welcome to the town of Highland Beach uh town commission meeting Welcome We are all we are very happy that you're here and we're calling everyone to attention So uh today is Tuesday March 4th and it's now 1:30 and we are calling
the meeting to order If you could please um do the roll call Clerk Commissioner Goldberg present Commissioner Peters is absent Commissioner David present Vice Mayor Stern present Mayor Moore present Town manager Labidity present And town
attorney Ruben present Thank you We could all rise for the pledge I pledge algiance 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 And will our chaplain please uh deliver the invocation Thank you Let us pray We come before you with humble hearts oh Lord seeking your wisdom and grace As we gather to serve our community in a world where division
can so easily take hold we ask for your spirit of unity to guide us Help us to set aside personal differences and come together with respect understanding and a shared purpose May our discussions today be filled with kindness our decisions be made with
integrity and our actions reflect the best interests of those we serve in Highland Beach Let us remember that we are stronger together and that through cooperation and mutual respect we can build a community that thrives We ask that you bless our town its people and
its future May we work hand in hand to create a place of peace progress and harmony In your holy name we pray Amen Amen Thank you very much Uh moving on to the approval of the agenda Does anyone
have any changes to our agenda If none if we could have a motion I move that we approve the agenda as presented I'll second that Second All in favor say I I Moving on to presentations and proclamations Resolution number
2025-00005 a resolution of the town commission of the town of Highland Beach Florida ratifying the selection appointments and term of office of members of the board of adjustment and appeals and providing for an effective date And today we have uh Mr Rajier
Aurora Is he here Do we know if he was made Okay Um well I mean I guess we can discuss even though he would like you could also postpone it and then we contact him again Let's postpone it Yeah it's probably
best if he comes before us Are are you Mr Aurora No Oh perfect Oh you are Are you Mr Aurora No Oh okay Okay I thought you said we're saying yes Okay Um I move that we postpone this
resolution to the next meeting Is that so Any second Second All in favor say I I I Okay Moving on to the next resolution Uh number 2025-00007 a resolution of the town commission of the town of Highland Beach
Florida ratifying the selection appointments and term of office of members of the planning board and providing for an effective date And here we are considering um uh Commissioner Evelyn David uh for uh planning board
member u uh Commissioner E uh David will complete her six years as commissioner and so therefore she is um available to uh be appointed and I want to say thank you very much for your volunteerism and for doing this I think it's very
valuable Um I am very much in favor of of this appointment I guess I'll let everyone make a comment Go ahead Oh we all salute her uh her application her willingness to to continue to serve this wonderful town and I am so totally
delighted and happy that you'll continue to come into this hall Thank you Yes totally support her We appreciate the nomination We appreciate you Thank you very much So I'll go ahead and make uh the motion Uh I move that we accept resolution number 2025-
Z007 approving the appointment of Evelyn David to the planning board Seconded Do you want to do a roll call or should I just say um all in favor say I I I Motion carries Okay Next
item Update on Milani Park Um so on my last update on this topic I had previously mentioned that uh Palm Beach County has selected the architect um who will design the park um and they have
shared a conceptual design with me So I thought I would share the conceptual design with you and also uh to let you know that this model will um reside at
the clerk's office here in town in in the town hall And so if any you want to look at it closer because I know you're not going to be able to see it as well as I present it um you you can do so So and then I guess
before I go over the model I also want to um announce we've we've we have shared the word about this but um Palm Beach County is hosting another public outreach meeting Um it is scheduled for
April 2nd at the South County Civic Center scheduled for 6:00 p.m And at that time they will probably do a more thorough presentation than I am today And there will be options for the town
uh to consider Um they they very much want public input uh you know on certain aspects of the park So I do recommend that people attend And I guess I'm wondering um if we should arrange for
buses or something or maybe that's something to be discussed if you know some sort of uh since it won't be here in Highland Beach So we can uh do a quick poll We'll send out uh have my team send out some communication see if there's folks that
would be interested in collectively driving down uh to hear from the county and the architects make their presentation um it's on Jog Road It's about 20 minutes with traffic So um we'll do that We'll send out an email and see if anybody's interested in doing it Well
then we'll determine how many if any we need uh and go from there Sounds good So to give you a preview of what will be presented at that April 2nd meeting Um Okay So I know it's hard to see but this
is a conceptual 3D model that was presented uh by the architect Um running through the middle here is A1A And so you have the west parcel of A1A and you
have the east parcel Um some things that you'll notice and I know it's hard to see on the TV but uh maybe people who are sitting here in the audience it it just um there's going to be there's a
proposal to put just a lot of shade trees mature shade trees so that residents who are in neighboring uh buildings as they look down on the park the parking
is somewhat camouflaged So one message that the residents have conveyed to Palm Beach County is the desire for the park to be beautiful and that it not look like your standard parking lot And so
this was one of the concepts that they are employing in order to kind of camouflage um the the parking Another key piece of input that has been provided uh to the
county is our concerns about traffic and that cars would be stacked um and causing delays on A1A And so what they've done to try to address that is
um as you actually I have this upside down but um as you drive into the park um obviously there's a lane to go into the park and a lane to come a separate lane to come out of the park And what they've done is they've put a median
uh so that cars entering the park have to go all the way west um as far west as possible and then loop around um so that you can't quickly turn into
the park and then try to park and then cause more traffic delays So that was one of the concepts that they were using in order to allow for the maximum number of stacking within the park
Um some other features that they're they're doing So the architect is not only an architect he is a landscape architect with um his specialty is building on on
coastal uh properties He is a professor at FAU He um holds a lot of lectures He's written uh published books and articles on
um I'm probably not saying this correctly but the best ways to build along the coast And so that includes um the most knowledge on uh native plants that evaporate water as quickly
as possible that enhance the the fawn and flora of the of the property So what they're proposing are using species of plants um so trees that evaporate water as quickly as possible because obviously
there's a water retention issue um on this property They are proposing native plants that um promote uh the growth of uh dragonflies which eat mosquitoes um uh butterfly plant plants that um
attract butterflies and other uh uh type of environment uh positive environmental um animals and things that uh will you know promote the the the most natural and native fawn and fora of
of the of the uh property Um so these trees these shady trees are all throughout the property Um lined along A1A Um and they are truly natural beauty as possible
Um some of the parking has to be asphalt because uh to allow for handicapped individuals to access the park Um but they're but the other sections of the park um they're proposing um what they
call grass crete which is where uh grass can grow through and you mow so that it doesn't look it's not like a completely asphalt um parking lot Um and they are proposing retain all
the water that collects is to be retained on the property So they're maintaining that retention that water retention area which is on the northwest side of the property And so what they're planning to do is also build uh like a a
boardwalk type thing that goes through that section of the property So that is almost a a something to visit on that property in order to um enjoy the natural um uh fawn and flora of the of
the property Going to the east side on the beach It's hard for you to see but I can see it very clearly Um there is a a winding boardwalk that goes through the property and there with several what
they're calling um areas for lookout um areas Um they're also proposing as you walk down to there' be one point of access to the beach which would be in the middle of the property um one is a
ramp for the handicapped access and the other is um a very long set of stairs So that almost serves as a place for people to sit and enjoy the beach And these
lookout points are also areas to sit and enjoy the beach And even along the winding um pathway along that entire thing there'll be like areas for seating Um
they're also proposing some playful elements that might um be uh more advantageous for the younger residents kids and things like climbing ropes that would connect the uh boardwalk to like
trees for example so that kids might enjoy and then seating right next to it so that you know perhaps the older generation could could enjoy with their grandkids Um the restrooms and the lifeguard office would be in the
footprint of the current house that's there Um and there'll be lots of uh shade shading trees on the east side of the property as well So the purpose of that is um taking the input from the
public that you know there's not a lot of beach there So there will be lots of elements on the property to just kind of enjoy the beach instead of having to go actually on the sand
Um so that's that's kind of a highlevel overview of of the concepts Um and they'll be the the county from what I understand they'll have different options for different finishes of things
and um like the outlook the um lookouts and um and like how it'll be situated on the property So there will be some things uh for the public to provide input on So the architect will make his presentation
um and and explain what types of things that they're what type of input they're looking for So I highly recommend that everyone participate and provide input um as much as possible
So with that um I guess what I wanted to do was to allow for public input uh public comments on Milani Park at this point in time Um so uh uh with this item on the agenda we're
going to limit uh public comments to three minutes So just raise your hand and let me know if you want to come up and make a comment Oh okay Maggie Maggie was the first one So state your name and uh where you live and you've got three minutes Thanks My
name is Maggie Chapelier and I've served on the natural resources board and I volunteer beach and many aspects don restoration turtle preservation and now Milani Park A while back when I started getting involved in city government
volunteering I realized that there was this park that was very controversial Milani Park As a person that's been around the block 68 years I always believe that we should have a plan B If
things don't go the way you want them to you should always have a plan B And my plan B was if by some chance we don't win the no park idea There should be a plan B where we communicate with Palm
Beach County who owns the land as to what the residents would want I considered many aspects of things I would like to see in the park as well as my my friend Laura over here who helped me in this endeavor And we met with
Marcy Woodward when everyone else was mad at her And I said "Marcy is there any chance we could bring this down to 40 parking spaces?" And I wanted bicycle racks I wanted to have more bicycle
presence more people that would show up walking their dogs things like that And I presented a PowerPoint uh like I'm going to do later for the sign thing And they uh they like my ideas I even had the opportunity to present my plan B to
