the date is 4:17 April 17 2025 the time is 5:30 p.m uh we're in a local planning agency meeting uh Madame Clerk is there a quorum and has proper notice been given yes Chairman Hawkins thank you uh
next we have approval of minutes for our April 3rd 2025 local planning agency meeting move for approval second roll call mr holland hi mr ozbody i vice Chair Ashcraft i miss Lee i chairman
Hawkins hi okay next up uh we have consideration of ordinance number 20-04 uh Mike yes sir for the record Mike Lane development services director
yes sir we're we're here tonight to talk about a uh an annexation of Yes okay tonight we're here to talk about an annexation of uh 49.5 acres on
County Road 44 uh directly across from the Trout Lake Nature Center the um as I said it's 49.5 acres it is currently owned by Robert T
sangster and the request is for mixed commercial industrial district again as pointed out it actually is uh just north of of Trout Lake uh it is also uh east of the
intersection of County Road 44 and State Road 19 it's also adjacent to the city's property uh out there on on our western side we have looked at and analyzed the property and basically uh in compliance
with our joint planning agreement with the county uh we did notify them on March 21st of this hearing we did advertise in the newspaper daily commercial two times April the 7th and April 13th and a sign was posted on the
property at uh um on April the 7th as well so again we reviewed the the property per statutes 163 the city's future land use uh element and uh our chapter 102 of the land development
regulations so the the county the current property uh I guess future land use for the county is urban low which does allow for dwelling units an acre but it also allows commercial and office single
family and multif family in there our multi or our our mixed commercial industrial doesn't have any density we don't allow residential uses in the MCI uh it is a mixeduse district
we do allow light manufacturing distribution commercial and industrial facilities there so in our analysis we did review it for consistency with uh the u the
area and it is predominantly consistent with the development patterns to the east we recognize that there are residential areas to the the west upon the the point where they do develop that area we are the the land development code will require them to actually
buffer their areas from that residential area um I will point out that the MCI designation is more intense than the um the county's designation you say it's more what it's more intense and when I say that uh we we have a
floor area ratio that that's 2.5 times the property for that uh we also have um the uh imperous surface uh which allows up to 75% impervious surface ratio on that property but again as as I will show you shortly uh there are some
constraints when it comes to wetlands and flood plane for the property um we did u analyze the property uh with future land uses as I said there is a 100red-year flood plane on the property uh the uh it also has a
low recharge area which is 4 inches per year uh the transportation level is accommodating on that county road 44 there uh there are water and sewer utilities available to the site and it is an
urbanizing urbanizing corridor on County Road 44 in that location so here are the maps which actually show our our utilities there at the site um most of the utilities will probably be uh accessible from the eastern portion I'm
sorry the western portion of the property coming from State Road 40 or State Road 19 and uh the uh the property as as I mentioned is in the flood zone uh the uh the future development will be required to actually get uh uh a uh a
letter of map amendment from FEMA if they are to develop uh and and utilize fuel on the property as mentioned it is a low recharge area up to four unit or 4 inches per uh year there the property has been cleared in the last couple of
years u at one point it was uh civic cultural but at this point it is primarily it's more agricultural type activities the site soils uh there are a a mixture of soils uh bluff manatee
eureka lomi fine sand errants llusa and bachula and all these are typically poorly drained type soils upon development we will require a geotechnical report uh to to ensure that the uh the future development will be
able to to operate on those soils uh at this point we do recommend uh approval to the commission uh it is consistent uh with our comprehensive plan and land development regulations and uh at this point uh the applicant
representative is here if you have questions anyone have any questions did they did they talk more about their plans for the property other than what I read in the report potential warehouse potential
storage on-site storage is that still the plan that was primarily the information that we received we we received no uh site plan or proposed site plan for the property i think doing something perhaps two
together being that the city has property next to it could lead to some really nice north end project of some sort something to think about too goes through my head you know what do you think of there Mike some yeah I I like
the idea with the two pieces of property abudding each other also with the uh land use reg the land use description that they're asking um and it doesn't call for residential and I think that's where some of us have a lot of heartburn is the residential
that we that we've been getting so um it's going to lend for more commercial type development so So do you try to table something like this and talk with them or no we just go through with it and then we it should be
totally separate it' be a separate issue well I meant I'm sorry i meant talk about what their intended use is forget about part two that's part two logan's here logan may have something for us i don't know logan are you representing Mr sangster yes
logan Wilson for the record uh 55 North Central uh Avenue Umatil Florida uh so this property uh that Mr sangster owns uh had been looked at by a handful of developers uh residential developers in the past uh because of the flood um zone
