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ATV Park Ad Hoc Minutes 02/20/2013 T (24 .0 FFtQ rr),4� ATV PARK AD HOC COMMITTEE MEETING Q 55' e Main Conference Room n y � f-O ..4 %. 2885 S Horseshoe Drive '� Naples,FL 34104 N064) <'O 7. February 20,2013 5:30 P.M. fir+ I. Call to Order/Roll Call The ATV Park Ad Hoc Committee meeting was convened at approximately 5:40 p.m. by President, Joe Pelletier. A quorum was present. Those in attendance were as follows: Joe Pelletier, Chairman Jeff Close, Member Mario Menendez, Member Barbra Pinx, Member Greg Westgate, applicant for Alternate Member Ed Lukosavich, applicant for Alternate Member Peter Fagan, Florida Tracks and Trails representative Terry Cooke, Florida Tracks and Trails representative Commissioner Tim Nance, Collier County Board of County Commissioners Jim Flanagan, Aide to Commissioner Nance Nick Casalanguida, Growth Management Division Administrator Staff to Ad Hoc: Connie Deane, Growth Management Division (GMD) Community Liaison and ATV Park Committee Staff Liaison Barry Williams, Parks &Recreation Department Director Toni Mott, Manager Property Acquisition & Sales Valerie Kullick, GMD (Minutes) II. Adoption of Agenda A motion was made and seconded to approve the agenda. III. Adoption of the 1/9/13 Meeting Minutes A motion was made by Barbra Pinx and seconded by Mario Menendez to approve the 1/9/13 ATV Ad Hoc Committee meeting minutes and was approved unanimously, with a note that two names were misspelled—Ed Lukosavich and Barbra Pinx. IV. Old Business A. Review of info to share with Board of County Commissioners —Executive Summary prepared for Board of County Commissioners meeting on Feb. 26, 2013 — Nick Casalanguida. GMD Administrator Nick Casalanguida provided background information relative to the Committee's purpose and what they were tasked to do. During the past couple of meetings, the committee has discussed putting together information to update the Board of County Commissioners (BCC). The committee expires in June, and the Committee hopes to extend that date. Mr. Casalanguida then provided a budget update; the Committee was authorized to spend up to $100,000 and approximately $31,000 has been spent to date. The expenditure breakdown is as follows: • $19,000 for real property; • $10,000 to WilsonMiller for plans; and • $1,900 for advertising the meetings. The Committee is well under budget. The Committee's goal is to be conservative in spending. Hans Russell of Property Acquisition & Sales retired, so Toni Mott is taking his place. Nick prepared the Executive Summary (ES), basically outlining the history of what the committee has done, for the BCC Meeting on February 26 and provided copies to the committee members. Nick provided an overview of the ES and advised that he would introduce ATV Park Committee Chairman Joe Pelletier to the BCC. Nick will have Joe provide an overview of the Committee's activities. Nick will also ask that the two recommended alternative members be appointed to the committee. Also contained in the ES are some options for ATV use outside the county that the committee would like to explore. Nick stated that until the county put out Request for Proposals (RFP) entities such as Florida Tracks and Trails (FTT) should wait to submit any proposals. Peter Fagan from FTT stated that at the last meeting they were asked to submit a proposal which they brought with them to submit. Nick advised against doing so as that could prejudice any other proposals that may come in. Once the BCC provides direction for the RFP/advertisement, it will specify what the county is looking for. He told FTT that if they submitted a proposal now, it would taint the whole process and may be unfavorable for them in the long term. As for the presentation to the BCC, Nick will present the following facts: • The ATV Committee has with Property Acquisition staff's assistance, reviewed all available properties in Collier County; • Reached out to over 200 parcels (72 landowners) and they have had no discernable interest; 2 • Determined that$3 million will not be sufficient to start a park; and • Advertised the public meetings as well as sent out notices and have had not received property owner response showing interest in an ATV Park in Collier County. Therefore, the Committee is ready to make the next step with BCC approval. Chairman Joe Pelletier advised that he had viewed several properties on his own and wondered if that was okay. Nick replied that it was fine, but now that we're going to ask for RFPs, discussions with other people, outside of the RFP process needs to stop. Greg Westgate commented that it seems we're going backwards. Greg did not recall that it was ever stipulated that we could not look outside the county for solutions. He