2026-10-01 - Environmental and Appearance Advisory Committee

00:18Good evening and welcome to the 81st

00:21meeting of the Jacksonville

00:22Environmental and Appearance Advisory

00:25Committee.

00:26Glad to have you with us. The members of

00:29the committee, welcome. And uh we'll

00:32call this meeting to order.

00:35If we can have uh somebody attained a

00:37motion for the adoption of the agenda.

00:41>> I make a motion that we adopt the

00:43agenda.

00:45>> And a second. We have a a motion and a

00:47second.

00:50And we have time to vote. All those in

00:52favor? All those in favor say I. Hi.

00:54>> All those opposed have the same right.

00:57>> Okay. If we go down the line, um

01:05we have the minutes in front of us, but

01:07uh before we do that, review the agenda

01:09for tonight as we as we go through it.

01:12And uh we'll go into the minutes for

01:14consideration.

01:16We'll uh give you a minute to go through

01:18the in case you haven't just give you a

01:21second here to go through it. Uh they

01:23were emailed out I believe

01:29and any action on it. I'll entertain a

01:31motion to accept the minutes.

01:33>> I make a motion to accept the minutes.

01:35>> We have a motion. Do we have a second?

01:38>> A second.

01:39>> And we have a second.

01:41Okay. All those in favor say I. I.

01:43>> All those opposed have the same right.

01:46>> We move right down the line here.

01:50We don't have uh Councilwoman uh Mickey

01:53Smith with us tonight. Uh so we'll go

01:56into um Mr. Lllure for the He's the

02:00director of the parts uh facilities.

02:03Let me take over the agenda for a

02:05minute.

02:06>> Thank you, David. You guys appreciate

02:07it. Uh I don't have a lot to talk about

02:10tonight and I'm probably going to let

02:12Jason say some things. Um, if you

02:15weren't aware, we have uh today is a

02:18year that we have been maintaining the

02:21memorial gardens

02:24and uh the lune memorial gardens. It's

02:27actually been a year now that we've been

02:28doing that and I talked to our liaison

02:33from there today and they were very

02:35pleased with the job we're doing. And uh

02:38so we're excited about uh we're able to

02:42meet the needs of

02:45the people that uh go to the gardens and

02:50and like to peruse around and see the

02:53911 and the

02:56uh you know the the Ray Root memorial

02:58and and all of the things over there,

03:00the Vietnam vet. So, it's a it's been a

03:04challenge for us, but we've done a

03:06pretty good job at doing it. And I know

03:08that you're aware that on October 23rd,

03:12there is the anniversary and there will

03:14be an event that morning out at the

03:18gardens. And I'll let Jason talk a

03:20little bit about some of the things

03:21we're doing to get prepared for that

03:24event.

03:26>> So, thank you for having me. Um, so

03:28yeah, Michael's right. We we've been a

03:30year over at the Memorial Gardens. Um

03:33taking it over was uh it's overwhelming

03:37if you look at it as a whole, but if you

03:38break it down into pieces, which is what

03:40we've had to do, and we've tried to make

03:42some improvements as we've moved

03:44forward. Um staying with pruning,

03:47staying with uh staying on somewhat of a

03:49schedule, uh more of a routine schedule

03:52than maybe what it had been. Uh we've

03:54done a lot of tree work uh in there

03:57trying to get rid of dead dead wood,

03:59those type things. Uh the sign I know it

04:02got pressure washed this past year and

04:04we've put pine straw around that area.

04:06We pine straw pretty much everything now

04:09and we're getting ready to do some aelas

04:12around the whole Vietnam wall. There's

04:14seven different beds that are around

04:16there that we're going to put. Uh

04:19they're they're not necessarily a encore

04:21aelia, but they are an aelia that blooms

04:23twice a year and it'll be ideal for this

04:25time of the year because it seems like

04:27the foot traffic is getting higher,

04:29especially this time of the year. The

04:30bathroom facilities are open now and

04:34obviously the museum is is bringing in a

04:36lot more foot traffic than maybe what it

04:38has been in the past. And so I'm hoping

04:41we'll try to improve that area with

04:42doing some of that as well. And so I

04:45know Michael said we have been working

04:47towards the the Bayroot ceremony. We've

04:49been working at the grove. We've done

04:52I'm on my second load of track uh second

04:54trader trailer load of mulch right now.

04:56We have one row left to do for this

04:58year. And um we're getting ready to I

05:01just got trees in today. We're going to

05:03be replacing a few that just were not uh

05:06not up to par. Uh we'll just leave it at

05:08that. And uh we're going to try to

05:10replace them with a larger tree than

05:12what we initially installed with. See if

05:14we can't get it to push along. But um

05:17the grass is doing very well out there.

05:19Um we've been replacing consistently the

05:22lights at night. Um trying to make sure

05:25that we can stay on top of that, which

05:26is a full-time job with 273 of them.

05:30>> Um but it seems like we've had some

05:31stolen or some being taken. And it's

05:35very odd place for that to happen, but

05:37um somebody's got a nice lit area

05:40somewhere. I will say that. Um

05:43>> is the facility in the park open to the

05:46public after dark?

05:47>> Do I

05:47>> Is it open after dark?

05:49>> What?

05:49>> Well, this is the Grove.

05:50>> The Grove.

05:52I'm sorry. Yeah, I went both I went to

05:53both places, but um yeah, I mean it's

05:56open anytime, but most people don't stop

05:58for for that.

05:59>> Um so we we've been staying busy when it

06:02comes to that. And with that being said,

06:04kind of mowing, we're in a transition

06:06period right now. Our department is

06:08where mowing is finally slowing down

06:10some for us to kind of take a breath,

06:13but the breath is very short because

06:15we're installing flowers. We just

06:17finished up flowers here and everywhere.

06:19Uh I will give my guys some credit.

06:22We've put 2,000 flowers in the last two

06:24days.

06:25>> Wow.

