MINUTES OF MEETING

SUNSHINE WATER CONTROL DISTRICT

 

            The meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the Sunshine Water Control District was held on July 12, 2006 at 6:30 p.m. at the Commission Chambers, Coral Springs City Hall, 9551 West Sample Road, Coral Springs, Florida.

 

            Present and constituting a quorum were:

 

            Mary Macomber                                        Vice President

            Philip Sobers                                              Secretary

 

            Also present were:

 

            John Petty                                                  Manager

            Bruce Cranmer                                           Attorney

            Cedo DaSilva                                             Engineer

            John McKune                                             Engineer

            Cory Selchan                                              Field Superintendant

            Janice Larned                                             Severn Trent

            Jean Rugg                                                   Severn Trent

            Numerous Residents

 

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS                         Roll Call

            Mr. Petty called the meeting to order and called the roll.

 

SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS                    Approval of the Minutes of the May 10, 2006 Meeting

            Mr. Petty stated each Board member received a copy of the minutes of the May 10, 2006 meeting and requested any additions, corrections or deletions. 

            There not being any,

           

On MOTION by Mr. Sobers seconded by Ms. Macomber with all in favor the minutes of the May 10, 2006 meeting were approved. 

 

FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                         Supervisor’s Requests and Audience Comments

            Ms. Macomber stated let me welcome you all.  We are glad you are here this evening.  We are wrestling with a lot of issues as a result of Hurricane Wilma and in our proactive stance we are trying to take to avoid further problems with another horrific storm such as the one we had.  We are praying we are not going to have it this year but we are not the final arbitrator of this.  We are very interested in hearing what you have to say.  My name is Mary Macomber and I am the vice chair.  Our chair is not with us this evening and my co-supervisor with me is Phil Sober.  We are very interested in hearing what you have to say and we welcome you. 

            For anyone who would like to speak we are going to have you speak first before we get into our normal business in order to accomodate you.  I would like to ask whoever would like to speak to make your way to the podium to address themselves.  Let us know your name and where you live.

            Mr. Ed McGuriger, Westchester Subdivision, stated I will first start off by complimenting you for taking care of the canals.  It took awhile to get the debris out of there but you did it.  Mr. Petty and I had some conversations about the way it was done.  I was not pleased with the barge I think it caused some erosion.  Erosion is something I would like to address tonight.  I come to you not only because of a dock I have on the canal behind my house but I come to you as a citizen of the community.  I do not want to see the same thing happen as in Pembroke Pines where all the vegetation was removed from the banks and tremendous erosion has taken place.  I think they have 5' or 6' which has eroded away because the plant vegetation was taken away.  I will tell you and I know you know more about the water district than do I but trees, vegetations and structures there withstood 100 mph plus gusts.  I think I clocked one at 105 mph.  I saw a lot winds and debris which blew over my house and I know a tremendous amount directly behind my house was not due to anything on the bank.  It was coming from two and three houses away.  I will say the vegetation there is holding the bank up and I would hate to see it removed.  Mr. Petty and I had a discussion on whether the bank should be sprayed.  He says it good for them and I think it erodes them.  We have lost about 5' in the 25 years we have lived there and most of it is your right of way.  As I say the vegetation there survived Hurricane Wilma and some of those trees which surround the lake I think helped protect the roofs and houses there.  Any structures which helped buffer the wind I think helped keep roofs intact.  Across the lake from us there was a lady who lost her roof.  I would like to hear comments from you as to what your plans are.  I assume they are finalized at this point.

Ms. Macomber stated actually we had discussions with the city and are talking with them at this point.  We have made no decisions at this point; we will be taking it up later this evening. 

Mr. McGuriger stated I have a concern not only for my personal situation but the whole subdivision.  I would hate to see heavy equipment do damage and walk away from it, which is the impression which has been left with the residents.  Secondly, I will tell you I built the dock 24 years ago.  I built the dock for a couple of reasons not only for looks but also for my kids to fish off of.  We live in a state which has a big alligator population.  There was alligator there which came up to the bank while my kid was fishing and is why I decided to put the dock up.  Over the past 24 years there have probably been 50 kids who have fished off of the dock at one time or another.  I would far rather see them fishing off of the dock than wandering the canal and getting into the snakes or alligators that appear there.  Again, the dock withstood 100 mph winds.  It came from the south and it withstood it, the dock faces the east if it comes from the east it is going to be laying in my yard and on my house not in your canal.  The way it is built it will withstand far more winds than that. 

Mr. Petty stated the question was asked will we be repairing any damage from the heavy equipment used in the removal.  Part of the contract is the bank being repaired to its original or better form and be stable is part of the contract.

Mr. Jim Candy, 119th Lane, stated I spoke to Dan at one point and he said there was not going to be any property damage; everything will be left in its original state.  He is the one who supposedly wrote the letter which came around.  Most people did not get the letter and I do not know why.  On the other side of the canal everybody I asked did not even know about this meeting tonight, nor that anything was being done by the water management.  The letters went to very few people and this is one concern.  Another concern is the changes from the erosion.  People who put items in 25 years ago, now if they have lost 5% and those bushes or hedges are now on their property but they are not really near the water are those going to go?  On the fences, I understand the wooden fences do break more and I kind of understand that but if they are maintained most of the time they are not too bad.  Most people in my neighborhood have chain link fences and if you have a 50’ chain link fence from your house to the water it is not coming down; it is not going to blow down.  If blows down and goes into the water so is the rest of the bank it is sitting in.  Moving the fences out of the way so they can get through and then putting them back; this is a lot of peoples concern are they going to be able to put them back.  Like everybody I have a fenced in yard because I have dogs and it is fenced to keep them in so they are not running up and down, running all over everybody’s yard but mine. 

