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BCC Minutes 04/06/2005 TH (District 5) April 6, 2005 TRANSCRIPT OF THE MEETING OF THE COLLIER COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS TOWNHALL MEETING-DISTRICT #5 Naples, Florida, April 6, 2005 LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Board of County Commissioners District 5 Town Hall Meeting, having conducted business herein, met on this date at 7:00 PM in WORKSHOP SESSION at Palmetto Ridge High School, 1655 Oil Well Road (CR 858). Hosted by Jim Coletta, Collier County Commissioner, District 5, with the following members present: CHAIRMAN: Fred W.Coyle Frank Halas Tom Henning Donna Fiala James Coletta ALSO PRESENT: Jim Mudd, County Manager Leo Ochs Jr., Deputy County Manager David Weigel, County Attorney Len Golden Price, Administrative Services Division Joe Schmitt. Community Development & Environmental Services Marla Ramsey, Public Services Division Jim DeLony, Public Utilities Division Norman Feder, Transportation Services Division Page 1 Co~r County Board of County Commissioners District 5 Town Hall Meeting Wednesday, April 6, 2005 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Palmetto Ridge High School 1655 Oil Well Road (CR858) HOSTED BY Jim Coletta Commissioner, District 5 Introduction and Pledge of Allegiance 1. Roads Update/Transportation Issues 2. Parks and Recreation 3. Utility Updates 4. Water and Wastewater Question and Answers April 6, 2005 I. Meeting was called to order by Chairman Fred Coyle at 7:02 PM. Roll call was taken. A quorum was established. A. Pledge of Allegiance II. Commissioner Coletta's Opening Statements: A. Introductions 1. Commissioners 2. County Manager Jim Mudd introduced staff B. Commissioner Coletta's Comments- District five is the biggest single district in the State of Florida. It borders five Counties. It is 85% of the County. Some items needed to be removed from the agenda due to time limitations. III. Road Projects - Presented by Transportation Services Division Administrator, Norm Feder: A. Immokalee Road Widening Update (Slides Shown) Immokalee Road is under construction for six-Ianing from Collier Blvd. to 43rd. It is ahead of schedule. This August, we will be done with three lanes from 43rd to past Wilson. We are going to establish two west, one east. The slow trucks are very problematic so we are trying to keep them restricted to the curb lane. The six-Ianing should be completed to Wilson this time next year. The complete project is to be completed just after the first of 2008. In Immokalee Road from 1- 75 to Collier Blvd.: we are under the design board that has already been approved. Completion should be by the winter of 2008; this will also include the cloverleaf for 1-75. The crossing traffic to enter the highway will be eliminated. This will also allow us to get six lanes under the underpass. The board just awarded the bid for US-41 to 1-75, which there are three milestones. The first milestone is Livingston to 1-75 by the end of November. B. CR 951 Widening Project (Immokalee Rd. to Golden Gate Blvd.) (Slides Shown) Collier Blvd will be six-Ianed from Golden Gate Blvd. to Immokalee Rd. and it is to be finished by the end of2007. C. CR 951 Extension to Lee County Update (Slides Shown) For CR 951 extension from Immokalee Road north is predominantly being studied by Lee County, with funds from Collier County. Most of the issues of the corridor will be through Bonita Beach Rd. Page 2 April 6, 2005 D. Vanderbilt Beach Road Extension (Slides Shown) Vanderbilt Beach Road will be from Airport to 951 and further to the east at least to Wilson Blvd. E. Four-Ianing of Golden Gate Blvd. (Slides Shown) Golden Gate Blvd. will be four-Ianed, to start in 2006, with the right of way program in 2009. F. Oil Well Road Widening Update (Slides Shown) Immokalee Rd. to Camp Keais will be widened to four lanes within a six-lane footprint. Weare working with the developer for Ave Maria to evaluate their time schedule to see what options exist to accelerate improvements along Oil Well Rd. G. Wilson Blvd. Extension Study (Slides Shown) This is being done by a private developer as a requirement placed on them by the board. On April 13th there will be a public meeting. H. Everglades Blvd. & Golden Gate Blvd. Intersection Improvements (Slides Shown) Work should start in June and be finished in August. Turn lanes will be put in. I. North 9th Street Sidewalks will be added to improve drainage J. New Market Road at Charlotte Everything is set to go in June and finish in September. K. Immokalee Road at Sanctuary Road This is a safety improvement. L. Orangetree Mr. Coletta- Max is our interpreter for the Creole attendance, while Lisa is our interpreter for Spanish. If anyone would like to speak, please sign the sign-up sheet. Page 3 April 6, 2005 Bob