##VIDEO ID:twWeBzVKHuc## e e for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e okay let's get started here uh good good morning to everyone today is October 25 2024 and this is a meeting of the valua forever advisory committee like to welcome everyone that might be listening online and for everyone here in Chambers if you could please remember to put your cell phones on silence that would be appreciated um with that if we could have roll call please Wanda vanam here Jessica gal here Steve Crump here Kelly frasa absent of the time John gamble here Derek lontine here John Macaluso here Suzanne sneer here David Sosa here we have a quorum okay very good I do not see anyone in Chambers for public participation so let's move on to the approval of the September 13 2024 minutes does anyone have any corrections or comments changes that they think should be made on these okay uh with that could we have a motion on those please move to approve the minutes okay motion by Miss G to approve second I'm sorry was that Mr gamble okay second by Mr gamble all in favor I any opposed okay very good right on to new business good morning Tim teler land acquisition manager and um appreciate you folks uh meeting us this morning to help process these applications in a timely manner today's meeting is going to be sorting the uh three properties that were determined eligible by the committee at the previous meeting I think most of you are familiar with it but you do have the discretion to determine a property is ineligible and you have the discretion to put it on the a or b list a list is our top priority list list is the next highest category and obviously you have the ineligible um um decision-making um Authority that's already been made here so uh first thing that we're going to do is move right into the properties the first one that's up uh before you today is the Henry property okay so this would be a working forest and farmlands agricultural easement application uh approximately $200 92 acres in size staff scored at 13 out of 19 uh and it only needed to meet N9 out of 19 to be determined eligible which you have done uh this is a good fit for our um R Rural and family land Protection Program with fdax it's also a good fit for our regional conservation partnership program which I don't have on the screen but I'll verbally let you know that that is a this is a good fit for that program also for attributes it is within the uh nurma area natural resources management area uh with that we stand by for any questions okay questions for staff or comments okay would someone like to make a motion on this one please uh move to put it on the a list second okay motion by Mr gamble second by Miss G to place the Henry property on the a list all in favor please signal by saying I I I any opposed okay very good on to the next one please all right the next property up for consideration is the valua 44 property 358 Acres fee simple application with uh scored a 12 out of 21 with a requirement of 10 of 21 um attributes are it is in the nurma the environmental core overlay and the Florida Wildlife Corridor um as well it is directly adjacent to the county managed longleaf pine preserve to the north okay questions comments on this property okay Mr lantin oh no I mean just uh I was going to mention on the last one I didn't know if there'd be discussion but just uh helps if people are listening in or whatever to uh just go over kind of what what we're looking at on the map u in terms of I know this one for sure has that uh different colored area in the middle so I just wanted to again describe the property to make again it be some discussion on on what it is where approving but um if I mean it's all I understand in the site description as well but um just verbally for people listening I want to just if you could explain what what's in the middle of this property again yeah so on the aerial photograph being depicted uh the lighter area that's actually a current pasture it's grassed over now um there's an active Cal CF operation on the property um so some of these Sandy looking areas are where um sort of work had been done and some pastures have been uh um established okay thank you you good Mr ltin okay all right any other questions or comments okay and this one I'm sorry you said was adjacent to the Longleaf Pine correct okay correct all right would someone like a to make a motion on this one please I move we put um fucha 44 property on the a list okay second second okay motion by Mr Crump second by Mr Macaluso to put this property on the a list all those in favor signal by saying I I any opposed okay very good passes unanimously and just to note that miss frasa is just entered so she is in attendance as well welcome okay brings us to the third property Cypress Ranch Cypress Ranch is a uh fee simple application approximately 86 acres in size staff scored at 10 out of 21 uh and that is the minimum required for an eligibility determination we don't have a funding partner on this one yet but we'll certainly uh continue to dialogue with our colleagues to see who feels it might be a good fit for their programs attributes um it has both the natural resource management area the Eco core overlay on it is as well as it's within the Florida Wildlife Corridor and I will also add directly to the South is the county owned and managed Wiregrass Prairie Preserve and directly to the north is the Valia forever applicant Triple T ranch which is already on the uh current a list okay Triple T is on the a list correct correct okay very good okay questions Miss gal just on to confirm I think this is the understanding from last time the squares in the middle are out Holdings right they do not own those center pieces but everything else that's an affirmative it has the same character as Triple T did there is going to be some follow-up work to to address these in Holdings yes but we're aware of them and we we we certainly can take on that