- West Lakes Reforestation Phase II - $100,000
The Town's Beautification Master Plan identifies trees, by street, for reforestation in the West Lakes Neighborhood to establish a more uniform tree canopy that complements the characteristics of each street and are compatible with the swale area. The West Lake Reforestation Project benefits the West Lakes residential community and is consistent with the Beautification Master Plan and Miami-Dade County Street Tree Master Plan Mission to enhance the County tree canopy to a minimum of 30 percent coverage by 2020.Thetotal estimated cost of the West Lakes Reforestation Project is $500,000. The goal is to replace 1/5 of the canopy over a five-year period, hence a five phase project.
The Town successfully completed the West Lake Reforestation Project Phase I in partnership with the Miami-Dade County Neat Streets Miami Tree Matching Grant Program. Accomplishments include the planting of 37 trees from a variety of Florida Friendly tree species (33 Oaks and 4 Pigeon Plums) on NW 89th Avenue, between NW 153rd Terrace to NW 146th Terrace. Phase I was completed inNovember 2017for a total cost of approximately $80,000.
Phase II will include planting an estimated 53 trees from a variety of species in the neighborhood sections on NW 150th Street from NW 89th Avenue to NW 87th Place and NW 153rd Terrace from NW 92nd Avenue to NW 87th Avenue. The Town was recently awarded another Miami-Dade County Neat Streets matching grant in the amount of $18,500 for Phase II. The Town will sustain the Project through existing maintenance contracts after the one year initial growing period. All trees will carry a one-year warranty and will be maintained in accordance with appropriate tree care standards by the Town.
Phase 2 was unfunded in the Adopted FY 2017-18 Budget. Funds are now available from the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Highway Beautification matching grant which was postponed until FY 2026 ($62,500) and the balance remaining from Phase 1 ($19,000). The delay in the FDOT grant, combined with project underruns from Phase I, in conjunction with the grant award of $18,500 makes funding Phase II in the amount of $100,000 possible. This budget revision proposes to fully fund the project at $100,000.
The FY 2017-18 Budget includes $22,000 for the removal of invasive, hazardous or dead trees along the Town's rights-of-ways. Due to the large amount of Hurricane Irma related damage to the Town's tree canopy and stump removals, our tree removal funding has quickly diminished. The Town still has an estimated 40 trees that were damaged heavily by the storm which do not qualify for FEMA reimbursement. In order to remove these hazardous trees in preparation for the next hurricane season and continue to maintain our right of ways and swale areas throughout the fiscal year, an additional $30,000 is needed. This budget revision proposes to transfer $15,000 from Water and Sewer line item and $15,000 from ROW Grounds Repair and Maintenance to the Tree Removal line item to expedite the process. A budget amendment will be processed later in the year to transfer funds from the Capital Projects Fund reserves to the General Fund to cover the tree removal expense.
As a result of Hurricane Irma, many of the Town's parks suffered sod damage due to wear as a result of fallen debris and uprooted trees. Sod installation does not qualify for FEMA reimbursement and the Town needs to repair areas in the parks for safety and aesthetic purposes. Staff has estimated that approximately $300,000 in sod repairs is needed to bring them back to Town standards. As such, staff has developed a priority list and is requesting $115,000 to replace sod in those parks with the highest amount of damages. Funds are available from the NW 154th Street and Palmetto landscape installation and irrigation enhancement beautification project due to postponement of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) major roadway construction project in the area along SR 826 from I-75 to N of the C-8 Canal Bridge.
On December 5, 2017, Council approved a Local Funding Agreement between the Town of Miami Lakes and the Florida Department of Transportation for the design of the NW 146th Street and NW 159th Street Underpasses, as well as the construction of a shared-use path trail along NW 77th Avenue from NW 67th Avenue to NW 154th Street, for an amount not to exceed $555,000. FDOT agreed to construct the shared-use path if the Town splits the cost 50/50 to widen the bridge on NW 77th Avenue over C-8 Canal to provide the necessary space to accommodate the path.
The total proposed cost for the design for both efforts is approximately $515,000 as outlined below, with a contingency authority of $40,000, if needed.
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Design for Underpasses- $412,000
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Underpass Traffic Signal Warrant Analysis- $43,000
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Design for the NW 77th Avenue Bridge Widening- $60,000
The FY 2017-18 Budget includes funding of $165,000 for each of the underpasses in separate line items. This budget revision first combines both projects into one line-item named – NW 146th/NW 159th Street Underpasses- for a total of $330,000. The additional $185,000 needed to fund the design will be transferred from the Windmill Gate Road Improvement project line item to the NW146th/NW 159th Street Underpasses, for an amended budget of $515,000. It is estimated that the construction cost to widen Windmill Gate Road is less than budgeted, hence the availability of surplus funds for the transfer.
The FY 2017-18 Budget includes $45,000 to replace servers, laptops, workstations, network storage peripherals, cabling, battery backup and accessories that was budgeted in the IT Infrastructure account in error. This budget revision reclassifies the budget to accurately reflect expenses per the Uniform Accounting System Chart of Account: $32,000 reclassified to Machinery and Equipment account for capital expenditures, and $13,000 to IT Supplies for operating expenditures.