##VIDEO ID:_ctLv6YD-3I## e e e e e e oh two make sure M are Yes actually that's a good point good morning and welcome to the Natural Resources preservation Advisory board meeting on November 6 2024 at 1102 a.m. kindly silence your cell phones kind reminder to silence the cell phones thank you very much we're going to do a roll call Mrs deart please call the rooll member vas here just make sure your mics are on too just is a reminder present member Bloomberg member Bloomberg president I didn't hear you member shriber president vice chairperson Davidson president chairperson nesle present thank you and we come to the Pledge of Allegiance please raise for the Pledge of Allegiance IED uned States number four approval of the agenda is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented I'll motion to approve is there a second all in favor say yes hi any post say no great so thank you so much we're coming to number five public comments public comments are now open each speaker will be allowed about three minutes to speak order there any public comments we welcome the turtle team thank you good afternoon um sorry I didn't know it was here I went back to the library anyway um I think most of you know me my name is Joanne Ryan I'm the permit holder for the town of Highland Beach sea turtle nesting program and Barbara has invited me here today to just go over our 2024 numbers which were a little bit lower than last year but we're not concerned about that um but we ended out the season and our season's not quite over yet we did have one green turtle that decided to come in on October 12th so we're still monitoring one nest till probably the end of November or beginning of December but we ended out our season with uh 795 loggerhead nests 127 Green Turtle nests 13 leatherback nests and we were up six from last year so that was good thing so our total Nest count for this year in Highland Beach under three miles is 935 nest we also had about just under 1300 false crawls so we had 2,225 Turtle crawls on our beach here in in Highland Beach so that is considerably lower from from last year but since the green turtles is considered an every second year event no one's really concerned about it FWC is not concerned about it we're not concerned about it we we took a break this year which was kind of nice because I had some Personnel issues but um uh we did really well and now we have one Nest that we're still monitoring and I also wanted to thank the preservation board for inviting the sea turtle team to the mingle and jingle on December 5th we're really excited about it and we're going to have a table with some merchandise um and uh some interesting turtle facts thank you very much thank you do you have any Le on with the coastal stewards that group uh no we don't work with the coastal stewards that they're their own entity I do work with Gumbo Limbo very closely um and Gumbo Limbo is a a rehab center and they are also they do the nesting surveys like we do Coastal stewards does not do any of that Gumbo Limbo they were part of Gumbo Limbo at one one time but they spun off and created their own nonprofit and they have their own offices um I know they do have Personnel that does work at Gumbo Limbo but um it's a whole different genre thank you so much TR so we're coming to number six presentations Town planner updates the I refer this item to town planner please okay good morning uh so I do have some updates for the board uh start starting off with the mingle jingle event um you all were sent an email um uh with the flyer that is uh going around the town so the mingle jingle event will be December 5th it will be from 5:00 to 8:00 pm um I was advised by the town manager's office at um setup will start around 3 o'clock so those of you that are going to man the table um again you could come up come as early as 3:00 the table as well as the signage which will be placed um on top of the booth Bo um will be set up for you already by 3:00 I was advised um we do have name tags Mr Hart did provide name tags for all of you um I I could bring them to the event because I feel like if we give them to you now you may forget it's an easy thing to forget especially if you cut them out so um I'll have those at the table uh waiting for you um there was a h inquiry at your last meeting on September 4th you uh suggested that Dan lante attend the board's table at the mingle jingle um I just reached out to the town manager about it um and he was fine with Mr balante volunteering his time at the table so thank you um yes no worries so that's pretty much it for the mingle jingle um we I do have some updates about the November 12th event um the beachfront property evaluation as I mentioned um well as you all know apum um will be presenting their beach front um property evaluation um as of this morning we do have 36 RSVPs for the event um the town manager's office is working on Refreshments we're going to have a variety of uh soft drinks Waters is I believe going to be a cheese plate a hummus plate fruit plates so there'd be some food there um the hard copies of the study this was a recommendation or suggestion by the board at the last meting meeting a hard copy of the studies is provided at the town clerk's office as well as the library so anybody who wants to go look at them they are available in a binder in both those of those locations um the letter um H was sent out um and everyone should have received it um if you go to the town website under latest news there's information about the event um also on the town's calendar you'll see the uh 1112 event on there as well um our town manager's office we have staff there that works on email blast there'll be consistent email blast going out this week and of course next week uh there'll be another uh reference to the letter in the town manager's minute I believe it's coming out this week so it'll give a few more days for people to RSVP and learn a little bit more about the event um that's that's pretty much it for the 1112 event unless you all have any questions uh just a few more follow-up items from last meeting um I did not hear back from Mr Newman if you recall he suggested a field trip to the recycling center um I did make this uh did make the town manager aware of it uh the town manager indicated that if the board has consensus and you want to do the field trip uh the town manager indicated that you'd have to make a recommendation to the town commission and the town Town commission will determine if they want the board to go um so um if you recall many meetings ago I provided you a copy of the recommendation memorandum um so there's an action there's a background fiscal impact attachments I can go through all this you know as you decide if you want to do a recommendation but um there was another suggestion from the September 4th meeting about a feasibility study to be prepared for the interculer Waterway again I brought this up to the town manager indicated that if the board if you have consensus for that you'd have to make a recommendation to the town commission to determine whether the town commission wants to move forward with a feasibility study that has to go through the town commission um and I know there was a suggestion by Mr shriberg about going out on the Marine Patrol vessel again if the commission has consensus for the town manager you have to get a Rec you make a recommendation to the town commission they'll determine if they want you going out on the Marine Patrol vessel um and then the last item from a followup from the last meeting September 4th there was a suggestion about having a guest speaker educate the board on the status of seaw walls uh the town manager would like to know who that person is going to be um so once you make that determination again I could bring it to the town manager and we can go from there um that's all I have for followup again I'm happy to answer any questions or comments anyone might have thank you so much so my my instant question would be these are um new topic I mean new topics like topics we need to discuss can we add that to the agenda today or will we have to add this to the Future agenda which topics um so basically the recommendation regarding a recycling visit um then the feasibility study a recommendation to the town commission whether we should do a feasibility study about the Waterway uh the bo the trip and also the status of the seaw wall so those are topics to be discussed if you look at um on the agenda 8B you already have an item that's discussion on on the intercostal