ORIGINAL RESOLUTION:

1.  A RESOLUTION OF THE MA VOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, ACCEPTING THE RECOMMENDATION OF THE CITY ADMINISTRATION FOR THE LOCATION OF THE ABOVE AND BELOW GROUND COMPONENTS OF THE STORMWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM, AS PART OF THE WEST AVENUE PHASE II IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT, TO PROCEED WITH OPTION 2, AS SET FORTH IN ATTACHMENT 1 ACCOMPANYING THIS RESOLUTION, TO PLACE THE BELOW GROUND COMPONENTS AT THE STREET-END OF LINCOLN ROAD, THE ABOVE GROUND CONTROL PANELS PLATFORM WITHIN THE MEDIAN OF THE 1400 BLOCK OF LINCOLN ROAD, AND THE GENERATOR AND FPL VAULT AT 1671 WEST AVENUE (CITY PARKING LOT P24).  

ALTERNATE RESOLUTION FROM MAYOR GELBER:

2.  A RESOLUTION OF THE MAYOR AND CITY COMMISSION OF THE CITY OF MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA, TO PROCEED WITH OPTION 3A FOR THE LOCATION OF THE ABOVE AND BELOW GROUND COMPONENTS OF THE STORMWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM, AS PART OF THE WEST AVENUE PHASE II IMPROVEMENTS PROJECT, AS SET FORTH IN ATTACHMENT 1 ACCOMPANYING THIS RESOLUTION, TO PLACE ALL COMPONENTS AT 1671 WEST AVENUE (CITY PARKING LOT P24) WITH THE DISCHARGE OUTFALL AT 17H STREET AND COLLINS CANAL. (Sponsored by Mayor Dan Gelber and Co-Sponsored by Commissioner Steven Meiner)

The West Avenue Phase II Improvements (The “Project”) represents a comprehensively defined neighborhood improvement program, focused on resolving challenges associated to climate impacts and ancient infrastructure. The extent of the Project is West Avenue between 8 Street and Lincoln Road, including side streets, and Bay Road between 14 Street and Collins Canal. The proposed improvements within the neighborhood include the design and construction of a Stormwater Treatment System (SWTS) at the street-end on Lincoln Road and the bay.

It is important to understand each component of a SWTS, what each component does, and how it could impact the community. A SWTS is a mechanical system that accelerates the movement or discharge of stormwater. The simplest way to analyze this STWS is to divide it into above ground and below ground components.

The above ground components are all related to power supply and controlling the SWTS. This project includes an electrical panel platform, an auxiliary power generator, and FPL electrical vault structure. The electrical panel platform is the nerve center to the SWTS. This platform houses all the electrical and communications equipment that provides power to the pumps. It also is programmed to direct which pump to turn on and off, and to operate at desired speeds to produce only the necessary output while conserving energy. The auxiliary power will be able to power the entire SWTS in the event that there is a loss of power. The FPL electrical vault is essential to provide power to the SWTS. It houses the transformers and other equipment required to properly power the system and provides redundancy through three independent power feeds.

The below ground components mechanically separate contaminant particulates from the stormwater, provide short term storage of the stormwater, and mechanically force the collected and treated stormwater into injection wells and Biscayne Bay. The components include stormwater drains, bar screen (trash rack), pollution control structures (Vortex), floatable separation, stormwater injection wells, wet well, outfall and emergency by-pass pipes. The stormwater drains capture the rain fall with a network of collection structures and pipes that conveys it towards the SWTS. The bar screen captures large solids that may have entered the drainage system. The pollution control structures capture small particles, the size of a grain of sand. The wet well is where the pumping system is located and where floatable separation occurs. The submersible pumps will transfer the stormwater from the wet well into Biscayne Bay through the outfall pipes. Stormwater injection wells provides additional water quality treatment for the initial rainfall. Emergency by-pass pipes allows the station to discharge stormwater without the need for pumps in case of a mechanical failure.

The siting of the SWTS components comprise a major aspect of the scope of work for the West Avenue Phase II Improvements project. The location of these critical assets requires in depth analysis of numerous factors, including engineering feasibility, constructability, operation/maintenance, safety, regulatory requirements, community impact, aesthetics, impact to other facilities (i.e. parking) and cost.

On July 31,2017, the Design/Builder, began working on the West Avenue Phase II Improvement project. The Design/Builder’s team includes Ric-Man Construction Florida (RMCF) as the prime, and CES Consultants (CES) as the engineer of record.

