for e for for all right good evening everybody um glad that you came out in on this rainy afternoon um and we have a quorum and and we're ready to start the meeting so can um Lori can you call the role please chairwoman Thompson here Vice chairman maack member yant member Tucker here member Perez here member Delgado here member fiss alternate member young alternate alternate member kosi okay so we have a quorum um let's have the Pledge of Allegiance aedge Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the repu for stand one nation under God indivisible withy and justice for all thank you okay so let's move on to the approval of the minutes um they were sent out to you so we'll start with the May minutes um can I have a motion to approve the May minutes I move you approve minutes can I have a second second okay all right so we had a motion by member Tucker and a second by member Delgado does anybody see any changes in in the minutes anything you want I mean as usual Lori did just an outstanding job putting them all together it was a long meeting um anybody have any any heartburn over anything in them all right all those in favor say I I I I any opposed all right the the May minutes pass unanimously then we also have minutes for um the workshop that we did so um do I have a motion to approve the minutes from the workshop that we did in June some go I think I was here for that wasn't I I don't see my name on the roll call I can't find my copy of them I mean I know it was there you so yeah I think you were here yeah I was you were sitting next yes and I'm not on the minutes call so let's fix that we need to add you to the minutes do you want to make a motion to approve I make a motion to add me to the minutes and to approve it and to approve can I have a second I can second that all right all right so the motion was made by member fiss seconded by member Delgado to approve the minutes with the addition of adding member fiss as having attended that meeting any anything else you guys see all right all those all those in favor say I I I any opposed all right that motion passes unanimously um so we now we're moving on to petitions and requests from the public does anybody from the public like to speak all right hi k we're good now okay I am casy n Maryland Avenue and oh boy we get to talk trees tonight I love talking about trees I am eager to announce that last month Council authorized a Grant application for an urban forestry management plan by doing so Council provided the direction for a comprehensive urban forestry program to move forward in my email I provided each of you the grant overview description and timeline with final presentation of the plan scheduled for May 2025 the purpose of the grant is to promote better urban forestry management and expand equitably the distribution of tree coverage while maximizing the benefits of trees to reduce storm water runoff improve water quality and lower temperatures that's exactly what we wanted to do consider this if the urban forestry management plan is approved who will implement the plan ideally the city would hire an urban Forester he is a specialist or she to ensure residents receive the maximum environmental economic and social benefits from planting strategies how would implementation of the plan be funded to purchase trees pay city employees and contractors and pay for equipment usage jolen Nelson suggested Council asked for a line item budget request to pay for the program seeking a tree planting Grant would take another two years and require matching staff time I hope you will study this grant overview discuss it it link to participate fully in the public workshops and make recommendations to council but more urgently tonight I suggest you consider recommending the amending of the tree protection ordinance to require 25% of the development area of multifam complexes in tree canopy this is urgently needed as many high density multifam complexes will be built under the state's live local act currently the tree protection ordinance has no canopy requirements for multifam developments developers continue to clear land for multif family complexes despite mitigation fees the tree protection ordinance canopy requirement currently only applies to new single family subdivisions not multifam developments thus the ordinance discriminates against multifam residents as it only provides the benefits of living among trees to single family residents but not to multif family residents the US Forestry Department reports Street trees in urban forestry reduce residents stress anxiety depression reduced temperatures in neighborhoods while improving walkability and social cohesion don't we all deserve those benefits as tree canopy ranges from 19 to 70% in Titusville the tree protection ordinance actually aerates unequal distribution with no tree canopy requirement for multif family complexes recommend Council amend the tree protection ordinance to provide canopy requirements for multif family developments equal to that of single family subdivisions 25% of the development area in tree canopy at the same time you might consider recommending the amendment of the critical root Zone definition in the tree protected ordinance as per the international Society of arborus to protect the roots of trees being retained on development sites the ISA indicates the CRZ should be twice as large as required by the tree ordinance eliminate the codes limited development in the CRZ including any impervious surface and any grade changes as both are likely to cause the demise of trees this will give Heritage trees retained a fighting chance to survive side construction another urgent issue is the spread of lethal bronzing disease to both native sable palms and exotic Palms Florida Native Plant Society indicates in their policy brief and I think that was provided to you that the disease disas is spread through unregulated commercial transport of infected Palms recommend requiring developers in the city provide phytosanitary certification of all palms prior to planting guaranteeing Palms free of lethal bronzing disease at the cost of $75 per tree I see that table 30-6 in the in the Land Development regulation still recommends exotic Palms that are known to be susceptible to lethal bronzing disease so they have not been removed from the all the ordinances but if we would if you would indeed recommend that developers in City provide the certification uh that would solve the problem so does any of you have any questions I know I covered a lot of different things and I know there's a lot for you to consider and that's why I send it to you via email prior I know maybe I sound redundant but that way I get the message across you got it out to the TV audience and I got it out to the TV audience as well yes indeed and maybe City council's even watching yes indeed our PN Z okay thank you Kate okay very good anybody else wish to Tony Shuff the historic nor house on Tropic Street I am a cheerleader for the Titusville environmental commission I am also on the historic preservation board so I'm in this room quite a lot I get to sit up there in Sara seat sometimes once a month and I know the burden it is to be there and to be prepared for meetings and to be able to try and represent the citizens of Titusville especially on a lot of issues that are very touchy like the environment of our little Community here and I want to urge you as members of this Advisory board that is beginning to get a lot of traction with city council due not only to your efforts but to the efforts of citizens like Miss Sange to draw attention to the problems that the environmental commission have to deal with I urge you to stay alert and keep your eyes on city council the little historic preservation board planning and zoning and even the adjustments people and code enforcement find be sure to keep your eye on what's going on in the whole picture because a lot of pieces are moving now and one piece is going to affect another I'm especially concerned with the transmitt that's been going on for the um comprehensive plan that the city has been doing section by section Transportation housing the gateways the um West Titusville hasn't come up yet through all these sections are things about trees and planting and Landscaping and environment and storm water runoff things that we as an environmental Commission need to be aware of that we as Citizens can't really keep track of and I just want to say before I waste all my 3 minutes that I want urge you to keep your eye on and attend the meetings last night they talked about storm water increasing rates for the whole citizens environmental commission should have something to say about that I would think and I just urge you as as members I know there's a lot going on in