Good. All right. Good morning, everyone. We're going to call this meeting to order. Today is Monday, August 18th, 2025. It is 9:01 a.m. All council members are present, including the town manager, uh, assistant, town deputy, town manager,
town attorney, and town clerk. If you please rise for the pledge of allegiance or the invocation followed by the pledge of allegiance. As we begin today's meeting, let us take a moment to reflect on the beauty that surrounds us. We make we are grateful for the unique place we serve and for
the people who make this community strong. Through every challenge, our residents have shown resilience, heart, and a deep commitment to one another. May we work today. May the work today honor that spirit. May we lead with thoughtfulness, protect what makes this island special, and continue building a
future that reflects the strength and beauty of Fort Myers Beach. Amen. Amen. To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all. All right. Next, we have approval of the final agenda. There's a couple of things. Is Have we seen Elizabeth? I have not seen her yet. Elizabeth Fountain was going to be here. I don't know if she's going to be here or not, but she may
have a presentation about the mitigation wall. Should she show up? If we want to add that to the agenda, we can add it to the end if everyone's okay with that. Sure. U. And then what about Nancy? The DVI item D. Can I get your second?
Okay. This is item uh number um yes D on your administrative agenda. Um this would be to allow the town council to accept a utility easement. We do not have a signed copy of the
easement. Uh so we really can't you can't accept anything. So this one would need to be pulled from your agenda and added to the next meeting. Okay, that's item D. Anything else on there?
Any other changes to the the agenda? Move the agenda as amended. All right, got a motion by councelor King? Second. Seconded by councelor Safford. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I opposed hearing. None. That motion
carries unanimously. Next is public comment. Madam cler, I have nobody signed up. Is there anyone in the public that would like to speak? All right, seeing none, we'll close public comment. Local achievements and recognition. I heard a rumor that Miss Rusk was going
to be here, but I do not see her. Nope, I don't see her either. Okay. Advisory Committee items and or local achievements. Let's do that first. I jumped ahead of one. Sorry. Scott, I'd like to wish my wife, my best friend, the happiest of birthdays
tomorrow. The odometer is changing, but she's still beautiful. Happy birthday. And I can tell she just loved that. Yeah, that's going to get you everywhere, too. Yeah. I've never seen that shade of red on you before, Jackie.
Wait till you see his red later. Uh, anything else? That's it. Councelor Woodson. Well, I'm going with the fact that Jo Fest was a huge success again because that thing just keeps turning north. Hopefully
further further north. All right, Vice Mayor, happy birthday, Jackie. Councelor King. Um, saw your show yesterday, Mayor, and I would just like to also include what you mentioned on, uh, congratulations to
the vice mayor of Santael, Holly Smith, for becoming president of the Florida League of Cities. Um, she'll be a tremendous asset for for the state. Uh, she's already a tremendous asset asset for Santael, and she's been a heck of a partner, mayor, as you know, for us.
anytime something comes up that affects Santael, she always instantly thinks of Fort Myers Beach. So, I just wanted to express congratulations on that. All right. Well, congratulations to you for being on put onto the board of of directors. I don't know if
congratulations or condolences are in order, but maybe a little both. Uh I do have something to share from uh we were at a conference in Orlando and you know that's the house of the mouse and uh somebody up there decided to try and do a Guinness Book of World Records uh
peekaboo contest and it didn't go well. Um matter of fact many of the contestants ended up in the ICU so that was kind of sad. Seriously? Wow. That that bomb big time.
Peekab-boo. I see you. Wow. When you have to explain that one, that's bad. Waka waka waka. One de merit. Thank you. Thank you very much. All right. Thanks for John for uh
representing the town of couldn't make it, but I'm glad everything went well except for the whole ICU joke, which I'll probably be in later. Great. Uh, I just want to take a minute to thank Diamond Head and all the staff here for allowing us to come back in
again and and squat in your in your conference room. Uh, you know, it's helped us out a lot since the storm. Hopefully, next month we will no longer need to ask for any help in in uh getting into the uh new building. It should be I was in there last week.
Looks like she's painting the the mural. I saw she was in there working on the mural on the one wall downstairs. So, it's coming along. Uh just thanks again to Neil and his team here at Diamond Head for for letting us come in. And this will be our last meeting here. So thanks again. All
right. Now we have local achievements and recognitions. I still do not see Miss Rusk. So we will move on. Approval of the minutes. Is there a motion to approve the minutes? Mayor, there's no minutes on the agenda. No minutes. Well, then we won't approve them.
Thank you. All right. Consent agenda. We have nothing on the consent agenda. There's nothing removed, which brings us to our public hearings. Uh, this is a quas. Oh, wait. I got to get sheet. Bear with me a second.
You started out good. You started out good. This is a quas. Trying to get through my my jokes here. All right. The next item on our agenda is is a public hearing for review of various land reuse requests for the benefit of the public. Please be aware
that this these item is a quasi judicial in nature. Our attorney will further explain. Thank you, mayor. Um the one item that you have on your agenda today is a resoning and it is a second reading um and public hearing of the ordinance
25-14. And I'll defer to you uh at one point to read the title. Um this resoning uh like other land use uh approvals such as special exceptions and variances, these are quasi judicial in nature and this requires that your
public hearing comply with procedural requirements that have been established in Florida law and in our land development code. These quasi judicial proceedings are less formal than a proceeding before a circuit court, but they will be more formal than the
remainder of our meeting. And we must follow basic standards of due process that requires certain notices, the application of the correct standards and your decision to be made on competent substantial evidence that is presented to you either in written documents or
through oral testimony. Your responsibility today is to evaluate the testimony and the information for this item and draw a conclusion regarding whether the criteria in the land development code or in state law has been satisfied. So pure speculation or
opinion that is not based on competent facts cannot legally be considered by you in evaluating this agenda item. Testimony by professionals who are qualified as experts in a particular area has been considered competent
evidence by Florida courts as well as testimony by neighbors and residents who have fact-based information such as minutes, surveys, engineering reports, or their testimony that is based on their personal information.
the town council's decision is final. If a decision of approval is not obtained or if a vote tie vote results from motion to approve or deny, then the matter being considered is denied unless a majority of the council members present in voting agree by motion before
the next agenda item is called to take some other action in lie of the denial. If uh the town council decides to deny an application, the reason for the denial should be stated in the motion. Uh the denial cannot be based on a
determination of public support or opposition to an application. The reason for the denial cannot be arbitrary, discriminatory, or unreasonable and should be based on a lack of competent substantial evidence in support of the
required criteria. So members of the audience, uh, anyone who intends to speak, please keep my comments in mind. When you come forward, please state your name clearly for the record, whether or not you have been sworn in and your qualifications or your
interest in the matter. For purposes of efficiency, before beginning this public hearing, I'd like to go ahead and dispose of a few um administrative matters. First of all, I need to ask the town clerk, has this agenda item been properly advertised pursuant to our land
development code? Yes, it has been. Thank you. And also, um, if any town council members have a conflict of interest that would prohibit them from voting on this item, please disclose that at this time so that we can ascertain that we have a quorum present.
Councelor Saffford, I do not. Councelor Woodson, I do not. Vice Mayor Adhalt, none. Councelor King, nothing. and I do not as well. Thank you. Um, anyone who is present who intends to provide testimony, including staff, if you would please rise and
raise your right hand and be sworn in by the town clerk. Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to give is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Okay. Mayor, if you would read the title, I'd be happy to.
This is a quasi judicial item. It is a second reading and public hearing on proposed ordinance 25-14, Fishtail Marina. A second reading and final adoption hearing has been scheduled for August 18th, 2025 at 9:00 a.m. or in another time identified by the town council. This is an ordinance of the town council of Fort Myers Beach,
Florida, approving approving with conditions or denying an amendment and restatement of Lee County resolution Z-94-013 that reszone property to commercial plan development to allow for a revision to the master concept plan and one
additional deviation for setbacks for the development of a commercial marina for property located at 7225, 7291, and 7295 EO Boulevard. Generally identified as strap numbers 03-47-24-W1-000011.000010
03-47-24-W1-000011.000020 and 03-47-24-W1-000011.00003B 003B in Fort Myers Beach. Restating previously approved conditions and deviations, providing for other clarifications as necessary, providing for conflicts of law, scrutiners errors, severability, and providing for an
effective date. If any town council member has had any exparte communication to disclose, please let us know the subject discussed and identity of the person, group, or entity with whom the communication took place, any correspondence that you received or observations made at the site. Councelor King, nothing.
Since the uh first reading, the first reading I had I did visit the location, met with the the staff there and toured the facility. I But since the first reading, I've had conversations with uh Ben Freeland, the owner of the Arches property, regarding the language uh for
the condition regarding the water ferry uh that would be uh utilized potentially down the road uh by the Arches at the Fishtail Marine. Council Woodson, I have nothing. Safford, I've had nothing. Not even an email.
I've had nothing since the previous hearing. Jason Smallley has been qualified as an expert already by this town council based on his education and experience. Has been accepted as an expert in the field of land use planning and development in the town of Fort Myers Beach. Are there any other individuals
who would like to be qualified as an expert witness on behalf of the applicant at this time who weren't last time? I think you were last time. We won't do it again. No one else with you. Okay. And have you seen an a have you seen a copy
of the agenda backup materials from the staff? Nodding yes. Go ahead, Jason. Good morning, counselor. Staff, my name is Jason Smallley. I'm a senior planner with your planning and zoning department. Before you today is the second reading of the Fishtail Marina uh
CPD amendment. Uh, as was mentioned uh earlier, this is a amendment to an already existing CPD uh passed originally through Lee County in 1994. Uh, the high points that are being requested today are including uh
rehabilitation and and u repair of existing buildings. Uh there are going to be some slight changes in the orientation of some of the buildings that are on site. uh those are all expressed on the master concept plan and
uh you have a physical copy of the most recent iteration of the master concept plan uh which I'll get into the changes here in a moment. Also being also being requested is a single additional deviation. That deviation is to allow for an already existing restaurant with
a deck uh to be functionally zero lot or zero feet set back from their leased boat basin. Uh the language allows them to continue use of that continue uh rehabilitation of that structure and the deck uh at a zero setback. uh but it
does not affect the uh the areas of the lot that are directly adjacent to the stateowned and state managed waters. So you'll see a bifurcation there. Uh some areas are going to be set back at 20 ft just as they previously were. Uh just
those structures that are directly adjacent to their least boat basin um on the master concept plan are being requested to have zero lot line setbacks. Uh also today uh they are going to be incorporating the existing out parcel. Uh they've on the master
concept plan they have a much more refined uh layout uh expected layout for the buildings. Uh if this is in relation to what was approved in 1994 which was a much more generalized one. So this was part of our update was asking them to uh
to further iterate and further clarify what's going on in that out parcel. And uh that's the area that Walkers generally known as the the Walker Marine um for sales and service of of boats. Uh there are some other aspects to this. Um
I'm happy to take questions. I did want to refine uh real quickly from the last meeting that we had since it's been a short turnaround. Uh what you have before you are three documents. These are the three exhibits uh associated with the CPD amendment. These were
relatively minor changes, but these were changes that were requested at the last uh town council meeting. So, I'll briefly go through those. Um on the master concept plan, uh the only change between the last meeting and this one is the addition of the term uh water ferry
to go along with water taxi. that's going to be uh proposed in their boat basin uh directly adjacent to where the area where the uh pinchers and the pinchers restaurant is intended to be at their um leased boat basin area. Uh so you'll you'll see that note if you look
um if you look closely there. The second document is exhibit C and the only changes here again were to add the term u water ferry uh to taxi and you'll notice that that doc that uh term has
been underlined in red in exhibit C on the first page. It's the only change that's been made to that document. Lastly, uh, in the ordinance which, uh, constitutes exhibit A, uh, there were some minor changes that were not seen on
the last version, and I apologize that didn't make it onto that version, but this is removal of reference to phase two. Uh, phase 2 is over 20 years old. Uh, most of those projects have already been completed and so this is just a matter of trying to clear up the language so we don't have u future staff
wondering what happened to phase two. Uh lastly in the conditions of approval and this was mentioned last time uh was the removal of the explicit language to um that bars them from working within turtle season and we got some questions
about that. Uh Chad the uh Chad Shutz the town's um environmental manager he will be overseeing their work uh during turtle season. They would like to get it done as quickly as possible and which means they need to get started as quickly as possible. Uh I did want to
make the point that ultimately the um the turtle lighting and the turtle uh protection codes during season is controlled by the state. So if the state wants to come down here and assert their jurisdiction, they can. Nothing that has been written or not written in this
document is going to change that. Uh but uh we have assurances from Chad that he's going to be working closely with them as the project uh continues. Uh and then lastly, you'll see uh in the conditions of approval B uh condition of approval BB has been added. And this was
language that was asked for um to explicitly state that they will work in good faith with the town uh as we move forward on future water ferry and water taxi stops. Those are the major changes. Uh staff's here for any questions, concerns you may have. And the applicant
has representation here as well. All right. Thanks, Jason. Councelor King, any questions for Jason? Nothing. Vice Mayor, not at this time. Councelor Woodson, not at this time. Councelor Sackard, not at this time. I do not either. Thanks, Jason. Of course.
Um, up. Sorry, I forgot your name, sir. That's all right. Uh, my name is Brock Petra. I am a civil engineer at Edgewater Group. We are the engineer and architect for Fishtail Marina Rebuild. Um, I'm happy to answer any questions
you guys have. we can click through some slides to the same ones that we saw two weeks ago. So, if there's anything uh we want to talk about, go ahead and fire away. Uh councelor Stafford, any questions for Brock? Not this time. I'm good. Vice Mayor Hope.
