets, the document says "should be" -- hopes that will be changed to "must be" because connecting streets must interface. All the transportation issues in every section needs "to be more firm". She suggested that the Board recommend. Fooks asked York to be more specific about "more firm". Staffinember Clark Mapes stated they will change the "should" to "will". She pointed out some specific sections in particular that need to be changed. ... Access and comfort for the pedestrians and bicyclists "must" be a priority -- access to transit - - street interconnections -- block characteristics and street layout .... block size will be determined byfrequent street connections. What she wants is to make "more firm" the necessity to put nonpolluting forms of transportation to the top of the design standards and to facilitate transportation by non -automobile. Staffinember Gordon stated this Board has been heard as well as other Boards, and there will be significant changes throughout the document. Boardmember Levine stated he agreed with Woodruff- that is, they are the Air Quality Advisory Board and they are looking at transportation issues since it affects air quality policy. In addition to the transportation issues, there is a lot of land use policy, mixed use, and mixed density. All those things affect how many miles folks put on their cars. York stated in the downtown district, the section that addresses parking leaves out bicycles. Regarding Policy DD2.6 on entrances, where it states locate auto entrances so as to minimize pedestrian/traffic conflicts -- she would hope this includes alternative mode transportation. Principle DD-3 where it states "vital pedestrian environment" - she would like transit included. York stated in general, she does not like the 8-10 story building heights - even though she knows it's out of the advisory boards' realm. Policy DD-3.6 - Design of Streets and Public Spaces -- transit was omitted from this. Boardmember Susan Bilo asked if the Clean Cities Designation is addressed in the document. Staffinember Woodruff stated it does not specifically mention alternative fuels by name, however, it refers to vehicular emissions and the goal of the continuing to reduce vehicular emissions. One strategy is to slow the growth of vehicle miles of travel and to reduce tailpipe emissions per mile. Alternative fuels is implied. Staffinember Gordon stated the Air Quality Plan states that the Clean Cities Designation will be pursued and the Principles & Policies allows this to occur. Boardmember Fooks stated he believes it is better to keep the Principles & Policies in a more general nature. Boardmember Ray wanted to make some general comments on the Plan. He attended several I citizen meetings and although he enjoys the theory, he has concerns that it conflicts with actuality. He referred to Principle N-6.1 -- Garages and driveways. "Locating garages further from the street can allow narrower driveway frontage at the curb, leaving more room for an attractive street scape and more opportunity for on -street parking." He questions if we really want more on -street parking. He has concerns about safety issues. Staffinember Clark Mapes responded that on -street parking is not the purpose behind this principle, rather that Fort Collins is characterized by up -front garages. Boardmember Sons stated he's had experience with alleys and garages in the rear. Alleys were a general nuisance and eye -sore. He does think, however, that properties would be more attractive without the garages up front. Staffinember Mapes stated the on -street parking is a missing aspect, and with the new street standards, it needs more attention. When the narrower streets are fall of parked cars, the visual preference "narrow street" gets pretty confining and pretty ugly. Staffinember Vosburg stated this fits with the allowance of "wiggle" room. Clearly, we're not in a position to say "there will be no more garages". There are a lot of issues that need to be taken into consideration and that's why the statement has some loose language to allow that "wiggle" room. He added he hopes everyone appreciates the number of issues that lurk behind every single one of these principles. Vosburg responded to the question - are we grounded in reality? We recognize that we are pushing the envelope. Boardmember Sons stated Peter Calthorpe comes from the west coast, and they don't have a lot of snow there. Fort Collins can have a lot of snow. We don't have the resources to plow alleys. Boardmember Fooks stated these principles are being drafted in warm months when we don't think of snow. Staffinember Mapes stated alleys aren't reguired anywhere. He thinks the narrow streets and alleys will be a specialized type of housing near the activity centers. On -street parking is not addressed and needs to be. Streets should not be clogged and should not display a negative appearance. The issue of narrower streets may need to be tied to the density of the neighborhood. The new narrow streets assume you can maneuver around to get past oncoming traffic. If it's parked solid or if there are larger vehicles parked, this would prohibit the ability to maneuver. Garages have nothing to do with on -street parking. If garages are recessed back so that there are longer driveways so it's narrow at the curb, the double parking stall would still be in the driveway. So it would probably have a zero affect on off-street parking. Boardmember Sons brought up another principle - Neighborhoods 7.1-- single family detached houses on large lots. Do you really think these people will live within the same block as. someone with a manufactured house or mobile home? Staffinember Mapes responded a "block" is 20 acres, and no particular mix is spelled out. We assume developers will distribute and cluster different housing products in a way that sells. No City policy will place trophy homes next to mobile homes or next to a townhouse. There is a minimum level of getting a mixture. Developers will still build what sells. Staffinember Woodruff wanted to address Boardmember Bilo's question on alternative fuels. An approach used in the framework for environmental action was to review policies with two questions in mind. •Is each policy implemented by some ordinance or program or activity? *For all the actions taken, is there a policy basis? They were looking for gaps and they found a lot of gaps. Could the same