Sustainability and Resiliency Task Force - Regular Meeting

Good evening. Good evening.

Thank you.

Good evening, Brenda. Good evening, Oliver. Good evening, everybody.

Hi there.

All righty. Well, I'm meeting the order at 6.32 p.m. roll call. And unfortunately, Vice Chair Dave Dobler is not going to be able to make it. Neil.

Neil Krasner from Treasure Island.

Brenda.

Brenda Krebs from Harbor Island via Columbia, South Carolina. Greetings from mom's house. Oliver.

Oliver's presence, so voice only.

That works. And moving forward to approval of meeting minutes. Did everybody get the chance to look over the past two months' meeting minutes?

Yes. That's good. Thank you, everyone. I move to approve the meetings for both minutes.

Can I get a second?

I would second.

All righty. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Always great work. Aye. Thank you so much. Moving forward, old business. We have an update on the stormwater master plan. Christina, I think you are handling this from now on. How was the workshop?

It was good. It was very productive, a lot of discussion. we gave an update on the different active projects that we currently have. For instance, Harbor Island phase one, the pump station design is completed. And now the next step is harmonizing this with seawall design. So a supplemental to that design. And then Treasure Island phase one, we've received the plans for 60% design. They finalized some water calculations and now we're We're trying to incorporate roadway elevations in this design. And then it's very similar for phase two, except we're very happy to have secured an easement with the help of the Public Works Department. So this is allowing us to resume some design activities that were paused because we didn't have an easement for an outfall. Definitely a key takeaway from the workshop was we need to better integrate the green stormwater infrastructure in future projects future phases and really this aligns with current uh regional practices uh for example the city of miami they recently adopted an administrative policy um that requires capital projects related to stormwater and flood mitigation to have nature-based solutions, to include a landscape architect that's knowledgeable in nature-based solutions. And I know other cities in Miami-Dade County, as I'm sure you know, requires Envision certification for their public infrastructure. And in the same administrative policy, the City of Miami, is requiring that the chief resilience officer is involved in the development of solicitations, bids, and project design phases, which we are now that I'm here. So I would love to see if this would be something valuable if we need to adopt a similar policy or resolution to support a nature-based solution or envision certification in our infrastructure.

So bottom chair, if I may. Absolutely. Christina, that's really a helpful suggestion. You know, I've operated under the assumption that direct direction from the commission and the sort of purpose and intent of the stormwater master plan and, and sort of all of the, all of the, I was under the impression that the incorporation of green infrastructure was a very clear policy directive. So I think one of the things we learned at the workshop was that it wasn't, right? So I would be very happy to sponsor such an administrative policy. I think if you think we need more clear direction, then let's go for it.

Yeah, sure. I definitely discussed this with Roger before speaking to you today. I think that would be wonderful. I do want to... gave a little wind supplemental that we're working on with, you know, on the seawall design, I've managed to incorporate a lot of items like a resilience memo, construction, you know, activities, you know, control for the neighborhood and other resilience aspects. But I, but this would be great to cement, you know, our commitment to resilience.

Yeah, I, I would, I would say let's hold off on amending our code because for right now because of the threats of SB 180 until it's amended by the legislature. But an administrative policy that binds North Bay Village's practices is totally fair game. So let's do that.

Yeah, because this would be for our public infrastructure.

Yeah, for private development. Right. Yeah, I would love to see that draft item. I'll take a look at it. Maybe we workshop it here, maybe not, but that sounds like a really great thing for this task force to discuss and for us to bring it to the commission. What do you think your timeline is for that?

not sure about the holidays is because we only have basically until monday or tuesday to submit an item for the december 16 agenda um we could shoot for january sure amazing yeah i think dave and unfortunately he's not here last meeting he had a lot of input and he's had a lot of experience with miami beach and how they were dealing with it so maybe even reaching out to him personally for his input. With having a land or green landscape architect, how would that be incorporated in what we're planning on doing? Are we looking into swales or- Yeah. Groves? Okay.