the architect who's designing this and a lot of the things that I came up with along with Laura who's going to speak after me were incorporated into this town Now there was an article that just came out in the Coastal Star and the first thing out of the article said
"Maggie Chapelier I'm being a little bit harassed by people who don't understand what's going on here." And here it is folks The park that no one wanted is coming your way The town can't do
anything about it They Palm Beach County your the taxpayers bought it in I think uh I don't know what year in the 80s and the town the commissioners the mayor signed a resolution in
1999 giving them a 100 spaces and some other stuff that I didn't like So I wanted to work with Marcy Woodward the person that is in charge of all this and told her this is not going to be a good
thing for the town So my purpose in this whole ordeal and controversy is I want if there's going to be a park we want to be heard as to what we want We want less spaces I'm hoping that when you go to
that meeting April 2nd that am I cut off that that uh that they will make modifications to the parking and I still hold hope But there is no way that this park is not going to happen Not because I had anything to do with it It's
because the county wants the park That's what I want to emphasize Thank you Um who want Um Barbara Good afternoon Mayor and Commissioners Thanks so much for having me Your name and where you live My name is Barbara
Nestle I'm a neighbor of the Milani family who is here flew in from Canada for this meeting We are all aware that the county has made a 70 decision to proceed with the Milani Park project as Maggie just pointed out and they are already actively promoting it There is
actually a meeting in Palm Beach that you mentioned but there's also one in Delray Beach They just sent a letter to all the residents So they're really serious They want to do it It's going to happen We also I have to say deeply all residents I've spoken to many many people We all deeply appreciate the town
of Highland Beach strong efforts to oppose the associated parking lot for decades All your hard work I mean we know it and we truly appreciate it We are super truly grateful for your stellar leadership of this town beyond
Milani Park but also in particular what you've done for the residents all your efforts for this for this park opposition I am here today specifically regarding a change of circumstances that I wanted the public to be aware of The Milanis are my neighbor and they have
informed me very recently that they have directly communicated their opposition to the park project to the county They are hopeful that this initial step will pave the way for a final productive meeting between the town and themselves
The Milani family has indicated they are now prepared to significantly compromise from their previous development requirements showing a genuine genuine truthful willingness to find a mutually agreeable solution To demonstrate this
commitment I respectfully request that the Milani family formally submit a written request to the county clearly outlining their position Residents sincerely hope that this action will then motivate the town commission to
engage in one last just one meeting one last decisive meeting with the Milani family I believe a final collaborative effort could lead to a resolution that benefits both all the town residents and the Milani family So that's all that I
wanted to say regarding the new circumstances I appreciate that you were listening Thank you John So it's uh John Shoemaker with the Claritan condo Been in Highland Beach 24
years now Uh it's been a long time since I've been here Um certainly didn't want to interfere with anything I think you guys have been doing a good job I appreciate all the work that's been done by Marshall Uh I need to first give some
appreciation and praise to our first responders I was involved in writing up their stories and I have to say that Chief Joseph where's the chief Hartman Uh and Jeff Reis have been particularly helpful to the presidents of the condos
of Highland Beach As you may know we get together about every four months or so and we talk about the issues of the condos I want to talk about Del Rey I don't want to talk about Boer I just want to talk about what we have to deal with the condos certifications you know
electrical structural insurance SER the SER reserves all of that stuff Well it also is clear that there's a lot of concern about Manny Park Uh so what I like to say is that
maybe maybe two years ago pick it up Pick it up [Laughter] That's a great ring So I think it was about a year and a
half ago and I said to the commission EMS and fire department building and team all of that work that was done over what almost four years uh was a signature success you were very instrumental in all of that to say the least and I think
that the whole commission has worked very hard on that What I'm hoping is that this park doesn't become the signature failure That long after you're out of your rolls you're going to drive by that park you're going to see it And it's going to
be either a great place or it's going to be a nightmare A nightmare being mainly parking And originally I thought we were all talking of 42 car park for a year or two uh that was blown up at the county meeting when I think we finally and
that's the only time I heard that there's going to be 100 cars and a possibility of it going to 120 In fact one of the commissioners talked about why can't we have more than 100 So it all comes down to in my view the contract I've always stated get together
with the Milani family the county and yourselves Marshall and the lawyer Sit down and work out a new agreement because any contract can change Amendments changes edits whatever is needed you can still do it Regardless of
the concept that you've described we can still stop the park and do what half the town at least from the input I get from the presidents and so forth half this town doesn't want this park So it's your responsibility to meet the
needs and interests of the residents And I don't even want to think about the other half of the town when they start running into parking problems So I wish you um you know good luck Meet with the Milani family and whoever at the county
and pull off a miracle Thank you Thanks John Uh uh sir Okay Yeah I don't know your name Please come up My name is my neighbor Okay Please state your name and where you live Hi My name is Claude
Castro I live at Braale 4747 Ocean Uh this is the first time I've come here Uh not been active but I want to basically follow up what the gentleman said before me I think this park could be a nightmare and I know that you've worked very hard but what I'm hearing here is
that there's been a significant change in the Milani family I think they've been pushing it for a while I'm hearing that they're prepared to change that position and I think we should take advantage of that Um I don't know if the park is as final
as we're hearing I don't know if funding has been uh approved There may be ways to address it but I think the time is now And I think from what I'm hearing time is of the essence So I would echo what this gentleman said Let's give it one more shot Uh I think it's a sign
Again it's new to me but when I hear that the proponents of this park are ready to go back and say "No let's not do it." I think we should take advantage Thank you Thank you for for coming Okay Peter come on up
I'm Peter Kasovski from Villanova um bit late to today's meeting but I had a couple of thoughts from the beginning I thought that the park should be essentially uh commenurate with the size of our town
I actually handc counted the number of parking spaces in the Bokeh uh various Bokeh parking lots for their public beach uh also up in Del Rey And we're about 4,200 people Probably about 2500
people are here at any amount of time And a 100 uh car parking lot could significantly increase our population and overwhelm u you know our law enforcement and fire department Um so I asked it to be
proportional to the town size And the response I got it's not for your town it's for the county but we're the people that really have to take care of it I don't expect that uh they're going to be full-time um police presence uh in on
the beach and uh I'm not sure with the garbage collection and how you'll be able to get people off in time to close the gates whether you'll have squatters or not So I I thought we could possibly get it back to 42 cars or such I think
it's a waste of uh space to have all parking lots You could have a children's playground could have a bike uh setup You could you could even put in a tennis court or two if you wanted to but to have it essentially asphalt uh uh filled
with 100 cars is I think a bad idea Uh one of the things that came up in one of the meetings was that the county refused to do a traffic analysis And I can only wonder why We're close to essentially uh Spanish River We
have some of the largest condos in our in our town of Highland Beach uh essentially adjacent to where the park would be And I was wondering if the town by itself should undertake to do a traffic uh
analysis and see exactly what a 100 cars would be What 100 to 400 people crosswalking uh in the middle right before you have um another crosswalk and a traffic light I don't think that the
analysis is going to show that it's going to be good But we have if we're going to go try to downsize it I think it's sort of a hail mary to try to stop it But if we want to downsize it to something that's more manageable I think
we have to go in with some facts to show that their plan is not good And therefore I would suggest that uh we do our own traffic study uh and safety study and and uh if
the findings show that 100 cars is too much and not really manageable uh and have safety problems that we at least have some ammunition if we decide to go back to the county uh they don't care
how how much we complain uh whether there'll be garbage trash loiterers you know uh alcoholism drugs or whatever could come to the beach that that is not really their concern concern But I think if you bring up a safety concern
uh to them and that it shows that there's a safety element that maybe they uh have gone uh beyond the norms then if there's any accidents or something the county will be held responsible and it becomes a a legal problem perhaps for
them But I don't think we could just go back to West Palm Beach in front of the commissioners and give the same old story we have to go with with some facts on why we want it downsized or or or changed I think uh John Shoemaker I
think in one of his emails said that with the $40 million uh appraisal of the property $8 million to improve the property came out to about $500,000 per parking space that they were going to put up I I think that's a a very poor
investment for the county quite frankly I know they have a mandate to have a certain amount of of uh uh of beachfront but Oh okay But uh we're adjacent to the public beach in in Bokeh We really don't add that much Thank you for your time
Yeah Thanks Laura I guess I'm a little confused State your name and I'm sorry Laura Thirsten I'm in Bokeh Highland and I've been working with Maggie Chapelier on trying to mitigate the damage to the community through meeting with Palm Beach trying
to get things that would be assets to our community as opposed to what we were thinking was going to be just an asphalt parking lot And I thought we made a lot of progress there I guess my question now is if we're going back to square one here what are the Milan I would like to hear from the Milanis what their plans
are for this this new proposition Thank you Uh Christine Hi Uh Chris Viegas 3407 South Ocean Um I you know I'm I'm a little bit confused I was involved in meetings last
year and went to the commissioner's office and this isn't just a simple contract This involves litigation This involves uh someone who's already sold property to the county and the county is
pretty far down the road I am not wouldn't like to see this park in in place but uh I think Peter's ideas about uh doing a study that might be very helpful because that might get them to look hard at the parking spaces but
without something I I am unaware that anything's been put in writing and given to the commission so that we could take a look at it So this isn't even a real hard proposal So I I think that uh as we go forward if we have an opportunity to
impact these plans and reduce the spaces and get impervious surfaces in there and put bike paths and other things and places for bicycles that that's really where the bang for the buck will be gotten and that is what I would
