Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council mission and projects

1:56:38All right, we have an 1145 times certain, the regional planning council.

1:56:45I see Alina's coming up. I see Ren Krawler CEO is also there.

1:56:51Hello and thank you so much. Good evening, or I guess good morning still. It's before noon. My name is Alana Todd. I'm the principal environmental planner with the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. I was born and raised here in the Tampa Bay region. Actually, spent part of my life here in Pasco. I went to Northwest Elementary School. But I'm also joined by our executive director, Ren Kral. And so thank you so much for this opportunity to share a little bit more about the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council and some of the services that we have to offer

1:57:21you as our member government, Pasco County.

1:57:25Uh so first off I I just wanna give a quick shout out to Commissioner Mariano who is our representative on behalf of Pasco County. Um so thank you, Commissioner Mariano, for your service and partnership on the TBRPC.

1:57:37Thank you.

1:57:39Uh so broadly our mission is to serve our citizens and our our member governments by providing a forum to foster communication, coordination, and and collaboration and identifying and addressing needs regionally.

1:57:52Great pictures.

1:57:56So we are just one of ten regional planning councils in the state of Florida. We were actually the first to be formed back in 1962. Um go to the next slide. And so our board meets uh six times a year every other month. Um, and each of our member governments send a representative to those council meetings. Um and and every year the council elects new leadership, so this year. Our chair is Mayor Mofrini from the City of Dunedin. And then our vice chair is Pinellas County Commissioner Renee

1:58:26Flowers. And then Citrus County Commissioner Rebecca Bayes is serving as our Secretary Treasurer. And then the City of Largos Mayor Woody Brown is our immediate past chair.

1:58:39So we serve six counties from Citrus County in the north to Manatee County in the south, and our membership also includes 23 municipalities. In addition to representatives from our 29 member governments, the council also includes 13 gubernatorial appointees and three ex officio members. Including the Florida Department of Transportation, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, and the Southwest Florida Water Management District.

1:59:06So our focus areas are really responsive to some of the high priority regional concerns and and those include economic development, emergency preparedness, environmental planning, and resiliency planning.

1:59:19And

1:59:22We I like to think of what we do as sort of three pillars. So the first is we support Pasco County through our regional government liaison program. We also support PASCO through planning support and technical services. That's our second pillar. And then we also help to convene our cities and our counties throughout the region to work on. Issues that affect our entire region. So that's our third. And I'll walk you through each one of these pillars and give you some examples of each. So the first is our government liaison program,

1:59:52and we see that as creating this hive of information in our regional planning agency. That means that all of our staff work together closely, and we think of it as bees in a hive. So they make a conscious effort to connect. with the communities all over the region and share what they've learned with our whole team. And this way everyone gets involved and we get a broad view of what's going on in the region. Uh so through the government liaison program, you have a dedicated staff member focused on issues in your community

2:00:23looking for ways to support PASCO. And your liaison is uh Sarah Vitale, who is our Director of Civic Technology. So one uh benefit of working with the TV RPC is that we are a public agency and Pasco County can contract directly with us. This eliminates the need to go through some of the procurement process. And so we have some of the services listed on this slide, but we're trained in planning technology. Including geospatial analysis,

2:00:533D visualization, and economic modeling.

2:01:00And so our staff completes projects as we get grant funding. I want to take a moment to highlight some of our recent projects to give a full picture of how we can support Pasco. So, first off, we have our project Phoenix, and that's been a resource in the region for over 10 years. You may have seen our video enactment of a Category 5 hurricane hitting the Tampa Bay region. And in the update of this project, we created tabletop exercises for emergency managers

2:01:30to accompany that updated video. And then we also recently completed an economic valuation of Tampa Bay, which demonstrated the yearly snapshot of the contributions of the Tampa Bay Estuary to our regional economy. And then back in 2022, our resiliency coalition and our full council adopted the first regional resiliency action plan. We've already received funding to complete two actions that were included in the plan.