06:26>> Um and that's with a staff of eight or

06:28nine. Uh so we just got to keep them

06:31alive now. You know, that's the that's

06:33the easy part. But you know, we're

06:35getting rain. We're supposed to be

06:36getting some rain because we've been

06:37extremely extremely dry, which has been

06:40uh it helps us and it hurts us in some

06:42aspects in our business. And uh so we're

06:45we're getting there. But flowers, we got

06:47another thousand coming in hopefully

06:49next week. I've got 1,000 Snapdragons

06:51that we're going to be adding kind of

06:52throughout the the city. We'll do the

06:54Highway 17 interchange area. Uh the

06:57commons, there's a couple places in the

06:58commons we're going to put snapdragons.

07:00Anywhere that we have deer, we put snapd

07:03dragons because they don't eat those. Um

07:06and so that's kind of, you know, that's

07:07kind of been what we've been doing.

07:09>> You'll see Beth down over in the park.

07:12We did the first two beds up for October

07:14Fest. We did the train depot and we did

07:16the Riverwalk sign.

07:17>> It's ingenious when you watch them

07:19installing them because it's like it's

07:21like a um it's like a line, you know?

07:23The first guy digs a hole, the second

07:25guy puts a thing in, the third guy, and

07:26then they go to the next assembly line.

07:28>> It's like, wow, they're like snapping it

07:30right out.

07:31>> Yeah. And and so we did the first two

07:32beds, and we're going to wait till the

07:34snap dragons come in because the further

07:35I get into the park, the worse the deer

07:37are. That's just the way it has been. As

07:39you get closer to the river, the deer

07:41come close. And so, we've learned over

07:45the last 10, 12 years that we have to be

07:48selective on kind of where our material

07:49goes. Um, and then we're doing a lot of

07:52of just tree and plant replacements

07:54right now. Uh, stuff that, you know, we

07:56had a really tough winter. Obviously,

07:58y'all know we had a foot of snow. Uh,

08:00we're seeing some effects of that. We've

08:03had up and down water rain and we we've

08:06been extremely dry. And so, our growing

08:09season was not ideal for plant material

08:12in general, any plant material. Um, and

08:15so we are trying to pick the pieces up

08:18now and uh we're replacing as much as we

08:21can replace right now because Michael's

08:23right. We're getting ready to get in the

08:24Christmas decorations. Um, we've already

08:27I've already worked on the pattern for

08:29the whole city. So, we're going to have

08:31and for people watching, you know, we're

08:33going to have color throughout the whole

08:35city. Uh, it's not going to be just red

08:38and green in this area or white or blue

08:40in this area. We're going to have a

08:41pattern of nine. and it goes completely

08:44through the city uh everywhere so

08:46everybody can enjoy a specific one that

08:48maybe they like. Uh and then we're going

08:50to be right into obviously decorating

08:52Riverwall Park. I've got a meeting

08:54tomorrow about uh decorating the stage

08:57area right now. So you can imagine

08:59October Fest is going on but I'm having

09:02but I'm having meetings about

09:03decorations you know for December

09:06November time frame. So uh the idea is

09:09our poll decorations we try to get those

09:11up. So, we have to start really early

09:13November. We try to get it up before the

09:15holiday parade. Uh, that's just been

09:17somewhat the standard that we've stayed

09:19with. Uh, we're doing 270 pole

09:22decorations throughout the city and

09:24another 26 down New Bridge Street. Uh,

09:27so we're almost to 300, you know, give

09:30or take, not including the pole

09:33decorations that I put down at River

09:35Wallpar. And so, it takes time. You

09:37know, we can average 30 or 40

09:39decorations a a day, but I mean, that's

09:42up and down, moving, traffic control,

09:45you name it. Making sure the pattern's

09:47where it needs to be and making sure

09:49that all my guys are where they need to

09:50be safely, you know, and so

09:52>> making sure that the ballots are

09:54working.

09:55>> And we'll go through and for the people

09:58watching, we'll go through and if

10:00something's not working, we notate it.

10:02We let Duke Energy or we let Jones know

10:05and they'll come back out. They'll try

10:06to fix it if it's something that's past

10:08what we can do. Um, don't worry. We know

10:11it's not working if it doesn't work when

10:13we first put it up. It's just a matter

10:14of we have to go through the whole

10:16process getting them all up first, make

10:18the whole list so they're not going one

10:20day at a time. They're going to those,

10:22hey, these 15 need to be looked at.

10:24We'll go knock that out all at one time.

10:27Um, so I want to reiterate that real

10:29quick. uh for not not as much the

10:33membership or the members here but the

10:35people watching

10:37it is much more efficient for us to put

10:39all the decorations the pole decorations

10:42up at one time. Uh by all means call us

10:45if your ornament near your house isn't

10:48working or the road you travel on. But

10:51just remember we get them all up then we

10:54address those that aren't working. We

10:56would we would work a little backwards

10:58if we didn't. it's a little uh

11:01uncomfortable to maybe look out your

11:03door or drive down the road and say,

11:04"Hey, that's not working." We think it's

11:07great when the public notices that.

11:08That's awesome. But on the other hand,

11:11it's a lot easier for us to identify and

11:13then go out and knock them all out as

11:15much as possible in one fell swoop. So,

11:17just be aware of that. Thank you. And

11:20you know, Jason, you know, we talk about

11:22that. Nobody's here in the room is

11:24counting, but that was 296

11:26pole decorations that he just

11:28identified. And like I said, nobody's

11:30counting. But remember that doesn't

11:34include Riverwalk Park, which you're

11:36very well aware

11:38is

11:39>> really nice,

11:40>> very highly decorated, you know, and and

11:42and these are things that, you know,

11:45I've said this numerous times for all of

11:48our staff. Summers are very busy for us.

11:51They're busy because they're routine

11:53driven. We have to get out. We have to

11:55mow. We have to weed. We have to get

11:56ball fields ready. Those things are

11:58standards. We just have to do that. When

12:01the weather cools down and winter comes,

12:04that's when we really get busy though

12:05because these are not now routine items.

12:08These are things. These are all the

12:09things that we're not able to do during

12:12those eight months that we're busy doing

12:15these other things. So, just keep that

12:17in mind. And if you haven't been by the

12:20grove, I know Jason said he had to

12:23replace some of the trees out there. I

12:25would tell you that in the last two

12:27years, what I'm starting to see out

12:29there is finally the girth and the

12:31growth of those trees.

