Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-16-2020 IPM MinutesINTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING COUNCIL CHAMBERS 1225 MAIN STREET, SEBASTIAN, FL NOVEMBER 16, 2020 Call to Order — The meeting was called to order by Mr. Benton at 2:04 p.m. IL Pledge of Alleciance was recited by all. III. Roll call Present Dr. Cox Mr. Carrano Mr. Stadelman Ms. Callaghan (Zoom) Not Present Ms. Nickie Munroe — Excused Ms. Lovell -- Excused Also Present: Ken Griffin, Stormwater Manager Kim Haigler, Environmental Planner Brian Benton, Leisure Services Director Barbara Brooke -Reese, MIS Manager Janet Graham, Technical Writer (Zoom) IV. Announcements Ms. Haiglerwelcomed Nickie Munroe who isfrom the WAS Indian River County Extension Office and is replacing Christine Kelly-Begazo as a Scientific Advisor to this Sub - Committee. She thanked IFAS for their continued support and participation in this program. Ms. Haigler also announced that the Stormwater Integrated Pest Management website is up, and it can be accessed through the Natural Resources Board's page. It contains the presentations from the first meeting. Staff will continue to update the information from each meeting going forward. V. Public Input INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 2 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020 MEETING Mr. Benton called on anyone from the public who would like to speak Bob Stephen, 150 Concha Drive, Sebastian. Mr. Stephen thanked the Sub -Committee members and stated this program is much needed in the City. He described an event he attended in Melbourne the day before this meeting. He reviewed that there were environmentalists present, and there were several attendees there with free information. There were several from the public in attendance. He suggested that something akin to this be implemented in Sebastian and said that the group in Brevard County offered their help if Sebastian wanted to do that. He opined that this would be a great way to educate the public in this City. Mr. Stephen also stated that Brevard already has two harvesting machines and are planning on purchasing a third machine for harvesting around their waterways. Dr. Cox reviewed that there is a clean water coalition in Indian River County, and he suggested that this would be a good organization to approach about what Mr. Stephen had described. Mr. Stephen suggested the Natural Resources Board would be a good place to start. Ms. Haigler stated that the Natural Resources Board does have their annual Earth Day event. Sebastian did not have it this year because of the COVID-19 virus restriction, but it is hoped that it can be held in 2021. Peter Hinck, Sebastian. He is on the Board of Directors of the Indian River Keepers. He described that group as an organization that looks after the lagoon and tries to find ways to solve problems in the lagoon. He has looked at the Stormwater Park and the canals in Sebastian and stated they are in good shape considering the amount of rain that has occurred lately. He opined that the reason the aquatic vegetation that has been growing so much in these waterways is because of the nutrient loads that are in the canals. He suggested that by spraying the weeds, the weeds die, go to the bottom, turn to muck, and all the nutrients that they have taken in gets re-released back into the water. He opined that over time there is a need to spray more and more to get the same result. So he suggested that the answer to the problem is to try to reduce the nutrient loads. If there is a need to spray, just spray the patches where it is needed instead of spraying large areas. He also stated that the fertilizer ordinances that are in place need to be adhered to. In addition, he described the condition of the River in north Brevard because of so much algae. Mr. Benton asked Mr. Hinck to define where north of Sebastian the problems exist. Mr. Hinck stated the area is from Titusville down to Palm Bay. He agreed with Ms. Haigler that there is no circulation in that area. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 3 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020 MEETING Seeing no one else from the public in Chambers and hearing no one on Zoom, Mr. Benton moved to the next item on the agenda. VI. New Business A. Proposed Revision of the Meeting Schedule Mr. Benton stated that all members of the Sub -Committee were presented with a revised schedule. At the last meeting it was discussed meeting every other Monday. However, because of the holiday season fast approaching, the next meeting is suggested for December 7th. The following meeting would be December 21st, and following that would be January 11th, following which the meetings will revert to the two -week schedule. Mr. Benton called for a motion. A motion to approve the revised meeting schedule was made by Mr. Stadelman, seconded by Dr. Cox, and approved unanimously via voice vote. B. Site Tour Discussion