Agenda 07/12/2022 Item #16H 1 (Staff to review navigation signs for Rock Creek Area)07/12/2022
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
RECOMMENDATION TO DIRECT STAFF TO REVIEW WHETHER NAVIGATION SIGNS
CAN AND OUGHT TO BE PLACED IN THE ROCK CREEK AREA TO REDUCE BOAT
SPEED TO IDLE/NO WAKE.
OBJECTIVE: To reduce boat speed to idle/no wake in the Rock Creek area as designated in the map
within this summary.
CONSIDERATIONS: I have received complaints from residents about the need to reduce speed in a
portion of Rock Creek based on increased boat traffic traveling to and from the Brookside Marina. The
area in question is set forth below.
Before the County can take the steps to regulate this, staff has advised me that they need to do the
following:
1. Identify the property ownership along the creek to ensure the areas are waters within the
County's authority. In other words, ensure that the areas are not privately owned submerged
lands, into which the County may not have authority to enter without the owners' consent.
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07/12/2022
2. Once we know that the County has the proper authority, we would follow Florida Statute
Section 327.46(l)(c)l to establish the ordinance. This statute allows local governments to
propose idle speed/no wake zones within 300 feet of blind comers in a narrow channel where
visibility is obscured. As shown in the aerial photograph above, Rock Creek has two such blind
comers as vessels travel to and from the Brookside Marina. The County's ordinance may not
take effect until it is reviewed and approved by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission. Prior
to bringing it back to the Board for approval, we would coordinate with FWC on the draft
ordinance.
3. After the presumed adoption of the ordinance, it is then transmitted to FWC with a letter
of intent to kick off the "formal" review process. FWC would review, approve, and send back an
approval letter.
4. Once we would receive the approval letter from FWC to establish the zone, the County
would then have to apply for a Florida Uniform Waterway Marker Permit to properly mark the
blind comers in Rock Creek.
I am recommending that the Board direct staff to initiate this process.
FISCAL IMPACT: Staff time.
GROWTH MANAGEMENT IMPACT: None.
LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS: This item has been reviewed by the County Attorney, raises no legal
issues at this time and requires majority vote for Board approval. -JAK
RECOMMENDATION: Recommendation to direct staff to review whether navigation signs can and
ought to be placed in the Rock Creek area to reduce boat speed to idle/no wake.
Prepared by: Penny Taylor, Commissioner District 4
ATTACHMENT(S)
1. Brooker letter 5-12-22 (PDF)
I Packet Pg. 1830 1
07/12/2022
COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Item Number: 16.H.1
Doc ID: 22708
Item Summary: Recommendation to direct staff to review whether navigation signs can and
ought to be placed in the Rock Creek area to reduce boat speed to idle/no wake.
Meeting Date: 07/12/2022
Prepared by:
Title: Legal Assistant — County Attorney's Office
Name: Wanda Rodriguez
07/01/2022 3:00 PM
Submitted by:
Title: County Attorney — County Attorney's Office
Name: Jeffrey A. Klatzkow
07/01/2022 3:00 PM
Approved By:
Review:
Office of Management and Budget
County Attorney's Office
Office of Management and Budget
County Managers Office
Board of County Commissioners
Debra Windsor Level 3 OMB Gatekeeper Review
Jeffrey A. Klatzkow Level 3 County Attorney's Office Review
Susan Usher Additional Reviewer
Dan Rodriguez Level 4 County Manager Review
Geoffrey Willig Meeting Pending
Completed
07/01/2022 3:16 PM
Completed
07/01/2022 4:48 PM
Completed
07/05/2022 2:00 PM
Completed
07/06/2022 11:54 AM
07/12/2022 9:00 AM
I Packet Pg. 1831
EDWARD K. CHEFFY
Board Certified Civil Trial Lawyer
Board Certified Business Litigation Lawyer
JOHN M. PASSIDOMO
Board Certified Real Estate Lawyer
LOUIS D. WAGOSTINO
Board Certified Appellate Practice Lawyer
DAVID A. ZULIAN
Board Certified Construction Lawyer
CLAY C. BROOKER
Board Certified City, Count), and
Local Government Lawyer
CHEFFYPASSIDOMO
ATTORNEYS AT LAW
821 Fifth Avenue South
Naples, Florida 34102
Telephone: (239) 261-9300
www.napieslaw.com
May 12, 2022
Chris D'Arco, Senior Environmental Specialist
Collier County Coastal Zone Management
Capital Project Planning, Impact Fees & Program
Management Division
2685 South Horseshoe Drive, Suite 103
Naples, Florida 34104
Re: Rock Creek vessel speed restriction and signage
Dear Chris:
DEBBIE SINES CROCKETT
RACHAEL S. LOUKONEN
Board Certified Business Litigation Lawyer
BRIAN J. THANASIU
Board Certified Real Estate Lawyer
TRACY L. COGHILL
Board Certified Real Estate Lawyer
KIMBERLY D. SWANSON
JONATHAN R. FITZMAURICE
Of Counsel:
GEORGE L. VARNADOE
This firm represents Naples Marina Holdings, LLC ("NMH"), the owner of Brookside Marina.
