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HomeMy WebLinkAboutResponse To Constituent Letter - Read Before Packet - 9/27/2022 - Letter From Mayor Jeni Arndt To Air Quality Advisory Board Re: Budget Offer Recommendations Mayor City Hall 300 LaPorte Ave. PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.416.2154 970.224.6107 - fax fcgov.com September 27, 2022 Air Quality Advisory Board c/o Cassie Archuleta PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 Dear Chair Artell and Board Members: On behalf of City Council, thank you for providing us with the September 25, 2022 memorandum regarding “Budget Offer Recommendations” wherein you summarized the Board’s support for air quality offers and recommended increased efforts toward ozone mitigation. As you know, City Council will be discussing the proposed 2023-2024 Budget during the September 27, 2022 Work Session and we encourage you to view the proceedings on the FCTV cable channel or online via fcgov.com/fctv/. Thank you for your continuing involvement in improving the air quality of our community. Best Regards, Jeni Arndt Mayor /sek Cc: City Council Members Kelly DiMartino, City Manager 1 Environmental Services 222 Laporte Ave PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970-221-6600 fcgov.com MEMORANDUM DATE: September 25, 2022 TO: Mayor and City Councilmembers FROM: Air Quality Advisory Board; Chair, Karen Artell RE: Budget Offers Recommendations Dear Mayor and City Councilmembers, The Air Quality Advisory Board (AQAB) has reviewed the City’s BFO budget offers and the City Manager’s Recommended Budget and would like to provide our recommendations for offers to be included in the final budget. The AQAB members appreciate the leadership the Mayor, City Council Members and City staff have shown in prioritizing air quality improvement, climate emergency action, and increased regionalism in this budget. However, we believe that more can be done to improve our air quality. In particular, the AQAB supports the following air quality offers: • 32.1 Environmental Services Leadership; • 32.3. Air Quality; • 32.11 Air Quality Monitoring Fund, although we would like to see either increased funding for this offer or see it changed from an enhancement to an ongoing budget offer. In addition to supporting these budget offers, the AQAB recommends increased efforts toward ozone mitigation. In particular, the board recommends immediate efforts to obtain and locate an additional regulatory ozone monitor in the southeastern (SE) part of the City. The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) recommendations state, “On high ozone days, such a site (SE) would provide information on incoming pollution and in conjunction with measurements at FC West would provide a range of the overall ozone levels in the Fort Collins area and allow better assessment of the contribution of local production.” More complete air quality data is particularly important with the planned EPA downgrade from serious to severe ozone non-attainment for the northern Front Range region. Although the RAQC projects compliance with the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone at 75 ppb by 2027 (in 5 years), it does not project compliance for the 70 ppb standard by 2024. The Board recommends attention to the following documents: NCAR recommendations for the City https://www.fcgov.com/airquality/pdf/20170731_NCARAssessment_Final.pdf Update: City and County Collaboration on Regional Air Quality Investments https://citydocs.fcgov.com/?cmd=convert&vid=218&docid=3527232&dt=MAIL+PACKET RAQC Preface to Proposed State Implementation Plan https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1OFF1RvXMewCRNhKelWXVsp7JPJ0SKBcg The State’s 2022 Ambient Air Monitoring Network Plan notes the plan to relocate the meteorological monitoring at the Fort Collins Mason site to the Fort Collins West site. 2 https://www.colorado.gov/airquality/tech_doc_repository.aspx?action=open&file=2022AnnualNetw orkPlan.pdf At a minimum, the Board recommends placing a wind monitor (a meteorological monitor) at the west Fort Collins location as recommended by NCAR and noted by CDPHE. Ideally, we recommend, along with an ozone monitor, that the City place a wind, nitrogen oxides (NOx), and (at least episodic) volatile organic compounds (VOC) monitor at a southeast Fort Collins monitoring site to provide more complete air quality data. The current atmosphere of collaboration among the State, County and City makes this an opportune time to use State expertise and funding to place new monitors. The AQAB recommends increasing the Air Monitoring Fund to leverage additional Federal, State and County funds, to support the planned regional advisory committee decision-making for additional air quality monitors, particularly in underserved communities, and to support community members’ desire for expanded air quality monitoring. We understand the City has purchased NOx and ozone monitors for the SE location using EPA grant funding. We recommend spending the funds necessary to place a meteorological monitor, including tower, sensors and data system and VOC monitoring equipment at the SE location as recommended by NCAR. A VOC monitor that can be moved and placed at various locations throughout the community is also an option, as is the addition of a methane monitor. The cost of monitoring equipment will vary depending on functionality. There are additional costs for installation, operation, maintenance and analysis depending on State and County collaboration efforts and funds. Monitoring and improving our ozone levels do more than just improve ambient air quality. Such actions also protect our wider environment. It is widely acknowledged that greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other harmful air pollutants we breathe are closely linked, as a variety of harmful air emissions, including greenhouse gases, are often released from the same sources. Cutting greenhouse gas emissions to reduce harmful air emissions and ozone formation also reduces the rate of climate change. We are all too familiar with the cycle of warming temperatures, drought, wildland