##VIDEO ID:3QECeD-bMrg## welcome to the town of Highland Beach Town Commission meeting today is Tuesday January 21 1st and it is 1:30 p.m. and I'd like to call the meeting to order can we have the roll call please commissioner Goldberg present commissioner Peters present commissioner David present vice mayor Stern present mayor Moore present Town manager labid present and town attorney Rubin present thank you and if we could all rise for the pledge to the stands Nation God indivisible andice for all than you um so the next item on the agenda is the approval of the agenda and I would like to recommend a change to the order which is to move [Music] item 11d the regulation of floating vessel platform and floating Boat Lifts to be the next item on the agenda um any other suggested changes or discussion about changing the order no could we have a motion I move we approve the agenda as amended seconded all in favor say I I I okay so the next item on the agenda is 11d uh regulation of floating vessel platform and floating Boat Lifts legal opinion by attorney rubben all right then everyone be nice okay so um when we were considering uh the uh changes to the excess Marine facilities the issue of the floating vessel plat forms came up um and there was language in there that addressed it that was taken out because the commission decided um it wanted to address those separately so the commission asked for legal opinion can we even regulate these floating vessel platforms so you have the memo in your agenda packet um the short answer and I don't know how detailed you want me to go through it the short answer is it does seem the town has some authority to regulate these floating vessel platforms um the way it works the statute at issue essentially exempts them from Erp permitting exempts them from State permitting so and then the language it's a very difficult statute to follow it's changed a couple of times over the years most recently in 2023 I've read it probably a hundred times now and I'm not sure I still read it the same every time but the way it's so and I'll kind of maybe be easier if I just kind of walk through the memo a little bit I won't go and talk all of it so the first part under legal analysis talks about what the statute says um basically the purpose of these floating vessel platforms and why they're more favored is because they float so you're not interfering with everything underneath there's none of those concerns that you have with traditional construction of docks and you know the sea life and the grass sea grasses and all that kind of stuff so the statue kind of gives you the criteria so this is what they all have to meet and it kind of talks about and the part that I think we're going to get into a little more detailed it talks about where they could be located so first of all it says they have to float and they have to support a vessel makes sense subsection B is the where it gets a little more confusing saying well it does have a a size limitation which is fine but then it talks about where it could be and it says you know it can be associated with a dock that's exempt or associated with a permitted dock that doesn't have a defined boat slip or it could be attached to a bulkhead where there's no docking structure whatsoever and it kind of I'm going to get into that a little later it treats those a little separately at least the new version does I don't know if the old version did but the new version does um the next criteria for exemption is they can't be used for commercial purpose makes sense and it also does say that they can't create a navigational Hazard or unreasonably infringe upon the repairing rights of adjacent Property Owners now that's interesting because basically the property owner self certifying and the property owner is telling you it doesn't create a navigational Hazard and it doesn't infringe run on the riparian rights but then you know who's ultimately going to verify that but that's sort of an issue for another day um minimize adverse impacts to submerged lands and then the other one doesn't really apply here so I kind of go through what the statute says and the statute says you know if the owner qualifies for this exemption and then it says with the exception of those structures attached to the bulk head the structure may not be subject to any more stringent permitting requirements registration requirements or other regul so it sort of takes out the ones that are just attached to a bulkhead where there's no docking structure and basically says that the local government can regulate them now in the town I don't know how many of those we might have that are just attached to a bulkhead I think the majority of them are probably utilized in connection with a permitted dock um with or without a boat slip but anyway so it talks about you know you can regulate the ones that are attached to the bulkhead and then for the other it says for so then for the others it says a local government require a one-time registration of all other floating vessel platforms so those are the ones that are not directly attached to the bulk ahead and then it's basically says you know we can ensure compliance through that self-registration which is what we've been doing and whatever codes ordinances building or zoning regulations we have cannot be applied more stringently than or inconsistent with the exemption criteria in the section and address subjects other and address subjects other than subjects addressed by the exemption criteria okay so basically for the ones that where there's a docking structure they can't be more restri more stringent than the exemption criteria and they can't address and they can't address subjects not addressed by the exemption criterial they must address other subjects so there's not really any legal Authority on this um there's a attorney general opinion back in 2005 it's really a different version of the statute uses similar language the statute's been changed since then but the reason I included that in that opinion is because the Attorney General does walk through like preemption so we all know that well we all don't know but basically under Florida law under the Constitution and um chapter 166 Florida Statutes municipalities can exercise you know governmental proprietary corporate functions except to the extent expressly um prohibited by law so the state can always exemp the state can always preempt us it's been happening a lot more lately in various Fields they've been exercising that right to preempt but in this specific attorney general opinion it says well if you're going to preempt then it has to be you know expressly distinctly stated like it has to be clear that this is what you're trying to do and back in I think it was 2005 um the Attorney General said well it's not clear so the courts are going to have to figure it out or the legislature is going to have to amend it so it really doesn't help all that much just it kind of tells you what you need to preempt okay okay so let's we'll go back to that so we've been talking about side setbacks so as far as the ones that are attached directly to the bulkhead I don't think there's anything that prevents us from from enacting such a regulation now when we're talking about the ones associated with docks you know where there's a permitted dock docking structure we get into this you know is this preemption distinctly stated now I know the Garretts and the deers have an ongoing issue with their floating vessel platform when I spoke to um the attorney for Mr deir Miss Savage who's up in Tallahassee she was of the opinion well it regulates location so you're exempt you know you're preempted because it talks about location but it doesn't really specifically talks about location it says you can have you know you can tie it to a bulkhead or you could have it where you have a permitted dock is that so the question the legal question is that is that sufficient enough to preempt any type of Regulation where they could be located it's sort of a judgment call um you know it hasn't really been litigated we did reach out to FD um to an attorney who works for FD and it's in the memo she said well she wasn't aware of anything that would expressly prohibit us from doing it but did warn that we would get significant push back if we attempted to enact such regulations and that if we were going to adopt such regulations they should be they should be similar to what we we have for docks or they shouldn't be any more restrictive than what we currently have for docks so that's sort of where it comes down I mean based on the language is that with the ones that are attached directly to the bulkhead I do think the town has a lot more leeway for the ones that um are attached where there is an existing dock a permitted dock boat slip it's a little less clear but if the town is going to move forward with some type of Regulation you know we would need to show sufficient justification and we would need to make sure that they were no more stringent than what we currently require for docs so that's the summary I mean I know people have questions and you all might have a lot of questions and I'll try to answer them as best I can one question that comes to mind um is are there other municipalities neighboring municipalities that have regulated this and how is it going are they getting challenged so I did and I I included that in your backup and in the opinion as well so North Palm Beach this was when um well there there was another there was talking about floating structures but back in 2018 they did regulate floating vessel platforms and at the time I looked into it the statue was a little different um than it is in 2025 now um but they did enact uh and they said they're required to meet the same setbacks as docs so whatever and they also as far as extend ending into the Waterway they were subject to those same regulations um North Palm is a set up where they do have you know the uh moing piles and the do piles can only be so far into the Waterway any structure could only be so far in the Waterway generally you have to leave the middle 50% and it's you know 25% on either side we've never been challenged on it doesn't mean you know take that for what it's worth um it's never really been an issue there um I don't know maybe we don't have I mean we have many more canals than we have in in Highland Beach and in North pal Beach but um there doesn't seem to be the proliferation of them there I mean there are a fair amount I've seen as driving around but it just hasn't