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Floodplain Management Committee Minutes 03/04/2013 R Floodplain Management Planning Committee Chairman-Jerry Kurtz Vice Chair-Craig Pajer Kenneth Bills Phillip Brougham Joseph Gagnier Mike Sheffield Dan Summers Clarence Tears Duke Vasey Christa Carrera (Naples) Bob Mahar(Marco I.) Raquel Pines (Everglades City) Meeting Minutes for 3-4-13 Regular Meeting Start: 9:10 a.m. End: 10:43 a.m. Location: 2800 N Horseshoe Dr, Room 610 Meeting Attendance: Jerry Kurtz,Craig Pajer,Phil Brougham,Joseph Gagnier, Rick Zyvoloski (for Dan Summers), Duke Vasey, Mike Sheffield,and Robert Wiley Absent: Raquel Pines, Bob Mahar, Christa Carrera, Clarence Tears, Kenneth Bills There were six (6) additional staff members in attendance and two (2) members of the public. Meeting called to order by Jerry Kurtz,Chairman. OLD BUSINESS: 1. Approval of minutes for the 1-7-13 Regular Meeting-Jerry Kurtz asked if there were any needed changes to the minutes. Nobody had any comments or changes. A motion was made by Joe Gagnier to approve the minutes. It was seconded and passed unanimously. 2. Updating the Floodplain Management Plan (Robert Wiley) -Jerry Kurtz directed the committee to skip item 2 (old business) and move on to item 1 (new business) for Nick's presentation. Robert turned this item over to Nick. NEW BUSINESS: 1. FMPC Work Load Discussion (Nick Casalanguida) -Nick introduced himself as the Division Administrator. He presented a"Gantt"chart on the viewer and gave copies to members. Last meeting there was some questions as to the priorities of the committee and priorities of the staff and work load. He stated that he and committee member Phil Brougham and County Mgr Leo Ochs met to discuss a work plan,such as what our priorities are and what is within our ability to get done. He said that he had Robert and Bill worked on the Gantt chart. Nick will go through each item on the Gantt chart. Flood Zone map revisions: Nick asked Robert when the next revision submittal date will be. Can we do it in stages or will FEMA want us to submit it all at one time? Robert-we're working to finalize the numerous corrections he had the consultant do. He is expecting to receive GIS shape files this week(Friday)but hasn't received them yet. He will distribute copies to City of Marco and City of Naples staff. After their review and agreement 1 with it,then we'll be ready to go in with the application. He's not sure if FEMA will say to hold off with it until we get it all done. He doesn't think they will do that but is unknown at this point. We'll submit it as a standard map revision but it will overwhelm the Letter of Map Change (LOMC) office. They will forward it to FEMA's Region IV office in Atlanta. The Atlanta office will assemble the contract and decide how to handle it. We just have to follow the steps, and they'll let us know. Nick said he is planning a trip to Atlanta to see FEMA in the next month or two-maybe he can discuss this with them. Duke-questions Nick as to how the Gantt chart ties in with our action plan for 2013. Nick says it does,it talks about resources-but it's not in the same format as 2012. Robert thought that Duke was talking about the proposed progress report for the Floodplain Management Plan (FMP). Duke-that came from a larger chart that was approved before this became a fact....do Nick's projects appear as a 2013 action? Robert says they are on there,they're in the proposed section in the very back of that document,2012 is in the front and in the very back is the 2013. Nick said that it ties in-that it's more of a resource evaluation for the 2013 action plan. If FEMA is willing to accept these basins as they come forward, it would be much easier. Whenever these changes start to hit,our phones start ringing off the hook. We have 3 or 4 staff members that are Certified Floodplain Managers (CFM)that can assist. He questions how we should handle the influx of calls and work load on the current staff. Should we refer them back to the code of regulations and leave them on their own? Probably not-we want to help our citizens navigate through this. But it's a big resource load for us. If FEMA says no and they want to wait until all the maps get updated then obviously we're just dealing with the 2 basins that we modified. If they allow us to make these modifications and they're both in the City of Marco and City of Naples,they may be dealing with this on their own. Robert said that we cover the whole deal. Robert clarified that the map revisions are the county's but LOMA's/LOMR's are each of the cities. He's unsure of the impact the calls from the City of Naples and/or Marco have on us. We get the calls but we refer them to the city staff for the LOMA/LOMB Phil asked Robert when he will be submitting the plan. Robert said near end of this month or the first part of April,which gives the cities staff time to review and agree. If it makes their situation worse,they may not want to sign. If that's the case it can get a bit testy and we may have to clip their boundaries. Phil wanted to know if we could get a commitment of budgeting for staff(job bankers) as a contingency plan. Nick said he will be budgeting for the overload of staff this year. Phil also asked if we are taking phone calls that are for the other municipalities would they be willing to send staff members here to assist with handling the influx of calls etc. Nick said probably not. Robert stated that we have a great working relationship with reciprocity. They're getting a lot of our calls too. We give info and refer callers to the appropriate jurisdictions when the calls require more attention. Robert states extra staff will give a lot of relief. 