December 6, 2023 — Environmental Advisory Board Regular Meeting

Transcript

Captions from City of Boulder YouTube recording.

[0:14] Okay. okay. we are already reporting. So welcome everybody. And it looks like the sounds working. So we are good to go. A okay, cool. pull this meeting to order. and the first item is to approve the minutes. Do the motion to move the minutes. Anybody? Second? Thank you. Oh, yeah. And then the next thing is second motion to so spend their typical rules for public engagement to allow a community member to speak at alert time at around 6, 45, 7. Yeah, it's okay. There, you'll be watching for

[1:12] all the participants joining. And you will notify us. So that's okay with you guys. Anybody second to the motion? Thank you. Alright. So let's go with public participation right after the meaning protocols. Welcome everybody. My name is Heather, Sandina, and I'm serving as the technical host for tonight's meeting. Thank you for your grace and patience. We adjust to this new platform. Of being back in person. We're all learning, and we appreciate your understanding with any technical issues as they pop up today.

[2:08] The city has engaged with community members to co-create a vision for productive, meaningful, and inclusive civic conversations. Division supports physical and emotional safety for community members, staff and board Commission members as well as democracy. For people of all ages, identities lived experiences and political perspectives for more information about decision and the community engagement process. Please visit that website, Holder Colorado, for slash services towards slash productive python atmospheres. The following are examples of rules of decorum found in the boulder revised code and other guidelines that support this vision. These will be upheld. During this meeting all remarks and testimony shall be limited to manage, related to to city business. No participants shall make threats or use other forms of intimidation against any person. Obscenity, racial epithets, and other speech and behavior that disrupts or otherwise impedes the ability to conduct this meeting are prohibited participants are required to sign up to speak by using the name they are commonly known by, and individuals must display their full name before being allowed to speak online.

[3:17] Currently, only audio testimony is permitted online because we do not have registration for open and public comment. Tonight, you can indicate you would like to participate by using the raise hand function. Excuse me. The Raiseian button is in the participant box which can be found in the menu by hovering over the top or the bottom of your screen, and then clicking on the participant icon. When the box opens you will see the raise hand button at the bottom by clicking that button we can indicate, you would like to participate and open our public comment. If you join us by phone, you could press star in mind. Raise your hand to your public comment. the

[4:04] some of these things. So it stops freezing the computer. Okay? Alright. So it looks like we have a city employee who's previously communicated, but she is just listening in so we do not have any public participants at the moment. But I will keep an eye on that, and let me know if we have other people. Sounds good. Alright then, then, let's move on to the next item, which is the ecosystem. Go ahead. It's gonna be a good conversation, really excited to have some expert staff here to talk about some of these kind of intertwined issues. The first one, and I'll let Emily introduce herself. And talk about this particular topic. But the first one is around our sustainable deconstruction requirements that went into effect in 2,020. You're probably gonna say some of this. So I apologize for the repetition as part of our energy conservation code. I know that sounds like, a little bit of a mismatch, but we're starting to become a lot more sophisticated in how we utilize our code of other energy code and kind of our package or suite of codes to achieve the outcome

[5:23] if we want. So right now, as you know council is taking a look at our existing energy code update. They'll take that up in of next year. and then a big project for 2024 is looking at our building codes and thinking about the embodied carbon, and how we could think about really driving kind of carbon out of our existing structures. And that supply chain using our code requirements. And so I guess the point that I would just wanna make sure that I make before I turn this over to Emily is that deconstruction of our buildings is a really really critical piece of our overall. 0 waste process. And our master plan for waste reduction. Obviously, we're talking about deconstruction of buildings. We're talking about huge quantities of material. So any progress in keeping those materials at a landfill landfills is pretty significant in terms of kind of helping us achieve our goals more broadly. So excited to have Emily take it from here kick off this presentation

[6:23] and look forward to any questions you have. Right? I just, I think we're gonna be. So I'm Emily Freeman. I am a policy advisor on circular economy team, which is Jamie's team. So I am really happy to be here and talk to you about deconstruction. I think, just in general. there's not been a lot of like emphasis and put on the built environment in terms of management of waste. When when we're looking at Billings historically, they, you know, starting with the urban renewal that started occurring in the 19 thirties and Ford, it really became like.

[7:16] I don't know. It's like. Oh, yeah, sorry. I'm like not clicking on the entire word. But like, if it I'm having like a you want to go to a demolition. You want to see that big? yeah, everyone glorifies demolition like whether it's my 3 and a half year old who has like. I just wanna pull those everything and knock down, build these towers and knock them down. Literally. The books that we read at night are all about bulldozers and creators. And

[8:04] it's it's a fascination that I think we have built into our culture. Whether it's from a very young age, or even through adult budget. And I imagine, looking at these implosions like on the strip in Las Vegas, and people are just gathered around, and it's televised. When those materials are gone, they are in the landfill. If they are demolished, whether it's through closure or other mechanical means, you cannot save that valuable material. It is now lost. For really, all of attorneys that's stuff that I think everyone here in this room is fully aware of. So I just kind of like we're gonna try and provide a little bit of that context as to why we care and kind of take you into what the ordinances and kind of where we're we're looking and hoping for some guidance around where we want it to go. So I've been working on the deconstruction ordinance since I joined the city in February of 2020. Taylor Ryman is moved over from the city manager's office

[9:18] in September, September like. So she's she joined our team is going to be taking over some of the programmatic elements in Antonia who you met earlier before the meeting. She has been working on really diligently on the administrative task that we'll cover a little bit. So so acknowledge our team. And we can't really do it without everyone. So so today in our agenda. We've kind of got 3 areas for us to consider. We have the the, we're gonna kind of talk about the current code. As it is the 2,020 code what it look like for implementation of what those current requirements are.

[10:09] Now and then we're gonna transition to talking about that. What that engagement is, what we have done with the contractors and the outreach to the community we for hosting a deconstruction and working group. And we'll we'll kind of dive into that. And then Taylor is is running our ordinance through the racial equity instrument and what our plans are for the data, and that's gonna all go into. Where do we want to go? What is that planning? Look like? The success is coming out of the deconstruction of the old Boulder Community Hospital and what we want to address going forward. So it's fine. Alright! So the state of demolition why do we care? I've gotten to that a little bit. At the start. But. as you can see, some of these stats, one in 7 buildings in in that 30 year time span or demolished. So out of those buildings that are going up.

[11:12] you know one of those. If each of those 17 are now gone, and we will never see those again. Another way to think about this is, we always talk about Ms. W. Municipal, solid waste, that's what going out. And our our normal trash bins C and D construction and demolition debris accounts for more than double of the total waste stream that we're seeing on a municipal level. So out of that entire research. And these are slides coming from the EPA, 40% of the entire waste stream, including industrial C and D and residential sources. 40% is coming from 3D. Of that amount of that 600 million tons that's generated every year, 90% is from demolition.

[12:05] So when you're thinking about where that generation of material is, is it on the construction side? It really is from the demolition is the the entire mass of that building that is coming down, that is then being lost. So this is why we care about this. Another way that we kind of talk about this is, if you think of like a typical residential house, let's just say, 15, 1,700 square foot family home. If you were to put that home and demolish it, and it all goes into the landfill. That is the equivalent of one person's lifetime generated amount of trash. and that demolition happens in about 2 days. and that's it. Just in like I'm trying to like, get you to think of like you. Every week you put out one. You just think of

[13:14] what those impacts are. And it's it really is incredible. So we just we have a picture there just showing the traditional demolition of a building, and all of that just getting scraped away and lost forever. What is the difference between waste stream? And when there's a full, solid waste? So the the waste stream is like everything when we're talking about the municipal solve. And so municipal solid would be like household generated trash and the 40% of the total waste stream. We're talking Ms. W. That municipal or the residential trash plus buildings plus any other industrial works. So you kind of look at it. The pie chart 40 would be coming from buildings

[14:04] heather. I'm just. I'm just verifying. We're we're looking at the slides because it's probably not working on the zoom. Is that right? It's working. Zoom has flipped my displays to the public is the actual slides of presentation. Okay? So if you have any other. We're just talking the environmental impact. Right now, there's a lot of other impacts that go around. So pivot, we can go to the next slide. That next level of impact is when we're talking. Deconstruction is not just saving the materials that we we just talked about, and we'll have the numbers to kind of show you what folder is achieved since ordinance implementation. But this is also a way for us to see how we can kind of flip that script. This is a new way to do business. It creates jobs. It is creating a training work course in an area where you might not