been challenged so yeah I guess I was thinking we could have questions and then open it up for public comments I have I have two issues one is the idea that if we have 25 foot setbacks and somebody will use this to get around that I have an issue with that but the other part is if you are blocking somebody's use of their Waterfront and that to me is a real is a bigger issue and it's also if the only way you can get your vessel on and off this floating platform means you have to go in front of somebody else's dock does that preclude them from having a boat well well all interesting questions so and that's why I read that language in the exemption because the exemption itself when you have to execute that self-certification you have to certify that it doesn't create a navigational Hazard and it does not INF unreasonably infringe upon the riparian rights of adjacent Property Owners so ostensibly if you are unreasonably infringing on the rights of the raring rights of adjacent property owners or you are creating some type of navigational Hazard then you should not be entitled to the exemption but it never really says well is that then up to the town of police now we did and this is all public I'm not calling anyone out we did have the issue with Mr de's platform initially because it was too large to qualify under this exemption now he did qualify under a different exemption where he had to actually go get under the general permit and did do all that stuff and has now it has now been permitted and all that but you know in that case we did we felt like well the town has to regulate that it says it can only be so big how could we just ignore that so you know we initiated a code violation case and it's since been resolved but again excellent question they really shouldn't be infringing upon the repair and rights of the neighboring property owners and they should not be placed in any in any manner where they're going to create a navigational Hazard and make it difficult to navigate whatever the body of water is the and the way I read this and all of your examples was that you needed to have a vessel that you were putting on that floating vessel platform couldn't just be there if you didn't have a vessel supposed to go on it and the you may get one at some point right so it's not being used on the water it must be on that platform and because it's I mean you can only have one to support a vessel because it says the float at all times in the water for the sole purpose of supporting a vessel so you can't use it for you know whatever other purpose to store things or it has to support a vessel that's that's the purpose of it and as I said yes from an environmental standpoint and I believe that's why the exemption exists from from a purely environmental standpoint it's much less intrusive because it floats and you're not worried about what's underneath although I guess it still could walk the SE gr them but I don't want to get into that I agree with that and I think that's fine I am just worried about interfering I mean we have so many other things where you're not allowed to interfere with your neighbor's property you can't create your property in such a way that you're going to have water flowing onto it and I mean all these other things and I don't want somebody to be able to interfere with their neighbors enjoyment of being on the water which is what people are buying for understood um a couple things about that like our code um and I know North Palm's backwards and Ford since I've been there so long um our code in Highland Beach really does was one of the few that takes into account those other factors because we have that provision that about uh reasonable visual access and then that uh we can call in a marine a marine expert If it creates some sort of navigational Hazard we are a little more restrictive to that point in North pal it's sort of you meet the code we'll issue the permit now we have had situations and town of hyxo as well I actually had a lawsuit between two because I said look the town this is our regulation he meets the regulation does it infringe upon as as a neighbor does it infen upon your riparian rights it very well could but the town is not allocating the riparian rights the town is just regulating the dock structures so it was a whole lawsuit and it went to court and the court actually allocated the riparian rights so there now there's a line you know between these two property and it's a corner because the corners are always the problem it's going to be you guys know this by now and you all took the tour the canal ends and the corners are difficult they're just very difficult and people have limited Waterfront and they still want to be able to enjoy the Waterfront but you know it's very tough when you have these small Lots in the corners or on angles or at the ends of canals and especially when you take into account visual rights if you've got some there and they can't even see the water anymore because you're completely blocking it that's a whole that's a problem and that's not one of the criteria in the statute but yes that is something that we generally look at the town of Highland Beach looks at so I don't know that you've answered any of my questions I don't know if I have either there but but I have issues with it because of that I'll go um what does the state say about do they have restrictions on floating vest uh on these yeah platforms yeah so the state has and that's really the statute we're looking at that's the state exemption from their own permitting the D permitting requirements saying if you meet this criteria then then you can have one but then it's it's the question that we're wrestling with is what does that leave for regulator regulatory Authority for the municipalities so the state saying yeah if you meet all these these these five six criteria you're good to go but it's again what what can the town do to address these other issues so has has this been challenged in court in any fashion I have not found no have not found anything and as I said it's it's sort of changed the the stat they keep changing the language but they keep changing the language and tweaking it but not really making it any more clear it's it's a very I mean as I said i' I've probably read this and I'm not exaggerating 20 30 times at this point um it's just a very it it takes a few times to even digest what it's saying just to parse the language you know it's just a very it's just written in a very difficult way I just I wish the legislature would be more clear in what they're trying to say or what they're trying to guard against but we're stuck with the language that we're you know that we have can you uh can you contrast what we have now oh we don't we don't regulate the flowing but best platforms at all now we do require the onetime registration the certific the self-certification and that's all we have but we don't regulate the location at all and so that's that's where this that's the Genesis of this whole issue is you know we were the commission expressed some concern about you know the setbacks and as commissioner David was saying about interfering with the property owners and then you know the theory being if you have some sort of setback you're less likely to interfere either getting on or off or just blocking the view once the boat is on it you know it depends on you know a lot of people use these for and I I think in North pom it's much more common they use them for personal watercraft jet skis because it's EAS to drive them right on and you know get them off um but they are used for boats as well and and boats have a much higher profile and cause more obstruction I know when you have a boat on a dock you can in essence parallel park it but if you're pulling a smaller boat onto a floating missile platform you're only going in One Direction and then backing out in the same direction you're not going up and over this platform so that creates other kinds of problems it it can I I see I join you Evelyn what um what you've raised there issues I'm interested to hear what the uh what our neighbors say well I think we have the vice May might have some com not at this time not at this time yeah I'm also interested to hear um public comments as well so I'd like to open it now for public comments uh Greg state your name and your address please you know the drill I think I think I remember how it works comes back quickly it runs a little over three minutes please indulge me uh I can answer some of your questions at the end that you asked by the way uh Greg Bobby 1092 Bello Drive former vice mayor and also uh formerly a part owner of a marine construction company uh I'm presented you guys with a petition today with a large number of residents who are strongly opposed to any sort of side setback and floating vessel platforms or for boats uh we got 75 signatures in the petition all from the Belo neighborhood 70 properties and 6,245 ft of Waterfront uh there are 49 Platforms in Island Beach uh 15 of those owners didn't get a chance to sign our petition yet so we know we're going to get more signatures as well 47 of the 49 platforms are on canals or lakes and Bello only two are on the direct inter Coastal uh and those are really for kayaks and paddle boards um in your package there's a red tab we got a ton of these wet signatures it's a giant mess the red tab takes you right to a spreadsheet of everybody's sign uh so you know who all the residents are and the last page is a map so you can actually see all the green check marks for every house that signed the petition all right so what do the Bello Waterfront residents generally want uh the vast majority of the Waterfront owners want to be able to use their Waterfront not look at it uh simply look at it the residents want the ability for kayaks jet skis paddle boards and small boats on their floating vessel platforms it's much more for that than it is for the bigger boats um they've got to go in the side setback area that area is critical um the 49 platforms we have almost all of them on properties where there is a boat or more than one boat well we know how Highland Beach works we have 25t setbacks we have a dock in the center we have boat lifts in the center if you don't put put the platform towards the edge of the property you have no place to put the platform you can't put it right next to the dock you're going to bump into it as you're coming and going on your boat so the floating vessel platforms have to go to the edge imagine a generic 100 foot property um and we