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Several Islanders had noticed that a posting had mysteriously appeared on the bulletin boards: graphic photos of dead gopher tortoises, killed within a span of a few days. On May 27th the PIE Board heard from Kjell Plotkin, founder of the Gopher Tortoise Conservation Team. She revealed that she had posted the notices. And the Board offered full support of her action.
“I was aggravatingly motivated after receiving phone calls and of residents knocking on my door dramatically upset, wanting to report to someone what they saw and asking what they should/could do” she said in an email to the Board. “Please do not misunderstand, I do not mind the calls or knocks, I mind the monstrous people who have no regard for the life of these animals.” She went on to say that she promptly grabbed her shovel, container and cleaned up the remains of both tortoises. Kjell then jotted down the appropriate information for the records that the Gopher Tortoise Conservation Team keeps and disposed of the tortoises. “Both were run over by CARS. They were not even near the edge of the road.” She went on to explain “It is unfathomable that people don't stop when they hear or feel the thud.” Florida law prohibits any person from killing or wounding gopher tortoises, which are protected as threatened in the state. Violating the law is a third-degree felony and punishable by up to five years in prison, a $5,000 fine or both. Anyone with information should contact the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Incidents can be reported online or call 888-404-FWCC (3922). Cellphone users can also call *FWC or #FWC or send a text to Tip@MyFWC.com. As a result of the incident, Kjell created a friendly educational hand-out about the Gopher Tortoise with the intent of asking island rental agents as well as the Resort to include them in rental sign-in packs. The PIE Board will be discussing other ways to improve local education about tortoises. Ideas include reaching out to Island builders and landscape maintenance companies to ask their workers to drive carefully and also focusing on getting the membership and all homeowners to remind all vendors and service technicians (A/C and pool maintenance, pest control) to SLOW DOWN on our roads. For the past 3 years, Kelley Enterprises has been the County subcontractor responsible for road grading and maintenance. The majority of Islanders feel that presently the upkeep of our roads has never been better.
However, Gator Paving & Grading is selected for the next 1-year contract for maintenance of our sand roads. At this time, the base contract calls for 12 cycles of grading – which could mean only one grading per month -- at a time and date that the contractor chooses. We islanders have no control over how many "extra" trips the future contractor will make. Any time a resident calls the County and complains about the roads, the Public Works department could order an extra service and charge it to our taxing unit. The estimated mobilization fee for Gator Grading & Paving to bring equipment and personnel to the Island is $3500. Kelly’s is $225. Our maintenance and grading is paid exclusively through the “Roads & Bridges” MSTU. No part is paid through County general funds. The County is bound by rules and regulations that govern the award of contracts, to provide accountability for the spending of our tax dollars. However, our circumstances may require extra consideration. Many Islanders feel that we should continue with the current contractor and maintenance system. Commissioner Truex is working to assist us with this issue. But he needs our support. We need to make a strong case for Kelley Enterprises’ responsiveness and efficiency, and that the system in place at this time provides excellent service to the Island stakeholders. We are asking all Islanders who support keeping Kelly Enterprises to send an email to Commissioner Truex urging that the incumbent contractor, Kelley Enterprises, be awarded the contract for annual road grading even though they were underbid by Gator Paving & Grading. CLICK HERE for a sample list of bullet points for those of you who would like to participate. You can email Bill Truex at: bill.truex@charlottecountyfl.gov Thank you, The PIE Board of Directors  Various Island-based groups have come together to get the word out about Suncoast Humane Society's drive to build their new local animal care center. Please read on to learn about this important project.