[15:18] have known what to do. Deconstruction is. We defined deconstruction as the careful dismantling of a home typically in the opposite order in which a home is constructed. So if you think about what? What's the last thing to go on the home? And then the first thing that they're putting down is the foundation. So the first thing that comes off and deconstruction is the roof and all the support beams, and you're working your way back down to the foundation. it. It requires skilled labor on a demolition. You can operate a 2 to 3 person crew. You can remove the entire house and the foundation, and

[16:03] a day and a half to 2 days and a deconstruction of a similarly sized residential home it would take anywhere from 10 to 14 days, and it's about I think they say, like around 6 to 8, person for crew, depending on what? What that is. So we do talk about. There are additional costs to being able to deconstruct the home. But there's also additional benefits. Then, when you come to looking at job creation, stability and being able to see value in those materials as well. So do you want me to kind of talk through the slide? I know. Okay, I just wanna make sure we're all. And I'm just trying to like talk around around that topic. So yeah, it does take that more time and effort. The way that it kinda is that systems change is that you can. If you're donating materials out of

[17:12] a residential home, you get about a 30% of the fair market value. If you're taking that to a nonprofit organization such as Resource central, which we're lucky enough to have in our community when you're able to donate those materials to existing nonprofits. It doesn't have to just be resource. or you're able to sell materials coming out of the home which some of our contractors are starting to do as well. The homeowner, or really the property owner, is able to make up at least a portion of that additional cost and deconstruction. There are also cases when they can actually make money on a deconstruction. So do you want more information on that? We can kind of get into that eventually, I just wanted to.

[18:08] lay that out for you guys as well. Ways to offset, always depending on the condition of the home. But yeah, alright. Next slide. So when we started this back in 2019, there was a great set of green points existed before this. It required 65% diversity. not including the foundation of the home. And there really was no teeth around that prior ordinance. So we weren't getting any reporting. We didn't have any data. So we really kind of went into the July first, 2020 implementation of this ordinance blind. Not knowing. Is this even possible? Do we have the markets? And what would be achievable. So we use that first year as kind of a test case to really understand and really work with those contractors. And we're able to to really see that

[19:08] it is possible that we were achieving the numbers that we expected to see. And we also did a a nexus study to confirm that the cost of our deposit was accurate. With the the $1. Well, I guess the $1 per square foot is justifiable to cover environmental costs. There is room to increase that deposit. But, as you see in the presentation, I one of the strategies I would like to focus on is, how can we use policy? And okay, more descriptive language as to what our expectations are versus any additional financial penalties or funds related to that. So I'm trying to track the ordinance in that direction.

[20:03] Go to the next slide. So where? Where are we at? We really want to move us to focusing on that built environment this picture wanted. You know, this is the inside of the old Boulder community hospital. This was the actual deconstruction work it. Came out of our city project so you'll see piles of installation. You'll see piles of ceiling tiles. They are going to be reused. But you can't see that is, off to the left is a pile of doors and cabinets that we're also just from that that same work area. So we're able to take this to heart and do this ourselves as well. So the current ordinance covers all residential and commercial full structure removals, really careful not to say demolition. It is to anything that's being fully removed or major renovations. What we call level for alterations is basically a gut job. If you're gonna take all the windows plumbing electrical walls out, etc.

[21:11] We require, the contractor to submit a sustainable deconstruction plan to say, identify what types of materials they expect and and what they believe that we are going to be, that that is a stumbling block. And something we're looking to maybe not require of. The wait estimation piece might not be required. Moving forward. The goal is to divert 75% by weight of all materials from the landfill with a minimum of 3 materials being being diverted. Right now, as I said, with that nexus study, it's a $1 per square foot deposit with a 1,500 man dollar minimum.

[22:01] it is the entire goal of this is we want to give that deposit back. We want to see that the building is diverted. We don't want to use this as like a revenue generating mechanism. So what is the material like insulation arrival? Yeah, let's go to the next slide. so kind of getting to your point there. So it didn't. What do we know can be recycled at this point in Colorado's market. And this is pretty much true across all areas, whether you're in a mountain or rural community. But also here in in boulder in the front range. Things that we can easily recover are materials for reuse and salvage. That's like the soft strip of a house where you're coming through, saying, I'm gonna take these lighting fixtures and the sinks in the process and be able to take them to habitat or to resource Central or put them on. Craigslist, find ways that they can be reused. We also allow for reuse, homeown, or property, or wants to use that same material back into their building. They just have to catalog that material is there, and is going to go back to the home.

[23:18] we can easily recycle metal. There's lots of scrap metal recyclers around here. also we can recycle clean and untreated wood, so would it's not painted or stained. You can. If it's source separated. You can take it over to Western disposal, offers a chipping service, and that's right now they're utilizing it as animal vetting. We are looking into new markets where we can hopefully be Neil potentially for reviews. But we at least know that the wood has a diverted home from the landfill and then aggregates. That's where we're primarily talking about asphalt brick concrete other examples can be granted. It can be porcelain toilets. All of that type of material is accepted by aggregate recyclers, and there's 2 that are within like a 10 mile drive

[24:19] of the city center. What can't be landfilled? So your dry walls. Whether it's clean or painted it. If we don't, we can't recycle this asphalt shingles from roofs and painted and stained so for the typo there. But painted and stained would. There are through the Circular Economy development Center. They are exploring options for those 3. They're trying to help promote those markets. So we will just kind of keep in touch with circular Colorado. Understand what changes there are, and we're hoping to kind of revise the ordinance to maybe not. Just say 3 materials. But you. You must recycle

[25:12] materials that have a known end market and really focusing on that, and that, I think, allows for the expansion of that. And then well, we'll get into the creative solutions. We have seen Emily. So you say, 75 waste. So we get primarily through wait tickets that are provided by by the facility which materials are taken to. So an app. The aggregate recyclers have scale houses. so do you usually get a week to get from metal as well? If you're taking material to resource central, they have standard wait for donated materials. So they're able to provide information when you're having to estimate it. Right?

[26:10] Yeah, we we heard that as feedback from the deconstruction working group is that is difficult for contractors to know what those weights of materials are. And we're looking just kind of like. Remove the the estimation on the front end, we would probably recommend that we keep the 75 as that target for diversion. But really trying to emphasize you, you need to divert materials with known markets. so.

[27:17] okay, cool. Thank you. Yeah. Next time. So our current success is, you're gonna see 2 numbers. So you're gonna see 73. It's like 73.8. But you know. it's it's there about. This is where we were at in terms of reported projects projects that have closed out prior to out time, Balson being deconstructed, the numbers going to jump exponentially. Once we have that project we wanted just to kind of point that out because you're good, you'll see these numbers. The number is like with outline balls and included, is is going to be over 75% and you're like, if you're sitting here going well, why do we need these changes, the the changes that we are working to explore both internally and with the feedback we're getting from the deconstruction working group is because

[28:20] given that we're sitting at 73%. If you go back over to the challenges call. We have these creative free materials. Sometimes it's like, I will do the foundation and literally a patio table with 4 chairs that count as donation and they did some shrugs. And so what we are finding as we're digging into the data and seeing what's happening over the last 3 and a half years is that this is not for all contractors, but the contractors that are continuing with the model of a demolition is they are attempting to get as close to 75% as possible by just doing the foundation of of the building

[29:08] and then meeting the other material categories by saying, Well, I donated a table. I'm good. That's one category. And technically we have, we accept that. And we we did the trees because you know that needed to. They needed to come down to expanding footprint of the house. But it's not as as Jonathan mentioned at the start of this is not looking at the embodied carbon, and what can be saved from all of the valuable materials in the building itself? They are them in. In a lot of cases people are demolishing the building and just trying to recycle the foundation, which is what they've always done. It's cheaper to send the foundation to an aggregate recycler than to landfill. So it's not necessarily changing the way

[30:04] we're looking at the value of building materials. And that's what we're hoping through this working group and coming to you guys for feedback on how we might wanna structure an ordinance that will allow us to see the importance of the built environment. I don't understand that part. So the ordinances do the most. I've heard 75% of the building. But then, what do you mean? And like the shrubs might be at a half percent of that weight, and then they did the foundation. II ran some numbers this past week on

