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Video-1: youtube.com/watch?v=vtUFgda-GUw

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All right, you're live. >> I'm going to call to order the Environmental Advisory Committee meeting on July 8th, 2026 at 2 p.m., could you do a roll call, please? >> Brad Freeze >> here. Thomas Bradford >> here. Michelle Shrauss.

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>> Jill Wenta. Drew Enriquez, >> Barbara Gomez >> here, >> Brookma >> here. >> Okay, no one's here, so no communication from citizens. No presentations on the consent agenda. All we have is

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the minutes from our June 10th, 2026 meeting. Would anyone get to motion to approve the consent agenda? I'll make a motion to approve the uh uh minutes of the meeting of last month.

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>> I'll second. >> All those in favor? >> I >> against motion carries. Uh regular agenda, old business, the Y ditch tour. >> Um I think we picked a great day. It's

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like the hottest day of the show. >> Exactly. >> It'll it'll be quick. Um, so we're going to do that when the meeting wraps up. It's not mandatory, but if you'd like to go, um, you're welcome to join. I actually walked it yesterday. It's it's very lovely. Um, so it'll be just a

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quick couple minute walk. Uh, I tried to get Allison, our water utilities director there, but uh, she's actually on her honeymoon right now, so she's not able to attend, but um, David Tanokco from the water department, I believe, is going to join us. So, he'll he'll be able to walk us through it a little bit.

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Um but just wanted to give a quick um run through of the do ditch project especially for our new members in case you guys have hadn't really seen this before. Um this is a presentation that was given last year on this project. Um

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the do ditch is a half mile long drainage canal that borders village of Tquesta and Jupiter. It provides flood protection in the village. Um the embankment of the canal had eroded and was um kind of dumping a lot of water into the water body and then it was um

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kind of shing up and and plugging the uh where it enters the the um the north fork of locks or whatever fork whichever fork that is. Um >> I think that's right. >> Okay, good. And so, um, this project was was kind of

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designed to to eliminate some of those things, but also to, um, enhance enhance it and create kind of a living shoreline. So, this was the existing conditions before. Um, as you see, there was some sod um, but also some dirt there. Um, so a lot of that

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kind of eroded into the water body. Um, the the proposed design and what ended up getting built is is pretty similar to what you see here. um it's still growing in. So these trees when you when you visit the site are are still fairly small but you know longterm I think the

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hope is that it grows to look something like this. Uh so it it was just dredging realigning and stabilizing the westernmost portion of it. So it's just the part west of Riverside, not east of Riverside. I think there is some hope to do that long term. Um but right now

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we're just uh we got funding um for the the western part of it. It was to create a meander a meandering channel. So, I think the meandering helps filter the water a little bit too before it goes out and also kind of can create some increased uh fish habitat and then

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create a living shoreline with aesthetic benefits. So, kind of on the the western portion of it you see there, that's that's a um mangrove marsh that's um supposed to be added adding to the mangroves that are actually you'll see when we walk the site there's a lot of

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mangroves out at the entrance where it runs into the locks. Um, and then as you get further to the east, it's um creating a maritime hammock and then there's a concrete weir u at the far eastern portion of it.

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U here's some cross-sections. We don't have to get too far into this, but there's basically two maritime hammock planting areas and two salt marsh areas. And this is just some detail about the funding of it. It was kind of a split cost between town of Jupiter and

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Tquesta. And we also got some funding for it. And uh with that, that's my presentation. I'm sure David can share a lot more specific details about it when we walk the site. Okay. Questions? All right. Uh next is new business. Back to Jay for the future

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Jalona tour discussion that we had discussed uh a little bit last year. At least we t last month at least we touched on it. >> Yep. So I had um reached out to Peter Dwit who uh is the um head of Jona and

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uh just to let him know that we are interested in having having a a tour an event that's geared more towards the public. They did host an event. Uh Brad, do you recall when that was? Probably in like January. >> Yeah, it was early. >> Probably about January, February, they did a tour that was for the village uh

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village council members, village staff, and the EAC. But I think it'd be nice to have one where the general public's o invited to come. And so, uh, Peter is open and excited about that idea. Um, he did say that it's not going to open

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until December 3rd. Um, so perhaps it's something that we would do in the fall. Uh, to your point earlier, Brad, um, maybe at a time when it cools off a little bit. So, um, just want to check and see if >> only one tour in the heat of the summer. Right.

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>> Right. Sounds good to me. >> Yeah. Just want to see if if there are any thoughts um you know, do we want to do it in the probably in the early evening when people can come after work? Do we want to do it on a weekend? Um what month is best? Just open any

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thoughts and ideas and and we can touch base with Peter and then lock something up. >> But we can So you said December? >> December is when it is completed. >> So if we go in like November, it'll be almost completed. >> Yep. Um,

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I mean, sometime in November would work. Uh, I like the idea of a little bit later in the afternoon, so you know, uh, there won't be any, uh, conflicts with, uh, with schedules, but >> there there might be and there might be an opportunity we could link it up with

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another event that I'm planning to host in November, which is the opening or I'm sorry, the dedication of US1 as part of the East Coast Greenway. So, the East Coast Greenway is basically a bike trail from Maine all the way to Key West and um there's links of it all throughout

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the throughout Florida. Um we are eligible to be designated as part of it um as part of the lane repurposing that was done a few years ago. And so the village council adopted a resolution a couple months ago to designate it as part of the East Coast Greenway. And we

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are going to have a kind of a ribbon cutting grand opening event. um which we might be able to do kind of in that area >> like at maybe even at the northern part of Jona >> um and then have an opportunity where people could go to the ribbon cutting

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and then following that go to the go to the the tour of Jona. So maybe it makes it worth people's while to to to come out for either of those events. So if if >> you're open to that, I could try and sync those two up or we could have it as a standalone event.