2 Nick-this is a cascading Gantt chart reassuring that it will take some of the pressure off but it will happen and we have to update the basins no matter where they are. We have to submit and that's going to happen. Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance: Nick said that for now we have this going to the board in November and December. Nick wants to accelerate the process by doing a parallel review with this committee and DSAC (Development Services Advisory Committee)by providing copies of the existing ordinance and the draft ordinance to the committee and let them make their notes and suggested changes then submit it to the Board. That's the thing he wants to change on this chart. Once there is a final draft it can be submitted to the BCC sometime in July or September,knowing that the board takes a break in August. Phil asked about the draft model ordinance that we will be using. Robert said he provided a copy of the blank model ordinance for all members-he's already started filling in the blanks and has given it to the County Attorney's Office (CAO) but it's really confusing. He says he'll go over some of the issues and why it's so confusing a bit later in the meeting. Nick is hopeful that this will accelerate this process and wants to stick with the model ordinance and if there are any deltas between what's in there what the committee wants we'll do the cost benefit analysis. It's his opinion that DSAC will want to stick with the base model ordinance. Phil wants the committee to have them side by side to review and have the committee members agree to a deadline to get the comments in and stick to the deadline for review.Robert's going to be the referee,then those comments can be consolidated along with DSAC comments on the FDPO and take it to the BCC. He doesn't want to get in to a circle around thing with DSAC that never ends. Nick agrees and said we'll bring it back for the June meeting for final review. He also suggests doing the comments as you go doing one way back and forth emails with Robert only(not amongst yourselves). Then we'll consolidate your comments,whatever you give us and we'll get it into a draft package that you can review. The committee can do a final review on it at the June meeting. Floodplain Management Plan Update: Nick wants to look at outsourcing this as it's a big drain on staff. This is being done by the Local Mitigation Strategy(LMS)update as well too. He asked Rick when his update will get started. Rick stated that the update is due 2015,but he starts working on it in 2014. Nick wants to talk with Robert and Bill and Jerry. He wants to draft a tight scope and have some of our consultants review it and see what it's going to cost. Our planners on staff aren't able to jump on this thing. He thinks this will help keep us on track. When Nick asked if there were any objections to this strategy,no one objected. Phil questioned whether there are viable consultants out there that are familiar with floodplain management planning activities. Nick assured Phil there are,and as long as the scope is written so that they are going to compare the deliverables to what's required by the Code of Federal Regulations or as part of this Mitigation Strategy we'll be fine. It also depends on cost. 3 Duke asked if the draft,one of the items we talked about today-is this what will be evaluated? Nick said he hasn't seen what Duke is talking about. Robert said what Duke has is the state's blank model ordinance. It's fill in the blanks with community specific language,and Robert has sent it to the CAO. What is not addressed is any of our local criteria that we have. We have to work with the state floodplain office to add our local criteria. He provided the example of our current local criteria(i.e.,minimum floor elevation for a house fronting a paved street regardless of the flood zones etc.). The language needs to meet the full requirements of the 2010 Florida Building Code. There are so many references to the building code,and it's very important to get it accurate. Duke commented that Nick seemed to be saying that Rick's projects (Mitigation Strategies)will be added into this,and this is a work plan for Floodplain Management Plan. Duke suggested that if we approve the model ordinance,we then take all the projects we're looking at here and fit them all inside of it. He thinks it's a work plan for Floodplain Management. This is the first time we actually specify some significant issues,that's the amalgamation of the new Florida Building Code. Phil was confused and questioned Duke if he's talking about