[31:07] on 3 contractors who who are deconstruction contractors. They're the ones who are actually taking these buildings down, and they're averaging around 9% coming from not from not the the foundation. 9% of the total diversion is from that. So it's actually really good. We were, we were kind of thinking around 10 ish, so 91% is materials. So landfill is around like 13 or so percent of the total, they're averaging around anywhere from 75. And I've seen stuff on certain projects upwards of 90 plus

[32:01] on residential projects. Just to kind of summarize. I guess. What I hear you saying is that we've had a couple of years of this ordinance and this program in effect. And we're realizing there are some loopholes. And so when you say challenges is just what we're realizing what contractors are doing to meet the requirements of the ordinance not really doesn't need the intent of the ordinance. so I think I'll just go there. Yep, intent is really small in that bottom. So with the working group, the intent of what we're trying to do with the working group for their feedback, but also as to where we're hoping to vision. where this ordinance could potentially go, is, how can we maximize keeping building materials in use and out of the landfill

[33:03] through reuse recycling and organics management. And then the second piece of that intent is to really level that playing field between contractors. So everyone's, as it says playing by the same rules right now, if if Jamie is a homeowner and she wants to take the her property down. she might get a deconstruction contractor bidding it at this level, and then Jonathan comes in. He's like I'm a demolition contractor. I can do it for a significantly less cost. And so and still meet these requirements, or you'll get close enough. And it's okay. What we wanna make sure through this ordinance is that we are clear as to what our expectations are that we are defining how to maximize the reuse of recycling, of building materials. So when Jamie goes out to bid for taking down her home the next time when she gets 2 contractors they're providing quotes around that same level of service.

[34:10] I think it's also important to note that, like our our resident, a residential home would probably isn't aware. unless they are like environmentally conscious and minded, of what the requirements are. So they're like, well, why would I pay this amount when I can pay this other amount? So we really wanna make sure it's fair. So in the working group. We covered a lot of different topics. We had 5 meetings and we we kinda just level set, understood, heard what those challenges are. We had other cities come in and present. So Paulo Alto is the only other city with the same type of ordinance that we have where it covers residential and commercial buildings of all ages. Other cities might just focus on residential buildings of a certain age in older so we provided a lot of different perspectives for consideration. To our working group with that working group. I want you to know, I've reached out to over 400 people.

[35:12] These are all people who had applied or had their name or contact information on a permit in the last 3 and a half years, and we've consistently had anywhere from 15 to 20 participants. Most of them are contractors, and then we had processors and callers also join in, so that kind of describes the makeup of our church. Alright, we'll just go towards the next slide. So Taylor's working to dig into the data the data we have like we have. We have kind of like a baseline data, but it doesn't give us like it doesn't allow us to see like compare project by project or cl, like contract or aggregated projects and what their their results are. So we're really hoping to better understand the impacts of the deconstruction ordinance and also be able to have better transparency into that. We're looking at.

[36:15] tracking software that will actually be able to do this. There's several tracking softwares that are out there that other cities are using. Excel just is not cutting it. It's way too difficult. And there's a lot of administrative burden around that as well. We're looking at. Is there a certain square footage that we might want to say like, if it's if your project is 500 square feet or less. You know, the impact is really not there. And so we're looking at some of these different thresholds that might make it easier to take down like smaller buildings that have less of an of build environment and carbon impact and really exploring what that might look like. So there's no guarantees might be. But we're just really trying to better understand that data. So we can be more informed. So my next slide

[37:15] wanted to highlight Alpine Balson. So from the the interior deconstruction was, we're seeing rate almost at 44%. That's when you're looking at that the drywall, the insulation the materials that we can't divert from the landfill. And when we looked at the total weight, 97 by weight of what went to landfill, or that total, I'm sorry of the total project, was Drywall. We really understand Drywall is a significant impact, but it does is there's just no option. We have to land. Fill it. Once we've cleared everything out to what we call the core and shell. So it's just the support structure we were able to reuse and divert 98.5% of the exterior of that building and and all the levels in between. So that gave us a total of 93 and a half percent diversion across the entire project.

[38:21] Things I wanna like highlight that I think, are just absolutely amazing. It's not been done anywhere in the Us. Before is the reuse of this deal. So we worked with Klna. They are a local structural engineer to save and salvage 536 steel. Ibm. Those are those major support structures of those commercial buildings. 30 pieces of that are were lost to damage. But 90%. 90 pieces are currently going into the construction of the new fire station through. So we're able to get and create spec sheets so that those who are building the new buildings have every confidence that the SEO coming out of

[39:08] the hospital is structurally sounds and can work to support that building. And that's what we really are talking about when we look at circular economy, how can we identify, save, and preserve that carbon? Some people might argue still is infinitely recyclable. Same. And yes, it is. But then you have to worry about transportation. smelting, remanufacturing, and then transportation and the sale of that material again, this is a way for us to completely avoid those carbon impacts and emissions and bring bring this into a true circular building. So it's it's just, I think, an amazing way that we approach this project. Okay, do you have any questions specifically? And oh, I also want to say the concrete. So it was a concrete form building. So the concrete if you look at kind of a darker brown area.

[40:09] All of the old hospital was crushed in place and filled that hole. and so we did not have to truck the concrete off property. We did not have to then purchase and bring back in fill. That would have been required. So everything that while it looks like a a dark note dirt that is actually the hospital sitting in there. And we actually were able to work with another a hotel just up the hill that was coming down, and we needed more fill. We didn't have enough hill to fill that hole, so we're able just to truck it 2 miles down the road or up the road, if you will and crush that material on site. So it helped and benefited both projects. So it's just.

[41:01] I know, incredible story. And if you look right on I think it's all pine, right. It that's the northern street. It's a residential street. People also ask about the noise associated with this, because it it does take longer to take down that deconstruction. We had 4 ma noise monitors around each of the property edges. The only space we got that were above were from like fire station, or from fire engines going by because of how we were able to block the buildings. It really minimized the impact. And we had 0 noise complaints from any of the any of the residents or businesses there. So another exciting peace on that. Okay. And I've been on a a personal. I have a little bit of a personal challenge to get from field to do this with their first bank center. They're pulling down. And so fun. Fact, we just met with them last week. They're set to over this project, and they asked us bunch questions. So

[42:05] just doing a quick time check. Yeah, I'll just, we're okay. Yep, she's we do not have any other public. So you know, we said, we're right around 73 diversion. This is where we are at. We're 87 just over 87. If you are accounting for the all time awesome hospital reconstruction. So in that first half of year, so that 2020 is since ordnance implementation, we achieved 85%, 2021. We're at 72, 2022. It's 68. I wanted to know it on the 2022, one

[43:02] a lot of those projects about half of them right now are not reporting. They haven't sent us the data. So it's incomplete data for the year. In 2023. We only have a handful of project we have about, I think, 5 or 6 projects. They've been completed from this year, and it includes the Alpine Boston Hospital, which is why we're sitting at 96. So it really, you know, part of me says, Oh, this, the hospital deconstruction. II kind of initially thought and said that. But I also wanna say, like it really doesn't. Because if that is how we were to approach projects and all all buildings are approached and managed in that kind of same way. This shows what is possible. So what is the diversion? Weight units? Pounds. Yeah.

[44:14] we have one. Contractors is not often, but we did have one contractor who said, I'm not giving you any weights. I will just pay the deposit. We're not giving you anything. We have one project that we're working on this week where they aren't giving us the land for one. They just said, we don't have the land, so wait. Here's just what we diverted. But there's no way to calculate. Calculate that that's like kind of, in a sense, another loophole is like people can just accept the deposit as a fine, and we don't get that information. But that information that data does go into these these reports. So what will be the deposit so it's a dollar per square foot with a minimum of $1,500 right now. So if you have a 900 square foot home, you're gonna pay $1,500.

[45:07] The hospital was a $264,000 deposit which they got back. That was our largest deconstruction, or that's the largest permit and deposit. Yeah? So next steps we we're running through some different scenarios. And what we we envision through feedback from the deconstruction working group. As to what we might want. what this ordinance to look like? Does it require the source separation of materials that have no markets? Is it requiring contractors to be trained and maybe get a license. So we know that they understand what those expectations are.

