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Item C13 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: 10-17-01 Division: Public Works Bulk Item: Yes X No Department: Engineering AGENDA ITEM WORDING: Approval to regrade Lytton's Way on Big Pine Key, from Key Deer Blvd. to Wilder Rd. ITEM BACKGROUND: Blue Heron Park is located within this section of road and safe access is needed from Key Deer Blvd. and Wilder Rd. The County Attorney's office has said that the County is allowed to maintain its easement to the park. We have communicated with the USFWS and received their approval. The existing 18 feet road will be regraded but not widened. Limerock will be added as required and potholes will be filJed. No roadside vegetation will be disturbed and the speed limit will remain at 25mph. PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION: None on this item. CONTRACTIAGREEMENTCHANGES: NM STAFF RECOMMENDATION: Approval as stated above. ." TOTAL COST: $5.000.00 approximate BUDCETED: Yes K NO Funding will come from existing Facility Maintenance Funds Cost to County: $5.000.00 REVENUE PRODUCING: YES NO AMOUNT PER MONTH YEAR APPROVED BY, County A'J;; ClPurchasmg - Item Prepared by: a . David S, Koppel, P,E" County EnginWU DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL: t /< -4!.. Dent Pierce, Division Director Risk Management c- - 100J/:57 DOCUMENTATION: Included ~ To Follow Not Required DISPOSITION: AGENDA ITEM # /- ~ /r3 O,~~Y~2~~E (30Sl294-46~l Office of the County Attorney P.O. Box 1026 Key West, FL 33041-1026 305/292-3470 - Phone 305/292-3516 - Fax MEMORANDUM Dent Pierce, Director Public Works Suzanne A. Hutton ~ Assistant County Attorney TO: FROM: DATE: September 28, 2001 SUBJECT: Lytton's Way BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS MAYOR George Neugent, District 2 Mayor Pro tem Nora Williams, District 4 Charles McCoy, District 3 Murray Nelson, District 5 4' h hi Dixie Spehar, District 1 I / vo't-61 ,c-c:. ~ ;F~ W\Jv. " 'cLDA()~~' , J;-fL-~ ~~cJ-~ }/l~ ~ . MVI ~vv</ ~ to/ h~t.<ff/lJI!J,,~ ~~ Vk-~~W ~ rg~rgD~~n SEP 2 8 20'01 U ~ This is a follow-up to my previous memo of August 29, 2001. It is my opinion that the County may also maintain its access to the park which would allow maintenance and repairs oftytton's Way from Wild~r to Key Deer Boulevard. I believe that the fire and other emergency vehicle requirements call for a 16 or 20-foot wide vehicular access. Since we need to be able to provide such access to the park, my suggestion for maintenance and repairs would encompass 20 feet in width along Lytton's Way from Wilder to Key Deer Boulevard. '" Please call if you have any additional questions. ,r' United States Department of the Interior FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE South Florida Ecological Services Office 1339 20th Street Vero Beach, Florida 32960 October 2, 200 ] Dent Pierce Monroe County Public Works Department 5100 College Road Key West, Florida 33040 Dear Mr. Pierce: Thank you for your request for technical assistance from the Fish and WildJife Service (Service) on your project which involves the maintenance of a portion of Lytton's Way. The project is located in Pine Key Acres subdivision on Big Pine Key, Monroe County, Florida. The road segment is approximately 1500 feet in length and runs in an east-west direction between Key Deer Boulevard and Wilder Road (Figure 1). The proposed development involves the maintenance of the existing road for the purposes of automobile safety. The road is presently a limerock road approximately 18 feet in width. The proposed repairs will consist of fe-grading the road and adding new limerock where needed to repair potholes. The width of the road will not be increased, and no roadside vegetation will be disturbed aso'B result of the project. The speed limit on Lytton's Way is currently 25 miles per hour and will not be increased as a result of this project. The site is within occupied habitat of the federally endangered Key deer (Odocoi/eus virgilliamls clavium). Key deer usage in the vicinity of Lytton's Way is very high as evidenced by routine surveys conducted by service staff. Key deer are known to die as a result of impacts with vehicles on roadways throughout their range. However, based on records maintained by the N~tional Key Deer Refuge on Big Pine Key, there are no known records of Key deer