Floodplain Management Committee Minutes 10/07/2013 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) Chris Sparacino (Marco I.) Raquel Pines (Everglades City)
Meeting Minutes for 10-7-13 Regular Meeting
Start: 9:08 a.m. End: 10:30 a.m. Location: 2800 N Horseshoe Dr,Room 609-610
Meeting Attendance: Craig Pajer, Rick Zyvoloski (for Dan Summers),Joseph Gagnier,Clarence
Tears, Mike Sheffield, Lisa Koehler, Chris Sparacino,Christa Carrera and Robert Wiley
Absent: Jerry Kurtz(Excused), Kenneth Bills (Excused), Phil Brougham (Excused), Duke Vasey
(Excused),and Raquel Pines
There were six(6) additional staff members in attendance and one (1) member of the public.
The meeting was called to order by the committee's Vice Chairman,Craig Pajer at 9:08am.
There was a quorum with 7 members in attendance.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Approval of minutes for the 6-3-13 Regular Meeting-Craig Pajer asked for approval of the
minutes. Joe Gagnier motioned for approval,the motion was seconded,and approved
unanimously without changes.
2. Introduction of newly appointed committee member. Lisa Koehler(Robert Wiley) -Robert
asked to delay this item because she wasn't in the conference room at the time the item came up.
NEW BUSINESS:
1. Review 2010 FBC Compliant"Model" FDPO document(Robert Wiley) - Robert showed the
committee a version that was initialed by the County Attorney and had been review by the
State. He further gave the committee an understanding of the document and its concept. The
new State"model" ordinance focus on compliance with the Florida Building Code(FBC)and also
federal review requirements for all development in the regulated floodplain. The FBC now
contains specific flood compliance criteria for buildings that must comply with the FBC. The
"model" ordinance also contains criteria for development in the regulated floodplain that is not
subject to the FBC. Robert confirmed with Christa(City of Naples) and Chris (City of Marco)
that they have adopted similar documents but said that the City of Everglades had not. He said
the adoption of this"model" ordinance will make both Cities and the County very similar.
Clarence confirmed this to be so. Robert told the committee that the document has had a few
minor changes but essentially it remains the same as what they had seen before,and that it
really doesn't affect what they already do here within the County.
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Chris asked who is the County Floodplain Administrator. Robert replied it is the County Manager,
and that he delegates the position to Nick Casalanguida. Robert further said that Nick can also
assign duties to others to assist him.
Clarence asked a question in reference to section 104.2.1 if some building structures and facilities
were exempt from the FBC. Robert replied that,yes they are. Clarence further asked what
happens when these structures impact and restrict flows,are there ways to address that.
Robert said the ordinance requires them to obtain a floodplain development permit from the
County. Robert briefly explained that the floodplain development permit can take on many
forms and that our building permit is but one and the floodplain review is done with that
permit. If it's not permitted Code Enforcement handles it.
Craig Pajer asked if the ordinance will be going to the Board in October as planned. Robert said it
would not be until January, 2014 now.
The committee continued with discussions of the cumulative impact of development. Mike
Sheffield asked when the ordinance will be going to the Planning Commission. Robert said the
next meeting is in November and assured the committee that they would be kept in the loop.
Clarence suggested updates via email as the best way to communicate. They all agreed.
Return to Old Business
2. Craig Pajer went back to Old Business-Item 2 for the Introduction of newly appointed
Committee Member Lisa Koehler-Robert Wiley introduced Lisa to the committee,and she
introduced herself to the committee with a briefing of her history.
Return to New Business
2. Discussion on 2013 CRS Coordinator's Manual and development of a CRS participation level
white paper(Jim von Rinteln) - Robert Wiley touched on the basics of what this is as it pertains
to the 5 year CRS cycle visit that's coming up in November when the ISO (Insurance Services
Office) representative will review the information that we have for our creditable points. He
said that there are areas where we can score easy points and that could be what is needed to
move to the next class rating and that the County is at a Class 6 right now but we're trying for a
Class 5.