Uh good morning, Brock. I've got a few questions for you this morning. The uh the language in there about the water ferry. you you and your client are familiar with the the Arches proposal and that they they're building a water terminal on the north end of the island and then they they they've pledged to
have four stops, one of which is on the very south end which would likely be your marina. Correct. Is it is it the intention of you and your client you you'd implied yes the first three I just want to confirm that that is it's your intention to work with them to have them to have your marina be one of the four stops. Is that a fair
characterization? Yes, that is accurate. the uh that language was added as well as the language in the ordinance of good faith working with the town and arches. Um the water ferry only benefits Fishtail Marina. So of course we want to play nice.
We we appreciate that. And uh the the Let me ask you a theoretical question if you will. if there's other private developers. One of our challenges on our island is there's a there's a concern that ferry water fairies could be utilizing residential canals and we have
a potential development apart from the arches that's that's in this discussion and and one of the solutions to not using residential canals particularly on the south end would be to have a private water ferry that's maybe taking folks from their other properties around Lee
County to Fort Myers Beach. instead of using a residential canal, they would potentially use your marina. And I just wanted to make sure that you guys your business model is such where you would be open to that and comfortable with that because I think I could speak for most of my colleagues here that that would certainly we would deem that to be
in the public interest. Is that is that your understanding of of things? Yeah, absolutely. Like I previously said, uh foot traffic and boat traffic, increasing traffic at a marina is only good for business. So, um, we also we're very fortunate at Fishtail to have a lot
of broadside dockage available in the new dock layout. And so, being accepting of a water ferry and a private water taxi, there are already a lot of rental boats on site. Um, we're open to all that. That's just that's just good for the business. Excellent. Uh, with respect to pictures,
could you just elaborate a little bit on the bifurcation of responsibilities with respect to the restoration of that building? The building obviously passed the 50% rule and it'll be restored. What is your role in the restoration and what is the the owners of Pincher's role in the restoration?
So, Edgewater Group, the firm that I'm at, we work for Equity Lifestyle Properties that owns Fishtail Marina as a property. Pinchers leases the restaurant space from Equity Lifestyle Properties. and in their lease agreement
is an agreement on certain funds paid to rebuild the restaurant. Um, so I'm not directly involved with the restaurant and who finances what buildout. I'm sure it's a typical lease agreement where they get a shell and then they can build
out their their fine their furnishings, their kitchen, whatever they need. Um, Pinchers as a restaurant group is rapidly advancing towards being able to build that out very soon. And Brock, I don't want to put you on the spot, but but do you have a sense of
timeline with respect to the restoration of the Pinchers? With regard to the restaurant, I don't. It's it's hopefully I mean within the year. Um, I think 12 months from now, I think we're eating at Pinchers again. I think that's the goal. I know on the
marina side, we've got an ongoing fuel permit with the city that we'd like to see move along and then we can start uh refueling everyone's boat there on the south side and then we are close with an Army Corps permit to rebuild the docks. So, this meeting, as long as this goes
well, uh that gets us some momentum on the uplands and we can start rebuilding Walker services and getting a new bathroom building in there. So, um, the restaurant should be the first one of the first things to open along with the fuel dock. Um, and hopefully that comes very soon.
Very good. Thank you, Brock. Thank you, Counc. No questions. You already answered all mine. So, thanks, Brock. Great. Thanks, everyone. Public comment. Are there any members of the public who wish to comment on this matter? If so, please come forward to the podium and identify yourself,
provide your address, and whether you were sworn in. public comment. All right, seeing none, we'll close public comment. Are there assuming you don't have any additional statements, Jason? Uh I I just wanted to make it
clear uh that staff recommends approval with the conditions as they've been presented uh both digitally and physically before you. Okay. And Brock, I'm accepted of the conditions. If I could, Mr. I just wanted to thank Jason for the clarifying language on the waterfair. I appreciate
your work on that. Thank you. All right. I will now close the public hearing. Request a discussion or a motion from town council to approve, approve with conditions or deny with reasons or a continuence to a time certain. Is there any further discussion?
Would someone like to make a motion? Mayor, I'll move uh for approval ordinance 25-14 Fishtail Marina. Second. Got a motion by councelor King. Seconded by Vice Mayor Eder Halt. Any further discussion? Councelor Kane. I. Vice Mayor Halt.
I. Councelor Woodson. I. Councelor Cafford. I. And I'm an eye as well. Motion carries unanimously. Thanks, Brock. All right. I see Elizabeth is here now. Do we want to get to Elizabeth now or wait till the end before we do our
administrative agenda? Anyone have a preference? Are you ready now, Elizabeth? All right. All right. You can be ready or you are ready. All right, come on up. And will this be available for the public to see? Have you provided it to
the clerk? I provided it to Nicole. Okay. And Amy, will this be up on the civic? We'll work on that as we speak. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. Morning. Um, thank you for the
opportunity to be here, council members. Um I'm here today to follow up on a presentation that we did a few months ago and then we've provided the council with um a scope of work that we we recommend if if the council chooses to
move forward with further evaluation of these coastal wave mitigation strategies for the island. Um so in that in that scope of services we outline um some of the initial major task that we would
pursue in order to develop conceptual uh basically plans for certain locations along the the island because obviously the conditions vary as you go from north to south. Um it goes to the next slide. So just another introduction for those
individuals who may have missed the the earlier presentation. J.R. Evans Engineering is a local engineering firm established in Asterero. We now have a headquartered office in Fort Myers, another office in Sarasota. And um we have staff all over
the state of Florida. We provide professional engineering services and also specialize in flood plane management, coastal engineering, flood plane analysis, both riverine and coastal. Um I'm here today representing the firm as the senior vice president
and the director of that. uh specialized department. So the the purpose of the scope of work that we put together was really to address coastal surge and wave impacts and effects to those properties, explore mitigation options, which we've talked
about before, whether it's um enhanced dunes or a hybrid dune system with a structural component or just way mitigation walls with the necessary scour protection on both sides. Um, and it's also there's a way to maybe enhance
the pedestrian use along that feature. Um, because as we're as we're learning, as we go through and we're actually developing the plans for a few of the properties on the island, some of those scour protection features actually can serve as a walking surface for
pedestrians along that along that feature. So the goals of the study evaluate the shoreline protection alternatives provide conceptual designs um and the phased imple implementation approach. Uh
our scope of services focuses on identifying those most vulnerable areas of the island and to look at first. Um we also will identify the funding opportunities and actually put together a matrix of when those opportunities
should be engaged and then basic you know ultimately we're here to support the long-term resiliency of the island. Next so our scope of services provides
I believe four major task. One is for general coordination meetings. So that's just a lot of the time spent collaborating with council staff internally. Um doing data collection, site visits,
things like that. Um task two is the initial analysis and development of those conceptual plans. So we'll actually do a coastal analysis of the island, identify those target elevations for those wave mitigation features to be
able to dissipate the wave action to a level that's not so destructive. and then actually come up with those design concepts that could be applied. We'll put together an implementation plan and support um services for that
and then continued stakeholder enga engagement. So the next slide just elaborate further into those major task. Um again for the coordination and meetings we'll collaborate with town and staff on design concepts conduct those site
visits provide council with regular updates you know at key milestones of the progress and then share the information with stakeholders as well through public meetings to get their input on really what the priorities are for
um those those residences and those visitors and those key locations for the initial analysis and design concepts. Um, again, we dive into identifying all those different shoreline features and
components that exist today and then hopefully utilize those um to help strengthen the island with our um wave mitigation concepts. We'll actually create illustrative cross-sections, you know,
that would show what that feature looks like from the water across the beach over the feature to the upland property. And we'll actually demonstrate through um graphs and tables what that does. Like you can actually see how the wave
heights drop as it goes across those features. We'll deliver a phased uh implementation plan and identify those critical permitting um activities and timelines.
Again, part of that implementation plan will outline the permit process and the critical path items. Um, we'll also address the opportunity to um update the FEMA flood maps based on those implemented features. That's
another step that doesn't have to happen, but it can once those features are in place. Next slide. And then um when we do develop those concepts, we'll have a opportunity to continue to
collaborate with stakeholders, get their input um and refine those concepts based on that input. The next few slides are just a revisit of the previous presentation and um those strategies that we talked about.
Again, the whole mechanism of the protection is to attenuate those waves so that the energy doesn't progress um to those upland properties and buildings. Um so it helps reduce the damage that those could those properties
could see. It also helps with the transporting of sand not getting as far inland as it it does today. Next slide. Again, in the last presentation, we we highlighted the upland wave mitigation
strategies with um actual structural features and highlighted where these have actually been installed and are functioning um today throughout Florida. The the most local ones are probably Pina Beach at the end of Hickory Island.
There's a set of three condominium properties there and they've each of them have implemented a certain aspect of this wave mitigation strategy on their properties. Next slide. I also want to stress that um where
where possible it's it's always best to try to maximize the opportunity of incorporating the natural uh conditions with a you know a hardened structure to support that. Um so I've talked to Chad
Ches um your environmental project manager about this concept and we really want to we want to complement what he's been able to help accomplish with the beach nourishment and then they're getting ready to start the the planting soon. So, we want it to be something
that is complimentary to that. Definitely don't want to um disrupt or cause adverse effects to that system. Next slide. And again highlighting the benefits to both public and private stakeholders.
public sector. There's also there's obviously um infrastructure protection, reduced emergency costs, um opportunities to possibly reduce insurance for those structures that might be um subject to those high-risisk flood zones where we can modify those
flood zones to a lower risk category. Private sector, very similar type of benefits. um property value preservation, reduce damage to the structures and the invest investment. Um and another potential is
the insurance premium reduction as well. And then we have environmental and social co- benefits. So, this is where we try to strengthen that dune system and also create um an opportunity for some
recreational or actually some pedestrian corridor activity along the same types of features. Next slide. So, I'm here today just to to recap that scope of services that we've provided,
obtain your feedback, answer questions, and decide if you'all want to start moving forward with that. All right. Got any questions for Elizabeth? Yeah. Can you start this afternoon? Yeah,
we are ready. We've been waiting to get started. So, whenever Yeah, I'm excited. I I think it's going to be beneficial for the town as a whole, especially some especially the downtown area. I think it's going to be fantastic. So, um, anything we can do?
What What do you need from us? What um basically just a a a notice to proceed with that scope and a contract. And a contract. Yes. I figured you have one. I believe we already got one in here. Well, you're under the continuing like the miscellaneous
professional services and several different buckets there. So, and then let let's say we engage a contract. What what what do you think your time frame is um start to finish to get to get a presentation that that we can chew on?
Um I was just thinking about that. I I think we need at least um for the initial like findings probably six weeks Wow. Just to get to initial where we've
identified um the target um elevations that we need and like looked at the different portions of the island and give a progress update on that. So I guess my question would be procedurally going forward as as she
gets more information. Do these come up in town council meetings? They come up in M&Ps do we have separate meetings with town manager and Chad? How what would be the what what's your vision of the process of of so as I understand you do have a
professional service agreement with us so that we would be initiating a task order correct has that already been put together or not. So we will we will need a task order that would have all those details in it. Um the task order could come back to
council for approval or you could delegate authority to the town manager to execute that. Um, you know, one of the key factors of that task order is going to be cost. Um, and I don't know if that's been discussed or negotiated. The our cost was put into that um
provided scope of services. Okay. So, so let me ask you a follow-up question to the to the cost function. if if uh you know her one of her if if she identifies like three areas let's say
one obviously you know the lowh hanging fruits time square um is there a way when projects come before us and we want can we cover those initial costs or is just the cost of the building
I was going to answer your question but now I'm thinking you might be asking me a different question um I might be asking two questions. So there'll be initial cost to the town. Correct. In a task order with specific duties and responsibilities that they will fulfill down the road. If you want
to expand that, we would either amend that task order or do a new task order for those additional services and there may be another cost associated with that. I guess my question is there is there a way that we can recoup some of these costs when these developments if
if people do do I I know we're going to ask them to participate in the wall but is there a way to get the initial costs or is that on the town I think it's probably a town responsibility as far as which is fine I'm just
yes but depending on the type of development that's coming forward it could be viewed as a public benefit at which point the developer might be willing to uh contribute to the cost. Okay, Woodson. Yeah, I think our goal is is mainly
going to identify what it needs to look like for the location and then it um so you're kind of giving the overall picture. Hey, here's here's where we think it would would help the most and here's here's kind of a cost analysis of
what that will be and time frames and how we work with FEMA and what okay right and then I think it would be you know if it's a if it's a project coming up that they would have the opportunity to consider doing that as part of that
project and then I mean there's an arrangement that can be worked out okay for for the implementation of So the cost is in the task order. What is that cost? I I believe it's broken down by task. Um
I think the total is around I think there's for the coordination of meetings and the design and and implementation plan that's a 60 62,000. And then there's a a
an optional continued stakeholder engagement option for for another 10 depending on how far we want to go with public engagement and public meetings. So, and you said that's in a number of different buckets. So, I guess I would
lean on Joe to find out what buckets those are and how they're being funded and all of those good things. We might maybe get some some grant money. Well, that's what I was hoping that we're looking at grants and all that type of thing, too. But,
um, I mean, I obviously I want to get on this as soon as possible. Whatever we have to do to make this work, I think it's so valuable. I think we have to have it. You know, it's the I always call it the new gold standard. And to
keep this moving, I would be totally in support of delegating everything to Will to keep this moving forward and not have to wait for council meetings for approval of this and that. You could update us instead at council meetings because I well at least the two of us so
far are totally on board with this. So we'll see where this heads as we go down the road. Well, I if I'm not mistaken, based on the number that you said, it still would fall below the threshold of what the town manager could approve worst case scenario, leaving grants or potential funding sources aside.
So, correct. To your point, I think we could give direction if that's the way we want to go to allow the town manager to do it without having to come back to us. Any? No, I'm good. Vice Mayor, good morning. Good morning. Do you already have clients here on Fort Myers Beach? Yes.
