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Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 1 Proj # Bay PRP 2014-045 Project Name Continued Development of FL Sea Grant's Web-Based Emerald Coast Anchorage Guide - Bay County for Boaters as Safe Harbors and Destinations Project Proposer, affiliation, web site William (Bill) T. Mahan Jr. UF IFAS Bay County Extension Program http://anchorages.flseagrant.org/emerald-coast Project Description Area boaters depend on a transportation network comparable in many ways to a road system that services land-based vehicular traffic. The most obvious components are the interconnected navigation channels found in Bay County coastal waters and its interior waterways, that serve as a “road” network for boaters. Anchorages - often called the parking lots of the waterway transportation infrastructure – are an important component of the transportation network serving multiple purposes. Proj. Size (acres) 25 Economic The National Marine Manufactures Assoc. estimated the annual economic impact of recreational boating in FL’s Congressional District 2, including Bay County was $493.1 million, supporting 182 businesses & 3,895 jobs (2013). The Anchorage Guide will promote boating & support industries in Bay Co Environmental Bio-physical features i.e. – Seagrass beds, oyster reefs, critical habitats, fishing areas, will be added to the guide. Navigational aides, Clean Marina/marina locations & other features/services i.e. fuel, sewage pump-out stations. Additional information will help boaters protect the environment. Social Issues related to anchoring have triggered some of the more contentious boating-related conflicts in FL during the last 25-years. GIS/GPS inventory and monitoring information can be used to identify anchorage management needs based on documented environmental damage, user conflicts & overcrowding. Other Representatives of the Emerald Coast boating industries, boaters and representatives of county, state and federal government/agencies will participate in the project. Continued development/refinement of the maps and database for Bay County anchorage inventory will aid resident and transient boaters. Project Location Forty-two anchorage sites have been identified in Bay County coastal and inland waters (West Bay, North Bay, St. Andrews Bay & East Bay). Est total project cost $38,600 Amount requested $25,000 Describe what funds will be used for To partner with FSU/PC for boat time, equipment and boat personnel to survey 42 anchorage sites in Bay County. Contract with Website designer (http://www.dacingtree.com/index.php) to update and add new data layers to existing FL Sea Grant Webpage they designed. 3% administrative management costs. Long term funding needed? Source? Availability? Long term support funding in the form of the websites annual maintenance fee ($360/year). Is the only foreseen longterm funding need. It is expected that the UF IFAS FL Sea Grant College Program will cover this cost since the program is the "host" for the anchorage website. Est yrs completion 0-2 Matching $ available? Yes ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 2 Match source? Secured? In-kind partnering is available since my UF salary & benefits are paid by state funds. In addition, I will be collaborating with UF Boating & Waterway and FL Sea Grant faculty and staff to assist with the Bay County anchorage project. Amount match secured $13,600 % proj cost from match 35 Partners anticipated? Yes Partner names FSU-PC (Zinszer); Bay County P&Z (Golden); UF-IFAS/Sea Grant Funds request other source? If yes, name source, decision date Proj fully funded by other source? FULL PROPOSAL FORM Project number (proposal) Bay PRP 2014-045 Submittal date proposal 2/6/2015 Project name (proposal) Continued Development of FL Sea Grant's Web-Based Emerald Coast Anchorage Guide - Bay County Applicant name William (Bill) T. Mahan Jr. Project description (proposal) Area boaters depend on a transportation network comparable in many ways to a road system that services land-based vehicular traffic. The most obvious components are the interconnected navigation channels found in Bay County coastal waters and its interior waterways that serve as a “road” network for boaters. Anchorages - often called the parking lots of the waterway transportation infrastructure – are an important component of the transportation network serving multiple purposes. The availability of an enhanced web-based Emerald Coast Boaters' Anchorage Guide - Bay County will allow resident and visiting boaters easy access to This project will Project location description The project locations includes a total of 42-anchorage sites that have been identified as potential anchoring sites for vacationing, transient and local boaters. The 42-sites are scattered across Bay County's inland waters from East Bay to West Bay and including St. Andrew Sound. Please see: Bay_PRP_2014_045_AnchorageGuide, saved as a Google Earth KMZ file. 1. Restore nat res 2. Mitigate 3. Implement plan ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 3 4. Workforce/Jobs 5. Improve state park 6. Infrastructure 7. Flood protect 8. Planning 9. Promote tourism Boating in Florida is a popular recreational activity as well as big business. According to the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) in 2013, Florida ranked first in the United States in both the impact of recreational boating on its economy ($10.4 billion) and the number of recreational boats registered (865,287). For the Emerald Coast Region (Bay – Escambia