Title
Amended Interlocal Agreement with County for Environmental Services (B)
Explanation
In April 1999, the City entered into an agreement with the Alachua County Environmental Protection Department to provide environmental review of development projects within the City. The agreement includes a provision to allow the agreement to be automatically renewed for one-year periods until terminated by either party. The annual fee of $31,600 was for half the salary and benefits for a professional position.
The Terms of the agreement provide enhanced environmental review of development applications for an average of 12 sites annually, 9 for contamination and 3 for natural resources. Approximately 75% of these reviews are limited to examination of issues related to possible contamination on the site. The other 25% allow for full review including wetlands and other natural resource type issues. For the past two years the County has provided approximately 6 full reviews each year, which actually exceeded the allowance established by the agreement.
The provisions of the agreement were negotiated based on City and County staffs review of historical development applications and significance of environmental reviews associated with each. After the first year of the contract, we met with Cynthia Moore, Alachua County's Natural Resources Supervisor, to discuss the process by which developments were selected for review. We agreed in the Summer of 2000 that all development plans would be forwarded to county staff for screening. At that time, they would alert us of potential issues and the City could authorize full review. The City operated under the assumption that this process was in place based on a June 23, 2000, letter from Cynthia Moore.
There have been concerns raised by City staff, citizens and DRB members that the contract with the County is not working. Public Works staff has had several meetings with County staff to determine what shortfalls e...
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