HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Water Resources - 1/26/2004CITY OF BOULDER, COLORAllO
BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS MEETING SUMMARY FORM
NAME OF llOARD/COMMISSION: Water Resources Adv~sory Board
llATE OF MEETING: 7an 26, 2004
OFPERSON
NAMES OF MF.MBERS, COUNCIL, STAFF AND INVITEll GUF.STS PRESENT:
BOARD MEMBFRS - RobexC Piehweg, Ken Wilson, J~m Knopf, G~l Barth, Jeaunette H~llery
STAFF - Ned Williams Robm Madel Joanna Crcan Carol Lmn Paul Lander, Tom Gould (EES)
WHAT'fYPE OF MEETING (BOLD ONE) (REGUI.AR~ SPECIALI [QUASI-JUDICIAL~
Agenda I[em t- CAII to Order
The meetme was ealled to order at 6 OS p m
Agenda Item 2- Meeting Minutes
Meetmg mmutes from Dec 15, 2003
Jeannette Hillerv motioned to approved the minntes from Dec. I5, 2003.
Jim Knouf seconded the motion.
Tl~e vote was 5-0 m favor of tl~c motion.
Agenda Item 3- General Pubhc Participatwn
1'here was none
Gencral Public Participat~on was closed
Agenda Item 4- Public hearing and finai WRAB recommendation on the Uhlity Rate Strnctnre Keport.
Staff Presentation
Ned Wilhams mhoduced the pro~ect Williams clarified several issues surroundmg the pio~ect Tom Gould
presented the report Gould discussed the puipose of the pro~ect, reviewed the tate shuctures evaluated and the
development of alternahves and d~scussed the specitics of rate struchires for smgle-fanuly iesidences (SFR),
multr-family residences (MPR), commercial and mdush~al users (GI) and meteied irr~gaCion accounts (Mp Ned
W~lliams presented the staff recommendahons for the new rate shuc[ures These mclude tlie Followmg
SFR - an mverted four block shucture, block 1= 0-3000 gal, block 2= 3001-7000, block 3= outdoor demand
allocatton with shapmg and ad~ustment two or three hmes per year, bloek 4= excess use beyond block 3
MFR - an mverted £oui block struchue, block I= 0-2000 gal, block 2= 20Q 1-5000, block 3= outdoor demand
allocation based on landscapmg, block 4= excess use heyond block 3
C/I - an mverted four block structure, block 1= 80% of average histoncal use, block 2= 81%-100% of average
histoncal use, block 3= 101%-200% of average histarical use, block 4= excess use beyond block 3
MI - a water budget rate shucture w~th three blocks, block 1= 80°/u of monthly water alloca[ion, block 2= 81%-
100% of monthly water allocahon, block 3 J greaCer than 100% of monthly watcr allocation
WRAB Qucstions
WRAB q~iestions covered the recommendauons foe commeicial and mdustr~al accounts and liow pools w~ll bc
handled for mulh-use residenhal accounts Also covered were wsts assoc~ated w~th the staff iecommendahon and
a compar~son ro the iate structures presented m thc report
Ken Wilson addrassed the public and piovided the h~story of the study and the staff and counc~l mtentions belund
complehon of the study Wilson also d~scussed some common m~sconcephons around water iate structures
Wilson gave h~s preferences for rate structures and said that he met v~nth the directox of the ciry of Greeley Water
Utiltty who tnformed h~m of a pilot wa[er budget study bemg conducted m Greeley
Addrtional quest~ons covered mty parks and facilrties, and what the etaff hkes/doesn't like aUout usmg water
budgets Will~ams sa~d that Boulder County doesn't reliably track lot s~ze m the city and if the water budget
ophon weie chosen the city would have to use GIS to determme lot size Add~ttonal queshons covered equtty
tssues surroundtng lot size
Pubhc Pnrticipation
Rodeer Ewv, 3714 Wonderland Hill C~r., Boulder, 80304, was conceined w~th the fanness and legal~ty of
TAIIOR implicahons He was concerned that the c~ty eould be sued ovei tho way ~t charges and asked to have a
Water Itesources Arlwsory Board
Summary Minutes
Jmi 26, 2004
Page l
letter wntten by Steve Pomerance be read alond and to have his suggestions mcorporated
John Lemp Sr., 3745 23rtl St., Boulder, 50304, hves m a development that uses about one-tUud dUch water and
welle and is wondenng whether to reactivate h~s wells
Jerrv Georae, 4733 Tally Ho Ct., Boulder, ~s concerned about the madequacy of the present system but said it
sounds l~ke that concern ~s bemg addressed Hc is pleased to see that lot size ts bemg cons~dered
Andrew Spieecl, 1705 14~h St. #140, Bouldcr, CO 80302, lives in Tantra as a MFR dweller and says that there
~s an unfa~r assumpUon between smgle fam~ly and mulh family resident~al None of the scenarws proposed ~s fau
for MFR He also satd that MFR accounts w~ll get hammered on sw~mmmg pools He said that the first purpose of
a uhhty ~s to provide safe drmkmg watei and not to get people to change the~r behavior
Ken Frost, 1311 Songbird Ct, Boulder, 80303, said that Ken Wilson stated his positron very clearly Largei lot
sizes should get moie water The county's tax shuch~re expects largei homes to pay more oF a tax burden He said
he needs help to keep his property green
Dean Carpenter, 610 North St. Boulder, says his mother's usage hmit is 1000 gal Hts mother has been m a