After performing a design level analysis of numerous alternatives for the siting of the SWTS, the Design/Builder recommended siting the SWTS below ground components at the street end of Lincoln Road and the above ground components within the median of the 1400 block of Lincoln Road. The analysis conducted by the Design/Builder included a list of alternate locations and iterations for the siting of the SWTS, with an evaluation of the feasibility of each site, related to the physical constraints on the layout of all the components and existing utilities.

Public Outreach

Throughout the life of the project, the team has conducted extensive public outreach, including continuous communication with the West Avenue Neighborhood Association (WAvNA), electronic email updates, open office hours, neighborhood walk-throughs, property specific one-on-one meetings with the project team, regular updates at the Land Use and Sustainability Committee, and more. In preparation for property specific meetings, the project team has prepared harmonization plans for 192 locations. Community feedback related to the SWTS has been garnered on numerous occasions, via private and publicly noticed meetings, some of these occasions include:

• Columbia Resilience Accelerator – public sessions on August 6 and August 8, 2018
• Public Information Meeting #2 (Mondrian Hotel) – May 9, 2019
• Lincoln Court Neighborhood Association – July 2, 2019
• West Avenue Neighborhood Association (WAVNA) presentation to membership – October 1, 2019
• North of Fifth Neighborhood Association – September 12, 2018, March 26, 2019, July 23, 2019
• WAVNA coordination meetings with representatives – April 9, 2019, April 26, 2019, November 1, 2019, February 14, 2020, March 13, 2020, April 10, 2020, May 1, 2020
• Meeting with 1400 Lincoln Road and The Hotel Gaythering representatives with Commissioner Samuelian – September 25, 2019
• Community hosted meetings to discuss alternatives (at the Gaythering) – November 20, 2019 where City was invited to participate
• Additional meetings with 1400 Lincoln Road and Gaythering representatives – December 6 and December 13, 2019
• West Avenue Open Office Hours – Offered Fridays by appointment between 10 a.m. and noon since November 2019
• Land Use and Sustainability Committee Meeting – May 6, 2020 and May 26, 2020

In preparation for the Special Commission on October 28, the team has prepared a virtual presentation for the community provide feedback. The project information was shared via dedicated emails and included in the twice-a-week email updates that are distributed citywide. The information has also been shared on Nextdoor and social.

The virtual presentation has more than 450 views online as of October 20, 2020. The project team has also scheduled meetings with Neighborhood Association groups. In our commitment to transparency, all questions and comments that are submitted via email are included in a tracking document that has been posted on the project page. (Exhibit A)

Land Use and Sustainability Committee (LUSC)

At the May 6, 2020 LUSC meeting, the recommended location of the SWTS components, including all analyzed alternative locations, for the Project were presented and discussed. The presentation of the siting of the SWTS components included an overview of the multiple alternate locations and iterations, and the challenges posed by each. The Committee’s recommendation was to perform additional feasibility studies on alternate locations.

Upon review of the preceding, the LUSC passed a motion to direct City staff to conduct additional feasibility studies, provide an order of magnitude construction cost estimate and address if the SWTS can be re-engineered to work at an alternate location.

In response to the feedback from LUSC, as well as input from the community, the City Administration determined that the project was best served by expanding the scope of the recommendation of LUSC, and proceeding with an accelerated feasibility study for a total of 12 iterations for the siting of the SWTS.

As a result of the accelerated feasibility study and feedback received, the Design/Builder team offers as a highly preferred alternative, option 2, which maintains the SWTS underground components at the Lincoln Road street-end, the above ground control panels platform at the median between Bay Road and Lincoln Court and relocating the generator and the FPL vault to 1671 West Avenue (City Parking Lot P24). This option is a good compromise of engineering requirements and the community’s interest, as it offers to maintain the line of sight between the control panels platform and the wet well, which is extremely important for the safety of the operation personnel, and it reduces the size of the median by 60%, addressing one of the main community concerns. The details that make this option a Highly preferred one are:

• Engineering feasibility:
o Emergency bypass piping: Having the wet well located in the proximity to the Lincoln Road street-end and seawall, allows for the installation of emergency bypass piping. These pipes will discharge any stormwater that reaches a certain elevation by means of gravity. This is important because if the station becomes overwhelmed due to power failure or mechanical failure, there is a means to discharge excess stormwater.
o FPL has confirmed the ability to provide the necessary power supply if the vault is relocated to 1671 West Avenue.
o Fire Department approved median location with regard to regulations and required access.

