##VIDEO ID:aKxFkoah5u0## e e e e e e e e e e good morning the Tuesday January 28th 2025 regular Board of County Commissioners meeting will now be called to order we'll begin with a moment of Silent reflection for the First Responders and members of our Armed Forces there'll be an invocation by the Reverend Dr Crystal Bal and none other than our County attorney will be leading Us in the pleasure of lead that's Jennifer Schuler thank you please rise and since I don't see Dr bajel uh may I ask the uh Deputy to please sure absolutely please pray with me our heavenly father we thank you for this opportunity to gather as one we thank you for the opportunity for these five to do what they are commissioned to do in the best interest of every Community member of Indian River County father we ask that you provide coverage for not only our law enforcement our First Responders but those in our schools and those in our communities father we thank you again for this opportunity and we give all the praise to your son Jesus amen thank you join me in theedge of pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you we'll now move on to any additions deletions uh to the agenda or any emergency items uh we do have one 1183 uh that will be the attorney matters uh for it was advertised for the developers agreement between Riverfront Groves Incorporated and in River County Mr chair it's actually going to be under public hearings should be 1183 as you mentioned also there is the commissioner matters commissioner Moss added uh 15 E1 and then uh as a reminder item 9e was moved to 12b for County administr it's the lobbyist for the 2025 legislative session okay and um Mr chair yes on the uh it's 4B it appears on on my copy uh support of legislation requiring hands free cell phone uh Mr Lambert is here to speak about that so he would speak during public comment uh about agenda related matters so I would just request that uh we hear that matter while he's here if possible I think he'll be speaking during comment public comment agenda related related to agenda item yes sir which is now number eight looking at this okay and in addition we do have uh something for the value adjustment board under attorney's matters and I'd like to uh move that up uh just post our um after our presentations so we can sort that out uh early on if there's nothing else I'll move to approve is amended did you have something else I just wanted clarification on what we're adding well and also in addition we're going to have a shade meeting at 10:00 it must happen at 10 o'clock it's a Time certain it's been advertised uh the state attorney uh the County Attorney has requested a closed litigation session regarding the case of Michael and Jean Sole and it's a closed session not open to the public and it's pursuant to Florida state statute 28601 1 sub 8 so at 10:00 we will be breaking we'll be departing we will have our shade meeting it is anticipated that it will be an hour so if we're waiting for anything I just wanted to inform the public that we will be breaking for that hour in addition uh we do have uh we're going to have to adjust the entire uh agenda because now so we have uh also uh I believe lesie swan has something and we would do that before I don't know how we're going to do that before the um shade meeting as well well isn't that 5B it's already on here yeah just let's I don't know how long the presentation is this presentation is actually all right we can do it right then all right we'll leave it there and see how it goes okay all right anything further to be changed just a few okay okay you got to make the motion you had me yes I'll move to approve as amended I will second that we have a motion by commissioner and seced by commissioner Adams any further discussion let's see if we paid attention all in favor opposed motion carries unanimously all right so with that we're going to start off with the proclamation of presentation a presentation on human trafficking by uh it was supposed to be Tracy ran but uh I understand there's been a change so yes um I'm and then you're from the Florida Faith Alliance I am Sor good morning good morning chairman and all of the esteemed council members thank you for helping um our community to become aware of the fastest growing crime in the world today child sex trafficking I'm here today because we are in crisis for our children and we believe addressing the crisis of human trafficking through awareness and action alongside our government lead leaders is one of the keys to bringing an end to this travesty since the pandemic child Che sex trafficking has become the fastest growing crime in the world America is now the biggest buyer of sex and Florida is number three in the nation for hotline calls the buying and selling of humans is a multi-billion doll Global Market sex trafficking is in every state and every Community this horror is happening right here in Indian River County over the past year and a half there have been 14 related arrests for child trafficking and child exploitation and all of those have included child pornography social media has opened the door for predators and traffickers to bait and groom a child so they will come to them willingly sexting and sex tortion is now the fastest growing gateway to child trafficking according to Homeland Security recruiters within our schools many of the same age as our children are being used as to start these sexting rings in Treasure Coast four T four teachers have been arrested for sexting with students Florida Faith Alliance has created powerful trafficking prevention videos called don't take the bait for middle school and high school students the Indian River uh County School Board voted unanimously this past year to bring these videos into all Indian River School counties excuse me Indian River County Schools we are now training school School District employees and students in 2025 we will be affecting over 70,000 children and 7,000 employees across two counties Florida faith and Alliance founder and coo Lynn Barletta worked with Florida house representative Toby overdorf to help get hb3 passed and as of January 1 of this year PornHub the most viewed porn site in the world has pulled out of Florida Hallelujah we have joined Ashley Moody well I'm going to skip that paragraph for a second go to the next one this year we will be bringing a day of Defense to Indian River County as well this will include demonstrations and training in self-defense situational defense and online defense empowering every age group to learn how to protect themselves against predators we have joined Ashley Moody I know she's moved on but we've joined that office in seeking 100% um of all County City Town business and social organizations to take the 1hour free Florida Alliance to end human trafficking awareness training to equip our citizens to recognize report and bring an end to this violence against the most vulnerable our children um an update as we uh I wanted to share is that Sebastian Vero Beach and Indian Rivers Shore City councils have recently ReRe or read in to their um 2025 records recognition Proclamation stating that they stand against child sex trafficking and they're going to be taking the training they're going to require it for all of their employees we believe that the anti-trafficking campaign that has been launched in our country can multiply to other counties throughout Florida together we can do this we can cross party lines racial lines economic and cultural lines now is the time Proverbs 318 says speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves ensure Justice for those who are being crushed together we can unite to fight and set a loud and clear message not on our watch not in our County thank you for the opportunity to share this information with you today and your ongoing support thank you for the presentation uh the the presentation in itself is mov bring this even more forward you spoke today we've all met we've spoke we've written a proclamation uh we're involved I think uh at least one of my colleagues has been involved in the positive end of this that ugly process I know I have and I I I don't think there's a commissioner here that uh you didn't hit their Heartstrings I I I just want you to know that uh the difficulty uh with that is and this is the number one weapon that our parents need to Monitor and yes there are some Endeavors and I appreciate the fact that you're getting into the schools they awareness you you're educating and going directly to the possible victims um again trafficking has been something that's occurred in many many of our in in environments uh in the restaurant trade in in the construction trade uh and the sex trafficking trade um if that is a trade uh uh unfortunately when it's hitting our children and they are beguiled into to promises unfulfilled and their lives are turned around it it hits all of us um so we appreciate your presentation the the commitment to education and let's keep it going and keep it aware because awareness is what we all need to ensure that we're doing our part we're monitoring we are observing and we are helping and correcting the curve thank you next item is a uh presentation by the uh supervisor elections uh we're going to hear about uh the most powerful mobile voter program that was uh deployed in the state welcome and good morning good morning chairman fleser and Commissioners I'm lesie Swan the supervisor of elections and I am excited to share with you this morning an Innovative program that the elections office rolled out to boost participation in the 2024 presidential election cycle the program was entitled the mobile voter program or MVP and it was a collaborative effort with the Senior Resource Association the Senior Resource Association is the lead agency in Indian River County for promoting Home and community-based Services to older adults and transportation services for all the elections team formulated a month-long program to deliver election information and increase Civic engagement to those who may be homebound or have limited Mobility I'd like to express my sincere appre assciation to Karen deagle who is the president and CEO of the Senior Resource Association for our partnership and also we have Anita wheeler who headed up the program uh with our office and I'm excited to announce that the mobile voter program was recently awarded the election centers Stars and Stripes award and for those of you who are not familiar the election center is a National Organization comprised of Elections officials from across the country and after we won that award in December we were notified that our program was selected by the members of the election center as one of the recipients of the People's Choice Award so um we are going to be traveling to Little Little Rock Arkansas to present um our program to those in attendance at the National Conference so I'd like to just um share a short video of the highlights of the program hi I'm lesle Swan supervisor of elections for Indian River County Florida I'm excited to share with you our 2024 mobile voter program or what we affectionately call our MVP program recently the Florida legislature passed a new law requiring voters to renew their vote by mail ballot on a more frequent basis having to renew ballots every general election cycle is new to the voters in Florida so we wanted to make sure that we got the word out as the 2024 presidential election cycle was quickly approaching the supervisor of elections team implemented a creative program in collaboration with the Senior Resource Association of Indian River County to be able to reach a group of folks who are either homebound or have limited mobility and typically vote by mail hi I'm Karen deagle CEO the Senior Resource Association the Senior Resource Association is recognized as the lead agency in Indian River County for community and homebased services as well as transportation for all services offered by Senior Resource Association include congregate meal program meal Zone Wheels our community coach bus system and our go line transportation public transportation we estimate that the MVP program reached over 1,800 people in Indian River County served by senior resources Association partnering with the Senior Resource Association allowed the supervisor of elections team to personally engage those served by this Association many individuals face barriers to accessing voting information due to lack of Mobility or Transportation by engaging these individuals it ensures their voices are heard upholding the Democratic principle of inclusivity and representation for all citizens the elections office assembled 1,800 mobile voter packets the packets contained a vote by mail request form a voter registration application and return envelope for new voters and those needing to update their voting information a voter guide a government officials guide frequently asked questions brochure a pen American flag and a sweet treat beginning the first week of January s soe staff were on site for the Senior Resource association's congregate meal program which provides meals 5 days per week for approximately 300 people all in attendance at the five meal sites were provided a mobile voter packet and the opportunity to have their voting questions answered during the second week of January SE soe staff participated in the Meals on Wheels program which provides meals to individuals who may not have the resources to access or prepare food due to lack of Transportation functional limit itations or health problems election staff and Meals on Wheels volunteers delivered hot lunches to seniors at their homes and provided them with a mobile voter packet throughout the week more than 500 informational packets were delivered to homebound individuals as part of the ongoing mobile program election staff traveled to the Senior Resource association's Ada accessible goal line a no cost public transit system and offered Riders election information inside the buses signs displayed a QR code directing bus riders to renew their vote by mail ballot request register to vote or update their voter record via the supervisor of elections website the Senior Resource Association also operates the Community Coach a door-to-door transit system for eligible riders that can accommodate Riders who use wheelchairs Walkers canes service animals and other Mobility AIDS more than 1,000 Riders received mobile voter packets hi I'm Anita wheeler I'm the elections office community outreach coordinator by collaborating with Senior Resource Association we were able to reach underserved voters who use public transit take advantage of the congregate meal programs receive the Meals on Wheels and utilize the Community Coach the MVP packets allowed that one one-on-one interaction and allowed the recipients to feel socially connected so by going mobile voter awareness was personally delivered to our harder to reach residents of Indian River County I don't know if Karen wants to say a word thank you yeah I think so congratulations to the supervisor of elections office um great partnering we have always partnered with them throughout the years on different programs but this was pretty special because we got to hit a number of different uh programs a number of different um clients that we take care of and uh um a number of them are homebound as you saw and what a great thing to have somebody come to their home explain to them what's going on and and assist them in getting them registered to vote by mail um being on the buses um that you know time to interact with our our Riders and and uh acknowledge that they are important their vote is important so congratulations to all of you for what you do and uh the awards that you won thank you right well thank you so much for your time today well thank you for the presentation and the commitment there's uh been Outreach over the years but I have to say you utilized a great resource and put it into motion and you've you've exceeded the expectations your own expectations but also the expectations that's why you were so honored and we're honored to have your staff working so hard thank you very much thank Youk [Applause] you well we've uh moved up uh uh the attorney's matters on the value adjustment board uh we have our our attorney as well as I believe a value adjustment board attorney here so counselor okay thank you um Mr chairman and the board Florida statute requires that the board of County Commissioners appoint two Commissioners to serve on the value adjustment board and the statute states that um the two members of the governing body uh as elected from the membership of the board serve on the value adjustment board and then it says one of whom shall be elected chair of the value adjustment board this year um the Commissioners that are appointed to the value adjustment board are you chairman Fletcher and commissioner Ean so traditionally at the first meeting of the value adjustment board in August the members of the value adjustment board had been selecting the chair and the vice chair but last year the um General Council for the Florida Department of Revenue came out with an opinion stating that um it should be the board of County Commissioners who are appointing the chair uh before that meeting happens so that there's someone in place and ready to go when that when the organizational meeting starts um the the clerk of the court um has requested that this board appoint the chair and vice chair which makes sense because since the a commissioner has to be serving as chair it makes sense that we're appointing the chair and the vice chair so um I did reach out to the value adjustment board attorney Mr Nicholas Bikowski he's here he was very helpful in interpreting this language and he agrees with this recommendation I'm making to you he's available for questions if you have them my recommendation is that this board elect a chair and a vice chair of the value adjustment board thank you counselor and uh I I at the present time um I I am the chairman and the chairman of the value adjustment board and commissioner Erman is the vice chairman of the value adjustment board uh it's uh a commitment that we have both served uh for quite some time and traditionally uh we have um changed and become chair or vice chair and I think it would be customary honorable uh and again I do uh while I cannot make motions uh I can make recommendations for appointment so at this time uh I would like to appoint nominate commission Airman as chair of the value adjustment board I'll second any discuss I'll make or I'll make the motion if was that a motion technically okay I'll second it thank you no no yes yes that that would be appropriate I can appoint I just cannot make motions yes I'll second the appoint so we have a second U is there any further discussion all in favor I opposed motion carries unanimously congratulations to nominate commissioner fer as our vice chair second we have a motion in a second any further discussion it's kind of a move Point all in favor I opposed motion carried unanimously well we'll continue on and thank you for the application and change and I want to thank the value adjustment board uh attorney to ensure that we are in compliance with the state direcor we'll move forward uh with uh there's no approval of minutes and informational items well you all notice that there's some socks at your microphone and we I believe we do have a presentation that would be me I'm not Barry Shapiro I'm Bob Stanley with the formerly Vero Beach sock drive now the Treasure Coast sock drive as we are from Melbourne to Port St Lucy Barry was contacted about 7 years ago from a friend up in New Jersey who runs a shelter and he wanted of all things socks and he contacts Barry I'm sorry he wanted coats and Barry says this is Florida you know what's going on of course lately um but anyway so he checked around Barry is curious and with the shelters and Charities he found out that the number one request for the needy the less fortunate is socks so Barry decided to put a few boxes around businesses expecting to collect maybe a few hundred socks and he wound up with a thousand so he gave some Charities here in the community couple Charities some socks and shipped up to New Jersey the next year people contacted him Barry what's going on we want to give socks so 3,000 the next year and so on so the next the um past six years we've had 45,500 plus socks new package socks men women and children so this year the goal is 20,000 I think we'll hit it