Can you share who those clients are? Yes, we represent the outrigger property for London Bay development. Um we actually you probably are aware we've got we have designed their wave mitigation wall and went through the
process with FEMA and FEMA has approved the conditional letter of map revision. So now and we're now into the state for the state permit. Is it is it just the outrigger or is it also the Sandpiper as well? We're working on sandpiper as well. We just have we have not submitted that yet. We're finishing up the design.
And when you do work like that uh in those sensitive locations on Fort Myers Beach, obviously you've learned something from that exercise. Are there synergies in what you've learned already with what you'll be doing for the town? Absolutely. Does that does that reduce the workload
in a way? Um potentially could for those for those locations. So, uh, if you also, uh, as you develop work product and you you learn throughout the various dynamics,
uh, depending on where you're located on the island, there's a number of folks on the island who are already wrestling with some of these issues. I know some condos in specifically that are desperately trying to figure out how to do wave mitigation and try to, you know,
create enhance resiliency. How does it work with your work product and these various entities? In other words, will you be working cooperatively cooperatively with them and their coastal engineers? I mean, how does do you see a synergy there? Because I hate
to see duplication. I hate to see us a wall, you know, I hate to use that term wall, but I I don't want to see a wall between what you're doing and what they're doing privately to enhance their resiliency. Correct. Because they're all interrelated. Yes. And your wave wall will impact what they're doing for resiliency and vice
versa. So, and I know definitively that there's already some condos looking at solutions. And obviously, this could be a blessing to them, but they'd also need to adjust strategically with their coastal engineers based upon what you may or may not or what we may or may not do going forward. So, correct.
How do you see all that working? Ideally, I think it would be nice to know uh specifically who those properties are and actually um I would probably like to talk to them and u find out where they are in the process. But you'd be open to that. You see that
as part of your charge? Yes. Great. Vice Mayor, just to piggyback on what you said, perhaps a a meeting being set up between Elizabeth and her firm and any condos that are considering this in an open form to be able to have discussions. To your point, to have
duplication of of resources doesn't make a lot of sense. And if you could incorporate all that at one time, right, it would be beneficial for both sides, I would think. I think that'd be great. And I think because then we can share with them what we've learned. Yes. And what we know doesn't work and what works. And they can bring their their condo board members. they could bring their
coastal engineer. Same with residents. Same with some businesses on the island who are exploring various, you know, strategies. I think that kind of interaction is going to be critical because it could end up saving everyone a lot of money, uh, and some certainly hardship should
we have another event like we've had. So, I think that's a big piece of this puzzle because and I know it's going to be challenging. Uh, but if we could have some uniformity with what we're with what our strategy across the island would be, it certainly would make it much more effective
strategy if we're all in this together as opposed to everybody doing their own thing. Absolutely. But at the same time, I think you need to build that into your strategy in terms of outreach and and collaboration. See, I would also like to include like all the owners of Time Square and you
know that's a a massive big group and so if we could not just have condo owners but businesses and um neighborhoods if you will. I mean it could be become a huge meeting for you. It's okay. But I'm just saying get everybody on the
same page um so that they all know what is happening. Yes. I think that would be fantastic. the uh yeah, absolutely. Residents, condos, businesses, all would certainly be included in that. That's all I've got. Thank you. Thank you, John. Green.
No questions, but just a couple things to share. Um last Wednesday at their meeting, the MURF committee voted four to three to uh advise town council to continue moving forward on the wave mitigation wall. And also uh I know Elizabeth had talked about funding with
grants and things and and Karen had brought up um you know asking Joe to look into it with the Florida League of Cities. They do have a grants assistance program with a dedicated dedicated grant coordinator. So maybe that's something we can utilize since we don't have a a
position filled currently for that. So that's it. Elizabeth, did did I hear you correct? saying that the outrigger parcel has already gotten the approval letter from for Loma is that for uh it's a conditional letter of map revision a CLR
and that it's conditional because it's based on the proposed project but you know based on the the implementation of that wall u FEMA's reviewed it reviewed the modeling and they are satisfied with the project and the results um
so how does that how if there is an amendment to the map how does that work does it or does that come after the construction? Yes. So then they review it again after their construction and make a determination. Yeah. We provide the asbuilt information to basically formalize the map change. We show them
that it's been built based on the previous approval like the condition the criteria for it's all been met and then um that's when they will memorialize it and actually change the maps. And and the reason this is so important, at
least to me, is is to be able to see what that potentially could mean for not just residents, but but businesses as well. You know what? This weekend I visited a place up on another barrier island that was built at grade level about the same distance from the water as Time Square.
Yeah. and not understanding exactly how that was possible over the last 24 hours doing some research on it and having help from people out in the general public. It seems like that was probably the same path that they went through that LOMA letter to be able to show that their elevation and the wave mitigation
the way they designed it caused them to allow to be built back at grade level versus having to elevate. So, it's it's extremely important that there's a possibility that this can work and and I've seen it firsthand now of which really shocked me, but uh it's
interesting to see that. What What is your plan when you when you're coming forward? Are you looking at you know, we had talked about doing an entire island wall. Are you going to have different scenarios or are you going to have this is where it makes sense because you had mentioned that, you know, we're going to look at different locations. So, are you looking at a continuous type thing
potentially or are you looking at just this section, this section, this section of the island? I I was initially planning to to kind of divide the island into sections basically maybe uh where the the land use adjacent to the beach is pretty
similar. So, where you have mostly commercial or mostly condos and mostly single family residential. Um, and then another layer would be based on how much beach, you know, the width of the beach. I know as you go down south, it gets a
lot wider. And then you've got the environmental critical area as well. Um, so those are going to be locations where that feature is going to change um because the shoreline conditions are different. And then I know that, you
know, on the landward side of it, when you got the different uses there could be different preferences about how you treat any pedestrian type of corridor. So I think we would have something different from if compared to commercial
going from commercial to residential. You may not people may not want either public members walking you know in their backyard or in their what what is it going backwards a little bit to that to the map adjustment or amendment. What is a time frame usually
in your experience of completion of of this type of product to seeing a map adjustment? So, uh, construction I don't I've seen it take maybe a couple months for construction just for the wall
itself. Um, no, I meant after construction is complete, then the review comes in of of the potential changes to that map adjustment. Uh, FEMA is review probably four to six months. Okay. And then um once they're once they're they issue they will issue a
letter of map uh revision document determination document. On that document there will be an effective date. There'll be an issue date and an effective date. And the issue date is the date that that document was printed and sent out. the effective date is like there's a gap in
time and that's when the map change will actually be in effect and it's typically 90 days after they do their own public notice period for a couple weeks. So um the issuance will be like you know four to six months but then there there'll be
another few months after that before it becomes effective. And you mentioned that do you have the outriggers or London Bay property is one of them that you're working through. Yes. you have designs of that already. I wonder if they'd be comfortable with you sharing that with the council and staff
to be able to kind of see what it looks like and get a better understanding of, you know, what each phase of the construction looks like and what the final product would look like. I will ask them. I know that when we had we did we submitted the um to the to the
state for the CCCL permit um and we had in order to complete that package, we had to submit to town um the planning and zoning department the letter of non-contravening to make sure that the the project didn't contravene any of the zoning or setback regulations. So, so
town staff has seen Okay. the plan. Uh but we we can I'm sure it's and we'll be submitting for a local construction permit once we get a little bit further down the road with the state. Okay. Can I piggy back on that? Absolutely. I just wanted to
worst case scenario if you just build the wave wall in front of the outrigger and the uh sandpiper. Let's just focus on the outrigger for a second. Yes. Is it is it fair to say and I believe you said this at an earlier meeting that there would be benefits even if it was
just that section to those properties across the serial boulevard. Obviously town halls right across but there's also a lot of residential neighborhoods right across. Would they benefit if it was just that one property alone or does it have to be longer than that for other properties to benefit?
No, they uh they will benefit um because the the effect of the wave is progresses as it propagates landward. So it's it's at a lower elevation and it keeps getting lower as it goes towards
Asterero and across Eero Park Boulevard. Um the map change is probably just limited because we we tie into the existing effective mapping at astero boulevard pretty much. Um
so there wouldn't be a materialistic change in the in the zone that they're in. But from a realistic standpoint, should waves come up on the property, it will be at a lower level than what it would be without the wall. Thank you.
Just you said something that kind of piqu my ears up a little bit. So you said the zone wouldn't necessarily change. Are you talking about for the affected property that's building it or the properties adjacent or behind it? The properties the properties behind it, but the it's there's a potential zone
change to the existing property. Yes. Okay. I just wanted to clarify that because it sounded different. Yeah. It's just it's it's basically how the mapping works. When we when we revise the mapping, we have to be able to tie into to an existing effective mapped zone. It's on the current map.
Um, so that's the goal is we make sure that we we extend that revision out to where we meet the effective mapping. So just for clarification based on that example that I gave you of the restaurant that I was talking about, if you look at the map, the circle
around that property is outside the ve zone. Is that similar to Is that basically what you're talking about? if the map amendment were to happen that property even though both sides and behind it are in a specific zone that one could be an elevated zone. Yeah, there's portions that may because
we have to have a gradual transition. So there's portions of the adjacent properties that might get um touched, but um for the most part it will just be where that wall is protecting that changing that zone. Yes.
Unless you do, you know, something more comprehensive. Sure. It could take care of more properties, contiguous properties. Makes sense. That's part of the reason why I would really like to see what a a full island in a perfect world if you could do a full island solution, what that would look like as far as the flood map zones for the
island itself. All right. So, you need direction from us. As does anyone have any objection to directing the town manager to move forward with discussions and the town attorney to move forward with discussions with Elizabeth and her firm? obviously seeking as much grant funding
as possible to help offset any costs under the maximum allowable under the town manager's purview. Any objections? No objection. Consent. No objections whatsoever. Is that is that sufficient for you?
Do you need a motion or just consent is fine? I always prefer motions. So moved. Got a motion by councelor Safford. I will second. Any further discussion? Uh, councelor Safford. Hi. I'm an I. Councelor Woodson. I, Vice Mayor Hall, I councelor King. I
All right. Motion carries unanimously. Thanks, Elizabeth. Thank you very much. Good luck. Looking forward to seeing what you got. All right, that brings us to our administrative agenda. The first item is resolution 25-246, a designation of emergency contact. This is a resolution
of the town council of the town of Fort Myers Beach, Florida designating an emergency contact and an alternative emergency contact as required by section 252.383A Florida statutes providing for notification of same and providing for an effective date.
Tom manager it as reads just a requirement of a recent Florida statute that we designate my recommendation designate myself as the emergency contact and Tom Yazo as our alternate. Any questions for staff? Is there a motion for resolution 25-246?
Move approval. Mayor got a motion by councelor King, seconded by councelor Woodson. Any further discussion? Councelor King. Hi. Councelor Woodson. Hi. Councelor Saffford. Hi. Vice Mayor H. And I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously. Next is item B.
This for RFP-24-06- ongoing miscellaneous professional service agreements. Uh this is a resolution of the town council of the town of Fort Myers Beach, Florida, accepting, rejecting, or modifying the ranks of the professional services firms by the town manager as recommended by the selection advisory committees based
on the responses received to RFQ-24-06- for ongoing miscellaneous professional services. Authorize a town manager or designate to negot negotiate within with the top ranked firms for each category of work included within the request for qualifications and providing for an
effective date. Mr. Manager, great work by uh our community development director and his team and others across the staff to come up with this list. It's a rolodex of process professional service firms that uh we we will work with and upcoming projects.
Frankie is here to talk in more detail. If you have questions on it, I recommend approval. All right. Does anybody have any questions for Will or for Frankie based on the the very detailed packet information? So, I I I've got one question just for
full transparency. When when you create this list, is there any exparte or any hey, this is Tommy's cousin's company or Jerry's wife? Is I mean, is there any anything so the public knows where where we got? Is there any relationships with
the town that people should know about? Good. Good morning. Frankie Kachchic for the record, uh, community development director for the town of Fort Myers Beach. Um, Councilman Stafford, no. Um, and the reason I'll say no is some firms we have worked with, they're welcome to
rebid on a project. We base each category when we do this every few years to see what the needs are at that time. Um, so their proposals are treated just like anybody else. They send us uh what we ask for information-wise depending on where they are. Um and then uh the group
that's appointed by the town manager goes through each prospectus and uh ranks them accordingly. Uh some meet the requirements, some don't, some partially do, some don't. Um and it was always in the past where we've selected one out of each category. And I think in this
current uh run of it, we just wanted to get a little deeper reach. Um, sometimes when you reach out to number one, they're busy. They can't get to you in time or uh to handle your your situation. So, it's always nice to have a backup. So, we tried to expand that rolodex, but still keep it in the top
scoring uh companies in each field. Um, our contracts manager, Deb Glavin, did a fantastic job of putting it all together for us. Um, so to answer your question again, I think we've done a very independent, non-biased approach to vetting these uh companies that we have. Okay.