County), NIMMA estimated the economic impact of recreational boating was greater than $552.8 million. Florida’s coastal communities provide vital economic, social and recreational opportunities for its estimated 19.55 million residents (2013) and approximately 94.7 million visitors each year. Currently, increasing numbers of recreational boaters (FL Fish & Wildlife Commission estimates 400,000/year) are cruising Florida’s waterways looking for alternative, less expensive means of staying in an area as opposed to paying a fee to tie-up in a marina. Anchorages are often called the parking lots of the waterway transportation infrastructure (Intracoastal Waterway), are an important part of the transportation network. Anchorages serve multiple purposes, such as short- and long-term vessel storage, stopover spots for transient boaters, protection from inclement weather, and recreational opportunities. The enhanced Bay County anchorage information collected and added to the Emerald Coast Anchorage website during this project will be easily accessible to county boaters via the website. The information provided will allow boaters to plan for a better local boating experience. The information collected, will also be used to develop boater outreach materials that will be available on the website. Additionally, data collected can be used to identify anchorages in need of management based on demonstrated environmental damage, user conflict, or overcrowding. Reducing environmental damage, user conflict and overcrowding, will provide boaters with a more pleasant boating experience. 10. Promote seafood 1.1 Diversify 1.2 Infrastruc 1.3 Airport 1.4 Job train 1.5 Workforce dev ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 4 1.6 Facil tourism/econ dev The initial FL Sea Grant Emerald Coast Anchorage Guide pilot program resulted in the design and development of a new generation web-based anchorage guide platform based on state of the art Google-Maps technology for FL Sea Grant (June 2014). It included 16, Bay County anchorages. The next step to continue the development of the guide are to ground-truth the 42 Bay County anchorage sites currently identified. The truthing will involve the following steps: * Quantify anchorage size & restrictions * Incorporate additional spatial data layers + Boater approach information + Bio-physical features - e.g. water depth, bottom sediment type, nearby seagrass and critical habitat + Coast Guard navigational aids + Marinas + Boat ramps + Begin derelict vessel inventory By providing easy boater access via the website, Bay boaters will be able to plan for a more enjoyable boating experience. The information will also be used to develop boater outreach materials, accessible on the website. Additionally, collected data can be used to identify anchorages in need of management based on demonstrated environmental damage, user conflict, or over crowding. 1.7 Rec, transport, wage 1.8 Protect nat res 1.9 Promote fishing 1.10 Commun resil 2.1 Protect SAB 2.2 Improv wtr qual 2.3 Protect seagrass 2.4 Wildl hab 2.5 Acq lands 2.6 Preserve dunes, shore 2.7 Protected spp 2.8 Water data 3.1 Deer Pt Lk wtr qual 3.2 Stabil roads 3.3 Sewer AWT 3.4 Septic to central 3.5 3.6 LID 3.7 Coast resil 3.8 Support port ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 5 Budget justification The modest overall budget $38,600 for this project is divided into $25,000 of Bay County RESTORE and $13,800 of UF IFAS Sea Grant and UF IFAS Bay County Extension funding. The bulk of the Bay County RESTORE budget $23,850 covers the expected costs of contracting with FSU - PC for associated boat costs and with Dancing Tree, LLC. The software consulting company that designed and programmed the original Emerald Coast Anchorage website for FL Sea Grant. The remaining RESTORE budget is $750 in administrative costs and $200 for travel and $200 for office supplies. The other funds budget is comprised of $13,300 in salary and fringe benefits for paid by UF for two months of my time. In addition UF IFAS Bay County will provide $200 in travel and $100 in supplies. Ongoing costs The only ongoing cost necessary to support the project after the grant period is a $360/year website maintenance fee. Since the website is a University of Florida IFAS FL Sea Grant College Program site they will cover the annual maintenance fee. Objective and measures The overall objective of the anchorage project is to ground-truth and add to the anchorage information for the 17 currently listed anchorage site in Bay County listed on the Emerald Coast Anchorage Website. In addition new anchorage data will be collected and ground-truthed for the additional 25 anchorage sites that have been identified and documented. All data collected will be used to evaluate anchorage characteristics e.g. area size, depth, bottom sediment types, restrictions and shore-side profiles. Additionally, additional spatial data layers will be added to the existing and new Bay County anchorage sites - approach information; biophysical features (seagrasses, critical habitat), marinas, navigational aids and nearby boater services. Once completed, website usage patterns will be monitored and recorded to determine the number of webpage visits, the information used and downloaded form the site. The site will also be marketed to local and transient boaters and their feedback requested on how useful the sites information is to increasing their boating enjoyment in Bay County. Nat Res Proj Best Avail Science Env issues Based on the informal consultations with various federal