that's on it the wetlands that are on it um Dwayne Booth over at Half uh was familiar with the property we had him look at it and uh this has the um gumbo clay to it not uh not something that is ideal to um build on so uh Mr sangster
the property owner uh came up with the idea that uh doing some sort of outdoor storage some enclosed storage uh what evolved as a uh personal storage yard for himself he's in the heavy equipment um buying trading he owns a construction
company so uh as he was going along and uh started looking at it thought man it's uh going to be so expensive to um try to make this work for anybody i think the best uh use would be to keep it as it is uh after he had it logged he realized that um the ponds that are on
the front part of the property are actually uh borrow pits from the 70s and so when uh Dwayne uh let us know that we didn't know that to begin with uh realized that those ponds were man-made so um having that there would help for
uh any development but again the restrictions for the wetlands and the flood u flood areas were that just cost prohibitive um really for anybody to build anything substantial there so uh he came up with the self- storage idea
um we uh met with Tom uh and and uh Mike and uh Jeff here to um kind of review all right what's currently uh agriculture storage for uh the property owner's equipment um could we do something with it and uh to uh Mr esbott's point was uh hey maybe there's
a way that we can share an entrance and apron maybe to access uh the Eustace property take that front parcel uh if somebody wanted to develop it in the future um think flex space some office maybe a little rollup door uh bring some businesses there just on the front uh
and really give it the pretty look from the roadside uh rather than having nobody likes looking at uh just parked vehicles so keep that towards the back where the more sensitive wetlands are and on this parcel on the westand side is where uh the city currently has
manholes for their sewer running there to the north uh so we knew that the utilities were were there uh that we think that in the future that this property could be uh something uh really uh beneficial but uh not something that needs to be done uh right away so to get
it annexed and uh have the input of the um commission to uh help us get there and uh maybe it will benefit uh everybody in the future from the corner there at uh 44 and uh 19 back east uh as the development comes in there um but
then ultimately uh before you get to Cobbs Tractor and where Cobbs Commerce Park was uh that it would be pretty similar there so uh that's the big vision um for the property as a whole but right now um just simply put is um some covered storage what you see is
what you get um and then some outdoor storage there for um um I'm going to say uh RVs boats uh trucks campers those sorts of things out there um staying off of uh the wetlands and uh using using what's there and uh
ideally taking it to the next step so uh Mr sangster is one of the uh subcontractors uh helping with the DOT project here currently um that's been a dropy yard for Southland construction uh that's been doing some of the work around here and uh he knew that uh the
keeping it to where it was a pvious surface uh made a lot of sense so um he doesn't have any plans for any uh hard concrete surfaces uh so using those borrow pits as uh uh collectioned ponds i don't even think that they'll get to that point really because of uh just not
having any uh concrete being poured out there so um that's what I know uh here to represent Mr sangster if there's any questions be happy to answer them so just to follow up when you say storage you don't mean self storage correct uh so he has buildings out there but uh
no I meant like self-s serge where people could buy like come in and buy a storage rent a storage unit so they could they could rent some of the space from uh the buildings that exist I guess I would say but it's not going to be like a 5x10
locker uh those buildings are more in um 40x60 40 by 80 so somebody that would be out there might would be a um 2800 a cabinet maker somebody that just needed some storage but no day-to-day activities no uh retail foot traffic it
would be simply that just somebody I like to think of them as um you see you go to the Leburg airport you go to the Umatilla airport those guys rent those hangers they put their collectible cars in them they put uh they put their hobbies in there but it's not a hey come and buy from me environment
thank you yes sir logan is it um is it the storage units that are there now or is he planning on putting additional do you know so uh what he has now will be what it is uh in the future whether it was him or somebody uh in the
past uh the map isn't up there but he does have uh one rectangular uh property that runs parallel to uh 44 there is I think in the future uh somebody whether he or somebody else could build something that would be um more it would
be more retail look of sort along there but uh as far as the storage goes as it is just what's there okay there were do you have any did you clear up any issues you had with the county is there some violations against the property still or
uh the county had reached out a time or two uh no violations that I'm aware of uh D came out there And uh the gentleman that came out there uh and I didn't meet him or talk to him but uh Mr sster said that um when he understood that those
were uh borrow pits and uh when the property was cleared it was actually logged uh that he said that there was no uh no issues with them uh the county's main concern was uh pvious surface building uh building out there and uh Mr sster said these are agricultural
buildings and uh knowing that uh ultimately uh his plan was to annex that he knew that he wasn't going to be building anything that was going to be uh hard hard construction per se for an agricultural building you don't have to permit it you can you don't have to permit it that's good okay no other
