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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 12/19/1994MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 CONFERENCE ROOM - 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. DECEMBER 19v 1994 For Reference: AQAB Chair, John Fooks - 229-5225 Alan Apt, Council Liaison - 224-9798 Brian Woodruff, Staff Liaison - 221-6604 Board Members Present Lynne Baker, John Fooks, Susan Bilo, Tom Wyatt, Pete Perkins, Harry Edwards, Bill Eckert, Eric Levine Board Members Absent Rob Cagen Staff Present Brian Woodruff, Sally Maggart Quest Ted Liles The meeting was called to order at 4:40 p.m. Review and Approval of Minutes On a motion from Lynne Baker the minutes of the November 21, 1994 meeting were unanimously approved with the following changes. Page 2, fourth paragraph, "needs" should be "need". Rob Cagen should be listed only once under "Board Members Present". The last sentence under "Review and Approval of Minutes" should read "...the detail is necessary." Eric Levine should have been marked absent. It was noted that the letter to Council on the Chamber's Managed Growth Strategy mentioned on Page 4, last paragraph, did not get handled in the way it was reported. Brian explained he had summarized the board's discussion in a memo (included in the board's packet) that went to the staff working group drafting a response for Council. The board's comments were incorporated into the letter that Mayor Ann Azari sent to the Chamber on December 9. Congestion Management Plan Harry noted that Boulder developed a growth management plan years ago and wanted to know if that has been discussed. Brian said City planning staff are well aware of the Boulder experience -- they have worse congestion than Fort Collins, and their ratio of housing to jobs is getting smaller. Since they have a cap on residential growth, there is a lot of commuting into Boulder causing traffic concerns. Air Quality Advisory Board December 19, 1994 Page 2 Harry said the activity center concept sounds like a good idea and he wanted to know if the plan can be more forceful in bringing them about. Brian answered that Council will decide in February whether to approve a staff work plan to more specifically define activity centers and the steps needed to make them a reality. Harry asked about reinstating parking meters as a financial disincentive, to reduce driving by making driving cost more. Other ideas are a gas tax, raise parking permit fees at CSU, require parking permits at the high schools, and install parking meters at the Foothills Fashion Mall. Brian said market -based demand management measures are among the 13 strategies mentioned in Chapter Two of the Congestion Management Plan as having high priority for implementation. The city is starting Transportation Demand Management (TDM) next year. One of the decisions council will make is whether to instruct staff to work on TDM parking issues, disincentives, pricing, etc. Harry wondered if "market -based demand measures" would be aggressive enough to encompass the suggestion of creating economic disincentives for driving. He saw a difference between market based measures and measures to impose a fee structure to discourage driving and asked that be addressed. Pete asked about the possibility of a tax disincentive for living outside of the urban growth area. Tom Wyatt thought CSU would make a good test bed for the study of disincentives. He does not think the increased parking fees would deter driving. Pete did not think that data in the Congestion Management Plan is sufficient to back up its statements. Nothing is cited on cost effectiveness and it is difficult to read through. He spent two hours on it and feels he still doesn't know it. Brian agreed the technical report is tough reading and that the staff team is working on a summary that is more readable. An insert in the newspaper after the first of the year will be in plainer language. Eric is concerned that none of the scenarios on Page 52 of the CMP say that Fort Collins can achieve an air quality goal of 78 tons of carbon monoxide. Lynne agreed, noting the CMP Committee had this concern during the whole project. Eric noted there are inconsistencies on Pages 48 and 49. On Page 48, the progression of scenarios D, E and F show decreasing percent trips in single user autos, yet on Page 49, the same scenarios show increasing VMT. He said it is counter -intuitive. Brian noted it and will investigate. Eric noted that only half of the scenario matrix had been done; he would like to see the full set of scenarios evaluated. A • • Air Quality Advisory Board December 19, 1994 Page 3 John found that even though the report is data -driven, he had a difficult time figuring how the decisions came from the data. He thought the process wasn't well enough described. Comments on Page 47 appeared to ignore pollution reductions from new cars and from inspection and maintenance programs. Brian tried to distinguish between VMT growth strategies and technology strategies. He drew a graph of future emissions going from 1990-2015. VMT will rise through the period, and emissions per mile will fall with better cars, oxygenated fuels, etc. Total emissions will rise, however, after year 2000. When council adopted the plan, they didn't like the rising emission trend. Council instructed staff to reduce future emissions by working on both VMT and technology strategies and update them every two years on progress. The first update is due in about a year. Susan Bilo was concerned that the focus seems to be on traffic congestion, setting aside air quality. Brian said air quality got folded into the congestion goals. The CMP addresses three goals: to reduce emissions, maintain level of service, and reduce travel growth. Air quality is involved in all three. John asked for the board's decision on how to handle this. Brian noted that council will meet on this