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02/19/2003ENVIRONMENTAL ADVISORY BOARD CITY OF CLEARWATER February 19, 2003 Present: Rev. Sandra Jamieson Chairperson Alan Smith Vice Chair Clorinda Gilreath Board Member D. Michael Flanery Board Member Also Present Al Carrier Asst. Dir of Engineering/ESM Andy Neff Public Utilities Director Steve Soltau Water Superintendent Leslie Dougall-Sides Assistant City Attorney Norma Skinner Staff Assistant II Absent David Rhame Board Member APPROVED To provide continuity for research, items are in agenda order although not necessarily discussed in that order. Unless otherwise noted, no action was taken regarding items. Administration The Chair called the meeting to order at 4:05 p.m. in the Commission Chambers of City Hall. ITEM #1 Approval of corrected minutes – November 20, 2002 RECOMMENDED ACTION: Chair asked if there were any further additions or corrections to the minutes from November 20th. Member Smith made a motion to approve minutes as corrected and member Gilreath seconded the motion. ACTION: Minutes were approved unanimously as corrected. There were no additions or corrections to the minutes from the January 15th Work Session and they were approved unanimously. ITEM #2 Citizens To Be Heard None Action Items ITEM #3 Commission Liaison Report Chair requested the members to review the revised EAB Mission Statement and vote whether to approve revision or not. Member Flanery recommended approval of revision and member Smith seconded the motion. ACTION: The revised Mission Statement was approved unanimously. ITEM #4 Commission Liaison Report Chair did not have anything to bring forward from the Commission. ITEM #5 Stevenson’s Creek Member Rhame has been out ill, so there was no report at this time. ITEM #6 City Comprehensive Plan Member Smith did not have anything to report regarding the Comprehensive Plan. ITEM #7 Potable/Reclaimed Water Mr. Neff gave a quick overview of the projects. Coupling upgrades at Marshall St. are currently in the shop review process. That project needs to be completed this year in anticipation of getting the Harbor Oaks project under way. The Drew and Union St. project continues to encounter easement acquisition problems. The City is working with the School Board and also the private owner of some facilities they will need easement rights to. The Harbor Oaks project is at the 100% design point. Comments have been sent to Engineering and they are completing the final package to go out to bid. Pinellas County DOTand CFX permits need to be acquired to support the project. This project will probably go before the City Commission in the April-May timeframe. The Public Utilities Department is currently developing the Scope of Work for the Seville area and Sunset Dr. component for their consultant. Once a funding agreement from Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFMD) is received, the project will be presented to the Commission. Del Oro is the next project under consideration for funding by SWFMD. The water plant continues under construction, with a completion date expected in August. Member Flanery made a recommendation to change Agenda item number 7, under Reports, from “Potable/Reclaimed Water” to “Potable and Reclaimed Water” in order to avoid any confusion in case someone misreads as Potable Reclaimed Water. Discussion Items ITEM #9 Water Conservation Mr. Soltau gave a presentation on the City’s current and future plans for water conservation. Water conservation measures now in place are as follows: the Reclaimed Water Master Plan, with inverted rate structure, which means the more water you use the more you pay for. Also discussed were the different methods the City uses to raise public awareness about water conservation and incentives that encourage conservation, such as rebates for rain sensors and new low flow toilets. The specific watering schedules for the City of Clearwater are: watering with potable water is permitted on Tuesdays for even addresses and Sundays for odd addresses with no watering at all between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. There is a different watering schedule for wells and ponds or for water taken from a lake. Watering is permitted on Tuesdays and Saturdays for even addresses. Wednesdays and Sundays for odd addresses and is not permitted between the hours of 10:00 am and 4:00 pm. Watering with reclaimed water is permitted on any day of the week, but the restrictions of not watering between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. apply. The Public Utilities Department plans to continue the water conservation education process. Yearly goals will be established to determine how much water we want to save and how much we are actually saving. Once the goals are established, they will track the trends and decide what percent of water needs to be saved. The Public Utilities Department will keep us informed of future events. The City Manager asked Mr. Soltau to inform the EAB members of the water restriction conflict between the City of Clearwater and Pinellas County. The County has a different restricted watering schedule from the City and they enforce by service area, which sometimes can be within City boundaries. The City and County political and service area boundaries do not coincide. As a result, citizens living in the City were receiving citations from the County for watering on the wrong days, when in fact, they were watering according to the City schedule. The City has proposed