road mortality on.the section of Lytton ' s Way proposed for repair since record keeping began in 1966 (Figure] ). Road mortality on Big Pine Key has increased over the last 30 years, with the greatest increases occurring d4ring the mid-1990's. However, the majority of documented road mortality has occurred on paved roadways with heavy traffic volumes and high traffic speeds such as US 1, Key Deer Boulevard, and Wilder Road (Table]). For this reason, the Service does not believe that the re-grading of Lytton's Way will result in an increase in road mortality on this short segment of road serving two single-family residences and a small community park. Lytton's Way Road hnprovcment Page 2 of 3 Figure 1. Location of proposed improvements on Lytton's Way (green line) on Big Pine Key , showing the location of documented Key deer road mortalities from 1966 (red dots). Table I. Analysis of Key deer road mortality for two time periods between 1990-2000. Road mortality data was estimated by field examination and necropsy of carcasses re- covered:by Service staff .. YEAR u.s. I OFF U.S. I COMBINED ] 990-2000 32 (60%) 22 (40%) 54 Annual Average 199f}-2000 Tota/ 350 241 591 1996-2000 39 (56%) 30 (44%) 69 Annual Average 1996-2000 Total 195 151 346 Lytton's Way Road Improvement Page 3 00 The Service is responsible for administering the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (16 q.S.C. 1531 et seq.) (ESA). Section 9 ofthe ESA prohibits unauthorized take of listed species. Take means to harm. harass, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture, collect, or attempt to engage in such activity. Harm is further defined to include significant habitat modification or degradation that results in death or injury to listed species by significantly impairing behavioral patterns such as breeding, feeding or sheltering. The Service does not believe that the proposed project will result in any take of Key deer as defined above. Therefore, the Service has determined that your project, as described in the infonnation submitted, is not likely to adversely affect Key deer or any other threatened or endangered species or critical habitat. If modifications are made to the project, or if additional information involving potential effects on listed species becomes available, please coordinate with the Service. If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Phil Frank at our Florida Keys Office, P.O. Box 430510, Big Pine Key, Florida, 33043; phone (305) 872-2753. Thank you for your assistance in protecting the environment of the Florida Keys. SincerelY~ {!l,fIt/ '" James J. Slack Project Leader South Florida Field Office :t cc: Jim Halpin, National Key Deer Refuge, Big Pine Key ,r OK'!~Y ~o~~~E (305) 294-464t Engineering Department 5100 College Rd. Key West, FL 33040 September 24, 2001 Dr. Phil Frank US Fish & Wildlife Service Big Pine Shopping Plaza Big Pine Key, FL 33043 RE: Lytton's Way Big Pine Key Dear Phil: . (~ ., ...-.....-. BOARD OF COUNTYCOMMISSIONERS Mayor George Neugent, District 2 Mayor Pro tern Nora Williams, District 4 Dixie M. Spehar, District 1 Charles "Sonny" McCoy, District 3 Murray E. Nelson, District 5 Monroe County is interested in maintaining an 18-foot rock road along Lytton's Way from Wilder Road to Key Deer Blvd. Within this section of roadway lies Blue Heron Park, which is a public park. Currently, the County maintains the portion of Lytton's Way in front of Blue Heron Park to Wilder Road. However, we would also like to maintain the road from Blue Heron Park to Key Deer Blvd. and thereby provide safe access from that direction as well. Our intention is to rework the existing limerock road and add new limerock to create an 18-foot wide rock road. Some areas may be slightly wider if there are large potholes along the edge of the road. No vegetation will be disturbed. ." We have spoken with the County Attorney's office and ' received a legal okay to do the work pending coordination and approval from the Service. We also intend to seek County Commission approval if the Service has no objection to the work. Also, if any other agency may want to comment on our work please let me know. Thank you in advance for your consideration of this matter and we look forward to hearing back from you. DSK/jl Lytton'sWayFlGame&Fish.DOC Cc: Dent Pierce Sincerely, tfb! ;L--- David S. Koppel, P.E. County Engineer