MINUTES
OF MEETING
SUNSHINE
WATER CONTROL DISTRICT
The regular meeting of the
Board of Supervisors of the Sunshine Water Control District was held on
Present and constituting a quorum
were:
Russell Parks President
Mary Macomber Vice President
Also present were:
John Petty Manager
Bruce Cranmer Attorney
Cedo DaSilva CH2M-Hill
Janice Moen Larned
Several Residents
Mr.
Petty called the meeting to order and called the roll.
SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of the Minutes of
the November 8, 2006 Meeting
Mr. Petty stated each Board member
received a copy of the
There not being any,
On MOTION by Ms. Macomber seconded by Mr.
Parks with all in favor the minutes of the
FOURTH ORDER OF
BUSINESS Staff Reports
C. Superintendent
2. Consideration of Draft Tree Policy
Mr. Petty stated since we have some
residents here who are interested in the tree policy, at this time, I request
moving this item up on the agenda. Staff
prepared a preliminary notice of hearing for the Board’s consideration. If the Board feels this is in line with what
we have been discussing, staff is suggesting the hearing be scheduled for the
next meeting and door hangers be placed on every home abutting a canal so the
residents can be informed about the hearing.
They will receive a separate notice on when the meeting will be
held. They can talk to us about any of
their concerns. This is what we told the
residents we were going to do at previous meetings.
The first side of the nuisance tree
removal program information sheet talks about how nuisance trees will be
removed. Nuisance trees are defined by
the current City of
The back side of the information
sheet is a letter to the resident telling them what we have been doing after
Hurricane Wilma. On the right hand side
of the information sheet, we have questions and answers. This is similar to what we have done in the
past but updated to reflect Phase 2. Our
phone number, website and email addresses are listed. We put out our contact information in as many
ways as we could to get them to communicate with us.
Ms. Macomber asked is this what we
have been talking about all along?
Mr. Petty responded yes. The concept is for us to go after nuisance
trees. We are not looking to remove any
ornamental trees, no matter what their location is at this time. We are just going after the nuisance trees.
Ms. Macomber stated good.
Mr. Petty stated the contractor will
be required to survey and mark all trees with yellow tape so the residents can
see what is going to be removed from their vista. If they have any concerns, they can call the
District Office and we will happy to discuss any issues with them. Time will be somewhat limited since we have a
contractor in the field but certainly they have the right to call and express
their concerns. When it comes to nuisance
trees, there is not much we can do but we will be happy to work with them to
the best of our ability.
Ms. Macomber asked is the next step
for the information to be provided to the residents on door hangers?
Mr. Petty responded yes. We will distribute the door hangers in the
next couple of weeks and give the residents time to prepare. At the February meeting, we will iron out any
concerns and come up with a final document and bid. We spoke with our engineer and it is possible
to amend the old contracts we stopped removing everything in the rights-of-way. It depends on what the Board decides on as
the final draft.
Mr. Parks stated it looks like a
nice proposal so far.
Mr. Petty stated we will be happy to
take any comments from the Board between now and the time we go out. We will follow any path the Board wishes to
take.
Ms. Macomber asked when do you want
our comments?
Mr. Petty responded within the next
seven to ten days.
Mr. Ron Kulhanek stated when FEMA
came through and removed trees, they put sod down. Six years ago, the Water Control District put
grass in. What is staff’s position after
the trees are pulled out to restore the area?
Mr. Petty responded in this tree
removal program we are not going to disturb the bank. We will cut level with the ground.
Mr. Kulhanek asked are you going to
remove the stumps?
Mr. Petty responded no. If we disturb the bank, we have to bring in
heavy equipment, which causes more trees to be moved. In trying to keep the tree removal to a
minimum and not affect the ornamental trees, we flush cut. It was not FEMA who removed the trees but
NRCS.
Mr. David Hume stated during
previous discussions on this issue, one concern from the residents had to do
with fences and sheds in the rights-of-way.
In the diagram, from the top of the canal bank what was the official
distance?
Mr. Petty responded there is no
official distance from top of bank out.
In some places it is a couple of feet and in others it is 25’. The canal was built in the middle of a right-of-way
and was not a dead line.