What type of equipment being used was never answered.  If you have nothing coming off of your property what kind of damage is going to be done?  If they are not coming through on the canal with a barge to remove the trees and such what is the sense of having to take out the sprinkler system feed lines.  When they came through they did not bother mine because I did not have anything for them to clear out.  I know on one part of the canal they lost all of their feed lines and again they had no idea the barge was coming through.  I did not know about it either until it showed up one day.  There is a lack of communication to the people of Coral Springs on what exactly is being done and why the letters are not getting around and getting to others, who really knows. 

Mr. Petty asked did everyone get noticed?  We are doing what we call door hangers; plastic bags with a orange or red piece of paper hanging on your door to let you know we are coming out.  We are not required to do it but we are doing it because we want you to know we are there we do not want to get shot by you thinking we are coming to peep in your windows or anything.  Everyone did get one whether they read it or not or though it was a sale on carpet cleaning, I do not know.  It was our staff which put them on the doors we did not contract with anybody.  We supervised it, we saw it, we did it and there is no question about it. 

Mr. Candy stated a neighbor saw them come down they stopped at my house and never came around the corner with them. 

Mr. Petty stated maybe they broke for lunch or some other reason but the guy in charge of it is sitting three rows in front of you and he told me he watched his crews and they went to every house. 

Again, if they did not go to every house we got out to as many as we thought we could to try to give you as much notice as we could and try to stay ahead of the contractor to let you know. 

Do we go after trees which are not close to the waters edge?  The way it is currently working with our policy, our program and our contract is to clear all trees on our property whether it is 5’ or 50’ from the water.  The issue being anything within our property that would cause flooding would be a major faux pas on our part after any hurricane would take it and throw it to cause any trouble.  The issue here is not whether or not it is going to stop the water at issue to as you saw and we saw with Hurricane Wilma and the point which really got to us is we could not get access to do examinations to the banks.  We could not get in; we could not walk in because of all of the trees.  Our engineer and staff estimate approximately 50% of the trees were taken out by Hurricane Wilma and this is why we are looking at this issue.

  You asked about chain link fences – why remove them, they keep the dogs in the yard, they are there for security.  They keep us from access and during the times of emergency we do not have hours or days to take a fence down neatly to store it in your yard so you can reinstall it; we are reacting to a flood event.  You have seen the rain come in Coral Springs and you know we have 15” to 16” of rain, I need to get back in there and I do not have time to take down rows and rows of fences, we never permit them, it is our policy not to allow them,  if you put them there it is at your own risk.  Our equipment will remove them, possibly cleanly, possibly not so cleanly, but this is the reason we go after fences. 

What type of equipment will we use – everything we think is necessary to protect the homes from flooding; backhoes, barges, pickup trucks, and draglines.  It is whatever is necessary to protect the drainage in Coral Springs.  What is intended in this program is guys in pickup trucks with chainsaws and maybe a few cranes where we have large trees.  We do not limit them by the contract.  We let the contractor use the best equipment to remove the items. 

A resident asked will they be dragging them out?

Mr. Petty responded I cannot tell you that. 

Ms. Macomber stated if you want to address another question please come back up.

Mr. Petty stated the other question you had is why take it all down now, you are going to be taking trees on both sides and why go on a side where you would not be doing anything normally – if this were a storm event and we had damage to the lake bank we would only bring equipment on to the bank which had damage or to the adjacent area that we need access to the area to be fixed.  We would not be working on both sides, we would not be tracking, we would not be knocking down fences or taking out trees.  This is for hurricane preparation for the hurricane season we are currently in.  We saw what happened when the trees came down and our concern is very real; if there is a rain event with a storm like Hurricane Wilma the trees which fell down could cause major local flooding.  It is a legitimate concern and is why we are talking about the program. 