challenge and at this point this is being presented as a fee simple correct correct not as okay all right any other questions comments okay would someone like to make a motion on the Cypress Ranch property please move to put it on the a list okay motion by Mr gamble I'll second and a second by Mr Crump all in favor signal by saying I I any opposed okay very good unanimous to put Cypress Ranch on the a list all right that's it for new business which brings us to staff comments please sure so I'm going to give you some property updates and um let you know what's been going on behind the scenes on the properties that you've already handled let me also start by saying thank you again for um making time in your calendars to attend this meeting this is one of those efforts that we do to try to speed up the processing of these applications and it does mean something to the land owners that we interact with it that we go through these efforts there um there's no way to get around the fact that it takes some time to process through a government acquiring a piece of property and so these these opportunities to speed up speed up the process are very important to us uh so with that said I'll start out with the Evans property this is an agricultural EAS mint that um youall put on the A-list uh approximately 126 acres in Lake Helen area so we are essentially closed on that um I should get word Monday that the easement is recorded we're in Q for recording right now so we're in the final stages of that project uh pick K and Cooper is one that we've um we we addressed very early on in the program's existence I I believe that went through the the first cycle 40 acres um north of Hell Road um same area as um Cypress Ranch essentially very very close there so we have ver we have a verbal agreement uh on a purchase price and we are um we have a contract signed by the current landowner and that's going to go in front of the County Council on November 19th Stuart property this is large 2500 acre parcel in the Edgewater area we've completed all the due diligence on the property right now we're um working on our closing if you remember this is the one where we actually have that sell back to the Department of Environmental Protection for $3.2 million on the North piece that deal remains sound uh so we're going to close with the uh current owners and then sell that piece on the North side to the state as soon as possible um the next one I'll mention is the Carter Quail Ranch Pro property this is a large piece that we have been uh interacting with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on their their acquisition through the Florida forever program and this is one this is one of those things I'd like to bring to your attention that we spend a lot of time on kind of outside of the paperwork and outside of the things that we directly present to you it's interaction with our funding Partners so we've had a a really great relationship with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection they are going to take this on 100% % so their staff has already gone ahead they've utilized vucha County's appraisals they've negotiated a purchase price it was scheduled to go in front of the cabinet in September that meeting got cancelled it's now scheduled for December 17th um we've got a bundle of properties here that I'll give you an update on they all fall essentially into the same category Stone Street WISN fourstar Timber and Hammer we are at the final stages of the appraisal process right now we are talking to them about the rcpp application process I'd love it if we could get additional funding there if it works out for them they've been extremely patient um because this has been a long process for those applicants as we've tried to get them um to the offer stage but we're we're very close to that now um and again we're going to Target the rcpp to try to leverage our dollars as much as possible Lake George in Holdings this was a bundle of properties up in Northwest Valia County we're working with another funding partner here the St John's River Water Management District um we've established a partnership agreement they've taken the lead and presented an offer to the land owners with valua County's consent we're waiting for a reply back on that offer at this time Double Eagle um this is a large 900 acre agricultural easement in the very Southern uh portion of the county adjacent to Lake Harney um near Lake Harney I shouldn't say it about it but near Lake Harney uh we have been uh working with the Florida Department of Agriculture and consumer services as a partner on this project right now we verbally agreed to a 50-50 cost split um we have completed our due diligence necessary to make an offer and we're waiting for the state to complete their process to get to the offer stage that should be completed within the next month or two the actual conservation EAS is already fully negotiated we just need to agree on price now and bring it to our governing bodies for approval Triple T ranch you've heard us reference that one today that actually came through as a fee simple application and the owners we had actually apprais it as fee simple presented an offer it met the owner's expectation but they also changed their mind so they've now come back and said that they'd like us to consider that as an agricultural easement so this is one of those times where we're coming back to you and letting you know that there is an applicant that wants to shift the process here and switch over to an agricultural eement on this property so what that means for us is we are now um modifying those appr AAL documents to reflect an easement value on the property we are in process now i' I feel confident saying we're about 95% of the way through the easement negotiation stage so as soon as those appraisals are updated we'll present the offer and work through the uh authorization with the County Council on that one uh McMillan