Floodplain Management Committee Minutes 03/02/2009 R
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BO?lfC: of COIJr; j I Community Development &
Environmental Services Division
Engineering & Environmental Services
Floodplain Management Planning Committee
Ray Smith, Chairman John Torre, Vice-Chairman
Phillip Brougham Pierre Bruno Stan Chrzanowski Jerry Kurtz
Bob Devlin (Marco I.) Joseph Gagnier Travis Gossard Mac Hatcher
Christa Carrera (Naples) Brooke Hollander Adoni Kokkinos Herb Luntz
Lew Schmidt Dan Summers Clarence Tears
f lID Turner Carolina Valera Duke Vasey Christine Sutherland
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Meeting Minutes for 3-2-09 Regular Meeting
Start: 9:00 a.m. End: 11 :25 a.m. Location: 2800 N. Horseshoe Drive, Room 609
Meeting Attendance: Ray Smith, Carolina Valera, Rick Zyvoloski (substitute for Dan
Summers), Jerry Kurtz, John Torre, Mac Hatcher, Stan Chrzanowski, Travis Gossard, Duke
Vasey, Herb Luntz, Joseph Gagnier, Phillip Brougham, Pierre Bruno, Lew Schmidt, and Robert
Wiley.
Absent: fun Turner, Adoni Kokkinos $xcused), Christine Sutherland $xcused), Clarence
Tears, Bob Devlin, Christa Carrera, and Terry Smallwood.
Meeting called to order by John Torre, Vice-Chairman.
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Approval of minutes for the 11-3-08 Regular Meeting and 11-17-08 Continuation Meeting -
Motion to approve by Duke Vasey, motion passed unanimously. There was also a brief
introduction of the two new Committee members, Carolina Valera (staff member from
Comprehensive Planning) and Brooke Hollander (citizen volunteer member).
2. Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance amendments (continued from 11-3-08) - Robert Wiley
discussed various comments received from some Committee members and the changes made
to the DRAFT document since it was e-mailed out to the members. Most of the changes
dealt with use of acronyms, but the Committee discussed a few recommended changes as
noted below:
.:. The definition for "critical facilities" contains a line item for "Sheriff department or law
enforcement agency stations/substations". Duke Vasey recommended changing that to
"Sheriff's Offices and law enforcement facilities" because those agencies have other
Misc, Carres:
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facilities than stations or sub/stations tbat are important to the overall agency functions.
Rick Zyvoloski was asked to check for consistency with other County emergency
management documents.
(Note: In a follow-up to this matter, Rick Z. provided Robert Wiley with an e-mail
recommending use of the State's definition of the "critical facilities" term since it isn't
specifically defined in the County's emergency management planning documents. That
definition is
"Critical facilities" are defined as those structures from which essential services and
functions for victim survival, continuation of public safety actions, and disaster recovery
are performed or provided. Shelters, emergency operation centers, public health, public
drinking water, sewer and wastewater facilities are examples of critical facilities. Though
not explicitly included in the definition, supporting life-line infrastructure essential to
the mission of critical facilities must also be included in the inventory when appropriate.
Since the State definition is somewhat generic to addressing sheriff or law enforcement
facilities, Robert contacted the Collier County Sheriff's office to get their input. Chief
Smith advised that the preferred statement would be "Sheriff's offices and law
enforcement facilities, excluding gun range( s)".
.:. The definition for "Floodplain" or ''flood-prone area" was revised to read as follows:
"Floodplain or flood-prone area means any land susceptible to being inundated
by water from any source (see definition of "flood"). Collier County, Florida,
being a coastal community, has land areas susceptible to coastal surge flooding
and interior basin and riverine floodplain areas susceptible to flooding."
.:. Phil Brougham requested that the definition for "Substantial damage" be revised to read
as follows:
Substantial damage means damage of any origin sustained by a structure
whereby the cost of restoring the structure to its most recent Collier County
Property Appraiser valuation before-damaged condition would equal or exceed
forty-nine (49) percent oftbe market value of the structure before the damage
occurred.
Duke Vasey motioned to accept Phil's recommendation, and in the discussion on the
motion Rick Zyvoloski recommended that a check be made with the Post Disaster
Recovery ordinance language adopted by the County. The motion passed with a 14-1
vote. (Note: The Collier County Code of Laws and Ordinances, Chapter 38, Article 1
contains the following definition:
Building value. The latest total assessment of all improvements on a parcel of land as
listed in the Collier County Property Appraiser's records before the structure was
damaged by the disaster event.
This definition is consistent with the FMPC revised definition.)
