NAPLES — They don’t have the money yet, but a Collier County citizens committee put together a preliminary plan Friday for how to spend it. County officials estimate they could be in line for anywhere from $2 million to $22 million of what is expected to be billions of dollars in Clean Water Act penalties against BP stemming from the Deepwater Horizon explosion in 2010. Local government agencies and environmental groups submitted three dozen project proposals totaling $75 million for the committee to rank based on their environmental and economic benefit. The rankings tallied Friday still could change next week after ranking forms are double-checked and late forms straggle in to county government offices. Collier County commissioners have the final say on how to spend the money. Proposals from the city of Naples came out on top of Friday’s preliminary rankings, from building a habitat island and oyster reefs in Naples Bay to taking stormwater drainage pipes off the beach. “Let’s hope we get lots of money,” said Naples Mayor John Sorey, also the chairman of the citizens review committee. Proposals from the county’s tourism department to promote local events like the Naples Stone Crab Festival and the county’s artificial reefs came out on the bottom half of the preliminary priority list. The committee turned down a suggestion from Tourism Director Jack Wert to break the proposals into categories and rank the top projects in each category. “I think you’re going to want to spread the money around,” Wert said. Other projects not making the top of the list included a proposal to sink a tugboat for an artificial reef, create a beach conditions and red tide reporting system, and mark a canoe and kayak trail from Everglades City to Wiggins Pass. Diver Mike Taworski said the tugboat reef would bring more divers to town, boosting tourism and lending a hand in the ongoing fight to combat invasive lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico. “We really don’t have anything for divers to check out,” he told the committee. Collier County Audubon policy advocate Brad Cornell encouraged the committee to use the BP money for “big bang” projects that otherwise wouldn’t get funded. “Look for projects that are innovative opportunities to achieve big ecological gains,” he said. Committee members took into account whether projects came with matching funds and whether they are ready to start when they get the money. Hotelier Clark Hill, a member of the review committee, said he was uncomfortable about reducing scores on the basis of whether a project was in line for money from other sources. “My goal was to rate based on the merits (of a project),” he said. It is unclear when the county will find out its share of the BP damages, which is being hashed out in federal court in New Orleans. “We’re just standing by and tracking the process,” Collier County environmental and stormwater planning manager Jerry Kurtz told the committee. © 2013 Naples Daily News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Jul 2013 06:17:50 +0000
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