because our PR director jusia contacted CBS TV in West palom Beach we had a feature as well as on CBS and fox down there so we're out there people know of us we've got 40 collection boxes around the area that's one way to donate another easy way the QR code code on the box or on the posters you see around town or on our business cards will lead you to Amazon so it's the least expensive you punch a button bang you've donated so either way please donate we've got 22 Charities that are accepting the socks um hibiscus Children's Center we've got hope for families the Vietnam Vets so it covers everybody men women children I do want to thank we have 44 Community part ERS I won't name them but I will thank I can okay here we go um White Glove moving and stores donates the boxes Pac mail Beachside will send out boxes gratius to a charity in Broward one in uh Rochester New York and one in Jersey and also ABC printing does for free our printing of all our materials get out your calendars to important dates coming up this coming Thursday well a week from Thursday the 6th of February downtown at the 1420 coffee shop we have cops with socks from 8 until 10: so if you bring in a pack of new socks you get a free cup of coffee served by Barista as in uniform two guys up there can relate to that um and then the other thing two days later Saturday at walking tree Brewery we have our annual hop sock what is it called the um sock hop sock hop I too many socks in my head and you bring you bring a pack of socks there you get a free beer you can also possibly win a year of free beer we've got Professor Penny Good's Mighty flea circus for music if anybody knows Tamara dessen or pinup girls they'll be performing there'll be dance lessons and other giveaways so again that's at walking tree on the 8th now for the fun part oh this goes on January and February every year the fun part everybody as commissioner chairman Fletcher said has some socks boy he's warming up right now we're not going to embarrass you we're going to get up the the box over here in front of the two dunk shops I think Susan Adams and Joe you'll have the easiest shots and at once if you all throw your socks toward the Box that's way if you miss the shot nobody will really know because it's kind of all mixed in in the shots instead of individually let's go Janet's yeah he's a ball player we're allowed to stand up right yeah I can see it I can see just get warmed up it' be very embarrassing if I miss you're gonna get pegged in the back of the head I'm just oh you want a helmet he's not gonna move to help us we have to hit it over there one two three [Applause] go that was pretty impressive pretty impressive can I get aoto with the yeah why not turn the the thing around you she's G to talk to you later about that if you don't thank you fabulous a fun campaign and thank you coming back I don't think everybody can appreciate how important socks really are if you ever been out there it's a very important element thank you okay with that uh and that box will be displayed uh in in our lobby and we hope to see it filled thank you uh next item is uh public comment he a gender related items uh with the exception of public hearings so this is your opportunity if you wish to speak on any agenda item if you didn't want to stay till later on you most certainly are invited to speak we've also invited your speaker yes thank thank you Mr chair that's uh Mr how Lambert with uh bike walk and for those you don't know he's the director of safety and bik walk is a local nonprofit whose mission is to promote safe bicycling and walking as a means of transportation and also Recreation so they're partnering with a ver cycling which has more than 350 members locally to urge uh support for this uh legislation involving or requiring I should say um handsfree cell phone use while driving um you may recall I think most of us attended uh the legislative delegation day on January 6 and Mr Lambert presented this for the community presented uh this idea of supporting this legislation uh to Senator Gro who expressed support for it right then and there I spoke with her after the um the session and uh she reiterated that that she firmly supports this and I spoke with her again at the ribbon cutting for the reopening of 512 and what she said to me is that these letters are these are these resolutions of support are very important to to get this through um and that's of course one of our charges is the safety of the community and especially affects our young people which I hate to see in Mr Lambert will talk more about the statistics but uh young people under the age of 30 are 63% more likely to text uh while driving and that uh it can be deadly and uh and if not deadly devastating um oh and this just as by way of background um this resolution follows uh several that have been adopted uh locally and that includes IND Rivers Shores uh the town of orchid Sebastian City Council voted on it last week uh Vera Beach city council will be voting on it I think at their next meeting and uh that would include us and there's also a letter um from the sheriff uh in support of this so I I say that by by way of background it has uh widespread support among the municipalities so we would just be adding uh to that support and uh Senator Gro then would appreciate this and would be able to use it in Tallahassee if uh Senator excuse me if representative Milo uh does not pick up on it uh then Senator Gro has indicated that she herself will sponsor be a sponsor for the bill and Mr Lambert would you please elucidate the matter further thank you thank you commissioner Moss for those those comments and for getting this on the agenda for consideration and thank you Commissioners for allowing me to speak to this issue um I won't repeat all the facts that are contained in the resolution but I'll just say Florida has uh one of the highest fatality rates of of in the in the country and and Florida drivers actually kill more pedestrians and bicyclists than any other state um every day nine people die on Florida Road six of them attributed to distracted driving um as you can imagine this is very important to um to us to cyclists and pedestrians um our lives may very well depend on this legislation uh a 7ft buffer bike lane is great but it's not good to protect you from a distracted driver uh if you get if you do get hit by a distract driver in in in and on a bicycle or or as a pedestrian by a car driving 45 miles an hour your chances of being killed it's 85% at 58 miles an hour it's 99 99% um we do have a no texting law in Florida but the problem with it it's not strong enough because you can use your phone legally to uh for navigation and that requires you to enter characters into your phone as if as if you were texting you can also use your phone while the vehicle is stationary we've all experienced road rage uh at or maybe not road rage but maybe impatience at traffic lights while people are using their phones as chairman Fletcher said this this can be the enemy because there are so many apps out there as a matter of fact the phone app is actually in 10th place for the popularity of apps being used uh by drivers while they're driving um if you have a law that's enforcable if it's simple and clear if the officer sees a person holding their phone they can get a ticket that if you run the risk of getting a ticket uh by holding your phone you're less likely to initiate a text or us your phone while the vehicle is station AR or respond to that text at the next light so it's going to keep traffic flowing it's going to people more engaged in driving after all you're you are it takes it takes eyes it takes Hands on the Wheel takes eyes on the road and it takes your mind focused on driving to drive safely so um thanks again for for considering this this morning and please show your support um by Dr in this resolution uh this this legislation will uh prevent injuries and save lives thank you um thank you for being here today Mr Lambert I just want to add one more thing um Senator Gro indicated to me that the bills go through committees mid-February so it's uh you know it's time sensitive um any comments no all right well then I'll I'll move to move to approve is I'll public comment do have some some comments just some history um Senator Gro um was actually uh instrumental in as we were driving forward for texting while driving it took two years of work to get it to where it's at right now one of the resistant factors was that many on the committee did not want to see the ability for a law enforcement officer to be able to stop an individual if they were merely holding it and having to go through the discussion of what's on your phone I I know it it hit hard to at least two of us um uh at at the time the sheriff was the sheriff and I was fighting to get texting while driving on the board and on the uh in the committee and I I have to tell you that there was a lot of resistance about anyone wanting to hold a cell phone and being stopped so this would be a very large move going forward but it may put our law enforcement officers in a different light and it also will create uh another element as you're saying that it will be preventative and it will save lives I I can't disagree but the concern is that there might be UT litigation taking place just because someone's holding a phone most vehicles that you purchase today have at least a uh a six or an 8 in by 12in screen on them at at this time unless you own a 59 Ford you're going to have a screen on your TV I mean a TV and that was that was a slip too a subliminal slip because some of them are quite large and many years ago you could not have any type of cathode raate tube device light emanating device on your dashboard now the car manufacturers are making them where I think you're going to have a pan panoramic view they're all distractions some of them have night modes but I think these are here to stay and I think that we can if we can eliminate them we will save lives I just think it's an uphill battle there's nothing uh on the legislature at this time I don't recall the discussion that uh you are recanting um I I yes we were all in a room uh I don't recover that unless it was a private conversation uh but by the same token um it it's a very positive thought I understand it's on the bicycle advisory um agenda yes and it should have gone through the no you mentioned that it's time sensitive um I don't necessarily know if it is time sensitive it's rallying it's moving forward and it's in a hope that it gets on the discussion up in Tallahassee uh I you know I I just want to temper everybody's expectation because uh I did check there is nothing in the works right now now other than a discussion and many of these resolutions I just wanted to the public to also understand where it is and what we're what's trying to be accomplished if I may just say uh one word about handsfree and it is it is we are facing you know technological onslaught of distraction that is true but there actually is a hands-free on the in the law right now as it applies to school zones so uh they real the legislature has realized how important it is for people to be handsfree around school zones you're you're traveling 20 miles an hour they officers usually present and you know if it makes sense there why not carry that into greater speeds and in other areas where much more fatalities are taking place so that's the logic it's not going to stop but it's states that have done this in 31 states that have done this they've reduced the um distracted driving crashes by by 15 to 25% depending on how well oops depending on how well it is um advertised how how how how how well informed the public is that's a big part of it it's not going to stop all of it but if it saves 20% of lives of those 10 people if it saves uh two lives a day you know it's worthwhile and uh everywhere it's been implemented it has it has worked and and insurance rates have gone down so uh it's just one more thing we can do please thank you thank you yeah thank thank you thank you very much for being [Applause] here and and thank you Mr chair for your comments I appreciate that you're you're quite correct it is an it will be an upill battle and uh I think that's a good idea perhaps uh Mo could do a similar resolution and add to that push um I did have the two two private conversations with Senator Gro but the initial one but that was based on testimony which is uh videotaped that day that she she agreed right on the spot uh to support uh Mr Lambert and uh bike walk yeah as well while we were all sitting here so that that's on video um any other comments just a very uh it's a painful time when you see a car tragically um just malaligned an individual hurt and one of these lit on the floor somewhere or somewhere in the vehicle specifically everyone denies I wasn't on the phone I wasn't communicating I wasn't texting yeah no AB it's it's all verifiable yes youve you've certainly seen that side of it um if there are no further comments do we need to take public comment or I'll I'll make a motion when it's the appropriate time anyone wishes to speak on the on the matter otherwise U this was moved from into uh agenda related items and you plac it on the agenda is there anybody else that wishes speak on it if not all right then I'll uh move to approve uh support for legislation requiring handsfree cell phone use while driving it's a resolution second we have a motion in a second on the resolution any further discussion all in favor I I opposed motion carries unanimously thank you Mr than you for the presentation let's see where it goes just watching the watch and as we're entering uh is there any other public comment on an agenda item with 15 minutes to go let's try it let's go on to the consent agenda is there anything on the consent agenda that anyone wishes to pull um nine H 9h Hotel anything further any other items for discussion seeing none I'll letain a motion we have a motion by commissioner Amman seconded by Vice chairman La any further discussion motion was to approve as amended all in favor I opposed motion carries unanimously item 9 H Hotel thank you Mr chair um for the community uh 9h has to do with the uh Children's Services advisory committee um it's an updated God book uh the history of this is actually pretty interesting I I was the uh County Commission Lea Zone to uh what is affectionately referred to as seesac a number of years ago two years ago approximately and the guide book was Unearthed literally at that time it dated back to the late uh 19 90s but even the members who were on it uh were not aware of its existence it was uh Miss Emerson's predecessor who Unearthed it um at any rate this guide book is a lot more comprehensive uh than the previous one uh with which I am familiar I think there are two things here that need to be considered um that have to do with uh the it got a little more complicated and I'll explain the organization of it there's the main uh cesac committee and that main committee can organize as many subcommittees as it wishes it has the power to do that currently there are two subcommittees one is for needs assessment and this all has to do with children and and their needs so one has to do with needs assessment and the other has to do with uh Grant review and by Grant review nonprofits come and they apply for cesac money uh currently we're spending close to $3 million annually on children's services so these are you know it's very these are very important committees and we we know we we as a commission have have done a lot of work on this the last few years and the staff has done a lot of work on this which you know I'm very happy to see um I was the one who brought it forward a couple of years ago and asking just asking questions to make it more accountable to make it more transparent and I think that has happened and will continue to happen what the reason why I pulled this today this has to do with that that gu book which has been updated you know 20 some odd years later I think there are two things uh that we might want to consider as a commission with this and that is um it gives the list of the current uh subcommittee members that were just approved recently and for the community generally the County Commission is the final stop and we we affirm or deny approval uh to to advisory boards and commissions in fact we have a meeting coming up if you're interested I think it was at the last meeting in February where we're going to be going down the entire list and by the way I encourage everyone we do have vacancies so you can go to our website if you want to be on an Advisory board or commission Indian R.G but at any rate um So currently there are people that were appointed by the main subcommittee so you have the main subcommittee appointing uh excuse me the main committee appointing members of two subcommittees uh so these people you know have not been you know they have not come before us in any way shape or form as is true with all other boards and commissions uh we either we either approve them directly or uh we we review it periodically as we will the end of February to see if they want to be reappointed and should they be reappointed so this just lists people um you know some of some it should be presented uh to us I think um and not in in this manner it should be presented in detail to us should we should we require it the second thing is I think what we're doing here is adding uh procedure and I'm looking at the guide book pages uh eight and n uh and that's chapter 2 and what is said there is that the main committee uh votes on who should be in each of the subcommittees and I don't find that specifically stated in any of the ordinances that were changed and I'm in agreement with the ordinances that were changed but this particular uh procedure or process if you will does not appear in any of the ordinances uh directly it doesn't say that the main uh cesac committee shall vote for each member of whatever subcommittees it chooses to designate or chooses to create that doesn't appear anywhere so I think we might want to uh revisit that at a at a later date and I think we might also want to add these people to our review because we're the final stop we're responsible to you and I always appreciate volunteers on any committee but their charge is their mission and and in this case it's to the the to Children right it's not uh it's it may be perhaps secondarily to you but that's you know that that's General generally speaking but our mission always is your best interest and that's the that's the entire community so I just want to be sure that we are being transparent with this and being accountable we've come a long way so I'm just saying I you know I can't support this as is um I think I would ask my colleagues that this be added these appointments be added to the re review that we already have scheduled for the second meeting in February I don't think that should be a problem I think that's being you know transparent and uh you know we can take a closer look and so can you you know so that way the the community knows uh you know what is going on in the past it was um for those who knew about it it was viewed more as a club than a committee and you know we're trying to move away from that we're trying to keep things public keep things very transparent so in the interest of that um that's why I pulled this item and those are my concerns and I I cannot support this item comments I have the you're the current I'm the current chair as of the last meeting well no I'm not the chair I'm just I'm the commission Lees on a little later on we'll figure that out so I just have a CL a point of clarification um the issue that you are having is that the subcommittee members meaning the needs assessment and the grant review subcommittee are appointed by the main Children's Services advisory committee and then don't come to us for ratification if you will or as a recommendation for our approval yeah I mean I think everybody should on every on any any Advisory Board I don't think there is a reason for any Advisory Board to be exempt from that I certain meeting okay um yeah we have five minutes I believe so my only concern with that is I understand what you're saying for sure um how it would affect the timing of the work of those two committees because they are currently having meetings because the RFP process is upcoming um I know needs assessment has meetings from time to time so I wouldn't and I mean this kindly about us but we're not