[46:09] The idea of like a licenses. You wouldn't hire an electrician who didn't have a license or a plumber who didn't have a license. It's kind of taking that same type of idea. So far, we're getting feedback that the licenses more like a more desired city. Portland did a a contractors, a certified contractors list. It's just kind of different mechanisms for doing that. And better information from our data tracking software that will help us alleviate that administrative burden. I think that's the biggest thing that Antonia struggles with is, people don't have clear expectations when they submit the information. The verification of receipts takes time. We, we hear that constantly is a challenge. And we're hoping that if we have a better data management system, we will be able to process and move these permits and inspections through through faster as well, so

[47:12] questions for you. Is there anything you would specifically like us to answer questions that you have? So we can address those before coming back to you. And what do you think about our current engagement with the contractors? And is there anything more that we could be doing? Sorry, guys, before we open the floor for discussion. I see, like 4 participants there. Yes. or is it just double? I think it's Taylor. Yeah, let's just proceed. Taylor. I'm I see you on twice, once as a panelist and once as a participant. So if if you want to chime in the call, or if you have something to add,

[48:19] just raise your hand or you can text me on my cell phone and I'll I'll teams, message or team. Yeah, yeah, I'm on both. Actually, if you could promote me on the other one also, you guys could see my base make you a oh, I'm here. Take a moment once it's okay. So II do have a question about the deconstruction things, is there? So one of the main loopholes functions around using the foundation as the primary wait percentage. And then

[49:07] what you want to be promoting is increase the construction of the interior house and just the house itself, and and also the It people are deconstructing the foundation. Anyways, that's just how it's done. It's cheaper to send it to aggregates than it is to trash it. Is it possible to just remove the foundation from the ordinance, and just not have that be able to be counted towards weight or towards material count? If it's already getting deconstructed, and that's the way to do it. Then there's no reason to be able to include it right, and then that would force people to deconstruct additional parts of the house in order to meet requirements and meet we percentages. If you apply those to the house instead of the entire building foundation is just getting deconstructed. Anyways, we're that was kind of the reason I started writing the numbers with the 3 contractors that I know like are trying to deconstruct the houses, and and taking that approach because I wanted to know, like what was like a potential achievable percentage. If it was the rest of the house. Given, what can be different in the no markets?

[50:21] so that's kind of why, I'm like, what brand landing out is around like a 9% of the the total weight. And you still would like to include the foundation. Just so you can kind of get that full scope of diversion. And so when we're talking about that 600 million tons of of stuff, I think it's just we still want those numbers. But we're what we're trying to think through is, how can we de-emphasize the foundation which is what I think you're talking about is like, if you emphasize and take away the power, if you will, of the foundation and find out how we can say you need to maximize the reuse and recycling

[51:08] of the actual building itself. Is that? Yeah, II mean, I think. for for for data and number sure include the foundation absolutely. But in terms of like performing the ordinance, is there any reason to include the foundation. like in in terms of like. Once, like, once, we have the data, we know how much of a house is theoretically recyclable and reusable. We know how much of a house like the foundation is. Is there any reason to include the foundation in the ordnance for deconstruction, like as a determination of of any other, like the deposit rate, like what? What is the purpose of allowing the foundation to be included? If the foundation is already being deconstructed by system like. well, can I? Can, I say, like you can include that as a as a necessary. but but you don't include that as as part of the way, construction like, yeah, you have to deconstruct and and do the foundation.

[52:08] But you take your numbers from the rest of like of 75. Like, if let's say we keep 75%, is it like that? 10 is really, we want to see 10 of non aggregate non foundation. And that's your target. That's really the target. Right? Alright. What what would happen would happen if you. if the anything that can be recycled or reused, you have to do it is that just to cost or I think that's kind of what we're hoping to get out of with this idea of like source separation of any material within known market.

[53:04] and we're trying like we were debating. Do you take away like a percentage or a weight measure? My fear of taking that away is like someone might say. Well, all I could do was the patio in 4 chairs. And how do you like ensure that those materials were maximized. We're like, Oh, it was really just 100 pounds of wood coming out of this house. and that's all you know. So I was worried about. III first I was like, let's just take the weights away because it's hard to estimate it's hard to do this. But then. Well, what if somebody were to say? 100 pounds of metal, 100 pounds of wood. 500,000 pounds of which can't be of of a residential foundation. But you don't have a way to like balance that with

[54:00] it. Was that really everything that you could do? And so I think that's what I'm and my team are like currently struggling with is like we could go simple as saying, if it has a market, you must recycle it. But how do we know they didn't just do one small load of wood, and then put the rest into landfill. Like as you're building your, you have inspections. You don't have any kind of inspection. We don't currently have inspections during the process. It is like all at the end where you're just looking at. They have a bigger team they have. If I think, for people who are working on this full time, they they go out. They meet with The contractors on site. They have to explain and walk through the site. and

[55:01] they have to talk about where they're going to place bins because they do have source separation requirements. and then I want to say they go out. They might go out mid mid time just to like kind of check and see, is this really happening. and then they get the weights at the end. Yeah, let's try that, Taylor. Hi, all sorry I couldn't be there in person, and I haven't had the pleasure of meeting you. But Taylor Ryman, I just joined a couple of months ago. With climbed initiatives. Been with the city for a little bit longer, but getting into the construction and demolition world. I just wanted to chime in here, cause like I'm kind of new and wanted to share my perspective on how we're trying to approach this. And I think there's 2 major objectives that being, let's meet the ordinance intent better. And then also let's reduce administrative burden. And part of that is, as Emily mentioned, that evaluation upfront, making it a little bit less subjective and more objective.

[56:10] and each project is so so different is what I'm learning. Each structure. And the way that it's deconstructed. What are the abatement needs like? Is it gonna be too hazardous to perhaps get up close and personal with those materials and and take them down. Is it possible that we could do like a mixed approach where we see kinda deconstruct part of a building. But then the other part of the building maybe needs to be more kinda demoed. So we're figuring out what that evaluation looks like upfront. We're working with like abatement specialists to to figure out what what assessments do they do. And and how could that inform our ability to determine what is recoverable? And then our ability to say, like what new either ord pieces of the ordinance, and that update needs to be put into place. What programs can we

[57:03] create to help people achieve the the diversion of the recoverable materials without getting through those loopholes. But that's also gonna look like, though, is us adding more rules and Peri potentially more evaluation requirements on either staff side or a third party specialist side. So if we're also trying to reduce administrative burden it might be advantageous for us to create like a project threshold, right? So that we're not essentially like going through this higher intensity evaluation process with every single project. But maybe we can work with the more heavy hitting projects in the city. More closely, because we'll we'll have the time to perhaps do more training with them. Do site visits, do pre inspections and and things like that. Maybe there's also a way to keep track of

[58:02] certain the people that you've worked with. who have, you know? Like, yeah, III hate having a bunch of rules. But it's also like, yeah, like, if we know that these people are more helpful in relieved when we have those 3 contractors come across support would like as a city to know that everyone who's gone through a a training program, and there are deconstruction trainers that are that exist

[59:04] and have been used by other cities to make sure those contractors are on the same page that they have the skills. And they can take that knowledge back to their employees and transfer it. Because I also feel like it's it is kind of the city's responsibility to say. if we're gonna require deconstruction, which is new to most of the way you've ever done business. We want to make sure you have the knowledge and skills and not just understanding our requirements or expectations. But we wanna make sure you are set up for success. And if we go to this like training route. we'd likely kind of have like a year year and a half launching in, because we want to make sure that's all set up before any of these new requirements. Kind of like take place. And if you're gonna get a license, we want to make sure they have the time to accumulate.

[60:05] That knowledge, the training. And then any forms and other administration that would have to go through the city for that. App. 34. Explorer what that looks like right now. But II think training is a huge piece. It's right now we've done. We did this working group. But we've we've hosted webinars. We've recorded them people are just like, not necessarily listening or attending. And they there's a handful of ones who want to learn and and reach out or attend. But it's not everybody we can invite everyone but the ones that really in my mind might need. This aren't the ones attending. And we really want to get everyone the opportunity to really get this information. If we require the training, then we know they have to take it, and then they have the ability to do work in Boulder.