your lives you have a lot of other projects that you work on a lot of you probably still have jobs aren't retired like I am yet and um don't have the time to be as thorough but I do urge you to keep your eye on the whole picture and see how the enironmental commission can work along with the other commissions and advisory boards to shape what's going on in the city it's election time so everybody is paying attention it's it's time now for us to really get their attention thank you very much and keep up your hard work pass pass the revised tree ordinance let's let's make this a green green city thank you thank you Tony and I and my comment is that we did um during the workshop recommend raising the storm water rates so we are on record as supporting um raising storm water rates and I think it's necessary and as Mr cook pointed out it's important that we catch up and I think that the citizens want that they do the comprehensive program like they were asked to do by Council to pull together something to explain to the citizens what they're actually doing because we don't know blue Haron a million dollars for this uh the Osprey it mean I try to keep up and it means nothing to me think about the poor average person who's out there just wondering you know is my tap water safe to drink so thank youbody name's Mike Browning um I was here at your workshop last month and I was very impressed with the conversation and all of the things that you're looking at I have uh I'm going to get this done within in three minutes I have a handout that I had intended to submit um can I approach I appreciate Kay for mentioning this um issue about the critical root Zone um the intent in the tree protection ordinance uh is this uh basically it says to protect the environmental character and value of the surrounding properties it's pretty simple right unfortunately right now that lot lot of the hard work that got done three years ago it's water over the dam it was some great work was done but some next steps need to be taken now to continue the good work of preserving existing trees okay and that's what this this little thing is about right here um if you look at the critical root Zone and in our ordinates it explains how you define the critical root Zone okay it says that basically you take the diameter of the tree you multiply that time time 12 in or 1 foot and you get the diameter of the critical root Zone that is wrong it is absolutely wrong and it is half of the national standards that you would find in most cities I think it was a a misunderstanding of some research that was being done at the time but the operative word is radius not diameter if you take that math and you do the radius you get a critical root Zone which is twice as large as is codified today in the city of Titusville let me tell you why that's important on page three which is exhibit B you can look at exhibit a too which sort of gives you an idea about where roots are and what type of roots they are up close to the tree those are structural roots or anchor Roots those are the ones that in a hurricane or a strong windthrow they hold that tree in the ground and keep it from becoming storm debris okay um if you go to exhibit B you're going to see a chart this is from the warnell school of Forestry at the University of Georgia and this is used by a lot of people the bottom line on this chart is that almost on average about 45% of the critical root zone are structural Roots all right our ordinance produces a Zone outside the structural routs that's good but what it does is it cuts off almost all of the transport and feeder routes that you see in exhibit a uh I'm here to ask the uh Tec to consider working with the council to do a quick fix why a quick fix because this is extremely important there are hundreds of Acres of uh land being planned for development involving thousands of mature trees I don't know of an environmental uh issue that's any more important than losing the canopy that we have in the city canopy is extremely important for all the reasons I don't need to tell you about so um I hope uh you'll take that information and take some time to digest it that's all I have to say I just want you to look at it uh we're we're we're codifying the removal of too many roots on these trees we're not even at um the minimum standard for what we should be for a critical root Zone um establishment around the globe really this is almost a a global standard so thank you for your time I appreciate it thank you Mr Brownie does anyone else want to speak from the public during petitions and requests we good no one okay moving on thanks for all of y'all's comments um I I I I agree with Mr Browning and and and with Miss Sange and I I hope that you know as we talk about future agenda items we can add add that to that discussion but right now we're on all business um um the only item on Old business is the native Municipal tree canopy and Landscape Management trust fund that's Michael's um um dream and uh he's not here but we're it's on it's on the agenda to discuss it um so it was in it got emailed to you in your packet so I'll open up the floor for discussion what do you guys think for um I I have some thoughts I don't see anybody else's lights okay um as as you know the previous two speakers mentioned there are are there are some things that need to be cleaned up in our existing three canopy ordinance my feeling on on this I mean it's a really good idea and and a good plan and if we could pull it off it would be fantastic I don't see the city council um putting any kind of um mitigation fees on developers at this point in time I think you know there's a a lot of stuff that's in here like Li and you know the whole native plant thing we just spent almost a year getting over 70% native plants added to the the landscape technical manual well one of the um charges that came out of Planning and Zoning was to um H have staff Implement incentives for developers and landscapers to use more lative native plants in their Landscaping my personal opinion is that we could we could pull that off easier than we could trying to you know assess fees on developers right now and then the critical root Zone it absolutely needs to be addressed and so that's the kind of thing a recommendation from this body to the city council that we look at at addressing that flaw in in the canopy ordinance about the critical root Zone and and we're losing we're still losing a lot of trees because there's a all of a sudden there's a lot of apartments that are being built and the live local Act is going to drive even more construction of Apartments I think it's more important to try to get some kind of canopy protection added to to the tree tree campy ordinance or protection ordinance to try to save some trees at apartment complexes now I think those those two items alone are are worth more than than spending our time up here talking about a a plan that at this point in time I don't think is is would pass so that's that's my opinion so all right now I see some lights good Miss fiss there are aspects of this that we've already been told that the city doesn't want to deal with so pushing them again right now when we're in such a rush might not be the wisest thing to do so I agree with you on that 100% thank you might it be a might it be a good time to bring the uh the ordinance back the tree ordinance back and re visit it you know with the intent of not only you know adding some of what we've just learned uh to it but also maybe increasing the canopy okay as you remember or maybe not I'm not sure who was on here at the time but um uh what we really wanted was really watered down to you know and I mean we could visit Old minutes if we want but um um I think um it might be a good time to revisit it and push for a bigger canopy and uh adding some of these other things that apparently weren't addressed properly because we didn't know better can we put a motion forward to set that as an agenda item yeah I put a motion forward that we set it as an agenda item to discuss thatting the next meeting as soon as possible to revisit the uh tree ordinance yes okay and okay I I second that okay all right so rather than spending a lot of time talking about it now we're going to put it on the agenda and the next meeting the motion was made by member fiss and seconded by member Perez to um resurrect the tree canopy ordinance and and put it on as a priority on our next meeting agenda um Eddie I have a question um you know the the Tranquility Apartments um there was a lot of lot of pine trees in fact um that developer was was very helpful when we did the tree can canopy Ordinance do you know what percentage of tree canopy he was he was able to preserve when he built the Tranquility Apartments down there