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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 07/27/1999MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. July 27, 1999 For Reference: Eric Levine, Chair - 229-5225 Scott Mason, Council Liaison - 226-4824 Brian Woodruff, Staff Liaison - 221-6604 Board Members Present Eric Levine, Mandar Sunthankar, Raymond Sons, Chris Kavanaugh, Nancy York, Harry Edwards, John Schroeer Board Members Absent Dave Gallup, Jim Dennison, Staff Present Natural Resources Department: Brian Woodruff, Sally Maggart, Terry Klahn, Sarah Fox, and Aaron Fodge Guests None The meeting was called to order at 7:02 p.m. Chairman Levine announced that Nancy York and Chris Kavanaugh have been appointed to the AQAB. Kavanaugh is a territory manager for Carrier West, and was a candidate for City Council District 6 last spring. Nancy York is a former member of the AQAB, and has been a candidate for the Board of Larimer County Commissioners. Minutes With the following change, the minutes of the June 22, 1999 meeting were approved: Edwards: Page 2, a paragraph, P line, change Edward's to Edwards' Review and Update Action List 1. Done. Memo in packet. 2. Ongoing. Members will notify staff when there is an article they wish to be included in the packet. 3. Pending. 4. Pending. 5. Done. Comments to staff, not to be discussed at regular meetings. Review Council six-month planning calendar • July 27 — Study Session reviewing truck route decision September 21 — Budget public hearing October 26 — Mason Street Corridor Air Quality Advisory Board July 27, 1999 Page 2 • November 16 — Cities for Climate Protection to be adopted Eric Levine asked if it would be possible to have a presentation on the Campus West sub -area plan. Staff will try to schedule a presentation in August. Harry Edwards complimented staff on the memo responding to air quality monitoring questions posed by Council members. He also asked what impact a new project has on the indicators. Nancy York asked what kind of monitoring equipment could be set up at Campus West now, and how much it would cost. Woodruff said staff could prepare a cost estimate to obtain and operate that type of equipment, but it will take some time to complete. York asked if it is unrealistic to have that type of monitoring. Woodruff said it's not unrealistic, but there's other information at hand that hasn't been used yet. Monitoring doesn't tell you everything you want to know, and it is influenced by temporary wind and inversion conditions. Harry Edwards asked what happened to the remote sensing project. John Schroeer responded the RFP went out, there have been a couple bidders. Edwards has reservations about having the City embark on additional monitoring. We have long- term trend data at our centrally located monitor, but without a history of readings over a long period, the data from a Campus West monitor may be difficult to understand. Schroeer said it would be nice to have a year or two of history and before -and -after readings. If we had them, then we could say that some modifications work and some don't. Four or five years would be necessary; weather and wind profoundly affect concentrations. York said the Mason Street monitoring location doesn't have as much traffic as College and Harmony. How do vast amounts of cars at a different location affect the readings? Levine said monitoring is required at the point of highest concentration. Eventually there will be real questions about the need for another monitor and whether the current monitor is in the highest -concentration location. Ray Sons said it's been a long time since Mason and Laurel has been the highest concentration. York would like to see what the traffic counts are at different intersections. Staff will provide maps at the next meeting. Levine asked what the discussion at the November 9 study session regarding Boards and Commissions would involve. Woodruff suggested that Eric contact Scott Mason, AQAB Council Liaison, for clarification, and staff would provide AQAB with information about the study session, as it becomes available. Agenda Planning ■ August — Campus West presentation • September — Greenhouse Gases Local Action Plan Air Quality Advisory Board* • July 27, 1999 r Page 3 OLD BUSINESS Short Discussion Items SIP Committee meetings on CO redesignation Woodruff distributed notes from two SIP meetings that have taken place. New state representatives attended a July 19 meeting. The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 16, from 1:30 to 3:30. Woodruff feels the planning is coming together better than he expected it would at this stage. Several decisions were made. The first decision is that the transportation data and projections in the Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) would be used as basic data for the redesignation request. Levine pointed out that the RTP transportation data have been called into question by the recent Mobility Report Card data. He expressed his concern that, if we're going to redesignate to attainment status, he wants to use real data and is very much against using cooked numbers. Woodruff said the committee also agreed that 1995 would be the base year and to try 2020 as the out year, even though 2015 would be closer to the ten-year planning horizon required by federal regulation. Levine asked if this could present a problem in that the State legislature requires its staff to check whether each air quality plan is more stringent than the federal government requires. Woodruff responded that, if this were to come up, the legislature might object to use of 2020 as the out -year, but they might not, because in one sense the 2020 out -year is actually less restrictive on state and local government. Mobile source emissions must fit within an emissions budget, and if we choose the year 2020, then there is a larger emissions budget to work with. The USEPA uses the emissions budget as an assurance that we can continue to maintain the air quality standard. Federal transportation funding will be cut off if we fail to remain within the emissions budget, so it's an advantage to have a larger one. Woodruff explained the proposed modeling protocol that the committee came up with. The EPA will be asked to state, in advance, if the following four -step modeling will meet their requirements: 1. Area -wide Emissions: Show area -wide CO emissions form all sources at five-year intervals, and acknowledge those emissions are expected to increase. 