January 15, 2020 Minutes

The Titusville Environmental Commission (TEC) of the City of Titusville, Florida met in regular session in the Council Chamber at City Hall, located at 555 South Washington Avenue on Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 5:30pm.

 

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Chairman Myjak called the meeting to order at 5:30pm. Present were, Vice Chairman Bobbitt, Member Tucker, Member Yount, Member Perez, Member Chamberlain, and Alternate Member Sallmen. Member Nelson was absent. Staff present was Natural Resources Planner Eddy Galindo and Recording Secretary Laurie Dargie.

 

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Vice Chairman Bobbitt made a motion to approve the minutes from the November 13, 2019 meeting. Member Tucker seconded the motion; there was a unanimous voice vote in favor. 

 

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Public Comment 

None

 

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Old Business

None

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New Business

 

Ordinance – Wetland Surveys

Mr. Galindo gave a brief summary regarding why this agenda item is before the Titusville Environmental Commission. 

 

Vice Chairman Bobbitt said that while hearing the item at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting, he felt that this was something the Titusville Environmental Commission should have a chance to review and make a recommendation on due to the relevance to environmental issues. 

 

 

 

 

Member Tucker asked for clarification regarding whether or not the language being used is the adopted language from the St. Johns River Water Management District (SJRWMD). Mr. Galindo said yes.

 

Member Perez asked if the City of Titusville will receive updates from the SJRWMD on changes that take place with their guidelines. Mr. Galindo said yes.

 

Member Tucker said she would suggest adopting this because SJRWMD has the experts that have already done the studies to back up the guidelines that they are using. Member Tucker said she would like to know what kind of impacts are being done to Titusville’s water based on the districts from SJRWMD. Mr. Galindo said that if the Titusville Environmental Commission would like to invite a guest speaker from SJRWMD to speak about this he could reach out to invite them. 

 

Vice Chairman Bobbitt agrees with Member Tucker that SJRWMD have the scientists that have done the research and would be in support of adopting this ordinance.  

 

Chairman Myjak asked what happens if an application is accepted and the development takes longer than expected and the survey expires but was valid when accepted. Mr. Galindo said that as long as it is valid at the time of submission it would still be good.

 

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Member Perez made a motion to approve the Wetlands Survey Ordinance. Vice Chairman Bobbitt seconded. 

 

Roll call was as follows:

 

Member Sallmen                     Yes

Member Chamberlain             Yes

Member Yount                       Yes

Member Tucker                       Yes

Vice Chairman Bobbitt           Yes

Member Perez                         Yes

Chairman Myjak                     Yes

 

Motion Passed.

 

 

 

 

The Titusville Environmental Commission discussed whether or not the conditions of the ordinance would be automatically updated if the regulations were changed, would the City be apprised of current conditions, is the submittal binding to the City of Titusville and will it conflict with other survey agencies.

 

The Titusville Environmental Commission was in support of approving the Wetland Survey Ordinance based upon the expertise that the St. Johns River Water Management District offers to the City of Titusville. 

 

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Titusville Environmental Commission Public Engagement Strategies

Mr. Galindo asked what kind of community engagement ideas the Titusville Environmental Commission want to pursue this year.

 

Vice Chairman Bobbitt suggested the following ideas:

            

  • Information pieces in the Titusville Talking Points
  • Tabling events to hand out educational materials and meet with the community face to face
  • Creating an elevator speech, something memorized and to the point to give information as to who the Titusville Environmental Commission is and what we do.
  • Social media

 

Member Yount said that the semi-annual report is a nice summary of what the Titusville Environmental Commission does and what they have done. He suggested printing copies of this report to hand out as an informational item. Member Yount also suggested participating in the Christmas Parade.

 

Chairman Myjak suggested engaging the community with conservation efforts and bringing up topics that are important to the community.

 

Mr. Galindo reminded the Titusville Environmental Commission of the Adopt-a-Trail program and suggested that as an option to get the community involved.

 

Vice Chairman Bobbitt reminded the Commission that Keep Brevard Beautiful has the Trash Bash event in April. Keep Brevard Beautiful also has an event sometime in the future called Battle of the Causeways for community cleanup day. 

 

 

 

Member Perez would like to work towards getting ahead of the trash problems that are causing so much trash in the community.

 

Vice Chairman Bobbitt said he would really like to see the Titusville Environmental Commission host a trash summit. He said the Commission could create a campaign for awareness and make it an annual event.

