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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-11-2010 Workshop PacketCO(1NTy F t t7 R I D R MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2010 2:30 P.M. BOARD WORKSHOP CALL TO ORDER -COMMISSIONER CHARLES GRANDE, CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS 2. DISCUSSION ON 2010 LEGISLATIVE REQUESTS 3. DISCUSSION ON HOUSE JOBS BILL 4. QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS 5. ADJOURNMENT CONFERENCE ROOM #3 2300 VIRGINIA AVENUE, FORT PIERCE FLORIDA 34982 NOTICE: All Proceedings before this Board are electronicelty recorded. Any person who decides to appeal any action taken by the Board at these meetings will need a record of the proceedings and for such purpose may need to ensure that a verbatim record of the proceedings is made. Upon the request of any party to the proceedings, individuals testifying during a hearing will be sworn in. Any party to the proceedings will be granted the opportunity to cross-examine any individual testifying during a hearing upon request Anyone with a disability requiring accommodation to attend this meeting should contact the St Lucie County Community Services Manager at (772) 462-1777 or TDD (772) 462-1428 at least forty-eight (48) hours prior to the meeting. ITEM N0.2 LEGISLATIVE REQUESTS Last Year's Requests • Treasure Coast Education and Research Park: $3,000,000 • Fort Pierce Beach Restoration: $5,000,000 • South County Beach Re-Nourishment Study: $500,000 ($400,000 received} • King Highway/Orange Avenue Intersection: $11,000,000 • Midway Road Widening: $13,000,000 • Twelve Buses and Multimodal Facility (Selvitz Road): $7,500,000 • Runway 9/27 Rehabilitation: $3,800,000 ($2.1 million received -Project completed} Potential Projects for Current Year • Treasure Coast Education and Research Park: $3,000,000 An alternative energy research facility is planned for the Treasure Coast Education and Research Park. The facility will anchor the exploration and development of alternative energy using the research efforts of the University of Florida; Indian River State College; Florida Atlantic University; Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute; Smithsonian Institute Marine Research Center; Torrey Pines Institute for Molecular Studies; Oregon Health and Science University, Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (VGTI Florida); and the USDA in a collaborative partnership. The Center will include space for wet labs; incubator modules for start-up initiatives; meeting and audio-visual presentations including video-conferencing equipment; and offices for administration. The project also will require scientific, computer and audio-visual equipment and infrastructure improvements including extension of utilities, roads, and fiber-optics for Internet and video. The cost of the 10,000 square foot building is estimated to be $4,000,000. Infrastructure costs are estimated to be an additional $2,000,000. The total cost is therefore estimated to be $6,000,000. FY 2011 REQUEST.• $3,000,000 • Fort Pierce Beach Restoration: $5,000,000 This project is to re-nourish approximately 1.3 miles of beachfront immediately south of the federally-maintained navigation inlet which allows access to the Fort Pierce Harbor. Various Army Corps of Engineer approved studies have concluded that the federal government is responsible for approximately 60 percent of the erosion that has occurred along this segment of shoreline because of the federally-maintained inlet. During the past 50 years, this segment of beach has been re- nourished on multiple occasions. Because of the severe continued erosion to the shoreline, which protects the federally maintained inlet, Congress allocated funding to the Army Corps of Engineers to modify future re-nourishment in an effort to slow the rate of erosion to manageable levels and to stem the tide of sand loss which poses a serious threat to upland public and private infrastructure and to the recreational health of the beach. The cost of implementing the modified re-nourishment plan is $5,000,000. FY 2011 REQUEST: $5,000,000 • Fort Pierce Inlet Dredging Permit: $500,000 The Fort Pierce Inlet is a federally maintained inlet. In 1995, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USAGE) modified the Fort Pierce Harbor and enlarged the entrance channel to 30 feet by 400 feet, the interior channel to 28 feet by 250 feet, and dredging of the turning basin to a depth of 28 feet. The channel has been dredged to maintain the depth on multiple occasions since 1995. Shoaling within the channel has reduced channel depth to a degree that it is impairing navigation for larger cargo ships. This potentially can impact jobs at Indian River Terminal. The permit to dredge the channel, given to the USAGE, has expired. The cost of securing a new permit is $500,000. The permit would again be given to the USAGE. FY2011 REQUEST: $500,000 • Kings Highway/Orange Avenue Intersection: $11,000,000 The partnering of the University of Florida, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, St. Lucie County, and other organizations to develop the Treasure Coast Research and Education Park has created an immediate need for the widening of Kings Highway from 2 lanes to 4 lanes. Rapid growth and development activity in northern St. Lucie County additionally contributes to this need. Kings Highway is a 10.5-mile State Highway that functions as a regional north-south arterial. Its southern terminus intersects with the Florida Turnpike. Its northern terminus intersects with U.S. Highway 1, a major north-south commercial corridor. Kings Highway additionally has three direct linkages