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Welcome back to County Conversations, a podcast
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show by St. John's County to help build community
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trust by expanding opportunities for the public
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to gain access to information and awareness and
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understanding of government operations. This
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is episode three, and we have Greg Caldwell,
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our public works director, back with us talking
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about county infrastructure. Welcome back, Greg.
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Oh, thanks for having me again. Let's talk about
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parks. The public may not be aware, in addition
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to building the roads that we talked about in
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episode two, as well as stormwater management.
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Public Works also is spearheading, in partnership
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with Parks and Recreation Department, the building
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of parks. Talk to us a little bit about that.
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Currently, you've got 21 park projects in the
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budget valued at $122 million. Talk to us about
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how the parks are going. It's great to be a part
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of working with the parks team Ryan Kane the
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director of parks and recreation does a great
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job over there and We're able to work with them
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to understand their vision. What are they trying
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to accomplish? How are they trying to improve
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the quality of life for the residents of st?
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John's County and It's just amazing to be a part
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of that type of project because it is different
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than a roadway. It's different than a stormwater
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system It's something that has a little bit more
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touch with the community and listening to ryan
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and his team to understand how they want to deliver
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quality of life improvements for all over the
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area it's amazing to be a part of you mentioned
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quality of life and it's important to note part
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of the strategic plan which we talked about in
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episode two which one of those six priorities
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is infrastructure another part of the plan another
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priority if you will is community trust and so
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Park projects kind of bring or bridge together
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the infrastructure part in the community trust
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part together because You work with parks public
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works works with parks and recreation to have
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these community meetings and get feedback from
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the community Talk about that process before
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shovel one goes into the ground and I think that's
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a great thing that parks and rec does ahead of
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the time and then during the construction or
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I'm sorry during the design effort to make sure
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they're meeting the needs of the community because
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there are some passionate people in St. John's
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County that are looking for pickleball tennis
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courts or access to the beaches. Parks have an
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array of different components that they manage
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and it can range from little league baseball
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all the way up to boat ramps and they have a
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big responsibility to provide those services
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to the St. John's County. So meeting with the
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public, understanding the needs of the community
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is one of their big strengths, I would say, is
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how they reach out and talk through some of these
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issues. As you continue to work on renovations
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to existing parks and work on new parks, it's
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important to note that just a few years ago,
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the Board of County Commissioners launched a
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plan to construct five regional parks in our
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community. And not only regional parks, but some
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community centers and other amenities that go
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along with those regional parks. Break down those
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regional parks, kind of where they're at. What's
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going to be at each one? Because although the
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regional parks, each of them is going to have
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different amenities and resources and some extra
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services. Absolutely. So Parks and Rec have looked
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at this just like we talk about roadways. They
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plan their approach. They try to strategize on
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where they need improvements for the community
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with the most benefit. So they have identified
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a park in the northeast portion of St. John's
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Load full transcript
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County, another one off of Greenbrier Road, which
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is Greenbrier Park, as well as one off of Silverleaf
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and Shearwater Community. those improvements
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are going to be such a benefit for the entire
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St. John's County citizens because they're going
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to provide multi -purpose paths, they're going
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to provide fields, they're going to provide tracks,
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they're going to provide other amenities that
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are going to provide a major benefit to the community.
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But it is great to watch them come up with a
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vision. we were able to help them through that,
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bring on consultants for design efforts as well
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as contractors to make sure it's getting constructed
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appropriately. You mentioned the different types
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of amenities. You know, it's just not baseball.
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It's baseball and softball at some of these facilities.
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It's obviously playgrounds, but also an important
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part of this regional park plan that Public Works
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is spearheading along with Parks and Recreation
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is space for additional services like supervisor
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of elections and library hubs. Talk a little
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bit about that. I would say the county is doing
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an incredible job of seeing how we can benefit
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multiple departments with the use of one piece
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of infrastructure. So with the Parks and Rec
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projects that are going on, the library services
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was introduced to three of those parks. So they
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are going to have two hubs and then a standalone
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library. at one of these major regional parks
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that are getting constructed right now, as well
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as looking at the supervisor of election, see
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what their needs are, seeing how we can incorporate
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that into the design and then ultimate improvements
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going on out here. I think it's one of the key
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things that we're working on throughout St. John's
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County in multiple ways of trying to use one
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service and get multiple benefits out of it.
