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INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA INTER - OFFICE MEMORANDUM TO: Jason E. Brown County Administrator THROUGH: Stan Boling, AICP Community Development Director FROM: Roland M. DeBlois, AICP Chief, Environmental Planning & Code Enforcement DATE: June 25, 2018 RE: Board Consideration of St. Christopher's Harbor Homeowner's Association, Inc.'s Overdue Cost -Share Payment for the Head Island Channel Restoration Project It is requested that the Board of County Commissioners formally consider the following information at its regular meeting of July 10, 2018. DESCRIPTION AND CONDITIONS Head Island (the County -owned Green Salt Marsh Conservation Area) is located in the Indian River Lagoon, west of St. Christopher Harbor Subdivision (see map, Attachment 1 to this report). In 2010, the Board of County Commissioners conceptually approved a proposal initiated by the St. Christopher's Harbor Homeowner's Association (SCHHA) to restore a natural channel at the island by removing a "land bridge" on County—owned conservation property and provide navigable passage to the north for area boaters, including boaters from the adjacent subdivision. Due to a number of public benefits associated with the proposal, in 2014 the County and the Florida Inland Navigation District (FIND) became partners with the SCHHA in the project. Public benefits identified at that time included establishment of a shorter route for boater traffic, resulting in less boater impact to lagoon. resources (seagrasses); improvement to water circulation; and eradication of nuisance exotic vegetation from public conservation land. Over the course of the project proposal and eventual implementation, on more than one occasion the SCHHA requested and the County agreed to share more responsibility for the project which culminated in a 2016 agreement described below. In initiating the project, the SCHHA.expended an estimated $38,000 for design of the land bridge removal and for Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) and Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) permits for the work. On December 15, 2015, the Board approved an "Agreement for Dredging and Improvement of Green Salt Marsh Conservation Area (a.k.a. Head Island)" with the SCHHA. Under that agreement, the County paid for the $159,770.41 construction project including its $88,509.70 share and the SCHHA committed to paying its share of $45,884.71 for the land bridge removal construction project, beyond the estimated $38,000 that the SCHHA had already paid in design and obtaining permits. The Agreement (Attachment 2 to this report) provided that SCHHA payment of the $45, 884.71 to the County was due 12 months from the date of the SCHHA's execution of the Agreement. The SCHHA executed the Agreement on March 29, 2016, after county staff verified to the SCHHA that the FDEP and ACOE had accepted the work as completed. 141