Waterway protection so two can be under that under yes correct um the other ones I think it's probably a good thing to put things on the agenda right so um that way people who may be following you will be able to see okay they're going to be discussing this item those were just some random things that came up at the meeting that of course I wanted to follow up with you on but I think it's uh you know a good protocol that those are put on the agenda if the board wishes to discuss that and well would you agree we should those items that are not on the agenda today shall we put them on the agenda for the next meeting could be a short discussion like the recycling center trip is not a huge discussion so so the recycling center field trip would be on the do I have to make a motion for this to put it on the agenda uh what no Jacqueline's Direction shaking her head no yeah just direction is fine you don't need a motion for that okay so that would be one agenda item those two are Waterway we can discuss them later actually seaw wall is also Waterway actually those three we can discuss today um so yeah it's actually only one additional one okay or anybody has another agenda so suggestion we're going to address the under inter Coastal Waterway the feasibility study and the boat tour yes great so thank you so much to Allan for the um update I I gave David Newman my do you have any extra uh of the presentations on the for November 11th I gave mine to David and I would like to have it back do you have extra yeah the um I mean that you could print it out off the website um I don't a little bit marked up I have my own only one yeah I don't want to take that I just you might have some at the clerk's office um if you want after the meeting I could print it out for you if you want to wait and come over to the building department I could print it for you if you have some I'd take it because I will be looking at it before the uh November 12th meeting and I will say um I'll just add for that meeting I'll go ahead and print out a few copies of the beachfront property evaluations that's the picture of the house you know each site specific you know site specific location um I'll have a few of those hard copies available for people who are attending so they could quickly look at what their address is and what the due conditions are and what the recommendations are so yeah we'll also have a sign and Sheet as well my friend had a really nice teacher on about single and jingle event from hi and Beach American flag on it very nice Graphics okay and I asked him where he got he said I'll tell you later never told me you know anything about that I don't uh but uh you may want to reach out to the town manager's office um I invited uh the the assistant to the town manager unfortunately she had another meeting she's managing the mingle jingle um so unfortunately she couldn't come to the meeting uh but her name is Madison if you want to reach out to I we could talk after the meeting I'll give you her contact information she would know because again she's a staff working in organizing the mle jingle so I'll give you that information after the meeting no problem sure um if I could um add with the chair's permission um an item that I think maybe we could look into isic sorry about that um a medical uh I'm sorry a medicine drop off box uh oh we do have exent I didn't know that because I I went running around boka and Del re I didn't know excellent thank you right so when we come to item number seven approval of the minutes of September 4 2024 are are there any um any corrections to the minutes of September 4 2024 hearing none is there a motion to approve the minutes as presented second all in favor say yes yes all opposed say no right so the uh minutes are approved agenda item eight unfinished B business Dune restoration management related events and Outreach so the item number one is the mingle jingle event on December 5th where we're going to have a table together with the turtle team and I appreciate John is here to represent the turtle team um so this is an open Agenda item I think we're going to do the same as we always do we have a table we're going to have our Flyers we're going to have a computer there with presentations we're going to to have the study where people can look up their um property um I think that's great that we have that I don't think we're going to give the paper away because we don't want to be wasting paper people can take a phone like a picture on their phone of relevant pages I would not give it away um I think we might have some of these um uh what is it called these uh where you can scan it with QR codes that go straight to the website that might be helpful at the table to have the QR codes for the study yeah I think we had those last time a big QR code of your web page yeah yeah that shouldn't be a problem at all and then I think really I mean we have the November 12 event but also on the December 5 event most people might not have event not might not have attended the November 12 event so they can actually see their property and look it up so it might be good to have one QR code straight to the feasibility study yeah that's a great idea I could probably bring a separate larger monitor than the laptop and put the QR codes on or code on the laptop screen and then have the presentation going on the larger monitor that would be great yeah so could we write um an a to-do for you to bring the monitor mingle jingle yeah yeah I'm sorry would you be okay to bring the computer and the monitor yeah great and we already created the QR code remember for the uh letter regarding the November 12th event so we have a QR code already created for the 2023 study so put nominated do we want I think there were three of them right three codes should we show all three of them or just one particular well uh one of them was the event RSVP so that will already pass okay and the other one was a presentation video of the study so somebody wants to sit there and listen to it yeah I we could have those that's be a problem okay thanks so going to to go through the to-do list so you will bring the computer and the monitors that's great you will have power there that's that's just good to know in case you need it so last year I brought my own power source um I had a battery under the table I don't know if they're running electric to any of the tables but if they could um if they are running electric to the tables that would be easier um I did reach out to the manager's office about that hold on let's see they I asked them about electricity bear with me while I read the email uh I think she said there was going to be one second you all can continue discussing and I'll let you know I'm just going to read over the email okay yeah uh Barbara I can bring you know I have a a little holiday tree and lights and that can be put on the table I think I did that last year so we drew attention to our to our location and then now we're going to have the over the tent so that'll be even good for that that would be great yeah yeah yeah those lights were nice yeah great yeah that would be great yeah since we'll have a table right next to yours I've been working very hard on my photo calendars I stopped doing those for a couple of years but all these photos are taken in Highland Beach so I am making a limited edition um but each one has a little each one some are turtles um each one is taken on the beach in the morning and um I have 25 of these that I'm going to be selling to help our nonprofit and I also have a new item for the cble team I had some hats made up oh beautiful very cool yeah um so I will be bringing that um and we'll have some giveaway stickers we'll have some to sell um so and some turtle educational stuff and I do have you know tablecloths and all that so I can help with lights I have battery powered lights so just let me know yeah that's great thank you so much so I suggest that you decorate your table okay and we decorate ours and then on the event we can help each other out with if something's missing but we probably have together with my lights and your we probably have plenty of decoration yeah okay great so so you're not sharing the table or you said you have you said there table okay and did you confirm with the town I thought it was one table that you all were sharing no oh so it's one table okay that was a misunderstanding I thought that we are together but we have one table for the turtle because we need a lot of space for all our materials and they have as well so