the first week of February. The Board's next meeting is January 16, 1995, so there is time to compile comments for council. John noted concerns about activity centers, land use focus, and urban boundaries -- how much of this belongs in the plan? He felt the market -driven aspects are appealing and doable, but that promoting higher living density in activity centers may be counter to human nature. Pete spoke of the meeting's second agenda item, regarding Air Quality Advisory Board process. He said the board's uncertainty reflects the need to figure out a process. He asked what the scope of review should be and what council is asking them. John suggested tabling the matter. Eric said the board should comment primarily from the perspective of air quality. Since none of the scenarios work, he said, something else is needed to meet the objectives. Pete suggested the CMP planning process needs a lot of customer input in the future. Susan noted on Page 44 that travel behavior data is not available and suggested that CSU students would be a good resource to help compile this information. Brian said the City is planning a major data collection effort next year, and the report recognizes the gap in our knowledge of travel behavior. The origin -destination study will provide some travel behavior data and should clarify the travel -reduction potential of the activity center concept. Air Quality Advisory Board December 19, 1994 Page 4 Pete liked the cause and effect type of analysis, but couldn't see how it is tied in. Lynne pointed out a lot of data is not reported that the CMP Committee looked at in monthly and bi-monthly meetings -- Brian has copies of all that information and the answers might be in there. Brian said he appreciated the detailed attention the board is giving to the CMP report, yet agreed with Lynne that the entire process could not be revisited, as there were 18 months of meetings and presentations. He suggested the board might appoint a committee to study the issues further. He noted the immediate action items at issue are on Page 77 and 78 -- Council needs to decide on immediate actions 8a, 8b and 8c. At this point, board members noted their copies of the report end on Page 67, omitting the findings and recommendations chapter. On a motion from Tom Wyatt the board voted unanimously to move ahead with recommendations at the next meeting. Auttomcbil• Ine29etiOn and Maintenance Ted Liles was introduced. He said he is attending the board meetings in order to obtain information for all owners of emissions testing stations. John said he recently attended meetings with state officials on IM strategies and noted that tailpipe emissions limits have been established for the Fort Collins area. There is room to make a difference in carbon monoxide by changing the limits. He noted a high percentage of pollution comes from vehicles operating in the upper range of emissions; if the number of high -emitters were decreased by a small percentage, it would make a big difference. He suggested there is room for making data -driven IM recommendations to council without adopting the Denver -based IM-240 program. He asked board if the issue should be revisited. Bill and Harry agreed. Harry expressed concern there is no mention of particulate emissions generated by traffic flow -- street dust. Regular street washing is effective in reducing particulate levels in the air. Brian said that the Streets Department is a recognized leader on this issue; they are continually upgrading. He will provide information in the next packet on the city's street sanding and sweeping program. On a question from John, Brian reviewed the status of the IM project. Council had instructed staff to convene a study committee on IM as part of the March 1994 Air Quality Action Plan. The board had decided at its last meeting to decline council's invitation to give further advice on the matter. Since IM works best as a regional program, the North Front Range Planning Council will be n Air Quality December 19, Page 5 Advisory Board 1994 asked to take up the matter at its meeting on January 5. They will be asked if they will convene the study committee and act as the forum for regional decision -making on this issue. If they say yes, it will proceed along those lines. If they say no, we will have to reconsider the options, e.g., the city or county could convene the study committee or it could come back to the Air Quality Advisory Board. Eric asked if council directed that the North Front Range Planning Council be involved. Brian said no, it came from staff discussion. Eric thinks the county would be a more appropriate body, even though air quality is regional. Brian noted the Air Quality Advisory Board would still have input on the project even if the North Front Range Council takes on the study committee. Ted Liles spoke of IM-240. He said the board needs more information on what can and cannot be done with IM programs. He said that IM-240 has been discredited, and offered a copy of the "white paper" from the University of California, Irvine, and other reports if the board is interested. Brian said many concerns have been raised about IM-240, and the study committee should take them seriously and carefully work through the issues, but IM-240 is not the only option to be reviewed by the study committee. John noted improving air quality is the goal. Ted asked the board to keep in mind the need to do things to supplement the current program. Air Quality Advisory Board Process Brian noted that example bylaws from the Natural Resources Advisory Board and example ground rules from the Air Quality Task Force were sent out in the packet. He noted that the first few meetings of the board have been hectic and that members have not had an opportunity to create a solid foundation for action. Some of the board's process concerns could be addressed in bylaws. Bill thought that board bylaws are required