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Item L2 BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY Meeting Date: July 14, 2004 Division: Growth Management Bulk Item: Yes No X Department: N/A AGENDA ITEM WORDING: Consideration of a possible settlement agreement in the case of Industrial Communications and Electronics v. Monroe County regarding a proposed 1,000 foot communications tower in Cudjoe Key. (Continued from June 16,2004 meeting.) ITEM BACKGROUND: At its June 16,2004, meeting, the Board of County Commissioners agreed to continue a discussion of a proposed settlement agreement regarding a 1,000 foot communications tower proposed for Cudjoe Key. Mr. David Paul Horan, the attorney for the firm of Industrial Communications and Electronics, indicated that he needed additional time to obtain an official letter from the U.S. Coast Guard regarding implementation of the Coast Guard's Rescue 21 Project in the Florida Keys. PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION: June 16,2004, the BOCC continued item until July 14, 2004. CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES: N/A ST AFF RECOMMENDATIONS: Staff is withholding any recommendation until it has had the opportunity to review the letter from the Coast Guard and any other pertinent information to be provided by Mr. Horan. TOTAL COST: N/A BUDGETED: Yes No COST TO COUNTY: N/A SOURCE OF FUNDS: REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes N/ A No AMOUNT PER MONTH Year DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL: Risk Management _N/ A_ APPROVED BY: County Arty N/ A ,AICP DOCUMENTATION: Included To Follow-L Not Required_ DISPOSITION: AGENDA ITEM # L-';7- Revised 2/27/01 AGENDA ITEM WITH LATE DOCUMENTATION DIVISION: DEPARTMENT: Growth Management N/A SUBJECT: _Possible Settlement Agreement with Industrial Communications and Electronics regarding a proposed 1,000 foot communications tower in Cudjoe Key. DATE ITEM WILL BE A V AILABLE: 7/06/04 County of Monroe Growth Manall:ernent Division 2798 Overseas Hizhway Suite 410 Marathon, Florida 33050 Voice: 305.289. 2500 FAX: 305.289. 2536 Board of County Commissioners Mayor Murray Nelson, District 5 Mayor Pro Tern David Rice, District 4 Comm, Charles "Sonny" McCoy, District 3 Comm. George Neugent, District 2 Comm,DUtieSpehar,District1 VIA FACSIMILE MEMORANDUM TO: FROM: Board of County Commissioners Timothy J. McGarry, l)K;Ji;J Director of Growth MaOO'f?bent July 13, 2004 DATE: SUBJECT: Possible Settlement Agreement in the Case of Industrial Communications and Electronics v. Monroe County: Agenda Item L-2 Attached is a letter from Commander Ken Marien, Deputy Project Manager for the U.~. Coast Guard's Rescue 21 Program received late this morning. The staff contacted Commander Marien to follow up on the letter. He indicted that the current General Dynamics Decision Systems proposal is to replace a Navy communications tower at Truman Annex in Key West; replace an existing 250' tali-guyed tower on Saddlebunch Key owned by the Navy with a 485' tall self-supported lattice tower; and, to replace a 300' tower in Boot Key with a 330' tower. The remainder of the Keys is to be served by a 1,600 tower owned by Industrial Communications and Electronics in Homestead. This configuration would provide for 93% of the coverage that the U.S. Coast Guard is seeking in its Rescue 21 program. [The optimum coverage is to be able to receive a signal from a 1 watt radio at 20 nautical miles from the shoreline.] He emphasized that this proposal reflects a consideration of the wetlands and migratory bird issues that would make permitting of higher towers a more difficult and lengthy process. [The U.S. Coast Guard anticipates that it will initiate the implementation of its Rescue 21 plan for the Keys this October.] Although the U.S. Coast Guard is not in a position to advocate the construction of a private tower, co-location on the proposed 970' foot tower proposed by Industrial Communications and Electronics (ICE) would be an attractive alternative for that agency as it would improve coverage. The Navy would be able to avoid environmental studies and other permitting delays associated with the construction of a new tower, [It should be noted that ICE will need to address in a Page 1 of2 v.9-- mitigation plan concerns raised by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in its technical coordination letter of May 20, 1999.] Mr. David Paul Horan will not be able to make the 10: 15 a.m. time approximate for this item due to a court appearance, but he will be able to attend the meeting in the afternoon. He has been told that it is at the discretion of the BOCC whether to defer the item to later that afternoon; however, due to the public interest in the item and the fact the time was advertised, the BOCC may decide to go fOlWard to accept public input at the advertised time of 10: 15 a.m. If the U.S. Coast Guard is willing to compromise due to environmental considerations without critically affecting the Rescue 21 Program in the Keys, it begs the question of why the County would benefit from a new 970' tower