if we could have two tables next to each other so we're one team but they need space and we need space to present our things I don't think that was communicated but no worries I'll I'll check with Madison I'm sure won't be a problem to like triangular if the space is an issue we could make it triangular rather than yeah one big rectangle we could have it like you know lsh yeah I'll talk with her about it should they are eight foot tables yeah um I believe there is going to be uh electricity I remember discussing this with uh Madison I'm just trying to find the email we may have just discussed it verbally yeah um if there is none I will let the board know but I believe there is going to be electricity an electrical source again any change I will email the board we we needed I know last year that was an issue so we needed an extension cord that could go from wherever the electrical source was and then the electrical source blew out last year so it kind of changed the dynamic but if we could have an extension cord that would bring it to our area that would be helpful I'll let Madison know um but yeah I think with electricity there's always things that could happen so if you could come with fully charged the laptops I think uh that's a good way to go just in case yeah yeah yeah I my the tree I have is this little one battery operated so it should be okay but the all the other lights no we need electricity and we can all bring extension cords just in case yeah yeah yeah I'll I'll I'll bring a um I'll bring a um marine battery with a um um charging pack so and we can plug pretty much anything into it that'd be great in terms of materials we talked about the uh feasibility study prints and we talked about the QR codes and I'm assuming we do the Palm Beach County those small leaflets that we get from the county they're always super helpful to have any other materials that you like to have on the table someone did I brought the shells I'll bring the shells I'll bring the shells yeah yeah that that looked real nice that was yeah I'll bring them I have a collection yeah um any other documents that we want to share I think we have covered it but if anybody has any other additional information or items to share at the table oh at the table Yeah like yeah because I think those pal Beach County leaflets they're really a great summary yes also the one you know the the project plan from uh Penthouse Towers was helpful to show people and we had that last year I believe MH and we to just when we start explaining that Dune building is not as complicated as you might think um that we have an example to show them or maybe a QR code to get to that presentation possibly I don't know because it is on the website I'm pretty sure it is I think on the website yeah so so the question for me would be on the monitor you you want me to present um the um the towers presentation or the report on the beach properties I would have the report the report report yeah I think that's really but but we it did come up there were several uh people came up to the table last year then we I remember we were explaining uh what penthouse Towers had done and how it was not super expensive and could was manageable for an apartment or a Condo building to do I think we had uh do we have actual samples of plants last year can't remember but I think it it would be helpful to have pictures of like good plants and then bad plants which I think was in that pres the pen house presentation so like having that on the table just to say hey you have these like these are not supposed to be on your property possibly run that separate um from just a visual standpoint on on this um I I could bring the iPad and and run that um Penthouse Towers um presentation on this one separately than the monitor oh that would be good so you'd have to be able to do both yeah yeah wow yeah but um I I like I like your idea if we could have little samplings of the real thing did we we removed all invasiv so I can't offer any invasives any more of them yeah I think pictures are fine I don't think we need to bring actual plant samples I just thought we might have had like a like a a couple SLE of the what's the little the grasses grasses yeah the SE seots yeah the seots and the Panic grass are the two most common y but there are a couple good pictures of them in that presentation so I can print that out and just bring them so we have them might that'd be great put them on the table tape them on the table or that' be great if you could do that I'll do that yeah any other action items that we need to discuss so that now we have like a to-do list and who brings what with the tables I'll probably be there half an hour before 4:30 we don't need more time to set up the table I think we're fine setting up at 4:30 yeah yeah so will I sure will I sounds good anything else we need to discuss for the mingle and jingle event December 5 I think we just went through everything we're all bringing and from the turtle team any more questions or recommendations Banner would I be able to hang that maybe above the table I think that depends on the size of like if we're getting two tables or one table because didn't we get a new natural resources Banner made yeah I was advised by the town manager's office that they have a new Banner for you guys so um I'll I'll talk with Madison to see um you wanted to put it above actually tie it on the front of the table I was going to say because that shouldn't be a problem um I'll just talk with her about the table and I'll get back with you if there's any ISS issues but shouldn't that's a good idea can't see it being a big issue great idea great thank you so much the November 12 event was quickly mentioned in um Town planner Allen's update um I just have one addition to say so I reached out to John Shoemaker who is um presiding the president's team of Highland Beach I think he has meanwhile about 30 presidents in his group that have attended and really well attended event here in the it was actually here in the in the in this building unfortunately I couldn't attend but it was a great event about the new police and fire department the um uh the uh um planning process permitting and so forth was very very valuable I got some really good feedback from multiple um sites it was a good event and so this group has been really active so I reached out to John Shaker if could email all the presidents and make them aware of this event on November 12th so that beach front located Condominiums could be represented and he did that so he's he copied the the town's uh invitation into that email so hopefully this will also help promoting this event and I think it's great if we all do our best to just make sure people are aware and and attend the event on November 12th in addition this the town is sending out emails as well right yeah so that will bring us to Future Outreach we obviously have two events one in November then we have the December event so we'll be quite visible I think we once talked about an event in the library which now is the November 12th event so I think we're pretty well covered yeah in terms of Outreach for this year um the topic is if we should do something in January February I mean I can we have been Parker Highland we're restoring our Dunes we have St Andrews school middle and high school kids help again this year on December 14 we'll be cleaning up the dunes on our property and planting Sea Oats we have landscapers removing sea grapes cutting them back and removing and planting more and more Sea Oats it's been very very successful at our property we have been accumulating sand where we planted we can literally see the sand and on the other side of the dunes where we unfortunately run out of time and buns at the time the Dune is really dipping and you can really see the difference so our residents and the board finally has approved the budget I'm very proud of my board and and our building um so we are restoring Junes and hopefully I can I can host an event maybe in January February the same way Penthouse Towers did yeah we are discussing this in the board and hopefully we can host an event similar to The Penthouse Tower um I'm working on this we have a very limited budget because obviously we're spending a lot on concrete restoration funding of reserves and now also the dunes but um I'm sure I can get couple of hundred dollar approved for a hosting an event um and then have people come and see our restore tunes by January February I I think and if you're taking pictures to document what you're