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>> Is is that in early November? It is tentatively November 11th, 12th or 13th. >> The 11th is Veterans Day. >> Um, which we we would be off, but we could we could probably have it then.

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The 12th is a village council meeting, so it's tough to have that in the evening or late afternoon for that. And then the 13th, I believe, I think the mayor said at the that a bunch of the council people are going to be at a Florida League of Cities thing. So,

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>> well, I was just wondering, you know, the closer you get to Thanksgiving, the harder it is. >> But whatever works is okay with me, but closer you get to Thanksgiving, the harder it's going to be to have the turnout that you want.

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any any concerns about having it on um Veterans Day or is that easier because people are off and maybe have a little bit more freedom to do stuff? >> I wouldn't have a problem with it. >> Yeah, I don't have any problem. >> I I wouldn't either. I >> Okay,

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>> that works. >> Okay. >> Y >> try and make that happen. >> Okay. >> All right. Next, the Quest of Park update. Um back to Jay. So, I'm going to read something that was given to me by the village manager

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Jeremy Allen. Uh, the Dequesta Park project is really um kind of a a passion project for him and something he's been working on for a really long time. So, he had a a really nice win on that project and I'm just going to read what he wrote about it. So, um he wrote, "I'm

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excited to share some updates about Questa Park and what's ahead for our community. The park bill has officially been approved by both the legislature and the governor, marking a significant milestone for us. While we are actively working with state staff to complete the process for the deed of the park over to

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the village, uh we don't officially own it just yet, but that's of course in process. Once everything is finalized, we look forward to hosting a dedication ceremony to celebrate this achievement. This the process could take a few months, so we appreciate your patience as we move forward.

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For more than 50 years since 1973, Tequesta Park has been a cornerstone for generations of families and we've proudly served as its caretakers. This brings a major change. We are transitioning from caretakers to permanent owners and throughout most of the lease, the village has shouldered maintenance and improvement costs, which

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are estimated to be $250 to $300,000 a year. Recently, the state contributed a $340,000 appropriation to help plan for the park's future, and those plans are nearly complete. We anticipate submitting a site plan to Martin County, though there is no uh set timeline at

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this moment. And just to add some color to that, um because it's in Martin County, we actually have to go through their site plan review process. We did have a pre pre-development application meeting with with the county and they were very receptive to the project. Um so I think that will hopefully go

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through pretty smoothly. Uh then Jeremy wanted to again emphasize that preparation for the plans began back in October of 2021 crafted through extensive community input. The um village master plan which encompasses all of villages parks was adopted on

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June 9th, 2022 and it is notably different from what currently exists in the park. At this point, the village does not have the de dedicated funding for the master plan, but expect to implement it in phases similar to how the village imple um implements road projects, sidewalks, remembrance park.

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Um which as you may or may not know, we're kind of phasing the construction of remembrance park 2. Um we're also going to seek grants and phase the construction so that there aren't any undue strain isn't any undue strain on taxpayers. Um, one thing that's probably of specific note to the EAC is the um,

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invasive species removal project that's taking place there. Um, the full the full details about the invasive species removal are on the villages website under the title to Quest the Park Habitat Restoration Project. I can email this to you after the meeting just so

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you have a a reference of where it is. So the village was required to remove invasive species by 2031 as part of the state's mandated maintenance plan. So we were fortunate to secure a grant opportunity through the uh FWC which

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allowed us to remove the invasive species at no cost to the village and the village is also planning a controlled burn and have approved repairs to the parks fence. So in partnership to the FWC's IPMS pro program, eradication of four FIC

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category 1 non-native plant species, Brazilian pepper, carrotwood, ear leaf, acacia, and chafller across approximately 25 acres of natural area. Work was initiated March 30th and using

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mechanical and treat techniques, the goal is to restore and revitalize the unique Florida coastal scrub habitat within toquest the park. So, if you've been through there, you might notice that it seems like, you know, a lot's been cleared out, but it's entirely invasive plants and, um, you know, the

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goal is to get it back to being a a Florida scrub environment. >> Um, I'm happy to answer any questions or if you have any questions for the village manager, happy to relay those to him as well. So, it seemed to me that the uh since

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the cost to do everything is pretty hefty that they're looking that the staff is trying to look at uh elements that should come first, second, third, whatever, and figure out a incrementally

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to get the job done. Is that look is is that fair to say it that way? >> That's correct. Yeah. >> Yeah. that's going to be. I mean, I I know some of the council members when they saw the price tag, they were like, you know, whoa.

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But it you can break it down and to get it done over time. >> Yeah. And get some grants. And again, because the g the state gave a $340,000 appropriation for for the planning and design of it, I think there's a little bit of hope that we might get an

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appropriation for construction down the road, too. um along with grant opportunities um partnerships things like that. So all all avenues will be pursued but I know it's a it's a huge priority for the village manager and a lot of the village council members.

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>> What is being planned and then designed because it's already a park it already has facilities. What are you just adding to it or >> enhancing it? >> I should have I should have known to have a >> they had a water feature. They were

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going to do water feature. They had several different kind of pods. One area was a water feature and then they were going to improve the the baseball fields and the tennis courts. And I think a there was a picnic area that was it was beautiful. >> Yeah.

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>> I don't know how much it's going to cost, but it was beautiful. >> And they have a couple dog walking areas in that. Uh >> yeah, improve the dog park. That was part of it. >> I think the plan is on the park and recreation page. It's It's on the website. I'll see if I can pull it up

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now. There's So, there is um a flex field, too. So, there's two two baseball fields proposed. I think both varying sizes. Then there's like a flex field which could be used for soccer, lacrosse, football. I think there's sand volleyball, more tennis, more pickle

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ball. Um they've kind of changed the the orientation of the parking. um new playgrounds. I mean, it's it's it's a completely new >> new thing. So, let's see what I can find.