Yeah, so the landscape architecture part wouldn't be the last item that's considered in and infrastructure projects.

I just want to take a point of privilege and acknowledge Neil for taking the time to be at the workshop and to ask questions and give feedback. Dave was there too and made a lot of really good recommendations. And, you know, I just really thank you both for taking the time. We did not get a lot of attendance. This is like a multimillion. This is, this is a, a, outrageously significant investment that we're making. And it was really a bummer not to see a lot of neighbors. So particularly, Neil, thank you.

Thank you. Can I just add that I think David did a wonderful job in his presentation, his concerns. Just for those that weren't there, my key takeaway was that Alex from BCC had left the firm in the past few months. So the new, I guess, head lead or director, whatever term, was there. He is up to speed, but again, he's new. I think it was a more realistic expectation. We were all a little taken aback by the fact that in the four years since we started with BCC, the cost now has doubled the projection for completing all these projects. But a more realistic timeline we're looking at is really 10, 15 to 20 years. So there is future funding. We don't need to panic for most of these. But I found the workshop very informative. So I was just glad to be there.

Great to hear.

May I ask what was your input, Neil? I'm muted. Neil?

Oh, I'm sorry, Alicia, yes?

May I ask what your input was?

The total?

Your input?

John Gerstle, that's right. John Gerstle, Well that's what I just gave from the stormwater workshop I gave my input just now.

Karen Hollweg, Nobody else has any questions.

I don't have a question. I just sort of want to clarify, you know, Christina, I think before the administrative policy goes to the commission, it should come to the task force. Okay. So If it's ready, I don't know that we're going to meet the week between Christmas and New Year's, but depending on when the next task force meeting is, maybe we can get at least a draft before the task force, and then you and I can finalize it before the January deadline.

Sounds good. I'll get working on that draft.

Okay. Yeah, I think getting feedback from this panel of distinguished neighbors would be very helpful.

For sure. And then we can tweak it. We'll definitely reach back to you. Thank you.

Thank you, Christina. Moving on to new business update on Vogel Park kayak launch, reef arches and coral installation. Was there a request for an update on this from anyone specifically? Me. Okay. So on this end, we have the permitter raising permits. And in the background working right now, we're at $7,000 left of fundraising. We had a total of, I wanna say around 35,000 raised and donated. I'll get you exactly where we're at with the permitting with breezy permits. And that's basically it.

Is this for Living Seawall? So I'm just asking, well, actually for Oliver and I can't remember, it's five years, but were any... Brenda, were you on the task force in Alicia when Esper was attending our meetings, or is it before you guys came on board?

I was when Esper was attending.

So just to bring Oliver into the mix, and David's not here, Esper was on the member of attending the task force as an adjunct when I first got on board. I think Denny had originally brought him in being a professor of civil engineering at the University of Miami and involved in many of these type of projects that we've been working on. He kind of disappeared for a while, I think, because we kind of let him go. I reached out to Esper, gave him a nice welcome and told him some of the projects we're working on. And he was enthused to come back to us again and sit in when he can. I did mention that our chair was working on a living seawall. He said he's already involved in one up in the city of Fort Waterdale and that they were able to secure, whether it was federal, state grants and funding. So I wish I had hooked both you and him up via email. So I don't know if you've been able to have any contact with him as yet.

I haven't had any contact with them, but I'll reach out to him.

Yeah, I think he could be a really good resource, especially when he said that they were able to receive funding so that might bulk up whatever you've been reaching out and securing on your own. He's not able to attend tonight, but he will join in the future.

It would be nice. I do want to, you know, as Madam Mayor has had concerns, I don't want to take too many administrative duties away from the village. So I've been reaching out to more of like private or foundations and it's been going well and it's being well received. So during Give Miami Day, there's been a lot of competition. So now things are simmering down, but it's going well. So again, like with applying for grants and funding like that, I don't know how much I can take over on that. or if I need to get the village involved and I just wanna be respectful towards that.