• Operation/maintenance and safety factors:
o Maintaining a close proximity from the electrical control platform to the actual SWTS (approximately 200 feet) improves operator safety. Maintaining a line of sight from the electrical equipment to the SWTS, the maintenance crew can interact without communication, maintaining a safe operation without increasing the annual operating cost.

• Community impact, aesthetics:
o The median will include screening and canopy cover to promote traffic calming and creates a promenade type atmosphere with flush sidewalks and roadway pavers in addition to new amenities at the street-end.
o Reduction in the loss of Parking Spaces. There is a strong possibility that with further design development some parking spaces may be accommodated.
o The new median housing the control panels platform, will have a footprint of approximately 1,400 square feet, similar in footprint and height to the Sunset Harbour SWTS. By removing the generator and FPL electrical vault from the median concept the footprint is being reduced by approximately 2,000 square feet and the overall height by 2.5 feet. A screening system will be designed to give full enclosure and visibly shield all the electrical components from the residents. This screening system is being incorporated in the design, and it will be constructed at the same time as the SWTS, unlike the Sunset Harbour SWTS screening, that was an after the fact design and installation.

• Cost:
o This option is estimated to have a cost impact of an additional $2,620,000

The other explored options pose many challenges, including engineering, regulatory, safety, parking, cost, scheduling, impact to adjacent properties, operation/maintenance and traffic circulation, when considering the technical requirements necessary for the placement of the equipment. Options 3 and 3A are very similar options, with the exception of the location of the outfall, as such, both share the same disadvantage of not providing the ability to accommodate emergency bypass piping. Options 6 and 9 do allow for the installation of emergency bypass piping; however, neither option provides a direct line of sight from the electrical control platform to the wet well, causing safety and maintenance concerns that require the installation of a platform to house six (6) additional disconnect switch cabinets at the Lincoln Road street-end.

City staff has continued their outreach efforts. On October 12, 2020 a dedicated email blast was sent to the citywide contact list which included links to a virtual presentation of the findings of the accelerated feasibility study and notification of the Special Commission Meeting. The information has been shared on Nextdoor and other social media. Additionally, follow-up virtual meetings have been held with stakeholders and WAVNA members to answer questions regarding the virtual presentation.

Financial Status

This project was divided into two areas, with 14th Street serving as the dividing boundary. The overall original project budget was $56,108,748. Additional funds have been added to the project related to hardscape scope, additional scope related to the Columbia Resiliency Accelerator program, design cost for the additional water quality treatment system as requested by DERM, bringing the total project budget to $90,140,819.

In addition to any additional costs associated to the siting of the SWTS components, future funding requirements will also include: construction of the additional water quality enhancements required by DERM (Approx. $10M- $15M); and construction costs for upsized stormwater piping resulting from the change of stormwater criteria from a 5-year to a 10-year design storm event (Approx. $3M).

Auxiliary Power Generators

At the September 13, 2017 commission meeting, it was resolved that all new SWTS would require auxiliary power generators. As a result, a change order was issued to the Design/Builder team to include the installation of nine (9) generators at the existing and proposed SWTS, located at the street-ends of 5th Street, 6th Street, 10th Street, 14th Street, Bay Road and at the new SWTS proposed for Lincoln Road. On October 14th, 2020, the City Commission passed a resolution implementing auxiliary power generators for SWTS on a case-by-case basis. FP&L has introduced a new program that provides an independent and redundant electrical service system for critical infrastructure, including SWTS. This program could potentially reduce some of the concerns regarding power outages and the operation of the SWTS. The City Administration is prepared to recommend excluding auxiliary power generators from the West Avenue Project contingent on evaluation of the electrical reliability data that will be provided by FP&L. If generators were to be excluded from this project, it could result in a savings of approximately $4.5 million.

Next Steps

Once a determination is made regarding the siting of the SWTS, City staff will issue a directive to the Design/Builder to submit a proposal for the re-design and construction of the revised SWTS. A change order will be presented at the December 2020 Commission Meeting. Upon execution of the change order, the Design/Builder will revise the plans and submit to the agencies for permitting. The construction activities could commence as early as Fall 2021, provided permits are obtained and all necessary harmonization agreements have been executed. Proceeding with options other than Option 2 may delay the start of construction.