questions anyone else okay yeah uh Tom do you have any any cards i do i have a card from John Thornton uh if you
come up to uh to address this issue please state your name and if you live in the city and speak yes please and and address the uh the commission well address us my name is John Thornton i'm a homeowner uh uh
right behind the property that we're talking about annexing um this is new to me so please forgive me for being a little nervous here um over the last couple years I've noticed some of the changes that have occurred there mostly um all the trees being removed uh both
oak and mature u pine trees in the process started seeing some buildings going up and that was very concerning in the process of removing though all that property uh trees and and growth it actually um basically we can hear all the noise coming from this from the uh
44 which before we did not hear a thing it was an incredible buffer uh the building started going up there was a lot of trucks going by back and forth um one of the issues we started seeing was that this concrete was being brought in and it was being brought in at night
time it wasn't being brought in for the day um we noticed that early morning traffic to the property around um anywhere between 3:00 to 4:00 maybe even two o'clock in the morning uh I found that kind of interesting um he brought
in a few loads uh basically had it ground down and started spreading it across his property my main concern regarding this concrete one where did it come from and two what's inside that concrete is any hazardous material could be asbestous could be oil could be
gasoline it could be a myriad of things but did he get a permit to remove it from said sites and then bring it there and then consequently having it ground up and then laying it on the property after a while that stopped and then all of a sudden we now have basically
um lengthwise probably about 200 yards probably 400 yards of concrete about 50 yards wide and about 20 yards high roughly um on the property right now he was told to cease on any more
construction or dumping at that location if he were to continue the county did say that he would have to remove every bit of that concrete that he brought to that property if he were to continue with any other um building if I understood him correctly from the county
um so currently he has issues with the county and I also if you're not aware I didn't hear him say this but he is also being um investigated right now by the St john's Water District or Water Authority at this point in time they have not stepped forward and uh come out
with any information yet but it's still under investigation as well as possibly looking into the um environmental aspect of the impact since we have a reserve right across the street so with that being said my concern is um
is USIs going to if they annex this gentleman's property does this pretty much absolve him of any accountability of the two violations that so far pending on his property that's good to know especially uh since it's the you know state the you
know St jones Water District i'm assuming they have jurisdiction so to speak over anything that has to do with property or land I should say water dirt um and the other thing you mentioned about traffic I don't know how much traffic is going to bring to that area
as we all know that that area is is heavily congested uh especially during the morning hours for about three or four hours from six on till about 8 and of course about 3:00 till about 7 o'clock in the evening um so there's some issues there so
Um I want wanted to bring that information to you and I I guess as neighbors and homeowners in that area um I don't know what kind of a win-win situation this is going to be for us the county can come in and do what they want um the city I have no idea what your plans are uh in the next year to two
years three years so um that's all I have to say thank you all right thank you Tom anyone else uh that's it as far as cards okay uh is there anyone else okay good evening all Blake Griswell
city of Eustace resident for most my daughter uh I sat here a couple meetings ago and listen to Mayor Hawkins talk about the jewel we have hidden in this city which is Trout Lake uh backed up with Pine Meadows Conservation Area we've got Clear Lake beyond
that if we have to put restrictions in our codes to tell them what they can and cannot do are we not impacting this wetlands as it is now everyone knows this is a wetland area why are we going to risk these things for another industrial complex out there i don't know what they're
going to put out there we don't know what they're going to put out there whether it's a storage unit they're going to rent out I don't know but why do we want to risk the pristine land that we have around that we've got 500 homes going in there we've got 200 homes going out of Pers we're saturating these
wetlands with development and I don't think we need to do that i think we need to keep this property and protect what we currently have out there and not add on to it or look at something 15 years from now and say "Well if we wouldn't have done this we wouldn't have had these problems with
Trout Lake we wouldn't have had these problems with conservation area they're trying to build back up." So I think you guys need to look at it this is the time we need to catch it and stop it before it goes any further so you guys can do that you about what you want this city to represent an industrial complex or do
you want to travel jewel of the city like you talked about the other day that's it thanks guys thank you cindy good evening cindy Newton uh unincorporated Eustace i just live about a mile and a half from this um my
concern is your waterfront this drainage comes through Trout Lake right into Lake Eustace uh so far from what I've seen come onto this property we have no idea what's in it what's going into the wetlands what's