I really appreciate that. And I put it on the agenda just so you could have an opportunity to update all of us in a public meeting so that we don't have to worry about side emails and, you know, one person like accidentally left off an email. And now there's like 13 phone calls about how one person was left off an email, like these things just snowball. So it's, it's great to hear that you're getting a warm reaction. Yeah. And I really, you know, I admire the initiative.

Thank you, Madam Mayor.

Thanks for the update.

Absolutely. I'll keep you guys updated once I start bringing in more money. But that's it right now. In the background, we have the permit company. She's doing her thing. She's figuring out, you know, the time frame. you know, having everything in line and ready to go. And then once I have everything sponsored, then that's when I can have more clear, definite answer, but everything seems pretty much figured out.

Do they have like a design that they're running with, or is it still in process as we move through a permitting conversation?

So speaking with Frank, we wanted to keep it on the south side of the um doc yeah and they just completed another project which i'll share some photos and it's a very simple um installation so they're probably just going to replicate those plans and if anybody has any suggestions on a different type of design but i'll send that over and um and an email but it's very pretty But nothing has been submitted. Just kind of more of mapping it out. And it might trigger like surveys, but we don't need to do any surveys. Like let's say it was affecting like seagrass that has been already settled. They did their phase one meeting with not FWC or Durham.

Hang on.

These people are very proactive. I'm in a group chat and it's just going off all the time.

What group chat is not going off all the time? Okay.

So we did the pre-application meeting or they did the pre-application meeting with FDEP. Well received. Working on drawings, typical site plan, boundary survey to get some final plans made out. That has been bypassed. It's going well. but I'll give a more formal update by email.

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

Any other questions or comments on that item?

I would actually love to hear from Frank or his designee about the rest of the kayak launch component of that project.

So we're still having some issues on the funding side or the use of funds on the jet ski lift and the assembly of the jet ski lift. So this has been going on for a while. So what I decided to do was we have bifurcated the project and we're going forward with the kayak launch. project separately. And then when police is able to square away the elements dealing with the forfeiture money, then we can come back because that element of the project can be installed completely separate from the kayak launch or really not connected. And we've been waiting and waiting for the kayak launch to get off the ground. And before you know it, we're going to be you know, coming into the season where we want to be using the kayak launch again. And so we want to have it. So that's the plan is it'll be on the December commission meeting to go forward with the kayak portion.

Thank you, Frank.

Moving on to item 4B, discussion regarding the stormwater park seawall pump station for the parcel on West Treasure Drive.

I added this to get the conversation going here. Because this is a property that North Bay Village will own. It is waterfront property. There will be pump station, mechanical equipment sited on that property. But There are a number of things that could be designed for that location, so I want there to be a robust conversation here about what we do with that, because this is where we have Christina Roger frank and all of you. it's the most logical home for, for, for this sort of development of this property. So I don't know how stuff would like to sort of phase this discussion, but I absolutely wanted to make sure that the sustainability and resilience task force was engaged in the future of that property as sort of a key resilience asset for that area of Treasure Island.

I think that in this project, we really want to try to marry the pump station activity with the use of the park and not have it bifurcated where the two elements are not talking to each other. So this is a good venue with this board to really be talking about what the use of the parcel should be used for the public as opposed to an element that we're going to have to use for the pump station. The pump station is really a mechanical element And it'll probably be mostly the above ground electrical component, just like it is we're facing on North Bay Island, which will take up a relatively small area of that parcel. And the pumps, again, would be underground, as they typically are for that type of use. So it's a good time for the board to start thinking about the uses? What do we want to do and interfacing with the with the water? What shape is that seawall in? Do we have anything we need to, you know, address there so that we bring that up to speed with whatever, whatever we do with the park area itself, and I say park, but just the land. We don't later come along and say we've got a seawall issue that we didn't address on the early phases. So with this parcel and with the other one we're picking up, once we have that deeded over to us, we will start doing exploratory evaluations of what's there. And that's the first place to start.

will we be leaving? I think there's quite a few trees on the property.

