ROADWAY LANDSCAPE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Transcription

1 ROADWAY LANDSCAPE ADVISORY COMMITTEE Appointed by Lee County Board of County Commissioners LEE COUNTY ROADWAY LANDSCAPE ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING OF June 5, 2012 FIRST FLOOR CONFERENCE ROOM COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT/PUBLIC WORKS CENTER 1500 MONROE STREET, FORT MYERS, FLORIDA 6:00 7:30 P.M. AGENDA PACKAGE ACCESS 1. Call to Order 6:00 P.M. (Debbie Hughes) 2. *Approval of the March 6, 2012 Regular Meeting Minutes (Debbie Hughes, 5 min.) 3. New Business: A. *Daniels Parkway Proposal to Remove 20 Existing Trees in North Appaloosa & Plant 30 New Trees (Pat Moore/Justin Griffin, 30 min.) 4. Old Business: A. *Veterans Parkway - Update on Cape Coral Kiwanis & Cape Coral Urban Forestry Program (Pat Moore/Russ Ringland, 30 min.) 5. Other Business: A. 6. Adjourn by 7:30 P.M. * Committee action items NOTE: The Roadway Landscape Advisory Committee (RLAC) consists of members appointed by the Lee County Board of County Commissioners to advise on matters related to roadway landscaping activities in Lee County. The committee meets regularly each month and meetings are open to the public. For more information, please contact Pat Moore at (239) C/O Lee County Department of Transportation, 5560 Zip Drive, Ft. Myers, FL (239)

2 ROADWAY LANDSCAPE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (RLAC) DATE: March 6, 2012 TIME: 6:00 P.M. PLACE: 1500 Monroe Street, Fort Myers, Florida MEMBERS PRESENT: Barbara Niland, District 5 Winston Church, Keep Lee County Beautiful Stephen Brown, Horticultural Extension Agent Jennifer Evans, Florida Native Plant Society David Salko, Horizon Council Bill Prysi, American Society of Landscape Architects Robert Olinger, International Society of Arboriculture Debbie Hughes, Fort Myers/Lee County Garden Council OTHERS PRESENT: J.B. Schuetz, City of Fort Myers MEMBERS ABSENT: Dean Hinderman, Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association Gail Archer-Dearie, District 1 John Sibley, District 2 Al O Donnell, District 3 Esta Rubinstein, District 4 Michael Weston, Urban Forester STAFF PRESENT: Pat Moore, LCDOT John Solich, LCDOT Ehab Guirguis, LCDOT Doraine Wetzel, LCDOT Beth Workman, LC Community Development Quorum Confirmed with 8 members present. Debbie Hughes called the regular monthly meeting of the Roadway Landscape Advisory Committee (RLAC) to order at 6:00 pm. Approval of the October 4, 2011 Regular Meeting Minutes: Debbie Hughes asked for a motion to approve the October 4, 2011 RLAC meeting minutes, a motion was made by Jennifer Evans to approve the minutes, seconded by Robert Olinger; the motion was called and carried. NEW BUSINESS Welcome John Solich, Lee County Department of Transportation Operations, Manager. Pat Moore introduced John Solich as the new DOT Public Works Operations Manager and informed the members that Joe Sulak accepted a position as Urban Forester for the City of Columbus Ohio. John Solich brings years of experience in the construction industry to Lee County DOT.

3 John Solich stated to the members that he plans to depend on county staff to work with the roadway landscaping and gives his support. He admitted his expertise is not in landscaping but he will continue to be an advocate for the Roadway Landscape Advisory Committee. He mentioned that the status of Joe Sulak s position of Landscape Manager is still being reviewed by County Administration and may be restructured to include a wider scope of responsibility. Pat Moore also introduced Ehab Guirguis to the committee. Ehab is a PE and his title at Lee County DOT Operations is Engineering Manager. Ehab will be attending the meetings to add his expertise and support. Debbie Hughes inquired on how County Administration is restructuring the department. John stated that the landscape maintenance will continue to stay at Operations, the advisory area of county landscape is being decided on, and may be expanded to include other departments. Nothing will change at Operations, Mike Williams is still over the maintenance, Bob DeBrock is over the construction and Pat will continue to work on the planning and design. Beth Workman asked if Joe Sulak s position will be an Urban Forester, which could be used as an asset to other departments bringing a common theme to the landscape throughout the county. John said that type of job description had been suggested but they have not come up with a final decision yet. He will take her suggestion to a DOT administration meeting. John stated that Parks and Recreation have conveyed that they would like to continue to maintaining parks. Steven Brown stated that when Norm Easey made his recommendations to the county concerning county landscape, that someone is needed to oversee the operations county-wide. Stephen also feels Parks and Recreation would not be opposed to consolidating efforts to unifying the landscaping. Bob Olinger added that he agrees that Parks and Recreatio would be supportive of integrating efforts since they maintain all the ball fields and county parks. Bob noted that now is the time we consolidate our efforts to do more with less. Stephen volunteered to propose the idea of consolidating county-wide the operations of landscape maintenance to Parks and Recreation. John mentioned that a core level of service for maintaining landscape for county facilities has been prepared, currently DOT Operations will do work at county facilities and libraries, in addition to county right-of-ways. Stephen Brown suggested a motion to modify Joe s past position to that of an Urban Forester to oversee the installation and maintenance of all county landscaping. John stated that he would take this suggestion to the DOT Director. Bob Olinger asked that once County Administration receives the suggestion, he would like an update to be brought back to the RLAC meeting for further discussion. John stated that our Commissioners are being consulted about this position and their recommendations will be considered to determine the outcome of what this position will include. Pat stated he would put this item on the agenda for an update at the next meeting. OLD BUSINESS: Status Update on Current Construction Projects: Pat Moore updated the committee on the landscape projects that DOT is currently working on:

4 Plantation Extension between Colonial Blvd. and Idlewild Rd.: in contract maintenance. Final Completion is scheduled for 1/23/2013. US 41 from Littleton Rd. to Charlotte County Line: in contract maintenance. Final completion is scheduled for 2/27/2013. Daniels from Chamberlin to Gateway: substantial completion 1/13/2012. In 90 day maintenance period. Three Oaks from Corkscrew Rd. to Alico Rd.: irrigation installation. Pump stations installed. Trees being planted. Substantial completion March Estero Pkwy Ext from Three Oaks Pkwy. to Ben Hill Griffin Pkwy.: working on irrigation installation. Substantial completion April 2012 Bus 41 and US 41 Turn Lane Tapers: Darryl Coulter (Facilities Management) Project management. Working on the turn lane tapers, Tree planting done on Bus. 41 and on US 41. These areas are located US 41 between the river and Littleton and Bus. 41 between Bayshore and Littleton. Bob Olinger inquired on an item that was discussed at the last meeting when Beth asked if a spreadsheet could be sent to her that would validate where the funding of the landscape projects were coming from. He wanted to know if a spreadsheet was submitted. Pat stated the funding comes from the annual county budget. In the budget manual there is a line item for landscaping each roadway. Beth added that this conversation was brought up at a Commissioners meeting where they asked how the money was spent and why we were not doing more in-house. Bill Prysi mentioned that this committee should not be critiquing designs based on the budget. Pat informed the committee that the preliminary cost estimate is $300, per mile for core landscaping. Dave Salko stated that when you look at a roadway that has been landscaped and see imperfections in the design and evaluate that to the cost, this can be implemented in future design reviews. Bob Prysi agrees with Dave to evaluate the cost of past projects to make recommendations for new ones. Pat said he would the budget information. Bob Olinger said that would be very helpful. Steven Brown asked if we had a figure for the maintenance, Ehab stated that landscape maintenance cost is approximately $45, per mile. OTHER BUSINESS Election of Officers Pat Moore stated that the committee needs to elect a new Chair and Vice Chair, then the Chair needs to appoint a Secretary. Those in office currently cannot serve the same office, however they can be nominated for another position. The votes were tallied by Doraine Wetzel and the results were; Debbie Hughes as Chair, David Salko as Vice Chair. As Chairman elect, Debbie Hughes appointed Bill Prysi as Secretary. David Salko asked if the committee would be going to a monthly schedule, Pat stated that the direction from the County Manager was to only meet when absolutely necessary. When there are items pressing that need to be discussed a meeting will be scheduled.

5 Hickory Blvd. Bike Path Winston Church is the president of the Bonita Beach Improvement Association (B.B.I.A.) The County worked with the B.B.I.A. in the improvement project of widening and adding shoulders and repaving Hickory Blvd. DOT promised to repave the bike path along Hickory Blvd. Joe Sulak had stated to Winston that the bids came in higher than anticipated by the budget. Winston would like to know if anything else has been done. John said he would ask Engineering Services about that project. Meeting Adjourn at 7:10 pm Respectfully submitted, Doraine Wetzel Administrative Assistant Chairman Date Secretary Date Attachment: Attendance Record

6 Lee County Roadway Landscape Advisory Committee 12 Month Meeting Attendance Record A = Absent, EA = Excused Absence, V = Vacant Voting Members Apr. May Jun. Jul. Aug. Sep. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. Total Al O'Donnell A 1 District 3 Barbara Niland A 1 District 5 Esta Rubinstein V A A 2 District 4 Bill Prysi A A 2 American Society of Landscape Architects David Salko 0 Horizon Council Vacant A V A 3 Florida Nursery, Growers & Landscape Association Debbie Hughes A 1 Ft. Myers/Lee County Garden Council Gail Annette Archer-Dearie A A 2 District 1 John Sibley A 1 District 2 Michael Weston EA A 2 Urban Forester Jenny Evans 0 Florida Native Plant Society Robert Olinger A EA 2 International Society of Arboriculture, Certified Arborist * Stephen Brown A 1 Horticultural Extension Agent Winston Church EA 1 Keep Lee County Beautiful Non-voting Members (Staff) Beth Workman EA 1 Community Development Pat Moore 0 Department of Transportation * See above A 1 Parks & Recreation 3 - March.xls5/30/2012