Waterways Advisory Committee

City of Marco Island Florida 51 Bald Eagle Drive Marco Island, Florida cityofmarcoisland.com Meeting Minutes - Final Thursday, April 20, 2023 9:00 AM Community Meeting Room Waterways Advisory Committee Chair: David Crain Vice-Chair: Martin Winter Committee Members: Carlos Escarra, Steve Sokol, Philip Thompson, Michael Welty, Eugene Wordehoff City Staff: Justin Martin, Diedre Wint Waterways Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes - Final April 20, 2023 (1) CALL TO ORDER Meeting called to order at 9AM by Chair Crain. Present: 7- Member Escarra, Member Sokol, Member Thompson, Member Welty, Vice-Chair Winter, Member Wordehoff and Chair Crain (2) ROLL CALL Present: 7- Member Escarra, Member Sokol, Member Thompson, Member Welty, Vice-Chair Winter, Member Wordehoff and Chair Crain (3) PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Led by Chair Crain. (4) APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA MOTION by Member Thompson seconded by Member Wordehoff, that the Agenda be Approved. MOTION CARRIED BY THE FOLLOWING VOICE VOTE: Yes: 7- Member Escarra, Member Sokol, Member Thompson, Member Welty, Vice-Chair Winter, Member Wordehoff and Chair Crain (5) APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES MOTION by Member Wordehoff seconded by Member Thompson, that the Minutes of Mach 16, 2023 be Approved. MOTION CARRIED BY THE FOLLOWING VOICE VOTE: Yes: 7- Member Escarra, Member Sokol, Member Thompson, Member Welty, Vice-Chair Winter, Member Wordehoff and Chair Crain (6) PUBLIC COMMENT (TIME CERTAIN ...) Member of the public opined that at the location of Swallow highly-nutrient rich water from stormwater runoff on Collier that run through pipes ends up in Landmark Bay and is flushed into Swallow which forms algae and as the algae dies it reduces oxygen. Focus should be made to reduce highly-rich nutrient disposal in our waterways. (7) CITY STAFF COMMUNICATIONS The Storm Water Engineer position is vacant and the Public Works Department was actively seeking applicants. The Water Quality Testing Reports on the City's Website was not up to date as of January 2023 The Water Sewer Department has implemented reduction in lawn irrigation from 3 to 2 days due to the drought and the need to protect the City's water source. The highly-rich nutrient water disposal from storm drains will be follow up by City Staff. (8) OLD BUSINESS (a) REQUEST FOR QUOTES (RFQ) RETURNS ON CANALS ID 23-2850 RFI Returns on Canals City of Marco Island Florida Page 1 Waterways Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes - Final April 20, 2023 Members reviewed the Request for Quotes and summarized the following: Blue Green Water proposed the addition of hydrogen peroxide to the water for oxygen release but this method can kill other organism in the water. Clean Water Partnership appeared to be a public and public partnership with limited information to follow up FLO Clear is outside of the scope of the Committee's objective and an application for waste water treatment design for reuse waster. No associated cost were provided. Florida Keys aeration proposed the oxidation saturation technology which is similar to fine bubbly diffuser with no bubbles but it oxygenates the water using an intake and outage pipes. RC Site Solutions involved dredging the canals and creating a new island or mound that can be used for other purposes; however, this would not be without some controversy. Overall the RFP did not provide pricing, testing or long range forecast. The Committee suggested the City commit to doing a hydraulic model of the island as well as stated its disappointed that water test results it has presented are often not followed through by City Staff to determine, in cases, why the level of nutrients were found to be way above the requirement. (b) BUSINESS LANDSCAPE ID 23-2756 Notice for Landscape Registration and Fertilizer Enforcement The update from the City's Growth on the Landscape Ordinance which identified 193 of that 104 had been registered. Code Enforcement was actively issuing Stop Work Order and Notices of Violation for non compliance or unregistered landscaping companies. Registration is available online or in person. Concerns were raised regarding the fertilizer pamphlet produced by the Beautification Advisory Committee "DO & DON'T as being merely administrative and will be difficult to enforce or monitor. Criticism were raised regarding water body because this area will directly or indirectly be fertilized and people will do whatever they want to do. With over a million pounds of fertilizer entering the island yearly, some are applied in granular and liquid forms. The granular has a latent period for absorption with the greater potential of ending up in the waterways. The liquid application is rapid; however, both methods still lack the ability to determine the quantity or amount being applied. The recommendations were to use plants that are less nutrient dependent and public education. (c) MARCO WATERWAYS OXYGEN LEVELS ID 23-2800 Marco Waterways Oxygen Levels Members were presented a trend diagram of 14 impaired estuaries across various counties from 2017 - 2023. The objective of the presentation was to show the changes in oxygen levels in the waterways which included Marco Island and that the City has been for 3 years but there is hope the island will be off the impaired list in 2025 when the next test will be done. Changes in oxygen levels were better during the cooler months than were in the warmer months. Criticisms were raised that the State changed their regulations to percentage saturation in 2015 from the City of Marco Island Florida Page 2 Waterways Advisory Committee Meeting Minutes - Final April 20, 2023 2009 to 2013 which were based on milligrams per litre as a testing method. While the discrepancy in the methodology used in the trend diagram received criticism, their was support given for its ability to highlight the quality of water on the island versus off the island. For example dissolved oxygen for Isle of Capri, which for the most part, is still on septic was much higher than on Marco Island. (9) NEW BUSINESS A proposal was made for the Committee to get involved in wildlife protection along the City's waterways. This would entail recommendations to City Council to limit combustible engineers, install no boating signage and the use of smaller vessels in designated areas. A presentation of this recommendation will be made available to the Committee at the next meeting. (10) NEXT MEETING: CONFIRMATION & ATTENDANCE Members agreed that the next Meeting be held on May 18, 2023. (11) PROPOSED AGENDA TOPICS FOR NEXT MEETING Members agreed that the following be on the Agenda at the next Meeting: Wildlife Protection in our Waterways, Hydraulic Study Modeling (12) OTHER COMMITTEE COMMUNICATIONS Artificial grass has been seen on the island and the question was asked why this was not being promoted by the City as it could eliminate alot of problems with the waterways. The question was raised about ponds in Condos being inundation with salt water from Ian whether this water could be pumped and released freely. The response was deferred to Justin Martin to follow up on his return at the next meeting. (13) ADJOURNMENT There being no further business before the Committee, Chair Crain adjourned the meeting at 10:51 AM. __________________________________ Diedre Wint, Administrative Assistant City of Marco Island Florida Page 3