Yeah. I mean, listen to me, it's an open canvas. We need to get input. What are all the trees there of the kind that we want to maintain? Are they, you know, I don't know what's on there. Are they invasives?

They're black olive trees. There you go. Frank and I have talked about these trees because at the beginning I was fiercely advocating for retaining all of the trees because they're big and they provide beautiful canopy and we don't really have... you know, they're as old growth as we're going to get around here in North Bay Village, right? But I have learned that sometimes it's worth it to listen to what other people are saying. And in this particular scenario, the black olive trees are the most prolific shedders and their leaves are quite literally the culprit for much of the, when we get storms, as opposed to king tides, when it storms, the black olive leaves clog those drains and like they're the primary culprit for the flooding that we get in that corner of the island. It's really a trade-off that's probably worth discussing. I mean, what I would propose is that as soon as we own that property, we bring on an arborist to clean it up, clean them up, and obviously do a big, big sweep of the property to get all of the landscape debris out of there. But yeah, yeah. The trees are going to be a big question.

And the demolition of the structure.

Demolition of the house, yeah.

Yeah. So, you know, we'll take it a bite at a time, but this would be a good committee to sort of like oversee the overall coordination of the use or the thoughts of From the sustainability element, because the mechanical, the demolition, this, when we start talking about the trees and we start talking about the real use of the property for the public, I think it falls to this venue to really get involved with it.

Yeah, I really, I mean, it's a blank canvas. I think we should maximize the property as a stormwater asset in every single way possible. Like lean into innovative concepts of a stormwater pocket park, building berms doing a seawall that's like super high and innovative I mean they're just all of the things so yeah another place for a living seawall I mean it'll be our seawall sitting right there it definitely needs a new seawall I've examined it from the water side it's no bueno yeah

In the spirit of, again, protecting administrative time, I can approach the marine contractor that is helping with Vogel Park to maybe find grants.

Not yet. No. Not yet. No. Not yet. And also... I would say Christina and Roger are doing, and with Lakeisha's help too, are doing a really good job of hunting for grants. I think what we probably wanna start with is looking for global innovative best practices. for stormwater parks, waterfront stormwater parks and places where the water table is also very, very high.

Is there any discussions of having it as a children's park, as a dog park, just more of like a place to go to have nice views, like what has been the discussion so far? Zero.

Zero discussion. The only discussions are discussions that have been very surface level on the dais. And then I've had conversations with a number of community members, Anson, Frank, staff. I mean, I've certainly been... pretty forthcoming about what I envision there, which is that it's more of a passive park. Yeah, because there will be drainage infrastructure on the park and also because we do need to utilize it, I think, to maximize its infrastructure value. That's just my opinion.

Did I ask? Just out of curiosity, if we're talking about value, what is the, I guess, the feedback, if there's been any from you, Jason, property owners?

Well, everyone in my condo is thrilled. And we're next door. And the property to the south is an Airbnb.

The big house.

Yeah.

Okay. Okay.

The other thing to keep in mind, we had the chance years ago to get a piece of property for a park on North Bay Island. Because they have no facility like that there at all. And we looked at something like a playground type park. And the pushback from the people that lived very close to the parcel was vehemently against it. And it's sort of a syndrome that happens all the time. People like to have a park that's within walking distance, but they don't want it next door to them. So when we look at this particular parcel, even it's not a huge piece of property. So when we put the pump equipment in and so forth, I think the idea of a passive park that is more a sustainable picture of the kinds of things that are planted, the seawall, and that might be a place with benches where people can come and sit and enjoy the sunset because you're, you know, you're going to face that way. But again, I think it's something for you all to discuss on the sustainability side, what kind of imprint you would like this park to make on the community. So we've got a tot lot on the same place. We've got Vogel Park. Maybe this has a better use or a different use.

Right. And let's not forget that we just acquired 1.1 acres in the heart of Treasure Island that will also be a park. And that will be a very, you know, someday in the future when our coffers are full of golds, that park will be activated and incredibly vibrant. I see Oliver has his hand raised. Sorry for running your meeting, Madam Chair.