being saturated into these flood planes and that is going to end up in your waterfront so that's my concern that you really have to think about what this property is going to be whether it's in the city
or in the county thank you anyone else guess we're familiar i'm Amanda Hall so again we're going to build more stuff right on the wetland uh could you tell us if you live in the city please i live right in Donav Vista in Three Lakes
thank you so I'm your Three Lakes neighbor so yet again you can't build on the wetlands did anybody see what Cobb's tractor looked like after Milton the parking lot how flooded Jerry's parking lot was fish
tractors water was that high just from Milton so again you've got wildlife you have us you got the 60 homes you're letting get crammed in the 200 the 500
anybody see the fairgrounds last Friday night you're not going to get a response from us i I mean I posted it on Facebook the traffic at 7:30 last Friday night was crazy i sat right there at 71 and
videoed it so we're going to add add how much more do we add when do we stop when does it stop stop did Did you hear me we're not going to respond thank you stop
anyone else okay uh I guess we'll vote on one more would you like to come up hi I'm Sher Thornton i'm John's wife we live adjacent to this property it's been
very sad for us to watch it transform just because when we bought the property to build our home it was a beautiful forest um the the two ponds to me it looks like one of them is dying because of all the whatever it is on there but I
I would urge you to drive by this property and look at the amount of concrete that is laying there right now it's horrific and then they grind it up which is extremely noisy um but also the trucks that go in and out of there a a
lot of them well the lights now come in our bedroom window at like five o'clock in the morning but there are large trucks when they were working they're not doing it anymore i guess the county put a stop to it because we haven't had any for about the last week or so but the light the trucks that go in and out
of there are there's many of them and they're huge and it just concerns me because 44 has gotten so um bogged down and I'm just really concerned there's been accidents right over there in front of Trout Lake quite a bit um since we
moved there two years ago so I just really urge you to just please take a look at what's going on because it's more than just some buildings being built there there's concrete and I do believe they brought in asphalt at one point too so thank you thank you
is it agricultural now in the county is it agricultural now in the county actually our our regulations that we're looking at putting on this are stricter than the counties yeah they could houses there if they wanted to yeah we don't
want Right now they could yeah but is So what is it now is it county urban load county urban load which allows four units an acre residential it allows I think some uh multifamily and some commercial uses
yeah it's double-edged sword there i mean it might be good to annex it and then we can help keep it where we want versus with the county um and it is an enclave right now at this point also
it's surrounded by city right now we really don't have any control over what they're doing there no so the way to really try to keep it the way we would hopefully all want to see it would be to bring it into our bring it into
our city right am I right yeah the thing that concerns me is the concrete so we find out what why this concrete concrete i thought I heard it was crushed concrete which sticks in
my mind different than pouring a slab is it is it crushed concrete that's there or is it a slab no no it's both pieces yeah pieces of concrete go ahead yes yes sir so um recent
uh transpiring but uh I think most of us uh are familiar with uh Danny Cordell uh late Danny Cordell who passed away professional dirt service uh so Mr sster recently bought that business uh and as DOT has been ripping out the curbs and uh some of the slabs some of these
driveways uh not Danny Cordell's business but Southland Construction that's doing some of this curb work um has used that property uh to uh take the the concrete pieces and then uh they're actually taking it and uh uh milling it down to crush concrete uh that's correct
and then ultimately is uh that's being sold off uh to third parties uh to get rid of it uh so it's he's recycling it now uh which is ultimately coming from uh the downtown city uses project so it's not being left on and not permanent
it's not being No ma'am that's correct it's not it's not permanent order okay and that's the phases of it so uh as the uh first big uh wave of uh the curb project in Eustace that was the first round of the um the traffic was they
were um doing the curb work uh during the day and then they switched it to the evening time so that was the transition of the trucks from uh dropping out there from during the day to the evening to the evening and early morning time uh for anyone that uh didn't get the
opportunity to speak uh if this is transmitted uh to the city commission you'll have the opportunity to address it at that time at that time at the next meeting so I think that goes back to what we were thinking right now i mean they can
what whatever concerns even our residents have we can't do anything to help them until we control it whether the county let them or didn't let them or do whatever if we bring it in then we can control the say so either that or
leave it where it is and have no control over it that's kind of a double-edged sword right so I think I would rather control it mr chair I I move that ordinance number 25-04 be transmitted to the use of the
city commission for consideration second it okay has been first and and properly second roll call mr holland hi mr ozbody hi vice Chair Ashcraft hi miss
Lee hi chairman Hawkins yeah transmitted for further discussion okay all right i'm sorry did someone say something no i think that's all we have okay all right um city commission we're
adjourned 558 city commission uh reconvene at 6:05