Waterways Advisory Committee

City of Marco Island Florida 51 Bald Eagle Drive Marco Island, Florida cityofmarcoisland.com Meeting Minutes - Final Thursday, March 18, 2021 9:00 AM Community Meeting Room Waterways Advisory Committee Chair: David Crain Vice-Chair: William Trotter Committee Members: Steve Sokol, Philip Thompson, Martin Winter, Eugene Wordehoff City Staff: Jason Tomassetti, P.E. Waterways Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes - Final March 18, 2021 (1) CALL TO ORDER Chair Crain called the meeting to order at 9:00 A.M. (2) ROLL CALL Present: 6- Member Sokol, Member Thompson, Vice-Chair Trotter, Member Winter, Member Wordehof and Chair Crain Also Present Dr. Richard Blonna, Marco Island City Councilor Mr. Robert Roth, Former Waterways Advisory Committee Member Mr. Jason Tomassetti, Marco Island Stormwater Engineer Ms. Diana Aviles, Public Works Department Administrative Assistant (3) PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Chair Crain. (4) APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA MOTION by Member Thompson, seconded by Member Sokol, that the Agenda be Approved. MOTION CARRIED BY THE FOLLOWING VOICE VOTE: Yes: 6- Member Sokol, Member Thompson, Vice-Chair Trotter, Member Winter, Member Wordehof and Chair Crain (5) APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES ID 21-1448 February 18, 2021 Waterways Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes MOTION by Member Trotter, seconded by Member Thompson, that the Minutes of February 18, 2021 be Approved. MOTION CARRIED BY THE FOLLOWING VOICE VOTE: Yes: 6- Member Sokol, Member Thompson, Vice-Chair Trotter, Member Winter, Member Wordehof and Chair Crain (6) STAFF COMMUNICATIONS City Storm Water Engineer Jason Tomassetti brought the attention of the Committee to the heightened levels of measured pollutants in the February water quality results, and he indicated that those results have been posted to the City's website. In response to the Committee's request at its last meeting, he advised the Committee members that any questions for the City's Marine Patrol officer can be routed to him or to Police Captain Dave Baer for follow-up and response. Mr. Tomassetti concluded his comments by recognizing the concerns of the Committee (as raised by Chair Crain at the March 15th City Council Meeting) regarding the storm water management plan for Veterans' Community Park in light of the forthcoming bandshell and amenties project on that site, and he welcomed questions from members of the Committee. (Note: Chair Crain displayed the calculation detail City of Marco Island Florida Page 1 Waterways Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes - Final March 18, 2021 from consultant Kimley-Horn's report that was in question, and Mr. Tomassetti addressed the concerns raised). (7) PUBLIC COMMENT City Councilor Rich Blonna explained the public awareness and education intent of the upcoming, public 'Marco Island Water Quality Workshop' scheduled for April 8, 2021 from 5:30 P.M. - 7:30 P.M. Mr. Robert Roth (Sheffield Ave.), a former member of the Waterways Advisory Committee, offered his comment and perspective on the discrepancy in reported water quality measures between the County's reports and those currently being collected by the City's provider, and he recommended that the Committee reach out to Collier County District 1 Commissioner Rick LoCastro to investigate why the County elected to terminate its water quality testing effort during calendar year 2020. (8) PRESENTATIONS No presentations by non-Committee members were scheduled for review at this meeting. (9) OLD BUSINESS a. Marco Water Baseline 2020 – Member Wordehoff ID 21-1447 Marco Water Baseline 2020 Member Wordehoff briefly outlined the results of his trend analysis of eleven water sample test reports published during calendar year 2020. From his analysis, he noted that: 1. Total Nitrogen for Marco Island exceeded the FDEP* standard of 0.57 mg/L for the full year; 2. Other measured impairment tendencies were evident in the data, including: a) Total Phosphorous measures exceeded the FDEP standard in the five of the eleven months; b) Measured water pH was trending toward the upper limit of 8.5, and; c) Chlorophyll-a was measured to exceed the FDEP standard one month during 2020 (*Note: FDEP is the Florida Department of Environmental Protection) 3. Coincident with the change in measuring entities (i.e. the County vs. the City's current resource), key