said the only interest we've come across has been from outside the county. Nick said that during the first public meeting, the BCC had discussed this process and stated "You're not going outside the county, right?", and we agreed at that point. He thinks Commissioner Coletta mentioned something about checking out some Hendry County property then and Nick checked it out. Nick said that sometime during the last couple of meetings, he mentioned that we may want to stay within our boundaries until we go to the BCC and give them an update and explain to them how we would like to proceed. Joe Pelletier stated that at the last meeting we had asked Lazy Springs and FTT to draft a proposal, not understanding how the process worked. At the last meeting,they thought perhaps the County Attorney should be involved. The committee realizes that they are not there to "broker a deal", just to make a recommendation. Nick agreed and said because it is public money it has to be spent in a certain way, and the BCC has to make the decision. Nick again explained the process of publicly advertising, setting parameters and garnering proposals. Once that is done then the proposals will be reviewed by this ATV Committee and the county staff. They will be ranked and a recommendation will be made to the BCC. If the BCC agrees with that, they will authorize the Committee to enter into negotiations with that particular group. Nick wasn't sure what time this item may appear (anywhere from 11 a.m. to as late as 4 p.m.), unless you want to ask for a time certain. Commissioner Nance said that you may want to figure out what you're going to do or ask the BCC for. Discussion ensued and the committee will request that BCC continue the ATV Committee (which expires in June, 2013), and do an RFP (expanding outside of Collier County). Connie mentioned that as part of the Executive Summary, the approval of the alternates is listed, requesting that Ed Lukosavich and Greg Westgate be made official alternate members. V. New Business A. Commissioner Tim Nance, District 5 — review of video from Board of County Commissioners — Growth Management Plan meeting on Jan. 19, 2010 — item #3G — Mr. Kevin Asher/Miami-Dade County Park and Recreation Department Commissioner Nance presented a video clip of a BCC meeting wherein a proposal from Miami- Dade County to join together with Collier County and create a park at the Jetport site. Commissioner Nance said that in the mid 1960's, Miami-Dade County decided that they wanted 3 to move their airport, substantially west and purchased 39 square miles of land (about 25,000 acres), to build a huge new airport, which would include hotels and industry. During that same period of time, the environmental movement got underway which impacted the project. Miami- Dade did start working in the area and did build a runway on the site, the second longest runway in the state of Florida (it was a space shuttle alternate landing site). The runway is located about one mile north of the Tamiami Trail, on the Dade/Collier line, all inside Collier County. A few years ago, Miami-Dade decided to try and put together something called the Dade Collier Cypress Recreation Area, south of the runway. There is about 1,700 acres that has already been disturbed and is currently being used for riding trails. They tried to get approval to change the Collier County Growth Management Plan (GMP),to change the use of this land for that purpose. During a meeting on January 19, 2010, a gentleman from the Dade County Parks Department named Kevin Asher came in and to present his proposal which was not supported by staff(for environmental reasons), but was supported by the Board of County Commissioners in a 4-0 vote. The State Oversight Committee of the Department of Community Affairs (DCA) reviewed it and they did not approve it for environmental reasons. Commissioner Nance says the DCA no longer exists, so he said that he thinks a similar plan may not meet that same resistance. Commissioner Nance wanted to inform the ATV Committee of other possibilities if they are interested. It may be something they want to consider. The video was then played. (See transcription of video following minutes.) When the video finished, Commissioner Nance reiterated that the BCC voted 4-0 (at that time) to go forward with the park. He does not know what the status of the project is presently. Commissioner Nance said that what they are trying to do is make a park within a park. It is near Everglades National Park, adjacent to Big Cypress Preserve, well located just a mile north of the Tamiami Trail. There are multiple uses for the property at this time, such as camping, fishing and hunting. Commissioner Nance said that if this would be something the ATV Committee is interested