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CAC Agenda 06/13/2024June 13, 2024 Meeting Agenda and Notice Coastal Advisory Committee (CAC) Thursday, June 13, 2024– 1:00 p.m. Collier County Board Chambers Collier County Government Center 3299 Tamiami Trail East, Third Floor, Naples, FL Sunshine Law on Agenda Questions 2024 CAC MEETING DATES I. Call to Order II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Roll Call IV. Changes and Approval of Agenda CHANGES AND ADDITIONS Motion approved for phone listeners to call in Andy is requesting item 8A to add plants to the dunes (berm). Motion carried V. Public Comments V.a Seagate/Clam Bay Natural Resource Protection Area By: Ray Bearfield from Collier County Water Keeper Comments with full discussion will follow presentation. The Clam Bay National Resource Protection Area was established in 1995 due to degradation of Estuary caused of 80 years of development. As a conduit for information about this system, for people coming into Collier County, the purpose is to create public consciousness of the decline in Clam Bay, Clam Pass and outer Clam Bay and Seagate. Their role is public awareness in education and advocacy in Collier County. Clam Bay Estuary Management is now the responsibility of Pelican Bay Service Division Solution is to open a public discussion on how to proceed with managing 1. Tidal exchange Mangrove die off because of lack of tidal action within the bay 2. Resilience Dead mangroves effected by Hurricane Ian on the berm 3. Water Quality Landscaping and storm water run off contributing to water quality 4. Stakeholder agreement Pelican Bay Services District is bound to protect including dredging and advisories on managing the reserve Trecker - Comments Maintenance excavation starts June 17th to cut through sand spit or the Clam Pass entrance to open the mouth and grade the Clam Pass inlet bank. Hydraulic dredge is scheduled for November and being carried out by PBSD. Bids are now under review for this dredge. Assistant County Attorney indicated that BCC transferred sole responsibility to PBSD in 2013. CAC no longer has the responsibility for Clam Pass, Clam Bay. Colleen of BCC concurred. Brechnitz - Comments Mr. Barefield, about how long has this area has been impaired, and what are the current levels of phosphorus and nitrogen. Mr. Barefield replied that the phosphorus and nitrate levels are unknown but the DEP put Clam Pass on the impaired list in 2023. Penniman - Comments What should the CAC do? Colleen of BCC advised that the CAC can make recommendations to TDC and BCC after hearing from the Stakeholders. Bob Roth, Councilman via Zoom - Comments If the CAC is going to consider and make recommendation it should have a study to evaluation aspects. Other stakeholders could possibly be called to assist PBSD. Dave Tracker suggested that the PBSC give background information on this and give a presentation as to where they are. Colleen - Comments She recommends that information be requested by Stakeholders before making a recommendation to the TDC and BCC. Burke - Comments The County is reimbursing some of the work that being done and the exact information will be obtained by Colleen, BCC. Cathy Worley, Conservancy of SW Florida, Director of Science - Comments There is a mechanism recommended for communication with PBSC and the CAC should get on their agenda. There is a management plan for Clam Pass that is revisited on a cycle. Stakeholders have the opportunity to participate. Neil Doral, Administrator for the Pelican Bay Services Division - Comments Mr. Doral was the County Manager of Collier County the last 10 years of his time with Collier County. Responsibility for Clam Pass over the past 30 years has been vested in the Services Division Tasking District. Surface water management in Pelican Bay is award winning and has become a model for the South Florida Water Management. Bay Colony is in Basin 6 and has features called beach dune swale where the water runs north and south to a center point (swale existing for hundreds of years) before it goes out into a spreader waterway and goes into the upper reaches of the Estuary. This was one of the first of several Natural Resource Protection areas. The original management plan in 2000 was driven by Stakeholders not just the people of Pelican Bay. The most recent management plan shows return of seagrass beds in the upper reaches of outer Clam Bay and has been positive after Irma. Pelican Bay Foundation nor the Services Division is responsible for Beach renourishment. They are responsible to reimburse for beach renourishment that is the requirement of the nearest public parking area. Penniman - Comments Suggestion that the PBSD advise the Committee when their meetings are and if the Committee cannot attend then the Water Keeper should attend. Mr. Doral advised the Committee that PBSD meets the 2nd Wednesday of every month at 1p.m. at their community center. It is open to the public, is televised and is an open discussion format such as this meeting today. VI. APPROVAL OF CAC MINUTES May 9, 2024 CAC Minutes were approved with mark up done by Dr. Hushon to correct grammar and misconstrued words. Meeting minutes approved VII. STAFF REPORTS Extended Revenue Report Andy presented the Revenue Report which was the same as last month. Revenue graph shows March and April are up and heading towards the peak. We have 50.2% revenue above our budget. Dave Trekker said the Fund balance is not known at this time. An email was requested for this information. VIII. NEW BUSINESS Dune Restoration Miller - Comments The emergency berm was built and performed well through Hurricane Idalia. One million plants are scheduled to be planted to stabilize the berm. Funding was approved. Motion was passed Miller - Comments Planting is scheduled for end of summer