nursmg home but she ~s out of ~t now so the usage on the house w~ll change The new system doesdt address this
situation The money is an mcome source for somebody and his mother should have a 5000 gal allocation Ned
Williams explamed the concept of AWC to the audience
Peter Maver, 2709 Pine St., Roulder, congratulated the WRAB, the staff and the consultants on the work they
have done and said that the choices made aie better than where we are today A water budget may be a sigmficant
~mprovement m a drought The memo shows d~fferent water requirements for different landscapes A water
budget should be adequate and tailored to each srtuarion Opt~on 4~s a good option but the staff recommendattons
still fall short on il~e commercial sectox IIe l~kes the ataff recommendadon for commerc~al but wants the city to
eollect class of customer mformation so the ophon could be tailored even more
Bill DeOreo, 303015"' 5t., Bonlder, is a large lot owner and coulddt sleep knowmg that the city ~s only giving
60% of the city the nght amount of water. He said we can do better and we need to use GIS to do that Water
budgets are not cost-based rate struchires There should be a hne at wh~ch you bill on a penalty bas~s Top hei
costs should be very high Then enforcement costs would go down He recommended gmng w~th Ken W~lson's
outLnes
Carev Cook, 1050 Linden Ave., I3oulder, talked about savmg money and asked if the crty shll mtends to read
meters monthly If the city were to read meters on an annual basis then they could b~ll monthly and make
ad)ustments as they go
Joe Mahaffev, 5890 N. Orchard Creek Cir., Boulder, said he appreciated Ken W ~lson's d~scussion and asked
about the s~ze of Yaps for busmesses He said that the topic seems to need resolution He asked about cistern use
because we waste a lot.
Steve Pomerence, 335 17th St., Boulder, read the 2001 Cost of Service Study and the American Water Works
Manual on rate settmg He disagrees with tlie staff recommendation No rates were set to match ac[ual costs of
water In that case it is not a fee but a Yax TAROR requ~res excess tax to be xeturned The xeal issue ~s that no one
knows how the rates were established He gave a s~mple way to figure tUat Sudgets and rates are separate issues
Rates are about how much you pay Budgets are about l~ow much you get They don't relate except m plant
mveshnent fees There is a basic unFa~rness and large users should compensate the system The way u is now
doesn't cover that concept He is proposmg a stra~ghtforward system where users pay the actual cost and then
either pay a rental or receive a cred~t dependmg on how much they use
Nick Janeewicz, 4567 Tally Ho Tr., Boulder, hves m Gunbarrel and sees the mequity between GI and
residenhal users Last summer the rate mcreased foi residenhal customers but not for C/I useis He has seen a lot
of commerc~al waste The issue has to be addressed Res~dent~al users are forced to subsid~ze wmmercial users
He requested that Pomerance's letter be posted on the Web s~te He also asked to have some of the figures that the
staff recommendatrons are based on posted on the We6 s~te
A1 Gunter, 325 Foxtail Ct., Boulder, had a page of mformatron about PIFs, unethical drought charges, cost
accountmg and reUability He doesn't understand somethmg that ~s picked out of the a~r It should be cost based
He is agamst the staff chmce He said Yo do u cight not do rt because ~t is easy for staff He thmks there has been
~mproper use of utilrties fees LasY year there was a drought but the dam s[ill spilled water He would hke a rebate
on drought charges where we weren't m a drought Tha PIF can't be r~ght He asked the WRAB to ask a staff
person to explam rt
Water Resources Adwsory lloard
Summary Mmutes
Jan 26, 2004
Page 2
Christv Gunter, 325 Foxtail Ct., Boulder, owns a busmcss and says that Ken Wilson addressed some of her
concerns The current system is compl~cated and has problems There has to be a cost basis for rates Costs vary
by season Everyone should face tlie same rates No one cares how big the tap s~ze ~s Tliey care about how much
watex ~s bemg used The current rates don't refleet costs it is not the ~ob of the city to force hehaviors but to
prov~de adequately safe water Plans should be based on real costs and expenses She wants anough water to hve
the way she has hved for the last 25 years anci she is w~lhng to pay her fau share. If the c~ty ~s lookmg at lot s~zq
why not also look at how many people are ~n the house
Karen Von Gunter, 3173 8~h St., Boulder, thanked the board for comuig up with a fair and equitable system
She said she doesn't want to subs~dize commerc~al use or unsustamable growth She has a large lot with a small
house and a lot of trees Slie satd she wottld like an equitable system
Darothv Cohen, 2845 Elm Ave., Bonlder, said she rcmembers the new Safeway m nouh Boulder wate~mg
durmg the mtddle of the day Safeway told lier that the city requires new properhes to plant hlueg~ass and new