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>> And so, this was a uh county park for Martin County, correct? Prior. >> Well, >> state. >> That was a state park. >> Well, the land is owned by the state. Okay. >> Jonathan Dickinson land. >> Oh, it is? >> Yes. It's part of JD Park.

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it. Yeah, it was previously part of that. So, it's always been owned by the state, but it's been a toqua park that we we took on all the management of it, but didn't have ownership of it. So, there was, you know, always like a little bit of hesitancy to to invest

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heavily in it without having full ownership of it. >> Sure. >> Didn't the Kowanas Club at one point contribute greatly to the care that and the upkeep of that park? That's why it was referred to as the as Kowanas Park for a while. There's a marker there. Um

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a historical marker there regarding that. >> Toquest took it over from >> Kuanas. Yeah. >> Yes. >> And um it's been to Questa ever since. >> Right. >> I will send out a draft kind of a draft

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of the the park design to you guys along with the other link I was going to send. I I can't it's not on the website or if it is I can't find it. >> So I do have a question. >> Sure. >> Um regarding the future plans for that park. Um I understand the idea of being

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able to get grants and so forth and I I think they'll be able to do some of that but what is the ramification for parks and recreation for the staff? um right now, I mean, what there's two or three full-time people, then uh several

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part-time people in parks and wreck. How's that something that large going to affect the budget for parks and wreck? And in in in light of the fact that we're looking at perhaps budget cuts if the uh property tax thing goes through,

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>> phenomenal question. >> It's it's worrisome. >> Yeah. Yeah. >> So, so I don't think that there will be much need for additional staff for programming the park. I think the plan is to keep it generally, you know, Constitution Parks where I think the

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village will continue having most of its events um and where most of the parks and recck staff will be dedicated to, but you're right that the maintenance costs will will go up. So, that's going to have to be factored into any any capital cost to update and and change

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the park. Um, yeah, if the I mean, if the parks So, that's one thing, you know, if you're talking to people in the community and in in general and that are Florida residents and voters that if the property tax cut passes, there are going

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to be a loss of parks services. I mean, that people don't realize, but that's where your your your tax dollars go. It's going to impact your police. It's going to impact your fire. Um, but it's also going to impact your parks. Um, you know, I think there's a there's an idea

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out there that, you know, it's just government's overly bureaucratic and that there they're bloated and overstaffed. Um, and I think there probably are some examples like that, but in the village of Tquesta, we are we are lean and mean and uh efficient and

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so um it'll it'll have some big impacts on the village for sure. And and I think that and I probably council is aware, but there's a lot of history and there's people who have lived that history still in this community. And they're looking

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at this park now as we're going back to how it used to be in the early '7s. You can see it uh in their con their comments on social media when you when you're out and you're socializing with these people that they envision events

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in that park again like it used to be. Um and I don't see how that can be done without the village having to spend money for extra staff for you know police uh security. I think we have to

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be realistic about that and I just I and I am concerned um because I think the residents may be a little bit disappointed if they don't see the vision um and it or it takes a long time to get

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there. >> Are you thinking like in terms of events like the u what was that thing where they had the bands playing? I can't remember. >> America Pardon? >> The music series.

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>> Yeah, the the concert series. Are you thinking like concert series? >> It could be that. It could be uh we used to have craft shows there. There used to be a lot of different activities that went on there that brought the community uh to the park.

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>> Mhm. >> And people my age and younger that were part of that think that it's going to go back to something similar. And it may that may be in the works. And so if it does, you're worried about can sta the staff the budget

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>> the budget and the staff and the reality of it facing the current legislation. Under normal conditions, not so much, but facing the current legislation, >> the property tax >> already built into that is they cannot cut back police and fire. They have to

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maintain that same level of service. Let's say the whole thing passes and we have drastic cuts. written into that bill is that the municipalities have to be able to provide that same level of service. You can't cut police and fire. So things like parks and wreck are going

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to be >> I don't think it's what you said is true for police and fire. They they've mo at the last minute the Senate made it they can be cut. >> Yeah. It was schools were the only one that was excluded. >> The only ones that are untouchable.

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>> Okay. Stan corrected. Okay. But um if property tax reform does pass then you know >> how the how the village operates everything including recreation inquest

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park will become a under a microscope to figure out how to run it in the future >> and and I don't want to drag this out but lastly you know the town of Jupiter had to go to a system where you you pay to play now pretty much if you're not a

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Jupiter resident. And I think we need to look at that a little bit. I hate to say that cuz it involves kids, but I think we have to stay kind of um competitive or, you know, with the other

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areas around us and we need to look at that as far as um maybe imposing some fees to non-residents. Well, I think, correct me if I'm wrong, Jay. And during the concert series, there was a nominal charge for non-residents

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uh to enter the concert. I forget, it might have been $5 or $10. >> I think it's closer to $10. Yeah, I think it was five. >> But we need to look at it in regards to JTAa or any other group or that uses the the the fields for >> Yeah.

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>> for competition just like Jupiter's had to do because they've done that because they see what's coming down the pike, I think. Mhm. >> Yeah, that's a good >> point. I'm I can I'm pretty sure if property reform passes,

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fees and assessments and all of that's going to it's all going to happen. So, the question is, if everything gets offset by fees and assessments, do we really have a property tax reform? You see what I'm saying?

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>> Oh, absolutely. I see what you're saying. It still goes way back to the consumer to the residents. >> But what I'm saying, if you're paying say 5,000 a year in property taxes and now the property tax reform drops it to

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2,00 I'm making this up 2500, but the government finds a way to assess and to give you fees to make that up. You're still at $5,000. What difference to you is that? To me, it just seems it's it's

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just a shell game is all that it is. So, I think you now know where I stand on the subject. I had a fun comment to make, but not a good place to do it. Um, anything else for that?