Tipton- There is too much traffic in rush hour times. We have looked at a turn restriction on the left lane of Orange Tree. At the times the plans were drawn up, there weren't enough people living out there to warrant a traffic signal. It could be that once the construction is finished, it will need one. We would normally try to keep 2600 feet between signals; Orange Tree is 2200 feet, which is something we can work with. IV. FDOT - Presented by Johnny Limbaugh, Southwest Area Office Manager with Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT): A. SR 29/82 Intermodal System (Slide Show Presentation) The Strategic Intermodal System is a statewide way of looking at transportation. We look at the transportation network in three ways: the SIS and merging, regional network, and the local roads. Safety is our number one priority, then preservation along with economic competitiveness, and environmental stewardship and quality of life. With current financial strategies we are 23 billion dollars short. We set some criteria to look at the corridors and connectors. Hubs and seaports are also looked at. Mr. Coletta led the petition to add State Road 82 and 29 to the Strategic Intermodal System. Projects that are funded are the Southwest Florida Airport to have an exit at Alico Road that will take you to the terminal, along with SR 29 and SR 82, and 1-75 overpass at Immokalee Road with a new loop ramp. There is a web site available to residents that are interested. B. 1-75 Improvements The Mobility 2000 project goes from Golden Gate Parkway to Daniels; it is funded in 2008. We are going to add a new lane to the center. We are also looking at a six lane section from Pine Ridge Road to SR 951. For the year 2030, ten lanes will be needed from Pine Ridge to SR 82. (Video Clip Shown). There will be a transponder in cars to charge for road use. I75mobility.com is kept up to date about the projects. V. Parks and Recreation - Presented by Marla Ramsey, Public Services Administrator: A. Fishing Lake (Slide Show) There is a 90 acre lake just north of the school that was donated to the County as part of a PUD. B. Cultural Center at the Fairgrounds Page 4 April 6, 2005 (Slide Show) We have been working with the president of the Fair Board to explore what can be done with the 50-acre site besides the two-week fair. A concept would be a cultural center. There is another 25 acre site up by the homes that could be added in. C. North Naples Regional Park (Slide Show) We are now breaking ground. It is located along 1-75, between Immokalee Rd. and Vanderbilt Beach Rd. The park is designed for 212 acres with 100 acres preserved for wetlands. The site will have pathways, boardwalks, 5 soft ball fields, 8 soccer fields, water park, gymnasium with double gym, fitness center, staff offices, large community building, playground with climbing rocks and fossil dig, and 2 acres will go to the Children's Museum Inc. D. Beach and Boat Access (Slide Show) We are looking to purchase lands to add additional trailer parking spaces with water access to the Naples Bay area. We are looking to put in a boat shuttle to Keewaydin Island. Weare also looking to add 84 parking spaces to Collier Blvd. Boating Park. Goodland Boating Park will have 22 wet slips 76 parking places with 2 launches. Weare also purchasing additional land for canoe and kayaking access. Vanderbilt Beach will have a parking garage that will add 200 new spaces. We were able to get accreditation on February 18th ofthis year for Parks and Recreation. VI. Water Utility: A. Orangetree Utility Update - Presented by Jamie French, CDES Operations Supervisor (Slide Show) With the discovery of contaminants last fall Orangetree decided to change the water treatment from a line softening process to a low pressure nano- filtration system. This increased the plant capacity from 431,000 gallons a day to 750,000 gallons a day. Staff has been receiving complaints of a rotten egg smell. It was recommended to do a water flushing; which they completed March 19th. Odor complaints still came in. It was determined that there are higher than normal amounts of hydrogen sulfides. It was then recommended that the water be aerated before it enters the home. They are currently working on this. B. Future Utility Operations - Presented by Harry Huber, Sr Project Manager, PUED (Introductions of Project Delivery Team) (Slide Show) The update on the Northeast Regional Facility: The project site was purchased in May of 2003 in Orangetree (Reference to slides). The brief history of the project to date: In December of200l, the Board approved the plans; in May of2003, the Board Page 5 April 6, 2005 approved the purchase of the property; in December of 2003, zoning was approved; May of 2004, the Board confirmed need and schedule; in December of 2004, the Board approved engineering