Overview of sites visited Discussion of site -specific pests and challenges Ms. Haigler reviewed that a group comprised of Sub -Committee members and City staff met just prior to this meeting to visit some sites around the City. The focus was on the three primary outfall areas and one of the stonnwater ponds. The tour began at the Cheltenham Pond. That pond was probably three -fourths covered with duckweed mainly as well as a good number of hyacinths. She described that the problem there is the shoreline vegetation, particularly at the inlet at Rolling Hill and at the outlet area at Benedictine. That needs to be controlled, as it is blocking the Flow of water in and out of the pond. The need to determine the depth to see how much the storage capacity has been compromised by the constant growth and death of vegetation there was discussed. She called for questions/comments from the Sub -Committee members. Dr. Cox: • Inquired whether there are other ponds in the City that are in similar shape. Ms. Haigler stated that it is pretty equal to what all the ponds look like presently. Periwinkle is probably about half covered. Mr. Griffin stated that there are multiple ponds in bad shape, and they have gotten that way over the last year. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 4 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020 MEETING Ms. Haigler stated that the group next went to the Concha Dam. She described it as the steel structure with an epoxy coating that has some severe rusting. The future plan for replacement of that structure was discussed by the group. Mr. Benton called for questions/comments from the Sub -Committee members. Dr. Cox: • Asked Mr. Griffin to explain what the problem is at that site. Mr. Griffin stated that the Concha Dam has excessive deterioration on the upstream side and some damage on the downstream side as well. It has been scheduled for reconstruction/replacement, and he stated the hope is to have it replaced before it does fail. Inquired what the consequences would be if the dam does fail. Mr. Griffin stated that, depending on the nature of the failure, there could be significant flooding downstream and impact to many natural areas and many residential properties downstream. Upstream, the waterfront property benefit that many property owners enjoy could be lost. Lowering the water level so quickly would probably also pose problems in terms of unequal pressures on the seawalls and the conditions therein, as they are in very poor condition. That would probably greatly accelerate the deterioration and collapse of those seawalls. Ms. Haigler said there was a lot of water spilling over the dam, although it still has slowed the water down. She stated it is thought that when that velocity and speed of the water are increased, it will bring a lot more sediment through the whole San Sebastian River system, which would not be a good thing. Ms. Haigler reviewed the next site that was visited, which is the Stonecrop Drainage Area. She described it as a wide ditch down Laconia that empties into the stormwater pond, which empties into a natural wetland, and then there is a dam and spillover into the San Sebastian River. The area at Concha Dam is pretty open, but it is really more of a flood plain through woods until it reaches the area at Stonecrop, where it opens up. It was almost full, and the flood plain looked beautiful. The group discussed the reconstruction project where the concrete box and culvert pipes will be retrofitted at Bevin and Laconia to help increase the storage capacity and the flow of the water. She described that a lot of times the water in that area backs up because it is more prone to storm surge. When it was hit by a Category 3 hurricane in 2005 the entire area flooded. So the capacity has to be ensured in order to protect the homes around that area. Mr. Griffin stated that the group looked at the Stonecrop outfall. Further up the Stonecrop INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 5 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020 MEETING watershed is one of the major drainage channels in the City's stormwater system that is under capacity. It is kind of like the Twin Ditches before that drainage way was corrected. There are a number of chokepoints in the system where there are too many tributary drainage areas that come into the Stonecrop facility. Bevan is a good example. So, up and down the channel in that area there is simply not enough capacity to carry the stormwater, and there are all kinds of problems with erosion, sloughing with backing up of water. This has probably contributed to a lot of the flooding that was seen during the large stone event that was as much as seven inches in places about 2-1/2 months ago when there was massive flooding around the Barber Street Sports Complex and the neighborhoods south of there. That was a direct result of the under capacity and under design of the Stonecrop