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All right. Thank you, Jay. Um, this next one, uh, case study shoreline development. This is kind of, uh, out of our ballpark. Um, doesn't really, uh, have anything to do with the Questa.

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However, I thought it'd be important to take a closer look at an Army Corps of Engineering um permit request in light of and this is for Barbara and Brooks um benefit uh for many months

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prior to the living shoreline ordinance that was passed here in Tequesta. We had month after month uh of discussions it seems for quite a while uh here in the environmental advisory committee um about our living shoreline ordinance and

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uh it did pass and um thankfully and uh it's a a very I think a step in the right direction uh with regard to enhancing the quality of the Lockahhatchee River uh through our uh

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waterfront property owners as well as the resiliency uh factor as when it as it relates to storms and protection against storms and flooding. Um in this particular case study, it is in Palm Beach County. I'm not going to

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say exactly where it's at. It's on the PDF that I sent. This is a a public document, but there are just, you know, certain things that probably aren't appropriate in our forum to talk about, but it is in Palm Beach County.

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Um, it is a single family residence that has uh applied probably to a bunch of places for permits to do this, but um I just happened to come across this core of engineering uh the US Army Corps of Engineering permit. This particular

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document is published was published last month. It's a public notice. It allows people an opportunity anyone an opportunity to comment on what uh is summarized in this document. Um I'm

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going to go through some of the things that caught my eye um right out of the gate. Um, and most of this is geared towards uh the natural environment as it exists

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now and what uh will occur if this permit and probably a lot of the other permits are granted and they move forward with this construction. Um, under proposed does did anyone did

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you guys have a chance to read this prior? Mhm. >> Yeah. Oh, good. Okay. Um >> Brad, I have it pulled up here, so if you need to refer to anything. >> Yeah, you can go to the beginning part under proposed work. Yeah. So, and this is probably a

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question. And I don't know if anyone has any experience with these sort of permits, but under number one, remove approximately well almost 5,000 square foot of mangroves to uh construct uh what they want to do um under avoidance

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and min minimization. Propos proposed project will have 859 square feet of direct impacts to the existing mangrove wetland and 54,000 and some change square foot which is about equal to one

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and a/4 acres of total seaggrass impacts direct impacts uh and 31,337 square ft uh wait a minute what did I total okay total and direct impacts of 31,000 337

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ft from the proposed fill. Seaw wall rip wrap and tidal waters and secondary impacts are 23,000 almost a little over 23,000 square ft. So there's a lot of impact to the natural environment as it exists now.

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Um, and the part that really caught my eye and probably the the part that made me think, well, I think this might be something interesting for uh the EAC to to kind of dive into is this

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compensatory mitigation. Uh, I wasn't 100% uh I I I didn't realize uh this sort of thing occurs, but I'm going to read it as well. to offset impacts to what I just uh went through. Uh the

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applicant proposes to enhance a 1acre area adjacent seaggrass bed and to purchase and this was the part that got me saltwater credits from the Everglades Mitigation Bank. So I I sort of did a deep dive on that. And Brooke, I don't

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know if you have any experience with these sort of things. You probably do. So you're you're welcome to uh comment, but let me get through it first. Uh I did because I it's like okay a mitigation bank I can only think of carbon credits and I think it acts kind

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of the same way but they're replacing uh you know the natural uh flora and fauna with a uh property owner that just buys credits. >> Can I jump can I jump in and say share

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one thing before we get to >> Sure. I just want to say one thing real quick because it's important to this. Please. >> When we adopted the living shorelines ordinance, I put a fill permit section in there that is the same thing that we had in North Palm Beach. And so it

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requires village council approval anytime someone brings fill in waterward of the mean high water line. So to do this, they would have to get approval from our village council, which I don't think the village council would would

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ever approve. Um, so I think we're probably protected against something crazy like this one. >> Um, but I don't know that Jupiter or unincorporated Palm Beach County has the same protections. So >> something like this could happen nearby, just probably not in our our

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jurisdictional boundaries. >> Yeah. And and that's the reason I said this is just one of the groups that he's had to apply or this property owner has had to apply to to get a permit. I'm sure there are, you know, local,

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municipality as well as county and state and I know there's federal, this is federal, and there's uh there's a few others if you read further. Uh there's a lot of eyes on something like this, but it just this this part I was like, okay,

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so the let me let me continue. The applicant calculated that the functional loss of 1 and a/4 acres of seaggrass is 419 units or unit and the functional loss of.2 acre of mangroves is 0013.

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So this is the part I don't understand and maybe someone else can make um sense of it. At the very first part under proposed work, it says remove approximately 4965 square ft of mangroves. And yet in their

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calculation they're only showing that the proposed project will have an impact a direct impact of 859 square ft. I don't know about the rest of you, but if you remove mangroves, that's a direct impact, but I

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I so I I I find a problem with their calculations. Anyway, um so the functional loss of 2 acres of mangroves is 0.013 units for a total loss of 432

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units. Okay. Now, this particular property owner decided, well, I'll uh I'll do um I'll enhance an acre of seaggrass as part of this project for the total project. Uh

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which would give him a 0.1 unit gain. So, he would he would uh work that back in uh in this uh in this particular case. So the remaining 332 functional loss would be offset by

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the purchase of 332 credits from the EM. So I was like, well, how much is one of these credits cost? And I did some research and according uh to the research I did, the US Army Corps of

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Engineers works with one of the I call them banks. Um it's called hole in the donut compensation mitigation mechanism and it's the only mechanism that the uh the core uses in compensatory calculations for permits in the area.

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One unit cost $78,000. Multiply that times 332 credits which this property owner has decided to pay. That's a little over $25,000.