services contract to provide support for the planning and zoning application, then in January of2005, a rezoning application was submitted to amend the Oran*etree PUD. The neighborhood informational meeting is scheduled for April2i at 5:30 PM in this same location. The public hearing with the Planning Commission is tentatively set up for July ih , while the Board of County Commissioners meeting will be July 26th. To promote public involvement, there will be the Annual Town Hall Meeting, Advisory Panel, workshops, a public website and there will be a quarterly newsletter. There are brochures available on the front table near the door. VII. Economic Development - Tammie Nemecek, Executive Director, Economic Development Council of Collier County A. Economic Development East of CR 951 (Slide Show) We are looking to lesson the seasonal traffic and create higher paying jobs. Historically, our County has been dependent on the construction, agricultural and tourism industry. The growth trend has been along the same line as other areas. Weare looking at sustainability. Weare looking at a population that is overly dependent on a residential income. Our goal is to improve the tax base. We are below the State of Florida, as well as the U.S., for average wages. With the cost of housing and average wage, you end up with someone making around $17,000.00 a year. 80% of the jobs in Collier County are what we consider low wage jobs. Bringing in a diverse industry will create more job availability. We work on company retention. The community must come together with the residents. We have worked with 78 different companies; existing, as well as those relocating. For every dollar invested in this program it has returned $111.00. The companies that we work with pay about 25% higher wages than Collier County. When a company is interested in coming in, the County has to be competitive. The companies will look at things like tax incentives, availability of skilled labor, labor costs, highway accessibility, proximity to major markets, and transportation. We have a fabulous work force in Collier County, but we also have to look at housing. We have had great activity for Immokalee. The trend is going east. We need to preserve sites today because in 5-10 years they will be gone. VIII. Questions and Answers John DePrisco- I am the President of Waterways Homeowner Association. I want to thank all of the county staff. Weare the fastest growing metropolitan area in the U.S. The growth is east of951. We are being reactive. We are behind the eight ball. Weare very happy to have Commissioner Coletta. Page 6 April 6, 2005 Michelle Handzinski- I am the President of the Citrus Greens Homeowners Association in Orangetree. We would like to thank the staff. Weare having growing pains. Our community is concerned about the traffic issues. PUD changes are also of concern. I would hate to think we are adding fuel to the fire. Mario Valley- Golden Gates Estates Area Civic Association. I would like to thank and commend staff on their aggressive approach to traffic. We don't want to back off of the signals. We need to work with the environmental community with regards to evacuations due to fires or hurricanes. Doug Rankin- I would like to thank the staff and the Commissioners. Back before any of you were on the Commission, a decision was made to take essential services off of items that required approval by the Commission or Planning Commission. The thought was that you approve them in other ways. We had an FP&L dropped on our lap due to this. Independent water and sewer plants could just pop up anywhere without approval. We need to get that fixed. The second item that passed the Committee unanimously, but never made it before the Planning Commission or the County Commission because it just disappeared from the plan in the stafflevel, was that we have a lot of 75-foot wide lots left out here. Our roads out here are a mile long. If you have 75-foot wide lots lined up with houses on everyone of them, with a 7 Y2 foot setback, means you are going to have 14 feet between these houses. The Golden Gate Master Plan Committee had voted to have the homes staggered so that fire equipment would be able to get in. There are several places in the Estates where there are county-owned raw water transmission mains that go from the well field into your plants. These items run through areas that have no fire hydrants. I have been hearing from insurance people that all they are interested in is how far your home is from a fire hydrant. In some places, that could be 5 miles. There isn't a reason why we couldn't stick a fire hydrant in every other one of these streets connected to the raw water transmission main. Joe Schmitt, Administrator, Community Development and Environmental Services- I do appreciate Doug's comments. Most