Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutWater Board - Minutes - 11/17/20161 Water Board Minutes November 17, 2016 Fort Collins Utilities Water Board Minutes Thursday, November 17, 2016 Water Board Chairperson City Council Liaison Rebecca Hill, 970-402-1713 Wade Troxell, 970-219-8940 Water Board Vice Chairperson Staff Liaison Brett Bovee, 970-889-0469 Carol Webb, 970-221-6231 ROLL CALL Board Present: Chairperson Rebecca Hill, Vice Chairperson Brett Bovee, and Board Members Kent Bruxvoort, Phyllis Ortman, Andrew McKinley, Duncan Eccleston, Lori Brunswig and Alexander Maas. Board Absent: Board Members Steve Malers, Michael Brown, and Jason Tarry. OTHERS PRESENT Staff: Carol Webb, Katherine Martinez, Donnie Dustin, Adam Jokerst, Meagan Smith, and Rebecca Everette. Members of the Public: Colorado State University students Sean Houston, Emily Merrell, and Taber Bassett. Meeting Convened Chairperson Hill called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. Public Comment None Approval of October 20, 2016 Board Meeting Minutes Board Member Kent Bruxvoort moved to approve the October 20 meeting minutes. Board Member Phyllis Ortman seconded the motion. Vote on the motion: It passed unanimously, 7-0 with 1 abstention.* *Vice Chairperson Brett Bovee abstained due to his absence at the October meeting. Staff Reports Water Resources Monthly Report Water Resources Manager Donnie Dustin summarized the October report. It was quite warm, almost 9 degrees above the average temperature for October. Precipitation was only 21 percent of average for October; very dry. Poudre River stream flows were below average. Colorado-Big Thompson Project (CBT) system remains high at 76% of capacity; it’s 120% of what it normally is at this time of year. The snowpack is basically nonexistent, but today’s snow will add to it. Climate outlooks for the next three months indicate normal precipitation and above normal 2 Water Board Minutes November 17, 2016 temperatures for the northern Front Range and northern mountains. Halligan Quarterly Report Water Resources Engineer Adam Jokerst provided an update on the Halligan Reservoir project. The schedule for the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) has been extended by five months; finishing the draft will take $1.1million additional dollars; delays are mainly due to water quality studies, which are driving this process. The studies have mainly to do with temperature and other water quality issues. Staff finalized 17 of the 27 technical reports needed for the EIS; chapters one and two have been written. The City now owns a mining claim on a piece of Bureau of Land Management property near the reservoir site. Staff has engaged in public outreach: met with Environmental Protection Agency staff, presented to the Colorado Water Conservation Board’s South Platte Basin Roundtable, and the Northern Water Fall Users Meeting. The City signed an agreement with Northern Water to allow Halligan consultants to use the water quality models being used for the Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP) to speed the process. The City is also collecting water quality data from the North Fork of the Poudre River if needed to validate water quality models in the future. Despite the recent delays, which are due in part to the complicated nature of multiple projects in the same basin, the process is reaching the point of completing the final steps and final reports for the EIS. Discussion Highlights Board members inquired about various related topics, including the 401 certification process, the state’s Lean Program for improving federal and state water project permitting processes (part of the Colorado Water Plan), the difficulties of providing information to multiple agencies that don’t communicate, and the project’s increasing costs due to delays. One board member mentioned a conversation with a staff member of U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, who introduced legislation last session that would have imposed time limits on the U.S. Corps of Engineers and EPA and may introduce the same legislation again; the board member suggested staff share this Halligan report as documentation of costly delays. Mr. Jokerst stated he would follow up. Water Supply Vulnerability Study On Tuesday, City Council approved a Water Supply Vulnerability Study in the 2017-18 budget, which Water Board had recommended. Water Resources staff suggests conceptually creating an advisory committee for the study, consisting of Water Resources staff, Water Board member(s) (a board subcommittee), CSU professor(s), and community member(s). The committee would begin monthly meeting in December to determine the vulnerability study’s strategy, goals, and to help write a Request for Proposals to hire a consultant. Chairperson Hill stated she would email board members to inquire about their interest in serving on the subcommittee. Utility Rates – Status Update Water Resources and Treatment Operations Manager Carol Webb summarized City Council’s approval on Tuesday of utility rates increases: 5% rate increases for water, wastewater, and stormwater, and light and power. Ms. Webb gave kudos to Chairperson Hill for her well- articulated support of the rate increases during public comments, which Ms. Webb stated 3 Water Board Minutes November 17, 2016 convinced Council to approve the increases, which are required for maintenance, repairs, and capital projects. A board member inquired about stormwater improvements in the Buckingham neighborhood and whether it had been planned. Ms. Webb stated every utility follows a master plan that feeds into a capital projects plan for future needs, and would follow up and provide details. She also stated stormwater staff will plan to give periodic updates to Water Board in 2017. Downtown Plan (Attachments available upon request) Senior Environmental Planner Rebecca Everette presented a summary, status report, and details of the Downtown Plan. Public comment on the draft plan is from November 7 to December 11; staff will revise and finalize the plan December 12 to 30, and City Council is scheduled to review and adopt it on January 17. The Downtown Plan is meant to be a strategic guiding document; the last Downtown Plan update was completed in 1989. The vision for downtown shifted in the 1980s to bring people back to downtown; it was competing with the new Foothills Mall. Downtown has been very successful in recent years, with a lot of residential development. Staff is now focused on how to maintain success and plan for the future. The planning process has spanned two years so far, starting with issue identification, scoping project, talking with the community, and refining goals and crafting a plan for City Council review and adoption. The project budget was $236,000 including consultants and public outreach (community engagement). Discussion Highlights Board members commented on and inquired about various topics, including land use code updates, access to parking, the Poudre River Plan, and Jefferson Park at Linden (the railroad owns the land and chose not to renew the City’s lease). Ms. Everette replied that parking is discussed in the plan, including reducing demand with easier access to alternative transportation. She also suggested that Water Board request Natural Areas Department to provide an update on the Poudre River Plan at a future meeting; the kayak park was funded with $1 million each from the General Fund and Stormwater Fund. Board Member Alex Maas moved that Water Board recommend City Council adopt the Downtown Plan as it reflects the priorities and concerns of the board as discussed during two Water Board work sessions on August 6, 2015 and November 17, 2016. Board Member Duncan Eccleston made a friendly amendment to correct the motion to state “August 6 work session and November 17 regular meeting.” Vote on the motion: there was no second. Motion failed.