in looking into, he will support them and do what he can to help them. He thinks it is something similar to what is up in Croom, but much bigger. Parks and Recreation Dept. Director Barry Williams added that the Parks Department works with Miami-Dade and he knows Kevin Asher and others well. He said that that there have been changes with DCA and a different environmental attitude within the state may now exist. Commissioner Nance said that environmental advocacy groups are exploring and taking positions on where traditional and public uses should be. It could be possible to get their support in this decision. Commissioner Nance said that he is leaving it up to the ATV Committee as to whether or not they want to go forward and look into this possibility. If the committee is interested, following the BCC meeting next week, he recommends that staff reach out to Miami- Dade County to see where they stand. Barbra Pinx stated that she was aware that there are surplus lands that will be sold. She was not sure when they were going to get to the Collier County lands, but it's something she can move forward with and check with her people at SFWMD. She said they have been instructed by the state to sell off surplus, but does not know how environmentally sensitive the lands may be. 4 Commissioner Nance stated that the attractive feature about the Jetport property was that it is already institutionally owned. Barbra said the thing that bothered her was the word "hunting". Commissioner Nance said to remember that it consists of 25,000 acres of property. Miami-Dade County already has invested staff time, money, and supervisory time on this parcel, and there's already a history of having trails on it. It's less of a stretch to get to where we want to go. It may not cover all ATV uses, but it's an opportunity to get in with a small amount of money to begin. Joe Pelletier expressed his desire (and that of other committee members) that they would like a place to ride sooner rather than later. Some of the groups they talked to have already done all the ground work and have zoning and permits in place. He was hoping they could find a place to ride within a year, instead of five years from now. Commissioner Nance reminded him that this money was for building a park and that it was public money. It will be about what the County Commissioners allow them to do. Nick Casalanguida said that staff will ask for Letters of Interest or Intent from both Miami-Dade and any other companies that may be interested. It will help craft the RFP, if we go that route. Nick suggested approaching the Hussey property, because he thought it has been cleared. Commissioner Nance stated that he appreciated the fact that the members want to ride, but reminded them that this involves public money and there's no sense of urgency. Jeff Close agreed that it was worth looking at and Mario Menendez concurred. They think it's at least worth contacting Miami-Dade and seeing if this is a viable option. Terry Cooke, FTT, questioned whether or not he could have someone look at the proposal that FTT had prepared. He thought that it had everything that the committee was looking for and more. Commissioner Nance stressed that when you deal with the county as a vendor, there is a defined process that everyone must follow. He said that if the BCC approved going for an RFP after the meeting next Tuesday then we could take their proposal. Nick agreed and said that pending BCC approval, we would solicit what is called a Letter of Interest (a step before an RFP), contacting various parks, and asking if they were interested in partnering with Collier County in some sort of proposal. Greg Westgate questioned what the time frame was in this process. He agreed with Joe in that they were hoping to be able to find a resolution to the ATV park quest. He asked if a time restraint could be placed on the process. Nick agreed that it could — 30 days, 60 days, etc., whatever the Committee chooses. Peter Fagan commented that he thought the committee had already explored all the possibilities and questioned why the county would solicit to see if others were interested. Nick replied that we haven't gone outside of Collier County officially, and while FTT had heard of it, others may not have. The Committee must-follow the county process and the Sunshine Laws. Joe Pelletier mentioned that the committee had been looking outside the county recently, but didn't realize that official action had to be taken to have it authorized. Nick Casalanguida stated that three actions would be requested of the BCC on Tuesday which are: 5 • Extend the ATV Ad Hoc Committee for a year as it expires in June; • Officially state that we are looking outside the county; and • Solicit Letters of Interest from