The Indian Trail Improvement Board of Supervisors held a special meeting on Wednesday, Jan. 19 and approved several resolutions to fund road and drainage repairs for the Santa Rosa Groves neighborhood, now also known as ITID Unit 20. Also approved was financing for the district’s R3 road improvement projects.
Attorney Mark Raymond, legal counsel for bonds and financing, said board and public comments at the meeting would be limited to items on the agenda, which included agreements with Raymond to serve as bond counsel, amendments to the district engineer’s reports, several tax and bond resolutions, and selection of an investment banker for the R-3 road project.
He added that the meeting will also consider using in-house staff for the reconstruction of Carol Street in Santa Rosa Groves.
Elizabeth Accomando, a resident of Santa Rosa Groves, asked if the entire funding for the neighborhood of close to $25 million would be approved that evening, or just the shorter-term funding of Carol Street and some drainage improvements including funding for a pump.
ITID Board Member Betty Argue questioned one of the resolutions, which called for immediate funding up to $1 million.
“I don’t know why that only says $1 million because we had discussed this before. I think it was supposed to be up to $2 million,” she said.
Raymond said what he took away from the previous meeting would be for the first installment to be for $1 million.
Argue asked that the item, which was on the consent agenda, be pulled for discussion and amendment. She explained that when staff went to inspect conditions in Santa Rosa Groves, they saw deteriorated drainage conditions that would need to be corrected for the system to work correctly.
“We discovered that pretty much every easement would need to be cleared,” Argue said. “There was a lot more improvements that were going to be needed for the drainage to work properly.”
She said the first priority for the Santa Rosa Groves residents is drainage, and the second priority is Carol Street.
“We promised them that we were going to do this as efficiently and effectively as possible,” Argue said. “Even if you put the pump in, you have to do the clearing of the major canals. The main arteries have to be cleared. I think $2 million is a safer number to ensure that we can do what we have to do and what we promised to the residents.”
She added that from listening to Santa Rosa residents recently, they preferred opting for shorter-term plan at this time, rather than the nearly $25 million for total refurbishment of the neighborhood. “That’s why I think this number needs to be $2 million,” Argue said.
ITID President Michael Johnson asked if there would be a significant difference in fees for the loan, and Raymond said there would be no significant difference for up to $5 million than approving sequential $1 million loans for five years.
Accomando said she was glad to see that the amount would be increased.
“I know what’s out there, and I know what needs to be done and replaced, and that’s only what we can see,” she said. “We’ve dug up some stuff on our property that I’m sure you guys are going to find along the way in these canals that need to be addressed.”
Argue made a motion to amend the agreement with Raymond for a loan of up to $5 million rather than $1 million, which carried 5-0.
The council also unanimously approved tax and bond resolutions for Unit 20 and Unit R-3.
Raymond said the water control plan for Unit 20 had been determined to be of benefit to the unit.
In order to complete the projects identified in the plan, the district must authorize issuance of debt and assessment of the benefited properties for their repayment over time, according to the resolution. The cost of completing the plan is just under $22,745,000, according to the engineer’s report.
“The benefit figures are important because the statutes that control special districts like Indian Trail, the district is allowed to levy special assessments up to the amount of benefit in order to pay the cost to complete the plan of improvements,” Raymond said. “There is no known deadline for the completion, but it is clear that the law in Florida requires that the plan be completed once it commences.”
He pointed out that, according to the engineer’s report, the overall benefit for Santa Rosa Groves is more than $188 million.