what you're doing that some of that I don't know if you have them but if you had them for mingle jingle we could show people that there are pro there is a project on going in addition uh to Penthouse Towers which I'll bring some of those materials that's a great idea might good to have just a couple pictures from from your project yes and there's David I can bring pictures yeah from last year how it looked when they cleaned up and how we have pictures this year because we're very proud of the sand accumulation yeah we had a couple of turtles messing up they don't read the signs do not disturb so you have to make sure your turtles learn to read instructions we also had a couple of we also had a couple of dogs uh sadly going into the dunes but the dogs were not digging it was mainly the turtles so we have some areas that we have to replant but yeah it's been a success so that's something as a future Outreach topic that we can look into does anybody else have a condo condominium connection where we could host other events obviously it need to be a condo that does June restoration any other suggestions ideas for future events I wonder if we should bring or uh the penthouse towers and perhaps some of your stuff to the Dune the discussion of the that we're going to have on the 12th um because I'm just thinking th people are going to start thinking once they listen to um aptim they'll begin to think about what could we do for our condo building how could our condo building start doing some things to restore dunes and that that may prompt some some discussion and we would at least have a couple of examples to give them I think that's a great idea I think we can all I'm going to be at the November 12 event reach out talk to people yes and recruit other condos that are willing to do a dune restoration and have them as event sponsors as well I think it's that would be a great thing for the committee members to do to be there and as part of natural resources and say hey these are things that we all need to be thinking about whether we're on the east side or the west side of Highland Beach yeah that's great who will be present on November 12 I'm I'm planning to be there so okay great so yeah I think if we all are being active proactively talking to people finding out what condo is doing what or plans and then we can follow up maybe get their emails contact details of those people it could be board members it could be res right right that' be great even P private homes that's fine too doesn't have to be a condo yeah stretch of beach counts private homes yeah no that's great movie of turtles being released into the water that would be powerful to show on on a screen I I I don't have any movies because usually Turtles are released in the dark of night or okay I have one I do I do have a um presentation that I did a few years ago for the town and we do have some turtles scarring into the ocean I I have some photos I have a lot of photos I mean you could do a slideshow of that if you wanted to do um and I could bring my laptop and maybe just have it running on that if if that'd be great yeah I mean um it could be it could be a combination of things too it could be like you know our volunteers um you know doing inventories on nest and marking nest and just kind of what we do out there as a whole um and I do have some adult turtles too that have that you know in the morning they were still finishing up and we watched them go back out so I could maybe I could try to put something together I'm going away for Thanksgiving but I could try to put together a little short video segment that I could um that I could put on my laptop you could send you my video but I took okay sure very dark of course but yeah turtle head into the water fast oh yeah the green turtles are they Scurry all the way to the ocean I have one too in case it's literally in front of our building I made yeah yeah that would be a great that to you but I think it's a great idea that you make a if you have the time a quick video also with what report to the FWC so that people really see all the hard work that goes behind the scenes because people think you're just walking the beach and having fun but you're actually there's a lot of reporting and a lot of background work yes that the residents are not aware so if they see all the work that goes in I think that would be great it's it's a second full-time job for sure yes yeah we cannot be grateful enough oh the residents of Highland Beach future Outreach any other ideas topics recommendations just wondering if after we do the the November 12th and then mingle jingle if we're not going to hear questions or we'll get some some additional thoughts about what the community is kind of looking for or ways that the community may want us to help I mean we can be available to go to a meeting of a building if people are asking questions can you explain this to my building you know I don't just think we might need to regroup somehow after that on what did we hear from members of the community so that would mean a special meeting well we meet at February 5th is so that's our next meeting so I was just trying to find it yeah but we'll run out of time to schedule anything if we want to schedule um but possibly but that's we could we could plan to bring those Concepts there this is ongoing I mean for sure we're going to end up doing this a little bit every year yeah it's just the um this time of year is when you actually get residents to show up so maybe we want to call for a special meeting in mid January to discuss just the November 12 outcomes and action items so that would be very specific follow up on the November 12 event and if there's nothing then we don't do the meeting okay so maybe because it could be that there's a lot of activity and discussions that need fing up could be so would know right after mingle jingle right that's a second event ideas do people like the idea yeah we're all busy I know yeah it just depends on do we have even space to host a meeting so that's that would be first and then is there enough Outreach like do we want the focus to continue to be Beach restoration and do an Outreach or do we want to also add Focus to the inter Coastal waterways I think we may want to do both so you know I don't think we're gonna get all that accomplished in this meeting um so I guess first steps would be is there availability and you can let the all the board know and if so we'll good idea through Sunshine respond just as a side remark in well flate where they asked me to become a member of the commission but I can't because I don't live there they meet every two weeks just as a comparison T Tiny Town few thousand residents meet every other week so meeting extra there's no extra tax dollars involved if this room is available and we can make the time mhm I think we should then meet and um I think it's a great idea if there are follow-ups and that hopefully will be yeah I would think so I would think that there we're gonna There's A Renewed interest you know um in this I say so the special meeting would be specifically for future Outreach that would be the it would be specifically following up on the discussions we had on the November 12th event if there were out coms and if there aren't any we can just cancel the meeting and it would be for dunes and for the the inra coal so how are you going to determine if you're gonna have it I mean then there's you're not meeting so you know we do try to limit emails back and forth so it's going to be an email discussion well yes I feel that we should have it or we didn't really get much resp it's you know that's that's a meeting right there that's what you would discuss at a meeting we try to move that away from email discussions so and we cannot have a meeting so yeah I think the idea was to F number first step is Jacqueline's going to tell us if there's even any availability in January right and then email the group and say hey through Sunshine laws like is like yes or no like do you want to okay do you want to have it or not not the banter of oh I heard from this person and they want yeah because that's who we want to move away from again we we want all that discussion at a meeting not through emails simple simple Yes No and then if not we'll meet on February 5th and then go from there that sounds great thank you good idea and will'll know next week because the meeting is already next week yeah so I don't think you need to do anything until we actually know whether we want to have the meeting or not in terms