Is it okay if I butt in here? I just wanted to add, since you're thinking about passive park, I don't know, I've read recently, and maybe something was brought up in this task force, but there's this concept of a micro forest has other people seen that kind of thing where they take small plots of land i think i saw it on the news or something i read and it was um it's basically you know it's a passive park but because it's called a micro forest and it's kind of has a slightly different spin and you know it could be like maybe a um it's kind of like an attempt in urban areas to bring back little bits of, you know, nature. And they're not designed to be super impactful with a lot of stuff and maybe even not hardly used at all. But it's just more of a concept that possibly might fit with this thing since everybody's talking about not super intensive use with, you know, activities and things like that. But if we had that concept, I got hand claps flopping up the screen. So that's a good sign. Yeah.

Yeah, this sounds great to me, right up my alley, Googling it right now.

It's a Japanese concept. I don't remember the name, but you plant trees that grow really fast. So you're basically kind of like hijacking it so that you have a forest very quickly. And I just want to say, Mayor, that I... Milwaukee. Yes. Milwaukee. I do agree. We need to have an arborist evaluate the trees because they could be in really bad shape or they could be in good shape. And then that can help guide us.

I think we have a contract with Curtis Rogers for arborist services. And if not, probably SFM.

Oliver's point, it could be a really great way to also incorporate, I mean, just using exclusively natives and inspire people throughout the neighborhood to see that, you know, natives can be visually pleasing because I know there's a huge push for turf grass.

Do we know anyone here in the room? Does anyone know the native trees that absorb the most nutrients and have the fastest rate of water absorption? I think cypresses.

Or seaside mangoes or seaside daisies, but they're a little bit more clumpy, but There's a house in Treasure Island that has nothing but natives. I'll send you the address and it looks gorgeous.

There's an all-native botanical garden in West Palm Beach if you ever need some inspiration. I feel like I need to go back.

Okay. Field trip. Yeah, yeah. Any Saturday or Sunday, anybody wants to go, I'll join.

Let's find out where it is. Since it is a small piece of, well, to me, from the street with that house, it looks like a small piece of property. No matter what we think in the future, we probably need to know where the actual structure is going to go because you always have to have almost like a small right-of-way for servicing things. meaning a truck would be pulling in there. You can't basically block off everything with trees and have no access to the new pump station facility. So that's one consideration. I mean, this is just preliminary. I'm first throwing it out tonight. The other concern I have is I have an easement lot at the Bridgewater between the bridge and our building, which has all the utilities. It's basically a walking area for everybody in the Kennedy House and every place else around here to walk their dogs. Hopefully they use the poop stations we have. But I think... having that there is gonna also attract people to just walk in their dogs right there also. So there's a lot of different kind of pros and cons to think about.

I agree, but there can be a certain design like near Normandy, they have the little pockets as well. It's gonna be very similar to this if this is what we're envisioning is just as a little rest passive park area and the way that they landscaped it was bordering the sidewalk, which to me kind of like discouraged like dogs from jumping over and going into like the patch of grass. I think there's a way to design it that would discourage people from having their dogs trample on the greenery.

Agreed.

I mean, we would look on the mechanical stuff that was just discussed. It would be towards the front so we do not have to drive in. Okay.

And there will be, just on the dog issue, there will be a dog run immediately to the north on the Grove by the Bay property, which will be like a full-on dog park. Yeah. Yeah. I think designing to discourage dogs from being in the stormwater park is probably a really bright, bright idea. Said the owner.

Pretty neat butterfly garden in there too.

Yeah. Yeah.

A lot of potential. It just trying to keep the human element limited, you know, It just takes a wear and tear. You don't realize it so much, but a lot of these places that do well don't have a lot of people. Maybe you have a pathway with some benches down by the seawall, and then the rest is growth. I don't know. Just thinking of them.