fires, poor air quality, smoky skies and high ozone days. Reducing harmful air emissions such as ozone precursors, fine particulates and GHGs protects City residents' health and the environment in addition to supporting the City’s climate goals. Therefore, in addition to the budget offers discussed above the AQAB would also like to express its support for the following offers. These offers were funded in the City Manager's Recommended Budget, and we recommend that they continue to receive the requested levels of funding due to their importance in reducing emissions of ozone precursors and greenhouse gases, increasing the City's resilience to climate change, and/or achieving the 2030 goals of the Our Climate Future plan. • Offer 1.6 - Utilities: Light & Power - Electric Vehicle Monitoring and Management Demonstration (Continuing Enhancement) • Offer 2.6 - Utilities: Light & Power - Electric Distribution Transformer Replacement Program (Asset Management-Ongoing) • Offer 2.7 - Utilities: Light & Power - Attrition-Based LED Streetlight Conversion Program (Asset Management-Ongoing) • Offer 15.29 - Building HVAC Electrification and Efficiency Replacements (Asset Management-Enhanced) • Offer 23.8 - Land Use Code Update - Phase 2 (Enhancement) • Offer 51.4 - Poudre Express Regional Transit Service Partnership from Greeley to Fort Collins (Continuing Enhancement) 3 • Offer 59.2 - Urban Forest Management - Tree Replacement (Asset Management- Ongoing) • Offer 59.10 - Urban Forestry Continuing Enhancements (Continuing Enhancement) • Offer 83.1 - Parks Lawn and Garden Equipment Replacement (1-Time Enhancement) The AQAB would also recommend funding the following offers. Although these offers fell below the drilling platform in the City Manager's Recommended Budget, we believe them to be very important to the City’s ability to achieve its climate and air quality goals. Each of these offers is listed below (in no particular order), along with a brief justification for our support for each of them. • Offer 1.10 - ARPA - Utilities Light & Power: Manufactured Home Efficiency Acceleration Initiative (1-Time Enhancement): Building electrification and energy efficiency (EE) are key GHG emission reduction measures for the City, and this program will start to fill a critical gap in current home efficiency initiatives while also addressing equity, since owners of manufactured homes are often low-income but are not currently eligible for City EE programs and are thus incurring higher utility bills. • Offer 24.5 - Rental Licensing Program (Enhancement): This program would provide an opportunity for the City to include radon testing, indoor air quality and energy use into a City rental program, thus incentivizing EE (and reduced GHG emissions), healthier living environments and radon mitigation in rental properties through a more informed renter population. • Offer 27.9 - 1.0 FTE Contractual Planner & Electric Vehicle Readiness Program Funding (1-Time Enhancement): The EV Readiness Roadmap is an ambitious multi- departmental City Plan that was developed between budget cycles and so had no dedicated funding for its implementation. It is a key component of the City's efforts to reduce emissions of both ozone precursors and GHGs but has languished since its adoption in 2018. It sorely needs a manager focused upon its implementation if it is going to be successful. • Offer 27.11 - Mobility Innovation Zones Plan (1-Time Enhancement): Mass transit is a key component of the Our Climate Future roadmap for achieving the City's 2030 GHG emissions goal, but many low-density (and often disadvantaged) neighborhoods do not have good connections to the City's mass transit system. This plan would provide initial estimates of the City's needs in rectifying this situation and would be a crucial first step toward a more complete and equitable City transportation system. • Offer 59.6 - Urban Forest Strategic Plan (1-Time Enhancement): This plan is necessary to help the City meet its urban forestry goals, which will provide significant carbon sequestration, AQ, urban cooling and climate change resiliency benefits, which are especially important in underserved communities. There are three additional high-ticket budget offers that the AQAB supports. While these are likely too costly to fund in this budget, the Board understands that City Council will be considering additional sources of revenue at its Finance Committee meeting on November 3 and at a City Council Work Session on December 13. We would like to recommend that these offers be funded as soon as possible, especially if new revenue dedicated to transit and climate change is accrued: • Offer 25.13 - Power Trail at Harmony Road Grade-Separated Crossing and Trail Extension (Design and Construction) (Capital Project): This is a critical piece of the City's bicycle network that has been in the pipeline for years and needs to move to completion; it also appears to be the primary component of Offer 25.11, which was funded 4 through CCIP taxes, but this revenue is insufficient to fully complete construction of the crossing. • Offer 51.10 - West Elizabeth Enhanced Travel Corridor Full Design (1-Time Enhancement): This project has been under development for years, and although it may be able to acquire the needed funding through grants or other sources, it nevertheless needs to be completed soon if it is going to have any impact on GHG emissions in the 2030 timeframe; transit is a key component of the Our Climate Future plans for the City to achieve its 2030 GHG emissions goal. • Offer 51.32 - North College Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) 100% Design (1-Time Enhancement): This project is important for reasons similar to Offer 51.10, but the population density along this route is too low for the project to qualify for Federal funding, so City dollars are critical to completing this BRT extension. The AQAB realizes that finalizing the budget involves making difficult decisions about the funding of competing priorities. We would like to thank City Council for considering our recommendations and would be happy to discuss these further if that would be helpful.