12:33>> Um, we're still 10 years away from those

12:37trees probably being somewhat mature,

12:39>> but you know, I'm just like everybody

12:43else. After two years, I'm looking at

12:45Jason going, "When are they going to get

12:46big? when when are they going to get

12:48big? But they're finally starting to

12:51show their shape and they're growing at

12:54a rate that I think we can all be happy

12:56and proud of. And we put those trees in

12:58in

13:0014 15

13:01>> 14 15.

13:02>> Yeah.

13:03>> Yeah. And we put them in almost I mean

13:06this time this time I mean it really was

13:08about

13:08>> So I'll tell a quick story. Jason and I

13:11flew to Nashville, Tennessee

13:14on a Tuesday morning at 7:30.

13:20>> Landed at 12, gotten rented a car and

13:25drove 3 hours to a tree farm,

13:29picked out our trees, the trees that are

13:31out there. got back in the car, drove

13:34back to the hotel because by this time

13:38it's eight or nine at night, went to

13:41bed, woke up the next morning, got on

13:42the airplane, and came back. So, it was

13:46neat to for us to be go to go there

13:48though and actually pick out the trees

13:50that are out there today. That was kind

13:52of neat.

13:53>> Thank you.

13:54>> They look good.

13:55>> They do look good.

13:56>> Question. Um, I know the summertime

14:00you have the opportunity to uh hire help

14:03for the summer folks that are in school.

14:07Christmas time is just as important and

14:09just as busy. Do you hire anybody or is

14:12what's the I know these guys do a lot of

14:14work.

14:15>> So, I'm going to be the dead horse a

14:16little, but maybe this group doesn't

14:18hear it so much. So, our goal at the

14:21beginning of summer is we have 31

14:23full-time staff members that work with

14:25us. And it sounds like a lot and it is,

14:28but we also have about 550 to 600 acres

14:32to cover.

14:33So that becomes not a lot of people all

14:36of a sudden. And we can't do what we do

14:38without supplementing our full-time

14:41staff. Our goal was to have 19 people

14:44this year help us. I'd say we average

14:48somewhere about eight to nine.

14:50>> Nine. We average nine on a weekly basis.

14:52>> On a weekly basis. So, it's a struggle.

14:55What we do though is when we get some of

14:58our returners are somebody who's

15:03uh well-versed on what we do and and

15:06picks up what we're doing pretty quickly

15:08and kind of fits in well, we'll hold on

15:10to them and there's not many. hold on to

15:12maybe two of them until the end of the

15:16calendar year because you're right, we

15:18do need help during Christmas and they

15:21kind of supplement some of the things

15:22that you've heard tonight us talk about.

15:25So, great question. Uh, for us it's more

15:29about it's hard to to it's hard to get

15:31the people. We don't see a lot of

15:33applicants and to be fair, our job is

15:37not for everybody.

15:39It's not. I've had many of people walk

15:41through our door, work about two hours,

15:44look at me, and throw the weed eater

15:45down and say, "I can't do this." You

15:47know, it's a hundred out. I can't do it.

15:49I get it.

15:50>> It's not for everybody.

15:53>> Is cutting the DOT maintains, you know,

15:55I know that the city's doing some DOT

15:57maintains. Absolutely. With through

15:59anou. Is that, you know, creating an

16:02issue with not having enough people to

16:03start with and then we're having

16:05additional areas to have to to cut Well,

16:08I I don't I'm not sure how to answer

16:10that other than we've been cutting those

16:13areas since

16:152011

16:17for the most part. Now, the last area we

16:20picked up that's significant would be

16:23Western.

16:24>> Okay.

16:25>> Right where um

16:28right where the development is there.

16:30>> Well, no. I mean, literally we didn't

16:32mow anything on Western. We we used to

16:35con the city used to contract out

16:38Highway 17 and Highway 24, but what was

16:42happening was the city

16:45the the contractor wasn't doing a very

16:47good job, but the prices were very high.

16:52>> So, we figured out that it was cheaper

16:55for the city to actually hire their own

16:57staff and do the job. We do have a DOT

17:01contract to do those areas and we did

17:03add Western to that. I

17:06>> think I misspoke. I meant to say

17:08Williamsburg Plantation, that area right

17:10in front because there were a lot of

17:11people complaining when the grass got

17:12real high and they thought it was a city

17:14responsibility.

17:15>> Well, there Yeah. And I've talked to

17:17many you can imagine how many residents

17:20I've talked to. I've talked to the

17:23president of the homeowners association

17:25and at the end of the day, we're

17:27maintaining what the contract says. The

17:30problem over there is there's a ditch

17:33and we're not prepared to go in ditches

17:36and do maintenance work. Uh that just is

17:40we we can't do that with 31 people. We

17:42we would need, you know, that's that's

17:45all what we call boots on the ground

17:47work and that we we're not prepared to

17:50do that. Our contract doesn't ask us to

17:52do that. So maybe one day as the uh

17:57uptown Jacksonville gets developed and

18:00maybe that becomes a city road.

18:03Maybe then maybe. But as of now it's a

18:06DOT road and our contract does not call

18:09for us to go in there.

18:13>> Good question. So yeah, Daniel, that was

18:16the things I wanted to say tonight. just

18:19that we're working hard. Obviously, it's

18:21a different time of year for us. We

18:24still have uh adult kickballs and

18:28softball that we're dealing with that we

18:30have to get ball fields ready for, but

18:33we're starting to move into that time of

18:35year where holiday decorations, I mean,

18:37you know, it's we're ramping up for that

18:40and it it that's a that's a couple of

18:43months project for us. Um, but before

18:47I'm done, I want to introduce our guest

18:49tonight if that's okay.

18:50>> Yes.

18:51>> So, another area that we maintained, I'd

18:54say it's been two years now.

18:56>> Yeah.

18:57>> Two years now. So, a couple of years

18:59ago, you know, Pat's crew was

19:02maintaining the storm waters around

19:04storm water ponds around Jacksonville.

19:06And you know to be fair and honest kind

19:09of biologist

19:11or yeah she's a biologist a scientist

19:14whatever word you want to call her. It

19:16is not conducive to the city to have her

19:20out there trying to maintain those

19:22areas. These are things that we could

19:25fill in some gaps to do to help free her

19:29time up and maybe be a little more in

19:31our wheelhouse of things to do.