encourage uh you and I'll certainly uh go to the meetings uh that they have So thank you Thank you Uh Dr Rick Greenwald Tranquility Drive Uh I haven't had any private meetings
with anybody so I have no insider information about where we are I have been relatively faithful about reading what's posted on the town's website and coming to meetings and getting your your updates And I did go to along with uh many of the other people here to the uh
county commission meeting last spring where we had the opportunity to speak And I came away from that meeting and have not been dissuaded that things have changed that much in terms of philosophy But I came away feeling very
strongly that uh number one the county was going ahead with this park and they have their own statistics about how many parks they need And I previously was making the mistake if you will of conflating parks like Delray's Park or
Bokeas Parks which are really much bigger and much nicer than the the proposed site in in Highland Beach But the county doesn't look at it that way because they're looking for their park their county park with their rules So that's number one The other
thing that they made totally clear is they don't really want to negotiate with us over terms of the contract for two reasons One is they don't trust the town based on its history of negotiating with them over
the last 30 years And number two they don't want to change any of the terms of the contract because what they have now has been fully litigated And they don't want any o any they don't want any changes that could potentially open them up to more litigation that would in turn delay this
park which they want to get done And the existing contract as you know has phases where they have to get it done within a certain amount of time and they're approaching their last 5year run So there's a lot of things with that That doesn't mean that we shouldn't continue to have some some input I would
encourage people to go to the meetings If we can get them to change things in a favorable direction that's great If a traffic study will show whether we may need a traffic light there it would be the only one in Highland Beach But we may because I don't see how people are going to safely cross the street as well
as cars making left turns in or left turns out But that's something that they can study and the traffic engineers can figure that out But those are things that we should be looking at for safety To get them to stop at this point I just don't see it I mean they're tired of the
not in my backyard arguments I mean they get that all the time If I were a town commissioner I'd be tired of hearing that too And the other thing that I found a little bit depressing but whenever there were any other residents from non-H Highland Beach at the meeting that had anything to say about anything
they have zero sympathy for all the rich people in Highland Beach having a public beach in Highland Beach Zero And you know I think that we're up against it And at this point the best thing to do is you know
we can have a stand but we need to play nice Get the best thing we can If that means more bicycle racks or other things ensuring safety that sort of thing that's what we should be uh doing rather than trying to get back to uh ground
zero I think we lost that battle sometime over the last couple years Thank you Thanks Thank you very much Uh Jason come on up Uh Jason Chernowski um Commissioner Evelyn David I want you to know that the role you'll be filling in the planning
board is a very powerful warm seat That's number one I just clarification um in listening to the presentations am I correct that what's being asked is for the commissioners to have another meeting with the Milanis Is
that's what's being asked I mean we'll we'll discuss um I mean we're just hearing comments right now And I I'm not sure what a meeting between the town and the Milanis will have as far as the county park
County has says they're they're building this park I'd say let's let all the public comments finish and then we'll discuss as a commissioner I'm sure will speak I was I was trying to understand because there's a lot of back and forth which we've heard before on the park
itself and I was just curious um what the question was going to be to the commissioners uh to vote on and that's that's what I was not clear on mayor Okay Thank you very much Are there any Um yes Hello Uh I'm Susie Hiles from uh
3,400 South Ocean Boulevard and um I've lived in Highland Beach for approximately 24 years and I've been on a uh the um Highland Beach Turtle team for approximately 22 years And um I um I also was on Beaches and Shores
previous years on their advisory board And um I do agree with I don't want to repeat it all but everything that Barbara Net Barbara Nestle has said uh involving um this situation Um but uh I
also represent uh the turtle team here in Highland Beach and I've walked that beach uh many thousands of times and there is a lot of activity there from the sea turtles and that's you know for that we get at least uh 20 to 35 nests
there So I still don't understand you know how that's going to be be protected So I I'm just asking if there could be another you could consider another negotiation you know since the Milanis um want to want to speak to So that was
just that's all I had to say today Thank you Thank you very much Uh John Chapelier Belair Drive I wasn't going to say anything but I thought I heard so much today Um and I think maybe
I can summarize the situation a little bit The county owns the land Period Doesn't belong to anybody else It's their land Number two they have an approved development plan approved by this town and they have every legal
right to build it Um certainly as part of their plan or anybody's plan I think they'll do a traffic study They should um and figure out where and if a light is necessary etc Um terms of the turtles
the parks closed at night so that should take care of that issue Um I think it's up to us to try and get the best park we can get and stop thinking about no
park so far That got us nowhere That's it Thanks Oh yes I wasn't Oh no Sorry There was an There's a gentleman Uh or Karen go ahead You want behind you He was letting you go first So but I was happy to
My name is Karen Jones I live at 4307 South Ocean Boulevard I've been a resident for over 28 years I live on the beach Um I don't think anybody you know I also went to the meeting that county Um I don't think anyone's taking in
consideration the crime factor here Um I live on the beach I see the squatters on the beach I see the people coming on the beach that should not be there Um it's it scares me The past three years I've
never been scared to live there I didn't lock my door at night sometimes but now it's it's pretty scary And if anybody wants to consider the crime and how we're going to shut off this 400 feet of beach which it's only 400 feet of beach
and we're not going to get any help from the county on sand or dredging or any benefits to our beautiful town which is called Highland Beach I I just don't understand how we're going to handle that How we're going to handle the crime and how we're going to handle that Cuz
right now it's it's scary to be a resident on the beach And I never thought I'd say that after living here for 28 years And that's all I really have to say And I always looked at that property and if we were going to do anything I thought it would benefit the town Like have a tennis court have bike
racks don't have 100 parking spaces for 400 feet of beach How are we going to contain these people who are non-residents I mean it's just very scary for me I know I'm not you know I don't know anything correct about the law or anything but I'm just telling you
the fear that I have as a resident That's all I have to say Thank you Thank you sir Yes Please My name is Cranble I live at 4523 south We have a house Um we've been here
13 years two different locations I originally came here to advocate against this parking lot and I guess the implication of the park but I don't think I need to repeat everyone has already said and um and it's obvious
that there's the residents of the town It's unanimous nearly unanimous opposed to having this park and parking lot I think what's different today from all of the other arguments and I understand you know we should accept what the
counts he's going to do this and we should go ahead but there I think there has been a change and Barbara my neighbor alluded to it that the Melanie family is willing to have a discussion with the mayor and the
commissioner and I think given the overwhelming um opinion of the residents of the town that we shouldn't have the park as it's currently planned Uh I think you should have that meeting I would strongly
encourage you to have that meeting with the Milani family If that doesn't solve the problem fine And I would go along with the idea that we try and make this the best we can But I think it would be a big mistake not to have that meeting
And I do have a sense that perhaps the county might move off its position if as a result of that meeting That's all I have to say Thank you Thank you sir Uh Tim Routollo formerly of Highland Beach now Boca Raton Uh the gentleman in
the back was right about not much sympathy from outside the the town Um I've listened to some nasty things coming from this commission about Milani
Park talking most recently about it being a dangerous beach and things of that nature Uh the commissioners of Palm Beach County have taken nothing but abuse And so I'd like
to to see it all end so that the county can have a nice park for all of its residents to visit soon Thanks Any other comments Okay Oh Maggie you want to go
ahead Okay sure I can speak Okay I guess not In closing we have the Milani family would like to speak and I'm dying to hear from them as well cuz they're the ones that you already had What I want to say
is guys people of Highland Beach they own the land They're going to give us a park Laura and I have been working with the county commissioners and the mayor to come up with something that we'll all like Our kids will like the community
will embrace It'll be something spectacular if they're going to spend 8 million dollars on it They're going maybe they'll reconsider and give us less parking That's what I'm hoping for But we have been kind of rough on the
commissioner She's trying I felt that when I went to the meeting So let's hear what the Milanis have to say Uh hi Cam Millennia 4612 South Boulevard Um hi everyone I've met some of you not all of you Um thanks for
coming out today Bit of an emotional piece for our family It's been 40 years and know a lot of you've been around for that time Um some of you were probably there in May when when I gave a speech as to our family position on the park
and you know a lot has changed since then and it's been difficult for us and and I want you to know we hear you We're getting a lot of feedback from you and I know there's a mix of thoughts on perhaps what could happen here what
should happen here half some none Um and let me just put on the record we're open to a discussion Uh before we weren't uh today we are Um we live in Highland Beach We We're here with you We care
about this town We do a lot of business in this town Uh we have development projects here We care about you know what you guys all want to see here and we're not completely blind to that Um so I want to express our support for the
town I don't know where we could land on this but I want you to know we're not we're not here to say build a park tomorrow We're here to say please tell us if you don't want this park built And I'm getting a few mixed signals And if that's where this commission lands that
you really really don't want this park we'll stand with you Okay Okay What's that And and I'm open to fielding questions from you if if you want to put me on the spot Um I'm happy to field those questions and have an open discussion about it Okay Thank you
very much for your comment Really appreciate it May I make a statement Um yes I think we're done with public comments Correct Wait but that's that's all right There's one big thing that everybody seems to be
missing The Milanis at this point have no say in whether that park gets built or not They sold a piece of property When you sell a piece of property whoever buys it owns it You don't come
get to come back 40 years later and say "We think you should do something else." They don't have a say If they really feel this way let them go to the county commission The town doesn't have a say