I I don't off the top of my head that's something that we could look up and and get you the answer absolutely um I did want to mention about procedural um how it sounds like you're wanting to propose to city council that um some changes be made to the tree canopy ordinance so uh my suggestion to you is like you've done make a motion to have this on the next agenda and at the next agend at the next meeting instead of um starting to review the tree canopy ordinance what you'd want to do is formalize what your recommendation is going to be to city council as far as asking for advisability that's does council want this body to further investigate changes to the um tree canopy ordinance if Council says this is something that needs to be addressed we believe that there was an error with uh tree protection root Zone um they'll Grant the advisability that gives this body the authority to start pursuing that uh change and then staff the ability to draft that ordinance so that that would be my recommendation to you moving forward thank you that's very helpful so so you guys may be ready to go to the city council with the same comments that you just made because you know we'll need help getting this getting them to give us permission to to move forward on this okay all right so uh just to back up for a second so does the motion need to include some of the issues of of expediency that we see coming forward as far as the development is concerned and as far as the fact that we misjudged the size of the perimeter for tree protection which is twice as large as what we thought not small well I did want to clarify on that that I I don't know I haven't seen any evidence that there was a misjudgment or or an error the tree canopy ordinance was discussed at length for many meetings for uh many many months almost two years I believe so it's not like there was an inadvertent change at the last second this was something that had been reviewed by Tec and pnz and Council several times um but if you'd like to propose that Council make additional changes or or new changes to that ordinance um you're asking should you make that as part of the motion that was passed to bring it on your next agenda or on your motion when you're uh recommending to city council asking for advisability on this yeah it almost sounded to me like it needs to have some um expediency connected to it with all the development all that next meeting okay we have to put together a m we have to put together a package to present to the Council of why why it's important to I got ahead of myself this process and um yeah I'm not going to comment on why why I believe the critical root Zone ended up the way it was but it it uh it it was talked about a lot but yeah so right now we got a mo a motion and it passed to to put it on our agenda at the next meeting at our next meeting we will talk about what we want to take to council okay I don't think we voted no we haven't voted yet because we well let's vote on that but we were in the middle of talking about the Michaels plan but let's go ahead and vote on that thank you so all those in favor um it was the motion was made by member fiss and it was seconded by member Perez um so all those in favor of putting that on the agenda at our next meeting say I I I I any opposed okay that motion passed unanimously all right so we're going to continue the discussion on the native Municipal tree canopy and Landscape Management trust fund um anybody else have any any other thoughts on it yeah you know U Michael being the author of this thing it's kind of a hard to um push this thing forward without you know him around um I mean we could talk about it but I think it'd be great to at least have them here on phone if we can't have them on Zoom especially since budget meetings and things like that are already going on so this would be for next year anyway we have the luxury of a little bit of time and and I think that he would be able to Spur conversation over things a little bit better than us just having referred to his notes I agree so is there a consensus then that we will um table this until Michael comes back oh I'm sorry are there any cards Lori yeah there's two cards I think if you type though there's no discussion from public but that's up to you okay k o Cas a Maryland Avenue the landscape trust fund concept is being considered to provide funding for an urban forestry program promote native plants and promote uh low impact development implementation per Michael's my Jax's write up this concept has Merit but would take some time to develop before Tec could recommend it to council I wonder how would fees be assessed Developers for this native landscape trust fund consider if you would the city's tree canopy assessment which indicates that as of 2021 7,685 Acres of Titusville was covered in tree canopy we know it's decline but just let's just use that number hypothetically 7,685 Acres of Titusville is covered in tree canopy as of 2021 per the assessment the tree canopy reaps $5.6 million annually in benefits pertaining to air pollution reduction storm water absorption and carbon capture dividing 5.06 Million by 7,685 Acres provides the value of an acre of tree canopy in regards to these three factors air pollution reduction storm water absorption and carbon capture this placees a valuation of $658 per acre covered in tree canopy annually therefore uh a developer could be assessed $658 annually for every acre of tree canopy he removes to mitigate for the benefits this tree canopy would have provided the community well maybe so but Council actually agreed to do so that's the real Crux of the matter another thing to consider is uh we already have mitigation fees assessed for developers removal protected trees 14 in dbh or larger and I wonder if this wouldn't be considered taxing developers twice as I said this concept would take some time to develop and would might require various versions before Council would be willing to adopt it instead I would suggest to E study the grant overview for the urban forestry management plan this recomend and then recommend a line item budget request for its implementation if if budgeting is going forward and being studied right now I would suggest that you go ahead and ask recommend a line item budget request for the implementation because it's going to take at least two years to get a tree Grant to go forward so you know at least make a recommendation that when this and when this gets adopted a line item budget requests be allowed to hire an urban Forester purchase trees fund the work of contractors or city employees planting trees or fund equipment usage as council is currently utilizing the tree mitigation fees for other purposes and to date does not require tree planting with the $2 per capital required by Tree City USA a line item budget request is what is needed Jolene Nelson has suggested this to council to promote native plants I agree with lur Lee please consider recommending incentives for landscapers to plant native plants June 11 Council approved the amended technical manual list of recommended plants for landscapers which now has 73% native plants Council also directed staff to come back with some incentives uh for landscapers to plant native plants as the tree board please consider providing councel incentives for landscape plan with native plants um and you might look at the lid incentives because they there's a whole Matrix of incentives under lid so as I said at the beginning the purpose of the landscape trust fund was to provide funding for an urban forestry program promote native plants well as you can see we can recommend you might recommend uh funding for the urban forestry program you might provide incentives for native plants and then the low impact develop and implementation um we'll just need to work on that later or at at the appropriate time but I I do think um I agree with lur Lee that U these other matters might be more urgent and then wait until Michael comes back and study this this native trust fund a little bit more and see how it could go forward so it's a little it's a little deep um and it's going to take a lot of thought to be able to provide something that Council would be willing to assess Developers for so thank you any questions all right thank you next card Tony shiff chiffo Tropic street I'm here to Echo okay but I also wanted to just um talk a little bit about incentives we give incentives to developers to do so many negative things and I went the city the city coun the city of Titusville actually sent me to a workshop in Dand on City Planning and several several Council people were there and some staff people too and one of the things that was said was write the incentives to get what you want we want native plants we want things