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BCC Minutes 04/28/2004 W (Marco and the Islands Community Meeting) April 28, 2004 DYNAMICS AFFECTING MARCO AND THE ISLANDS COMMUNITY MEETING MACKLE PARK. 1361 ANDALUSIA TERRACE, MARCO ISLAND APRIL 28, 2004 LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Dynamics Affecting Marco and the Islands, in and for the County of Collier, having conducted business herein, met on this date, at 7:00 p.m. at the Mackie Park Community Center, Marco Island, Florida with the following members present: Present: Commissioner Fiala Jim DeLony Norm Feder Joe Schmitt John Dunnuck Jim Mudd John Torre Terri DiSciullo Michael Minozzi Johnny Limbaugh Diane Flagg DebiDeBenedetto Page 1 DYNAMICS AFFECTING MARCO AND THE ISLANDS Community Meeting Donna Fiala, Commission Chairman, District 1 Wednesday, April 28, 2004 7 p.m. Mackie Park 1361 Andalusia Terrace, Marco Island 1. I ntroduction and Pledge of Allegiance 2. Judge S.S. Jolley Bridge (timeline) 3. Landscaping on Collier Boulevard, North of the Jolley Bridge 4. Beach Renourishment . Hideaway Beach . South Beach 5. Tigertail/Sand Dollar Boardwalk 6. Tourist Development Council (TDC) 7. Proposed Development at US 41 and 951 Corridor 8. Widening of Collier Boulevard from 1-75 to US 41 9. Question and Answer Period April 28, 2004 The meeting was called to order at 7 p.m. 1. Introduction and Pledge of Allegiance Introductions are made and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited. 2. Judge S.S. Jolly Bridge (Timeline). Johnny Limbaugh, Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) director: Marco Island Bridge has been the number two priority for several years. The number one priority is 1-75. As soon as we get that done, the bridge is next. The design is underway. It is about 60 percent completed. It will run parallel to the Judge S.S. Jolly Bridge, with two twelve foot lanes, a 10 foot outside shoulder, and 6 foot inside shoulder for breakdowns. The not so good news is: Construction is not planned currently. It's not envisioned to be funded anytime soon. In 2010-2011 hopefully funding will come along. We're exploring opportunities too, looking into loans that would advance the project several years. Payback would be MPO dollars. There is tough competition across the state. Last year, $16.6 million was the estimate, which was before the steel costs went up. Not looking forward to seeing this year's estimate for the bridge cost. Michael Minozzi, Marco Island City Councilman: I believe that this is a very important project. Even though the convenience is a major factor, the main factor is safety in terms of evacuation. We normally don't get hurricanes during peak season, but it's a fact of life that Marco population is growing. If we had to evacuate in a short amount of time, you're just not going to do that on two lanes. At this point, we're looking at every single option to get that funded. Funding ultimately comes from the federal government. It is going to be done. There's no question about it. We will resolve the problem and this project will get done. 3. Landscaping on Collier Blvd., North of the Judge S.S. Jolly Bridge. Diane Flagg, Alternative Transportation Modes Director: Marco Island had applied for enhancement grant north of Jolly Bridge. Funding for landscaping is way out in the future. Collier County has developed a CO!. If the City of Marco Island can move forward with the match for the grant, we could look at picking landscaping up. Marco will plant it, county will maintain it. You'll see a lot more roads getting landscaped. Collier Boulevard, north of the bridge, is part of the Landscape Master Plan. Some of the roads you'll see landscaped are US 41-east of Airport Rd., Golden Gate Parkway, and Pine Ridge Road. The Landscape Master Plan goes out to 2010. Mike Minozzi: Diane Flagg, she is very sharp, and she's very pro-Marco Island. When the work was done on gateway to Marco, it was a beautiful job. There is something missing: the landscaping. The grass grows up like hay. We do need landscaping there. Page 2 --- April 28, 2004 County will cooperate with us, but we must take a step forward. We allocated and spent money on the design. The City of Marco Island is going to have to put out some of its own money. Right now is to get landscaping on the bridge and then working on additional grants, any help we can get from anybody. With help of the citizens, we're hoping the project will be completed in the not so distant future. Donna Fiala: This is something that's badly needed. At least they've gotten a good start. 