sometimes the most efficient group about getting our business accomplished you know it might take a couple meetings to get it on the agenda and I wouldn't want that to hamstring the work of oh they go They're going they're going forward I mean they're they're not you know they're going forward they're doing their work I have the minutes to the meeting they've they've already conducted the elections the uh people were elected last November so there it's not going to stop anything it's it's already happened I mean I only found out about it after the fact no I mean as we move forward because if they're going to appoint people to the subcommittees and then Tech they're not serving on those committees until they can get to our agenda to be ratified there could be a delay so well they're serving on would you right now but if there's a hole or somebody resigns it could cause a problem so my question to you is can the seesac main committee make the appointment and they can start serving and it comes to us for ratification and if there's some issue then oh yeah I mean I think I it's my understanding they already are I just don't want to in the future just for a clean process yeah yeah they were elected last November so it's would be my understanding they're already serving or they're within the process or procedure that occurs we either going to have to bring this back at another time and as we need to move forward for the other meeting as well so I'll be happy to why don't why don't we do this why don't we make um a motion to approve it as presented in commissioner Moss if you want to make get with the attorney to make some suggested language changes to make that happen since there already serving um you can bring that back as your item and then we'll have time to have a more in-depth discussion about that specific thing but I think the guide book has some RFP stuff that needs to be approved so that can move forward because I don't disagree with you I just have a little bit more questions that we probably won't resolve and the timel um can we agree to add uh these to our review we already have that scheduled to review the advisory boards and commissions at the second meeting in February I think we need a motion to approve at this juncture to con continue forward and if there's any changes to be made they will be made in the future as separately Chris have something I just I I we can change it however the commission wants to as the guide book is currently WR or written it does track the ordinance currently and it changed in 2022 it changed from the board appointing every remember to both committees or the subcommittees and the larger committee so if we changed this we'd have to change the ordinance correct does track the ordinance currently I don't disagree with you I'd like to have a fuller conversation about that specific issue but why don't I go ahead and make the motion to approve this now and ask you to bring back some changes that with language that also mirror maybe talk to Chris that mirror whatever ordinance changes would have to be made to make that work okay we we'll do okay so that's a motion in a second MH any further discussion all in favor I opposed opposed n motion carries forward to one with commissioner Moser senting at this time uh we will begin to commence our Clos litigation session it's estimated that this will take approximately one hour or less hopefully and attending board members uh will be myself Vice chairman Daryl lore commissioner Susan Adams commissioner Joseph heirman commissioner Laura Moss State Certified court reporter as well as our attorney Jennifer Schuler John tit cannage our County Administrator and at this time and Mr chairman Mr chairman I do need to say something on the record I need to I need to say something on the record and so the what it is about yes so I need to State on the record and I that I need advice concerning some litigation please please please thank you I need to State on the record that I need advice uh concerning the litigation Michael and jeie soul versus Indian River County everything everything that has is very scripted and statute as to how this needs to go thank you thank you we'll be now moving forward e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e that's we are now reconvening and the closed litigation session has been concluded and we are happy to return to our regularly scheduled meeting and thank you to our certified court reporter for denoting that at this time we'll move on to the supervisor elections uh request for reimbursement for municipal fees uh we have attached letter and the Book closing party good morning again good morning Mo Juan supervisor elections I'm here today uh we conducted uh three Municipal elections during the general election in 2024 and I'm asking um that those funds that we receive for conducting the election be rolled back into our current budget year because we don't allocate the municipality's costs into our budget second we have a motion by Vice chairman law seconded by commissioner Adams any further discussion all in favor I opposed motion carries unanimously thank you very much app Sor I had to wait thank you for your patience no worries next we'll go on to public hearings we have item 11 A1 which is the CH Children's Services advisory committee ordinance Amendment this is legislative in nature good morning counselor good morning commissioner as you're as you just stated this is an amendment to section 10322 of the county code this amendment was first suggested by commission man in December after vote of the seesac board on December 10th and essentially what it does well exactly what it does is it takes the commission appointee and makes him a non- voting member and also the chairman of cesac committee as well as adds one more member to the committee who is voted on by the the board so that way the the board has 15 members and doesn't have a possibility of a deadlock this was again suggested by Commission man this was unanimously decided on by cesac to recommend it to this board and this board unanimously voted to go forward with this but today we're here for the public hearing and with that we're asking the commission to open the public hearing and then take any comment and decide whether to amend the code accordingly thank you any questions of counselor no I would be happy to do something after the public hearing has been opened and closed that'll be great thank you yeah we have to wait uh the the other element uh I I wanted to discuss is that has it has been the opinion that when we reset the ordinance we reset everyone's terms uh in in the committee uh as far as uh continued performance in their appointed selected positions uh how does this affect those terms that are running concurrently now I don't believe that the change we're making today change any of those terms because we are simply changing the position of the commissioner who is appointed and adding a new person so it does not affect any of the previous previously appointed members in order to change that we'd have to have a specific ordinance that said it it is retroactive or that we're changing the terms for some reason and this is not doing that the new person who would be need to be appointed their term would start just as if they were appointed prior to this just started that date and it would move forward that way but this is not reset any of the terms or have anything to do with changing those people who are already appointed does not change anything that they're already pointed to I wanted clear edification and clarification because what has been apped in the past was anytime we reset the ordinance we reset the terms and I wanted to clarify today yes sir and I don't I do not believe it does the the case law that goes along with it is pretty clear to me that unless you're specifically saying you're changing something it you only change what is specifically changed it does not reset everything because you're changing very specific sections of the code not the entirety of the code thank you with that uh we uh have to open up a public hearing at this time this is your opportunity to speak and public hearing is now open One microphone is occupied but there's an additional one having given ample opportunity I see none no one coming forward and at this time we will close the public hearing Commissioners i' be happy to move approval second uh that's that's close second there uh that's it's a motion by commission Adams second by commission Airman any further discussion I all in favor opposed motion carried unanimously thank you thank you congratulations okay is paper being disseminated it came from and we want toensure that the clerk has it okay you all right next item is 11 A2 which is the appeal of the Planning and Zoning commission decision on rezoning request by Red Jasmine Land Company LLC there is uh an appe appeal letter on file a pnz staff report unapproved meeting minutes and a staff report as well this agenda item is an appeal by Red Jasmine Land Company and of the Planning and Zoning commission's denial of its request to rezone approximately 4.2 Acres from CL limited commercial District to CG General commercial District under Indie River code if the Planning and Zoning votes to deny a resoning application that decision is final unless it is appealed to the board of County Commissioners the appeals of the Planning and Zoning commission's decision to deny a resoning is a denovo new Hearing in other words the board of County Commissioners must conduct a quasi judicial hearing to consider the resoning this is a quasi judicial proceeding and the parties are inie River County and red Jasmine Land Company LLC also known as the applicant I need to ask a few uh questions I want to ask the Commissioners if they've had any expart Communications visits or independent investigations we'll start with the left n to my knowledge un to my knowledge I am aware where it is because I drive by there a lot but no site visits per se uh none that I'm aware of uh once again we do travel the county and it's obvious where this location is but that's the only knowledge I have none then I'm aware of sir I then need to confirm that all the Commissioners will have an open mind and are of able to base their decision on the evidence presented and all applicable law Canon will Canon will Canon will Canon will Canon will thank you at this time uh I want need to open up the public hearing and I'm going to ask the clerk of the court to swear in anyone who feels they might be speaking in this matter this is a quasi judicial hearing so you must be sworn in in order to have the capacity to speak if you so desire to speak during this proceeding got quite a group do you swear or affirm to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth thank you thank you madam clerk we'll now have a pres presentation by County staff good morning turn your there we go good morning board Cindy Thurman long range planning this request before you is read Jasmine Land Company llc's resing request from cl to CH property contains 4.20 acres and is located along the US1 Highway Corridor at the Northwest intersection of US1 to 73rd Street the 73rd Street is a key connector linking the established limited commercial node to accommodate the convenience oriented retail needs for the nearby residents the surrounding land use pattern consist of mixture of commercial to the North Industrial land to the west across the FEC railroad tracks and the Old Dixie Highway with sparse development and limited existing retail commercial service uses which are usually established in clusters or shopping centers within a 2 mile radius along the US1 Highway Corridor there are undeveloped property zoned CG General commercial and C heavy commercial to the north and south of the subject property notably the property does not directly abut the FEC railroad tracks and is separated by another SE Zone similar parcel similarly it does not border Old Dixie Highway go ahead and slip to the next Slide the nearest IG General industrial zone property is situated West buffered by additional CL zone property Old Dixie Highway and the FEC railroad tracks as a continuation to look at the description and conditions the subject property as I've starred here with the blue star is in a CL area shown in light pink there is no presence of CH in the area or emerging CH zoning pattern amongst the recent zonings as demonstrated here on the corridor map if you look at the corridor map here everything that uh is labeled with an address and outlined in blue are the most recent zoning changes that you have seen and have been approved within the last year CH Parcels located farther along the corridor are buffered by industrial or General commercial areas and meet the comprehensive plan criteria policy of 1.43 and that is also demonstrated by this map here is a look at the zoning map and then here is the future lanus map which shows the property is situated ated in a commercial industrial node a look at the existing zoning CL limited commercial is intended to provide for areas of development of restricted commercial activities intended to accommodate the convenes retail and service needs of area residents while minimizing the impact of such activities on any nearby residential areas no drive-throughs are permitted no outset activities or storage is permitted a look at the development uh performance standards of the different Z classifications cl to CH the minimum lot area minimum lot width are basically the same but that does change when you get to the density and the minimum open space required look at the proposed zoning you have a heavy commercial zoning district and to provide for areas for establishments engaging in wholesale trade major repair services and restricted light manufacturing activities CH provides for support Services necessary for development of commercial industrial uses allowed within other non-residential zoning districts and again we're looking at the resoning request is consistent with the commercial industrial future landage designation it is part of an established commercial industrial featured Lan use nodes as you saw in red on the featured Lan use map the commercial industri fatures land use known designation is the tend to provide areas for the development of industrial commercial use uses it is located in area suitable level service and infrastructure for urban scale and development located along major transportation routs and separated from residential areas and no future land use Amendment change is therefore requested as part of this request and as part of all your resoning requests we do have to do an analysis for chapter 92.1 two subsection 3 whether or not the proposed amendment is consistent with criteria a through k criteria a is it in conflict with only pickable portion of the Land Development regulations the land develop the land use zoning makes Matrix provided in the Land Development regulations the request for stage zoning is consistent with the subject properties CI land designation criteria B is inconsistent with all the elements of the Comm plan it does not meet this criteria the property lacks Frontage along the railroad tracks it is surrounded by Seal zoning and it AB buts an occupied non-conforming residents and therefore it fails to meet the locational Criterion for policy 1.43 item C is in consistent with the existing proposed land uses yes it is there is no future Lage am proposed part of this request item D is it in compliance with adopted County thoro plan the property is at the northwest corner of the intersection of Highways US1 and the 73rd Street so we do not believe that it will uh exceed the adopted levels there item e generate traffic which would decrease the level of service the adopted plan as I said we do not believe that would and we believe that the area of influence would operate at an are area of acceptable levels of service under the proposed cage zoning item F subject to change conditions exist that warant an amendment we believe that the property does not meet this criteria for CH zoning while the US1 quarter has seen an uptake in the development of storage and Warehouse facilities within two miles of this location outside an area already established as CL limited commercial are undeveloped CG properties and CH properties and we believe that the introduction of CH in this area where it's a CA of Cl property would interrupt the existing conditions item G with this change decrease the levels of Service established for sanary SE pable water Solid Waste drainage and Recreation we believe that it meets the criteria the applicant would be required to pay connection fees and as a more detailed concurrency review would be conducted during the development review process a quick glance at the uh most intense uh look at concurrency review of resoning requests gives us a look at um the CL limited commercial of 10,000 square fet proposed under CH at the 20,000 Square fet most intense use would be 4200 Square ft 24 42,000 Square ft 84,000 ft of General industrial item H would this result in a significant adverse impacts on the national environment the property is currently undeveloped and it it there's an existing restaurant at the North End and is otherwise undeveloped when when it is developed a more detailed environmental analysis based on the site specific development proposal will be conducted and with the change result item a would the change result in an orderly and logical development pattern specifically identifying any negative effects some such a pattern we believe it would not meet this criteria the request is inconsistent with the comprensive plan it's not UNH hary with UNH Harmony I'm sorry the cons request is consistent with the conversive plan however it is not in harmony with the surrounding zoning districts and would disrupt the existing development pattern and lack of compatibility undermines the goal of achieving an orderly pattern item J in conflict with the public interest and is harmony with the purpose and interest of land devel regulation s we not feel it meets this criteria the request to Havey commercial would introduce conflicting higher intensity uses inconsistent with the existing limited commercial and residential uses already established item K any other matters that may be deemed appropriate in review and consideration of the proposed amendments such as police protection fire protection and Emergency Medical Services we believe believe that all concurrency mandated facilities have adequate capacity to accommodate the most intense use under the proposed zoning District so in conclusion the requested CH zoning district is not compatible with surrounding area as there are no other CH Zone properties within the vicinity is not consistent with the goals objectives and locational criteria outlined in policy 1.43 of the County's comprensive plan the property is not situated in areas suitable for heavy commercial uses as it has historically been zoned CL limited commercial which is more appropriate for the area's character and residential developments CH is not deemed suitable as it would introduce uses that could create incompatibilities with adjacent properties disrupting the intended balance of the area after thorough consideration of the surrounding land use patterns compatibility concerns and consisting with the com plan the County's Land Development regulation staff's recommendation is to deny the request for resoning the plan zoning commission recommended denial at the November 14th 2024 public he Ing and voted 5 to1 to deny the item for recommendation to the board of County Commissioners on December 3rd 2024 the red Jasmine Land Company LLC appealed the Planning and Zoning commission's November 2014 2024 decision to deny the request to reone approximately 4.20 Acres from CL limited commercial districts to CH heavy commercial District the applicant asserts that the denial was based on misapprehensions and incompatibility ities that are legally unfounded based on staff's thorough analysis and findings the board of County Commissioners is urged to uphold the planning and zonings commission's denial of Red jasmas Land company's llc's rezoning application the request is inconsistent with the comprehensive plan incompatible with surrounding land uses and contrary to the public interest maintaining the current CL zoning protects the balance between commercial and residential uses in this area and aligns with the County's long-term development goals we're