have a lot of smaller properties 100 feet you have a 50 foot dock maybe a 40 50 foot boat you have to put them in the setbacks the side setbacks for Highland Beach it's the only safe place to put it um State of Florida Embraces these platforms you already got us some of the reasons why uh it's actually the only way to get kayaks paddle boards and jet skis safely in and out of the water so seaw Wall height at low tide is about six feet uh have you tried getting a kayak up and down a seaw wall six feet uh and we're raising the heights there's no other way to actually do this even if you don't have a boat and you just do it from a dock there's no other way to get on and off these kind of things to use in the water unless you have some sort of small platform form um they're also kinder to the neighbors um uh Evelyn you had mentioned about the view um if you have a boat behind your property or it's on a floating vessel platform it's one foot higher that's all it is it raises it up one foot that's nothing compared to putting it on a lift where you're putting it six seven or eight feet in the air you're blocking it a lot I'm I'm almost done please indulge me a little bit uh Del and bokeh have hundreds of these platforms they're on every Canal um they don't have any issues Highland Beach has 25 foot setbacks all the other surrounding towns have 10- foot setbacks so we're already very restrictive uh petition uh you got a chance to hear from the residents happy to email you happy to make calls uh happy to reach out to the state as well the key point is the Waterfront residents are going to go as far as necessary to defend their Waterfront we want to be able to use it uh we want to be able to use it because we enjoy it but more importantly we think this is now becoming a safety issue if you take them away thank you thank you Mr de good morning everyone good morning and thank you for your service to our town my name is Martin deer I'm at 4307 inra Coastal Home valleys and Highland beats have three drivers access to the beach living on the water and boating voters really care about these and they drive demand and prices for all properties interestingly Waterfront average home values per square feet is higher in boka and Del compared to Highland Beach of these three factors driving prices Highland Beach has much stricter Marine setbacks could it be that our property values are already being impacted there is natural tension between Marine property rights and the likes and dislikes of neighbors docking your boat in front of a home having a dock or a lift and water access including navigational access are all important property rights local and state governments need to protect homeowners from obstruction of these rights by anyone State statutory Provisions regarding float Fring vessel platforms have been in law since 2003 and further updated in 23 there are tens of thousands of Platforms in Florida waters without any setbacks um Del and boka and our neighboring towns have no setbacks uh and there has never been any reported issues floating vessel platforms are used where a boat or a jet ski otherwise could be docked regardless but it's under the boat and it lifts the boat by 12 to 18 Ines compared to 8T in a fixed lift which happened two homes from it just very recently state law states that local governments cannot impose stricter regulations than what the state requir for floating missile platforms no setbacks are required by the state please see the legal opinion from my expert Marine law firm in your packet floating missel platforms have several advantages compared to fixed lifts which was what I was first thinking of doing first of all the platform in the boat is low in the water flows up and down with the tide and is much less visible than a massive platform with a boat on top of it secondly they're safer to get on and off when you are on your dock thirdly the boat is more secure during storms and protects the vessels from storm surge most boats sinks because they get lifted off the lift float off and then then sink when the surge goes down they are much more environmentally friendly which was one of my biggest drivers because you keep bottom paint out of the water they're also very flexible they're modular they can be reconfigured you can make them bigger make them smaller and when you leave and you can move them at any time if anything happens that your name May was dark and you need to move it you can do that and when you leave or you sell your home you can take it with you it doesn't become a permanent fixture almost done my recently acquired center console boat and platform is positioned where my boat would otherwise be docked I obtained the permit from the state following a rigorous review the permit was challenged by a neighbor and then unexpectedly dropped about 10 days ago I was left with tens of thousands in legal fees defending my state issued permit I intend to protect my property rights to the fullest extent of the law I respectfully request that you heed the strongly held views by the 75 petitioners and many more we haven't talked to today thank you so much thank you uh who's next sure sure do we need to bring the um you get that mic getting the mic for like I should s could you state your name and your address I know Eugene Garrett I think we could determine come from the attorney's letter that Island beach has the power to regulate platforms they already have determined that the platform adjacent to us our our corner lot is uh too big uh the the building department was wrong when it said it his hands were tied when it was given the one page application for the the platform the the the town needs to enact a code to provide for restrictions for property lines for the size of the of the floating docks the depth over that go into the lake and setback from the side setb the attorney for one of the the Vats has misrepresented the location of the platform by submitting diagrams that do not show that the that the the platform is over our properly line it's been like that since July and uh submitted diagram over the property line a diagram showing that it's within the property line when is over the property line three times when they made the application when they appeared before uh the Department of Environmental Protection and uh this hearing there they submitted documents to this board that it's that that the floating dock is not over the line or it is over the line they now say in in in this part that this is not a dock it's a platform if you look at uh what's his dictionary do is a structure extending along Shore and out from the store into a body of water in which boats may be moured It also says a dock is a place as a war or platform for are loading and unloading material which happens in in when you when you come back from a trip you unload your load where you're going and it doct it says the landing place for I'll speak I just one F this is not a stat of limitation issue it it's and it's not a grandfathering issue because grandfathering is an equitable theory in the law and you have to have clean hands before you get seek equity and what they what the what what the the the owner next to me has done is deceived Highland Beach it's made improper uh documentation [Music] and Moren you want to go next and they never uh they started I'm sorry okay I'm Moren Garrett my daughter is listening to this from Houston and she wrote object badgi does not speak for all residents of Highland Beach or Bello his petition is skewed as he doesn't include any residents opposed to the platform thank you thank you uh is there any so we we'll have you come back up uh let's see if there are any other are there any other Ron you want to come up uh Ron Rami from Dalton and boka Highland so we happen to have pretty good size Marina at Bulan Highland and and we have floating lifts stocks at one end of our Marina that we use for jet skis Etc no problems um we're not I'm I'm in favor personally of of lifts of any kind permanent or floating I can't say that all the residents at boka Island agree with me in terms of of they whether they like them or not because they just they just don't like lips however we have them in our in our North Marina as well the the floating ones where vessels go on there I mean it's it's just as they say it's you know it raises it a foot I mean it's it's a boat that is actually it makes it less dangerous and and so forth and I don't I just don't see any reason for setbacks I me I I just think this is ludicrous this has been going on forever and you have lifts and floating lifts and and they're utilized and I you know as Evelyn says they shouldn't block things if if if it's on toward where you're you're you're gonna do something to your neighbor as far as um uh their ability to get their vessel out or something like that but I've never I've never seen that I mean that's that's really prohibited kind of anyway according to the to the legal part of it so I I just don't I you know I don't see any reason why you shouldn't have them and and it's ridiculous to have setbacks and so forth you know you have to be able to get down as I pointed out I mean if you're climbing down to get on to your say your kayak or something I you know you need to have the uh floating lift right there so anyway thank you please state your name and your address Max live on Bel Air Drive 1023 and I also agree with him I need the floating docks where access for my kids and grandkids to be able to get on the smaller vessels and stuff and it would just be too much of a hindrance one of the reasons we moved here we love it friendly to have the kids and grandkids and playing with all the toys and stuff as long as like he said it doesn't hinder a neighbors access or entryway into the canal why would we do that why would we hinder the the fun of having them all the toys here for the kids and grandkids and we need those voting docks and that lift thank you so just to clarify we're not talking about not allowing uh these types of things we're talking about whether or not they should be regulated um by Highland Beach so just just based on the comments I'm wondering if there's like a little bit of misunderstanding we were scared as residents I was scared as residents that you're going to have the right to tell me what size lift I can have for my boat and 500t of dock right and the if I wanted to have a lift for my boat and I wanted to have a couple floating docks for my jet skis for the kids and everything for easy access and everything that you were going to