MINUTES OF MEETING

NORTH SPRINGS IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT

 

            The regular meeting of the Board of Supervisors of the North Springs Improvement District was held on Thursday, May 6, 2004 at 4:10 p.m. in the District Office, 10300 N. W. 11 Manor, Coral Springs, Florida.

 

            Present and constituting a quorum were:

 

            Matt Lauritzen                                            President

            Salvatore J. Mendolia                                 Secretary

            Bob Miner                                                  Supervisor

 

            Also present were:

 

            Rich Hans                                                   Manager

            Dennis Lyles                                               Attorney

            Donna Holiday                                           Recording Secretary

            Jane Early                                                   Gee & Jenson

            Roger Moore                                             Staff

            Tara Patton                                                WCI

            Joe Guttuso                                                WCI

            Warren Craven                                           WCI

            Paul Hrynko                                               Rhon Ernest-Jones Consulting Engineers

            Carl J. Becker                                            Lennar Homes

            Peg McPherson                                          South Florida Water Mgt. District

 

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS                         Roll Call

            Mr. Lauritzen called the meeting to order and called the roll.

 

SECOND ORDER OF BUSINESS                    Approval of the Minutes of the April 1, 2004 Meeting

            Mr. Lauritzen stated that each Board member had received a copy of the minutes of the April 1, 2004 meeting and requested any additions, corrections or deletions.

            There not being any,

 

On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the minutes of the April 1, 2004 meeting were approved as submitted.

 

FOURTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                    Distribution of Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2005

            Mr. Hans distributed the proposed budget for fiscal year 2005 and stated please review the budget, and we will discuss any changes next month and adopt it in two months.

 

SIXTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                        Consideration of Award of Contracts for Heron Bay Commons

            A.        Bleachers

            Ms. Early stated we received three bids.  The engineer’s estimate was $16,750.00, and the low bid was $14,818.00 submitted by Contract Connection.  We received a bid from Awnings by Valrose in the amount of $8,218.50, but it was just for the awning.  The bid package consisted of the bleacher seats with concrete slab and canopy.  The bid submitted by Accurate Tennis Courts was in the mount of $48,100.  Staff recommends awarding the contract to Contract Connection.  This will be paid out of the Heron Bay bond issue.

            Mr. Mendolia asked have they ever worked for us before?

            Ms. Early responded no.  However, I can get some references.  If there are any problems, I will bring this back next month.

 

On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the contract for the Heron Bay Commons bleacher seats with concrete slab and canopy was awarded to Contract Connection, Inc. in the amount of $14,818.00

 

            B.        Security System

            This item was tabled.

 

SEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                  Consideration of Parkland Estates Plat

            Mr. Hrynko stated we have a plat that has 35 single-family units.  We are proposing to dedicate the eastern portion of the property to NSID, which abuts a maintenance facility with the Golf & Country Club.  In total, we will have a private lake, which will connect into a private lake (Parcel B), and Parcel C will be the lake dedication in addition to a lift station along the south.  It is off of Trails End extension and directly east of the new park.

            Mr. Lauritzen asked what are the lot sizes?

            Mr. Hrynko responded between 1/3 and 1/2 of an acre.  It has been through the City Commission and the Planning and Zoning Board.  The community made the lake its amenity.

            Mr. Lauritzen asked will there be any parks?

            Mr. Hrynko responded there will be a gazebo and running trail around the lake.

            Mr. Moore stated I need to modify the language of the 12’ utility easement to include the NSID.  Currently, it only has the City of Parkland.  In addition, we will work with the engineers to add the additional easements needed around the lift station for access and the utilities to connect the lift station to the roadway.

            Mr. Mendolia asked is this being coordinated with WCI?

            Ms. Early responded yes.  We reviewed the drainage requirements.

 

On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the Parkland Estates Plat was accepted subject to the conditions listed in the engineer’s review letter and Mr. Moore’s recommendations outlined above.

 

EIGHTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                     Consideration of Permit Requests

            A.        Heron Bay North and Parkland Golf & Country Club Right-of-Way

            Ms. Early stated this item is a permit request from WCI to access the north dike.

 

On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the permit request for the Heron Bay North and Parkland Golf & Country Club right-of-way was approved subject to the conditions listed in the engineer’s review letter.

 

            B.        Mary Help of Christians Church – Phase 2

            C.        Greenbriar at Heron Bay Northeast

            D.        Heron Bay Northeast “The Glen”

            Ms. Early stated these three items are all surface water management permits.

            Mr. Hans asked do you have any comments?

            Ms. Early responded the same standard comments apply to each item.  They are working in the District right-of-way and submitting as-builts.

 

On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the permit request for the Mary Help of Christians Church – Phase 2; Greenbriar at Heron Bay Northeast; and Heron Bay Northeast “The Glen” were approved subject to the conditions listed in the engineer’s review letter.

