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Floodplain Management Committee Minutes 03/05/2012 RFloodplain Management Planning Committee Ray Smith, Chairman John Torre, Vice - Chairman Phillip Brougham Pierre Bruno Joseph Gagnier Brooke Hollander Lew Schmidt Christine Sutherland Clarence Tears Duke Vasey Jerry Kurtz Dan Summers Christa Carrera (Naples) Bob Mahar (Marco I.) Terry Smallwood (Everglades City) Meeting Minutes for 3 -5 -12 Regular Meeting Start: 9:05 a.m. End: 10:15 a.m. Location: 2800 N. Horseshoe Drive, Room 610 Meeting Attendance: Ray Smith, Jerry Kurtz, Connie Deane (alternate for John Torre), Clarence Tears, Brooke Hollander, Joe Gagner, Lew Schmidt, Raquel Pines (alternate for Terry Smallwood), Rick Zyvoloski (alternate for Dan Summers), and Robert Wiley. Absent: Christine Sutherland, Duke Vasey (Excused), Phillip Brougham (Excused), Pierre Bruno, Christa Carrera and Bob Mahar. There were five (5) additional staff members and one (1) citizen in attendance. Meeting called to order by Ray Smith, Chairman. OLD BUSINESS: Approval of minutes for the 2 -6 -12 Regular Meeting — Ray Smith asked if there were any needed changes to the minutes. Joseph Gagnier made a motion for approval and the vote passed unanimously. NEW BUSINESS: 1. Discussion of Surface Water Management Business Plan Project Prioritization — Jerry Kurtz discussed the next step is to glean through the projects to see which projects stand out and can be given high priority to begin to be considered, funded and started. Discussed items 1 through 4 at the bottom of the front page of his memo (listed below). Jerry and a small group got together to decide the ranking criteria and this is what they came up with: 1. Improve Management of County Maintained Surface Water Infrastructure (maintain what we already have) a. Update the system inventory Jerry stated that there are thousands of items out there if you get down to the major weirs that the Big Cypress Basin operates, secondary weirs the county operates and if you keep going down the line to getting more specific and smaller in magnitude you can get to the point where your picking up catch basins and underground piping. It's an ongoing effort forever to keep the inventory updated. b. Complete a lifecycle evaluation for each water control structure Page 1 of 6 Want to hire a consultant to evaluate each and every structure as to where it is in its lifecycle. We will most likely hire a structural engineering firm to complete this analysis. c. Schedule all necessary infrastructure repair and /or replacement When the analysis is complete we will have dates to use that could take in the order of 30 year, 40 year to implement a program of maintaining the structures and replacing them when needed. 2. Redirection/reduction of excess surface water flow to Naples Bay Any projects that have the ability to redirect the flow away from Naples Bay would be considered a high priority project. 3. Improvement of surface water quality prior to discharge into receiving waters Any project that has the ability to improve the quality of the water before it is discharged will be considered an important project. 4. Collaborative or joint effort public infrastructure improvement projects If there are other projects around that involve surface water infrastructure we would get with the projects and coordinate to do a joint project and only have to disturb the neighborhood one time. Jerry stated that he listed 7 projects from his report last month that are recommended as high priority initiatives. Jerry asked the committee to consider these projects to get them moving. Jerry went over the summary table on page 3 of his memo with "rough" dollar amounts. There may be an opportunity to take some existing 2012 funds currently assigned to other items whose needs or priorities have decreased and use that money to get these projects going. There is approximately $1 million that could be redirected to get these 7 projects underway sooner rather than later which would have to be approved by the Board of County Commissioners (BCC). Jerry would like the committee's support and recommendation to take these projects to the BCC to try and appropriate funding to get the projects started sooner this fiscal year. $1 million is not enough money to complete the projects but they would be able to start permitting and Right -of -Way acquisitions at least with the funds. Jerry referred to the Summary Table in his memo with a projected cost for each of the 7 projects. When the design begins the cost amounts will likely change. Jerry is asking for the Committee's endorsement of the 7 projects and also added that everything that is presented to the Floodplain Management Planning Committee (FMPC) will also be presented to the Environmental Advisory Council (EAC) a month later. The point is to put all this information out through the FMPC and other committees, then trickle out to other reviewing agencies so that all these plans for the Surface Water Business Plan get out to the community. The public input and stake holder input to all this process starts with these committee's as well as having strategic planning with the Big Cypress Basin too. Jerry passed out location maps showing the 7 listed projects. Ray asked if there was any discussion. Lew Schmidt asked about the 7 priority project sequence and Jerry stated they would be all brought forward as soon as possible together. Mike Ramsey asked about public commenting and Ray stated they would follow the agenda and public comments would be at the end. Ray discussed four (4) priority efforts on page 1 of Jerry's memo. Ray brought up the fact that Jerry said the projects listed in his memo were primarily focused on 41 (Improve Management of County Maintained Surface Water Infrastructure) Ray suggested Jerry Page 2 of 6 should also take a look at the other priority efforts primarily #2 (Redirection/reduction of excess surface water flow to Naples Bay), and other water bodies and have some kind of treatment to handle #3 (Improvement of surface water quality prior to discharge into receiving waters). Ray suggested Jerry may want to consider some kind of water quality treatment system for the