2. Gridded Emissions Inventory. Show that even though emissions are rising overall, they are staying the same or lower in their grid square. The growth on the edges accounts for the rise in emissions. At the monitoring site and various downtown areas the emissions are staying the same. 3. Intersection Emissions Analysis: Total -up emissions in the vicinity of intersections that are worrisome, and try to show emissions are stable. 4. Ambient "Roll -Forward" Analysis: Show that future area -wide emissions have a proportional relationship to what is shown at the permanent station. Woodruff added there were discussions about the monitoring location and whether the current site is good for the next 20 years or not. The State Health Department staff will provide their judgement on the matter, looking at data such as VMT intersection by intersection. This subject will be revisited in August (more than a Short Discussion Item). Air Quality Advisory Board July 27, 1999 Page 4 Council's Policy Agenda Moved to August — Short Discussion Item NEW BUSINESS General Air Ouality Survey Aaron Fodge showed a slide presentation, which reviewed the questions and analyzed the responses to the Air Quality Survey completed in July 1999. Discussion • Sunthankar: Noted a couple comments that there was a liberal bias to the whole survey. • Schroeer: Noted that there was very little change from the previous survey. • Sunthankar: Many comments complain about the lack of good bus service and traffic signals. • Sons: The survey supports the notion the public is mostly concerned with visibility and if they can see the mountains or a brown cloud. • York: Would like to see City staff in transportation and natural resources, as well as AQAB members take the survey. It would be interesting to know the perceptions of the people making the decisions. • York: People generally don't want to tell unfavorable news. Air quality is pitched in terms that don't alarm people. That's one of the reasons people make the transportation choices they do. • Levine: Interesting how many people feel air quality is the City's responsibility and that they'd support additional taxes and stricter emissions laws. • Schroeer: The people who will take the time to fill out a survey are the people who care about air quality. These are not necessarily the opinions of everyone. • Levine: Notes education is at the bottom of the list of the best ways to improve air quality. • Schroeer: As far as cars being tuned up, the group of people who responded tends to be more proactive in terms of maintenance. • York: This is useful data, provides fodder for improving alternative modes of transportation. If we want to make recommendations to Council as far as VMT or Clean Cities, we can justify a lot by referring to this survey. • Woodruff: The AQAB could communicate to Council its sense of what the survey is telling you the citizens are saying. • Sons: The public attitudes shown in the survey buttress our concerns about VMT growth. • Kavanaugh: It would be interesting to see how the demographics play out. • Schroeer: The overall results of this survey were generally consistent with the previous survey. Tell Linda Devocelle she did a good job with the survey. • Levine: Please get back to us with some of the breakdowns and trends. Can those be compiled by the end of the year? Announcements • Woodruff: The NRD has reserved a booth at the New West Fest. Members of the AQAB who may enjoy meeting the public are welcome to come and volunteer. There will be City staff at the booth the whole time. Air Quality Advisory Board* • July 27, 1999 Page 5 Woodruff: City Smoking Ordinance: The new Council Policy Agenda asks, What should the ordinance look like in the future. Sara Fox will be taking the lead. Two committees will be formed, an internal City staff committee and a Citizen Committee, which will consist of representatives from this board and different groups in town including Smoke Free Kids. The Citizen Committee will consist of approximately fifteen people; the first meeting will be toward the end of August. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 9:28 p. m. ACTION LIST — from July27 meetin ACTION ITEM WHO BY... DONE 1. Send memo to Council and Council's Growth Brian July Management Committee communicating the Board's desire to explore air quality criteria for development review. 2. Research other communities' use of air Brian Open quality criteria in development review 3. Send RFP for visibility analysis to Board Lucinda August members for an opportunity to comment. 4. Send copy of AQAB memo, "Council Terry July response to rapid VMT growth," to P&Z, TAB, and NRAB. 5. Give AQAB a cost estimate for additional CO Clean Air September monitoring at, e.g., Campus West Sub -Area Team or Walmart PUD 6. Put intersection traffic volumes in next packet. Terry August 7. Put info in next packet regarding content of Terry When the 9 November study session on Boards and available Commissions. 8. Send copies of the general air quality survey Terry July to TAB.