CRSM Minutes 11/08/2023 November 8, 2023
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COLLIER COUNTY COASTAL STORM RISK MANAGEMENT
FEASIBILITY STUDY ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MINUTES FROM NOVEMBER 8, 2023
LET IT BE REMEMBERED, the Collier County Coastal Storm Risk Management
Feasibility Study Advisory Committee in and for the County of Collier, having conducted business
herein, met on this date at 2:30 PM in REGULAR SESSION at the Growth Management
Community Development Department Building (GMCDD), 2800 N. Horseshoe Drive, Naples,
FL.
MEMBERS: Joe Schmitt
Christopher Mason
Howard Critchfield
Joshua Maxwell
Scott Schultz
Matthew Nolton
Miles “Rocky” Scofield
Kenneth Humiston
William Lang
Alex Garland (excused)
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1. Roll Call
2. Approval of previous meeting minutes from July 26, 2023
______________: Motion made to approve the minutes as written.
Kenneth Nolton: Seconds the motion. Approved unanimously.
3. Open discussion regarding the status of the CSRM Feasibility Study
Chris Mason: Slide show presented.
Joe Schmitt: Staff to send a reminder to members and the public a week prior for the
upcoming meeting.
Chris Mason: Staff will take recommendations from the committee, create a
presentation or any documentation based on input from the Committee. Staff will act
as the gatekeepers to the Board of County Commissioners.
When we receive the City’s Selective Plan from the Army Corps, we will then
distribute it to the community and at that point in time we will start scheduling more
frequent meetings to review this documentation. I don't know how large the report
will be, but based on the original being 1600-1700 hundred pages, it potentially could
be that long. We will need multiple meetings and a strategy on how to work through
that, but we have time because this is going to be occurring tentatively in the third
quarter of next year. They give us about a 60-day review period that can potentially
be extended.
The Selective Plan is going to be all modeling – variables from socioeconomic
information to actual physical scientific information based on coastal morphology
structure inventory at that time.
Joe Schmitt: It's going to compete against all the other big money things –
everybody gets a little piece. And it will depend on the political support to get the
project funded. That's a major hurdle.
Beach access is technically public; there must be accommodation made to get to the
beach.
Some of these areas are often challenged with local drainage problems and elevation
of structures. The question is with wholesale elevation of homes in this defined area,
what process or vehicle would the Corps do – possibly some type of hazard
mitigation assistance, flood mitigation assistance?
William Lang: If it is specific to FEMA’s Hazard Mitigation Assistance it could be
an option. Generally, when you look at grants, they're categorized as either an
income-based grant or a grant based off benefit cost analysis. FEMA is strictly BCA,
Benefit Cost Analysis, and their entire HMA program is based off that or their Hazard
Mitigation Assistance program. Those grants include disaster grants under your
HMA, that's hazard mitigation grant program that's disaster specific. If we have a
hurricane tomorrow, they'll do a 30-day estimate based off damages we report and
then they will allocate a certain amount of money. An example, HMGP (Hazard
Mitigation Grant Program) for Hurricane Ian was roughly $36 million for Collier
County and we've used all that money for public assistance mitigation and one
residential project. There are other annual grants that are non-disaster. They are
competitive nationally and that includes building resilient infrastructure in
communities or FEMA’s Brick Grant, a newer grant that's popular right now. They're
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allocating a lot of money for that specifically for infrastructure in communities. And
then the final one is the Flood Mitigation Assistance program, or FMA, and this one
is specific to repetitive loss properties, which is a category under FEMA when you
put so many claims in, you get put on a list. So that one is the most advantageous at
the individual property owner level because it provides a better cost match with the
federal government versus those other ones that I just mentioned are historically at a
75% federal cost share and a 25% local cost share. They would probably look at
FEMA grant opportunities, the income-based grants are generally out of U.S. Housing
and Urban Development (US HUD), which comes down through Florida Department
of Economic Opportunity (Florida DEO), and then ultimately gets distributed locally
in different ways.