Yeah, growth and water retention areas, plants that are soaking up water and nutrients.

The most invasive tree that takes the most water, we know what that one is, is a Malaluca. That's where they were brought in was to help to drain the Everglades. And they planted them out there and they got out of control. It's huge invasive, but I mean, it takes the water. We wouldn't want that. I'm just saying that that's a tree that really drains the swamp.

I don't think they can even plant them. I think the county banned that.

Yeah, they're a prohibited basis. They're on the same list. Same with the Australian pines.

And the black olive.

Hey.

Just saying.

So, yeah, I mean, this is going to be, I think, a really exciting, you know, we haven't hired any fancy planning firm to workshop this for us. We're going to bootstrap it with Christina and Frank and Roger taking the lead on the ideation, I guess. So, yeah. you know, let's bring back some ideas. You guys want to gather some info, um, but let's think Florida native, obviously like really good at absorbing water and nutrients, um, stormwater parks, pocket parks, you know, all of, all of the ideas and we can start to sketch this out.

I have the very low cost urban paradise skills, uh, does this stuff for residential homes. They've done it in North Miami, and they have their nursery at the Montessori School on North Shore. So them supplying the plants would be very affordable, and I think even the care they would provide inside on as well, and installation and design. They have a landscape architect on the team. It's not fancy schmancy, it's very affordable and dirty. I can approach them if they want to give just like a preliminary idea of what they would suggest over there.

You know, I would say, like, I encourage anyone to reach out to anybody to, like, get some knowledge and feedback. But I don't want to start bringing in potential partners yet until we have a little bit more of an idea of what we might want to do. And let's have some internal discussions before we talk about bringing in other stakeholders, particularly if there's going to be a contract involved.

Yeah. And just throwing it out there. Moving on to the next item. The update on solid waste workshop.

Frank, this is you.

I heard it was a workshop, but I didn't hear which workshop it was.

Solid waste.

Well, It will be coming up in January, right? Are we doing that one in January? I think January workshop is the solid waste. And I think Jason is on on us If he's on tonight, he had some things to talk about.

Yeah, Jason just wanted to share an update about waste management and their expansion of recyclable materials. And Jason, I appreciate you being here, but we were really frank. This was to update the task force about where we stand with the solid waste workshop, how we're preparing for it, when it's going to be.

Okay. I don't know that the date has been set. If it has, I'm not aware of the date, but I know it will be in January, and we will be discussing the pros and cons of privatizing the solid waste in the village. And I know that Steve, our public works director, has been intently involved with several different companies and looking at contracts that we could piggyback on, still keeping the same delivery modality of the backyard pickups. We're not looking to have that go away. And also the employees that are our employees, because we do have part-timers that we get from a labor pool. But our employees, we would keep within Public Works. We've got plenty to do, so there wouldn't be any loss of jobs, because I know how the people really care for the employees that are performing those tasks now. So we're not looking to cut them loose. We're looking to keep them. But we're at the point where we need to make a decision on which way we're going to go and how we're going to continue the services with the growth that we're going to be facing in the village. A small two-truck operation is not going to cut it. So we're either going to have to look at going outside or growing our own waste disposal operation, which is probably not really the smart way to go. So it'll be an open discussion for the community to have their thoughts and for a presentation to be made to the commission during the workshop from Public Works on the whole topic.

When are we going to lock in a date so we can start? We need to get mailers out to people with their water bills.

That's the plan. Mayor, there may be a date. I'm not aware if Alba has set that. But we had a discussion just the other day with Leilani about putting the stuffers in with the water bill. So I know that it's close. We are going to put something out to everybody.

Okay. And how are you prepping the forecasting, the sort of cost expectations? How are you preparing the cost-benefit analysis?