They don't have a legal say The county is the only one who can control what goes on with that piece of property They have made it very clear they intend to put in a park and as
several people said we can try and adjust what goes in but there will be a park And the more we push against a wall that's already been put up the harder the county is
going to fight back against us They I mean if you hit your head against the wall so many times all that happens is you get a headache but the wall doesn't break And we all have to look at the
legalities of it The town doesn't have a say if the county follows all the points that were in the settlement agreement from a lawsuit mind you not just a simple contract but a lawsuit The county has the right to
build that book We hope they will take into consideration things like traffic and crime and all of these other things which will have been pointed out to them by the way over and over and over again
and we hope that they will deal with it and but we don't have a choice at this point and quite frankly I'm sorry but I legally I don't see where you have a say
either If you feel you can convince the county to do something else by all means go and talk to them But I mean I don't know where people think this is going We have worked for God I've worked on this
probably for five years trying not to get this park The park is coming Period The park is coming And I understand people don't want that and I live in Boca Highland I am not
looking forward to looking at a parking lot I agree But sometimes you have to go to plan B And plan B is not going to be no park because that's not in the
cards I'm sorry It just isn't at this point So you may not talk from the audience unless you're with this is the way the commission is discussing there is no discussion from the audience Um yeah I guess I also want to make some
comments Um like has already been said this is an agreement uh this is a settlement um with the county Um I have been told on numerous occasions the county is not open to modifying the
settlement agreement Um a year ago I def I definitely was very hopeful that we had the opportunity um to make a change Um uh it was it was you know as of April
of last year the county has issued a notice to resume development which means that has triggered certain components of the settlement agreement which means they have a very specific timeline that
they have to meet if there was ever a time to try to change the county commissioners which we did which by the way we did In February we we um issued a resolution which is how municipalities communicate with each other in an
official capacity We made excellent arguments as to why they should not proceed with the park Um I personally with we hired a lobbyist met individually one- on-one with each
commissioner our our commissioner Commissioner Woodward and each of the other six to try to with a an excellent presentation prepared by our lobbyist Um it it it had no impact whatsoever Um we
issued a co once that notice to resume development was declared by Palm Beach County we immediately issued um an action which was we got buses together to go to the public meeting on May 7th of
2024 A bunch of us came with t-shirts and we I was extremely proud of our residents We all made ex excellent reasons as to why this park why the county should reconsider the park And
again it was before they issued the notice to resume development And it had no impact whatsoever Since that meeting they've issued a notice to resume development They have um they have issued an RFP for
to hire the architect They have hired the architect They are in a contract with uh Brooks and Scarpa for over 900,000 to do this park That is done That was completed in September of last
year They have progressed with all kinds of soil testing and you know all the kind of testing you know they're starting on the archaeological assessments and all that they have already expended a good amount of funds to do
all that Um there there is no turning back at this point The point to do this was a year ago and even then the chances were slim Now they are the their their legal
um their legal council has told you know advised the commissioners you got to move forward you know these if you don't comply with all the triggers that are in place right now according to the contract it it fails it is a fatal thing
and they can't develop their project there is nobody there is no turning back and believe me I I I would prefer not to have the park I really would prefer not to have the park my position has always
been I' you know rather see it developed into residential units and get the tax dollars to benefit the town Um I know you know not everybody feels the way I do but that was my that was my position But we are subject to a settlement agreement and we are law-abiding
citizens and we will go according to the settlement agreement And I think it is in the in my opinion my vote is it is in our best interest to proceed and to cooperate as best as we can with Palm Beach County develop the relationship
with Palm Beach County um and to try to get the best arc for our town Um what what the architect is proposing is actually more costly than your typical
barebones park And if we want them to make that kind of investment in our town I think we need to show cooperation collaboration um with Palm Beach County And I I can
tell you they are open I there were several instances where they displayed to me where they were taking into account our considerations Um so I propose that we continue moving
in that direction show cooperation go to this meeting provide the input that we have and move forward and not resist a legal settlement you know that it that has been you know
tested Um so that is my opinion So let's see what the other commissioners Well I I concur Am I Yes I do concur w with the mayor and commissioner David um uh at this juncture that is the best um foot
forward uh that we should make as a commission as a town Uh just notably the Milani family had been uh I was at the county meeting what was it a year ago several good several months ago uh when uh the Alani Milani family had
representation by council I believe uh and they were aligned with the county in in proceeding uh with the park They were um not uh aligned uh uh with our position uh at that time uh
unfortunately and again as a settlement agreement court order um there are restrictions It is just not a there are ways perhaps to get through it you know consideration on both ways and and um going back to court possibly
and changing it but that time has passed and this is the time for cooperation I'm impressed with what uh you showed us today and I think the efforts that have been made by those in the town that have been able to um sit down with um uh with
our county representative um was good was good We see the results and um uh anything we can do um uh to encourage uh a police protection other than the
town I know that they've committed to what is it the the county sheriff would be here Uh they it's not going to be our Highland Beach police force I'm very concerned as you are about safety What's going to happen There's not going to be
a wall erected to keep um um those participating enjoying the park from walking the beach So on our beach uh we will have people we don't know and uh we have a wonderful facilities here our
police force our fire department EMS and I'm sure that um we are going to be tackling those issues and possibly those problems that we're going to see and you can be certain that our voice will be
heard will be made uh I hope heard if we have to go back to the county um um and insists that um they do their due diligence under the contract and of under the obligations to us as Palm
Beach County residents I uh totally concur That being said if the Milani family feel that we're missing something or something we should know I invite their comments in order to hear what they have to say I think the case that was made here and especially
your discussion is 100% online and I support it totally Thank you So um I guess I I what I'm hearing is uh
um I I there's no action for us to take No there is no action for us to take Um so I actually I'm um I was uh expecting um with the Milani family here
representative today uh that there would be something concrete something I if was there was anything to offer uh that was more than uh we're here standing with you I mean you didn't use that language necessarily but before we conclude this
discussion um uh and further to what you've just said if there are any other uh comments from the Milani family if there is anything direct that you intend to pursue or to say uh that would change
the circumstances please take this opportunity to do that Let us know Okay Yeah Um come on Kim uh I guess a couple minutes like if there's anything that you want to um answer with respect to Commissioner Goldberg's comment Sure Um
in terms of concrete solutions uh I know I've said I'm here to you know potentially stand with the town Um so in January of last year we had started a negotiation process with respect to our current development applications in uh down at the South End and
um those negotiations sort of stalled out I think similar in line with the meeting in May and and your lobbying efforts and stuff like that Uh so if we revisit that negotiation process and and
could come to an agreement and I would say I thought we were really really close I thought we were like inches away almost feet I mean jokings aside it was it was pretty close Um and I think if we could enter into an agreement that
that's in line with something that this commission had approved you'd have our support like unequivocal you know loud and I believe persuasive um at the end of the day And I know Miss David you don't think there's a shot at this I
know I know I get it I listen I can see how you would feel that way and I can see how a lot of residents would feel that way But I've climbed out of deeper holes in my life I know it's a short life but um I wouldn't give up I think
we can do something if we get together and and we push together I believe in my powers of persuasion Um I think I can convince them I believe I can definitely start a conversation I think um we had
started a conversation in January uh of this year I think that was evidence of the fact that the the park item was on the agenda at all Um you know we started that conversation We we had met with some people and we're like "Look I think this is an item that deserves debate We
even met with with Commissioner uh Woodward and she had undertaken that we would meet together and see if we could come to an agreement That meeting hasn't taken place." Um so I'm I'm here to say "Look I'm open to it That that proposal that you guys put on the table for us in January of last year I'm open to
accepting that proposal." Um so you know things like that But you know maybe I you ask me what concrete things am I willing to put on the table I'm pretty much saying the agreement you guys put on the table So something like that I we're totally open to doing
So I'm hopefully that's somewhat illustrative of our willingness to sit down Thank you Thank you Um do you want to say anything Go ahead I know I think we should move on to the next issue I I don't think anything different is going to be said at this point and we can't
come to any kind of conclusion right now So we should just move on to the next agenda item Yes I I I maybe to close I'll just um make a couple of comments Um I just want to point out there are a couple things that Mr Milani said
um that I just want to emphasize He said he would stand with us um not not uh I want what was lacking in that in my opinion was any specific um action and I'll tell you what action
has has taken place in a in a public forum and and I guess another thing I would emphasize to us is anything that happens with the Milani family should be out in public It should be at a meeting here with the public being able to
provide um commentary Any any kind of any kind of discussion needs to be in public at a public meeting and you can look at our calendar of meetings to know when our public meetings are Um the
other thing I would point out he um Mr Milani referenced discussions January of last year and um and at that time which is when the town of Highland Beach was really trying to you know before the
notice of resume development we were really trying to we did the resolution we got the lobbyists in addition to all those actions the town of Highland Beach reached out to the Milani family as another fork in the approach to try to
convince the county commissioners ers We wanted to see if the Milani family would also in public um uh oppose the park Instead April 24th