Suncoast Humane Society, founded in 1971, has occupied its current facility for over 45 years, well past the welcome of an animal care center, which is normally 20 years. Our plumbing, heating, air conditioning, waste removal and water systems are all compromised. We can no longer serve the 50,000 community members in the current building. We have purchased 11.5 acres across from our current facility to build our new animal care center. We have raised over $5,089,000 towards a building cost of approximately $10 million. We have committees and individuals supporting our efforts in Palm Island, Boca Grande, Englewood, Manasota Key and Venice. Our capital campaign brochure and video are on our website at www.humane.org. We have naming opportunities available and anyone interested in more information about our capital project can call Terry Marks at: (941) 474-7884 X 420 or email at tmarks@humane.org. CLICK HERE for a brochure describing the capital campaign in progress. And HERE is some general information about Suncoast Humane Society, as well as a Donor Form (CLICK HERE). And for your convenience, Island residents Ray Smith or Robin Madden can pick up any donation and deliver directly to Suncoast. Just give them a shout!   According to the Florida FWC, the number of sea turtle nests statewide are at all-time record highs. In fact, the number of “green” sea turtle nests locally have been substantially higher this year. While FWC reported 21 green turtle nests for all of Charlotte County in 2018, our own Don Pedro/Knight Island Sea Turtle Patrol has tallied 140 green nests as of 7/31. Although this is great news for turtle season overall, it does not necessarily reflect how many baby turtles will actually survive. Here – In addition to the typical problems of nest wash-overs and root incursion, ghost crabs, fire ants and seabirds – turtle nests are also being breached by highly destructive local predators: coyotes and armadillos. A relatively new intruder Coyote tracks have been observed on the beach in the area just north of Don Pedro State Park since 2013. Soon after, turtle nests were discovered dug up with eggshells strewn about the opening. Volunteers began securing screens over the nests to protect them from the coyote, only to find armadillos burrowing under the screens to attack the nests. This year, there have been numerous confirmed coyote sightings on Don Pedro Island by residents on Bocilla Dr., the north and south ends of Kettle Harbor Dr., by the Kosinski Bridge, and along the beach roads, to name a few. County staff from the Dept. of Natural Resources confirms that small tracks have also been found, indicating the presence of a juvenile. In 2015, residents and Sea Turtle Patrol volunteers Kjell Plotkin and Barbara DeYulio applied for a grant from the Florida Sea Turtle Grants Program, administered by the non-profit Sea Turtle Conservancy. PIE hosted the grant proposal through their Wildlife and Habitat Preservation Program. [Kjell was President of WHPP at the time] The grant project consisted of securing the professional services of a trapper to track, set traps and remove captured armadillos. The Sea Turtle Conservancy is funded by a portion of revenues from Florida's Sea Turtle Specialty License Plate. According to the proposal, “a dramatic number of marine turtle nests on Don Pedro and Knight islands were destroyed in 2014 and 2015 by predators. For example, in two monitored zones (approximately one mile of beach), 100% of the nests were predated in 2015; in 2014 90% of the nests were predated”. The grant, however, was not funded at that time. Each year following, the predator population has grown in tandem with the rising number of turtle nests. Current depredation rates Recent data provided by several turtle patrol members clearly indicates that predation of turtle nests is a serious problem.  Judy Kelley works the north end of the Island from Access 12 to the spit at Stump Pass. “Coyote prints are seen most mornings. All my predations except for one have been by coyotes. Only one by an armadillo,” she tells us. For her, “placing a screen after a predation has prevented coyotes & armadillos from coming back to the same nest”. Through 7/31, Judy has tracked 105 loggerhead nests. Of these, 25 had been predated (8 of those were totally destroyed). Of the 22 green nests, 4 had been partially predated. Judy noted a few unusual events this year: a green was seen finishing up a laid nest on her morning patrol. A loggerhead laid her nest around 7:00 one evening. A Kemp’s Ridley sea turtle, rarely seen on this coast, laid her nest mid-day. Unfortunately, the nest didn’t hatch due to water inundation. Barbara DeYulio, Lindsay Yates and Sally B. Johnson walk the turtle beat south of the Resort to Beach Place. Last