Mr. Hume asked do you rely on the
survey line?
Mr. Petty responded on your
particular home, I recommend going to the Property Appraiser. A homeowner should go to the Property
Appraiser website as they have an overlay of where your property ends. There will be a red line where the canal bank
or water begins. This is the best way to
do this before you spend money for a survey.
We are going to do it under the contract with our engineer in the field
going from centerline of road, which has not moved back to set the right-of-way
line.
Mr. Hume stated the idea is to
remove the trees as long as the contractor has good access to the rights-of-way
to get the nuisance trees. If someone’s
structure is 6” or 1’ but yet the contractor has reasonable access, we should
have leeway for those types of situations.
Mr. Petty stated there are many
fences up without permits in the District, which is an ongoing issue. They do not pose a threat to me at this
time. If I need to remove them after a
storm event, then I can do so at that time.
It is not intended during this contract to try to remove any fences
unless they pose a hindrance to the construction work. I do not think we are going to have an issue
as there may only be one or two fences to cut.
Mr. Hume stated the larger issue is
to get the nuisance trees removed as much as possible.
Ms. Macomber stated we covered the
issue of personal belongings in the ROW.
Mr. Petty stated we tried to let
them know if they have benches to remove them just in case. Sprinkler systems are always at risk because
as soon as the tree comes down, it is going to hit the ground and we are going
to pop sprinklers for sure.
Mr. Hume stated good job. You have come a long way in this process and
we appreciate your efforts.
Mr. Edward Root stated you mentioned
you were going to modify your previous contract. Was this contract to remove everything?
Mr. Petty responded everything from right-of-way
to right-of-way. It will have to meet these
new criteria. The scope changed so
drastically we do not know if we can use the existing contract. We may have to re-bid.
Mr. Root asked do you intend to
remove docks?
Mr. Petty responded only if they are
in the way of this removal program. We
have a lot of side issues.
Mr. Cranmer stated prior to your
arrival, several years ago we adopted a dock permit program. We had a great response as 70 docks were
inventoried. We sent out notices to all
dock owners. All but one removed their
docks. One individual said he spent a
fortune on his dock and had many permits for it, but not a permit from the
city. He recorded a document in the
record placing notice on future owners that we have the right to inspect the
dock and if it affects our drainage, we can remove it. Only one person applied for the permit. We have a process for getting docks approved.
Mr. Root stated I was told the dock
approval process was cancelled.
Mr. Parks stated we only approved
one.
Mr. Root stated I strongly suggest
you pull your minutes. Your concern at
the time was liability. It did not have
anything to do with hurricanes.
Mr. Petty stated it has to do with
the stewardship of government lands. A
representative of the Country Club of Coral Springs requested a couple of acres
of ground for a setback. They said “This
was a dead end drainage system only affecting our golf course and we are asking
you to give this to the Country Club so we can build the setback, which we
think is good for the neighborhood”. We
told them we are in favor of making the neighborhood better but we cannot set a
precedent where we are giving up land for personal gain because this is a
public trust. As counsel opined, we can
grant easements and right of use, but we never, ever give up the right-of-way.
Mr. Root stated a female attorney
wrote us a letter giving the property back to the landowner because liability
was an issue.
Mr. Petty stated it never was the
landowners to begin with.
Mr. Cranmer stated I drafted the
document. We were concerned about
liability and structural integrity. We
did not want a poorly built dock blocking the flowage of the canal. Those were our two issues. We only issued one permit. Everyone else removed their dock.
Mr. Petty asked was there a third
issue if it ever became a hindrance to the drainage facility, we had the right
to remove the dock at the owners cost?
Mr. Cranmer responded yes.
Mr. Petty stated this is a right of
use but not a release.
Mr. Root stated we backed off three
years ago and I rebuilt my dock based on your statement. Now three years later, you are doing it
again. I am not criticizing what you are
attempting to do but I would like some delineation about the use of the dock.
Mr. Petty stated I suggest you
contact my office at (954) 753-0380. I
will take a look at the documents you have to see if we can figure this out.
Mr. Cranmer stated you can go online
and do a Broward public records search.