this is another uh agricultural easement um this is uh we just got the appraisals in on this one that took a long time to process the appraisal due to some um uh uh uh building envelope reservations that the owners requested we are through that process now we we'll we'll quickly move to the offer stage on that piece Morgan Stern another partnership with the St John Water Management District they have a verbal agreement on that property we'll be moving that one forward very soon here uh tamoka Farms Road is one that is uh in the title stages we're going to go through title and then make a a a fee simple offer on that piece uh Marsh up in the northeast corner of Valia County this came through we had referred to it as a Frank A4 trust in some of our documents we'd like to switch that dialogue we're going to try to stop using the trust names because they represent individual owners here so we're going to call that to Moka Marsh going forward again this is uh uh a great reflection of the relationship that we have with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection we work with their Florida for forever staff they um are now going to take this property on 100% this had orally been processing through the St John's River Water Management District they applied for a Noah grant for funding we all had high expectations that the Noah Grant was going to get funded but it did not so we shifted gears we turned this project over to Florida forever they've completed their title work on it they are engaged on the appraisal process and they'll make an offer probably in late November on that piece and the final thing that I'll update you on is the overall rcpp um we've met some major milestones in getting that program up and running so the biggest thing that I'll let you know is now technically vucha county is what we call an eligible entity under that program meaning through the federal rcpp system vucha County can now hold and enforce easement documents that's what an eligible entity means so we have our funding established through that program we are now an eligible entity we've got a couple of minor things to complete on that rcpp process um but then the next stag is for us is we're going to open up an application cycle in November so this is important we've tried to get the word out if there are agricultural lands owners in val County this is going to be the first cycle not the only but this is going to be the first cycle where we accept applications through and start process processing them under that rcpp program that window will expire on November 30th there will be windows in the future we hope this is going to go smoothly and we get good word of mouth out of this um change the other thing I'll share with you kind of as as the advisory Comm members here and what I would consider kind of ambassadors to the program I assume you get questions from friends and colleagues about what's going on or what's what what what's happening here if anyone is interested in an agricultural easement uh we certainly do want to move them through the rcpp also as a as a a uh a funding partner it's very important that they uh get registered with the uh federal federal system um through the N nrcs there's a CPA 12 75 form that they have to complete if there's any questions about that direct please direct them my way but that is going to be a critical step in getting these applicants uh eligible for the rcpa program so uh with that that's my brief update one more I'm just want to add where we are at on the valua corridor expansion uh Valia conservation Corridor um rgis Team completed our analysis and Report um we received the package this week so we will be putting that together and we'll give you uh an update at the next committee meeting on uh what direction it's looking like U that'll give us some more time to get the um verbiage added to the mapping analysis so we'll have a let see a pre-draft version for you to to kind of to see great great okay thank you good information Wanda if I may add to that so I don't I want to calibrate expectations here in terms of the corridor expansion we can do the we can do the work and we've done the work but it will really be up to Florida forever when we go to them with our maps on whether it gets expanded or not and so that's why we've taken a lot of time I will say in our initial conversations with the staff it was expanding and using the wildlife Corridor as the undergird was not enough you needed to to say that it had some ecological benefits besides just being in the corridor um so that's what the team has done um and so I just I want to calibrate expectations in terms of it may have to change when we go to Florida forever we're open to that we just want to make it larger all right good information um all of it because so much of this stuff I know people wonder why does it take along but as you pointed out um when you work with funding Partners which I know you try to do as much as possible we're constrained by their time as well as our own so um good information any questions or comments okay um okay Mr L so yeah I appreciate the updates uh you had mentioned changing the names on uh like the tamoka marsh property and so forth to not match the trusts I guess so I was just wondering if uh there's any uh consideration of the board uh that you would like uh for us to help come up with names for any of these for future reference I mean I'm just curious like in the future when these are parks like at some point who picks the name um and if we could help with that perhaps we really leave that up to the land owner uh they typically have a a business name or a ranch name or something they would like to put it under uh rather than a personal name yeah but then once in public ownership it's a council decision Council yeah what it's named but would it be appropriate for us to recommend something to council perhaps um just considering when we own it you can certainly