Agenda 07/10/2018 Item #2B07/10/2018
COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Item Number: 2.B
Item Summary: June 12, 2018 - BCC Meeting Minutes
Meeting Date: 07/10/2018
Prepared by:
Title: Executive Secretary to County Manager – County Manager's Office
Name: MaryJo Brock
06/26/2018 2:06 PM
Submitted by:
Title: County Manager – County Manager's Office
Name: Leo E. Ochs
06/26/2018 2:06 PM
Approved By:
Review:
County Manager's Office MaryJo Brock County Manager Review Completed 06/26/2018 2:06 PM
Board of County Commissioners MaryJo Brock Meeting Pending 07/10/2018 9:00 AM
2.B
Packet Pg. 20
June 12, 2018
Page 1
TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Naples, Florida, June 12, 2018
LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Board of County
Commissioners, in and for the County of Collier, and also acting as the
Board of Zoning Appeals and as the governing board(s) of such special
districts as have been created according to law and having conducted
business herein, met on this date at 9:00 a.m., in REGULAR SESSION
in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida,
with the following members present:
CHAIRMAN: Andy Solis
William L. McDaniel, Jr.
Donna Fiala
Burt L. Saunders
Penny Taylor
ALSO PRESENT:
Leo Ochs, County Manager
Nick Casalanguida, Deputy County Manager
Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
Crystal Kinzel, Director of Finance & Accounting
Troy Miller, Communications & Customer Relations
June 12, 2018
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MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, you have a live mic.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Good morning, Mr. Manager. Welcome,
everyone, to the June 12th, 2018, Board of County Commissioners
meeting.
We'll begin today with the invocation and the Pledge. The
invocation will be led by Reverend Beverly Duncan of the Naples
United Church of Christ.
Item #1A
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
REVEREND DUNCAN: Good morning. Before I pray
formally, I want to say that the Collier County family is mourning the
recent loss of three devoted county employees, men who will be
deeply missed by their families, their colleagues, and by the
community they served. So we will pause to remember the lives of
Frederick Reischl, Harry Chancy, who worked in -- and Harry Chancy
who worked in the Growth Management Department, and Douglas
Tressler, who worked in the Facilities Management Division.
Let us observe a moment of silence.
(A moment of silence was observed.)
REVEREND DUNCAN: And now let us pray.
For those who loved and lived with these three colleagues, we
pray heeling and comfort. May the souls of Frederick, Harry, and
Douglas find rest and peace in their eternal home. For those who are
here today, who carry on the work of Collier County, we pray the
blessing of insight, inspiration, and stamina. Hold them in your care,
oh, God, as you do all of your people. Help all of us to care about and
for the least of these. Amen.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Fiala, would you leads us
June 12, 2018
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in the pledge?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I certainly will. Would you please
put your hand over your heart and say with me.)
(The Pledge of Allegiance was recited in unison.)
Item #2A
APPROVAL OF TODAY’S REGULAR, CONSENT AND
SUMMARY AGENDA AS AMENDED (EX PARTE DISCLOSURE
PROVIDED BY COMMISSION MEMEBERS FOR CONSENT
AGENDA) – APPROVED AND/OR ADOPTED W/CHANGES;
COMMISSIONER SOLIS ABSTAINED FROM VOTING ON ITEM
#16A4
Item #2B AND #2C
MAY 8, 2018 BCC MEETING MINUTES AND MAY 22, 2018 BCC
MEETING MINUTES – APPROVED AS PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, Commissioners, good morning. I'm
pleased and astounded to tell you that I have no changes to today's
meeting agenda.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Mr. County Attorney?
MR. KLATZKOW: Nor do I.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. Moving on then.
MR. OCHS: That takes us to 2A; that's approval of today's
regular consent and summary agenda as amended.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Motion to approve. No changes.
MR. OCHS: We need disclosure for summary and consent
agenda.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I have one disclosure on
June 12, 2018
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17A. I did have meetings in regard to that.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: For me?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yes.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: For me, nothing on the consent
agenda but one on the summary, and the same one, 17A, and that's the
Torres Family Trust CPUD. I've had meetings and phone calls, and
residents have also contacted me.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I've had no disclosures except for
17A, and I would assume it would be 17B, and I had a meeting
yesterday with the developer and his representative and discussed with
them -- because, Commissioner Fiala, I know how concerned you are
about storage units throughout your neighborhood, right, through East
Naples, and here is a storage warehouse.
But it was explained to me at the time that the neighborhood was
quite content with it, and so I asked that -- and I believe they're here. I
asked that there would be increased landscaping at the front which
would help not block the sign but certainly help soften the look of
these storage warehouses. And I believe the petitioner's representative
is here to agree to it, and they did talk to Mr. Torres, and he agrees to
it.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And let me tell you my concern with
storage units. It's not that I don't like them or anything at all. I think
he's about the 15th one now that's coming in, and Mike Bosi, thank
heavens, is going to be preparing a map for me to show us where
they're all located.
The only concern I have is that they don't bring any business in,
and they don't attract any businesses, and they don't hire any people,
and I would love to see something -- a place where we can shop or that
we can dine, because we can't do anything at a storage unit. That's my
only concern. And I've mentioned that to other people --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah.
June 12, 2018
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COMMISSIONER FIALA: -- so thank you for following
through with that.
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, I think it would be appropriate to ask
the agent for the petitioner to step forward and confirm for the record
so we have that on the record.
MR. MULHERE: If I can go to the visualizer, I'll put the
language up.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Although we all know you, you might
want to identify yourself.
MR. MULHERE: Yes. For the record, my name is Bob
Mulhere. Thank you very much. I'll be -- I forget what Jim Mudd
used to say: Be brilliant, be brief, and be gone, so that's what I'll do.
MR. OCHS: At least two out of three.
MR. MULHERE: I opened myself up for that.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Yes, you did.
MR. MULHERE: You can see the landscape buffer that we're
talking about is right along East Tamiami Trail. And we have prepared
enhanced landscape buffer language for a number of PUDs. I used the
exact same language which will get you a significantly enhanced
landscape buffer.
Sorry for my handwriting.
So that language requires an enhanced landscape buffer with
canopy trees spaced 25 feet on center so you get more canopy trees, a
double hedge row, larger plant sizes for the hedge rows, including a
3-gallon, 24-inch hedge on the -- closest to the East Trail and then a
larger 4-gallon, 24-inch hedge just behind it. So that should
significantly enhance that buffer.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And I'll just add, it's not that I think
they're unattractive, because the ones that they build are very, very
nice. I don't have any problem with that. I wonder how many you can
build before they break the mold and all of a sudden they're not doing
June 12, 2018
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so successfully anymore. How many can you put in one area? Because
they're all three-story-tall buildings as well. So I'm just wondering
that; not particularly this one, in general, but just there's got to be a
stop someplace before we break the mold.
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, if I could ask staff just to comment
on this.
MR. BOSI: Good morning, Board. Mike Bosi, Zoning and
Planning director.
We're in agreement with the modifications, obviously, and
enhancing the buffer is something that only adds to the quality of the
development.
And in relationship to the map, we are almost done with it, so I
will have that map back to you in short order, Commissioner Fiala.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: County Manager, give this man a
raise, please.
MR. BOSI: I think that's on the record.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Second.
MR. KLATZKOW: That takes three votes, though.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So close. So close.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you, Mike.
I think it's going to be good to show other people who want to
bring more in that, you know, there is a breaking point. I would have
never pulled this one off or talked about it or anything, but thank you
for doing that, Commissioner Taylor.
Thanks, Mike.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Good. All right. And that's all I
have.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I have no -- I do have the ex
parte, the same, on Item 17A, and no other ex parte and no changes to
the agenda.
June 12, 2018
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CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I also have had meetings on 17A. And I
have a conflict on 16A4, so I'll abstain from that. That's the WCI
Communities matter.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And with that, I'll move for
approval of the minutes and the agenda.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Motion.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Second.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: And a second. All in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Approved.
Item #3D1
EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH – PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, that takes us to Item 3D1 this
morning. This is a recommendation to recognize Wendy Klopf,
operations coordinator in your Community and Human Services
Division, as the May 2018 Employee of the Month. Wendy, if you'd
please step forward and receive your award from the Chairman.
(Applause.)
MR. OCHS: Stand right there and get a picture while I tell the
audience a little bit more about you.
Commissioners, Wendy's been with our Community and Human
Services division since 2001. She works in our grants compliance
June 12, 2018
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section. And for the last couple of years, she's been working feverishly
to complete a detailed review of over 5,000 properties under various
loan and grant programs going back as far as 1995.
She has reviewed each property for homestead compliance,
analyzed the status of each noncompliant property, contacted owners
where appropriate to recapture funds. Her efforts have already yielded
positive compliance results and a substantial amount of money being
returned to the county.
She's also led the development of our new lien compliance policy
adopted by the Board this past March. This policy updates and
expands a mechanism to ensure that liens remain in compliance with
county program regulations and, ultimately, lead to savings and staff
time and more funds being returned to the county.
It's this type of extra effort that is one of the many reasons why
Wendy is so deserving of this honor.
Commissioners, it's my pleasure to present Wendy Klopf, your
Employee of the Month for May 2018. Congratulations.
(Applause.)
COMMISSIONER FIALA: We talked yesterday about asking
about the master plan for the East Naples community. Is it the time to
bring it up now or later on?
MR. OCHS: Well, I think under County Commission
communications would probably be the best opportunity, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
Item #4
PROCLAMATION DESIGNATING JUNE 15, 2018 AS WORLD
ELDER ABUSE AWARENESS DAY IN COLLIER COUNTY.
ACCEPTED BY HEATHER BAKER, CHAIR, LEADERSHIP
COALITION ON AGING, AND MEMBER OF THE LEADERSHIP
June 12, 2018
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COALITION ON AGING STEERING COMMITTEE – ADOPTED
MR. OCHS: Thank you. Commissioners, that takes us to this
morning's proclamations. Item 4A is a proclamation designating June
15, 2018, as World Elder Abuse Awareness Day in Collier County. To
be accepted by Heather Baker, chair of the Leadership Coalition on
Aging, and members of the Leadership Coalition on Aging Steering
Committee.
If you'd please step forward and receive your proclamation from
the Chairman.
(Applause.)
MR. OCHS: Congratulations.
(Applause.)
MS. BAKER: Good morning. I understand we can say just a few
words to recognize this moment, so I'll start. And I'd like to invite my
colleague, Doug Hartman, to join me in just a moment.
Good morning. On behalf of the Leadership Coalition on Aging,
and specifically a nod to Shelly Perry for initiating this, I'd like to
thank you for the opportunity to recognize World Elder Abuse
Awareness Day here in Collier County.
Living here on the Paradise Coast, one might wonder if
something like elder abuse touches our community. The National
Council on Aging estimates that one in 10 Americans Age 60 and
older have experienced abuse often falling into two major categories:
Neglect or exploitation.
The Florida Department of Children and Families reports having
conducted 570 investigations in 2017 specifically in Collier County.
The leading maltreatment in Collier is self-neglect accounting for
nearly 28 percent of the cases followed by inadequate supervision and
exploitation.
By bringing this issue into focus today, we can recognize the
June 12, 2018
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steps our community has taken to address senior needs. Seniors are
not just older adults. As we age, we face physiological changes that
alter the way our bodies metabolize medications, for example.
Seniors, and specifically our growing cohort of 80 and over seniors,
face increased risks of vulnerability an array of needs that require
senior-specific thinking.
The members of the Leadership Coalition on Aging applaud the
Commission's recent step in establishing a Senior Advisory
Committee. By doing so, issues like senior affordable housing, hunger
or malnutrition, social isolation, and today's issue of elder abuse can be
brought into a renewed light where we can take steps to improve the
lives of seniors and those who care for them.
Thank you. And now, Mr. Doug Hartman.
(Applause.)
MR. HARTMAN: Thank you, Commissioners.
I will be extremely brief, even more brief than I intended.
We have a problem, a crisis, in this country, and that is that we're
going through a demographic revolution. It's very interesting that the
Bureau of Labor Statistics just a little more than a week ago came out
with a shocking report.
By 2032, we will have more seniors in the United States than we
have children. Now, you remember when we were young where there
were four children to every senior or five children. That is a serious,
serious change to the structure of our society.
And, as such, we've got to make adjustments. In the future this
county will be turning to a population of seniors of up to 200,000 of us,
4- or 500- that are going to be in the population in the next 15 years.
Of those 200,000, we're going to have problems. Some of the
problems are those that are endemic to aging.
As Heather Baker just mentioned, failure of physical energy and a
loss of mental capability that accompanies getting aged, particularly
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over 80 or 85, lead to problems of exploitation.
I want to congratulate the Commission for assisting us in bringing
public attention to this problem through this proclamation. Thank you.
(Applause.)
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, if I could get a motion to approve
the proclamation, please.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: So moved.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Second.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Motion and second. All in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Approved.
Item #5A
PRESENTATION OF THE COLLIER COUNTY BUSINESS OF
THE MONTH FOR JUNE 2018 TO ARGOTRAK INC.,
ACCEPTED BY JIM WHEELER, FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT,
AND CHRISTINE WHEELER, VICE PRESIDENT, ALSO
PRESENT IS BETHANY SAWYER, GREATER NAPLES
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE – PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: That brings us to this morning's presentations.
Item 5A is a presentation of the Collier County Business of the Month
for June 2018 to ArgoTrak, Incorporated, to be accepted by Jim
Wheeler, founder and president; and Christine Wheeler, vice president;
June 12, 2018
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also accompanied by Bethany Sawyer from the Greater Naples
Chamber of Commerce. Would you please step forward.
(Applause.)
MR. WHEELER: Good morning and thank you. On behalf of
the ArgoTrak family, we'd like to thank the commissioners, the great
Chamber that we get to work with.
And just real briefly about ArgoTrak. We started in 2009. My
father and I founded the company as a veteran-owned GPS tracking
fleet management company specifically looking at the marine industry.
As you know, we have a lot of great rental fleets down here, and it was
a great excuse for us to hang around at the marinas and do some
fishing.
Since then, we actually grew up. We work nationwide now. We
work with any kind of fleets, whether it's government, we have a
number of different federal agencies that we work with, service fleets.
Really, at ArgoTrak we can track anything anywhere anytime.
And we have 13 great employees here in Collier County. We
love doing business in Collier County, and we really look forward to
continuing to grow and expand as we do.
So, thank you, and we really appreciate the time this morning.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Mr. Manager, let me just jump in real
quick, and I would like to mention the featured Artist of the Month.
The featured artist this month is resident Joey Waves. Joey began his
career in art as a spray can graffiti artist when he was a teenager in
Miami.
As he grew older, Joey put down his spray cans and picked up a
camera. With a keen eye, Joey uses the camera to express his passion
for the raw, natural beauty of Florida. His bold images have attracted a
worldwide audience. So please enjoy the wonderful artwork in the
back, and thank you for being here.
June 12, 2018
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COMMISSIONER FIALA: That's done with a spray can?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Is that him?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: No, no. It's a camera.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: That's beautiful.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: It is beautiful.
(Applause.)
Item #5B
PRESENTATION BY THE FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE
CONSERVATION COMMISSION ON THE STATUS OF THE
FLORIDA BLACK BEAR POPULATION AND METHODS TO
MITIGATE HUMAN-BEAR CONFLICTS BY ADOPTING
“BEARWISE” PRACTICES - PRESENTED; TO BE BROUGHT
BACK AS A FORMAL AGENDA ITEM AT A FUTURE
MEETING – CONSENSUS
MR. OCHS: Item 5B is a presentation by the Florida Fish and
Wildlife Conservation Commission on the status of the Florida Black
Bear population and methods to mitigate human-bear conflicts by
adopting "Bear Wise" practices. And Commissioner McDaniel has
brought this item forward.
(Applause.)
MR. ORLANDO: Good morning, Commissioners. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Are they clapping for me or for
the presentation?
MR. OCHS: I think it's for you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Definitely.
MR. ORLANDO: Hi, there. Mike Orlando with Florida Fish and
Wildlife. I'm the assistant bear program coordinator for bears in
Florida.
June 12, 2018
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Pull your attention -- you may get run over by that garbage can.
Hold on one second. Sorry.
So we have a couple of displays with us today. These fully
automated garbage cans, and they are bear resistant. Folks can mess
around with them after the presentation. They'll be in the hallway. But
they do lock. Actually, Sarah, if you could spin it around and open the
one for the commissioners, that would be good.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Oh, sure. Open it at us.
MR. ORLANDO: There's nothing in it right now.
So she has to push the little button, it opens, and then when she
locks it or shuts the lid, it will lock again. So the bears have a hard
time opening up; no opposable thumbs.
So to get started, we obviously have bear issues in Florida.
Collier County is no different from everybody else. And with an
expanding bear population and an expanding human population -- 21
million people in the state, and we have over 4,000 bears now -- both
of these are butting heads usually right at your garage door or at the
end of your driveway in the form of bears getting into garbage.
So if you look at the map here, you can see South Florida in our
most recent population estimate has over a thousand bears mostly in
the Big Cypress area and, of course, that bleeds into places like Golden
Gate Estates.
Over the years you can see our conflicts with bears have
increased, and that leads us to try to pick up methods of solution. One
of those is bear-resistant garbage cans, but there's a handful of things
that we recommend for people to do.
If you watch the little video here, this is actually sort of
demonstrating -- that's a bear-resistant garbage can with a blue lid there
in Seminole County. A bear walks right by it, kind of sniffed it, walks
directly across the street to a completely unsecured garbage can. Easy
pickings. Bears are smart enough to be lazy. So a guy tries to yell at
June 12, 2018
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him and scare him away but, interestingly enough, it's really
unfortunate, but the bear actually walks across the street and takes the
garbage into the guys' yard that has the bear-resistant garbage can.
So it's very unfortunate, but this is the point: Is to try to get
everybody in a community to all be doing the right thing so nobody
suffers in the end, including the bear.
But if you see general interactions, most live -- most of our
problems where -- people just seeing bears walk around or up trees, but
one of our main sources of conflict is garbage, and that's why we have
two garbage cans sitting in front of you today.
If you look at the map of Collier County, you can see all the green
dots are just from the year 2017, and the blue is for the last -- since
2012 to '16. Most of our conflicts are coming out of Golden Gate
Estates and to the east. But on occasion we do have them on the other
side of I-75, on occasion. So it's not that frequent, but on occasion.
So a couple of the things that we have going on again, in the form
of garbage, if you watch this video, this is actually from Colorado. But
it's a very frequent thing here in Florida as well. But dumpsters are
one of our problems as well. This bear just takes the opportunity to --
this one's on wheels. He just decides to take it away. But we actually
have a fairly good project going on in Collier County where the
bear-resistant dumpsters have been put in most of the schools,
especially in the schools that are in bear country.
So, actually, we've been working with county staff and Waste
Management for years trying to get that accomplished, because having
a bear on school campus and having a school locked down because of
a bear is something nobody wants, right?
So we started with schools, and we've been trying to slowly get
bear-resistant garbage cans and what we call bear-wise practices into
the communities at large.
One of the problems that we've been running into over the years
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now is that the trucks have gone from semi-automated to fully
automated. And I think most of you guys have fully automated trucks
now where the arm reaches out, grabs the can and tips it. There's now
two products on the market, Kodiak and Rehrig Pacific, and these are
the two that you see in front of you. They have been tested by the bear
wise -- by the International Grizzly Bear Committee out west, and they
have passed the 60 minutes inside these -- this facility with these very
large brown bears. So they have to get that certificate for us to
consider them bear resistant. Nothing is bear proof.
This is just actually in my front yard testing one of these cans
with a fully automated truck, and it works great. And we actually have
a meeting after this with the Waste Management company and county
staff to test these cans with your trucks.
One of the great things, though, about having bear-resistant
equipment like these cans in communities is we've done some studies
and other states have done studies, and up in the central part of the
state we actually outfitted cans with -- modified cans with little
carabiners and clips. The community that had that actually got a 55
percent reduction in bear complaints over a period of time, which is
great. Any reduction is awesome.
But when we actually put the bear-resistant garbage cans out in
the field, we had a 95 percent reduction in bear conflicts. When you
get a 95 percent reduction in anything, success rate, it was really
incredible. And those folks out there swear by the cans, and now
Volusia County is now actually putting them out in neighborhoods as
well.
So that brings us to particularly a place in Seminole County
which passed an ordinance a few years ago to, if you're in this
ordinance zone or area, you have to secure your garbage in some
fashion. Either in a bear-resistant garbage can or in your garage or a
shed or something, but it has to be kept secure from bears. And what
June 12, 2018
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we've noticed is not only have the bear conflicts started going down,
the more serious conflicts started going down, but we've actually not
had to kill bears in these communities for quite some time. And it's an
unfortunate part of our job in bear management; public-safety threats
we have to remove from the population. And, of course, we don't like
doing that so getting -- it really stimulates us to get these cans out into
the communities.
So we have four counties now that have passed an ordinance
requiring bear-resistant garbage cans or securing garbage in some
fashion, and we have what we're calling bear-wise communities. This
is a Southeastern United States and, in fact, the entire country has now
gone to these bear-wise principles.
We have 23 communities in some stage of being bear-wise now
in the state. Eleven of them have been completely, wholly bear-wise,
and we see a pretty dramatic decrease in bear conflicts in these areas.
And, obviously, our hot spots that are circled in red are places that
we're focusing on, which is why I'm in front of you today.
So one of the good things that we -- that we've been doing for the
last few years is actually getting state-appropriated funding through an
LBR to help offset the cost to counties and cities and homeowners
associations -- to help offset the cost to get these cans out into the
communities.
So we got another 500,000 this year, and I'm basically here telling
you that about 60 percent of that money has to go to counties or cities
with an ordinance, but 40 percent can actually go towards counties or
cities that don't have an ordinance.
So we have money and we're willing to -- we've already talked to
county staff, that you apply through a grant process, and we have
money to help start or kickstart something in Collier County, which
would be exciting to us.
Of course, all of this takes all of us working together with the
June 12, 2018
Page 18
state, the counties, cities, and the waste management companies and,
of course, the residents who lots of them have been asking us to give
this presentation and get county moving in the direction of having
bear-resistant garbage cans.
Of course, one of the last things here is we did have a bear attack
in Naples here recently, and this is really what we're trying to avoid.
You know, bears were getting into garbage in the backyards of this
little community, and the gentleman went outside to investigate what
was going on outside, and he got swatted in the face. Unfortunate. The
guy was in good spirits, really, really upbeat for having been swatted in
the face. Super nice guy. But we really don't need bears swatting
people after they're getting in their garbage and attacking people, so...
And that's it for now.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I'll just say, the videos take "take out" to a
whole new level.
MR. ORLANDO: Yes, it sure does.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Or "to go."
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: To go.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: We have a whole new level.
MR. ORLANDO: We have a good solution for the dumpsters as
well. Actually Waste Management in Collier County has been helping
us retrofit those dumpsters so bears can't get in them as well. So we
have pretty good solutions nowadays to fixing our garbage problems
with bears.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner McDaniel, you were first.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And I wanted to thank Mike
and Sarah. We had breakfast several months ago. Darrell Land and --
he, you, and I --
MR. ORLANDO: Yes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- we had breakfast. And, you
know, a large portion of this is education and letting people know how
June 12, 2018
Page 19
to manage their cohabitation with the Black Bear. Everybody talks
about them and how pretty they are and how cuddly they are, and
everybody forgets that they are smarter than the average bear.
And it is Yogi and Boo-Boo that are out on a walk about looking
for the picnic basket on a regular basis; that's what they're going to go
for. So information, education is the beginning of that process. And
there's been a dire lack of that.
I spoke with some folks that actually have cameras at the old Ford
test track in Eastern Collier County, and they can tell you which days
are trash pickups in Eastern Golden Gate Estates because they've got
cameras on the racetrack, and it's just a herd of bears coming on the
days when the trash pickups are. Those folks actually delineated when
the trash pickup was off of DeSoto and Everglades Boulevard in
Eastern Collier County.
So the beginning of this process is education. I would certainly
like for us at some stage to explore this ordinance process if, in fact, it
meets with the satisfaction of my colleagues.
But I really, really appreciate you taking the time to come down
here and share it with us.
MR. ORLANDO: That's great. Thank you.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Fiala?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. Two quick ones. The first one
is, I didn't see how they --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Microphone.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, I'm sorry.
I didn't see how they empty these bear-proof cans into the trash --
MR. ORLANDO: Into the trucks.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: -- trucks.
MR. ORLANDO: So let me see here if I go back to that video.
So there are similar trucks here in Collier County and, like I said, we're
June 12, 2018
Page 20
going to be testing them right afterwards with your equipment. But
there's an arm that actually comes out, grabs the can, and then when it
tips it upside-down, it opens and then dumps out, and then they put it
back down on the ground.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Even though they don't have to push
anything open?
MR. ORLANDO: Yeah. These are specially constructed
proprietary designs from these two companies that allow it to open
when it's completely tipped at a certain angle, at a speed and
everything. It's pretty impressive.
Both of these trash cans have actually been tested by bears. If
you look at the side of this blue one here, I had a wild bear really work
this one over pretty good. You can see all the claw marks and
everything on the sides. So not only do they work with the trucks, but
bears haven't been able to get into them either, which is, you know,
obviously, the way we were going.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: So my second question is, then,
being that bears have found a handy -- easy way to have lunch and
dinner out of our garbage cans, if we make them bear proof, now what
are they going to do to go for food? Will they be coming into our
home areas more looking for food?
MR. ORLANDO: That's a really good question, and the answer
is bears are going to be trying to satisfy their caloric needs every day.
So normally they're trying to get around 5,000 calories a day. In the
fall in particular is when we have lots of our problems. They're getting
prepared for wintertime. They go into what's called fall hyperphasia,
which is just a fancy term for overeating. I seem to be stuck in that for
my last 10 years. But they will eventually figure out if they can't get
into these cans they may, on occasion, do something a little bit -- you
know, maybe get onto a screen enclosure. I'm not going to rule that
out. But for the most part they're just going to find food where it's
June 12, 2018
Page 21
available, and if that's on saw palmetto berries and acorns, they're just
going to go back and eat those foods.
On occasion, though, I'm not going to rule out that one is going to
enter a garage or get into a screen enclosure. That's just the nature of
living in such a wild place like Collier County.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah. We've had some of that
happen in the mobile home parks down by us that are closer to the
Everglades, and we've actually -- I guess the newspaper's even
published some of those pictures with the bear rummaging around the
screened enclosure.
MR. ORLANDO: Yeah, sure. And especially if you leave cat
foot or dog food on your screen porch, they're going to find what's
available. And that's what the ordinances kind of describe. It says,
you know, don't leave anything that's going to attract a bear into your
yard. Keep your pet food, bird seeds, that sort of stuff -- we don't -- I
love birds. Lots of people love birds. And you can feed birds at the
right time of the year, and if you take your bird seed in at night, no
problem. But if you have bears coming around, you should probably
keep that away for some time, so...
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah, just a couple questions.
MR. ORLANDO: Sure.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Could you put back on the
screen the slide that showed the incidence of bears entering trash cans
throughout the county.
MR. ORLANDO: Sure.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And I've got a couple
questions.
MR. ORLANDO: Right here?
June 12, 2018
Page 22
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: In terms of -- what do these
cans typically cost? How much money are we talking about per
resident?
MR. ORLANDO: Right. So the regular trash cans that are out
there now, they cost between -- somewhere between 50 and $75.
These cans cost about $200. So there is a significant price increase
but, again, it's a -- you know, it's an invention that these folks are --
you know, they're making money, right? So --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Sure.
MR. ORLANDO: -- and it provides a service in keeping bears
out of your yard. So that would be up to, obviously, the residents and
the county and the state in how we cost-share to get that price mark
something reasonable.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And, obviously, there are
incidence of bears in garbage cans all over the county.
MR. ORLANDO: Sure.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: But would you be looking to
or would we be wise to have a limited area for these, or would it have
to be something that is totally countywide?
MR. ORLANDO: So we generally try to start slow at first. We
don't -- we wouldn't -- if it was up to me completely, I would say, sure,
the entire county gets an ordinance, and everybody has to do the right
thing. I understand that that's a whole lot of a lift, you know, right at
first.
So if you were to do something, for example, of having an
ordinance or some rule that basically said everybody, you know, east
of, what is that, 951, and then everybody north of 75 or south of
Immokalee Road, if everybody in that ordinance zone -- let's say you
started with something small like a zone, that could be a start. And
then let's just see how it works. And if all of a sudden we start
realizing that bears are moving up or west, then maybe we expand it.
June 12, 2018
Page 23
That's what Seminole County did. And so far they have not had to
expand their ordinance zone, because the bears hit that spot and they,
basically, don't go any further.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: These look like pretty sturdy
cans. Any estimate as to how long they last in normal use? Not ones
that are being attacked by bears, but just normal use.
MR. ORLANDO: Right, sure. They certainly last as long as a
regular can that people have out now, and they're supposed to last even
longer given the fact that they're bear resistant. This one's actually
Rotomolded. It's kind of like a kayak. It's really a pretty sturdy can.
That one is just a regular garbage can with a whole new redesigned lid.