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So, an enormous impact to the environment around that area. um with all the things that are his particular uh his or her I don't I don't I don't know who it is, but

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um a lot of changes to that area um for $25,000 on a uh that just it I am flabbergasted and I wouldn't

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understand why uh something like this would be uh permitted. It says the applicant is Daniel Taylor. >> I didn't want to bring names or locations into our forum, >> but everything is there. It's a public um document, but

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I don't it's not I don't think it's appropriate to bring their name or the location other than it's in Palm Beach. The reason I'm bringing it bringing it up, this project sounds like some something and Jay may remember it.

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There's this guy who's a resident of uh Riviera Beach >> and I think he lives allegedly lives somewhere on Singer Island where this project's taking place. and he he sues

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Lake uh Riviera Beach all the time for everything under the sun. Uh and he tries to do these wacky projects to tick them off and make them say no, you can't do it. Then he sues saying yes, I can.

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your code says like, you know, >> I think it's that and and this man that says applicant is he might just be an engineer that's doing it on behalf of this wacko that lives down there. Do you know what I'm talking about?

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>> Unfortunately, I've I've dealt with him cuz in North Palm, we got kind of entangled in that. So, uh Fain Loman is his name. >> Yes. Yes, that's him. Um, so yeah, he he's proposed all kinds of crazy fill projects where cuz he owned

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he actually owned part of the Lake Worth Lagoon. It's the way that the boundaries worked. So he he was the of the opinion that he could fill it fill that in and develop um that area and Rivier Beach said he couldn't and it was a very complicated

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legal process. So I didn't look into this one. It's it's very possible that it's from him or an associate. >> It sounds like one of the things that you just described, you know, or he >> Well, yeah, the applicant is lives in well is applying from somewhere here in

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Tquesta, so it's probably representing obviously somebody else. >> Yeah, >> the the name on the applicant is a is a marine or coastal engineer, I believe. >> So, >> my money's on the wacko.

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Well, obviously this has been allowed before this uh compensatory mitigation that you can go in and buy your way into destroying whatever you want to destroy. But even if this person was to enhance

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part of the seagrasses in a certain area, that area has its own ecosystem. It serves its own set of uh sea inhabitants

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where he is going to build or destroy. I want to say that may be a a similar ecosystem but it may have other inhabitants in it itself. So I don't see where one offsets the other. The damage is still the damage. Um but obviously a

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precedent has been set for people to be able to do this. if you have the money, you can do it and get it through. Um, and I I think they were saying the Army Corps of Engineers was looking for people to give opinions or groups to give opinions on on the matter and they

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have a a a date when they want the opinion submitted. Is that what we're doing? Are we actually going to as a group um give an opinion on the whole project? >> That wasn't my intention. My intention was just to bring it to light and uh and

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discuss it because of our past discussions about um the Toquesta living shoreline ordinance. Um this was just as kind of an example. Um I certainly wouldn't have a problem with uh some sort of response to this. I

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think it's due the 13th. >> FD and um who's the other character? Army Corps, they do accept comments from the public. >> Well, that's what this this document is asking for. The public is the public.

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>> Yep. >> Legally, the the village council is likely the only to the body that could could really make a formal ruling on that. So, unless they directed the EAC to make a ruling, I don't I don't think they'd be comfortable with us. as much

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as they know and trust you guys, they just >> they wouldn't want us dipping our toes in other people's business. >> And that makes that makes sense. >> I would like them to at least look at it. I I think it's worthy of the council

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looking at it and if they see their way clear to give an opinion. I mean, the reason why we passed the ordinance here for living shoreline should apply everywhere. I mean, it was it was sound principles that it was founded on. And

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we've set we've we've set an example here in Tquesta that I think is a good one. >> You know, one of the things that I saw was the application says that they're going to remove like 4,900

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square ft of mangroves and then they're going to replace that area with rip wrap. >> Yep. And they don't say anything about mangroves being reinstalled that I saw. And when I've, you know, when I've done these projects before for the town of

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Palm Beach, the uh if we put rip wrap up, we had to also put mangroves in as well. So, I don't know. It seems deficient at least in that perspective that taking away and not adding back is what it looks like.

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>> I I agree. >> So, the comments are due July 13th. So, we would not have enough time to to run this by our village council. Um, what we could do is is reach out to M Palm Beach Countyy's Environmental Resource Management. I'm sure they're well aware of this and just see what their thoughts

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are and what their the status is on it. And we can also reach out to the North Palm Beach Environmental Committee and their staff because they're they're right across there and they're very active. They have Karen Marcus on their environmental committee who's very active in things and so we can kind of

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see what their thoughts are on it and then just, you know, tell them not officially, but that we support any opposition to it. >> Is Karen still still on that committee? >> I believe she's still the chair of their

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environmental committee, but I know she's, you know, in sustainable Palm Beach County. I'm sure that group is very active, so they're they're probably well aware of it. >> Now, what you just said makes sense to me. We don't have time. We don't even have the authority as a group to

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>> Yeah. >> say anything. But maybe and maybe the follow-up too is reaching out to tom to find out what if something similar could be done in unincorporated Palm Beach County around here and the town of Jupiter to see if someone could do

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something similar in the town of Jupiter portion of the the Lockahhatchee. Um but like I said with our fill permit process the it would have to get a council approval and it's counter to a lot of things that are in our comprehensive plan. So, I don't think somebody would

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be able to do do anything like this even with all the the mitigation stuff, but I I think it's a great idea to to to make sure that our neighbors can't do the same thing. >> Do you know do we have precedent inquest for people offsetting development?