Well, that's being done with what our experience is and what it's costing us now to provide the services. For instance, what we stopped since I came was we had two new truck chassis on order. And we stopped that because there's no sense in going. They're extremely expensive to buy these pieces of equipment. And the garbage trucks today cost so much as a fire truck with all the requirements that are there for, again, with not allowing water to dump out onto the streets, the dirty water, that type of thing. There's a lot of requirements in these vehicles that they didn't have years ago. But we will have a cost analysis that shows exactly what it costs us now to run the operation, what our income is that we receive from the operation, and compare that with the costs that will have us to go to the outside. And I know Steve is working on that. And that'll be a big part of it, the financial side of what's the cost. Four of the people that work with us are day laborers that we hire from an agency every day to come in. And of course, that cost would go away. The huge repair bills that we have on our vehicles, that also would go away. But if you have new apparatus, you cut down on that. But then you've got the payment to pay the new vehicles off. So it's a yin and a yang with what some of the benefits are and what some of the savings are and what the costs are. And Steve is working on that whole thing to be able to put that up and show you what the financial side of this is.

Thanks. I don't know if anybody else had any other questions or if Jason wanted to make a comment.

Yeah, sure. I'd like to talk about the recycling. It doesn't sound like you're ready to discuss the solid waste at the proper time. We can certainly chime in on that. There's a number of things the village can do. But on the recycling, I wanted to reach out to you. We've already notified the county and other cities that we are going to be including now plastic to-go cups and paper cups as recyclable items starting immediately. So the type cups you would get at a Starbucks or Dunkin' Donuts or 7-Eleven, Paper cups, not styrofoam, but paper and plastic will be recyclable items. Miami-Dade County has already updated their website. And as you know, they are your service provider. So your materials go to our facility just like the rest of the counties does. The all incorporated areas in several cities, about 350,000 homes for Miami-Dade. All will have the access to add these additional materials in their recycling stream. So what we're doing is asking, first of all, educating people. If you don't hear from the county, I want to make sure you heard it from us. and also asking cities to update their websites. And the reason for that is really twofold. One, to educate your residents, but also FTC looks at different materials to determine whether they're what they determine widely recyclable. And what that means is access by 60% of the population to have access to recycle those items. And all of our plants are accepting them now. including our new plant that we're getting ready to open in Broward County that will replace our old plant. And FTC wants to see 60% access to any item to consider it widely recyclable to avoid greenwashing. We have markets for it. We are recycling it. And we're just trying to get the word out. I did send an email to Christina, who I just met virtually today. And I copied you on that, Mayor. And Frank, just so you know, I'd sent you an email earlier. And it's got more details in that. So that was really all I wanted to mention. You know, more things are coming. We just constantly are looking to update that program material list and include as much as we can. So it can be diverted from the landfills. So that's what's happening as we speak.

Thank you, Jason.

My pleasure.

Does anybody have any questions for Jason? I guess not. Thank you.

That was easy.

We'll move forward to item 4D, discussion on January activities, community bay cleanup and paddle event.

Yeah, I was thinking about doing a paddle event and I haven't had a chance to talk to Doris about it, but she's not here. So let me talk to Doris about it and then get back to you guys. I was thinking about doing a paddle cleanup because January is just such a beautiful, beautiful time. So yeah, I'm thinking about doing that. If anybody wants to help me out with it, give me a call. Thank you, Brenda. I gotta call Doris. So that's it.

That would be like launching the iPoddle.

Yeah. Yeah. Launching an iPoddle or I don't know, maybe we launched from Moda or 360. I don't know. I haven't thought of it beyond the idea of I would like to do this.

I'm thinking maybe it is the best from like iPoddle. because of that stretch for all the mangroves and on vegetation is definitely much easier to get to the dirtier parts of the bay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Back to you, Rachel staff commission liaison updates.

Um, wow. Do I have any updates? Um, Unfortunately, because of SB 180, Miami-Dade County is not enforcing its impervious surface ordinance. So I learned that last week when I was at County Hall for something else, which is really a bummer. And I would be interested to know how it's impacting projects that are being built here, but it's probably a conversation that I'll have with Frank another day. Trying to think of what else has been going on that I might need to update you guys on. I don't know. Does anybody have any questions for me? So for turf grass, that's considered a pervious surface turf is considered pervious. Yeah. Yeah. We have regulations and restrictions on turf in the front yard. It's basically prohibited. We passed this ordinance like six months ago. It went through this board.