Thank you. So, I have a question. Um, as new companies come into play or want to be involved with the town, is there a specific vetting process for them or do they just bid as a new person or how
does that work? Currently, we've had that ever since I've been here over the last three years where somebody will come and say, "Hey, I've got this service and I know so and so does this, but I can do it because I'm local." Um, we wait until we provide that every two years. come through um
out of fairness um in this case due to uh what Debbie Hela and Milton um we're finally getting around to vetting this in front of you that should have been actually done uh probably last fall. So it it'll allow us to start using the vendors in this list. Any new vendors
will have to come through the next uh offering that we put out which apparently will be fairly shortly. Okay. Okay. Thanks Frankie. Uh I'm just curious, is there anything the public can glean from this
in the sense that it sounds like you've obviously you've been here uh relatively uh uh uh close to hurricane Ian. I mean you came shortly afterwards. The there's always a challenge and I think uh uh Nancy our town attorney has opined
that we really can't offer a list of approved vendors or recommended vendors for for liability reasons. But can is there anything that the public can glean because obviously you've lived through these vendors and saw the good ones and the bad ones. Is there anything the
public can look at from this list and glean for their own uh own situation, their own or or businesses on the island, seeing that, hey, the towns use these folks. They've obviously had a good experience. Uh I know various media outlets like Beach Talk Radio has tried
to get the word out about good vendors. Is there anything that the public can take away from this and learn from? Yes. Yes, there is. Um, and and the way I'll phrase it is, uh, these are professional services that complement what we're doing inhouse at the town, either helping us with grant management,
helping us with long-term infrastructure projects. So, that's kind of we're looking at a larger, more professional grade, if you will, phrase, uh, of of a contractor. Uh, I know the town used to provide a registered contractor's list for homeowners to reach through. Um, I I
don't prescribe to that personally because we a good contractor to me may not be a good contractor to you, right? So, it's one of those things where we're constantly asking if you are dealing on the residential side of contracting and looking for professional services that way, always ask for a licensed
professional contractor that's licensed with the state of Florida. That's your first step. Your second step should be going to the Better Business Bureau, seeing where they're rated. When we're doing this on approach for the town, we're we're looking at more of engineering firms. We're looking at uh
it might be a whole different design firms for helping us with uh new projects that we're doing either like what we've got going on currently at at Bay Oaks or throughout the town with our storm water, those type of things. And those are the kind of professional services that we're carrying there. But
if if if someone has attempted to perform services with for the town over the last three years and did not meet the standards of the town, they will not be on this list. Correct. That's correct. Thank you, Counc. Nothing additional, Frankie. All the names on here pretty
are pretty familiar to me. Are there any major shakeups? I didn't notice any between who we used in the past or recommended in the past compared to what this No, there's there's been a few changes like in in the engineering. Um, Miss Falton, who's here, I'm happy to say, will be joining our rolodex. Um, but that was already, like I said, this was
a year and a half out before she even came and talk to you guys about the wave mitigation wall. Um, those type of things of just looking for people that are are uh local but provide that full range of service, you know, and we're looking, it's great to have many offices throughout the state of Florida, but if
they're not in Southwest Florida and they don't live what we're living through, what what really help can they offer? Um, so that's what one thing that we're looking for is try try to get that that local feel helping our projects knowing our condition. Um, especially being what we've gone through in the
last couple of years. The only other question I had in looking at these numbers and it's it's not relative to anything, but I noticed like you and Joe everything was either 95 to 100 and then like Chad or someone else was always Jeff and all them were, you
know, in the 50s to 70s. So what was was there any reasoning as to why you know I can't speak for the others. This was brought up um afterwards you know because we cannot talk during the process right but um so afterwards it was kind of brought up I I just look for somebody that's going to give us that top tier
professional service. I mean uh my background in county government uh we always had somebody that worked for us that just was the best in their field. Um and that's kind of what I was looking I was judging everybody. Did you meet these requirements? And if you did you got those scores? if you didn't, I didn't score you, you know. And then I
wanted to have the ability myself to be able to score at least several close in in in number or ranking. Uh so we would develop that professional rolodex going forward. I guess it just didn't know if there was each individual person had different numbers that they were working
off of because it just seemed weird that some were scoring 60 and some were scoring 100, but they both were the highest in that category. Just the numbers were so much different. I didn't know if there was a reason your professional take on it and and what you're looking for to get out of that perspectives that you're reviewing.
Okay. Yeah, I said it didn't it's not a huge thing. I was just curious, you know, usually who was rated highest was the highest across the board for the most part. It's just a big discrepancy in numbers. All right. Anything else for Frankie? All right. Thanks, Frankie. Thank you.
All right. If there's no more discussion, is there a motion for RFP-24-06- for ongoing miscellaneous professional service agreements? So moved. Motion by councelor Woodson. Second.
Second by councelor King. Any further discussion? Councelor Woodson. I. Councelor King. Hi. Vice May. Hi. Councelor Safford. I as well. That motion carries unanimously. Next is item C. This is a resolution 25-250 accepting of St. Peters Drive
deed. This is a resolution of the town council of the town of Fort Myers Beach, Florida, accepting a deed from Matanzas Point Homeowners Association, Inc. conveying St. Peters Drive to the town for use of public road for use of a public road. Directing the town clerk to record the deed in the official records
of Lee County, Florida, providing a severability cause and providing an effective date. No issues from the town on this. recommend approval. All right. Any questions for staff? No. Um I will note that um the association has maintained or retained
the uh responsibility for maintaining the two landscape islands. Um and I think Jim Bowen is here if you wanted to add anything. Okay. Jim, do you want to add anything to that? Come up. Jim, if you're gonna Jim Bowen, vice president of the town
home or Jim association. Jim, while you're up there, might just give just a 30 second history, too, just for folks who are watching. Yes. Um, when the subdivision was uh platted by the county, it was intended to have a private drive with a gate. Uh
subsequent to that uh either the fire department, the town, uh the gate was denied. Uh but the road was actually platted as a public road. Um it's been open. It's been used um as a public road
since the subdivision subdivision was built. Um the association um has requested that town consider making a public road. Uh the town has exercised uh jurisdiction over the road
over the last 20 years at one point repaving it, taking care of street light repairs, drainage. Um so I think from our standpoint, it's a way of formalizing uh what has been taking place for a number of years.
There are two landscape uh circles, one at the entrance and one at the end. The association would like to continue to maintain those. Any other for any questions? Any questions for Jim? John? None. Vice Mayor? No.
I'm good. I'm good. Thanks, Jim. Thank you. There's also uh four street lights that the town will be taking over on that road. Okay. Is there a motion for resolution 25-250
to accept uh the St. Peters Drive deed? Mr. Mayor, I'll I'll move approval of resolution 25-250. Second. Got a motion by councelor or vice mayor Adderhol. Second by councelor King. Any further discussion? Vice Mayor I. Councelor King. I councelor Woodson
I. Councelor Safford I. And I'm an I as well. Motion carries unanimously. Thanks Jim. Next is item D which we removed. We pulled. takes us to item E. This is a special event uh farmers market. This is the shop local products. It is requesting to have farmers markets at
Santini Plaza from November 2025 through April of 2026 at the Moss Marina and from October 2025 through April 2026. Frankie. Hi. Um Frankie Kapach again, community development. Um working with the
Millers. Um they had also requested that a produce um trailer could be put at the far south end when they do their farmer market and perhaps throughout the week. After talking to the property owner um and through the millers um it is part of the farmers market. Um it is a towable
trailer. It meets uh our current requirements that we have and uh so we just added that little piece to the Santini Plaza farmers market that they will be having. As far as uh Fort Myers uh the downtown area, uh they already
have an agreement with Moss Marine. Uh they've asked the town if they could use uh transition area, Time Square. Uh we're still not allowing any drivability in that area. Uh we do have the bullards up. Uh but they are free if they walk in and set up uh to use it just like they
did previously. All right, Scott, any questions for Not at this time. Karen, I'm good. Mayor, thank you for the produce truck in Santini Plaza. That is very popular item. So, good good job, Council King.
Nothing. Thanks, Frankie. All right. Is there a motion to approve the special event permit for Sanini Farmers Market and the Moss Marine Farmers Market for November 2025 through April of 2026 and October of 2025
through April of 2026. So moved. Motion by councelor Woodson. I'll second. Any further discussion? Councelor Woodson. I. I'm an I. Councelor Safford. I. Vice Mayor. I. Councelor King.
I. Motion carries unanimously. Next is the special event for Island Hopper Songwriters Festival. This is to approve the approval of the Island Hopper Songwriters Festival special event to be held September 26, 2025 from 400 PM to
10 p.m. September 27th, 2025 from 3 p.m. until 10 p.m. and September 28th, 2025 from 1 p.m. till 4:30 p.m. at Bayside Park with alcohol to be served on town property during the event from tents and request to wave enforcement of noise
ordinance until 10 p.m. for the special event and the $150 park rental fee. Okay. Jackie Leisac, president Fort Myers Beach Chamber of Commerce. I'm standing in for iHeart Media and Lee County Visitor Convention Bureau who are
responsible for putting on the Island Hopper and we are assisting by helping them pull the permit for the Bayside Park for the weekend. And do I have any questions about the event? It's pretty standard, same thing we've done every year, year after year. Um they'll have
some 10 x10 tents out there and have their own stage production team and and we'll manage all of the events on on the Bayside Park. So the question I have, who's operating the alcohol? It's going to be alcohol. Is it going to be Nervous Nellies and Snug Harbor on their properties?
Okay. And are they the ones requesting the $150 park fee to be waved or is it Lee County is requesting that the VCB Scott question? I do not.
It's extended this year, right? Like extra days for sand sculpting compared to last island hopper. Oh, hopper singer song. Okay. Yes. But yes, Sam sculpting will be extended, but it's not here yet. All right. Not here yet. Got it. I have no other questions obviously.
Vice Mayor Jackie, this this looks like a wonderful uh uh location. I I have a just a question. I don't expect you to know because it may be premature, but usually for the Songwriters Festival, there's other locations on the island that are hosting. Do you have any details yet as
to who they are and where they'll be or when they'll I don't I don't have it in front of me, but I believe it's all of the ones that we had last year. So, Pink Shell, Diamond Head will have some here. I believe uh Yucatan um
think Nervous Nelly's may be doing some of them. Um I'm not 100% sure and probably Wahoo Willies as well. Very good. Thank you. Yeah, same same places as last year and obviously hoping to continue to expand that as we get new businesses. Very good.
Yep. Thanks, Council King. No question. Uh the only question I have is for Nancy, not you, Jackie. And it's just a procedural question because you're involved. Does it have any effect on whether Scott or myself can vote on this? I just want to make sure procedurally we're not doing anything that we can't do. I think
nothing against Jackie, just that you're involved because I'm standing up. It's not the actual applicant. Well, the chamber pulls helps to pull the permit for them. There's no financial there's no there's no financial gain on. Yeah, you're fine. Patting the eyes and crossing the tees.
Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. All right. Thanks, Jackie. Sure. Thank you. All right. Any further discussion or motion for the special event hopper songwriters festival? I'll move approval of special event island hopper songwriters festival.
I'll second. Got a motion by Vice Mayor Adder Holt, seconded by councelor Woodson. Any further discussion? Just that this is a really great event every year that really benefits the town. Um so looking forward to it. Vice Mayor I. Councelor Woodson
I counc. Councelor King. And I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously. Next is final public comment. I don't have anyone signed up, but I believe we have some people here. Who would like to anyone like to speak in our final public comment?
Hi, Barry Frank, resident for Myers Beach. Hello to everybody. It's been a while since I've been in front of you. I just um have been waiting for some of the things that uh we're getting to now and very happy to hear the the progress
that uh that we're making. Um I just wanted to um ask for my own uh and and for the town and for anybody else who's coming in who might want to do something, be a new person on the uh say
a commercial property um to do something. Um, are they going to be able to um have a trailer if they need to construction trailer or uh do anything
to promote themselves on that piece of property, should they be um not the owner of the property? similar thing to like maybe what uh Tom has going with um with Chris as far as
Lola goes. They're two different people. Um and of course they've been they've been established so it it's probably pretty much just um a regular thing. However, um if there's
someone new coming in and wanted to um build something where Cypsy was or whatever it may be, um are they going to be uh allowed to do the same thing that the owner would do on the on the property as
far as trailers go or or any type of um uh promoting themselves? Anyway, I just want you to think about that when you're making all all of the decisions. This this is definitely a future thing, but if you take care of it
up front, um maybe it'll be easier. All right. Thank you. Thanks, Barry. Yeah. Anyone else? Come on. Hi, Fred Malone. Buffalo Grill 1021 sterile. Um obviously I've been pretty boisterous about the trailers. Some of
you will be affected by it. Um, I had a meeting with Dr. Tracy and Will and Scott, and it was kind of a breath of fresh air to finally meet some people that actually want to work towards a solution. I just
want to commend them for it. It felt like they weren't talking out of both sides of their mouth. They were actually sincere about it, trying to keep hundreds of jobs, millions of dollars of revenue on this island. Um, I'm glad you're working towards that. Um I'm glad
wave wall because you know we personally are looking to rebuild down the time square and working with our landlord to build something down there. So keeping trailers on the island I think is very important. One of the other things I just wanted to mention about the trailers for
commercial properties is you need to have more than one on a commercial property. You have to allow more than one. Um, I know he what Barry was getting at was, you know, for myself, I want to build. I want to operate while we build. There's other businesses that
are going to be coming to this island. You know, for instance, if you know, I I don't know, just any building is being built and there's a business that's going in there. they want to be able to operate while that building is being built. There should be a provision in there to allow that person to have a
trailer or something to operate out of while their building is being built as a tenant. Um, I know you're not going to issue new permits for new businesses, but if it's somebody that can provide a lease showing they're going to be here on the island, let them get established, let them operate, find a new location
where they can operate while their building is being built. I think those are just things you have to look at for other businesses that are going to be coming into this, you know, into Fort Myers Beach, which we obviously all know we need more business down here. So, I just wanted to say, you know, thank you and it was a breath of fresh air to uh
to meet with you guys. Thank anyone else. All right, seeing none, we'll close public comment. Town managers items. Will Yes. Uh thank you, Mr. Mayor. The first one that we do want to talk about is um
I believe Nancy has provided a draft resolution that she'd like to go through uh with all of us today and and seek some clarifying guidance from you. Thank you. If I may. Um and I'm going to go through this very slowly because this
is a very important issue and there's a lot of details and a lot of moving parts. Um, I wanted to start off the conversation by reminding you of your current ordinance that you have in effect, um, which is ordinance 24-04.