channel. Ms. Haigler then addressed the Twin Ditches area. She stated this is the canal that runs from the conservation area all the way down Main Street past the golf course and ends at the dam spillway there. It then goes into the Collier Club drainage easement area, and it meets at the same time at the Hardee Dam. The group saw that a lot of duckweed has made it through the dam there and was building up on the other side. The group discussed how that area is really prone to vegetation overgrowth, but the City usually gets in there with a mower to mow it down. It is not usually a storage; it usually is barely a stream through there, but it is pretty full right now. The City has never used chemicals in that area. The long -arm mower has always been used for the banks. There is a sandy island in the middle, and the group discussed how that enhances the vegetation growth that creates these problems. It could plainly be seen how the Twin Ditches basin on the other side of both dams has become a real chokepoint for vegetation and nutrients. Mr. Benton then asked for questions/comments from the Sub -Committee. Hearing none, he called for public input on this agenda item only. Bob Stephen, 150 Concha Drive, Sebastian. He stated that back of his house is where three canals meet. So he sees this water every day. There have been high levels of the Concha waterways. He described that he understands that in the past a few slats would be pulled out of the Concha Dam to lower it and pump the water from the waterways into the upper lakes before the storms arrived. He suggested going back to that method of control. He stated the vegetation is filtering the water and filtering the nutrients out of it. If the plants are killed, they go down to the bottom of the canal and create more nutrients. Mr. Stephen addressed the deterioration on the Concha Dam. He asked why the dam is left so full all the time. He suggested lowering the water so that the pressure is taken off the Concha Dam. He also suggested getting St. John's Waterway Management to review the original management procedure on how to care for the City's waterways. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 6 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020 MEETING Diana Bolton, George Street, Sebastian. She described the aquatic vegetation as being 'Workhorses" by cleaning the water. She stated there is a cultural issue with that, as the public is used to seeing golf -course -like ponds. She stated that according to the WAS Manual on Aquatic Plant Management, it is stated that there is a certain amount of cover needed on the water bodies. Duckweed is a great cover as well as being a source of food for fish, and duckweed does not clog the system. She also described water lettuce as being used as part of cleaning systems in other areas. The cheapest way of cleaning our water is by using plants rather than using chemicals and mechanical means. She also described cattails as being a positive vegetative plant. Seeing no one else from the public in Chambers and hearing no one on Zoom, Mr. Benton then called for discussion from the Sub -Committee members on this item. Dr. Cox • Asked Tim Glover from the Friends of St. Sebastian River if the Stonecrop area is where the Greenway comes down from CR-512 and is that a public -owned piece of property. Mr. Glover identified himself and explained that the Greenway was a conceptual plan. It is not something that has been extensively discussed or implemented that he is aware of. He opined that it included all of the prongs south of CR-512, but he is not certain about that. Ms. Haigler stated the County owns the parcel just north of the MRC property, which is directly across the water from where this group just visited. The County also owns where the Rotary Park is on the north and south sides of CR-512. The Greenway strip is from the main kayak launch on the south end of CR-512 out to the state park area. The City of Sebastian maintains much of the strip of land that goes from the Concha Dam area up to Stonecrop. It has public access. Hearing no more discussion on this item, Mr. Benton moved to the next item on the agenda. C. Stormwater Integrated Pest Management DRAFT Review and Discussion Program details Ms. Haigler reviewed that the Sub -Committee has discussed what the IPM plan is as far as the Sub -Committee, the coordinator, the responsibilities, and the annual report. These INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 7 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020 MEETING are the basic features of the Parks and Properties IPM program that she hopes will carry over to the Stormwater IPM program. She noted it is important to keep in mind the stormwater features that are inside of a planned unit development. The waterways inside subdivisions are managed with a permit between the subdivision and St. John's. The City does not manage those. Mr. Benton called attention to the second