month Barbara reported that in her area, 3 out of the 43 green nests had been dug into. And out of 110 loggerhead nests, 30 had been attacked. The next stretch of the beach is covered by Jayne Kebe. According to Jayne, “I collect data with Valerie Guenther and Ray and Marie Smith on Zones 5-7, which go from the south end of Beach Place (start of Zone 5) to the Colony pool (end of zone 7). We’ve had 160 loggerheads and 41 greens to date. My predation is running now at about 67%. Not all of these nests are totally destroyed. We have been screening nests when supplies are available to try and prevent further destruction. We’ll see how successful that is.” She goes on to say that “I would say there is maybe equal predation of armadillo and coyote. The armadillos are willing to work harder to get access through the screens and are occasionally successful.”  The heaviest load is in zone 9, from the Colony pool south to the State Park, which is monitored by volunteer Pat Gordon. ”As of 7/31, there were 34 green nests, 16 of which have already been predated, and 172 loggerhead nests. A total of 23 nests had hatched, two of which were green nests. One of the green nests was predated, and as a result only 15 turtle eggs hatched out of a total 111 eggs in the nest. Of the 23 total hatched nests, only 6 were not predated, resulting in a 74% predation rate for hatched nests as of the end of July.” Her concern now is that, as nesting slows, the predators will decimate the remaining nests through the end of season. What’s being done and is it enough? With the odds stacked so heavily against them, the rule of thumb is that roughly one in a thousand hatchlings will survive to adulthood (15-25 years). The increase in predator activity, specifically coyotes and armadillos, has the potential of reducing even further the likelihood of their survival. “We must keep in mind that Marine turtles have survived predation since the dinosaurs” says Brenda Bossman, the state permit holder overseeing sea turtle patrols on Knight and Don Pedro islands. “Remember the raccoon predation years ago? We don't have them now that we have coyotes. It's a trade-off” she tells us. “But we didn't have armadillos then, either. The coyotes alone wouldn't be as bad.” At this time, the County has contracted with USDA Wildlife to track and trap the coyotes in the State Park, but that does not address the armadillo problem. Valerie Guenther notes that “The problem is that the State and the County won't trap on private property, so they trap in the park and sometimes in the preserve land by Sabal Palm Pointe.” However, she notes “Armadillos live mostly in and around property on North and South Gulf Blvd - especially in the Colony.”  Don Pedro & Knight islands are not alone in this dilemma. On July 19, 2019, Coastal Wildlife Club posted on their Facebook page “Heading for record Green Sea Turtle nesting on Manasota Key but Loggerhead nesting has slowed down significantly. Heavy coyote depredation hitting nests up and down the key.”
Due to the need for access to private property, a community-based organized effort would be required to reduce the impact of predators – particularly the armadillos – on sea turtle nesting here on the Island. Until then, homeowners can be mindful of the regulations in effect during turtle season. These include:
At the May 13, 2019 PIE Board meeting, the Directors voted to make a $500 donation to the Lemon Bay High School Marine Research Club to support their sea grass planting project. Sue Erwin of the BOCA BEACON wrote a terrific article about the program back in April, when the Bocilla Islands Conservancy and Lemon Bay Conservancy donated to the program. We have reproduced the article below.     In advance of the Board of County Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, May 14th the County has released an amended SITE EVALUATION REPORT dated 5.6.19. It contains the following:
The decision regarding the site location for the new Station 10 Fire House will impact all Islanders. If you have commentary regarding the site location, we encourage you to contact the Board of County Commissioners prior to the May 14th Commission meeting. If you plan to comment at the meeting, there will be an opportunity at the beginning of the meeting for public input. The BCC can be reached at:
County Commission Commission Office assistant@CharlotteCountyFL.gov 941.743.1300 Agenda Inquiries 941.743.1944 Bill Truex Bill.Truex@CharlotteCountyFL.gov Stephen R. Deutsch StephenR.Deutsch@CharlotteCountyFL.gov Joe Tiseo Joseph.Tiseo@CharlotteCountyFL.gov Christopher Constance Chris.Constance@CharlotteCountyFL.gov Ken Doherty Ken.Doherty@CharlotteCountyFL.gov Please note that each commissioner can be reached by phone at the “switchboard” number above.