of finding out availability so I'm confused am I finding out availability or not finding out only after we've decided if we need to meet let her let her check yeah why not see if there's a date we could do it assuming we we we get some good positive input okay is that clear jagas so you'll per there's a date and then you will let the board know and then we can add in that email if you want to have this meeting please respond back to me ingred do not reply all and if we get a majority response of yes then okay yeah okay so that would uh mean we can move to the next agenda item under eight on finished business which is discussion on inter Coastal Waterway protection and public education I have been giving talks on on oceanography in general and I talk about the inter as part of my microphone microphone microphone and I have noticed when I speak to the public about uh the waters offshore of our city that no one knows really what the tides are they think the tides are just random but they're not the tides are predictable out a thousand years and the same thing goes for uh the highest Tides the king Tides the king Tides they're totally predictable so it's it's that kind of thing to educate the public yeah that they're not random right even King TI not RS I I think it it we when we talked at our last meeting I think we had spoken that uh you know and I and ingred would know in terms of the seawall height there's there's a a raising of the seaw Wall height uh that is being either considered or just pass no tell me yeah so um our code right now requires if you're putting a seawall west of A1A it has to be a base flood elevation or higher yeah that's the way code reads right now A what kind of elevation base flood elevation base flood which is what so base flood elevation is determined by FEMA and um it's like a 100 year I don't have my notes with me but um okay the higher your base flood elevation you know typically your flood rates will be less right so if you're at base flood elevation your risk of a flood is less and the higher you are above you build your house above base flood elevation the less risk you have for flood so it's a complicated definition unfortunately yeah B flood so and were we considering uh raising uh the height of seaw wall new seaw wall construction had to be higher than the base flood or no that they were let me pull up that that's a separate item but let me pull it up so I could read it correct yeah that because I think delr just instituted a 4.2 feet above I think it's above base elevation but I don't understand the definition keep in mind right now when you look at the west side of a of A1A the Bas flood elevation is at six feet it's pending seven and in J in December it's going to go from existing to pending so it's six feet right now okay yeah okay so uh I think they just did something less than that because they didn't want to impede people's views that's what I was reading um so if that is happening I think there's a lack of awareness in general and you you H the nail on the spot um and and this is why I was previously mentioning maybe we could uh build a relationship uh doing tagalong with the Marine unit because a lot of people don't a lot of people especially on the inter Coastal don't have boats they don't see their property from the other direction um from the direction of the water into they don't they they don't get the opportunity to see um their seaw wall and as it relates to um the the height of the tide and I think you know if we could do a tag along with the Marine unit and be able to photograph properties and you know put it together as a presentation package that's just another educational element that we could provide just the same as we did as the beach study but we can do it with simple photographs to start the educational process um with with photographs so I think I brought this up last time but I think the board we are all uneducated on this topic so by us going to take pictures and saying your property looks bad like that's not the right approach because whereas the feasibility study on the beach was done by an actual like government department they know what they're talking about you know we have somebody you know that's been doing this understands what needs to be done to fix it so I think the first step what we need to do is get educated ourself so if anyone has somebody that could come and talk to the board and educate us on like what should we be doing or our property owners on the inter Coastal side to help protect the waterways ab and then we can do actionable items from that educational system the group aptim who did our Dune they are they are doing these studies Fe is paying them there were Grant monies given I know in Del Rey and they have been up and down the in inter Coastal for them and that's that would be logical to continue with a group that is already absolutely but I think we need to get that group in here and give us an educational session because none of us are qualified yeah and that's something that work none of us are qualified to go and and just take a picture of a property and say hey like you're SE wall looks like it should be highed yeah no I I wasn't I wasn't suggesting that we that we make any negative light out of it or or to present some concerns I was just saying just from a visual standpoint sure the photographs speak for themselves for what they are the good bad and the indifferent and we we just start with some generic shots we get to uh mingle and and and uh spend some time with the Marine unit while they're doing their thing sometimes you know I would think during the slower period of time so we're not in their way um just a couple of times take some photos of the properties I I was I I've been in construction for over 40 years commercial property seaw wall so I I have the basics understanding of of how how a seaw wall is is built and how it's rebuilt um and in conditions and restoration process so for me that that's all beginner stuff um like I was saying more more from just a a visual standpoint not not to make any recommendations or or opinion on it um just to get you know get get um get the juices moving yeah I totally agree I just don't think it's a valuable use of the town's resources at this time that's my opinion until we are we have like a plan of attack like okay we're gonna go do this and what's the reasoning for it oh because we know that when looking at this property that you know it should be x y and z that's all I'm saying you know I I mean I wouldn't like people going around taking pictures of my property without there being some kind of like legitimate purpose and good knowledge that's going to come out of it yeah so does anyone have you know like a good educational person that could come and talk to the board about the seaw walls I mean is it is it just seaw walls I mean what other things could we do from a town on the inter Coastal side to help protect our town you know we're not planting mangroves no I mean primarily you have the seaw walls and then you have the soil and and grass area uh and rocks and those all affect some of the sea walls as well um if if the soil is not compacted properly and you don't have the right drainage running through um it's going to kick back on the backside and and help deteriorate as well um is is and you're also dealing with just simple maintenance of some of these seaw walls that that that's a good solution to the part of the problem is just maintaining them on a regular basis um so they don't they don't that's where we start yeah like I said I have no idea like I I'm going through a new dock process at my house our seaw wall is in good order but I can tell you like you know you know I have some of the rebarb showing through the concrete would have loved to know like how to treat that before you know raising it or you I have elevation issues with the seaw wall and I've looked at like uh just keep adding dirt but it falls down you know there's PE companies that come out and do like foam insulation that raise you know and fill in the cracks like there's a whole lot of things that I think we just need to be prepared with a list of hey here's some things that you can do options and I think that's the first step is let's all just get educated on those options so I mean if that's a good point if one of our board members knows a lot of stuff then feel free to you know we'll take add it to like a a meeting item on the next meeting to kind of go through a session because it's like Dune restoration it's just on the