with Interstate 95: State Roads 70, 68, and 614. The Highway also has direct linkage of only 2.5 miles by State Road 608 with St. Lucie County International Airport. The southern segment (2.5 miles), which provides linkage to both the Florida Turnpike and Interstate 95, is currently classified as failing in terms of average annual daily traffic. The soon-to-be-developed Treasure Coast Research and Education Park is located on the southern, failed segment. Traffic congestion on this southern segment will significantly curtail the Park's ability to attract research businesses and jobs to St. Lucie County. Because the southern segment is classified as failing and because current traffic conditions on this segment could potentially curtail development of the Research Park and its associated jobs, St. Lucie County has given highest priority to the widening of the southern segment. The Kings Highway /Orange Avenue intersection is located on the northern end of this segment and has been designated as the first phase of the widening project. Design of the intersection is 60% completed. The cost of construction and right-of-way acquisition has been estimated to be $11,000,000. FY2011 REQUEST: $11,000,000 • Midway Road Widening: $13,000,000 Midway Road, as its name suggests, is located in the center of St. Lucie County and serves as a major east-west corridor connecting U.S. Highway 1 to Interstate 95 and State Road 70. The roadway traverses four other major north-south corridors: Glades Cut-Off Road, Selvitz Road, 25th Street, and Oleander Boulevard. The headquarters of the St. Lucie County Sheriff, Fire District, and Health Department are located along the corridor. The St. Lucie County Emergency Operations Center and the hurricane recovery staging area at the St. Lucie County Fairgrounds are also located on Midway Road. The road serves as a major evacuation route during hurricanes. The road additionally accommodates schools, two mental health and substance abuse residential facilities, and a number of major industries. This critical project is to widen an approximate two-mile section from 2 lanes to 4 lanes from 25`h Street to the Florida Turnpike bridge. Design of the project has been completed and right-of-way acquisition has been initiated. The estimated cost of the project is $26,000,000 which includes right-of-way acquisition and construction. St. Lucie County has allocated $13,000,000 to the project. FY2011 REQUEST.• $13,000,000 • Twelve Buses and Multimodal Facility (Selvitz Road): $7,500,000 In July 2005, the St. Lucie County Metropolitan Planning Organization approved a major update to its Five Year Transit Development Plan. The Plan identified the need for the replacement of fifty fixed and demand response buses as well as additional buses to expand fixed route service. The Plan also recommended the "creation of multimodal transportation hubs in central Ft. Pierce and Port St. Lucie serving fixed routes, Greyhound bus service, potential Amtrak service and other transportation modes." St. Lucie County currently has a bus fleet of 42 buses that are parked at two government office facilities in downtown Fort Pierce and Port St. Lucie. The two facilities are too small for the current fleet and offer no room for transit expansion or fleet maintenance. Maintenance is currently contracted to a private service which requires additional time and manpower to deliver the buses to the maintenance service facility. St. Lucie County intends to develop a multimodal facility at a site where the buses can be parked and maintained, that will be easily accessible to Greyhound services, and that will also will provide office space for the County's transit operations. There are also plans for the site to become a Commercial Drivers License (CDL) training facility. This will meet a critical training need as identified by the Treasure Coast Workforce Board. St. Lucie County will be providing land for the site. The total estimated cost to purchase new buses and develop and build a multimodal facility is $12,738,711. FY2011 REQUEST: $7,500,000 • Airport Taxiways A & B Rehabilitation: $2,850,000 Taxiway (TW) A is a full length parallel taxiway that parallels Runway 10R/28L and is approximately 6,500 feet in length. The original 4,600 foot section of this taxiway was last resurfaced in 1985. In 1989, an additional 1,900 section was added to the taxiway to correspond with the extension of Runway (RW) 10R/28L. The taxiway width varies from 50 feet wide in some locations to 35 feet wide in other areas. Since RW lOR is the primary instrument runway for jet arrivals and departures, the 35 feet section of TW A needs to be upgraded to 50 feet to meet the same design criteria as the remainder of the taxiway. TW 6 is a full length parallel taxiway for RW 14/32. This taxiway is 4,400 feet in length and SO feet wide, and was last resurfaced in 1985. TW B also provides the only access from the full-service Fixed Base Operator located on the northeast side of the airfield to RW 10R/28L. In October 2007, a pavement inspection was conducted by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT). The inspection results showed that both taxiways were in fair to poor condition, with some sections listed as very poor, including sections of the connecting taxiways. Both taxiways are exhibiting block cracking, rutting, and longitudinal cracking. The taxiway smoothness for moving aircraft is poor and foreign object debris is a constant maintenance problem. The age of the pavement is the primary cause for these distresses as it has been over 20 years since these taxiways were last milled and paved, and the pavement has reached its useful