Beach and Coastal Resources Advisory Committee

City of Marco Island Florida 51 Bald Eagle Drive Marco Island, Florida cityofmarcoisland.com Meeting Minutes - Final Friday, January 29, 2021 9:00 AM Community Room Beach and Coastal Resources Advisory Committee Beach and Coastal Resources Meeting Minutes - Final January 29, 2021 Advisory Committee (1) CALL TO ORDER Chair Lamb called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M. (2) ROLL CALL Present: 5- Vice-Chair Eastman, Member O'Donnell, Member McChesney, Member Tyler and Chair Lamb (3) PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Chair Lamb. (4) APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA Vice-Chair Eastman proposed adding a discussion of the Turtle Lighting Ordinance to the Agenda, but Chair Lamb noted that the City Council had deferred this issue at its last review of the proposed Ordinance. She further indicated that the Committee was not prepared to discuss this topic at this meeting. Chair Lamb then proposed two changes to the Agenda: 1) Repositioning NEW BUSINESS to be discussed before OLD BUSINESS, and; 2) Adding a topic under COMMITTEE COMMUNICATIONS for her to explain why she did not support the City Staff's proposed recommendations to the City Council on the Turtle Lighting Ordinance. MOTION by Member McChesney, seconded by Vice-Chair Eastman, that the Amended Agenda as proposed by Chair Lamb be Approved. MOTION CARRIED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE: Yes: 5- Vice-Chair Eastman, Member O'Donnell, Member McChesney, Member Tyler and Chair Lamb (5) APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES ID 21-1336 Approval of the November 18, 2020 Minutes Member Tyler offered the following corrections to the November 18th Minutes: 1) ITEM 6: STAFF COMMUNICATIONS Re-writing of the last paragraph of this section to clarify the meaning of the first sentence in that paragraph, and identifying the subject of Mr. Smith's comments. 2) ITEM 9b.: SEA TURTLE END OF SEASON BRIEF SUMMARY (OLD BUSINESS) Eliminating the placement of Ms. Piersma's comments on Gopher Tortoises under this section on Sea Turtles, and providing an accurate summary of the Sea Turtle End of Season discussion that was held at the November 18th meeting. 3) ITEM 10a.: WINTER BEACH STEWARDSHIP UPDATE (NEW BUSINESS) Adding to Mr. Adam DiNuovo's summary the causes that he noted as contributing to the death of the City of Marco Island Florida Page 1 Beach and Coastal Resources Meeting Minutes - Final January 29, 2021 Advisory Committee Black Skimmers. Chair Lamb offered the following corrections to the November 18th Minutes: 1) ITEM 9a.: FINAL DRAFT SEA TURTLE ORDINANCE (OLD BUSINESS) Chair Lamb did not read, but rather, provided the meeting's Recording Specialist with a written statement of her requested additions to this section of the Minutes. 2) ITEM 10a.: WINTER BEACH STEWARDSHIP UPDATE (NEW BUSINESS) Chair Lamb verbally communicated a statement of content that she asked to be added to the record of Mr. Adam DiNuovo's presentation and discussion on his Black Skimmer research. Given the number of requested changes that she and Member Tyler noted, Chair Lamb put forward a Motion to NOT APPROVE the November 18, 2020 Minutes at this meeting. MOTION by Chair Lamb, seconded by Member Tyler, to NOT APPROVE the Minutes of November 18, 2020 as presented. MOTION CARRIED BY THE FOLLOWING VOICE VOTE: Yes: 5- Vice-Chair Eastman, Member O'Donnell, Member McChesney, Member Tyler and Chair Lamb (6) STAFF COMMUNICATIONS Tonia Selmeski communicated to the Beach and Coastal Resources Advisory Committee members that there are still three positions open on the Committee. That should be decided after next week and at the next Beach and Coastal Resources Advisory Committee meeting the voting will take place for Chair and Vice Chair positions. There will not be a February meeting. However, they are going to continue with every other month meetings since it has been on the website and start the meeting in March with the new Committee members. Chair Lamb mentioned that it is very important to discuss the Police reports in terms on what is happening on the Beach. She questioned Tonia Selmeski why the police reports are two months in arrears. They are looking at a repost that was two months ago, so they cannot act on it or ask questions. Tonia Selmeski mentioned that they are 1 or 2 months behind. They used to have a process where someone from Code Enforcement would attend the Beach Committee meetings to give an update, but they have backed away from continuing that practice. Vice Chair Eastman mentioned that he agreed with Chair Lamb's concerns. (7) PUBLIC COMMENT Kenneth O’Renick is requesting a hard packed walking path that is free of sand to be built as he believes it has become difficult to walk on the beach due to the sand migration. His proposal, after talking to many people at the beach, is to provide a clear path along the dune grass from Cape Marco up to the JW Marriott hotel. Member McChesney mentioned that this may be an issue with the County not raking the sand like they used to. Vice Chair Eastman questioned if this became more of a problem after the last beach re-nourishment. City of Marco Island Florida Page 2 Beach and Coastal Resources Meeting Minutes - Final January 29, 2021 Advisory Committee (8) PRESENTATIONS a. Beach Mat Presentation – Bob Roth & Erin Milchman Nick, a resident of Marco Island for 27 years, has lived and was raised on the beach his whole life. He has much experience on this Island since it became a City in the 1997/1998 time frame. Mackle Park, along with five other parks in the Island, were given to the City by the County to run and maintain. Early on, a 'Request for Quote' resulted in the YMCA being selected to run the parks. The YMCA hired Nick to be the Director of Parks and Recreation, so he is very familiar with what it takes to get things done. He