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>> Not been an issue Dquesta has faced? >> Not that I'm aware of. Um it's possible it happened, you know, a long time ago when things were getting developed on Beach Road or or on the intra coastal, but um

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I'm not really aware of it. We're lucky we don't have much commercial and multif family development on our on our waterways. Um but single family on single family homes, not that I'm aware of. >> Okay. No, I mean that's I'm not going to

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go through the rest of this, but as you can see, is it it's enormous impact, not just on the on the seagrass, not just on the mangroves, but look at all the um fauna or flora. I don't know, all the

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animals that it uh turtles and and fish and I mean, it's just it's amazing. And I like I know exactly where it's at. the uh I'll take my boat down to Mon Island quite a bit and it's right across from Little Money Island and uh it I mean it

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it's a very vibrant um ecosystem right in that area. It's somewhat shallow and uh all these fish I've I've seen pretty much all of these fish there. So, um this is a real assessment of the impact

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at least from a wildlife um perspective and the mangroves and sea seaggrass. I mean, I don't know. I was uh I don't know how I got hooked up with this thing. I I think I got a notice in the email or something. I you know, because I don't

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go on the US Army Corps of Engineering site ever. Um uh and uh I just happened across this and couldn't believe my eyes. But it does happen obviously.

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>> I don't know. They they've they've they've stopped if it's who I think it is. They have stopped him before. >> Yeah. >> He comes up with these kind >> crazy stuff. Brad, what's the address of the house? Do you know? >> Pardon?

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The address of Let's see. Um, well, should we say that out here in this form? >> You mean where? >> Yeah, you we don't have to. >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Oh, I'll look it up. >> It's at the top under applicant.

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>> It would appear that from the conclusions that they've made here uh that they're probably going to get denied. >> I thought the same thing. Yeah. I mean, the last paragraph, you know, was it determined that the proposed project

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affects species and critical habitats. I mean, they're saying it's critical habitats, you know. So, I I can't see them okaying this. >> Yeah, >> I think you're right. And then and then if it's the guy I think it is, he's

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going to appeal and appeal and appeal. >> He finally lost a couple of times to to Riviera Beach. It became national news a few years ago. It was a it was a big big production. Um I think you I think you guys are right. And there's a lot of environmental

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advocacy in the Lakew Worth Lagoon. So there's a Lakeworth Lagoon keeper. There's um at MacArthur Beach they have uh like quarterly meetings with with all the people that are concerned of Lakew Worth Lagoon. It's it's um it's very advanced as far as environmental

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advocacy. So, I I would I would imagine there's a lot of opposition to this, but we'll we'll kind of check behind the scenes and see what's going on and report back. >> Yeah. And I'm I'm going to keep an eye on it as it progresses. Um just I I'm with you though, wherever. And it

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doesn't look promising, but you never know. >> Every agency that they listed here said it's detrimental, but I don't see how it could go through. Yeah, >> but >> money money makes a difference. >> I'll keep an eye on it. All right.

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Anything else on that? I'm sorry. I I didn't want to be a waste of time. I don't think it was, but doesn't really have any direct impact on Questa. Um but um >> but you know, it does. >> It does. I mean, >> it does on us as a whole, all our

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communities when these kind of things get destroyed >> because you never really get them back. >> No. So it does >> 100%. >> Yeah. >> So thanks for bringing it to our attention. >> All right. Um

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next uh any other further comments from committee? >> Yeah. What's uh what is that program called? Is it the oy oyster garden? Is that what we call it? >> Vertical oyster. >> Vogg's vertical oyster garden. >> That hangs from the dock. Can hang from

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a dock. Yeah. So, do we have an idea about how many people have done it? >> That might be a Michelle. She's >> I I know that the the group that's doing it, the Echo Eco Scouts,

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the Eco Scouts are actively installing them throughout the summer and they're continuing to make some um and install them, you know, throughout the summer. But um I was going to have um the the the woman who runs the Eco Scouts um

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come out and do a presentation at the next meeting cuz apparently they're also doing clam like a clam restoration project also. >> Um and I think it's in partnership with UF or Miami or something. Um so they're doing really cool stuff. Um so that

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might be a good time to figure that out and also talk about next steps and ways to keep working with those guys. Okay. >> And on that note, I I think it was Barbara at our last meeting had um had

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mentioned, you know, about outside of Tquesta, uh can you hang them on docks that are outside? I guess technically we can't. Uh but couldn't we charge like a nominal fee uh and recoup whatever the cost is per

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vertical oyster garden outside of Tquesta? >> Yeah, we could do that. And and that's only for ones where you know where the villages where we're using our own our own dollars for right like the the echo eco scouts are doing some outside ofquesta but that's with ones that

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they've made themselves but just the ones that we funded and that we created our own event. We're trying to keep those ones you know withinquesta but uh I yeah when when um when they come talk to us that's probably that's that's a good idea and something we could talk about.

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>> Yeah. So I maybe we can you know charge. >> Yeah. >> Great. >> Great idea. >> Good idea. >> Um anything else? >> Any other comments >> regarding

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>> regarding anything uh any other just general comments by committee members? I just was wondering how we could what best value we can be to the council. I think what we've talked about here today

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um regarding this development in Rivier Beach and bringing it to light, I think that that's that's uh that's very important. I know we we're not going to meet the deadline for the council to actually make any kind of recommendation or stand, but how are how are we best

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serving our council? How are we best serving our village? And how do we really get our information out there? Uh are just some questions that I have and can we improve those things as as a group? I'm new. I'm not criticizing. I'm just

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wonder I'm just trying to navigate it. >> Oh, it's a good question. Um, so this came up recently before you and uh >> Brooke were uh appointed and we

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concluded or at least I concluded in the conversation that we had as a board was that our number in fact it had to do with the oyster garden thing was that uh for example we're not going to take over

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an oper operation to uh secure oyster shells and and go to the restaurants and pick them up and all this other stuff. But what we did in that regard boiled down to one word. It was awareness. We

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we had an event with the the people that Jay mentioned earlier at a uh I don't remember it was a something in Constitution Park and um we made the community by putting it on one of those