that are good for our environment in the Indian River Lagoon um I don't believe in mitigation a deel velop ER fills in a wet land cuts down trees here pays some mitigation funds in P County they get some money to go toward their Wetland development what do we get for it nothing so um the idea to have a trust fund what about the $2 per capita that the tree City USA requires that our Public Works is not spending planting trees there were no trees planted at all last year where did that $2 per capita for tree planting go so I suggest that while we're waiting for Michael to return and really develop a program of incentivizing native plantings and uh luxurious tree canopy that we actually look at getting something done like K sugested the smaller things that you think that we can move forward with not small I I'm sorry that they're not small it's just their incremental steps I should say I should use the proper word the incremental steps to getting to where we want which is luxurious tree canopy no storm water going into the Indian River Lagoon that's going to be harmful um and $2 per capita tree planting that would be a really good thing to kind of suggest in the interim while we're waiting to um really fully develop uh a trust fund lots to think about thank you thank you are there any more cards uh no more cards okay so so we're moving the the native landscape trust thing um till later in the year is this a good time to talk about um I mean I I brought I made copies so that everybody could see how that $2 is being spent is this a good time to talk about it or do we have to wait told my report it's not on the agenda if it's not on the agenda it should wait until it's on the agenda all right we'll just keep going on the agenda so we're moving on to new business now um we've got a proposed amendment to the Tec powers and duties I think we need a motion to table or we need a motion to table that that item if we're done with it I make a motion to table this and till Mr Ma's return I second um I don't know if it would be worthwhile to try to get him on the phone okay chairwoman just to to help for um as far as noticing for for the public who may be interested in this item and want to know when to anticipate um when the item will come back to this body to be discussed um rather than make the motion contingent on when Mr uh member maack returned I believe he said he's returning in October so maybe so that the audience if any members of the public want to attend you table it to the October meeting worst case if he's not backed by then you can table it again to the November meeting May I amend my and and have it tabled until October okay yep okay so the motion was amended by member fles to um um table this until October seconded by member Perez all those in favor say I I I any opposed okay that motion passes all right so now we're moving on to um the uh and it's in your packet um the new ordinance or the changes to the ordinance um for the Tec powers and duties and it it there were two changes um one was to move um some of the language that was at the front that was under specific responsibilities and to re and that specifically was to review and make recommendations to the Planning and Zoning commission and the City Council on environmental Slater resources and environmental sustainability issues pertaining to the adopted comprehensive plan of the city of Titusville so we felt like that was going to be better if it was listed in under it's still in it's still in responsibilities but it got moved to the end so it's like a wrap up under responsibilities now instead of just kind of being buried in the middle the other change was um to add specific language regarding the tree City USA because we felt like we weren't um we weren't getting the uh recognition that we deserve right and so there were four specific duties of being a tree board and and so um under item number five where it says establish Titus so as a tree City USA and act as the tree board it shall be responsibility of the tree board to study investigate councel and develop and update annually and administer a plan for the care preservation pruning planting replanting REM removal or disp disposition of trees and shrubs in parks along streets and in other public areas um so the changes are underlined it says the tree board shall provide recommendations to the city council on meeting the following Tree City USA standards number one is maintaining a tree Board number two is having a tree ordinance number three is having or a community forestry program with an annual budget of $2 per capita and number four is um uh re re observations of Arbor Day and a proclamation about Arbor Day so we're we're doing all of that but we felt like it was important to have it in in the code and so those are the changes um and I think the city council was okay with them but they sent them back to us for approval so is there any discussion on this it's looking good to me yeah we were okay with these changes when we made them it's come back to us for a final approval so approve somebody make a motion motion to approve wait oh cards cards cards sorry kaj all right K an Maryland Avenue um please recommend the draft ordinance of the amended section 31 121 is written the draft ordinance includes the language provided by staff the tree board shall provide recommendations to the city council on meeting the following Tree City USA standards as well as tec's recommended four items I maintain tree board uh I I have tree ordinance I II I spend $2 per capital annually on urban forestry and IV celebrate the Arbor Day I would definitely suggest that you keep the paragraph that says um that you are appointed the designated tree board with the responsibility to study investigate uh the the care and planting and replanting of trees along parks and in Long streets um that's the best part of the whole Land Development regulations as far as I'm concerned that gives you the power to do that and and you will have many opportunities in the future to continue doing that you did apply an uh provide an urban forestry program you did that okay now council is providing a different direction but you did you did do that and you will continue to be able to make recommendations to council regarding the urban forestry program going forward um every year to be recertified Tree City USA um Public Works submits an accounting of the expenditures of the $ per Capo required by Tree City USA for urban forestry I have a copy of it Laura Lee has a copy of it last year Public Works planted no trees and very few trees for preceding years as the tree board the draft amended section 31121 indicates Tec is to provide recommend ations to City Council on meeting the tree City USA standards number um what is it I I I to yeah I I I spend $2 per capital annually on urban forestry so now you you have an opportunity to recommend to council that $2 per capital annually be spent on urban forestry including the planting of trees imagine that this is your great opportunity at ask public works department to spend a certain percentage of the $2 per capital required by Tre USA on the planting of trees whatever percentage you deem after the tree ordinance was approved I went and I spoke to P Peggy basaka and I said how do we get the Public Works to spend more of this money and on on planting trees is $2 per capital she said asked Tec to ask Public Works to do so that is your responsibility and now Council even put it in writing it's your responsibility to make recommendations to City Council on meeting the tree City USA standards including II spend $2 per capital annually on urban forestry urban forestry includes planting trees that's a given so I would definitely recommend that you ask them to spend more what Define more be specific how much more about that $2 since they're not planting any with the $2 per capital you have this opportunity to do so thank you any questions be bold thank you any more cards no more cards okay there's no more cards all right well since since this thing from the um public works department is is you know where where we're spending our money and this is an agenda item can I pass these out now sure if it's it's related to the item there's two for you guys and two for you and I I got a couple for you if you want them probably be helpful we need one more one more okay all right so so what you have in your hands this is the how the $2 per capita has been spent since um 2013 and if you if you look down to there's oh tree planting it's the number one column um there's there's well in 2023 there was Zero spent on planting trees 2022 $1,700 2021 that was a bit that was a good year somewhat we spent 14,000 planting trees 2020 we spent $800 2019 $1,200 2018 that was the banner year we almost spent 