HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Futures Committee - 05/13/2019 -
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MINUTES
CITY OF FORT COLLINS
FUTURES COMMITTEE MEETING
Date: May 13, 2019
Location: CIC Room, City Hall, 300 Laporte Ave.
Time: 4:00–6:00pm
Committee Members Present:
Mayor Wade Troxell
Julie Pignataro
City Staff:
Darin Atteberry, City Manager
Jeff Mihelich, Deputy City Manager
Jackie Kozak-Thiel, (Staff Liaison)
Presenters:
Andres Duany
Additional Staff Present:
Lucinda Smith, Environmental Services
Lindsay Ex, Environmental Services
Molly Saylor, Environmental Services
Sue Beck-Ferkiss, Social Sustainability
Meaghan Overton, CDNS
Rebecca Everette, CDNS
Ryan Mounce, CDNS
Cameron Gloss, CDNS
Noah Beals, CDNS
Dean Klingner, PDT
Shawna Van Zee, CDNS
Kai Kleer, CDNS
Sylvia Tatman-Burruss, CDNS
Brad Yatabe, City Attorney’s Office
Arlo Schumann, CDNS
Ruth Rollins, Planning and Zoning
Tom Leeson, PDT
Missy Nelson, CDNS
Karen McWilliams, CDNS
Maren Bzdek, CDNS
Todd Sullivan, CDNS
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Clark Mapes, CDNS
Clay Frickey, URA
Community members:
Susan Mcfaddin, Seven Generations
Kevin Jones, Fort Collins Chamber of Commerce
Ted Shepard, community member
Bruce Hendee, community member
Elizabeth Radman, community member
Nathalie Rachline, Transportation board
Max Moss, Montana
Ray Martinez, RM Consulting
Dale Adamy, FCParity
Meeting called to order at 4:06 pm
Approval of Minutes:
Julie moved to approve February minutes. Mayor Troxell seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
2-0-1.
Chairman Comments: None
Summary
• Reimagine community engagement—from an equity perspective consider who has privilege
and who needs privilege
• Consider what level decision-making should occur at, including the city-level or
neighborhood level.
o What does distributed decision-making look like?
• Enable Bureaucracy to act and support community architecture
o City as a Platform
o Co-Creation
o Work with small developers and enable them to compete with larger ones
• Consider what affordability in the Fort Collins community includes. Examples include
making connections to buying local and having a healthy resilient economy
• Track indicators that will reveal our state of balance
o If we are out of balance, make decisions that will help to drive/restore balance
Think Tank Item 3-2019: The Future of Community Architecture
Andres Duany DPZ Architecture
• Engaging the youth in community decisions:
o Provides brief overview of NIMBYism which occupies public discussion
o Older generations tend to be more involved in public discussions and decision-
making
▪ Focus tends to be on how things have gotten worse over time, which is
rational based on their experiences
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o Engage the youth to provide a different perspective
▪ Use social media and other avenues that older generations don’t utilize
▪ One example is to begin public discussion with the youngest participants
in the room; they set the tone
o Planning is a long-term activity, engaging the youth becomes important part of
the process
▪ For example, in Birmingham Michigan began planning 25 years ago—25
years later—people who were 20 are now 45 and have been involved in
the process.
• Democracy requires diversity in terms of who participates in the public process
o When one group and their opinions are privileged over others, this results in
decisions that are not in the best interest of the community.
o Example provided of building a daycare:
▪ Immediate neighbors may have a problem because of the increase in
traffic, etc., but they have a vested interest not to have the day care
▪ Day-care may have larger community benefits so those community
members should also be part of the discussion.
o Take the time to ensure that public deliberation and processes reach diverse
community members and the youth.
• What is the Cities’ role in responding to climate change?
o Science and statistics suggest that we are going to hit irreversible tipping points,
when these points are hit, it will be a shock for many communities around the
world.
o Mitigation will not be enough at that point; need adaptation and resiliency.
o Consider what the risks are in the Fort Collins community and plan for it:
▪ Wildfires, flooding, or running out of a resource
▪ Make plans and have dates by which community needs to have things
done.