recommend something okay I'll think it's something thanks um I'm sure you said this but I think I missed it the rccp the uh Cycles how frequent are they going to be or is that something we don't know just yet so we do have a little bit of latitude on how we set up those application Cycles I anticipate we'll do them annually however if we do get a a heavy response from people that are interested outside of November 30th after November 30th we do have the discretion to open up another cycle if nrcs can sense to another cycle being opened okay so the Cycles are your purview staff's purview or is it part of the rccp programs perview it it's really part of the rccp programs purview there so we'll make a recommendation to them that so far they've been great to work with and they've kind of deferred to us but but I can't make any commitments because they make their own decisions based on federal Staffing levels and other processes okay and then to get the word out to the agricultural Community have you been to meetings or will you be attending meetings to try to help get this word out there y we we have we we we've attended a number of meetings so far um both U both Nick and I together and Nick individually also um we do have a press release that we're working on right now that's circulating through uh Val County public information office um and we're going to continue to make efforts to kind of get the word out and Market this okay okay all right very good thank you anything any other questions for staff comments for staff comments by staff so I will just say just adding to um what Tim shared is I think we have positioned ourselves in a way as you heard we've got lots of appraisals back on easements so that was a strategy to be prepared to pull the trigger when we get those federal dollars so these individuals who have went through our program I think we talked a little bit about this last time um will also have to apply through the rcpp we're trying to make it as similar as possible and it will never be a cold handoff if they if we're giving them over to the feds it will be a warm handoff there are people we want to keep them um close by and the relationship with us so we have a number of properties um that will be ready for that first cycle and we'd like to process and get purchased um before the next cycle so um you know that was a I will say one of the beauty thing beautiful things about this as well is we are probably one of the only rcps that has the only County dollars in it so we are not there's not a lot of competition in that pool so we did good thank you Tim and Tim and to our Council for their leadership and committing $20 million that we were going to spend anyways on conservation deals um to pull down that Federal doll those $20 million in federal funds y can you just briefly um go through the process for the rccp what what are the steps in that is that a lengthy conversation or is it pretty cut and dried as to what the um steps are to go through the process so I'll give you an outline here and I'm going to keep it as an outline because we are still learning our way through this process ourselves here so some of those details will be better able to answer six months from now as we've got it set up and we kind of work through all those Federal processes uh but as Brad Brad laid out um the steps involved are a an application to valua Forever and that would be handled through our normal handling processes here at the same time that's going through any agricultural easement application that we think is a good fit for the rcpp we're going to inform the owner of the next application window we're going to get them set up through FSA uh Farm Services Agency I believe is what that acronym stands for who's who's the who's the is that's actually going to determine their eligibility under the program so we're going to work them through that FSA application process once that's then approved RCP has RC the rcpp program has uh program window has closed nrcs then will handle they have their own internal review process but when they when the rcpp review process was established we had input onto how that was done so we actually uh as a team here we actually negotiated the weight of all the questions that were going to be asked as part of that um nrcs review they reflect what you see in 20237 that's the resolution that governs are scoring in in our processes here we've essentially picked up most of those uh uh questions put them into the federal application review process and then waited them to try to emphasize certain uh features of property uh contiguity so we don't have dispersed parcels we're dealing with um uh acreage was another area that we we we uh actually put some additional waiting on Etc uh you know addition to other conservation Parcels or within the Florida Wildlife court or things like that we're we're a part so so so an application then will move through the nrcs they'll score it um we feel you know very comfortable with that process and and and the output is going to be this determin of Eligibility we have an agricultural easement already established within valua County so we we're the one that we're using on the Evans project so it's been vetted by our legal department we take that document and this is a step that has not occurred yet that will occur soon there are program and it's really outside of what we look at as program and it's really outside of what we look at as volution forever that that very much deals with almost the business entity itself not necessarily the property eligibility side and that FSA eligibility has been established for quite a long time that is not unique to Lake to Lagoon or uchia County that is um something that's required of all the rcps Across the Nation okay and and if folks so if folks have signed up many of our a producers um have you know crop insurance or if they have they've used some cost share money from nrcs they're registered