available for [Applause] questions um I this is the opportunity in which the applicant or and the board may ask questions of the staff um I I do have one just for clarification we do have a check off on red box that uh states that the intended use is consistent but is not in harmony consistency is well used but when I see Harmony is that mutualistic complimentary does it satis what element are we using the word harmony for good morning good morning sir Chris Balter planning and development services director so Harmony is in harmony with the whole comprehensive plan and the Land Development regulations when it's specific to the description of the PowerPoint that Miss Thurman put on the screen it's referencing that it's a commercial industrial land use so yes it is compatible commercial is compatible in the commercial and Industrial land use the specific zoning actual request is what is not in harmony with the rest of the comprehensive plan and Land Development regulations thank you you're welcome any other questions of Staff well if the applicant has any questions of Staff this would be the opportunity in which the applicant can speak we we're also looking for um that opportunity the applicant will have additional time as well does the applicant have any question thank you counselor respectfully till I make my full presentation thank you thank you sir uh at this time um what we'll do is we'll move forward to the presentation if any by the applicant thank you Mr chairman for the record my name is Bruce barquette with Collins Brown barquette morning um I'm here representing the applicant red Jasmine um with me is Rebecca grall with mbv engineering and Damien Brink with red Jasmine uh we can all answer questions if need be um brief background as the staff indicated this is a request to reone property from cl to ch um and to appeal the decision of the planning zoning to uh board to which denied that request it's a 4.2 Acre Site we believe the Planning and Zoning commission based its decision in large part Upon A A misperception of the law and perhaps some incomplete information and uh I actually appreciate this opportunity to to sort of correct the record and maybe clarify it for everybody first based upon the information presented to it the Planning and Zoning Board uh believe this would violate your code because the property has close proximity to residential development residential development this is repeated in your staff report today item two of the staff report the second bullet point says that the property has insufficient separation from residential development and then items one and two also uh SE the prop the uh applicant overlooks the property's proximity to residential development on the same side of the road you want bring your presentation up they have to put it on the screen can you put up the aerial photograph please first photograph next I don't do technology I Rely Upon Rebecca for that that okay so if you look at the area the area highlighted is in yellow we don't know what residential development they're talking about that we're in close proximity to if see if you look this is next to my home sir sir wait sir we need maintain order and you have an opportunity to speak and we will not have that this isqu a Judicial hearing and it is being conducted by rule of law and we are going forward thank you very much the uh property is to the east is across um us us one which is going to be 180t F wide in addition the property east of US1 which will show you on a zoning map between US1 and any residences is already zoned CL so it's already buffered by another commercial zoning District everything east of US1 adjacent to our property already has commercial zoning so that's the buffer right there so that's not by that is not in close proximity the nearest house is almost 300 feet away it's across us one US1 has always asked added has always acted as a buffer between zoning districts in this County forever the only other residence is in the lower leftand corner there and that's a home but that's not a residential development here's you see the aerial view the only so the only the only possible uh go back to the go back to the other one the only possible resident that we're near is that however according to your code that's not a resid idal development by your code and by universally accepted standard and principles the goal is to pH out non-conforming uses but let's see what your code says residential development section 40 I mean 901 and in your code has the definitions I'm going to read the definition of development I shouldn't have to do this because it's common sense but development is a subdivision of land or site and development as defined by the Indian River County Land Development regulations a residential mobile home park and any other construction whether or not residential commercial industrial office uh institutional or recreational and here's the important part except single family residents on an individual lot that is a single family residence on an individual lot by your code that is not residential development specifically Exempted from the definition of development so when you're St when your pnz was told that this is in close proximity to residential development and it specifically cited this home that was erroneous it's not residential development it's a Remnant single family home now if you go to the next slide please that's that's the home in question it was purchased in 2016 I believe maybe 2018 I looked it up so when it was purchased it was purchased knowing that it was in the middle of commercial zoning District it was not this isn't a grandparents home that's been handed down from generation generation we're trying to preserve the homestead this was purchased knowing that it was in a commercial zoning District also look at that photograph and you'll see there's not only there's one two three uh RVs parked on the property I don't know exactly what's going on there but that's not consistent with a single family residence most people don't have three RVs I don't know if they're being rented out or if other people are living there but it appears like some monetary funds are changing hands for the use of that property already but let's let's go to another part and this is important I've already established that it's not residential it's not a residential development um even if it was it's a non-conforming use and your staff acknowledges that it's a grandfathered non-conforming use well here's what your code says about non-conforming uses it's the purpose and intent of this chapter to permit the continuation of these Parcels uh structures uses which are which were lawful when created but which would be prohibited regulated or restricted under the terms of present regulations or future amendments this is the important part it is further the purpose and intent of this chapter to promote the phasing out of non-conforming uses and structures your zoning code isn't designed to protect non-conforming uses from surrounding properties your zoning code is designed to phase out non-conforming uses and that's consistent with state law and with wellestablished planning principles around the country here's what here's um I'm going to read a quote from a recent case that 2002 case in Florida zoning regulations in providing for non-conforming structures and uses look forward to the eventual elimination of all non-conforming structures and uses as speedily as is consistent with proper safe regards for the rights of those persons affected and then it goes on to cite a quote from a Connecticut case it is a general principle in zoning that non-conforming uses should be abolished or reduced to Conformity as quickly as the fair interest of the parties will permit um for the for your attorney that site is from uh JM JM JPM Investment Group versus Bard County 18 81872 595 it's a 2002 case so it violates your ordinance and it violates established case law to give consideration to protect this non-conforming news in a zoning decision I've been doing this for a long time I've never seen a board in this County or in any of the neighboring counties deny a resoning because there's this non-conforming use in the middle of it never seen that happen and I can't find any case where that's ever happened point three well I've already made that point go ahead to the next slide please we're not sure what's going on on that site but it's not strictly a single family residence something is happening with those RVs I mean I don't know if the owner here and explain it to us but uh it doesn't appear to be strictly a a single family home but even if it was it's non-conforming it's not a residential development and it's not to be protected and it was purchased in a CL zoning District surrounded by commercial property in a commercial node so there was not full knowledge at the time it was purchased that this is a commercial area the last point I want to make is this this area is in a commercial noge it's flanked by US1 Old Dixie and the railroad tracks and we admit is not exactly adjacent to the railroad tracks but it's in a mixed commercial Zone where the CH zoning is is would be appropriate can you put up the this is the this is these are the zoning maps and this is similar to what was what was put up before but all of those that are with the green AR show that were recently zoned to to ch ch uh recently to CG which is next to our site or CAD corner to it it touches our site and then then the site that we're talking about so to say that this property is only in an area that is characterized by CL zoning it's just not true it's just not accurate and the County Planning and Zoning Board didn't have this information they weren't shown the recently res zoned CH property to the South because I think that happened at the same meeting after ours and they weren't shown the CG property um on the north side of our side because again that hadn't happened at the time it happened subsequent to that but those applications were in and perhaps it would have affected the planning zoning commission had they known there's a lot of rezoning going on here away from CL and they should have been made aware of that or perhaps not I'm I'm not casting blame I'm just saying had they known that that could have been a different decision but either way to say that this property is that all this Corridor is consistently CL that any ch resoning property would be inconsistent it's just not reality it's just not true and I don't know you there's a letter I have here from Neil hackin Hall he owns the property immediately south of ours which is now Zone CL the lower half of which is Zone CH those the c i I mean CG and CH about castle did you guys get that letter because he sent me a copy of it and then I just realized to me I don't know if he sent it to you guys or not did you guys get a letter letter from Neil hacken Hall Mr chairman he said he addressed it to you I I am familiar with Neil hackin Hall but you didn't get a letter do not have well let me submit it then I apologize that was that's probably my error he sent me a copy and I I assumed he'd sent it to you folks I'll will read it in but can may I may I longstanding member in the community and I yeah may I hand this to the clerk or to you Mr chairman I'm sorry didn't heard from him if it was we got to make sure everybody sees it now okay Chris Chris I'll give you a copy this Afters I apologize I thought Neil had said I have to give one to the clerk as well pardon me I have to give one to the clerk as well I I will but can I read from it first you know I've only got the one may I read it first and then give it to the cler why don't you just read it out way everybody will have the opportunity and this will be forwarded to the clerk it's dear chairman of the County Commission Joseph E Fletcher I am writing this letter to the board of County Commissioners to voice my support for the resoning of red Jasmine land company's property located at the northwest corner of US1 and 73rd Street from cl to CH as everyone on the board is aware US Highway 1 will be widened in the future to become a six Lane Highway every property anywhere close to US1 along this Corridor will be subject to the numerous side effects of this major thoroughfare including properties already developed I might also mention that the bright Line train adds significantly to those sites side effects and again supports having properties between the tracks and US Highway 1 zoned to accommodate higher uses with the amount of housing projects currently being developed just west of the railroad track as well as as well as all of the proposed housing projects currently in permitting there is very little CH zone property available to accommodate the businesses that will be needed to service all of these neighborhoods this alone lends itself to having higher properties along the corridor Zone in a manner that is benefiting a higher use regards Neil hawen hle HF Properties LLC now as I said Mr hacken Hall's property the with the second Arrow second Green Arrow from the bottom CH he also own at the same piece of properties just north of that and his own CG he has told us that he would have asked for CH Zoning for that too but the staff discouraged him because the existence of that house they were call they were claiming that that house is residential development and therefore it would be inconsistent to have ch zoning around it again it's not a residential development it's a single family home that is exempt from residential development and it's non-conforming so put Council I requested that this be put on the overhead momentarily so that that's great it is also part of the I I truly apologize I thought when he said he sent this to the County Commission I thought he I didn't know he meant for me to send it to the County Commission okay so so we'll have Kim Kim will be putting it on the overhead if you want to continue oh that's fine and then I'll forward this to the clerk sure so I think the recent rezonings around this property constitute a change in circumstances I think to deny that this property is in flux is to deny reality this resoning would constitute we create a variety of complimentary land uses supporting various commercial Enterprises in the area and that's what's needed and you've got the market dictating what's needed to say that we're near a nearby residential development is inaccurate that single family home is not a residential development and all the homes across us one again the nearest one is almost 300 feet away but but between them and us is not only us one but also commercial zone property and um if you'd like we can put up the zoning again but staff can verify that so this commercial zone property exclusive of ours on the east side of us one before you get any of those homes and for these reasons we just think the planning zoning commission didn't have complete information and we have appealed their decision we think that uh the appeal is merited and we'd ask for your consideration I'm here to answer any questions and so is my client so is Miss grall now just as a point of clarification here I thank you for taking the hit that we didn't get the letter but I but I didn't get the letter yeah but since it was referring to a quasa Judicial situation uh once that's noted uh I I won't receive it I I don't view it I you know I I want to be able to I'm not sure what you're saying sir I'm not sure what you're saying perhaps uh if if that letter was identified as uh part and parcel to the quas judicial hearing um I I would not see it so if it was sent thank you for taking the hit oh I see what you're saying oh okay you may have not sent it or he did not send it but quite frankly if it was sent it was stopped because I won't view anything okay I got you initial well then I take it back I didn't do anything wrong yeah so nobody needs to take the hit it's just that it's qual matter and I do not review anything beforehand thank you any any questions that I could possibly answer are there any questions of what information did Planning and Zoning not get again okay they first of all they were told that that single family home was a residential development they were not told that air code says it's we the whole idea is to uh discourage the use of a non it's a non-conforming use they were told it's non-conforming but they weren't told that your that the goal of your code is to phase out non-conforming uses they weren't told that they weren't told that the property the Green Arrow just North that that's a that was in process for being zoned CG they weren't told that and they weren't told that the property to the South the CH zoning was in was in flux that this map was not shown to them now again in in staff's defense those rezonings weren't finalized by then so perhaps it was appropriate that they that they weren't shown this but those rezonings have happened since then and they were in process so I think it it would not have been out of out of line to show the county the Planning and Zoning commission hey this property immediately adjacent to ours it's in it's in Works to be own CG they weren't told that and and again I can understand it wasn't finalized but could have been told that and again the property to the south at ch um they weren't they weren't they weren't given that information either s now that has happened since then but they were all in process at the time did you present to the command planning and well I didn't know about these other applications at the time and I didn't present the planning we were having our we were having a firm function that I couldn't attend and again I'm not in blame of Staff or anything I'm just saying the planning zoning commission perhaps didn't have all the information and I do think that staff should have informed them that the goal of the grandfathered uses is to phase them out they weren't told that at all and that's a very common law very very common I don't think there's any dispute about that thank you Council councelor you you brought up a a point of and it reverts back to 23 years ago um what as far as the grandfathering of an non-conforming use uh isn't the purpose of the grandfathering to allow it so that people have their property rights until it's at the point of extinguishment or uh or the uh sale of the property at that point they're not transferable the grandfather rights are extinguished is that correct no sir they're transferred this this this owner bought it with as a non-conforming use and it was grandfathered when he purchased it it was gr the use he can he can continue the non-conforming use he can't expand upon it he can't increase the degree of non-conformity I'm not saying that he or the footprint pardon me footprint yeah yeah I mean the staff will tell you what he can't generally you can't expand it you can't increase the degree of non-conformity but what you don't do is protect it from surrounding cons conforming zoning changes you're you're trying to discourage the continuation of the non-conforming use the the idea is they want to be phased out as rapidly as as fairly possible so you allow it to continue but you don't encourage it and you don't you don't make your zoning decisions based upon a non-conforming use anyway and the RVs that's that's all speculation I you know sobody well I'm not even sure I don't know you can ask Chris I don't know how I mean I don't I don't I don't believe I could store four RVs on my property and not not face some sort of Code Enforcement situation so I'm not sure what's going on there but it's true yeah um you Mr chair yes I just have one question yes ma'am I believe I saw um on the materials or someone stated that there were misapprehensions uh with regard to the Planning and Zoning um can you I said that a comment on that beyond beyond the beyond the residential issue because you you've already stated that that's the no that's the misapprehension that that's a sing that that that that single home constitutes a resident development which by your code it does not and that so that that that's the full extent no no and that M the purpose of non-conforming uses is to allow them to continue but they're to be phased out I don't think they were presented with that I have question thank you yes thank you um you mentioned that the com the Planning and Zoning commission was not aware of the other properties that had been recently rezoned or were in the hopper they weren't made aware of that at the meeting okay according to the minutes of that meeting