Mr. Joseph Spoto was the applicant for the permit we approved within the
last five years. You can find a recorded
document.
Mr. Petty stated during this
contract, our sole focus is to remove the nuisance trees for hurricane
preparedness. Other side issues such as
fences and docks are not the highlight of this discussion. If they have to be moved so we can do this
work, that is exactly what was intended.
We are not trying to police any other issue at this time. I will be happy to work with the resident on
this specific issue. If the Board wants
to give us this direction, we will be happy to proceed with this proposal. We will place this item on the next agenda.
Mr. Kulhanek stated I live at
Mr. Petty responded that was not our
District. Our sister District, CSID
performed the survey. CSID surrounds the
east outfall. There had been a berm
during the original construction to block the water levels from getting to a
certain height. During construction and
the residents moving in, many of these berms were moved.
Mr. Kulhanek stated there is no
record of it anywhere.
Mr. Petty stated we have records of
the berms on the original permit with SFWMD.
CSID wanted to see if there were any concerns for the drainage
system. The Board was made aware of this
and we talked about doing our own work as well.
The survey work showed a few spots for consideration. The berms were put there until the fill for the
lot came in. When this occurred, the
berm took the shape of the yard. You
still have the elevation control. Most
of the concerns were at the ends where it hit the street. There were a couple areas where we might have
to put something at the edge but it did not seem to be much of an issue. They are currently discussing it in relation
to the C-14 Canal and its elevation so it may be immaterial. I do not think anyone is going to build big
dirt walls in anyone’s backyard.
Mr. Kulhanek stated this was our
concern. We want it to be leveled off
rather than built up because we have rights of use and maintain the grass to
the control on our side.
Mr. Petty stated there are many
issues on the
Mr. Kulhanek asked are there any
plans at this time?
Mr. Petty responded at this time,
our sister District has not petitioned this body. Since the land is in their District outside
of our right-of-way, they have not proposed anything nor do I envision anything
being proposed. They are sensitive to
the residents and if any berming has to be done, I am sure there will be a
program to work with residents on because it is a nice slope versus a
wall. According to our permit, the most
we can do is a four to one slope, which is a gradual, walkable slope.
Mr. Kulhanek stated right now we do
not have anything. It slops down
beautifully from our houses.
Mr. Petty stated it is probably a
six to one slope, which is fairly gradual.
Mr. Kulhanek stated on the other
side of
Mr. Petty stated point taken.
Mr. Kulhanek asked when is the next
meeting?
Mr. Petty responded we are going to discuss
possibly having one in February. The
CSID meeting is on January 22nd at 10300 NW 11th
Manor. I will be happy to give you
directions after the meeting.
Mr. Parks stated it should be
considered in February to get it out of the way.
THIRD ORDER OF
BUSINESS Consideration
of Award of Contract for the Purchase of Aquatic Weed Control Chemicals
Mr. Petty stated we do this annually. Our recommendation to the Board is to award
the contract to the low bidder under each chemical, which we highlighted in our
summary sheet. We do not take the most
economical contractor for all the chemicals.
We take the most economical contractor for each chemical.
On
MOTION by Ms. Macomber seconded by Mr. Parks with all in favor the chemical
contracts were awarded to the lowest bidder as listed on the bid tabulation.
FOURTH ORDER OF
BUSINESS Staff Reports
A. Attorney
Mr. Cranmer stated two inventories
are going to be done on our property; one by the Broward County Property
Appraiser’s office, which they call an annual review of government owned
properties. They have a list of 70 identification
numbers to match up with our properties.
I will make a copy of the list and provide to Mr. Petty. This needs to be returned to them by March 1st. Coincidentally I received the same request
from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection for the Public Lands
Research Program in
Ms. Macomber asked is this a big
job?
Mr. Petty responded it is going to
start costing us money.
Mr. Cranmer stated they provided us
the parcel numbers, which should make it easier to identify.