is concerned that it is becoming nearly impossible to get things done through the City's current processes. As an example, he requested the establishment of a Dog Park, and it took five years before one was approved for Mackle Park. He hopes that the Beach Mat Proposal does not take another five year effort. This issue has been on people’s minds for many years. In his investigation to identify an appropriate Beach Mat resource, he found two types of products that could be appropriate He demonstrated both types of mats to the Committee members. b. ID 21-1337 Beach Mat Presentation - Member Tyler Member Tyler presented his information on Beach Mats. He shared some cost estimates on materials as well as information on the weight and length on the mats. He indicated that people with disabilities can be well-served through these Mats, though he also believes that the maintenance of the Mats will generate some negative comments. Member McChesney mentioned that the City may have to hire one additional person for the ADA compliance aspects of this effort or to take care of the Mats daily. As a result, this cost should also be considered in the analysis. Member Tyler mentioned that, in his opinion, the County would be better positioned to manage this effort since it already maintains the beaches and can add the Beach Mat maintenance program to its regular beach maintenance duties. (9) OLD BUSINESS a. ID 21-1338 Review of the Beach and Coastal Resources Advisory Committee FY 2021 Budget Chair Lamb proposed: 1) to fund $1,500 dollars for Summer Shore Bird stewardship for black skimmers as they had a very bad summer. 2) $1,500 dollars for Burrowing Owls watch program maintenance of the burrow. Over the summer they lost a lot of burrows and less donations coming in from the public private sector, and; 3) $1,500 dollars for the ongoing Gopher Tortoise surveys. They have done 94 surveys and counted 728 owl burrows. Outreach is increasing as the public is more aware of the program and asking about it. She is hopeful for the future of tortoises on Marco Island, but she sees it only happening with the help of the citizens who want to open their properties for the survey. b. ID 21-1339 Review of the Beach and Coastal Resources Advisory Committee 2021 City of Marco Island Florida Page 3 Beach and Coastal Resources Meeting Minutes - Final January 29, 2021 Advisory Committee Final Beach Clean-Up Schedule Chair Lamb mentioned that the January 16 beach cleanup was very successful. They had 30 students from Marco Island Academy and The Key Club participating, with another 20 individuals from the community also involved. She thanked all the volunteers that showed up even in spite of Red Tide. Chair Lamb also mentioned that the rest of 2021 is confirmed, and they have two new sponsors: 1) Starbucks for February 13th, and; 2) Marco Island Water Sports for March 27th. MICA will no longer be operating the ATV to help with the beach cleanup as they need the ATV to clean up their own areas. Beach cleanup t-shirts are available for 2021, so they will not have to go back and ask for sponsors. However, around December, additional business sponsors for 2022 will need to be identified. Tonia Selmeski raised the possibility that MICA may not provide the grabbers, gloves, and trash bags as they have in the past. Member McChesney clarified that all of these materials were donated and do not belong to MICA. Tonia Selmeski suggested using some of the funds to purchase material for the beach cleanup because this Program is very important to the Committee and to the Island. Vice-Chair Eastman mentioned that it was an interesting idea since they have run out of grabbers when involved with big groups in the past. c. ID 21-1340 Review of the Beach and Coastal Resources Advisory Committee 2021 Beach Goals Chair Lamb Reviewed the Beach and Coastal Resources Advisory Committee 2021 Beach Goals. She mentioned that even with COVID, they did well. (10) NEW BUSINESS a. Beach Mats No additional report on this topic. b. Compacted Sand Walkway on beach Note: Discussion on this topic is recorded under PUBLIC COMMENT. (11) COMMITTEE COMMUNICATIONS Vice-Chair Eastman communicated that he will not be pushing for the current budget because of the delay on the Turtle Project. He would like to be on record for the following project, he would like $1,000 - $1,500 for samples of the proposed windows Clings. Chair Lamb mentioned that City Council had a presentation of awards for those who participated in the Burrowing Owl Safe Harbor Program. There were 14 site recipients and she congratulated all 14 recipients and hoped that more residents of Marco Island would open their properties to Borrowing Owls in the future. Vice-Chair Eastman mentioned that he was surprised by the report of the discussion at the City Council on the Turtle Lighting Ordinance. He would go on record when it comes to the 15% transparency versus 45%. When it was first brought up, he thought that fifteen was not letting enough of light through however he believes in uniformity across City, County and State and believes in enforceability. A question was asked regarding using a photometer, and the feedback from Staff and Code Enforcement was that it was City of Marco Island Florida Page 4 Beach and Coastal Resources Meeting Minutes - Final January 29, 2021 Advisory Committee going to be difficult to pinpoint the exact amount of light measured. He mentioned he would like to meet the City's expert in using the photometer and learn more about how specific the equipment can be. a. Transfer of Responsibilities for Beach Clean-up Program to Chair of 2021 BchCRAC Committee No discussion. (12) ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the Beach & Coastal Resources Advisory Committee, the meeting adjourned at 10:30 A.M. ____________________________________ Daisy Martinez, Administrative Technician City of Marco Island Florida Page 5