Vanderbilt Drive Swale Rehabilitation project. Jerry stated that he has the Vanderbilt Drive Swale Rehabilitation project currently listed as a water quality project. Jerry also stated that the Gordon River Extension Burning Tree Drive Diversion project is also a water quality improvement project. This project would be a study to see if more water could be diverted into the water quality park instead of the way it's flowing into the Gordon River Extension. We have to be sure the conveyance capacity of the route is adequate or it might need to be improved to not cause any adverse back -up or flooding. Lew Schmidt thanked Ray for bringing up the water quality issue at the Vanderbilt Beach area. Lew suggested they might want to expand the project because there is an opportunity to improve water quality and an opportunity to deal with surges and flooding like they have in heavy rains. Clarence Tears asked Jerry if some of the money for the Golden Gate City Culvert Replacement project would come from Transportation since most of the project is within road right -of -way areas. Jerry did not know the answer on funding. To Clarence this seems like more of a road network infrastructure repair than a storm water system repair. Steve Preston added there are a number of pipes that are inventoried in Golden Gate City but there are also a lot of pipes that go from the roadway to the canal system. They run in between houses and he believed those are the pipes that are talked about being replaced. Need to define whether this is road side drainage or an extension of the roadside drainage. Clarence wants to be sure Jerry gets Transportation dollars when it's tied to road projects. Lew Schmidt made a motion to accept the Surface Water Management Business Plan Project Prioritization as presented by Jerry Kurtz. The vote was unanimous in favor. Jerry stressed that this is just the first listing for currently available funding, but more work to bring a 5- year plan will be coming to the Committee. 2. Discussion on Watershed Management Implementation Strategy — Mac Hatcher stated that this was a continuation of the Watershed Management Plan implementation strategy that was provided in January. He provided brief reasoning behind the approach being taken. The Watershed Management Plan (WMP) was approved by the BCC with the recommendations that were proposed, in December 2011. Mac went over specific concerns identified in the WMP, • Excessive fresh water discharges to Naples and Faka Union bays, • Pollutant loading from urban and agricultural runoff, • Canal capacities are inadequate for 25 year storm event; • Aquifer drawdown problems from withdrawals and discharges to canals. The projects that were proposed won't mitigate for these concerns alone. The consultants also recommended some initiatives to help with preventing conditions from deteriorating. The projects that are proposed will be carried out under the Storm Water Business Plan so it will be a while before we can implement any of these. One exception is the NGGE Floway, Page 3 of 6 the project already has a grant from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the Big Cypress Basin and is moving forward with the study. Mac went over his Watershed Management Plan Task Schedule. The approach is to utilize a ranking process for the identified tasks while also making progress on strategically selected initiatives that can begin immediately without additional extensive analysis. • Low Impact Development (LID) and stormwater Best Management Practices (BMP) upgrade initiatives can provide improved water quality treatment and recharge. • The North Golden Gate Estates (NGGE) Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) and mitigation bank complement one another. • Development of canal discharge rates and mapping the identified resource protective lands do not require additional technical evaluations. • Evaluation of other southwest Florida stormwater utilities does not require additional technical development. The Task Schedule is already running a little behind. There are a couple of years before any of the proposed projects will actually be initiated. Mac proposed to prioritize the projects that are eligible for grants or partnering opportunities and to select example projects for development from that list. In regards to the LID program, Mac has compiled the existing manuals that he thinks will be most useful for development of LID standards for Collier County. These are on the CD Mac passed out to the private citizens of the Committee. Mac briefly went over all 13 of his topics from the Watershed Management Plan Task Schedule. Mac would like to hear comments on the proposed strategy. Ray Smith asked if anybody had any comments. No comments. Joe Gagnier made a motion to approve the Watershed Management Plan Implementation Strategy, and the motion passed unanimously. Ray Smith brought up Mac Hatcher's retirement at the end of March. Presentation of Beach and Dune Maintenance /Improvement Program for 2012 — Gary McAlpin with the Coastal Zone Management Department stated they have a very robust program in terms of dune and beach maintenance. This year they are entering into the permitting phase for beach re- nourishment for the main Collier County beaches (i.e. Barefoot, Clam Pass, Vanderbilt, and Park Shore in Naples). Gary stated that they would like to get the BCC approval to expand to a 10 -mile beach restoration program. The BCC and the City of Naples have directed them to maximize the times between beach renourishments. Will look and see if that can be accomplished depending on the funding they have in place at that point and time. At a minimum they plan on doing the same duplication of the scope as they did in 2005 -2006 which is about 8 -1/2 miles of beach re- nourishment. We plan on starting September 15, 2013, and to be complete by June 4, 2014. We are in the permitting phase at this point. DEP has told us that they will require us, as a part of this major beach re- nourishment program, to enhance our dune plantings and dune vegetation. What that specifically looks like at this point in time we don't know. We might have to add to the dune face probably another 10' and replant that and build up the dunes, yet to be determined, negotiated, worked, and funded. This is a problem we get into due to the fact that the widths of our beaches are narrow. We typically design for a 100' beach width and that is 100' remaining after 10 years which is not a lot of beach especially when you're Page 4 of 6 looking at 20' of beach tied up with dunes and hotspots. This is our plan moving forward for our next enhancement. We continue on a yearly basis to appropriate $75,000 to enhance our plantings and dunes. We just completed a major effort from Clam pass north to the Ritz in which we did extensive exotic removal and will be followed up now with plantings. 