Video Description:
Coffee with Council – Saturday, January 29, 2022
Note: The following is the output of transcribing from a video recording. Although the transcription, which was done with software, is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or [software] transcription errors. It is posted as an aid to understanding the proceedings at the meeting, but should not be treated as an authoritative record.
Read along below or follow along here: https://otter.ai/u/WIq6yEA6IvIaIZCO42ikcxppvxA
Unknown Speaker 0:00
First of all, I’d like to welcome I see that we we have one caller that’s in the waiting room. But this is a, a session, coffee with council. And this morning, we have councilmember Tim waters and council members, Suzie Hill, Hill doggo fairy. And they’re both here today to really share a little bit of what’s on their plate and what they see coming up for city council over the next several weeks to months. And we’re going to open up with that, so they can have a little bit of time to share that. And then, most importantly, they they’re here to have a dialogue with folks that that want to call in today and ask some questions of our council members. And so, Dallas, before we start, why don’t you go ahead and put up the call in. And we’ll leave that out for about four or five minutes. And then we’ll come back and we’ll have Tim and Susie open up with a few minutes of of things that are on their plate, and coming forward. Okay. So, callers if you can see the information on the screen here, if you want to dial in the numbers 1-888-788-0099. And then you need to enter the meeting ID code 854-687-9919. So go ahead and call in. Or we’ll leave this up for a few minutes here and then we’ll get started.
Tim Waters 1:54
Just gonna be happy to follow you if you want to start just kind of what’s on your mind. And I’ll fill in around that if there are things on my mind that aren’t on your mind.
Unknown Speaker 2:04
That’s fine. Um, so I’m councilmember Susie thosewho Ferring. Thank you for joining us this Saturday morning. So I this is my second year on city council long one city council. I, um, I mean, I don’t know if we want to get into history or you know, I’m a full time school teacher, I teach third grade, you know, some of the, you know, some of the pieces that motivated me to to run was looking at the housing, mental health, you know, seeing what we can do as a town as a community to really support residents inflicted with mental illness and needing that mental health support. You know, that is something near and dear and very personal to me. So and then, you know, finding adequate housing for our workforce, as a public school teacher, it’s been a renter, it’s been very challenging. And you know, as time goes on, my hopes are diminishing of ever owning a home. So, you know, I’d really like to be a part of the group that, that makes changes for our community. So people do have the opportunity or youth or next generation have the opportunity to be able to, to live the American dream, or say, you know, some of the things that I’m working on I had passed or I had brought forward and their council had passed and supported a, a committee to creating a steering steering committee for delving deep into looking at attainable housing, that mature housing for, for residents, what’s missing, what are our numbers, what, what our targeted goals and really look at our local data to support this, this initiative and and get the right kinds of housing in our in our community. Another thing I’m working on kind of on the side is with the, the not this well, it’s steam, but the sugar beet mill project. So I’m working with growing up Boulder, and this is something very exciting for our kids at Indian Peaks Elementary is our third graders are going to be part of the project to to do a design challenge in regards to what what they would like to see in that space. And so we’ll be having an opportunity over the next couple of months to work with the developer to work with the I think it’s the wrestle group. I’m saying it correctly, and and growing up bolder, where they’ll they’ll meet and confer with the with the students and offer feedback and you know, and kids will just go to work and saying, you know, what they would like to to see in their community what’s missing and what they would like to move forward with. So those are a couple of things, but I’ll go ahead and let councilmember water came in with some with some stuff as well.
Tim Waters 5:03
Thanks Susie in Good morning, Susie. Good morning, Dale. Thanks to Dale. I know there’s some other. Jimmy said, Harold, I know we’re on this call kind of standing by if they’re needed. So I appreciate, in addition to the other thing staff does, this is a another Saturday morning, at least part of it that you give up and I appreciate the support that you bring to these sessions. I represent more than one east side of town, I’ve been on the council for four years. And in kind of top of mind for me, in terms of issues. You’ve read along monitors have read about the Costco project and Costco come into town. We took action last Tuesday night to augmenter to adjust the city’s investment in this project. But we have a chance to read in our local media, you know, the the range of views. So if people have interests in the Costco project, rationale, timelines, those kinds of things, that’s something we might want to talk about. We read a lot about and heard a lot about we’ve received a fair amount of input on parking on Third Street and proximity to Whiteside tavern. I don’t know that we need to talk a lot about that. But the whole process of Code Enforcement, what triggers code enforcement or or members of the staff to take a look at a set situation somewhere in town and kind of take stock of what’s going on with that, and what’s the appropriate action for the city to take May a bit may be of interest to folks who are concerned about, you know, what are those people thinking about and you know, don’t care about businesses, all the things we’ve heard, we do think about these things. We do care about businesses, but it’s maybe worth talking about. There’s we’ve read a lot we can hear a lot about the river town project. And and we can talk about that maybe more importantly, would be the whole process of annexation of property. In this case, a county enclave that resides inside the city. And what they’re kind of the options are for the property owners and for the city with respect to property like that, that somebody owns and they want to develop, and, and what what our role is both in the annexation process and ultimately in the approval process for the development that people want to do, and in this case, property that sits in a floodplain that hopefully over the next 24 months comes out of a floodplain and Dahomey talk about the resiliency project. But there’s a bunch of variables that play into this. And then I know, I keep reading about what idiots we are for doing this. Now I’m one of those idiots who voted to approve the annexation. And think it’s I think what we’re gonna see there will be a dramatic enhancement over what we see now in terms of piles of concrete. But people were talking about that. Suzie meant to mention housing, that’s in the context of, of how housing security and insecurity and homelessness, there’s certainly lots of effort underway to address our homeless population or unhoused. population. And it would be good to hear from the community, you know, what you’re thinking about, or what your what your recommendations are, and how we approach this in a with all the humanity and compassion we bring, we want to bring to both our unhoused population in the folks house population in the proximity to a homeless encampments. And those kinds of things. We’ve got, we’ve had we received one feasibility study, about a year ago, on a performing arts and Conference Center. I know the city is followed up on that we’re about to receive a second feasibility study on the library. And I know there’s a lot of enthusiasm in the community for among our arts community and our library, Friends of the Library. And one of the implications of those studies, parallel to all that I know, because of recent conversations of the enthusiasm, and energy that’s going on our recreation enthusiast, and to do more to return to the discussion of recreation facilities. You know, the difference between the gap between what we have and what we need, how to read all that in the context of a pandemic, when when the numbers of users have gone down, creates a pretty interesting situation. But those for me, in addition to the what Susie mentioned, kind of are the topics that are top of mind. So I’ll now listen.