50% of the $2 per capita PL and trees we did $46,800 2017 6,000 20160 2015 0 2014 and 2013 0 0 so we really haven't spent we've collected one two three four five six seven eight nine 10 11 like so it'd be like $220,000 I think that that should have been spent no is that right 11 years times $200,000 somebody can compute that it's a lot of money a lot of money has been supposed to have been allocated towards our Urban forest and you know a third of the years was Zero so I think it's reasonable that this body recommends some percentage of this $2 you know per per capita that could be spent on planting trees remember Tucker Oh how much money is coming in on an annual basis for this like 100,000 about 100,000 okay so if I'm reading this right we're spending more than we're bringing in it's possible yeah because if you look at tree maintenance that's a those are big numbers that's where most of our money is going but that should be the job of the Public Works anyway I mean they would be doing that whether we had the $2 dos that's supposed to be relegated towards you know towards creating our our Urban Forest so so I I guess the focus should be a lot of this is um kind of Superfluous because um what we need to be focused on is the trees that are being planted and we have $2 per capita the rest of this I mean money being spent in management tree removal tree maintenance and whatnot I think needs to be kind of in another part of the budget in other words other line items would be responsible for those and at this point we have very little being spent on trees being planted nothing lot of years we had zero being spent on trees being planted so I think I think like Kay said this is an opportunity for us to speak up and say we we would like to see 50% 75% 100% of the $2 per capita spent on planting trees and the the the rest rest of this should be covered under Public Works I think that all of this it's it's like when the lottery came into the State of Florida and rather than supplementing education they replaced funding with the lottery winnings and it looks to me like exactly that is what's happening here and I think that 50% would be way too low for because if that fund is for our our urban forestry it should be only urban forestry the rest of is Park maintenance it's maintenance and I think we should make a loud stance about it but polite but what polite polite somebody else better make ation question go ahead um the tree removal is listed twice and is it under like a different category is that emerald ash bore management is well we don't have Emerald ashes but so you have a a tree we'll just take colum the 2023 $1,425 was spent on tree removal and then if you go down it says the number of trees that remov so they remove 50 trees for that $144,000 that's that's how I read it and part two my question is tree maintenance is a lot and yet there's a different category for removal what is the maintenance they don't fertilize them they just prune them they prune them yeah that's what they do they they the bulk of it is pruning yeah tells you pruning insect and disease management fertilization watering they don't F they don't have to water anything they don't want anything tells me that we have to push them to do more native trees well I was at the library last night I went to an excellent presentation on Florida Panthers and I haven't been to the library in several years and I was astonished at you know it's all Native vegetation there it's it's 100% native and and that parking lot looks so good and you know the trees are growing the oak trees are getting big and but the the Palmetto the scrub Palmetto and you know the choice of plants was really really nice and they're not spending any money water or fertilizing those plants they're just there and that's the beauty of using native plants but um it would be nice if more of our public areas looked like our library does oh sorry chairwoman before you entertain a motion I just want to remind the commission that uh we're still talking about the item to amend your um your bylaws your the uh duties I'm sorry um after that it sounds like you're interested it may be considering a new motion so I just want to keep you focused on the agenda item let's vote on the first item why don't we do that so um I need a motion um about the um amendments to um the uh section 31-121 of the tec's powers and duties in in in the code so somebody make a motion I make a motion to approve it okay second all right the motion was made by member fiss and seconded by member Tucker to approve the changes to um section 31-121 of the tec's powers and duties all those in favor say I I any opposed okay the motion carries unanimously okay so now we can continue our discussion about the community forestry program annual budget is what we're actually talking about right now well no I I I just have a question I this explanation of budget mhm does very little to explain MH uh if indeed it's coming in 100,000 a year and they're spending 145 or 154 uh how are they covering that uh you know they're pruning all over the place and charging all over the place there's pruning here pruning there a little pruning over here and so the nondescript part of this it's it's adding to to a lot of confusion as to what what is the actual budget per year and actually what is it that public uh works is really spending specific because a lot of this just does it at least to me doesn't make a lot of sense and I've seen a lot of budgets that don't make sense but but in it the way it is described it it just doesn't make sense uh yeah it's more like a report of the expenditures that the public works department spent on trees than it is a budget this isn't at all a budget of what happens for the $2 a person this isn't that this is a nice way exp these are these are expenditures for public works but they have nothing to do with the the the urban forestry or the tree the the the urban forest plane at all this is smoke and fancy dancing I'm kind of focused on that first line tree planting and initial care and if that uh I mean that that to me describes what we're talking about and I think that's where that $2 should be focused so on that assumption okay when we go across those years we can see that very little has been spent and therefore you know I would say we've got a lot of time to make up for and I would propose that you know we use the full amount 100% okay uh from hence forth until some logical reason can be made for bringing it back and I don't see one right now so therefore that's my proposal so you're making a motion that we ask the city Council to spend $2 per capita um on Urban planting on planting of urban forestry rather than assigning the Monies to Public Works to do with as they wish that's correct I would second that yeah and I think the you have to include treat initial care too because there's a cost of you have to water them for a while and get them established and everything so if you want to amend your motion to include tree planting and initial care I was focused like I said on that first line which I thought described what it is to you know plant and take care of trees through their initial period of uh you know of planting and I would second that I have a question a question will this motion cover her comment about Peggy's comment that we need to ask public works or ask Council to ask Public Works not just ask councel oh good will this follow through to public works right okay yeah I I just again when it comes to numbers I want Clarity uh the $2 is per what per citizen in per citizen per capita per capita yeah based on the the 2020 census based on the 2010 census based on what there's got to be a baseline otherwise the that's a floating number and and so I don't know what the city is using as their Benchmark for per capita Eddie do you know yes sir uh Bieber it's a the Bureau of economic business research the University of Florida provides population estimates annually for each annually thank you okay great okay so so we established that so so there is a number for last year and there and there'll be a number for this year correct am I assume to assume that I'm sorry I missed that question the question was because it's based on a yearly basis for 2023 there was a number that was the per capita of the city of Titusville as for the organization that you described and then there is another number in 2024 for the city of Titusville yes are you saying the organization the city of Titusville is compared to the population you mentioned that the you okay so let me get it straight okay you mentioned an organization that does a study at the University of Florida correct that is used by the city to establish Capital yes correct correct we agree mhm so there is a number for 2023 last year yes okay