Urban Wilderness Advisory Board
Minutes of Meeting
October 29, 2008
Members Present:
Staff:
County Attorney:
Al Will
Dan Ferstenberg
Pam Pavsner
Marcey Carabelli
Carol Morgenstern
Laura Frank
Michael Owens
The Urban Wilderness Advisory Board (UWAB) was called to order at 5:30 p.m., role was taken,
and there was a quorum.
Marcey Carabelli made the motion to approve the minutes from the May 28, 2008 meeting, Pam
Pavsner seconded, all in favor.
Old Business:
An update on the Garden of Reflection at Long Key was presented by Carol Morgenstern. The
Board was given a copy of the letter that Al Will sent to Mayor Wexler expressing the Board’s
position regarding the conceptual plan that was presented at the Urban Wilderness Advisory
Board meeting on April 30, 2008. During that meeting the Urban Wilderness Board was told that
this was a conceptual idea that would be brought to the Commission for review. According to a
response letter from Mayor Wexler's office to the Urban Wilderness Board, the project had been
given conceptual approval by the Commission. With that in mind the project has continued to go
forward. The purpose of bringing this back to the Board is to keep the members informed on
what is happening at the Long Key Natural Area. When this item goes back before the
Commission, staff will advise the County Commissioners the position of each Advisory Board.
The area that has been chosen for the project is not a known Florida registered archaeological
site. Staff has put into the agreement that very little soil disturbance is allowed and the project
must be monitored by an archaeologist during construction. A new conceptual drawing was also
presented to the Urban Wilderness Board. The Board concurred that the new drawing is much
more in keeping with the site.
The Charter Review has an Amendment on the election ballot that would put into the Broward
County Charter a language that should a park were to be deeded for any purpose other than a
park property, it would be placed on a voter referendum and in order for it to pass, a 60% voter
approval would be required. Staff put quite a bit of work into developing Declaration of
Restrictive Covenants (DRC) attached to each park site and they were divided into urban
wilderness areas and public regional parks. The DRC’s would require a super majority vote of
the Commission in order to change that; however, it was felt that parks were still vulnerable
because a super majority was not required to rescind the restrictive covenant. This Charter
Amendment gives extra security in preserving park property. Staff is still moving forward with
restrictive covenants on property, however, the only one that is not completed is Secret Woods.
This is due to an encroachment issue with the neighboring marina. When staff went to put a
fence on the east side of the property, they discovered that the marina encroached on the
property with large structures and concrete. A deal has been proposed for a land exchange, due
to the impacts to the Secrets Woods property. The encroachment area is approximately a 10
foot wide strip along the property boundary. The land exchange being considered is the missing
link between properties at Pine Island Ridge.
Staff has asked the Board Chair to sign a letter recommending the approval of the Helwig
master plan and their suggested naming of the site to White Sand Scrub Natural Area as
discussed at their April meeting.
Ms. Morgenstern has provided an updated task list. The intention is to add these sites to
inventory. On the inventory are two sites that are ready to go to the Board for approval as an
urban wilderness area. However, staff will wait until the other sites are inventoried in order to
send one package to the Commission for the designation that requires an ordinance change.
Staff will also be amending the sites that are already on the list, which is the third category on
the list. All that needs to be done with those is amend the legal description that is in the
ordinance. The last items on the list that staff will get to are the sites that are managed by other
cities. Then on the list are trouble-spots, one of which is Hacienda Flores. Staff contacted the
Integrated Waste Management and they were not willing to move forward with Restrictive
Covenants on the site. Staff is not sure what the issues are, but will keep the Board updated as
it goes forward. Finally, are the sites that the County does not own or manage, therefore there is
very little information on them. Parks have two new sites that may be added within a year; one
is the Pine Island Ridge addition, if the deal goes through with the Marina, the other is the
School Board property which is a piece that is in the Hillsboro Pineland site.
The County has been looking at cutting back budgets so tightly that in the Sunset Review
process, quite a few Advisory Boards were sunset. The proposed status of the UWAB is that the
Board would continue on until their task list is completed. After which time, the UWAB will be
integrated with the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PAB). Staff is not looking to increase
the total number of members on the PAB; however, some positions will have UWAB
requirements placed on them in order to get their expertise on that Board. That way, when the
resource management plans are due for review, the PAB will be equipped to evaluate.
Al Will mentioned the Holiday Fantasy of Lights; this Board has been invited to the Broward
County opening with a discount. UWAB member’s names will be left at the front gate.
Carol Morgenstern advised the construction contract for Miramar Pineland site is in the process
of going through. The construction will start at the beginning of next year. The wetland is
completed and the water level is high.
Marcey Carabelli motioned to adjourn. Meeting adjourned at 6:10 p.m.