Mr. Petty stated this District has
been around for a long time and the property we have now is the same property
we had 20 years ago. I do not mind
working with the Property Appraiser on any changes to folio numbers. We have been doing this in the past. They wanted to know if any of the land is
leased. There is an issue because if you
lease property to a for profit corporation, you are no longer tax exempt on the
land. The best case of this was the
ports in recent years. Property
Appraisers are sending me paperwork to fill out, which causes staff work. If I do not have a staff member, of course I
do not comply. Evidently this is an
issue where we will have staff work on a regular basis. The Board just needs to be aware of
this. It is a normal growth issue. I received a fax from the Department of
Revenue saying, “You did not put out an Ad Valorem Tax and you need to fill out
this form under the Revenue Sharing Statute”.
I called them back saying, “I have been waiting for 30 years to get
money from the state. I am thrilled and
cannot wait to fill out the forms.
Ms. Macomber stated I assume you
have not heard anything back.
Mr. Petty stated correct. We will comply and if this gets to be a larger
deal, we will bring it to your attention.
Mr. Parks stated for each leased
parcel, they marked “Cell tower lease, not applicable”.
Mr. Petty stated if there were
activity, we would have a small engineering department handling all the plat
information. In our particular case, it
is the same as before.
Mr. Parks stated I have been doing
this for 12 years. Ms. Lori Parrish says
this is an annual review. This is the
first time I have seen this.
Mr. Petty stated me too. We just have some forms people are expecting
to be filled out. As they get to be
costly, we will bring it to your attention.
B. Engineer
Mr. Petty stated in line with the
discussion on the berm, our sister district performed a hydrologic
profiling. This gives you the “what if”
capabilities such as the flooding potential for 7” of rain. CSID found this to be a useful tool. Operationally, it may end up being useful for
our guys to use in the field. The work
is not expensive. Mr. DaSilva prepared
this profile for CSID and can discuss it further with you.
Mr. DaSilva stated we use software
called ICPR, which connects the entire District to its water bodies. We analyze under the 10 year event, which
controls our road elevation and 100 year event, which controls the finished
floor elevations. It presents a live
model of what happens within the District when you have a 10 year rain event or
100 year event. It shows your
expectations in certain parts of the District and any concerns. You have pump stations in the south part of
the District and by the time you have rain and water travels from this point,
it creates a hydrologic redline. The
water rises and it might affect some of the District areas. In order to do this, we need to clean pipes
or install additional culverts to create more capacity.
Mr. Petty stated it takes the
original design criteria, which is based on good engineering data and puts an
as-built condition to it. You can
compare actual flows and rain events to see how accurate the model is and tweak
it as you need to. It is an as-built
versus a proposed plan. Mr. Cory Selchen
has known for a long time from his field perspective what areas were the most
difficult to drain. The ballpark figure
for doing such a hydrologic is $1,000, which is well worth it. If the Board thinks this is a good idea, I
suggest the engineer bring a proposal to the next meeting for this work.
Ms. Macomber stated we discussed
this before.
Mr. Petty stated the manager’s
office highly recommends this.
Ms. Macomber stated sounds good.
Mr. Petty stated Mr. Selchen, your
Field Supervisor wanted to be here today but his wife was having surgery.
C. Superintendent
1. Discussion of Meeting Calendar to
Change to Monthly Meetings
Mr. Petty asked does the Board want
to meet in February only or for the entire year. The manager’s office is asking you to
consider a change in policy to meet every month versus every other month. You may recall, we talked about not only
removing trees for hurricane preparedness but issues on the east outfall on the
Margate side, which is supposed to have a berm holding water back from Margate. It is gone in many locations. We have issues with permitted facilities you
may want to change. We were talking
about controlling the area or considering a fence, cleaning up some silted canals,
working on banks and using engineering alternatives to handling the nasty box
cut canals. Mr. McKune has done a
theoretical deal in Eagle Trace that worked very well. He was able to drill into and cut out rebar
at an angle, filled with large folders and put riff raff concrete on top. He stabilized a very nasty area. It looks very nice. We want to use engineered solutions to do
some tests. We talked about using some
of our capital improvement funds to do this and put it into the budget. If we are going to start doing more, we are
going to need to talk to you more as well.
Mr. Parks stated I do not see any
problems with meeting monthly.
Mr. Petty stated we meet on the
second Wednesday of every month and I request we continue this practice on a
monthly basis versus every other month.
On MOTION by Ms. Macomber seconded by Mr.