so most of these folks the vast majority should be or will will have used those services in the past and we'll have that entity number okay and when at what point does County Council so this after it goes through the whole rccp process or before do they approve it before it gets sent on or is that after the fact uh I I would call it uh after to Midstream so that that easement needs to be presented to the County Council so that easement with the nrcs language in it and any reserve rights that the land owner wants to obtain or retain needs to be inserted into that um document and that document needs to be presented to the County Council so it will be when the deal closes because they're already on the a list this is just a partner requirement so it's another pathway that we work but we'll bring the final deal to council okay so Council has already approved it being on the a list and then we're going to go back to them you're going to go back to them and get the approval at the very end okay all right thank you for that mber I take it that since you didn't say anything about adjusting criteria for easements there's nothing to be done for for us to do with correct because we have our process so we have our easement criteria we think it's strong I think this is one of the things that made us competitive for the RCP PE because we had a list we had strong criteria that focused on natural resources I mean at this point it would just slow down the process and I think we're we are strategically in a place where we can pull the trigger to buy um a handful of properties as soon as we have access to that money that's my question to these guys every week when we going to get that money okay m dver i I just have one more thing to say I really appreciate the quality of work that you guys do and the quality of ucha forever because um last week I attended a meeting over in Orange County and they are not the only County but they are facing conservation land selloff and they have an amendment that they're voting on right now to stop that it's pretty sad I just want to say so I appreciate what you guys are doing well let me just respond by saying it's not just us it's all of you on the Das here as well as the County Council and everybody that touches this program as it moves through so it's really a collective effort but certainly we appreciate the kind words yeah I think we all agree that we're very fortunate to have the experience on staff that we have and the dedication because you guys are doing a fantastic job um I appreciate the updates because I know sometimes it seems like we approve something and then nothing happens and we don't hear about it again and you wonder what's going on so I certainly appreciate the updates on these so thank you let me just add to that if if you have individual questions or or or would like an update please reach out to me directly you know you're you're on our advisory committee you're going to get an immediate call back or email back and we'll make sure that you have the information you need to to answer any questions that you're getting in the community okay all right any qu other questions for staff okay Mr lontine yeah I was a little curious to uh go off what what Miss Shyer was just saying um is there a possibility um down the road uh or can you explain just for people who are kind of worried that what maybe happened at Orange County might happen here um is is it true that uh a lot of these you know our conservation land which I'm not saying you know it's going to happen anytime soon but you know 10 20 years down the road if there's a County Council that wanted to sell off some of it um what the process is for that or it is are these I mean I know they're supposed to be in perpetuity but like what um is there any mechanisms that can stop that uh in the worst case scenario I'll take this one so two ways so for easements we protect against that by having a third party sign our easements so elat conservation trust will be on them and they will not budge in the future so um we've done that pretty much with all of our easements um so now if there's adjustments that need to be raid around the edges where we are think would be open to that but changing it from conservation land the whole parcel that's why we do that in terms of the County Council if they were to decide to change something into more active or out of conservation that's certainly um their prerogative we just will that we have made it very hard so on a lot of our properties you know having a funding partner is not only a strategy for stretching our taxpayer dollars but it also protects against that a lot of times because the other funding partner typically will not agree to it we also Chang the the zoning the land zoning to conservation so in the future if that was to be changed it would require a a large comp plan Amendment with public hearings and uh a process so those are kind of the ways that we try to insulate ourselves into the future thank you okay very good anything else for staff okay then we move on to Committee Member comments okay Mr Lan go ahead I didn't want to go again because I feel talking too much but um yeah I did have a couple comments in my section here um uh and I suppose it is somewhat directed towards staff I just wanted to uh get your opinions maybe and I maybe you don't feel comfortable sharing just opinions but um just thoughts on the process because I had heard you know it's kind of a election season some people are actually talking about valua forever and uh I I agree with what was said earlier you guys are doing a great job and uh I just want to get your opinion if you believe uh right now like we are aggressively pursuing acquisition I mean I feel like we are and um including funding sources and easements and so forth would you agree that we're being basically as as forward um Progressive or aggressive we can as we can be I think that um the we're always looking at