Jim Von Rinteln came to the microphone. He presented a spreadsheet on the overhead for the
committee to see while he gave an explanation to the committee. He stated that we won't know
which class we will actually be until the review has been done. He further stated that the figures
are cautiously optimistic as of last week. We're still working on one of the areas, "Open Space".
This area has changed quite a lot this time. Our floodplain has been expanded now and that's the
figures that this pertains to. We have a big GIS effort right now to quantify the floodplain and
open space and come up with a number that they will agree with. We're cautiously optimistic
that we will at least maintain our current rating. Jim asked the committee if they had any
questions on this.
Chris Sparacino stated that this area regarding open space may require more documentation now
than in the past specifically pertaining to deed restrictions. He also felt that another area we can
accumulate points is with the PPI, (Program for Public Information).
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Jim told the committee that PPI is a citizens group that talks about outreach and public information
regarding the floodplain. We can do a lot more in this area.
Chris said that he thinks it's best to do this area as a multi-jurisdictional effort and there are extra
points that we can obtain for this.
Jim touched on current news regarding increases in premiums and as those premiums go up the
discounts become more and more valuable. He said that we really need to try to get the discount
to the highest number we can. Jim further said that learning what they want and how to deliver
it to them is the key.
Mike asked Jim if this was an annual review. Jim said it was a 5 year cycle,and Robert explained it
in further detail. He said they're looking to see areas across the nation where communities tend
to be a little lax and submit reporting that's somewhat vague. They're trying to tighten up on
areas where it would really have an impact on making communities more resistant to flood
damage and the proof is in the elevation certificates and drainage maintenance. We didn't know
what exactly was coming until the CRS Coordinator's manual was finalized in April 2013.
Jim put the Floodplain Organizational Flow Chart on the overhead,and Clarence asked for
confirmation of the expansion of our floodplain. Robert stated what the increase was.
Jim explained how the flow chart works. He said that Nick had asked him to present it for feedback.
Christa asked if Collier County had CFM's (Certified Floodplain Manager's) on staff for plan review.
Jamie clarified for Christa and the committee our CFM structure and the Building Code. Bob Garee
is the main plan reviewer and the building official is his back up. The County has 7 CFMs now
and plans to add 3-5 more in the near future. It gives us the ability to have more leverage for
applying the minimum intent of the code.
Jim said we're trying to emphasize this as a priority for the community and to the organization. We
want to make sure each department knows what they can be working on to get extra points to
get a greater CRS discount for the community. They can help us on how we can maximize our
points and our participation. The main effort is to have a flood smart community so they are
resilient to not only floods but other disasters as well. As an organization we all pull together
and make it more of a day to day thing.
Christa expressed her experiences on the difficulties of getting staff to participate without actual
language in job descriptions. She asked how the County plans to go about this.
Jim says this is all a concept,it hasn't been approved yet but he thinks it's the way we need to go.
He told them that he briefed Nick on it,and Nick asked him to brief the committee on it.
Rick Zyvoloski asked if this had been quantified because it looks like a proactive dynamic program
that has to have moving parts constantly. Jim asked Rick to explain what he meant by quantified.
Rick referred to making it part of job descriptions. Jim agreed that it should be part of job
descriptions; that would make it work better. Quantifying it to the public is most important and
with flood insurance rates going up now is a good time to do this.
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Discussion continued on some of the ways to improve the CRS rating and that some things are
essentially free to do. Christa said they just need to be done and the potential of 50 extra points
could be the difference between a class 5 or a class 6 rating. Jamie French said the knowledge of
all this coming was the reason for the job bank commitment. The ISO ratings for the BCEG
(Building Code Effectiveness Grading) and its importance for the community,can impact the
delicate balance to industry and rating savings. The next basin maps should tell the effects on
our residents. Clarence was concerned with the efforts on outreach including website updates.
Jamie said the website updates will continue to happen. He spoke of a replacement for Jason
Regula who transferred to a job in IT. Mike Dumais,who's a programmer,will be filling the
position vacated by Jason which will be a plus for this. Jamie gave the committee some history
on the development of the County's group of employees that have been put together from past to
present.