• Consider what level decisions should be made at—i.e. the Theory of Subsidiary that
states that decisions are best made at the most local level that can competently do so
o When it comes to Green Policy and Immigration, states like California and others
are making decisions beyond what the federal government is doing because they
are better equipped to make those decisions
o Provides an example about regulating chickens in Miami: Miami made a city-
level decision that chickens are not allowed:
▪ Many community members enjoy having chickens and have them anyway
▪ In this case, the block, or neighborhood is the best level for that decision
to be made.
o City officials and staff could write a list of the kinds of decisions that need to be
made in our community and evaluate at what level that decision should be made
at.
▪ First action is what are the decisions that are made in the next 25 years,
▪ Determine best level for that decision
▪ What mechanisms are in place to allow that level to convene?
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• There are about a dozen different indicators for a healthy
community and the goal should be to balance those things. If they are not in balance, then
City government’s job is to help nudge the indicator in the right direction. Indicators
include
o Rich and Poor
o Young and Old
o Food consumption and production
• Localize decisions: Rather than thinking about how to save the world, consider how we
save Fort Collins
o Localize policies and activities that will aid in creating a community that will
survive for several generations.
o Map our important sheds such as our food shed, water shed, and security shed
o Fort Collins is a great place to live and we can’t guarantee any other place.
Comments/Q&A:
• Question about affordability in communities
o Andres believes that affordable housing is the number one problem in America
and is even more urgent than Climate Change.
o Andres discusses his belief that there are too many rules which prevent small
developers that have less overhead from being competitive.
▪ Small developers tend to have more heart than big developers, meaning
they aren’t all about the numbers;
▪ Small developers love the place they work, and tend to build affordable
housing
▪ Enabling small developers will allow affordable housing to occur
organically
▪ This also goes back to the role of government—having an enabling
bureaucracy.
• Mayor shares how Fort Collins tends to be aspirational and pragmatic. Everything our
government does is related to what makes sense in our community.
o Built around notion of climate economy—businesses that are a solution for Fort
Collins but can also scale in other places.
o Mayor gives the example that the City decided to underground powerlines 50
years ago.
• Discussion of the regional waste shed—how to think about it as a materials management
issue rather than a waste issue.
o Going back to level of decision-making, at the neighborhood or block level,
people have to live with your consequences.
• Council member Julie Pignataro asks the question on how we as a community continue to
be self-sufficient with population growth?
o Andres goes back to his point about balance when it comes to growth and being
self-sufficient. discusses the need to have balance in terms of socioeconomics in
our community.
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o Share the idea that we can turn our outcome areas into
simple graphics and then we can have someone from the planning department
makes maps that show how outcome areas affect balance.
• Question was asked about Nature in the City. As Fort Collins grows from 170,000 to
250,000 in the next 20 years, how should we build nature in to that?
o Andres reiterates that having nature in the City is fantastic; helps with real estate
trees act as natural shading and cooling, and look beautiful.
o Ensure that we don’t bring wilderness into the city.
• Question asked on Andres’ thoughts about millennials and density
o As a planner with clients with large projects that will span the next 20 or more
years, Andres believes that millennial should be studied.
▪ Recognize that there are two groups of millennials (younger and older)
and that they do behave differently.
▪ Millennials tend to spend money on experiences rather than tangible
purchases. For example, a millennial will spend money at a brew-pub.
▪ If opening 15 retail establishments then make 12 of them food and drink
establishments.
▪ Consider viewing Michal Cain documentary called My Generation—gives
insight to how cool parents and grandparents were.
• Discussion about how to ensure assets that are built now can be converted into other
things.
o Provides the example of a parking lot—Andres suggests designing not for current
condition, but for its climax condition which can be urbanized later. Make sure
parking garages can be converted later. Fantastic assets if designed to be
• Question asked about what actions our City should be taking now that will help use 10
years from now.
o Andres suggests being clear about all of our sheds.
o Consider planning for longer than 10 years, think about 20 years or more in the
future.
• Consider which cities are like ours and consult with them to see if we are on track with
some goals.
o Universitycities.org—metrics for desirable University city. Add Columbus to this.
Additional Discussion: None
Meeting adjourned by Wade Troxell at 5:38 pm.