[61:00] Oh, I just have a question on the kind of administrative early stage. If you are, say, a homeowner looking to, what have you? What that process looks like. So I assume that there are kind of 2 different permits that you have to apply for one being demolition, one being deconstruction is that? Or is it a singular permit? And then within that, is there any information or requirement that they have to say, watch a 20 min informational video or something to make them aware of deconstruction as an option and the benefits that it may provide. So it's one per. Well, if you're a property owner. You're probably getting 2 permits at at some point. So it's a the deconstruction permit. We did. We got it renamed April structure removal. I was trying to go for a deconstruction permit. But the the tag code is still the Em, so people still say, I'm getting my demolition permit.

[62:07] I was like man this is is that's a whole nother story. But So you get the the permit to remove the building. And then you're gonna get a building permit for the new build. So those are the 2 permits that we get. The requirements right now are that you have to submit for us submitted sustainable deconstruction plan. We're identifying the materials and currently estimating the weight of those materials. and you provide an asbestos report. So we understand, if there's any environmental hazards that would potentially be present in that building. So we can make a plan with you around that. That's where we like. Describe the process. But we do not have a video that like, if you are deciding what to do with home like, say, you just wanted to demolish it is there basically, is there a way to draw in people who

[63:05] maybe planning to demolish any way and rerout them to deconstruct? They have to fill out the form. This form. They would see that and make a conscious choice that they're not gonna follow this requirement and forfeit their deposit. But we don't see that happen very often. Yeah. But II still like the idea of how can you better educate the public cause? I think right now we've been thinking about trainings for contractors. But I think I think that's a really good idea for us to explore is, how can we have a component for the public? So they're aware of as to why this is happening as well. Do they still need to get a deconstruction permit? If they just pay the the the pulse is flush fine. Okay, so there's no okay. What is the

[64:02] does? Does this apply to? Residential mostly, or is it just? Mostly sorry? significantly to residential. Is it mostly commercial like? Does it affect the housing cost of a new condom condominium for square foot like? Is there any impact on that. Hopefully, I answer that this the way you're looking for it, if if not, please ask for questions. So if you're looking at pure numbers of permits they get issued a year. There's approximately 70 permits that require deconstruction that are issued. A year. Of that I would say maybe 5 are commercial projects. So you might think that it's more heavily weighted towards a residential project. But one of the things that Taylor brought up is like when you're looking at those high impact projects.

[65:02] That number like that we're seeing out of the Alpine Boston Hospital is going to be so much more significant in terms of volume and environmental impact. Those commercial projects are just going to have so much more weight and potential for diversion. Then if, then, all of the residential permits put together for that one here. So I think that's one of the things that we're looking at is like when we're thinking about. What is that time, in fact, do we do we wanna focus on just these, or, you know, is there a certain size of a home? And above that would meet that. So. counting the number of residential versus commercial doesn't really get you the true impact of that. There's a second part of your question. Oh, this for affordability. Yeah, like, how does this compete with affordable housing goals? So

[66:01] we do not have the ability to like stop a building from coming down. It's more the management of that. The only thing that can determine if a building can't come down is, if it has an historic preservation attached to it. There have been some cities that have implemented delays, saying, We will delay this permit. So while you explore other options, can you remodel this home? So it is able to stay in place. We we see homes get scraped that are small ones, and then they put like 4 condos on, put on that same lot, and they just. you know, the property wasn't maybe a million dollar property. And now it's a 6 million dollar property, and that affects taxes. That's something that Taylor is looking at as part of but I think it, it does have that impact. And it's like as those new bills are like bigger and more modern. It does, I think, affect the overall affordability of homes in general. But

[67:09] it's we can't like the way this isn't the way that I understand is we we can't just stop the building from coming down, or what is going up in its place at this point, and it's an unfortunate, I think I would add that I think anytime you add requirements to the building process. It probably would, you agree, increases. Well, I think the question that you're asking her mom is, are are the additional costs? If we assume that there are additional costs from the construction? How are those passed on to the building that's now being built? And does that increase the value of that property decrease in our ability to create permanently affordable? Oh, I think I would say anecdotally. I don't think that's the case, but offer and I just wanted to offer this up. Generally it sounds like, because I know we're we're a little over on time on this particular topic. Would it be helpful to the Board to maybe talk about some of the things that you brought up tonight, we're gonna be coming back to you. So would it be useful to say

[68:13] in the ordinance? Here are some of the challenges barrier some of the loopholes. Here's how we're thinking about addressing those, either through policy or through incentive or kind of programmatic elements, because some of what you brought up is more around training. Some of it is more on the soft side of things. So I think we can look at both of those options and maybe explore some of those direct. Here's the issue. Here's how we think about solutioning. Would that be useful to you when we come back to you. Yeah, we were planning on coming back when we actually have concrete options for you to explore and get your input on that. If you have anything else to explore. In the meantime, we want to make sure we're not that we can kind of address all of that together really quickly. The other really really brief comment is that there's a whole other side of this that we haven't really explored, which is the other code development that we are in process with the energy code, and of course, the billing code. So I think, Rick, to your comment earlier about what we do on the front end in terms of the deconstruction ability of of Billings.

[69:14] We hit that in the billing code. So there's a lot of kind of asymmetry in terms of help. You buildings are being built, and then, realizing that the way we're building them more energy efficient sometimes runs a foul of being able to deconstruct them one day, so trying to match those things up and make sure that we're hitting it with our suite of codes is really critical. Yeah. And then. oh, go ahead, Tila. Well, I love that Jonathan brought that up because what I was gonna say on the affordability piece is that's part of what we're trying to do with the data is, understand? Like, where exactly in the city is this happening? Because on one hand, you bring up a good point is, how is this bringing up? Perhaps the cost of kind construction and and housing in general? The other way you could look at it is, where are we making these community investments of development. And if we could figure out this piece of the portion on the deconstruction side, theoretically, in a in a bright future that I'm sure Boulder's heading towards will begin requiring design for deconstruction, and these costs become lower. And the the process becomes smoother. But helping set this up understanding like.

[70:23] what is the benefit and the burden of this situation like, are we really interested in going through this entire process on an 80 square foot shed. When we have about 5 to 10 outlier projects out of 70 that make up around 20% of boulders entire C and d waste stream. Like, where where do we wanna really focus on doing things well and and ironing things out and sort of scale from there if you will. Well, thank you. Guys appreciate the talk. It's a needy topic. Yeah.

[71:04] And it is exciting. We really are modeling this work for the country on Emily is going to a couple actually, a couple of our team is going to build reuse conference in Savannah in the New Year to present some of this work. So it's pretty exciting, Michelle. And then one of the deconstruction contractors is gonna come as well for the residential site oops impressions. II have one other question I don't know. You might know, and that is around just with the stuff that we can't recycle, though the dry wall, and that. you know, is there any codes around like not using things that are? I think we might get there eventually. That's what Taylor mentioned the design for deconstruction. We're not there yet. I can say I've heard Michelle talk about the hospital project that it

[72:02] all the drywall that went to the landfill is impacting their thinking in our facilities department around how we're working with our buildings and not putting drywall in to begin with. So we may not have requirements for the whole community, but it is certainly affecting our internal organization thinking around module pieces and not creating that waste in the first place. But you're right on and where we have to go. Okay, guys. So I just move on to the next topic. The other plastic pollution reduction act as possible. Alright. slides, and I'll be pretty here. I'm just providing. No, no, you're familiar topic. I'm just providing you an Update I was asked to come in. Remind you other new folks to the the board. Of what's coming down the pipe right in a few weeks. January first. So for those of you who don't know me. I'm Jamie Harkins. I manage our circular economy team and I worked on the classic solution reduction act, and we're going through the State legislature

[73:18] something little different. Powerpoint. Keep switching, which displays which? Okay. we're going to. There it goes. in Pdf mode. Okay? So hopefully, there's no fancy transition. Sorry should be okay. Hopefully, this will help a little bit if I can see it. Alright maximums. So this State law was a result of many, many years of advocacy, both from this, you know, city of Boulder and many other partners. And really I'll just tee it up and saying it was kind of 4 different policies put into one big one. So it had 4 distinct pieces. I'll highlight

[74:11] here once we slide. let me know when you're not sorry. So the first piece that was part of this State law was a statewide bag fee, and so that piece already took effect. So that was January last year, and it was really modeled after our language here in Boulder, which was exciting. It was a a 10 cent. Be on all paper and plastic checkout bags across the State. The thing that was different was they did just target what they refer to as large stores, and what that meant was, really, you know, the governor and our legislators tried to exempt right didn't try. They successfully exempted stores that were like not part of a franchise. They had less than 3 locations. So there's a list of kind of criteria that if you meet you're considered a small store. So they really were targeting the big users which I can say just anecdotally based on my

[75:08] ma. Many years of work on bags is probably 80% of the bags user at those large stores. So I did think it was pretty effective. So that was the first piece which is already taken off that. And then the second piece is that this bag the transitions to a phasing out of plastic carry out bags starting this January. So again, at those large stores. You may I know Boulder doesn't have a Walmart, but we do in Lafayette, where Emily and I both live, and they actually phase them out. Back in January they were ahead of the curve and just got rid of all their bags. even paper. There's no bags, so it's great and weirdly, not very controversial. So you thought there would be a revolt. But there really wasn't so, starting in January, our large stores here in town. So think about Grocery Home Depot. You know. Those bigger chain stores will have to phase out. We use some plastic bags. They can continue to use paper. With that fee attached.