others. Nick stated that a short term solution as well as a long term solution may be possible allowing for working with more than one vendor. Mario Menendez said at the last meeting they agreed that they needed more guidance to proceed. A member asked Tim Nance who was responsible for stopping the Dade-Collier Park three years ago. Commissioner Nance said it was the Department of Community Affairs (DCA). It was a state agency that used to oversee all growth management plan changes for all Florida counties. It's now called the Department of Economic Opportunity(DEO) and seems to move more along the lines of confidence in the counties to self-direct themselves, rather than having a big brother up there to shut things down. The current agency seems to be a little more balanced. Nick said that changes still go to other agencies for review and they will proffer their opinions. Barbra Pinx agreed that the process is a little more "user-friendly" and a little more environmentally balanced. Peter Fagan remarked that as a developer, he hasn't noticed much improvement in the approval process. He did ask Commissioner Nance if he had an opinion as to how long he thought the process would take if they started the Miami Dade project. The Commissioner did not want to hazard a guess, qualifying that he doesn't even know if Miami- Dade has an interest, it's just another possibility to look into. Peter asked how they would solicit interest from other counties. Nick said that it takes place through public advertising and being posted on a website. We also may check with staff about any parks that may be within a 100 mile radius. Nick also emphasized that initially the original discussions by the BCC were that they wanted to invest this money inside Collier County, maybe go into a public/private partnership. When the committee realized how difficult that would be, they started looking farther afield. We're at the point where we need to go in front of the Board and report all that has been covered in the past year. Commissioner Nance said that there were three distinct possibilities. The first that was under discussion for a long time, was to purchase and develop a county owned ATV park; the second was to make a public/private partnership or engage with a private vendor; and the third would be to partner with another institution to do something. He said if we're going to go the route of a park ourselves, then Mr. Barry Williams would be a key in providing information and organization and manpower. Joe Pelletier stated that he could not understand why the county would want to take on all the responsibility and expenses of a park, such as insurance and employees, etc. Barry stated that he thought we're just looking at all the possibilities as directed by the BCC. Commissioner Nance asked if anyone had gone up and visited the Croom. He wondered what the structural arrangement was for that park. Greg and Ed had both been up there and said it pays for itself. It is their understanding that they make money by charging $65 per vehicle/per year. They have a day riding area trail system. 6 Nick Casalanguida summarized what would be presented to the BCC which is the following: • Extend the committee for a year as it expires in June; • Explain we've done our due diligence looking for property within Collier County and no sites were found; • Officially approve looking outside the county; and • Solicit Letters of Interest from other parties and agencies outside the county. Greg asked Commissioner Nance if he had any idea how to communicate to the other BCC members the importance of ATV riding to many people in Collier County. Commissioner Nance stated that you will have to demonstrate the importance of what it is the committee is asking the BCC to approve. They're going to want to know what sort of services Collier County people are going to receive and that it is safe for citizens of Collier. Chairman Joe Pelletier requested a motion to approve the points that Nick Casalanguida had made during the meeting. Barbra Pinx: I move to accept the bullet points that Nick has proffered to present to our Board of County Commissioners on Tuesday, February 26 to help move the ATV committee forward. Mario Menendez: I second the motion. Motion Carried Unanimously. VI. Public Comment—no one from the public wished to speak. VII. GMD Next Meeting Date Nick suggested a tentative meeting date for next month. The next meeting is tentatively set for Wednesday, March 20 at 5:30 p.m. Connie will e-mail all committee members with the information of the upcoming meeting. VIII. Adjournment Jeff Close: I move to adjourn. Barbra Pinx: I seconded the motion. Motion Carried Unanimously. Having no further business, the meeting was officially adjourned at 7:05 p.m. 7