Weekly comments from Dale Martin

Dale Martin
City Manager
Fernandina Beach
December 8, 2016 1:00 a.m.

A key project, as directed by the City Commission, is the improvement of storm water infrastructure and management. City staff and other partners have worked on several facets of storm water throughout 2016.

Discussions related to storm water improvements were part of the City Commission’s January, 2016, goal-setting session. Although perhaps Vice Mayor Len Kreger is the most passionate advocate of storm water concerns, the issue did achieve the consensus of the entire City Commission at that January meeting.
If the first success of the year was raising awareness and achieving that consensus, the second success followed shortly thereafter. Through the exceptional efforts of State Senator Aaron Bean and then-State Representative Janet Adkins, the City was able to secure $900,000 of funding for storm water improvements in the State’s
2017 budget (July 1, 2016). I’ll return to this funding later in this writing.

Additional funding was secured through the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD) in early June. The City was awarded $575,000 (requiring a City contribution of an additional $50,000 for a total project cost of $625,000) for the purpose of constructing swales along City streets in areas susceptible to flooding. Additionally, the project will support surface water initiatives to reduce nitrogen and phosphorous run-off into area waters. In keeping with the chronological order, I’ll come back to this funding, too.

A necessary tool to develop and prioritize storm water projects is the City’s Storm Water Master Plan. The City last comprehensively developed a storm water plan approximately fifteen years ago, and it is readily obvious that substantial changes to the community have transpired since then. The City solicited proposals from interested consultants to revise the Storm Water Master Plan. After reviewing submitted proposals, a selection of City staff recommended, and the City Commission subsequently approved, the selection of GAI Consultants, Inc. of Jacksonville. Representatives of GAI Consultants were authorized to proceed with their work on August 4.

The report from GAI is expected to be provided to City staff no later than December 20, and, after staff review, be presented by representatives of GAI Consultants to the City Commission (and public) at the City Commission’s January 3, 2017, meeting. This document will provide the foundation for future funding and projects to continue the City’s storm water infrastructure improvements. The report will also provide information to support Local Mitigation Strategy (LMS) projects which may support emergency management grant funding requests.

The City Commission, in adopting the 2017 budget on September 20, included funding for three new positions to support storm water efforts: a manager, a foreman, and a laborer. Those staff positions, currently being filled, will be funded through the collection of storm water fees. A principal focus of this staff will be the maintenance of catch basins, street sweeping, and other drainage projects throughout the City.

Returning to the $900,000 funding from the State, the City has nearly completed the installation of pipes to assist storm drainage in the N. Fletcher Avenue area in the vicinity of Main Beach. The project has utilized boring techniques rather than open-cutting to install 4,300 feet of piping. This piping, new pumps, and an emergency generator, will move storm water from the pond at W. 3rd Street and N. Fletcher to Atlantic Avenue to then be discharged into Egans Creek.

The $625,000 project is intended to create swales in neighborhoods when storm drainage infrastructure is minimal (or nonexistent) and flooding is frequent during heavy rain events. Swales are designed to manage water runoff, filter pollutants, and increase rainwater infiltration in such areas. Swales are commonly referred to as “ditches,” but swales are actually a more gently sloped drainage feature. Unlike typical storm water drainage structures and facilities, however, swales are not part of (or under) the road surface, but rather located off the road. The swales are constructed within the road right-of-way, the understanding of which is not often clear.

Road rights-of-way are wider than the roads themselves: whereas the road may be twenty to twenty-four feet wide, the right-of-way (which is city property) is commonly much wider, as much as sixty-to-eighty feet wide. In many areas, private property owners have manicured landscapes and constructed personal improvements within the rights-of-way. Those efforts may be affected by the construction of the swales. The underlying purpose of the rights-of-way is to provide adequate space for infrastructure development: water and sewer lines, utility lines (above and below ground), telecommunications facilities, and other uses as determined by the City.

The swale project is intended to be City-wide, with the funding providing the equivalent of over 31,000 feet of swales. Current plans call for the swale construction to start later this month in central portion of the City in the vicinity of the Peck Center. Another area scheduled for swales is in the vicinity of N. Fletcher Avenue. Both of these areas are susceptible to flooding and lack appropriate drainage.

These two key storm water projects have been properly reviewed and permitted by officials at the SJRWMD as well as the Florida Department of Transportation. The projects will also support continuing City staff efforts to improve the City’s Community Rating System value, which, in turn, affects the cost of flood insurance for City residents. Storm water infrastructure, which has been neglected, can play a significant role in the safety and health of our community.