Communities have 7-10 foot setbacks. I can find out where that died if this is of concern. Tom Henning- I think it is a public safety issue. I would like to give direction to the staff to bring it back to the Board of Commissioners for an amendment to the Land Development Code. Paul Natash, Director of the Collier County Water Department- There are two very good reasons we can not provide fire service off of those water mains: the first being the pressure is not sufficient, and second, it is not a reliable supply of water. It is occasionally shut down. Page 7 April 6, 2005 Maureen Fischlar- I am a resident of Waterways. A lot of us have given up in discussion with regards to the water smelling. Weare never getting straight answers. I have been paying the higher rates for a product that is inferior. Ernest Curioune- We have been told you can do anything you want in Golden Gate. I put a new roof on my home, added a pool and shed, all with permits. While watering my lawn, they had tried to give me a citation. I had just put the lawn down, so they let me go. But when I complain, I don't get any answers. Jim Delony- We can sit with you in the back to explain watering. Joe Schmitt- You can call me personally. Jim Coletta- I am hired to be the person between you and the Government. I want you to call my office. JimColetta@l!ov.net 774-8391. Catherine Curione- I have reference number 268-34, that is about all I have. We have 18 wheelers in the front lawns. They make noise at about 3AM with fumes coming in the home. I am 300 feet away from the vehicle. Our neighbor found information that there has to be a barrier. Jim Coletta- Rules are very lacks in the Estates. Mr. Schmitt can respond to the trucks. There may be a change to Golden Gates Estates. Put it through my office. Mr. Schmitt- There are restrictions of vehicles. Catherine Curione- We have a serious problem with speeding. Sheriff of the Orangetree Substation- We are looking forward to enhancing our services for you. I will be available after the meeting. Christina Farlow- The problem on the street is not just the dump trucks and trucks. They are being parked as a fee for parking. I have called code enforcement 7 times. Weare looking for an actual response from Code Enforcement. Jim Coletta- Call me about this tomorrow. Larry Hobkirk- Any time the County gets land, we lose access to it. Access is being cut off to fish. Matthew Kougasian- I have been here over five years. I have never seen a problem like we have on water. Maybe they need some help from the State. Page 8 April 6, 2005 Nicholas J. Romand- My comments are to reinforce Michelle Handzinski. You have imprisoned us in Orangetree due to traffic. We are opposed to any project that will put one extra vehicle on that road. Karen Acquard- We acknowledge we need commercial and affordable housing, but we need roads to put it on. Randall Road is getting blocked up. I would like to suggest that the commercial, and anyone increasing the density, have to help fund the four-Ianing. There is a difference between residential zoning and the Estates zoning. Richard Babb- We were all happy about Immokalee Road, but then something happened to everyone this winter. For us we are going to be able to get off at Corkscrew to get to the new terminal. Jean R. Paul- Our community needs more support from our County Commissioners. Affordable housing is an issue. Tari Harris- I am the Governor's Liaison for the Front Porch Florida Community, along with being a Steering Committee Member for the Weed and Seed Initiative for U.S. Justice Department. I don't feel these Commissioners have taken these two designations very seriously. There has been a lack of focal point for Immokalee. There are no options for recreation; no movie theater, bowling alley, or parks on the south side of Immokalee. The One Stop is not available after dark or on the weekends. There are 19 other Front Porch Communities. The office for Front Porch is in my apartment. You must show some real support. Weare starting an outreach process. All of our help is coming from the State, not the County. Chappell Wilson- The landscaping we had asked for is in place. Commissioner Coletta, thank you for your leadership. Thank you for the town meeting. IX. Public Comments X. Meeting Adjourned Page 9 April 6, 2005 ***** There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 9:32 PM. COLLIER COUNTY TOWNHALL MEETING Ch' 1:c~ ~~1. ~I alrm , ommlsslone"t"Frð'Cby e ~;"'f !,'\:- . . , , 't ~ '" 'II ':,' 1::' :';"',' '-. 'II \\" ATt~T:-/. ". ':- :D~tQ'HT Jf.)~RpcK, CLERK . " j':, ( ... . i\ ~ 'l;,'" . ';";' ~ .; ~'~~(:'. ,Att's.t is to hi 1 ntðn 's '''1 ' . st¡".J¡.' t . '. '.~ \' ;...a tire Of¡ 1.r . These minutes approved 6y the Board on ¡,)(! ,F[ -I Ò... tJjCJ 5, as presented ~ or as corrected Page 10 .'-"".-'"-« ~'"._,--~.__.