Agenda Item Name:
Title
Contract #11668 2nd Amendment to Suwannee River Water Management District Turf SWAP MOA #19/20-190
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Presenter:
Stacie Greco 352.264.6829
Description:
2nd Amendment to Suwannee River Water Management District Turf SWAP MOA #19/20-190 landscaping Rebate Program to extend the program through 11/30/2022.
Recommended Action:
Recommended Action
Approve the 2nd Amendment to the MOA to extend the landscaping rebate program through 11/30/2022 and authorize the Chair to execute same.
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Prior Board Motions:
The initial Turf SWAP rebate program was approved during the 12/13/16 BoCC meeting. The current contract was approved on 4/28/2020 and 1st contract amendment was approved on 2/23/2021.
Fiscal Consideration:
Fiscal Consideration
N/A, all other terms and conditions of the agreement remain in effect.
No change in budget, just an extension in the amount of time to spend the funding. The balance of this grant in budgeted in Fund 258.
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Strategic Guide:
Environment
Background:
Outdoor water use is commonly credited for up to 60% of residential water use; hence EPD largely focuses conservation efforts on reducing discretionary outdoor water use. Researchers at the University of Florida (Friedman et al, 2013) estimated that nearly 90% of new homes in the GRU service area are built with in-ground irrigation systems. This trend, up from only 10% in 1983, will continue to contribute to excessive outdoor water use. While Alachua County adopted an irrigation efficiency ordinance in 2015 for ensuring that future irrigation systems are installed efficiently, an incentive is needed for reducing water use from the over 10,000 existing irrigation systems in the GRU service area alone.
The County received $300,000 in funding from the North Florida Regional Water Supply Partnership FY2015-2016 Springs Water Conservation Cost-Share Funding opportunity for the Turf SWAP (Save Water, Add Plants) program to provide rebates to property owners that replace irrigated turf with Florida Friendly Landscapes (FFL). Through this program 135 participants removed or capped 1,901 irrigation heads, which removed 400,000 ft2 of high volume irrigation to save an estimated 16 million gallons of water a year.
Florida of Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) funds were administered through the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD) to Alachua County to provide an additional $150,000 in Turf SWAP rebates through June 2021. The program offers property owners 50% rebates up to $2,000 per property for water saving landscaping retrofits performed by participating Florida Water Star Accredited Landscaping and Irrigation Professionals. The property owner’s contribution provides the required match. The current contract will expire in February of 2022, and this contract amendment will extend the program through November of 2022 to allow for more participation.