Unknown Speaker 9:31
Thanks, Tim. And then Susie, you put several items out there for potential discussion, but I think at this point, Dallas if you want to it looks like we have how many callers do we have on the line? Yeah,
Unknown Speaker 9:46
I’m seeing we have three callers right now. So if you’d like I can get started and start going through that list.
Unknown Speaker 9:52
Let’s go ahead and do that. Go ahead and call on the first caller and we’ll kick off the discussion.
Unknown Speaker 9:57
Okay, sure thing Okay, so callers, we And,
Unknown Speaker 10:01
yeah, before we go there, just, you know, since this is a remote meeting, just for everybody to sort of understand what we’re going to do is allow each of the callers to ask a question, and then counsel to have some dialogue with him on that could include some follow up and so forth with that individual. And if they have multiple questions, I think we would invite them to stay on the line, but we’d probably go to the next caller to take their question, and so on. And so the intent is to provide some space and time for everybody who’s who’s called in today to, to have some dialogue with the council. And then if we didn’t, you know, we can circle back to two individuals that might have multiple questions. And so if that’ll work, I think that’ll balance it out for everybody. So, so now let’s go ahead and call him the first point.
Unknown Speaker 10:57
Sounds great. Took the words right out of my mouth. So yes, we’re gonna start with color with the last three digits of your phone number 842. Color 842. I need you to hit star six on your device, please.
Unknown Speaker 11:15
Hey, caller 842. We see you there. Would you mind stating your name and your address? For the record, please?
Unknown Speaker 11:20
Well, I don’t I don’t have any any comments or questions for the council. I just use the phone line to listen in on I don’t do the YouTube thing. All my equipments doing other stuff today that isn’t YouTube oriented. So I just, I just hang out, hang back and listen, but for sure. If anyone on the council would like me to pontificate on a specific subject, I’m more than willing to do that. And other than that, I would just stay on on mute. So I guess I can do is a star something to raise my hand or something started or something like that?
Unknown Speaker 11:53
Correct. So yes, I would like to raise their hand. Yeah, you just got to hit star nine. So if something does come up, I don’t feel free to raise it. And then we can go from there.
Unknown Speaker 12:01
Okay, fine. Yep. Thanks.
Unknown Speaker 12:05
All right, we’re gonna go back down the list. So now we’re at 949? Caller with the last three digits 949. Do you mind raising? Or would you mind hitting star six to unmute yourself please? Caller with the last three digits 949. If you’re there, would you mind hitting star six to unmute?
Unknown Speaker 12:49
All right, we’ll try one more time. And then we’ll move on color 949. If you’re there, do you mind hitting star six to unmute. And you can feel free to ask your question then.
Unknown Speaker 13:03
Hey, Dallas, you may want to remind everyone and then if they’re waiting to call in, I need to mute the live stream.
Unknown Speaker 13:13
Yes, that’s what I was waiting on. Just in case that is the case that they’re watching the live stream. But good reminder. So if anyone’s watching on the live stream, and they aren’t calling in, feel free to mute that just so we don’t have the feedback going through in the background. Color 949 If you do get your situation worked out, just hit star nine, two, raise your hand and I will come back to you in a moment. Okay. In that case, we’re going to go to color with the last three digits 633 Color 633 You can unmute yourself with star six please. Hey, caller 633. We can see you there. Do you mind stating your name and your address for the record, please?
Unknown Speaker 13:54
Marian reigai. Address
Unknown Speaker 14:04
Mary um, it’s a little bit soft. I’m not quite sure if I caught that.
Unknown Speaker 14:09
My isn’t good. I’m sorry. Can you hear me now?
