Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Mail Packet - 2/4/2020 - Memorandum From Delynn Coldiron Re: Leadership Planning Team Meeting Minutes - January 27, 2020City Clerk 300 LaPorte Avenue PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6515 970.221-6295 - fax fcgov.com/cityclerk MEMORANDUM DATE: January 27, 2020 TO: Mayor and Councilmembers FROM: Delynn Coldiron, City Clerk RE: Leadership Planning Team (LPT) Meeting Mayor Wade Troxell, City Manager Darin Atteberry, Deputy City Manager Jeff Mihelich, Deputy City Manager Kelly DiMartino, City Attorney Carrie Daggett and City Clerk Delynn Coldiron met on Monday, January 27, and the following summarizes the discussions that began at 7:45 a.m. February 4 Regular Meeting: The February 4 agenda was reviewed. • Code Amendments to Reclassify Certain Offenses as Petty Offenses – Clarification was provided about throwing missiles; this item amends the offense to reflect behavior that threatens safety and not simply any item that is thrown. • Soldier Canyon Pump Station Annexation – It was noted that this annexation is voluntary and will result in the Soldier Canyon Pump Station being served by Fort Collins Utilities. It will allow for the existing power line to be placed underground. • Timberline Annexations and Zoning – It was reported that the related legal descriptions may be changing for these items. If so, the annexation process may need to be restarted. • Municipal Court Probation Division – There was discussion about this being the first time in history that the City has had a Probation Division; this is noteworthy. This is being done to implement the approved 2020 budget offer and creates a program that monitors and actively works with Municipal Court defendants. There was discussion about how this new service will help people who have historically been resource resistant find counseling and other services to help them address their compliance issues, as well as track their progress. It may reduce the amount of services required by emergency service providers as these individuals find a productive path forward. Staff should be prepared to speak about any projected reduction in emergency services as part of this item, and if we anticipate this being a program that will grow over the years. • Land Bank Property – Placing this item on discussion is expected to increase transparency and celebrate another opportunity to provide affordable housing within the community. The property is located along North College Avenue. • Club Outdoor Program – This item provides grant funding that will help support an after-school and summer program that connects Boys and Girls Club members to natural areas; good news item. Leadership Planning Team Meeting January 27, 2020 Page 2 of 3 6-Month Planning Calendar: • February 11 o Community Composting item was removed. It is scheduled for June 9, 2020. o Plastics Pollution – It was noted that there is currently some State legislation occurring related to this. • March 3 o Staff report to provide an update on long trains in Fort Collins was added to the calendar. • May 12 o Annual report for Poudre Fire Authority will be added to the calendar. A joint dinner between Council and the Poudre Fire Authority Board will be done prior to the meeting. • July 14 o Mountain Avenue Reshaping Project was added to the calendar. Deputy City Manager Mihelich: • Noted that staff worked with Xcel on power lines running through the Pine Ridge Natural Area. The lines have been decommissioned and the lines/poles removed. There was a question about the lines running through Cathy Fromme Prairie and whether they could be placed underground. Staff is asked to follow up. Deputy City Manager DiMartino: • Noted there was an article in the Coloradoan over the weekend on reimagining boards and commissions that has generated a lot of comment. Staff anticipates good participation at the upcoming super-issue meeting and the community issue forum related to this topic. • Noted that interest in HEMP cultivation within the community is on the rise. Staff is working on possible licensing/registration regulations to help establish a system that will control related issues such as odor. The HEMP grow season starts in May; it is typically grown outdoors. There was a question about the CBD extraction process. Staff is asked to follow up. On a related note, there was discussion about marijuana business owners’ interest in having hospitality rooms that would allow consumption of marijuana products. City Clerk Coldiron noted that marijuana business owners have indicated they will move forward with a citizen initiative to seek approval for this if the City does not proactively address this. No further staff action is planned at this time. • Noted that staff is working on the next planning summit for the Parks and Recreation Plan. It is scheduled for February 6-8 and will have another round of community open houses. Leadership Planning Team Meeting January 27, 2020 Page 3 of 3 City Attorney Daggett: • Noted an Ethics Review Board meeting has been scheduled for February 24, from 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. Staff is looking to see if an evening time might be available for this; however, based on the time constraints and searches that have already been done, there may not be a workable evening date, and in that case, this time will remain. City Manager Atteberry: • Noted an upcoming Northern Colorado Regional Officials Meeting on February 27 that includes Windsor, Timnath, Fort Collins, Larimer County and Wellington and asked for possible agenda items. Updates on solid waste and I-25 construction activities were suggested, as well as a report on long trains and related activity. There was brief discussion on staff’s visit to Washington D.C. to discuss trains. There is now