They're supposed to last as long as, if not longer, than your regular can
that you have now.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I had a bear in my neighbor's
yard, and I didn't see the bear, just heard him, and scooted back into
the house.
MR. ORLANDO: Wise.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: But I wouldn't mind having --
I don't live west -- I mean, east of 951, but I wouldn't mind having one
of those types of cans.
MR. ORLANDO: Sure.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Do voluntary programs work
at all where residents can --
MR. ORLANDO: Really good question. I'm glad you asked that
question. So what we find is that there is a percentage of the public
who absolutely voluntarily will put out their money and buy these
cans. I think that should be open all the time. But then there's another
section of the public who, if there isn't an ordinance in place or there
isn't some rule that states you have to do this, they just won't ever do it.
And so, you know, I'm not a big fan of things like making people
do stuff like that; however, when we have a situation where bears --
June 12, 2018
Page 24
and, remember, they're large, powerful animals. Luckily they don't
like to hurt people all that often. But if we're attracting them from the
forest into people's yards and bringing humans and bears in such close
proximity over garbage, bad things are bound to happen. So
sometimes an ordinance helps stimulate people to do the right thing.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Chairman, if I might ask
Mr. McDaniel a question.
This is a great thing to bring forward, so thank you for doing that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Absolutely.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I suspect that there are a lot of
people that would want to participate voluntarily right off the -- at the
get-go.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Probably so.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And perhaps we could -- if
you were interested in at least starting a voluntary program
immediately, I think there would be a lot of participation, and then
investigate the requirements.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: My rationale, my thought
process, you know, it was for information purposes, to begin the
dialogue, to begin the discussion, to review the ordinances. There are
several that are out there. There is money that is available through
FWC to assist with these additional expenses.
Maybe we can explore some alternative methodologies to
incentivize people to voluntarily participate and watch and see what
kind of results that we have.
The entire impetus for this for me was to bring light to it,
education, show folks that you can live in the wild and cohabitate with
these critters if we remember that they are out on a regular basis,
seasonally and during the day looking for the easiest picnic basket to
get to. And if we do -- in fact, if it meets with your agreement, I would
recommend we bring back a formal item as an agenda item, review the
June 12, 2018
Page 25
ordinances and potential ways for us to go, allow for it, because there's
a lot of people wanting to talk about this item, that we actually do that
and have a public -- have a public meeting and explore it, because then
we'll be able to hear both sides.
This isn't -- there are ways to protect your trash that don't require
a $200 trash bin. There are habit shifts that you can do, and those are
all -- this is whole process -- I think, Mike, you guys -- there's another
presentation tonight.
MR. ORLANDO: Yes.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Where?
MR. ORLANDO: Here.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right here. How about that?
At what time?
MR. ORLANDO: Six o'clock.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I know the answer to all these
questions.
MR. ORLANDO: Six o'clock.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It is tonight at 6 o'clock.
MR. ORLANDO: And it will be a longer presentation; I'll be
able to answer lots of questions.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Sure. So...
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, I'd like to get one of
those cans so the bear stays in my neighbor's yard. That's my
motivation.
MR. ORLANDO: Sure.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: But down the road if there's
some way to at least get that started, I think that's a great way to get
started.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, I'd like to -- with the
Chair's permission, I'd like to ask staff to prepare up an agenda item in
our near future, nearer than later. I know we've got a very busy
June 12, 2018
Page 26
schedule before our summer break, but I'd like for us to actually have a
formal public hearing on this and review both the positives and the
negatives of an ordinance, if that meets with your approval.
Is that a head nod for --
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Pleasure of the Board. It's --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: How's the Board feel?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I would agree.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. Let's do it. You okay?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah.
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Could I ask staff just if you
could provide us some information on how we would acquire a can for
our own personal use without the ordinance, I would like to --
MR. KLATZKOW: You know, during the break, nobody's
looking.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's two right there.
MR. ORLANDO: Well, wait. What? Where did my other can
go?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Under public records law,
those are public records now, so...
MR. ORLANDO: Oh, sure. Okay.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And there are other critters
that get into your garbage, so...
MR. ORLANDO: Right. So this isn't just about bears as well. I
mean, your raccoons and, you know, squirrels and rats and vultures, all
kinds of things, none of them have figured out how to get into these
cans.
And one final note: You know, one of the things that's important
about the ordinances in other counties is any future developments that
are approved generally start out with having these cans. So if you're
spending 200-, $300,000 on a home, you get a $200 garbage can with
June 12, 2018
Page 27
your house. And there is, essentially, no backwards cost.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: There's a lot of information that
travels with this. I mean, we had experience over at Farm Workers
Village in looking to do these type of containers and, I think you called
it, incentivizing people to participant is a quite a process. So that's the
reason I think we ought to have an actual -- review the ordinance and
have a public hearing on it and allow both sides to -- everybody --
because there are objections to these things as well, so thank you.
Thank you so much.
MR. ORLANDO: Yeah, no problem. Thank you. Yes, you had
one more question?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Just a couple of questions myself.
MR. ORLANDO: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: One is, looking at this chart, it seems that
the bears are -- we're having a lot more interactions in places maybe
that we didn't have any interactions before, and I'm wondering --
obviously, it's partially related to growth of the county but, also, I'm
just wondering if, for example, in North Naples, east of -- or west of
I-75, there's been a lot, and the injury, I think, was even -- it was also
west --
MR. ORLANDO: It was just east of I-75 but not very far.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: The injury?
MR. ORLANDO: Yes.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. I thought there was even one in
Pelican Marsh as well.
MR. ORLANDO: No injuries that we've heard. Maybe we
should be looking into that.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. Anyway my question is, is the bear
population on the rise as well as the human population --
MR. ORLANDO: Absolutely.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: -- or is it a function of both or just human
June 12, 2018
Page 28
population?
MR. ORLANDO: It's a function of both. Both populations are
increasing at the exact same time. We've had -- over the same time
period from the '70s, we've had a 500 percent increase of both humans
and bears, exactly the same.
So we are at the stage now that if we're not taking some
precautions moving into the future, that -- I fear that we're going to end
up having people hurt by bears more often, so...
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's inevitable.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Very good.
The other thing I was just going to say was again to remind
everyone that's here that there is, at the end of this meeting tonight, at 6
o'clock, there's going to be a public forum here for more information,
and that if an ordinance -- if we're going to discuss an ordinance, and it
sounds like the Board wants to do that, that there will be a public
hearing process for that and for the public to provide the information
and the feedback to staff to make sure that we get the ordinance right.
I think everybody -- this affects all of the districts here. I think I
can speak for everyone and say that this is something that concerns all
of us, and we want to make sure we get this right because we don't
want anybody hurt, and we don't want the bears to be hurt either.
They're our neighbors, and they were here before we were. So please
bear that in mind. I'm on a roll today.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Did he just say that?
MR. OCHS: Yes, he did.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Keep that in mind, and we'll certainly want
to hear from everyone on this issue because it's important to all of us.
So thank you.
MR. ORLANDO: Great. Thank you.
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yes, sir.
June 12, 2018
Page 29
MR. OCHS: I'm assuming, hopefully, that in addition to the
review of the ordinance we can also at the same time consider
operational impacts and financial alternatives.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Absolutely.
MR. OCHS: Educational programs, all those things.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Educational programs,
cooperative efforts with our trash removal company. I mean, a lot of
this has to do with whether or not they'll put an extra person on the
truck in particular areas as we're going through this just to be able to
facilitate these apparatuses with the pick -- and I didn't want to get into
all that right now. There's a whole list of things.
MR. OCHS: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: But that is a good question. I was under
the impression that the can will unlock as it's picked up. Does it
require an extra person?
MR. ORLANDO: It does not.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay.
MR. ORLANDO: No. That's the unique design behind these
cans is that the one person in the truck -- it's all operational.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: But we're just going to start reviewing this
with our contractor and -- okay.
MR. ORLANDO: This is how all the counties work. We start
slow, and then we build up to where we ended up.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: All right. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Just --
MR. ORLANDO: Oh, one other question.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Just a special little comment.
Because we have 78 percent of our land already in preservation, it's
like we've created their own bear bedroom. And no wonder that
they're multiplying because they're safe over there, and nobody can
bother them. But I think it's a good thing that we're moving forward,
June 12, 2018
Page 30
because we have to now figure out how we can all live together.
Thank you.
MR. ORLANDO: Yes, thank you.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Absolutely.
(Applause.)
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, we had several speakers who wanted
to address this subject today. We normally don't take speakers under
presentations, so they signed up under public comment but, of course,
that's public comment topics not on the current or future agenda.
So I don't know if they're going to come back tonight or if you
want to make some exception to your presentation policy or how you
want to address that.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: The problem with making exceptions is
that the exception then swallows the rule. And, you know, we're going
to be looking at an ordinance. There will be multiple public hearings
and opportunities for that, so I really would urge everyone to be here
for that, because that's where the input comes from the public and we
can make changes to the ordinance, make sure that all of the concerns
are addressed. But I think we have to stick to our policy, just for
purposes of making sure that we can run the meetings in an efficient
manner.
And I understand this is important for everyone, and everyone
wants to have their say, but there's going to be lots of opportunities for
that, and I hope everybody understands that.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Chairman?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Could I ask the people that did
register to speak, if you're in support of some program, would you just
raise your hand? I just want to get an idea. And if you're opposed --
and if you're opposed to any discussion on that...
June 12, 2018
Page 31
I just wanted to get an idea.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Watch your hand, Terri. I said
watch your hand. Your hand was --
MS. GRAHAM: No, I'm all for it.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. Okay. We hear you loud and clear.
And please keep an eye open for the public meetings on the ordinance,
and please come and share your concerns. I think we're all on the same
page that this is something that we need to address.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And just on that note, if I
might, Mr. Chair, we have a website, all of us do, individually, and I
post regularly things that are impacting District 5. So I'll be sure and
make sure we keep that website up to date and let folks know when
these hearings, in fact, will come along and public informational
meetings and the like. So I'll be happy to do that.
Item #5C
RECAP OF THE 2018 MINTO US OPEN PICKLEBALL
CHAMPIONSHIPS HELD APRIL 20-28 AT EAST NAPLES
COMMUNITY PARK. PRESENTED BY TERRI GRAHAM,
PRESIDENT, US OPEN PICKLEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS AND
CHRIS EVON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, US OPEN
PICKLEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS – PRESENTED
MR. OCHS: Thank you, Commissioners.
That take us to Item 5C this morning. That is a recap of the 2018
Minto US Open Pickleball Championships held this past April 20th
through 28th at the East Naples Community Park.
The presentation this morning will be by Terri Graham, the
president of the US Open Pickleball Championships, and, Chris Evon,
the executive director of the open championships. And Commissioner
June 12, 2018
Page 32
Fiala had asked this item be scheduled for today's agenda.
Thank you, Commissioner.
Terri, good morning.
MS. GRAHAM: Good morning, gentlemen. Good morning,
Commissioners. Thank you very much for having us present the recap
this morning.
I am Terri Graham, the co-founder of the US Open Pickleball
championships. And on behalf of the other co-founder Chris Evon and
our US Open Pickleball team here in Naples, Jim Ludwig and Carol
Caefer, we'd like to present this update recap of this year's event.
2018 event was another historic moment in the world of
pickleball. We exceeded all of our expectations. We had 2,000
participants. We filled up within about three hours on January 10th. I
think we could have taken another 2,000 if we had enough time,
enough courts, enough everything, but 2,000 was plenty.
Over 100 pros -- the one thing that we really marketed this year
were spectators. We learned from 2017 where we had 1,300
participants, we're going to cap out, but if we market to everybody,
hey, come to Naples regardless, come and party, go to the beaches,
watch some pickleball -- well, they came. I went out on Thomasson
Drive one day from East Naples, and we had 30, 40 cars backed up in
each direction of spectators trying to get in. It was just incredible.
Forty-seven states represented. Chris and I have been in the
sporting goods industry for a very long time, and we've never ever
been to an event of the sports we've represented that had 47 states
there. Twenty countries. I actually think we had more than that. The
oldest and youngest; that's always interesting to see the range of 91 and
10, and then the male/female split there at 56/44 percent.
The television this year was outstanding. We had three pro finals.
Two of the matches went to tie breakers. They were incredible
matches. CBS was so thrilled with what we did, they ended up
June 12, 2018
Page 33
rerunning the pro finals five extra times. So your commercial was on
there five extra times, your billboard was on there five extra times.
Naples is going to be very crowded this year with tourism.
And then the Pickleball Channel is an Internet channel, and they
were nonstop before, during, and even after promoting pickleball in
Naples, and then they also did some live streaming. And speaking of
live streaming, we had our production company Digital Wave TV do
our live streaming this year. We did Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday. We had incredible matches. There's your banner right there on
the Championship Court front and center for the entire time.
And this was a real plus. As you know, Margaritaville is one of
our main sponsors, and they asked us if they could come and broadcast
live Radio Margaritaville. This is a picture of JD, the DJ for Radio
Margaritaville, and he goes someplace live Friday and Saturday 11 to 3
every week. He was in Naples broadcasting. Chris and I were
interviewed for both days talking about Naples, Florida. This reaches
millions and millions of listeners not only in this country but around
the world. They're getting pretty popular over in Europe. So many,
many people were introduced not only to pickleball but to Naples,
Florida.
And then the Zing Zang Championship Court. This is something
that you created for us, and we couldn't thank you enough. We jam
packed Championship Court this year. We had over 1,300 people
jammed in there. Sold out Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. I mean,
we ended up having a rain delay Friday night, and the team that's here,
we were saying, thank God we had the rain delay because some people
left so we were able to bring more people in once the rain left.
And you talk about, you know, dealing with rain delays, our
grounds crew was outstanding. Once the rain stopped, we were up and
running again within about a half hour. It was just incredible to watch
them out there.
June 12, 2018
Page 34
But a real party atmosphere, and this is the place to be for
pickleball.
Now, the survey, these numbers you want to see. We did two
surveys this year. Chris is going to talk about the one that we actually
pay to have done, but this one is interesting because this surveys all of
the players. Before they can enter the tournament, they had to go
through information from pickleballtournaments.com. The largest age
group there, 60 to 64, not surprising. A nice age group to target for
Naples. The skill group is 3.5. That's a strong intermediate. So it
starts at 2.5, goes up to 5.0, and then pros. So 3.5's a real strong
intermediate.
The volunteer part of this, 300-plus volunteers. We could not do
this without our volunteers. Commissioner Fiala, thank you for
volunteering for this. And we had a few people from the TDC that
were there as well volunteering. It was just incredible. You saw
people out there driving golf carts, working the Naples Botanical
Garden Welcome Center. Couldn't do it without them. Over 10,000
volunteer hours. Just outstanding.
Now, again, this is just players, where the players stayed. Nine
hundred fifty-four room nights or overnights, I should say. Some of
them stayed with friends and family, some stayed in their own home,
which Chris will elaborate on. But if you look there from the 2,000
people, just players, again, 559 of them stayed in a hotel, and you had
another 356 from rental properties.
So then to get into the other survey that we actually hire out to do,
Chris Evon will run it from here.
MS. EVON: Hi. Thank you.
So before I start on the survey, I'd like to recognize the person in
this picture is Simone Jardim. So she's local, lives in Naples, and is the
lead instructor for the US Open Pickleball Academy.
And as an event coordinator, you would love to be able to control
June 12, 2018
Page 35
outcome of your event, right? And what you'd like is for the local
athletes or the local team to win, because that's what gets everybody
fired up. Well, we couldn't have been happier because Simone not
only won, but she won three of her pro events which made her a
two-time triple crown winner. So that got the crowd very excited.
And then as a bonus to that, Kyle Yates from Fort Myers won for the
third year in a row the men's pro doubles. So that was a great bonus
and a lot of excitement for the tournament.
So we've done this survey, we've paid for this survey for three
years now for a couple reasons. One is to really give us a feel for what
we're doing well and what people like but to also let us know what we
need to improve on. So we've gotten a lot of valuable input from this
survey. But the other reason that we do this is for you so that you
know who's coming, where they're staying, how many nights they're
staying, what they're doing here, and if they're going to come back.
So this first slide kind of gives us a good feel for that. So you can
kind of see 81 percent of the players were pretty darn satisfied with
this, and then it's reflected with the referees, volunteers, spectators, and
sponsors. So this gives us a really good feel that something's going
good here.
We know it's a good reflection on the tournament, people are
enjoying it, but it's also a great reflection on Naples. You know,
people enjoy coming here. They like to be here. They love the
atmosphere, so -- and we think that's an indication that they'll come
back.
Where are they staying? Well, they're staying in Collier County,
most of them. If you look at Naples and Marco Island, a high
percentage of people are staying right here, which is what we want.
If you noticed the spectator number there, it's a fairly low number.
Now, as Terri just said, we had over 10,000 spectators here. It's a hard
group for us to quantify with email addresses. And each one of these
June 12, 2018
Page 36
surveys is attached to an individual email address. So the only way we
get our spectator email addresses is through our website ticket sales,
and that's kind of limited. So it's something that we'll try to improve on
in the future.
This is a little snapshot of where they stay. If you look at the top
one, their home, what I like about that is look at the referee and
volunteers, like Terri said -- is this indicates the incredible community
that we have here of pickleball players and volunteers that live in
Naples either full or part time.
So they're here, they're staying extra weeks just to stay for the US
Open, so they're here longer, and they're very involved with the event.
And as you can -- as Terri showed in hers, most of the players stay in
the hotels in the area.
So this is a great one. If you remember 2016, our first event was
a five-day event. After that event, we pretty much knew we were
going to have to do something to accommodate for all the people that
were interested, so we increased it to an eight-day event. And what we
did was we bookend it to entice people to stay longer.
So the first day is Margaritaville Party in the Park on Saturday,
and it's just become this great fun event. Noncompetitive, just people
come, they party, they practice, they do clinics, and then the following
Saturday it all ends with the championship celebration. So that entices
people to come on that Friday or Saturday and stay the whole week.
So people are staying seven to 10 days and making more of a vacation
out of this, and a lot of has to do because there's -- you know, this is
kind of a nice place to vacation. So they like to hang out here.
This is what people are doing when they're not playing pickleball.
The good thing about a pickleball event is you run your event in one
day. So if I played my singles on Sunday and I might play my age
doubles on Monday, I might have Tuesday and Wednesday off, so that
gives me time to either watch more pickleball, which pickleball players
June 12, 2018
Page 37
love to do, to do things in Naples. So you can see one of the main
things people do is to dine out, shopping, sightseeing, and then -- you
know, we talked to Cara on over at Botanical Garden, and she was
really happy with the traffic that they got that week. She says it's
typically a very slow week for them, and she said they got a lot of
people that week. And a lot might have to do with that great dinosaur
exhibit that they had and that was advertised a lot at our welcome
center. So that was good. And this is the spectators and the sponsors,
what they did.
So this kind of recaps it all. You know, the best compliment
somebody can give to a business is to recommend you to their family,
friends, or colleagues, and this is what we're seeing, and this is why the
US Open has grown from the first year being 800 participants to 1,200
participants to 2,000 participants. It's because people go home and
they say, you've got to do this. You've got to go. This is the most fun
I've had all year.
And the comment we get from so many people is, this is my
bucket list. I've got to get to the US Open. So we're fulfilling a lot of
bucket lists through this great event, and we thank you guys for all
your support, your advice, everything that you've done, that
Championship Court, open-air arenas like none other in the world.
And from the four of us, we took a little time after the event to
celebrate and to toast to you and to the TDC for everything you did to
make this a success. So thank you very much.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Fiala?
MS. GRAHAM: And now the video. We have one little, short
video. Do I have to do anything?
MR. MILLER: I got ya.
MS. GRAHAM: This is from Margaritaville that they did during
the event.
June 12, 2018
Page 38
(A video is being shown.)
"Down here in the beautiful Naples,
Florida, Jimmy Buffett changes in latitudes,
changes in attitude. Minto US Open
Pickleball Championship powered by
Margaritaville.
"And I love the competition, and I love
how people are serious about it, but there's
this energy that people just want to have
fun.
"And you can just see it around here,
people love this game.
"Here at the US Open hanging out in
Margaritaville all week. I have a background
in competitive table tennis and tennis, and I
was looking for something else to replace
those competitive juices, so pickleball found
me.
"This is wild. I mean, what's going on
here today. This is the semifinals. You
know, every time, whether you're going to the
courts at 9:00 in the morning or 9:00 at
night, oh, man, it's a party.
"So we have more players, more
spectators, more food, more drinks, more
landmarks, more margaritas, more everything.
"It is almost like you are in the zone
or hypnotized by it.
"I am going to Margaritaville to get
some drinks."
(Video concluded.)
June 12, 2018
Page 39
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So I hope next year our three
colleagues up here will join us at pickleball, because we went to the
day of the -- and I don't remember what you called it where you
actually brought commissioners to see the game. And, indeed, if we
plan it ahead, we'll get some of the public there because all I heard
was, when I asked is, you know, it's for old people. And when you see
what you've done --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Maybe we'll have a little
competition amongst the commissioners.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That's not a bad idea.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I'd say, bring it on. Let's play pickleball.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: See, that's what -- I said, oh, no
one wants to get on -- I don't want to get on the court and play
pickleball. See, if I had let you do this and competed it, right, brought
a competition there.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: The competitive tennis player
wants to do it now.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I went to the tournament a
couple times and was really impressed, because I'd not been to it
before. And just like the video, that's exactly the way it was. And that
was not during the championship play. That was during the
preliminary stuff. Big crowds. Everybody was having a great time. So
it's a great event.
So thank you, Commissioner Fiala, for spearheading this.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, it's been my pleasure, really.
I've been blessed that they even approached me in the first place. So I
feel the one that's been blessed with this, and our whole community.
I want to tell you, never before in our community have we ever
had an event like this that took hold immediately and became
immensely successful, especially on the first event. They just aren't
successful on the first event but, boy, this was. And from there on in
June 12, 2018
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it's just climbed.
And one of the things, you know, as soon as you walk into the
place -- and probably Commissioner Saunders noted this, too -- it's so
friendly. Everybody's friendly. Everybody's like your friend, and
you've never even seen them before and they're your friend. I think
that is a wonderful thing.
The volunteers are always happy to be volunteering. They're in
there day in, day out, volunteering all the time, and happily
volunteering, so I just wanted to mention that as well. It's great for our
tourism, really great for our tourism. We've never had an event like
this that hit all facets and all age groups. If you can't play, you can
volunteer, so you can still participate in it.
One of the things, if you note, these aren't beach people. If they're
here and they're not playing, they go shopping or they go out to eat or
they do something within the community, but not many of them --
they're already in the beach. You know, I mean, they're already in the
sun all the time, so they don't need to go to the beach, so that's an
interesting note as well.
And -- let's see. Oh, one of the things, the very first tournament,
first one ever in the whole county, four people went out and bought
homes right next door in Minto because Minto was the sponsor. And
since then, every year people are buying homes because they want to
be around the pickleball. Who would have ever thought that it would
lead to something like that?
And I want to thank those people that are involved with bringing
it here to us who had the foresight and then the knowledge to expand it
as it's grown. It didn't have to grow this way if it wasn't handled
properly.
So to all of you, thank you for bringing us in Collier County the
pickleball tournament of the century. Thank you.
MS. GRAHAM: Well, thank you guys very much. And,
June 12, 2018
Page 41
Commissioner Fiala, Commissioner Taylor, I know you were there
almost every day. We really appreciate it. Welcome to the rest of you
for next year. We'd love to have you there, so thank you to the
commissioners. I mentioned the TDC, and I'd also like to give a shout
out to the local sports council, because a lot of those people on the
sports council came and volunteered a lot of hours shuttling people
back and forth to Sugden Park. So thank you all. It was definitely a
group effort. Thank you.
(Applause.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I was intrigued that the players -- most of
the players stayed more than seven nights?
MS. GRAHAM: Yep.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: As a former professional tennis player,
every day half the players need to leave. So the fact that most of the
players stayed the whole time is really intriguing. That's amazing. So
congratulations.
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, that takes us to public petitions.
Item #6A
PUBLIC PETITION REQUEST FROM MR. RICHARD D. HOUSH
REPRESENTING JUICE TECHNOLOGIES, INC., D/B/A PLUG
SMART, REQUESTING THE LOCAL VENDOR PREFERENCE
POLICY BE RESCINDED OR MODIFIED - MOTION TO BRING
BACK THE LOCAL VENDOR POLICY ORDINANCE IN
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER AND WAIVING THE 1 YEAR
REQUIREMENT WITHIN THE LICENSE CERTIFICATION
PROCESS UNTIL DISCUSSED – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Item 6A is a public petition request from Mr.
Richard Housh requesting action on your local vendor procurement
June 12, 2018
Page 42
preference policy.
Right there is fine, sir. Good morning.
MR. HOUSH: Good morning, Rich Housh, 50 6th Avenue
Naples. This is going to be a lot more boring than pickleball.
Okay. Well, thanks for your time, Commissioners and staff, and I
know most of you folks, and most of you know I've lived in Naples for
knocking on 20 years. I'm about as local as they get and started a
business here. Dolph von Arx, a local guy, who's an investor of mine,
served on my board. We're local.
Unfortunately, your local -- and you can read. It's -- basically
your local vendor preference policy as part of the county procurement
ordinance doesn't qualify me as being local.
So I'm suggesting and would like for the commissioners to
consider modifying the existing local vendor preference program
because it -- again -- and this is not Rich Housh, but because I didn't
get a license that costs $9 and I haven't had that for a year, then I'm
disqualified as a local.
So it's just -- I think it's an unintended consequence. I don't think
it's anybody's fault. I think your procurement director is doing a great
job trying to enforce the ordinance as it's written. It's just written in a
wrong way.
And the reciprocity with Lee County -- I had to sit in a -- in a bid
opening a couple of months ago where when -- before the bids were
even open, a Lee County company had a 10 percent advantage on my
company, but he didn't have a $9 license either.
So it just didn't seem right to me, and I thought I should, in a
formal way, bring this to your-all's attention. And I think there's
probably a whole lot of vendors and contractors that are not aware of
the fact that this $9 license is a requirement to be considered local or
else they're going to be 10 percent in the hole before you even start.
And, I mean, I'm old. I've been doing government contracting for
June 12, 2018
Page 43
40-something years at all levels of government, state, federal, and
local, and this is the first time I've ever encountered something like this
in my own county.
So that's all I got. If you've got any questions, I'll answer them,
but it doesn't seem right. So I think it's a pretty easy fix. And also,
thank you for what you do. I wouldn't do it. I'd rather work.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Rich, you and I met last year,
talked about this circumstance.
I had a meeting with our senior staff yesterday, and there is some
frustration, there is some -- there are some issues with the local
contracting ordinance that we, in fact, have.
So I'd like, if we can, to give direction to staff to bring this up as a
formal agenda item, review the parameters, and see if there are some
enhancements that we can make to it to enhance it. I mean, the
rationale of us hiring a local vendor is a feel-good thing. I mean,
you're hiring your neighbor. We want to do as much business locally
as is possible, but we also want -- God bless you.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- we also want to be as frugal
as we can with the taxpayers' money. So if there are enhancements
that we can make to this ordinance, I'd certainly be interested in
hearing about it.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Saunders, I think, was next.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: A couple questions. First of
all, I agree with you completely. This doesn't make a whole lot of
sense. And I've known Mr. Housh for some time, and it's unfortunate
that you were penalized for not paying that $9.
But this is a couple questions for the County Attorney. If you
come back with an agenda item and then we direct you to amend an
ordinance, we're really going to be talking about amendments that are
going to be in place end of September, early October, I think, at the
June 12, 2018
Page 44
earliest because of our schedule.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Schedule.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: We don't meet in August. We
have one meeting in July. That puts us into September, October.
Would it be possible for the Board, as a matter of policy, to waive this
requirement for the $9 certificate pending the review the ordinance so
that we don't have a local vendor this summer that's disqualified?
MR. KLATZKOW: Yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Then I would suggest that we
have a motion to do that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'll second it for discussion, if I
might, if we're in a spot to make motions, and my -- and my question
with regard to that is, we have a reciprocity agreement with Lee
County, and by us making this adjustment, is that going to put us in
conflict with that reciprocity?
MR. KLATZKOW: No, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Then I would make that
motion to go along with the request of staff to come back with the
ordinance for review.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Fiala, you were next.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
I just have a question going way back to the beginning of this.
Being that you live here and your business is here, why didn't you have
a business license here? Why did you go to other counties to get your
license?
MR. HOUSH: Well, that's a very good question. I incorporated.
My accountant is a CPA here. He doesn't know anything about this. I
met with literally dozens of people, including some of the
commissioners, about how to do business with the county. Nobody
ever suggested to me once that I needed this $9 license or I would be
June 12, 2018
Page 45
10 percent in the tank when it came to being qualified as a local
vendor, or I certainly would have paid the nine bucks, right?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah, but --
MR. HOUSH: So it's not actually been brought -- very well
publicized. It's buried deep in a county ordinance.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: But I'm not talking about local
vendor preference. I'm just talking about a business.