Miss grohall showed the location of the subject property on a zoning map for reference and noted the location of some recently granted resoning requests Miss gral also showed a map of the location of the future rideway dedication some other things and then so she made them aware and then later in the minutes I'm sorry it says Mr Reams asked if the property presented for a request to reone at a public hearing earlier that evening Abed this subject property and Miss grow Hall clarified it is separated by one parcel so per the minutes of that meeting it would seem that they were aware and took that into consideration to the point you were trying to make I didn't excuse me I didn't see a map like the one I showed you in the presentation before pnz that showed the other resoning and the staff didn't make them aware I was not at the pnz meeting as you were not either but per the minut they were made aware at least verbally and there was a followup question by one of the Planning and Zoning Commissioners regarding said that's a fair so I just wanted to clarify for everybody up here apparently that decision was not made in a void of not knowing what was being changed in the zoning surrounding the property Fair Point yes ma'am any other questions for me thank you thank you um and you have no further questions no questions for the applicant thank you at this time we're going to open up to the public if you wish to speak uh on this matter and if you were sworn in please come forward wait counselor one more Point um Miss grall did not point out the the CG property to the Northwest that you want adjacent to us she's just told me that she was not aware of that and that was not one of the ones that she made the py aware of and she's here to testify for one but just to let you know that that was not that was not presented at payy point of clarification for commissioner Adams thank Mr I'm just reading the minutes that's all I have I wasn't there so we have the minutes and now um if m m Ral good morning Rebecca gral mbv engineering for the record right so Council has approached us and said that yes you you did not yeah if we could go back to that slide I just want this clarified um to be clear what I presented at the planning board meeting um that one right there the parcel that's um that you're saying that one right there which oh the map itself the second from the bottom that says recently reson to CH that occurred later on the meeting and we had that noted is that they had a preapp to discuss resoning so that's what was presented at the planning board meeting so and then later on the agenda that night they actually had that um to reone to CH I did show that the very lowest one the recently reson to CH parcel that one I was showing is recently reone to CH the one above it was noted as being a preap um and then the one that I did not have at that point in time was the one that's kitty corner to the north Westerly section that says recently reone to CG that one was not part of my presentation that one um came up about two weeks after the other one so that pnz was aware FY was perhaps not aware of everything on this current map but per this conversation in the minutes they were at least aware of zoning changes in the area correct that's valid thank you you're welcome Mr chair if I could provide some clarification since staff's uh Mis apprehension and lack of transparency um pnz receives their agenda before the actual meeting so all the items that are in that agenda that go before that board are in there for them to uh read over and be able to see that item was on the agenda to be reasoned which was heard after their case their case was uh before it and then after was the subsequential resoning of CG to uh uh cl to CG which is what you see on the screen cdy if you could bring up the that that that one right there the opp I'm just so at this point it it's they were made aware whether verbal or visual they've had access to that exact information correct so because of the appeal process there have been other rezonings that have come into play um those rezonings were not at that point to be discussed at planning and because they hadn't happened yet so the only thing that was stated was there was preamps because that is true and transparent the rezonings had not happened or taken place so there was nothing to tell the board or make them aware of because there was no application yet before them to vote on Mr chair thank you for the question for CH yes sir so Chris it's that was zon CG correct uh it was reone two yes the intensity of the uses between CG and CH what's the difference uh they provide for lesser intense uses and no industrial uh uses so it's not a comparable resoning from correct question the property to the South has more intensive uses that's why it is CH thank you thank you and then on residential development I'd like to make a clarification so the actual comprehensive plan predates the definition section for what we've up updated for residential development the first comprehensive plan I believe was 1978 it was then ratified in 1980 uh in these code sections from the comprehensive plan it had this location criteria when they originally developed the plan they've expanded on it throughout the years but residential development when it was actually notated was any residential uh uses that's how it's been carried forward from the time in the comprehensive plan it doesn't say zoning District in there because they wanted to make sure all uses were protected for non-conformity yes it is in legal non-conforming use so meaning that it can stay into effect until the use either changes or it no longer exists that's thank you thank you for clarification good with that now we will open it up to the public and if you have any anticipation to speak on this matter and if you were properly sworn in please there's two microphones we just ask you to identify yourself for recordkeeping purposes for the clerk and this commission and any member wish to speak that's attending today nobody wants to be first I'll be first thank you my name is is jaselyn harie and I'm with Orchid Landing which is a small community just uh across from us one actually from where the proposed zoning change is being requested and the reason I want to I have a two-part question actually the first one is what is the intended use of this property once it has been rezoned should it ever be successful in resoning anyone generally it's not a back forth the matter it is important to us residents because if we're talking about a gravel U exchange or something that makes a lot of dust in the air then we need to know that and that 300 foot parameter surrounding their property is not going to keep that in the question today is uh for this hearing is the classification not the actual use or what will be there I know it may be awkward unfortunately this is about the designation of the use of property not the actual use of the property that would be at a different meeting the question then becomes once they have a designation of CH they are allowed to basically do whatever that that designation allows them whatever fits into CH yes right and that designation could be ad it could adversely affect residents Beyond a 300t parameter that that is a correct statement as well okay just want to make sure I understand what we're dealing with but we can't we don't talk about the uses today okay but did answer any question right so as residents outside of that 300 foot parameter if the CH ever becomes uh the new designation would we be would would be available would would be able at that point to say we don't want that we we need some push back or is that too late at that point it well once the designation is made then if if you know we can't deny if something fits in that designation so as a resident I would like ask your question yes that answers my question thank you as a resident even beyond that 300t parameter I would like to oppose whatever CH designation means for the record thank you thank you uh this this this is a this is a courtroom setting we are conducting a business meeting in accordance with law uh I think we could refrain from the Applause however you feel the Jers I don't think that that's appropriate for the decor Forum of this meeting thank you all right my name is Mariel Santa I also live in or Landing there's three communities there soon there be four communities across the street from us one now the property they've been talking about that CH now will now be from what I understand another storage unit with boats and RVs so what's happening here is we're taking CH land which could be supportive of the community like shops and all that stuff and we're changing it to CH to make anything you want there now that whole stretch from baso to 53rd Street seems like there's that's all there is is stuff that doesn't service the communities and that's what's the the problem here is not having it because they some we already did designate CH someplace else it's maybe trying to stop this from happening all over that the problem we have right here and if if it does go CH and you say we have no voice in what they build there then we're we're helpless and we are L collateral damage even though we're across us one right now so I I I don't understand how they decide that we are impervious to anything they can do on that lot so that that's that's my whole thing is the fact that CL is being changed to CH and it's affecting us across the street we don't need any more storage units we don't need any more RV bases we need stores and stuff that support the communities because there's more communities coming in that area and we don't need this stuff across the street from us thank you thank you sir good morning commissioner Scott eert a resident of Oak Island community um also you know community members with Oak Island States uh Orchid landing and surrounding communities I also would like to express my opposition to the proposed zoning enhancement to heavy commercial um we've seen exponential residential growth in our area and the surrounding commercial properties that we have are restaurants and dental offices and services that we need in our community um we have parks to the west of us we have Hobart Landing Hobart Park softball fields the fairgrounds Beyond and I'd like to you know thank the zoning and planning commission for the vision of the development of our community for the long-term future and I personally don't feel that you know heavy commercial and Industrial and that location serves the needs of us the residents of our community thank you thank you hi I'm Edward Newman I'm vice president of Oak Island Estates the sister uh part of that um development we just spoke about um I represent those families there and the houses and we um are not in favor of this zoning change um as I could earlier it's um retail is in in nature we want that type of uh growth we don't want industrial growth there uh It just fits with the neighborhood there's a restaurant there there's um the dentist place there's the garden center that whole philosophy is there and we would rather see that than um any industrial sort of uh um change especially once it's been designated we can't um affect that change uh going forward thank you very much thank you sir hi Glenn Martin I'm in Orchid Landing I'm also the HOA president there so I represent a whole community of 45 homes um in discussing this I understand what the zoning is for that and we need services to support the community we have we won't have any uh ability to make any changes once it's zon that way so therefore I would say support staff and their decision and deny the rezoning thank you good morning I'm Joe Warz I'm also a resident of orchid Landing um I think we did not we need to recognize the fact that there's a restaurant adjacent to this lot this restaurant also provides outside seating and I think any type of you know upgrading or changing the zoning there would adversely affect this restaurant in addition I don't believe any of us any of us here including the including the attorney there can validate what's going on in the homeowner's property with with his RVs I can tell you I ride my bike three to four times a day I go I go up the Sand Road that's another point the road that they want to build it's sand off Route One I ride my bike there three to four times a week and generally I just see the homeowner and maybe maybe one other person I don't see anybody occupying any one of those RVs so I would strongly oppose this this request on behalf of that homeowner on behalf of the restaurant which you know everybody from ver from Vero attends this restaurant on a regular basis and of course the residential communities that are across the street we also have to take into consideration the traffic on Route One we experienc numerous accidents right in that area and I think putting some type of commercial uh establishment there is just going to increase the potential for more accidents in a lot of cases they're fatal accidents and I don't think you know this this County would like to endure something like that thank you very much than hello my name is James daring I'm also a resident of Oak Island Estates that is the community that is within 350 ft of the proposed zoning change and I just want to Echo my neighbors concerns uh you know I don't know if there's a technical definition of proximity close proximity but I would argue that 350 ft is fairly close proximity to a new development of commercial uh heavy commercial and uh I just ask you to maintain the zoning that's in place that's my thoughts on it thank you yeah hi my name is Andrew Eli I own the adjoining property uh I do have RVs on the property they belong to me I'm not running any kind of a business not that I owe this attorney any explanation for anything that I do on my property uh what they're trying to do is they're trying to Hoodwink everybody into thinking they have a real intention to do anything with this property they do have a for sale sign out front and they want heavy commercial simply to get a higher price have a larger market for the property and uh I I asked the board to reject this I I think it's outrageous and uh I I I hope you can do that thank you very [Music] much thank you good morning my name is Santiago Aris I own um a property a residential property about 200 ft from this lot and a commercial the seal commercial about across the street and I totally get it you know because I own the commercial a lot and it would be great if I can change that to CH but I knew when I bought it that it was next to a residential and I cannot change it so and I I will respect also the community behind um that uh that will be affected and this is uh like uh other people say before here um we don't need more commercial heavy commercial this area is growing and it's a lot of residential coming and Commercial usually takes uh hit or or takes off later first you know residential gets moving and then it will be it will be a good time for to sell the property probably in a couple of years years when there's more residential going on but if we keep putting heavy commercial that residential is going to be affected prices they're going to go uh our prices the prices of the residential is going to be affected on the for the worst so I don't think it's a good idea thank you thank you hi my name is David rero and I live in uh I'm affected in that area and uh we just found out about this yesterday so we're all very unprepared and what I could say is I just think this is a terrible thing to do to us something that wasn't mentioned was um our development we just bought our houses four years ago these houses went for6 or 700,000 and now this guy I'm finding out I'm going to call him a greedy attorney is coming in to destroy us it's going to destroy our property value and make this area just just a terrible place to live and this is going to get out if this changes this is going to get out it's going to make the area dumpy and I will let everybody know what Vero Beach did to these people did to us so I ask you not to pass and set this precedent this lawyer or whoever he was that was prepared for this meeting spoke of a you attack me again we're going to have let's not let's not do that thank you Council I got this oh so I okay let's not do that please State your okay so I understand so I'm just speaking in Lay L terms that this is this is not right to be doing to the people 300 ft is not enough okay thank you and uh you did bring up uh an interesting point often times as we're going through this process sometimes it's presumed that the individual in the individuals in the community are aware of something after it's gone through a a process and uh the DNC and before us often times we presume that you are fully aware you're a fairly new new homeowner and I appreciate your comment yeah I just ask that you look at the human aspect of this staff does does do uh the line share of notification in in the community and uh but I'm glad you brought it up thank you good morning my name is Kasten um my husband and I just moved from Charlotte North Carolina to Oak Island we have been had a house there for 10 years and um I've been coming to this area when I was on another continent for 30 years and the area is so beautiful and I think a lot of this character may be destroyed when we go to us one and have commercial left on right and for the residents of our area I would really support if this request would be denied thank you which one's going to go first hello my name is Carol zadro and I also live at Oak Island um about 20 years ago I bought the land we built a house fell in love with the area just something special about it it breaks my heart to see what's going on on Route One Everything Has Changed traffic is horrendous noise is terrible between the train all we need is one more big thing going on and I can imagine the value of our homes value of Life there it's Prett sad thank you hi thank you for giving us a chance to speak today I'm Shelley Templeton and I have moved from Palm Beach County to Indian River County and Oak Island Estates within the year and it is very disturbing to us what is attempting to happen I'm moving from from Palm Beach County where we were there about 25 years I retired and did tremendous amount of research where would I want to live where do I find a calm area still near the beaches where we have access to wonderful things South in buau but we are more in a calm area where there's land and it just stresses me also what's happening along us one if we look at US1 in other of our counties US1 often has restaurants it has retail that people can enjoy and it seems like Vero and the Indian River County has allowed so many storage units how many how many storage units do we need on us one now I'm not saying those um facilities are not important but we have all Dixie we have other areas where those kinds of facilities could be held and stay off of US1 which is a thorough fair when I have people come to visit from Palm Beach County they're going to get off 60 and they're going to come up us one and if we don't need more heavy storage units or storage organizations we don't need more heavy equipment we need wonderful restaurants to support support the the residential areas that are developing there and many of them are really very pretty they have the uh Landscaping they have the beautiful fences but then we have some Pockets that are just eyes soures we don't need any more ey soures thank you very much hi my name is Donna Santa cochi that's my husband um I just want you to visualize in your areas where you live what you would like in the back of your house or in front of your house would you like something like that a gravel in front of your house just the the sand and the the noise 247 just think would you like that in your house out outside your house thank you thank you thank you appreciate thank you hello um my name is Evelyn wearing and I am a relatively new member of Oak Island Estates I would just like to reiterate what has been said by others who've recently moved here um and the in particular the hodge podge nature of the development along US1 we have beautiful neighborhoods and to earlier uh concept of Harmony was mentioned and that really um stood out for me because that is I believe the idea in Vero Beach that we strive for not not a hodgepodge thank you quite a few folks stood up is anybody else wishing to Mr chair there is a letter from the Indian River neighborhoods Association