sort of questions might be useful here. Start with the policy, then move to the action. Another question is for policies that are stated, is it intended that each one of them would be implemented in some specific way? Staffinember Mapes stated the idea is that the Principles and Policies document leads into implementation. Staffinember Vosburg stated the critical part is whatever is implemented by March of this year versus what is implemented through City Programs -- what's implemented through regulation versus what needs more work to develop. Staffinember Woodruff stated he thinks it would be useful to state in the preamble that the intent of this document is that everything will be implemented. Boardmember Fooks stated he doesn't see any general guiding principle regarding designation of neighborhoods - low density. There are block standards for medium density neighborhoods but no block standards for low density neighborhoods. Staffinember Clark Mapes stated the idea of higher density neighborhoods that lead directly into a Center is just that -- they lead to the Center. The intent is to get these neighborhoods oriented more like homes than isolated complexes accessed mainly by parking lots. The lower density neighborhoods are more like regular neighborhoods, better connected than in the past. Fooks asked related to develop standards - have you gotten comments back on the neighborhood block standards from public safety, specifically from the fire department, police, emergency access, etc.? Mapes responded he attended a seminar last week that the Police Department sponsored. The police are very excited about the City Plan and one police officer has begun attending development review meetings. The seminar focused on the relationship of security and neighborhoods and what security actually is. The police are looking to get away from anonymous places that don't have a sense of ownership and that are accessed by winding routes through parking lots. They want addresses on buildings. Staffinember Susie Gordon stated the Fire Department is very concerned about street width because of accessibility of their fire engines. However, the Fire Department does like streets connecting. Boardmember Eric Levine stated he wanted to comment on drive-thrus from an "air quality" view. Levine suggested drive-thrus should be discouraged. Staffinember Mapes stated he originally wrote in the Principles & Policies that drive-thru restaurants will not be allowed in a walking district. Other drive-thrus, such as a bank would be allowed if necessary. A sub -committee working on the document may have amended the original statements on drive- thru restaurants. Boardmember Susan Bilo stated that Taco Bell locks its doors at 10:00 p.m., and the only way you can purchase food is at the drive-thru. Levine stated we have so many drive-thrus and it's just getting worse. Staffinember Susie Gordon asked Mapes if he meant "drive-thru only" restaurants. Mapes stated drive-thrus are hard to fit in anywhere, let alone in a walking district. Drive-thru banks are hard to deal with because banks are important to districts. Chairman Fooks stated he would take staff s comments as support for limiting drive-thrus whether it's City-wide or in walking districts. Fooks asked if anyone felt differently than Levine about drive-thrus? Drive-thrus have become part of a life style. Maybe drive-thrus are acceptable when serving incapacitated people. There was discussion regarding the carbon monoxide coming out of tailpipes while lines of cars sit at drive-thrus. Levine stated drive-thrus are a concept left over from the 50's. Fooks stated if no one has any objections, the Board should make a recommendation to City Council. Boardmember Gallup suggested strengthening the language such that drive-thru restaurants, drive-thru banking, drive-thru photo, drive-thru anything is contrary from a philosophical standpoint to a greater sense of community. Staffinember Gordon began to summarize items the Board would address in a memorandum to City Council. 1. "Must" - "Will" - "Should" - issue. 2. Prohibit drive-thrus -- there should be handicapped access. Existing restaurants would have drive-thrus retrofitted. 3. Expand the preamble to Principles & Policies (set context; longevity & clarify). State the purpose: to implement. 4. Recognize the Bikeway Plan. 5. Cite the Transit Development Plan (TDP) There was discussion regarding the TDP. Staffinember Woodruff stated the general principle would be that it's O.K. to restate in the community -wide transportation section some of the transportation policies that we covered in other sections. Fooks suggested making a motion to draft a memorandum to City Council. Boardmember Nancy York asked how the Board felt about 8-10 story buildings and solar access. Staffinember Woodruff stated he doesn't think 10 story buildings and solar access are mutually exclusive. They're in conflict in some cases. Staffinember Susie Gordon stated that there are rules right now that would prohibit a new structure from blocking another structure's solar access. Woodruff added solar collectors cannot be shadowed as well. Boardmember Nancy York voiced her frustration over the 8-10 story buildings. Vosburg stated in creating the focal point for employees and others downtown, having that intensity of development is what makes the opportunities for transit. There are other ways to achieve that same efficiency. Fooks stated he would entertain a motion on the five items to be recommended to City Council by the Board. The Board discussed sending the memo to CPAC, Planning & Zoning Board and City Council. Staffmember Susie Gordon stated that CPAC is still working on their own internal review and comments on the Principles & Policies. It might be uncomfortable for them to begin receiving comments from Boards. She stated NRAB provided comments and she was just going to give them to Joe Frank, Director of Advance Planning Department. Woodruff stated he agreed with Susie Gordon. CPAC probably won't be able to give the Board's recommendation much attention. It will be made available at the meeting. Boardmember Nancy York made a motion that the Board is agreeable to the five comments. The motion was seconded. Boardmember Eric Levine made a motion that the letter with the five Board comments be provided to CPAC on Wednesday. Boardmember York seconded the motion. The meeting adjourned at 6:30 p.m.