19:34Um, so she's here tonight to talk to us

19:38and I know each year we bring her in to

19:40talk and it's always exciting to have

19:42her here because for me I'll learn

19:44something tonight that I didn't know.

19:46I'll learn probably more than something.

19:48Uh, and it's fun for all of us to hear

19:50her tell us about some of the neat

19:52things she's doing and uh, some of the

19:55plans that are going to be going on in

19:57the city

19:59this year, next year, and probably the

20:01next five years at least, I would say.

20:04But I'd like to turn it over to her.

20:06Thank you for coming tonight, Pat. And

20:08she's going to tell us some great stuff

20:09tonight.

20:10>> Thank you.

20:11>> Welcome.

20:13>> So, I'm going to jump right in. Um, the

20:16city of Jacksonville has a storm water

20:18permit um that all departments operate

20:21out of. Not just the storm water water

20:24quality division, but streets,

20:26sanitation, fleet, parks and wreck. I

20:29meant everybody operates under the

20:32city's uh storm water program and

20:35permit. So on our permit requirements,

20:39one of the things that we developed a

20:41while back is we have an adopt a stream,

20:44adopt a street, an adopt a trail, and

20:48now we are actually introducing uh an

20:51adopt a storm drain program. So just a

20:55few areas, the city of Jacksonville is

21:00got a lot of water surrounding her. She

21:03is one of the 20 coastal KMA counties.

21:06So the new river uh we're blessed that

21:08she starts and ends in one county, our

21:11county. So she runs through the middle

21:13of us. We have a lot of blue line

21:17tributaries that empty into the new

21:19river and then from those we have even

21:22smaller tributaries and then ditches. So

21:25our adopt a stream program uh is up and

21:29running and has been running for a

21:30while. And this is just an example of

21:33areas that are cleaned each year by

21:35different groups. We've got four to five

21:38different groups. And this is just a

21:40summary of what those groups do. Um, as

21:43you can see, to me, the the 199 55gallon

21:48bags of trash are covered and 143 miles

21:52clean throughout the year are your is

21:54your staggering numbers for me. Uh, and

21:56that's just five groups.

21:59So, and then I have to always brag upon

22:02my hero, which is Jim Wheeler. Jim

22:05Wheeler is the most dedicated man I've

22:08ever met. He does our clean and green

22:12program. He literally works for the city

22:14part-time, 20 hours a week, cleaning up

22:18our streams and our tributaries. He does

22:21this literally by waiting through them

22:24or kaying through them. And this is just

22:27what he will cover in a month. Um, and

22:30these are his numbers.

22:33Uh, this past year he's collected a

22:36thousand bags by himself. Uh, since the

22:39start of when he became a city employee,

22:42he's collected over 17,000 bags of

22:46trash. And these are not little bags.

22:48These are your big 55gallon ones. And

22:52just this year, he's done a 40 143 miles

22:56by himself. Wheels is just an

22:58outstanding

23:00man. And I keep praying the Lord keeps

23:02him going every single day.

23:05>> And I spoke about it a few seconds ago,

23:06but this is our adopt a storm drain

23:09program. While our streets department

23:11does an awesome job, they've got miles

23:14and miles worth of ditches to maintain

23:16every year. where they have miles and

23:18miles and miles and miles of underground

23:21pipe and culverts and and manholes that

23:24they also maintain is they can't always

23:27get to every storm drain. And I will

23:29tell you when your storm train is

23:31clogged, that means storm water runoff

23:34is not going down it. That means water

23:36is backing up on the road and in the

23:39gutter. It could it could cause flooding

23:41on the road. It could back up into a

23:44driveway. So, it could flood a business

23:46or a house. We are asking for

23:50volunteers. If you have a storm drain in

23:53front of your house and you would like

23:54to adopt it, let us know. We are trying

23:58to draw awareness to these storm drains

24:01by literally painting uh uh drawings on

24:05the storm drains at the linear park or

24:07what are we now calling it? The

24:09>> Riverwalk.

24:10>> Riverwalk Park. um our institutes every

24:13year. This past summer was year 27 for

24:16us. The art institute designs and paints

24:19two of them and then science paints two

24:22of them that Art actually drew because

24:24we're scientists. I can't draw. I I'm

24:26doing good to paint. But they're really

24:29beautiful. So, if you go down to the

24:31park, please take a look at them. I I

24:33love what the students have done. And

24:36then another thing uh is what we gave up

24:39to Parks and Rec. Thankfully, it was

24:42maintaining these storm water control

24:44measures. We still have to inspect them

24:48every month. The city has 11 um SEM or

24:52sites that we have to inspect once a

24:54month, every month. And then we have to

24:57inspect all of the privatelyowned

25:00SCMs that the city permitted since 2008.

25:05We we actually inspect those twice a

25:07year. Once in the spring and summer,

25:10once in the fall and winter, and that is

25:12how many inspections we and when I say

25:15we, there's just three of us. It's

25:17Aaron, Willamina, and myself, but that's

25:20all you got. So, we do a lot of work

25:22with a very few people. We also uh

25:26installed a trash trout. We got a grant

25:29a couple years ago. It is at the um

25:32bottom of Scales Creek before it goes

25:34under 24 and then exits onto the be onto

25:38the base which actually drains in the

25:40northeast creek. And we actually clean

25:42this out every week and we uh actually

25:46document the amount of trash that's in

25:48it and we identify the amount of trash

25:50that's in it and we actually turn in the

25:52data to Duke University uh to their

25:55marine debris lab um looking at the

25:58worldwide problem of microplastics.