sentence under Scope where it is stated that the assets include a seawall perimeter. Just for the record, he asked Ms. Haigler to identify what exactly that is. Ms. Haigler explained that the responsibility is mixed. Some seawall is the property of the homeowners, and some seawall is the property of the City of Sebastian. What is described under Scope is not about the maintenance of the seawall itself; it is just about the vegetation inside the waterways. Ms. Haigler reviewed the Sub -Committee's responsibilities and its role in the Stormwater IPM program. She described that a huge part of this program is public outreach, and that will be emphasized as the program is implemented. She stated the website is up now, and she thanked the MIS Department for their work on setting up the website. She described that any and all outside contractors who are chosen forwork underthis program will have to sign a contract that states that they will adhere to the City's Integrated Pest Management Plan. The Standard Operating Procedures were reviewed, and Ms. Haigler explained how they differ from what is in the IPM Plan for Parks and Properties. ii. Asset classification table Ms. Haigler went over the Stormwater Features Classification Table. Mr. Benton called for commentslquestions from the Sub -Committee members. Ms. Callaghan: Inquired regarding the Scope. Her understanding is that some of the pests are present because of the nutrients that result from homeowners in the area which might have surface water that flows to the stormwater system. She asked if homeowner input should be addressed in this Plan. Ms. Haigler stated the most important aspect of dealing with the homeowners is outreach education. There is a fertilizer ordinance, and the most important thing that can be emphasized in that regard is to teach the homeowners how to read the fertilizer label property. Ms. Callaghan suggested adding the fertilizer ordinance into the document as a reminder that that is part of the ordinance. Ms. Haigler stated she will do that. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 8 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020 MEETING • Regarding the word "pests" asset forth on the first page, the third paragraph, she commented that a reference to the definition of pests could be made there. Ms. Haigler stated that she can do that. Ms. Haigler stated that she has already added a great many new words and their definitions into the glossary. Mr. Carrano: Stated that as long as fertilizer is looked at as the major source of nitrogen, it is a losing battle. The number of sanitary systems that enter into the groundwater far exceed any fertilizer nitrogen. A small portion of the fertilizer gets into the groundwater and ultimately into the waterways. There is nothing that stops nitrogen from going from a septic system into the groundwater and into the local waterways. He opined that the emphasis on fertilizer as the main problem should be discontinued. Of all the contributors to the problem, fertilizer is the smallest contributor. Called attention to the third paragraph under Scope where it says, "In order to best manage pests..." He hopes that instead of talking about "pests," that is defined as non-native invasive aquatic vegetation. Ms. Haigler stated that sometimes a native is a pest. If there is a native growing densely around a weir, that needs to be removed. It cannot be allowed to take over and block the flow of the water. Mr. Carrano is mostly concerned about the word "pests." He opined that when the waterways are being dealt with, the word "pests" is not the best word to be used in that instance. Regarding the Standard Operating Procedures section, the subsection on Structures stated there is "...zero tolerance for weeds." He opined that the word "weeds" is not the appropriate word. That would be more like dealing with aquatic vegetation and not the connotation of what the general public think of when weeds are discussed. Regarding the Ponds section, he opined that shoreline vegetation is not going to affect the capacity of the ponds. Shoreline vegetation inside the weirs that goes to or from the ponds is a problem, but shoreline vegetation is normally looked at as a positive thing because it absorbs water and nutrients, and it provides a positive effect. Ms. Haigler explained that she used the wording, "...when not maintained to the shorelines..." She gave the example that when the cattails have expanded from the shoreline and cover the entire water, that results in the pond's storage capacity being reduced. Mr. Carrano suggested the whole section about ponds needed to be reworded. Ms. Callaghan commented on what Mr. Carrano mentioned. She suggested the classifications could have an additional column or INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 9 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020 MEETING an additional table to demonstrate that shoreline vegetation is