MR. HOUSH: Right.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: If you start a business -- I don't care
where you start it. If you start a business community --
MR. HOUSH: The only person I haven't talked to about this is
Larry Ray.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Let me finish, please. Let me finish,
please.
MR. HOUSH: Oh, I'm sorry.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: If you start a business in a
community, you get a business license in order to operate your
business there. I was just wondering why you didn't.
MR. HOUSH: Well, it's not really for that purpose. There's no
taxes associated with this business license. It's really more, from what
I can ascertain in studying this, a way to make sure that if you have a
storefront and you're a leaseholder or you own a building, that the fire
marshal comes in and does their proper inspection to make sure you're
in compliance. That's the -- it looks to me like that's maybe an internal
flag to make sure you get your fire marshal inspection done. But when
I started my business, we were renters, and we didn't have to worry
about that. The landlord took care of that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You still have to have a
license.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: How long -- how long did you not have a
business license?
June 12, 2018
Page 46
MR. HOUSH: I mean, I have a business license. I'm a licensed
general contractor. I've been doing business down here for 10 years.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I'm just curious, I mean, the business
license has been a requirement here as long as I've been in town, and
I'm just -- I have the same question that Commissioner Fiala has, why
not just have one since you're supposed to have one?
MR. HOUSH: If I'd had known it was a requirement, trust me, I
would have had one. I sat two-and-a-half years ago with your then
director of procurement and Penny Taylor and Nick Casalanguida. She
handled me a whole package of documents to fill out, and I filled out
every single one of them because I know how to follow the rules, and
there was nothing in there about this business tax receipt or it would
have been filled out and paid for. Trust me.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. Commissioner Taylor?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Mr. Housh, we've -- I can respect
your frustration in this. I particularly like your suggestions of having
principals residing in the county which, of course, you have for over
20 years, and you're highly respected in your industry nationwide, and
I look forward to righting this wrong.
MR. HOUSH: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I agree with Commissioner
Saunders' suggestion and that we bring it back also to change it right
now and then to, you know, go into this on a deeper level at another
time.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: My question is in regards to the motion.
Are you -- does the motion request a waiver in general of a provision
of the ordinance? Because then we're changing the ordinance. I mean,
moving forward, because then we're amending the ordinance,
effectively, if we're going to just waive a provision going forward for
everyone.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Right. That's why I asked the
June 12, 2018
Page 47
County Attorney that question at the beginning as to whether or not, as
a matter of policy, we could waive this. I believe from what I've been
told from Mr. Housh this morning that there's -- that you have to have
this license for a year to qualify as a local business. Is that -- did I
mishear that?
MR. HOUSH: That's right. That's right.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And so, theoretically --
MR. HOUSH: It's the business tax receipt, you have to have had
it for a year, then you can meet the local vendor requirement. The day
we found out we needed it, we filed it. It's dated February the 2nd. I
haven't had it for a year.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So the point is that we could
have a new local business start up tomorrow, pay this fee, apply for a
contract with the county, not be able to get it because they didn't have
the license for a year. So what I'm suggesting by the motion is that we
waive this license requirement pending the review of the ordinance to
determine whether we want to keep this in there or not.
But I just don't want somebody -- it's not going to affect Mr.
Housh, but I don't want somebody to get caught up over the next three
or four months with the same problem, and that month --
MR. KLATZKOW: What you're telling me is that your -- you're
telling your procurement director that when he's in the process of
awarding contracts, looking at this local vendor issue, when it comes to
the issue of whether or not they have this local license, don't weigh that
--
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Correct.
MR. KLATZKOW: -- in his deliberations.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: The sole purpose of the
motion.
MR. KLATZKOW: Yes. And this is the Board's purchasing
policy. So I'm comfortable with that waiver while the Board looks at
June 12, 2018
Page 48
the ordinance in general.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And what is the time frame of
looking at this ordinance?
MR. KLATZKOW: This ordinance --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Not the whole -- that's a big
ordinance.
MR. KLATZKOW: Well, if all we're talking about is waiver of
this requirement or the one-year holding of the requirement, if that's all
you're talking about, I can have you -- have an ordinance ready to pass
at your meeting in July. I mean, if that's all we're talking about. If you
want to go into depth on the other issues in this ordinance -- and
they're very complicated -- that's a different story.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, the two areas would be --
for me would be the license and then also the issue of having principals
reside in the county. I think that's important.
MR. KLATZKOW: Well, yes and no, but -- because what -- if
we're going to expand it beyond just this issue that he didn't have the
license in place and then we're going to talk about principals being in
the county or not -- we've had businesses in this county for many,
many years, people who live just outside the county, I'm not entirely
sure you want to exclude them from being local. It just raises more
and more issues.
If it's a very narrow issue -- and my suggestion is you require the
license but you waive the year that they have to have it --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's a policy change.
MR. KLATZKOW: -- all right? If that's the only requirement, I
can bring that ordinance to you, and you can have it passed by --
before your summer break.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I'm just -- I don't feel comfortable making
a fundamental change in the policy on this ordinance kind of on the fly
June 12, 2018
Page 49
without having heard from the public. You know, there might be
people that feel otherwise, and I think we should hear that. I mean, I
know the situation from years ago before there was the ordinance in
Collier County and the reciprocity with Lee County, the effect that that
had on Collier County contractors in Lee County, and I'm just
concerned that we're doing this on the fly. I don't feel comfortable that
I understand or have had a chance to look at the unintended
consequences one way or the other of doing it this way. I just -- I don't
feel comfortable doing that. But there's a motion and a second.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, are we still in discussion?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And it's --
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: If we can use our lights, please. There we
go. Okay. Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I wouldn't like for us to rush. I
think what, Commissioner Saunders, I understood was to make a 90-
to 120-day policy adjustment for the waiver of this 12-month requisite
for a license to qualify for local vending during our summer break
while we're away, and then -- and do a more wholesale -- because
when I spoke with senior staff yesterday, there have been issues with
the entire ordinance regarding our local vendor policy. So I would
rather we take more of a deep dive, accommodate Commissioner
Saunders' motion, and then actually bring it back in September,
October when we have some more time to talk about it.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: And one last question in terms of the
motion. Is the motion to waive the year requirement or the
requirement for a business license? Because you have to have a
business license.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, I think waiving the one
year, because if a vendor comes in on a bid next week and doesn't have
this license, that vendor can be advised to go get that license and would
June 12, 2018
Page 50
then qualify. So I don't -- what I'm looking for is waiving the one-year
requirement, not waiving the requirement to have the license. But staff
should advise bidders in the bid documents that a local license -- to be
considered a local vendor, you have to have a business license, go
down and pay the $9 as part of your bid packet.
I'm okay with that. I just don't want someone in come in, start a
new business tomorrow, not be able to complete because they haven't
had this license for a year, even during the next month that we're
considering this, because I just think it's not fair to our local vendors.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Fiala?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. Just a small concern of mine
is, I don't know how many other people have not qualified for local
vendor preference just because their business permits weren't a year
old, and I wonder how many people will get very upset because we
didn't allow them to change theirs and all of a sudden we're changing it
for one person. It makes me a little bit nervous about that.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, one thing is definite:
We cannot undo the past. We can only take action going forward to
protect our vendors going forward. So if somebody got caught up in
this, Mr. Housh got caught up in this, sorry that it happened to you,
sorry that it happened to others, but let's not let it happen again. That's
all I'm suggesting.
MR. HOUSH: Am I allowed to say anything? I'm over what
happened, but if an RFP comes out next month and it happens again,
I'm going to be highly pissed.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Taylor?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. I think it's reasonable
adjustment to the ordinance. I think it's reasonable and it's fair. You
know, everyone's culpable in this, but let's go forward, let's be positive.
I'm your representative for economic development. My God, we're
trying to attract businesses here, and to have this snafu there is not
June 12, 2018
Page 51
going to be making it easier for people to do business.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. I just don't understand
why you'd have to have a business license for a year if you are a
qualified business. If you have a license and you buy it --
MR. KLATZKOW: The thought process was you didn't want to
have a carpet bagger come down just for the sheer ability to get a
contract and file for a local license.
(Multiple speakers speaking.)
MR. KLATZKOW: That was the reason for the year.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's why it's really nice to have
some kind of principal residence in this county. That's -- we won't talk
about it, but right now it's very easy to open a storefront and pull a
business license and have your business somewhere else. And we just
-- I think this is something we need to do, but let's clear this up first. It
took a lot of courage for you to be here, sir. Thank you.
MR. HOUSH: Well, thank you very much for your time and
consideration.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And just as a point. I mean,
when I spoke with staff yesterday -- and Nick was wanting to interrupt
me before when I was speaking -- but this ordinance needs attention.
They have seen some deficits here, and so -- and I agree with
Commissioner Taylor that I feel this is a reasonable interim adjustment
until we actually have the time to devote it.
I do share Commissioner Solis' concerns about rushing into
anything, but this is a -- there are unintended consequences, sir, every
single time we come around the corner, and I think this is one for a
relatively short period of time we can get along with to serve the
greater good.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: No other comments? There's a motion and
a second. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
June 12, 2018
Page 52
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any opposed?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Aye.
Motion carries.
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, I think we're scheduled for a court
reporter break about this time.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yes, sir.
MR. OCHS: Ten minutes, sir?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Ten minutes. We'll come back at 10:40,
thank you.
(A brief recess was had.)
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, you have a live mic.
Ladies and gentlemen, please take your seats.
Commissioners, we move to your advertised public hearings,
Item 9A.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Before we begin, I think I had a request
from Commissioner McDaniel on one of the items on the agenda.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, I'd like to deviate, if we
could, please, from our approved agenda.
County Manager, which item is it that we're looking to continue?
MR. OCHS: This is Item 11F, sir.
Item #11F
RECOMMENDATION TO ADVERTISE A RESOLUTION
EXPANDING THE COLLIER COUNTY WATER-SEWER
DISTRICT’S SERVICE AREA BOUNDARIES TO COINCIDE
WITH THE AREA PERMITTED BY CHAPTER 2003-353, LAWS
OF FLORIDA - MOTION TO CONTINUE TO THE JUNE 26, 2018
June 12, 2018
Page 53
BCC MEETING – APPROVED
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: 11F, I'd like, if it meets with
the pleasure of the Board and the Chair, that we continue Item 11F
until our June 26th meeting.
MR. OCHS: Staff is in concurrence with that recommendation,
sir.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: No issues, okay.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah, I'll second that motion.
I did speak with one of the representative here that indicated they were
requesting the continuance.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Correct.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, I don't know if this has any
bearing, I do have a registered speaker from the Barron Collier
Company about that item.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Do you still want to talk?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: They're the ones requesting the --
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: If the matter's continued, we're
fine.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: And that's a motion, Commissioner?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It was.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: And a second. Commissioner Taylor's not
here, but all in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: (Absent.)
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Motion carries.
June 12, 2018
Page 54
MR. OCHS: Thank you.
Item #9A
REMOVE THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING PAYMENT
REQUIREMENT OF THE CAMBRIDGE SQUARE
COMMERCIAL PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT, LOCATED
IN THE NORTHEAST QUADRANT OF THE INTERSECTION OF
LIVINGSTON ROAD AND PINE RIDGE ROAD - MOTION TO
APPROVE WAIVER OF PAYMENT – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Item 9A is a recommendation to remove the
affordable housing payment requirement of the Cambridge Square
Commercial Planned Unit Development, and Mr. Bosi will make a
brief presentation.
MR. BOSI: Good morning again, Board. Mike Bosi, Planning
and Zoning director.
We are here to discuss the removal of an affordable housing
commitment of 50 cents per square feet that was adopted in 2006 as
part of the Cambridge Square Commercial PUD. The location is
shown on the visualizer.
The reason why we're here is normally -- in 2012 the Board of
County Commissioners adopted Land Development Code amendments
that allowed for the removal of affordable housing commitments
within PUDs in the '06, '07, '08 time period that were volunteer
contributions that were incorporated within the PUD documents, but
there were some concerns about the justification of that exaction in
relationship to a rational nexus within our Growth Management Plan.
Because of that questionable relationship, the Board of County
Commissioners in 2012 adopted Land Development Code
amendments that would allow for the administrative removal of those
June 12, 2018
Page 55
provisions. And highlighted on the visualizer is the text of the LDC.
We did receive an opposition letter from a Brian and Alison
Bickett (phonetic) who received notification of this action, and they
requested that the action be denied. I'm not sure if they're here in the
audience today. But because of that objection, that's why this is being
brought before the Board of County Commissioners for the evaluation
of the removal of that provision.
MR. OCHS: So absent that objection, this would have been
processed administratively by the staff under the Board's previous
rules, or existing rules, I should say.
MR. BOSI: And let me add -- I'm sorry, County Manager -- this
has been done over a dozen times in the past administratively. This
was one of the first times that we did receive a letter.
MR. OCHS: Do we have any registered speakers, Mr. Miller?
MR. MILLER: I have no registered speakers on this item.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Is this an advertised public
hearing? Did you have to swear in? Or you didn't have to do any of
that?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: No, there's no requirements for disclosures
or anything on this, no.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. I apologize.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'd like to make a motion to
grant the applicant's request for waiver of that fee.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: And I'll second that motion.
No registered speakers? The people that objected are not here?
MR. MILLER: I have no registered speakers for this item. I'm
looking around and still see no one, no.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. Very good. So there's a motion
and a second.
Discussion?
June 12, 2018
Page 56
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Just a point of clarification. I'm
sorry. I did come in late, but I just wanted to make sure that it's clear
that the objection had nothing to do with anything but a very unrelated
issue that the objector had with the --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Project.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- with the project that didn't have
anything to do with anything --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- germane to this, so -- yep.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Right. And other than just don't refund the
--
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's right.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: -- the payment.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It had nothing to do with the
payment.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: As a matter of subject, this
might be one, Mr. Bosi, that as we're going through our next round of
internal LDC amendments, that we have a look at this and substantiate
whether or not we can give better clarification about to the extent of
the objection to trigger this type of process and certainly avoid the
unintended consequences as well. But if you read it to the letter, a
letter of objection triggers what we're going through right now.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's true.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And there wasn't -- as
Commissioner Taylor said, this objection was unrelated.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Good. Commissioner Taylor, your --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, I spoke.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: So there's a motion and a second. All in
favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
June 12, 2018
Page 57
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: The motion carries.
MR. OCHS: That moves us to Item 10, Board of County
Commissioners.
Item #10A
DIRECT THE COUNTY ATTORNEY TO ADVERTISE AND
BRING BACK FOR A PUBLIC HEARING AN ORDINANCE
WHICH WOULD CREATE THE UNPAVED PRIVATE ROAD
EMERGENCY REPAIR MUNICIPAL SERVICE TAXING UNIT
BY AUTHORIZING A LEVY OF NOT TO EXCEED ONE (1) MIL
OF AD VALOREM TAXES PER YEAR - MOTION TO
ADVERTISE AND BRING BACK TO THE BCC – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Item 10A is a recommendation to direct the County
Attorney to advertise and bring back for a public hearing an ordinance
which would create the unpaved private road emergency repair
municipal service taxing unit by authorizing a levy of not to exceed 1
mill of ad valorem taxes per year. This item was brought forward by
Commissioner McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes, it was.
Before we go on to this item, I do want to -- on the presentation
tonight at 6:00 with regard to the "Bear Wise" presentation, it will be
televised, and it will be recorded so that folks that can't necessarily be
here can watch.
I checked with Troy during the break, and I failed to mention that
June 12, 2018
Page 58
when there was more people here in the room, but that will be on our
network as well.
Now, having to do with this MSTU, we have had a long-time
health-safety issue in Collier County. If you read the backup
information that travels along with this, there's in excess of 105 miles
of unpaved roads in Collier County that are deemed easements and
owned by private property owners, and then we have been prohibited,
except on an emergency basis, to go onto private -- we are prohibited
by statute to go onto private property and expend public funds in
support of the maintenance requisites and have only been able to do
that on an emergency basis.
And, I mean, Attorney Klatzkow and I -- I've been working on
this initiative for over a year. This is a long-time, long-term
circumstance. Commissioner Coletta, when he sat here in District 5
seat, formed the Corkscrew Island Neighborhood Association, and
goes who's the president? That would be me. And it was solely due to
50 of these some-odd 100 miles in Corkscrew Sanctuary area that
regularly go unmaintained.
I worked closely with Harry Sells and Michelle Arnold to
ascertain the properties, the miles of road, an estimate of the cost
associated. Right now on an emergency basis, the county has been
averaging $9,000 a mile to fix and repair these roads, and it's on an
emergency basis, and it's on an after-the-fact basis.
My friend Lynn Rady (phonetic) was -- he was going away. He
was suffering from heart disease, lived out off of Fawn Lane. You had
to traverse on Platt Road to get to Fawn Lane to get to his driveway
where he, in fact, lived.
Platt Road was deteriorating on a regular basis, and the
ambulance could not get to him, and the county, then, was forced to
spend $9,000 on Platt Road to fix a long overdue washout that had
transpired and prohibited emergency vehicles from getting to our
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residents.
There was a lot of discourse and a lot of discussion. We went
back and forth and we know -- I already said, but we are prohibited by
statute to expend public funds on private property, but this is a
methodology that we can, on an emergency basis, have a fund
available, and when a road becomes deemed impassable by one of the
emergency facilities, sheriff, fire or EMS, we can -- we have this
revenue stream to come forward with to fix and repair these roads on a
regular basis.
In speaking with staff last week, we had formed an MSTU down
off of Rock Road, off of Immokalee. And the comparison, by taking
proactive action in relationship to after-the-fact action, the average
expense is about $2,000 a mile to maintain the roads on a proactive
basis in relationship to the reactive basis and necessarily too late.
If you'll recall in our consent agenda, 16 something, one of the
16s, there was a road over in the Eastern Collier County called Blue
Sage that actually goes up to Nancy Payton's bird sanctuary property
that the county owns. It was -- that road was washing off in the crick.
I spoke with one of the residents last year. It's a private road. We can't
maintain it, couldn't maintain it. He expressed concerns. The ruts
were two-feet-plus deep, and then the advent of the additional rains we
got last fall, Hurricane Irma, now those ruts washed out and it goes -- I
said "the crick." It's a canal, the drainage canal that comes out of there.
And we're, right now, just having to expend $12,000 to fix that
road. And I tried and tried and tried last year to come up with a
mechanism for us to be able to go and take some proactive action to
reduce that expense. And so this is the advent of all of that work all
the way back from when Commissioner Coletta was dealing with this
issue.
So that's my story.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any --
June 12, 2018
Page 60
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And with that, since I brought
it forward, I'll make a motion for moving this forward and bringing it
back for formal.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Isn't this formal?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, this is the beginning of
the process. We actually have to bring it back and adopt --
MR. KLATZKOW: It's just a request to advertise.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Correct.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Fiala?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
One of my concerns is it wants all roads that are not paved now to
participate in this MSTU, and that's nice, you know, because then you
have a good pot, but some of those roads just right now don't need to
be -- don't need to be paved and maybe won't need to be paved for
another five years or 10 years, or maybe people just don't want them
paved, but now they're going to have to pay into it because this is alive
and well.
And I'm thinking of places even like -- well, we have some down
off U.S. 41.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: What's that?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Auto Ranch Road.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah, Auto Ranch Road is one that
comes to my mind, and they don't really want to do that right now.
But if they want to, they can apply for an MSTU and get that thing
moving forward. But if they don't want to, they're going to still have to
pay for it. And I just -- I just think that's making a lot of people pay for
something that they don't want.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Why couldn't they just apply for it?
I know it that says that's an "opt out" clause there. I read that.
June 12, 2018
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COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. Well -- and that's the
issue, Commissioner Fiala. And if you want to chime in here a minute,
County Attorney, at any structure to help me this. We went through
that process. This is an issue with the creation of an MSTU and in
maintaining these private roads without the dedication of the
right-of-way.
There is an issue with law enforcement. In order for the Sheriff to
trespass somebody that's acting inappropriately on a private road,
unless he happens to catch you -- catch that person on the 15-foot of
the 35-foot right-of-way and the owner of that 15-foot will prosecute,
our law enforcement agency has no authority to apprehend someone
that's acting inappropriately on one of these private roads.
There is not a lot of communication or coordination with property
owners that are on these private roads. As I said earlier, there's 105
miles of private roads within our community. Some are occupied,
some are not. Some of these people don't live in the area whatsoever.
This is a mechanism to level the playing field on an emergency basis
only to allow for emergency access to protect the residents that are, in
fact, there, and it has to be approved by emergency services folks.
MR. KLATZKOW: And one of the issues that we saw last year
was the wildfires we had in the county where you had to get the trucks
into remote locations. And if they can't go down a private road
because it's just unpassable, it not only jeopardizes the people who live
on the private road who allowed that road to get in the condition, it
jeopardizes the community as a whole of not getting the trucks out
there.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It has to do with our trash
collection. If an emergency vehicle can get down a road, so can the
garbage trucks.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I understand that, and I'm willing to
bring it back and talk about it, but I'm just putting my concerns on. We
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have one that's regularly terrible, and it's the road that leads into 6L
Farms.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And, luckily, when our fire
department is notified and they'll go out and test it, and then they have
to go and get something to resurface, and 6Ls will come forward and
fix it themselves, which is great. But, you know, we do have some
problems like that, but --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And, you know, I live in the
Sanctuary. I'm president of the Corkscrew Sanctuary Homeowners
Association, and we have gone through this process. And it's difficult
to get people to cooperate. We had an issue down on Della Road one
time where there was an endeavor by the residents on Della to form an
MSTU that we then found out later they couldn't do, but one of the
property owners didn't want to pay, said he was going to take care of
his 15 feet that was 100 feet wide and then didn't do it, and then it
caused a bunch of issues. So we tried to encompass in this executive
summary an opportunity for "opt out" provisions.
Our friends at Collier Enterprise, they own Oil Grade Road all the
way from Oil Well all the way up to Immokalee, both sides of it. They
take care of that road to their own needs to meet the farmer needs and
the like. They can go through the "opt out" provision that we've put in
here to allow for that.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Well, I don't think we have to go
into much more discussion.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: You had a motion on the floor --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I do.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: -- right? And I'll second it.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Taylor, I believe you were
next.
June 12, 2018
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COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. What I want to know is --
and we're going to be discussing this shortly -- once the MSTU -- I
mean, this is ongoing, but let's -- assuming that there's a lot of money
in there, what happens then? What's the mechanism to oversee,
number one, how this is spent and what the balance is?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I tried to cover --
MR. KLATZKOW: Well, every year Mark Isackson comes to
you with a budget and you set the budget for, among other things,
MSTUs. There's going to eventually be an influx of funds into this
MSTU. You'll get to the point where you've got enough to handle your
needs, and at that point in time, you can set the millage at zero until the
money level starts dropping down again.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And that, Commissioner
Taylor, was why I set it up for an annual review in the budget process,
delineated the estimation of the assessed valuations, and then the
potential of the different millage rates along those ways for it to be
regulated.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I was very pleased to hear that
you support the proactive stance rather than the reactive sense.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, that makes economic -- I
mean, when we've got an average of $9,000 a mile to fix a private road
in an emergency after-the-fact basis with people that can't get
emergency vehicles to them and compared to 2,000 on a proactive
basis, I can do that math, so...
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I just had a bit of a concern in
terms of -- I realize this is up to one mill, but in terms of percentage
increases in taxes, what does that amount to on these property owners?
I think we're --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And here's an estimate that was
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put to me by staff. I don't know if it's part of our -- I can make it part
of the record, if you wish. But there's an estimated $269 million worth
of real estate. At a .1 mill -- and the average property value is
$107,000, that's average.
.1 mill would be $10 per property and generate 27 million; .3
mills would be $32 per property and generate 80 million; and .5 and on
up. So, I mean, this information is, in fact, available. I didn't realize it
wasn't part of the backup but -- and the Board will set the millage with
coordination with our staff based upon the needs and the requisites that
are out there and advice from the emergency service folks for the
necessary maintenance.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Also important, getting this
back to us, but I'm a little concerned about the potential for up to one
mill tax increase, which would be a pretty hefty --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's a pretty easy fix.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: And I actually was somewhat involved in
the Rock Road MSTU, and I have real concerns about doing it this
way. And I understand the intent of it, and it's a good intent. But I
think, you know, they're private roads, and we have a mechanism now
that, in an emergency, that they can be addressed. But to just levy an
increase in the millage rate without really the creation of an MSTU,
which we usually require or ask the community to vote on -- I mean,
I'll support bringing it back --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Sure. It's --
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: -- you know, for further discussion, but I
have really big concerns that this is -- we're going to be increasing
millage rates. We'll be collecting money from owners of private roads
to, essentially, proactively maintain these private roads, and I just --
I'm concerned about the legality of that.
And I understand the County Attorney has looked at this, but I'll
support it to bring it back, but I don't know that I'll support an
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ordinance, but I'm open to discussing it more.
And -- I'm sorry. And I credit you for bringing up this issue,
because it is an issue. I mean, this is a huge issue, but it's a tough
issue, and I don't know that there's an answer to it, because they're
private roads, so...
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And, you know, I, too, as I
mentioned, I'll go along with you, but we have a lot of dirt roads in
Eastern Collier County -- well, in my part of the county and -- like,
down Cope Lane, which is off County Barn, another one off Santa
Barbara where there's a whole group of people that -- they have
five-acre and 10-acre lots, and they like their dirt roads, and they feel it
keeps a lot of people out.
And I don't know how pleased they will be, but I'm sure that
when it comes back and if there's good press on it, we'll hear from
people about it.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And just one final comment.
This is an issue that's been going on within our community for a
millennia. It's a health, safety, and welfare issue. It's for emergency
access only. And be very clear about that; this is for emergency
vehicular access. With that comes other vehicular access, but there's
no intent here to pave these roads or bring them up --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, but they still have to pay for it.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, everybody pays a little
bit in order to take care of all of the roads, as opposed to the
extraordinary after-the-fact emergency expenses that the county's
having to go on and then back charge the people after the fact. That's
the way it's being done right now. The folks on Blue Sage have a
$12,000 bill that they're staring at. The folks that live and access off of
Platt Road have a $9,000 bill that they are staring at.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: It's been functioning like that for
years, so it seems to have worked out okay.
June 12, 2018
Page 66
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: But it's up to you, I mean, it's your
thing, and we'll bring it back.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's our thing. This is a
circumstance -- I mean, the County Attorney and I have been talking
about this for in excess of a year. I was actually in the process of
figuring out a way to amend the statute to allow for us to expend
public funds on private roads on this health, safety, and welfare issue.
Then we came up with the language, John Mullins came up with
this language that was okay with the County Attorney to allow for this,
and it doesn't require the requisite of the statute.
Commissioner Coletta formed the Corkscrew Island
Neighborhood Association because his phone rang off the hook in the
summertime when the rainy seasons came, and those folks could not
understand why the county won't come fix the roads. Because we
can't.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Well, defend it now. We're bringing
it back. We're going to be saying all this stuff again.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: There's no defense. It's just
discussion.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. Commissioner Nance also
brought that forward, if you remember.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, yeah, but not a full -- not
something like this where everybody is charged.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: So there's the difference, yeah.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: So there's a motion, and I think there was a
second from Commissioner Saunders.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, a second from me.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Oh, from you, I'm sorry. So there's a
June 12, 2018
Page 67
motion and a second to direct staff to bring forward an ordinance for
consideration. That's the motion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any other discussion?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: All in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Motion carries.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Another one done.
Item #7
PUBLIC COMMENTS ON GENERAL TOPICS NOT ON THE
CURRENT OR FUTURE AGENDA
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, let's move back to Item 7, public
comments on general topics not on the current or future again.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, I have nine registered speakers on
this item. Let's start with Gary Johnson, Junior.
MR. OCHS: Troy, ones that had signed up for bear-wise, are
they part of that?
MR. MILLER: Sir, when I explained to them this we were not
taking comments because it was on the agenda, they changed their
topic. So I am -- will try to see as we go through here. They changed
the topic from bears to growth in Golden Gate Estates and things like
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that.
So we'll have to -- I guess I'll have to wait to hear the comments.
Mr. Johnson.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Sir -- and, again, if the topic's going to be
growth in the county, please keep it to that. Again, we have a process.
It's a public process. There's going to be plenty of opportunities to say
what you want to say about the bears and --
MR. JOHNSON, JR.: Yes. No, I'm not here for the bear issue.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Oh, okay.
MR. JOHNSON, JR.: I'm here -- I came on the 22nd, you-all's
last commission meeting, and brought up an issue with the zoning in
Plantation Island.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Oh, right.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
MR. JOHNSON, JR.: And you commissioners were kind enough
to vote on it 5-0 to put it on a future agenda. I just wanted to come
today and let you know there's a lot of people on the island that have
heard about that vote, and they're looking forward to the discussion.
And a question I had is, do you-all have -- I know you're busy. I
can read. And you've got a lot going on in the county. Is there maybe
an estimated time frame we may be looking at this down the road that
may -- when it lands on the agenda?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Commissioner, it's set to come back as
a tasker, and I think it's going to come back probably either the next
meeting or in July to give you an explanation of where we're at.
MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah. I just signed off on the executive
summary, so it's coming back.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Good. We'll let you know.
MR. JOHNSON, JR.: So just watch the agenda for the next
meeting or the one after?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Or leave your contact information
June 12, 2018
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with staff or one of us, and we can let you know.
MR. JOHNSON, JR.: I believe staff has my contact.
MR. OCHS: Yes, we do.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: What I would suggest -- and
not to disagree with you, necessarily, but for staff to have to notify
public about petitions when they're coming back, I think, is
burdensome. He can watch the --
MR. JOHNSON, JR.: Absolutely, yes, sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- go on the web page, but we
wouldn't want to task somebody to have to do that. If you want to let
him know, that's fine.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, our office will be. I'll be more
than happy; you can call. And not to burden or to set a precedent, but
it is Irma and it is about Plantation Island.
MR. JOHNSON, JR.: Yes, ma'am. And I appreciate it. Again,
there's a lot of other residents that -- you know, there's been 10 houses
in the last few months been demolished in my immediate area, and
there's a lot of people that are beginning the task, as you well know,
that are looking forward to rebuilding, and they're at a loss, and they're
looking for some guidance here, and we really appreciate you guys
taking that issue up --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It's going to happen --
MR. JOHNSON, JR.: -- especially with a 5-0 vote. Thank you. I
appreciate it.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Some of the county money is
supposed to go to that, isn't it, that we had set aside for hurricane?
MR. OCHS: Yes. There's money for disaster assistance to
rebuild homes. There's quite a bit of information to this issue that we'll
be bringing forward.
MR. JOHNSON, JR.: All right. Thank you, sir.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Thank you, sir.
June 12, 2018
Page 70
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Gary Johnson, Senior. He
will be followed by Ed Tappen.
MR. JOHNSON, SR.: Thank you, Commissioners.
Right briefly, I want to bring up something, even though it goes
back a lot of years. Mr. Saunders, if you remember this, about your
ordinances.
I believe it was in the late '60s, you broke my heart, the ones
before you when they made an ordinance that we couldn't ride our
horses on the beach no more. So I just want to mention that to you. I
thought maybe you'd get a little kick out of that. But you brought it all
back to me talking about these ordinances.
Here, like, I say with my son and I reference his family down
there and the issue that had popped up on that island that clearly
appeared to be an oversight, not on your part but, for whatever reason,
over the years.
And I just wanted to put my two cents in on it, because I've got
grand youngins and family members and the seventh generation from
this type of world here in Collier County, and that has got my attention
a little bit about the fact of building, you know, structured homes over
-- you know, the same opportunity that Goodland and Everglades and
Chokoloskee and them has. I did not realize that that was not even
available. But as I do realize, and getting into it, apparently there's
several lots already down there zoned to where the structured homes
can be.
So I appreciate it, again, because, like I say, I'm proud of my son
trying to move forward here, and especially build, beings they got to
rebuild down there, you know, a better and stronger structure.
So that was my only input, I'll leave here with it, and I appreciate
it. And it's brought back, if I may, one more time, as an old resident
and being in law enforcement 30 years and plus a county
commissioner for four years, has brought back a lot of memories, and
June 12, 2018
Page 71
especially this young lady right here. Ms. Crystal, it's good seeing you
again. We go back a long way. Commissioner Saunders, good seeing
you again.
Thank you for your time.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: It's so much fun to see one of the
old-timers, isn't it, when he still calls Ms. Crystal and riding his horse
on the beach. I just love it.
MR. JOHNSON, SR.: Do what now?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I said, it's just so much fun even
hearing what you have to say, because none of us really see that. I've
only been here 44 years, and you really saw it the way it used to be,
and that's a wonderful thing.
MR. JOHNSON, SR.: Yes, ma'am. One of the things that really
has taken me back, and that ordinance is one of the ones. Like I say, I
was real young then, obviously, and we rode our horse on the beach
with cows. We used to walk the beach.
And one of the other, if I may, right quick like here, several years
ago -- and I'm sure you-all remember this, I was in Tallahassee. And I
happened to walk in one of the meetings, and it really struck me. As a
kid, right here on these beaches, daylight and sundown, panthers and
everything else. One the major issues they were discussing up there --
and sit through the whole thing just to hear it. Apparently, you-all had
a panther, they decided the panther made it through the traffic down
through the red lights to the beach, and they were discussing that here
at Naples of what they're going to be able to do about the panthers
making its way through down to the beach.
So that was quite interesting for me. And then, like I say, my
family being seventh generation from not only this county, an
adjoining county, Lee and that type of thing, so -- but for history
purposes, it was quite something to hear that. Did you-all ever figure
out how the panther got there? I don't know if you --
June 12, 2018
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CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Very carefully.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: How about the CAT bus?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: That's what I was going to say.
MR. JOHNSON, SR.: That's exactly right. So it goes back a
long way. It's been a lot of memories, but it's hard for me -- it's been a
long time since I come through here, and I am just at awe, especially
spending nearly 30 years here in law enforcement, at the growth, the
traffic. What I knew to be Naples is no longer Naples. And my hats
off to you-all. Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: I'd like to remind speakers you can use both
podiums. I'll call two names. If we could have the second speaker
waiting.
Your next speaker is Ed Tappen. Ed will be followed by Kay
Haering.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: While we're getting our documents, I
would just say, I agree with that, what the last speakers just said.
When I bought my place in Pine Ridge, it's because of somebody was
riding their horse past my house, and I thought that was the greatest
thing.
MR. TAPPEN: Good morning.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Good morning.
MR. TAPPEN: I'll read from my notes until my time allows is
up. And copies will be available for anybody that wants a copy.
It seems almost unbelievable that Collier County has not had a
municipal-owned golf course during the past 94 years. Why do you
think that is true?
Over the years, municipal governments all over the country and
the world have had municipal golf courses called munis that are -- and
they still have them. Fort Myers has got two of them. However, there
are more than 75 golf courses in this very wealthy county. Most are
June 12, 2018
Page 73
too expensive for common people. I am a common person. That
definition is one who lacks the characteristics of having power.
When I told that to the county planning group, one of the
members laughed. I have reached out to many other people who have
thought had the power to make munis possible in Collier County. I
have been very disappointed.
Many common people in Collier County, including visitors,
cannot afford to play golf in Collier. Our county commissioners have
some power to establish a municipal golf course in Collier County;
however, it seems that it costs more than you're willing to approve for
golf for common people. And you have indicated that a course would
not gain profit enough to pay its own way.
A recent letter to the editor May the 2nd, 2018, subject, cost of
golf courses versus water park. It points out that Collier County
supports other parks that may not show large profits, such as water
parks and large playing fields with lights, et cetera.
I have met with Parks and Recreation and have over 40 copies of
letters to the editor and articles about golf course conversion and the
need for affordable golf in Collier County. On January the 18th, 2016,
Lakewood equity members -- is my time up?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yes, sir.
MR. MILLER: Yes, sir.
MR. TAPPEN: Okay. So be it. You've got copies of the rest of
the thing. They are available for the newspaper or whoever might be
interested.
Thank you very much.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Thank you, sir.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Kay Haering. She'll be
followed by Jeanne Jain.
MS. SHADIX: Kay Haering and Jeanne Jain both waive in
support of a bear trash ordinance.
June 12, 2018
Page 74
MR. MILLER: Katrina Shadix?
MS. SHADIX: That's me. And I am Katrina Shadix. I'm native
Floridian, Seminole County. I drove four and a half hours to be here to
support FWC's presentation but in not breaking the rules and speaking
on something on a future topic, what my organization can offer, in
addition to -- you know, hopefully you get the bear-proof trash cans for
everyone, but what we've done in Seminole County -- and Seminole
County was, by the way, the first county to pass a bear trash ordinance.
It's been phenomenally successful, and what my org will do for your
citizens that cannot afford or have access to the bear-proof trash cans --
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Ma'am.
MS. SHADIX: -- we can retrofit for free. So we don't want cost
to be a deciding factor. That's all.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Can you stay until this afternoon?
MS. SHADIX: Oh, I would love to.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yeah. I mean, this just isn't the right
forum, but we would love to hear what you have to say and what
you've done in Seminole County.
MS. SHADIX: And I just -- I won't be back for future meetings,
and I don't have TV at home, so that's why I wanted to take this time to
speak.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Thank you.
MS. SHADIX: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Rebecca Heintz. She'll be
followed by Shannon Geis, if I'm saying that --
MS. HEINTZ: Hello. I came from Polk County, and I'm looking
at these issues about wildlife management and the environment
statewide, and what I've noticed for years, but more recently with the
two alligator attacks, that we're seeing a lot of people who are causing
these conflicts with our wildlife because they have their dogs
untethered and off leashes. And I would love to see whatever officials
June 12, 2018
Page 75
make some changes in that, put some teeth into these legislation -- into
these rules.
I'm hiking a lot. I'm walking a lot. When people go into these
places that are public, and they have their dogs off leashes, and then
they wonder why the alligators are attacking them? So I'm just
encouraging you to either direct us to the appropriate place to get these
taken care of -- I mean, we see it in the paper where the people
admitted their dogs were unleashed, and no citations are ever issued,
and I just think it's a problem.
Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Shannon Geis. She'll be
followed by Steve Gafford.
MS. GEIS: Hi, how are you today?
I'm just going to make this brief because I also was going to speak
on the bear ordinance. And I live in Volusia County, and I came here
to support the FWC and the people that live here, so -- and I will be
more than happy to come back when you have it on the agenda.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Thank you.
MS. GEIS: And I thank you for allowing it.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Thank you.
MS. GEIS: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your final speaker under public comment is
Steve Gafford.
MR. GAFFORD: I also yield my time back to the floor out of
respect for Commissioner McDaniel. He's asked us to please wait till a
later time to bring this up about the bears, and I will be doing that.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you, Steve.
MR. MILLER: And that was our final speaker for public
comment.
June 12, 2018
Page 76
Item #11A
AN UPDATE ON THE SURVEY CONDUCTED BY THE RADIO
ROAD BEAUTIFICATION MUNICIPAL SERVICE TAXING
UNIT (MSTU) REGARDING POTENTIAL SCOPE FOR
PROJECTS FOR THE MSTU - PRESENTED; MOTION TO
ALLOW OUTREACH AS OUTLINED IN THE EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, that moves us to Item 11A. This is a
recommendation to provide an update on the survey conducted by the
Radio Road Beautification Municipal Service Taxing Unit regarding
potential scope for projects for the MSTU.
Michelle Arnold, your director of Public Transit and
Neighborhood Enhancement, will make the presentation.
MS. ARNOLD: Good morning. For the record, Michelle
Arnold, Public Transit and Neighborhood Enhancement Division
director.
I'm here to just give you-all an update. We were before you on
March 13th to ask for permission to advertise an ordinance to amend
the Radio Road MSTU ordinance, and you-all at that meeting
requested that the item be continued indefinitely but to provide
community outreach to the Radio Road MSTU.
Just a little bit history. The MSTU was created back in 1996. In
December of '96 you-all, or the commissioners, appointed an advisory
committee for the Radio Road MSTU in October of '97, and they are
supposed to represent the community, hear items from the community,
bring items to the Board of County Commissioners for your
consideration, and they've been doing that for about over 20 years.
We, as a part of the initiative to reach out to the community, held
June 12, 2018
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a public meeting on March 27th for Radio Road MSTU area, and then
there was a follow-up survey that was done, a mailing survey that was
done for the community. That survey went out in -- I believe in April,
and we have results for you-all to hear.
We sent out a total of 6,214 surveys and, as of today, we received
back 1,114 surveys, which is different from what was reported in your
executive summary. That represents about 17 percent of the overall
community.
Breaking down those results, about 13 percent of the community
responded to that survey that they were not interested in additional
projects, another 4 percent -- and 4 percent responded that they were in
favor of additional projects.
Although the 17 percent, you know, in terms of surveys is a pretty
good showing, we think that there needs to be additional outreach to
the community. The surveys have resulted in an increase in attendance
at the advisory committee meetings, and what we found out is that
there's a lot of people that are still not sure about what -- fully
understand what the purpose of the MSTU is.
And staff is proposing that we implement our community
outreach plan that we've developed, and that was a part of your
executive summary. What that would contain is us going out into
community, not only staff, but the advisory committee members that
are willing to do that.
You know, we understand that people are busy or, you know,
folks, especially at this time of year, go away, so we're wanting to
make sure that we go to them. We want to go to their advisory -- their
association meetings. We want to provide information to them in
writing for their newsletters or their email blasts and those types of
things so that we can get information out to them, and then maybe
survey them again in a mailing format.
As a part of the mailing that we did, we have gotten quite a few
June 12, 2018
Page 78
emails that people have provided, so I think that will help us again
outreach to the community. But staff is, at this time, not
recommending any further action of the Board. We're proposing that
we continue our efforts for outreach in the community so we can get
out to the community and then bring back more information to you-all.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner McDaniel?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I had a -- I was going to make a
motion, but I think we ought to hear from the community, have
speakers first. I have no questions of staff.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yeah. Was there questions for staff?
Okay.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah. Well, maybe mine would be
a question for staff.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And that would be, I was thinking if
we're going to do community outreach, maybe we should wait till
people are back, so we should be doing that.
MS. ARNOLD: Correct. That's the plan.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Because I would hate to see it gone
ahead now, and it doesn't make sense.
MS. ARNOLD: No. What we're -- the efforts that we're making
now is we're trying to collect information about the various association
member representatives, who they are -- if it's a property manager that
runs the association or if they're -- who their presidents are and, you
know, those types of informations that we're trying to tabulate at this
time.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Speakers?
MR. MILLER: Yes, Mr. Chairman, we have six registered public
speakers for this item. Remind the speakers you can use both
podiums. The first speaker is Randall Koelb. He'll be followed by
Marlene Sherman.
June 12, 2018
Page 79
MR. KOELB: Good morning. My name is Randy Koelb. I live
in Countryside Golf and Country Club. That's at Santa Barbara and
Radio Road. So as such, I'm paying into the Radio Road MSTU.
So unless I'm mistaken, an MSTU is created when a need is
identified that benefits a limited subset of the county population for
which there's no funding. An MSTU is created to enable the collection
of taxes from that subset to pay for that project. We talked about that
earlier.
Landscaping and beautifying the Radio Road median from
Airport to Santa Barbara was identified as such a project in 1996, 22
years ago. There was no funding, so the MSTU was created. That
project was completed years ago, and later the maintenance of the
median was transferred to an MSTD. So, currently, the Radio Road
MSTU doesn't even pay for maintenance on the median.
Devonshire Road and a couple other things were tacked onto the
MSTU over the years, but even those projects are largely complete and
yet 6,565 residences and me, or I, rather, we're continuing to pay into
the MSTU.
While an MSTU is created when a worthwhile project is in search
of funding, what we have now is funding that's in search of a project.
It's 180 degrees to its original intent.
So the Radio Road MSTU was created for a worthy cause, but
that project was completed years ago. This MSTU, however, seems to
have taken on a life of its own and refuses to die. It now appears to be
similar to many government programs that our state and federal
politicians promise to eliminate when they get elected but rarely do.
Let's not mimic that behavior here in Collier County.
The Radio Road MSTU has lived a full life, and it's done its job,
but now it's time to pull the plug and let it go peacefully.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Marlene Sherman. She's
June 12, 2018
Page 80
been ceded three additional minutes from Edward L. O'Connor. Is he
present?
(Raises hand.)
MR. MILLER: Thank you. And Ms. Sherman will be followed
by Maria Schoenfelder.
MS. SHERMAN: Good morning. My name is Marlene
Sherman, and I'm a 20-year resident of Countryside Golf and Country
Club. I have been here -- I'm here to respond to Item 11A about the
survey and to talk about Ordinance 96-84, which is a 22-year-old
MSTU, and to also bring to your attention the advisory committee's
functions, powers, and duties as defined under Ordinance 97-52.
Executive summary for 11A confirms that over the last 22 years
of this MSTU life, the 6,566 supporting property owners were
provided with only one neighborhood information meeting, and that
was held last March, and we've received two direct communications to
all the supporting property members, one in 1997 asking for their
approval of the medians on Radio Road being landscaped, and the
other was mailed in March in 2018. And, thus, it appears clear that the
Radio Road Beautification MSTU has been operating without input
from the 6,566 supporting property owners for the last 22 years.
I do applaud the MSTU manager's stated efforts for a new
community outreach plan whose purpose is to increase communication
with the citizens within the MSTU boundaries, and I would
recommend the plan be adopted for all the county's MSTUs; however,
it is my belief this outreach plan comes too late to correct the
problematic issues within the Radio Road MSTU.
Ordinance 96-84, which was stated by Randy Koelb, and the
add-on ordinances, 2002-52 and 2013-43, should be brought to a
sunset for the following reasons: The sole purpose of Ordinance 96-84
was satisfied in 2002 when the maintenance was transferred to the
MSTD. In connection with this, I would like to bring to your attention
June 12, 2018
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the functions, powers, duties of the advisory committee for the Radio
Road Beautification MSTU as defined under Ordinance 97-52, Section
A, and I quote, "To aid and assist the Board of County Commissioners
in carrying out the purposes of providing curbing, watering facilities,
plantings, maintenance of the median areas as set forth in Collier
County Ordinance 96-84," end of quote.
Ordinance 96-52 does not provide for actions of the advisory
committee beyond the scope of 96-84 which provided only for the
landscaping of medians on Radio Road between Airport-Pulling and
Santa Barbara; therefore, I contend the MSTU overstepped their
boundaries when it voted in September 2002 to include the cost of
maintenance of the medians for Devonshire Boulevard in the MSTU's
budget and then again in December when it forwarded a request to the
Board of County Commissioners recommending changing the scope
and intent of Ordinance 96-84.
In March 2012, the same advisory committee again overstepped
its authority to put aside MSTU funds for the beautification of the
entrance to a Rich King Memorial Greenway and forwarded a request
to the BCC to, once again, change the scope and intent of Ordinance
96-84.
I believe the Radio Road Beautification MSTU Advisory
Committee did not have the authority to recommend changing the
intent and enlarging the scope of Ordinance 96-84 according to their
governing ordinance, 97-52; otherwise, their governing ordinance,
97-52, would have included words as amended.
It is my belief that the sitting board of county commissioners in
2002 and 2013 acted in good faith when they approved the two add-on
ordinances to 96-84, as they were not provided pertinent background
information.
In conclusion, I recommend the Board take two actions: Place an
immediate stop work order on Ordinance 2013-43, which is landscape
June 12, 2018
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work for the entrance to the Rich King Memorial Greenway. The
justification for this action request is knowledge that the MSTU
advisory board is poised to put shovels in the ground, and some of the
landscaping projects fall under the $50,000 threshold.
Second request: Begin the process to sunset Ordinance 96-84 and
all ordinances tied into this ordinance, such as 97-52, 2002-59, and
2013-43. I believe both these actions are long overview.
Thank you for your time.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Maria Scheonfelder. She
will be followed by Wayne Sherman.
MS. SCHOENFELDER: Good morning. I don't like to have to
read, but since I have a three-minute constraint, I wrote my notes
down.
I'm Maria Schoenfelder, and I am a member of the Radio Road
MSTU advisory board but, more important than that, I'm a resident, a
taxpayer, and a voter, no different than any other of the 6,000-plus
members of my -- of that MSTU.
We together on the advisory board come from the unique -- come
with unique qualifications, but our objective to keep the area beautiful,
functional, and sustainable are our main goal; sustainable in many
ways, both the wallet and the environment.
During my time on this board, we have lowered the millage rate
by a third, we have taken steps to save water, electricity, manpower,
median maintenance, and also the excess need of chemicals. We've
done our best to get our goal of that beautiful, functional, and
sustainable for the areas that we are doing.
Opinions have been formed in various communities based on
misinformation. Many communities have heard things that aren't
actually factual. Kind of crazy talk of us ready doing big projects and
ready to spend money and taxpayer money, which is our own money,
June 12, 2018
Page 83
and also putting shovels to the ground. None of that is actually true.
In fact, the opposite is true. We don't sit around looking to spend
money and create projects. Residents have come to us on various
proposals, everything from changing stoplights and turn signals to
uniform landscape plantings on both sides of Radio Road. So we're
talking about not the median -- this came to us -- to have all the
communities have beautiful landscaping changes, burying FP&L lines.
Well, the light change we felt was a DOT situation not in our
parameters, but the others came to us. We had an obligation to look at
what was proposed.
We felt -- after looking at this, we're talking about
multi-million-dollar projects. This was not something that we would
even consider going ahead without having public input. At that point
we had a public meeting. We sent out mailers, as you've heard; we've
done surveys. These are major, major projects that have come to us.
I find it interesting that the same communities and the same
people sometimes, for years who've wanted to see a tax decrease are
the same exact people who've brought us these multi-million-dollar
projects and in the same breath want to sunset it. Excuse me, but I'm
confused.
If -- why would you come to us with projects of such scope and
then think we shouldn't exist at all? I'm just confused.
Better communication is our only and number-one priority at this
point. We have no other projects. I know I'm going to go over for a
second here, but I am only one of the 6,000 taxpayers I represent but,
personally, I find that the MSTU is a very unique organization in that it
is really the grassroots of the public, us, me, taking -- looking at the
spending that's going on. We are a citizens group that is a watchdog for
our county spending. We are a private sector looking out for
government waste, and we also --
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I'm sorry.
June 12, 2018
Page 84
MS. SCHOENFELDER: -- are the eyes, ears, and mouth of our
community.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Your time is up. I'm sorry. Rules are
rules. Thank you.
MS. SCHOENFELDER: Okay.
MR. MILLER: Your next speaker is Wayne Sherman. He will
be followed by Roy Anderson.
MR. SHERMAN: My name is Wayne Sherman. I'm a resident
also of Countryside. That's my wife back there. And also I'm the
representative for District 4 on the Citizens Advisory Committee for
the Collier County MPO. And I serve at the pleasure of Penny Taylor,
but -- and I'm here to speak regarding a recent survey forwarded to
6,000 property owners paying annually into the Radio Road
Beautification MSTU.
Even though the response of the survey represent only a small
portion among the responders, the trend toward ending the MSTU is so
significant, 72 percent, that this position needs to be seriously
considered.
The survey only posed two questions. One was stated as follows:
Are you in favor of MSTU considering any individual future projects
to enhance the area? And 72 percent said no.
And it is followed by Question 2, which was aimed at those
responding yes to the first question, those that voted yes. About
one-fourth of those responding voted up to seven projects that the MST
(sic) might consider adopting.
This vote indicated to me that a predominant number of the
responders felt that the MSTU should be canceled. Although some
proposed projects might be worthwhile, they're not necessarily as -- or
as indicated by the previous speaker, things that the MSTU should do.
But it appears from the vote that the current MSTU is not the right
vehicle to undertake it.
June 12, 2018
Page 85
For this reason, I recommend the MSTU be sunset, the associated
special tax on the 6,566 homes be discontinued. There may have been
concern about the Devonshire Boulevard maintenance, but the BCC,
Board of County Commissioners, could request the maintenance be
transferred to the countywide MSTD and, as for beautification of Rich
King Greenway, I should think that might be -- better be handled under
the Parks and Reaction Department. There are two actions that could
easily clear the way to sunset the MSTU.
Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Your final registered speaker on this item is Roy
Anderson.
MR. ANDERSON: Hello. Ray Anderson. I'm the chair of the
Community Relations -- External Relations Committee for the
Countryside Golf and Country Club. That's an advisory committee for
the board of -- or for the master board of Countryside.
I wanted to reiterate that on February 15th, 2018, after much
consideration of the pros and cons of continuing the support of the
MSTU, the master board unanimously voted not to support any further
increases in the MSTU's tax and, furthermore, to recommend the
sunsetting of the MSTU because of the fact that the original project
was fulfilled, which is the landscaping of Radio Road. And, by the
way, it's a beautiful project. It came out very well, and we're very
pleased to have that, you know, completed.
Now, in terms of fast forward now to the present with the survey
that was done just recently, I thought it was interesting to note that 72
percent of the respondents to the survey did not want to have any
projects at all. So it appears that they support the thinking of the
master board of Countryside to that extent.
But I'll leave it at that. That's -- I just wanted to give an update,
and we'll be back again. If the previous executive summary for the
work on the bike path and the extension of the area come back again
June 12, 2018
Page 86
for the second reading, we'll certainly be back for that.
Thank you very much.
MR. MILLER: And that was your final speaker on this item.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Thank you. So I guess we're just here to
accept the report that you gave and move forward with more
communications --
MS. ARNOLD: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: -- I guess, is the point.
MR. OCHS: That takes us to Item 11B this morning. This is a
recommendation to accept staff's presentation on the status of the
sports and special event complex. Mr. Casalanguida will begin the
presentation.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Thank you, Leo.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I'm sorry. Was your light on for the other
item?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. Well, I started that mess
when I suggested you go to the public speakers first. I thought we
actually had to have a motion and some discussion about it. So -- but
it's okay. Actually, we got to where we needed to go necessarily. It's
okay.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I'm sorry.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's all right.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I wasn't looking at the lights.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's all good.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: No motion required, though?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: No, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: But they're not going to prepare any
new subjects on there, right?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I just -- I wanted to make --
you know what, I would like to make a comment on that.
June 12, 2018
Page 87
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Well, let's do that. I apologize.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Leave your thing up there,
Nick. I just --
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I thought we were -- I apologize. I didn't
look at the lights, and I didn't realize that you had -- and,
Commissioner Taylor, was your light on as well?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I apologize. Let's -- can we back up a
second?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You're the Chair.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Michelle? That was not intentional. I just
--
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, no.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I'm just trying to move it on; move
forward.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. And I just would like to
say, you know, the suggestion was before when we talked about this to
reach out and have better communication with the residents.
We have had a fairly well-oiled machine come and speak to us
from Countryside and residents there. I know of several folks that live
outside of Countryside that have expressed dissatisfaction with the
level of communication that has come from the MSTU, and I wanted
to hear from staff with regard to methodologies and how we might
enhance that other than a mailing.
I mean, you got typically -- on any mail piece, you're lucky if you
get 1 percent, and you got a little bit higher than that when we did a
mail piece. What are the other -- and short of just communication, I
mean, us actually having these agenda items, engaging the people,
having folks actually talk about it, those are really important initiatives.
But I've heard similar comments from residents outside of Countryside
with the ambiguity of the mailer that we did, and then -- and there,
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again, just overall lack of communication. I wanted to hear what your
plans were to enhance that.
MS. ARNOLD: Some of our plans are to actually engage with
the various communities, whether or not they have a master association
or general association. So we're asking that we be invited to their
meetings, and we're asking that we be allowed to provide information
to them in their newsletters, for example.
Some of the communities have email blasts that they send out
information to their association. We're asking for that information as
well, you know, that we are able to share information about the
MSTUs in that manner as well. So those are some of the plans that
we're planning on doing.
The mailing has, as I mentioned, had other people come to our
meetings, our advisory committee meetings, and we're getting
information from those individuals to support those efforts.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And do you still have
vacancies on the MSTU board?
MS. ARNOLD: At this point, no. We don't currently, but we did
for many years.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah, I remember.
And this is an ongoing issue, these -- though I was talking about
an MSTU earlier today, these things -- these MSTUs sometimes take
on a life of their own, and it requires a community input, public input,
activities along the way to watch those that are appointed to the MSTU
to manage the funds in an appropriate manner, because oftentimes
folks don't, and then you don't have the community support and/or the
public participation which allows for that entity to actually perform at
its highest level.
MS. ARNOLD: It's a tricky situation to try to get people to come
out. A lot of times people come out for things they don't want instead
of -- or if they want something specific for us to do.
June 12, 2018
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And so, you know, sometimes you have the risk of thinking that
because you have -- you're not getting a lot of people challenging it,
they feel that you're doing a good job. But we're wanting to make that
effort to hear it from them ourselves, so we are going to be making that
effort in the next few months.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
MS. ARNOLD: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Taylor?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. This is my district, and
I've followed this not -- maybe not as -- I haven't gone to every MSTU
meeting, no, I haven't, but I know that I think that the intentions of
everyone are sincere and honorable, but I do think we live in a
democracy. I do think it was probably more of a knee-jerk reaction to
send out the request for information on the first vote or the vote that
we're talking about, and it was kind of done late in the season, but I
don't disagree that the vote was as it was.
But when you talk about the number of the people in the district,
you talk about the changing of the district and what could be done or
what shouldn't be done, I think it deserves more of an airing. And so I
like your idea about going out to the individual folks at the meeting
instead of everybody coming to you. I think that's a lot more voter
friendly, and I look forward to see what the results -- and very well the
results could be as the people in Countryside said, and so be it.
But I think we owe it to a 22-year record to allow one more
attempt to not only talk about what the MSTU has done but what it
could do, and see if the residents of the area agree or disagree.
MS. ARNOLD: Yeah. I think part of it, too, is just explaining to
the community what an MSTU does --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
MS. ARNOLD: -- and how they represent --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: A lot of new folks around, a lot of
June 12, 2018
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new folks in the area over 22 years. My goodness. Thank you.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Chairman? Oh, I'm sorry.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Fiala's next.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yes. That was beautifully said,
Commissioner Taylor.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Beautifully said. I mean, that's what
we want to do is have plans that the community wants to buy into, not
something we force them to do.