Unknown Speaker 14:12
Yeah, no, that sounds better. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 14:16
I have to move closer to the window for my reception be good. Okay. So I’d like to say first of all, and this is the only thing that might sound a little negative, but it really isn’t. I’m a resident of one of the senior residences that was reconstructed this past the 16 months of ending in August, I believe. And I’d like to say that I as a resident many of us were very challenged by this. I use the word challenge. So I’ve adapted as well as I’m able to and I like to make suggestions about things that could happen better in the future, and thank the county and the city for everything that they’ve done. For us, okay, so enough about the negative. What I’d like to say is that I was affected by the floods in Boulder County. And now there’s fire victims out there that are part of our county, Boulder County who need housing. And yes, I agree with Tim, that the homeless situation needs to be addressed. And it has been addressed by all the affordable housing that has gone up. And I appreciate that very much. And I appreciate the fact that I was assisted in getting into the housing that I’m in by case manager and the manager at the time, and very many people helped me and assisted and supported me in my move to move to Longmont. Okay, so thank you again. Now, the suggestions that I’d like to make are that there be what I call what I’m going to call a temporary, let’s see long term temporary housing. And I yeah, I can’t do it myself. And a lot of people would have to believe this and want it to happen. However, long term, temporary housing would mean more shelters for homeless people who are still not in homes and still don’t have apartments and are doing their best to survive by living in motels. Staying with family, or those who don’t have those two options may have to leave the area, because I went through it when I was went through the floods, and for other reasons. So the other suggestion is that we have mediation in the senior residences. And I brought that up before and it would be a big job, I’m sure because there’s many senior residences, and mediators are not always available. However, if there’s some kind of program that would provide a person who listens to both sides, that managers can be overwhelmed with so many units to take care of, and may not be able to listen to both sides all the time. So mediation program is something that I sent yesterday. And I’d like to thank you again for everything that I’ve been assisted with. And all the people that have come to talk to us and listen to us. And thank you for having a Saturday morning. Coffee with council. I really think it’s wonderful. I’ve never been any city city in the country, which ever had anything like this before. Thank you. Marianne,
Tim Waters 17:29
you still there? You are. Yes. Are you here? Have you ever say again, Marianne, I’m sorry?
Unknown Speaker 17:40
Yeah, my reception isn’t good. I’m sorry. It’s just Kim. Yes, yeah. Hi.
Tim Waters 17:46
Hi. How are you? I? Good. Good to hear from you this morning.
Unknown Speaker 17:51
Thank you. I have time because of COVID. I haven’t come to meetings because it COVID Yeah, well, that’s
Tim Waters 17:56
where we’re that’s why we’re doing a lot of virtual work these days. A lot of virtual meetings, because we share that concern. Have you sought out our mediation services through our Community Services Department.
Unknown Speaker 18:09
I have in the past, however, it was communicated to me that there’s so many senior residences, if I understand this correctly, it’s difficult to get to all those senior residences, one at a time to have a mediation program. And each and every one of them. That’s what I understood the message to be
Tim Waters 18:29
I suspect, that’s probably a would be a reach to try to create a separate program for each housing unit. Right, whether it’s an LH a property or or others. And I don’t want to over commit Susan Spaulding and her team, but Susan Spaulding has a has a crack team, a good team of that work with her. And they they do we the city provides mediation services on a, you know, as an output as needed, but poetry on that, because maybe that what we need are more staff, but but they’re available. So if I just didn’t know, as you mentioned the mediation available
Unknown Speaker 19:11
within it. And that could be a big thing to organize, I’m sure. Yeah. Within the each senior residence. Yeah,
Tim Waters 19:21
that’d be it. That would be a big investment in between now, and then if we ever got there, just I would encourage you or others to, to take advantage of what the city does make available through community services intermediary. I’ve, I’ve seen them work and yeah, and they really are. They are very good at what they do.
Unknown Speaker 19:40
I know. I know. That’s what I’m saying. I understand that they can’t come to each and every senior residence probably all the time, like on a consistent basis. However, I appreciate the program that does exist and I think it’s a very good program for the city. Yeah. So so if there were immediate manager, one manager, he’s very nice. The one we have she does your best to help everyone. It’s when one person goes to the office and says something, and it’s believed, and the other person that’s accused of something isn’t asked about it. That’s what I’m talking about.
Tim Waters 20:22
Sounds like conflict management, or communication strategy. But
Unknown Speaker 20:27
yeah, so I don’t know if it can be solved today, you know, on Saturday morning coffee, but it’s just something I wanted to bring up as a idea that could happen in the future. Hopefully,
Unknown Speaker 20:40
thank you, man, I appreciate those comments. And if you want further follow up, if you can send us in an email or simply call in. I’m sure we can also follow up on that it’s a little more difficult here. So Okay. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 21:04
Yeah. Are we done? Am I done?
Unknown Speaker 21:07
Sure. And you’re welcome to stay on the line, Marianne, but we will go to another caller.
Unknown Speaker 21:13
Yeah, MaryAnne. If you would like to stay in the chat, you’re more than welcome to. And then you can just raise your hand by hitting star nine. And that will allow you to ask another question. But we do have, we do have 949, who we were at a second ago, they are raising their hands. So hey, 949. Let’s, let’s see if you can unmute. It is star six. Color 949. If you are there, I’m asking you to unmute.