the FDPO or the Floodplain Management Plan. Duke says we're looking at two things,but he says it's really the same. It's the model ordinance,and the plan has to come from this ordinance. Robert said no,they are totally separate. Duke said he would be terribly disappointed if it were. He said that it has one economic end to it and that's to ensure the safety of our community by not permitting structures within the floodplain that could be damaged by storm events. Robert explained what the two documents actually are,and that they're related,but not one and the same. Phil explained that the Floodplain Management Plan draft document was the plan that all Duke's comments went on. Duke said we need to look at all of the apples and oranges we have in the current ordinance program and make sure that we don't omit anything. He wants to make sure that everything is evaluated for one purpose and that's the safety of the residents and protection of the floodplain. Nick basically says he thinks he knows where Duke is going and assures that this can be done through the commenting process, (i.e.,look at the action plan and codify anything into the ordinance that's the place to do it). It can be considered,but he wants the ordinance to stay as model as it can be and cautions that anything we add could become a DSAC, Planning Commission,and/or BCC debate as to whether it's too regulatory in a document that's really meant to be standardized for communities,and that's a policy decision. Phil asked Robert how many different regulations we have that are not within our Land Development Code (LDC). Robert replied that many will be within the LDC,because it comes from the language in the ordinances. Phil questioned Robert about taking the approach of referencing our LDC if the majority of the restrictions are already in the LDC so we don't have to do all this and keep the model ordinance clean, not redundant...simplify it,keep it clean. Robert explained that it can be done if you have an ordinance on the books which supports the contents of the LDC itself. 4 Phil proposed that we have an objective to try and do this as simply as possible. Nick stated that he understands. CRS Program: Preparation of a White Paper Currently,we are rated as a Class 6 CRS community. Nick briefly discussed what it takes to improve to a Class 5 rated community,staying as a Class 6,or dropping back to a Class 7 (there is a point bracket for each class). He plans to discuss this with Robert and Bill. He briefly went over the brackets,the point spread vs. cost effectiveness of being a 7 on the cusp of a 6,likewise being a 6 on the cusp of a 5 and preparing some recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners and County Manger and fiscal impacts of maintaining that program. Phil said it would be a tremendous benefit to the County. Nick said by doing all this and determining our situation,we can decide what to do (e.g.,whether to outsource,hire more job bankers,etc.). Phil commented that now that we're going to quarterly meetings he feels that getting the meeting docs in advance would assist the committee in preparing for the meeting,but he also doesn't see the point in having a meeting if there has been no progress. Nick has two points here he wants to comment on-priority between this meeting and the next one is to review the ordinance. He also wonders if we can get the white paper to the members three (3) weeks in advance if that would that be enough time for them. He conferred with Robert that this is doable. Jerry asked if there were any more comments,or discussion? Phil thanked the County Manager, Nick, Robert and Jerry for their responsiveness to the committee's request from last meeting. 2. Annual Beach/Dune Report(Gary McAlpin) -Jerry skipped it intentionally and came back to it since Gary McAplin had temporarily left the meeting. Upon completion of Steve Preston's Best Management Practices Outreach Schedule,Jerry asked Gary McAlpin to present the Annual Beach/Dune Report. Gary introduced himself. He started by saying that every year we spend about$75,000 on upgrading and maintaining our dune vegetation. He said this year we will be spending considerably more than that throughout the beaches of Collier County. We primarily re-nourish beaches to protect the upland structures and also for tourism reasons. This year we have several items planned. • Project number one on Marco Island is adding sand to compensate for erosion to come up with a six year design. • Number two will be repairing breakwaters that need upgrading. • Number three is re-grading beaches on the north end and will provide positive drainage and prevent spot shoaling and bird bathes on the beaches. The next major beach re-nourishment project for the County beaches is Vanderbilt,Park Shore and Naples beaches adding approximately 400,000 cubic yards of material. That could change depending on the BCC. That will provide another six year design. 