Cedar Key News - CITY COMMISSION 16 SEPTEMBER 2014

CITY COMMISSION APPROVES RIP RAP VARIANCE

September 17, 2014

The Cedar KeyCity Commission met in the Cedar Key City Hall on Tuesday, September 16, 2014. All commissioners were in attendance: Mayor Dale Register, Vice-Mayor Sue Colson, Commissioners Tina Ryan, Royce Nelson, and Nettie Hodges.

Staff in attendance included City Attorney Norm Fugate, Police Chief / Public Works Director Virgil Sandlin, Fire Chief / Building Department Manager Robert Robinson, City Clerk Teresa George, and Staffer Lisa Fine.

In the audience were Gary Hathcox, insurance representatives from Brown and Brown and the Florida League of Cities, two Teisses, variance seeker Linda Hudson’s Agent Ryan Carter, Bob and Jeri Treat, and Mandy and Frank Offerle.

RIP-RAP VARIANCE QUASI-JUDICIAL HEARING

At the Quasi-Judicial Hearing on Petition 2014-02, petitioner Linda Hudson/Parker Family Investment Group, LLC, requested a variance to install “more than 50 (318 feet) feet of rip rap to protect the shoreline from further current action erosion.” Ryan Carter, Carter Environmental Services of St. Augustine, represented Hudson, whose property is at One Old Mill Drive, between Nature’s Landing and Old Fenimore Mill, Parcel 32-15-13-0874700000, and previously part of the Andrews estate.

WHAT IS A QUASI JUDICIAL HEARING, BRIEFLY?

Quasi-judicial hearings are formal and codified in the Laws of Cedar Key and require a specific procedure due to the seriousness of the issue at hand. Explanations, pros, cons, and public comment are timed and occur in order on a set agenda.

The hearing procedure requires that commissioners deliberate individually and present their findings to the assembled group. Their findings must be based on specific requirements cited in Laws of Cedar Key, Chapter Four, Land Development Code, Article X, Hardship Relief, 10.01.00 Variances, 10.01.03 Limitations on Granting Variances.

THE ISSUE

The request for a variance seeks to place “geotextile fabric topped with limestone rip rap” extending 318 feet long and at least ten feet wide along the north side of the property.

The total 32,000 square feet imposed upon the shore is unnatural: the geotextile’s composition is in question, the limestone is not natural to this area.

The geotextile layer topped with limestone will not allow plants to grow through it and reinhabit the area.

Before this quasi-judicial hearing, Ryan Carter contacted and provided extensive materials to each commissioner except Nettie Hodges.

While discussing City laws, one commissioner said he was ready to grant the variance even though he had not read the ordinance.

QUESTIONS FROM THE AUDIENCE

What is the effect of this action on the adjacent properties? Carter dismissed the issue, saying it will have no effect.
Have other ways to avoid erosion been considered, one possibility being plants? Carter said no, no other alternatives had been considered.
Has any commissioner walked the 318 feet of shoreline under discussion? Not one commissioner had done so, though audience members have done so.
Do you commissioners feel that you are well prepared to move on this issue? Silence followed.

PROBLEMS NOT ADDRESSED BY THE COMMISSION

Was the hearing noticed properly?
Cedar Key Laws, Chapter Four, Land Development Code, Article X, 101.02 B Process states “All required notices of the public hearing shall be made at least fifteen (15) days prior to the hearing.”
The section also states the notice must be placed, among other places, at City Hall.

CORRECTION by Cedar Key News, September 25, 2014

The Notice of the Quasi-Administrative Hearing was put in the paper 18 days before the Hearing date. It was posted at City Hall and on the property at One Old Mill Drive. Both Old Fenimore Mill and Nature’s Landing Condominium Associations were notified, as were condominium owners.

OTHER QUESTIONS NOT ADDRESSES

What will be the effect of 32,000 square feet of non-native materials be on the environment?
How will commissioners respond other such variance requests using foreign materials?
The setting of a precedent, perhaps? How will the commission stand behind its living shoreline commitment once it has approved the variance for not just a few feet but nearly seven times the allotted amount of rip rap?
What is the chemical make-up of this “geotextile” substance? How will that effect the environment? How has it been tested, where?

FINDINGS OF COMMISSIONERS

Only one individual cited the required bases upon which commissioners were to have grounded their findings; instead, most responded as if they had not read Article X or did not understand it or/and the quasi-judicial hearing process.

Vice-Mayor Colson’s findings cited: geotextile fabric as questionable; the variance extends not minimally but seven times the allotted use of rip rap; the laws of Cedar Key are designed to protect structures, not shorelines eroding naturally; the shoreline is a living shoreline; that the variance does not meet the requirements cited in the Land Development Code.
Commissioner Royce Nelson said he believed “this is needed,” and he knows because, he said, “I do it for a living.”
Commissioner Nettie Hodges is “not against it.”
Commissioner Ryan had “no objection.”
Mayor Register was “not against it.”

After the vote to approve the variance, Colson made the motion to request that Carter "look into," not be bound in any way to, but to look into the living shoreline solutions to situation. Mayor Register, Vice Mayor Sue Colsoon, and Commissioner Nettie Hodges voted yes; Commissiioners Tina Ryan and Royce Nelson voted no.

THE REMAINDER OF THE MEETING’S ISSUES

Election Signs:

The discussion about county election signs on the streets was postponed because of a particularly long agenda.

Old Boat Ramp at Marina:

Resident and clammer Gary Hathcox requested that the old outside Marina boat ramp be reopened because: he understands that the new FWC boat ramp has not been altered since its engineers left; that the FWC ramp is still unusable in extremely low tides; he expects low tides very soon with the coming of the October equinox; that the ramp is the clammers’ critical “highway to work.” Mayor Register asked Attorney Fugate about the City’s liability in reopening the old ramp; Fugate responded that liability exists on all City properties and that the City carries insurance.

Commissioners directed Public Works Director Virgil Sandlin to open the old ramp as necessary.

Hathcox explained that he believed the way to fix the FWC ramp’s base is to put reinforced concrete slabs in step-like fashion for twenty feet at the ramp’s base, end, terminus. Mayor Register directed Public Works Director Virgil Sandlin to look into the matter and report back by October 21.

Summer Youth Program:

Summer Youth Program Coordinator Crystal Sharpe showed the audience a colorful, energetic three-minute video set to music depicting children from five to fifteen gainfully, educationally, socially, and physically involved and challenged all summer. Students, one hundred of whom are served by the program, were pictured reading, playing, building models, interacting with visiting scientist Magic Mike, planting greens with UF Master Gardener Barbara Edmonds, more reading, and water sliding and tumbling with Cedar Key’s own Officer David Perry.

The video thanked the City of Cedar Key for its support.

FEMA Meeting:

Mayor Register announced that Levy County Emergency Operations Manager Mark Johnson will represent the City of Cedar Key at the September 17, 2014, meeting to discuss risk maps which help communities identify, assess, and reduce their flood risk.

Insurance Presentations:

Insurance quotes with overviews were presented to the commissioners by Brown and Brown for $70,112 and the Florida League of Cities for $69,246. Brown and Brown has had the City contract in the past. Commissioners selected the Florida League of Cities quote; coverage will begin October 1, 2014.

Teiss Annexation:

David, Laraine, and Chelsa Teiss of 16320 SW 129 Lane requested annexation into the City; the request was granted.

Marina Parking:

FWC’s Patricia Harrell’s concern about fees and parking in the Marina was again discussed. Commissioners made the unanimous decision to leave the rates as they are until expectations are made clear to Fugate by Harrell.

The meeting was adjourned

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