Unknown Speaker 21:54
Hello, my name is Ray Rodriguez. I’m a resident of Longmont for 21 years, and I live at 1529 Kansas Avenue. And so, I’d love to hear more about the expense or the building of Costco here. I’d love to have an an alternative warehouse, to Sam’s Club, and Walmart, something with more ethical you know, standards for the treatment of its employees and pay. And so I’d love I’d love to hear more about that. And also there’s there’s, across the street, there’s a business called reliable towing, that is expanding their tow yard. Actually, they’re converting this parcel of land to basically it’s a junkyard where they’re going to store lots of towed cars and operated vehicles. And I’d like to know your thoughts on this, because as of the past three, four years, this entire area has been developed. And you know, there’s townhomes here and homes here. And I’d love to know what your thoughts are as far as because it’s literally almost had a corner from this entire neighborhood. And I’d love to know your thoughts on you know, what can be done about that? Because it just doesn’t seem like good planning to put a junkyard right across the street from all these neighborhoods with children and, you know, the expected pollution pollutants that come along with the junk yard. You know, I know there was there’s talk about another parcel of land that’s being developed from you know, basically, there’s lots of cement blocks, and it’s going to be developed into something nicer. And here’s er, seems like it’s gone the other direction. So I’d love to hear your thoughts on that as well.
Unknown Speaker 24:03
Just real quick, Ray, do you happen to know the address of the business because that will help help me to follow up with our planning and development team to to check into the situation?
Unknown Speaker 24:22
Yeah, I can look that up right now. It’s called reliable.
Unknown Speaker 24:26
Sherman Street. I’m sorry. It’s on South Sherman Street. I know because I pass it. I teach it Indian peak. So it’s really close to where you live.
Unknown Speaker 24:38
And it’s 907 South Sherman
Unknown Speaker 24:40
907. Yep. And I’ve seen that toy placement for
Unknown Speaker 24:44
Yeah, that’s about to expand about 100% And it’s
Unknown Speaker 24:55
all based on zoning. I mean, are they and what been developed in that area? Is that something that is
Unknown Speaker 25:04
permissible? You know, what, what I what I’m going to do guys, instead of me trying to wing out an answer right now, which frankly I, I tend to do it, I tend to not be right all the time. That was what I, what I wanted to do is follow up with Joanie marsh and her team and, and see sort of what the situation is both zoning and and if they’re going through a site development process to change their business. But what what’s happening with all of that, and then re if we’ve got your your phone number or a contact, we’ll be able to get back with you on what we find out.
Unknown Speaker 25:48
Yeah, that’s great. I’d love to know, you know, what their plans are, because there was a very brief period of feedback that they took. Unfortunately, we didn’t make the deadline when we submitted a letter to the Zoning Commission. And however, I think that’s it’s been about a year or two, and nothing’s been done with it. But I did notice now the trees have been cut down and the fences are coming down. I’d love to know, you know, what the plans are with that area? And if there’s anything that we can do about it, if it’s too late.
Unknown Speaker 26:22
Live Chat on there. Right. And we’ll, we’ll try to get back with you on that. Great timber. Susie, do you want to mention anything about Costco does sort of update re on, on what’s happening there
Tim Waters 26:35
have a lot to mention, but I’ll defer to Suzy and just maybe fill in around blanks if there are any blanks to fill in?
Unknown Speaker 26:41
Um, I think we’ll start with you. Because I know you’ve been delving deeper into it than I have. I’m happy to go for it. And then yeah, first, there’s something you know that I want to add, I’ll do that.
Unknown Speaker 26:52
I can fill in whatever you want.
Tim Waters 26:54
I know you can’t. In fact, I have there are three of you on this call who can fill in a lot. Ray. Thanks for the question about Costco. We’ve been in this conversation about, about attracting Costco in particular for a while. And I will give you all the bloody details of how we got to where we are with location, just east of sunset or of harvest junction, southside of 119. But that’s, that’s the area. A year ago, about a year ago, the city approved a number of changes in zoning and and we began a process creating a public private partnership with Costco and the property owner and developer, diamond concrete, which which owns the land on which is going to be developed. And there’s just a there’s just a ton of details in terms of land, aggregate acquisition aggregation, then zoning changes and in all of the wood that has to happen to close on the on the aggregation of the land, and what gets sold to Costco what gets sold to the city because there’s a nine acres the city are going to buy. The action we took Tuesday night of this week, is the last action required that to get us into the process of closing, which is going to happen in the month of February, as I understand the action we took Tuesday night was to add some funding to this project. The city is going to have about 12 and a half million I’m just going to be it’s going to require $15 million of additional of horizontal infrastructure site preparation, getting the all of the work that has to be done on 1/19 for traffic management, those kinds of things. So all the works been done. And now since we first got into this conversation, the cost of labor and the cost of materials had gone up enough that we had to we had to adjust what our commitment was. There are there are detractors in town I know who look at this and say, Why would you pay him you know, put any money into bringing a corporation like Costco into town? The answer is that’s part of the deal. Costco wants to know that municipalities have some skin in the game. If if they’re going to expand into a jurisdiction. And I can guarantee you Costco doesn’t have a conversation with Longmont if they’re not also having a conversation conversation with the jurisdictions around Longmont. So, if we had said we’re not interested in this as a matter of principle, we’re not going to put $1 into attracting Costco. I can guarantee you Costco would have located within a mile of where Costco is going to be located. In whatever whatever concerns people have about impervious services, parking, fuel stations, whatever within a mile of where it’s going to be would it would have been developed and if you look at the The economics of this, the sales tax that would be that will be generated in Longmont would have been going to a neighbor, neighboring jurisdiction. And that sucking sound that you would have heard was, you know, Longmont tax revenue going to, to another municipality that the timeline is is such that this gets closed in, in February. That would the kind of the tagline I’ve heard is you’ll be doing Christmas shopping, some of it in Costco by December by Christmas 2023. And maybe we can do better than that. But there’s a ton of, of infrastructure work that has to be done before Costco starts going vertical with their warehouse. So, what do you think