Mr. Runn asked did it cause flooding?  Let us use Hurricane Wilma as an example because this is what you are hanging your hat on.  Did it cause flooding?  No.  What we are trying to get at is what is your motivation for doing this?  I am trying to stay calm but quite frankly Mr. Petty they way you just addressed the crowd was adversarial.  Your relationship here is granted it is your property, cut it off, you can do it and you have made your point.  You made your point with your orange brochure and I thought you were a little rude here.  I have lived in my house for 15 years.  I read your website in addition to the maintenance of the adjoining banks to the water line is the responsibility of the individual property line is the individual property owners.  This includes the removal of Florida Holly and Australian Pines, we all agree they should go.  This is at our expense per the city commission, even though it is on your property.  This requirement is part of the ordinance of the City of Coral Springs.  Even though you may not own the property to the water line, it is similar to the situation which exist in the front yard of your house where you do not own it but you have to maintain it.  The maintenance of the canal bank by the residents enables the District to keep your water management assessment at a reasonable level.  We encourage each resident who has property on the canal to become active in patrolling, etcetera.  I know in my neighborhood this has been done.  I know for a fact the neighbors behind me and myself where taking tree branches out of the canal.  There was only one branch left when your barge came down and I was standing there watching that day.  I thought they did a good job by the way.  They came through and cut off peoples PVC which was very nice because they could have taken the barge down and just tore them out.  I think in the spirit you have mentioned here, we are supposed to maintain the yards and we have; in my case for 15 years.  I have vegetation and such which is not going to go over in a storm which has grown for years.  Now it has to go and I do not see what has changed.  We had Hurricane Andrew in 1992, we did not get it here, but if we get a storm event of this size you are going to have roofs in your canals, you are going to have all kinds of stuff in the canal.  How is this preventing it?  I want to read Broward County’s Tree Preservation Ordinance, Section 27 – 342 and granted this does not pertain to you.  “The Broward County Board of County Commissioners (“the Board”) find and declares that the preservation of trees is an integral part to the prevention of air and water pollution and that trees use their leaf surface to trap and filter out ash, dust and pollen in the air thereby helping to alleviate air pollution; that the root systems of trees hold and consolidate soil and other loosened earthen materials thereby helping prevent erosion, reducing non-point source water pollution and maintaining the continued vitality of natural habitats for the propagation and protection of wildlife, birds, game fish and other aquatic life. The removal of trees causes increase surface run off which contributes to water pollution.  Owning to the many benefits provided to the community by trees it is the intent of the Board in order to protect the air and water of Broward County to preserve this valuable natural resource of Broward County for the health, safety and welfare of the general public.  While the destruction of a single tree may not have a significant impact the Board recognizes tree destruction has cumulative impact which causes severe environmental degradation and causes severe deterioration of the quality of life in Broward County and because of this impact the Board finds tree destruction is a public nuisance which must be controlled.”  This says it all.  Whether you can do it and I think everybody here who is informed knows you can do this, you can come in and take out an average of probably 15’ and 18’ most places and if anybody is interested I have the satellite photo of 2004 of this District superimposed with property lines and setbacks over the top of it which shows exactly what is going to be taken out with the exception being this is of 2004 and some of the trees are gone already.  In closing anybody who lives with a yard which has any kind of trees or vegetation where animals can roost in they know what has happened with Hurricane Wilma, it has devastated the vegetation in this county.  You have birds putting nest in things not far from the ground and of course the animals, feral cats and whatever are getting the eggs.  There is nowhere for birds to nest and they are doing it all kinds of strange places.  This is the wrong time for this action.  In closing if a 50’ tree is on my property, not your property, and the wind comes from the right direction 50’ minus 18’ leaves it across the canal to my neighbors side.  You are not going to prevent this nor are you going to prevent the flooding.  I do not understand how you are going to prevent the flooding; you cannot pump the water out fast enough.  I know my front yard floods up to the same distance as my backyard, because the city drain goes into the creek. 

Ms. Macomber stated thank you for your comments.  I would like to address you.  You are you we are you.  I like you am a resident of Coral Springs.  I like you live on a canal.  I like you went through Hurricane Wilma, as did my fellow supervisors.  We are you; this is not an adversarial situation.  We are all in this together and whether you believe this or not we are working in your best interest.  We are listening to your comments and those of you who are showing me disrespect by snickering at my comments; I would appreciate it if you would just hear me out.  We went through great angst on your behalf with Hurricane Wilma.  We were held up by the Federal Government from being able to get the mess cleaned up as quickly as we could have because they changed the rules in the middle of the game.  Some of you were not happy with us because you did not understand we are you and that we were working with the staff, a wonderful staff, I cannot tell you how wonderful staff is, working diligently to clean up a horrendous mess which I do not think any one of your had the privilege we did to go to look at it because it is our responsibility as Supervisors of this District to do that.  Now we are looking at what is going to happen in the future and we ask for your patience and understanding in that regard because we are you.  We are members of this community.  I see you shaking your head; I live here, I have lived here for 25 years.  I have been the Chair of the Code Enforcement Board, I worked as a volunteer in this community and I am on both sides folks as are my co-supervisors; we are you.  We want what is best for the community and we have restraints we must operate under because we are responsible for you and we are responsible for ourselves.  It is not a matter of we are sitting up here and are the only people; we are you.  We are trying to do what is right for you and this may not be welcome for some of your ears but it does not change the fact of what we are doing is as you.  We appreciate your comments we know some of you are concerned we are trying to understand and do our best given the responsibilities we have to do the right thing for us; all of us.  Please in your concern and in your lack perhaps of understanding of what we have been doing try to cut a little bit of slack because we are working for you.  We are you. I am a citizen just like you and I love this city just like you.  We will address each of your issues the best we can but we ask your courtesy in understanding in that we are dealing with a variety of difficult issues and decisions and we are trying to do it as caring fellow citizens.

Mr. Runn asked can your engineer answer my question?  Are you going to be able to pump the canal any faster?  What is that you are trying to accomplish here?  I do not understand. 

Mr. Petty responded you asked several questions let me try to get all of them including the one you just asked. 