I remember way back when we were first creating our
countywide landscaping program, and at the time the people in this
MSTU came to us and said, well, we're already paying into that. We
like what we've been doing, but we don't want to continue to pay into
the maintenance because it's already supposed to be folded into the
landscaping plan. And I don't know how that plays into it, but I think
that that's something that should be discussed. If the landscaping plan
and maintenance is countywide, they should be included in that, too.
MS. ARNOLD: And the Radio Road MSTU is. Those roadways
that fall under your master plan criteria, such as Radio Road itself, is
included in the overall master plan.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Then what are they paying for? I'm
sorry.
MS. ARNOLD: They're paying for the other local roads that
they've beautified. Similar -- so Devonshire doesn't meet the criteria
for your master plan. In Golden Gate, for example, Tropicana or
Sunshine doesn't meet -- or Coronado and Hunter don't meet the
criteria, so the Radio -- Golden Gate MSTU has to continue
maintenance of those.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Well, that's the Golden Gate, but
with this one --
MS. ARNOLD: Devonshire is similar to that.
June 12, 2018
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COMMISSIONER FIALA: Maybe when you reach out to them
you can explain what's covered by the county. I mean, make it clear.
MS. ARNOLD: Exactly.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And what they can accept to
continue or decide they don't want anymore.
MS. ARNOLD: Correct.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. I'm not sure if this is a
question for staff or for Commissioner Taylor, but we're getting ready
to go through our budget process now, and then we're going to be
setting our millage rates, and we'll be setting those rates for the
MSTUs as well. And so -- and those final millage rates will be
determined in September, our final budget hearing, so are we trying to
resolve whether this MSTU goes forward prior to that, or are we
simply saying we're going to have that MSTU in place for at least
another year as we decide what to do with it?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's a really good question --
what does staff -- what is the intention of staff understanding the
calendar that was just described by Commissioner Saunders?
MS. ARNOLD: That the MSTU would exist. The millage for
the MSTU is going to be on your budget hearing as you -- and has
been recommended for a reduction as a part of the next fiscal year.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: At any rate, we will have this
MSTU in place, then, for another year for sure.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I wasn't sure what your plan
was in terms of --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think it was to -- for me it was --
there's been some false steps. This is a learning process. This has
June 12, 2018
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been important to the neighborhood. This has been important to the
physical appearance of the neighborhood, so I feel that it's worthy of
allowing it to go forward another year. It's been recommended for
reduction, you just said.
MS. ARNOLD: The millage rate.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: The millage rate.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: One year ago we dropped the
millage rate from .3 to .1, and that -- we'd recommend that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. So there has already been
a reduction in the millage fee, and you recommend that it remain going
forward. I'm very comfortable with that.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay.
MS. ARNOLD: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Anything else?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I think that was good feedback.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Do we need a consensus? Would
you -- County Manager, would you like a consensus?
MR. OCHS: Sure. A motion to allow us to proceed with the
outreach as outlined in the executive summary.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'll make that motion.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: There's a motion and second. All in favor,
say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Motion carries.
June 12, 2018
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MR. OCHS: Thank you.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Good morning, Commissioners.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. So now we're done, right?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Someone blow the whistle. Foul.
Five-yard penalty.
Item #11B
STAFF’S PRESENTATION ON THE STATUS OF THE SPORTS
AND SPECIAL EVENT COMPLEX - MOTION TO ACCEPT
STAFF’S PRESENTATION, INCLUDING 4 DUAL PURPOSE
BASEBALL/SOFTBALL FIELDS – CONSENSUS
MR. CASALANGUIDA: All right. Commissioners, we
promised that we'd give you updates on the sports complex projects,
and we're at a decision point, inflection point in the project, as well,
too.
So I'm going to quickly go through an update. I've got Rob
Hunden from Strategic Partners Group to give you a little bit of
feedback from his perspective working with us and get a little bit of
guidance before we go to the design contract.
So what you have is the schedule we originally presented to you,
and I'm going to quickly tick off what we've done on that schedule.
June 12th being today, we're almost a year from when we presented
this Gantt chart to you last time.
So the construction manager has been selected, contract's been
done. We've been working with them on some preliminary work;
design services. The engineer was selected. The contract's in front of
you today. Construction services for construction is on track. We
expect to be here over the summer to do the clearing and grubbing. A
complete review of the travel team of the sports venues. The team has
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gotten together members Sports Council, TD, and your staff have
visited complex, both real time, real life, gone to them in Florida and
virtually.
And the City Gate purchase. The sale was completed, and we
closed on the City Gate parcel on May 4th.
Naming rights is being finalized and brought to the Board, and
that's a contract for a firm to go out and do some naming rights for us.
The zoning's been completed, and we are still evaluating
public/private partnerships for the project as well, too.
The Hunden Strategic Partners' contract was in October 2017.
They're going to be working through the life of the project, and he's
here today.
We do have the ITN out, which is the intent to negotiate on the
street right now for a marketing and management firm. That will come
back in 30 to 60 days. We'll work that through the summer and bring
you back some proposals or where we are in the fall.
On the funding side of the house, TD was done. The allocation
and budget was adopted, the bond validation was completed in the fall.
Short-term financing was done, and the loan issued for the land was
done as well, too.
We plan to issue the long-term debt probably in October, because
we've got a three-year coverage requirement to do, and we'll meet that
three-year coverage, so we're on track there as well.
These are some of the pictures of initially when you saw the
sports complex, what it looked like. I'm going to take you through
some of the design features we've been looking at and tell you kind of
where we are. In this last feature, you see that there is no baseball
fields in here, and this is why we're really here to talk to you about.
When you look at some of the features that we've looked at
around the country, just to give you a feel for some of what it might
look like; I'm going to take you back to that slide in a second.
June 12, 2018
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These are the choices we have. I'm kind of flashing back and
forth. What we're recommending 16 multi-purpose fields because
right now if you do eight and eight, you're really not a category killer
in each area. And Lee County's expanded eight to 12 more fields
recently with them having two professional league contracts. That's
the research we've been doing around the state, and Rob's been helping
us around the country.
The option I'm showing you here is to give you a feel where we
could do four baseball dual purpose where in the outfield you have
multi-purpose fields as well, too.
Your staff is recommending that, but we could do that as well,
too. And the challenge we faced as we go forward is that it's a tourism
destination, and we keep reminding ourselves that that's the challenge,
because although baseball fields in general in Collier County, there's
an unmet need for the local play, this is really meant to attract regional,
national, and international play.
This is just a quick shot of the Corkscrew park update showing
two baseball fields and that there's four more planned for that as well
as, too, so that would be for your local need.
We've done some surveys just to say what was needed as part the
complex. Obviously, the left side scores the highest. Predominantly
there you're talking about restroom facilities, shade, water, and then
you get into the different categories that are there. We used these
survey results to kind of drive the design criteria as we move forward.
Survey respondents: The multi-purpose scored the highest.
Obviously, that's trending right now nationally and has been for quite
some time. And this is a breakout of your surveys: 62 percent have
been spectators; 27 participants; and the proponents are the left-hand
side in blue. Approximately 400 surveys we received from the various
groups on the surveys that we've sent out.
I'm going to keep it brief because I want Rob to talk to you a little
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bit about what (sic) we're here, and at the very end we'll talk a little bit
about the decisions or guidance we'd like to get for you as part of the
project.
Rob?
MR. HUNDEN: Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Appreciate it.
Good afternoon, everyone. It is afternoon just now. Great to be
back. And we've had a good working relationship with everyone here.
MR. OCHS: Your name for the record, please.
MR. HUNDEN: Rob Hunden, Hunden Strategic Partners. Thank
you.
We've had a good working relationship with the team here who
has been expeditiously moving through the business planning process
and, I think, asking better questions than any clients that we've ever
had as to how this can be best executed.
So a lot of detailed questions; they've been doing a lot of
homework. So one of the things that we wanted to highlight today was
the choice or the recommendation of the types of the fields to develop.
You can certainly have a regional and nationally recognized sports
complex, but what you build and how you build it will have big
implications for how it performs.
So the first key questions were, what is the recommended field
type or mix of field types for the complex, and then when you get into
natural versus synthetic, what are the pros and cons of each, and what
do we recommend.
So in terms of the headlines, at this point, while we believe that
you could be successful in both indoor and outdoor, outdoor fields are
the priority and the greater opportunity at this point compared to
indoor courts. And as was mentioned already, being a category killer,
all one field type is recommended at least to get a certain critical mass
of fields rather than trying to split it all up and try to be all things to all
people. What that ends up doing is meaning that you're not really
June 12, 2018
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special or differentiated in any particular area.
So then the question becomes, okay, what direction do you go?
So based on that, multi-purpose fields, the rectangular fields, are the
higher priority and recommendation, then baseball and softball fields,
and we'll get into some of the background on that.
We do recommend a minimum of 16 multi-purpose FIFA-size
fields in the first phase of development plus a championship field,
which would equal what the ESPN Wild World of Sports has over in
Orlando, and they host, of course, some of the nation's and the state's
biggest tournaments.
In terms of the mix, we're looking at this point of a mix of
between four and eight natural grass fields and eight to 12 synthetic
turf fields. And, again, we're leaving a little wiggle room there because
I think that will be sussed out but, in general, we're leaning towards
more synthetic than natural grass, and we'll talk about the pros and
cons there.
The map here just shows you that there's significant competition.
Although it's not all the same level and quality as what you're planning
and proposing, we believe that based on what we've seen and
recommended from your plans, that you will have one of the premiere
facilities and complexes, certainly in the state and likely the country.
So in terms of what else is going on, big picture, almost everyone
around the state is offering baseball and softball fields. So while it's
popular and everybody wants to participant in that -- and you guys
participate in that to a positive degree by just trying to do that -- sort of
replicate what everybody else is doing; you're sort of getting into the
mix with everybody, and yet they are not necessarily -- most of these
other competitors out there are not killing it in the multi-purpose field:
Soccer and lacrosse and that sort of thing. So we believe that's your
opportunity.
Lee County to your north already has a significant
June 12, 2018
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baseball/softball presence, and you guys actually piggyback nicely off
of what they're offering. You guys get overflow use to North Collier
Regional Park that generates a significant amount of room nights, and
so you're sort of getting a nice benefit and uplift from what they're
already doing. So we don't want to replicate that. We want to go the
other direction and sort of differentiate ourselves with the
multi-purpose, and soccer is a big, big deal, not to mention the growth
of lacrosse and other sports like rugby.
At this time Collier County does not meet the needs of most event
organizers for all types of sports facilities or tournaments, and so we
do believe that the "if you build it they will come" is almost true here.
We never like to say that because we think you have to do it right.
You have to execute well, which is why you have all your documents
on the street now seeking those who will help you max out this
opportunity. It is a business, it is competitive, and we want to make
sure that when you open the doors that you're busting the doors off of
the calendar.
In terms of annual events by sport, this just gives you a sense that
soccer, softball, and baseball are sort of the big three, but you're really
not able to accommodate soccer at this point or any of the other soccer
field type sports like lacrosse and rugby and football, at least to much
of a degree at all.
A lot of this data we got from the internal sales team at the CVB
and, essentially, it sort of mimics what I've been saying, which is that
everybody else is primarily offering baseball and softball, and you
already are piggybacking off of that. You could increase that if you
added more, but we do not believe it's the largest opportunity, nor do
they.
You cannot currently seek large soccer, football, lacrosse, rugby
and other rectangular field sports because you simply do not have
those fields, so -- and you're already a popular destination for tourists
June 12, 2018
Page 99
and those wanting to travel for sports anyway. And so our study from
two years ago indicated that that would be a popular result or that you
would be a popular choice if you offered what those groups are
seeking.
Big picture, having 12 multi-purpose fields would accommodate
most tournaments; however, for the biggest and most impactful and
also for the concept of rest -- resting fields is important -- that you need
-- you'll want to have those additional fields.
So let's talk a little bit about the pro and cons. I might be jumping
ahead of my slides a little bit. But I just want to let you know that
synthetic turf is great, it looks great in pictures, it can get very hot.
They have cool gel bead technology that they're offering that allows
you to keep it cool, but you do sometimes have to water synthetic turf
to keep it cool, and those are great also for the heavy use like rugby,
the types of uses that tear up those kinds of fields. So that's good, but
sometimes it can get really hot, and a lot of people like to play on
natural grass, but the issue with natural grass is it gets beat up. And
when it rains here a lot, it can get muddy, and it needs to rest to
re-grow the turf.
So that's why we're recommending a mix of those, because there's
a preference during different times of year and an availability to sort of
max out what you can do from a tournament perspective as well as
local usage so that you can really have the best of both worlds. So it's
not an all-or-nothing situation. We think it's sort of a two-thirds,
one-third synthetic-to-natural grass.
In terms of individual sports, these few slides here basically just
state that you have had some opportunities in the past with each of
these rectangular field sports, but you've not really been able to
maximize those because you just don't have the capacity. So that's true
for football, for soccer, and even for baseball/softball, but we've
covered that.
June 12, 2018
Page 100
And lacrosse and field hockey is growing at a rapid clip and,
again, that can be -- a lot of places don't -- that just have natural fields
don't like to rent to those groups because football and rugby can really
tear those up. If you had synthetic and your competitors didn't, that
would put you at a competitive advantage for those types of uses.
So with that, our recommendation is a focus on multi-purpose
fields, 12 to 16 recommended. We're looking at the 16 plus the
championship field. Again, that championship field can then be used
for all kinds of non-sports events, too, like concerts and things like that
for the community and, of course, anything that you build here is using
TDT and generating significant tourism tax dollars but is also a huge
piece of infrastructure for local quality of life. So I think you can't
forget that. And then we recommend that that breakdown be weighted
towards the artificial turf.
And I think that is where we end up, with this beautiful photo, or
drawing. Thank you.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Questions for me or Rob? Really, what
we're asking for -- well, to give you an update, but a little guidance on
whether we do something like that or whether we stick with the
multi-purpose complex.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any questions for staff?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Can I make an opinion? Oh,
Commissioner McDaniel?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: McDaniel.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. I just want to -- you
mentioned about TDT tax. Are we capable of segregating those
revenues from where they are derived?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: When you say -- well, yes, sir. For
whatever events we have, we can segregate the revenues. There's a
budget cost center for General Fund to offset some of the maintenance.
That's a separate cost center, and that's tracked and --
June 12, 2018
Page 101
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That I was aware of, but when
we're doing an event here and TDT taxes is generated, other than
surveys that we do for our participants that are staying in hotels and the
like, that money's not necessarily -- that TDT tax generation is not
necessarily oriented back to our complex?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: No. Because you can't -- what they're
spending outside the facility --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I've got it.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: But point of sale at the facility, we can
segregate that whether it's local play or event play.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Taylor?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You know, we have a wonderful
positive relationship with Lee County, and I consider Lee County the
-- sort of the epicenter of baseball, and they've proved it again and
again. They have a history of it. They support baseball for youth and
for professional. I mean, they've got two stadiums. They know how to
do it.
And as we go forward -- and it's going to be -- as we try to attract
businesses here or sports here, especially major -- major tournaments, I
think it's very important to keep that camaraderie. And to me the
arguments put forward or the discussion indicates that, let's be -- let's
keep it all multi-purpose. Let's do what we do best and be respectful
and encourage Lee County.
Because we may have calls for baseball tournaments, and Mary
Shea, who's president of the Sports Council, is sitting here, she knows
about this -- we can refer them to our neighbor, and they will refer to
us, and that's what we want. We want this cooperation going forward.
So I think this multi-purpose idea -- and as it appears right before
me on the screen is -- to me, I support that recommendation.
June 12, 2018
Page 102
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I agree with that. We have
great staff, and we've got great consultants. And I'm certainly not going
to be one to go against what our consultants are telling us.
And I agree with Commissioner Taylor, Lee County seems to
have gotten their arms around the baseball and softball. And we're
looking for soccer and those other sports. And, quite frankly, I think
those are the ones that are growing the fastest. And so I agree with
Commissioner Taylor and with our staff recommendation here as well
as the mix of turf and natural fields.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I'm just going to jump in and say, you
know -- and I said this when we were going through the process for the
sports complex at the beginning that I -- and I understand that this is
all, you know, being funded by TDC dollars and that that is intended to
generate tourism, and we have to do that, but I said at the beginning,
and I want to say it again, I don't want to throw the baby out with the
bath water, as they say.
I mean, we have a need for the local players to -- and our children
to be able to practice. I mean, we've gone from something that was
predominantly baseball to now not even having a baseball field? And I
just don't think that's fair. You know, my son played baseball in
Collier County. There was never enough fields back then, and that's
still the case. He never played one game at North Collier because --
you know. So while tournaments are important, I don't want us to
forget that we need to provide something as well for the local kids to
be able to practice.
And the Corkscrew park, I mean, how many years away are we
on that?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: We're on about the same schedule, sir.
They're actually going to break ground probably before we will for the
field space.
June 12, 2018
Page 103
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Oh, that's good.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: So we're going from eight fields here to
how many more fields at Corkscrew?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: There's two in the first phase, and then
there's a four diamond in the second phase. So six.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: So, you know, I would prefer that we
include those -- yeah. I mean, it's still -- they're still multi-purpose
fields. They can be used for whatever we need them to use them for,
but there's also an ability there for other kids to use them for something
else. I mean, I feel very strongly about that.
I think at the beginning we got some buy-in from the folks that
thought this was going to be a baseball facility, too. I think we just
have to keep in mind that we do have a responsibility to our local kids,
and it's just not about the revenue. And revenue's important, don't get
me wrong, but I would much rather see something like this that still
meets the objectives and yet provides a little extra use that our local
kids could use.
I think Commissioner McDaniel was next.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. And thank you for going
to that slide. I was going to ask you to go there. You and I talked
about this yesterday. I've got a near and dear spot in my heart for
softball, baseball, and the like.
We have been representing this as an amateur sports facility for
the residents of Collier County. It needs to be profitable. I certainly --
and did read the report from our consultants as to where the highest
revenue generations are and what the greater trends are.
I would feel more comfortable with a layout such as this. Then
we've got the capacity to move and through from one to the other and
still provide for that growing need and profitability at the same time. I
assume there's a cost differentiation here --
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Of course.
June 12, 2018
Page 104
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- that we haven't really
actually gotten into, but it's -- this is for -- the premise of this is for the
residents -- is for the residents of Collier County. It's important for us
to make money with it, but it's also an amateur -- and I say it every
time I talk about it: It's an amateur sports facility.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Can I just make one followup question?
This version of the plan that's up there, I mean, I see that it's taking up
parking spaces. It's taking up -- I mean, have we done any analysis on
this version of it on feasibility?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: We'll have adequate parking. We've
already talked to the designers. In their contract, they can't do a lot
right now, but both Populous, Parker Mudgett, Davidson, and Rob, we
will expand the parking and some of the green space to the right. We
will accommodate the parking if we go to this version.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. Thank you.
I think Commissioner Taylor was next.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: You know, when -- and
Commissioner Fiala will remember this. Probably two years ago when
we started talking about Big Corkscrew, this room was full of folks out
in the east saying, give us some ball fields out there. We want
basketball.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Where's our park?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Or baseball, yeah. Where's our
park, but it was baseball. We have to drive our kids from the east all
the way in town. We're tired of that. Give us the baseball diamonds
here. And I always envisioned -- I mean, this is one commissioner.
This isn't a decision of the commission. Always envisioned that was
this sort of the center for baseball for this county.
Now, the city has a couple of baseball diamonds, and they're well
June 12, 2018
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used but, you know, I always -- it's a direct road out there, and it just
seemed to be centered. I was always so satisfied with it, and that's
your district, sir.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. And it was one of the --
our consultants that we hired to develop that park recommended no
baseball fields in the first phase, Jiminy Christmas. And I was able to
sway them off of that thought process, because we never know,
because it is a phased project --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yep.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: -- and we have all the uses
covered, so -- and it is time-wise, Commissioner Solis, right on track.
If I'm not mistaken, that first phase of the Corkscrew Regional
Park should be completed in the early 2020 mark-ish.
MR. HUNDEN: And if I may, Commissioners. I would just say
that certainly this is all preliminary. And I think one of the things that
we talked about for any event facilities that we work on, whether
they're convention centers, arena, or stadiums, or use sports complexes,
and indoor has this too, multi-purpose is the way to go, and because
you have the FIFA-sized fields here, you have that ability to actually
convert to these full baseball diamonds. It does cost you a little bit
more, and I don't know if -- you know, what that differential is; it is a
differential. But you could conceivably do that even on the other side
of this, too, as long as you programmed in the parking.
So that actually not only enhances what you can do locally during
the week for community practices and such, but if you were able to
expand on that idea sort of around this complex, you would have even
more flexibility for tournaments, too, and sort of be able to plug things
in as best as you wanted.
So it's just -- it's a question of cost, but it's not a question of
ability. You can design in this flexibility.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's good.
June 12, 2018
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CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: In terms of four baseball
diamonds there, I think what you just said is that we can accommodate
that; you would still have the four multi-purpose fields there, which we
could use for tournaments, but you'd have the flexibility of using the
four fields. There is some extra cost associated, but parking is not
going to be a problem, is what you said.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: No, sir.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, then, I agree with
Commissioner Solis then. We're not really competing with Lee
County here. We're providing some facilities for our kids. But I was
under the impression, for whatever reason, that you guys were
recommending not having those baseball diamonds because of some
utilization issues or some other issues. But if you're saying that that's
not an impact on this overall project, then I agree with you,
Commissioner Solis, that that's --
MR. CASALANGUIDA: That's why we provided the options,
Commissioners.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Flexibility. I think that's very
important to be nimble in this going forward, very important, because
things change like that, and if we don't have the infrastructure that
allows that flexibility, we're putting kind of money into something that
might be outdated. So I'm very pleased with your ideas and the way
this is going.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Well, if there's general consensus on
this, we're going to go into hard -- what I'll call hard design over the
summer. It will be on Phase 1, which is the left side of your screen.
Phase 2, which is where the multi-purpose, dual-purpose will come in
Phase 2, which is the part we still have to go through rezoning and
permitting.
But at least -- because we want to do an overall concept plan
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because that will, you know, define water management parking, and
we'll build Phase 1. But if this is the direction, we've got our marching
orders, we'll get going.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Fiala?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. I'm pretty much in agreement
with everything everybody else has said as far as baseball goes. So --
because we have three little small parks in East Naples, and one of
them only has a playground in it, so now we have two parks, right?
One of them has a baseball field, and the other one has -- well, the
school has a baseball field in the other one, so there's hardly any
baseball at all, and so -- but I think in our part of town soccer is the
most popular thing. We have a Mexi soccer team --
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Sure.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: -- that is huge, and they all get
together, families all get together, which I think is so healthy for
families. But one of the things we also have is a Little League field,
and all over and over and over we hear around the rest of the county
that people need Little League fields.
Our Little League field over there is very, very busy, but I see no
Little League field in here, and I was -- now, this park is going to be
easily accessible because of its location for a lot of people from all
over. It's going to be like a magnet, and I would hope that you
consider everything you've just heard, plus maybe Little League field
for the kids, too.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Well, these would be multi-purpose
baseball fields. You could convert them to Little League and a full
field.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Can you?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Possibility.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yeah. You just move the bases
June 12, 2018
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around and the pitcher's mound.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay, good; good.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: And just one last comment. Just one last
comment.
I think -- because -- and I can't remember if it's Barron Collier or
where one of the baseball fields is; foul balls --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: What did you say?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: -- in the lake.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Foul balls in the lake.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I know there's only certain things -- so
much we can deal with, but --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's funny that you brought that
up, because I was looking at this retention pond that was around the
second row down. It's all around. I'm like, what are they going to do
when they kick a ball out?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Right.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Hey, like that whole -- is that all
water over there? Could that be like racing for motors boats? I mean,
not -- you know, what do they call it?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: RC boats.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: RCs; yeah, boats.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: The big lake on your left is going to be
something we can all use. The smaller ones, probably not.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Retention, detention.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: We'll be sunbathing --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Just a thought.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: So at this point do you need some formal
direction on what plan we want?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: I think we've got it. I think we've got
the message and the consensus that we'll do the dual purpose on those
four fields, and we'll move forward.
June 12, 2018
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CHAIRMAN SOLIS: And I appreciate everyone being open to
that option.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: You jumped in front of me,
because I was going to do the same thing, so I'm all over it. I like it.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And you're allowed to jump in
front when you're the Chair.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: It's fun to see so much enthusiasm,
isn't it?
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, what's the pleasure of the board
here? We have one, two, three more staff items and communication.
Do you want to keep going, or do you want to break for lunch?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: What's the pleasure of the Board? Any
idea from staff how long the presentations will be?
MR. OCHS: Well, we're always optimistic until the Board gets
ahold of them.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: So we're not -- right.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: What are you saying?
MR. OCHS: I think we can be done in a half hour.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. Is the court reporter okay?
Because it's really -- well, it's been two hours. We could take a short
break if you need one, and then come back.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Let's do that rather than --
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Short break. Ten minutes? Okay. Very
good. Thank you. We'll come back at 12:36.
(A brief recess was had.)
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, you have a live mic.
Item #11C
June 12, 2018
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AWARD REQUEST FOR PROFESSIONAL SERVICES (RPS)
#17-7199, “DESIGN SERVICES COLLIER COUNTY SPORTS
COMPLEX” TO DAVIDSON ENGINEERING, INC., FOR
PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES IN THE AMOUNT
OF $4,854,383 AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO
EXECUTE THE ATTACHED CONTRACT AND THAT THE
APPROVAL OF THIS ITEM REQUIRES THAT THE BOARD OF
COUNTY COMMISSIONERS (BOARD) MAKE A FINDING
THAT THIS EXPENDITURE PROMOTES TOURISM –
APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, we're on to Item 11C. This is a
recommendation to award design services contract for the Collier
County Sports Complex to Davidson Engineering in the amount of
$4,854,383, authorize the Chairman to execute the contract, and make
a finding that the expenditures promote tourism.
Margaret Bishop, your principal project manager from facilities
management, is available to make a presentation or respond to
questions from the Board.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Unless there are questions
from the Board, I'll make a motion to approve.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Third.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: There's a motion and a second to approve
the contract that is 11C. All in favor?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any opposed?
June 12, 2018
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(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: It's approved.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Good presentation, Margaret.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Congratulations.
MR. OCHS: Thank you, Commissioners.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I like that.
MR. OCHS: Very efficient, Margaret. Thank you.
Item #11D
AN AMENDMENT TO THE JANUARY 12, 2016, AGREEMENT
BETWEEN CROWDERGULF JOINT VENTURE, INC. AND THE
COUNTY TO ADD ADDITIONAL LINE ITEMS TO THE
EXISTING CONTRACT TO PERFORM WATERWAY DEBRIS
REMOVAL WITHIN THE ORIGINAL SCOPE OF WORK OF
THE CONTRACT AND TO OBTAIN DIRECTION FOR WORK
IN CRITICAL AREAS DOWNSTREAM OF THE MAIN COLLIER
COUNTY STORMWATER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, AS PART
OF THE STORMWATER DEBRIS INITIATIVE - MOTION TO
APPROVE STAFF’S RECOMMENDATION – APPROVED
MR. OCHS: Item 11D is a recommendation to authorize an
amendment to the January 12th, 2016, agreement with CrowderGulf
Joint Ventures to add additional line items to that contract to perform
waterway debris removal within the scope of the contract and also to
obtain Board approval to work in some critical areas downstream of
the main county stormwater management system.
Ms. Amy Patterson will make the presentation.
MS. PATTERSON: Good morning. Amy Patterson, for the
record, director of Capital Project Planning.
We have a planned presentation, but based on some new
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information that came to light yesterday afternoon, I'm going to give
you a little bit of background.
We've been working for six months with the national -- the
Natural Resources Conservation Services, which is an arm of the
USDA that specializes in providing funding for debris removal out of
waterways. It's a complicated process, a long process, but at 3 o'clock
yesterday, you can see on the visualizer, we were given notification by
NRCS that we are going to be awarded funding for debris removal out
of the waterways, which is good news and a little bit of bad news
simply because there's a process now that has to be followed as far as
the timing of this waterway debris removal.
We'll be working through the process with NRCS now to get the
agreements in place and executed that will come back to the Board of
County Commissioners but, essentially, once NRCS has notified us of
this grant award, all other work stops for debris removal, waterway;
otherwise, that debris removal can't be funded.
So let me take you through our presentation of kind of where
we're at. We have been working diligently on the county-owned and
maintained system, and that's been going really well, but what we've
been left with is the areas that are the receiving waters for the rest -- for
the county stormwater system. These are -- we call them the navigable
waterways or tidally influenced waterways, and they're essential,
obviously, for providing flood protection, being able to receive that
water out of the stormwater system throughout the county.
So some of these places are very affected by debris. They are
blocked by debris in some locations. And we have a plan moving
forward. We'll break that out for you.
