Land O'Lakes Community Center
April 23, 2007 - Land O'Lakes

The meeting began with an open house, with displays around the room of Tampa Bay Water information regarding the planning process, screening criteria, project list, and source water protection.  After signing in, attendees were provided with an information packet containing the meeting agenda, comment sheet, copies of the presentation materials, and the comprehensive project list.  Attendees had the opportunity to review the information and ask questions of available Tampa Bay Water, TBRPC, and Black & Veatch staff.

Paula Dye of Tampa Bay Water began the presentation at 6:00 p.m.  She made introductions and covered the agenda, background information, and the planning process.  Steve Simpson of Black & Veatch continued the presentation with the goals and screening criteria. 

Avera Wynne of TBRPC led an audience response segment to gather input on the relative importance of the screening criteria.  Environmental and Source Water Protection was ranked most important by 45% of the attendees and important by 39%.  Implementation/feasibility was ranked important by 39% and neutral by 31%.  Project Cost was ranked important by 28% and neutral by 22%.  33% of attendees ranked Regulatory Requirements as important.  Yield was ranked as important by 43%.

A comment was made that operations and maintenance costs for facilities were not emphasized enough as part of implementation /feasibility criteria.  A comment was made that newspaper articles had been successful in advertising the public meeting, much more than a regular advertisement. 

Paula Dye continued the presentation by discussing source water protection, with examples of existing programs in the region and examples of Tampa Bay Water efforts.  Avera Wynne led an audience response segment to gather input on the importance of the region doing source water protection.  Attendees ranked Public Information and Education as important (42%) and neutral (35%).  Protective Policies and Regulations were ranked as important by 45%.  Land Acquisition was ranked most important by 34% of attendees and important by 31%.  Best Management Practices were ranked most important by 45%.  Local Watershed Protection Actions ranked important (53%).

Avera Wynne also led a voting segment on the importance of Tampa Bay Water performing source water protection actions.  Attendees ranked continuing to advocate for source water protection as high priority for Tampa Bay Water (68%).  Supporting the development of ordinances was rated high (57%) and medium (40%).  Implementing stormwater projects was rated high priority by 56%, and minimizing industrial discharges was rated high priority by 50%.  Supporting Low Impact Development was rated high by 61% of attendees.  The priority for Tampa Bay Water to Research and perform outreach on Low Impact Development was ranked high (51%). The priority ranking for Tampa Bay Water to produce educational materials was evenly split with high and medium priority each at 42%.

Paula Dye thanked the attendees for participating, and invited them to take advantage of the remaining open-house format meeting to add project ideas to the comprehensive list, to provide additional comments via the comment sheet, and to ask additional questions of staff at the meeting.  Paula also noted that the website www.futurewater.org contained the same survey questions and much of the same information as the presentation, so additional comments and input could be provided at future public meetings, on the website, or by addressing questions through the website.

A comment was made that it would have been helpful to have more information on the projects on the list, with a location map.