Parks with all in favor the meeting schedule was changed from the second
Wednesday of every other month to the second Wednesday of every month.
2. Consideration of Draft Tree Policy
This item was discussed earlier in
the meeting.
FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Supervisor Requests and
Audience Comments
A resident stated in the meeting
where you approved the budget, in addition to budgeting $60,000 for lobbying,
you also budgeted $65,000 for general communication expenses. One of the items was for a website. Is the website up and running or are you still
working on it?
Mr. Petty responded we purchased a
domain but there is no content. The
address is: DistrictOffices.com.
Sunshine has always been a part of an informative but not attractive
website called FloridaDistricts.com. We
obtained the domain for DistrictOffices.com because this is how we have
answered the phone for 20 years. We have
not built the website yet as we did not want to put any information regarding
the tree policy until it was settled.
However, this item is budgeted.
We have a public relations firm working with us and you are feeling some
of the effects of this. You are coming
along very nicely due to the good help we are receiving.
The resident asked if someone wanted
to review the background material on the contract with the management company,
where is this material available?
Mr. Petty responded we call this a
public records request. You can make
this request at my office and we will get you any record. If we provide it to you electronically, there
is no charge. If you ask for copies, we
charge you for the number of copies.
Typically we can provide any document to you by PDF because we scan it
into our system.
The resident stated I would like to
see your procedures for Board elections.
Mr. Petty stated the Board members
are elected at the landowners election held in June, which is somewhat
unique. Most people understand our
election process by the registered voter process. Owning the land to vote seems to go back to
colonial times. It is applicable because
the assessment is on the land, not on what you put above it. The Florida Legislature has made it a per
acre or division thereof landowners election.
The new Special Taxing District must conform to an elector election once
they reach a certain stage of residency.
It is six years plus “x” number of people. Then you convert from a landowner’s election
to an elector election. When our
districts were created, we were mandated to stay with the landowners election
throughout. It takes a special act from
the legislature to get approval.
Currently the landowners election represents everyone who owns property
in our District. Call me and let me know
what your are looking for and I will send it to you.
The resident asked when is the next
election?
Mr. Parks responded in June.
Mr. Petty stated Mr. Parks position
expires in March of 2007. Our landowners
election used to be held in June but we converted to March meetings in 2003.
SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Approval of Financials
and Warrants
On MOTION by Ms. Macomber seconded by Mr. Parks
with all in favor the financials and warrants 8917-8938 dated
FOURTH ORDER OF
BUSINESS Staff Reports
C. Superintendent
Mr. Petty stated the City of
Mr. Parks stated good.
Ms. Macomber stated thank you.
A resident stated my house faces
this canal. Is the controversy over who
maintains it?
Mr. Petty responded no. They want to be able to control it for their
residents benefit. The residents across
the canal think of it as a nature preserve as Australian Pines have grown close
to the bank until Hurricane Wilma took most of them down. The city accused us of not managing it
properly because we did not get the trees out of there. This was the issue last year.
Ms. Macomber stated we tried to
remove them and they did not allow us to.
The resident stated you did our side
of the canal and the Water Control District did our side. Supposedly the plan was to do the other side
of the canal a year or two later but this did not happen.
Mr. Petty stated we were going to
remove the Australian Pines but some Margate residents staged a sit-in. A newspaper article was written and we walked
away from it.
Mr. Parks stated this occurred in
1992. We wanted to clean it up to
prevent a future disaster but the homeowners did not want us to touch it.
Ms. Macomber stated of course when
Hurricane Wilma happened they changed their tune.
Mr. Petty stated the issue is
whether the City of Margate has residents who want them to do something for
their benefit on our property, which is in the City of Coral Springs. I told them the District cannot expend money
for their wishes but they are welcome to speak at a public meeting. They want more options than this.
SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS Adjournment
There being no further business,
On MOTION by Ms. Macomber seconded by Mr.
Parks with all in favor the meeting was adjourned.
John Petty Russell
Parks
Assistant Secretary President
Sunshine Notes for 1/10/07 Meeting
Agenda Item for Next Meeting
1.
Hearing on Consideration of Draft Tree Policy
2.
Drainage System Study Update