of 2024 there was a letter from the um attorney representing the Milani family um from uh Tom Carney to Commissioner Weiss Uh this office represents Mrs Luchia U Milani uh Mrs Milani wanted to
make it very clear that it is her desire that the Milani Park actually be established and that it is established as a public park and not disguised as a private beach which would benefit only a few Uh it goes on to say Mrs Milani is urging that the county decide in favor
of the provisions set forth in the agreement um and not and not to agree with the town of Highland Beach that the use of this park be severely limited Uh I I mean I think we can share this This is public information So that was at the
time that we were trying to get our stuff together before it went as far as it is right now um as recently as January 17th 2025 another letter from Ton Carney
um to Commissioner Woodward I represent the Milani family and I am writing to you regarding KMD Milani Park in Highland Beach We have recently reviewed the agenda of Palm Beach County Commission for the meeting held on December 10th 2024 and saw that the park
was um identified Um they're saying um you know it is 100 uh parking spots enough It's very important to us that we get the park that was agreed to and was part of the settlement the bond issue proceeds proceeds which were used to acquire the land contemplated that the
park would be built in its entirety and at at the same time the Milani family has waited a long time to see this park to come to fruition and they want to ensure that it is built for the purposes which it was sold um and the purposes for which the bond was issued This was
as recent as January 17 2025 Um at the Palm Beach County meeting on February 4th of 2025 um they they were discussing uh Milani Park Ron Riami Marshall and myself were
present at that meeting Um Ron made a very good public comment saying that you know the county should reconsider the park The Milani family doesn't he he he believed the Molly Milani family didn't want the park any
longer Um could you please reconsider the park No commissioner responded whatsoever to Ron's comment The discussion at the meeting was about Commissioner Flores asked why there was
only 100 spots He was pushing for 180 spots And he also wanted to make sure that there was enough access for handicapped people That is the spirit of the commission at Palm Beach County
right now They're not asking to reduce the scope of the car park arc They're asking why it is is as small as it is right now That is the spirit of the commission Not one of them not one of them acknowledged Ron's comment And if
anything they are pushing for more And that is because anything that has been communicated in public has been about proceeding with the full park and if anything making it even bigger that has what has been communicated in public I
also have you know I recommend you watch the meeting from May 7th of 2024 I have it queued up on my phone and I'm I'm like this close to uh showing it which was um Mr Milani's very moving comment
that it was his dad's wish for the public to have access to the park that it's been long enough that the county needs to move forward Um and that the Milani family wants this park That is what has been communicated in public Um
and even today the comment is we will stand with you if you if you oppose the park That is what is being communicated in public And so I I I can understand where the public
is coming from cuz I was where you were a year ago You know come on we can we can oppose this We can do this We can convince them We've got great arguments But the bottom line is they own the park and we have a settlement agreement and that is the law we have you know they
are moving forward with what the settlement agreement is and there is no other influence um with the county They are they are already beyond well beyond Um so I uh I don't have anything else
further to say I know Evelyn wants us to keep moving on I don't know if there are any other commissioners that want to say anything Let's see if anybody You're good We're good We're good Okay We're good All right So I think we can we have hit that uh uh piece of it on the agenda
So we can move on Um okay So moving on to public comments Are there any additional public comments not having to do with uh Maloney Park Christine Just wanted to let the commission know that Marcy Woodward has um put a
proposal to the engineering department Nothing to do with Bologani Park This has to do with the bridge at Linton which uh Highland Beach uh residents butt up against and uh she is asked for
a feasibility study and I can forward that information on to the manager to put the sound buffers that Bokeh put on Spanish River So there's each lane has two uh concrete sound buffers and those
sound buffers uh mute the sound of the metal the tires going over So the sound difference is decibb different and so she has asked to they're looking at the Linton Bridge and because our residents
buck buck buck up to it and can hear it Um I wanted to let you know that that's in play and they're going to see if it's three lanes not two like Spanish River but they're going to look and see if feasibly it could be um buffered so that
the sound wouldn't travel So that that is in play and that is something that she's pushing forward Thank you Thanks for letting us know Good to know Good to know John again John Shoemaker the Claridan Um I
wanted to thank Marshall and again the members of uh the teams Chief Joseph and uh with Jeff Remis and of course the chief of police Hartman uh because they've been working with me on veterans
as you know I've been working continue to work on identifying veterans in the military uh where I interview them and write their story and we put it on the website part of the town's community uh information and if anything I want to
continue working to identify veterans So if you all know of veterans who have not been written up go to highland beach us and you'll see the community tab veterans and we're going to continue to identify and bring recognition to them
Uh we've also added of course the veterans in the fire EMS and police departments It's uh it's really because of Marshall supporting it Scender you're back there He's my man on the on the website He does a great job and uh thank
you for your support All righty Any other comments Okay hearing none Moving on to ordinances There are none Uh consent agenda Um any discussion on the consent agenda If none if we could discussion I move we accept the consent
agenda Seconded All in favor say I I Uh moving on to unfinished business building department reertification program update Good afternoon commission My name is Katarina Jadawi with the Town of Highland Beach building department here with another update for the
reertification program So since the last update we have reertified one additional building and that building is region one of the Regency Highland buildings So that goes to 16 in
total We have two buildings that we are still pending additional information Two buildings are overdue on their concrete restoration permit One building is in has an
application in progress to secure a permit Two buildings have a granted extension They were overdue to to submit the concrete restoration permit but the building official granted the extension There's 26 buildings under concrete
restoration permit One building is still within its due date to submit the phase one reports And then the last three buildings are too far to be notified Their due date is too far in advance So there isn't a status mentioned yet
Great Seems like we're moving along No Any concerns of anything No We're making good progress Yes Thank you very much for the update Really appreciate it Thank you Uh next item Florida Department of Transportation tripr project
update In case you didn't notice A1A is under construction and it causes delays Um so they're working they're doing the shoulder work as you could see as they proceed south on the west side of the road Uh that's going to take a little bit time You can see the size of the
excavation and they have to you know engineered fill So they're proceeding I would probably say they're probably a month behind that very initial date of miday kind of timeline Uh they have a lot of detail work that remains once the shoulder work is done Then they'll have
to tie in driveways and then they'll do the final uh paving So it's coming along painful The pain continues I'm hoping uh again be careful with bikers out there please Uh it's been a little bit of a a gnarly season with that So please just
be cautious uh when uh that marked shoulder bike lane whatever you want to call it's actually a marked shoulder When that doesn't exist it pushes more of the uh bike traffic onto the road Just be careful please Um and then uh watch folks uh since we are in the
height of season Uh unfortunately some of our snowbirds forget to push the button and just dart out uh into traffic So please uh be cautious If you see your neighbor tell them to touch the button so at least the lights flash grab a uh a flag and uh help us there That would uh be great because we still we are few
conflicts there as well So um but I'm hoping you know we'll forget all about this come late summer It'll just be a an old bad dream and uh we'll have a beautiful road and move forward Thank uh you have a comment Sure Come on
up and John Shoemaker Claridan Uh yeah it's a big project but what I don't see help me understand the turn lane going onto Linton doesn't seem to be much different than what we've
always had And I thought for sure in the initial plans that they were going to make that twice as long on the turn lane going left when you're going north right Change We're just going to stack up cars in front of the Clarin No So when they finish the entire
shoulder length and they go now uh they do things in a very peculiar way that all of us if we were you know uh sidewalk engineers would probably do it differently Um but once they get done with the shoulder then they're going to go all the way back north because they have to widen out the road and then they'll shift all the striping and
they'll queue up whatever the five additional cars of length in that limb So it's going to come late later like say another month before they get back to the north side and start widening It seems like they've started halfway and going north thinking that that's what I'm saying It's very it's very done I'm
not really following their order either Um and you know F do you know bid I guess you know kind of moving through and I believe the current lane has been three times Three times Three times Yeah As long as they start widening it at some point And they did some work there
initially I don't understand why they didn't continue working on it but once the season ends they'll extend it Okay perfect Thank you Yes Thank you All right moving on to new business Uh discussion on temporary signage regulations Hi good
afternoon Uh for the record in Allentown Planner so on page 41 of your packets I provided you a memorandum Um I did get direction from the town manager to provide the commission with some information on what our code currently says about temporary signage Um so
chapter 23 is where we have our signage regulations Um again on page 41 I've provided you the definition of a temporary sign So that includes uh election signs political signs free expression signs real estate signs directional signs construction signs and
grand opening signs these fall under temporary Um now the code does provide a designated time frame for the display of temporary signs but this is only specific to an event right So if it's a temporary event sign then it shall be removed within and by no later than 3
days after the event is concluded Again this is specific to event The code is silent on any other temporary sign that is not specific to an event Um I do also indicate that the code does not require a permit for a temporary sign And then on the bottom of page 41 I've gone ahead
and provided you what those temporary sign parameters are Um again you can have a maximum number of signs per parcel It can't be more than four signs so on and so forth Um I know that Miss Chapo provided you a a PowerPoint or uh some information that she provided um
that's in your packets and we've I've also go gone ahead and attached the actual sign regulations that are in the code So um at that I'll address any questions that you may have Well um I do you guys want to hear the public com I think Maggie has Oh yeah Maggie has a
public kind of give you the framework what what it is today So it gives you a little context uh for Maggie and John's presentation Yep Okay I'm going to let John Chapelier take this over for a minute John
