Rhonda Haag, chief resilience officer for Monroe County, joined Good Morning Keys on Keys Talk 96.9/102.5FM this morning to talk about what’s going on in the county.
There are two road elevation projects that are under design right now.
Haag said, “They’ll be done by May. They’re going to get a chance to vote on their future, but these are going to provide really long term resilience to these neighborhoods if they move forward. And so we’ve held some neighborhood meetings with the residents and updated them. One was the Big Coppitt Road elevation project. We held that meeting on February 18. We explained how we have $84 million in grant funds, which is 23 in state and 16 million in federal funds, and so we have those $84 million set aside. And we explained that once we were done with the design, and we’re going to go to a vote with them, we’ll probably go out for a bid, so we know what the costs are. Of course, if there’s any differential, like, if the 84 million isn’t quite enough to fund the capital, then we’re going to be looking at the residents to fund that differential. Right now, for Big Coppitt, there is no differential because the estimate equals the amount of grant funds. So we’re very happy about that. There will be an assessment to fund the operations and maintenance of the project. And that’s kind of really what the most highest concern was of the residents. So right now, we’re looking at a monthly amount of $156 which we realize is a lot of money for a lot of people. So we’re trying everything we can. We’re going back to the drawing board and see if we can get that a little lower to help out with that, but overall, the project was received very well. It’s just whether we can make the money work for the people.”
It’s a constant quest for grants to get these projects supported.
Haag confirmed, “It is, and people don’t understand. So the state grant funding under Resilient Florida that’s available every year, year to year, you can apply, and part of that money is 23 million. Of course, they get like $5 for every $1 of available grant funding. So it’s heavily competitive. But the federal funds, those are not annual grant allocations. The funds we have are from FEMA. They’re called hazard mitigation funds, and those are based on a hurricane hitting a particular area then the county being one of the counties that qualifies for funding. So these funds are very up in the air. In the future, we were lucky enough to get about 200 and some million for these road elevation projects. But the grant funds go away. We have until the summertime to get them underway. So we may not ever get them again, because what’s going on with the federal administration. FEMA is under scrutiny, and these programs may not be funded like they were previously. That’s why we want to work really hard with the community to get these costs to something they can manage and not have to get back $84 million in grant funds, because they will have to go back. We can’t hold on to them, and we can’t transfer them to other projects.”
Are people in the neighborhoods receptive to the idea?
Haag said, “It’s like we had a little of everything. We had some people that just feel they can’t afford anything right now, or they don’t want to have a government project in their backyard, which I understand. They do see the water on the road, but some thought it could be delayed. These projects can be delayed for a few years and maybe come back later. Others were right up front about it. They want the projects now, because they understood that the flooding on the road is going to get probably a little bit worse every year as the seas continue to rise and that groundwater rises, there won’t be anywhere for the water to run. But overall, a mixed bag, which I would totally expect it and that’s why we need to have more meetings with the homeowners. We need to get more estimates on those costs. And actually, once we bid it out, that’s when we’re going to take that vote. Of course, 51% of the neighborhood needs to vote yes in order to move forward, but we’re going to work really hard to make this work for all of the neighborhoods that we have. It’s Winston Waterways, too, and also Flagler. Flagler is a little bit different story, because the city is going to maintain the operations and maintenance on that, but we’re still $20 million short on that. Talk about grant funds, we don’t always get them. So we had applied. We have 54 million in federal funds, but we need another 22 million. We applied last summer for the state funds. We didn’t receive it, not yet, because the state didn’t fund the program more than 100 million, so we’re looking at reapplying this year. So there’s still a gap of 22 million on Flagler, but we’re going to look at our app and find out ways to increase our ways of getting a better score, and hopefully this summer we’ll have better luck.”
The amount of the grants available is dictated year by year by the state budget.
Haag said, “They have a minimum 100 million that they fund every year, then they can fund, like the last three or four years they funded more than that because they had five funds. So I think it was funded anywhere from 150 to 200 million. So this year they’re still at the 100 million. They still have that opportunity, I think, to increase that budget. I know our legislative director and county manager are working hard with the folks in Tallahassee to see if we can get those budgets increased. And so there’s still hope for this year, but if we don’t make the cut this year, then we’ll reapply in August. People were worried about is an assessment going to negatively affect the value of their home if they try to sell it? And so what I said was, I had my experience with canals, because we already have several canal neighborhoods with assessments. I have people calling me, and three people said they moved into that neighborhood, especially because it was an assessment, and they knew that that canal was going to be taken care of, and it wouldn’t be flooded with sargassum and things like that. So they purposely moved there, it increased the value of the home. So I’m looking at the same value to these homes that will be in these neighborhoods. Yes, there will be an assessment, but yes, that also means these neighborhoods where we will be resilient for the next at least 20, 30 years and they won’t have flooding on the roads. They’re going to be able to come and go as they please. They won’t have to worry about not getting garbage picked up or mail delivered or going driving through salt water. And so that’s why we’re doing these projects to benefit the neighborhoods.”
There are also three breakwater projects.
Haag said, “The Tavernier breakwater, that’s 2.1 million, that’s in Tavernier Oceanside. The Duck Key breakwater, that’s going to be moving forward in about three weeks. That’s 10,000 feet of breakwater. That’s a lot. That’s 3.3 million. And then the Rock Harbor breakwater is 1.3 million. That’s also moving forward in the next two to three weeks. And then we have the Long Key that’s not a breakwater, it’s a living shoreline that’s moving forward next week. So two or three projects moving forward next week, and then another one about two weeks after so that’s about $6 million all grant funded, all providing resilience to those communities in those areas, and again, long term resilience. So in the event of a hurricane and storm surge, those breakwaters will break the waves from crashing into the homes. And so we’re really excited about these.”
Canal restoration is also underway.
Haag said, “We have canal 82 is up in Rock Harbor, right next to the Rock Harbor breakwater. We have to wait until the breakwater is done, because it’s the same vendor, but that hopefully will be starting in about four months. And then we got a $7 million grant from the state to fund Rock Harbor, and also Big Pine Key canal 266. We restored it several years ago, but it was a demo. We took the five feet of muck out, but we left it too deep because we wanted to test how well it works. And now we’re going to come in and backfill it to about seven feet deep and give them a new air curtain, because that air curtain is wearing out, so they’re going to be even happier with what they have. And they’re already paying that assessment, too, and another one on Big Pine Key, canal 255, that’s a 1.4 million organic muck removal. They’ve already voted to pay the assessment for the air curtain. And so we’re going to have a lot of happy people on Big Pine Key too. We have the 12 million in federal restore funds. Those are all on Big Pine Key too, on the avenues. Those are all under design and permitting right now, but we hope to get going with building those next fall.”