Yeah. Yeah. And then how can it be affecting, just like briefly, like how could it be affecting like new developments now they could just go with turf exclusively?

Like... New development, you mean on single family homes or multi-family? Multi-family. Multi-family? Yeah. I would have to, we would have to look back at what our code says, but we, we generally, I think we prohibit turf in the front yard. I know that for single family homes, turf is prohibited in the front yard. What, what, what, what happened that you're asking this question?

I guess I'm trying to understand the SB 180 and how it's not being enforced by

Oh, okay. So the impervious surface ordinance is so much more than turf regulation, right? It is literally like the stormwater water quality regulatory framework at the county. And it imposes new regulations. Like basically new restrictions on development that are designed to improve stormwater capacity, runoff, avoid flooding, you know, better manage water quality, so on and so forth. But in implementing that regulatory framework, it does arguably raise sort of the bar for what a developer has to do. It will potentially make the project more expensive. It may require them to do more advanced engineering, etc. So on and so forth, and so sb 180 past the legislature last year we talked about it when we were talking about maybe making changes to the green code and then. Somebody jumped in and was like we probably don't want to go updating our code again because it's going to draw attention under sb 180 under sb 180 anyone. to be a private property owner in the village, doesn't have to be anybody impacted by the ordinance. It could literally be anyone could sue us for violating the provisions in SB 180 that say ordinances that are overly burdensome and restrictive on private property owners cannot basically be enforced. And overly burdensome and restrictive is a really, really broad, really sweeping universe of ordinances that are prohibited under this legislation. So until it's amended by the legislature, we're going to be doing our best to enforce the code that we have.

Got it. I feel like we talked about it. That's how I was getting confused with the turf. And I think Maybe that's what brought it up, was SB 180. Oh, you know, you might be right. Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah, I think we were, like, really in the weeds workshopping that topic when it came up. Yeah.

That really sucks.

It really does. Yeah. Surfside has been sued, like, 10 times under this statute. So... We just don't want that heat over here. Any good updates? My aloe is blooming. Nice. Do you consume it? No. No. She's just pretty and alive. No, I'm grateful for each of you and I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Very thankful for you, Madam Mayor. Everyone on the task force and on village staff.

Could I just ask, when we get these text messages like today, I don't have a Rain Man IQ, so telephone numbers don't tell me who's who. I guess in the next couple of days or whatever, we're going to then nail down for having a December meeting or whatever. I'm just indicating for myself, I'm available. any evenings during the month. So I know some people are saying it conflicts with commission meeting and things like that, but I guess I'll wait and see if we get a consensus for a December meeting.

Yeah, I definitely think it's worth it to attempt calendaring a December meeting. Frank, given that the clerk Might need some help scheduling. Just want to make sure you're on that.

Yeah, I understand. Cool.

Is there anything else, Madam Chair?

Should have unmuted myself. No, nothing else? Public comment?

Make a motion to adjourn.

Do we want to do the December 23rd meeting since we already have everybody here? Are you guys available? Do you want to move forward with December 23rd, Brenda, Oliver?

Like Neil, I'm available any evening in December. Oliver?

Oliver?

Well, I can try. It'll be about as much participation as I had today.

You did fine.

All right. Motion to adjourn.

I move that we adjourn. Second.

Third.

All right. We're all in favor, I think.

Aye.

Bye, everybody. Happy Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving.

I have to say that shirt is your Zoom color. You look good on Zoom. I don't know what it looks like in person.

Thanks, Brenda.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

Bye-bye.

Bye.

How do I get out of this?

I could try to kick you out.

All right. I'll figure out how to get... I'm trapped.

I'll do it. Don't worry.

Oh. I'm leaving now.

Have a great holiday, Frank. Bye, Johnny, if you hear me.