possibly say no you can't have we have to one or the other or you're not allowed to do that or whatever when it's our property and our AC that's why we're there on the water yeah yeah I yeah the grander question is whether or not Highland Beach would would regulate them or not right now there's nothing specific as to we cannot prohibit them because the state sort of says they're allowed and the state sets the size so you know if it's under a certain size you qualify under that first language if it's a little larger then you have to go through this DP approval process but it's just whether you know it's whether we could regulate where they're located with respect to the docks and the side property lines right is it just to get permit fees no it's not even a permit fee permit it's just you know the and the more people have been thinking the more I've been thinking about this so there's like two ways to look at it we could impose a you know a some sort of side setback to sort of help this issue about visual access and um the repair and rights and all that kind of stuff but as I said in the exemption criteria it says those things like it can cause the navigational Hazard and it can appear in the navigational rights so I we could technically enforce that anyway because we could say well you certified that it does you know that it doesn't do those things and if it does then we can take enforcement action that way so I was just it's just another option for understand commission consider we're we're under the misunderstanding yeah we can't we're not taking them away it's just it's just whether there's something that we can do to sort of you know make sure everybody has first step you're doing that and the second step is you're going to regulate when I don't like that size for your boat no the size is something that's set by Statute up to a certain size right so yeah I do think there's a little bit of a misunderstanding um of what's going on I think with the Garretts one of the issues is how do we measure and from where do we me we measure the property line and if you're on a corner does it come straight across or does it come this way and that's I think that's one of the issues because agree one is claiming it's on his property and the other gentleman is claiming it's in his and maybe we need to figure that out so the way I've always seen it and the way we've done it I or other municipalities do it it's it's the side property line extended so if if your side property line is coming an angle you stay at that angle you don't all of a sudden then you know go to a right angle to the shore it it's that angle and that's what creates these very odd MH configurations but I've always looked at it is and I don't I'm not you know I know there's a dispute whether it goes over the property line or not but in that particular situation it is at an angle so I would always take it straight across you know the angle the line would continue straight into the water or we would you know so side prop line extended we can figure out where that is I mean I I think we could definitely say it has to be within the side property line extended because that's where your riparian rights are and I don't know if that would alleviate some of the issues or not I mean something to consider would that um would that have an impact if we did include that language on the Garett property the Garett issue I don't think so like I I'm not sure if it would or it wouldn't I you know based on what was provided by the attorney for Mr deir it looks like it's within the side property line extended I know the Garretts dispute that um but the way that angle comes it and the the drawing and I believe it's in your packet even yeah um it was distributed it looks like it's within the side property line extended now does I don't know how he accesses it sort of back to commissioner David's question know from which side I assume it's from the other side because you're not going to come into the corner to the other way yeah it's from the other side yes Mark cavis 10001 Belair um I helped get the petitions and not only did I get no one who said they were for the more restriction they were shocked that it had been established at 25 ft the only push back I had is people didn't believe me that the town was going in this Direction that's where and as far as as far as limiting the use of the boats that this guy was talking about in effect you are liming it because the people in fourplexes have that have 100 feet and they have four units they can put four 25 foot boats with this restriction you're taking away so much space they're going to be down to two boats and that is really people buy these four plexes for in these so they can get to the water and the the town is just adamant that you don't affect the rights so so just to clarify this is a more of an information we asked for a legal opinion for so the Commissioners have not I mean maybe Evelyn is kind of said some stuff but none of us really have formed an opinion yet about these floating platforms this has nothing to do with moing a boat moing a boat is completely different and this is why I really feel like we have some sort of miscommunication that's going on this is not about moing a boat this is not about um you know the town is not moving in any direction we have asked for a legal opinion to get an understanding if they're even if if Highland Beach even has the ability to to to uh uh regulate these types of things that's all this is and I appreciate everyone coming forward it's awesome I love it I love hearing all the feedback I am so glad that people are engaged I really am but I do think we need to um understand what the issue is which is whether or not Highland Beach can regulate floating platforms and this is just a fact finding Mission um we are not leaning one way or the other we are we're really just discussing it um at this point in time but when people hear the government is looking at regulating something important as voting it's very rare you come you gather on the street and say isn't it great they regulate I totally agree and like I said I'm so glad you all are here I really am so glad um okay uh the gentleman back there afternoon my name is Louie Adam I've been living in Highland Beach for 23 years and 23 years ago it seems I started with floating duck cases or the floating duck uh how you want to call it I bought a condominium that uh didn't have a lot of space for docking boats and uh asked my neighbors if I could put a boat lift and they said no no Boat Lift we don't want to impede on the View and so I found that uh existed a technology where you could put a boat on a platform but the floating platform so I asked them well what about a floating platform and they said well as long as it's tied to a dunck it's not a problem uh and at the time there was no rules and regulation on floating platforms pretty much anywhere in the US I was one of the early ones to buy his jet dock and uh I had a 21t boat on it and I also had a jet ski on it one facing each other I guess and I would come out of a platform obviously in front of other people's property well the canal doesn't belong to the property it belongs to the federal government belongs to the state it doesn't belong to the property so as far as coming on the platform from the water I don't think the town can regulate that even if you have to go in front of somebody else's property the other thing is I sold that small 21t boat eventually bought a slightly bigger boat and that boat had what what you call steps in the hle and we don't really glide on platforms very well with the steps so I had to put the boat docked in the water and then I Now using my platform for a kayak and a paddle a stand up paddle the thing is when you look at the water from the property now that my boat is floating next to the platform you don't even see the platform you never see the platform you see the water you see the boat floating in the canal just like any other boat that would be ducked at the duck but you don't see the platform so the fact that you would need a setback for platform is to me I I don't see why I don't see any reason for it and I personally think I don't think the uh the town should regulate them at all okay thank you very much uh what do we do if we have two neighbors who bring their platforms right up to the property line good question same thing well same if you have a boat but you you can't bring the boat all the way to the end of the property yeah you can you can go right up to the side that's we have boats that are yeah yeah close um yes the the lady back there sorry I don't know your name trying to get to everyone hi uh my name is Barbara zener 4320 South Ocean I had absolutely no tend to be standing here today um but I do want to say this because I I can hear how important this is um I'm quite busy as I'm sure everybody else here is and so I do want to make sure that you guys take into account that everyone showed up for this and I do want to say I do not believe that there is a miscommunication or a misinterpretation if indeed you guys regulate as you may be thinking about a you're not there yet it will prohibit floating docks for some of us here and we are Adam that we do not want that um I will also say that in sitting here I'm hearing a lot about how Highland Beach which I love by the way um actually has different restrictions than maybe some of our neighboring towns um on setbacks and so now I'm thinking that maybe we should be looking at that and figuring out why are we more restricted than our other neighbors thank you good afternoon thank you for your service my name is Robert Spar I live at 4225 Tranquility drive and I've lived there for 34 years I might be the senior guy here I have had a boat at my dock for all 34 years and I just want to express my opinion that I would oppose any regulations having to do with floating docks I live in Belo for one reason voting it's very important to me and I think it's very important to all of us who own docks do any of you own houses with docks yes good someone has some sympathy maybe but anyway I oppose regulations I agree with every things that everyone has stated strongly and um support that I thought one comment was very interesting that I've 34 years I've been here I've always wondered why bokeh and delr houses are valued higher than Belo I think I know one reason now the setbacks are too restrictive so I like the lady before me I'd be I'd be very much in favor of uh reducing that restriction especially if it affect