sample measurement levels were seen to differ (i.e. be reduced) by as much as 60%, and; 4. Thirty-two (32) statistical outliers were observed in the data MOTION by Member Wordehoff, seconded by Member Thompson, that Stormwater Engineer Tomassetti be authorized to approach Collier County to request its agreement to receive, test and report its measurements of a single month's Marco Island water quality test sample that is identical in date, time and source location to the samples being drawn and measured by Marco Island's current water quality testing resource, be Approved. MOTION CARRIED BY CONSENSUS VOICE VOTE OF THE COMMITTEE. Yes: 6- Member Sokol, Member Thompson, Vice-Chair Trotter, Member Winter, Member Wordehof and Chair Crain City of Marco Island Florida Page 2 Waterways Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes - Final March 18, 2021 (10) NEW BUSINESS a. Marco Water Standards 2021 – Member Wordehoff ID 21-1446 Marco Water Standards Member Wordehoff shared the results of his investigation into the previous analysis conducted by Turrell Hall & Associates in 2019 on behalf of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) that was used to set surface water standards for Marco Island for Total Nitrogen, Total Phosphorous and Chlorophyll-a. Noting that no Marco Island waterways were surveyed and measured in the establishment of those standards, and recognizing that the utilization of Rookery Bay and the 10,000 Islands measurement results that were used by FDEP to set those standards may be excessively stringent, Member Wordehoff proposed that the Committee, in cooperation with the City, work together to initiate the development of surface water quality standards for Marco Island that uses water samples derived directly from Marco Island's inland and immediate surrounding waterways. Chair Crain 'springboarded off' Member Wordehoff's report to present data and calculated estimates that suggest that new, residential home construction and tear-down, replacement residential home builds on Marco Island between calendar years 2001 - 2020 have resulted in approximately 375 acres of impervious surface area that has been added to Marco Island over the past 20 years. This impervious surface area is seen to collect various surface and airborne pollutants that are washed into the Island's canals and waterways with every heavy rainfall exacerbating, he believes, the measured degradation of water quality in and around the Island. After a great deal of discussion, including perspective and input from visiting City Councilor Richard Blonna, Chair Crain invited former Waterways Advisory Committee member Robert Roth to share his insight on: 1) regulating residential property storm water discharges into the canals, and; 2) the implications of the existing surface water quality standards and the impervious surface area expansion in residential areas of the Island. The Committee's action as a result of its discussion during this portion of the meeting was the Motion noted in these Minutes under Agenda Item 9a. (Marco Water Baseline 2020). b. Recommended Best Management Practices – Chair Crain ID 21-1445 WAC Recommended Best Practices In an effort to ensure that this newly-appointed Waterways Advisory Committee is unified and committed to all (or some number) of the recommended 'WAC Recommended Best Practices' that Chair Crain crafted from his experience as a member of the previous Waterways Advisory Committee, he recommended that the Committee convene a special meeting to review, revise and / or re-prioritize his proposed 'best practices' list prior to its presentation at the April 8th public 'Marco Island Water Quality Workshop'. (Editorial Note: the Special Waterways Advisory Committee Meeting to undertake this review was subsequently scheduled for Friday, March 26, 2021 at 9:00 A.M.) (11) COMMITTEE COMMUNICATIONS Member Sokol asked Stormwater Engineer Tomassetti to comment on the effect of contractor debris and spills on the chemical analysis and composition of the Island's surface water. Mr. Tomassetti provided a reply in response to Member Sokol's question. (12) ADJOURNMENT City of Marco Island Florida Page 3 Waterways Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes - Final March 18, 2021 There being no further business before the Committee, Chair Crain adjourned the meeting at 10:43 A.M. _________________________________ Jim Kornas, Recording Specialist City of Marco Island Florida Page 4