·                    Did we flood during Wilma?  The answer is no, the rainfall event during the storm was minimal.  It was not a rainfall event to cause concern.  We did not even have to turn on the pumps.  You act like you know we have a pump drainage system by gravity.  Mr. Runn stated I did not know that. Mr. Petty stated our drainage system cannot flow downhill.  We are flatlanders and water stays wherever it hits and it starts going up.  The water which hits Coral Springs must be physically pumped nothing can come off of Coral Springs unless we do pump it.  We had a storm approximately 10 years ago which I think they referred to as “No Name” storm.  This was a tropical storm which dumped about 15 or 16 inches on us.  Our pumps stayed up with it, our guys ran the pumps 24/7; it was the best test we had in 30 years and still is.  Our pump system works if the drains are not blocked.  We had literally thousands of trees come down with Hurricane Wilma and the first thought we had was we are glad it did not rain. 

·                    Can I tell you it is going to flood if the trees fall down?  It all depends; are they going to collect trash, are they going to block, is the water going to go around.  We asked our engineer to define it and he said we were asking him define the circumference of a needle and multiply it by a million, I am telling you anything in the water which prevents a clear flow of water is a problem.  As your engineer I have to tell you this.  We understood it and looked for ways around it to try to modify and say is there such a thing as a bad tree, is there a list of hazardous trees, no.  Any trees which comes down and can fall in there is on our property. 

·                    Will it prevent flooding?  You are absolutely right sir, it does not guarantee a thing.  Your house can blow into the canal and block it, you screen could, this is not a guarantee; we are trying to do the best we can on our own property you have given to us as a responsibility.  We saw after Hurricane Wilma the idea that the residents will maintain down to the waters edge is something we could not count on to prevent flooding.  Had there been rainfall during Hurricane Wilma we think we would have gotten a great deal of flooding and with this in mind we are going after what we think is our responsibilities by removing the trees. 

·                    The website information is absolutely correct.  This is what we have on the website and he is quoting you apples to apples there. 

·                    Was I rude?  I hope not it was not my intent and if it came across I apologize.     

Mr. Runn stated I would like to hear your position on the ecology aspect of it, including fertilizer run off. 

Mr. Petty stated the Board has discussed this over the meetings I have attended and it is part of the public record.  We had professionals from the University of Florida here talking about tree roots and certain trees are problem, in particular Australian Pines.  I have no personal opinion about trees but we had a university professor explain to us that any tree with its roots in the water table is going to come down during a storm event because it does not have a stable base.  Any tree including an Australian Pine which has its root base above the water table will hold just as well as the next tree.  We have been looking at the tree issue for a long time.  We have gone into clear our major outfalls which is the first 1000 feet in front of our pumps and we have had people chain themselves to trees to stop us from doing it.  People like their trees in their backyards for the shade and such.  We had the City of Coral Springs ask us to stop because the public outcry was such that they wanted time to mitigate if they could.  They have us to mitigate if possible, we have spent 20 years going back and forth on the issue and Hurricane Wilma kind of put all of this in the backseat it showed the damage which can be caused if the trees are not maintained.  The action you see before is one the Board thinks best addresses the responsibility.  Everyone here thinks ecology is something which needs to be protected, the rational after many discussions that the Board came to the conclusion on was we have to do our responsibility first which is to protect the homes and the people.  Nobody has an axe to grind against the trees or the shrubs or the good maintenance a lot of homeowners have done for a very long period of time who have maintained to the waters edge and have not caused a problem and never let trees grow up there which fell down during storms, who came in to clean up their mess after the storms.  Unfortunately we saw after Hurricane Wilma 1,000’s of trees that were left by those who did not do such a diligent job. 