 

NINTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                       Consideration of Change Orders

            A.        Change Order No. 2 with Florida Sewer & Water for Osprey Trail and Heron Bay Recreation Amenity Offsite Roadway Improvements for a Net Increase of $455,091.75

            Ms. Early stated when we put this project out for bid, we knew we had to have some revisions based on the development tying into the Heron Bay recreation amenity.  We had lift stations within the parcels, and we moved them to the road.

 

On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor Change Order No. 2 with Florida Sewer & Water for Osprey Trail and Heron Bay recreation amenity offsite roadway improvements for a net increase of $455,091.75 was approved.

 

            B.        Change Order No. 5 with Astaldi Construction Corp. for University Drive for a Net Increase of $34,848.66

            Ms. Early stated WCI pays for all the paving and drainage, and everything under the Heron Bay recreation amenity.  The split is 50-50 between NSID and WCI for the drainage, and the force main is paid for by NSID.

 

On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor Change Order No. 5 with Astaldi Construction Corp. for University Drive for a net increase of $34,848.66 was approved.

 

            C.        Change Order No. 9 with Astaldi Construction Corp. for Trails End Road for a Net Increase of $24,695.00

            Ms. Early reviewed the change order.

 

On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor Change Order No. 9 with Astaldi Construction Corp. for Trails End Road for a net increase of $24,695.00 was approved.

 

            D.        Change Order No. 5 with Florida Sewer & Water for Osprey Trail and Heron Bay Recreation Amenity Offsite Roadway Improvements for a Net Increase of $32,332.50

            Ms. Early reviewed the change order.

 

On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor Change Order No. 5 with Florida Sewer & Water for Osprey Trail and Heron Bay recreation amenity offsite roadway improvements for a net increase of $32,332.50.

 

TENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                       Consideration of Work Authorizations

            A.        Work Authorization No. 123 for Parkland Country Club Pod 6 Water and Sewer Engineering Services During Construction and Funding Agreement with WCI

            B.        Work Authorization No. 124 for Parkland Country Club Pod 15 Water and Sewer Engineering Services During Construction and Funding Agreement with WCI

            C.        Work Authorization No. 125 for Parkland Country Club Pod 16 Water and Sewer Engineering Services During Construction

            Ms. Early stated these three items are for engineering services during construction within the Parkland Country Club for our inspection, and it requires a funding agreement.

            Mr. Mendolia asked have the rates increased?

            Ms. Early responded they are the same hourly rates that were approved last April.

 

On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr. Mendolia with all in favor Work Authorizations 123, 124 & 125 and their funding agreements for same were approved.

 

            D.        Work Authorization No. 126 for Heron Bay Northeast Greenbriar Water and Sewer Engineering Services During Construction

            This item was tabled.

 

            E.         Work Authorization No. 127 for Heron Bay North Cypress Pointe

            This item was tabled.

 

THIRD ORDER OF BUSINESS                       Presentation by South Florida Water Management District Regarding the Everglades Task Force

            Ms. McPherson joined the meeting at this time and stated I am here to talk about the Everglades Task Force.  The Broward County Department of Planning and Environmental Protection asked to be included in the District’s long-term water quality plan.  The long-term plan has to do with the Everglades Forever Act and the South Florida Water Management District’s requirement to have phosphorus levels in surface canals down to ten parts per billion by December 31, 2006.  We are hoping to establish a working group of all the affected entities including municipalities, water control Districts, government agencies and special interests such as nurseries to bring together what the issue is, what we each have to input and what can be done voluntarily to meet these requirements.

            This is a leadership issue.  We have to demonstrate that we are trying to get these water quality levels to the legal limit, which is ten parts per billion.  The more things we can demonstrate that we are doing, the better off we will be.  I do not envision this group holding long tedious meetings.  In fact, they will be fun.  You will learn about the issues and meet many people.  Each entity will have a representative there.  I am comfortable saying ‘all of them’ because I have gone before all of the municipalities except one, and I have been before all of the Water Control Districts except one.  We will have a good turnout, and there will be good leadership opportunities for everyone to get to know each other.  I envision walking you through the problem and asking everyone to bring their regulatory tool box or anything else they can bring to the table as well as their plan to implement them.  For example, a municipality can implement an ordinance encouraging people to use fertilizer with low phosphorus levels.  The idea is to do things we already have the ability to do that are common sense and if we coordinate our efforts, we will be able to show real progress, which is the goal.  If we can get one or all of you to come to the first meeting, that would be great.  Additionally, we have enjoyed our working relationship with Mr. Moore.  It is one thing for staff to be there, but it is another thing for the decision-makers to be there.  I am excited at the opportunity for you to see what other decision makers are doing and what they are bringing to the table to help meet this effort.  Thank you for this opportunity, and it was nice to meet everyone.

 

FIFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                         Approval of Quit Claim Deed for Portions of L-1

            Ms. Patton stated last month, I was before the Board to get the Greenbriar plat approved.  If you recall, the Greenbriar plat consisted of an addition of seven lots.  We are adding to the already recorded Heron Bay northeast plat.  Per the Heron Bay northeast plat, which was approved by the Board approximately 18 months ago, we dedicated Lake L-1 as part of Heron Bay Northeast.  As Greebriar, I am platting the lots within the lake.