So I'm going to walk you through the locations. You'll be
familiar with probably most of these. And you can see many of the
pictures and data points for where we have located debris and debris
that will be moved. The Cocohatchee River and Palm River, pretty
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significant debris. This is one that a lot of the commissioners have
been hearing about as far as a large tree and some what I call friends of
the tree that are nearly blocking or completely blocking the waterway.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Friends of the tree?
MS. PATTERSON: Well, Nick calls it Amy's tree, which is --
I'm not sure if that's good or bad.
Next location is the lower Gordon River. This area has been
maintained by the county in the past. And we look at these tidal waters
a little bit differently than the things roadside and the regular
county-maintained areas. They are maintained on an as-needed basis.
This is the area that is south of Golden Gate Parkway, and it is
heavily ladened with debris. You can see these pictures of some of our
staff trying to kayak through here.
This is the receiving water for areas that were affected badly by
Hurricane Irma, and we are quite anxious to get in here and get this
debris out. This is highly prioritized for debris removal.
Rock Creek, you'll -- this is actually pretty close by. It is both
east and west of Airport Road and running down past the Rock Creek
campground and winding around down to Brookside. There's a fair
amount of debris, including some structural debris in there: A rooftop
and a gazebo that need to be removed.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's really serious there.
MS. PATTERSON: It is very serious there, and it is also very
serious on the other side, east of Airport Road, in the areas that the
county maintains. A portion has been cleared, and the rest remains to
be cleared.
Haldeman Creek. This does have a dredging MSTU; however,
that does not address hurricane debris. We have been in coordination
with the MSTU as well as the CRA keeping in contact on the debris in
those waterways, and we'll be -- again, this one is on the list, and we
have located the debris in this location.
June 12, 2018
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Henderson Creek -- and we're moving on really quickly here now.
Those were the critical areas. I'm going to move on and touch a couple
more of these tidally influenced areas or navigable waterways that are
maybe less critical immediately but are long-term goals. And we have
a couple of plans to coordinate on these areas. This is Henderson
Creek, Eagle Creek, and this is actually -- a portion is contained within
Rookery Bay.
We are in coordination with Rookery Bay to apply for a NOAA
grant for debris removal, so we see this one as long term. This is a
great partnership opportunity. The NOAA grant that Rookery is
applying for also may provide funding for other areas, but we're
focusing in, because of it being Rookery Bay, on an area near and dear
to Rookery Bay.
The Vanderbilt finger canals, we are working with FEMA on
assessment for silt related to the washouts. This is not a navigational
silt assessment but rather one to do with the seawall collapses and the
silt the poured into the end caps of those canals as a result of the
hurricane. We're working with FEMA through this process.
Okay. So this gets us to our recommendation. Two areas that we
consider imminent are the major blockages in Palm River and the
major debris in the lower Gordon River. What -- we're seeking Board
approval to move forward regardless of the ability to get agency
reimbursement on these two areas at a cap of $1.55 million that would
be local funds. That is to ensure flood protection for these areas.
We'll continue, then, through the Irma reimbursement process
with NRCS, and that would allow us to touch these other areas as well
as the areas that we're working on that are already identified as county
owned and maintained; for example, Golden Gate City and State Road
29. Both of those areas are heavily debris ladened, but they do have
capacity to continue to pass stormwater flows.
The total estimated costs of these areas is based on a -- probably a
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pretty substantial measuring stick, and we hope that the costs will not
come in nearly the 7.5 million, but we wanted to give you what we
view to be probably the worst-case scenario.
Just to recap, the long term also that we're working on, Henderson
Creek and Eagle Creek, a NOAA grant with Rookery, Vanderbilt
finger canals for silt; Horse Creek we're looking at as a part of Palm
River and Cocohatchee pending an engineering assessment on the
debris in there.
And U.S. 41 ditch, I didn't have a picture of this, but there's some
areas that have some debris, and we're going to work with FDOT to
coordinate some debris removal out of that area, bringing us to our
next steps.
As I said, we're seeking board direction to proceed with debris
removal in the imminent areas. We're asking today to be allowed to
execute the amendment to the CrowderGulf contract to include the
waterway, land, and marine-based rates with us then being able to
mobilize the marine-based removal on or about June 25th. That would
just be for the lower Gordon River, anything needed in Palm River to
be able to pull the major debris out, and then being prepared for the
major removals once we are through the NRCS process.
We are planning to bring the agreement with NCRS to the Board
on June 26th. The remaining process to execute the NRCS funding
agreement is estimated at six to eight weeks. We will do everything
we can to expedite, and we will monitor all critical areas for any
increased flooding risks, and should something like that occur, we'll be
back to the Board with a plan of action.
This is a list of our funding sources. All of this is being funded
within Growth Management. We have deferred capital projects to be
able to fund this debris mission.
And with that, I will turn it over to you, any questions that you
may have on this process moving forward.
June 12, 2018
Page 116
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner McDaniel, you were first.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. You predominantly were
talking about drainage stormwater outflows and the like. There are
still navigable waters that are having issues with debris that blew in
from the storm, predominantly in Everglades City, Chokoloskee,
Plantation. Whose responsibility is that to clean those?
MS. PATTERSON: So FDEP, Florida Department of
Environmental Protection, had some money for debris removal in
those areas. They did expend all of the funds that had been allocated
and are waiting for an additional tranche of money to be able to
proceed forward with additional debris removal in those areas that are
considered waters of the state or under some sort of state or federal
jurisdiction.
Now, when we talk about canals, things like up at Vanderbilt --
that's why we're making the delineation --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I saw that.
MS. PATTERSON: -- we're making the delineation about the
silt. There's a difference on what we're dealing with as far as a result
of the hurricane and then areas of the county that are experiencing
silting that's affecting navigation versus stormwater flows.
We're actually in conversations with a couple of other
neighborhoods in the county where they have siltation issues. They're
handled outside of this disaster process, but we're, you know, looking
at the options for being able to work through those issues
understanding that, you know, there are navigable issues throughout
the county that were, perhaps, exacerbated by Irma but are not tied to a
direct result of Irma or a debris-removal mission.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I did notice that you had
specified in the Vanderbilt canals that it was a silt issue, and
specifically in Everglades, Chokoloskee, and Plantation, there has been
silting issues going on that were exacerbated by the storm as well.
June 12, 2018
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MS. PATTERSON: Right.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Specifically in the river itself.
MS. PATTERSON: So our choices are -- and also it would
depend on location of whose jurisdiction it is. But on locations that
have experienced silting or shoaling in the past, it's been on a
case-by -case basis at the direction of the Board sometimes with
partnering agencies. For example, up near Palm River and
Cocohatchee, years ago there was some dredging done cooperatively
with the Water Management District. So it's really a case-by-case
thing. This piece here is very, very specific to debris and more specific
to impeding stormwater flow versus navigation or other safety issues.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I like it.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Taylor?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So I'm going to do some Monday
morning quarterbacking here. I notice the enormous charge for the
hauling of the debris for a greater distance that, you know, it's -- is
there any -- and I don't know -- and, again, I'm qualifying this. But I
had to ask you, is there anything that staff can do, our own staff can do
to modify that charge? You know, they haul it to a spot and then we
haul it off. Is there anything -- because it's not going to go on forever.
MS. PATTERSON: I would say the answer is no at this point.
We've negotiated the best rates that we can under the current contract
and conditions; however, what staff is planning to do on a going
forward basis is bring forward an RFP specific to waterway debris
removal being a completely different animal than other types of debris
removal. The distances, fortunately we don't have a tremendous
amount that are going to fall into the very, very long distances, but this
is something that we have to take into consideration when we award a
contract in the future for waterway debris removal. It is very, very
expensive, and it's very specialized.
So I hope that answers your question. We're kind of -- this is the
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best we've got, and we can do better in the future.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. Because you can't
bifurcate the contract and say, okay, we're going to take it to this point,
which means the lower fee, and then we're going to handle it from
there; you can't do that?
MS. PATTERSON: No, and it likely would be cost burdensome
anyway just simply because of the manpower and, additionally, the
FEMA regulations or the other agencies, they're very specific in the
way that the debris has to be handled and monitored from Point A to
the ultimate point of disposal.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. Well, I really support you
doing this, and, you know --
MS. PATTERSON: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- no matter what, this is so
important.
MS. PATTERSON: It is very important.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I mean, we haven't done it for
years because we haven't had the budget, and that's why it hasn't been
maintained. So I really appreciate your initiative in this and coming to
us saying, whether or not we're going to get paid, we need to do that.
That takes courage. I really appreciate the candor here; very
important.
MS. PATTERSON: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Commissioner Fiala?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Just simple. Kudos for the
coordination effort it took you to get through all of that stuff to this
point and marking the 25th of June, 26th of June to have so much of
this completed. I'm shaking my head thinking I don't know how you
ever did it, but good for you.
MS. PATTERSON: Thank you.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: And I just want to make sure -- so the
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Palm River and the lower Gordon River items are -- those are
imminent, and we're going to start doing those regardless of the NCRS
(sic)?
MS. PATTERSON: That is correct.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. I just wanted to make sure.
MS. PATTERSON: That is correct. Now, we may revisit those
areas once -- we're going to get the major blockages out, and then once
we're coordinated with NRCS, we might be able to go back to get the
rest, things that are submerged or things that aren't causing immediate
problems.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Right. And I'd like to point out that Ken
Humiston's over here. We had a lot of help from the community --
MS. PATTERSON: They were great.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: -- to identify these areas which are in a lot
of places not, you know, areas that are easy to get to in people's yards
and things behind their houses. So thanks for all the help that you gave
us in Palm River.
MR. HUMISTON: You're welcome.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Great job. Thanks.
MS. PATTERSON: Thank you.
MR. MILLER: Mr. Chairman, Mr. Humiston has signed up to
speak for this item.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Oh, yeah. Come on.
MR. MILLER: I figured now might be the time.
MR. HUMISTON: I'm Ken Humiston. I am a resident of Palm
River, so I'm here to selfishly ask that you at least clean up the debris
in Palm River.
Now, I've been involved in this since right after the storm when
Commissioner Solis came out to personally look at the damage, and I
want to thank the commissioner for the time that he spent supporting
us and the time that he's -- valuable time he's spent reading my long
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emails.
And I'd also like to thank Nick and Amy for the really efficient,
responsive way that they've handled this, and I'd echo what
Commissioner Fiala said about the amount of stuff that they had done.
I'm glad I came down today just for the sake of having seen
Amy's presentation about the amount of things that she's been dealing
with. It's a lot more than just Palm River.
But in Palm River, I mean, we had a serious flooding problem,
and it really is a problem because it's -- there is -- we're downstream of
a county drainage basin that runs into our drainage, and the Water
Management District was releasing so much water out of the
Cocohatchee Canal which intersects with the lower end of our drainage
that we had a backwater.
We had water flowing into our river from both ends. And one
reason for that is something that Amy mentioned, the accumulation of
silt in some of these areas downstream in the Cocohatchee River. That
blocks the water from the Water Management District and contributes
to that backwater.
And we had water that was four to five feet over the banks of
Horse Creek, which is what Palm River's original name was.
I wish I had a more accurate measurement, but I can tell you that
it was within inches of people's doorstep. And if we had had just a few
more inches of water, there would have been a lot of damage to homes
in that area.
So I thank you very much for your time and appreciate your
support.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yeah. That picture of that tree across the
river really doesn't do it justice. It's a pretty big tree. It's a big tree, so...
MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, if I could get a motion and a second
to approve the staff recommendations as presented and contained in
the executive summary.
June 12, 2018
Page 121
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So move.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Motion and a second to approve the
recommendations. All in favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any opposed?
(No response.)
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: It's approved.
MR. OCHS: Thank you very much, Commissioners.
Item #11E
RESOLUTION 2018-104: THE COLLIER AREA TRANSIT (CAT)
FARE STUDY, ASSOCIATED RECOMMENDATIONS AND
APPROVE A FARE MODIFICATION ON BOTH THE FIXED-
ROUTE AND THE PARATRANSIT TRANSPORTATION
SYSTEMS – ADOPTED
MR. OCHS: That takes us to Item 11E. This is a
recommendation to approve the Collier Area Transit Fare Study,
associated recommendations, and modifications to both the fixed-route
and paratransit system fees.
And Michelle Arnold will make that presentation.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: So, Michelle, how did you get
that ticket for a stock image? How did you do that?
MS. ARNOLD: How did I get this ticket?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah.
June 12, 2018
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MS. ARNOLD: Well, I'm going to have to -- that's the consultant
that did that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: It was very good.
MR. FARWELL: Our graphics people do that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah. You did a good job with it.
MS. ARNOLD: For the record, again, Michelle Arnold, Public
Transit and Neighborhood Enhancement.
I'm here today to talk to you about our fare analysis that was done
and primarily done by Tindale Oliver. Randall Farwell is here. He's
going to present for you-all all the efforts that were taken.
We started this study back in 2017, latter part of 2017. But the
last time an analysis was done for our fixed route was 2019 (sic) and
our paratransit is 2012 (sic).
So it's recommended that we look at our fares to make sure that
we're -- it's appropriate for the population that it's being served. But in
-- without further ado, I'll have Randy talk to you about what initiatives
were taken and what is being recommended, and I'll let him talk
instead of me mumbling here.
MR. FARWELL: Thank you, Michelle.
For the record, I'm Randy Farwell with Tindale Oliver. And good
afternoon, commissioner -- Chairman and Commissioners.
Most of you, I think, have seen this presentation. It was the same
one that I presented at the MPO board. I'll try to go through quickly,
because you may have questions at the end.
MR. OCHS: Well, Randy, let me just interrupt.
I don't know how many of you were present at the MPO that day.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: We all were.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We all were.
MR. OCHS: If you were all there, then --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Commissioner Fiala's already
got her light on.
June 12, 2018
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MR. OCHS: At the pleasure of the Chair and Board, we can
either go through this all again or we can go to questions or --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I'll just add a little something. On
top of the presentation you gave to the MPO, we also heard about --
I'm Chairman for paratransit system, and the paratransit system, all of
the group met, and they were the ones I was concerned about. They
didn't seem to balk at all about this, and so I'm saying that they are
behind it as well.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: So I'll make a motion for
approval.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Second.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: There's a motion and a second. All in
favor, say aye.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Aye.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Aye.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Aye.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Aye.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any opposed?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Outstanding presentation.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Great job.
MR. FARWELL: Thank you very much.
MR. OCHS: Very good, Randy.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: It just proves it's best to be
last.
MS. ARNOLD: I just wanted to just make -- for the record, that
there's two effective dates for the fares. There's an effective date of
October 1 for the bulk of the increase that's being proposed, but there's
one exception; effective today we want to be able to apply the student
discounts --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes.
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MS. ARNOLD: -- right away, so...
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Thank you for pointing that --
that was in there. I saw that, yes.
Item #15
STAFF AND COMMISSION GENERAL COMMUNICATIONS
MR. OCHS: Commissioners, that takes us to Item 15, staff and
commission general communications. I just have the one reminder,
Commissioners, that we have the transit workshop still scheduled for
November 6th, and I know that's election day, but I think we'll take
that when you come out of the break and see if that's still a good date
for everyone, so we won't move it right now.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That means determine if we're
going to November for our election. You understand that, right?
That's code.
MR. OCHS: That's all I have, sir.
MR. KLATZKOW: Nothing, sir.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: County Attorney?
MR. KLATZKOW: Nothing, sir.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Madam Clerk?
MS. KINZEL: Nothing; thank you.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Why don't we start down here this time.
We'll think out of the box. Commissioner Saunders?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I've got a couple things, and
they may take a couple minutes.
We've had a lot of, I don't want to say criticism, but there have
been a lot of comments from the public that there seems to be a little
bit too close a relationship between commissioners or staff with
property owners dealing with the Rural Lands West project. And one
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of the issues that came up at the MPO meeting was a discussion of the
interlocal agreements that staff is negotiating with the Collier
companies for -- and there'll be a variety of agreements, but the big
one, I think, is the developer agreement.
And I'd like to suggest -- and I had a conversation with the
County Attorney about this yesterday. I would like to suggest that we
retain -- that the County Attorney provide us outside legal counsel to
assist staff in the negotiation of those agreements. And the reason that
I'm suggesting that is I want to take away from certain members of the
public the argument that, you know, we're not being objective in
getting the best deal we can.
I've talked to Mr. Casalanguida about this as well, and I think it
takes a little pressure off staff. So that's a suggestion. We don't need
to make a decision today on that, but I'd like for everyone to think
about the potential for bringing on some outside expertise, legal
expertise in negotiating these agreements.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Outside of the county?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Outside of the county. It
would be a law firm outside of Collier County, because I think that
would show a great deal of independence.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I didn't catch what agreements you
were talking about.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Nick can help us out with a
little bit with that. The developer agreement is the primary one.
There's some utility issues.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: You've got -- you'll probably have a
general parks and rec agreement, you'll probably have a roadway
developer agreement, and you'll have a utility developer agreement.
MR. OCHS: Solid waste.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Solid waste. So you'll have probably
four or five agreements that will come to the Board as part of your
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review of Rural Lands West when it comes forward.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yeah. I mean, I think that's a good idea.
These decisions and these agreements are going to be lasting
agreements that are going to go on -- I mean, this is going to be going
on for decades. So anything we can do to make it a process that the
public can have confidence in, I think it's a good idea.
And there's so much misunderstanding about the RLSA and the
origins of it even. I was talking with staff the other day, you know,
and I had forgotten that the RLSA was the product of the county being
sued by the State over the effects that one per five development out in
Eastern Collier County would have on the environment.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It's actually the RFMUD.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Well -- and the RFMUD as well. I mean,
it's both; yeah, it was both.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But I don't --
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I mean, I'm just saying that I think it --
anything we can do to make the process one that the public has the
most confidence in, I'd be in favor of that as well.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Hear, hear.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And also, Mr. Chairman, I'm
glad you mentioned the misconceptions there and how this whole thing
got started.
When I first got elected, I took a flight over Eastern Collier
County, and I was amazed at the number of ranchettes, two-and-a-half
acre, five-acre ranchettes that are out there, and those do a tremendous
amount of damage to the environment. They're all on well and septic,
and there are no -- it's hard to get services out there, and it's just a
major environmental problem.
And so, of course, the Rural Lands West, by putting their units
together and preserving property, that's going to be a very significant
benefit to the environment.
June 12, 2018
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I've asked staff, Mr. Jamie French, I've asked him to take a look at
the number of ranchettes that are out there, because I think the public
will be amazed at how much land is being taken up with these small
ranchettes and what the potential is going forward if we don't have
these villages that we're putting together. I think that will be a good
story to tell, so...
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I have a comment, if I may,
because it's kind of outside the ordinary for us to go seek outside
counsel for staff to negotiate with a developer on a DCA, and it hasn't
been historically done that I know of.
We have done it in the past, relatively speaking, successfully, and
I just -- and I know, you know, when we were having our -- and I just
want to ask. I mean, this is the only time we get to talk about these
sort of things, is during the MPO process and the amendments with
regard to our 2040 LRTP there was several allegations made by the
public. Certainly misconceived with how, in fact, they derived their
information.
And I was just wondering if that was a portion of your impetus
here. My reservation to the thought -- I certainly don't want to take
away staff's capacity or their ability to negotiate the best deal for us. I
understand your rationale for above board and transparency. I just -- I
was wondering what the impetus behind this was.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: To the answer both of those,
impetus was the commentary from some members of the public at the
MPO about there being backroom deals and staff being too cozy, all of
which is -- there's no evidence of that at all, and this is not a criticism
of staff at all. I just want to give the MPO, the County Commission,
and staff a bit of cover.
Now, staff will be working with outside counsel. There's not
going to be a situation where we say, you know, go negotiate a deal.
Mr. Casalanguida and staff will be directing where things go. But I
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just thought it would give us a little bit of coverage in terms of having
some outside expertise. So that was the impetus of it was the
comments from the public.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. And do we need to
bring that up as an actual agenda item and have a vote on to engage the
public to --
MR. KLATZKOW: I could take Board direction and just
proceed, or you could take an executive summary. Board's pleasure.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm just concerned. I mean, the
applicant, the folks that are going to inevitably develop Rural Lands
West are not necessarily participatory in this thought process, and it is
a deviation from how we have been conducting business in the past.
So that's the reservation.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, I think that we can do
one of two things: One, we can bring it back on June 26th. I think -- I
have no issue with that. We have plenty of time --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Sure.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- if that would be the pleasure
of the Board. And maybe, perhaps, during that two-week period the
County Attorney can come back with some suggestions on how we
might proceed with that.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And delineate that and actually
engage some of those folks that expressed concerns during the MPO. I
remember those comments, in fact, being made, and we could actually
--
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: You'll have an opportunity --
MR. KLATZKOW: I'll bring an executive summary to the Board
and flesh out the issues.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Perfect.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Mr. Chairman, I did have a
second -- another item that unfortunately will take a little bit of time as
June 12, 2018
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well.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Can I speak to this before we --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Oh, sorry.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yeah. Commissioner Taylor just had a
comment.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm not sure that the people that
spoke out at the MPO are talking about our legal review. I don't think
they're talking about legal at all.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Not at all; I agree.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And the other thing is, is I think
the concern is that the -- and I do think we had a commitment from
county -- Assistant County Manager Casalanguida to bring a 30-day
review of where we are in the development of the developer's
agreement. That's what it needs to be. It's the transparency of the
process, not the transparency of the review.
The landowners in the east have -- are very well known, and they
have -- they don't spend much time in Collier County, but they spend a
lot more in Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. They have a long reach,
and I think right now we have a County Attorney and a County
Attorney's Office that works for us. Doesn't work for staff. He works
for us, that staff, and I think we should keep our current attorney but
follow through on County Manager -- Assistant County Manager
Casalanguida's concept of bringing the developer agreements as they
are ensuing, giving us updates. What are we talking about?
Let's be very, very clear. The settlement that the State of Florida
required Collier County to enter into was a settlement that said that
with this plan, RLSA plan, there would be no more population than
there would be with the five-acre ranchettes.
Unfortunately, we have found that with the credit system that was
enacted, we found out that that population tripled. So instead of
looking at 90,000, we're looking at half a million people. Folks feel
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tricked, feel betrayed. The transparency of this process going forward
is very, very important, and that's all, I think, anybody's asking for, and
not to come to us in a meeting.
They want to be part of the process because, frankly, it's our tax
dollars at work here, make no question about it.
Infrastructure does not pay -- growth does not pay for a lot of
infrastructure, and there's a lot of infrastructure going to be required
out there.
So rather than go and get an outside attorney and then we have to
decide, well, does he -- you know, where in the world is this attorney,
and are they accomplished and is it land use and all these things, let's
just have the process brought to us as a commission in open meetings
over a long period of time and let the people comment and learn about
it as it unfolds.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: And I would just ask one other thing,
because I agree that there is a lot of -- I think there's a lot of
misunderstanding, I think there's a lot of mistrust, and even prior to
getting to that step, I would like for staff to come forward and give the
public a history in laymen's terms of how we got to where are today.
It's complicated. It was a long time ago.
I mean, even -- you know, there's confusion about the number of
credits and how the number of credits increased. You know, the
credits increased in large part, as I understand, in order to increase
early entry into the program, conservation. For restoration -- there
were additional credits that were added for restoration.
And so I think there's lots of confusion about how we got to
where we are today, and could we have just a very basic presentation
on how we got to where we are today, and then I think that would help
everybody moving forward, including the public --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: -- in this process so that everybody can
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understand it as best we can. It is a complicated process.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I think Kris Van Lengen has a
three- or four-page summary that is excellent on the history of this
whole process that should be distributed. Perhaps it should be on our
web page as well.
MR. OCHS: We'd be happy to do that. In fact, we were planning
to do that. Thaddeus can give you a little more detail on that plan.
MR. COHEN: Yeah. We were planning to do that on the 26th,
which is two things: One is an update of the Immokalee plan, an
update on the status of where we are on Golden Gate City, and then
also talking about the RLSA and RFMUD, we can include that, as well
as we briefed you on what that history is. We've got those points to be
able to distribute to each of the commissioners as well as have that
open forum.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Mr. Chair -- Commissioner
Fiala first; forgive me.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Well, being that you're going to
present it on the 26th, we're not going to be voting on anything with
that, though, right?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I just want to make sure, because I
don't want people to think that we're going to -- in the dead of summer
we're going to be voting on something that could affect them.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And that should be on the record as
well. It's just going to be for information purposes.
MR. COHEN: That's correct. It's to give an update as to where
we are in the process. The County Manager has asked us to do that.
As you know, two years ago, I believe it is, roughly, four restudy areas
were being looked at. We've completed, basically, two of them. We'll
be asking for transmittal on those, so that's half of the work that's done
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within that first-year period. So we're still moving forward on the
other two, you know, and then we'll provide you with an update as to
the series of steps that we're taking, the outreach we're doing to the
public, the meetings that we've had, the consensus that have been
brought together back in 2005, for example, as one of the touchstones
as we move forward, and then be able to give that overall perspective
as to how it is that we're going to move forward.
So we'll be able to accomplish a lot of the things that you're
talking about to provide that level of transparency that folks are asking
for.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I just asked that because I want to
make sure our public has every confidence in us that we're -- you
know, we're including them in our decisions. And, you know, as soon
as they don't have that right away, you know, things can look bad.
MR. COHEN: And we've had some outstanding meetings at the
North Regional Park in which we've had a lot of -- or some
participation, and that's been during the season. We started that off in
December, and we worked our way all the way through till March. So
that's typically, as I understand, the kind of season that we have here,
and there was a lot of opportunity for folks to participate at that time.
And you'll see from our schedule there's another series of entry
points for people to be able to continue to stay engaged.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Thank you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: As a point of clarification, I
just wanted to make sure that we weren't deviating from what we'd
already suggested via Commissioner Saunders and engaging another
lawyer to assist us with regard to this negotiation project. We are still
-- process. We are still going to come back with that?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: If that's the will of the Board.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: It was, but Commissioner
Taylor, I don't -- necessarily thought it was such a great idea.
June 12, 2018
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COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No, it's not my -- I'd rather hear
from the people concerned what they really want rather than assume
that we have to bring in another attorney from the outside.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: We're talking about
negotiating some very technical agreements --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: -- and providing staff the extra
assistance in helping guide where we can go with those agreements.
We're not talking about general policy issues.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right. And these are -- and
that's where she dove off into general policy issues with regard to land
masses that are out there, the RFMUD, the rural fringe mixed-use
district, the --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I wasn't aware that County
Attorney Klatzkow needed assistance for technical review.
MR. KLATZKOW: I'm going to bring back an executive
summary, okay. It's not just an outside attorney. It's also going to be
outside consultant to take the pressure off of staff and, you know, to
negotiate this thing. And it will be an executive summary, and the
Board can give whatever direction it wishes at that point.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, that's new. So now we're
adding a -- so why are we even here? Why are you here if we're
getting everybody from the outside to negotiate for the people that we
represent?
MR. KLATZKOW: I'm just trying to find a --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's ridiculous.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Ma'am, just for clarity, if I could, on
the consultant side, I already have outside consultants that review
traffic, and they don't work for developers. That's one of the
disclosures we have.
So, for instance, AIM Engineering is an engineering firm that
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strictly does public entities like governments, FDOTs. So when the
developer submits a traffic statement, our firm, the outside consultant
firm, reviews it and critiques it, and they provide me some guidance on
that. So that's -- I already have that to a certain extent.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. I'm comfortable with that
really, but not to bring out a consultant from the outside that is going to
be the consultant that I have to call in order to understand what's going
on.
MR. KLATZKOW: No, no. They'll be working for both me and
you.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That wasn't the intent of what
Commissioner Saunders --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, I think you two obviously
know more about this than I do. So maybe we need to make it a lot
clearer in the executive summary.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And just for information
purposes, I was chairman of the East of 951 Horizon Study back in the
day. I did serve on the five-year RLSA Review Committee. I do have
a fairly intimate knowledge of the interworkings and hidden
mechanisms of these land-use plans.
So I thought what Commissioner Saunders suggested was a pretty
large deviation because -- and -- but Commissioner Solis suggested is
we are going to live with these developer agreements, and we're seeing
the impacts of this right now with the agreement that the county
entered into with Barron Collier Company and Ave Maria.
And so having an outside counsel review, look at, consult with
our staff, I thought that was a nice way to go and could offer some
additional transparencies for us, so...
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Not when it's -- I think the -- I
think we need to go to the public to find out if they want an outside
counsel also. I don't agree to it. That's --
June 12, 2018
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COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: You know, the idea of going to
the public to ask if we should retain outside counsel on any subject just
doesn't make any sense. You know, if the Board doesn't want to do
that, that's fine, if you don't want to have outside counsel take a look at
this; I'm making the suggestion. But to say let's turn to the public and
say "what should we do" is just nonsense.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But I'm turning back -- I'm 180
degrees to what you started. You said we heard that the public said
that they weren't in confidence with what was going on, so let's get
someone from the outside. Let's go to the public that you heard at the
MPO to ask them.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Pick one of those people that
spoke and have them negotiate our agreements. That's a great idea.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I'm not -- no, I think we are
capable of negotiating our agreements. I think our County Attorney is
-- office is quite capable of doing it.