with all its environmental and community character issues rather than accepting the replacement of existing at much lower heights as proposed by the U.S. Coast Guard's contractor. Therefore, based on this letter and discussion with the Deputy Project Manager for Rescue 21, the Growth Management Division staff can not recommend approval of this proposed settlement agreement. Attachment cc: Danny Kolhage, Clerk of the Circuit Court James L. Roberts, County Administrator John R. Collins, County Attorney James Hendrick, GMD Litigation Attorney Page 2 of2 JUL-13-2004 08:57 FROM:NDRSMP 2024937002 TD:305 289 2536 P.002/003 U.S. Department 00. Homeland Security United Stites Coast Guard Commandant (G.AND) United States Coast Guard 2'00 Second Street. S,W. Washington. DC 20593-0001 Staff Symbol: G-ANO room 4608 Phone: (Z02)Z61~47 Fax; (202) 493-7002 EmaJI: kmarlen@comdl.uscg.mll 16475 July 12~ 2004 Board of County Commissioners c/o Timothy J. McGarry Growth Management Division County of Monroe 2798 Overseas Highway Suite 410 ~arathon,FL 33050 Dear Commissioners: As you arc aware, thc U. S. Coast Guard is in the process ofmoderni7,ing and replacing its maritime search and rescue conmlunications system in the State of Florida as part of a nationwide initiative. Thc new equipment will serve to fill in existing coverage gaps in YHF.FM marine communication..~ used tor Coast Guard operational missions including search and rescue, maritime law enforcement, maritime pollution prevention and response, and homeland security. In order to provide you with accurate information on the Coast Guard's plans to improve our communications system along the Florida Keys, I believe it will be beneficial to recap the Coast Guard's cfforts to date: a. In March 2003, members of my project staff and General Dynamics Decision Systems (GDDS) engineers visited existing and potential communications sites along the Florida Keys with the goal of making recommendations to improve the Coast Guard's present Florida Coast communications system. GDDS is the Coast Guard's systems integration contractor responsible for conducting engineering studies under the Coast Guard's <<Rescue 21" contract. b. In order to minimize the effects on the environment, the Coast Guard seeks to collocate its VHF-FM, UHF, and direction finding antennas on existing government or commercially owned communications towers, whenever those sites wiJI meet the operational and financial interests of the U. S. Government. c. The Coast Guard and GODS received information from Mr. David P. Horan concerning Jndustrial Communications' proposal to construct a 970' tall communications tower on Cudjoc Key, Florida. This infonnation, as well as information received from other existing and potential tower space providers has been forwarded to GDDS for consideration. JUL-13-2004 08:57 FROM:NDRSMP 2024937002 TO:305 289 2536 P.003/003 16475 July 12, 2004 d. In order to meet contractual radio coverage requirements, GODS submitted a preliminary recommendation and plans for the construction of a new 1,500' tall guyed tower on U. S. Government owned property at Saddlebunch Key, This proposal had never been approved, accepted, Or recommended by either the U. S. Coast Guard or the U. S. Navy and was immediately rejected by the Coast Guard for nW11erous reasons including a lack of available land for the guy wire radius and envirorunental considerations. e. The present proposal by GODS, under consideration by the Coast Guard, would include the use of a combination of existing State, Federal, and commercially owned towers located from Key West to the Southern Florida mainland. The proposal also includes the construction of a Coast Guard owned, 485' tall, self-supported lattice tower, which woul~ replace an existing 250' tall guyed tower owned by the U. S. Navy on Saddlebunch Key. t: The Coast Guard has requested permission from the Navy. to consider a 485' self- supported, lattice tower on Saddlebunch Kcy as a conceptual proposal so that we may proceed with the necessary envirorunental studies. We are presently awaiting a rcsponse from the Navy as our request is being staffed through their cbain-of-command. In the event additional commercial or government owned towers become available along the Florida Keys, the Coast Guard encourages ODDS to include these potential assets as part of its engineering analysiS to ensure the Coast Guard can build the very best, cost effective, and environmentally responsible search and rescue communications system for the American public.: Additional infonnation on the Coast Guard's Rescue 21 project can be obtained from our public atfairs web site at www.uscg.mil/rescuc2L Should you desire any further clarification or in1brmation on the Coast Guard's Rescue 21 project, please contact me at (202) 267-0847. ~Sj.nMc~AJ1' . lari~ J' / ~ ommandcr, U.S. Coast Guard Deputy Project Manager, Rescue 2l By direction ~ Copy: Commanding Officer, Civil Engineering Unit Miami Commanding Officer, Electronic Systems Support Unit Miami Commander, Coast Guard Group Key West Mr. Mike O'Hara, General Dynamics Decision Systems 2