Chapelier Bair Drive Uh Maggie put together a fabulous presentation PowerPoint and I was going to go after she spoke but I realized that if I did that there'd be nothing left to say I thought I'd go first Uh and just the
reason that we're here to discuss this is because particularly I live on Bair on Bair Drive Although it's a sort of a single family feeling street it's actually a multifamily street Almost
every building is four units And if it's not a four-unit building it's a townhouse of seven or eight and just the natural eb and flow of real estate sales you're going to have maybe one in six of those units for sale at any given time
which means that Bair Drive is constantly covered with for sale signs Um right at the moment we're in a really good market and I think we only have four but we're only like 200 yards long So when you think about that's a lot of
songs Um if it were up to me I would just ban them But like that's the highrises do that They seem to be able to um sell their units without ugly signs everywhere But I'm I'm not asking for that But um what I would like to see
is smaller signs with much more realistic regulation Right now the signs that are out there comply in that they're never bigger than four square feet because that's what the law says or
your zoning says but there might be three of them There's the big one in the middle the one on top that says for sale and the one underneath that says boat dock So and then then they hang it on this enormous white pedestal so that
your actual sign is probably three times that big Um so I'd like to see us adopt an ordinance similar to Manalapan Palm Beach Carl Gables uh Jupiter places like
that They have much smaller signs and they're much more closely um restricted Now that's everything Maggie's got all the rest But I have one last sort of separate comment which isn't this but it's so bizarre I thought I'd bring it
up We have two enormous orange signs on Bair Drive One says as you pull in construction ends here and the other one says construction ahead What in the world are they doing there They don't have them everywhere else They don't
have them on Russell They don't have a Belo and if you live on Bair or you're coming down you don't need to know the construction ends here There's no construction It's 200 yards long Thank you Thank you John Very well
put Okay so I put a PowerPoint presentation to help with the strategic uh priorities that the town has for temporary signage My recommendation is just look at Coral Gables Manalapan
uh like towns like ours So we're our signs are 24 in by 24 in or four square feet All these other towns and I did a lot of research on this they're 5 by8 and we were driving down the beach
and that's what we saw 5 by8 5 by8 It's got the realtor's number That's all you really need So I would like the city to consider that Now in my PowerPoint I just give you some examples of ugly signs The one on the left is a classic where it has the information there with
the big ugly white post The next one in the middle it has the little for snails for sale part snuck above just to make it a little bigger more obnoxious for us And there's your typical ugly uh in a
frame uh sign Next page please Next press It's okay The the next page you're going to see the worst offender of all If we could um Yeah Now you got to remember when you
have multifamily streets like Highland Beach Drive Bair Drive Russell Drive and Bokea Cove it gets really bad over here This is a very offensive sign in my opinion It has waterfront on the top for sale on the bottom Yeah we know it's for sale Okay we know it's the water We all
know that They just add it for extra eye appeal eyes sore appeal I call it Next slide please Okay now this is a beauty here I wish Diane Matthew were here This and a one just like it sat across the street
from her and her husband for about two years Uh when we called the number they said "Oh we don't have anything for sale We just wanted you to call us." I don't know exactly what they said to John but that became what they call a what do you call it Temporary sign that went
permanent on us We complain complain complain They took it down Next one please Another offensive sign that I had to deal with Um one of my neighbors when I moved from Washington DC here in 2018
he put a for sale sign in front of his house for three and a half years until the market caught up with his asking price So I had to look at a sign for three and a half years because there's no ordinance in Highland Beach that says you can't overpric your unit and have a
sign taken down There is one right now close to A1A and Bair Drive uh one of those big plastic ugly signs that's for sale and the lady is so overpriced that it's going to be sitting there It sat there so far maybe a year plus Now one
more slide please I don't want to bore because you guys already had the Milani situation It took forever Next s next one please Lenelda Uh you skipped one or it doesn't matter Uh maybe the next one There it is
So if you have a building of four the ordinance right now says you can have four temporary signs in front of it And that's happened before So we want Highland Beach to be the three miles of paradise or whatever our slogan is And
we want less parking at Milani Park because we want a beautiful park So I'm right there with you guys And let's make this the most beautiful town ever And please read over the ordinances and my ideas And 5 by8 is what all the towns
are using Thank you Good All the good towns Even Dade County is smaller I mean I'm talking Miami Dade County signs are smaller Uh okay A public comment Do you want to Hi thanks Tim Routollo formerly of
Highland Beach now of Boca Raton I've heard some things about the uh Florida Department of Transportation project and we might have some input as far as what happens with the bike path
So this item is about signs Are you uh making a comment about signs We are beyond the uh triple R project update Well I put my hand up for that but we can make this a new business issue I'd like to call for a new business item in the at the next meeting along the lines
of how Miss Chapelier did with the signage as far as the input that the public and others might have to the the recreation or shared path that Okay that's not this item So you'll have to um Thank you Thank you very much but
it's not relevant for the item that we're discussing right now Okay But you skipped over I put my hand up That's okay Thanks Any other comments about temporary signs Okay any discussion among
commissioners about I think you should have them bring in signs so that you you know if you're asking to lower the size of something you need to bring in different signs so you can actually see what you're looking
at and compare them Um and it may even be that put in something that limits how long a sign can be there Uh and also if you're talking 5
by8 I think you should make a distinction for political signs because 5 by8 political sign is useless And political signs in this town anyway are generally only for our
municipal election Very rarely do have I ever seen a sign for something else and it's for a very limited period of time Um just as a note when it's maximum sign for the number of parcels and it's
four if your parcel number is the same number on both sides of the road it's a total of four not four on each side Right You can have two on each side or four on one side or however you want but
it's not four on each side So you have to make sure that you're checking the parcel numbers to see if they go with a different parcel but I think some real idea of and maybe something to show how
high these posts are and so that you actually have an idea of what you're talking about So mayor if I may Yeah go ahead Um the the tricky part and so I I believe this ordinance was adopted probably about 9
years ago 8 nine years ago because there was a Supreme Court case that came out that basically said you can't differentiate um regulations for temporary signs based on content So you have to be content neutral So that's when Commissioner David was saying well yeah the standard
political sign we all know it's about the same size But that's the issue is like you can't say "Okay well your realtor signs could be this big Your political signs could be this big." Because then you're regulating based on content There is a little more leeway with the commercial speech with the realtor signs than you do with the
political signs but it's there are legal ramifications to all this I just wanted the commission to be aware Not to say that we can't reduce the size and other cities do have smaller sizes but it's just something to consider Oh so hold on We we're not doing that
right now So please sit until your I'm not Yeah So you're Yeah Let's uh follow the order of the um What about the um uh the the definition of temporary
Is there anything in the statute that or case law that can offer us uh some clarification on that Uh not really I mean the temporary signs are essentially the ones that are are not permitted They're the ones that just go up and they they tend to be all the ones that
were named in the you know they're the construction signs the real estate signs the political signs Um all all your post signs and generally your stick in the ground political signs and some of the realtor signs were like that as well But it's just you know cuz temporary signs
generally go without a permit It's just they're hard to regulate but you can regulate them but you just need to be careful legally how you do it You know size is fair game height is fair game distance from the rideaway is fair game All those things are fair game because those are all content neutral When you're getting into the types of signs
you have to be careful how you differentiate them Can you differentiate based on something time limit Yeah you can So that if it's going to be there for two months it can be this side but if it's going to be there for way longer
then it can't be that I mean that's interesting I don't know how you cuz I think you don't know how long it's going to be there and I understand like the frustration about you know you you put outrageous price on your house and it's there for 3 years which seems ridiculous which I I totally get but the problem is
you you know you can regulate how long they can be there if they relate to a specific event which we do um which most every city does but I I think that would be interesting concept but difficult okay I mean it that is a it's not a content base it's just based on link So
theoretically in my work a time limit if it's a temporary sign it can't be there more than 6 months whatever whatever limit you wanted to put in you you might be able to do that and then allow them to you know and they'd have to take some sort of break and then have a sign again
that that is something that you could possibly do and I think I've seen that somewhere as a matter of fact I've got a question this is where my particular hackles go up can temporary signs be in the public road right away No So most of
these signs are in the road right away folks It's just it gets really rough on enforcement So uh when we and if we decide to tackle this issue that's something we have to talk about especially political signs during season
We've been blessed here Everyone seems to cooperate get along and but nothing goes in the rightway And if you think about A1A that's a 100 foot rightway Uh so there's really no room for temporary signs technically but we've you know kind of come up with these softer
landing spots especially for political signs but uh currently nothing can go in the right of way Um my guess is some of the pictures shown those appear to be in the right of way The side streets are a little bit narrower Those are 50s So if
you go from the center and you go 25 ft they can't be within 25 ft of the center line Um some of those probably are pretty close if not in there Um you know that's one step to it doesn't fix the size duration which are big issues We
can get them out of the rightway but that just moves them back I guess Oh but we really don't have a whole lot of political signs generally even during an election because it's all private property and you have to get per permission from the owners of the
property and unless you live in an apartment building they're probably not going to let you put up a sign or if it's a private home unless they're backing that particular candidate So you don't really have a huge number of signs
Certainly a long A1A because it is all private property and most places don't want somebody sign in front of their building I I have a question Uh now looking at the signs we I we don't see in the um in