ideal, and each one of those could be classified in a table a little easier. Ms. Haigler pointed out that this is just the introduction section. After this, the Sub -Committee will be going into a section just about structures, etc. That is where it is going to be elaborated on exactly where the problems are. Mr. Stadelman: Stated that when these sorts of plans are being implemented, usually funding is needed. He asked if this IPM Plan going forward will require additional funding to address this aquatic vegetation program and, if so, what that would entail. Mr. Benton emphasized the fact that the City is now in the very infant stages of this Plan. He further stated that a lot of information that is being presented today in the draft review and discussion is the very beginning basically taking what was in the Parks and Properties Plan and putting it into this Plan and then changing what needs to be changed for Stor mwater when doing the introduction. Once the Sub - Committee gets further into the items, that is when cost, etc. can be discussed, and all those things that are discussed can then be implemented into this Plan. He further explained that the City already has a stormwater utility fee that is in place that generates funds that can be used towards this Plan. Dr. Cox: Regarding funding, the purpose of this Plan is to identify the problems that are to be solved, and then a search can be done to find entities that can help to pay for solving that particular problem. There are grants available. Some of the solutions to these problems are going to be very expensive, and help will be needed from other entities such as St. John's Waterway Management or from the County, etc. Stated that the major ingredient for the success of this Plan is public outreach. He commented that the neighbors who have been living with these problems would have a lot to contribute. He suggested that encouraging neighborhood community groups over the course of the next few months might be a useful start. This might be done as a neighborhood survey. He offered to help with City staff to implement something like that. Mr. Benton stated that the City has a citizen request line, and there is documentation on the ones that get submitted to the City as far as complaints and communication. He asked Mr. Griffin if it would be possible to have a report that gives information similar to that so that staff would know what complaints had come in. Mr. Griffin stated the City does have a summary report, and staff has all the documentation that goes with it. He stated there is a lot of dialog via phone and email that goes back and forth in attempting to get to a INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 10 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020 MEETING resolution of a complaint. Ms. Haigler added that those complaints are also submitted through the website. She stated it can be up to 200+ communications a month from individuals, and that is all logged. Mr. Griffin added that staff has had a lot of close dialog with the citizens, the Parks Department, Engineering, Public Works, and the Police Department. He stated that there has been a lot of progress made in getting across to the public what is allowed and what is not allowed, etc. Hearing no more comments/questions from the Sub -Committee, Mr. Benton called for public input on this agenda item only. Diane Bolton, Sebastian. She stated she wanted to add to what Ms. Callaghan had mentioned ear ier about adding the fertilizer ordinance to the document. She reviewed sometime ago the fertilizer ordinance and the stormwater ordinance, and there was a $2 million budget a couple years ago on stormwater alone. She commented that the stormwater ordinance was written well, but hardly anyone knows about it. In there it specifically states that no pollutants such as herbicides, fertilizers, and/or pesticides are to be released in any manner such that they can go into the stormwater system, which includes the ditches and swales. She suggested that that verbiage be added into this document. She encouraged more outreach to the public. Ms. Haigler stated incorporating the stormwater ordinance in the appendix is a good idea. Seeing no one else from the public in Chambers, and hearing no one on Zoom, Mr. Benton moved to the next agenda item. Since this is an action item, Ms. Haigler asked to address this at a future meeting, as there is some verbiage that she needs to change. Mr. Benton and the Sub -Committee members agreed D. Physical, Cultural and Mechanical Control Methods Each member assigned a class of aquatic vegetation to research for next meeting Ms. Haigler stated at the next meeting, instead of going by species of the primary pests, the type of vegetation will be addressed. Dr. Cox will be assigned emergent vegetation, Mr. Carrano will have floating vegetation, Mr. Stadelman will have submerged vegetation, and, since Ms. Lovell will not be able to