2:02:01The first is a regional A regional scale greenhouse gas inventory, which will be completed for our Clean Air Tampa Bay project, which is funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. Another project to highlight is uh the Resilient Ready project, which we works with three local governments to provide technical analyses and some design services for their flood-prone study areas. Next slide. So another project I want to highlight that I'm really proud of, and we just got the funding to do is our Tampa Bay Coastal Master Plan. And we and we just had our kickoff

2:02:31meeting the other week. So broadly, this the Coastal Master Plan will help illustrate flood risks for the region's most vulnerable community. And habitat, and it will propose a suite of place based restoration and structural and non structural flood risk reduction projects. So, in essence, we're creating a roadmap to guide implementation of flood adaptation projects. And we'll be developing this plan over the next. next four years. Uh the plans boundary includes all seven counties within our resiliency coalition and

2:03:01we'll be looking at flooding both within coastal and inland communities. I

2:03:05was wondering um go ahead how that could tie in with the HUD money, but if it's gonna take that long. I don't know if we can't do that. I don't know if Jack you have to pay attention to that on the

2:03:16Yeah, we try to maybe we can try to incorporate some of that stuff now so we can actually look at ideas of what we need to go do.

2:03:21Yeah, that's a great idea. And we And all

2:03:22three all three counties got the money, so it would be wonderful if we could figure out how that can help. Yeah.

2:03:28Absolutely. Yeah, we're looking for any ideas you have and and working with your staff over and through work groups over the next four years to develop this plan. And um not sure if you're familiar, but Louisiana has their own Coastal Master Plan, so that's what we're modeling hours after. They've been able to bring in billions of dollars in funding to implement the projects within their plan. So we're developing this plan, but then we're gonna be handing it over to you all to go and implement.

2:03:52I hope it includes protecting Encloak Key. 'Cause it's washing away.

2:03:58And it it certainly can. That's why it's really important that we get you all at at the meetings and and we can make sure to prioritize the areas that that matter to our different communities. Okay, the next project I wanted to highlight is our resilient shoreline model ordinance template. We got funding from the Department of Environmental Protection several years back to create this model ordinance template. The aim is to ensure that local shorelines are resilient to changing sea levels and tidally influenced flooding through 2070. To

2:04:29provide community flood protection benefits, but also ensuring the ecological integrity and the resilience of our coastal habitats. So this ordinance template, think of it as like kind of a choose your own adventure. You you take, copy, paste whatever you want from this ordinance to incorporate within your own core code or um. You know, your land development regulations or your comp plan. So it introduces three standardized tidal flood barrier classifications, including natural shorelines, hybrid shorelines, and hardened

2:04:59shorelines like seawalls and bulkheads. It accounts for future water levels and sets a uniform minimum height for those barriers at five feet. And then it makes way for living shorelines and environmental enhancements so that we can work with nature, which is a proven to be an effective protection method, and at the same time enhancing water quality and improving natural resource benefits. So it also helps to define the appropriate locations for these different tidal flood barriers and a hierarchy for their application.

2:05:32Next slide. So the third pillar of what we do is convening our local governments and other partners. And we have a variety of committees to discuss regional issues and resources. So the first is our our agency on Bay and Coastal Management, and actually Commissioner Mariano serves on this committee. But it's over 45 members that we've been convening since 1985. It was the first management entity for Tampa Bay. And we convene four times a year to talk about regional environmental issues, especially those impacting

2:06:02Tampa Bay Estuary, Sarasota Bay Estuary, and then our aquatic preserves. So the next committee I want to highlight is our Regional Resiliency Coalition. This is a much newer coalition, but it allows our local governments to work collaboratively on mitigating current and future climate hazards. We also have our Stormwater Management Public Education and Training Committee. We meet several times a year and we also provide grants for stormwater communication initiatives to member governments in FDOT District 7.