NMH is currently petitioning Collier County for a rezone (PL20190001540) of the marina's
privately -owned submerged lands to facilitate an expansion of the number of dock slips at the
marina. Several owners of the residential properties in the Brookside subdivision to the north
of the marina have advised us that vessels traveling in Rock Creek to and from the marina often
exceed safe speeds (idle or slow) thereby causing dangerous conditions to other vessels
underway in Rock Creek as well as wake damage to the neighbors' real and personal property.
We note that the State of Florida currently recognizes Rock Creek as a "manatee/slow speed -
minimum wake" (SS/MW) zone. However, there are no waterway regulatory markers advising
boaters of this zone in Rock Creek. We have had extensive discussions with representatives of
the Florida FWCC, but, thus far, they have not been receptive to our requests to place SS/MW
markers inside Rock Creek.
For more than 40 years (since at least 1979), Collier County has designated all of Rock Creek as
an idle speed/no wake (IS/NW) zone. Indeed, on October 30, 1979, the Collier County Board of
County Commissioners (BCC) adopted Resolution 79-165 which designated "Rock Creek; from
entrance of Brookside subdivision to Airport Road" (among other areas) as a restricted area "for
the purpose of placing 'No Wake -Idle Speed Only' markers thereon ...... Two years later, the BCC
4892-8655-3119, v. 1 1 Packet Pg. 1832
adopted Resolution 81-199 which sought an additional piling/two signs for Rock Creek "for
increased compliance." Rock Creek's designation as an IS/NW zone remains codified today in
the County's Code of Ordinances at Sections 146-53(3)c and 146-60.5(c)(5).
I understand that the County is currently working on a "Consolidated Waterways and Beaches
Ordinance" but that, in the current draft of the ordinance, Rock Creek is not included as an
IS/NW zone. Accordingly, please accept this letter as an express request to include Rock Creek
in the ordinance as an IS/NW zone, as it has been for more than four decades.
I acknowledge that the state law authorizing a county to designate "boating -restricted areas"
has changed since 1979. Indeed, today's law restricts the circumstances in which a county may
designate an area as IS/NW. Perhaps the long history of Rock Creek's IS/NW designation
warrants "grandfathered" status, but, if not, Section 327.46(l)(c)l, Florida Statutes, permits a
county, with the FWCC's approval, to designate the area within 300 feet of a bend in a narrow
channel where visibility of other vessels is obscured. Attached to this letter is an aerial
photograph indicating two such bends within Rock Creek. These two bends require vessels to
turn approximately 135 degrees and 90 degrees, respectively, where visibility is obscured.
Accordingly, we request that the County seek the FWCC's approval to designate the areas
within 300 feet of these two bends as IS/NW. My client is willing to assist the County with
these efforts.
We also request, pursuant to Section 327.40, Florida Statutes, that the County apply to the
FWCC for the placement of two IS/NW waterway markers at or near the approximate locations
indicated on the attached aerial photograph. Again, my client is willing to assist in this regard
and offers to bear the cost of installing and maintaining the signs.
Thank you for your consideration of these requests, and I'm happy to discuss this matter
further should you so desire.
Sincerely,
/j/ Clay C. gnookew
Clay C. Brooker
Cheffy Passidomo, P.A.
Attachment
cc: Tim Finn, County Planner
Ray Bellows, County Planning Manager
Mike Bosi, County Planning and Zoning Director
Jaime Cook, County Development Review Director
Trinity Scott, County GMD Deputy Department Head
James French, County GMD Deputy Department Head
4892-8655-3119, v. 1 1 Packet Pg. 1833 1
IS/NWsign
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Naples/5th Avenue
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IS/NW sign
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07/12/2022
COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Item Number: 16.1.1
Item Summary: July 12, 2022, Miscellaneous Correspondence
Meeting Date: 07/12/2022
Prepared by:
Title: Sr. Operations Analyst — County Manager's Office
Name: Geoffrey Willig
07/05/2022 6: 10 PM
Submitted by:
Title: Deputy County Manager — County Manager's Office
Name: Amy Patterson
07/05/2022 6: 10 PM
Approved By:
Review:
County Manager's Office Geoffrey Willig Level 4 County Manager Review
Board of County Commissioners Geoffrey Willig Meeting Pending
Completed 07/05/2022 6:10 PM
07/12/2022 9:00 AM
I Packet Pg. 1835 1