a web portal sponsored by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) that is available for people to document crossings that are blocked by trains. The data collected is intended to help the FRA learn about where, when, for how long and related impacts that result from blocked crossings. • Noted that according to the CEO of Lucky’s Market, there is no plan to shut down the Fort Collins store. There was brief discussion about the surprise closing of Bar Louie. Mayor Troxell: • Attended an Executive Board Meeting for Colorado Municipal League on Friday. There was discussion about legislation around electric fences and added benefits being sought by the Fire and Police Pension Association (FPPA). • Participated as part of multiple task groups related to drones. He noted that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is focused primarily on the operator and drone and is not taking into consideration the environment the drone is flying in (treetops, buildings, wires were noted). He continues to share concerns about the importance of situational awareness. The Mayor also referred to an article he wrote related to this issue (attached). • Noted the ad-hoc committee focused on the Chief Judge recruitment has continued its efforts and is making progress. The Ad Hoc Direct Reports Compensation Committee also met and will continue to discuss salary and total compensation approaches for Council’s direct report employees. Meeting adjourned at 9:13 a.m. Drones, drones everywhere – but who is accountable? Mayor Wade Troxell, City of Fort Collins January 7, 2020 Look, up in the sky! It’s a bird! It’s a plane! No, it’s another drone over Colorado and Nebraska. Since the holidays, these relatively small aircrafts are increasingly filling the skies, inciting public curiosity and growing concern, and not even the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) can tell you who is flying them. Perhaps Missy Blackman, a citizen who saw three drones over her farm, summed it up best saying, “It’s creepy. I have a lot of questions of why and what are they, and nobody seems to have any answers.” Welcome to 2020, where Jetsons-like technology confronts a 20th Century regulatory framework. Unmanned Aviation Systems (UAS), or more commonly referred to as drones, are becoming more common than ever before, and more disturbingly, for flying around unchecked and unaccountable to anyone. Flights have never been so close to our communities or anticipated at such numbers. Since manned air travel started in earnest in the 1930s, the U.S. has not seen quite a “Kittyhawk” moment like this one. There are more than 1.5 million drones registered by the FAA—nearly 5 times the number of registered manned aircraft – and it’s still growing. With the emergence of drones as a new technological force over the last few years, the FAA has been scrambling to provide oversight, guidance and the rules necessary to keep the U.S. airspace safe and secure. A small piece of good news is that just two weeks ago, the FAA finally released delayed proposed rules for remote identification of drones, which would allow the public to access information about a drone and its operator like a license plate does for cars. The purpose of the regulation is to begin to meet national security needs, pave the way for commercial operations in populated areas, and permit flight beyond the operator’s line of sight. Until this is done, we will continue to have to man-hunt for the operators as Colorado and Nebraska are doing right now. But even after we take the steps to ID a drone, should it really be flying anywhere? Also, who will be accountable for our safety, privacy and security concerns? The FAA is quick to claim their jurisdiction of U.S. airspace for safety, but they also emphasize they aren’t in the business of protecting privacy or keeping errant drones out of your backyard. As the late San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee often poignantly reminded policy makers - drones make everywhere in a city an airport and that’s not a challenge to take on lightly. As the Mayor of Fort Collins, Colorado, representing the National League of Cities on the FAA’s Drone Advisory Committee, I see quite clearly that we are only at the infancy of UAS applications that could be of great value to cities in both urban and rural areas, but it won’t be simple. There are real differences between manned aircraft and drones that the FAA is not necessarily structured to acknowledge or handle unless Congress prioritizes it. Some would also like to pretend that the FAA and industry are set up to do it all, but their powers actually stop short of the ground. There are real issues of land use, safety, security, noise and privacy that drones will raise in cities and towns that they simply don’t have the jurisdiction to answer. This is why Senator Mike Lee (UT) introduced the Drone Integration and Zoning Act (DIZA) to begin to bring all the layers of government together. This bill establishes a regulatory framework for drones based on the principles of cooperative federalism – sharing responsibility based on the areas we traditionally govern. DIZA recognizes that the fastest way to truly integrate drones into the U.S. airspace is through a collaboration structure that mirrors and leverages the strengths of our federal, state and local governments. The sooner we recognize that federal, state, and local governments will all have a role to play to productively integrate UAS technology in U.S. communities, the faster we could see the benefits of drones. As law enforcement continues to hunt out the operators of these mysterious drones in Colorado and Nebraska, it only reinforces the need to collaborate because UAS present a new transportation system that goes beyond manned air flight as we have known it.