other side we we develop some information that people needed on what are some of the steps so that's something we could it is do my concern is that this is a nature Advisory Board not a construction board so I think we should we should probably focus on natural nature Solutions like planting trees or whatever rather than of course you need to fix your seaw wall and that's private property and so even if this town spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a study we would have the same problem that we have on the on the ocean side it's on each property owner to fix their sea wall so that is kind of where I have a little bit of a dilemma because we're the nature board we're not a construction board but some what what you just raised was in fact Earth you know showing through grasses showing through so maybe there's a way to just get some information on some of the basic steps yeah like I'm highly considering but is you know but I'm considering you know a foam like where they inject foam underground and it raises and fills in the cracks so it raises but my concern is okay what's the material in that foam like and now we're having like a plastic you know right issue like maybe is that deteriorating and going into our waterways so I don't want to do something that's gonna you know make the waterways unsafe so like you know all these questions that I have as a homeowner you know and which I'm sure everyone else in Highland Beach is going to wonder as well you know if the foam is are really bad for the environment that's a perfect thing that we should say Hey you know we heard about this new technology think twice about it because of XYZ good point yeah very good so it seems like the expert coming right and presenting is the solution to this topic as a starting point right and I am no expert no but do we know experts that that's my question I do does anybody know I mean you I don't know the town of babon has a very Advanced seaw wall group that monitors sea walls and fixes them up all the time so maybe we can start with that group they work for the town do you want to call them and find out I'll find out who they are Yeah well yeah as I mentioned earlier if you want to pursue some sort of study you have to make a recommendation to the commission first so um maybe you want to do a little bit of research and then present that in your recommendation memorandum as like backup and justification like hey we reached out and we have three that we're suggesting but it's the commission that's going to decide whether this you know whe they want to pursue a study and I don't think we're talking about a study okay just an expert to no for clarification we're not talking about a study we're just talking about an expert that could come here and just give us information educate all of us yeah and I think um when I discussed that with the town manager he wanted to know you know who and yes um yeah we yeah that's our first step is find some people with some knowledge I I I can reach out to a few um like engineers that work with the inter Coastal and seaw walls and maybe see if one of them could meet our needs so because we cannot interact with each other are both of you okay to you to call boka make a couple of calls you make a couple of calls and then you interact with h Allan directly and then you report on the next meeting which would be the February meeting so sound okay well again you the town manager wants to know if you're G to have a speaker about spe seaw walls who they are so you'd have to email me and then yes um I could reach out to the town manager if he's fine with it then you know we could put it on the next agenda as a speaker yes and and i' I'd like to suggest just not not necessarily Seawall but just from the inter Coastal side yeah because it's land as well I mean our fol us is is we're not trying to get in the construction business or the planning business we're just trying to understand you know areas along the intra Coastal that have sand have Earth have uh older properties that have may have more exposure and so Ops yeah yeah like if like the Sea Oats on the beach side if I knew there was a plant I could put right next to my seaw wall that's going to prevent my seaw wall from collapsing or my ground you know sinking from leaking of You're darn right I'm going to plant it but I have no idea if that's even a thing but I think that would be like something that would be great educational knowledge for us to know just to the question earlier about base flood elevation keep in mind the town had some public input meetings about you know the accessory Marine facilities including seaw walls uh these meetings were held back in December of 2022 um so gave a presentation and I have here the definition of base flood elevation it's the anticipated height of flood waters during a 100-year flood so it's a 1% chance of getting flooded each year and then to miss vas's point that the commission was thinking about changing the height of seaw wall so let me talk briefly about that so the town's been discussing changes to the accessory Marine facility regulations and seaw wall regulations of the town code for about three years now um so they came up with Amendment Concepts uh the commission considered these Amendment Concepts earlier this year there was a recommendation made by the planning board on each Amendment concept so there was a concept to provide a maximum seaw wall height because as I mentioned currently in the code if you're on the west side of 81a um the height of the seaw wall has to be a base FL base flet elevation or higher so there was concern that with the word or hire so somebody could come in and actually built a really high seaw wall have I seen that in the five years I've been here no but that's the way the code reads and somebody wanted to put something really high they would just say look I'm compliant with your code it says base F elevation or higher so there was Amendment an amendment Conant proposed and this is what it said it says a the concept was a maximum seaw wall height uh the planning board make made a recommendation that the provision be a maximum seaw wall height of Base FL elevation plus one to avoid somebody coming with a really high wall um the consensus from the commission because they gave us Direction earlier this year on how they wish to proceed on each of the amendment Concepts there were seven of them they wanted a no action option for that Amendment concept so just leave it the way it is just again it's baseall elevation or higher they chose not to move forward with uh the recommendation from the planning board of baseall elevation plus one so just to address your comment and just so you know I process seaw walls for the town all the time uh we have in our code if you're installing a new seaw wall you have to go before the planning board to get an approval we process them per code as a special exception so I will tell you there are a lot of properties in the town getting seaw wall you know having the special exception requests to um install new seawalls we see it from the Condominiums and we also see it from single family homes I process them quite a bit we they go before the planning board um do you have materials that you give to people coming to you or are you just dealing with experts um I don't well we each property owner brings in a marine contractor right it all is all private property so you know they have to rely on their Marine expert to provide them a design for the seaw wall what works for their the topography there um and also keep in mind when you get a new seaw wall in you have to get approval from the Florida Department environmental protection as well as the Army Corps of Engineers it is the Army Corps of Engineers that manages uh not only the inter Coastal Waterway but the waters in the town's canals and lakes now sometimes uh the fgp will provide a permit and in the permit because I review these all the time the permit will say whether a separate permit from Army Corps will be required it'll say a separate permit will not be required from Army Corps so it just depends on what the applicant the property owner is doing sometimes it triggers not only after P approval again that's the Florida Department Environmental Protection but it will also require an Army Corps permit so they have to have those in place um you know before they go before the planning board and if are there plants and things that let's say people have uh you know like behind City Hall we have all plants back there going