the values of our house thank you for listening and I hope the regulations go nowhere whether they're legal or not thank you thank you Dr Greenwalt Rick Greenwall Tranquility Drive nice to see some of my friends and neighbors here I had known that this was going to be this kind of a turn on I might have uh mobilized some support for my opinion I was uh apparently even though I live in the neighborhood I was not given an opportunity to uh see or decline to sign the uh the petition that so many of my neighbors apparently signed uh this discussion has clearly come a long way from when we were first told no there's no way this can be regulated to uh yes there are ways that this can be legally regulated should the town decide to do so which doesn't mean the town should decide to do so uh but I believe that there are reasons why floating docks floating platforms not to be outlawed not to say that they're necessarily a bad thing but that they should be regulated there is a neighboring town that was not cited uh by Mr ruin Lighthouse Point where I pulled up their ordinance it's only a three-page ordinance but it regulate setbacks for floating lifs floating docks and it does so specifically under the terms that a they may be a navigational Hazard which we've discussed before and then they also use the term that they may be depending on what's on them and they may not be talking about very low profile item such as a kayak or a paddle board or a jet ski but they are talking about much bigger boats and they even talk about canopies and towers and things like that which they use the colorful phrase produce a visual blight I've never heard the phrase visual blight I don't know that that's a legal term we'd always said Gee these things don't necessarily look so good uh but anyway they use the term visual BL Lighthouse Point for those who aren't familiar majority of the homes there are on the water they're on canals big boating town uh they have what appears to me to be not outlawing any of these structures but reasonable restri ctions and I think that that's something that as a town moves forward with this we might want to look at and whether it's to liberalize things as clearly some people want to do and then to have some what I regard as reasonable restrictions as other people want to do to go back possibly with a small ad hoc group and see if we can hammer out some sort of a compromise that makes some kind of sense for uh uh for Highland Beach I also found this part my research and Mr Rubin would have to tell us how it fits in with everything uh was one of the uh Florida uh statutes in chapter 62- 341 do 428 which also when talking about floating uh docks and lifts actually requires a 10-ft setback now I don't know where that is I couldn't find dates in terms of what's the most current or least current or whatever because while you read it 30 or 40 times I probably read it five times it couldn't make sense out of all the stuff that's an administrative code citation which so it's not stat it's not the statute it's it's sort of the codes that implement the statutes but okay well anyway it had Ted feed in there a couple times I don't know where that came from I don't know what its significance is but it was from the Florida Environmental Protection something or other I got the agencies mixed up too so uh I think that kind of that's where we are I I feel fairly strongly again not that any of these structures should be outlawed but there should be some regulations as commissioner David pointed out sooner or later we are going to get into to conflict with people who have lifts that are out of property line because the only way to approach it is from the neighbor's property that's not the same thing as having a boat that's docked where you can go like this in and out these have to really be approached parallel in order to get on the lift it's a whole different different setup that people who own boats are familiar with but in terms of of how one act uh can access a uh a lift versus just uh uh docking I think uh much of this we've uh we've gone over it is I've said multiple times my opinion that there should be be some reasonable regulation of uh these floating structures again to uh for both visual for the neighbors and also for navigational safety purposes I do not think these should be overly restrictive I too used to be a boat owner at least and appreciate that people move to the water because they want to derive its benefits and I also um don't believe the town should be depriving people of that but just like the town is able enforce setbacks on structures on the land I think that the town needs to be able to regulate in a reasonable fashion what's uh what's going on on the water and I think reasonable people can argue about what's a reasonable standard uh but we can all I think as reasonable people agree that there should be some sort of a standard the best way to approach that again I would consider putting a small group of interested and hopefully knowledgeable individuals together together to discuss this possibly come up with some recommendations and then bring it back forward through the uh through the usual ordinance approval process through the Planning and Zoning Board and then back to the commission thank you for your time thank you thank you any other comments um I don't know do we take repeat or should we discuss before we have um more people I guess I have more things to say oh um okay yeah sure I've been a about for 30 years and I want to set the record straight on a few things that was um said here first and foremost my the drawing you have on your packet was done by a draftsman from our attorney firm the Marie Law Firm Marine law firm and my platform is absolutely not across my property line if you look at that satellite image or whether you look at a survey we made sure when it was installed that it is live if it ever you know there is an issue with any side neighbor that's why it's so flexible it's tied off with dope uh ropes on the dock and so it can easily be moved back and forth it can easily be reconfigured and made shorter or longer if need be secondly um we didn't go to the two neighbors that we know their opinion of Mr greenal and the g here but we went to everyone else and 99% of neighbors we knocked on the door that opened up signed the petition and the petition is just saying we don't we don't want any change our neighbors around us does not have setbacks and there has and they have hundreds of these and it has never been a problem when you dock on a lift whether it's a floating missile platform or whether it's a fixed lift you cannot come in at an angle you have to come in parallel to your neighbor dock drive onto your lift and then you get raised up I just want to be clear about that I actually have a video of my neighbor across the bay him backing out of his fix lift and floating all the way in front of his neighbor and then takes off that is part of boating now in the case of the plot the floating Missle platform I actually do come in at a 45 degree angle once I touch the dock and it starts pushing down then the boat Maneuvers and it goes in you cannot do that with a fixed lift um I had a captain we had a captain he navigated into the corner absolutely no problem certified Captain we have it all on video so there is no navigation Hazard as far as my floating vessel platform is concerned lastly I just want to say um when you think about these jet skis especially which is the predominant use of floating vessel platforms they all sit at the end of your property they cannot sit on the do because that's where you put your boat and so any side set back there will cause a lot of issues for a lot of people lastly I just want to say my specific platform I move back as far as possible it is 15 ft from where the property line runs into the water that's where the platform starts and then the boat is set back another 12 12 plus feet from there I especially did that to minimize the impact on the corner line and I could have gone on a full lift that would have been in the middle of my Dock and a boat sitting up 25 fet in the air that would have been horrible but I did took the time I made the additional investment I went through the permitting so that I minimized the impact on my neighbors and I can only float off on one side so um I hope that's helpful I just wanted to make sure everyone that thank you thank you so I'm ready to make a comment uh about how my opinion on all this um I just don't think we have a consensus among the neighborhood about whether to regulate these or not I mean we have several people who are in favor of regulating them I think we have many more people who are not in favor of regulating them um I think the legal opinion shows that it's very muddy you know it's clear as mud as to whether or not we can regulate these so I personally am in favor of letting the state deal with this and not changing Highland Beach's um authority to regulate these things so basically status quo is what I'm in favor of I don't have an issue with that I just want to make sure that people respect their neighbors as far as I'm concerned you should be able to do anything you want on your property you pay a lot for it but you cannot impact your neighbor's use of their property because you wouldn't want them to impact yours um as far as having setbacks affect your value I don't believe that I think that there are some towns where the properties are just always historically more reasonably priced than somebody else um I know in Montclair in New Jersey that was true a house there is going to cost you less than a house even in any of the neighboring towns that's the same house so I don't think the setback makes a difference um when and I was in voting for 45 years you don't when you're looking at a house and you're looking at the duck I don't know that you go in and say gee what are the setbacks I'm not sure that that's a question people ask so yeah so yeah we we can't take the comments from the from the group right now so let's just let the Commissioners say their thing so Judy you want to go next yes I I would concur with the mayor's position um I think that the state statute as it stands um appreciates the impact and gives perhaps um somewhat ambiguous or workable language uh to what the um obligations are such as um you know adhering to um you know not creating a navigational Hazard not to Fringe on adjacent Property Owners or or such U such verbiage if that's right uh illegal Council and I think that um we would