[76:11] But yeah, they do have to phase them out, and there is a grace period. If they have bags in their inventory, we're not asking them to throw them away they can continue using them, I think, through June. So if you're out and shopping, you may see some after January, but that's the official date. And then the third piece of the Plastic Pollution reduction act was a ban on Styrofoam food containers. I know I know, lots of folks have been advocating for this for a very long time. Yeah, so so, and this is a piece that we've really been focusing on. I'll talk about it in a minute. But, this will impact a lot of our smaller eateries. A lot of folks who continue to use poly siren so branded term. But there's also a great period built into this part of the policy, so they can continue to use their inventory for a few months after January to buy it down if they purchase it before the New year.

[77:08] so that will also begin January, and then the final piece on the next slide. This is a little less. I mean, this is to me very exciting to the community. It's a little less visible, which is boulder really did play a lead role in many years, advocating for the repeal of a a State preemption that really prevented cities from putting further regulations on plastic. So there was a small code piece of language in the State code. That said we couldn't ban certain plastic products. So we did able. We were able to get that put into this bill as well. So that takes effect. July first, of 2024. And so we will be part of Emily's work plan next year, as well as we'll be working on a community engagement and policy process to explore what that could look like for boulder

[78:01] next slide, and so I just wanted to highlight. Some of you were here last year when I talked to you about the bag. Fee that state wide bag. Fee did create some inconsistencies for boulders, because we had a different universe of stores. Our previous fee had only applied to food stores. You can imagine some of those were large and some of those were small. We had to figure out a city council how to make sure we comply with State law, but made it simple for the business community here in Boulder to comply with. So what we ended up doing, and this was back in 2022 was January of last year or this earlier this year, we folded into our fee program all the stores that were covered by the State law. So Home depot nordstrom any large stores that weren't already collecting the fee. All of our grocery stores are already doing it. But then we decided to really simplify things, and starting this January. It's just going to be every retail store in the city. So there's no longer these criteria you have to figure out if it applies to you. So that will be taking effect. January first. We do anticipate

[79:10] a little bit of a transition period despite our best efforts. I'm sure it's about 900 stores. We've been collecting the feed from about like 80. So it's a significant jump. And how many businesses will be engaging with the program. So we have a lot of tools for them, and of course we'll have a great period to get them on board, so but the fee remains the same. It's still 10 cents for now on all paper and plastic bags. They do remit 6 of that to the city, and they're able to retain 4 of it. So it is also a revenue source for the stores to offset. You know, signage education bags they wanna purchase for their customers. We will. They can't have a plastic bag. They can't if they're a small store. Oh, okay. And that is actually one of the questions that's coming up. The most right now is a lot of small stores in Boulder, thinking they have to get rid of them. January first. Of course, we would love them to, but technically, the stable large ones.

[80:07] But we're making that pretty clear on our website for them right now, what is the line of deviation for a small store. It's to be defined as a small store, and we kept the State definition. You have to have 3 or fewer locations not be a part of a corporation or franchise, and not have a location outside of Colorado. So the example I highlighted with council on 2022 that made this really tricky was the Guuck in hardware technically qualifies as a small store because it's the ownership structure, even though they go through a lot more bags and say. you know. like a Nordstrom, maybe where you're just getting everything in one back, you know. So it's it's not the best. I don't know if I you know I were doing a save I don't know if that's how I would done it. But those were the criteria.

[81:01] Yeah, we're good to move on. So I just wanted to highlight what we're doing to prepare the community. So we've been working with our partners over at pace, which is part of the county. They serve as our one on one business pricing team, and they have been preparing for this for years since we've known it's coming. And they have been collecting information. They know who is still using polystyrene food containers in our community, and they're really targeting them with that one on one assistance. I'll show you in a second. We produce a guide, sustainable service work. Excuse me to really help them make those decisions about what else to purchase when they can't buy Styrofoam. And then we're really trying to look at this as an opportunity to shift folks to reusables as much as possible. While we're in there while we're talking to them like, how do we get them to? Kinda can we share our why, of why we want them to move away from disposable options when possible. And so, as Emily mentioned earlier before we started the beginning, we have that $1,500 grant that can be used for something like deliver 0, but it can also be used

[82:09] for installing a dishwasher, or whatever they need to improve their use of reusable systems, and then chart reuse. Is a tool that's been developed by a organization called upstream solutions that we've been chatting with. So we also are providing an opportunity. Where pace will come in. And really it provides, like the financial comparison, like disposable versus reuse for them. So just some of the the things we're doing to really help folks in this transition. The pace team is incredible. And they've been working our business community for decades. So they have really great relationships next slide. And so I just wanted to highlight on this slide is an example of the matrix of the guide to sustainable service, where? So we put this, together with our partners at the county and Eco. Cycle and our composters and our callers. So it's really a a spectrum from best to worse, what you should try to avoid, and and what alternatives we would try to push you towards depending on what kind of containers you need. So there's photos and

[83:14] descriptions. We anticipate. This might need to change. As you all are familiar. We had to like, take compostable options out of fear. They're not compostable right now. But we did work really closely with Ecosycle and our recycling center folks to make sure what we're recommending is the best option for our community here. So this is part of Pace's packet that they go to restaurants with and can really sit down with them and work through their options. So I think that was, yeah. So that's the update. It's really a lot happening in January. But we've been working on it for many years. So I'm really confident that we have a lot of tools in place to help our folks. We're also doing one sec. We're also doing. Taylor's been working with the Chamber. We're gonna do an English on an English webinar in a Spanish

[84:01] primarily, actually exclusively Spanish for version of the Webinar partnering with the chamber in the Latino chamber. That's coming up next week, the first one that will be recorded and pushed out as well, so we're trying to come up with creative ideas for getting involved, and paste has been sending Cloud through their channels on here. But yeah, what was your question for the information. Yes, we have. We've been updating our city website. So I can share that with all of you. That's helpful. That summarizes all of these requirements. I'm not sure if we have a vanity, URL, that I can like easily share.

[85:05] Oh, there we go. Thank you. So yeah, I'm happy to answer any questions but a lot of exciting things, and we will certainly be back to you as we explore. Go down the path of exploring what other things we want to do for other single use. Plastics. You will certainly hear from us. I'll be honest. Many of the bags you find in the stores main in China, from virgin materials. That's gonna be a harder environmental impact to justify. But we were really careful what we source bags. We give away the city their manufacturing us from recycled content material. So we checked on the water use. We had a whole bunch of criteria that folks had to reply with when they sent us their bids. So I can look at to see if there's anything more updated. But it's really highly dependent

[86:17] on where and what's made out of like cotton bags are really a lot more impact because of the but yeah, it's it's something that II do think it's a great thing to educate around. And there's been some national stories about reasonable bags, and when you pick a part of the kind of cherry pick the data to make a headline. So you really have to dig in and see like what they were looking at. But it's just not an easy thing to like summarize. It really depends on what it's made of

[87:00] plastics manufacturing both bags and also the black plastics that food comes in a lot and the toxicity embedded in those, and how a lot of the the carry out bags span of plastic are, you know, manufactured in the area called Cancer alley in Louisiana, where we're seeing, you know, really horrid effects of petroleum refineries. So there's an environmental justice component. So I do think I do think that as a city. We've decided that moving towards reusable items, is the right direction. But okay, thank you. Yeah. You got it. Just the 6 cents. The city gets good as something specific, or does what? The the money? Oh, excellent question so up until the State law took effect. So up until January first 2,023

[88:10] the money that came into Boulder under our city back to you was very restricted. It was our ordinance to find that I could only use it for things that offset the impact of that, because it was a very direct E relationship. So we have, we do purchase reasonable banks for food banks and items like that with that money. But there is some still in there but the sale actually widen the scope, so they are allowing us to use that money for any waste reduction program. So yeah, so all the money that came in this year and moving forward, can be used, for it's great like the fees people were bringing, or something, because that was modeled the first 4 years of our fee. So the fee went into effect. 2,013, I believe.