process improvements and we have heard from a number of property owners um you know that the length of our process um is in inhibiting so that's why we've come to you in multiple times when we've we've come to you and asked you know to streamline things um we're receptive to Property Owners so when they're saying stuff like that so this is why we're having this meeting this is why we're going to propose as part of the updates next time is if we have a sorting if we have a a sort or eligibility vote and and we've deemed a property eligible we're going to write a report and ask you to sort it as well into the the future and so we think that that two or three months that we have in between eligibility and sorting may be lengthy especially in this market it may be slowing down in other states of real estate market but this real estate market is not and so imagine if you were a large property owner and you came and said I really want to see this in conservation we said well just to get through our application process it's going to take about three to four months so those are the things that we're doing and I'll let Nick you know share as well um what tweaks around the edges we're doing to speed up the program I will say also we are a Nimble program we've got Tim and me and Nick who are you know helping along the sides and Danielle um but we started out small because we wanted to grow as the program grew we are adding a new person um to help us and um so the the other thing to keep in mind is that you know we were out of money in 2012 so all of the relationships that had been developed Partnerships are about relationships because it matters whether you get the benefit of the doubt or not and so Tim has developed those relationships with the Department of a with the EP with the Water Management District at the federal level relationships take time to develop and the trust is built through the transactions and so I feel like we're getting to a point now we're getting back up to that full speed area as you can tell you know based on all the updates that he's given you so I would say if you want us to go out and spend all the you know Bond the 60 million that the referendum allows and spend it all tomorrow we could and buy every single one on the A-list but if you want us to take a measured strategic and conservative approach to aligning Partners that's what your program is today and I and I'll add um you know in a way we're being aggressive we're not just sitting here waiting for property to come in um through a lot of our Outreach uh when we go to other uh committee meetings and talk um just this week we received another 900 acre application that came in two days ago from that Outreach and we are constantly uh reaching out to you know for S signs um we've developed an in-house tool to where I can see um when a property goes on the market through certain realtor I can see how long it's been there if it was just posted I can see the adjacency to the properties we already have um and that's something we use inh house that we check every week to kind of keep up with uh what's on the market that we can't see because uh you know the days of driving around looking for for sell signs uh you know that that's old technology we're we're trying to uh improve ourselves with the new technology to to stay on top of it so those are just some of the ways we are actively uh being very aggressive in our pursuit of other properties yeah thank you for those comments I I agree that yeah I think you guys again are doing a great job and I just want to make it clear and uh to just touch on what was said um a minute ago uh by Mr bbau about the um time ways to maybe expedite the process or if that's uh I guess just looking for ways or if you're looking for any more input or guidance from us because I'm I don't know if this is like a possibility but like if there's some uh super emergency meeting that like uh we could do maybe onl online or something if there's like a property owner like we did this meeting we do in person and then we we we can't do those right I mean that's we can't do online but we can call so this meeting today is for one of the properties on the list who is in danger of being sold to not conservation so we didn't tell you that when we were asking for this meeting um but that's really why it is so we will call meetings when we feel like um it's warranted I appreciate that yeah again just anything to I like the combining of the meetings like we have done recently with the um moving uh sorting stuff as well and I I guess I'll just move on I just had one final comment that um was something that just was concerning to me as many of you have heard before I care very much about Spruce Creek and uh you know that conservation uh Corridor um from that area and um there was a a property that was uh had some protected land around the the water so basically it's my understanding that zoning around some of these ofws outstanding Florida waterways like to mochen Spruce Creek um have easements along the water's edge especially when there's flooding and stuff from the Hurricanes um you know that's needed um but there was uh a property owner that actually was uh permitted to basically build a pool in that area um by the county and uh there's a question on whether or not they got the zoning but it was supposed to basically be a buffer uh and not in my opinion to be a pool area and uh the fact that then they had the hurricane and all this water kind of flew in FL flowed into the creek bothered me but it's more along the lines of of what these zonings mean I suppose that's a question for maybe the the zoning committees and so forth but at some point it was this property owner I think um got several exemptions and it it got to the point of yeah they had to go to the the County Council um a year or two ago to get these easements like finalized and they still didn't so it's like almost two years in this um proper