5 Phil asked what the six year design is. Gary explained that it's an establishment of standards for the beach widths from vegetation line (or a benchmark that they determine)to the mean high water.One hundred foot width is our goal for Vanderbilt and Naples beaches-Park.Shore is 85 feet.We do advanced re-nourishment maintaining that established standard.The next beach re-nourishment is planned for 2013/14. Gary continued his discussion by identifying that another significant project is for Wiggins Pass to be straightened out and we're going to rebuild Barefoot Beach to the North end. The County also does some emergency work on all beaches. Duke asked Gary if he'd seen any unusual erosion areas. Gary said we always have hot spot erosions,where the area always seems to erode more frequently than we've seen in the past. South of Doctor's Pass is one. We're addressing that and redirecting disposal from when we dredge Doctors Pass to those hot spots. Another hot spot is jetty spurs coming off of the South jetty at Doctor's Pass-that's planned for something in the next 3 years. The Seagate entrance is another erosion area that is ongoing for various reasons/influences surrounding it. We've done an extensive modeling study of the beaches and believe these are the main issues. We're also working with the City of Naples to eliminate the drainage pipes on the beaches. This is a long term project. Duke stated that it looks like the normal tidal washing that took place 20 yrs ago is not happening now-the diurnal tides are not the same or they don't have same velocity and strength. Have any studies pointed out changes in tides? Gary responded that we still get tidal changes,we've done studies. When looking at Clam Pass it has very good tidal flushing coming down-one problem is Clam Pass,because of it being shoaled in. The prisms have not changed in terms of size-that is the biggest issue we have (less of a tidal flushing). Gary stated that he wasn't able to totally endorse Dukes comment. Duke questions red/black and white mangrove inventory growth. Has it changed or stayed the same? Gary mentioned a few places of growth,working with the City of Naples to change from seawalls to rip rap in places. There's a small issue at Wiggins Pass at the north dogleg, but that will resolve after the straightening project. Overall growth is increasing in our mangrove forests in our estuaries as opposed to diminishing. Duke asked about the Marco Island area. Gary replied that it's near the kayak launch site and that's City of Marco. He was unable to comment as we're not involved in that. Craig Pager asked about the deterioration of groins and what do you do to rehabilitate them. Gary explained the cap rock rehab that the county does-taking off old and refurbishing with new. Jerry Kurtz then moved to Agenda Item 4. 3. Annual Best Management Practices Outreach Schedule (Steve Preston) Steve Preston stated the County has a permit that is required by state and federal regulations to operate a storm water collection and discharge system. Part of that permit requirement is to have public education and outreach about water quality matters. The County recently renewed our permit,and he would highlight what we are going to be doing in the next five years. 6 Following are some of the activities we do: • Storm water website that we keep updated with information for the public • Community presentations-basically to HOA's or civic groups(water quality) • We also have miscellaneous outreach events (e.g.,a water symposium on 3/28) • The main push is Project Greenscape developed by the University of Florida and run by Rookery Bay to train and certify landscapers in proper landscaping for preservation of our water resources Mike Sheffield thanked Steve for the up-to-date website maintenance. Phil questioned Steve as to what kind of feedback he gets from the public. Steve said it comes and goes but on the average,interest rate and participation rate and follow-thru rate has trended up quite a bit in the last 3 years. Phil questioned the website info for economic trade off of restricting fertilizer runoff into your lake versus treating the algae that result. Steve said yes,we point out the practical cost benefits and preach prevention as 90%of the cure. Phil stated that algae will get people's attention. Steve said we lean heavily on Project Greenscape and on training the landscapers. Landscapers often complain about the county code getting in the way-tree location vs.storm water systems puts litter into the storm water system,and the homeowner's aren't happy with them (the landscapers). So this is where we're really trying to push more into the homeowner's associations. He's found out that the HOA's presidents or management companies are certified by the state and they have to have CEU's to keep that status. We're in the process of getting the Project Greenscape program certified so the property managers will also come to that class. Jerry thanked Steve and went back to item 2. 