HomeMy WebLinkAbout2009 - Air Quality Advisory Board - Annual ReportCITY OF FORT COLLINS
AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD
M E M O R A N D U M
TO: Mayor Hutchinson and City Council members
FROM: Eric Levine, Chair
DATE: January 30, 2010
RE: 2009 Air Quality Advisory Board Annual Report
In 2009, the Air Quality Advisory Board held twelve regular meetings, and Board members took
the following actions:
• Motor Vehicle Emissions Programs. Reviewed proposed Senate Bill 003 on Motor
Vehicle Emissions Programs and communicated to bill sponsor, Randy Fischer, that it
was consistent with the Air Quality Advisory Board’s interests regarding air quality.
Also recommended that the Fort Collins City Council support the bill as introduced.
• BFO results statements. Reviewed BFO results statements and made recommendations
regarding air quality to amend statements #2 and #6 and recommended adding two more:
#8 – Energy -Fort Collins provides reliable, affordable, carbon-neutral electric energy
and #9 – Policy Implementation – Fort Collins implements policies as adopted by the
City Council.
• BFO process. Gave feedback to the Mayor and City Council on the BFO process itself,
recommending a budget in the form of a strategic-investment plan focusing on outcomes,
rather than a spending plan. The Board also recommended the following:
o Identify a number of significant, cross-cutting policy issues and analyze how they are
implemented in the proposed budget. For example, the Climate Action Plan includes
actions that straddle multiple departments and multiple BFO result areas. The budget
process should provide an overview on how such a cross-cutting policy issue will be
addressed by the proposed budget.
o Boards and Commissions could be asked to suggest some key, major, cross-cutting
policies to be analyzed in the budget process with respect to how well the budget
proposals implements those polices.
o Assign each policy area an “owner” who could review the overall budget and express
how the budget implements that policy.
o Since the Board role is to recommend policy, in the budget process the boards could
advise how well the City’s investments [budget] would implement the policies that
the Council has previously approved.
o Since some City policies necessarily straddle multiple results area, a simple tool such
a matrix could be used to clarify those relationships
• Mountain Vista Subarea Plan. Resolved to support the proposed revision of the
Mountain Vista Subarea Plan, as it seemed to provide adequate air quality protection for
the subarea. However, the Board was concerned the Vine Street realignment may
become a de facto truck bypass and urged City Council to make every effort to prevent
this from happening through street design, traffic monitoring, and traffic enforcement.
• Climate Action Plan implementation. Recommended to Council that, because the
Climate Action Plan crosses many departmental boundaries, a City staff individual or
group should be appointed, above the departmental level, who would have the authority
and responsibility to oversee implementation of the Climate Action Plan.
• City Manager’s proposed budget. Recommended City Council shift necessary funds to
fund three unfunded enhancements in the City Manager’s proposed 2010-2011 budget
under the Climate Wise Program because they support the Climate Action Plan.
• Bicycle Advisory Committee. Named a representative to attend and report on the
regular meetings of the Bicycle Advisory Committee.
In addition, the Board received information and updates and discussed the following
programs and issues:
• Transit Strategic Plan
• Mountain Vista Sub-Area Plan
• Climate Action Plan
• Budgeting for Outcomes
• Trash districting pilot project
• Greenhouse Gasses Inventory
• PRPA legislative position on Waxman-Markey climate bill
• North I-25 Environmental Impact Statement
• Distributed Energy experiment in downtown Fort Collins