ATTACHMENT B - AQUATIC GARDENS MEETING REPORTAQUATIC GARDENS MEETING REPORT
Submitted by Jonathan Daugherty
I met with 29 residents from the Aquatic Gardens neighborhood on July 14, 2012 at Sunrise Church.
With me was a detective who was there to listen to concerns and also present information on forming a
neighborhood watch.
Six concerns were given to me before the meeting and these were discussed with staff prior so that I
would be prepared to answer their concerns.
The concerns and answers are listed below:
1. Desire for beautification for the two entrance areas. – Aquatic Gardens was built as a
subdivision and the City is not responsible for installing or maintaining entryways into
subdivisions. However, given our desire to improve that area, the commission may agree to
extend the matching funds policy that it has for beach access points. Earlier this year there was a
complaint about the median owned by the City and at my request public works put in some
plants that did not require constant watering and the residents seemed happy with this
response. I suggested that instead of adding an irrigation system to the sign and planting flowers
that would require watering that they come up with a design that would use similar low
maintenance plants.
2. Street lighting- Staff did a survey and found that no additional lights were needed, however,
certain modifications could be made to trim trees, etc. That would allow more light to be seen.
On the one private driveway that looks like a street the City has no ability to put in a streetlight.
The group seemed satisfied with the response.
3. Speeding and through traffic - There is a perception that Aquatic Gardens is being used as a
through street for the Royal Palms neighborhood. There used to be signs posted at the north
entrance that said no through traffic and the residents are asking for the sign to be reinstalled.
They are also asking for two speed bumps to be installed in the neighborhood.
4. Mosquito control – This is related to drainage problem.
5. Reinstall pond fountain – This was taken out by the City after the City acquired the property and
it broke. It was originally put in by the community and they feel that the City should maintain it.
(This is something we should decide if we want to have reinstalled)
6. Flooding control – the problem with flooding is due to the swale that was built being filled in by
natural erosion as well as by property owners. The City has no easement that allows us to even
enter their private property to fix this. The swale has been covered by fences, sheds, etc. The
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City has offered to assist with planning but the position of the City Manager is that the residents
need to organize and fix this and that it is their problem since it is on private property.
I encouraged the citizens there that they should form a neighborhood association and even
offered to Mrs. Pierce to help her set up a not-for-profit corp. to do this.
In addition there were other issues that were brought up at the meeting.
1. Homeless people camping on the property at the corner of Aquatic Drive and Atlantic.
2. Residents of Sea Oats tearing down fences so that they can walk through to Atlantic.
3. Dangerous crosswalk at intersection of Atlantic (very heavily used crosswalk and low
visibility combined with a non-signaled intersection on a major roadway.
4. Problems with JTA transfer facility on Royal Palms.
5. Burglaries in neighborhood.
My Q and A session with them ended about 1030 and the detective spent about 30 minutes
talking about the neighborhood watch program. Mrs. Pierce distributed a petition about
speed humps as well as beautification of the entrances but has not yet forwarded those to
me or the City Clerk, to my knowledge. The detective was to follow up on a specific
complaint about the fence with Sea Oats but I have not received any follow-up report yet.
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