4. Beach Renourishment Ron Hovel!, Special Projects Manager with the County's Public Utilities Engineering Department: South Marco Beach: The southern 4-5,000 feet will be renourished. There are a number of people looking forward to getting it dredged. A company from Jacksonville will do the project. This area was the last renourished in 1997. The goal was to reduce the erosion rate. Now we're planning for the winter of 2005-06. The other project is Hideaway Beach. Two sections need work. The middle section doesn't need work because Coconut Island has protected it. The Southern section would have a number of permanent groins and would place 250,000 square yards of sand. Sand will come from a mile and a half north of Hideaway Beach. At entrance of Collier Bay, there would be a terminal jetty at approximately 4.5 million dollars. The funding scheme was recently accepted. We're planning to start construction in November. There's an ongoing monitoring of T -groins. 5. Tigertail/Sand Dollar Boardwalk John Dunnuck, Public Services Administrator: The middle portion of Sand Dollar Island and Tigertail Beach is filling in. This is not a great recreational element from my standpoint. It is kind of mucky and the water is stagnant. It's just not a fun place to go and look at. There are a couple of options. We could wait for Mother Nature to do what she wants to do with the area, which is something that we could never do. So we're looking at other ways to get people to the water. One of the things for studying right now is a Boardwalk. That will take people directly out to Sand Dollar Island and that will cross over that area. There has been a lot of concern on the environmental side in the recreational side. Putting a boardwalk out there might not be a bad thing. We certainly want to respect the environment, save bird nests, and make sure people can get to the water. With putting a boardwalk out there we can help determine where people will go on the Island. We have a couple hundred thousand dollars set-aside for this project. Right now we're talking to private consultants on the matter. They have provided us a proposal and quite frankly, right now, we need to do some sharpening of our pencils. Another one of the things we're considering is that it's filling in. We're trying to be more publicly involved. We don't want Page 3 April 28, 2004 to spend the taxpayer dollars on something that is going to fail. We are looking at six months to one year before we can come back with another figure. There are a number of issues to consider in this type of project. We will work with all of the environmental communities on this issue. We'll invite the public at large when there are discussions on this, through the newspapers and City Council. The Department of Health goes in and tests the water in the area to see if there's limited flushing and so forth, and sometimes we see pollution in those waters and we do have to notice the Beach. Typically, we do not post it until there have been two identifications of pollution in the area. They do monitor it regularly. Currently, there's no reason you can't swim in the water. 6. Tourist Development Council (TDC) Debi DeBenedetto,Tourism Sales and Marketing Manager for Collier County: Tourism is the number one industry in the state of Florida. It's the number one industry in Collier County. It is what drives our economic engine. This is a funding source, with 3 percent tax on short-term accommodations. This tax brings in about $8.5 million a year: 66% of that goes to the renourishment program, 16% of that goes to administration, and 18% goes to museums (both Collier County and private museums). The impact of tourism in 2003: we hosted 1.3 million visitors, who spent $594 million. That generated 60 million tax dollars and is responsible for 17,891 direct jobs and 25,851 indirect jobs in the industry, which includes a $413 million payroll. Each of you saves $518 on your tax bill. Debi DeBenedetto discussed the following topics: Mission Statement, Vision Statement, and Marketing Strategies. Ms. DeBenedetto further explained that the TDC visits Trade Shows and Golf Shows. 7. Proposed Development at US 41 and 951 Corridor Joe Schmitt, Community Development and Environmental Services Director: There are 13,407 additional units planned for development in this area. These are units that have not been zoned by this board. This is existing zoning that has existed for a number of years. Sabal Bay has about 3000 units that will be coming back before the Board of County Commissioners and have downsized to 1999 units. Treviso Bay has 1499 units. Lands End is zoned for 786 units, Fiddler's Creak 6000 units, Casa De Lago 200 units, Walnut Lakes 612 units, Artesa Point 224 units, Lely 10,000 units, Verona Walk 1100 units, and Winding Cypress 600 - 800 units. A Super Wal-Mart is planned for across