property owner just refused to like get their easement that they were instructed by County staff to get um or County Council to get and and the result is is just um again more harm to the habitat more harm to our waterways and just kind of a a little bit of a lack of faith of what um you know protected areas uh resource Corridor conservation whatever happens to be um means when it's just they can be ignored by people who live adjacent to one and maybe have part of it uh next to them or um even on their property so um I just want to let um everyone know that that something to look out for and uh to please um if you have any you know things that you think we can do to uh continue to protect these lands uh because right now I guess it's like an enforcement question like why why is is some of these areas that um have these protected zonings on on private property uh or on public property it seems to be that they can be damaged and um and no one really follows up on it so I I was particularly upset about that cuz I was near my hometown and and I saw the damage and um the property the people who live next to it we're very upset so sorry for just sort of bringing up something that's maybe not terribly related but in terms of corridors and and conservation and so forth and protecting our ofws which I want to make sure we're protecting Waters as well as lands you know with valua forever and so um just looking for more ways to uh protect uh that that area in the future so I appreciate your time and um thank you that's um obviously something that's outside of our group here but uh keep in mind that public can speak at pdrc meetings public can speak at the council meeting so if you have obje if you see something like that and have objections you've got you know opportunity to voice those objections um through pdrc and through County Council as you know so I'm Sorry Miss frasa uh yes thank you um I guess this is a question for staff given the the last hurricane that came through after the one before with the rain a lot of the properties that I've seen that have um become flooded are newer properties newer developments adjacent to undeveloped land um is that something that we would look at as far as Evolution forever and trying to acquire those uh vacant properties that have acreage to to slow down that I mean the water is got to go somewhere if it's concrete it's going to roll into your neighbor if it's you know if it's um if it's the grass and the ground you know it will be soaked up into our aquifer so I'm just wondering are those are those properties eligible once approached for um um conservation if they meet our criteria so it's a case-by case basis um it would certainly not be oh we are not a mitigation strategy we're a conservation strategy so I would just say that there are another other funding sources for mitigation uh cdbg drr is one of them that we have right now um but valua forever is a conservation program not a mitigation program okay I think my my question question was if they if they are eligible as far as the criteria would we be seeking them out yes I mean if we see properties that are eligible and they are attractive to our program which in most cases are larger Parcels um we would certainly re Outreach to the Outreach to the property owner okay thank you y okay just just to add to that remember the property owner has to be willing to sell to us so if they don't want to talk to us and there's no right so okay good question anyone else Mr gamble well it looks like we're going to acquire a bunch of properties you guys are doing a fantastic job my question is is do you have the right amount of funding for your management staff once you start to build uh you know increase your inventory so the the Land Management side has quite a bit in reserves planning for these future Acquisitions that we could dip into we are planning on uh personnel as well so we're adding positions as new properties get acquired uh so our level of service doesn't go down okay and you're very comfortable with the level you're at we will always accept more well I mean I I think we made a recommendation at one point you know I don't know two or three years ago with a percentage and I just was wondering whether that was keeping up with what the what we needed it is right now because everything we've bought we don't manage so it's been a good strategy the last couple years um but Nick has I will I will give Nick credit to his leadership has positioned us for future acquisition so we've you know right now just like any other larger division would do um in the activity of Land Management we've now thanks to Executive leadership and the council's support through the budget process um well we're going to kind of split Land Management into teams so we're going to have two land managers a chief of Land Management and um two teams east and west so these people are indiv right now they're go they Bounce from preserve to preserve now you will have assigned teams they will be looking at those preserves every day um you know they'll be getting off the mower and wiping down the kiosk which they don't like me for but uh uh they will have a relationship or they'll have an ownership of the area that they service that's what we're going towards right and and I'll add you know every year when we when we budget when I go through the budget you know future forecasting of management it's always top of mind for me so um coming from a Forester background you were always thinking 20 years ahead um so that has always stuck with me so um even if we don't budget for it this particular Year we're looking 5 years out 10 years out 15 years out okay thank you m Sher in the last meeting at the end of the meeting I brought up farmton I'm bringing it up again um since the flooding happened in our County from the hurricane the water is Flowing heavily from farmton at Edgewater to the east to the turno Hammond it's actually on video it's a