Mr. Sam Spattaro, 2620 NW 115 Drive, stated first I would like to say personally I felt you did a great job in helping us clean up after the hurricane.  Let’s face it none of us expected to get what we got and the reality of it is we were very lucky.  I will take those odds any day of 1 in 55.  One year out of 55 years we had a storm here which was tough to deal with.  My thoughts are the reaction that you are us and we are you and I will use the word we if it makes you feel more comfortable.  I think it is very reactionary it is like saying we have one house in a row of houses which burns down because the gas plumbing in the house was bad we are going to take all of the houses down for fear another one might go up.  I do not know that there has been enough time put into the decisions you have made for us.  I am fortunate to have bought a home in Coral Springs, actually it is my second home here and frankly I can live wherever I want to but I chose to live here and the reason I choose to live here and buy the house in the country club area was because of the trees.  I had second largest tree in the neighborhood, the Australian Pines which you make reference too, one of the tallest trees in the neighborhood and six of those came down on the homes and they have since taken them all down.  My tree with a 100’ canopy is now gone along with two other trees in my front yard and of course my electric bill is now $100 higher.  Lets go to the back of the house and keep in mind I have only been in the house six years so what is there I inherited.  The property line in the back is about 150’ long and along this line close to the bank is a very tall shrubbery item, I do not know what they are I am not a landscaper, in any event they are probably 40’ high all along the back of the property and at 5:00 p.m. my house is in the shade.  It does help me from a socioeconomic situation of keeping my electric bill down.  I happened to catch your guys handing out these orange pamphlets and I quite frankly I think if everybody knew what it was and not advertising you would have had to move this meeting to a football field.  I do not if people are clearly identified.  I have spoke to some neighbors and said your fence is coming down and they said what are you crazy.  I said no, you are going to lose the tree and here is why, did you read it?  No.  It is our responsibility to read it but you get so much junk and so many phone calls at home at night which you do not take, so on and so forth and junk mail on the doorknob is the same kind of thing.  It probably needed to be on television, it probably needed to be publicized a whole lot more than you did.  I am down to 1) I believe a reactionary knee jerk response to the situation which happened one time in 55 years, 2) there was no flooding.  The storm you are mentioning the house I am in had water up the driveway about 25’ and water over the canal in the back actually into the pool.  I did not live at the house at the time this is what the neighbors have told me.  Obviously there is danger but I do not care where you are there is danger.  Look at what is happening in the northeast with flooding and we will probably never have a situation like that happen here.  I think there needs to be more time put into this and it sounds like your decision was made.  Quite frankly the way you have addressed the crowd tonight you have kind of delivered the message that the decision is made and final.  I know from a legal perspective we can have 20,000 people in this room and you can walk away and go out tomorrow to start cutting trees and we recognize this but you are us and we are you and I would ask you take a longer and harder look at this situation as you do not want to lose this row of foliage behind my home, the raccoons that live in there do not want to move either, the birds and the squirrels in the neighborhood are incredible.  Quite frankly the storm has done enough to erode to it an I do not think we need to make decisions; knee jerk snap non-business decisions.  I understand your approach is to protect us as the citizen but I can walk out of here tonight to my car and someone run me down.  I think we all take on those type of risks and I would prefer to keep my row of foliage and take the risk.  If they go in your canal I would be happy to remove them at my own expense not one came down during the storm.  They thinned out because of the wind but as far as the structure of this particular foliage nothing came down and went into the canal.  As a matter of fact the whole canal behind my house nothing came down and went into it.  To just cast an arbitrary decision knee jerk decision because of an event which happened one time in 55 years I think you need to save your money and lets use it someplace else. 

Ms. Macomber stated thank you for your comments and we will have our superintendent answer your questions. 

 Mr. Petty stated it is not so much questions but you were concerned about whether or not it was arbitrary or knee jerk and while I respect your recommendation for giving it more time for more options.  It was not a knee jerk, it was given due course and discussion over several meetings but I do acknowledge your recommendation that more time be given to see more options. 

Mr. Spattaro asked can I make one more comment?  I apologize but the other thought which comes to mind is I came in here thinking this was the most important thing I would have to say is that we as a public for 25 years code enforcement has ignored this row of trees because they have been there as long as the house was built.  Now all of a sudden we feel compelled to enforce the law so to speak when in reality I will not say we have broken the law but we have ignored it.  I think this needs to be taken under advisement as well. 

Ms. Rose Cobacino, NW 35th Court, stated I had quite a few things I wanted to say but I would be repeating what has been said.  I 100% agree we are responsible property owners.  We had one tree which went into the canal and we removed it one week later.  In the commission meeting yesterday, Mr. Roy Gold, mentioned Coral Springs is trying very hard to get a National Wildlife Community designation.  I am just asking since we have lost 35% of our trees with Hurricane Wilma please do not take another 3% to 5% unnecessarily the birds and small animals need them.  Thank you for listening. 

Ms. Macomber stated it might help you to know we had discussions earlier today with Vice Mayor Gold.  We have not taken any action yet. 

Mr. Cobacino stated I wanted to add a little to what she said.  Our canal was the one you described earlier which was a total disaster.  There were trees from one end to the other you could walk up and down the middle of our canal without any problems.  Your people came in and I could not believe they brought in all kinds of heavy equipment and with my neighbors permission they took his fence down brought in the equipment and cleaned out the canal.  The water is fine, they took down some of our foliage, most of it was gone already.  They brought in dirt and sod and they made it beautiful.  The second point is you talk about floods and the ability of the canals to drain water.  Some of our canals and the one in particular I am familiar with is right behind City Hall south.  I have seen this canal empty.  When they built City Hall south they had to relocate the north end of it to build the building and it goes under the parking lot now.  When the canal was empty it was probably 8’ to 10’ deep.  Today you can walk across it.  If this canal was really counted on to carry a lot of the water because of a flood situation it could not do it because it does not have the capacity anymore.  The basic problem is the canal needs to be dug out.  One of the problems with the canal is when they clean the parking lot they blow everything to the west and the canal is filled up.  Today you can walk across the canal and as long as you have all of this heavy equipment I am wondering if there is a possibility they can dig it out a little bit. 

Mr. Petty stated there was a question about the depth of the canal and its capacity to handle drainage.  In most cases the canals were dug for fill not so much for handling deep-water flow.  The engineer can be very specific about it but typically on every canal there is an outfall pipe and this is an elevation.  All of the water below the pipe does not matter because all you are going to get is flow from the pipe elevation and above.  All of the canals which are filling in we are kind of glad they are because they were basically over dug for fill and we are finally getting some back but you have a legitimate point and we do have an ongoing program to go through all of our canals to put them back to design elevations.  Over a period of time we do get silt and organic material, which periodically have to be scraped and cleaned out. 

Mr. David Hewlett NW 75th Avenue, Dells/Meadows Neighborhood Association, stated ours is one of the oldest neighborhoods and we have the box canals. 

Ms. Macomber stated I remember working with you with Pride Promoters 15 years ago when we worked to get all of Riverside done and the park. 