from Eagle Creek. Lowe's is a possibility. The Super Wal-Mart will be like no other in the nation. It will be the most architecturally pleasing Wal-Mart in the country. It's going to be a pretty slick Super Wal-Mart. This part of town is going crazy as far as development. What happened in North Naples is now happening in this part of the county. The Regional Medical Center will be 26,000 square foot hospital, with maybe 80,000 square foot of medical offices. The Collier Regional Medical Center is about one year away. Page 4 ---- April 28, 2004 Public Speaker: asked how the changes to the bridge would take effect. Norm Feder, Transportation Services Director When talking about bringing Judge S.S. Jolly Bridge, it's functionally obsolete. There are currently no break-down lanes. Donna Fiala: wants to add to the record: when Joe Schmitt was talking about all the development coming in, and how many are approved, as he said, some of those units that were approved a number of years ago, first aid 10,000 units, really won't be building 10,000 units, but will be scaling back. We're really lucky that we live in the area because we have all of that environmentally sensitive area (west side of 951), all of that Rookery Bay property, is preserved. Commissioner Fiala noted some of the other residential areas are preserved and protected because of the sensitivity of the land. There is a lot of environmentally sensitive land. We're living in an ideal area of the county. A little better planning is going for us. We can limit density. We have a policy now that's 75 feet towers, nothing above, but we can't stop something that's been planned already. 8. Winding up of Collier Blvd. from 1-75 to US 41 Norm Feder, Transportation Services Director: I want to put in perspective what you've heard tonight. Essentially it's residential units. One issue was raised, the Super Wal-mart and access. We need to make sure we protect the 41/951 intersection. We have very strong regulations. We're trying not to make the mistakes of the past. CR 951 is planned for six lanes from Davis Boulevard to US 41. We have just started the design work and contract negotiations on that. That project is estimated to be at just over $50 million, with a portion of that being the right- of-way costs. Immokalee to Golden Gate Blvd. will begin construction to six lanes, just under $30 million, in 2007. We have major improvements planned, over $100 million, for 951 over the course of the next few years. We've got a big challenge ahead of us. The interchange at Davis and 1-75 is extremely overloaded. It's a very elaborate project that has to be done. They'll create a loop to overshoot Davis, and loop around. The last estimate received was $180 million. We're still trying to find a way to get that funded. But the concept is there. Government Access John Torre, Communications and Customer Relations Director: talked about governmental affairs' programming and the replaying of Marco Island City Council meetings. Mr. Torre listed the channels and times that these meeting are aired. Terri DiSciullo, Chairwoman: I would like to thank Donna Fiala and the county staff for being here tonight. It is very important for all of us to see you and to work with us. It is great to have you here. It's important that you're here. Page 5 April 28, 2004 Donna Fiala: Marco office hours every Thursday at Tax Collector's Office on Winterberry from 9 a.m. until, depends on the day, sometimes noon, sometimes 4 p.m. Call the office during the week and set up an appointment. Michael Minnozzi: We just want to thank you for taking the time to educate, communicate, and assimilate with us Marco Islanders. 9. Question and Answer Period Public Speaker, Jim Ciolino: My question is about beach access. With al/ of the info I've gathered, it seems county as well as city governments are unable to police themselves. It's like nobody wants to do anything about this. There used to be 25 pathways that people could Use to access the beach. I would like to see these pathways reopened. Commissioner Fiala: It would be good for us all for the City and the County to have a joint workshop and discuss many things. These pathways could be one of the subjects that we discuss. ***** There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m. , 'J .' ,) ; '~ '~' , ,.':'\ ,.' "',:f\b' c ' ;,"" ¿:\ ATTES-T: .' ',~;:',~:, ;- I, ~ '.. DWIG~! E. BROC~~~C4!RK "::;-"" ',\ / . ,.,' BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BOARD OF ZONING APPEALSIEX OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL æ~ ~Í{ D A FIALA, Chairman ø~ - -,' > Atte$ta4!'Wf', , ". $1 gII Ctture Oft 1 }.i These minutes appròved by the Board on as presented ~ ~~4y or as COITected Page 6 '---