This was the ordinance that was adopted in March of 2024. Um that particular ordinance basically revoked and uh eliminated rescended the prior ordinance that created um
temporary placement permits. And those were permits that were initi that were issued um immediately after Hurricane Ian uh caused devastating damage um to residents and to commercial
establishments. When the ordinance was amended, there were a couple uh additional provisions that were put in there. Um first of all in section two, it provided for when
these um prior temporary placement permits, now known as emergency temporary placement permits, um when they would expire. Um what was added was the ability for town council um in certain situations as it finds
itself in today by resolution to go ahead and provide for an additional extension beyond what the ordinance currently has in it. The use of the emergency temporary placement permits is
very limited. In the first paragraph of the new ordinance, town council will announce when these type of permits would be available following an emergency such as an a catastrophic storm or something
else. So, um on a typical day, you basically cannot come and get an emergency temporary placement permit. So, as you're aware, um many of these were issued um some of them were issued
um to structures that were found um to be non-compliant with our flood regulations. However, others appeared to be uh in compliance with that. the deadline for uh the um removal or the
permitting of these um structures or units um appears to be the the prior permits will be expiring on September the 23rd. So based on the authority that you existing have you have exist in in your existing ordinance
by resolution you can grant an additional extension uh to the holders of these permits under certain circumstances that may constitute a hardship. Um the question your your current
ordinance right now gives the discretion to the town manager to figure out what is a hardship and what is not a hardship, what kind of documentation. Um, the current number that I've been made aware of
is that there are 51 commercial emergency temporary placement permits out there and 158 um residential uh permits that are pending. we have a
September 23rd deadline that we need to either extend these permits or um let them expire and and move on to whatever code enforcement issues may be addressed. So in order to expedite the
whole process and to provide some certainty uh to folks that find themselves in this situation um the resolution that I propose to present to you just just so we don't get confused or I
don't get confused the these numbers that you referenced the 51 commercial and 158 residential this is completely separate from the FEMA visit and their list of properties or are they interrelated? Are they not related? Are they are these apples and oranges?
They're separate. They are separate. And Dr. Coler is confirming. You don't mind. Yeah, they there may there may be some cross overlap. There'll be some crossover with these numbers. And and if I can add to the numbers that the 51 and the 158 are
currently what we have permits on file for. I I I not necessarily that there are 51 commercial um trailers out there right now in the island and some may have closed up and they're no longer here, etc. So, those
are the numbers we have on file and there may be some here that don't have permits. Correct. Correct. Okay. All right. That's helpful. Thank you. Sorry to interrupt. That's okay. So um again in order to expedite and to give some certainty to um holders of these permits um what the
way that the draft resolution that is being presented to you today for discussion and possible approval would be to define a hardship um nine different ways. Um the first would be a delay in processing any type of Elevate
Florida application. The second would be um experiencing a delay in obtaining construction construction mortgage or refinancing. Experiencing a delay based on an inability to find licensed professionals
to rebuild. A delay due to a dispute with a licensed professional or an insurance adjuster or carrier. a delay that is due to the lack of available equipment or material to complete construction.
A hardship that might be present due to the inability to sell property that you're needing to um to transfer. Um a hardship due to the inability to secure an alternative location to operate a
business or your residence. a hardship due to a delay uh in the permitting process where there's an exchange of documents back and forth and that seems to have caused a delay or possibly even
a hardship that's due to extended family illness or a death um of the property owner or or the business. So today, should you agree to go forward with this resolution, you are identifying for the
town manager certain situations that in your minds would constitute a hardship that would merit an additional extension, but there may be other things or circumstances that in the eyes of a of a permit holder might be a hardship.
those would come to you for further review as to whether a hardship should be provided. Can I interrupt you? Come to us or to the town manager? If it's not on this list, it would come to you.
Um in addition, so what the holder of the permit would be required to do is to provide documentation of the hardship that has been identified in the one through nine to substantiate the claim.
We are not specifically looking for detailed financial situation because anything that you provide to the town is public record. However, it should be documentation such that a reasonable person would conclude that yes, there
was a delay due to some type of um issue with construction mortgage uh financing or something to that effect. So in addition to the documentation to be presented to the town manager, we would also ask the permit holder to provide a
plan of how they are going to resolve that hardship situation that they find themselves in. Um and uh also we would need some direction from you should we decide should you decide to go forward with
this proposed process in your uh resolution. Um how quickly you would like the town manager to begin accepting um applications. How long of an extension should be given u by the town
manager in this process? Um they've already had you know uh since hurricane Ian your current code provides for uh 18 months and we are well beyond that. Do you want six months? Do you want 12 months? Do you want nine months? Again
it's a policy uh direction that we that we need from you. Um, a question was also raised um, in view of the staff work that's involved in processing these, should there should there be an administrative fee associated with it
and how quickly would you like us to move forward? I also wanted to uh, remind you that the decision making and the processing from an administrative perspective by the town manager that is subject to
appeal. For example, if I'm a permit holder and I provide documentation to the town manager and here's my plan to get out of my situation and he thinks that my explanation or my documentation is
invalid or bogus or whatever, I do have the right to appeal to you as the town council and you have an existing appeal process in 34-86 of your uh code of ordinances. So this
is one possible since our last meeting where this issue has come up. Um this is one possible solution that has come up regarding that. You've heard discussion from the public today as well as I know there's been additional discussion about
how do we address some um of these perhaps commercial uses that are coming into the town. Um I just wanted to present to you and remind you that you do have a current ordinance uh regarding temporary uses. Now the current
ordinance this is and I think at the last meeting I alluded to the Christmas tree sales the holiday or seasonal annual sales. Um those are just two examples. Um there is a section on construction projects which require
storage, parking areas, construction trailers, site screening and or other temporary activities during construction of the project and which terminate upon completion of the project. um based on your discussion today in
whatever direction we could amend that code section to perhaps address some of the um the issues and concerns like how many of these quote trailers. Um and I think we would also want to make sure
that there is no misunderstanding that any of these temporary uses must be compliant with your flood regulations. It doesn't really specifically say that at this point. However, I think it would be a good policy decision to go ahead
and do that to show FEMA that we really are trying to comply. Um, and for example, the Christmas tree sales up to 45 days. So, if my calculations correct, that would put us in mid-occtober,
right? And that's the middle of hurricane season. So, have we been checking to make sure any of these um Christmas sales or seasonal or holiday sales um that fall within the hurricane
uh season uh that they are compliant with our flood regulations? So, this is the town being proactive by really amending its existing code to be uh further in line with our flood
regulations. Wouldn't 45 days be like first or second week of November from Christmas? Yeah, 25 and 20s. See, my math's off. Sorry about that. But um with that said, however, in November, we still have had some storms
as a possibility. Um, so it we don't lose anything by having our temporary use ordinance further in line with our obligations under our flood regulations. So the other question I have with with regards to, you know, being FEMA
compliant, I know we had have had discussions uh about having an evacuation plan. Is that part of it? That'll be articulated in the in the application. uh the ETP uh and that whatever trailer they have has
to be always road ready. I mean it can't have four flat tires and correct a rusty hitch and all that. I mean they've got to be road ready road ready licensed registered by the vehicle. Correct. Does that have to be codified in this? Yes, I think we should add that. That's
a very good point. So that would be um the sentence reads the burden is on the property owner or business owner to provide documentation of the hardship, a plan for resolving the hardship to obtain u the extension and an evacuation
plan which would require the unit to be road ready and all that complant. And I'm not trying to FEMA compliant and I'm not trying to find a just for clarity that this is this is just for extending those current permits that
were issued after hurricane Ian. This is not any new permits available. This is just extending what's there. That's correct. What I don't see in here is there's no back stop for those who were issued. So I go back to the intent. The intent was to allow people to operate business and
to allow people to get people back to work. Obviously some people have embellished on that intent. I don't see anything in here that corrects that embellishment. And what I mean is what I'm looking at is a potential of
having someone, you know, 209 properties come in to appeal something because they may be in a code violation situation right now. There's nothing in here that I see that prohibits them from applying for the extension of a permit that they received that they're now not in
compliance of. Well, it requires them to be in compliance with our flood regulations. If they are non-compliant, they will not get an extension. And where did I see that where did you where is that at? Is that what we just talked about adding?
Uh, no, that would be on uh the very last sentence on page two. Um, the holder of any extended ETPs must comply with all of the town's floodplane regulations which incorporate federal regulations adopted by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency. All right. So, that's basically saying the same thing that I just said. Yes. Yes. So, it's in there. And the other thing I wanted to point out that's the prior sentence is um any extension shall include continuation of any
previously imposed conditions because when those permits uh were initially issued there were some conditions that were placed on I think a few of them. So those would carry over as well. They would still apply. So, so Nancy, just going up 10,000 ft
here for those who can demonstrate that they are rebuilding in good faith. How is that encompassed in this discussion here? So they would uh come and ask for an
extension uh based on a hardship which is a delay uh due to um delay in um construction. So they'd have to explain why they're not in their new home or business
already. Yes. And I would suggest it be done in a general manner that would be suitable for Will where he can determine that that is a actual hardship and not just a um a opportunity
to to extend and not really address the issue. So if that's the case, I'd like to since nine is an odd number, uh I'd like to add a tenth one if it's if everybody's in agreement. Um, it seems like we've all heard horror stories of of of folks
who've had various disputes with uh contractors who have been less than uh respectable. And I I wonder if we could add one similar to the language in four and just say delayed due to a dispute with a licensed contractor. And they'd obviously then have to demonstrate that
they're either they're in litigation or mediation or whatever with that contractor. I think number four just number four is with a insurance or adjuster. It has to has to do with licensed professional licensed professional. When you say licensed professionalist, are you trying to capture the the contractor dynamic
and architect and engineer? I think without that I I but we could put a parenthesis and add those three including but not limited to I think you know a dentist is a licensed professional. I I think we some clarity on that. I I'm not trying to be just
trying to be a little bit more clear so people have who read this would know what you add the word building. Yeah, building that cover all of the a licensed building professional. Yeah, that might be helpful because when I read that I I didn't I didn't I didn't sense contractor was
captured but building professional would be fine. Yeah, picking on the denti anti- dentite. I'm not. You better not be. So I also have another question. So
When we initially did this, wasn't the intent that we would be providing these temporary trailers to businesses? And I'm just strictly talking businesses right now who had already been doing
business on the island. So, for example, I'll just take the weed truck um on up in Time Square. I mean, yes, he's on property that he's renting from a an
owner there, but there was no there was no business like that before. I I remember the discussions were along the lines of there was talk about giving preference to the the person that was there originally and obviously not everybody was going to come back, right?
I don't remember off the top of my head if it was I don't believe it was codified in anything that specifically said it had to be the business that was there before. Um but there was definitely a lot of discussion about giving the emphasis to those that were there beforehand, not after.
Yeah, it it actually is in your existing ordinance. Um, it talks about within commercial zoning districts, an ETP may be issued to an owner or leie of the property to operate a business that was existing on the property prior to the
natural disaster or emergency or a similar new business. A new business or change in use dissimilar to the use that was in existence prior to the natural disaster or emergency by an owner or lee of the property is not eligible for an
ETP. That is the emergency one. However, in your code, you do have a temporary use which is a separate path to perhaps cop uh accomplishing
what has come up a bit regarding commercial uses. But the emergency temporary placement permit is a very narrow, very strict um emergency type permit after a natural disaster or other
emergency. Yeah, you you just joged my memory. I remember it was specifically put in there because of that. We didn't want a restaurant that was a site for a restaurant to all of a sudden be able to allow a hardware store, right? But if you were retail, you're retail. If you're, you know, hospitality or
hospitality, that's what the discussion was around. I think Karen, when we had that, it was we just didn't want, you know, so to your point just using the weed truck. I don't know that we ever had a weed business on the island, but that would have been one that wasn't
didn't fall within what the intent was, I think, is what you're trying to get at. Right. So, is that extension then covered in this or lack of extension? In my opinion, it shouldn't be. If if if you're reading what Nancy just read, it
it doesn't mean the intent of or what is written in the code is that or in the ordinance. So, it could have been an existing code violation that maybe wasn't caught here. And it get this is what gets me back to, you know, we're trying to fix
and we're trying to help, but are we going to create more of a mess for ourselves based on what we're discussing? Are there going to be businesses out there that weren't based on what you just read, Nancy, in the original or we have the 50, was it the 51? And we
will be looking closely at each one of those to see who actually has a permit that is not that is proper that is not in violation of your code. Correct. And I think Nancy pointed out maybe that
the the code ordinance that we have for TPPs among other adjustments we can adjust similarly to this temporary uses. Correct. Um, the emergency temporary permit process I believe covers this.
Yes, the emergency temporary placement permit covers your extensions, but from a policy in your code right now, you have an entirely separate ordinance that talks about temporary uses like seasonal sales, like, you
know, Christmas trees, things like that. and uh construction because construction is identified but it's still kind of general and maybe a little vague. Um, I I
just I I just see a headache coming and and I and I I'm fully in support of trying to extend those who are having a hardship who are what I don't want to see is our agenda filled up with 51 businesses who think that because they
want to for whatever reason not follow the rules that they they have some sort of hardship that we should or three of us up here should feel sorry for them because either they weren't here before the storm or they've decided they want to add things that weren't allowed under the permit. Can you give me an example?
Well, I prefer not to, but I think we all know there are several on the island that are like that because I don't and I'm not arguing. I'm just trying to I guess here would be the easiest way for me to say it. If there's a code violation, there's no way that they can get to this process. Correct.