probably be left um incorporating that language ourselves I mean that's um you know General applicable language so um I think that uh we should leave it alone for now yeah I agree concur with the mayor um it's difficult everybody wants to enjoy the water and have their crafts then people want to enjoy the views I just kind of curious I mean most most of these platforms and Greg probably could answer this question or we're just talking about kayaks and and canoes and small craft right it's not the major I mean how many big boats are there for this uh floating vessel so if you want to come back Greg Bobby 1092 Bell Drive uh in Highland Beach there are two platforms for larger boats and on uh and the rest of them 47 are for smaller either tiny boats like 18 to 16 foot boats or for kayaks or for jet skis yeah I I know up in my my Lakehouse I have my my small vehicles on a side on a setback so uh I could understand that um yeah I think the state should uh do this and we shouldn't get involved and everybody to enjoy their uh their water craft their views and U their grandkids and kids in the water that's why I move to Highland Beach and live on the ocean uh you know every day I can see the water and jump into it so uh yep I agree with the mayor nice mayor uh I agree with mayor's position okay so uh do you need a motion or anything like that we just we will not take up this isue any further yeah it was just a discussion as to whether we want to move forward well thank you for the legal opinion for theal analysis um unfortunately it led to a muddy uh not much of a clear Direction on what we could do thank you to everybody coming out um really appreciate that we really value your opinion uh the consensus of the uh residents is really important to us um and you know I guess the way we've the direction we've taken in the past is unless we have a consensus we we're typically don't make a change you know it's usually the the consensus is what drives uh our decision so thank you very much and uh I'll be tapping you guys in the future for uh future topics as they come up so thanks okay so moving on um any public comments on other any other topic okay oh okay something completely unrelated correct okay excellent I'm on South Boulevard and there's a lot of uh plastic uh that they put on for for work could you uh explain uh what exactly we're doing to the road what is getting bigger what is because from a part that they've worked on I don't see anything different than what we had before yeah so there's in the process of repaving so they're going to Mill out and replace bad areas first they'll put down a base coat and then move to the next section Unfortunately they made the decision to put up the silt fence super early and then stop taking care of it so that's why it's we're chasing I know Pat and Sergio are chasing fot telling them to constantly repair it um and they're just not responsive but again the road will be totally repaved slightly wider not extremely wide a couple feet um so the road will be smooth and transitioned into driveways and entryways in good time they say may uh is their uh deadline we'll wait to see if that'll be accomplished and so just in summary what they're doing is they're fixing the drainage along the side because as you know there's some areas that really puddle a lot which is really annoying um they're fixing the slope of the road because there's one section that it's to full flat the other section it's too too too much slope so they're fixing that and they're also widening it a little bit especially at the North End at Linton so that we have um uh many more cars that can be lined up for the leftand turn um so they're widening it up there and widening It generally uh to make a a wider area for bicycles to P pass so it's going to be like so much better but yeah we're going to suffer I believe the uh turn lane will be three times bicycle Lanes will be 5T yeah so I can accommodate three cars now and go up to like nine nine or 10 cars something like that so it should be much improved and it will be look so much nicer but and I think that plastic and the pl the plastic bags and then the plastic orange thing is to show them where they're not going Beyond so anything beyond there I believe is staying they're not touching it correct they haven't touched some of the uh shrub lines too as much as I thought so I don't know if that's still coming so that's anticipated that some of the um what is that stuff called like just right on the edge of the road kind of what's that like a hedge hedge some of that's coming out but stuff uh that Sil fence does kind of Define uh the the scope or boundary of the work Zone it won't will not go past that Max B drive just a couple questions one is what are the bulldo is doing on the one park on the way toward Spanish River and what's going on with the Milani Park when what are the timelines and what what are the bulldozers doing there so those bulldozers are related to the other settlement agreement we have with the Milani family for a development uh Jeff and I the building official spoke this morning it appears they're spreading uh Millions um whether or not they're from our road uh but they're putting Millions down they are in the permit process uh they're in the final stage is a plan review on the west side for a seven unit uh town home condo development that's uh prescribed under a settlement agreement from 1995 um so they're Meeting those deadlines and then just to let you know on the east side of the road uh where the Milani family has their historic home that's coming down and they're putting in three units uh as prescribed by the settlement agreement the park uh it's in the design phases going through through um traffic evaluations they're doing the uh cultural and artifact reviews of the property doing some borings to see what kind of uh loading they could handle on the soils so I think that's more like a two-year window but they're still moving forward with the park um they uh the mayor's provided some updates recently uh she and a couple of residents have been invited to meet with the County Commission to look at possible uh aesthetic improvements and design Alternatives but a park is as we understand coming so yeah so hopefully sometime in the first quarter of 2025 we'll get some preliminary designs of what the park will look like and so the uh county has said that they'll give us an opportunity to weigh in on the design of the park and um I can tell you the architect that they've chosen seems really excellent um and knowledgeable of coastal parks and all the issues around Coastal Parks so I'm optimistic in the design that they will come up with um so yeah that's okay another comment please come to the podium the tow houses did they reduce it to seven instead of nine it was originally nine uh in order to meet the height and setback obligations they couldn't do everything they wanted so they did scale the project back to accommodate uh the final design so there GNA be seven instead of nine okay thanks seeing no additional U public comments we're moving on to ordinances the real exciting part of the meeting um so we'll have public comments on each one and which will be limited to three minutes per speaker the first ordinance under item a ordinance number 2025-the Chapter 30 relating to homebased businesses this is the second hearing and it is a p a second reading and it is a public hearing and this is an ordinance of the Town Commission of the town of Highland Beach Florida amending section 30-6 7 uses permitted special exception and prohibited uses and section 30- 131 definition of terms of chapter 30 zoning code of the town code of ordinances to rename the existing Co existing home occum occupation use to homebased businesses and modify the regulations to ensure consistency with state law providing for the repeal of all Ord es in Conflict providing for severability and codification and providing for an effective date and the read the first reading was at our last meeting on December 17th 2024 take it ingr take it away no changes to Second um the actual memorandum that was provided to you on December 17th still stands it's on page 17 your packets um I'll be happy to go over it but um again as you may recall this particular ordinance will put the town regulations in compliance with State Statute with regards to homebased businesses um as iev see mentioned in December we currently have home occupation regulations so we have we're striking all of that out in the proposing new language which of course is complying with the statute which is also including and I'll be glad to address a questions but um may have for the second meting we well I have a question would this incorporate um a resident in a primary um say it's a primary residence not in a condo so it's separate um um unit so to speak that has um uh frequently rents out their property so we're not dealing with a condo that is subject to limitations set forth in their documents that yes no that's that's a separate that's a separate regulatory scheme this is people preemption and preemption but this is um this is for people who are actually conducting businesses within their residential unit dwelling I just wanted to clarify that for the record again I wasn't here on the 17th when it was taken up the first time no problem and they and they must live there right that's M okay regulation with regards to people that can work they can have two employees right and there's restrictions as to equipment and whether it can be Vis seen from the street and things of that nature yeah the the gist of is that it should not change the residential they did loosen the restrictions um you know many towns had like you couldn't have employees it can only be the person who lived there so the state loosen the Restriction but they did um emphasize that it shouldn't change the residential character of the neighborhood so that's why you you know you can't see the commercial you know equipment and all that kind of stuff and the signage you can still impose your general sign regulations those seems to just um incorporate and comply with state regulations on the subject matter yes ma'am thank you and since this is a public hearing I wanted to open up for public comments any public comments related to this item seeing n none the public hearing is now closed um any additional comments from the Commissioners if none can we have a motion I move that we approve ordinance number 2025 01 seconded commissioner David yes commissioner Goldberg yes commissioner