Unknown Speaker 30:47
it I think he had all the key key issues associated with it, you know, the one thing that we’re also aware of, and Costco, as shared with us is the some of the issues ray that you mentioned about how they compensate and treat their employees. And they are very proud of that as a company. And in fact, they, they all have some level of ownership interest in what they do. And many are very long term employees. So we we appreciate that from Costco. And Tim is exactly right. had long might not approved it. It we knew they, they were in discussions with others around us. And frankly, it would have went it would have been built, it probably would have been built with less oversight and scrutiny from a site development process. And what happens here in Longmont with regards to the quality of the landscaping and the installations and those kinds of things. So yeah,
Tim Waters 31:48
maybe two or three other thoughts, I’m just add to that. It defines the net the analysis of this in terms of the revenues that would be generated. Probably the most conservative estimate is that Longmont, the City of Long, much investments in this project will be totally repaid to the city within four years. Correct. So, you know, if you were thinking about, you know, investments with good returns, to have your initial capital investment return within four years, and over the 20 years of first 20 years of this project, once costs was in operation, the estimated revenues. Even with that, what cannibalization might occur from money from customers leaving Sam’s Club or some other box store to Costco. The most conservative estimate is it would generate $75 million in new revenues over that 20 year period time. And that’s calculated based on a 2% annual growth rate. That’s that’s long months estimate or calculation. A Costco. Costco is pattern has been to see growth 10 by 10%, year over year. So if you took Costco ‘s estimate over the first 20 years, multiply that 75 million by five. And that’s the potential upside in terms of revenues to the city. And in a city that is within eyesight, right of the end of greenfield development. I mean, whatever the concerns are that we keep hearing about housing, and gee, we’re building too many houses and and we can talk about talk about building too many houses in relationship to housing prices in demand and homelessness. But when we get to the to that point where we don’t see where we kind of have build out, there’s not a whole lot of growth. Cities like Longmont are dependent upon the kind of revenues that will be generated by Costco to maintain our ability to or to fund our ability to maintain recreation programs, services, facilities, and those kinds of things, libraries, all the thing the amenities that we enjoy in town. So in terms of the long term economic health of the city, this is a big deal. And I think will serve the community well, in all the things about how they treat their employees. Were a part of the calculation or at least the the decision making process criteria for us.
Unknown Speaker 34:13
Thanks. Thanks, Tim. Susie, anything.
Unknown Speaker 34:17
Yeah. So you know, I just wanted to to add to that, and thank you, Tim, you know, you because you’re you have you had the numbers down pat was like, I just kind of have them floating around in my head there and making sure they go where they are they’re supposed to. So make sure the numbers are accurate. But yes, I mean, I would not have approved this project if the business was not worker oriented. You know, I just I’ve heard time and time again, from people I know who work at Costcos in California and in, you know, in other parts of the state here that, you know, they take care of their employees. And so you know, that was something that I felt very motivated that I’d won To stand behind, and make sure we get one in our community, and we talked about wanting to have, you know, people in the community be able to work in the community. And this gives an opportunity for a lot of our, you know, it’s predominantly young folks to who are, you know, who would be coming in to this newer store? And then they can, they’d have a chance for advancement in the store. So it’s not just short term, but really looking at that long term, long term aspect. So that helped me, you know, that was one of the things that motivated me to support this as well. And then, you know, Tim had also mentioned, you know, they were it was gonna be built regardless. So do we want to build on the other side of our border, where it’s detracting you know, it’s pulling people away from spending their money here in Longmont? Or do we want to have it just a little bit on this side of the, of the boundary, where people are spending, and we are collecting that that tax revenue, and I do see that Harold’s hand is up. So I don’t know if
Unknown Speaker 35:58
I was gonna call on Harold. And then our 633, but you’ve got your hand up.
Unknown Speaker 36:07
And, sorry, I’m gonna, I’m gonna car I’m not driving. I’m not going to turn my video on the wrist motion sickness for everyone else. But one of the things to get to sociated with with the Costco project, and I think we may have touched on it, but was really the acquisition of nine acres of affordable housing. And that was a significant point. Because what we were trying to do is, as we looked at all of this is how do we hit multiple goals of the of the city, in terms of what we’re trying to do. And I really have to talk about the work with the developer, because when you look at what we were able to pay for the nine acres in relation to the entire project. And as I compare that in the work that we’re doing in the housing authority on a couple of other projects, you know, we got a really good rate on the property for the housing authority. And And what that lets us do is really help on the construction side and development side as we do this. And so that’s going to be a significant part of the overall project. And, you know, I was talking to someone yesterday about transit. And when you start looking at this, and you look at the density in you look at what’s occurring there, that also can lead to potential improvements in our transit, when we when we start bringing these things together. So there’s a lot of things that are in play in this, but I wanted to mention the affordable housing component of that, because that is a big part of this entire project.
Unknown Speaker 37:37
That’s an exciting part of the future, longer term for a long month. So Dallas, I’ll turn it over to you again to go to our callers.