I did give it to the clerk and Mr teanage has a few extra copies I can read it in if the board would like I didn't think we have a copy of it okay okay you want to it it's submitted to the record it's at the clerk of the court okay we do have that and you have cop we'll check again on that is there anybody else who wishes to speak regarding this matter seeing none we'll revert it back to County staff you have anything further sure uh I just want to make notation to a couple things the comprehensive plan is a guide guiding document used by local governments to shape communities long-term growth it's typically addresses land uses housing Transportation public facilities and environmental concerns to provide coordinated strategic vision for future development the Land Development regulation specifically are a set of rules established by that local government that determines how land can be used divided and built upon it serves as a ground rules for shaping a community's physical environment and the existing CL district is specifically designed to accommodate the convenience retail and service needs of the area's residents while minimizing the impact of such activities of any nearby residential areas that's it thank you you're welcome anything further from the commission is regarding County staff's presentation we have a final presentation by the applicant yes sir thank you councel thank you Bruce barquette again I don't disagree with anything Chris Chris just said he he's I think he's right however you can't deny that this this area is in flux these rezonings are going on all over the place and it's not just for limited commercial there's General commercial and there's heavy commercial and there's some limited commercial the biggest problem and I understand these folks concerns if this were going to happen next to my house I'd probably be concerned as well it's not it's across us one and it's seg if could you put up the photograph again please do you have any phot I think you've only just the one of the aerial the aerial photograph I mean I'm repeating myself but the point is none of these folks live on the same side of us one except except this one single family non-conforming use which I acknowledge is there the other folks like I said they're 300 ft away and between them and us one is other commercial property can you put up the zoning map yeah on on the east side of us one is limited commercial property that's the buffer right there this this property isn't going to affect them I I understand the concern I don't think I've ever made a presentation to a County Commission about a zoning District where the neighbors said we support it because they don't but then once the public is built once the facility is built they use it just like everybody else so I understand their concern I just don't think it's it's well founded I don't think it's I don't think whatever use we put on here is going to have any impact on them anyway that's it thank you very much I I appreciate the it's on the other side of the street thing not just the street us one yeah okay so it's a wide Street yeah but I don't know if I would want to see certain development in my community that was across just across a it it wouldn't be just again the point I'm trying to make it's not just across the street it's also behind another commercial District there's us one there's a limited commercial District then there's the homes us one commercial and then the homes are back here they don't front US1 there's a commercial District between them and us one could you could you put that up Chris that zoning M to show that please you're stating that us one is quite a big buffer not just us one I didn't know we got a buffer apparently I'm not making my point you see the you see you see us one you see the green green arrows when the the black line to the right of the green arrows is US1 the black line and you see on the rightand side of that that's all commercial zoning to the east of us one is already commercial zoning that's my point uh please please anyway just wanted to point out that's the buffer right there thank you thank you counselor I appreciate that any questions of any other questions can I talk we we we had the opportunity for the public to speak okay then we moved on to the applicant we have to run this in in the fashion in which it's intended uh that's why I pause and give everyone ample opportunity if they can and point out where they can speak at that time I understand at this point um I want to make sure that all documents and tangible evidence uh that has been presented to us has been emitted as evidence and are in the hands of the clerk of the court Madame clerk thank you County staff agenda and materials are automatically submitted to the clerk for permanent record as evidence un unless there are any objections I see no objections at this time I'm closing the public hearing public hearing is now closed uh it was rather in informative and I appreciate everyone's participation uh as you you know that uh the chairman can't make a motion Mr chairman may I make a comment please um I just want to remind the board um the standard of review in a quasi judicial hearing it's that the a decision you make is based on competent substantial evidence um expert witness testimony um and I I know it's important to you to hear from the public um but popular opinion and just sort of General um opposition comments it does not meet the standard of competent and substantials so I'm not saying that I'm just kind of trying to explain to you what your decision should be based on and that is why the very reason why I called order and for the Applause this is not a sporting event this is the future of the county the use of the county and the future of the applicant as well and this is a courtroom setting but I want to thank everybody for their input however we have to guide our our decision on the rule of law and the applicable law and the facts and evidence in which are presented and that's what this board is doing okay uh but with that yeah I would I would move to deny the resoning request by Red Jasmine Land Company second and thank you thank you Mr chair and just to clarify as your motion based on uh the analysis offered by staff and the facts that have been entered yes okay as we was sworn at the BB beginning of this meeting this was a Judicial hearing you second in sir yes sir is there any F further discussion the motion is to deny the appeal and support staff's recommendation and the initial DNZ decision as well but this is a newvo hearing this is it right yes this is separate as I understand it yes all in favor I I opposed motion carried unanimously thank you all for your attendance thank you for your consideration appreciate it thank you coun thank you and we're going to take a brief recess you can if you wish as I hit this Gabel we're going to take a brief recess e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e I'll be called back to order and the next item is was formally on uh number four which was the it's the first public hearing for the proposed developers agreement between Riverfront Groves Incorporated and in River County councelor good afternoon commissioner Susan PR Deputy County attorney on behalf of um IND county attorney's office so we do have before you this is the first of two required public hearings pursuant to Florida statute 163 3225 for the proposed developers agreement between ourselves um for the harmony aisle development um this development is proposed and it's proposed residential development consisting of 237 single family lots 147 town homes and they is to be located at 1375 998th Avenue ver Beach Florida 32966 um there is an aerial that is attached I have also distributed an extra aerial which I will be giving a copy to the clerk here shortly which demonstrates if you look at it there are two red x's and on those red X's that's the property in question just for your um notification there if you're wondering where this is currently located um this developers agreement also has subm mention to another development agreement which the board previously approved for Venetian Groves that is a development that is just to the South and to the east of 98th so just south of 12th into the East um so there will be some reference in this developers agreement to that developers agreement um so the there are several items that come forth with this there's also dedication of right away the project for harmony aisle will dedicate roughly 3,534 ft on 16th Street um and roughly 4T wide by the length of 335 ft on 98th Avenue along the pro proposed rideway Lane onto 12th Street this dedication shall either occur either at final plat or upon completion of the um Associated improvements whichever occurs first there are also some other intersection and turn Lan improvements that are required um this is where I was mentioning the other developers agreement at Venetian grubs where some of it goes into it's dependent on whether or not that development moves forward um so there are two different items listed there and what what requirements would be required as far as turn lane and intersection improvements signalization different turn Lanes left BR right turn Lanes um there also be utility improvements that are required by this development um and in here the developer shall pay the county the proposed development's proportionate fair share of their use for improvements at commencement of construction of off offsite I'm sorry no it should say um of the offsite with issuance of the sorry the Land Development permit of offsite utility improvements the developers payment shall be calculated as follows um and it has for the 384 total units both being the single family and the town home um multiplied by the price of $800 per unit for a total of $ 37,200 um the only funding associated with this particular agenda item is for recording of the developers agreement once it's been accepted after the if it is accepted after the second public hearing as well as the notice in the Publications that we have to do for this public hearing um so at this point in time staff is simply recommending that the Board review the proposed developers uh agreement between ourselves and Riverfront Groves for the harmony aisle development um and that we open for the open so if there's any comment or public hearing it'll hear from the uh applicant which is Riverfront Groves and that we bring this back for the second public hearing that is required on February 11th 2025 at approximately 9:05 a.m. or there soon thereafter once that meeting starts for the second uh public hearing at which point in time the board would consider whether or not they accept to enter into this uh developers agreement formally I'm available for any questions thank you councel are there any questions of counsel at this point yes ma'am Mr chair that commissioner yes sorry can't see you um it it states that one of the purposes of the agreement I'm looking at 2 D is to ensure that all traffic requirements for the new development are provided to accommodate the new growth due to the 384 units coming with the hi development I development and then if we drop down to number seven it talks about required traffic improvements pursuant to the traffic study is it is there an ex is this referring to an existing traffic study I don't have a copy of it yes ma'am there is an approved traffic study that was done I did request a copy from staff I have copied and pasted the exact language that was the outcome of the traffic study into this and that is where I have the scenario a with glh development and if you go down under seven and it says scenario B that is the exact language from the traffic study that I copied and pasted into this agreement to make sure that that's fully covered but I'm more than happy to locate a copy of the traffic study and provide that to you okay thank you thank you are there any further questions or council at this time this is a public hearing and we'd like to give the opportunity for the public to speak the public hearing is now open would anyone like to speak on behalf the Council Mr chair Commissioners my name is Pete Sweeney with the firm of MTC law here in buau Beach Florida um just happy to answer any questions and and really want to thank staff we've been working through this um particularly our County attorney U and Miss pra Deputy County attorney um there wasn't really a procedure in place um to kind of work through the multiple aspects of this with the different departments traffic engineering Public Works planning utilities um so really good job and and speaking with Miss Schuler looking forward to having an even more streamlined process going forward so I know this is sort of the first iteration of this happy to have any questions answered we do have two technical consultants here um again we will have a second hearing but in all again thank you to staff and looking forward this has already been approved by ordinance we're prepared to move forward this is really quite frankly to fund the infrastructure improvements that are going to be out there so thank you thank you cast any questions any questions of councel thank you see none is there anyone else in the public that would like to speak in behalf of this item I've been given an ample opportunity we'll now close the public hearing and I want to say to my fellow Commissioners that that today is the only the the first of two public hearings as denoted by counselor uh we've had discussion but at this point we need uh a a motion to move forward to the second public hearing at a future date we're moving second that's a motion by Vice chairman L second by myself any further discussion ask you a question um I don't feel comfortable approving this since one of the main purposes is traffic concerns um and I I would want the traffic study first so I'm going to vote against it not because I don't want it to move forward but because I don't want to appear to be approving it when I think the documentation from my is incomplete okay this is simply to to have a first public hearing and then it will come back to the board for a decision on the merits at the second hearing correct okay the first approving what's before us now we're just approving going forward and having a correct further discussion okay yes ma' we're moving to the second public hearing at that time we will also have ample opportunity to discuss these facts even further but we're required by law to have two public hearings on behalf of this application you can register the issues that you may have so staff and the applicant is aware and can yeah I mean for my purposes I consider this incomplete without having seen the traffic study because it's stated here that this is one of the purposes of the agreement it's traffic basically it was that two 2D that I mentioned earlier and number seven of of the agreement I will be sure to include that for so I don't agree with the agreement but I agree with going forward and have continuing the discussion thank you thank you any further discussion all in favor I opposed motion carries unanimously thank you we have no public notice items counselor you're off the hook she smiled uh we'll now move on to County administrative matters and the first item is the city of Vera Beach revised request for County funding for the humson beach boardwalk project there are attachments and they are they are in your backup cany administrator yes Mr chair members of the board uh if you will recall at the December your regular meeting of December 17th the county approved its participation more specifically the county contributing $400,000 or 50 % of the humiston project specifically alternative three uh based on community support and private pledges for a boardwalk to be reconstructed at its uh regular meeting of January 2 or 14th the city of ver Beach City counil resed its selection the concrete sidewalk and selected or approved the concrete Boardwalk project uh city manager Monty Falls informed me of the actions and the associated request uh myself uh and the chair met on the 22nd of January with the mayor and the city manager the city is requesting the county monify its funding commitment from the sidewalk alternative to the boardwalk alternative uh just for of you have are aware the boardwalk project is preliminarily estimated at $2.3 million there's also NE it was necessary to clarify uh the private donations versus the private Grant uh the the city is working with the Indian River Community Foundation for the purposes of them being the conduit of collecting contributions from private individuals and so we are modifying that uh I would be remiss not to note that the mayor did inquire and I'm presenting it to you if there would be any consideration by the county to increase the amount of the County's contribution to the project um and I would just remind you that the board's funding for this project would come from the County's general fund and more specifically from you know the undesignated fund balance cash or reserves uh staff recommendation is uh that the board consider and determine the the level of funding if you want to increase it for the humiston beach boardwalk project and approve the revised funding commitment and I have a so I would it would be indne River County Board County Commissioners will contribute up to the amount whatever that would be toward the humiston beach park Boardwalk project with the County's contribution not to be more than the city's portion for the project slight grammatical change to this last sentence it's less any federal or state grants or Appropriations received toward the project because we excluded we were meant to to exclude the private funds but not the the we're Ling out the federal and the uh state grants so that would still come into play and then also direct the county the direct County attorney to draft a a project participation agreement outlining the board of County Commissioners commitment and participation in the humiston beach board waterer project and I'll return to the board for questions thank you uh John uh I I will say that this has been uh for something that's not our project this has been a work in motion and uh the it has evolved uh I have to say to the General Public the outpouring of support and the donations uh a rather significant contribution for infrastructure the monetary commitments and uh at that point when all this was taking place I said I I think we have a project even though it's not our project but um I did have a conversation with the mayor and as you to note they've changed their uh approach and commitment and we need to see that firm commitment I I think this board was supportive for the most part of the contribution in which we offered to the city during the sidewalk uh project and now the boardwalk I personally I don't I don't feel that we should change that um I I think we should be committed to our our original commitment uh based on the fact that the city has funds allocated uh and designated uh they do not have a final product yet but I I think uh the spirit of our commitment should be wellmaintained uh again the public has stepped up to the plate and they feel confident the city feels confident uh as far as the representatives I spoke with that this project is moving forward they have some planning to do some design work to be done and they feel that as far as and we were at the same meeting they feel that their design work will fall in lines with the financial expectations again I appreciate the the ask for additional funds but we just made it by at the financial commitment that we offered at the uh present time at the previous time and I believe that we should maintain that but uh that's up to this board um I I think things have developed to a point of we're actually going to see this project and I I felt very comfortable and encouraged by everyone's support um would do we have any comments from the board yet because I open it up to the public too Mr chair I appreciate you having the meeting with the the mayor obviously the other four weren't there was one discussion uh for I guess you and John that were there was there any discussion about help from any of our well any of our but our representative or our Senator um not that they were aware of I did pose that and uh the May the mayor said that he was not aware of any discussion at all as far as an alternative he was very comfortable and confident in what was presented uh to by his board and by our uh verbal commitment to