participate, Ms. Haigler will have algae. She will email out some direction and some links to get everyone started. Hearing no further comments from Sub -Committee members and no public input from anyone in Chambers or on Zoom, Mr. Benton moved to the next agenda item. INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 11 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020 MEETING VII. Old Business A. Biological Controls Member assignments discussion Ms. Haigler reviewed that at the last meeting discussion was held on what pests were treated by Applied Aquatics. Those were divided up among the Sub -Committee members. She called on the Sub -Committee members to present his/her findings about the biological controls available for their species. Dr. Cox included in his assignment cattails, and he needs some guidance on these. He also included Phragmites and purple Ioosestrife, flowering rush, torpedo grass, and tropical grassland plants. They all have different characteristics, and they all seem to be resistant to biological controls. Dealing with cattails is a real problem, as they are being used in the Everglades as a way to filter water from the farms, etc. going into the Everglades. If they are cut down, they come right back. If you are going to deal with cattails, you need to be very specific as to which cattails are meant. They can be of great value or they can be a great nuisance. It all depends on how they are defined. As far as he knows, there has not been developed an insect or a fish that eats them. Discussion was had among the Sub -Committee members and staff regarding how much of a problem cattails are in the City assets. Mr. Carrano reported on water hyacinths, and he found that there are no biological controls for this species of vegetation. Manatees may be an exception. There are some insects that will feed on them, but at this time none of them is commercially available. They do naturally exist in Florida, but there is no program being used to enhance their numbers. The next one is hydrilla, which is probably the most invasive plant known to man. In Florida, it only reproduces asexually. There is only one biological control that was mentioned that does any good, and that is sterile carp. The carp are readily available, but they do require a permit. He added that a combined approach such as mechanical harvesting plus sterile carp yields a much better result. He emphasized that all these plants have a positive and a negative impact to the environment. Most of the products that kill these plants are broad-spectrum herbicides. So not only is the targeted plant killed, but so are the other plants that surround it. As far as his study, the sterile carp is the best bet for controlling hydrilla. Mr. Benton inquired whether there are any major issues with hydrilla that are in the City's canals or ponds. Mr. Griffin stated it is quite invasive in both canals and ponds. It can be found just below the water surface. Mr. Stadelman states his plants were the giant Salvinia and the spatterdock. As far as INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT SUB -COMMITTEE PAGE 12 MINUTES OF NOVEMBER 16, 2020 MEETING the Giant Salvinia, he found that if it is in the waterways, you are stuck with it. It is actually a fern, and every southern state is fighting it. The only biological control was a fungus that was applied to it. As far as the spatterdock, if it is cut, it grows back double. It is native to this area, and there is no biologic that is successful in controlling it. Ms. Haigler stated Ms. Lovell was assigned the algae biological controls. The same as with the hydrilla are the grass carp, koi or goldfish that will eat the duckweed. The results are variable. However, it is widely accepted to use the grass carp. Azolla is a fresh -water fern. Biological control is by a weevil that eats it, but it has not been propagated for biological control. As far as the filamentous algae, the grass carp do not like it. The algae scum layer is not always algae. It is more like a deteriorated duckweed, azolla and different things that cause it to be formed. The best idea for that is a vegetative buffer to stabilize the banks and keep the nutrients out. Also, the bivalve clams and oysters are items that could be enhanced. Vill. Sub -Committee Member Matters - None IX. Staff Matters -- None X. Items for Next Aaenda A. Table of Biological Control Methods Mr. Benton stated that, based on the data that was presented and the information that was presented today, the Sub -Committee will start working on a biological control methods table. It will also bring back the IPM Program draft that was discussed as far as the program details and the asset classification table. Also, there will be a discussion of the physical control methods that were assigned to everyone today. XI. Adjournment There being no further business, Mr. Benton adjourned the meeting at 3:38 p.m. By: (�/�%t�1 c.`GtA�tw" Date: 52021. ;g ' I