Mr. Hewlett stated I have been a resident for 26 years.  The canals were overgrown to the extent the water flow was impeded.  The removal of the holly and the Australian Pines so the water could flow back and forth freely I certainly do not have any objections to.  My thought was it seems like this should have been done a long time ago.  With that being said part of it I think is a responsible action on your part and was long overdue. I do not think we have any problems with the removal of the trees in the actual ditches so the water can be free flowing.  In all due respect I think the second phase is just a little bit over the top; I think the removal of every bush, tree, shrub, palm tree and every spec of vegetation is really, as some of the other speakers have already mentioned, going to have a tremendous impact if any on future flooding which seems to be your major concern as to whether the canals or drainage ditches are going to be flooding.  I was here in 1979 for the 16” rain, I was just buying my house at this particular time, I went out and there was no flooding and to my knowledge we have never had flooding in Coral Springs.  As the other gentleman said a 1 in 50 occurrence and certainly I do not disagree with efforts to be prepared but I would on behalf of myself and on behalf of our neighborhood if you come and look at some of the ponds and canals allow the ambience of our neighborhood is supported by the things currently left; the palm trees, the shefelara, the little bushes which are a habitat for a bird or a squirrel and I do not think is going to have even if we had another major storm and if something of this nature fell in the canal I would be happy to remove it myself and I do not think it is going to have a tremendous impact on the control of the water or flooding.  I urge you in all sincerity is to please rethink this action and lets leave what is left there which is reasonable to provide some ambiance and some ecology and habitat.  I appreciate what you are trying to do but in all honesty I think it is overkill.  I would hope based on the turnout tonight and the other speakers who will be up here to perhaps readdress this particular issue to see if there can be some modifications done to perhaps more reasonable approach than just denuding the whole thing up to your right-of-way. 

Ms. Macomber stated I was where you are 10 years ago when we first tried to get the box cut canals cleaned and we got nowhere at that point because we were unable to get the city and the water district to work together.  When I came on the Board on of the things I wanted to hope to be able to accomplish was to finally be able to get those canals cleaned up and I would like to compliment our staff and the way we were able to work with the city just recently to finally get the box cut canals cleaned out because they were really dangerous.  I thank you for your diligence in the neighborhood all of these years because you have done wonderful work there. 

Mr. Hewlett stated another point which comes to mind is I have been in this community almost as long as everybody and have been active in a number of things over the years but I will tell you I did not know that keeping the canal bank with trees growing into the canals cut back was my responsibility.  I did not know this and I have been here 26 years and I think you have to take some of those things into consideration.  To remove the trees from the canal to keep the water flowing is fine but this second part I would hope you will readdress it. 

Mr. Cranmer stated I would like to elaborate on what Ms. Macomber has said.  We entered into an agreement with the City of Coral Springs.  It was passed by this Board November 5, 2005 and we drafted the agreement in conjunction with the City Attorney’s office.  We worked very amicably together and this is the box cuts and whatever other canals we add to the list.  We are working with the city to clean these canals up.  I for one have taken heat from certain people at the city because we were not acting aggressively enough and you may not know the city is part of this operation.

I would like to recognize two of our newly elected commissioners who have taken time to come tonight, Ms. Claudette Bruck and Mr. Vince Boccard.  Mr. Roy Gold was here earlier as well.        

The box cut canals are a particular problem and it was an experiment in the 1960’s.  Box cut means there are vertical walls and if you fall in you might not be able to climb out.  The theory of the box cut was it would postpone the day when they would have to be dredged.  We found out there is not a whole lot of erosion with the clay and rock soil we have and the problem was over the years there was not enough enforcement of the obligation of homeowners to maintain the banks and over many decades they got to the point there was no way you could have done it if you lived in the Dells or the Meadows.  It would have been $5,000, $6,000 to $10,000 a yard to do it and finally we did some research and I know Mr. Selchan and others looked back and found this argument of the city and the District goes back almost 30 years.  We wanted the city to enforce maintain your canal bank and they wanted us to do it and finally we worked out an agreement.  The city is part of what we are doing, if you call my office I will send you a copy of the agreement, it is a collaboration between the two agencies.  We do not do box cuts anymore. 

To Mr. Runn’s point a tree which withstands the winds and does not fall surely the roots are assisting in preventing erosion, the problem is as Mr. Petty points out if you are at the water table the roots are undermined and the roots are immersed in water, the tree falls in the canal, it collects other debris and pretty soon it is like a bunch of beavers building a dam and the water is in your house instead. 

Ms. Macomber stated I would like to apologize for not recognizing our new commissioners.  We are glad to have you with us.  Before us now is Erdahl Donnez, Assistant City Manager. 

Mr. Donnez stated I wanted to be on the record as saying the city has cooperated on the Phase 1 cleaning of the box cut canals in the Dells and Meadows.  We had subsequent phases remaining in the area then we had Hurricane Wilma.  I want to make it very clear the maintenance of the canal banks is not the city’s responsibility.  When you said the city is in it, no it is not.  I just want to make it clear the city has no jurisdiction on the right-of-way owned by the water district. 

A resident asked what is the city’s position on it?

Mr. Petty responded if I could all questions should be directed to the Chair and we would rather not get into a voice contest.