continued support if that's the way it was traveling we did talk about the initial uh the initial offering we talked about the the concept of Community Development and Community Partnership that the foundation is offering as well as the very generous infrastructure offering that has to be refined but it is intact uh I'm I'm I'm very encouraged by that uh I think they have to get to the drawing board and get to the paperwork and get the design as opposed to an artist conception uh or perception of what could be built but once that takes place this thing is going to start rolling uh rather quickly we did discuss of the original offering that uh and nothing to do with the state but we did discuss well what happens if if FEMA steps up to the plate and that's a discussion we have to have uh because then in the initial statement uh we did say about Community involvement that's been there's no need for clarification on that if the foundation wants to support this to the city they can do so that is not going to affect our offering and I think that John has uh clarified that in the intended agreement correct John yes we we you know at the the essence of the conversation after they revised informed us of the revised the revision to the uh the alternative was that I just didn't we didn't believe that the County's contribution at no time should be more than whatever the city's contribution was so let's just hypothetically if somehow they raise $1.8 million through the the foundation they get private donations to that extent as well as with the other some other commitments that are in play that reduce the cost of the project and then FEMA comes back because if you recall they had about a $400 and some thousand original request that was denied then it was told there was like 284 and then all of a sudden they get it back and it's like 80 some, so in their appeal if they get the $280,000 we didn't think it would be appropriate or or or fair to the county for it to be covering more cost than the actual city was out of its general fund correct now and again that caveat really is a a difficult one to apply because when do we roll to the financial support and that would be at the time of letting of of the contract so if that's the case FEMA may not be prepared I know there's a lot of changes being going on with FEMA uh and if if they were to revert back to a change how would this impact our offering uh that has to be discussed because if if you know I guess that's considered a clawback and that's where I may I should have said grammatical clarification I used the word excluding previously and as I was reviewing my fire agenda item in this one again it really should be less any federal or state grants or Appropriations or seat to the projects so they would like lower both of ours first and then what was ever remaining was up to the $400,000 provided we're not going more than what the city's doing so this is not to advance development this is to assist in covering the cost of the development and procurement of the boardwalk it's not to expand the resources beyond what is available maximum amount as as it stands recommended from staff is $400,000 as it was before and I answer the question there was no conversation uh about any state involvement wasn't there discussion about the appeal to FEMA I think it was 90 days and I my math is right we should be getting awful close to that we have the city indicated any correspondence from FEMA at the at the point at the time of the meeting they have not received any correspondence and as was pointed out to us you know we we still have money outstanding waiting for reimbursement for Matthew and Irma our own El for one of our beach projects so sometimes they do have a 90-day period they could it could be expanded and and a little bit of History we can go back to the uh Rockridge um um development for uh flooding that was uh allocated approved after it was welld designed installed and then the money was requested back that's why I'm bringing up uh and again we had to negotiate again to get to maintain the reimbursement so when we're dealing with FEMA you know that coreback uh I I don't even know if we should con consider that uh at at this time and just be committed to our contribution to the city of Vero Beach and the citizens to ensure that this Boardwalk gets built um opinion I'm I agree I'm I'm delighted that uh that the city is moving forward with a boardwalk it was their decision versus a sidewalk but I always felt we needed a boardwalk thank you for meeting with the mayor on this and appreciate the change in language County Administrator uh so that the private public partnership is not being punished in anyway you know we're not we're not uh you know we're not looking to take take that take those FS you know we've made a solid commitment uh to a solid amount and you know we stand behind it Fe is the only big question mark f is always a question mark um I see actually we have councilman Voss here if he wants to add anything I want to say that you you brought up the the the the commitment uh I'll tell you the game changers started on Christmas Eve and it was I you know they wanted to be keep everything to a quiet lull about what they would like to do but I want to acknowledge because the uh the sheriff uh brought up the state's involvement our former state representative and his brother assembler family uh really made the holidays and their commitment was actually the one that spawned further conversation and uh I believe well I could say it it's not violation of sunshine but the mayor was very excited yes she very excited yes I think you all had the opportunity to discuss it at your your meeting but uh that that was the game changer that was the one that I okay but this is going to happen Santa Santa took the form of Mr s yes right on Christmas Eve too yeah so there oh that's perfect yeah so we we considered an in kind donation a significant amount of the material that would be required to build the warw walk there's also a pledge of $100,000 from another uh individual as well as another $50,000 so significant contributions and then there's also with the Indian River found uh Community Foundation there's close to $20,000 of donations I know there's more coming in based on the pledges so yeah I um uh as far as the for potential $400,000 from the county would like that to be not penalizing any of the donations that put forth by the community and I understand the FEMA it takes a while for payback yeah that uh the accounting part of it uh would be cumbersome possibly but yeah anything that you could do to help support this effort and if we do get overages that we'd put that into a fund to help maintain the boardwalk for the future and that was one of the concerns of the uh benevolent contribution that we we look at this is an investment not for all of us not for the city this is for future generations and that's why they wanted built tight and substantial and maintained correct and so you're you're you're speaking it out we really do appreciate that okay thank you is there a maintenance plan because that's part of how we got into this situation yeah so that would be part of the discussion is how do we maintain the boardwalk in the future I don't have any information i' have to get with Monty Falls or city manager it's going to require Council to allocate dollars for the maintenance which is had not occurred correct which is why the FEMA reimbursement is so low right so I would potentially low there're still not done with the appeal yes understand it was something yeah it's like any any type of infrastructure you need a a maintenance plan right shamman Mr chair I I think commissioner Adams must have read my notes but one thing um that we have to keep in mind and I've had this discussion with with the administrator many times whether you're municipality a county or a state or federal government sometimes we have these what we would consider boring meetings when we talk about our Capital Improvement plans or maintenance plans Andor deferred maintenance plans and we realize that as a county municipality we have tax dollars coming in and as mentioned earlier we are commissioned in satisfying the community needs with what we have uh this is an unusual situ situation I would suggest and as commissioner Moss mentioned with respect to any of the future maintenance plans this could be uh this could be an example of a road that this County does not want to go down in the future as an example uh and I know some things sneak up on us we do that but it also has to do with u being a conservative organization uh monitoring our fund balances planning on un unexpected things as you mentioned with Rockridge uh we're fortunate enough to be in this County where we are prepared uh in light of lack of funding from the state or the federal government and we've worked hard for decades to uh accomplish that so this may be uh a learning experience for all entities involved yeah again Rockbridge was I remember slightly yeah you're there it's slightly over $7 million it was not this was not a light little discussion uh I will say that uh we we're talking about maintenance and I appreciate that um I I'm not an engineer don't even play one however we did have a discussion about maintenance and it's very difficult you're you're at the ocean front and you have metals that are uh securing uh cement concrete but it's designed for that and that's one of the concerns uh the refreshing element was that I don't know if anybody seen any large cement poles traveling through our County that's the same folks that are generating the benevolence they engineer that and if you do go to the Barrier Island those what are they Bridges they were part of that as well which sits in in salt water right so if that's the case if something's properly engineered and designed to sustain and perhaps maybe it wasn't then way back when this was done technology has far superseded the expectations of so many years ago that I think that we're on we could be on the right track but maintenance is important I just don't know how you maintain the metal that's inside of concrete but that's up to the engineers the designers and the providers I don't have any right now y yall covered it I mean I commissioner lore statement about maybe there are some unspecified State dollars that Senator Gro and and representative bracket could could obtain somehow to help this I think it's worth the ask U you know they can tell you no but at least you ask you can't say you you know if you don't ask you can't you can't have it so I I would hope the city's working on that I mean I hopefully I'll accept it you know one of us may talk to them and about it on about when we're talking about something else but I think that's definitely something that that um the city should should at least ask but other than that I you know this is a this is an iconic area I understand the situation I I'm I was you know I'm obviously was for the boardwalk from the very beginning but but U you know it just it should be easier than this and we shouldn't have to be asking the public to really donate money um I'm glad they are we've got a very benevolent County as we all know very very benevolent uh for everything um but U as long as it gets done and and I'm willing to you know I support our our $400,000 contribution and and I agree with the County Administrator but we shouldn't pay any more than the city's paying out of that 400 in in in addition and again why why we're here is the original ask was to to pull it from the TDC money which we we don't do and then we would be setting a very unique uh set of circumstances and but then we we'd probably be revisiting that many times over uh I I believe it's it's fair and Equitable on what the the commission has supported to do and and I think it it well moves this project off the needle uh if again I did have a conversation with the mayor uh it was during that meeting and I did ask I did hear rumor about the state uh but he was unaware um most certainly will remind him but if if he's able to get some State funding uh or if if the council is to get any state funding uh that that would grossly benefit it I don't believe it should offset anything here our our consideration is about FEMA but again I think FEMA will probably be uh a deciding factor well beyond when the boardwalk is actually poured or erected or whatever purpose they use I think FEMA will come back after an appeal of the appeal and if it's changed so be it yeah I got additional information uh for Monty Falls we are going after State funding we are asking the state for funding a request you got information that from Monty Falls yes Monty is asking the state they're going to go request funds from the state yes see if they can help that's new information we did that's new information to me as well oh you just got it I just just got it he's got we are asking the state for dollars okay straight from Monty right yes that's that's great well that's good I I I guess on on that 22nd there was no mention of that and I I guess maybe it wasn't a factor so thank you for bringing that up it's new to I just have one more question if you don't mind um I know this is still being discussed as I understand it so there's not a a single final dollar amount yet that's correct the design has to completed so they get go out for quote get estimates and then get the final dollar amount and and we did clarify that this was for the boardwalk only and uh there were a couple of amenities there was there was an option added at my request for an integrated life card tower there is a separate in that budget original budget $150,000 for a standalone lifeguard Tower I requested can we as an option put that as an integrated structure with the boardwalk so we don't have to worry about the Lifeguard Tower sitting on the beach it should be up there permanently with the boardwalk that's an option but it'll be solicited as an alternate bid inations with money'll do the bid for the concrete boardwalk and then an alternate bid for the the with the inclusion of of the um the Lifeguard Tower right so that's part that's not part and parcel to the commitment to the boardwalk and it would have no bearing on the decision whether to go forward or not or the financial burden the original quotes did include a lifeguard Tower just not one integrated with the boardwalk as a permanent structure is one of those movable lifeguard Towers is about $150,000 in the original budget yet that was part of the plan for the boardwalk so the price of the project which not has not been established we want to commit to the boardwalk correct yes all right that would be staff recommendation I can read that again just to clarify for the record Indian River County border County Commissioners will contribute up to $400,000 toward the humston beach boardwalk project with the County's contribution not to to be more than the city's portion of funding for the project less any federal or state Grant or Appropriations received toward the project and yeah and I believe the the city actually had allocated $1 million to the initial project inial is that still maintained that's still maintained yes correct okay all right so that's their commitment to their boardwalk and we were in support of 4 $100,000 less the FEA money if if it comes to fruition is that correct I think the language said in support of the city's commitment that sounds like a million dollars so that needs to be clarified right the city committed a million dollars to the project original was a million dollars towards the sidewalk now we rescinded that decision we brought forth a boardwalk that's still committed to the million dollars that's correct correct rough the the at least the most recent estimate uh So based on the conceptual plans and ioun and i' just like to get some clarification um because what I'm kind of hearing is that you want to limit where your dollars would go and if that's the case if a motion is made do we do we when we talk about what the humiston beach boardwalk project project is does that only the boardwalk does it exclude the Lifeguard Tower any type of details that you could flesh out for me because i' be making drafting the inter local would be helpful as well as when you would anticipate that we make our contribution that's another thing that would have to be just say is that necessary to break it down by element of cost if you just well I'm just asking for because when you it's when you get the inter local you get down to the details and I'm we can you can give me conceptual thoughts but if you if you have any direction at this point in drafting those that in are local that's what your motion would be is to direct me to do it so well the Board needs to speak up because I believe that uh our consensus and vote uh was to support the sidewalk that's changed we're going to was our intentions intentions I want to make sure it's uh voted upon correctly that we support the boardwalk and uh I I think that um the only concern I have is later on let's say we do a left guard Tower and five Pavilions and just hyp understand yes and walk ways that it gets to 4.5 million million right the county only gave us $400,000 you don't want SC cre you know what I'm saying if we if we set the commitment to the boardwalk and that $400,000 is intact for the boardwalk correct so just to clarify the boardwalk project or the let's go back to the concrete sidewalk project that included the two Pavilions and the Crossovers for the Dune right yes there was consensus that was I think reaffirmed here that would did not include any participation in the Lifeguard Tower that's correct so this would because there's still going to be The Pavilions it's my understanding for the shade and there's also going to be the need for crossovers potentially well the people need somewhere to go for cover and it just go stands it also 8 there's an ADA accessible ramp that's being built that wasn't there previously that was another component that was being supported was just the Lifeguard Tower itself was my understanding based on the conversation of the board was to exclude that that's a standal we extract that from yes our commitment CU I just didn't want you know because the thing goes up to $4.3 million you know right no I understand our commitment is to that Boardwalk because that's what the people wanted be correct and that and basically the idea is you take a sidewalk you move it closer to the uh above the dunes elevated basically elevated sidewalk that looks like a boardwalk right closer to and all the elements would be the same just one added option if it's financially feasible to take that lifeguard tower that was in the original design for the sidewalk and move it up on top of the boardwalk is integrated that's the only let me just try to make this simp because we are like horse is Dead We buried it we dug it up we're still beating it so and I'm not really the one that's super supportive of this I'm in the same position I was at the first meeting and the second meeting but in an effort to try to move this along um this is like a grant think of it as a grant is how I think of it the county is the county is giving you $400,000 towards your project the county wants it to be SP on X Y and Z and if you have a b and c in the project just like any Grant you take that part of the Grant and apply it to this part of the project and you figure it out like I don't think we need to get into the minutia of splitting the project I mean this is like cobbling together multiple funding sources for a project your guys know how to do it our guys know how to do it I every faith that they will keep it the way it needs to be based on the clear Direction now three meetings of Direction now so so I don't think there's any confusion on where we are here as far as I can see no I I I don't believe there is uh and thank you commissioner uh the but the point is when do we let out the funding that that should be considered is that when the project is let out is that when we we would roll out the funding because that's when it's needed once they commit to a contract that's one I would treat it like any other basic TDC Grant or seat Grant they submit we we've approved it and then they'll submit for it when they need it and they're going to have to provide some documentation that it's not just sitting in their general fund going towards you know the utility bill and bond bonds or something they they got bom PS apparently they probably have better snacks