[89:10] and we had consultants model. What bad use would look like without a fee, and we were able to compare that to what was actually what we saw in the community, we were able to measure that reduction. That was so, I mean, at this point, almost 10 years old, and we haven't. We haven't had a consultant. Continue those projections of without a fee. What would have happened? So I can say that. What I think is really interesting to bit, you might like to know? I thought when we added, this year 50 ish new stores for our fee program, our revenue would go up, and it didn't. which I think was super interesting. It told me that all of the press and all of the the state. Wide impact of that fee taking effect was that bag used to reduce, even at places that already have a fee. And we really didn't. It's pretty much. It's a little more, but nothing like you would think. With that many more stores took effect. Everyone is asking me other cities around here to project what they would receive. And I'm like, I have no idea.

[90:18] Yeah, it's I think, that that mental impact, that cultural impact of having something statewide. super exciting. And we saw dramatic reduction. So I would say, you know, II think I told you all before the first 4 years of the fee we saw that 68 reduction in bad use, I would say it's it's more now just because of revenue. But I don't have, like that other number to actually calculate. So given that you have a sense? Or have you had feedback from the community anticipating any problems, push back or excitement about what's gonna be rolling out next year. It's been really quiet. There was a lot of excitement January last year.

[91:02] And a lot of press like 9 years distance stories. And they actually told me it was their most clicked on story ever. So, Steven, so yeah, it's been really quiet. I think we'll hear a little more from the business community as they explore these options. And that's why we're really preparing to help them. But no, I think mostly the communities ready. I mean, I've been here almost 14 years, and I've been hearing which advance center for pretty much 14 years. So I think I think the community is pretty on board. There's a a real significance in creating consistency across the State. II don't think that there was much feedback from the boulder community because we've been at this a long time. Our organization went into effect in 2010. So it's been a very long time that that our community is kind of socialized the idea that you pay 10 cents for a bag. So this just seemed like the logical next step. But I think onto your question there last year, when we were talking to the board about setting the fee, should it be 10, should it be 20? Should it be more

[92:17] if you were just looking at the fee as the incentive to drive the behavior. I think it would be a more prominent conversation, but taken this state wide policy, that kind of creates this overlay for the entire state it. I just think it's really easy. It's much easier for people to understand when they go from city to city. What? What's expected? Businesses know how they do business in the State. And so it's that systems change, that we're always talking about the drive. And I just really want to acknowledge the hard work that Jamie and her team put in to help move this policy forward to the State. Because this is where we needed to get to. Yeah. So I is there reason that we're not expanding the ending of single use. Plastic bags in the city to all stores can do that now, is there a reason why we're not doing it right now? It's part of our process. We can until January first, right next year, and so it'll be part of our discussion. We can now. We couldn't be part, you know, when we did the bag feedback in 2,012. The community actually wanted banks. But that legal language that I highlighted

[93:23] prevent us from doing it. So I do know that it's an option we're gonna start looking into it. Question about not bags, but the compostable containers and and food. So no we were just actually out of the tour at Western disposal on Monday, and we're looking at the compost stream. It's getting better, but it's still pretty dirty, the commercial stream. I asked if they've heard any rumors about a one organic starting to accept some of that, and absolutely not. In fact, we actually heard another facility in Colorado. Just

[94:05] hold it, too. That was so. Yeah, so I don't. I don't see them coming back very quickly. I think it's more likely Jonathan and I have discussed this. What you see in California especially, which has some statewide requirements around composting, is that there's a different process for the commercial stream. So instead of going to a compost facility like we have. That's really hard to pull that contamination out. They divert the commercial compost to like an anaerobic digestion system that's more able to deal with all of that service where and cause. It's just not like the recycling center where we can sort it out like it all gets ground, and then all the problematic stuff is in there. So I don't think it's gonna come back soon. But we're working on other solutions. And then what about plastic coated with paper, or whatever? Yeah. Combination of

[95:01] still problematic? Yeah. So I think the first thing we'll see come back to the compost is the large bags that weren't allowed, which will really help our business community. But there was a State law, so I should have brought this up. We did support a bill last year. Requirements for composable products. So a lot of the things you're talking about where it's paper lined with plastic that folks think it's like recycled work composable. It's gonna have to be more clearly labeled now to prevent yeah, exactly to prevent some of that greenwashing, you know. So it's gonna continue to be an issue. I'll just be honest. A lot of these. We have to get to a point where it's not on the consumer to have to make these decisions standing in the bin, what to do with these things. And that's why we're hoping to move in the direction of trying to affect the larger system. We thought, it's like an opportunity for re to kind of lead pro towards like reuse, and showing how

[96:02] we don't have to like we. There are other options like a delivery 0 in these type of containers. And but there's gonna be more assistance in place and places for collection and making sure even our Environmental Advisory Board knows campaign and focusing compost and compostable like service where and to go. Containers don't, don't. yeah, there's like the neutrons aren't being reintroduced, and it's just a filler. And so it was a way for us to kind of. We're real disappointed. They were like, well, question about like, how much

[97:01] waste does folder create in a day or a week or one? I mean, I'm just curious like, could we have some kind of a program to show like, Hey, Boulder? This is how much waste you're producing in a day like, you know how much. How long would it take to fill up falls and stadium, you know, or whatever some something that people go home like? That's how much trash or waste we're producing in just in the city to to get people realize like really have to. You can't just use a plastic fork a spoon one time. Thank you. Couple of yeah, we can get you updated data. I know a couple of years ago we are preaching almost double per person per year in the national average. Yeah, I'll I'll I'll look up at more recent numbers and send it to us. This we were a few years ago.

[98:01] Let's take a little break to hear some public input pulling. Sorry. Sorry about that. Just actually double click. No. Hi, Lynn, welcome. You should be able to speak now. Yeah, thanks for your flexibility. I wish the other boards have so much flexibility. They they have not. I came to the Osb. Team meeting at 609. After rushing from hearing Tom check at Carruthers on my bike as fast as I could. and at 609 an. They were scheduled at 6 10, and they wouldn't listen to my testimony. And they were on. They were the board that was off of what their usual schedule was because of Hanukkah, and my big concern is. I love Israel. I'm Jewish. Bessie GAL. Its Jewish name.

[99:01] But Israel is suicidal, and they've got to stop because all of this talk about how big Folsom Stadium is full of our trash is pointless. If we are blown to the Stone Age as we will be if we don't take action up to counsel and up to legislature and up to the Presidency to get this support. For this Israeli Israeli suicidality stopped now. Otherwise we aren't going to have anything to be talking about at these board meetings, because we're going to be in Stone Age. Also, they're going to come, and they're going to start hitting us in the United States Random Cities. Thou choose bolder, too. Boulder's just another place. So this is a really big deal. so far as me. I'm freezing cold. Jonathan. I'm tired of being cold.

[100:04] you know, and 23 years of it. And now the city of boulder is gonna augment excel energy would giving these heat pumps that I don't even want, and that I'm gonna get rid of as soon as I can get a ground loop, heat pump. and that's what I'm pressing the city to really do. because before I have these things installed in my place, I want to know what it cost to remove em, and I don't want to have to be thinking that way. I don't want to be more advanced than my own city is. you know, and I'm appreciative that you wanna give me some warm which I'm gonna probably seldom we turn on because it's still electricity, and I still can't have solar, and II need help with getting solar on my place. For the last 10 years that I've been trying to as far as finding contractors that are decent, dependable.

[101:01] You know the one that was working on my place to fix my attic so that I could have the roof done so that I can have solar was in jail and had to throw him out. You know it's like this is what you get in Boulder. If you're at the bottom of the the, you know, level of people that are working on their places, that you know. And if you're gonna scrape. Thanks for the admission. But you know, talking about scraping. Gaza is being scraped. It's being demolished. 7, 7, 70. Circle is a stone house on the open space, the wildlife interface, and it's being demolished. There is so much excess in this country we are going to get blasted back to the Stone age. If we don't do something first, we've got to stop this waste. You're talking about waste. This is big time. Waste 8,000 square foot place, demolished stone.