Craig asked if there were any other comments/questions. There were none so he moved on to the
next item.
3. Discussion on draft Scope of Services for updating the Floodplain Management Plan in 2014
(Robert Wiley) - Robert showed the committee the draft Scope of Services he's been working
on. He stated it has had some revisions after he sent it to the committee prior to this meeting.
It still needs more tweaking. He went over the mandatory 10 step planning process. He told
the committee that it needed to be multi-jurisdictional.
The committee members asked several questions and discussed things as Robert fielded questions
and gave explanations where necessary.
Christa asked for a time frame for this. Robert said it needs to be done by Oct 2014 to go before the
Board for approval.
Craig asked if there was a budget for this. Robert didn't know but said Jamie may.
Craig suggested setting a time frame for getting comments back on this. He told the committee to
have the comments to Robert by the end of October.
Craig then asked if anyone had questions or comments.No one did so he moved on to the last item
on the agenda.
4. Public Comments
Michael Ramsey introduced himself as the President of the Golden Gate Estates Area Civic
Association. He stated he had a few comments and the first was that he wanted an update on the
evaluation of the basin maps being re-evaluated on the 2012 LIDAR's (Light Detection and
Ranging).
Robert said we have the first submittal in to FEMA that covers the North part of the County which is
Cocohatchee Basin, District 6 which we call E. Naples area and it's also the Henderson Creek
Basin which is the Southern half of the area just to the East of CR 951. We received four(4)
comments back from FEMA. Robert went over the FEMA comments. The other basins,he's
received drafts from the consultant for review,a little QA/QC. Our goal is roughly 80 days for
turn around to FEMA and this should tie in with our second submittal.
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Michael Ramsey then asked how many basins are on the second submittal. Robert answered with
some hesitation that there are 6 basins.
Michael Ramsey voiced his concern of the focus on insurance issues,ratings and savings. He told
the committee that he didn't want the insurance issues focus to take precedence over
• inadvertently backing into land use regulations which we may be doing. And even in today's
meeting he's not seeing a concern or discussion about possible certain actions resulting in
unintended land use regulations. He went on to state a third part of his commentary is,as he's
watching this,his concern is that he doesn't want actions on this committee to result in
floodplain management ordinances that skew floodplain management to reduce insurance costs
on the coastal areas at the expense of land use regulations internally,the internal parts of the
County. He wants the committee to keep this in mind because he keeps hearing this as he listens
to the group. It's not insurance only,there's about 3 components to it and it's very important.
He said he felt that the most important part is floodplain management and he keeps seeing that
sometimes FEMA components could result in the lack of attention to surface water management
issues that are important to other areas. He stated its 2 different levels of functions here, FEMA
floodplain issues and surface water management. He doesn't see them coming together here and
felt that there needs to be more discussion on this. His last point was the concern of winding up
with volume compensation issues that aren't being discussed by this committee or the flood
ordinance.
Craig thanked Mr. Ramsey and asked if there were any more public speakers. There were none.
Craig announced the next meeting to be Monday, December 2,same time,same location.
Robert let the committee know that the next meeting date is a month sooner than usual due to the
current meeting being delayed a month. He wants to keep them on schedule and that's also why
he wants comments in by the end of October so there will be plenty of discussion going forward
on these items. The County's meeting with the ISO/CRS Field Specialist; Lori Lehr is scheduled
for the week of November 18. The County should also have some information on the 5 year cycle
visit by our next meeting-12/2/13. Christa Carrera said she would not be at the December
meeting,so information on the City's 5-year cycle visit will not be available.
Chris Sparacino told the committee that the City of Marco's meeting with Lori Lehr is scheduled for
January 15 &16, 2014.
Craig Pajer asked for a motion to adjourn the meeting. Joe Gagnier made the motion, it was
seconded, and passed unanimously. The meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m.
Next Regular Meeting: Monday,December 2, 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
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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.
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