the demonstration pictures of the smaller signs or the uh that at least I didn't see it There is Okay That's the size of of like a town of Palm Beach sign So you got to go up to the So you're
asking a question So you have to ask let them come up So you're being asked a question So go ahead This is It's a little bit obviously a little bigger than this Plus it's got a frame on it and it hangs But if you drive to Manalapan you'll see them Uh they're not
offensive They're about as inoffensive as you can get But if you're looking to buy a home there's no way you're not gonna see it because you know what it is It's kind of sitting out there on the street It's a little sign and it says for sale So well that's I I would just
hope you would consider if no other part of the sign revision if you simply change it where it says that all signs have to be no more than um I forgot what they are That's this one What's our existing 24 by It's 2 by two is exact
Instead of 2x two 5 by8 if we just change that one thing I think you would accomplish 90% of what I'm trying to accomplish here The rest of it I don't want to mess with Wait don't leave Don't leave I have a question I I have a question if I can The picture that is
shown with the waterfront on top and then the southern bees and another one It is uh uh that's out of compliance and now it's out of compliance So it's a it absolutely is If we if we were to measure it they get four of them Some of the language and thanks Ingred now that
you stopped by to give me the 32 continuous square feet of language We have this weird peculiar end piece where you can have four per property eight square feet per sign two-sided right But you could have four signs but it's 32 continuous So they kind of smash the
sign in so the 32 gets on to it so that they get less signs but a bigger sign Those type of things if we were looking to limit size would help yes help the danglers if you will on the bottom and the top kind of out the way those would go away So there are things if if we if
you all feel compelled to examine those are things that we could take a look at And again uh Len brings up a good point on the content piece We do have to be careful I remember those days where we tried to do all those regulations Everybody had those regulations It's
pretty ugly Um but now we know what those rules are So I think we could fine-tune and we haven't cuz you're right this came in 16 15 was when the case came out So they probably limit stacking We we we could do some of those things
We just haven't done those things That's it You can look at number size and all those things Two by two You could say that that has to include all stacking So you can't have a big sign and then have signs stacked I don't know Why do you
need four Maybe I'm missing something I get political signs more volume I think the reason people do four is because there's different types of signs but you know you could have a political sign a real estate sign but it it doesn't have to be four either I mean that's something we can look at Any other questions for John Otherwise John uh
Vice Mayor anything Nothing at this point Okay Um Okay Okay Another I haven't sold real estate in probably 20 years but when I did it was back in the day when you did drive around and look for a house At this point in time
and with the variations in the prices you're going online These signs these overwhelming signs are having very little impact on selling the home Go ahead So um as you conclude this component I would just remind you of the
process we have in place for ordinance development if you so choose Uh we need someone to kind of shepherd or chaperone the process Um kind of our champion of the cause And then staff would you know whoever that person is if you sign it to
staff a commissioner a resident whatever that may be we would work with them in time to start following your instructions as to what this would look like and start having that appropriate conversation Okay So I guess my thought So I guess my question to the group is
whether or not this is something we want to continue to discuss Um I I mean I'm I'm in favor of continuing to discuss it Um I think we have enough people who you know it is a concern of theirs Um and I
guess what I would think that would include is uh looking at other towns what they do like like our typical thing you know what do other towns do if if what are the legal um implications of it
um bring actual uh examples So I guess my question to the group is do we even want to continue the discussion or not What are people what are your thoughts on it Well if we have a a the if the
community uh wants to look at this further I think we should I agree Yeah I agree too I agree So So we're And I don't know Do you want to say anything or I think we have we have a majority that says that we want to
continue the discussion So I'd say we continue to the discussion Um so I don't know that we're at the ordinance yet So but do we need the chaperone now At what point do we trigger the chaperone because I don't know that we're like a bill sponsor Think of it that way It's probably a poor use of words to say
chaperone but basically it's a bill sponsor or project or component sponsor Um and then it takes remember uh if we do recall uh marine accessory structures our four-year adventure um that was sponsored by Vice Mayor Bobby at the
time and that's you know ways back So just somebody that keeps the issue moving forward that uh you know kind of looks at again this process takes time So should somebody in the audience become the sponsor we don't it's not meeting to
meeting you know it takes a little bit of time for staff I'm gonna probably say "Hey Ingred so um let's let's make sure um you know whoever gets you know we'll have an initial meeting kind of set that expectations on timelines and how we
systematically one do some basic research notice it come back and as we start fine-tuning then it bounces back over uh to the uh planning board with Evelyn and then uh so we would just you know go through
that process and again you know what what's our average Ingrid probably on something like this probably 18 months to two years probably there's a long time to discuss all this yeah because we get to meetings and then they talk about it then it goes to the planning board it gets queued up a couple times then it
comes back two reads public notice just just the prefuncter legal process takes six months so then the lead time to discuss it get everyone's input moving forward public notice So I just want you guys not to get deflated but that's you
know takes time if if as you go through I just we forget to kind of spell out the timelines and certain outside of like Scribner's areas which are pretty straightforward Uh but just to do it it just takes a little bit of time And of mine this is chapter 23 so I don't
believe it goes to the planning board Oh your signs aren't in Oh you're right They're not part of your zoning code Is a traditional process something like generally we send to the plan startle Um I have a question Does the sponsor have to be a commissioner or can it be anybody Anybody Okay that's okay Um
preferably either commissioner resident employee Of course Of course Um can we just bring forward those items without identify or or I don't or you can do it in any order you want but eventually as we start taking a um if
you think of the my friend who's watching yes we're following the process Jeff and um you know just to make sure before we start spending exceptional amount of time that a sponsor is assigned and we do hold to the ordinance
process But initial background is pretty basic Like if you so choose you direct us to do it Of course then you can get a sponsor once we get the initial because that's probably boring for a sponsor Like go look what all the other towns did come back you know that kind of thing Yeah So I guess I like that idea
My my recommendation would be um we don't assign a sponsor yet because we did get feedback that there was not enough lead time on this item So you know let this be just uh an introduc you know a more thorough introduction um to
the item where you know we if you could bring like some more background like what some of the other towns do you the legal background and then um maybe some um actual uh uh size uh size you know that we can see for the next meeting And
then at the next meeting we'll have our new uh commissioner and hopefully Don will be here and so then we can we can have a discussion of the full commission and then um at that point maybe assign a sponsor That would be my recommendation
Yes I would agree I think that's a good plan Good plan Agreed Okay Okay So we'll bring it at a future meeting Future meeting Not necessarily next meeting but at some point Okay Whatever I'd love to do it
Well thank you very much for the discussion Thank you very much Ver you want to make one more final comment Go ahead To say that in the PowerPoint that Maggie presented she has given you the signage uh requirements for three other
towns and we can get 10 more but those certainly we'll get in touch with you guys and we'll kind of we'll keep you loop We're not going to leave you out in the dark We are not the first community to standardize signage Tremendous And I
mean Len Lyn you would know this And the only push back and I of a state that I was involved in Nevada the only push back we had was really from the real estate associations They were they were the most verbal groups that came and lobbyed for it So this is not a new
topic And I think if we look at the history and and it's very achievable um and as you mature obviously your site for a larger sign becomes more more important So so uh these are some of the issues that we ran into but thank you Thank you very
much Okay Moving on to item B in new business resolution number 2025-00006 a resolution of the town commission of the town of Highland Beach Florida in support of House Bill 517 and
Senate Bill 840 urging the Florida state legislature to enact legislation to provide a public records exemption for municipal clerks and employees who perform municipal elections work or have any part in code enforcement functions
of a municipality providing for distribution providing providing for severability and providing for an effective date So um I know this is uh from Lynalda so she'll give you the uh professional clerks
associations position Uh this did come to the Florida League of Cities for a municipal operations or policy committee Uh it didn't rise to the top issue at the time Um but the uh clerk's association has been quite active um in trying to pursue Uh they do little
cutouts every now and again Uh there's usually like 10 a year that the legislature looks at and then eliminates that Uh the last go through I don't know who got uh town city managers were about five years ago where we were carved out of some of the the the personal
information being available uh because of the nature of the business the uh the environment in which we all operate in now Uh unfortunately uh does put us uh in the the public's eye and some of the
public uh takes uh you know pretty bad positions and coming after folks So the clerks you know they told their stories of how you know a couple clerks in some more contentious areas where people were following them home to their and that's the kind of stuff that the clerks are
looking to get you know their personal information off because they're basically they handle our elections that really gets them kind of in in a hot spot So they kind of want to at least have some base level of uh protection So their addresses aren't available
personal information readily available Um so that's what it is right Lelda that's correct Say it You want to say anything else Pitch it a little bit No you presented very well Well we got the pitch so that's the only
reason why Um and it's been two years in a row on the municipal administration advisory committee Um so it was a they were very impassioned with that and their concerns are real um similar to some of you know by more concerning for police officers firefighters they have
their information removed Uh school superintendent things of that nature Uh folks that tend to be in the line of fire to get some of those protections and the clerks are now asking I don't know that it's going to happen this session but they're continuing to stay
on that cause I think it's logical to do that because it's a protection issue for them And why should the public have that information anyway Yeah they're not a public