[102:02] Thank you. Okay. to our agenda. I think I would just like to say, I, it's great that we get feedback from from everybody, even if it's hard for us to hear, you know. Not exactly like per mute, necessarily, but it's good to hear it. Alright. So everybody does anybody have any questions. Good point. So absolutely. January meeting.

[103:03] what do you think? Oh, yeah, I think that's right. Yeah. Okay, so hoping for a motion to move. Item 6. A. To the legendary meeting. Second, is he? The discussion or no? Zoe. the council and city stop behind a consultative firm to analyze. The boards of how they work the effectiveness. Their time, like the time people will deal with the board. And there were some results. And I thought, it's a more we should discuss them and form an opinion on those. But we still have time to do that. So since we are almost I thought we could move it to the January meeting if you wanna read about it. Okay, I don't think there's any time sensitivity. It was more informational item for all of you. There'll be more information coming back from the same manager's office, as I think, about implementing any of the recommendations that from the consultant. But we're a little ways off from that. Thank you. Guys.

[104:09] Thank you. Alright. So let's move to the next item, which is share rotations. Job. And I had a discussion on this the way the chair rotates is usually every member gets a one year appointment, and it's your role dates at the end of the year, however, in the past couple of years, with a lot of people leave the board. So I took the position of chair in May. I believe so I wanted to bring that up with you guys and see if it will be okay for me to switch that position in May of 2024 to Or if you have any internal things about that to just bring them up and we can discuss them. I'd be happy to have you, sir, through next May. The one thing that I will bring up is that then I believe Chair would come to me on my last year, and so then I would be chair for 5, 6 months, and then be off the board, and so I think that we could

[105:17] slowly work our way back like over a couple of years, and so then everybody gets a few months less rather than you getting rather than getting shifted in May. Get shifted in April or March, and so then then the next year it's back to January, so that we like reshift it back to Jake, because that works with when appointments happen. Dude does it January, February. and then April. Is usually when they do interviews, and then May ish. So sometimes that's really kind of the first meeting all started. Sometimes it's a little bit of a leg, so the choices right to to get back on the calendar rotation, January verse to December. So the chair search. And as a calendar year, or we kind of got, we're we have this like kind of mismatch now in terms of like not really corresponding to that, so the Board could do whatever it uses. There's there's nothing

[106:23] nothing in the bylaws that requires a chair to serve any any particular capacity for certain period. Yeah, no, II definitely think it's reasonable to not switch over started a year given how late you were appointed. But I think it would be a good idea to sort of shift back towards the standard schedule over time, if possible. So I mean that that's that's my 2 cents. And then sort of the next year, maybe it's January or back to December. Shift it back. No worries

[107:01] which, okay. alright, thank you, guys. And the last item will be the council on the preview. I hope you know, sir, I should realize you you push your big like. yeah. board members. I could take this one. Obviously, we do this look ahead of the the Council calendar, and I just wanted to find a couple of things that I thought would be really important for you all to be tracking, and then also highlight some things that you wanna make sure we get before you in the next quarter or so. So one big item that I just wanted to mention and we'll need to figure out. The best way to bring it to you is, we do have a facilities, master plan, and a Western city campus right center overview.

[108:08] Coming out on January eleventh. There's also we. We are now tentatively scheduled. Hopefully. We're locked in to the January eleventh date. That's gonna be actually a special meeting. We are gonna be giving an update or excel will be giving an update to city council on their emissions. So as part of the Excel partnership. They have requirements codified within the partnership agreement to hit certain emission reductions year over year between 2020 and 2030. Why, that's relevant is they agreed to these year over year targets. State wide. So it's not just the city and if they don't meet those targets. We have the ability to exercise what we call an off ramp or an an opt out of that agreement. What we know is,

[109:03] We have emissions, information, or excel as their admissions. Information for 2022 which was the first year that they are calculating, based on kind of when they get their information and are exercising the opt out. So they're gonna be given a presentation to city council. And we are talking about doing a broader update to counsel on the community, on the partnership activities. Any projects that are noteworthy that we want to talk about. We have an advisory panel that steers a lot of that work. We're trying to figure out how to get that presentation to you all. Originally the plan was to do this update in February, and we just had some scheduling issues with other public hearings. So we had to push that date to January eleventh. So my intention was to bring that update to you in January, and I just wanted you to be aware that we're not going to be able to do that in advance. But I wanna come back and have a deeper conversation with the Board about the Excel partnership and everything that is kind of under that umbrella. I actually think it'll be a good conversation with you all. We can go a little bit more in depth, and we'll be able to in the hour that we have with council that will really be focused on the emissions, targets.

[110:13] What are we gonna do about it? What's kind of the political implication of it. So that's really the piece that council will talk about, and then we'll have a deeper conversation with all of you the other topic that I wanna make sure we bring to you. Is one that's coming up here relatively soon. And just had some conversations with colleagues about what boards? The civic area master plan this the update to the civic area master plan, and the redevelopment of civic area, which is this downtown area, central Park bandshell. Kind of over to where my offices and atrium. So this whole area obviously is part of a a redesign and and an update and redevelopment really driven by the remapping of the floodplain driving. And then, as we vacate some of these buildings in the next couple of years. What does it mean for this area

[111:06] so really felt like that was an important topic for you all to weigh in on in terms of use in terms of climate issues, sustainability, resilience, all of the environmental attributes that we need to be thinking about in this downturn area. So that'll be a topic that will be coming to you as well. And I had an item kind of pinned to bring to you. In addition, tonight we were. Gonna talk about. What's what was calendar doing? Yeah. The the guest network? Landscaping equipment next steps there before we go back to council, probably at the end of next year. We are set to release our inventories of greenhouse gas inventories, probably early next week, and I say that plural, because this is the first time we're gonna be re releasing 3 inventories. The first is our typical community, wide greenhouse gas inventory that measures obviously all of our emissions from the different sectors. Scope one through 3 but we're also releasing our city municipality. So as as a city as an organization. We have our own targets internally, how we wanna track those.

[112:15] And so we're gonna be releasing that inventory as well. And then for the first time, we're also releasing our consumption based inventory. This is work that we talked to the Board about previously. So starting to really push upstream and understanding missions from services and goods that are coming into boulder. So I want to kind of stay on that whole circularity theme. Typically, we measure at our borders. We talk about the things that that we can measure within kind of the boulder bubble. Though we do track in and out community and transportation related opportunity to do. I think, more honest and accurate accounting of emissions that I think really help us drive the the policy and and programs that we want to get people from as an example, having Amazon come to your house 3 times a day. What? And then the body carbon conversation. So it starts to really create a more comprehensive view of our emissions. And the role that we can play in that are

[113:13] addressing those. So we're gonna be releasing those 3 inventories. I'd hoped to bring that to you tonight to give you that overview. Our data analyst who you have met when he gave you the presentation, I think, on the consumption based inventory Ben Cats, Moses. He's leaving the city at the end of next week, and we also had a lot of topics tonight. It just didn't fit. So I do want to bring that back to you in January, and we can have a conversation about what the information means. So those are a couple of the big ones. I don't wanna make sure. Oh, of course, tomorrow night we'll be talking with council about it's just on consent. Agenda, a small cell agreements for our street live acquisition. We have about 10 polls that have things attached to them. And so we have to modify our ordinance, to be able to move that forward. Not anything that you are terribly interested in. But it's something my department is working on leading. And then the energy code. The second reading of updates to the energy code will be February first.

[114:18] Then, we have a legislative update and a few other things that are being, they'll be moving forward. Oh, I know resort. And then same gas power we call the bull Lowers. But technically, march twenty-first. Is that one rescheduled? I think so. We'll be coming back to you in Q. One. That that's another topic that we'll be bringing to you and keep off right? That was a lot that raise any questions concerns red flags. Anything? Yeah. Cool you? Good. Then. Yeah. The next meeting is scheduled for January, then 6 pm. And with that we can adjourn the meeting. So put a motion to adjourn the meeting. Give it a second.

[115:06] We're done here 2 min to spare you. But wow!