Delegation Vote to Support at AUG 8th Meeting, @ Rita Bass Trauma Center at Denver Health

INC Resolution on City Park Solid Waste Incinerator

BACKGROUND

WHEREAS, City Park, in which are located the Denver Zoo and the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, is important as a regional park hosting more than an estimated, 3,400,000 visitors per year, as the neighborhood park for the Denver citizens living in its heavily populated adjoining neighborhoods, as home to a variety of wildlife including numerous species of birds and wild animals and as location of the Zoo which houses rare and exotic species, some of which are endangered, and

WHEREAS, the City of Denver’s, City Council issued a a Certificate of Operation s/b Certificate of Designation in December, 2014 authorizing the Denver Zoo to burn solid waste at an incineration plant defined by the Environmental Protection Agency as an “Other Solid Waste Incinerator” (OSWI) inside City Park, and

WHEREAS, in March, 2014, without public notice, the Executive Director of Denver Parks & Recreation sanctioned the burning of waste within City Park, an area zoned as open space (OS-A Zone District), by declaring incineration of animal waste, zoo trash and park waste a valid “park use.”, and

WHEREAS, The Denver Zoo’s OSWI Incinerator plant is an industrial use deemed not suitable in other cities and counties, including but not limited to Ada County, Idaho, Green Bay, Wisconsin, Cleveland, Ohio, Fredericksburg, Virginia and , New York City or at other zoos or in areas zoned as Residential or Open Space, such as City Park and its surrounding neighborhoods, and

WHEREAS, Denver citizens and  City Park’s neighbors, who rely on the park’s green space areas for recreation, fitness, and enjoyment, have not been fully informed and included in a decision that affects the park and its visitors and that may place their neighborhoods and City Park at risk, and

WHEREAS, The Denver Zoo’s OSWI Incinerator is a unique design, never before built or operated and there are numerous concerns and questions about the safety of the incinerator and its health effects on people, children and animals, and

WHEREAS, the Denver Zoo, its Foundation, and the City and County of Denver have not released technical and operational characteristics of the Denver Zoo’s OSWI Incinerator,  public information or evidence that analyses have been conducted regarding the plant’s emissions or waste by-products nor are they willing to answer concerns and questions raised by the community,

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that Inter-Neighborhood Cooperation calls upon 1.) the Denver Zoo to document relevant, substantive technical and operational details of its OSWI Incinerator and release this information to the public, and 2.) the Denver City Council to conduct a substantive and technical review of the Zoo’s OSWI Incinerator plant through hearings before its designated Neighborhood and Planning Committee, and when necessary, using its full subpoena powers, taking testimony from Denver Zoo Foundation administrators, engineers, scientists, environmental experts including qualified and credible third parties along with representation from environmental justice groups, Registered Neighborhood Organizations and City Park neighbors to determine the safety and health risks posed by the use of the incinerator, before it be allowed to proceed and to operate.