agencies relative to the data collection methods that will be used in developing/enhancing the Anchorage Guide, none of the federal agencies felt that there are any issues that would require any permits and/or result in any endangered species, invasive species or critical habitat issues. Econ Dev proj? Econ Dev description Job Creation? Describe how jobs created No. jobs created ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 6 No. jobs created Yr 1 No. jobs created Yr 2 No. jobs created Yr 3 Avg wage Total proj cost Complement. proj descr. I have held initial conversations have been held with Mike Zinszer at FSU PC on the potential of partnering with PRP 2014 - 006, Bettering Bay through Environmental Science and Policy: Postsecondary partnership between GCSC and FSU PC, to provide practical environmental field data collection for the students in their proposed certificate program. Proj readiness descr Since no permits are required for the proposed project, yes, the project is ready to start when funds are available. Securing a contract/agreement with FSU PC for boat time, crew & equipment and scheduling the field work are the only things needed to begin work. Depending on when the funding becomes available and the area's weather and boating conditions, I don't foresee any reason that the field data collection will take longer than two-three months to begin. Once the IT website work is needed, it should only take 4-6 weeks to get a contract approved and the work started. Permits required? Permits status Land acq? Acquire fee simple? Acquire easement? Fee and easement descri Terms of easement Entity to hold title Easement acres Fee simple acres Appraisal avail? Appraised value Title opinon avail? Material risks The only material risks currently identified are operational. These risks are all related to the unforeseen and unpredictable nature of the area's weather and the availability of the boat, captain, crew and equipment. As a mitigation strategy, there is adequate, flex time built into the project time-line to allow for rescheduling data collection trips in the event of inclement weather. No, legal, regulatory, budgetary, or ecological risks that could prevent the completion of this project are currently know or expected. ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 7 Likelihood of success The project is straight forward involving data collection, analyses, and incorporating the results into usable web-based information for boaters in Bay County. The project management (UF IFAS & Bay County Purchasing) and the contractors (FSU - PC & Dancing Tree, LLC - Computer Software) all have proven track records in conducting, managing and completing grants and contract work. So I'd discribe the likelihood of accomplishing this projects main purpose as excellent. Contract out work? Yes Contracting strategy Potential contractors/cooperators (FSU-PC & Dancing Tree, LLC) for the project have already been contacted. Once contracted for the work, the applicant will be going on all the scheduled data collection trips with FSU-PC to monitor and mange the anchorage data collection. The schedule is to conduct approximately 10 anchorage data collection trips in year one and 10 additional trips in year two to make sure that each of the anchorages was visited and surveyed at least once. Once the anchorage data are collected, I will analyze the data and then work with the Dancing Tree to monitor and manage the development of the GIS layers to be added to the Bay County anchorage sites. Applic manage proj? Yes L 1. Proposed mgr The Emerald Coast Sea Grant Agent based in Bay County will provide oversight and leadership to the grant. The Bay County Purchasing Department will oversee the financial management and purchasing. L 2. Mgr agreed? Yes L 3.Mgr experience From 1993 - 2013 as the Franklin County UF IFAS Extension Director and FL Sea Grant Agent, I was responsible for developing and managing the annual Extension Office budget. From 2003 - 2013 the annual budget was from approximately $50,000 - $70,000. In addition I was a PI, Co-PI or Investigator on 12 externally funded grants/contracts. The amount of the grants/contracts ranged from $500 - $75,400. All but one of the grants/contacts were for a year or less. However, the $75,400 USDA grant was for 3-years. All the budgets, grants and contracts were completed on time and on, or under budget. L 4. Post proj maint Once the anchorage data have been entered into the website platform, the technical and fiscal aspects of the site maintenance can be done by the University of FL Sea Grant College Program Office located in Gainesville, FL. ---PAGE BREAK--- Bay County RESTORE Act Direct Component Proposals 2014-2015 8 L 5. Mgmt approach The FL Sea Grant Emerald Coast Boating & Waterway Agent will contract with FSU Panama City for boat-time, crew and equipment and schedule boat trips to visit each of the anchorages sites at least once to collect the required data. The Agent will also go out with the boat crew to assist with data collection and oversee data collection and boat operations. The Sea Grant Agent will also contract for and oversee the IT work necessary to organize data and enter it into the anchorage webpage platform. All purchasing, tracking and contracts will be coordinated by the Bay County Purchasing Department. Outreach descr Outreach efforts will focus on promoting and informing boaters about the Anchorage website and the information it offers boaters on Bay County marine-related services and planning for a more enjoyable boating experience.