TRAVIS MORTIMER: Presentation of PROJECT BACKGROUND_OPERATIONS_SITE SELECTION PROCESS Requirements of Station 10 project: Old firehouse was built in 1991 and is aging, and at this point it makes no economic sense to repair the existing wooden building. The county ran a facility condition index and found Station 10 to be in the poorest condition of all of the County firehouses. They will be replacing the existing building with a new firehouse that conforms with fire station requirements. To comply with County policy, they cannot continue to invest in the building and must rebuild. Travis mentioned structural issues with the existing building (pilings issues, soffit damage) and why it cannot be repaired. Since the building cannot be remodeled to comply with code and regulations, it must be rebuilt. The firehouse will be going from a footprint of 3200 sf to approx. 5500 sf. It will have berthing spaces that conform to modern standards and be a “safe” place, meaning the building must have a lobby for the public to enter (however, they can’t come into the back of the Station). It will have an elevator, be ADA accessible, have parking and stormwater drainage. It must meet Miami-Dade code of 170 mph winds. The budget has been established at $3.6 million. The project will be paid for with county-wide Ad Valorum funding. After engineering & architecture, permitting costs ($400K) leaves $3.2M for construction. (budget details are available in the Site Evaluation Report) PROJECT TIMELINE: 9 months for the design. At this point they are running a little behind, but are continuing to design and should be able to catch up to planned schedule once the site is selected. They anticipate 12-15 months of active construction. By October 2020 we can expect them to be moving into the new structure. For the initial analysis for site evaluation, Charlotte County real estate services did market research to find out what’s available on market. They identified 10 potential parcels for sale. Out of these10 sites, they whittled it down to 3 sites to consider: SITE A. Existing site is a small ¼ acre + parcel. They can make it work. The challenge would be operating the fire station while constructing the new one. They need to find temporary site during construction. Existing site is estimated to run $300K over original budget including $200K budgeted for temporary facilities. SITE B. 61 Gasparilla, a vacant lot two parcels north of the existing site. Upside: No NIMBY issues – they consider it a benefit that the location is familiar to neighbors. Downside: Would require a zoning change to build the firehouse & is privately owned. Site B would run $100k over original budget plus purchase price of the property. SITE C. 1 North Gulf Blvd. Upside: It’s a presence, could be a landmark for the island. Downsides: land is much bigger than required. The County only needs a portion of the parcel. Also it is currently privately owned and requires buffers for wetlands. With the known issues Site C is estimated to run $300K over budget, plus the cost of property, in addition to the possibility of unknown issues that could cause more cost overruns. Travis said that they are trying to protect the county from taking on liabilities, such as excess land. They do not want to own and maintain so much property and mangrove. The evaluation matrix had a 1-5 scoring system, which was a SUBJECTIVE measure in terms of how convenient or attractive or how many burdens were assumed with each location. Vertical Divider
need (1 acre). If the permitting is agreeable they could probably make Site C work with a very GOOD price on the land parcels, or even a “patriotic” donation (which does occur periodically with right-of-ways) but they are still concerned about the unknowns (potential issues during the project execution that could cause big cost overruns). Bottom line: He thinks he can make any of them work but cannot control some of the risks involved with SITE C. DEPUTY CHIEF JASON FAIR answered some questions from MSBU Advisory Committee meetings: Growth potential: The building is designed for a 2-person crew with a 3rd bunk available if needed. This increases the staffing capacity for storms. Truex added “If we’re designing a structure today to accommodate a crew of 4 it should be able to be done on any of the parcels.” Equipment type & stowage: They are preparing for replacing apparatus as needed not replacing the TYPE of apparatus used and stored, so the same space will be appropriate when equipment is updated in 2021. Water assets: Marine unit/piers (access) are used for evacuations and bringing marine crew in. Water access would be nice but not required. The County can get the job done through other means, so it is not a priority. Deputy Chief Fair said that the county has regional service: if we had a marine crew based on the island they would spend most of their time away from the Island, by necessity, to be useful to the County. NEXT STEPS (TRAVIS): 1. It is on the County Commission agenda on April 9th for a vote on accepting the recommendation of 61 Gasparilla as the site location for the new fire house. If you wish to give input to the BCC, there will be an opportunity at the BEGINNING of the meeting for input on any topic on the agenda. 2. The Board will give direction to the staff on how to proceed 3. Site specific design and permitting to follow. 4. Construction begins in (best case) October 2019, in the worst case it’s uncertain. Project estimated to have a 12-month duration. BILL TRUEX: 1 North Gulf parcel was brought to his attention a while back and was “way more than we need”. He pushed to get the lot analyzed, but he can’t justify to the county taxpayers additional $800-900K to pay for a firehouse. “I support the original location to replace the firehouse”, he said. “I can’t say to people in other parts of the county to pay a lot of extra money for a larger parcel that isn’t necessary.” Island Station 10 can’t be utilized for backup for other stations, like any other fire station in the county. CCFD assets/employees have to be moved around on the mainland, but they can’t take assets off the Island. Mitigation credits: “It is an idea” Truex said. “I don’t know enough about what our land bank looks like around here.” Travis said that the site evaluation report is not exhaustive, primarily dealing with the budget. The Little Pine Island land bank was mentioned, which could make a big difference to the underlying cost of Site C. Travis said he would look into it. Vertical Divider