Correct. Until they come into complant with Until they come into compliance. I think that's what you're you're kind of trying to get at you're you're looking at the bad actors. Correct. I I think the assumption here is that you've got to be a good actor in order to go through this process. I agree. I agree. And I think that's what you're I think
we all want that, right? Yeah. As long as I guess what I'm trying to get at is there's nothing in here. Say you're a bad actor. We'll just use the worst case scenario. You're a bad actor right now, which is not going to allow you to come in under this ordinance, right? I'm not talking about I'm not talking about the businesses that we all
know are are we'll just use mom's for instance if she's we'll just use hers because single trailer on a property doing what she's doing whatever if if it's not a person like that isn't going to be able to come in if they have a code violation to come in and even ask
for this they correct the code violation whether it's a structure that shouldn't be there it's a whatever now they come in for a hardship I I'm just struggling with this. There's a lot of vague language in here for me and I I support it. If if the staff feels
that there's a hardship and they can prove it for whatever that is, that's great. But it's the ones that if the staff feels are not providing enough of a hardship, they're going to come before us. Now, we're we're basically superseding staff, which we do. But it it if this
not I'm not articulating what I'm trying to say, but if the staff doesn't deem based on what we are required to do to stay in compliance with flood regulations and it comes before us, what is it? Are we saying to people that it's okay to just go past staff if if the
staff doesn't feel that you've followed? I think the finding would be that their particular situation is not a hardship that would merit an extension of any permit that has been issued. Okay. So then if that's the case, does
that then the 23rd would be the end of that and they would then be out of compliance for a temporary per if it's an active permit that they have now? Yes. Yes. And that is stated um uh right the end of section one. In the
event an extension uh of an ETP oh wait is denied. That's not it. Hold on. Um there is an or that I capitalized. What document are you looking on Nancy? The proposed resolution. Resolution. Okay.
believe is the top of page three, Nancy. Yeah. Yes. There it is. Any structure. Yes. Or use identified in an ETP which is non-compliant as required by the town flood regulations or if the ETP is not
extended shall be referred to code enforcement. Thank you, Karen. I don't think that I mean, I don't know if that covers it all, though. I mean, okay, let's just use an example. Let's say
let's say the um Cubano truck. Is that Cubano or the one that sits down at Sandy Bottoms? So, they were not here on the island prior to Ian,
but they have been on the Sandy Bottoms property, which is under construction, which was a food service business. Are they allowed to renew?
Because they weren't on the island before, but to my knowledge, they've been in total compliance. You know, they're a structure that can be pulled off and all that kind of thing. But because they weren't here
before Ian, are they allowed to renew? I would say yes. I I think I think where this all came to a head was when the condo down here, one of his buddies had a pizza wagon. All of a sudden, you got a condo with
with a pizza truck. I mean, that's what we're trying to eliminate. But I I I think if you had a restaurant, and you know, in all fairness, I mean, they they changed it up. They, you know, they have, they do change it up, which is good, which I think, which I think is good. I mean, you've got
Cubano, then you've got the Rude Shrimp, and you've got But Rude Shrimp was here before. Okay. But he had he had barbecue. I mean, they've got different varieties. I know, but I'm just saying as we go forward, I mean, now is the perfect time to say what is going to go forward or
what isn't. And the intent was at the very beginning, the intent was to help the businesses that were on the island at the time of the hurricane. So Cubanos is one of those. I don't believe
they have any code enforcement things issues against them. Um they've been on and off. They can pull on and off. They can do all of that. Can they continue under what we have stated here? Can they continue or
is the intent if they weren't on the island before? Because these are the questions I get all the time. If they weren't on the island beforehand, you know, should they be taking away from business that is trying to put in
their brick and mortar or who are trying to do their business and still build? Well, I I guess I'll just to me I don't think that my intent was whether it was we'll just use in your in
your situation. You've got Rude Shrimp there and you've got Cabanos or whatever it's called. That was a restaurant before that was Rude Shrimp. Well, well, no, I meant the location Sandy location was a was a it was a use that was there before, right? It's not like they're they're putting up
a machine shop there now, right? But I think what what I'm trying to say is if if using your scenario just driving by it today, the intent was to not have two food trucks on that property and there's two of them there now. They may not both be open at the
same time, but I think that's that's the part of this that I'm having the issue with is whether or not there's a food truck there. I think that was the intent. But how many were there is and again I'm not using them as the example. You brought up the example. I'm just saying there's there's two different
throw one out there that's you know everybody knows but but but the intent was to help. It wasn't there to be longevity. It wasn't there to be the solution. Now in that example, they're they're going through the permit process. They're trying to reopen their business. They're they're showing that they're trying to go
through. So they are meeting the intent of what I think we were trying to pass back in March of 2023. It's the ones who aren't. And and so if this Yes. So, if I may, um, the the analysis
really would begin with what was really given to them. What was their initial permit? Was it for one or was it for two? Maybe it was only for one. That was a condition that was put on the initial permit that was granted. And over time,
it's just kind of morphed a little bit. Um, and then that's something that we would have to analyze. You know, what rights do they have? Are we extending only those rights, not expanding them? And if they have expanded them without authority and permission, then that
would be a code issue. Well, in an effort to move this along, I I support what you have here, Will, and I support I think it's covered a lot of the stuff. Um, and getting this out there sooner than later, I believe is the intent of the council. I think that's what we want is to give people as
much notice as possible. I don't want to speak for my fellow council members, but for me, the intent is to get a path forward for those who are doing things the right way to be able to continue to operate while they're trying to bring back their brick and mortar building or they go through whatever process they have to go through under our current
ordinances to to use a special event or special permit or do whatever they have to do. So, I support this and I feel comfortable after this conversation knowing that if you are in violation of flood plane management right now that you're not going to get extended past the 23rd and the code violations will
continue on if you currently have a code violation. But I think we have to we have to let the public know that there are violations for people who are doing things, but we're they can as we have seen it can be dragged out for quite a long time through the magistrate
process and appeal process to be able to bring them back into compliance. So, I'm glad we're hitting this on head on. It's but as long as this we can't we're not going to this to be clear. This is not going to allow it to begin again. Does that make sense? It's not going to allow
people to come in and get a temporary use permit to move forward. We're not issuing those anymore. You there's but there is a path you can go through. Correct me if I'm wrong, Nancy. there is a a path to do certain things with current ordinances that are in place should you want to do something whether
it's a special event or short-term use for things Christmas tree yes that is that is in effect but there's nothing that you know of or that I am aware of that pro provides you a long-term year two year threeear permit to operate the only way you could
do that and this is a issue I wanted to discuss with um Judith Frankle is if you did have some kind of change in specific zoning categories. Um maybe under a special exception. Well, maybe you can
have this particular use with all these conditions associated with it because it's not detrimental to the neighborhood or, you know, to other policies um in the town. I'm just trying to help get answers to some of the public comment questions that were out there.
It was my belief the intent wasn't necessarily to say If you were, we'll just use the C Gypsy for instance. Sorry, Scott, but you you were a retail shop before, right? It's a hardware store, which is still retail, right? That was the intent of what we were trying,
right? And it's a guy Well, and he but he doesn't own the I was trying to get to what one of the comments was in public. Sure. They don't own the land, but it's an allowable use through a lease of the land owner for what was there before retail. I'm just talking retail to retail. That I think is what the intent
of all this car further. He's across the street and he's got plans in and he wants to rebuild. So, exactly. You know, a local guy and this I think this situation is going to come up to him and Mr. Malone brought it up that there's going to be some other
properties that and I I think we're going to try to put it under that that other code that other code. But there is going to be and as as we grow let's and I let me use an example is um Eddie Yaha's place
right here. He's he's he's rebuilding. He's going to have tenants. I would think that some of those tenants whomever they are with would would probably like to engage their business beforehand, but they're going to need another location just to
get their name out there. Recognition if they provide a lease, hey, we're we're going to open Eddie's place, you know. 2027 or whenever he's done, we'd like to get started. So, I think even though that's a new business, they're going to be a brick and mortar.
But I I I see what you're saying and I understand that concept, but that's not what this does. Right. Right. This is separate. Not this resolution. Yeah. Not this resolution, but down the road if we wanted to look at Yeah. Down down the road, we need to to address that. So, again, this is all
about certainty. you know, we're trying to eliminate the uncertainty in the market. And when we have a path forward with this and we have a path forward for new businesses, I I think it eliminates that uncertainty that we've talked about. And it it it just No, I and I I see what you're saying and I I I totally
get that part of it. Moving forward, if if you've got a big track of land that's two acres and you want to operate whatever business is going to be there temporarily while you're building something, I totally understand that. With the caveat though, where I'm going to come from is there's got to be severe penalties if
you go outside of what you approved for. Yeah. Because this the reason we're having to do this now is because so many people have done that, right? So, let's let's get to the the two things that she also brought up is is what what is the time frame here? Um do do we want to go obviously we want
I don't think we should put the deadline like we have it now in September during hurricane season. Um, I I think we should do it up up until June 1st, whether it be 26 or 27, and then we re-evaluate for for the following hurricane season. But we want to get
these businesses again without with the path forward with certainty during season and without the the effects of potential storms. So, I I would think we should look at either June 126 or June 127.
And I I I kind of lean toward 27. So we're we're not taking staff. We have to go through this process again in in six, seven, eight months, which sounds like a long way down the road, but it's that's not a lot of time.
So I I don't disagree with you. What about the renewal process of having to come in to renew that? Originally was was six months. I think every six months you had to come in for renewal. I'm not opposed to what you're suggesting as far as longevity of when those permits expire, right?
renewal process to me should be short. We should ask town staff if it was a burden. I mean, is it I don't want what I don't want to do is give a blank statement and say in June 1st of 2027 if you get admit if you meet this hardship today in 2025, you now get two years to operate not doing anything.
Exactly. We don't want Okay. So, I I agree. So, maybe we do it June June 126. Um the fee schedule I'm thinking maybe $100 nominal, but to cover our costs, Frankie, you'd probably know better. $100 residential, 200 commercial. I
mean, or $100 per trailer. So, if it's a commercial, they have extra tra, you know, so that's I I don't I'm just kind of throwing that out there. I guess I have a concern that we're going to charge folks for a hardship that is beyond their control like
Elevate Florida. I mean, we've seen there's no movement on that whatsoever and now we want to charge them $100. That's nominal. I'm not I'm not saying charge them. They already did. Yeah, I I think there has to be some sort of again, you know, we're we're talking about our budget,
everything else. I mean, we we I think it should be a nominal fee, John. I'm not disagreeing that if it is a hard, you know, everything's a hardship. It's got to cover Not everything's a hardship, but it's got to cover our expenses. Let's Yeah, we're not going to make money on
it, but it certainly has to cover our expenses. I I think any business that's able to operate for the next nine, 10 months or eight, nine months in season's okay with $100, $200. Well,
trying to figure out the best way to package this up based on what everybody's been saying, but I support extending those permits that have been issued, not issuing new permits to those who are
good actors. We can say whatever the you're talking about two years. I'm I'm fine with 2027 if if that's the case. But I would want to see shorter intervals of of being able to come in for review just so that every I mean if if your
hardship today is I just am waiting for my permit is in but it's going through their environmental process. Yeah, I agree. you still have a problem. If you have the same napkin you drew your your plan on and you know, you come back a year and a
half later, hey man, here's my plans. It's come on. Yes, Mr. Mayor, if I can too. I I the the resolution date being extended to maybe the 26 or 27 is fine, but I would still want to have the six-month
uh reapplication process. that keeps us in compliance with FEMA's special flood hazard area, okay, regulations. So, how about how about we go six month review, six-month renewal, right? Six month review and the the amendment goes till June 1 of 27.
I'd be fine with that. I I would want to go even a little bit further just just to prevent June 1 of 28. No, no, no. What I'm talking about No, no, no. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about Nancy. Is there any way we get someone that we give an extension
to and then they decide they want to become bad actors for whatever reason? I'm not saying that that would happen. What what recourse do we have then to say you no longer we have to wait that six months then to say your permit is no longer valid because you have a co you've decided to
I don't know build a pergola in the middle of your property or could it be revoked upon a it can be our our code already has a process if they receive an ov and Tom you can come on up if you want to add to this if you receive an ov there is a
process in place of a timeline they have to respond to that nov and come into compiance. Yeah. Okay. So, that's where the no and we're also requiring them to have a plan for how they're going to resolve the hardship. Yes. Which could have those sixmonth
increments in there. And then we can look at their plan and they think that by January they're going to have this much done. You know, did they uh achieve that or or not? Should we put benchmarks or something in? We can.
It's reasonable. Come on up. Good morning everyone. Thomas Yazo, emergency services director for Myers Beach. So, we would do an NOV if they come out of compliance in whatever manner. And we also have the ability through the building department to revoke any permits. So, if they're even
if they had their extension and the NOV is created and it comes to a magistrate situation where they don't come into compliance, we can revoke that permit. Just to be clear on that. Hey, I don't I don't expect that. I mean, we're nearing kind of the end of the emergency use. I
mean, every month we're seeing less and less, right? People are starting to submit plans and build buildings and so I don't think this is going to be a huge issue, but we do know that there are going to be some that probably push the boundaries of whatever we pass here today. Correct.