than we I'm getting hungry it's after a bunch of time I sense that I'm just you guys well if if that prepared to make a motion whenever you're anybody from the public that wishes to speak at this point I'll second it even though Tom Sullivan 4187 west6 Square first of all I just like to thank you on behalf of the public for doing this I I think we're building it and we're building it well that worried me initially with the city plan um the discussion with the lifeguards is is an interesting discussion I used to go down there you know eating down that way and I talk to the lifeguards I don't know how many of you visited that beach I imagine everybody but just to give you a little historical perspective the lifeguards used to sit outside of their little Shanty on what was the equivalent of a bar stool with a uh umbrella okay and they could overview the beach I had talked to the lifeguards and they had said they think someday they're going to have an integrated Tower so they have a better view of the beach matter of fact the guy I was talking to was a guy who was was on vacation who saved the people down in Jensen Beach that was a nice thing that happened I remember complimenting I call him Superstar now but these are the type of people that are out there working I I think it's wonderful what uh Miss Adams just said just give them the money it's grant money they do it they're the ones who have to figure out how to make it better for their employees to lifeguard but the lifeguards also are very important in safety so I think they'll take that into consideration I just want to get up here and thank all of you for doing this you know and by the way I lived in New York okay no during all right as a kid as a kid I worked from 86 to 110 on the Trade Center I was an iron worker okay I went back to New York okay to go to the top of Freedom Tower uh and I can tell you they did not decide on Freedom Tower in a day I leave you with that yeah okay I I've seen the place before yeah watch how go thank you for your fine work all right all right anything else or can I make a motion what's the motion uh I'm going to read it just make sure I get it right um Indian River County Board of County Commissioners will contribute up to $400,000 toward the humiston beach boardwalk project with the County's contribution not to be more than the city's portion of funding for the project less federal or state grants or rations received toward the project there's a I just I just want to clarify something when you say not to exceed the city's portion the city's portion is over a million dollars so yeah maybe you want to eliminate that may okay we'll eliminate that part if you want to so ums you want I'm sorry whaton ,000 from the county of ours already yeah they were committing $1 million towards doing the project they asked for the county for funds it was $400,000 that's what that's what my point I think commissioner Moss is trying to say that the county will allocate $400,000 with that $400,000 with whatever that or up to not being more we're not paying more than the city of buo beach that's exactly correct but not how it sounds but but for clarification I can ask that commissioner Moss is that what you meant for clarification um that's what I read not to more than not to be more than the city's Porche I've read what we have in front of us the um the backup I will be happy to second that there you go I'm hungry look at this all right any further discussion all in favor I opposed I I told you where I was to three meetings ago but you know in the effort of moving this along I can I can second things you stood ground but you you you did second so we appreciate it thank you motion carries 4 to one with commissioner Adams dissenting all right now we're moving on we have the uh lobbyist discussions so uh Mr chair members of the board uh as noted in the staff report uh our lobbyists our firm uh that with the County's been using for a number of years almost more than about a decade was anfield and they represented the county uh this past year we uh they actually kind of became part of a larger subsidiary of gunster law firm and so this year we're revising the recommendation for this firm slightly we're in the middle of we're at the front end of the session but a lot of activity's been happening so we are recommending in uh that the board enter into an agreement with the era group who's the name of with theun the gunster their subsidiary for lobbying Services through June 30 2025 for the contract amount of $60,000 then authorize the County Administrator to ex to execute the reference agreement Mr chair um I think this is a good move on our part we need to have this in place before legislative session starts as you know um it's it's already up and running with a special session I think with the change in the structure of ansfield and arrow the six months gives us the ability to kind of see how that relationship moves forward and then we can bring it back after after session if we so desire to extend it so I be happy to move approval second outstanding thank you second you think this could to be a short one you seconded it yeah so anything else yeah okay you have a motion in a second any further discussion all in favor I opposed motion carries unanimously I thought this going to be longer we're now moving on to utilities and I see Sean ly approaching we have an amendment to the in River County Department of utility services and that's a rate schedule thank you good afternoon Commissioners uh thanks for the opportunity to present today Sean leisi utilities director for the record um back in September um when we adopted or when you all adopted the the rate study um you know you adopted a very comprehensive rate study that evaluated a lot of our rates and our fees associated with um providing water and sewer services and unfortunately um when we kind of got to the point where we started adding these into our customer interface system our CIS system um our staff recognized that a couple of those fees were were miscalculated um within the final rate study and so what we're presenting today to to you today is to try to correct those um rates and fees as we go forward and in the interest of transparency to the public um the first kind of being the volume charge for no no County water service available single family homes Less Than 3 3500 Square ft uh the rate the current rate is 22 276 um the rate that they had proposed or that was in the study was 2731 um effective January one of this year and then 304 effective October one of this year for some reason those were calculated at 20% and 10% when the rate study was evaluating a 24% and 12% increase for those respective time periods um so when looking at the actual correction calculation the 24% for January 1 would be 2822 um the the um 12% then above that for 101 of 25 would be 3161 um so we're just asking to correct that um the other one was for the volumic charge for inii or inflow and infiltration um at 12,000 over gallons per month um it's unclear why but in our um for some reason they based the rateof of 1906 um the rate that we have been charging and should have been charged for this year um was 1950 so they did do the correct calculation but the calculation was based off of the incorrect starting value of 1950 um or should have been 1950 so while the calculation was correct they based it off of the the wrong starting um rate so the starting rate should have been 1950 and then based off of that the corrected amounts for January 1 of this year 2418 and October one of this year 2708 so we're simply asking that we correct those um rates and fees uh to the a corrected amount in based off of the rate study so you're asking us to correct a math error basically correct okay I would have is there anybody that had I'm sorry I was going to make a motion unless there's a scri is error that is has significant impact on our community didn't go the other way yeah yeah yeah unfortunately I mean and you know I think unfortunately no one caught it until we got to the point of actually putting it in into our CIS system when they were kind of calculating it and didn't calculate out right according to what the the rate study had suggested and so um yeah I mean unfortunately it was one of those ones I think people looked at a thousand fees and rates and um this was one that you know a couple that just you know for whatever reason um was missed and we're just trying to correct that thank you move approval I do have a request the next bring it make sure it goes the other way like over and then we'll look magical because we're making it lower so we have a motion by commissioner Adams second by commissioner Erman any further discussion all in favor I opposed motion carried unanimously we'll move on to uh thank you all work order number seven for geoc syntic for the annual permit compliance monitoring and Reporting 4 2025 oh do we have minutes I don't believe we [Applause] do no oh we do have minutes we do have minutes while we're still with swid the approval of the swid meeting minutes of November 5th 20124 move approval second we have a motion by commission Adam second by myself any fur further discussion all in favor opposed motion carries unanimously see early we had unapproved minutes and I get confusing yes okay I didn't know we had a certified unapproved so but um here we are those were approved and now we're going to work order number seven of geocentric anal permit to compliance monitoring and reporting for 2025 who's going to call Bob salari I was going to say this is Bob's favorite item so in honor of him I'll be happy to move approval second um I'll make the honors so uh that's uh motion by commission Adam second up by myself any further discussion all in favor opposed motion carries unanimously and then we have work order number 18 to kimly Horn for the solid waste disposal District annual Financial reports that sounds like it's going to be a fascinating report when it comes out I can't wait so I will happily move approval second fascinating that's a motion by commission Adam seconded by myself any further discussion all in favor I oppose motion carries unanimously I see no further business that needs to be conducted before the public except for an opportunity to speak if anything that was not on the agenda if you feel like speaking Commissioners how you doing today happy New Year I knew he was here I'm calling about or stopping and talk to you about the infrastructure on our sewer and yeah I know you Mike hooker oh Mike hooker four uh 925 and 931 12 Street thank you Mike I'm sorry this new to me I'm talk strange I just fighting tongue cancer they cut a chunk off so um our infrastructure is failing right now for our sewer department they widen 12 Street some years back they put the sewer in the middle of the road nobody can access the sewer the Biddle just built the um storage the car storage places a couple years back they were closer to the Sewer it cost them about 45,000 to connect to a substandard stool I talked to the Sewer I talked to the um utilities department utilities department says look man we're always the scapegoat it's it's old it needs to be replaced by 2030 it's going to be replaced because of all the new rules I don't know much of them I am being forced to join onto the sewer for one of my properties on 12 Street and then on the next property soon as I go to site plan approval next week I'm going to be forced there too which I don't have a problem with it's better but I want a tap to be forced to put on to I have septic tanks right now drain Fields they've been working for 50 years they're grandfathered in but now they're not grandfathered in because of the new rules of 2030 right now it's going to cost me $45,000 to stop traffic on one side on the North westbound Lane to connect so that's right in front of the train tracks you got Mo there you're going to have to shut down 12 Street when the county has to rebuild this infrastructure by 2030 for 15 of us to join to it because we're all going to be required to join to it in five years so I was talking about the health department Health Department said if we all put in the permit today the county put in the permit got approval got the funding it wouldn't even be in by 2030 that's the State Health Department and the County utilities department so my question to you is they all referred me back to the Commissioners look I got to come to you guys because we have to rebuild it anyway I'm willing to give up all the frontage on my two properties to put that sewer system in there and then that way everybody else is has to join it by the by five years it's already in place or we do it on the other side where there's abanded building the car auto hos the lady that does the dogs um cleans the dogs and then there's the church either side it doesn't matter we have that easeman under the sidewalk it should have been done when they riding 12 Street but they didn't it should have been brought up to all the new use that we have I mean we have people moving on the beach in central Beach tearing down two bedroom houses with one bathroom putting up six bedroom houses with eight bathrooms the infrastructure is not going to handle it our you're moving our water department okay we got to the water department or the um the sewage department so when we move that we have to have that infrastructure to flow to that new new site I guess it's going to be by the airport I don't know but but when that's moved everything has to flow that way anyway us one's done everything West to US1 Old Dixie is not done and that needs to be done because that's where all the growth is all the buildings have been selling on Old Dixie everything is M moving up just like the people were saying on us one up North so the the growth is here already where we're at it's the it's all old infrastructure that needs to be updated and you know the sheriff Rob great thing where is our deferred maintenance maintenance plan on our sewer infrastructure we don't have one because if we did it would already been being done with um the the gym you know plant Fitness just went in they added 10 bathrooms that's 10 flushers you know they added them water tables they added all this different stuff where they're using a lot more water than the other gym Publix everybody there is dumping into that sewer okay and that's the big ones now you got the ders just bought all that property they're going to be building they're going to be putting in more bathrooms for their building required by building building code so we have to rebuild this so that all of us can join on to to that right now I don't have to pay a sewer bill I'm being forced to pay a sewer bill plus pay $40,000 to join the steward to pay that bill I don't have to do that if I can just use my property hasn't changed in 50 years five bathrooms three sinks been five bathrooms three sinks for 50 years you guys riding 12 Street took a little bit away my Frontage but didn't affect my septic system but now my septic system is substandard to new rules grandfathered in does not matter like that house on that corner that shouldn't have mattered either it's it's not grandfathered in this is plan development and so I'm just asking for the County's help because everything stops at every other agency until they get approval by us as the county team you know I mean you guys are the ones that can approve all this and we have to do it sooner than later because the growth is still the growth and it's common you can't stop it I mean know growth in verer is a great thing that's why we moved here 23 years ago raise three kids but it's coming and our sewer system down our house on 12 Street River Shores it's septic it should have been on that for sewer M how long ago just like the beach the rich people get it all first and then it flows over to us on on the mainland you know and that shouldn't be right you know we're the infrastructure we those warehouses I want to build are going to be all for contractor use two turns to the beach to support all those people and taking care of their houses they're Plumbing their electric they Landscaping all that we have no more we have no contractor warehouses we got Self Storage which those people are right we don't need anymore there's got to be two units for every resident of Indie River County who needs more steal storage you know we need contractor warehousing but my point is we need the infrastructure to support all this growth and the maintenance plan that sheriff is talking about we need to know where is that right now because my my street has 15 people that have to join that by law by five years from now it cannot handle three more people joining it in the next five years it just won't it won't work because it's too small so that's basically what I'm here about what's your address again sir 931 and9 25 the old Rinker plant and the old uh Pats auto part store and you know it's been there forever it's we're not changing the footprint you know we're just changing the use and you know the use is like right now it's um Ted's a a thrift store you know and he's got two ladies used nobody uses those bathrooms but we we got to pay $40,000 to to join something that we can't even join we got to shut down street we got to cut down the street I mean they the sewers should run alongside the street so you don't impede traffic you know especially by the train tracks and then another thing how do you stop a train you put in a station I mean nobody wanted that station if we would had a station here the train would stop and get going it would never broke 20 M hour i' leaving it coming into our County but that ship sailed too you know so I mean just can we get our infrastructure right so we can all grow together because I'm at a no growth point right now and I want to support our County and I've been supporting it for 25 years with multiple properties and multiple tax bills that get paid every year so I just think that in that sewer part you know I'm paying a sewer bill and I don't have a sewer you know I'm not connected to it you know so I I just want some help with 12 Street and you can talk to the utilities department they'll say the same thing man they're getting yelled at all the time but they can't do nothing their hands are tied so um that's my gripe and I don't gripe a I just you know I'm I'm happy for all y'all yall have done a great job I appreciate our County it's just we need to worry about that maintenance plan and that and that that's the huge thing right now and Sewer is sewer that's every that's garbage it's everybody's waste it's got to go somewhere and they can't break in the middle of the night and shut down roads and have nastiness all over our roads going in to our drain system that leads to our River you know that's what we don't want with our septic systems and we don't want it with our sewer system either because our sewer system and so thank you for hearing me Mr uh this is your opportunity to speak again we we don't customarily take action on opportun speak however uh while speaking with the utilities director as well to see if there's any alternative that would ease the burden I understand you have a large operation or and and property and many do and they're dependent upon getting us to that 2030 Mark as and if we're all for that's what they told us at the health department if we were all forced to join tomorrow three of us could nobody else could because it cannot handle every those 15 properties joining that line on that sewer right now it cannot handle it so it has to be replaced anyway so why are we forcing everybody to join it um you know bits and pieces when we can just put in the new sewer put in 15 Taps and then everybody can join at their Leisure but the system will handle the growth right now the system won't handle the growth if everybody joined by 2030 that's the point that the health department has made if we went in for for um for funding and approval and permitting today that we would not have it by 20 by 2030 I don't know if it's an accomp accomplishable Mission however it's worth the discussion it is I mean it's our whole infrastructure is relying on it and every business and property owner that drains into said system that can't reuse their system that they have currently because it's outdated just like the current system is outdated so we got to pick one or the other I think thank you sir thank you thank you guys youall have a good day anybody else C all right seeing no further this meeting is adjourned for