Peters yes vice mayor Stern yes and mayor Moore yes motion carries okay moving on to Item B ordinance number 2025-the Marine facilities AMF and Seawall regulations this is the second reading and it is a public hearing um an ordinance of the Town Commission of the town of Highland Beach Florida amending chapter 6 buildings and structures of the town code of ordinances by amending section 6-128 approval required for bulkheads seaw walls retaining walls required notification of ab budding Property Owners to provide a maximum Seawall cap and docket with amending Chapter 30 zoning by amending section 30- 68 supplemental District regulations to provide a maximum height for Boat Lifts a maximum extension for accessory Marine facilities into canals and lakes a maximum seaw wall cap and dock width and latter regulations and amending section 30-31 definition of terms to provide definitions that pertain to accessory Marine facilities providing for the repal the repeal of all ordinances in Conflict providing for severability and codification and providing for an effective date the first reading was uh at our last meeting December 17th 2024 so we have uh been at this one for years um and we we did finally land at the last meeting on all the items that we have been in consensus with and I believe that the current version reflects uh consensus um so I I have a a question with respect to the latter so I see that we we incorporated that so yes so there's a statement now that will say ladders are permitted um that was vetted thoroughly by the planning board um and so it was unanimous out of the planning board um including the gentleman that had that story about the ladder I don't know if you remember you know Roger Bown had that story about um he was glad there was a ladder he had a kid that he was able to pull out so he was um also he is part of the planning board and everyone on the planning board was unanimous in the language that we have now so we are adopting the recommendation out of the planning board I I think it's excellent um uh at um at Seagate um I'm we are going to be doing this so um two issues is it mandatory under the new ordinance just looking for the text no it's not mandatory um and um reasons for that you know lots of good reasons for that and and I also have property on the water and I put a I put have two ladders on my so it doesn't preclude someone from putting and we never did preclude anyone so any any um Waterfront owner can put a ladder uh clearly well I think that's excellent okay that's excellent good any other discussion um so this is a public hearing so I wanted to open it up for uh comments from the public seeing no comments I'm closing the public hearing and so if we could have a motion I move we approve ordinance number 2025-the second commissioner David yes Vice May Stern yes commissioner Goldberg yes commissioner Peters yes and mayor Moore yes motion carries excellent okay moving on to the consent agenda there are two items in the consent agenda anybody wish to discuss them or if we're ready we could just have a motion I move we approve the consent agenda second all favor say I I motion carries unanimously item 10 unfinished business Florida Department of Transportation trip R project update uh we kind of covered it described it uh again we're just it's moving Southward so um it's a little bit messy um so just be careful out there drivers um I been put on notice that somebody hurt themselves Crossing it so if you're using one of our pedestrian crosswalks just be careful if the surface is uneven um that's on EP dot but just be careful when Crossing uh it's not going to be a smooth and solid footing at all times so um please be cognizant of that but the project again still targeting May again I think that might be a little bit ambitious but hopefully they'll get most of the heavy lift done and then it's just clean up work afterwards so the silt fences they are in disrepair in a lot of sections is there anything that can be done about that I will uh it's the bane of Pat's existence he's not here because he's probably yelling at him about it but we'll continue uh keeping Pat on them to do it they should normally you do it per section so it doesn't go up early but I think they had some lag time and they wanted to put their Crews to work so they just put them up and then they fell in disrepair so um we're going to work on them to see if we can't get them to start taking care of it or taking them down if you don't need it it's a silt fence for basically for sedimentation right and some of those are uphill so I've not seen sediment roll uphill so it usually comes down there so if it's into the work Zone maybe spots where we don't need to put it back up um but like you I think uh commissioner Davis said it's really to they're using it also to DeMark work Zone um but yeah we'll get it it's pretty unsightly so we'll get them to to to try to clean that up I um just want to give everybody a warning when you're doing the one way in front of your condo don't pull out make sure you see the tra yes because that happens a lot I have that and when the Zone they're working in you shouldn't drive in either and I've seen that a lot so try to stay on the traveled Lane I think some people because the equipment will space and they'll just cross through and drive in there so I saw people taking their beautiful cars over freshly they Tack and that's just going to fly up into your wheel wells and get stuck on the bottom of your car it's not usually the best thing when you have a really expensive car so just be careful stay in the paved nonwork areas also mentioned about the bicyclists and and them directing at times bicyclist to go on the Walking path which is a mistake which should not be done very dangerous yeah we're still working to see if they're directing it I I think sometimes bikers do it on their own just to keep on so they don't have to wait they kind of do their self-directed but uh we've been in contact with Chief Harman to make sure to remind him not to direct you know if you if you have a helmet and a padded seat you don't need to be on a sidewalk because you're moving way too fast so hopefully we'll try to keep them on the road but with regard to that do they otherwise I mean even if we weren't on the construction they do have the authority to be on the sideboard they do um generally I would tell that again with so many driveway Cuts if that pathway is probably built for you know six miles an hour type speed eight miles an hour you go much faster faster than that you're going to have a lot of conflicts not only with pedestrians but cars coming out of their driveways because you're flying down there doesn't give the driver enough time to at least check their spots that uh visual triangle to make sure someone's there so if you're riding at high speed you should never be on the sidewalk or shared use pathway because it's just not built for such speeds yeah I think when they build the bike lanes and they put the simple bike on it then the bikes will have to be in their Lanes by law it's busy out there so just be careful everybody be careful and we just heard this morning about several recent accidents where people were on bikes and were killed yeah it's a little more frequent we're seeing them here in town uh we've had a few uh bikes cars pedestrian uh conflicts luckily they're not that bad just yet here in town but it's it's happening more often so just be careful um when you're out there next item sanitary sewer lining Rehabilitation projects yeah so our internal work group uh has been meeting and this is to get the um State revolving fund loan which is that low interest half percent 1% loan to do the sewer lining project we got our uh proposal in from Baxter Woodman who's going to be the engineer of record for that and kind of shephered this project through the state process we're meeting tomorrow to take our next steps um skender and Sergio are on the lead Madison Pat and I are kind of helping um but we're going to be on course to make that August application date baxard Woodman is aware of all the steps that they have to do uh so we're Full Speed Ahead making great progress excellent great to hear that new business resolution number 2025-the approving and adopting the 2024 revised pal Beach County local mitigation strategy plan and providing for an effective date Chief you want to give a little update on what the LMS is and why it's important and what it means it's his favorite topic that was sudden introduction Glen Joseph fire rescue uh yeah the LMS allows us to become in compliance with the latest State update the county approves that process they rewrite their LMS to match the stat requirement ments and then we that LMS is then sent to the to the state for approval the county has approved their LMS the state has approved the County's LMS now it's come on all the municipalities within the county to update their LMS to reflect what the county has already been approved so that's allows us to apply for Grants another funding mechanism so it's imperative that we fall in line because it gives us opportunities that will not be there if we do not uh adopt it as the municipality I'm in favor of that uh any other discussion no I don't think we have a choice yeah I know thank you for the update go ahead you want to make a motion uh yes I move that we approve resolution number 2025 d001 seconded all in favor say I I motion carries resolution number 2025-the providing for the permanent retention of all public records relating to building permits and Land Development applications and approvals providing for conflicts providing for severability and providing for an effective date and uh is this something where the building official will come in and tell us I'll take it from here um I worked on it with Lena you had brought it to our attention as well I am in favor um I would say before Lena and I uh were here handling records or kind of providing that guidance uh some decisions were made in the town to destruct records that probably shouldn't have been destructed so um things were given back to condos and things of that nature which would be now that we have fire rescue very valuable to have as builts for when we do response plans uh we no longer have that certain residential records now and I think a lot of those decisions were were driven by boxes of files everywhere not having space storage space is cheap and marks on the ones and twos in the back room has been teaching me all these years you know storage terabytes of