solid video you can't miss it it's not like a small trickle um it's still going through process it's my understanding in new smna beach um I don't know if it's been finalized in Edgewater but any land that you can negotiate there um maybe all the environmentally sensitive lands already been put aside but from the photos I saw it look like something might qualify so I'm just bringing it up again okay all right um Mr verbo we had spoken several meetings ago about getting our signage updated so that when people are by one of our properties a valua forever property they know it's in their face this is a valua forever property um Echo has very attractive signs are we is that something that's moving forward is that something that we need an action on or where are we on that so we we are moving forward I will say that we have um through the echoir county expenditure process it has given us a real opportunity to look at our preserves which are the passive Recreation preserves um we've replaced signs on dors all the access points at dors sleeper I'm looking at Nick here he's shaking his head yes yes um we're going to those signs are um we want to do it as the same time as we're doing those um preserve enhancement and education plans through Eko direct County expenditure so it's part of the package that we present to Eko is the new signage as well as the new amenities on that preserve one of the things I think that will help us and we've got two more to do I think Gemini Springs extension or the addition and what was the other one long leaf next year lonely Pine preserve and laa preserve are also on the list so those those three are on our list for updates here in the next year to um one of the things Nick did not mention I think was important to us is we the council also approved us hiring a recreation specialist in the in that Land Management depart and Land Management activity so this person can really help us understand like we understand the difference between passive and active but what are some things maybe we have themes at each you know and the focus of Deep Creek be water you know maybe at long leaf pine or long leaf pine preserve it's the long leaf pine and timbering so I think if we provide an experience based on a theme would be super cool um for our residents to kind of learn about the environment which the which forever supposed to do but at the same time tell a story because people don't remember they don't remember facts they remember stories so that's what we're trying to do on our preserves and Nick I'll let you jump in since I've been stealing all your thunder no I'll can add we we've also added a couple more new entrance signs uh scrub Oak preserve now has some new signage up uh Deep Creek preserve has a new sign and those were within the last three weeks have just gone up so you'll you'll start to see some of our older signage and kiosks being phased out and some new ones come in so it's it's a a constant effort by the land management team to to do updates we're also installing a many of these that aren't there yet such as some of the feedback we had was um some of these trails are are longer mileage on Wilderness Trail but uh they like benches to take a break on every now and then so we're installing some benches on these trails and some uh um smaller you may not notice it at first but uh there's some some new amenities are going in on The Preserves one of the things that were I'd like to move to when I was at I did kind of a state parks tour last year for vacation to see what they're doing in terms of kiosks um and one of the things I saw down in I think it was in Sarasota was this is what I wanted the recreation specialist for and now we have all of our benches in a GIS layer last year Nick's team basically took an inventory of all kiosks so we can get them on a maintenance plan all benches all Pavilions so we're saving for that next you know um bit of Maintenance or replacement so kudos to him for that um but there was a web page where you could buy a bench in someone's name or in memory of them so $250 they're replacing our bench for us why wouldn't we want to do that um so so that's one of the ways that's that's what we're trying to get to um had one other thing but it just slipped my mind in terms of oh hot off the presses that Nick has not shared is you know one of the things we've heard is from folks is we want a a driving Trail for people with you know a accessibility issues um we haven't got there yet because we haven't been able to find a dry enough area through one of our preserves but Nick's team wrote a grant to the FWC Foundation to get a a e eco Rover track chair um so this is basically a chair on tracks that someone who is you know not able-bodied um could get in and go um explore our trail system and so we're going to house that at lonia preserve so the LEC staff is going to man it um and people can check it out or reserve it online you know we just got word of the grant yesterday or or last week rather um we didn't get the full amount so that was our question leadership can we take some money from reserves to fund this and they said of course so that's something I'm sure you'll hear a press release about soon yeah there's no doubt it's a big task because we have a lot of properties but I just want to make sure that the public is aware when they're on one of the volia forever properties that it is a vucha forever property so they know where their tax dollars are going so thank you for all of that any other comments okay um thank you to everyone for to another meeting as we try to speed this process up um we're going to have to be more flexible just like staff is going to have to be more flexible so thank you to everyone for that um and I believe is our next meeting December 6 correct okay very good if there is nothing else then we will see everyone on December 6 thank you please leave your binders we'd appreciate it yes thank you thank you bre e