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Friday digital things they send out uh aware that this was a thing. And um so in my mind our job is to make people aware

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uh things like PAFS uh uh shoreline stabilization and uh just to make people aware. And so, you know, we if if like this thing here was being built in the Lock Hatchery River, we would probably

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end up asking Brad to go to the council and tell him to do something about it. >> No, >> but it's but it's, you know, uh Brad saw that he is creating awareness about things that happen that are not necessarily

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good. Um, and so in my mind, just to summarize, it's just awareness. We're job is to help people remain and be aware of things that are impacting the environment all around us. >> So, was the um the group

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was the group helpful in getting the recent um rule passed about the living shoreline? Did did y'all have an active role in that before it happened? you. We did, but somebody with a better memory than me needs to tell her what it but we

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we're very active. >> We were we workshopped the code with count with the EAC probably twice. Um got a few suggestions on on the on on that. A lot of that was was from the council, right? So the council when they

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do their so it goes back to strategic planning a little bit. Um, and the so the council does their strategic plan every year in March and April. And then from there, those are kind of like the big tasks that they want, you know, the council to or they want the village staff and they want the the boards to

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look at throughout the year. And so in past years, living shorelines was a big one, green building, um, incentives was a big one, and um, you know, trees, things like that. and they would kind of task this board with with doing that.

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Um, and so I think this year we had Brad go to the EA or to to council and and make a few suggestions about about things to work on. And I think vertical oyster gardens were one of them. Tree plantings were another

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one. Um, when was the hazardous waste thing which we just don't have the money for this year. I can't remember what they all are, but a lot of times um the direction does come from the the council level. Even that vertical oyster garden event that came from councilman uh Ctori was

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meeting with Karen Marcus or somebody from North Palm Beach and they're like, "Hey, our environmental committee is doing this great project with the Palm Beach Fishing Club. You guys should do the same thing." And then Councilman Story put it in my lap and then we we kind of took it on. So, a lot of times they want to be the ones to direct the

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EEC what to what to look at and what to keep an eye on um especially, you know, when when new legislation comes up, which will generally start happening um from the state in January, February of of the year, they'll sometimes have the

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AC, you know, want the AC's input on that. So, sometimes it comes from them. But, um, to your point, if there are pressing things or or big ideas or big thoughts, um, that that you have, we can always, um, workshop them here, talk with them, and then and then kind of

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workshop it with the council. >> Well, I would just hope that as we move forward, as they move forward with the Dequesta Park and the upgrades to the park, that that we remember that it's

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part of Jonathan Dickinson. as part of an entire ecosystem that exists there. And and the things that we do need to have as little impact as possible on on the wildlife because there is wildlife that still goes through there

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every evening. If you walk that park at night, you'll see all kinds of things. >> Yeah. Deer. Deer. >> Deer. Uh, I mean, I I know everybody hates coyotes, but coyotes, deer, I mean, raccoons, they're all they're all a part of that. And I think we need to

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be real careful as we as we upgrade that park. Um, and maybe we could have an active role in looking at that in the future. and anything else that that they see coming down the pike that we can look at ahead of time and be able to make

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recommendations, which I'm sure y'all have done, but I'm sure there are things that'll be coming in in the future that can that can be brought to our attention. I'm going to piggyback on what uh Tom said even to go back further um when the

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EAC was uh was first um created by council. Um our duties were very uh the proper word maybe it's transactional. Um, our responsibility

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given to us by council was to review the comprehensive plan for Tquesta. And every meeting we had, we had a certain number of chapters that we were to review prior to the meeting and then

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discuss line by line uh all those things that impacted the environment. >> Um, so we had plenty to do. Um that role has in my mind in my opinion has evolved

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over time because we we finished uh what we were tasked to do with a comprehensive plan and now um I don't know if it stewardship might be the right word but we're we're sort of

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the stewardship uh committee for the environment in >> Dquesta >> um as opposed to more of a transactional committee. Uh so that's the reason I always ask at the end of meetings if any of you have any ideas like some of the

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ideas that you brought to to the four um with regard to you know trying to keep to Questa Park um uh safe for the Jonathan Dickinson State Park side of it or compliant with I

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don't know how how you'd word that necessarily but um not to change it so much that it has a negative impact on the wildlife that's there. Um I I think is is a great idea. That's something that I think our committee could say,

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"Hey, yeah, that's a that's a super idea." And you know, that sort of information gets to Jay. And if it comes up during council meetings, I think Jay would would probably be the the one to

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uh to say something about that um through the opinions that we gave to him. I would also, you know, I've been to the council meeting a number of times and and Tom has as well and we've we've done our, you know, share in front of

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them. I have no problem doing that either. if it's something that's really important to the environmental advisory committee um and it it's something that you know we'd like council's ears on um you know I think we're always welcome at

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the council meetings. I could be wrong. No, I they they're happy to hear from us. So yeah, I mean our role has kind of evolved over time. We're a little different than we were at least when I started and when Tom was here before me. I've been here

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like a little over four years. And Tom, you've been here much longer than that, right? >> Since uh summer of 2019 is when we were first started. >> Okay. Yeah. So,

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just a little history. >> Yeah. I um but yeah, please bring bring any uh bring any any items any anything you want to discuss. This is more of an open forum. We don't have to follow uh

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Robert's rules of order too much um uh you know like council does because council has a laundry list of things they have to go through at each of their meetings. So, but good comment. Thank you. How have or how can we learn sort of

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best practices from other it sounds like there are other environmental advocacy committees nearby. Is there like a way we've been learning best practices from what they're doing in their communities that we can learn from or share what we've done with them?

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>> Um I have not been to any of their meetings. Um, I have gone on their website and some websites are a little better than others in the various municipalities that do have environmental advisory committees.