26:02I didn't hit it hard enough. We were

26:05very very blessed last year. Um, we got

26:08a lot of grant money um to do a lot of

26:11projects. That's just a a reminder of

26:14all the wonderful funds that the city of

26:17Jacksonville got last year. And so, just

26:20a reminder of what we were doing. Sandy

26:23Run branch is a major blueline stream

26:26that runs from Western Boulevard

26:29all the way down and dumps into Cheney

26:32Creek underneath the bridge there at

26:35Phillips Park. So, what we're looking at

26:38is restoring wetlands up at the top and

26:40down at the bottom and actually doing a

26:43stream restoration in between. Um, and

26:47then at Philips Park when you come under

26:49the bridge, there are two sections of

26:52the seaw wall that were removed with

26:54Noah funds in the last 20 years. Uh, we

26:58now are removing the final third section

27:00with also Noah funds. And what we will

27:03do is actually put a fishing pier out

27:06into Cheney Creek parallel to shore. Um

27:10we will restore the shoreline with a 3:1

27:14slope. It will be grassed and then we

27:16are putting a living shoreline

27:18underneath that boardwalk to help weigh

27:21her down because when the big dogs come

27:24during the summertime, what you see is a

27:26lot of peers and docks floating and that

27:29really makes a mess of our waterways. So

27:32in coastal resiliency and for the

27:36future, we're doing a better job of

27:38weighing down all future peers and docks

27:40for the city. So that's not one of ours

27:42out there in the waterway. And I'll show

27:44you in just a second. This is what we'll

27:47actually do. The top of the boardwalk

27:49and fishing pier will be hog slat. So,

27:52it'll be concrete, even heavier, but

27:54they'll have slats in it. So, when the

27:55water rises, it just comes up between

27:57it. Down below it is where we'll uh

28:01assemble these discs um that will

28:04actually add weight to the bottom as

28:06well. But what this does is provide

28:08habitat for your buy valves that need a

28:12hard substrate to attach to, meaning

28:15oysters and or muscles, rib muscles. And

28:18as they attach, that becomes their home.

28:22They are filtering the water. They're

28:24cleaning out pollutants and it becomes

28:26even heavier because you've got living

28:28organisms on them. And it's a nice area

28:31for fish to hide in because because most

28:34of the new river is deemed as a primary

28:36nursery area by our fisheries. The third

28:39project was Northeast Creek which we are

28:42actually doing first. We will actually

28:44be starting on that soon. We have

28:46already submitted for the permit. We've

28:49gotten the first round of questions

28:51back. So, we're working on the questions

28:53answering to hurry up and hopefully get

28:56a permit so we can then put things out

28:58for bid and start at the beginning of

29:002027.

29:01So, the boardwalk was pulled out which

29:03was dilapidated by Hurricane Florence.

29:06That was a fun walk if you ever went out

29:08there and trying to keep people from

29:11going out there was a full-time job, but

29:14it was very dangerous. So, finally, uh,

29:16it was removed with the help of Coastal

29:18Federation. again, Noah funds, but we're

29:21going to actually go out here at the end

29:23of the existing boardwalk and tie in

29:26with another fishing pier that goes out

29:30into Northeast Creek, runs parallel to

29:32shore, and then cuts back into the

29:36existing trail through the middle of the

29:38woods. This is where we will also put a

29:42living shoreline underneath. Same

29:44concept, underneath the boardwalk, but

29:46we're going to go one step further.

29:49We've been monitoring wetlands

29:51throughout Jacksonville for the last 10

29:53years with something called sets surface

29:56elevation tables. And what we have found

29:59is our wetlands within Jacksonville,

30:02we've lost 7 ft of shoreline in the last

30:0510 years.

30:07That's that's significant. And what we

30:10want to do now is start slowing that

30:13process down because these wet wetlands

30:16are very important. This is where all

30:18your flooding goes during your storm

30:21events, during large rain events.

30:24Wetlands absorb a lot of water. They

30:27hold a lot of water and it doesn't

30:30destroy anything. So, we actually are

30:33going to do a living shoreline from the

30:36end of the um boat ramp on both sides.

30:39If you can see it in blue, we will be

30:42doing a living shoreline all along both

30:45sides of those wetlands uh in order to

30:48protect them so that they don't continue

30:51to erode. And we are not sure what

30:56material we are using yet. Um it depends

30:59on how fast permitting can occur, but

31:02here are just some examples of what we

31:06could use for the living shorelines.

31:09I've seen all of these. Um, and again,

31:12what it's trying to do is break up that

31:15wave energy, protect all of the wetlands

31:18that we will be restoring behind it

31:21because we're actually restoring 2.5

31:24acres of wetlands back behind Northeast

31:27Creek, uh, where the boardwalk was.

31:30We'll be putting in bald cyprress and

31:32red cedar and all of the good stuff

31:35there. But we we want to put in a living

31:37shoreline to make sure once we build it,

31:40it's protected. Then another one, a big

31:43one for us is Scales Creek. Scales Creek

31:47runs from the industrial area of Center

31:50Street,

31:51uh, of which the our industrial area was

31:55built during a time when there were no

31:57storm water rules and regulations. So

31:59there's zero storm water control

32:01measures. So, Scales Creek is a very

32:04flash floody system and we've had severe

32:09stream embankment erosion occurring on

32:12this one. So, we're hoping to go as far

32:15up as possible on Scales Creek all the

32:18way up to the the new parkway with the

32:22roundabouts if we can get enough

32:24funding. We applied for two grants. We

32:27applied for FEMA brick and FEMA HMGP

32:30in order to extend it all the way up to

32:33Western because again this one moves a

32:36lot of water and unfortunately the

32:39people at Hartison Hills it floods them

32:42out for a very long time. Uh here's the

32:46the whole wershed. This this is your

32:48scales creek whed and if you look from

32:52Northeast Creek over you you see all the

32:55impervious surface area what we call BUA

33:00there's a lot of a lot of

33:03area that's not cleaned or filtered

33:06before it goes into that wershed. So

33:08>> there's so much residential that

33:09property that people are not aware of

33:11when they whiz by on Western Boulevard.

33:13There's hundreds of homes back there.

33:14>> Yeah.

33:15>> And there you we just get a bad spring

33:17rain and they're impacted.

33:19>> Yes.

33:19>> It's hard.

33:20>> So, what we're trying to do is put back

33:23flood planes, restore those streams on

33:26embankments on both sides so that it

33:28actually can hold up to that type of

33:31amount of water flowing through, but

33:32more importantly hold some back and

33:35store it and release it slowly.

33:37And then the big one is of course one of

33:40my my favorite which is the Oyster

33:42Highway. Uh we got another million

33:44dollars for the Oyster Highway phase 4.