Matter of fact, they have more history than anybody we can hire
because they've been here through it, through the whole thing. They've
seen how it's gone. They've seen how it's -- they've seen the birth of
the RSLA (sic). Those are the people that I trust to be part of this.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: And I don't think that the suggestion is
somehow that either the County Manager's Office or the County
Attorney's Office is no longer involved.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: No, not at all.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Not at all.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I mean, this is just another layer of --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Economy.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: -- objectivity, is the way I look at it, for the
public to have some confidence that there aren't backroom deals. I
mean, we hear this kind of thing all the time. So they would have to
work in conjunction with both of you.
June 12, 2018
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Let me just make a suggestion. I like the idea of the County
Attorney bringing back an executive summary fleshing out the issues.
You know, there may be issues related to this that --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yep.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: -- you might be right. So why don't we
have the County Attorney bring this back, then we can have it in
writing, we can discuss whether or not it's a good idea or not, and we
can vote on it.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I agree, and we'll hear from the
public.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yeah. That's fine.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: The public that apparently has
started this process.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. I think we're -- we know where
we're at. We'll bring it back.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: We're obviously --
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: And, you know, we've commandeered
Commissioner Saunders' time. Sorry, sorry. I should have waited.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: If we'd started down here, we'd
have been done quicker.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I do have one other item that's
going to be even more controversial than that one.
And I've not spoken to the County Attorney about this. So, Mr.
Klatzkow, if you need me to stop talking on this issue, then just say so.
We have the litigation involving the golf course in Golden Gate
City, and it's on appeal. And it's a toss-up as to how that's all going to
ultimately play out. But I thought there might be an opportunity to ask
our staff if they could set up a voluntary mediation to see what may be
able to be worked out in terms of possible acquisition of that property.
And the reason I'm suggesting that as a possibility is that you've
got 160 acres of land east -- west of 951 that I think down the road the
June 12, 2018
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county's going to want to have, not necessarily as a golf course, but as
land that would be very valuable to the future of this community.
And so the question is whether or not we could ask the County
Attorney to contact the landowner, see if there's a potential for a
mediation to see whether or not there's an opportunity for the county to
acquire that property.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: I agree with that. It's wonderful that
you said it, because I was going to talk about golf course, but you said
it much better than I could, and I totally agree with that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: How long is this -- do you
anticipate this to take in terms of -- we're going for declaratory
judgment. I don't remember.
MR. KLATZKOW: We're on appeal stage. Figure about a year,
give or take a few months.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think we should wait. I think we
should wait. I don't think the economy is such that -- right now that we
want to pay prime amount, and I'm not so sure the economy's going to
stay the way it is today, and I think we have time to wait, and I think
we could.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Quite frankly, I would like to move
forward.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But you want to build a golf
course, right? You want -- you're thinking about using it as a golf
course.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Buying a golf course. You know, it's
already built.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And using it as a golf course.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Well, that would certainly be a
potential, but my suggestion is to have the County Attorney meet with
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the attorney representing the landowner -- I think that's Mr.
Yovanovich, if I'm not mistaken -- see if there's a willingness to have a
mediation of some sort, voluntary, that's all that it is, and see if there's
a willingness to make an offer to the county to buy the property.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I think that's a good idea.
That's two good ideas.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'm going to stop while I'm
ahead.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: That's three nods.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: You better stop while you're ahead.
Yeah. I mean, you know, as a recovering litigator, you know,
sitting down and at least trying to resolve something is -- a dispute like
that, regardless of the nature of it, is always something that I would
have recommended. It's never a bad idea to -- and if nothing comes of
it, nothing comes of it, but at least we've tried, and we could save the --
if there's something that we can all live with, then we'd save the
expense of -- hopefully of some of the appeal and the uncertainty. So
there's no harm in -- what do they say in Alabama? You don't go poor
for asking.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Better write that one down.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: So, yeah, I'd be in favor of just asking the
question.
MR. KLATZKOW: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Please.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I'm done.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: You're done. No more hand grenades.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Mine is mom and apple pie stuff.
I did have a question from a citizen about why doesn't Collier
County allow artificial turf in your front lawns? City of Naples does.
City of Marco Island does. I'm repeating that I don't know this for a
fact, but I do know in my neighborhood we have one artificial turf,
June 12, 2018
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which all the dogs avoid, which is probably a good thing, right?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Because it's too hot.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No. Just isn't the same.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: It's come up several times, and it's
never gotten to the point that anybody wanted to bring it forward.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Is there a prohibition?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: It's not allowed.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yes, there is.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: It's not allowed?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: It's currently not allowed, I believe.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But, you know, again, I'm not a --
I just needed to know, so -- I'm not so sure it's the right solution,
because in this email they included, you know, landscaping with that.
So I can kind of imagine the artificial trees and --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Astro turf and plastic flowers.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- and, yeah, the artificial plants
and the flowers that keep blooming in Collier County until the sun got
so hot they started to melt. So, you know, I'm just thinking that
perhaps we'll just say that --
And then also, do we have a -- is there a noise ordinance for cars?
I know we don't -- we used to inspect cars years and years and years
ago where the muffler was taken off and they would get, you know -- I
don't think we have a noise ordinance; is that correct?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: We have a noise ordinance on
property. So if you're running anything on your property and it's
generating noise we can measure it, but driving down the road, we
don't police that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: And that would probably be more
of a Sheriff's Department kind of thing if they started those state
inspections; is that correct?
June 12, 2018
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MR. CASALANGUIDA: I don't know that.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Okay. All right. So thank you.
And that's it.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Can I just go and then you --
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Sure. You go first.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: -- guys can finish off?
Very quickly, there's been a request from the CCLAC, the
Conservation Collier Advisory Board, that I think we all got a copy of,
asking for some direction on the investments. Everybody's seen that,
right?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: No, I haven't.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: You haven't seen that, County Manager?
Okay.
I will provide that. It came in a few weeks ago, and I didn't bring
it up. I know that each one of the commissioners got it. I'll provide
you a copy. I mean, the questions range from, you know, what's our
investment policy with the maintenance funds, and could we get a
better return and be more self-sustaining. Yeah, there's all sorts of
issues in that that maybe they don't appreciate.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Did that come from the
CCLAC or from somebody with regard to that?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: No, it came from the CCLAC.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I didn't realize that was an
official letter from them.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I think it's from the Chairman. It was from
Bill Poteet, wasn't it? Yeah.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Yeah, I think so.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yeah. Well, anyway, if that's not
something you're aware of, I'll provide you a copy of that, and I just
thought -- and I know that it came up again at the last CCLAC meeting
asking for some direction, so --
June 12, 2018
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MR. OCHS: Okay.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: -- you know, I think we should probably
respond somehow.
MR. OCHS: And we're happy to do that. Commissioners, your
July 10th meeting is going to be an all things Conservation Collier day.
You're going to see the ninth cycle list again as you asked to see.
There's some suggestions from the CCLAC on ordinance amendments.
I think Commissioner McDaniel, based on prior Board consensus,
is looking at some suggestions on the ordinance also at that time, so we
can certainly include, you know, a response to this letter, once I get it,
as part of that presentation.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. That was one.
Two, I'd like to thank everybody for the participation in the
workshop last week. I thought it was very, very helpful. I've gotten a
lot of good reviews and comments from people that we're going in the
right direction, so I appreciate everybody's support on that.
We have an opening on the Senior Advisory Committee. Murray
Hendel has resigned from that. So I don't know if -- I think -- just bring
that to everybody's attention.
Question for staff: I was just wondering if there's any update on
what the status actually is on those canal ends along Vanderbilt. Are
we making some headways on resolving those issues?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Yes. There's a temporary fix right
now. I think they're opening up the bids this week.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. It's going to bids. Okay.
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Right. Quotes. So we don't have to go
out to bid. Just get quotes. That's not FEMA reimbursable. That's
expected to be about $150,000-ish. Then the permanent fix they're
going to go for a FEMA grant so we can get the contractor back
working. So we'll have something in place the next couple of months
which will stabilize those ends, but long term you're going to have a
June 12, 2018
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long-term project as well, too.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. But are we going to get back to
working on Vanderbilt Drive?
MR. CASALANGUIDA: Yes, sir, as soon as that's done, that
stabilization in the next, I'll call it, 60 to 90 days, maybe sooner, the
contractor will come back in and be able to work on Vanderbilt, and
the two department heads will coordinate that, which they are.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Great, great. Thank you.
Other than that, that's all I have. Thanks.
Commissioner Fiala?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. A few quick things. The first
one is our CHP, Community Housing Plan, is come up but, again, it's
going to be brought to us at the end of June. And I was speaking to
Kathy Curatolo from the building community, and she said most of the
developers are not even around or cannot be around. And she said
they would like to participate in that. I think she -- anyway, she said
she was going to write a letter. I don't know if you got it yet or not,
Leo.
MR. OCHS: I got it, yes, ma'am, yesterday.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay, fine. And I said, well, I
would say if we could continue till October so that it -- because it's
something that's monumental to this community, and so I think that
people ought to be here to hear the presentation and hear, you know,
whatever comments are being made, including the development
community. So I ask that it continue -- be continued until the fall.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Can I ask him a question?
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Sure.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: By not having it approved or
you have it slated, is it going to be prohibiting us from achieving any
requests for grants or anything along those lines?
MR. OCHS: Not to my knowledge, sir.
June 12, 2018
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COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Okay. I'm down.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: But we're not actually voting -- I
mean, we're giving a consensus what we want to go forward with or
not, but we haven't gone forward -- there's no LDC amendments or
anything like that; is that correct?
MR. OCHS: There has been no LDC amendments developed as
a result of your guidance to date. The next set of recommendations,
again, are similar to the two groupings you already saw and were part
of the original recommendations of the plan.
Some of those may involve a request from staff to develop an
LDC amendment for future Board hearing, others may just be policy
issues up or down, but it can wait for as long as you want to wait,
frankly. I'm not recommending that, but you can do whatever you
want to do.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: I think this --
MR. OCHS: October --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: -- first bite -- we're getting
another bite at the apple; isn't that correct?
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: It's the next set of recommendations.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Right. But it's not something that
is going to come into law. It's more policy.
MR. OCHS: Some you accept that day, some you reject that day,
others you tell us need further development and bring them back in the
form of an LDC amendment that will go through that formal process.
Again, if the will of the Board is to hold off on that set of presentations
until the fall, we can certainly do that.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: The CBIA was requesting that it be
continued?
MR. OCHS: Yes.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Was that a request? Okay.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm okay with that.
June 12, 2018
Page 144
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Okay. And, oh --
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Well, what's the -- I think we need to give
staff some recommendation -- what's the Board's pleasure on --
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I'm okay with extending till
October.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I don't have any particular
feeling one way or the other, if that's -- looks like that's what the
commissioners want, that's okay by me.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay. That looks like the consensus is
that we can roll it to October.
MR. OCHS: Very good.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: And the second thing is is it's just --
I'm not trying to promote anybody's business or anything, although I
am going to, come to think of it, and that is a group that just contacted
me the other day; it's called Handy Vets. And they came into my
office, and this fellow is a general contractor. He's licensed and
approved as a general contractor, and not only in Collier County, but in
Lee County as well.
And he started in Lee. He's gotten down into Collier now. He
lives on Marco Island, and he's gathering together vets who, for one
reason or another, have no vocation, sometimes are feeling a little bit
lost as they come back from duty, as sometimes even having some
problems getting back into the mainstream of life.
So he is teaching them, he and a core of other vets are teaching
them a new vocation, whether it be electric, plumbing, house -- you
know, house siding or whatever it is, roofing, and they're going to be
offering their service. And I just think it's such a great thing. And I'm
not giving you their name or anything other than Handy Vets, but I
think it would be something that maybe somehow we could tell the
world that they have organized. And maybe through the veterans
associations or something I'll try and contact them and let them know
June 12, 2018
Page 145
that this is here, because other vets could also join in and maybe find
something to hang their hat on.
Thank you. I just think it's a wonderful organization. Thank you.
That's mine.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And had you stayed with the
regular schedule, we'd be done by now, just so you know. You went
thinking out of the box, and now we're taking too much time.
I wanted to ask if you-all had been or are aware -- I'm sure you
are, Commissioner Taylor -- with regard to the beach access ordinance
that the city's bringing forward and has coming up for a second vote on
Tuesday or, excuse me, this coming Wednesday, and it has to do with
customary use of beach and that sort of thing.
The senator's legislation that got passed this last time adds a lot of
discussion to the beach access. And I had a conversation with our
County Attorney about it yesterday. I'm disappointed that a large
portion of the beach access is ultimately going to end up in the court
system to be determined which side of the path that you're allowed on.
And I wondered if we would like to consider some -- a similar
ordinance to what the city is, in fact, adopting just to maybe get ahead
of the legislation that takes effect on July 1st.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Well, it's the state statute, and the
way -- why it was written like that, according to Senator Passidomo,
who I went to her and I said, oh, my goodness, what were you
thinking, she explained that in other parts of the state it became a
political football.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: And this is not?
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: No. When you put in the courts
-- well, that depends what you think of the courts. But it will go --
there will be no political football. Customary use will be determined
by the courts, not by a political body.
So in a sense it becomes more of a -- I don't know. There's a
June 12, 2018
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word for it. My attorney friends on my right and my left could
probably explain this a lot better and more eloquently than I do. But it
does seem the intentions were to get it out of the political realm, make
it a question of law, and that customary use factors in to everything.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right. And so therein lies my
-- I understood the statute. I understood what Senator Passidomo did.
I just wanted to ask your opinions as to -- and consult with our County
Attorney as to whether we thought it was something we might want to
do in concert with what the city was already doing.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I think Commissioner Saunders has his
light on, so...
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: He's been down there beating
that button.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I knew this was going to go
until 2 o'clock.
I'm glad you brought that up. I've gotten a couple of emails, some
phone calls about the customary use and the desire to have Collier
County adopt an ordinance similar to what the City of Naples is doing.
I read the City of Naples ordinance. It doesn't do a whole lot.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: It doesn't do anything.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Agreed.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: But it does provide some level
of, I guess, protection.
The question I would have is, under the state statute we'd have to
have our ordinance in place before July 1. Could we -- if we did
something, could we come back as an emergency ordinance June 26th
and then reenact it in a normal process but have it on the books in
advance if we did something at all?
MR. KLATZKOW: I could get it to you next -- I can get it to you
next meeting if you want, and you can enact it next meeting if you
want. I think I can still make the advertising deadlines.
June 12, 2018
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COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: What's it going to say?
MR. KLATZKOW: What I would do is I would probably take
the City of Naples ordinance, since that's the one everybody's
apparently chatting about, and just strike out "City of Naples" and put
in "Collier County."
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: That's why you can get it back to
us so quickly.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: And, you know, Mr. Pritt's
been the City Attorney for Naples for as long as any of us can
remember, and he does a darn good job.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Agreed.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: So there's got to be some
benefit to the city in doing that. And Mr. Klatzkow does a great job
with us, and I think if he took a look at that, maybe we would have
something that would be a little bit better than nothing at all.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: When Jeff -- excuse me,
Commissioner Fiala. I didn't mean to -- you had your hand up.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: That's all right.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I mean, when Jeff and I spoke
about this yesterday, there's an ordinance on our books already from
the '70s, I believe, that has to do with the subject matter with the
customary use. It mostly has to do with access, the ordinance that they
developed back in '76, I think it was, Jeff.
MR. KLATZKOW: Yeah, mid '70s.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Yes. So -- and I read through
as well, but it had more to do with the access issue to the beach than it
did whose side of the erosion control line or the high-water mark or
any of those things, which is, you know, a very nefarious designation.
MR. KLATZKOW: Commissioners, I don't think it's going to do
anything substantive. I think it's like chicken soup when you have a
cold. It will make -- I think it's going to make a lot of people feel
June 12, 2018
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good.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Now, wait a minute. Chicken
soup works.
MR. KLATZKOW: Well, my chicken soup is great. It's like
penicillin, but I'm Jewish. But, anyway.
Let me bring it back. It will cost, like, $350 to advertise. I can
bring it back for you, and at that point in time, if you want to adopt it --
it won't hurt.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: I was just saying, I think it's --
you know, let's go ahead and set it up that way, and it can't do any
harm.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Here's my cent and a half or one-cent
worth.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Watch it.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: You know, I agree with you, Bob Pritt --
Bob Pritt has been the long-time City Attorney and does a great job,
and I read his quote in the newspaper, which was a wonderfully
well-stated way of saying it really doesn't do anything, in my opinion,
because --
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: He did say that.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: He did say that. I mean, so I don't know --
my concern is, in Collier County right now we've had a couple of
instances where people have roped off beach. So far everybody's
playing nice, I think, in general. My concern is is if we do something
like this, then everybody's going to start squaring up needlessly. That's
my concern.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Would you be willing to have
Mr. Klatzkow bring this ordinance back so that we have two weeks to
evaluate whether or not that ordinance is going to be of any value and
at least have it set up? It's going to cost 350 bucks to do that, but I
think it's an investment that is worth making. We may not move
June 12, 2018
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forward with it, but at least the setup to move forward.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Yes, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: My concern is not things that are
unsaid. The impression that now we're creating a private beach to the
world really says we don't really want you here as tourism anymore,
because beaches are our greatest asset to the tourism industry. And if
it looks look we're trying to eliminate or prevent people from getting
there, I'm afraid it's going to hurt us some.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Right.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: So no matter how it says it, when it
gets through the newspaper and they're talking about limiting, I worry
about that.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: I guess the question is, do we want the
County Attorney to bring something forward so that we can have a
formal discussion in a --
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Sure.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: -- public meeting and a vote?
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Yeah. So it's set up so we can
-- you know, I think we have to do this before July 1, so...
MR. KLATZKOW: I've got to advertise and bring you the
ordinance, because after July 1st, we're done.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: The statute kicks in.
MR. KLATZKOW: The statute kicks in.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: That's the reason I brought it --
well, that's the reason we -- okay.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: All right.
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: I think we should.
COMMISSIONER TAYLOR: Let's talk about it.
COMMISSIONER SAUNDERS: Let's do it.
MR. KLATZKOW: Easy peasy.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Okay.
June 12, 2018
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MR. OCHS: Mr. Chairman, I apologize. I had one other thing
that I promised Commissioner Fiala I would remind her about, and I
didn't, and that was the East Naples master plan that you wanted to
speak about, ma'am.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Oh, thank you. Yes.
A couple times I brought it up, but we never really -- I never
asked you if I could have everybody's approval to allow -- to Mike
Bosi to work with the East Naples Civic Association to put up an East
Naples master plan. It's not just for the corridor -- I'm not quite sure
what it is, but we can't even move forward until we know if we can
have Mike Bosi lead us. Because I tell you, it's kind of like taking a
flock of sheep, and we don't know where we're going. We need
somebody who has some skill and background in forming a master
plan in order for us to do this.
And we're realizing we need to do this, because right now we
have no control. We get a lot of gas stations, and we get a lot of -- all
of these things, but no wonder we do. There's no master plan that says
you're only allowed so and so.
So we're just hoping that you would approve Mike to work with
us on a master plan.
Thank you, Leo.
MR. OCHS: We're happy to do it. I just can't promise that it's
necessarily going to be Mr. Bosi leading it. We may have to engage
some of our contract consultants to help us with some of this work
because your small planning staff is pretty much consumed with the
four restudies and the U.S. 41 corridor study that you recently initiated
and the work that's going on on Golden Gate Parkway. So we're happy
to do it. I'm just -- I can't guarantee that it's going to be Mike leading
every meeting.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: We'd be grateful for anybody to help
us, because we don't know what we're doing.
June 12, 2018
Page 151
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Well, there needs to be a staff
liaison of some sort.
MR. OCHS: Absolutely, absolutely. So if I have three nods,
we'll move forward on that.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Great. Thank you so much. It
probably won't materialize real, real quickly, but we're hoping it will
move forward.
Thank you.
MR. OCHS: You're welcome. I think the first thing we'll have to
figure out is what's the boundaries of the study.
COMMISSIONER FIALA: Yeah.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: Any other comments?
COMMISSIONER McDANIEL: Nope.
CHAIRMAN SOLIS: We're adjourned.
*****
**** Commissioner McDaniel moved, seconded by Commissioner
Saunders and carried that the following items under the Consent and
Summary Agendas be approved and/or adopted (Commissioner Solis
abstained from voting on Item #16A4) ****
Item #16A1
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND UNCONDITIONAL CONVEYANCE
OF THE POTABLE WATER UTILITY FACILITIES FOR NORTH
NAPLES HOSPITAL EXPANSION, PL20140000846 AND TO
AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER, OR HIS DESIGNEE,
TO RELEASE THE UTILITIES PERFORMANCE SECURITY
(UPS) AND FINAL OBLIGATION BOND IN THE TOTAL
AMOUNT OF $5,174.89 TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE
June 12, 2018
Page 152
DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT – A FINAL INSPECTION
WAS CONDUCTED ON APRIL 16, 2018, AND FOUND THE
UTILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE BY
STAFF AND IN COORDINATION WITH PUBLIC UTILITIES
Item #16A2
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND UNCONDITIONAL CONVEYANCE
OF THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR AVERY SQUARE PHASE 1 (F.K.A. BUCKLEY PARCEL),
PL20160003616 AND TO AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY
MANAGER, OR HIS DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE FINAL
OBLIGATION BOND IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $4,000 TO
THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE DEVELOPER’S
DESIGNATED AGENT – A FINAL INSPECTION WAS
CONDUCTED ON APRIL 24, 2018, AND FOUND THE
UTILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE BY
STAFF AND IN COORDINATION WITH PUBLIC UTILITIES
Item #16A3
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND UNCONDITIONAL CONVEYANCE
OF THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR IL REGALO, PL20110002004 AND TO AUTHORIZE THE
COUNTY MANAGER, OR HIS DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE
FINAL OBLIGATION BOND IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF
$4,000 TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE DEVELOPER’S
DESIGNATED AGENT – A FINAL INSPECTION WAS
CONDUCTED ON APRIL 19, 2018, AND FOUND THE
UTILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE BY
STAFF AND IN COORDINATION WITH PUBLIC UTILITIES
June 12, 2018
Page 153
Item #16A4 (Commissioner Solis abstained from voting)
FINAL ACCEPTANCE AND UNCONDITIONAL CONVEYANCE
OF THE POTABLE WATER AND SEWER UTILITY FACILITIES
FOR LAMORADA (FKA INDIAN HILLS ESTATES), PL
20160000179 AND TO AUTHORIZE THE COUNTY MANAGER,
OR HIS DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE FINAL OBLIGATION
BOND IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $4,000 TO THE PROJECT
ENGINEER OR THE DEVELOPER’S DESIGNATED AGENT – A
FINAL INSPECTION WAS CONDUCTED ON APRIL 12, 2018,
AND FOUND THE UTILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND
ACCEPTABLE BY STAFF AND IN COORDINATION WITH
PUBLIC UTILITIES
Item #16A5
FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE POTABLE WATER AND
SEWER FACILITIES FOR COUNTRYSIDE GOLF AND
COUNTRY CLUB, PL20160003676, ACCEPT UNCONDITIONAL
CONVEYANCE OF A PORTION OF THE POTABLE WATER
AND SEWER FACILITIES, AND TO AUTHORIZE THE
COUNTY MANAGER, OR HIS DESIGNEE, TO RELEASE THE
UTILITIES PERFORMANCE SECURITY (UPS) AND FINAL
OBLIGATION BOND IN THE TOTAL AMOUNT OF $10,815.92
TO THE PROJECT ENGINEER OR THE DEVELOPER’S
DESIGNATED AGENT – A FINAL INSPECTION WAS
CONDUCTED ON APRIL 26, 2018, AND FOUND THE
UTILITIES TO BE SATISFACTORY AND ACCEPTABLE BY
STAFF AND IN COORDINATION WITH PUBLIC UTILITIES
June 12, 2018
Page 154
Item #16A6
RESOLUTION 2018-97: FINAL ACCEPTANCE OF THE
PRIVATE ROADWAY AND DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS FOR
THE FINAL PLAT OF TEMPLE CITRUS GROVE,
APPLICATION NUMBER PL20140000514 WITH THE
ROADWAY AND DRAINAGE IMPROVEMENTS BEING
PRIVATELY MAINTAINED; ACCEPTANCE OF THE PLAT
DEDICATIONS, AND AUTHORIZING THE RELEASE OF THE
MAINTENANCE SECURITY
Item #16A7
RECORDING THE MINOR FINAL PLAT OF ESPLANADE AT
HACIENDA LAKES PHASE 1B, APPLICATION NUMBER
PL20180001084 – LOCATED WITHIN SECTION 23, TOWNSHIP
50 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST
Item #16A8
RECORDING THE AMENDED FINAL PLAT OF VANDERBILT
RESERVE, (APPLICATION NUMBER PL20180000356)
APPROVAL OF THE STANDARD FORM CONSTRUCTION
AND MAINTENANCE AGREEMENT AND APPROVAL OF THE
AMOUNT OF THE PERFORMANCE SECURITY –
W/STIPULATIONS
Item #16A9
AWARD ITB NO. 18-7254 “AIRPORT PULLING ROAD
LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE” TO SUPERIOR LANDSCAPING
June 12, 2018
Page 155
& LAWN SERVICE, INC. AND AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN
TO SIGN THE ATTACHED AGREEMENT – WORK WILL
INCLUDE COUGAR BLVD. TO VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
AND AIRPORT ROAD FROM U.S. 41 EAST TO COUGAR
BLVD.
Item #16A10
AWARD ITB NO. 18-7303 COLLIER COUNTY LANDSCAPE
BEAUTIFICATION MASTER PLAN “DAVIS BOULEVARD (SR
84) WHITTEN DRIVE TO SANTA BARBARA BOULEVARD”
TO HANNULA LANDSCAPING AND IRRIGATION, INC. FOR
$444,731.92 (PROJECT NUMBER 60193.1) (F.D.O.T.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT NUMBER 433173-2-58-01) –
PART OF THE LANDSCAPE BEAUIFICATION MASTER PLAN
Item #16A11
AWARD ITB NO. 18-7255 “PINE RIDGE ROAD LANDSCAPE
MAINTENANCE” TO SUPERIOR LANDSCAPING & LAWN
SERVICE, INC. – WORK AREAS WILL INCLUDE PINE RIDGE
RD. FROM U.S. 41 TO AIRPORT-PULLING RD.; PINE RIDGE
RD. FROM AIRPORT-PULLING TO LOGAN BLVD.; AND PINE
RIDGE RD. AND I-75 INTERCHANGE
Item #16A12
AWARD ITB NO. 18-7257 “VANDERBILT BEACH ROAD
LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE, PHASES 1 & 2” TO SUPERIOR
LANDSCAPING & LAWN SERVICE, INC. – WORK AREAS
INCLUDE PHASE 1, AIRPORT-PULLING RD. TO OAKES BLVD
June 12, 2018
Page 156
AND PHASE 2, OAKES BLVD. TO COLLIER BLVD.