official They're not It just isn't But yeah they get a lot of push back and I think I think it's a good idea I think that um I agree Um the sensitive
information is um that would be very sensitive information having uh u information about their famil family's addresses um children etc And uh I think they should this does warrant an an exemption uh from that disclosure I mean
in this uh environment uh the threats and the you know the threats and potential violence that could be committed um should be averted at every opportunity and and this is um this is a a win-win
I agree Yeah I agree I totally agree So we need a motion to adopt the resolution I move that we adopt resolution number 2025-00006 I second that All in favor say I I I Motion carries
Moving on to town commission comments Commissioner Goldberg Well I was just thinking this is this is the the last time I'm going to have uh Evelyn here to move for a resolution
Um well I I think that it was very exciting once again this uh this month that we had the participation from the public I welcome it I think it's it's dynamic and it's it shows that we are a dynamic town here It's great Um I'm
looking forward to our our uh new commissioner who's going to be joining us very soon and our party for commissioners or on behalf of commissioners extended to the town to celebrate both of them and soon we hopefully celebrate all of us up here
March 27th March St Lucy's 5 to 8 please be there Keep an eye out for the email list Yes And I encourage everyone to remember on March 11th to come out to vote Yes Or come out to vote Vote Let's
strike that Come out to vote Come out to vote Come out to vote Uh on the two referendums that will be on the ballot That's it Thank you Commissioner Uh yeah this is my last meeting here
It is for now That's right Okay Uh it has been a pleasure to watch this town change over the last six years and
I take pride in the fact that it is a much better place than I am leaving than it was when I came that we have accomplished a lot of things in six years and I look forward
to having Jason as a commissioner because I think he will be incredible So while I'm sad to leave I'm not because I know this seat will be well filled and I thank everybody that I have
worked with The staff in this town is incredible They are willing to help and do anything that you need and are available and it's just been a real pleasure Uh Marshall everything flows
from the top and this is some place where people tell us we can't do things and yet we do Somehow it manages to work and this
town is a kinder gentler situation than most other places We try to be kind to our residents and it works because by and large our our residents are very happy
with the services that they get So I thank everybody for making this a wonderful six years and we thank you Terrific Great job Thank you Just a uh a quick update I
keep updating on our installation of our two charging stations outside charging stations They're now installed approved operational and we made the decision The going rate is 45 cents a kilowatt We're doing it at 20 cents because as a
benefit to our residents but their charge cards have to be on file with the security desk so no one can come in and just use it So it's a real amenity for the building Yeah thanks for being on the forefront of that Really some clever ideas there
and for other buildings to follow So thank you for blazing the trail on that That's excellent Um and it's been a pleasure working with you Evelyn I have learned so much from you and uh yeah I say for now because who knows what the future will bring um and thank you for
all your many many many outstanding contributions and um to and I'm not leaving so that the phone number still works and thank you for volunteering for planning board that's awesome we look
forward to your contributions there I didn't want to leave completely it is a salary cut You know when I ran for this position I didn't realize that there was a salary at all So it really didn't matter It It had nothing to do with it
And I look forward to celebrating Yes You don't see it It goes right in your checking account It doesn't matter I look forward to celebrating you and Jason on the on the 20 on the 27th right Please everyone come Look forward to a wonderful party Thank you Yes absolutely
Um and moving on to town attorney Uh no mayor but I I'll see Commissioner David on planning board So happy Yeah town manager Yes I'll say my goodbyes later cuz they're not goodbyes right But thank you for everything You've uh really helped me
out a ton when we got started you were there in the initial throws of the old uh OCP the ocean uh whatever project whatever that we had ocean walk OWP or whatever that was Uh we had I don't talk about it but thank you Uh that really
helped me a ton uh starting on day one and having to navigate the community And isn't it nice we no longer need a civility pledge at the beginning of our meetings Oh my gosh this is this is really interesting Before Evelyn spoke one of the comments I wrote down was "I
was so impressed today with the decorum of our conversation regarding Milani Park We have come a long way on that project to talking about that or any other issues So thank you for setting and helping move that forward This is great that we can each speak our mind
and express our opinions in a very productive fashion and potentially disagree but have that opportunity without name calling and commotion and hands waving and uh heavy breathing and all that stuff Uh so I was happy that
today I came into it thinking it was going to get a little rough Uh I'm glad we we've come around to being able to discuss these things uh moving forward And she knows how to run a meeting She does Well now he knows who's making all the motions at the planning board Using
trouble folks We're in trouble Uh just briefly again we had on uh the 24th of February we had the financial advisory board Uh David and Susie did a great job making presentations We are amidst the audit of closing out last
year Uh we uh come out came out positively about $2 million um from last year's budget which is good Uh spread across multiple funds Uh the general fund uh did pretty well uh there Water we as we expected uh with paying
down the debt and transferring totally over to fees It was going to be that kind of that transition year So that was good Um total cash $25 million equity out to certain funds Uh so we're tracking on point Our position is strong
Um so the financial board was pleased Uh we're getting them involved a little bit early on Uh trying to get them to take a look at the initial budget hopefully in May in April hopefully the uh draft uh uh five-year forecast that David's uh just about wrapping up some of those
points so the FAB can have a more active role in uh guidance early on versus as Dr Greenwald said you know what are we really helping in August you know so um right before we go to public hearing So bringing that FAB forward again our financial position is spectacular
continues to be spectacular That message will hold through our budgets We'll see what the property appraiser says for us Um but again um our model is is holding with holding our millillage flat uh building reserves in certain years to to
to stem structural deficits out in lat later years without having to uh touch that Uh session started today folks Um the 60-day uh marathon of politics in Florida began in Tallahassee Uh so we'll see There's a whole bunch of bills uh
for the commissioners to pay attention to the Florida League of Cities There's some pretty interesting stuff Um some good some bad some surprising And we'll see where that goes Sovereign immunity is probably going to be the big scary one at least for me Uh and advocating uh
and hopefully having our our lobbyist in there and talking to Peggy and putting things in her ear Uh you know the the sovereign immunity t uh torque claim cap is going to move from 200 individual 300 incident they're talking to you know quadruple that Uh our
insurance provider is saying that that's going to have a 20% increase on our premium So um we'll just have to keep an eye on that Hopefully they settle it down to some lower number I don't think not increasing is on the table but if we can hold that in place and I'll keep you updated because that one's going to hit
our bottom line pretty hard um uh on on insurance and the other ones you know whoever's out there watching or reading some are pretty wild and bizarre Some are very pragmatic We'll just see how it starts to shake out over you know the next uh 3 weeks you'll start to see real
movement bills that kind of flounder fall off other ones that uh get a footing and and move forward So I'll try to keep that to you You we're all available for a Monday morning call with the League of Cities if you want to just hear directly from the League of City lobbyist uh they'll give you a quick
rundown of it It helps just so things don't sound odd and uh things of that nature when we start talking about it The model that you showed which I thought was outstanding could that be um blown up and sent to uh the appropriate
people before the April 2nd meeting because I'm always concerned whenever you call a meeting like the one that's coming up April 2nd what's going to come out of the audience at that point and I'm not sure um what we want to achieve at that meeting So this is right now a
well-kept secret except for the audience that was here today Uh and it would really be I think useful if more people could see that and you could actually u maybe couch what we'd like to see take place in April 2nd I know there's a meeting
but if you said to me right now do you know what's going to take place on April 2nd Aside from some suggestions I really couldn't answer it I'm not sure what we expect to accomplish on April 2nd at that meeting So I don't have the agenda for that It's it's a uh Palm Beach County meeting Um I
I don't know spec they're just looking for input on certain things that they deem are are have options for uh this model will will reside here in the clerk in the front office Um and there's
actually a really good article in Coastal Star and it has a picture of the model um in there and and they uh say you know they talk about the April 2nd meeting and um you know uh
some uh highlevel uh components of the park So yeah I guess it's up Yeah I mean we could put it in a Friday news or whatever the news note that I thought I thought it was excellent you know unfortunately uh the distance between the audience was but I thought that the
your explanation was excellent Yeah I mean you can share the video this video of this meeting I guess and we could transcribe it summarize it um and get your comments and presentation and and and put that into the manager's minute We could reach out to the architects to
see if they put that rendering into the 3D modeling program which will give you a digital model and we can put that online and people can you know see it uh digitally versus an old school like model like that where it's you can't replicate it but there could be a 3D
digital model available at the county We'll have to ask and see if something's available that way Maybe put a link to the Coastal Star article in the Milani Park uh section of the they could do like a hyperlink to the really soften the conversation going forward and it will only enhance what you what took
place today And I you agree that was a very professional day today I agree with you Marshall But thank Thank you very much Thank you Uh moving on to announcements board vacancies uh C uh code enforcement board we have a vacancy Upcoming meetings and
events March 11th uh the town is closed because we have election day So please come out and vote Uh March 13th at 9:30 in the morning we have the planning board regular meeting March 18th at 1:00 we have the special magistrate hearing March 20 So the 25th is the swearing in
ceremony but the party is the 27th Is that right Is that how we're doing it Yeah we we were going to do something differently but this worked out better So the 25th will be the here meeting where we formal ceremony Yeah In smile get your picture taken and then we're
going to party on Thursday bring everybody together and do our food truck event where we all get together listen to some music meet our neighbors hang out Everybody seems to like that I think the natural resource advisory board is going to have out their uh Dune stuff too So just kind of more of what we
traditionally do but it'll be a good time to uh you know maybe we'll get you a special t-shirt to wear A princess tiara Put Jackie on it I got it Yeah And of course sash would be cool
too Yeah the party the 27th from 5 to 8:00 PM Um and with that we can adjourn Great Okay