4. Revisions to FMPC Attendance Policy — Robert Wiley discussed that staff, with the agreement of the County Attorney Office, is proposing that the Attendance Policy be revised so that the Staff Coordinator (currently Robert Wiley) will be the person to contact committee members who have an attendance problem or issue so there are no potential Sunshine Law violations. As currently written, the Chairman is to make the contact, but the Chairman is a voting member, so the two members could not talk about a Committee issue (attendance) outside of a noticed meeting. The Staff Coordinator is not a voting member and will report back to the Committee. Brooke Hollander questioned B.2 of the Floodplain management Planning Committee Attendance Policy. (The member has three excused absences within a twelve (12) month period). Ray Smith suggested that it be changed too: The member has three excused and /or unexcused total absences within the twelve (12) month period. Rick Zyvoloski asked if the alternate committee member needs to be addressed. Does county policy require members of the County committee to be residents of the County? Robert stated that currently policy does not require the alternate to be a resident of the County. Clarence Tears recommended leaving the attendance policy as it is for right now. Lew Schmidt motioned to accept the amendments as presented by Robert Wiley. Motion passed unanimously. 5. Revisions and Review to Update the Floodplain Management Plan — Robert Wiley stated that the Floodplain Management Plan is up for review and re- approval by the BCC this calendar year. Robert brought a disc for everyone with the currently approved plan including some revisions that Mike DeRuntz made to address some shortcomings in our crosswalk which is basically the score sheet from Insurance Services Office (ISO) on the content of the plan. We have never taken this forward from the Committee the past year because of everything else happening. Be sure to get a copy of the disc and start looking at it. Robert would like to come back to the Committee next month with sections showing how he would like to rearrange them. Robert would like to follow what Rick has done with the hazard mitigation plan. A minimal document was put together and then portions that are periodically updated were put in as appendices. We are a subsection within Mitigation Strategy anyway so he would like to build consistency between the two documents. It also makes it easier when there are changes and updates to not have to change everything. We will start seeing some of these suggestions next month at our meeting. We will be spending a lot of time over the next few months addressing the goals, objectives, and policies section. Next month on our agenda is our annual progress report. We have right now within our plan some objectives and policies that are not supported financially due to the downturn of the economy. If we have them in our plan we are required to support them and go forward with them. So we need to decide what we want to leave in or take out. If we decide to leave them in we will have to go back to the BCC and make a good case to get their support. Robert asked members to start looking over the disc and seeing if they find areas that may be able to Page 5 of 6 be merged together. We now have a much bigger mapped floodplain with the new FEMA map. Lew Schmidt – Stated one of the biggest criticisms of the plan was that it was too long so he likes the new idea that Robert came up with from seeing Rick's plan which makes it so much easier to find information, especially when you go to put it on the internet. Ray Smith – brought up whether there is adequate existing staffing to complete the Floodplain Management Plan or is there a recommendation needed for funding for a consultant to help Robert complete the work. The plan has to be completed this year by the December meeting of the BCC and the plan has to be adopted. Robert stated he is a one man shop and he will check into whether or not there is any funding available. 6. Public Comments: Michael Ramsey with Golden Gate Estates Area Civic Association, Vice President representing residents from Golden Gate Estates, North Belle Meade, Corkscrew, etc. He finds waiting until the end of the meeting to have public comment when Committee is voting on items to be disconcerting, Feels the Committee talked about issues, voted on issues and left the Public out. Michael Ramsey commented on what Jerry Kurtz had to say – In discussion to groups and residents of Golden Gate Estates (GGE) they feel that priority #1 is Flood Prevention Ordinance– Prevention of property damage from recurring flood issues. #2 is we would put the I Oth St. SE culvert replacement up with the 28th St. one because they have the same issues and problems. #3 regarding Mac's comments about the NGGE TDR. Program, GGE Civic Association and many of our residents out of the N. Belle Meade do not support a TDR program in that area. They don't want to see a concentration of density and development pushed to the west side of the Estates we would like to see a reduction of density to maintain the quality of the subdivision. Ray Smith motioned to adjourn meeting. Motion passed unanimously at 10:15 a.m. Next Meeting: Monday, April 2, 2012, starting at 9:00 a.m. in Room 610 of the GMD-P&R. building located at 2800 North Horseshoe Drive, Naples, FL 341,04. --27 RaOrx� ,.Chairman Robert Wiley, StafXoordinator 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. Page 6 of 6