so are there plants and things like that that people if they have property like that or if they have an area that's exposed they do are there materials that they can look at I guess that's I can't recall any seaw wall requests where there was specific plantings involved this is all about structure it's all about structure now we do have a provision in the code about rip wrap you know there is um you know there's a provision that you know there can be rip wrap but um in the plans that I've seen for seaw walls it's all about concrete and structure m yeah okay David has a question bar um yes um I'd like to if it's possible to segue back to the um to the um to the seag grape and the dunes and I wanted to I have a meeting with the board tomorrow at our condominium and I wanted to see what materials we could provide to discuss the SE grae and the dun the penthouse Tower materials that are on the website are fabulous for how and and uh you know do we have any printed materials that I could just show to the to the to the board ingred may be able to for you if you want to see me after the meeting we have plenty of information on the board's web page about SE grapes we have a uh some brochures I think it's from the Florida Fish and Wildlife how to trim uh the sea grapes uh because they are protected by state law so people just can't come and hack them off so there's a certain way to trim them and um as I said I believe it's fish in Florida Florida fishing Wildlife has a brochure it's on it's on the web page I can show you after the meeting very low some people think it with you very it it does help them to to keep them low I mean because they grow strong they develop stronger you know the plants get stronger but yeah all the information is on the on the yeah there's there's not going going to be mixed views once they have reviewed at all the documents that that town planner Allan has referred to everything is on our website if they click through it there's also specific information on the permitting this is actually in the um from the penthouse towers that I think it's 42 Ines and Below you need a permit um so that will already limit to how much you can cut it you can cut it to two to three feet but there's a certain way how to cut it and you definitely need a permit by the um Florida Department of Environmental Protection David Kush I think is his name if I remember correctly he is our contact all of that information including his phone number is on the materials and he's been an amazing um resource okay our condo has gotten the permit which is valid till February so we're going to cut back again actually this coming week which is still covered by the permit um so yeah everything is all the information is if you go on our website everything is there okay good and and ingred may be able to print out at once set for you if you don't have printing available right right that' be helpful I do yeah thank you but do not only cutting the sea grapes I think that's important point to make for Beach visibility sea views you mainly do it to maintain the Dune so the native plants can grow so when they cut back the sea grapes they should actually plant some native plants in the particular Sea Oats and they will see the difference and that costs nothing it's a $150 per plant and you can order them in bulk 200 cost $300 literally they're planted within I would say 30 seconds each big a little hole put some of the fertilizer in put in the plant and then in the end you give water every two weeks or something that's it and you're doing a a planting project at your place yes on December 14 we have on December 14th bar uh her at her be with a king tide and the full moon but but we had to do it when the school can do it in our our Consultants can do it so you're doing it during the full moon it's unlucky but yes we have to do it on that date because it's an availability question ideally you don't do it with a king tide but we have to be hoping and we're planting for drop so we should be fine yeah it's high tide and it's also a king tide rest I mean I haven't looked up the king Tides yet but so yeah great um any other topics regarding inter Coastal Waterway protection I mean we have action items regarding finding experts getting back to ingred Allan and then hopefully by next in February we hopefully have an expert that we can invite let's make that as a goal perfect that would bring us to the next agenda item board member updates are there any board member updates from each of you um I they have tour I think Monday Friday and very open to having groups fa I don't know you to maybe yeah what are the costs of such a tour so there's no fiscal impact there a there a capacity limit like how many people can go at once no doesn't seem to be this is more a wider question we are all very aware of how to recycle but I see in my building people do not know how to recycle we do remind them how to recycle we have posters from the official posters up there people keep Pizza boxes with food and all sorts of crap mixed and small plastic pieces it's driving me crazy but um could we invite the public so they actually see the machines and they actually see what happens if you recycle wrong and the Damage it can do to the recycling station and the cost it implies I mean I think it would be great to if possible and from a cost perspective if you could make this a wider event that is driven by our mission right sorry by our Advisory board but that we could invite some public some residents as well yeah we don't need to make it a b you know a bus thing but people can drive there because it's just a half hour away right and just say that that uh if you want to join other Highland Peach people because they just had a a pretty extensive hit piece in news break on Recycling and uh there's it's really comes down we do do Palm Beach does West Palm Beach does an excellent job selling cardboard and metal that those are their two biggest sales events tons and tons I can't recall the number of tons but it's a lot um but Recycling and and ingred you have something you've sent out before to remind people because they the manager's men it several times yeah maybe we need to to do that again be because people they don't understand you know the Caps shouldn't be on they don't understand some basic things about plastic recycling which of course is a big problem and um cardboard recycling like you said Barbara that people put greasy stuff in there which they can't use so well I think that if we went to the and watched the process we would know firsthand because people say they don't need to do this or they do need to do this sort of thing and if we actually saw the process then we know and they say this is really coming up to system and this is okay and whatever then we can speak from knowledge because there's all kinds of rumors about what can be recycled and what can't be and what they do with it and does it all go to the landfill I mean you get all kinds of all kinds of stories so I think I think it would be helpful for us to actually do the tour maybe I'll do one on my own and then come back and report that would be useful yeah I was gon go ahead I was going to suggest that is if you want to give it a trial run and then maybe if it's worth it we go document our trip I don't know if we need to invite non board members to go but if we have a well documented like the machines this is does this and then we can show you know then do an educational session for the town yeah that's that may be a good idea and then that might be a better way do give you what she out Mr Newman you you came in a little bit late but um when I did my update I mentioned that you uh brought up this issue about doing the field trip at the last meeting um I did reach out to the town manager and he suggest he told me that if the board is there if there's consensus from the board to do a trip like that that you need to make a recommendation to the town commission you just can't decide on your own we're going to do this recycling trip you have to put in a recommendation format and we have a memorandum um and that memorandum has a background Reef essential points that explain how you know sort of the how why what how how what where why um if there's any fiscal impact um any you know supportive information you want to provide it to the commission so the commission would have to decide whether they want you all to do the trip just for what it's worth I wanted you could do an individual of course you could do one on your own and report back