and now there is a new number for 2024 since there is some growth in the city or not it depends on the city obviously but for Titus there will be a growth right annually they they provide the estimation of the population you know when that number is available uh I don't we we could look into it for you okay and and can you please provide what the number for 2023 was 2023 I believe do we have it on the sheet no okay sure yeah we can get that to yeah what I'm trying to do here is establish a baseline of what expectation of dollars are not just a percentage but what is your expectation of dollars so that when when it is a signed then we can have an expectation of service from the public works department okay and unless we establish that uh yeah we can go 100% I'm I'm good with that Mr perz is right we should go for it but we don't know what dollars they are we have no idea so so let's let's we may not have the exact number but we know very very close you know I mean the population only increases by increments so you know they have never done it all of the years we're keeping again I I would ask for 2023 and what and what is the budget the city manager is using for 2024 for his budget Pro projections I think it's a fair number to know so that we can establish at least uh what the expectations will be in asking them for 100% 100% of what in that is not defined are we clear are you guys okay with that yeah so that we can establish a baseline of dollars and then we can take it from there so what was the name of that um bber huh bber bber Bieber the acronym is bbr Bureau of economic business research I believe um they're an organization out of the University of Florida Bureau of economic research okay thank you so just a point of I guess clarification so the annual budget would be based on the prior year census I assume right so for 24 would be whatever that beeper or Bieber reported for the prior year right we use the latest estimate okay so I have a procedural question now so we if if if we pass this motion does this need to be on the agenda at the next meeting also it sounded like it spurred from a an agenda item that you already had because you were adopting the uh the the authority to have a management plan or have recommendation um to city council about the management plan so I think this is your next natural step is to go ahead and make a recommendation to Council on on what you'd like to see in that okay thank you all right is there any more yeah okay two lights are on oh oh oh okay all right that was fast all right so pardon me that's what I suggest let me let me restate the motion that's okay and it was made by Tom And seconded by you okay so all right so the motion was made by Tom and member Perez and sec by member fiss um that from now on we want to use the $2 per capita as determined by the Bureau of economic research um from University of Florida to spend all of the money on tree planting and initial care and that includes the cost of tree purchase purches labor and equipment for planting planting materials Stakes wrapping watering mulching competition control Etc and the and the and the motion was to use 100% of the $2 per capita from the prior year um for tree planting and initial care and um all that language is it's on this thing here so um all those in favor say I I I any opposed I'm not opposed but I got a question I'm sorry okay I'm sorry uh since since we're talking about a cycle so we pl a tree and we take care of it for a year 30 days 90 days uh because somewhere along the line otherwise what you're doing is you're you're feeding a tree farm okay and then your funds are going for maintenance which is exactly what I think we're trying to get away from so so therefore if if we're going to ask them to plant a tree and we're going to tell them that okay the $2 dolls would take care of it for and I'll look for the experts on trees um I'm not if it was a Structure I could help you with but trees I cannot help you with but the tree has a cycle so so therefore is it for one year 6 months to what point do we let the child grow I would think that we take care of it for until it's established which it should be established within a year so that yeah I mean I we don't water those cedar trees that we planted at Sandpoint how long did we take care of those K about three months two or three months yeah so so we should be able to start a new cycle every year that's my point my point the money doesn't go into maintenance right right okay all right so the the motion was made all those in favor say I I any opposed okay so the The Next Step Eddie is we have to get on the agenda or or will the city council be talking about um this ordinance again next time or did they approve it last night I guess I guess it's coming back to them since they sent it to us to look at right right so um ordinances are adopted by city council so this was uh one last gut check with Tec make sure you approve of the way it's written and then Council will adopt the final uh ordinance with your any recommendations that you made which you didn't have any comments so it won't come back on the on the city council's agenda it will come back on the city council agenda yes so we just need to watch the agenda and be ready to strike then when when when it comes up okay all right so the next item under new business is the semiannual report um and that was in your packet too and I'll wait till you guys find it should be near the end it is there are a couple of things that uh I don't see on there that I think would be worthwhile reporting uh and that's uh some of the stuff that we've brought up uh such as live streaming okay um having the ability to bring in a board member on remote okay and also um we did request uh having um the city manager give a presentation on uh performance measures okay how do you want to word that last thing that you said um well we'd like the um the city manager to give a presentation on the performance measures relative to uh what Tec is involved in all right so we wanted a presentation from the city manager on the activities that would apply to the T Tec M okay anybody else have anything to add um what else did I have okay we we also going back to um the very first item the landscape technical manual um I'd like to see a sentence that said that that item was approved by the city council or are we only just talking about things we talked about and and we're not talking about the consequences of the things we talked about that's typically how the format of this report has been in the past so I've just been keeping it consistent um yeah okay all right so chairwoman just to clarify that the purpose of the semiannual report is to give Council an update if if they haven't been aware of of the actions that the board has taken so um to put in your report that Council you're telling Council what they did at if you're okay I got it okay so um I wanted to add that we talked about a bond referendum to purchase the remaining Riverfront properties on the south side of town will purchase and maintain the remaining Riverfront properties on the south side of town we also had a long discussion about the artificial turf and vegetation um and those were my two things to add anybody else yeahor and in one item that was brought up uh it had to do with capacity and that's I haven't been able to find anything in any of the reports that talks about we are one gallon away at Blue herin from going over the wall and we keep approving housing we keep approving businesses we keep doing this and uh somewhere in that in that semiannual report there there should be some kind of reference to capacity what is the capacity of the city to absorb new construction new Demand on the system provide new Services uh where are we and and that was part of we had a discussion on that uh doing the semiannual report was that just a discussion or was there any um formal recommendation that came out of that because that's typically what you want to uh summarize for Council is the actions that you took but in some cases you could do a discussion if it took up uh a couple meetings so do you remember if there was uh did this body make take an action on well I brought it up and it was written down on the wall I guess they call it or whatever all on the paper on the paper thing that they that they did because there was no data no one had any data on capacity okay we can look at I don't think it belongs in this if it doesn't belong I'm good okay but somewhere along the line it has it needs to be addressed from an environmental uh position I think so I I I think that you know somebody needs to make a motion that we ask for that information cuz we have no idea what what what the what the capacity that's remaining at Osprey or at Blue her and I