THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND GROWTH MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT AND THE POLLUTION PREVENTION, REMEDIATION AND AIR QUALITY DIVISION RECOMMEND APPROVAL OF THE MOTION.
In response to the Department of Energy's Rooftop Solar Challenge II Grant, Broward County formed a team of 18 partners and applied for the grant as the Go SOLAR – Florida team. The partners include: Alachua, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Orange and St. Lucie counties and the City of Venice, Florida Solar Energy Center, Florida Atlantic University (FAU) (all but FAU sub-recipients receiving portions of the grant dollars); and nine Broward County municipalities that did not participate in the first Go SOLAR grant: Cooper City, Hollywood, Lauderdale Lakes, Lauderhill, Lighthouse Point, Margate, Pembroke Pines, Plantation and Wilton Manors. On September 12, 2013, Broward County was informed that the grant had been awarded to the Go SOLAR – Florida team. On October 22, 2013, the Board approved the grant agreement (Agenda Item 30). The Go Solar - Florida Federal Grant award of $2,275,776 includes federal funds of $1,575,000 and partner in-kind match of $700,776.
The Go SOLAR – Florida project objectives include moving the nine new Broward County municipalities onto Broward County’s existing Go SOLAR online permitting system; assisting partner counties in developing their own online permitting systems; identifying and removing planning and zoning ordinance barriers to a streamlined permitting process; and moving development and maintenance of the design plans used by all online systems to the Florida Solar Energy Center. To accomplish these objectives and to reimburse partners for grant-related costs, agreements between the County and these partners are required to be approved by the Board.
On December 3, 2013, the Board approved (Agenda Item 16) Go SOLAR-Florida agreements between Broward County and the Go SOLAR - Florida participating partners, authorized the County Administrator to execute the agreements in substantially the same form, and also authorized the County Administrator to take all administrative and budgetary actions and amendments related to the agreements. In negotiating the specific terms and conditions of the agreements, it became clear that changes to the agreements are substantive and are therefore being brought back to the Board for approval. Exhibit 1 shows the updated Agreement with Alachua County. The contents of this Agreement are representative of the contents of the Agreements with the other participating partners. The funding amounts will differ by participating partner, as will some details of the scope of services. Any Agreements with the other participating partners that are substantially different from this Agreement will be presented for Board consideration as they are negotiated and executed by the participating partners.
Under the Agreement shown in Exhibit 1, Alachua County and the other participating partners will develop a solar permitting system in coordination with Broward County that furthers the Go SOLAR - Florida goal of a single solar permitting system in Florida, and utilize a universal ePermit application to be used by all Go SOLAR - Florida applicants. Additionally, Alachua County and the other participating partners will identify potential barriers to solar installations and recommend zoning code amendments, as appropriate, and participate in Go SOLAR - Florida marketing and outreach initiatives such as Go SOLAR Fests. Broward County, as contract administrator, will disburse federal grant funds (Federal Dollars) to Alachua County in the amount of $215,279, based upon completion of deliverables. Alachua County will provide an in-kind contribution of $75,036. These figures are based on a revised budget submitted by Alachua County in March 2014.
The Go SOLAR-Florida project period runs from September 12, 2013 to March 31, 2016, and is split into two phases: September 12, 2013 to March 31, 2015, and April 1, 2015 to March 31, 2016. A progress review will be completed near the end of the first phase and the second phase will be approved by DOE, subject to a positive evaluation. |