Item #16A13
AWARD ITB NO. 18-7256 “GOLDEN GATE PARKWAY & I-75
INTERCHANGE LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE” TO FLORIDA
LAND MAINTENANCE, INC. D/B/A COMMERCIAL LAND
MAINTENANCE – FOR APPROXIMATELY TWO MILES OF
LANDSCAPE AND IRRIGATION MAINTENANCE FOR
GOLDEN GATE PARKWAY & I-75 INTERCHANGE FROM 66TH
STREEW SW TO 60TH STREET SW
Item #16A14
AWARD ITB NO. 17-099 TO INTELLIGENT
INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTIONS, LLC FOR "FIBER OPTIC
INSTALLATION, REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE" AND
AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE THE ATTACHED
AGREEMENT – FOR MAINTEANCE AND REPAIR OF MORE
THAN 200 MILES OF UNDERGROUND FIBER OPTIC
INFRASTRUCTURE USED BY COUNTY DEPARTMENTS
Item #16A15
AN INTERLOCAL AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE COLLIER
COUNTY TAX COLLECTORS OFFICE, PROPERTY
APPRAISERS OFFICE, AND COLLIER COUNTY FOR THE
PREPARATION AND SUBMISSION OF COLLIER COUNTY
STORMWATER SERVICES NON-AD VALOREM SPECIAL
ASSESSMENT ROLL AND THE RELATED UNIFORM
COLLECTION AND ENFORCEMENT THEREOF – LEVIED AS
June 12, 2018
Page 157
A SEPARATE LINE ITEM FOR STORMWATER SERVICES,
FACILITIES AND PROGRAMS
Item #16A16
AFTER-THE-FACT APPROVAL FOR THE SUBMITTAL OF A
DERELICT VESSEL REMOVAL GRANT APPLICATION TO
THE FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE COMMISSION FOR THE
REMOVAL OF THREE (3) DERELICT VESSELS FROM
COLLIER COUNTY WATERWAYS IN THE AMOUNT OF
$42,500 – ONE IS A CABIN MOTORBOAT AND IS LOCATED
NW OF GOODLAND BRIDGE; ONE IS A HOUSEBOAT AND IS
LOCATED AT THE SW CORNER OF GOODLAND BAY; THE
THIRD IS A SAILBOAT HULL AND IS LOCATED IN THE
COVE NW OF GOODLAND BRIDGE
Item #16A17
WORK ORDER WITH HUMISTON & MOORE ENGINEERS,
INC. TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING SERVICES
FOR ANN OLESKY PARK EROSION CONTROL PROJECT
UNDER CONTRACT NO.13-6164CZ FOR TIME AND
MATERIAL NOT TO EXCEED AMOUNT OF $13,931,
AUTHORIZE BUDGET AMENDMENT, AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE WORK ORDER WITH HUMISTON
& MOORE ENGINEERS, INC, AND MAKE A FINDING THAT
THIS ITEM PROMOTES TOURISM – FOR STABILIZING THE
SHORELINE, COMBINED WITH AQUATIC GROWTH PEER
SUPPORT
Item #16A18
June 12, 2018
Page 158
CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A PERFORMANCE BOND
IN THE AMOUNT OF $7,720 WHICH WAS POSTED AS A
DEVELOPMENT GUARANTY FOR AN EARLY WORK
AUTHORIZATION (EWA) (PL20150002656) FOR WORK
ASSOCIATED WITH MILANO LAKES
Item #16A19
CLERK OF COURTS TO RELEASE A CASH BOND IN THE
AMOUNT OF $73,734.70 WHICH WAS POSTED AS A
GUARANTY FOR EXCAVATION PERMIT NUMBER 60.129,
PL20150001664 FOR WORK ASSOCIATED WITH FIRST
ASSEMBLY MINISTRIES
Item #16A20
RELEASE OF A CODE ENFORCEMENT LIEN WITH A VALUE
OF $124,827.11 FOR PAYMENT OF $944.34 IN THE CODE
ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS ENTITLED BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS V. 4463 EAST TRAIL, LLC, CODE
ENFORCEMENT BOARD CASE NO. CENA20140006693
RELATING TO PROPERTY FOLIO #00393920004, COLLIER
COUNTY, FLORIDA – FOR CODE VIOLATIONS THAT
CONSISTED OF VEGETATION LOCATED ON AN
UNIMPROVED PROPERTY WHICH WAS ABATED ON
DECEMBER 18, 2017
Item #16A21
RELEASE OF A CODE ENFORCEMENT LIEN WITH AN
June 12, 2018
Page 159
ACCRUED VALUE OF $83,463.33 FOR PAYMENT OF $513.33
IN THE CODE ENFORCEMENT ACTION ENTITLED BOARD
OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS V. ARTUR MUSZYNSKI,
CODE ENFORCEMENT BOARD CASE NO. CESD20160009711
RELATING TO PROPERTY LOCATED AT 1172 PARKWAY
DRIVE, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA – FOR A CODE
VIOLATION THAT CONSISTED OF UNPERMITTED
ELECTRICAL, PLUMBING, MECHANICAL AND
STRUCTURAL ALTERATIONS TO A MULTI-FAMILY HOME
WHICH WAS BROUGHT INTO COMPLIANCE ON MARCH 19,
2018
Item #16A22
PETITION VAC-PL20180000889, TO QUITCLAIM AND
RELEASE THE COUNTY’S INTEREST IN THE 10-FOOT
UTILITY EASEMENT LOCATED 5-FOOT ON EACH SIDE OF
THE COMMON LOT LINE BETWEEN LOTS 5 AND 6, BLOCK 1
OF NAPLES MANOR UNIT NO. 1, RECORDED IN PLAT BOOK
3, PAGE 57 OF THE PUBLIC RECORDS OF COLLIER COUNTY,
FLORIDA, LOCATED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF TAMIAMI
TRAIL EAST, APPROXIMATELY ONE HALF MILE EAST OF
ST. ANDREWS BOULEVARD, IN SECTION 29, TOWNSHIP 50
SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST, COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA
Item #16A23
COUNTY INCENTIVE GRANT PROGRAM (CIGP)
APPLICATION WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION TO FUND CONSTRUCTION OF
VETERANS MEMORIAL BOULEVARD FROM WEST OF
June 12, 2018
Page 160
LIVINGSTON ROAD TO OLD US 41 – IF AWARDED THE
COUNTY WILL PROVIDE A LOCAL MATCH WILL MATCH
WITH FUNDS FROM ONE OF MORE OR THE FOLLOWING
SOURCES: IMPACT FEES, GAS TAXES AND/OR GENERAL
FUND REVENUES
Item #16A24
COUNTY INCENTIVE GRANT PROGRAM (CIGP)
APPLICATION WITH THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION TO FUND CONSTRUCTION OF THE
WIDENING OF AIRPORT ROAD FROM VANDERBILT BEACH
ROAD TO IMMOKALEE ROAD - FOR APPROXIMATELY TWO
MILES OF ROAD FOR WHICH A LOCAL MATCH SOURCE
WILL BE DETERMINED AT THE TIME OF AWARD
Item #16A25
A BUDGET AMENDMENT TO RECOGNIZE REVENUE FOR
THE MANATEE ROAD INTER-LOCAL AGREEMENT, WITHIN
THE ROAD MAINTENANCE RESURFACING PROJECT #60131
IN THE AMOUNT OF $72,456.68 – ON MANATEE ROAD
Item #16A26
A WORK ORDER WITH APTIM ENVIRONMENTAL &
INFRASTRUCTURE INCORPORATED UNDER CONTRACT
NO.15-6382 FOR TIME AND MATERIAL NOT TO EXCEED
$23,944 TO PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL ENGINEERING
SERVICES RELATED TO SUBMISSION OF THE COUNTY’S
2018/19 SHORE PROTECTION PROJECTS TO THE FLORIDA
June 12, 2018
Page 161
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION FOR
FUNDING ASSISTANCE, AUTHORIZE THE CHAIRMAN TO
EXECUTE THE WORK ORDER, AND MAKE A FINDING THAT
THIS ITEM PROMOTES TOURISM - AT SOUTH MARCO
ISLAND AND COLLIER COUNTY BEACH RENOURISHMENT
PROJECTS AND THE COUNTY’S INLET PROJECTS AT
WIGGINS PASS AND DOCTORS PASS
Item #16A27
AMENDMENT NO. 1 TO THE DEPARTMENT OF
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION (DEP) AGREEMENT NO.
S0859 WITH THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS FOR
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NAPLES PARK AREA/BASIN
INFRASTRUCTURE OPTIMIZATION FOR STORMWATER,
WATER AND WASTEWATER (PHASE I) TO EXTEND THE
PERIOD OF THE AGREEMENT BY 365 CALENDAR DAYS
AND TO UPDATE THE LANGUAGE UNDER CERTAIN
SECTIONS OF THE AGREEMENT – EXTENDING IT TO JUNE
30, 2019
Item #16A28
AWARD ITB NO. 18-7253 “GOODLETTE FRANK ROAD
LANDSCAPE MAINTENANCE” TO FLORIDA LAND
MAINTENANCE, INC. D/B/A COMMERCIAL LAND
MAINTENANCE – WORK AREA INCLUDES GOLDEN GATE
PARKWAY TO PINE RIDGE RD.; PINE RIDGE RD. TO
VANDERBILT BEACH RD. INCLUDING THE BERM ON
HICKORY RD. AND VANDERBILT BEACH RD. SOUTH
June 12, 2018
Page 162
Item #16B1
CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE A COMMERCIAL BUILDING
IMPROVEMENT GRANT AGREEMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF
$50,000 FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT 2905 DAVIS BLVD.
LOCATED WITHIN THE BAYSHORE GATEWAY TRIANGLE
COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AREA – THE OWNER IS
DAVIS COMMUNITY DENTAL HEALTH, LLC
Item #16B2
CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE A COMMERCIAL BUILDING
IMPROVEMENT GRANT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE
COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY AND DOCTOR
ROBERT MARCH/TENNESSEE JED, LLC IN THE AMOUNT OF
$30,000 FOR THE PROPERTY LOCATED AT 2662 DAVIS
BOULEVARD, NAPLES FLORIDA 34104 LOCATED WITHIN
THE BAYSHORE GATEWAY TRIANGLE COMMUNITY
REDEVELOPMENT AREA – FOR THE HARBORSIDE ANIMAL
CLINIC
Item #16B3
CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE A COMMERCIAL BUILDING
IMPROVEMENT GRANT AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE
COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY AND NAPLES 2.0
LLC IN THE AMOUNT OF $30,000 FOR THE PROPERTY
LOCATED AT 2080 BECCA AVENUE (CELEBRATION FOOD
TRUCK PARK) LOCATED WITHIN THE BAYSHORE
GATEWAY TRIANGLE COMMUNITY REDEVELOPMENT
AREA – FOR THE CELEBRATION FOOD TRUCK PARK
June 12, 2018
Page 163
Item #16C1
A BUDGET AMENDMENT REALLOCATING EXISTING FY18
WATER DIVISION RESERVE FUNDING IN THE AMOUNT OF
$418,000 FOR THE EMERGENCY REPAIR PROGRAM TO
ENSURE CONTINUED COMPLIANCE FOR THE COLLIER
COUNTY WATER-SEWER DISTRICT’S POTABLE WATER
DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM – ALONG COLLIER BLVD.
Item #16C2
APPROPRIATE REVENUE TO THE FACILITIES
MANAGEMENT DIVISION COST CENTER IN THE AMOUNT
OF $140,500 FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018 AND AUTHORIZE ALL
NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS - FOR THE
MAINTENANCE, REPAIR, CAPITAL REPLACEMENT, AND
CONSTRUCTION OF COUNTY OWNED BUILDINGS AND
FACILITIES
Item #16C3
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL
PROTECTION (FDEP) AMENDED AND RESTATED
CONTRACT NO. GC919 AUTHORIZING COLLIER COUNTY
TO ADMINISTER FDEP’S STORAGE TANK SYSTEM
COMPLIANCE VERIFICATION PROGRAM – HELPING TO
PROTECT THE GROUNDWATER, FRESHWATER, SURFACE
WATERS AND OTHE NON-TIDAL WATER RESOURCES
FROM ALL SOURCES OF POLLUTION IN THE COUNTY
June 12, 2018
Page 164
Item #16C4
AWARD A REQUEST FOR QUOTE (RFQ) TO J & J
WATERPROOFING, LLC, IN THE AMOUNT OF $76,540, TO
PROVIDE THE LABOR, MATERIAL, AND EQUIPMENT TO
FURNISH AND INSTALL THE WET SEALING OF THE NORTH
AND EAST ELEVATIONS ALUMINUM AND GLASS
WINDOWS OF THE COLLIER COUNTY COURTHOUSE – IN
THE ORIGINAL COURTHOUSE DUE TO DAMAGE FROM
HURRICANE IRMA
Item #16D1
TERMINATE FOR CONVENIENCE CONTRACT NO. 14-6248
WITH MOTHER’S PHARMACY, INC. AND COLLIER HEALTH
SERVICES, INC., FOR “PHARMACY SERVICES” – THE
SUCCESSOR OF THESE CONTRACTS WILL BE WOOLLEY’S
PHARMACY, INC. EFFECTIVE JUNE 22, 2018
Item #16D2
RATIFY FEE WAIVERS GRANTED BY THE DIRECTOR OF
DOMESTIC ANIMAL SERVICES (DAS) FOR THE PERIOD OF
JANUARY 1, 2018 THROUGH MARCH 31, 2018, IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE PROCESS ESTABLISHED BY
RESOLUTION NO. 2016-125 IN THE AMOUNT OF $360 –
REUNITING OWNERS WITH THEIR PETS THAT WERE
IMPOUNDED AT DAS
Item #16D3
June 12, 2018
Page 165
ACCRUED INTEREST FROM THE PERIOD OCTOBER 2017
THROUGH MARCH 2018 EARNED ON STATE AID TO
LIBRARY ADVANCED FUNDING RECEIVED FROM THE
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF STATE IN THE AMOUNT OF
$3,092.35 – SUPPORTING LIBRARY OPERATIONS AND
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS
Item #16D4
THIRD EXTENSION OF THE INTERIM MANAGEMENT PLAN
FOR THE CONSERVATION COLLIER WINCHESTER HEAD
MULTI-PARCEL PROJECT – EXTENDING THE INTERIM
MANAGEMENT PLAN TO 2020
Item #16D5
MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT (MOA) WITH THE
FLORIDA COMMISSION FOR TRANSPORTATION
DISADVANTAGED (FCTD) FOR THE CONTINUATION OF
THE COMMUNITY TRANSPORTATION COORDINATOR
(CTC) DESIGNATION – CONTRACT #TD-1803 WILL BE
EFFECTIVE FROM JULY 1, 2018 TO JUNE 30, 2023
Item #16D6
ONE YEAR TIME EXTENSION AMENDMENT TO THE
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (FDOT)
JOINT PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT (JPA) G0A60 FOR THE
FY15-16 SECTION 5339 BUS AND BUS FACILITIES GRANT
FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF AMERICANS WITH
DISABILITIES ACT (ADA) COMPLIANT BUS STOPS IN THE
June 12, 2018
Page 166
RURAL AREA OF COLLIER COUNTY – REQUESTING THE
JPA FOR THE ADA BUS STOPS IN THE IMMOKALEE AREA
EXTENDED TO DECEMBER 31, 2019
Item #16D7
RESOLUTION 2018-98: A RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING THE
EXPENDITURE OF COUNTY FUNDS ASSOCIATED WITH
THE SAFE AND HEALTHY CHILDREN'S COALITION DUCK
RACE FUNDRAISER AND WATER SAFETY FESTIVAL
SPONSORED BY THE SAFE AND HEALTHY CHILDREN'S
COALITION, A PART OF THE NON-PROFIT NCH
FOUNDATION, TO INCLUDE COST FOR COUNTY
LIFEGUARDS TO STAFF THE EVENT AND AUTHORIZING
THE WAIVER OF THE ENTRANCE FEE TO SUN-N-FUN
LAGOON TO ALL PARTICIPANTS OF THE GREAT DUCK
RACE OF NAPLES AND WATER SAFETY FESTIVAL
COMMUNITY AND TO MAKE A FINDING THAT THIS
EXPENDITURE SUBSTANTIALLY SERVES A PUBLIC
PURPOSE
Item #16D8
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN A MEMORANDUM OF
UNDERSTANDING (MOU) WITH WILDLAND RESTORATION
INTERNATIONAL (WRI), A NOT-FOR-PROFIT
ORGANIZATION REGISTERED IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA,
COVERING PRESCRIBED FIRE AND OTHER LAND
MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES FOR THE CONSERVATION
COLLIER PROGRAM, AT NO COST TO THE COUNTY – FOR
THE USE OF STAFF AND EQUIPMENT
June 12, 2018
Page 167
Item #16D9
THE FY2018 STATE AID TO LIBRARIES GRANT FUNDING IN
THE AMOUNT OF $237,496 AND AUTHORIZE THE
NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS – THE PURCHASE OF
LIBRARY MATERIALS, SERVICES, EQUIPMENT AND OTHER
LIBRARY NEEDS, LIKE HIRING TEMPORARY PERSONNEL
FOR DIRECT SERVICES FOR LIBRARY CUSTOMERS
Item #16D10
SUBSTANTIAL AMENDMENTS TO COLLIER COUNTY'S U.S
DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
(HUD) ANNUAL ACTION PLANS FOR FY2016-2017 AND
FY2017-2018 TO ALLOW FOR THE DOWN PAYMENT
ASSISTANCE PROGRAM TO BE ADMINISTERED BY THE
COUNTY AND PROVIDE THE OPTION OF COUNTY OR
SUBRECIPIENT ADMINISTRATION OF THE EMERGENCY
SOLUTIONS GRANT (ESG) RAPID RE-HOUSING PROGRAM
Item #16D11
CHAIRMAN TO EXECUTE THE STUDENT SCHOOL YEAR
AGREEMENT WITH THE DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD OF
COLLIER COUNTY FOR TRANSPORTATION SERVICES FOR
COUNTY RECREATION PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS.
APPROXIMATE SPENDING $50,000 – EFFECTIVE FROM JULY
1, 2018 UNTIL JUNE 30, 2019 WHICH INCLUDES SUMMER
CAMP PROGRAMS
June 12, 2018
Page 168
Item #16D12
A BUDGET AMENDMENT IN THE AMOUNT OF $109,223.24,
TO FUND THE ADDITIONAL IMPROVEMENTS TO THE
PRIVACY WALL, ACCESS GATE, AND PARKING LOT AT
CLAM PASS PARK (PROJECT #88043) ADDING 2’ OF WALL
SEPARATING THE PARKING LOT FROM THE CONDOS
Item #16D13
CHAIRMAN TO SIGN A MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT
(MOA) WITH THE FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE
CONSERVATION COMMISSION (FWC) TO ALLOW YOUTH
HUNTS FOR COLLIER COUNTY RESIDENTS AT PEPPER
RANCH PRESERVE IN NOVEMBER 2018, JANUARY 2019,
AND FEBRUARY 2019 – NOVEMBER 16TH -18TH FOR A DEER
HUNT; JANUARY 18TH – 20TH, 2019 FOR THE HOG HUNT;
FEBRUARY 22ND – 24TH, 2019 FOR A TURKEY HUNT
Item #16D14
WAIVE THE FORMAL COMPETITIVE PROCESS TO
PURCHASE OFF-SITE VETERINARY MEDICAL SERVICES –
AS DETAILED IN THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Item #16D15
COUNTY ATTORNEY TO ADVERTISE AND BRING BACK
FOR CONSIDERATION AT A FUTURE MEETING, AN
ORDINANCE AMENDING ORDINANCE NO. 2013-33, THE
COLLIER COUNTY ANIMAL CONTROL ORDINANCE - AS
June 12, 2018
Page 169
DETAILED IN THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Item #16D16
RESOLUTION 2018-99: A RESOLUTION DIRECTING THE
COUNTY MANAGER TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION TO
MAKE THE MINIMUM NECESSARY REPAIRS REQUIRED TO
FACILITATE THE TRANSPORT OF EMERGENCY SERVICE
VEHICLES ON BLUE SAGE DRIVE, AUTHORIZE ALL
NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS, AND MOVE
FORWARD WITH A REPAYMENT PROCESS
Item #16E1
RATIFY PROPERTY, CASUALTY, WORKERS’
COMPENSATION AND SUBROGATION CLAIM FILES
SETTLED AND/OR CLOSED BY THE RISK MANAGEMENT
DIVISION DIRECTOR PURSUANT TO RESOLUTION #2004-15
FOR THE SECOND QUARTER OF FY18 – FOR WHICH 104
FILES WERE CLOSED WITH EXPENDITURE OF $489,163.63
AND 10 SUBROGATION FILES WERE CLOSED FOR WHICH
THE RISK MANAGEMENT RECOVERED $65,250.85 IN FUNDS
OWED TO THE COUNTY
Item #16E2
AWARD INVITATION TO BID (ITB) #18-7304 FOR
TEMPORARY CLERICAL SERVICES TO PREMIER STAFFING
SOURCE, INC.; BALANCED PROFESSIONAL STAFFING, INC.;
AND SUNSHINE ENTERPRISES, INC. AS PRIMARY,
SECONDARY AND TERTIARY VENDORS
June 12, 2018
Page 170
Item #16E3
A BUDGET AMENDMENT TO FUND 516, PROPERTY AND
CASUALTY INSURANCE, TO PAY CLAIMS ASSOCIATED
WITH HURRICANE IRMA – AS DETAILED IN THE
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Item #16E4
CHAIR TO EXECUTE STATE- FUNDED SUBGRANT
AGREEMENT 19-BG-XX-09-21-01-XXX ACCEPTING A GRANT
AWARD TOTALING $105,806 FROM THE FLORIDA DIVISION
OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT FOR EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT PROGRAM ENHANCEMENT AND
AUTHORIZE THE ASSOCIATED BUDGET AMENDMENT
Item #16E5
REPORT FOR THE SALE OF ITEMS AND DISBURSEMENT OF
FUNDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE COUNTY SURPLUS
AUCTION HELD ON APRIL 21, 2018
Item #16E6
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR DISPOSAL OF
PROPERTY AND NOTIFICATION OF REVENUE
DISBURSEMENT – DEPARTMENTS DETERMINE IF ITEMS
STILL HAVE VALUE AND THE ARE EITHER DISPOSED OF
BY DONATION, TRADE-IN OR SENT TO SURPLUS; THEN
June 12, 2018
Page 171
REPORTED TO THE BOARD AS DISPOSED OR AUCTIONED
Item #16E7
ADMINISTRATIVE REPORTS PREPARED BY THE
PROCUREMENT SERVICES DIVISION FOR CHANGE ORDERS
AND OTHER CONTRACTUAL MODIFICATIONS REQUIRING
BOARD APPROVAL – RATIFYING AND APPROVING 15
CHANGE ORDERS OR CONTRACT AMENDMENTS AS
DETERMINED BY THE COUNTY MANAGER
Item #16F1
CHAIRMAN, AS A MEMBER OF THE SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
JOB TRAINING CONSORTIUM, TO APPROVE THE
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
BOARD, INC., PROPOSED FY 2018/2019 BUDGET -
PROVIDING RESOURCES TO JOB SEEKERS AND
EMPLOYERS
Item #16F2
RESOLUTION 2018-100: A RESOLUTION APPROVING
AMENDMENTS (APPROPRIATING GRANTS, DONATIONS,
CONTRIBUTIONS OR INSURANCE PROCEEDS) TO THE
FISCAL YEAR 2017-18 ADOPTED BUDGET
Item #16F3
INITIATE A PROCESS TO CREATE A STRATEGIC PLAN TO
GUIDE THE FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF ARTS AND
June 12, 2018
Page 172
CULTURE ACTIVITIES IN COLLIER COUNTY, AUTHORIZE
NECESSARY BUDGET AMENDMENTS, AND MAKE A
FINDING THAT THIS EXPENDITURE PROMOTES TOURISM –
PROMOTING COLLIER COUNTY AS AN ARTS AND
CULTURAL DESTINATION
Item #16F4
AMENDMENT # 2 TO THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN ALL
AMERICAN GAMES (AAG) AND COLLIER COUNTY TO HOST
THE 2018 FOOTBALL UNIVERSITY (FBU) EVENT, APPROVE
OPERATING EXPENSES UP TO $512,000 USING TOURIST
DEVELOPMENT TAX PROMOTION FUNDS, AUTHORIZE THE
CHAIR TO EXECUTE AMENDMENT # 2, AND MAKE A
FINDING THAT THIS EVENT PROMOTES TOURISM – THE
CHAMPIONSHIPS WILL TAKE PLACE DECEMBER 15-20, 2018
Item #16F5
A CHARITABLE ORGANIZATION IMPACT FEE DEFERRAL IN
THE AMOUNT OF $100,000 FOR NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTH
CLINIC, INCORPORATED IN ACCORDANCE WITH SECTION
74-203(I) OF THE COLLIER COUNTY CODE OF LAWS AND
ORDINANCES WHICH PROVIDES CRITERIA FOR IMPACT
FEE DEFERRALS AVAILABLE TO CHARITABLE
ORGANIZATIONS – LOCATED AT 121 GOODLETTE ROAD
NORTH AND PROVIDES SERVICES TO LOW INCOME
RESIDENTS OF COLLIER COUNTY
Item #16I1
June 12, 2018
Page 173
MISCELLANEOUS CORRESPONDENCE – ITEMS TO FILE FOR
THE RECORD
June 12, 2018
Page 174
Item #16J1
USE OF $500 FROM THE CONFISCATED TRUST FUNDS TO
SUPPORT THE FLORIDA MISSING CHILDREN’S DAY
FOUNDATION – RAISING AWARENESS OF FLORIDA’S
CURRENTLY MISSING CHILDREN, EDUCATING THE PUBLIC
ON CHILD SAFETY AND ABDUCTION PREVENTION
Item #16J2
THE COUNTY ATTORNEY’S OFFICE TO PARTICIPATE AND
REPRESENT THE COLLIER COUNTY CANVASSING BOARD
DURING THE 2018 ELECTION CYCLE – DURING THE
GENERAL AND PRIMARY ELECTION
Item #16J3
THE BOARD APPROVE AND DETERMINE VALID PUBLIC
PURPOSE FOR INVOICES PAYABLE AND PURCHASING
CARD TRANSACTIONS AS OF JUNE 6, 2018
Item #16J4
TO RECORD IN THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY
COMMISSIONERS, THE CHECK NUMBER (OR OTHER
PAYMENT METHOD), AMOUNT, PAYEE, AND PURPOSE FOR
WHICH THE REFERENCED DISBURSEMENTS WERE DRAWN
FOR THE PERIODS BETWEEN MAY 10 AND MAY 30, 2018
PURSUANT TO FLORIDA STATUTE 136.06
Item #16K1
June 12, 2018
Page 175
RESOLUTION 2018-101: APPOINT A MEMBER TO
CONSERVATION COLLIER LAND ACQUISITION ADVISORY
COMMITTEE – REAPPOINTING BRTTANY PATTERSON-
WEBER WITH TERM EXPIRING ON FEBRUARY 11, 2021
Item #16K2
RESOLUTION 2018-102: REAPPOINT TWO MEMBERS TO
THE CONTRACTORS LICENSING BOARD – REAPPOINTING
TERRANCE P. JERULLE AND RICHARD E. JOSLIN, JR., BOTH
WITH TERMS EXPIRING ON JUNE 30, 2021
Item #16K3
RESOLUTION 2018-103: APPOINT ONE MEMBER TO THE
BAYSHORE/GATEWAY TRIANGLE LOCAL
REDEVELOPMENT ADVISORY BOARD – APPOINTING JOHN
STEVEN RIGSBEE WITH TERM EXPIRING ON MAY 22, 2019
Item #16K4
SETTLEMENT FOR SUPPLEMENTAL ATTORNEY’S FEES IN
THE AMOUNT OF $8,103 RELATED TO THE TAKING OF
PARCEL 364RDUE IN THE CASE STYLED COLLIER COUNTY
V. STEVEN A. EDWARDS, ET AL., CASE NO. 16- CA-1327
REQUIRED FOR IMPROVEMENTS TO GOLDEN GATE
BOULEVARD (PROJECT NO. 60145) [FISCAL IMPACT: $8,103]
Item #17A
June 12, 2018
Page 176
ORDINANCE 2018-29: AN ORDINANCE AMENDING
ORDINANCE NO. 2004-41, AS AMENDED, THE COLLIER
COUNTY LAND DEVELOPMENT CODE, WHICH
ESTABLISHED THE COMPREHENSIVE ZONING
REGULATIONS FOR THE UNINCORPORATED AREA OF
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA BY AMENDING THE
APPROPRIATE ZONING ATLAS MAP OR MAPS BY
CHANGING THE ZONING CLASSIFICATION OF THE HEREIN
DESCRIBED REAL PROPERTY FROM A RURAL
AGRICULTURAL (A) ZONING DISTRICT TO A COMMERCIAL
PLANNED UNIT DEVELOPMENT (CPUD) ZONING DISTRICT
FOR THE PROJECT KNOWN AS TORRES FAMILY TRUST
CPUD TO ALLOW DEVELOPMENT OF UP TO 60,000 SQUARE
FEET OF GROSS FLOOR AREA OF COMMERCIAL USES
INCLUDING AIR CONDITIONED MINI SELF-STORAGE
WAREHOUSING, AND ALLOWING ASSISTED LIVING
FACILITIES AT A FLOOR AREA RATIO OF .60 AND BY
PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. THE PROPERTY
CONSISTS OF ±5.8 ACRES AND IS LOCATED ON THE SOUTH
SIDE OF US 41, APPROXIMATELY ONE-HALF MILE
SOUTHEAST OF MANATEE ROAD AND, OPPOSITE AND
SOUTHEAST FROM NAPLES RESERVE BOULEVARD, IN
SECTION 12, TOWNSHIP 51 SOUTH, RANGE 26 EAST,
COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA [PL20160000226] (THIS IS A
COMPANION TO AGENDA ITEM #17B)
Item #17B
ORDINANCE 2018-30: EAST TAMIAMI TRAIL COMMERCIAL
INFILL SUBDISTRICT SMALL-SCALE AMENDMENT TO THE
COLLIER COUNTY GROWTH MANAGEMENT PLAN,
June 12, 2018
Page 177
ORDINANCE 89-05, AS AMENDED, AND TO TRANSMIT TO
THE FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY
(ADOPTION HEARING - PL20160002771/CPSS-2016-2) (THIS IS
A COMPANION TO AGENDA ITEM #17A)
*****
There being no further business for the good of the County, the
meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 1:48 p.m.
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
BOARD OF ZONING APPEALS/EX
OFFICIO GOVERNING BOARD(S) OF
SPECIAL DISTRICTS UNDER ITS CONTROL
________________________________________
ANDY SOLIS, CHAIRMAN
ATTEST
CRYSTAL K. KENZEL, INTERIM CLERK
____________________________________
These minutes approved by the Board on ______________________,
as presented ______________ or as corrected _____________.
TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF U.S. LEGAL
SUPPORT, INC., BY TERRI LEWIS, COURT REPORTER AND
NOTARY PUBLIC.