33:47Just a little briefing. Phase one is the

33:50blue stars which were six reefs to

33:54connect the green star which was Wilson

33:56Bay to Stones Bay. There was not any

34:00hard substrate between the two bays

34:04between the city the base and the air

34:06stations. wastewater treatment

34:07facilities discharging permitted

34:10discharge for 50 plus years. The

34:13organics covered up all the hard

34:15substrate and oysters and muscles have

34:18to have hard substrate in order to

34:19attach to them. There is no better

34:21filter than an oyster. She can do 20

34:24gallons of water every 24 hours. We put

34:28in about 20 million oysters into Wilson

34:31Bay with the Wilson Bay initiative. We

34:33have put in about 10 million oysters so

34:36far with the oyster highway. Phase one

34:39and phase two and phase three which I'll

34:41explain in a minute. Phase two we got

34:44more grant money. Phase two was the

34:47yellow stars which were six more

34:50halfacre reefs. So in the beginning one

34:53and two all 12 reefs were a halfacre in

34:56size. Then we got another grant. Phase

34:59three was we actually extended uh the

35:031acre reefs, I meant the halfacre reefs

35:06to an acre. Uh and of the 12 reefs, some

35:10of them we moved side by side, some went

35:13deeper, some went shallower. You can see

35:15the blue rectangle that was fa either

35:18phase one or phase two. The red

35:20rectangle was phase three. Again,

35:22expanding it by another half acre for an

35:24acre total. We used two different types

35:28of substrate for phase one and phase

35:30two. We eliminated one of those

35:32substrates. It was not holding up to our

35:34standards uh when we went to phase

35:37three. Um and what we chose to stick

35:41with with phase three and now phase four

35:43are the oyster castles. Phase four for

35:47us

35:49one and two and three we had 360 reefs

35:53at all 12 sites. Phase four we added

35:57another 180 reefs at all 12 sites. So

36:02all 12 sites will have 540

36:05individual reefs at them. And you're

36:09looking at your staff that built them.

36:11We built them by hand by ourselves

36:15uh with summer interns. Thank the Lord.

36:17Thank the Lord for summer interns. We

36:19get three every summer

36:20>> with materials. We're going down the

36:22river on a porch.

36:24>> My neighbor called me and she says,

36:25"Someone's got to be building a heck of

36:27a house. Don't

36:30>> She got a quick lesson on an oyster

36:32castle and she was like, "I had no

36:33idea." I'm like, "You got to get out

36:35there. Take you out there on the boat

36:36and show it to you." But it just looks

36:37like a like someone has a giant bunch of

36:40bricks is going to build a house. But

36:41>> it's it's the oyster castles.

36:43>> It are the It is the oyster castles. And

36:45then what we are doing for the next uh 3

36:48years is we're going to be putting

36:50millions of oysters, adult oysters down

36:53into the tops of these castles because

36:56what happens is after about a month, the

36:59oysters will cement themselves in. That

37:02prevents the uh predators. We have blue

37:05crabs, sheep's head, and black drum.

37:09Huge ones all over the river now. And

37:11they love oysters. But if you're they're

37:14cemented in cemented into the top of the

37:17oyster castles, they can't get them out.

37:19And so better survivability.

37:23Um, and this is actually an underwater

37:26shot uh taken probably by Miss Lisa uh

37:29in our media services of the oysters

37:32living in and around the oyster castles.

37:35And you can see there's a bunch of algae

37:37as well. Well, remember this is a

37:40primary nursery. So all the baby fish

37:42and all the baby shrimp and all the baby

37:44crabs have got to have somewhere to

37:47hide. Otherwise, the larger organisms

37:50pick them right off. And what happens is

37:53you see our fisheries continue to to

37:55decline and as a state our fisheries is

37:59still declining. We need to continue to

38:01put habitat back.

38:04And then um again without horizontal

38:08relief in the watershed you didn't find

38:11a lot of small to mediumsized fish. You

38:14only found the large ones moving through

38:16picking off all the little ones. Well

38:18now we are finding tons. them at

38:21schools, entire schools of different

38:23species of fish at all 12 sites. Now,

38:26you still get big fish there because of

38:29course they're going to come in and and

38:31pick on the mediumsiz fish. But when

38:33we're building these reefs, we have

38:35entire schools swimming around us

38:37waiting for us to finish so they can

38:38move in. It's hysterical.

38:41>> Um, and the New River is indigenous to

38:44Sturgeon. That's why uh we have Sturgeon

38:47City, our environmental and educational

38:49center. We were devoid of seeing

38:51sturgeon um because there was no

38:53dissolved oxygen on the bottom again due

38:57to city basin air station with our

39:00permitted wastewater treatment

39:02facilities. The dissolved oxygen was at

39:04zero and we need at least 5 milligrams

39:06per liter and we also didn't have a

39:08benefit community. Well, sturgeon feed

39:10off of the bottom. They have whiskers

39:12like little catfish. So, as they're

39:14swimming, they're sweeping the bottom

39:16and those little whiskers are waiting to

39:18hit something that immediately draws

39:20back into the sand. Well, with no

39:22dissolved oxygen, we didn't have a

39:23benefit community. So, a they couldn't

39:26breathe, and B, there was nothing for

39:28them to feed on, but they returned to

39:31the New River in 2009, which is a huge

39:33statement for the city of Jacksonville

39:36and the New River Watershed.

39:39Um, elicit discharges. When we first

39:42took over the permitting program in

39:442008, our elicit discharge number was in

39:48the hundreds.

39:50Each year, we are about 24 to 25. And

39:54the reason why is people have accidents.

39:57We we have accidents. And when you have

39:59accidents, there are spills. They're

40:01petroleum product spills. There's an

40:04oops. Uh I will tell you, our fire

40:07department is a phenomenal group of

40:09people. They not only put out the fire

40:13and protect property and personal life,

40:17they now go as far as to help us by

40:20eliminating the spread of any illicit

40:24discharge from going down a storm drain.

40:26In other words, they put any measure in

40:28front of it to keep it from going down.

40:31You can see them putting diapers around

40:33the storm drain on the left and a boom

40:36and rock around the one on the right.

40:38The one on the right was a car that

40:40caught on fire. I mean, you can't help

40:43if a car gets on fire, but petroleum

40:45products did leak out. They did put

40:47foam. They do everything possible to

40:50minimize the environmental impacts. They

40:54They're just great. I I love our fire

40:57department. We're We're very blessed.