But what what assurances do we have that once this process is in motion there's it can take months or years to correct violations and it's just unfortunately the way that process has to go. It's state process. So it can and once it if it ends up in an
appellet type situation where they're going to appeal on something that a magistrate has found just remember those fines are still growing, right? those fines are there and for the most part even if even if they win in their appeal that's going to still be up to the appellet judge to decide whether
those fines stand or not. So those fines can be pretty substantial and I think that's kind of a a tool for us to try to break to push people to compliance rather because the fine at the end is not in the benefit of anyone. Let's be very honest. The town's not here to make money. The town's not
and that's not what I'm getting at Tom. That's not what I was trying to get. It's not about fines. It's not about that. What it's about is those trying to move forward. Those which is what the initial intent was to to allow people to operate whether you were here or not. As long as it was a use that was on that property. The intent was to allow you to
operate while you move forward. It's the ones that are choosing not to move forward for whatever reason. If it's a hardship, it's a hardship. If it's not, it's not. We've had people come before us and say, "I didn't take the building down because I don't want to." That's not a hardship, but you know, we couldn't do much about it until we could. So, those are the types of issues
that I'm concerned with. And it's it it sounds to me as long I'm I'm fine with all of this as long as they're going to have to be in compliance with flood plan. They're going to have to show the plan, you got your evacuation plan, you you meet all the other things, not just simply what is being laid out
in nine bullet points for hardship, right? Right. So, you would still have to in order I'm just trying to paint the picture for anyone out there that's listening that's going to be able to come in by the 23rd and apply for an extension that it's not going to be just showing a hardship. It's going to be that you're in compliant with flood
plane management regulations as well as whatever it is you've deemed or we've that has been put out there as far as uh license trailer has to be licensed on the road has to you be compliant with all these things. You have to have an evacuation plan. All I don't see any of that in this draft resolution and that's
No, but we're adding it um because uh on page two after the the list of nine um we have two two items are listed but we're adding a three a third that says and an evacuation plan uh FEMA compliant
and road rent. So that'll be added in there. Yes. Just trying to make it easier for everyone. Yes, sir. So I I would add if I could please that with the evacuation plan I would stress to people that they need to follow the plan and if they don't there's there
could be repercussions to that. Last year we had three hurricanes that swam past us and beat our island up and we went door to door and knocked on people's doors say please get your trailer off the island. Please remove this. Please remove that. And many didn't. and then they were getting towed
away, you know, a month and a half later as scrap because they sat here. I mean, so it's something that I think that that's something that we need to get to the public and make sure they understand that, too. They have to follow their evacuation plan. Well, not only that, they cause hardship for their neighbors as well.
Yes, they do. We saw we saw people driving their vehicles from other municipalities and leaving their vehicles in the path of the storm. Yes, they did. Just because they catch fire in parking them in the town right away and leaving them there. Yeah. So, it's it's always a mess. Well, I I
I'm I'm hoping that we can get this is going to come very fast on the 23rd. And to me, there's still a lot of vagueness. We got to move this forward so that people at least have an opportunity to come forward, but the vaguess, you know, an evacuation plan,
what does that do? I have to show you Billy Bob's F-150 can pull it off and it takes this much time. I mean, what does that really entail as far as details? I I can just show you. Yeah, I got I don't own a truck. I own a Prius that can't pull his trailer, but I'm going to use
that to pull the trailer. My buddy has a truck, but my buddy Well, yeah. Anybody has a truck knows I I just I think we're going to have a lot of headaches coming over the next month is all I see. And I'm just trying to mitigate as many of them as as we can.
Well, and I think the beginning date on this should be as absolutely as soon as we possibly can. to get the right wording. That's what Nancy was trying to get. Yes. Um, so we do have to uh amend our application to only apply to extensions
and we were talking about how can we u electronically make it as easy as possible um for our residents uh to apply. Um there are a couple blanks that we need to have filled in um that I need
specific direction from you on. So the extension date I've heard u June 1st 2027. Is that also for residential as well as commercial or is that only commercial? I'm okay with residential.
I'm I'm fine with both as long as there's a okay a review process before then. Um okay. and then having the uh town manager to begin processing these uh maybe give us a couple days uh this week to get our application in
order um posting it on the website uh where it can be downloaded. That brings up a question to to help alleviate staff. Would it make more sense if we're only let's say worst case scenario we're talking 51 and 158. We know who they are. Would it make more
sense for us to reach out to them and say this is the new resolution, you are one of the 158 properties versus someone who never got a permit. And I'm just trying to alleviate some staff time because if somebody's been operating illegally or
their permits been expired, they're not going to be on this list to be able to apply for an extension, but yet they're going to still try to apply for an extension. It's going to take staff time. Do you see what I'm trying to say here? was does it make sense to be more proactive to reach out to them and say your permit is going to be expiring. You
have the ability to potentially apply for an extension. I I think uh Dr. Kohler had drafted a letter at one point. Yeah. Um which we could now perhaps mail out with a copy of the resolution. I do have a a draft letter that I worked with Nancy on to send out to some
homeowners who have those permits that we have listed. Um, I just want to clarify that we're not saying that you have this permit. I removed my trailer, but now I have the opportunity to extend, so I'm going to bring it back up on. So, I think that's a that's a
clarification we probably need to add to that letter. Um, at least that's what I'm understanding. I just want to support whatever is going to take the least amount of staff time to have to review all this. I don't want, like we saw after the storm, you know, permits were free for something. So someone would turn in a a permit
application with their name and phone number on it and that was it. And then it chewed up staff time for review process and all that because they were trying to get in under a deadline that was we didn't have anything in place to say you have to have a fully filled out packet, not just your name and phone number. So if I'm Billy Bob again who
has a trailer on my property, my my permit has expired six months ago. I'm not eligible to come in and ask for an extension on an expired permit. I see what you're saying. So, I'm trying to help the staff not create more work and more paperwork for people that or if
there's a fee associated with now they got to pay a permit fee or they got to pay a $100 fee to be told, "Well, you're not even eligible." Now, you're refunding people's money and just trying to I just see a lot of messes coming that we're never going to be able to cover them all. Just trying to help figure out ways to alleviate staff time
and and do what we're trying to do, extend those that need to be extended for a valid reason. I think that's a a great point and um I can add a sentence um in that last paragraph um that once the um
the unit or the structure has been removed that the emergency temporary placement permit is expired and revoked and cannot be renewed. It's finality. If you've moved it, it's gone. You can't come back. Um, so I can
I can add that. And I guess that um to begin processing these, do you want to have a specific date or immediately or how have to defer to our town manager? I don't know how quickly we can get it.
No later than 1 September, I think, to have a start this process. And and and if we're ready earlier than that, great. But we need to um as parts of these discussions today make some updates to the u the permit application the emergency permit applications we've
talked about and then I really I want to um develop and institute a process where people can uh where we can announce it on the you know do public service announcements have the application and the process available through our
website like other processes that we have and the points of contact and I need to set up the the process, the team, you know, to to receive these. I don't I don't believe that we're going to receive, you know, 51 and 158, you
know, uh because not everybody's going to meet the criteria, but we need some time to to get that out there so everybody can see if they if they do or do not meet the criteria and they can apply. So, I think September 1st gives me the time to do that.
And and what about the fee part? Can we look at what would cover our costs only for processing this and charge that as a fee or Well, absolutely. I don't want to make money on the fee. It would just be a processing fee like any of our fees. And
I think 100 for 100 for residential, maybe 150 or 200 for commercial. I leave that to the council and your discretion. But but I I I do It's not to make money. We're not and and I understand absolutely that
uh if people are extending due to hardship that that is a consideration we should take. Uh but there it it does require a significant amount of staff time and and materials to to do this.
Well, along those lines, um and I know I've got push back on this, but I'd still like to see us at least have the town manager have the discretion to wave that. I mean, when I see number nine down here, uh, hardship due to delay in permitting process, that sounds like it's our problem. So, now we're going to
charge somebody for our delay, and that just doesn't make any sense to me. Yeah, I tal I I did talk about that one with with Tracy. It's It's not It wouldn't only be delay in permitting due to our process. Many times there's back and forth on permitting because not the right stuff was presented application.
I don't have a problem with inability to sell property. that's that's totally on the the person, but hardship due to extended death or something like that. If you're talking about a property owner, that could be tied up uh in litigation or something with with estates or things. So, that that
could be I have I have no I would just like to see the town manager have the ability to to wave that if if needed. If the council wants to grant me with that ability, I have no issue. I I would like to grant the town manager the ability to wave that as well at his discretion based on hardship. Do you
want to go September 2nd since the 1st of Labor Day? Yes, probably a good idea. You know, one thing I just thought of because I brought it up and used um Sandy Bottoms as the example. There were two food services on that
property when it's now changed all into one being Sandy Bottoms, but it was But it was still one property. It was one property, but there were two. So, it was Royal Scoop and I'm totally spacing bagels. Tuck away. Tuck away. Royal Scoop and Tuckway. So,
there were two, but now it's one property. You're right. But still, I just wanted to And it wasn't my It wasn't for any other reason other than illustration of what the intent was. That was right. Wasn't saying they're doing anything wrong, but we just simply Right. They've been in compliance like
all the way through. So, we're good. So, we got the date figured out. Yes. I think we've got everything. Um, the town clerk has given me resolution number 251. Um, and so, mayor, if you wanted to read
the title, then we would be Well, can we fill in all the yellow spaces first so that when we're reading the title, it's all accurate? Yes. So the the first yellow space in the title would basically be uh to extend remaining ETPS
due to expire due to expire on September 23rd, 2025 to June 1st of 20 26 27 and then at the very end um beginning no later than September the 2nd. The other
items that uh hold on a second. So, and then and then and then section two of the next page is where the renewal process would be to cover that. It's not a blanket two-year extension. Didn't we say six months? I just wanted to make sure that's where it's going to get covered. I'm asking
Nancy. I'm sorry. The renewal period um every six months checking in that on section two. Section two. Yes. Is that where that would be covered? Um yes. The burden is on the property
owner. Documentation of the hardship, a plan for resolving the hardship within with six month um check-ins, something like that. Yeah, I would renew whatever
updates or updates review. Yeah. But does that then trigger another another fee every six months for them to No, that's not the intent. I'm just It's just checking the box. I mean, they have it.
Okay. Um, so we have that and then um no later than the September 2nd. Also going back to number four, adding uh building professional and then going back to that paragraph
and the evacuation plan FEMA compliant and road ready and then the administrative fee 100 for residential, 250 for commercial with the option to request a waiver from I thought we said 200 I'm sorry 200
u from the town manager. So, how many months back in the resolution paragraph, how many months? We got the date we're going to take out for an additional month and just put in um to extend to June 1st of 2027.
So, we're not counting just so that I'm reading it correctly. So, what do you want me to change? due to expire on September 23rd Tuesday for an additional no just uh to extend um due to expire to June 1st, 2027.
Okay. So instead of September 23rd would be 27 or June 1st, 2027, right? Correct. So we're replacing September 23rd to June 1st. No.
um to extend remaining ETPS who are supposed to expire or due to expire on September 23rd to June the 1st of 2027. So from September 23rd, they're going to now be
extended to June 1st. So we're moving the additional months. Yes, we're taking off that language. But what if we're because that implies that anything expiring on June 23rd no matter what or on September 23rd is automatically.
So that's not what we're getting. No. Upon upon the demonstration of a hardship as provided herein and then that goes to that section two where has the nuts and bolts of how to get it.
Okay. So, what exact wording, Nancy? After September 23rd, what wording do you want me to put in there? To June 1st, 2027. And then it would pick up upon the demonstration. Yes.
And then remaining ETPS beginning September 2nd. No later than accepting and processing applications for extension of remaining ETB beginning no later than September 2nd, 2025.
Hold on. Say that again. No later than September 2nd. September 2nd. There 2025. I thought I heard you say December. September. Well, we were talking Christmas trees at one point. Been talking a lot.
Nancy, may I ask a question? No. I asked a question, right? Yeah. Um, in that opening paragraph, do we need to say anything about the six-month renewal period or does it make it when you read it, oh, I will find an extension for
hardship and have all the way through? That's what I brought up. I think that's what's covered under section two on section two. It's section two and it would be um where it's number two the burden is on the property owner. One documentation of the hardship two for a pl uh a plan for
resolving the hardship with sixmonth incre uh updates. Do we need to put that in the beginning paragraph to make that clear or you think it's okay in section two? I think it's okay because it does say as provided herein and the section two deals with the hardship.
And then at the bottom of page two, there's two empty blank yellow highlighted spaces. So it would be no later than September 2nd. Um and begin accepting applications on
No, the first one is would be September 23rd, wouldn't it be? extension application because they have till the 23rd but they will be and begin accepting applications on 92. Right. So we can edit that.
Right. So no later than September 23rd. Okay. 25. But we can begin accepting 92. Hold on. the town manager is directed to create an hurricane Ian ETP extension application.
Um, and let's just get rid of that. And I think we just get rid of the first date and begin accepting applications no later than uh September. Okay. Second. I agree. Okay. So, take out that application no later
than the first part, the first one, and begin accepting. Okay. Yes. And that section four on the last page, this resolution shall take effect. Is that today? Won't we vote on it? Immediately. Yes. Okay. I'm holding on to this for all kinds of
questions. I think it's just the start of questions. Just wait. So, just to make it official, mayor, if you want to read the title. Uh, sure. If he can read his writing. Oh, I can read it. And it's resolution 251.
Got it. This is resolution number 251. It is a resolution of the town council of the town of Fort Myers Beach, Florida, extending the expiration period of emergency temporary placement permits, ETPs, formerly known as temporary placement permits issued to property owners or
tenants who sustained damage to residential damaged homes or businesses following Hurricane Ian as provided and authorized in ordinance 23-05 as amended in ordinance 24-04 authorizing and directing the town
manager to extend and remaining ETPS's due to expire on September 23rd, 2025 to June 1st, 2027 upon the demonstration of a hardship as provided herein, directing the town
manager to begin accepting and processing applications for an extension of remaining ETSs beginning no later than September 2nd, 2025, providing for payment of an extension fee and providing for an effective date.