life. The design and construction of this rehabilitation project has been programmed in the Joint Automated Capital Improvement Program (JACIP) with FDOT and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for FY 2010 and the State has already provided a grant for their portion of the project, However, the FAA Airport Improvement Program has only been partially funded by Congress through March 2010. Apre-application has been submitted to the FAA for assistance with design costs that are estimated at $373,941. tt was hoped that the design could be done with a grant issued by March, allowing the Airport to seek other possibilities for funding construction. We have been advised by the FAA that they would not be able to fund the design or construction for this project until FY 2011. The estimated cost for design, permitting, and construction is $2,850,000 FY2011 REQUEST: $2,850,000 • Harbor Branch Wetland Restoration: $2,600,000 The goal of the Harbor Branch Wetland Restoration project is to restore tidal flow to a large 178- acre impounded saltmarsh wetland that borders the Indian River Lagoon. During the 1950's and 1960's, mangrove marsh wetlands throughout the Indian River Lagoon were separated for mosquito control purposes by dikes constructed along the shoreline of the wetlands. The original intent was to dewater the wetlands and thereby reduce the presence of mosquitoes. The dewatering had no positive impact in reducing mosquitoes and negatively impacted the Lagoon by removing the mangroves' water filtering function and foraging and nursery habitat for numerous marine species provided by the mangroves. The Harbor Branch Wetland is one of these impounded wetlands and is the last significant wetland within St. Lucie County that has not been re-connected to the Lagoon. More than 4,000 other wetland acres have been reconnected. Acquisition of the Harbor Branch wetland at a cost of $6,780,000 is currently in process and should be completed by March 2010. The estimated cost to restore and re-connect the wetland to the Lagoon is $2,600,000. A grant application has been submitted to the National Estuary Program for funding of $2,600,000. A grant application will also be submitted during March 2010 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service National Coastal Wetland Conservation Grant Program for $1,000,000. FY2011 REQUEST: $2,600,000 ITEM N0.3 ~_~~'~~ ~ ~ ~ ~~~~ ~~~~. ~'AI\' SCO~'OC 1 S S O C I :~ T' N: ti MEMORANDUM From: Greg Burns Subject: Jobs for Main Street Act, 2010 Date: December 16, 2009 Details of Initial Public Draft of House of Representatives "Jobs for Main Street Act, 2010" Title 1-Infrastructure and Jobs Investment Chapter 1 -Justice • $1.179 billion for Community Oriented Policing Services grant program to hire and rehire police officers Chapter 2 -Energy & Water Development • $715 million for Corps of Engineers construction activities, including no less than $30 million for authorized Section 219, or water infrastructure, projects • $100 million for Bureau of Reclamation "Water and Related Resources," not less than $26 million for Title XVI projects • $2 billion for the Title 17 Innovative Technology Loan Guarantee Program Chapter 3 -Homeland Security • $500 million for Firefighter Assistance Grants to hire firefighters Chapter 4 -Interior and Environment • $1 billion for capitalization grants for the Clean Water State Revolving Funds (not subject to cost share requirements) • $1 billion for capitalization grants for the Drinking Water State Revolving Funds (not subject to cost share requirements) • $120 million for the Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Department of Interior Wildland Fire Management Program for activities using term employment • $150 million for the US Forest Service activities using term employment Chapter 5 -Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education • $1.25 billion for training and employment services for activities under the Workforce Investment Act, including $500 million for grants to states for "youth activities" and $750 million for a competitive grant program for worker training and placement in high growth and emerging industry sectors. Of this $750 million, $275 million will be for job training projects in energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors and $225 million will be for Pathways Out of Poverty projects. • $23 billion for an Education Jobs Fund to retain or create education jobs $132 million for AmeriCorps $68 million for the National Service Trust Chapter 6 -Transportation and Housing and Urban Development • $500 million for airport grants • $27.5 billion for highway infrastructure investments, including passenger and freight rail transportation and port infrastructure projects. Essentially all of these funds will be apportioned to the states, 30 percent of which then must be sub-allocated within the state. • $800 million for Amtrak • $6.15 billion for transit grants • $1.75 billion for fixed guideway infrastructure investments • $500 million for capital investment discretionary grants • $100 million for the Maritime Guaranteed Loan Program • $1 billion for the Public Housing Capital Fund • $1.065 billion for the Housing Trust Fund Title 2 -Surface Transportation Extension Reauthorizes surface transportation law until September 30, 2010. Title 3 -Unemployment and Other Emergency Needs Funds for small business loans, extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits, repeal of earned income threshold for determining refundable portion of the Child Tax Credit. Reduces TARP funding by $150 billion, effectively allowing that funding to be used to pay for this legislation.