Sustainability Advisory Board Agenda and Packet 2021 02 17

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Sustainability Advisory Board Meeting Minutes January 20, 2021 composting infrastructure; and with the retention of as many viable existing trees as possible, the proposed project will have significant buffers of potential impacts to adjacent property owners. • Boulder County purchased a Conservation Easement on the existing Nursery in 1994 using open -space funds. Then in 2018, the County purchased the remainder of the property and its water rights, again using open space funds. When the same landowner owns both a property and a conservation easement restricting the property, the property interests merge together and the conservation easement ceases to exist. • That property is currently zoned 'A'— Agricultural. Article 4 Section 102 of the Boulder County Land Use Code allows for a composting facility and a forestry processing and sort yard as permitted uses of the property. So, establishing a compost -processing site on the property will still honor the general usage intent of the prior owner. • The county is making commendable efforts to reach out to nearby property owners to ensure their concerns are heard and to incorporate their feedback into the design process and operational schedule. • Funding for its design and construction is being provided by the current Sustainability Tax (which was approved by 70% of Boulder County voters in 2016), so no additional tax approval is required to proceed. • The facility will accept waste from commercial and residential sources. Finished compost material generated on -site will be available for area residential and agricultural users. With a compost -processing site nine miles (instead if 38 miles) from Louisville, the City may not have to provide as much open area to `stockpile' finished compost from our waste -collection contractor for residents' later pick-up. • The proposed facility will utilize state-of-the-art "Covered Aerated Static Pile" (CASP) technology. Feedstock is covered in a concrete bunker system process, creating a closed system that fully contains leachate and is designed to control odors and runoff as well as speed decomposition, and has a proven track record in other populated locations. That process will mitigate any impacts on neighboring landowners. • Further, as noted in an August 2016 Carbon Farming Pilot recommendation by the County's Resource Conservation Advisory Board (BRCAB) to the County Commissioners, compost application to soils is one of the most promising methods for increasing carbon sequestration capacity, which has many co -benefits to achieve over -arching county climate goals such as greenhouse gas reduction, improved soil health, improved crop yields, increased water retention, and restoration of native plant and animal species. Given the above points, Louisville's Sustainability Advisory Board (LSAB) supports the development of a Boulder County -based composting site, as proposed by the County for the site of the old Rainbow Nursery. And LSAB recommends that Louisville's City Council endorse and support the approval of the siting and construction of that proposed County Compost Facility, its development and operations, to the Boulder County Commissioners. For the members of the LSAB, Date: Laura Levesque -Catalano, 2021 Chair, Louisville Sustainability Advisory Board Page 6 of 6