Mr. Cranmer stated I agree it is the responsibility of the homeowner to maintain and it is the city’s responsibility to enforce it. 

Ms. Macomber stated I believe what Mr. Cranmer was referring to is for quite a while we had a difficult time getting code enforcement to agree to help enforce the homeowners rights which they have now agreed to do under this agreement. 

Mr. Cranmer stated you cannot blame them because it had gotten so bad over 30 years we could not expect you to spend $10,000 and is why we entered into this cost sharing agreement with the city which I believe was ratified by the city on January 18, 2006.   

            Mr. Donnez stated with respect to the customers here they are not fully clear about some of the issues and I want to make it clear code enforcement does enforce the backyards but we do not go onto private property.  Unless there is a specific complaint code enforcement does not going peeking into the backyard of people. 

            Mr. Cranmer stated they do not look for trouble, I understand.

            Ms. Macomber stated thank you for clarifying it. 

            Mr. Dan Bruck, Westchester, stated I thought about what we could do as citizens to get our commissioners involved as to where we take responsibility as a city.  They are used to policing us as individuals so they can come on property to evaluate things better than you; you do not do this you manage waterways.  How can we encourage our city because I am sure there is money involved from the state plus code enforcement should we be doing things wrong. 

            Ms. Macomber stated I appreciate you bringing this up because one of things we are doing is just that.  We are talking with the city now, we are trying to work with the city to set up a relationship between the District and the city for all of us to work together on these issues.  I want to thank you for thinking of it and let you know we have also thought of it and met with Mr. Donnez and Commissioner Gold this afternoon and hopefully all these different issues coming together with the city and the District we will be able to get some good things done.

            Mr. Bruck asked what about giving us a little bit of time to catch up?  We have all just got on the bandwagon and we want to encourage our commissioners.

            Ms. Macomber responded we are listening to you.

            Mr. Bruck stated you are going to be starting this pretty soon.  Are you going to give us some time?

            Ms. Macomber responded we hear you and we are working on it. 

            Mr. Petty stated there was one other issue I would like to address.  He said there is probably money from the state and there is not.  The money from the federal government, NRCS and any participation by the state in the clean up after Hurricane Wilma happened in Phase 1.  In Phase 2 there is no issue once you get into this area it is only clearing up out of the water itself and the immediate right-of-way of downed trees that were covered under the storm so this is something we are doing with your dollars. 

            Ms. Macomber stated we had a heck of time with FEMA.  We are doing our very best and we think we are seeing some light at the end of the tunnel but they do not make it easy.  We are trying to make sure we cover our bases for your sake. 

            Mr. Cranmer stated what you left out was this Board was so confident in getting their paperwork and act together we were in first place for the money after Hurricane Wilma.  Since then the issue with the City of Margate and the east outfall came up where the trees fell and they were upset that we did not remove them and 15 years ago they were chaining themselves to the trees.  They wanted to share our position because we were in first place and we did not get to be in first place for the money because we were asleep. 

            Ms. Macomber stated the gentleman speaking is Mr. Bruce Cranmer, our attorney.  He has been with the District for years and before this he was with the city and he has a lot of history in the area. 

            Commissioner Bruck, NW 27th Street, stated I am a 32 year resident of the Westchester subdivision and many of the people here tonight are my neighbors.  I believe the evening the flyers were passed out I was out until maybe 8:00 p.m. came home and there was a knock at the door and it was someone who identified himself as a neighbor.  I was in the street of my community and I am thinking it is 8:00 p.m. call me at the office however the pain on his face after he barely explained to me what he had just been told caused me to invite him into my home where we talked for quite some time.  The next day I was able to speak with our city manager and I am pleased you agreed to meet with him to discuss some possible solution.  I went back to many of these people and said it is my understanding we are going to work towards some type of compromise.  I did not exactly hear this here tonight and I think this is probably the pain you are hearing from the people here.  I do not live on the waterways so I am not affected the way they are but I am affected because they are my neighbors and as you I care about them and their concerns.  I hope we can work towards some kind of compromise.  Certainly the garbage trees and the dangerous plants should be removed but those trees which have withstood the forces of Hurricane Wilma are an indication that they may even mitigate damage to the homes behind them.  I hope you will reevaluate your plan to do a clean sweep and allow these people to continue to enjoy the environments of their homes and I ask you this on my behalf, the residents of Westchester and all the citizens of Coral Springs affected by the plans. 

Ms. Macomber stated thank you for your comments.  I want you to know it was this group who allowed me to make an entrée to the city to Commissioner Gold to ask him to talk about these issues.  I am delighted to tell you he agreed as was joined by the city manager so hopefully we are hearing you.  We cannot comment officially at this point because we are taking it all in and we have to discuss it amongst ourselves but we thank you for your comments, we appreciate the fact you took time out of your busy schedules to be come here tonight to talk to us and tell us how you feel.  We hope you have gained from what we have answered for you a little better understanding of the issues we are all faced with in this which both Hurricane Wilma and growth over the years but we all have to deal with this in regard to keeping our canals clear and clean for the benefit of everyone. 

Mr. Joseph Minor, NW 259th Street, stated there are a few discrepancies on the orange handout.  Mr. Petty said a while ago they were going to repair the banks if the heavy equipment went in there and the third or fourth question down on the orange sheet is answered as: “The work does not involve any bank reshaping but will require heavy equipment to traverse the right-of-way and the removal of vegetation may cause localized earthen damages.”  I may be reading this wrong but this tells me nothing is going to be repaired. 

