Agenda - 10-06-2009 - 5b - Laserfiche WebLink

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12 50 that is measured throughout the year. States that are not in compliance with the 1990 Title 2 Clean Air Act 51 result in counties having to pay for added oxidations or oxidants in fuel and we pay for that at the pump. 52 We pay for that and that is not in here. Also not in here is anything about particulates, emissions 53 particulates, and they are not measuring that. So there are two parts of the study that are not really 54 measured and the particulates are really of importance to small children, the elderly, asthmatics, and 55 people with obstructive pulmonary disorders. I see some flaws in this study and I'm conflicted on this. It 56 looks to me like you have this lobby group, California Business Properties Association that is paying for this 57 study. I looked and California Business Properties Association are advocates for shopping centers and real 58 estates firms. I'm. not sure where I am on this whole thing but I just wanted to point some problems with that 59 study. 60 61 Jeff Schmitt: In the midst of the discussion, I would like to resurrect option one, (do nothing) handicapped 62 people today this is going to create a significant issue for them when they go to use a drive -in facility. 63 Parents with children who could previously go thru a facility with their children in the car safely in their seats 64 now will have to park the car get the kids out of the car and cross the lot, I could go on with issues like this. 65 I'm not sure that we have enough of this in the County that it creates that big of an environmental issue and 66 think this is somewhat of over reaction on the part of the Commissioners in bringing this forward. From my 67 perspective the questions and how we look at this, I'd like to have that in a context to think about it. 68 69 (Document 'The Idle Free School Zone Project - 2006 -2007' was passed out by staff from Planning Board 70 Member Mary Bobbittt- Cooke.) 71 72 Mary Bobbitt- Cooke: If you remember at the Quarterly Hearing, I talked about what Forsyth County had 73 done in terms of really looking at places where there were a lot of particulates and bad air around children. 74 They have initiated an idle free school zone project. Basically, its an education project which is always a 75 good way to reach out first before you start doing a lot of regulation. It educates the parents to turn the car 76 off while they're waiting for their children to come out from school or when they are going to drop off. It has 77 posters they send around and it helps parents transfer the behavior to other situations where if you're idling 78 more than a minute you shut your car off and they understand how it affects children's asthma as well as 79 the whole concept of air. I live close to Grady Brown and the High School and that's build right next to a 80 highway. I think the parents in the grade schools in Orange County would be willing to listen to this. What 81 they did in Forsyth County was there is no policy, they negotiated with the principal and the school staff to 82 put this in order. They have a Triad air awareness and emergency management program; all these groups 83 came together and worked with the-schools to put this into place. it has been adopted by all the grade 84 schools and now they are moving into the middle schools. This is something we might want to ask the 85 County Commissioners to do first. The second thing in Forsyth County was the county employees have 86 been asked to turn their cars off. This is to model the kind of behavior they want all the residents in the 87 County to follow. I am thinking I would like to add to Jeffs proposal to resurrect option one, do nothing in 88 terms of regulation but let's start working in the areas where our children are and two see if the County 89 Manager would be willing to talk with the Forsyth County manager about this regulation and was it difficult 90 to put in place. Maybe staff here might want to react to that, do you have one in place? 91 92 Michael Harvey: We don't have one in place; I think the one in Forsyth County is a policy and a 93 suggestion. It is unenforceable which is why it's not a regulation so we need to be careful with how we do 94 that 95 96 Mary Bobbitt- Cooke: In terms of doing number one, do nothing in terms of regulation, I'm suggesting that 97 we say, let's do no regulation but let's consider some education and outreach where we can have behavior 98 modeled by county employees as well as really target where our children are which is a big concern. I think 2