to the board but that's a great idea and then you could report to to town planner Allan after your personal trip great any other board member updates thank you I'd like to congratulate again nice article in managers monthly you thank you same to you uh s to you the month before great so no more updates from the members that will bring us to item number nine new business in the last meeting we we um were putting on the agenda the discussion of future board sorry whether to expand board powers and duties as provided in section 2 140 of the town code and I have basically made a draft um and was going to discuss this draft uh today um basically the section 2140 provides the board with ample authority to engage in a wide range of environmental activities um provided that such activities are authorized by the town commission the draft that I made uh the proposed changes appear to Grant the board greater autonomy to pursue initiatives that the gaug with outside organizations without clear commission oversight or Direction This was the initial comment by our town manager Marshall labadi and I agree that's that's a correct assessment and that was the exact intention of the draft to actually go beyond the current uh duties and give us more power um I appreciate that the town management has internally discussed that and came up with their personal conclusion which was shared in email that um Town planner Allan has shared with us where they basically say or where Marshall says that these expanded Powers could result in several challenges for the town of Highland Beach increased independence of our board may require additional staff time and budgetary resources which obviously means a fiscal impact that was not intended when I started writing the draft um also it would involve external commitments or interactions which yes were intended when I initially drafted this and was going to discuss this um he also further comments that in order to ensure proper oversight mechanisms remain in place he would recommend that we stick to the current powers and duties um also in alignment with the town's overall objectives and the Pol policies um of the elected officials and my instant when I read this email my instant reaction is yes I was not intending any fiscal impact not intending to have more work or any of the staff or more cost not intended to rock the boat and stir up um anything it was just really well intended to give us more power to to think Beyond um outside of the box and come up with more ideas and get more um I mean looking at other boards and commissions in other towns in particular weal Lake where I was very involved this is Massachusetts it's Way Beyond even what I drafted um but I can see I can see that this wouldn't work for Highland Beach so my recommendation after having consulted the town manager and the town management I would withdraw the agenda item from the discussion for today but obviously wanted to consult um everybody else before we make that decision I think I I concur with with your assessment and the feedback uh that the town manager provided I I think what you've done as chair is is allowed this group to start jelling some additional ideas of things that we can do within the the language in section 2140 so you've helped stimulate those kinds of discussion so I think we can get there without having to uh re rewrite it it makes this group much more prestigious with these group than than these one liners for me it wasn't about Prestige for me it was about impact because I get frustrated very easily especially when it comes to Nature so um I implemented our own rules in my condo No Leaf no no um only electric leaf blowers and we actually um providing them to the landscapers I'm just really active and committed and dedicated so I got frustrated and so that's why I drafted it but I can totally see the points yeah from the other side of the fence and um I agree with you Chris that we probably can get a lot done within the uh it's a kind of a you know like sometimes you have to go extreme to get something done yeah if that makes sense is there some reason why the commission will not tackle this issue that's a public comment in commission meetings I was actually scheduled on October 5th and because of a medical emergency I I couldn't attend but I I'll keep going I will't make another public comment in a meeting I encourage everybody to do public comments in in official Comm commission meetings been making public comments about the leaf leaf blowers for the last year and a half then please continue it seems like it's just going on in deaf ears you know I mean I give arguments where the but you you can do a contract with I mean they are being asked by private condo buildings to provide battery operated leaf blowers it just affects the cost your condo has to pay as opposed to having an amendment or an ordinance you can do it with your contract with the condo well then you you pay for it yeah you well whatever the contract you do a two or threee contract with your your landscape company and then they have to amortize that cost so it's not much we the problem is that the people in my condom are are fairly deaf I think I don't know if they they have hearing problems or they just don't they don't care but it's it's it's they're not going to get behind it yeah well unfortunately it's not within this group to discuss that all I can say is please continue to do public comments my letter that I sent to the commission I had multiple residents calling me and they want to team up and make a little initiative to um support electric leaf blowers Toscana was one of them um this was a resident not the board so there's a couple of residents that are really becoming active and I tell everybody go to the commission that's the only only thing we can do and the cost is about 35% more labor ballpark because it's more labor intense and was my manager happy when I when I said I would like to have electric leaf blowers no her first reaction was like oh it's G to take a long time said yeah we have to pay for it it's 35% more cost but it's probably 20 minutes so it's not that much so I mean it's it's very minuscal I think minimal your budget it might be a few hundred per year do your board have to pay for the leaf blowers for the electric leaf blowers we uh we are currently discussing this in our own board but yes I can I mean I could there's there's research on which leaf blowers are the most powerful they're not super expensive they're below $200 so I think everybody can afford that especially when you live in Highland Beach it's a law in California now well but it a all over to Northeast it was debated don't get me started political top and it was rejected this year they had a big debate on it there was a bill up in in Tallassee and it was rejected so Flor yes so let's not get into the details but I can uh uh I can um only um encourage people to go and do the public comments great any other board member updates within the remit of the nature preservation Advisory Board awesome so then we are done with the board member updates and then we would um so with the with the uh sorry expanding powers and um duties and then we would just come to the Natural Resources preservation advisory 2025 calendar year meeting dates and those are see what was recommended febru I think February 5 was the first one right and we added the extra one in January then we have one on May 7 which is the organizational meeting August 6 and November 5 so I have two initial comments August 6 is in the summer vacation I would recommend to move that back to end of August early September when schools are back open and people are really back from their summer vacation does everybody agree to move the the August 6 date to an early September or end of August dat yeah this year we moved it to right after Labor Day it was no problem is that okay Mrs Ellen is so good I'll defer to Mr Harden if there's any issue with another meeting so I make a moot yeah I make a motion to move the August 6 date to an end of August or early September date I I'll second the motion and with November 5 I don't know what the town's uh kind of voting schedule is obviously this year um it was November 5 was or there any local voting or anything that you could again I'll defer to miss the heart okay good okay okay so then we're good all in favor say yes anybody against nope great so then these dates are set in stone except for the August one so then I make a motion to adjourn the meeting it's 12:28 thank you everybody thank you