Siesta Key Association Board Meeting Minutes

November 1, 2007
St. Boniface Meeting Room “F”

CALL TO ORDER AND DETERMINATION OF QUORUM:

President Ramirez called the meeting to order. Present: Ron Flynn, Russ James, Deet Jonker, Ann Kaplan, Joyce Kouba, Lourdes Ramirez, Robert Schennum, Mark Smith, Bob Tripp, Bob Waechter, Peter van Roekens. Excused: Matthew Burnett, Paul van Deventer, Gayle Wardner. Absent: Daniel Bechtold.

MINUTES - Joyce Kouba: The October minutes were approved.

TREASURER'S REPORT – Bob Tripp: The October report was accepted. There were $6,654 expenses.

SHERIFF'S REPORT – Sgt. Scott Osborne (Chad McDonald)

There have been a few burglaries. The Sheriff's department has recommended lowering the North Village speed limit to 20 mph.

PUBLIC/AUDIENCE COMMENT (6 Guests)

AD HOC COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Adopt-A-Road/South – Russ James: Crosswalk blinker signs have been installed. Two cases of plastic bags were used for the dog stations over the summer. Russ will report on trash pickup at next meeting.

Midnight Pass - Bob Waechter: The Midnight Pass opening public forum will be December 4 at St. Boniface. The project is coming in on budget. All state congressional representatives wrote to the DEP requesting a determination.

Turtle Beach – Ron Flynn: The Board authorized Ron to present the following position on Turtle Beach Park at the upcoming workshop on November 13th:

SKA position on allowable uses of Turtle Beach Park (including the acquired RV park property).

1. Beach, beach volleyball, and parking for beach.
2. Boat ramps and parking for boat trailers and cars.
3. Picnicking, general relaxation, and playground.
4. Kayaking and biking.
5. Nature wildlife education.

SKA position on camping at Turtle Beach Park (including the acquired RV park property).

1. Absolutely opposed to camping of any kind: i.e., RV, trailer, tent, "chickee hut", etc.
2. Absolutely opposed to overnight parking for any reason.

SKA recommended enhancements to Turtle Beach Park (including the acquired RV park property).

1. Overall establish a family park with a natural native Florida environment, with minimal impact to environment.
2. Remove "ticky-tacky" trailer park: infrastructure, buildings, dumpster, and road entrance.
3. Support limited uses as described and expand parking to support uses.
4. Establish buffer zones with native plantings adjacent to residential property lines.
5. Expand parking with pervious material (no blacktop/concrete).
6. Remove exotic trees and plants and replace with native trees and plants.
7. Expand restrooms and picnic areas (fans in pavilion).
8. Provide lifeguards (at least during season)
9. Convert existing campground office building to sheriff sub-station and lifeguard/first-aid office.
10. No lights after sunset during sea turtle nesting season (from vehicles or structures).
11. Park grounds closed midnight to 6AM (including all restrooms).
12. These enhancements are doable and should be implemented immediately by the county.

Ed Sherman recommended moving the parking immediately adjacent to the dunes and reclaiming the area as beach.

Inlet Management – Peter van Roekens: Appreciation is extended to Mike Solum for replacing/repositioning marks in Big Pass. BP2, which was missing, was replaced and repositioned; BP4 was repositioned; BP3 and BP5 were installed as floaters in new locations. The old poles for these marks are still in place but are in only 2.5' of water. These will be removed later during calm seas. The course listed on the Sarasota Yacht Club site, http://www.sarasotayachtclub.org, on 10/16/07 is still good.

Jew Fish Key dredging is complete and has removed 11,100 cubic yards of sand from the channel. Per the permitting, 10,000 cubic yards were deposited on Coquina Beach. An additional 1,100 cubic yards were deposited in the area that was illegally dredged by local landowners. Thanks go to Chuck Listowski of WCIND as well as Commissioner Patterson of Sarasota and Commissioner McClash of Manatee for getting this critical dredging done.

Thanks to Charlie Pantelakos, Seventh Coast Guard District Technical Support Group, the Coast Guard installed a lighted G11 mark near R10 south of the Ringling Bridge. This is a great help for boaters to avoid the dangerous debris from the original Bridge.

Code Enforcement – Gayle Wardner: - No report.

Adopt-A-Road/Village - Mark Smith: The next trash pickup will be Dec. 15. Meet at 9 a.m. at the Village Café. Free breakfast is available for the participants at 8am. The SKVA hopes to contract for village maintenance soon. Utilities are scheduled for burial in March of 2008; improvements to begin in May 2008.

STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Nominating/Board Development – Paul van Deventer: No report.

Zoning - Lourdes Ramirez: The Planning Board approved the elevator and toilets for the Siesta Key Chapel. An OPI lot on Beach Road is requesting rezoning to Residential. The owner of property seaward of Beach Road is requesting a permit to build a single-family residence. However, Lourdes believes that the density was moved to the condominium site across Beach Road.

Membership – Deet Jonker: A newsletter was emailed to members. Deet is working on the membership package.

OLD/NEW BUSINESS

Directors should review their bios on the web site and send any changes to Deet. The weather link on the web site is not working.

ADJOURN: President Ramirez adjourned the meeting at 6 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Joyce Kouba
Secretary, Siesta Key Association

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Previous Board Minutes (October 2007)
Next Board Minutes (December 2007)

For more information, please contact us
phone 941/364-4880
email info@siestakeyassociation.com