Minutes - Environmental Advisory - October 1, 2008 CITY OF BOULDER, COLORADO
BOARDS AND COMMISSIONS MEETING SUMMARY
NAME OF BOARD/COMMISSION: Environmental Advisory Board
DATE OF MEETING: October 1, 2008
NAME/TELEPHONE OF PERSON PREPARING SUMMARY: Kelle Karp, 303-441-1940
NAMES OF MEMBERS, STAFF AND INVITED GUESTS PRESENT:
Environmental Advisory Board Members Present: Brian Vickers, Bill Roettker, Francoise
Poinsatte -Chair, Leah Kukowski Martinson and Suzanne Jones
Board Members Absent:
Staff Members Present: Mike Patton and Mark Gershman, Open Space & Mountain Parks
Public Present: Mary Chavers, Julie Herman, Eric Dowd, and Lindsey with Keep Boulder Wild
OUTLINE OF AGENDA
1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 6 p.m. by chair Francoise Poinsatte.
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES. Minutes from the September meeting were unanimously approved.
3. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION. Mary Chavers attended the meeting to discuss her concerns about
pesticides being applied by unlicensed contractors. She wants to know what the city is doing to
regulate the process, and who should be held liable for allowing these applications by unlicensed
contractors. Jonathan infonned the board that the city is aware of the problem with making sure all
pesticide contractors are licensed, and that we are in the process of hiring an Integrated Pest
Management Coordinator who will be actively involved in resolving the issue.
Julie Herman and Eric Daub attended the meeting to express concern about the lack of energy
efficiency improvements being incorporated into the construction projects of the Boulder Valley
School District (BVSD). As parents of children in BVSD and members of the community, they would
like to see the city partner with BVSD to utilize available Education Excise Tax (EET) funds for
implementing energy efficiency improvements in the schools. The board informed Julie and Eric that
council can place standazds on how EET funds are used, and then asked staff to clarify if council has
discussed a use for EET funds. Jonathan informed the board that council talked about the topic at the
September 9th study session, but needs to discuss it further and a date for that discussion still needs to
be determined.
Lindsey Sterling Krank with Keep Boulder Wild asked to save her comments until after the main
agenda item was presented; please see remazks in section 5.
4. UPDATE.
• Val Matheson started September 22 assuming the position of the Urban Wildlife Conservation
Coordinator.
• The Compost Ordinance is going to council on October 7 for the 3`d reading and on October 21 for
the 4`h reading.
• The study session on November 18 will cover the Climate Action Plan (CAP). For the November
board meeting, staff will present the research findings on the Residential Energy Conservation
Ordinance (RECD) and the CAP to get feedback from the board before presenting at the study
session.
• October is energy awazeness month and the city is planning a city solar celebration to acknowledge
the resent and coming solaz installations on city property (the board will receive invitations). Also,
the week of October 6 is Solar Week.
Approved: '
Francoise Poinsatt Ce
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• Staff is concurrently presenting to the Landmarks Board about the Green Points & Green Building
codes and will be presenting the same information to the Planning Board Thursday, October 2. The
information being presented to these two boards is the same information that was presented to EAB
back in August.
5. MAIN AGENDA ITEMS. Mike Patton and Mark Gershman with Open Space and Mountain Parks
presented the Grasslands Management Plan (GMP) to the board. The GMP is the result of a
commitment made in the first phase of the Urban Wildlife Management Plan, and that the focus of the
GMP is to take an ecosystem approach, which includes but is not limited to the black tail prairie dog.
Furthermore, the purpose of the GMP is to focus on conserving the ecological values of Boulder's
grasslands and ensure the ongoing of agricultural production (agricultural production uses just over
25% of the grasslands and its biggest productions are horse hay, cow calf operations, and gains). The
next steps in the GMP are to do viability assessments that evaluate how the biodiversity is doing using
several different methods, and staff works with many different experts to determine standards and
indicators for determining acceptable ranges. The results from the viability assessments then influence
future goals and objectives. Staff also uses a report card to rank how good or bad conditions are for
the conservation targets. If conditions are not good, then staff tries to determine what the stresses are
that are affecting the tazget and determine the ranking of the stress. Staff also tries to determine the
source of the stress, and evaluate if they can undo the impacts caused by the stressors. Another aspect
that the GMP addresses is the integration of Boulder's urban wildlife. Of all the numerous strategies
available to address the stresses and threats, staff strictly evaluates them on their short term and long
term sustainability, use of staff time, and cost. With respect to the black tail prairie dog issue, staff is
taking a similar approach as other organizations where the goal is to move the prairie dog from the
places that they are not compatible to the places where they aze with in the open space areas. Many of
the current prairie dog sites overlap with the agricultural lands, and although there is conflict in some
areas, the grazing lands are more compatible. Staff clarified that they will never be able to satisfy
every aspect of the prairie dog need. Shortly, staff will be scheduling community dialogues to get
feedback on the GMP, and presenting the GMP to the Open Space Board of Trustees.
Lindsey Sterling Krank with Keep Boulder Wild expressed concern about the black tail prairie dog
issue. The Keep Boulder Wild organization funded a study about relocation lands for the prairie dogs
and urged Open Space and Mountain Pazks staff to use the results from their study in the GMP. Staff
informed Lindsey that they do have the results from her organization's study, and that if they do not
incorporate the study's data it is only because it is not suitable over all for the grasslands plan.
Over all the board supported the current direction of the GMP. The board asked staff how they would
assess the current state of the grasslands and their respective conservation targets, as well as how the
prairie dog relocation issue is coming along. The board also asked about the time line of the public
process and requested that they be included in the process.
6. MATTERS FROM STAFF. None.
7. MATTERS FROM THE BOARD. Francoise requested that the board have the Green Schools
Initiative on an upcoming agenda so the board can determine if EET dollars are available for energy
efficiency improvements in the school district. Also, all the board members agreed that public
participation needs to be limited to 5 minutes per person and that the chair needs to strictly enforce the
time limit. Public participation can be reopened later in the meeting if necessary, but participant
should not be allowed to engage in a discussion with the main presenter. November meeting agenda
topics are CAP, RECD and Green Schools Initiative.
8. ADJOURNMENT. Meeting adjourned at 8:35 p.m.
9. TIME & LOCATI OF NEXT MEETING: Wed, Nov 5, 2008, 1300 Canyon Blvd, 6 p.m.
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Francoise Pomsatte, hair Dat