just want to clarify so we're no longer talking about the semiannual report we're talking about additional future agenda items okay that's correct I think we're done with the semiannual report that we wanted to add the bond referendum to purchase Riverfront artificial turf live streaming meetings um bringing in a Tec member on remote so they can participate in the meeting and we wanted a presentation from the city manager on um performance measures for whatever pertains to the Tec those five items yeah so yeah we're done with that now now we're off on another tangent well I like this tangent this I think is important that we be on top of what our um capacities are and where we are relative to you know reaching the Max and how that and over time it will give us an idea of how quickly we're approaching that Max should we ask for an agenda item well that's what well it would be a presentation I don't think we can't talk about it because we don't know what what the numbers are it would have to be a presentation from staff can we ask them to do that present to us both the capacities for the Wastewater but also for the drinking water because I think that one is going to be yeah that's going to be reached too so I don't I don't think it has to be at the next meeting but that would be something we would be interested in Eddie is is a report from staff on what are you know what are our where we at now and how much capacity do we have left how much how many more people can we add to the city without doing some major infrastructure improvements sure is that a future agenda item bring it back as a presentation yes okay thank you um and just to clarify I don't think we got a motion on your semiannual Report with changes I'll make a motion that we have the changes to the semiannual report SEC okay the motion was made by member Delgado seconded by member Tucker that we approve the semiannual Report with the five changes um or five additions that the um the board recommended all those in favor say I I I I any opposed okay good job on that the annual report all right well we have bulldozed our way through the agenda pretty quickly yay yay for us we're back to petitions and requests from the public anybody that did not get to speak earlier that wishes to speak now yes ma'am come on up hello my name is s Elizabeth Adams and I am a resident of Titusville Florida 32780 I'm the founder and vice president of uplifting nonviolence in today's youth Incorporated an organization that began its work in 2017 right here in Titusville we were recognized federally and by the state of Florida as a 509 A2 nonprofit and public charity in 2023 many people think violence pertains to gun violence or street fighting or War what violence also is is a family dealing with food insecurity substandard housing there's also violence of the spirit but I want to talk about nonviolence I'm before you today because I would like to thank the Titus environmental commission for uplifting environmental nonviolence by keeping their constituents informed of items of environmental concern and interest and your commitment to environmental conditions in and around the city of Titusville Florida I personally know two members of the Titusville environmental commission member Y and chairwoman Thompson member y was my instructor for amp and microbiology and member Thompson through her work in the community last week at The Bard Zoo chairwoman Thompson educated young people at the youth environmental Summit the summit was attended by youth Conservation Corps members assigned to the Meritt Island National Wildlife Refuge through a program with the US fish and wildlife service with this program we have had the chance to meet and talk with three of the other summer youth Conservation Corps members and at least two Rangers ranger Courtney Johnson and Ranger Anna uplifting nonviolence has also had the pleasure of hosting one of the youth conservation Corp members in our home this summer tiia is not a Titusville nor Bard County resident she participated in the keep America beautiful Great American cleanup this past March in her hometown which is how we found out about her commitment to the environment and environmental non-violence tiia comes home every day with new facts and bits of information about the wide varieties of species found out at The Refuge and surrounding areas it is very enlightening it is exciting to know that right here in Titusville we have many opportunities to uplift environmental nonviolence for everyone and we'd also like you to know that she and I observed the meeting that you had on in May we watched it online so we would be prepared for what we'd see and hear today thank you thank you very much thank you and TOA you were out this helping with the singing this morning right what' you think about that it was pretty cool when yeah especially when we caught that puffer fish so yeah thank you thank you for coming and spending your summer working out at the Wildlife Refuge before you leave I have a question for you how do we get in touch with your organization up nonviolence we have yes thank you thank you very much we appreciate that we we don't we we don't get thanks like that very often and we we really appreciate it we're usually people are mad at us all the time so it felt really good [Laughter] there anybody else that did not speak earlier want to come up and speak under petitions and requests no okay we're going to move on to member reports let's well let's start with the staff reports I don't have any formal reports for you but I will give you a little bit of an update on the natural resources public engagement project um we do not have the final form I guess there really is no such thing as a final form of a draft but we don't have the draft recommendations back yet from inspired they're still working on that so we anticipate them bringing that to you at the August meeting but we will inform you when that will be coming in front of your board so that she'll be well aware are are you still accepting comments online we need a commercial for that so the survey should be open until the end of August I I got the Flyers out at the restaurant so hopefully hope are we getting any comments I haven't asked um Gabby for an update on those numbers but I can and I can let you know how many responses we've gotten in the survey since it went out in the water bill it um I believe it's been advertised I'm not sure I don't think the um magazine the Titusville talking points has gone out yet but there will be a segment in there advertising the survey with a QR code um so there's still advertising going on so hopefully we can up the responses by the time it closes in August thank you by the way what are the social media sources because we spoke about a few at that Workshop so it's on the city's Facebook page um we'll continue to boost the post um until the survey closes uh we'll put a reminder out there as well saying that the survey will be closing soon um we have the Community Development newsletter that goes out monthly we have been posting in that segment a lot about this project um but I don't think too many people are subscribed to that so we can spread the word on that form of media that you can get in your email and I believe that's it in terms of social media it's also on the city's website um but if there's any other forms or suggestions that you have for for us um we are open I I don't I don't think I've heard you talk about it at the city council meeting I think you should tell the council what's going on and and and that would get you a wider TV audience than probably the three people and my mother that are watching this meeting tonight yes I believe it only went once under the city manager's report but we can keep pushing that out at the City Council meetings for sure especially if you can get numbers of people that have participated or are participating that I think that will be important because it's really important that you guys hear from you hear from us all the time you hear from these guys all the time you need to hear from like o other people because the mayor says all the time that um we only represent a very small fraction of the 50,000 people that live here in town so we we need to get responses from them too um is that it for for staff report okay member F you have a report no member Delgado I do have one question for I go uh on the grand uh C you heard anything or which Grant well the one about the trees so so the urban forestry for yes so the urban forestry Grant the deadline for submission is July 19th I'm still working with staff to finalize our draft I'm working with our team to make sure we're including everyone um that all the steps the tasks deliverables are concise and detailed um so we haven't submitted