2:06:32And PASCO staff have applied and gotten funding from this grant. I want to say almost every year you guys get some funding from this grant to do stormwater education. So I applaud your efforts. And then, so as a requirement of the federal and state law, the TBRPC facilitates the Local Emergency Planning Committee, the LEPC, which is charged with facilitating regional hazardous materials emergency response and compliance with hazardous materials reporting laws and the Yeah.

2:07:03Um we have several other committees as well. Um I'm curious

2:07:07why you have the Courtney Campbell Trail on there.

2:07:10Yeah, so that um we actually coordinate the Courtney Campbell Scenic Highway Corridor Advisory Committee. Um It's a several different representatives. We're basically the management entity for that.

2:07:21You are the um we so we had one for the Sun Coast. Uh what is that called? There's a name for it. I used to serve on it. Um Yeah, I don't know if we're okay, I know what that is, but it's probably shouldn't be called the Courtney Campbell Trail, it should be called the Courtney Campbell Scenic. Advisory.

2:07:39Yeah, it's the Corny Campbell Scenic Highway Corridor Advisory Committee. It's a mouthful,

2:07:43but that's the

2:07:44full.

2:07:46It's like the cork or the It's got a weird name, acronym. It's part of DOT.

2:07:51Right. And so basically because the Corney Campbell got that the um scenic highway designation, um, you have to have a uh one of these advisory committees of different partners to ensure compliance so we can maintain that designation. So we

2:08:04convened that group. We may need to see what happened to

2:08:06the Sun Coast Highway one and maybe if Because it used to be run um By uh The lady that was a school board member who um retired, um, that worked for D O T, I can't remember her name right now, from Atlanta Lakes. Um and then Steve Diaz from Hernando. Hurley. Yeah, Joanne Hurley. So Um, I'd be interested to find out what happened to that cork and um see if we need to Maybe it can rest with you guys. Mm-hmm.

2:08:36Great. Um the next slide.

2:08:40Oh, one before that. Great, thank you. Um so one last thing I wanted to highlight was um a recent uh sort of effort we we did um as part of our our stormwater committee. Um we did stormwater stewardship month. So I worked with uh staff from all around the region uh to Highlight the impacts and of stormwater runoff and pollution. Most residents don't know that stormwater isn't treated before it ends up in our waterways. And so we put together

2:09:10this month-long campaign of educational resources to be shared by our local governments and other partners to educate residents on what stormwater is, why it's important. Common sources of pollutants and then what they can do about it. And so each week we had a themed week, whether it was, you know, just highlighting what stormwater is or what those common sources of pollutants are. And then we posted these graphics on our website. We also made a proclamation

2:09:41template for any of our local governments interested in proclaiming May as. Stormwater Stewardship Month. I think the Pinellas County did. I'm pretty sure the City of Seminole did as well, and a few of other local governments. We also made a video that we have posted on the website, and there's a stormwater stewardship pledge available as well. So that is just kind of one example of getting all of our staff from our local governments together to work on messaging and what resources we really need to be creating to help in promoting

2:10:11stormwater stewardship and and education. So that is all I have for you today.

2:10:18I'd like to I wanna get a copy of that flyer and I'm gonna put it in my newsletter. I actually have eight residents I believe in Aristida have taken out their swales in the back. It's a swift mud issue now and their their stormw their runoff is going right into the wetlands there. Um so we're gonna have to get Swift Mutt out there. But can you go back to your About four slides back. Okay, no. Uh Uh The one that showed the four I think there were four pillars. Okay. Yep. Right there. Economic valuation of Tampa Bay. Yeah.

2:10:49Um I'm curious about that one. And um Just uh want a copy of that and Wondered uh you know, there's such a discussion about density and affordable housing. I wonder if you all have thought of taking up that um discussion For the region.

2:11:11I know that those are issues that we have d definitely discussed, density and housing and and we try and bring those to our council meetings. But we also I I mentioned we have a comprehensive economic development strategy or SADS and and we're working on creating a committee to help help it implementing that. And so those are definitely issues

2:11:25that would be relevant to that committee. I think that would be a good topic

2:11:28for you

2:11:28all.