41:00And then I do want to let you know that

41:02next Saturday is our national night out

41:06at the commons from 4 until 7:30 and to

41:10not only promote our adopt a storm drain

41:13program that storm water water quality

41:15has put out. We also are going to be

41:18raffling off two of our rain barrels.

41:22Uh, one in the fall and one in the

41:25spring at Earth Day at Sturgeon City,

41:28but two will go this Saturday. uh will

41:31be raffling it off to a homeowner or

41:33business that will install it. that not

41:36only will install it at their home, but

41:38at their business so we can possibly

41:40maybe come out, take pictures after it's

41:43installed or if they have questions,

41:45they can get back up with us because we

41:47have to remind everybody that

41:49everybody's yard and everybody's

41:52business does contribute to storm water

41:55runoff, but everybody can make a

41:57positive difference and change any

42:02pollutants that might come from the site

42:04going into a rain barrel and then using

42:08it later on your landscaping or your

42:11garden is a good thing. Now, Jason said

42:14something earlier. I will tell you

42:16y'all, we are in year four of a drought.

42:20>> Year four. And I can tell you this

42:23because we monitor the water quality. Do

42:26you know the salenities up above

42:28fisherman's warf way up river is 24

42:32parts per thousand? Let me give you

42:34perspective. Open ocean water is 35

42:38parts per thousand. Up above fisherman's

42:41warf area should be two. It's 24 parts

42:47per thousand. We are in a drought year

42:50four.

42:52I'm worried this is the new norm.

42:55So North Carolina used to get as much

42:58water as Seattle. We got 55 inches a

43:01year, but we got half an inch this week,

43:04quarter of an inch the next week. Few

43:07weeks went away, then another quart. Now

43:09we get four inches in one day.

43:12>> Who can handle four or look at the three

43:15months,

43:15>> right?

43:17>> I mean, everybody's flooding. You've

43:19seen, you know, Rhode Island,

43:21Connecticut, poor poor Texas, bless

43:24them, Arizona. I mean, it's no longer

43:29small rain am amounts, it's large rain

43:32amounts. So, storm water runoff is going

43:35to become an even bigger word. And it's

43:38not just water qualitywise, but water

43:42quantity. So, storing some back for the

43:45droughts, a rain barrel would be a good

43:47option. So, please come visit us and and

43:50raffle for one of the beautiful rain

43:53barrels that the art institute actually

43:56painted for us this summer. And they did

43:58a great job. I mean, artists I have

44:00nothing but respect for. And that would

44:03be it. That's my update.

44:07>> And I just want to tell you guys, you

44:09you have been here a while. And I know

44:12this because I've been here a while. So,

44:16I want to thank y'all for all that you

44:19have done to sit on this committee to

44:22stay consistent and and being

44:26good stewards of our environment within

44:29the city of Jacksonville. Thank you for

44:31what you do.

44:33>> Okay. I appreciate you.

44:35>> I have a question.

44:36>> Yes, sir.

44:36>> Appreciate you.

44:37>> The storm drain program.

44:39>> Yes, sir. Is that the same as the um

44:43adopt a highway where organizations put

44:46their name on something

44:47>> or is that something a little different?

44:49>> It So, we wouldn't allow you to put your

44:51name on the storm drain, but we could

44:54always do photos and put it on the

44:56city's website to give kudos to those

44:58that do adopt storm drains. But we've

45:01just started that this year. That's why

45:03we're painting them at the Riverwalk

45:06Park. um is to draw attention to a clock

45:09storm drain may mean your house or

45:12driveway could flood, but an open storm

45:14drain means it's going where it needs to

45:17>> because we have like a new population

45:19every 18 months.

45:20>> Yes,

45:21>> they don't know to clean out the storm

45:23drain. I mean, I lived in the back of

45:24Alders Gate for 12 years and if you

45:26didn't clean out the storm drain, the

45:28street would flood. So, you know, you

45:29would do yours or do your elderly

45:31neighbors or we just the guys would go

45:33out and do the whole street just to keep

45:36them clear cuz otherwise you had a mess.

45:38>> Exactly.

45:39>> Who's the point of contact for that?

45:40>> Uh us. Uh you would call either myself

45:43or Derek with public services and he's

45:46here in the engineering office at city

45:50hall.

45:53>> Okay. Any questions for

45:57you does a good job.

45:59>> I don't have any questions, but I got a

46:01couple of comments.

46:01>> We're very fortunate on the county and

46:03Jacksonville to have you put a lot of

46:05hours in.

46:07>> I I will say that. Yes, ma'am. I did.

46:11>> Show that you're the scientist.

46:14>> Is it obvious?

46:16>> So, we have all come out here.

46:19>> I want to share some things real quick.

46:21While Pat was talking, I was started

46:23writing some things down. And you know,

46:26Pat didn't say some things tonight.

46:28Okay. But what you need to know or you

46:31maybe need to remember is a lot of the

46:34work that she showed you tonight, she

46:36referenced grants here and grants there

46:38and very small numbers. that Pat has

46:42uh just in the last two years I would

46:45say has accumulated for a lot of what

46:48you saw in moving forward over $20

46:51million. Am I right?

46:54>> That's a big That's a big deal.

46:56>> Yes, it is.

46:57>> That's a big deal.

46:59>> She's not telling you that, but I have

47:01no problem telling you that. Well, the

47:03administrative oversight of those grants

47:06because they require quarterly

47:08programmatic, quarterly financial, I did

47:10it for 12 years at the police

47:12department.

47:12>> It's it's a huge responsibility because

47:15if you make a mistake or you don't get

47:16it right,

47:17>> they stop payment or they can take the

47:19money back. So, it's it's um it's an

47:22executive level amount of administration

47:24over that. And um I just I know how much

47:27work goes into that and I was like,

47:29"Wow." So, just to stay going on that

47:32because I'm not blind.

47:33>> Um, you know,

47:36hopefully what you saw tonight out of

47:38Pat is

47:40somebody who's committed and I've wrote

47:42these things down. Passionate

47:46drive. Pat said she's been here a long

47:49time. She's still got the drive. That's

47:50evident. And she has a lot of pride in

47:53what she does. Those are those are how

47:56you get where you're going. And that's

47:59why Wilson Bay and Sturgeon City and all

48:02those things she talked about barges of

48:06castles, Oyster Castles and all of those

48:09things, they don't just happen. And

48:12again, I'm going to toot her horn a

48:14little bit more. Pat is in Jacksonville.