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Um, probably speaking to one or a couple of the committee members um, you know, over the phone or maybe via email. Um, get some scope on on what they're doing. um you

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know what's working, what isn't working probably be the best. But >> I mean is Jupiter's uh are they still active? >> They're re you know they're really not. I I think they do quarterly or even

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bianual and they just had I just happened to look at their agenda from their last month and it was a very small agenda. Um, so I don't think they're I don't think they're extremely active at this point. >> Yeah, >> the the North Palm one is much more

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active and that's a lot of that in part due to it's it's a very strong board because they have Karen Marcus and um several other people that have been on there for a long time and they do a lot of like hands-on activities and um so that'd be a good

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one. if anyone knows Karen Marcus or anyone else on that board. Um, that's a good group to kind of see what they they've been working on. >> So, okay. So, we got North Palm maybe for Jupiter and uh I know that Juno

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Beach has what they call an ecology group, which is we could have a debate about whether it should be under the uh sunshine law, but u it's just a group of citizens. Their primary focus seems to

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be on Pelican Lake, but maybe not. I don't know. I'm just the reason I'm asking. I'm trying to think, you know, I could pose the question to AI and see, you know, what

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ask it what are what are these other uh nearby groups doing and it would just spit it out within, you know, 30 seconds. Um, but I I just don't know who else is out there. But I I know North Palm is strong. I consider us to be

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strong. Jupiter and then Juno Beach. I don't know. But there's probably there could be others in the county. >> There's others in the county. I I know we found a list of them and I feel like it was around seven or eight total. Um I have I have the list somewhere, but

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the only ones in North County are are us, Jupiter, and North Palm. See, there ones are, you know, I think like Delray might have one. Boke I know Bokeh has one. Maybe Wellington. They're they're generally big cities.

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One thought I've I've I've even thought of this but never mentioned it is is just having a joint meeting with the the Jupiter group just to see what see what they're working on and see what kind of crosspollination is needed. Like that idea of the fill permit, right? We can just

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say, "Hey, these are things we've done. Have you done these? Hey, we just adopted a green building ordinance. Have you have you done that?" Um it's a thought. >> I like that. I've I've done that not on environmental subjects but other things and it usually goes well.

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>> Yeah. >> So you're thinking like if we contacted North Palm and offered you know can requested could we have a joint meeting with you and we you know we brainstorm or share ideas

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whatever however you call it. Yeah, I mean I would suggest Jupiter first just because there's so much I mean we share municipal boundaries and we share waterways with them. So that might that might be the the best one. And maybe there's even you know we get we get speaker have speaker series. Maybe

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there's a way that we even do joint speaker series meetings with them >> so that >> so that like Joe Chason isn't having to come give presentations to both cities. So that's that's who was speaking at their most recent meeting that that Joe from the um Juper Inland District. Um,

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so maybe there's an opportunity where we could kind of join forces a little bit >> there was just to give you guys a feel of things. the um so back I don't know three four five years ago

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uh something came up here and so Bob Shaw Jessica Nameoth and myself were were uh requested to go to the Jupiter uh environmental committee and I can't

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remember what the subject was but uh they their board ended up asking us when we were there, what all are you guys doing? Of course. Okay. So, we told them what we were doing and they were shocked. They were

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they they reached out to us afterwards. I think the chair did and saying, "Okay, how how are you doing all this? Where do you get your information from?" And so forth. and David Brown um he ended up David is like the

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>> retired now is he >> utility director there at Jupiter and he uh he told me he said basically his take on it was the council wasn't that interested in what they did and they they basically have no staff support

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like you're you and me are helping us they had nothing and so they're kind of on their own but they were just visibly shocked. You're doing this and you're doing that and you're doing your comp plan and blah blah blah blah blah. They were just

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>> I mean to we we punch way above our weight class as a city in general which we we just do. So it's not surprising. >> So I as it stands today if we do that uh joint meeting with some it would be I think North Palm.

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>> Yeah, that's a good idea. I think the fact that Toquesta is so unique with like you said the bar being so high um has got to help in some respects when they go to write for grants that they

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know that they have this kind of support um when they're doing for whatever you know if they need grants for Tquesta Park I think I think our role there could perhaps be significant on some things that we could be a help um as we

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go down the line with that. It's just something to think about. >> But there is nothing to let's let's say that uh this this uh catastrophe that's on the screen there. Let's say somebody inquest was trying to do that. Okay. And

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we know that we can't as the EAC say anything, but there's nothing stopping us as individuals saying that that's a bad idea. You know, that's and you can always put it you can

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always do this. You can say you can submit your written comments to wherever they say and you tell them who you are. I'm Thomas G. Bradford and I live here and here's how you contact me and I'm a member of the environmental committee of

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the village of Tquesta. If they read that then they think oh okay you know whatever they think but that's a that's a backdoor way of letting them know that that's kind of your thing and that that then they they feel like it's coming

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from that group. >> Yeah. generally would generally would advise to say I'm not speaking on behalf of the committee but but you can say I'm >> you can drop the credentials. >> I've probably done that a hundred times. You get up and you say hey I'm Tom

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Bradford and I am the president of such and such and I'm not speaking for them today. Uh, >> to your point, you guys could all send individual emails to the the Army Corps related to that permit.

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>> Yeah. Yeah. >> Okay. >> All right. I'm getting texted from our um to to for the the the Doitch tour, so we can wrap up. I mean, okay. So, I think we're we're done with uh discussion. Uh

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no other matters. Um Thank you all for your time and effort and input. Uh I uh will accept a motion to adjourn the meeting. >> I make a motion to adjourn the meeting.

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>> Can I get a second? >> How do we say just I second the motion? >> Yep. That's all I need. Um all those in favor of adjournment. >> I mean adjourn. >> Okie do. So where are