during rainy season. Huton - Comments We should hold off planting if they are not planted during rainy season. Miller - Commented The contractor uses gel caps planted with roots and soil mixture and offers a warranty. Roth - Commented Cancer of the contractor’s warranty regarding watering and suggested that there be a watering schedule and a contingency plan. Huton - Commented Send the motion forward with a caveat that the wet and dry seasons be taken into consideration on the planting to ensure the success of the plantings and the Committee’s watering concerns be addressed by Andy. Miller - Comments Agreed. Huton - Comments Identify locations of offshore reefs where we are not affecting hard bottoms that are near to the coast instead of far offshore. Miller - Comments There may be an opportunity to explore this and he agreed to incorporate it into the report to the Committee. Burke - Comments The annual report shows the hard bottom locations. A copy of the report will be requested when it is ready in September. IX. OLD BUSINESS Water Quality Subcommittee Update by Bob Roth The Committee made recommendations to the BCC that existing waste water plants in the County, which is reclaimed water used for irrigation, be upgraded to AWT standard. Bob Roth, Andy Miller, Robert VanHule, and Matt McClain - zoom meeting at Collier County’s Public Works last Monday. Concerns that the nutrients in the reuse irrigation, which are not stripped out in current treatment process, are leaching into the water in some fashion. This Committee and Collier County’s own Pollution Control Department in its 2022 report made the same recommendation to upgrade to AWT standard. In their 2021 report the Pollution Control Group found saccharin in fresh water bodies. There is a growing concern and it is encouraging to hear that DPW has been proactive in keeping up with environmental issues including PFAFS in drinking water. Discouraging was that there is no movement toward regulation on a State level that requires AWT for the purpose of the County uses for waste water irrigation and it is allowed to contain contaminants. The typical reuse quality of Collier’s waste water. The AWT would have an operator lower the nitrogen concentrates to 3ppm and 1ppm of phosphorus. That’s not the best technology. Collier’s normal process goes down to 5.2ppm of nitrogen and phosphorus 1.5-1.9ppm which is close to AWT standard. CAC had recommended to BCC to upgrade. Collier County Sewer District is funded by the user fees. Maybe reformulate our recommendations and send it to the Sewer District instead of the BCC. We are possibly not talking to the correct arm of the government. Miller - Commented Concurred and said He remembered hearing some talk of an upcoming Pilot project studying PFAFS, pharmaceuticals, nitrogen and phosphorus in the water. Andy’s impression is although it seems that they are not doing anything, they are looking into AWT. Roth was asked what would be involved in approaching Sewer District. Roth - Comments A phone call to find out their schedule and process for taking in outside input. Maybe Andy could reach out to the Sewer District. If the Pilot project indicates that they could be doing something better, they don’t have to do it. They just have to follow the State regulations. Colleen, BCC - Comments The governing body of the Water Sewer District. It is the same governing body just wearing different hats. Brechnitz - Comments A recommendation to the BCC that an engineering study be done to determine adverse reactions of PFAFs in the waster water as a recommendation to the BCC. Marco Island had the same issue and hired Jacobs Engineering that did the study and it a diminimus effect on surrounding bodies of water. We measure injection water daily that goes into the underground waterways and it is a diminumus effect. An engineering firm needs to determine to what degree it will help. Huton - Comments What the County numbers. Andy can call to get them? How much is it costing us because of the contaminants e.g. dead fish, red tide, blue green algae blooms and affects on tourism. There is a report by The Conservancy studying the effects of contaminants regarding loss of tourism dollars. A more complete study needs to be done, that shows the cost of bad water quality. Roth - Comments We have to recognize that reuse is only one source of nitrogen and phosphorus. We may need to follow the leads of some other counties like Lee County planning to upgrade to AWT. Sarasota converted its plant to AWT. Others are doing it around us and it is good risk management. Penniman - Comments Do AWT plants deal with saltwater intrusion? The answer, no. ANNOUNCEMENTS Linda Penneman has returned to the Committee. Brechnitz - Comments What about Dredging of Collier Creek which is in 2 years of waiting. Miller - Comments We are waiting on the Army Corp. permit. We have had some communications from our liaison from the White House recently and a petition is in. Brechnitz - Comments Tiger Tail was requested and has been completed already. It is becoming a boat safety issue. Burke - Comments Third draft of position paper that would go the the Army Corp of engineers was edited by Burke and presented at this meeting. Huton and Tracker conferred on comments and resolved their differences. The draft is now ready to send. Damage was eliminated. Motion passed to approve sending our position paper to BCC on the USC’s project Burke - Comments Do we need to respond to an email from Environmental Defense Fund? Several members did not receive a copy. Miller - Comments I will forwarded the email to upper management and will copy the email and attachment to all Committee members. Andy also agreed to supply the Committee with the final copy of the position paper. September 13th is the next meeting. Meeting adjourned