            The quit claim deed contains two legal descriptions.  The first shows the area that we deed back from the District by a quit claim, and these areas mimic the areas that are going to be platted which are 1 through 5, 6 and 7 and a buffer area.  Since we are asking the District for that back, this exhibit shows parcel J on the Heron Bay east plat, which is a sales center parcel.  That will simply become a water body.  This is an approximate 2-acre piece.

            In addition, we are also building some wetland areas that will be granted to the District. All in all, when you take what is being asked to be given back to WCI in the form of a few lots and buffer, you actually end up getting more lake area with us returning Parcel J to you and adding more water.  I sent these documents to Mr. Lyles for his review and approval.

            Mr. Lyles responded these were transmitted to my office April 23, and I have reviewed the proposed forms of deeds.  It was essentially a swap of property with the District, and I think everything is in order.  It is a simple transaction you have seen before, and unless there are any comments, it is appropriate to take up a motion to approve execution of the two quit claim deeds described in WCI’s presentation.

 

 

 

On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr. Mendolia with all in favor the quit claims deed for portions of Parcel L-1 of the Heron Bay Northeast Plat and Parcel J of the Heron Bay East plat were approved.

 

ELEVENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS               Consideration of Funding Agreement No. 382 with WCI for Supplement No. 3 Invoices

            Ms. Early stated Supplement No. 3 had existing validated bonds in the approximate amount of $7 million, and we only sold one bond in the amount of $1.5 million.  WCI is not going to use the additional bonds and simply do two separate bond issues; one for the balance of Heron Bay and one for Parkland.  For the one bond that we did, we were doing some extra work because we had additional monies left in the original bond, but we ran out of money and $6,000 still needs to be paid.  WCI can fund it and when we sell the bonds, they will be reimbursed.

            Mr. Lyles stated I reviewed this, and everything is in order.

 

On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr. Mendolia with all in favor Funding Agreement No. 382 with WCI for Supplement No. 3 invoices were approved.

 

TWELFTH ORDER OF BUSINESS                 Staff Reports

            A.     Attorney

            Mr. Lyles stated we are at the end of the legislative session.  Our codification bill was sent to committee and did not make it out of committee on the last day; therefore, it did not get passed this year.  I have discussed this briefly with the District Manager.  We have some small hope that they will have a special session.  They will try to get it out of that committee and back in front of the legislature.  If we do that, we may be required to enlist the services of our former lobbyist to make sure this happens.  To my knowledge, this is not the result of anyone trying to stop this bill from passing.  Everybody was in favor of this.  We will re-file the same bill next year.  The same thing happened to the CSID bill, and I suspect many other local bills.

            Mr. Lauritzen asked will we still have elections this year?

            Mr. Lyles responded we will have our landowner’s election.  Everything stays the same.  However, this does not affect our operations.  The reason for the codification bill is Chapter 189, which applies to all special districts in the State of Florida, requires us to combine all of our amendments into one special act local bill that reads continuously from start to finish.  In the midst of everything, we had some requests for some changes regarding the method of electing Boards of Supervisors, which we agreed to through the Board’s authority.  It was going to be pursued through an amendment to this bill or to a general amendment to Chapter 189 by Representative Ritter.  You had committed on behalf of the Board to support that type of amendment in either case and to send letters or resolutions as requested.  We had no requests for expressions for support or resolutions.  We only had positive feed back from staff that everything was going through the process and that our bill would be passed.  However, at the last minute, it did not pass.   At this point, it is business as usual.  We are required to file this bill by the legislature, which in turn, did not finalize the passage of the bill so we will have to file it again next year.  We have done everything we are required to do by law and more to facilitate the process but it did not happen.  By all accounts, it was a contentious session of the legislature this year.

 

            B.     Engineer

            There not being any, the next item followed.

 

            C.     Superintendent – Letters of Recognition

            Mr. Hans stated we received a couple of letters commending our good work.

            Mr. Lauritzen asked do we have any follow up on the Heron Bay tennis situation?

            Mr. Hans asked we are still receiving some complaints on different issues; however, we are directing them back to the management company to handle.  We have not heard any more about the tennis and whether they have a new committee.

 

THIRTEENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS          Supervisor’s Requests and Audience Comments

            There not being any, the next item followed.

 

FOURTEENTH ORDER OF BUSINESS         Approval of Requisitions and Invoices

 

On MOTION by Mr. Miner seconded by Mr. Mendolia with all in favor the invoices were approved.

 

            There being nothing further,

 

On MOTION by Mr. Mendolia seconded by Mr. Lauritzen with all in favor the meeting was adjourned at 4:55 p.m.

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                      

Salvatore J. Mendolia                                                   Matt Lauritzen

Secretary                                                                      President


Agenda Items

Consideration of Award for the Heron Bay Commons for Security System (tabled)

 

Work Authorization No. 126 for Heron Bay Northeast Greenbriar Water and Sewer Engineering Services During Construction (tabled)

 

Work Authorization No. 127 for Heron Bay North Cypress Pointe (tabled)