.:. The last sentence of the first paragraph of Section 25: SPECIFIC STANDARDS FOR
FLOOD HAZARD DISCLOSURE was revised to read as follows:
"The following flood hazard disclosure requirements are required for all real
estate transactions:"
Following the last oftbe revisions to the text ordinance, Phil Brougham motioned to
approve the ordinance as amended. Pierre Bruno provided a statement of reasons that he
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would be voting against the motion. The basic text of his objections is stated below and
included in the minutes at his request.
First, I would like to commend the committee for their hard work. In recent months we
have learned some new words, like ''T.A.R.P.'' I have my own new word, ''T.E.F.$s'' which
means we are in a Time of Extraordinary Financial Stress. We know that well intentioned
government action always has unintended consequences. I commend this committee for
their honest well-intentioned efforts to fullfill their assignment. However, this committee
has carried the torch of this assignment in a vacuum from fiscal responsibility. The
monetary savings on flood insurance for some individuals has not been weighed against
the financial burden of additional regulation - and the administrative burden that the
County will face with ever dwindling resources. I pray that the unintended consequences
of this ordinance do not cost people financial hardship. For this reason, I will be voting
against this ordinance.
The motion passed 11-1 with three abstentions. Pierre Bruno voted against the motion and
Carolina Valera, Brooke Hollander and Rick Zyvoloski abstained. Discussion then followed
on whether a member could abstain from voting. For Carolina and Brooke, this was their
frrst meeting since being appointed to the Committee the previous week. Rick was a
substitute for Dan Summers. It was requested that voting abstention forms and a County
Attorney opinion on whether or not the members could abstain be obtained. It was also
discussed that one final look at the ordinance will need to be made at the April Committee
meeting.
3. Committee membership vacancy - Robert Wiley briefly discussed the one remaining
Committee vacancy position for a staff representative from the Zoning and Land
Development Department. Both Joe Schmitt (CDES Administrator) and Jim Mudd (County
Manager) are in agreement to leave that position vacant for the time being due to staff
reductions and work load.
4. Floodplain Management Planning Flow Chart - Phil Brougham provided a background for
development of the flow chart. There was good discussion on focusing on 2 or 3 key action
items, but there must be County administrative and supervisor support. of the necessary
staffing time commitments. The Committee gave direction for Robert Wiley to select a "top
5" action item list and to use a 2-page spreadsheet format to separate competed items from
those needing to be worked on.
5. Stormwater Management action item responsibility follow-up - Robert Wiley reported on the
follow-up to the motion passed by the Committee in November 2008 to write a letter to the
County Manager getting direction on Stormwater Management's action item commitments.
A meeting was held 2-12-09 with the County Manager and staff The County Manager
provided confirmation that the previous representative from Stormwater Management agreed
to the tasks, and they would continue to be responsible to fulfill them.
6. Other department review of Trans. Division road project design follow-up - Robert Wiley
reported that it took two attempts to get a legal opinion from the County Attorney Office on
the federal language requirements for review of projects in the floodplain. The final CAO
opinion indicated the federal language required it, but they could not find any Florida county
that was doing it. Therefore, Robert forwarded the CAO opinion to FEMA for their review
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and reply. No response has been received from FEMA, and the matter in with their legal
counsel in Washington, D.C.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Tentative schedule for the FMP public information program - Robert Wiley provided a brief
discussion on the typical evening public meetings held during this time of the year, and the
public attendance. Herb Luntz suggested there would be better interest ifthe meetings were
held in the late spring just before the summer ''wet'' season. Duke Vasey recommended the
use of civic or community organization program meetings (e.g. HOA meetings) as a way of
getting a bettertum-out. We would simply be an item on their program agenda. Stan
Chrzanowski suggested the meetings should be held in August or September. There was
much discussion, and then Ray Smith motioned to hold the meetings between July and
September, with the meetings being separate County-initiated. The motion passed 12-1.
2. New Action Items for sub-committee review in March - based upon previous Committee
direction for Robert Wiley to pick the top five action items by next meeting, there was no
separate discussion on this topic.
3. Public Comments - There were no public visitors in attendance. Lew Schmidt brought up
the issue of the efforts by the County Parks and Recreation Department to make
improvements to public restroom facilities in the Vanderbilt Beach area. He discussed the
upcoming flood zone variance request that is going to be made for the proposed restrooms at
the Moraya Bay site, and questioned how the County could deny other variance applications
if it granted itself a variance to not elevate a restroom structure. Robert Wiley provided the
anticipated CDES staff response recommending denial of the variance, and explained some
of the impacts that approval of the variance would have on the CRS program and the flood
insurance program.
Next Meeting (Monday, April 6, 2009 starting at 9:00 a.m. in Room 609 of the CDES building
located at 2800 North Horseshoe Drive, Naples, FL 34104)
~s Gossard passed unanimously 11 :25 a.m.
John
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