4. Review FDPO (LOMC&PMR)Amendment draft(Jennifer White-CAO) Robert showed a document of the ordinance to the committee. It is the document that is getting ready to go to the BCC in a few weeks. This is an amendment to our current FDPO to add text so that we have automatic adoption for various types of map revisions. He explained what and why with some information from the past amendments like this. It's simply trying to get the automatic adoption to go through on the consent agenda-this is a fairly routine thing. We had it and the board took it completely out and required every map revision to be brought to the board. Currently we have 20 of them; this is only the standard routines. The City of Naples and Marco do their own. We're taking it to the next board meeting,last one in March on the Consent Agenda.This gets their permission to advertise and if approved we go back and amend our current ordinance,it's fairly routine. Duke pointed out the lack of identification of acronyms FSFHA or FIS and some other minor punctuations and things. He stated we need to be consistent. Mike agreed with Duke that we have to look at this as if we were a member of the public. 7 Robert said OK and asked if there were any more questions on this. He wants them to be aware of the ordinance amendment going before the board this month. Phil stated that this is amending the current one; it's called work simplification for the board and they have to approve it. Duke wanted to go back a moment-he stated that in the letter to FEMA you're looking at only two basins in the study and asked if there was any progress on the other basins you're looking at. Robert mentioned four more basins in addition to the main ones and talks about manually pulling off corners of houses that don't need to be on the special flood hazard line,trying to avoid hundreds of people having to do the LOMA process again. He stated that's what has put us about a month behind schedule. We're trying to avoid having hundreds of people having to go through the LOMA process again. Duke questioned the length of validity of the Letters of Map Amendment. Robert explained that they remain valid until a subsequent FIRM would supersede them-either by placing the property in zone X or raising the flood elevation so it is higher than the lowest adjacent grade. If none of that occurs,they survive. 5. Review 2012 FMP Progress Report and Action Plan for 2013 (Robert Wiley) Robert wanted to do the progress report today so he altered the agenda to include it. Phil asked if Robert was ready for some comments and Robert said sure. Phil pointed out some redundant language on Page 2 between the 2nd and 4th paragraph. He thought you could eliminate some of the verbiage in the 4th because it was already covered in the 2nd. Robert said that there is some redundancy and that it's OK. Phil continued with specific items not mentioned. Robert explained what and why and Phil understood why those items are the way they are after Robert's explanation. Phil asked if Conservation Collier is part of Facilities Management or Parks&Rec.now. For the record Bill Lorenz said it had moved to Parks&Rec. Robert asked if there was anything else we needed to discuss. Robert said we did our annual library run. He commented about the odd disappearance of reference material from the county libraries. He said the books relating to the elevation of structures in the floodplain have all disappeared. So we have ordered new ones for replacement. Robert, Phil and Nick continued discussing items for changes,removal, etc. Nick stated he wanted to get this done and to the board in June. Robert said it would be a Consent item. Mike questioned which board meeting it would be on. 8 Robert expected the first meeting of April. He said it must be done before September because that's the deadline to submit to ISO (Insurance Services Office). Changes will be made-Let's move on if the committee concurs. Jerry asked for a motion to approve the action plan. Duke made a motion and Joe seconded the motion. It was unanimously approved as amended. 6. Review 2010 FBC Compliant"Model" FDPO document(Robert Wiley) Robert said the Model Ordinance document talks about the concept behind it and the ISO approval of it. The model ordinance focuses on things that are NOT already covered by the FBC. He spoke of Florida Building Code (FBC) references in the document-the issue of local criteria-addition of issues,stated it's the local criteria he was referring to earlier and how we want to address that. The only place we have our local criteria (i.e. 18"above the crown of road, 24" above in the Estates,accessory structures,etc.) are in our current FDPO. When this new document is adopted,it will repeal and replace the old. So we need to address the issue of whether we want to keep these local criteria and put them somewhere else or whether we want to back off on them. He needs to work with the County Attorney on this if we want to keep them. Phil questioned Code Enforcements involvement in the enforcement of things in our current FDPO that's not within the LDC. Robert explained that they do,because it's in our code of laws and ordinances. Nick spoke of how the Code Enforcement staff should be handling these things and the challenge of getting these synced together. Nick and Phil discussed the way this is and what it should be. Phil recommended cleaning this up. Robert talked about the floodplain development permit,new terminology,and how it ties into the model ordinance,regulation,working with the floodplain management office and letting the committee know the steps that we will be taking to get the model ordinance submitted and approved. He asked the committee to look over the document and start e-mailing their comments to him as soon as possible. Nick wants them (the state) and FEMA to look at it before it goes to the Board. Duke said there's a great emphasis on Public Utilities and stated that they are going to need to step up. Robert said this is because it is considered a development. 