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I got to imagine the nuances between laying down
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asphalt. Digging ditches or building culverts
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for stormwater. We talked about in episode 2
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to the sensitivity and creativeness of Building
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a park and the different aspects of a park have
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got to be extreme It is amazing to be part of
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something like this because it does take me out
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of my comfort level But we do have great people
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here in st. John's County We have our facilities
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management team that come in and help us when
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we're building a facility because we want to
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make sure it's maintained to the lowest level
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possible, meaning it's the lowest cost to them
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because they're the ones that are going to take
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this over. So facilities maintenance has been
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a great proponent of this. Working with parks
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about creating something like AstroTurf field,
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even though it's a higher cost up front, the
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use that you get out of an AstroTurf field and
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the maintenance component of it. you're getting
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such a higher level of a benefit for the community.
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You're basically playing 365 days a year, where
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if you were putting grass down, when we get those
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afternoon rain showers here in St. John's County,
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sometimes those practices were delayed or you
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cannot practice on them for maybe multiple days.
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Now with these new systems in place, the new
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drainage that's underneath the artificial turf
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allows them to, as soon as the rain goes away,
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the drainage to evaporate or move through the
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field and then they're back open for service.
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We just got done talking about these big park
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projects that have facilities and a regional
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plan, but there are also some smaller yet significant
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parks projects that Public Works has been involved
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in, which is part of the CIP. One of them is
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the Field of Dreams, and the other one is the
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Valano Beach Ocean. park with the new ADA walkover.
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Talk about those types of projects, or maybe
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those specifically, how unique and special those
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--> 00:07:17.410
are for the residents of our community. The field
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of dreams, if you ever have an opportunity to
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go out there and watch these children go out
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there and play on these fields, it will warm
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your heart. It's an incredible part to just have
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any involvement with a project like that and
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what it does for the community. But we were able
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to work with them to put in new bathrooms that
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are ADA accessible, do some improvements to the
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overall parking of the area and just make it
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a more a better experience for everybody that's
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involved with bringing these children to the
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field of dreams to play baseball or softball.
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It's one of those things that the Board of County
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Commissioners really saw that as something that
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they were passionate about and put money towards
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it and provided them something that they can
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use daily. The other Vlano is a park out there
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that ADA accessibility is one of the key things
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that Parks and Rec wanted to improve. We also
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did an improvement down in Crescent Beach as
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well that provides access for ADA compliance,
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makes sure people can get in and out of one of
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the best features here in St. John's County,
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right? 42 miles of beaches. How do we help people
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be able to use them on a daily basis? You mentioned
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beaches and I would be remiss if I didn't ask
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you. We've got about a couple minutes left. a
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project that is very near and dear to your heart
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and that is the the rock revetment project down
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in summer haven i know you were super excited
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about the completion of that project and also
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the funding mechanisms behind it share with our
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audience what happened down in summer haven so
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summer haven was impacted by hurricane matthew
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back in 2016 there was a rock revetment that
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was been placed i believe in the 1940s and it
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was severely impacted with hurricane matthew
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and the roadway basically was washed away we
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--> 00:09:01.620
were able to work with FEMA and the state to
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establish funding for that project through our
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coastal management team as well. They were such
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a great partner with Public Works to get that
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across the finish line. But that impact started
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in 2016 and we completed that project within
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the last year because we had additional hurricane
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impacts and major storm impacts throughout those
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processes. as well as we talked earlier in previous
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episodes about permitting. That is a very sensitive,
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environmentally sensitive area that we needed
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to make sure that the Army Corps of Engineers
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and everybody was on board with what we were
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doing. That project was an expensive project,
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about 14 million dollars I believe is what the
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cost was for construction and the great thing
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about it for St. John's County is we expect to
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get about 87 .5 % of that back through FEMA and
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the state. So, going through the process, making
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sure we handled our business appropriately and
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followed all the requirements of these grants,
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we expect to receive those funds back in the
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near future. Amazing. Amazing. As we mentioned
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in the first two episodes, all the projects you
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talked about, Greg, and more are available on
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our Featured Projects webpage, which is sjcfl
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.us slash Featured Projects or Featured Dash
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Projects. Greg, thank you again for having a
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conversation with us on County Conversations.
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We appreciate your time and attention to our
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CIP, otherwise known as infrastructure projects.
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I could talk about infrastructure projects all
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day, so thank you for having me. You've been
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listening to County Conversations with Director
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of Public Affairs for St. John's County, Wayne
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Larson. If you'd like to keep the dialogue going,
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like, share, and leave a review on our social
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media. For news, events, and resources, make
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sure you visit our county website, sjcfl .us.
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That is sjcfl .us.