to the County that they each enforce the watering restriction by political boundaries rather than by service areas. It is anticipated that this will be worked out within the next few seeks. ITEM #10 Policy Manual Revision Mr. Rhames suggested removing all the Ordinances and putting them in a file to be kept in the Engineering Department. Chair does not agree. She feels it would be better to keep Ordinances in the back of the book, as part of our corporate history, so future members could see the history and development of the Board. Chair asked all the board members for their opinion regarding this matter. All Board members agreed that for future members it would be more practical to keep the Ordinances under Appendix in the back of the book for easier access rather than have to request the file from the City. Mr. Rhames made a suggestion to omit (date amended) number 4, under IV B of EAB Rules and Procedures. He also pointed out that one minute is not enough time for a member to introduce a new agenda item, number 5, under III B of EAB Rules of Procedure. All members agreed that one-minute would not be enough time. It was decided not to set a time limit, but to leave it up to the Chair or Vice Chair to be a time keeper and make sure things move forward in a timely fashion. Member Flanery requested that all pages in the policy manual have the revised date on the bottom, except for the items under the appendix. A motion was made by member Flanery to approve the revised Environmental Advisory Board policy manual in the order as presented by Mr. Rhames, and the Appendix with the Ordinances in the back. Mr. Smith seconded the motion, which was unanimously approved by all the members. Chair mentioned that elections are coming up in April. She feels very strongly to get back to the tradition of having a Chair and a Vice Chair, with the understanding that the person selected to serve as Vice Chair will serve as Chair the following year. This would give that person the opportunity to gain some experience while serving as Vice Chair. Assistant City Attorney Dougall-Sides stated that it is not a requirement to publicized board nominations in advance. Call for nominations can be made at the meeting and members vote on it then. Chair volunteered to serve for one more year if somebody will step up as Vice Chair with the understanding to take over in one year. Discussion of nominating a Vice Chair will be continued at the next EAB meeting. Information Items ITEM #12 – Glen Oaks Meeting Mr. Carrier said a meeting would be scheduled in March to discuss the future of Glen Oaks development regarding the watershed program and the soccer fields. It will be at St. Cecilia’s School Cafeteria; EAB members will be notified of the date and time. Mr. Carrier asked the board members if they would provide some feedback in order to see if the message is reaching the public. ITEMS #13 – Copy of ESM Section of the Comprehensive Plan This item was provided for information only and is not to be made part of the EAB policy manual. ITEM # 14 – St. Pete Times News Articles Cutting of Mangroves Creates a Fine Mess Chair asked if there was any place where it is legal to cut mangroves. Ms. Dougall-Sides stated that a permit for the particular property is required and there is a limitation. It has to be done by a certified arbor trimmer. Monorail Could Ease Traffic for Clearwater Some board members are in favor of the monorail and some are opposed. Chair’s opinion is that although expensive, it would cut back on pollution by reducing the number of vehicles on the road. It would also alleviate the parking problems at the beach. ITEM # 15 - City Department News ITEMS #13 -15 were distributed for information only. Chair asked members if they would like to have a work session next month instead of an organized meeting. Member Smith made a motion to have a work session in March and member Flanery seconded the motion. All members voted in favor of having an informal work session in March. Member Flanery requested a general update on the auto salvage yards. Mr. Carrier provided a quick update on the Stevenson’s Creek salvage yard. The City purchased the property last October. On Thursday, the contract for demolition will be presented to the City Commission. Prior to the purchase of the property, an environmental assessment was done and most of the site came back fairly clean. Construction for the northwest fire station, number 57, will start late this summer and completion is expected by next February. The estuary joint project on the rest of the site is being managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. They are in the process of doing the feasibility study. According to their latest schedule, it is going to be completed at the end of this month. There will be a 4-6 week time period during which they will allow other regulatory agencies to review the feasibility study and give their input. Once the review is completed, construction plans will begin. Construction plans for the dredging are projected for the end of October of this year. Adjacent to the salvage yard is the Wolf property. The Army Corps of Engineers is also considering this property for the dredging project. When all the work is completed, the City is planning to turn this site into a park or stormwater retention pond. ESTABLISH AGENDA: Presentation – Height Restriction Code for Buildings Along Coast Update on Automobile Salvage Yards ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 6:00 p.m.