based here, they would spend most of their time away to serve the area since marine coverage is done regionally. We would be losing a crew every time the boats leave the Island. The debate becomes how much we would be depending on marine services. The vast majority of Island coverage is provided through engines, emergency vehicles – except for service to Thornton Key (noted by a resident). Chief Van Helden: “Our recommendation is to do whatever is needed to keep you alive or to get water on a fire.” BILL TRUEX: He’s not saying “NO” to Site C, but he has to be cognizant of ALL taxpayer dollars. Asked for current build-out levels: 418 buildable lots/660 built. If extra costs are charged back to Island MSBU “easy numbers” on $1M overbudget: 1000 properties each taxpayer pays extra $100/year for 10 years. When asked about concern about future commercial development (such as a hotel or motel) on that N. Gulf Blvd. parcel, “that won’t happen” Truex said. “It would take MAJOR sewer” indicating that the sewer line expected in the future wouldn’t support a motel/hotel there. He said he will check to see if future land use is different from RMFT zoning. Chief Van Helden said to keep in mind that we have to replace fire trucks in the future, which will be charged back to the Island taxing unit. He’s looking to stretch the life of the current equipment 2-3 years. Vertical Divider
If you have commentary regarding the site location, we encourage you to contact the Board of County Commissioners prior to the April 9th Commission meeting. If you plan to comment at the meeting, there will be an opportunity at the beginning of the meeting for public input. The BCC can be reached at:
County Commission Commission Office assistant@CharlotteCountyFL.gov 941.743.1300 Agenda Inquiries 941.743.1944 Bill Truex Bill.Truex@CharlotteCountyFL.gov Stephen R. Deutsch StephenR.Deutsch@CharlotteCountyFL.gov Joe Tiseo Joseph.Tiseo@CharlotteCountyFL.gov Christopher Constance Chris.Constance@CharlotteCountyFL.gov Ken Doherty Ken.Doherty@CharlotteCountyFL.gov Please note that each commissioner can be reached by phone at the “switchboard” number above. For further information contact Lou Ellen Wilson at louwilson2016@gmail.com or Candy Cohen at candycecohen@gmail.com In case you have not read your PIE emails over the past several weeks, let’s catch you up. The county has determined that our island firehouse needs to be replaced as it is not to code, not ADA compliant and smaller than is suitable to manage our needs into the future as the island population grows. The county engaged Magnum Builders and Sweet-Sparkman Architects of Sarasota as well as Johnson Engineering to evaluate the existing and two potential alternative sites. They published their Site Evaluation Report and Recommendations on February 19th. The evaluation report indicates that “no land purchase or boat dock access is included” so we believe this additional information will need to be used to make a decision. Despite stating that “feedback from the community” was considered, members of the PIE board were unable to identify any residents who had provided input on the more subjective areas of the analysis. PIE issued a call to action to postpone the County Commissioners site selection decision and to hold a town hall to accept community input. The decision has been postponed until April 9th and the Town Hall will take place Monday, March 18th, 2019. Your email from PIE yesterday provided an updated location for the town hall meeting. We hope to see many of you at the 11:00 AM meeting at the Englewood Chamber of Commerce location where we will have a presentation from the county and an opportunity to discuss the project and our concerns. The site evaluation report has some factual errors and we have been made aware of some other rumors and published statements circulating on the island that are incorrect. Your PIE board voted Monday, February 11th, to circulate a Fact Sheet to point out and correct these issues. As chair of the Barrier Island Fire Advisory Board, Candy Cohen took point working with other board members to produce this document over the past several days. Input was collected by a number of discussions with island residents, our fire station personnel and our sheriff to be incorporated in the document as well. As there is a subjective element in the Site Grading Matrix, we have incorporated this feedback to adjust importance of some items and to add additional criteria from an islander perspective. That said, PIE has heard a disparity of opinions on the evaluated sites so we encourage each resident to consider what items are of importance to you to come to your own conclusions. The Fact Sheet is made up of the following:
Other Important Links:
Fire Station 10 Evaluation Report (view/download) Project Status Page on the Charlotte County Public Site |
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