Unknown Speaker 37:47
Sure thing, caller 949. Thanks for asking your question. I’m going to mute you. And if you have further question, you can raise your hand by hitting star nine going forward. So I do see we have a new collar collar 192. I’m going to ask you to unmute. And while you’re asking your question, because I see we have a couple more viewers on our live stream. I am going to put up our slide again while you’re asking your questions so that any new callers on the live stream may call it in with that information. But caller 192 If you are there do you mind muting your live stream if you’re watching it and and hitting star six to unmute yourself? Hey, caller 192 We see you there.
Unknown Speaker 38:32
Thanks. Hi Susie, Tim and Dale, good to see you this morning. This is Naomi Curlin I’m at 2073 Goldfinch court, and I’m the chair of sustainable resilient Longmont and executive director of Longmont food rescue, and I have a lifelong commitment to zero waste. So we’re coming up on our one year check in with waste services and sustainability, since Council directed staff to pursue a few courses of action related to our city’s waste, including updating the city’s Zero Waste resolution, and drafting a universal recycling ordinance. So those are the two initiatives, particularly a concrete and actionable ordinance that SRL has been advocating for years. And we are most urgently seeking action on from the city. We are seeing the direct impacts of climate change here with years of record droughts and fires that really has affected our entire community. So, you know, I’m personally very concerned, I know many in our community are very concerned about the direct impacts of climate change that we’re experiencing right now. So my question to you all, you know, any thoughts on kind of the action plan for your waste and for universal recycling and other sustainability efforts in the city? But my main question is How will Council direct staff this year to address our climate crisis with the urgency appropriate, the impacts that we’re experiencing? Thanks.
Unknown Speaker 40:12
Tim, or Susie, or I can start us off because we do have an update coming up the city council on on waste services on February 15. And so I’ve encouraged you to, to put that on your calendar. And we are going to be coming forward with a discussion on multiple things, including the recycling ordinance. Staff is going to be seeking Council direction on it’s in our mind as much as anything, it’s a public process to engage with the public on on the issue, and then a timeline. And, you know, I am hopeful that we will get ourselves into a position where Council will be able to take and consider that a universal recycling ordinance. Yet, in 2022, we also are going to be reporting back on, as you mentioned, a number of other items in the Waste Services arena. Another potential one is to revamp the curbside composting program, and to consider whether we should move that from an opt in program to a different type of program, again, with the intent of trying to encourage greater participation in the program. So stay tuned that brief 15th We will have a what I’m believing is going to be a really good conversation with the council. And and really sort of making sure we’re on the right track. You know, staff wants to check in periodically to make sure we’re not we’re not wavering too far one way or another. And and to keep both the public in council apprised of the work that’s underway as well as to seek redirection or new direction if we need that. So tambin Suzie, I’ll I’ll turn it over to you to add your thoughts to that, that issue as well.
Unknown Speaker 42:18
I’m looking forward to hearing the update. You know, I’ve served on the I’m the liaison on the and participate with the Longmont that are not the Longmont sorry, the Boulder County the our cab. Okay. Yes. And, you know, we’re getting ready for our annual retreat. And you know, a lot of what we’re talking about and just kind of joining local area jurisdictions around, you know, universal composting, universal recycling. So a lot of the goals that I you know, that I’ve seen the sustainable resilient Longmont, you know, pushing, you know, wanting us to look at and really take seriously I see that archive is behind this, these efforts. So I’m hoping to kind of learn more and really come up with solid input that we can help direct staff getting something going, you know, pretty fairly quickly. So, yeah, I mean, I totally, totally agree. I mean, it’s frightening to see the numbers to see the the impacts that climate has had on our, on our communities. And, you know, in the end, it’s, it’s costing us more, you know, if we look at it in a fiscal, for me, um, you know, clean up and, you know, taking care of terrible fires, rebuilding, I mean, it’s there. It’s harmful in many, many aspects, but we also need to have a world for our future for our for our kids. And, and so I think, you know, it is really, time is of the essence. I mean, we really have to start acting quickly. And no, I look forward to hearing the updates, and we’re just really promoting and offering input that helps. You know, I don’t want to add more more tangled, or more complication to the process, but really helping to to direct staff and guide staff into a more just like a solid ground so they can move forward. Quickly.
Tim Waters 44:30
Thank you. Maybe the only thing I would add, first of all, it’s the right question right time. A year ago, as I recall, it was our study session in February a year ago, we were coming up on exactly one year from the study session we had where we heard had a chance to hear from both from SRL and you know, advocates here around this along with staff, and I do remember the presentation and you know the aspirations from Universal composting To beneficial electrification well, in terms of solid waste, what we’re going to do with compost, regional composting solution, etc. So, um, but as I recall, the staff said, then, you know what, we’re gonna come back in a year with kind of having processed this information and kind of lay out what’s possible, because back then it was big ideas. I remember asking a question, pushing the staff on. So there, is there an action plan here? And in the responses? Well, it’s common, and I know there’s, there’s urgency to do this. So my reference to beneficial electrification is I know that’s in the same queue. It Right. And this that taskforce has been, has been doing their work. I’m very anxious to hear their recommendations as well, especially since I saw something in the paper a day or two ago, who did the study, I should be able to cite the study about how much methane actually escapes gas ovens, right? My fact my wife when I read it, and my wife said, Yeah, I’m so glad we, you know, we got rid of that gas oven and went all electric. So there are all kinds of reasons that we need to keep moving forward both macro and micro, right from your inside your home to you know, what’s in the world. So there I don’t have Naomi for whatever tours I I don’t think there would be an ounce there’s no resistance anywhere I did I could sense on this council or in the community. It’s just a matter of, you know, how big a bite and and what the costs are for that bite, and who pays for those costs. And, uh, you know, when we were having this conversation a year ago, we were also talking about electric rates, electric rates and wastewater rates. And, you know, all the other things, we were in the process of doing that we’re going to increase cost of living in Longmont. So that fits into this picture as well.