storage cost us nothing so to start saving these critical records beyond what the state at times will prescribe as that timeline on that retention schedule so we're looking to just for zoning planning building permits we're just going to keep everything so as we move forward we'll know when homes were repair what work was done you know setback uh zoning approvals appeals some of that stuff's already said it should have been kept it wasn't so we're just taking that next step and kind of saying we're going to hold those records uh are the records now the records now are all digital mostly digital we have U we have uh laser feish which is our records repository or storage some of the other items to our building software program that has uh cloud storage unlimited back backed up Cloud space so again storing records has become so cheap and easy uh so we just want to make sure we're you know really covering our bases to make sure we have these moving forward especially with larger homes more unique homes different spaces big condo redevelopments we should keep track of these records recertifications if the state was to ever come in and say did you do it and where the files are the record so we're going to keep those um real estate transactions it does help with that as well uh so you when you buy a property to know what's been done and when uh so we're just going to go ahead and keep all of those records and be easy to pull that up great you not for me I have one question for clarification are we maintaining abandoned or withdrawn permits because if they are abandoned or I mean I guess they never come through we never issue the permit um I mean I think open and expired permits need to be retained absolutely need to be retained I'm asking from a records custodian perspective because this the law says I think 80 days it and it clearly states abandon or withdrawn so we can clarify that in the record so that way we make sure we retain them or we destroy so MGO would keep that as an incomplete and then it would say it was cancelled so their initial application materials would be whatever stored uploaded online and then say the contractor the homeowner decided to stop we would still have those digital records from that application so we're gonna we're gonna keep them all yeah I would keep it all yeah footprint for someone coming behind right yeah yeah for a permit that was issued for sure needs to be retained so are you saying someone who made an application and then just didn't like they started an application but just didn't didn't complete the process and didn't get a permit issued yes that's we've I've seen it in my time here where they've had it where it was it was a file and on the front of it it said cancelled or withdrawn it was paper and it was destroyed my my thought is if a permit is issued it has to be retained but if a permit was not issued which means Jeff didn't accept it you know the building official didn't accept it and it you know just never went forward that's that I wouldn't I don't think we need to is there a reason not to would it I I mean I don't see why we shouldn't keep everything if it never comes up it never comes up fine but if storage is so cheap why not and it's easy it's already part of that record we keep for the property MGO and that so Cloud spaces I just keep just keep it that's fine yeah I'll modify to include abandon or withdrawn permit because we do specifically state that even denial of development orders we're going to keep so we'll just that's fine okay commission I move that we approve resolution number 20252 second all in favor say I I I motion carries resolution number 2025 d00 a resolution of the Town Commission of the town of Highland Beach Florida designing the Palm Beach County canvasing Board as the town's canvasing board for the March 2025 General municipal election providing for conflicts and providing for an effective date I am in favor of this one yeah well and that's what we had a referendum about that we have the right to do this but you have to do it every time yes ma'am correct so therefore yes I think we do this any more discussion on it second okay so you want to make a motion go ahead move we approve re resolution number 2025 d003 second it all in favor say I I I Town commissioner comments commissioner Goldberg you're up well uh first of all I'd like to um um uh congratulate and compliment our marine unit in monitoring the inter Coastal uh I was uh enjoying my morning uh coffee uh watching the boats go by and there we had our marine boat go over and pull someone over who was zipping by and it was uh it was uh pleasure to see pleasure to see um and secondly I I too uh really appreciate the response that we had in the audience today I think it was exciting that our um our residents are are actively involved in in the government in what's happening in in our waterways and our community and uh I encourage it uh you know wholeheartedly I know we've discussed how can we communicate bring the the Town members in and uh so however this was the Seminary the information about um today if it was other than just our sending our routine commission meeting um but I just wanted to compliment the community in coming forward and letting us know how they feel and that's it for me yeah I feel the same way I thank everybody for coming out and uh we're here to listen to you and uh do what you say we're we're here because of you so thank you for all coming out out and um and have a great day uh well I want to send my heartfelt thoughts to californ that we have hurricanes but we don't have anything like the devastation that they are having out there which is just unbelievable it's neighborhoods that are Rubble and I think Jeff should send them a note on how to Fast Track permits and building because from what I've heard it could be five to 10 years before some of those places are reconstructed and it's just horrible and congratulations to commissioner Goldberg on her engagement thank you very much forgot that and hope everyone had a wonderful new here thank you thank you just a quick update on the electric uh vehicle charging we had a presentation at the BCA this morning from the head of City uh v um company and it was pretty good and chief might be a good idea to get a copy of the presentation because I think it's of interest and they explained it pretty well what they're doing the uh one that we're installing at the Highlands Place will be fully installed by the end of this week it'll be should be operational and uh we'll see and I'll monitor it and I'll tell this body how it's going what's going on so thank you uh nothing for me uh moving on to the town attorney report no ma'am okay thank you thank you Town manager yes um how to get people involved there's two ways always tell them you're going to raise their taxes and you're gation TS to get them going pretty quickly but I Tred to avoid that because um some of those neighbors were mad at me so um on that front managers monthly we going out this week so just keep your eyes out correct yep um the next meeting will have uh the 30 it's an expired the gas tax there's a resolution we passed to support or partner with the county to collect uh gas tax revenue it's kind of rudimentary but we have to do this every 30 years the county has agreed to hold the uh the share cost share uh so it's basically 66 33 kind of break the municipalities get to 33 of course um but we do get some of those dollars to help with Paving our roads and stuff so uh it does help so I'll be bringing that forward for resolution for you all to consider um there's the board appreciation luncheon for all our board members board and commission members uh please keep an email look out for email that came from Jackie our Deputy clerk kind of getting your uh your orders for menus that's February 13th um that's at the Del re Sands um the mayor's going to make a two-hour speech so we want people to go we don't so uh please keep an email hope to see everybody this we haven't done this in five years that's wild since 2019 so good so everybody's excited everybody will be there it'll be great to get everybody together oh and uh Commissioners don't forget uh the turtle invite to go to the turtle party for the Highland Beach so if you're interested to please uh let Joanne know by the 27th um Madison and I are going to be working on a small unveiling event I had put that in one of my reports to you for the the Browns plaque uh commemorating the firehouse in uh Doug Hillman's honor I'm working with Michael as son to see when hopefully they'll give us a date say March April logistically it was difficult to pull off because they're right now to pull it off as quickly uh so uh Michael's going to get back to me he and Michelle's schedule and then we'll have a little event at the the fire station it'll be more intimate think smaller won't be like um that'll be more family friends commission type stuff so uh please keep any eye out for that once we get some of those dates we'll start telling you what that is in the evening for a couple hours um that's it good can you can you just for a moment uh hit on the signage are we waiting for the construction I was think of the north side North yeah we're going to wait for them to get done now so folks uh Ron took off I know he had some concerns some of our folks on the south end of town about the sign that's dictated by F dot so that's why it's on that angle okay so you're never going to see right when you guys leave there you never see leaving Paradise that's kind of buried um the north end's going to be kind of similar pushed closer to the we're going to try to work Pat's goingon to try to work his magic with his friends at fot to see if we can't you know split the difference to kind of keep it more centered um but yeah we're waiting for that construction to be done because they're working so close to it and then we'll go back through and put the lights and the uh Landscaping um and the like in so um soon very soon okay okay moving along to announcements board vacancies we have some vacancies for the board of adjustment and appeals board and code enforcement board meetings and events upcoming January 29th at 11: we have the natural resources preservation Advisory Board February 4th is our next meeting at 1:30 in the afternoon for the town commission meeting and February 5th at 11:00 a.m. we have another meeting of the natural resources preservation Advisory Board there are no board action reports and with that uh we can adjourn thank you very much everybody