48:17We're lucky to have her.

48:19>> She's not known just in Jacksonville,

48:22North Carolina. Okay. I talked to her

48:25last week. She tells me, "I got to go. I

48:28got to go to California and give a

48:30speech." This girl is not a local. I

48:34mean, sometimes we have people here

48:38that,

48:40you know, we don't want to recognize

48:41that. You know, people are calling out

48:44to her. Can you help us? She's never

48:47told me that, but I know they're doing

48:49that. Are they not?

48:51So, I I'll just go ahead and admit that

48:54the Coastal Federation and um UNCW are

48:58going to do an oyster pathway

49:03in the lower Capefar River based on what

49:06we've done in Jacksonville with Oyster

49:09Highway that was unveiled last week at

49:13the conference in San Francisco, the

49:15Restoring America's Estuaries, which I

49:18presented the Oyster highway.

49:21>> So sometimes, yeah, we got a little

49:24something on our hands here.

49:26>> Precious

49:27>> and we're all better for it.

49:29>> End of the day. That's really all I

49:31wanted to say. D.

49:32>> Thank you.

49:33>> You're welcome. You ready?

49:34>> Yes, I do. I just wanted to say that

49:36there was an awesome article in our

49:39state about Pat and the Oyster Highway

49:42and the great job that they have done.

49:47>> Thank you.

49:48It was a good article. I mean, sometimes

49:50they don't get all the facts right. They

49:52did pretty pretty well in that one.

49:55>> Well, I I mean,

49:56>> it is what it is, right?

49:59>> Nothing bad. It's just sometimes I mean

50:02I guess I do speak in a different

50:04language and sometimes it doesn't

50:06transcribe quite as well, I guess. So,

50:09sometimes the facts aren't always right,

50:11but the R state magazine did a good job.

50:13>> They've got some high quality writers

50:15and photographers there.

50:18Yeah.

50:19>> Okay. We're going to move on to open

50:20discussion.

50:22>> So, so I don't really have a lot

50:24tonight. What I want to remind you of is

50:26National Night Out. That's coming up.

50:29Don't forget the Bay Root Memorial is

50:31coming up.

50:33>> We will not see each other again until

50:35December. So, what does that mean? When

50:37we see each other,

50:40>> we're going to have Christmas is going

50:41to be in We're going to be in the middle

50:43of Christmas. The decorations are going

50:45to be up. It's going to be happening.

50:48We'd love for you. It's our intentions

50:50again this year to do our little Santa

50:52event downtown. We would love for you to

50:54stop by. If you've never done that,

50:57please try and make time to do that. We

50:58don't have the date yet. I know Beth has

51:00come. I do know that. Haven't you come

51:02to our dog?

51:03>> She bring

51:05me lunch.

51:06>> It's uh it's a great little event. We

51:09don't heavily advertise it because we

51:11can't take but so many people down

51:13there. But it's a nice it's a nice time

51:15down there and uh I just wanted to

51:17remind you of those things that are

51:20>> coming up for us. Okay.

51:21>> Okay.

51:23>> The um in the past years we've been

51:26either getting on a bus or little

51:28Jacksonville bus going to do the contest

51:31for the decorations. Yes.

51:33>> For the Christmas decorations. So, just

51:37to remind everybody, remember, I think

51:39in past lives, there was a time where

51:41maybe the the advisory board decided

51:44what yards were the best yards.

51:47>> And in today's world, we don't do that.

51:50Facebook does that.

51:51>> Yes. Now, we can talk about maybe

51:53picking a day potentially and riding

51:56around and looking at houses, but just

51:59remember Lisa will ride around, get

52:02nominations,

52:03take some pictures of those homes, post

52:06them, and the public will vote on that

52:09sort of thing. That way, you know, we're

52:12not going to be in the middle of

52:14deciding who looks good or who doesn't

52:17look good because from from a lot of our

52:19seats, I'm sure everybody in here, all

52:21the houses are going to look good,

52:22right? You know, that's what we want.

52:25There's a lot of

52:26>> competition out there,

52:27>> right? There's a lot of competition and

52:29beauty is in the eye of the behold.

52:32>> It was fun. It was a fun time doing

52:33that.

52:34>> It was fun.

52:35>> Yes, it was.

52:36>> And I'm not against doing it. I just

52:37remember we don't we'll we won't we're

52:39not the deciders of that sort of thing.

52:42>> Okay.

52:42>> Good.

52:42>> And I do want to bring one other thing

52:45up. Um and it was the reason I asked you

52:48and Jason about uh how many folks you

52:50actually have to do all this work?

52:53>> Do we have a

52:56a a program or something that recognizes

53:00uh part of the city just like uh

53:03>> it was just spoken about. You have a few

53:05people that do a whole lot of stuff and

53:07you mentioned I think 500 acres or

53:09something that 31 people are covering,

53:12>> right? Do we have a a program that

53:14recognizes anybody at the end of the

53:16year or during the year?

53:18>> Well, well, what we have is a a merit

53:20evaluation.

53:22That's really what we have. We're able

53:24to evaluate all of our full-time staff

53:26members and a lot of what we talk about

53:29or go into those evaluations. As far as

53:32recognizing individuals, we also have a

53:36um help me Jason the Apple program which

53:41is kind of acknowledges you've went a

53:43little above and beyond. We we want to

53:45thank you for that. We also have uh

53:48>> what's the word? uh used to be the um

53:52performance

53:52>> performance plus awards that we'll give

53:54to employees from time to time those

53:56sorts of things. So we are able to

53:58recognize people. Yes,

54:00>> that's publicly correct.

54:01>> Well, we do we do it within our staff,

54:03right? We do it within the staff.

54:06>> Okay.

54:07>> Anybody else? Good question.

54:12>> Okay. Our next uh meeting is uh December

54:17the 3 at 6 PM. Uh other meetings will be

54:22further along down the line February the

54:234th and April 1st. Uh if nothing else,

54:28I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn.

54:30>> Make a motion to adjurnn.

54:33>> Second. Second. Ajourn.

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