Joe Schmitt: Any project that the Corps looks at is a benefit cost ratio, or the other
way around, cost benefit ratio. The project must be justified based on the properties
protected. The environmental justice piece is more specifically geared towards
preventing the Corps from ruling this area out because it may not meet the cost
benefit ratio. Basically, it says we must consider there are very expensive areas in the
county that are going to be protected. And you can't say we're not going to protect
other areas because they don't meet the cost benefit ratio. It's just a mechanism to
make sure you don't write these areas off.
Further discussion regarding:
Elevate existing homes which is cost prohibited
Engineering challenges
Is it feasible to raise a home
FEMA does default property acquisition and that property goes into green space
in perpetuity
Property acquisition is each individual homeowner can make a decision at any
given point in time and can convolute the process
May be better off selling your home/property on the private market and make a
profit
Eminent domain; easement agreements for access and right of ways; contributions
in kind; cost contribution
How long ago was this economic area boundaries identified
Protect your infrastructure; raise your transformers; sewer treatment plants; find a
way to raise your home; barriers for storm surge; nonstructural and structural
alternatives
Grant opportunities on a community scale but grants can take up to 3-5 years
Everglades City is not part of the study
Basic principles such as beach nourishment and non-structural measures, critical
infrastructure and nature-based solutions. That’s their focus.
We as a committee may recommend to the Board to look at other solutions that
the public may want
The Corps is interested in growing their program and they operate it with OPM –
Other People’s Money.
The debate between using invasive types of vegetation that held up better than
other (non-invasive) vegetation regarding erosion. Example: sea grape hedges
Federal vs. state/county funds
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Front-end costs, maintenance, back-end costs after a disaster and who’s footing
the bill
Nature-based solutions sound great but in most cases are not as effective as taking
more aggressive steps
Highlights from public comments:
Greg Janiec, Sovereign Consulting: Did nature-based concepts that were
submitted by the Environmental Defense Fund. Would like to volunteer at a future
meeting to give a brief presentation on Clam Pass.
Kathy, Southwest Florida: Regarding the annual maintenance on beach
renourishment and the dunes, it likely will be no more than what we're already
spending right now because the County does do beach nourishment and dune
restoration. It probably would be a wash as far as what is currently spent. The
Corps would help pay for the initial design of it. Question: Is there a mechanism
in place so that the different groups know what each other is doing? It could
perhaps save some time and resources. I'm referring to the vulnerability study that
the County does for the State. Is there any overlap with the Corps with that study,
and where the County is in the process of performing the vulnerability study and
exactly what it would entail, would it help out the Corps or is this totally separate?
Is there any place for a crossover? One last question, if the Corps has as a part of
its plan, recommending homes be elevated – if they come back with that in the
study and the County decides that this is not feasible would kicking out one
element of the plan trigger us to have to do a locally preferred plan in order to be
able to take any other parts of the plan under consideration? Or can you pick out
one part of their draft of what's feasible and do something else?
Scott Schultz: What is the budget for the sand?
Andy Miller – Zone Management: We lose about 50,000 yards of sand per year;
equates to approximately $3-4M/year.
Judith with the League of Women Voters: Suggests to the committee to drive
around that red area on this map. What you're going to find is that it's not all
houses. There are a lot of trailers/mobile homes and therefore, you have some
potential for moving them to another location and raising them up, and that is
something you should consider. There are several communities within this yellow
region where it would make sense. You may want to offer to move the whole
community because these people are used to living together and they want their
friends around them. The County does own some land. Move them to another
place that is high and dry.
It’s contentious.
Scott Schultz: Judy, would you mind putting pen to paper and outline the areas
that you have the biggest concern with?
Natalie Hardman. I'm with the Natural Resources (manager) at the City of Naples
and I just wanted to say that the vulnerability assessment with the City of Naples
has completed their vulnerability assessment. It's on our website if you want to
look at what one looks like and what Collier County will be working towards.
Next date for the Army Corps: Wednesday, November 22, at 3:30
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Motion made to adjourn at 4:00 p.m.
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Approved by the Chairman