2:11:29And I I

2:11:29had

2:11:29mentioned a commissioner Mariano, uh the guy who used to head up Um my committee at NACO His name was Mike Mike Matthews is now the um lead guy for the agency that oversees all the economic development agencies like yours in the country. And he said that the EDA did a no faux last week for over a billion dollars and that your agency is one of the place one of the agencies that can apply. Yes. So I are

2:12:00you thinking of applying for a grant? I see I see Ms. Turn to my

2:12:07director

2:12:07then. And I think affordable housing and density and transportation, I think that's a great one to convene for the area. So

2:12:15great job, Alana. You did a great job, Commissioner. I'm Ren Kral, um executive director for the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council. Yes, Madam Chair, we we are applying for those dollars. We've been on several calls about the NOFO with EDA. Um actually it's been easier to apply through the years. We've had we've taken advantage of these funds because they've been offered regionally before. Now we're it's more competitive,

2:12:45so it's nationwide, but we've We have a great relationship with the EDA. We've done a lot of projects, Project Phoenix, a lot of the ones that Alana mentioned was EDA funding. So um we are hopeful that we're going to keep those dollars uh in our region. Right. Absolutely.

2:13:02I know we said that they're um the sooner you get it in the better because they're rolling they're rolling them out. It's like one point three billion dollars, so It's pretty big pretty big notice of funding opportunity. Uh Commissioner

2:13:16Yeager. I was wondering if I could get a copy of the Flyers while I'm having an event on Saturday. Kind of we're doing an overall cleanup, so I would love to have that information to Okay, perfect, thank you.

2:13:28Commissioner Starkey, can I share something with you real quick? I brought it I thought I would catch you before the meeting.

2:13:33Uh does anyone else have any questions while while she's getting that?

2:13:37Uh just to say Alana, great job. We were at the last meeting there and I says I need you to come up here to talk to us. Um It was l the previous year, two years ago now, we were trying to look on baffle boxes. We talked about them, et cetera, how it treats water going in. And uh Alana was phenomenally helpful because Tampe Estuary, which I'm actually chairing now, um

2:14:00Group that got to deal with the Bay and it's got a all the thing it's got if it doesn't touch the bay you can't use any funding. Well she was so creative we got to the idea of actually let's go partner with the regional planning council and the US Dory so that it's eight point five million plus dollars, half of it's still available for the country. Nice. So I know Ren, I used to have Harry for a rep, now I got Sarah, but I would tell you for the next year or two, I would really like to stick with Alana. Let us go work together on this. I've got Anthony Thomas in the back here. I got Terry Petos over there for the things that we've

2:14:30got done to like try to get these projects moving and going forward. Yeah, I think it'd be a great help for us.

2:14:36Absolutely. And uh with Sarah, I I just have to point out that we've got a lot of expertise on board, but now we have Sarah as well who is gonna be really diving into what we're calling civic technology. So there we're we have the best software, best computers that I have no clue how to work. But they do And so we for example we can uh let's say you want to build a new city hall somewhere. Uh we have the capability

2:15:06of going on to a QR code. You can take a QR code. and go out to that piece of property, look through your phone and there's the building. And so it's in it's your citizens can actually see what your zoning is gonna look like, what new codes might look like. Uh so that's some great technology that we have available and this is available to you uh anytime as a member of the council.

2:15:32Well great Rand. I'm looking to work for work forward to working with both of them.

2:15:36Well we'll we'll keep Alana. You know how to find it. No, I

2:15:38tell you you got a you got a great team down there. Great stuff, so thank you.

2:15:42Thank you. Um we were cleaning out the Council Library. Yes. And I believe uh Jay Starkey is your family.

2:15:49Yes, that's uh a book that's um Swift Mutt published.

2:15:56That's your

2:15:59Thank you.