Joe again. Perfect. I nailed it. So moved. Second. Okay, we got a motion by councelor Woodson, seconded by councelor King. Further discussion. The only discussion item I have is is
obviously the obvious. We know we're not going to get our partners. This is for Will and Tracy. You guys just nod if you We know that we're not going to get confirmation from our our partners in the federal government on
on the wording or how this is this goes. Are we are we confident we're it's not going to put us backwards? I am. Okay. That's all I needed to know. All right. Got a motion and a second. A motion by councelor Woodson, seconded by councelor King. Any further discussion?
Council Woodson. I councelor King. Hi, Vice Mayor Holt. I safer. Hi. And I'm an I as well. That motion carries unanimously. I do have one more question. Okay. Um, so we've addressed the extension component. However, there was a lot of policy discussion regarding temporary
uses in general. Would you like us to schedule that for a future M&P meeting? Yes. Yes. Can we do it sooner next council meeting or we have to be an MMP?
I think you should be an MMP. Um the uh whatever you come up with from a policy perspective to actually change the ordinance would have to go to the LPA and then come to you for two more readings. There'll be a lot more discussion about it. Okay. But I don't I don't think we have an M&P
in September, do we? We do not. May Could we um would it make more sense to send this to the LPA for discussion and recommendations to bring I don't want the council to discuss it then it goes to the LPA and it change and then it comes back. Does it make
sense to have it go through the LPA process first? We we can do that um with your direction to me to work with staff to go ahead and draft an ordinance and take it to the LPA based on your conversation today and see what they think of it and then we'll bring it back
to you. That would expedite it. Yes. I don't know that it needs to be expedited, but I it doesn't make sense to rehash what we just rehashed to send it six weeks later, six weeks from now. Okay. Anyone have an issue with that,
John? No. Think you have your consent, Nancy? I' I've got it. Thank you. What else you got, Will? Just just two more things. Uh, council, if I may. Uh, we I've been discussing with you um previously about a new
presentation policy for those who are bringing presentations uh to present to the uh to the council. That was tough to get through iteration, but I'm presenting it right now that uh and Nicole has done a great job in drafting
that policy and I'm we want to institute that policy immediately. Uh and it basically is in in bottom line up front is anybody who wants to present something, we'll have to send it to uh town staff uh and the town clerk ahead of time. What's the time frame, Nicole?
Do you 24 later than 24 hours ahead of any meeting? That gives the town staff time to uh make sure it's properly formatted and test it with our AV systems. I just want to inform you that that's going to go into effect and we will place all of this information on the town's website for people to be
aware of. Finally, the other the other thing is that we've scheduled the grand opening for the for our new town hall September 10th uh from 9 to 11. Is that right, Nicole? From 9 to 11. Um Nicole has begun sending out
invitations to uh dignitaries uh especially those who helped us acquire the funding and uh and the legislative process behind that to to get us uh that new town hall and others who were significant in that and we will uh extend invitations further. But just wanted to let you know we've started
that process uh for September 10th at at the new town hall at AM or PM. Just checking. It's a good clarification. Thank you. That's all I have. PM is on the deck. 9 to 11. You said
yes to 11. All right. Town manager or town attorney items. I do have one item. So, at your public meeting on August the 4th, um you reaffirmed your direction to the town attorney to pursue foreclosure of some
code enforcement leans on property that is located at 80 Avenue E in Fort Myers Beach. That property is owned by White Sand Properties LLC. Um, on Friday, August the 8th, we did file a complaint to foreclose two of the code enforcement
leans and it has been assigned uh a case number 2025-CA-00004261 by the Lee County Cir Clerk of Court. So, as you know, all of our meetings and conversations among you um occurs in the public. However, there is an exception
to the public meetings law that allows me to announce and request um that we have a closed session uh concerning settlement negotiations and strategy related to litigation expenses
associated with this litigation in a private executive session with the town council. Um this is authorized in 286.0118. Um, this allows uh elected municipal officials to meet in private with your attorneys and the town manager, but we
will only discuss strategy and settlement negotiations related to this specific litigation. By statute, I also need to announce that the my request is that the executive session begin at 12 noon on September the 11th. That would
be in the middle of your regular town council meeting. and that it is expected to last no longer than an hour. The executive session will take place at Town Hall located at 6231 Eststerero Boulevard, Fort Myers Beach, Florida
33931. Only the following individuals will be present and allowed to participate during the executive session. Mayor Dan Allers, Vice Mayor Jim Adhalt, Council Members John King, Karen Woodson, and Scott Safford, town manager Will
McCanny, town attorneys Nancy Stupich, Becky Vos by Zoom, Khloe Berman, Paul Waters by Zoom, and a court reporter. The town council will not be taking any action during this executive session. But after the exe executive session has
convened has adjourned, we will go back into a public meeting and at that point if there is any action to be taken um it would occur at that time. Um and that's my announcement.
Madam town attorney, procedurally, do you have or do you feel you have the authority to enter into or maybe you're in the process of in settlement negotiations uh prior to the 11th? In other words, if
you come up with a settlement proposal prior to the 11th, it could be discussed at executive session and then properly voted on afterwards. I only asked that because we're obviously entering into our budget session on this that evening and if there's an impact of the
settlement negotiations that impact the budget, uh it would be good to know that and just wanted to make sure you had all the tools you needed to posit some sort of a settlement uh uh proposal.
I I would not be I would not be offering the property owner um a settlement proposal. However, I will offer them the opportunity to provide an offer to us which then could be discussed in your executive session and subsequent to
that, you could provide direction to make a counter offer. Very good. That's it. Do you need a vote or anything on that? Just the announcement. Just the announcement. Anything else? No. All right. Council member items and
reports. Uh, Senator Senator Senator Scott Councilman Safford. Wow, I got promoted. I actually have three questions. Um, number one, where where are we sitting
with the on CRAAS? Are we going to have a is that going to be part of our MMP process? Where do where do we sit right now? Sir, we have a meeting. Myself and a couple members of staff are meeting with the Lee County representative for CRAAS
this afternoon. We're going to discuss we're going to discuss that and what we need to do as a town to potentially work through that process with the county. Uh so after that meeting, I'll have a little bit more information for you on on our recommended way ahead. Um but I hope to move as quickly as possible on
this. Fantastic. My second is is there an update on the grant funding for Bay Oaks? I know there's an August 31st deadline. What's that? Jeff, you want to talk about the discussions with county on that? Thanks,
Jeff Hoggy. Um, community services director. Sounds weird. Anyway, um, so the the the original grant packet that we got that we received said August 31st, 2025. after contacting, you know, the
representative that we have through the grant, um, I asked for an extension just in case we weren't done. Um, and the person that was reviewing it was somebody new. Um, and said, "Your your date should have
been 60 days from when the grant expires, which is December 31st." So, the original date should have been October 31st all all along. um they had it wrong on the contract. So, they are sending me a new one, but I just got clarification again this morning that
it's October 31st, 2025. So, we are trying to get it done um end of August anyway. Uh because that was kind of our our target, but uh if we have to go a little farther than then that that's okay. If we run into these snags, um we have a little breathing room for sure. So, okay, that's October 31st is the new
deadline. Thank you. At third, the charter review, we we have a exact time, place for our first meeting. The town clerk, we do. We've set it for open my calendar up.
It's October uh October 7th at 2 p.m. and it'll be at the new town hall. Fantastic. Thank you. That's all I have. What time was that again? 2 p.m. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Mayor, that's all I have.
All right, Councelor Woodson. I'm good. Thank you. Councelor Kane, just a couple things. Um, town manager and I will be meeting this week with FDOT to try and see what we can do to accomplish getting uh two lanes on in the morning and two lanes on
in the afternoon at the Matanispass Bridge. And if you will indulge me, I would like to see if we could move the December MMP meeting from December 4th to December 3rd. As with the new responsibilities with the Florida League
of Cities Board of Directors, I would be uh needed to attend a meeting out of town. So, can you repeat that? Move the MMP from December 4th to December 3rd. a Thursday to a Wednesday. Correct.
I'm actually fine with that. I have no issues. Fine. But I mean, thank you. That's all I have. But now that you said that, I
I either need an excused absence for the October 8th M&P. Um, I unfortunately will be out of town, so I don't know if it can go to any other date because it looks like the 7th
is pretty booked unless we made it the 15th. Yeah, it originally got moved from the 9th to the 8th because the TDC's conflict. So, I don't know if there's any
opportunity to either either October 1st or October 15th. I'm going to be out of town October 1st. Okay. October 15th works. October 15th. It's fine with the 15th is fine.
Yeah, I'm good. Does that work? Okay. Thank you so much. Thanks for bringing that up because I totally forgot to ask that. All right. Anything else, John? No. Vice Mayor?
Yes. Uh, just wanted to have a little clarification. I I see Jason Green is in the audience and maybe our attorney, town attorney want would want to appine. I I thought there was a from one of our former colleagues a post over the
weekend uh implying that Senate Bill 180 would negate our ability to utilize our impact fees. I think that was a questionable statement and I just thought it would be helpful to get some
clarification and I didn't know if Jason or Nancy wanted to opine on that because I think thatauses causes a lot of concern in the community and I don't think it's a very good take if you if you Yeah, we had an extended conversation Jason and I did yesterday
um and he's got all the details so I'm going to defer to him. I I'll be hopefully by the time I get home today uh deliver the draft um to your administration and to Nancy um and for them to review and obviously she can abide on that once she reviews it. You currently have impact fees. Uh you're
allowed under state law to continue to do those. You're just required to have updated studies which is what we're doing. Um so that's why we're on a track on track to hopefully have you adopt it October or November. Uh that way we can continue to collect the impact fees based on that study if that's what you adopt. Um, you also have the opportunity
to change those numbers based on your input and feedback. Um, but to that point, I think the the main question about that is my understanding as long as we're not introducing any new categories of which to collect. Uh, and it looks like most across the board, the impact fee rates that are being charged
are going to be reduced at least slightly uh in most cases. So, um, well, staff can review that study and and give you some more feedback on that, but there's there's not there's no increase as far as right now. So, Jason, in this this this person
opined in reference to Senate Bill 180, they said now the ship has probably sailed eliminating funds needed for infrastructure and resilience upgrades and putting more of a burden on the taxpayers referring to here uh referring to Fort Myers Beach. That that is an
incorrect statement as it relates to Senate Bill. My my understanding with impact fees is you are under state law required to update them every four or five years and uh this will kick that next period off and so we have to do this study right but Senate Bill 180 will not adversely impact Fort Myers Beach with
respect to impact fees as far as I'm aware in the current way the study has come out no um obviously I'll we'll allow Nancy and your team to look at it and confirm that but our my understanding on the impact fee side is no thank you and I will be corrected if needed I
understand. Yeah. Thank you. That's all I've got. All right. I had the same question about the impact piece, but you already answered it. But since you're there, just just to there Joe had made a statement at one of the last meetings,
and I think that maybe got misconstrued a little bit as far as the amount of money that can be used for a project. It's not a static number, is it? It's not It's not just specific. And this is nothing against Joe. I just we're throwing a lot of numbers at Joe and I don't just want I just want to clarify.
I think Joe said 25 only 25% of the impact these could be used for any project but that's not necessarily how it works. Correct. So the it depends on how you do it and generally yes there's a percentage or a cap generally associated with impact fees to a project because it's very
difficult to have a project and associate it 100% with new growth. Right? So the impact fees are all supposed to be for um capacity of that you need to achieve level of service for new growth and new people. Um so I just
as an estimate it's about 20% is a number that's in the impact fee is using that because of our growth rate is unique. So every community is going to be different and every methodology you use for that impact fee will be slightly different from town to town. So just throwing that number out it's about 20% for your projects is what new growth is
associated with. Well, it was my understanding with the impact fees, and I think it kind of correlates with what you were just talking about is a new project comes into town, right? And the impact fees, a percentage can be used based on what that impact's going to be, whether it's infrastructure,
whether it's ball fields, whatever it is, right? A percentage of that impact fee can be used for that project, but the rest then would be shouldered by the taxpayers. Well, other sources, right? Sometimes you can use your impact fees as leverage for grants and other things of that nature because you're you're budgeting
it and you're you're collecting it and it's it's adopted by ordinance so you can rely on it. Um some people have bonded those types of things. I mean there's options for you but yes ultimately the the impact fee can only pay for a portion of most projects. Correct. Okay. Uh and I'll act to that just as
the opportunity to say uh when you do your budget actually by code we're supposed to be doing a five-year CIP every June to the LPA and then you're supposed to take that as part of your budget every September and then that cycle that fiveyear fifth year cycle works with the updates every five four
or five years of the of the impact fee. They all they're supposed to work together on that cycle. All right. Clear as mud, Jason. Okay. Yeah. Speaking of clear as mud, Jason, there was there was a lot there was sort of a general thought that we've got to get this study done in order to capture some of these new developments. And we
we realize that obviously those they've not filed their B building permits yet, so they they will be captured, but but there was a there was a sort of a general belief that what you were doing would capture uh uh and create impact fees that
otherwise didn't exist. That's not the case. You're you're in essence updating what we already had on the books with respect to impact fees. Is that is that a fair characterization? That's the way it's come out. Yes. I when you do a study, you have an opportunity to look at other revenues, other other um I guess categories to
collect impact fees for. This doesn't do that. The way it came out and based on your direction and feedback we got, ultimately what we had works. And um there's slight modifications to to like the park and wreck one consolidated some things made it more clear what that could be used for but it's essentially
very similar to what you have just a little bit different rate and that rates based on what the growth has been doing and projected to do. Great. Thank you. Yep. So there's no new surprises that will come out of this. All right. Thanks Jason. I don't have anything else. There's
nothing else for the good of the order. So I see you wanting a motion and I will move for German. All right. Motion by councelor King. We are any I'll second. All right. Seconded by councelor Safford. Senator
there. Get it right. Any further discussion? All those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Hearing none. We are adjourned at 11:47. Excuse me. Thank you. Yeah.