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2025-09-10 SRC MinutesSUSTAINABILITY AND RESILIENCY COMMITTEE Wednesday, 10 September 2025 Council Chambers 10050 NE 2nd Avenue 6:30pm Minutes 1. CALL TO ORDER – By Chairperson Nicola Meyer at 6:35pm 2. ROLL CALL: Present: Vice Chair Mr. Richard Pluhar Ms. Patricia Casey Ms. Silvia Kang Ms. Carol Eannace Respondek Ms. Hilda Leigh Toney Also present: Mr. Delroy Peters, Public Works Director & Staff Liaison Mr. Neil Cantor, Vice Mayor 3. MINUTES: Minutes approved from Meeting of 6-11-25 4. PUBLIC COMMENTS: None 5. DISCUSSION and POSSIBLE ACTION: 5a. Board appointment of a chair and vice chair Ms. Carol Eannace Respondek elected Chairperson 6-0 vote. Ms. Patricia Casey elected Vice Chair 6-0 vote. 5b. Status of the change request to Ordinance XI submitted to the Village Clerk Ms. Meyer reviewed the progress of the revised Ordinance. Mr. Peters reminded the Committee that the Chair is required to present revisions to the Ordinance to Council. Mr. Cantor spoke about the process at the Council for approval of the Ordinance and expressed his willingness to sponsor it. Ms. Respondek will send current Ordinance to Mr. Cantor to review, as well as to Maggy for distribution if needed and documentation. Ms. Casey stated that there are no material changes to the Ordinance at the moment. It was decided to table bringing this ordinance back to Council unless requested again since the Council schedule is quite full and the current changes to the ordinance are minor. 5c. Tree Ordinance Discussion Ms. Meyer and Ms. Respondek reviewed the progress of this ordinance since it was first workshopped in 2023. Mr. Peters mentioned that it would be advantageous for the Committee to add language to address the current problem of landscapers leaving their tree debris, not necessarily from their Shores clients in our alleys. This misuse also affects the enforcement of the ACE program. The Tree Ordinance is required for inclusion into the “Tree City” program. The Tree Ordinance only deals with Public trees. Ms. Respondek stated that this ordinance does not affect trees on private property, nor can we create an ordinance that affects trees on private property, as mandated by the State of FL. Mr. Pluhar read from the Tree City website that a yearly tree budget is required to maintain Tree City status, as well as an Arbor Day Event. Mr. Peters stated that MS can cover the required tree budget within the existing budgets. Mr. Cantor will ask the Village Attorney about the status of the Tree Ordinance. Mr. Peters asked Ms. Respondek to send the current ordinance to his office for distribution. 5d. Budget for SRC Ms. Meyer reiterated her request for a budget for the Committee to be used for supplies for a Green Day exhibit and give aways, speaker fees for workshops if necessary, clean up supplies, etc. Ms. Meyer will create a memo detailing the need for the budget. It was decided to ask for $5,000. Ms. Toney stated that government can’t fund food expenses, so this should not be included and that possibly a councilmember may want to sponsor this budget if they each had a discretionary budget. 5e. SRC Workshop – Living Seawall by Kind Designs Ms. Respondek reviewed the upcoming workshop as it is being planned. Currently the flyer Is awaiting the Village Manager’s office and Communication Specialist approval, before it goes back to the Library for insertion of their Eventbrite link so that it can be placed into the newsletter and promoted. Ms Respondek suggested that Ms. Toney may want to consider coordinating the Workshops in the future as she is an educator. Ms. Toney will consider this and asked that Ms. Respondek provide a review of previous workshops. Ms. Respondek will provide a listing and description of past workshops for the next meeting. 6. INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP DAY SEP 20 Ms. Meyer reviewed the plans for International Coastal Cleanup Day to be held on Sat., 20 Sept 10am – 12pm along NE 107/NE 108th Streets from just immediately west of Biscayne Blvd, on the swale next to the Burlington store – the Railroad tracks. Ms. Meyer would also like to include Biscayne Blvd south (west side) to NE 104th Street if enough people attend. Ms. Casey volunteered to work with Ms. Meyer on this project. Question – can Ms. Meyer talk directly to Ms. Casey? Mr. Cantor will follow up on this with the Village Attorney. Ms. Meyer will provide a short blurb about this cleanup for Mr. Cantor to read at the next Council meeting. Volunteer Cleanup.org will provide all the supplies. Ms. Meyer asked Mr. Peters for PW assistance to provide a tent, tables and chairs, as well as trash pickup. Ms. Peters agreed that will be provided. Ms. Meyer will speak to the Management of the Burlington shopping center regarding parking by volunteers within the shopping center. Ms. Respondek suggested that the cleanup be promoted on both or either Mom’s & Dad’s what’s app chats. Ms. Casey suggested that it also be promoted at all the local schools. Ms. Casey reminded all that it would be advantageous to do another cleanup after Halloween. The date chosen is Sunday, 2 November. Ms. Casey is calling this “Candy Wrapper Clean Up”. 7. PUBLIC WORKS UPDATES: 7a. Seawall project – expected start of construction timeline Mr. Peters reviewed the progress of the seawall project so far. It has taken 8-12 weeks for the contractor to get supplies, which should be in place by October. The NTP was issued for 13 Oct. Prior to this they are assessing existing cracks on walls, etc. on neighbor’s houses. Kind should be able to start their work about 4 weeks after the contractor. Ms. Meyers suggested that more thorough updates be added to the website for each of the projects. Mr. Peters explained how difficult that is, especially with limited staff. Ms. Respondek stated that she would be in touch with FIU and the Waterkeeper about the project. Mr. Cantor said it would be valuable to document the difference between the marine life at the seawall now and after the Kind seawalls are installed. 7b. Biscayne Median Beautification Mr. Peters stated that PW had expected the Beautification project to cost $130K, but it is now expected to cost $200K. The difference is available in the next budget year. The Beautification project is now with Procurement for bidding, after which time it will go to the Council for approval. The project needs to be completed by June 2026 for grant reasons and before the resurfacing that DOT plans to do on Biscayne Blvd. After this, Mr. Peters stated that there would be landscaping improvement next year along 96th Street between NE 2nd Ave and NW 2nd Ave. 8. COMMITTEE MEMBER COMMENTS In looking forward to additional workshops, Committee members discussed the previously mentioned pervious/impervious workshop. Ms. Respondek suggested that there is value to doing this workshop for residents for an education purpose even if it cannot be mandated by ordinance. Mr. Peters talked about PW efforts to ease the flooding of one resident by re-grading his swale. Mr. Pluhar suggested that there be a solar panel workshop before the end of the year to take advantage of the expiring tax credits. Mr. Pluhar and Ms. Toney will work on this for early November. Ms. Kang spoke about the Climate Walk & Talk. Ms. Meyer added her assessments of it as did Ms. Respondek. All agreed that it was educational, valuable for its limited data points, even though so few people attended. Ms. Casey mentioned that Hollywood is partnering with a composing company for 3 months. Mr. Peters said that PW is also talking to composting companies. Ms. Respondek announced that the next meeting with SFWMD is Friday, 3 October at the Log Cabin in Biscayne Park and urged all to attend. 9. NEXT COMMITTEE MEETING – Wednesday, 8 October 2025 at 6:30pm 10. ADJOURNMENT