7. Develop Schedule of Public Information Meetings for FMP (Robert Wiley) Robert said we used to hold evening public meetings;we've been slacking and need to get back into that. We get some good input at these July meetings. This year we want to make special efforts in Immokalee. He asked the committee if they wanted to participate in these meetings or just have staff go to them. Rick added that this is an opportunity to add some hurricane prep into these meetings at this time. Robert replied that we do;we always get Rick into this. 9 Duke made a summary statement on behalf of his neighborhood He said the neighbors seem to really like the podcasts. Duke said he feels he gets more comments from items embedded into the websites than from people showing up at meetings. He prefers the website more than the meetings.We're not always getting a good picture of what's happening out there. He's concerned about the changes taking place in the county that aren't being noted that influence the floodplain. Duke thinks that after the updates of the DFirms,the floodplain administrator is going to have to take a look at the existing development and new development and decide if it will exceed the 100 year floodplain-and we seemed not to have dismissed that issue yet. He'd like to be a participant in an Emergency Services presentation; we need to get a grip on all the changes taking place and permitting/mitigation issues. Phil commented that he thought Duke had covered all the bases. Robert asked Duke if he wanted to participate and likes Dukes podcast suggestions. Duke said when Dan Summers puts on the community meeting schedule,he will be there. He would also like Dan to create embedded videos so our residents can see exactly what these things are. He also wants the committee involved. He makes a message to staff to figure out how to address significant problems after re-evaluation and makes a reference to the model and basic issue that Tomasello is discovering. Robert was a bit lost on Dukes last comment Robert asks Mike if we can do podcasts and Mike replied that it can be done.What we need to do is record the meeting,then we can put it on YouTube and embed the link wherever we like. Mike and Robert went back and forth discussing ideas of electronic communications. Robert asked if we can do live broadcasts. Mike said the live broadcasts could only be in the BCC Chambers but we can video and re-broadcast. Robert questioned the ability to do webcast where there could be Q&A's. Mike replied that it's a very complicated and difficult thing to do. Phil feels we should fully investigate electronic communications. Robert asked Mike if we could have more information on this subject by the June meeting and Mike agreed that he would look into it. Jerry moved the meeting back to Old Business,Item 2. Updating the Floodplain Management Plan-Robert briefly went over the updating of the Floodplain Management Plan. Nick has suggested using a consultant to help us with this. Robert said he hasn't made any changes since we last met,but he does have the HAZUS software loaded up on his computer now. He was going to start to get into that and start the analyses. He will hold off until there is more information on consulting. Phil stated that he thinks the important thing to find out by the next meeting is clarity with respect to consultants. 10 Nick said he will get some costs of using a consultant. He and Phil discussed not having Robert do too much until we get the figures for consults,and get an estimated cost for this. Time wise, we have a little bit of breathing room before this is due, but we don't want it to linger. Jerry then returned to the New Business Agenda Item 8. 8. Public Comments Mike Ramsey, president of the Golden Gate Estates Civic Association,stepped forward and said he felt the electronic communication is a good idea and that we should continue with the current broadcasts. He finds the acronyms difficult to follow and thinks it would help all around to continue the concept of rebroadcasting the meetings. Jerry asked if there were any more public comments. There were none. Duke motioned to adjourn the meeting and the motion passed unanimously at 10:43 a.m. Next Regular Meeting: Monday,June 3rd, 2013 starting at 9:00 a.m. in Room 610 of the GMD-P&R building located at 2800 North Horseshoe Drive, Naples, FL 34104. Jerry Kurtz,Chairman Robert Wiley,St Coordinator NOTE: A recording of the meeting is available for anyone desiring to hear it. Please contact Mr. Evy Ybaceta at the Growth Management Division—Planning and Regulation building(239-252-2400) for access to the recording. 11