that yet I do know that they anticipate to announce the award at the end of September so we won't know if we've received the award until then you know who to call I can call no just kidding okay now that's good to know that's great that's what that's what I was missing I had a feel that it was coming up I just didn't know how close okay thank you and that's why um member Tucker do you have a report I do not member Perez I do not okay um I do surprise surprise um so I just handed out a copy of of the Grant and um so that you'll know what's going on with it and you know there's a lot of really useful information in it and if we get the grant we're going to be the ones that are going to be you know overseeing it and and helping this trout you know make it a reality so you've got a copy of it now so um don't lose it I'm not going to print them again they was like 20 pages so um I also handed out this um policy brief from the Native Plant Society they finally have come out with some really good information on lethal bronzing disease and there's a frightening map on the front page you know that that shows in 10 years how quickly it has spread throughout the state and I see it everywhere I travel a lot I see I see dead palm trees all everywhere I go it's it's really sad but the problem is is that it's not just confined to the the date palms and and all the other exotic Palms it it will attack sable palms also and I've seen I've seen evidence of it in our community there's there's a dead Sable Palm right in the middle of the median just north of the funeral home right now and and yeah and and you know and then I see it's really weird cuz I'm driving around and then here's this dead Sable pal out in the middle of nowhere but we we cannot risk losing our state tree and such an important part of our canopy here in Titusville so um I'm um I don't I I think you know we we may want to make another recommendation that um we start um doing something positive about all all these dead trees that are in town and one of the things that Miss s an mentioned that when when she was talking during petitions and request is that we asked the city council um to um create an ordinance that that requires developers and and um landscapers to only use certified disease free palm trees in their landscape plans and but it it would be costly it's $75 a tree but it would be a positive step you know to show that we we are serious we do not want this this spread in our community um I've seen the city of Sanford spent a fortune on great big huge um Sylvester palms and they had them on Highway 46 when you're going west out of town every median had three or four Sylvester Palms in it they all look like closed umbrellas now well they probably kind of down by now but a year ago they were all dead all all the Palm all the dead fronds just folded down on the on the Trunks and we don't want that in our community so maybe we could add that as an agenda item at the next meeting too so we would add add a discussion on you know the lethal bronzing disease We'll add that to the agenda at the next meeting also um and I think that's it for me thanks again for the compliment that felt so good to sit sit up here and and have you say such nice things about us I I really appreciate it and and TOA I really appreciated your help today at the aing we had we took took um kids from the girls and boys club singing in mosquito Lagoon this morning and it was first of all you you've all heard me talking about how much seagrass there is there but it was amazing amazing the num number of species and the quantity of animals that we captured today just in three short drags it was it was so much fun it really was so that's it for me does anybody have anything else just talking about that uh Mano Park MH there's a project that is not City on it's own I have a feeling it it's coming from the the zoo zoo it is a zoo project it is a zoo project Zoo project uh and they're almost done they've been working very diligently there they're putting the oyster traps M and if you want to see how that how that is going along or how it's done just go by Mansel Park it's free it's part of uh the north uh bravar Park and service area Y and and and so they you know they're doing a wonderful job and it's old volunteers I believe right it is yeah it's all volunteers and there and it's being funded by the Savar Indian River lagon half penny sales tax so there's uh a lot of projects now that are underway that are being funded you know from that tax money and I see a big difference this summer in the lagoon compared to the last summer there is seagrass actually starting to grow along Titusville yeah um it's it's good yeah so the the zoo people told me um they planted seagrass up U up by the Chain of Lakes um earlier this year and they said there was already seagrass growing but they went ahead and planned it anyway but there's little little patches of seagrass starting to pop up all over the place um south of the NASA Causeway in that southwest corner there's a huge blob of sea grass growing uh down there so it's very very encouraging um I did think of one more thing um I met with uh Mike MC mcmonagle from the St John's River Water Management District yesterday afternoon he was kind enough to block off his entire afternoon and we had a great discussion um he is the executive director or the head of the Indian River Lagoon Basin management action plan and he's only been there 6 months you know he and he was like well I've only been here six months and I was like wow yeah we're you got new eyes to look at this kind of stuff so we looked at a map um because they had done a feasibility study and I I had driven um Gretchen I can't remember Gretchen's last name but she was kind enough to come up and spend an afternoon driving around in my car looking at all our big wetlands and you know the outfalls and and we looked at ditches and storm water ponds and all kinds of stuff and i' I've been trying to get a major project you know here in North ofar cuz it seems like we always get left out so we're looking at the map and all the stars and and it's it's all down in the South End in the county Titusville got two two stars and melber got like 20 you know and I was complaining again as I usually do how come Titusville always gets ignored and he said it's because Titusville is so far ahead of every other community in in in in the county as far as being ahead on the bmap numbers we're like 10 years ahead on the B map numbers and but he said you know your baffle boxes and your storm water projects and everything nobody else is is is doing as much work as you so the you know we con we're concentrating on where the work is really really needed but I reminded him that yeah we may be ahead but um we have more to protect up here and because after he we you know we had like a a small orientation and to kind of get to know you and then he just let me talk for 2 hours about the Lagoon he just turned me loose and um I think he learned a lot but you know we looked at that when you look at the map of the Indian River Lagoon 22% of the open Waters of the Indian River Lagoon are right here at Titusville and that's because we have mosquito Lagoon we have the Indian River Lagoon and and the Banana River all of those all of the heads of all those estuaries they come together inside the Kennedy Space Center but there's no development and and and we have all those impoundments out on the Wildlife Refuge that it was a tragedy when they happened but over time with when they put the covers in under the dikes those impoundments are now critical Nursery areas for thin fish shrimp and crabs and what what's happening up here in the North End of the Lagoon we're supplying all the fish and stuff for the rest of the Lagoon because there's no seagrass down there there there there's seaw walls everywhere they they the habitat is so much better up here and and so we we have to do more Titusville has to do more because we have more to protect than everybody else all added up now I'll now now I'll stop so thank thank you for your Indulgence um if I could ask oh yes absolutely so from my uh I guess a vantage I mean when I look out at the river where I am there's nothing there and this whole Basin appears to be very similar so yeah we have baffle boxes we have all these things going on but I think our water is probably according to the reports that have been out not good so I I think we do need a lot of attention here we do need a lot of projects um just saying I can't disagree we're ahead of the game but we're way behind the ball right there you go well thank thank you very much for coming to the meeting tonight and and participating and it was a good meeting and I appreciate it so we'll see you guys next month for