 

Chairman Myjak summarized the Commission’s ideas as follows:

 

  • Talking Points
  • Semi-annual report
  • Social media
  • Educational flyers
  • Street party
  • Blog
  • Mailings
  • Annual events

 

Mr. Young suggested that the Titusville Environmental Commission could walk in the Christmas Parade pulling trash cans and picking up litter.

 

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Sustainability Plan Framework

Mr. Galindo informed that Titusville Environmental Commission that City Council would like to start the process and move forward with adopting a sustainability plan in the future. City Council would like the Titusville Environmental Commission’s feedback and input regarding what they would like to see in the sustainability plan. 

 

Some discussion took place regarding other municipalities’ sustainability plans. 

 

Vice Chairman Bobbitt would like to see a composting program in the City of Titusville. He would also like to see more solar powered cars and solar panels on houses.

 

Mr. Young said that Mockingbird is already taking in trash and sorting it. Mr. Young thought they could taking it one step further and do composting. Chairman Myjak said that Mockingbird is operated by the County. 

 

 

Mr. Young asked why the City of Titusville doesn’t require zero energy new homes.

 

Member Yount said that the community really needs to be educated better. Member Yount says every year he asks his students if they know about the fertilizer ordinance and most every student does not know anything about the ordinance. Member Yount said there needs to be better efforts on educating the community.

 

Mr. Galindo asked if the Titusville Environmental Commission would be in favor of the following topics being included in the City’s sustainability plan. 

 

  • Procurement 
  • Workforce education and training
  • Economic Development
  • Quality of life 
  • Local foods (fresh foods, farmers markets)

 

The Titusville Environmental Commission were all in favor of these being include in the sustainability plan. 

 

Stan Johnston of 860 Poinsettia Avenue Titusville, Florida came to speak neither for nor against this item.

 

Member Chamberlain brought up concerns with US Highway 1 and Garden Street intersection being a low elevation and is a main evacuation route. He would like to see the City address this concern.   Member Chamberlain said he is also concerned about the proposed development at the old Howard Johnsons location. 

 

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Public Comment

 

Stan Johnston of 860 Poinsettia Avenue Titusville, Florida came to speak about a map of Hickory Hills and its vulnerability to flooding.

 

Dianna Hakanen of 2652 Ivory Way Titusville, Florida came to speak. Ms. Hakanen works with the Brevard County Natural Resources Department. Ms. Hakanen confirmed that the County did adopt SJRWMD’s five (5) year wetland survey policy.  

 

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Reports

 

Florida Arbor Day

Mr. Galindo said that this Friday, January 17, 2020 there will be the Florida Abor Day celebration at the Pritchard House. Chairman Myjak will be reading the tree proclamation. 

 

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Florida Green Building Coalition (FGBC) Green Local Government Certification – Silver

Mr. Galindo said that the City of Titusville worked over the past year at earning credits towards the Florida Green Building Coalition certification and the City of Titusville earned the silver certification level.  The City will be awarded their silver certification at the February 25, 2020 City Council meeting. Mr. Galindo invited the Titusville Environmental Commission to come and attend the celebration at 5:30pm.

 

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Mr. Galindo advised the Titusville Environmental Commission that he has received two application entries for the Elementary School Grant Program. The applications are from Imperial Estates School and St. Teresa’s.

 

Chairman Myjak said he will make a point to visit each of the schools in person and inform them of the grant program.

 

Mr. Galindo said that the Titusville Environmental Commission will review the entries and score them at the February 12, 2020 Titusville Environmental Commission meeting. 

 

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Future Agenda Items.

  • Reviewing and awarding school grants 
  • Solar vehicles (presentation)
  • Tree ordinance
  • Sunshine Law refresher
  • Solar panels on every new home

 

 

 

The Titusville Environmental Commission would also like discussion relating to the intersection at US Highway 1 & Garden Street on a future agenda. Mr. Galindo said he can reach out and invite someone from TPO to come and talk about the intersection concerns. 

 

Member Tucker thanked Mr. Galindo for all his work towards getting the grant for the sustainability plan.

 

Chairman Myjak shared that he spoke to City Council at their January 14, 2020 meeting.  He told City Council that he would like for the Titusville Environmental Commission to become more involved in the city’s processes. Chairman Myjak said that City Council said they would like to sit down during a workshop with the Titusville Environmental Commission for a discussion.

 

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Adjournment 7:40 pm