Marc Bernath, Public Works Director, thanked the Board for letting him take the opportunity to
address the Micco Bridge Project in advance of the public speakers on this topic; Micco Bridge
is an 85-year old culver-type structure built in 1938 with corrugated metal arches and wood
piles; today it has long-surpassed its life expectancy, is failing in several critical facets including
prior repairs, and has been for some time as documented in Florida Department of
Transportation (FDOT) inspection reports; and immediate replacement is necessary. He added
an Agenda Item was brought to the Board on September 12, 2023, which discussed the fact
that it was budgeted for approximately $2.5 million for construction, based on the consultant’s
estimate, but the lowest responsive and responsible contractor’s bid was $4.5 million; at the
time, it was also shared with the Board and recommended that with $3.4 million they could
proceed with this critical project if the temporary traffic bridge, creating a detour, was deleted;
they shortened the public detour time to eight months out of the total contract time; and in late
December, an early courtesy notification was issued and subsequently received numerous
complaints in person, by email, and phone, centering on or from the Lakes of St. Sebastian
Preserve subdivision. He stated he and his staff have moved quickly to field concerns and
meet with the home owner leadership team, their attorney, as well as the subdivision’s builder,
Holiday Builders; he has addressed all requests to the greatest extent possible; because of the
proactive engagement, there will be no appreciable impact on the community’s number one
concern, fire and emergency response; he mentioned Fire Chief Voltaire is going to speak
briefly, but in depth at the end of his statement; and similarly, the County engages with Brevard
County Sheriff’s Office to achieve a similar result for law enforcement. He went on to say
additionally, he has worked with Brevard County Solid Waste Services regarding waste
collection, Brevard County Schools regarding buses, and the U.S. Postal Service regarding
mail delivery to minimize any impacts; they have all pledged to continue regular operations and
will follow the prescribed detour; at the Home Owner Association’s (HOA) request, he also
engaged with Brevard County Transit Services to provide detailed information about
transportation services that they and Indian River County offer for the elderly, disabled, and
other qualifying residents in the area; and for qualified applicants, it means free transportation
to medical appointments, shopping, and other qualified requests.
Chief Patrick Voltaire, Fire Rescue Director, stated several weeks ago, he engaged with the
members of San Sebastian subdivision and he wanted to take this opportunity to address their
concerns while reaffirming Brevard County Fire Rescue’s dedication to ensuring the safety and
well-being of the community; when a service call is initiated on the west side of the Sottile
Micco Road Bridge, Station 86 crew, located on Barefoot Boulevard, will promptly respond to
the designated area on the east side of the bridge; and they will gather their Advanced Life
Support equipment, cross the foot bridge to the west, and proceed to the specified call location
provide by dispatch. He noted a few key points regarding the process: the transition from one
vehicle to another will take less than two minutes, and with the reduced traffic on Micco Road,
they anticipate the transition time to be negligible in impacting the overall response times; two
vehicles will be staged for this purpose; first, a squad vehicle normally assigned to the Micco
station, carries 300 gallons of water and can draft from nearby water sources in case of a
wildfire and fully-equipped as an Advanced Life Support Unit; and second, a Reserve Rescue,
which is part of the reserve fleet, ensuring no delay in transporting residents or visitors in a
vehicle, fully-equipped with the same Advanced Life Support equipment, to the appropriate
hospital. He added all response models for the area will remain unchanged; there are
long-standing auto-aid agreements with the City of Palm Bay and Engine 87, out of Valkaria
Road, who will continue to respond, as usual, without any delay in their response time; and
these measures are in place to optimize response times and maintain the highest level of
service to the community.
Katie Delaney stated she is not present to speak on the Micco issue; the more research she
does looking into the North Brevard Economic Development Zone (NBEDZ), the clearer it is
that this is taxation without representation; she is asking the Commission to dissolve NBEDZ