Mr. Petty stated it is out of context I think the way you are looking at it.  The intent was to tell you if you have anything in the ground heavy equipment may damage it.  We are going to repair the bank.  It is part of our maintenance job to make sure the bank is repaired and we will put sod back down.  It is stated in there because people have irrigation systems underground, they have invisible dog fences and all kinds of stuff they have put underneath there and heavy equipment will tear it up and we are advising them in the brochure in that paragraph to remove any personal property from the District’s right-of-way. 

Mr. Minor stated I think this is another question about the drainage pipe where it says they are not responsible for it. 

Mr. Petty stated not drainage pipes; I believe you are talking about irrigation. 

Mr. Minor stated I am reading this how it was put out and most of the people I have talked to have taken it the same way I am taking it; that there would be no repair.  It says there will no bank reshaping. 

Mr. Petty stated I apologize to all those who got that message.  I may have been too much into the drainage business and not too much into what the homeowner may know that is not in this business.  Reshaping was just done under Phase 1 and cost us quite a bit when we removed the trees we saw major pieces of the bank which had peeled away with the root ball and those banks had to be reshaped.  It is not in this contract because there is no damage we have not done under Phase 1.  The only damage to be repaired of course is from our actual construction practices. 

Mr. Minor stated on the issue of Phase 1 on 29th Street the canal I live on is where the people with the barge and the backhoe on the barge set up headquarters.  There are about eight different canals in Westchester plus a large lake. They went back and forth down my canal to clean all of the other canals and kept going up and down my canal to deposit their waste or whatever.  The method of moving the barge and you would think they would put maybe a 20hp motor or something along those lines to move it.  They did not do this, the backhoe was on the barge digging down to the bottom of the canal to push the barge along.  In the process of doing this the waves were high and they must have made 100 to 150 trips back and forth because of the size of the barge.  Several years ago I placed rocks on my bank to keep it from washing out and part of the bank caved in.  When they were going back and forth on the canal I stopped them and told them to look at the waves they were creating and they said I know.  I told them they should clean each canal and move their truck as the clean the canals instead of using this on constantly and he said we are not doing that.  My question is who is going to fix that damage?  Since I have lived there for 8 years I have lost at least 4’ including this stuff.  The way you can tell this is my neighbor built a seawall of block and cement and his property is way out and mine is set back.  What is going to happen when the canal bank is right at my fence?  Maybe it needs to be dug out and put on the bank.  Every time we have a big rain and the canal comes up a foot like it was last week they let it sit like that instead of pumping it down to the normal level.  Where the water is sitting it is constantly eating the soil below the grass line because of the elevated water level.  I have never been able to understand why we leave it high for so long; we are not in a drought period where you need to save the water and it should be pumped out as soon as possible in my way of thinking.  A few years back when we had the big storm they knew it was going to be a rainmaker the day before the water was about 1’ higher than normal and I called to ask if they were thinking of pumping the canal down anytime soon and they said yes we are going to start anytime now.  The water was up to my front door when the storm was over and there were no trees in the canal then.  As far as cleaning out the canal many people I spoke with would be happy to sign a legal document saying if any trees fell from their property they would clear them out which I have been told would be another problem.  Let them sign the document and if they do not do it put a lien on the property rather than clear cut the entire canal bank.  Not only is this going to take away the habitat for wildlife I bought a house on the canal and paid more than a regular lot because maybe I want to pretend I am living in Ft. Lauderdale on one of those canals and I think a lot of people feel the same way.  When you live in Florida and there are so many things you are not allowed to do it is unbelievable; you should be able to have a dock if you maintain it and it is built to a standard.  I do not why a seawall was not put into this area when the canals were built; other areas have seawalls.  If you were to traverse this area with a backhoe or something to take trees out a backhoe is 10’ wide and I only have about 12’ of earth between my fence and the water and a lot of people have less so if you were traveling down the bank from the tires you are going to have soft mushy mud and more stuff eroded out.  I just hope something can be worked at as I mentioned a while ago sign a legal document, we will take care it or something.  Something should be done other than what we are planning on right now. 

Ms. Linda Geronimo, Country Club Resident, asked how do you determine how much is each person’s property?  Are they not all different?

Mr. Petty responded we are determining it through our engineer who is doing surveys from centerline of road back.  The canal banks are supposed to move, they are designed to move.  We are concerned about erosion but there is natural movement as well.   They take it from specific areas according to the engineer based on layout. 

Ms. Karen Hewlett, The Dells, stated I certainly concur with everything everybody has said.  I am very, very concerned about the ecology.  I am concerned about the results.  Five years into living here and we have been here 26 years.  The District came in with their flat boat and there action was to spray a herbicide.  I think it was Agent Orange and it killed all of the weeds and the holly, which fell right into the canal.  It went way beyond the 15’ leeway and killed all of our grass.  We never saw anybody from the drainage district until Hurricane Wilma and that was the plan.  If this is flush cut what are the results going to be when you take everything out with the ecology, the erosion and so forth?  I am very concerned and wanted to express this tonight.

Ms. Macomber stated