Unknown Speaker 46:53
Namely, oh, go ahead.
Unknown Speaker 46:57
Yeah. May I one additional comment just in response to what counsel said? Sure. Just I want to say I appreciate that Susie mentioned our cab and collaborating with surrounding municipalities, because we really don’t have to reinvent the wheel here. When it comes to universal recycling ordinances. There are examples of municipalities near us that have this. So just talking about timelines and the urgency to act, you know, we really do have some best practices we can draw on from neighboring communities. And in addition to that, and one of the best practices is looking at our waste management rate. And the fact that, you know, they’re coming up on being kind of overdue for an increase based on inflation. And so looking at commercial entities, also having a very nominal small waste management fee that all other municipalities in the air have any other ones do include in their rate structure, you were talking to him about funding, and how we have to make sure we’re keeping an eye on having the funds to do some of these environmental sustainable projects. And I think our rate structure is kind of one of the lowest in the area as far as our our waste management rates. So just want to put that out to council as an option of a way to address the urgency of the climate crisis. restructure.
Unknown Speaker 48:21
Thanks. Thank you for that, Naomi, that that was one thing I missed. Also updating on is, is the waste management fee, and the consideration of whether or not to apply it to, to all customers in the city. Certainly, that is something that we’ve analyzed, and we’ll be, again addressing it to the council and getting that direction. We’re also updating our zero waste resolution, because that is the sort of the guiding as Tim said, aspirational document that sets forth the vision of the city going forward, what what we’re doing today, and what we hope to be doing going forward and so multiple fronts that we’re working on this issue, and so stay tuned for February 15. Okay.
Unknown Speaker 49:16
I won’t be there. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 49:18
Great. Thank you, Dale, for that update as well. Yeah, you know, I just I don’t want anything off the table. I want to hear all you know, don’t give us what you think you want us to hear. Give us you know everything that everything so we can make the best informed decision. So I appreciate that. Absolutely.
Unknown Speaker 49:37
Great. So right now, it looks like we have no other callers in the chat. No new callers. Caller 633. I see you just raise your hand. If you would like to unmute, please hit star six. color with the last three digits. There you are. Hey.
Unknown Speaker 49:58
Hi, it’s Marianne. Thank you. So I wanted to know what the email address is, first of all, and then another quick comment. What’s the email address that I would write to or anyone could write to to contact you?
Unknown Speaker 50:17
Let me I’ll just give you my email address Maryann,
Unknown Speaker 50:21
whichever one you want to give me. Yeah, sure.
Unknown Speaker 50:26
My guess is there’s probably a better one, but that’ll at least get you into it. So it’s my first name Dale. So da le dot random maker, Ra D, E. Ma, CH er. And then at at MCC Colorado, and it’s all one word, Longmont colorado.gov.
Unknown Speaker 50:50
Thank you, Dale. And the other comment I’d like to make is, I’m glad Susie’s on the council. I didn’t know she was because I haven’t been involved that much like watching the show on TV or anything. So because she’s an educator, and I’m an educator, and I’m glad to see that. There’s someone on the council that’s focused on education. Education is very important in our community. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 51:15
Thank you. And you know, Councilmember waters is also a former superintendent. So you have two educators. Oh
Tim Waters 51:24
yeah, I always did 45 years in the field.
Unknown Speaker 51:32
He was able to get out
Tim Waters 51:33
Maryann and for anybody else who’s watching what Dale just did with his email. I know people sometimes we hear that it’s hard to get emails to us or whatever. The pattern Dale just shared first name dot last name at Longmont, colorado.gov that you can get to all of us comm dot waters at Longmont, Colorado, or any council member, any staff member gets the same pattern. So we’re saying we’re easy to reach.
Unknown Speaker 52:02
Thanks for sharing. Everyone is listening. Yes, thank you very appreciate you. You’re welcome. Yes, thank you, too. Thanks for being on letting us comment on Saturday morning. Thank you.
Unknown Speaker 52:18
Great. And with that we have we still have no hands raised. If anyone else in the chat would like to have another comment or question. You can raise your hand with star nine. We are a few minutes out from 10. So Dale, if you’d like I can put that slide back up for any Oh, we do have another caller with a question. All right. Caller 192. Yeah. Would you like to unmute hit star six for me. All right, we see it’s
Unknown Speaker 52:49
Naomi again. Naomi, again, from sustainable, resilient online. I guess, if we’ve got a few minutes, I was wondering for some of the new building projects that are coming up like the riverwalk area. And you were mentioned Costco before. As a sustainable organization, we’re hoping that council when it comes time to actually approving plans will look at having LEED certified building practices and everything being as sustainable green, keeping energy in mind, as you mentioned electrification and also, you know, having solar being integrated into a building designed for large new complexes that could afford doing that stuff up front. So just your thoughts on green building practices when it comes to approving new major projects in the city?