and asked if we can borrow from someone else. Brian offered to draft bylaws for review at the next meeting, based on the Natural Resource Advisory Board's bylaws, and identify places for the board to customize them. John asked if the board wanted to have committees. He spoke of the Fortnet bulletin board as an opportunity to get information around by "electronic meetings." Tom suggested committees are needed for focus, e.g., the CMP report could have been assigned to a committee who would bring results back to the board. Pete agreed committees are part of the process, and the board also needs to develop a work plan. Eric asked about the process of setting agenda items. He wanted to know how everyone contributes to the agenda setting. Lynne suggested staff bring back recommendations. She suggested keeping them generic. The board can be flexible and have committees as needed. Tom wondered how the public is notified of Air Quality Advisory Board December 19, 1994 Page 6 board meetings. Lynne explained that there is a public announcement in the newspaper for all standing meetings. John asked if the board likes the meeting format where the Chair leads the discussion and uses Robert's Rules more formally during voting. Lynne pointed out the Chair can monitor the discussion and call for a motion to sharpen the focus when needed. Brian offered that the advantage of Robert's Rules is the focus on action, but that more informal procedures can also meet that need. John asked if the board should focus on the Air Quality Policy Plan as the basis for decision -making. In the Congestion Management Plan discussion, he was concerned about the land use scenarios and the ability of the board to comment on that portion; it didn't really deal with air quality issues. He asked how the board wanted to define the limits of discussion. Lynne noted that the Air Quality Task Force had focused on the air quality components. Eric suggested commenting on all issues that affect air quality. Brian commented that, if the board were to take the direct approach of comparing the Congestion Management Plan with the Air Quality Plan, then some useful comparisons could be made, e.g., certain policies in the Air Quality Plan speak directly to land use and travel behavior. He felt it would be appropriate to use the plan as a basis, and the board could also comment from additional perspectives if desired. The Air Quality Policy Plan was adopted as part of the comprehensive plan of the city, and Council later adopted the Air Quality Action Plan to implement it. Brian suggested that the bylaws could show that the board is grounded in the Air Quality Policy Plan. Lynne felt it would legitimize the board's positions if they are based on the city's plan. Eric said that, although the board is dealing with the Air Quality Policy and Action Plan, the city is also subject to state regulations that can limit or expand the scope. He is concerned that there is a lot happening on the state level and there is a need to be more proactive in order for council to take action. He asked if the board should look beyond Fort Collins for strategies and if the board should be commenting on matters before the Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC). John said that would make the board a more active participant in the state process. Brian said staff is on the AQCC's mailing list for monthly meeting announcements. He suggested the board could ask for information on a regular basis as to what matters are before the state government. Pete said the AQCC minutes can be accessed through a service. Harry noted the minutes from the October 20 AQCC meeting were included in the board's packet and he wondered if this would continue. Brian said no, this was a one time thing in response to Bill's request for information about the October 19 AQCC public Air Quality Advisory Board December 19, 1994 Page 7 input meeting. The minutes provided by the AQCC, however, were for the wrong meeting and can be disregarded -- the AQCC secretary is still working on getting the meeting notes we requested. Lynne asked Eric how he gets his legislative information. He said it cost $25-40 a year. John Fooks said people can call Joe Palomba, the AQCC Technical Secretary, to get on the AQCC mailing list. His number is 692-3279. Pete drew an outline of a possible board process. He suggested the following procedures for discussion: taking input from various sources, tracking input, assessing and setting priorities based on objectives and bylaws, planning, and monitoring results. On a motion from Harry Edwards, the board voted unanimously that Pete should chair a committee to bring back proposals for the board to look at. John and Susan will work with Pete on the process. John noted that the Transportation Board 1995 work plan acknowledges that unexpected work items will arise in addition to ongoing board projects. He asked if much of the Air Quality Task Force work was driven by council. Bill said incidental work load from council was small. Lynne said a council member would drop in periodically. Brian pointed out the Task Force had a major assignment from council (to recommend an air quality plan) and it took the task force four years to complete. Bill, Harry and Tom volunteered to put together a list of ideas for the 1995 work plan, to be discussed at the next meeting. Wrap IIo and Agenda items for Nest Meetinq Eric handed out information for an agenda item for the next meeting, concerning the proposed relaxation of state regulations on certain municipal incinerators. He will continue to let the board know about state legislative items. John noted agenda items for the January 16, 1994 meeting: 1. Review bylaws drafted by staff, amend and approve 2. Final comments to council on Congestion Management Plan 3. Review committee proposals on (a) board process, and (b) board work plan Adjournment The meeting was adjourned at 6:30 p.m.