plantmgs, even though the c~ty was m a drought Busmess conservation should be done aud it is not fau because
she conserves a lot We have to balance out new buildmg wrth conservation
Bart Miller, 4530 Hanover, Boulder, complimented the staff and the boaid He saui he hopes th~s study can be
wrrtten for other mCies to use as a model He likes Option 4 but sa~d tUat the city might deal w~th the equity issues
m a better way He recommended findmg a compromise that would encourage reduchon m use through mcenhve
piograms He sa~d TABOR may not apply because the cost may be coveied under avoidance of establishmg a new
source The hmits need to be steep enough to send a message to users He hopes wnservation piograms are bemg
revisued especially for commercial users
Moe Tabrizi, CU IIoulder, campus Resource Conservahon Officer, said that ovei the past few years the
umvees~ty has mvested m conservatron programs wrth good results Over Y~me commercial allocations w~ll
become smaller - there ~s a lack of coordmahon wrth conservahon
Jerry George asked why people on mty water ~n the county pay a higher iate Will~ams said that the fixed cliarge
~e more expenstva bascd on the cost of service The quanhty charge ~s the same
WRAB Discussion
W dhams rerrunded the board that [he staff wants a system tl~at will be more equitable but you can't custom~ze
totally everything Paul Lander has worked w~th businesses to achieve Best Management Prachces foi water use
W~lltams said that the staff needs to send recommendat~ons for a rate siructure system to the ctty council The
actual cates associated wrth Yhat strueture would come at a later pomt
'Phe d~scuss~on covered the mei ~YS of watex budgets and usmg lot s~ze, what Yo do about sw~mmmg pools, allowmg
customers to iead their own meteis, whether the iecommendation for C/I aceounts ~s b~ased, equity between SFR
and MFR accouuts, whether or not the e~ry will get enough rcvenue, var~ance pioeedures and incoiporatmg Steve
Pomeiance's ideas mto a rate analysis for pmm~g
Jim Knouf motioned that the WRAB recammend the followmg: For SFR - option 4 from thc
study, for MFR - option 3 from thc study, for M[ - aption 2 trom the stndy, tor C/I thc staff
recommendation.
Ken WUson sewnded the motion.
The board dec~ded to hold over the d~ecuss~on and vote unhl the meetmg on Peb 9, 2004 W~lliams asked ~F [Ue
board needed any more matenal for the next mectmg The board requestcd an analys~s of the staff
recommendahon or anythmg that woiild help the board make a companson Wilhams said that that matenal may
not be available by the meetmg on Feb 9
Agenda Item 5 -
Matters from the Staff
Ned Williams discussed the Pollowmg:
• A pubhc meetmg on the South Boulder Creek Floodplam Hydrology Study Alan Taylor will lead the
meehng which marks the begmmug of the hydrology study.
• A low temperature, higl~ pressure pipe burst fest on the Lakewood P~pe6ne The test w~ll be conducted
on Jan 27and w~ll be followed by a leak test m several weeks
Water Resource,s Arlv~sory l3oard
Sumrnary M~nutes
Jan 26, 2004
Page 3
• A delay m the progress of the Valmont Butte compostmg facilrty The Plannmg Diractor will be
assemblmg a commuruty advisory group to review the pio~ect so the CEAP w~ll not be presented to the
WRAB at the Peb 9 mectmg
. Recruthnent foi mty boards and comm~ss~ons, whtch closes on Feb 20
. A study session wuh the city counc~l on Feb. 24 which w~ll cover water ~ssues The agenda will covei the
rate structure and two or three other issues The city counc~l has asked foi the WRAB to attend and for a
board representat~ve to achvely panc~ipate The board agreed to discuss the session at the Feb 9
mectmg A draft mformat~on packet will be ava~lable by the Feb 9 meeCmg
Matters Trom the Board
• Kcn Wilson said tha[ he had recerved comments fxom several c~ty counml members askmg for moie
detail about what is gomg on with water ~ssues hm Knopf and Ken Wilson cieated an mformahon
sheet and met wrth Yhe city counml to review the issues W~Ison satd that the new counc~l is eager to
understand water ~ssues W~ll~ams asked about a comment writtcn in the mformation sheet regardmg
hmmg on tUe rate structure Wilson sa~d that he would send an update to the comment wh~ch was no
longer accurate
. G~l Barth aeked if a new date is available for the Valmont Butte CEAP Wilhams said that a new date ~s
not available Ken Wilson added that the ctty council percephon is that the fire hatntng center ts more
of a nroblem than the composUug faciUty would be
Agenda Item 6 - Adjournment
Gil Barti~ motioned to ad~ourn the meeting.
Jim Knopf seconded the mot~on.
The vote was 5-0 in favor of the motion.
The meetm was ad ourned at 10 10 m
Date, Time, and Location of Next Mcetmg:
Monday Peb 9, 2004, 7 p m, regular meehn , at the Cit Mumci al Serv~cas Center conferance room
Mmutes approved by ~
~/~
Date ~~ ~ 20C~~
Water Resources Advtsory Board
Summnry Minutes
Jan 26, 2004
Puge 4