Tim Waters 53:47
I’ll start I don’t I don’t I don’t I certainly don’t have the last word on this. We just we just went through the process of updating codes, electrical codes, and, and some of our electrical codes and fire codes. In our, in our building codes, and in specifically with the electrical codes to be reflect the international standards. Moving forward just as one example maybe or two examples, Naomi. And I’m certain that there are others that Dale in in in in our staff can identify but there were two of the two of the changes in the code that stood out because we talked about is that going forward residences have to be equipped with the kind of connections from their, from their electrical box to the whatever has to happen in connection to make installation of solar displays or panels. Easy, right? So it’s it’s baked in or it’s designed and constructed into new housing. At the same time, in that same code, that same new house not only will it have to be easy, efficient and cost effective to to for the installation of solar. It also is required new houses required to have at least the capacity for Evie charging stations or charging capacity and getting garages so that every new home will will be able to accommodate charging an electric vehicle as as two examples. I know that’s far short of LEED standards. But but we do it we I do know. Because what we’ve been told by by our planning director that in the first two quarters of this year, we have obviously we’re early in the first quarter between now and the end of the second quarter, we’re going to see a number of recommendations from planning that that really address land code uses. And and the the reconciliation of whatever conflicts may exist among our ordinances in terms of landscape codes, design codes, etc. And I And I’m, I’m pretty certain that embedded in those changes, we’re going to see recommendations that take us towards more efficient construction of new new buildings or the rehab and rehabilitation of Baldwin’s. So that’s it for what it’s worth. I know it’s probably far short of what you’d like to hear.
Unknown Speaker 56:20
And if I could just chime in real quick. Councilmember waters on coming up, I believe on February 8, folks from LPC are going to be giving counsel updates on benchmarking of commercial buildings. Also updating on the beneficial electrification plan. And a therm. It’s a thermostat demonstration project. So a number of those items are queued up as well. And so, you know, look, look, look forward to those as well in February.
Unknown Speaker 57:06
All right, and we are approaching the 10 o’clock mark. I will say if anyone has any other questions, feel free that is currently in the chat, feel free to hit star nine to raise your hand. We’ll give it about 30 seconds or so. And then Dale, I can put up the slide with information for next month. Oh, we do have color 949. Color 949 Do you mind hitting star six for me, please? Hey, there,
Unknown Speaker 57:40
this is great. Hi, this is Ray Rodriguez again, just one quick anecdote about Costco in favor, again, is that they’re one of the few places where you can purchase eyeglasses and sunglasses outside of the luxotic monopoly. If you just Google exotica 60 minutes, they did a special on it, as far as why eyeglasses and sunglasses are priced so high, because they own all of the major brands, any brand you can think of even the distributors, you know, target and Sears and all the you know, America’s best contacts and eyeglasses so they have a virtual monopoly on the eyeglass market. And that’s one reason why they’re so expensive, you know, three to four to $500 Sometimes, anyway, that’s one plus two having a Costco in town is they do they aren’t part of the luxotic monopoly, and their eyeglasses and eyewear a much more affordable
Unknown Speaker 58:42
thanks, right for sharing that. Welcome. Well, Tamar, Suzie, any any final comments or certainly any callers? We’re down to our last minute here. But
Unknown Speaker 58:57
no, I just I want to say my thanks and gratitude to people who called in today and shared their their comments, you know, I took took notes. You know, I think for it’s really important to have that community participation and community input, because we’re here to serve the community. We don’t know if we’re making the right decisions, if we don’t hear from your from the folks so, you know, I think you know, this helps for me to, to think about and make considerations as things get brought forward to us for a recommendation for council direction, you know, I really want to make sure that I am listening to folks and I you know, I don’t know if I don’t hear from you so thank you so much for taking the time to be with us this hour on a Saturday morning. I’m gonna go Phil in the coffee cup again. Thank you, Susie.
Tim Waters 59:53
I’ll add my my appreciation as well. I you know, Marianne rugae mentioned that. I don’t know How many cities do coffee with counts on a Saturday morning? Once a month? I suspect it’s probably not the majority. My guess is there may be some others. But I, but I, but first of all, I think it’s it’s fun to do. I appreciate both the staff and and the public’s participation. Susie, it’s good to see you on a Saturday morning and be in this together. And frankly, it would be fun to do it every Saturday. But that would be that would probably be making people sick. Yes.
It’s Tuesday nights aren’t always fun, but Saturday mornings like this.
Unknown Speaker 1:00:41
I want to I want to thank everybody that called in as well. Council member waters and logo fairy for taking your time this morning as well. And Dallas, thank you so much for being our, our, our technical guru that can make this all work. So appreciate that. And I think with that, we’ll, we’ll go ahead and close the meeting for today.
Unknown Speaker 1:01:04
Absolutely, I just want to say we are going to I’m going to share right now our tentative plans for the next coffee with the council will be Saturday, February 26. That will be in person. Again, that’s tentative towards COVID numbers and some other details, but it will be in person at the hearthstone that is 1762 court. i It will be from nine to 10am Just like this. And there will be details on the coffee with a council page on our Longmont website that will keep you updated in case those things change in the future. So I’ll leave this up for another 1015 seconds in case you want to write this down. But with that, yeah, thanks everyone for joining today. Thanks for callers calling in. And yeah, I will end this and hope everyone has a lovely Saturday. See y’all
Transcribed by https://otter.ai