##VIDEO ID:FilCKsjp1UU## well it is six o'clock oh oh I like it uh as you can tell if you have been in council chambers before and I know many of you have we have a brand new and improved AV system um it's already very impressive so thank you Bill did he already bolt and Joel who's over here giving us some tech support as uh the city clerk learns all of the ins and outs of this system so uh it will hopefully be better experience for us on the deis our um staff as you see now has microphones but also you in person here at council chambers and especially uh those who are watching us remotely because if you've ever tried to watch our council meeting on uh the Youtube stream it really does look like you're watching security footage at a department store so got brand new camera up there and we're going to be able to toggle back and forth between the podium and the de um and I think it's going to be um better overall for all segments of Who's involved in uh paying attention to these Council meetings so thank you everyone for putting that in place and please forgive us if we uh have any um technical glitches or difficulties as we go through this first meeting um in the meantime we will go ahead and begin with our invocation and salute to the flag led by Mr horn please rise uh good and gracious Heavenly Father um we thank you for the opportunity to be here this evening I ask for your guidance over all the members of this Council as they continue to serve their Community uh father we ask that you would continue to watch out for all of the police officers EMS providers that are serving their communities around this country and all of our military who are serving this nation at home and abroad father I would ask that you would give them uh strength to perform their jobs father I would also ask that you would give peace to all the families in this nation that are suffering right now uh all the families that are affected by the recent airplane crashes in Washington DC as well as Philadelphia all the families that are suffering in California through those wildfires and even the ones that are still in the Carolinas that are still suffering uh after those floods last year heavenly father I ask you would give them peace uh that we can only find in the name of your son Jesus Christ amen amen I 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 libery and justice for all this meeting is called to order Madame clerk roll call council member Golding here council member horn here council member Johnson council member Sutton here council member Wagner here council member wers here mayor Hoffman here and Mr Jansen is uh unable to join us in person today because he is up in DC representing uh the city of Jacksonville Beach with the um National League of cities so we thank him for his service at that end and I believe Miss Golding will be making our motions today so we'll go ahead and start with approval of minutes I move that we approve the minutes from the regular city council meeting held on January 21st 2025 second we have a motion and a second any discussion it's oh it's a very sensitive button I just learned all in favor signify by saying I I any post motion carries Item B I move that we approve the minutes from The Joint City Council CRA Workshop held on January 27th 2025 second we have a motion and a second any discussion all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed motion carries approval of the agenda I move that we approve the agenda second we have a motion on a second any discussion all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed motion carries I'm G to start with announcements Miss Golding is always first on the light but I do want to take the opportunity to congratulate her for her participation in the Donna marathon not only running I think you did the half Marathon um but also being one of the top fundraisers for the event so both of those are big achievements um the Donna marathon if you missed it I don't know how you could have was this past weekend it was the first time it started and finished in Jacksonville Beach and had beautiful weather so it's uh absolutely the perfect weekend and uh three more of us participated in the race Mr Wagner Mr Sutton and myself uh all crossed the start line we did not cross the finish line but you can ask us about that later um I already mentioned the new AV which we're very excited about and then uh if you've had a chance to drive by Beach and third you will see a much anticipated and long awaited uh new digital sign so congratulations to Jacob board our Communications manager and everyone who was involved in that um as you can imagine uh supply chain issues and availability and making sure we have just the perfect uh fit for the existing Monument sign with uh all considerations in making that happen so um it is something we can access remotely but they will not give me the password so I can't help you um with your messages but we'll be coming up with um a good uh scheme of messaging on that soon um I also wanted to take a moment to recognize um Margaret McQueen who's uh if was if she was still with us her birthday would be on this Wednesday February 5th um if you don't know who Margaret McQueen was I encourage you to take a minute and Google Beach's Museum Margaret McQueen there's a great article on her uh she was a real uh Community leader as well as a city council person um representing her community very well and we still see the lasting impacts of her efforts including through our Carver Center activities and our Cape program so um we're really proud to continue to honor her um on her birthday this year moving on Miss Golding thank you mayor um as the mayor said I did run the half marathon for the Donna marathon to finish breast cancer and I have to say that the community of Jack speech came out amazingly it was I as a runner I could tell you that the people that I ran with all said how amazing the support was from the cheering to the signs to the to the food some of some of the things that I didn't want to eat but um uh it just the music people had music some people there was a guy in front of one of our condos that had a speaker set up and a guitar and he was playing live music and it was just amazing um our community really show made made made us proud and uh I was proud to be able to tell the people I was running with that I live in Jack Beach this is my community and I heard so many Runners saying what an amazing run it was because of the community Community Support uh it went all the way up through Neptune Beach and Atlantic Beach and and I I I left that race with sore legs but a full heart because it was just amazing um thank you to everyone who supported the race in what in our Police Department our um volunteers we had tons of volunteers out there working a lot of hours to make sure that the that the race was safe for everyone um and and just thank you everyone for for supporting such a great cause um also want to mention that this Wednesday February 5th there will be a town hall with Jacksonville mayor Donna Degan at the beaches Branch Library starting at 7 o'clock and this will be a really great opportunity to come and interface with Jacksonville mayor Donna Degan because we don't get to see her out here at the beach very much unless she's at a race um so she will be providing updates um on what's going on in Jacksonville how some of those things impact us here at the beach again that's Wednesday the 5th at the Beach's Branch library at 7 o'clock thank you thank you Miss Golding Mr Wagner boy this looks wonderful today this is great thank you all for coming out we really appreciate it this is this is our you know our government and our people in action so thank thank you for attending and look forward to a great meeting I also wanted to take a second and thank Mike and some of the other city council members for encouraging me to take the uh Institute for elected Municipal officers training session last weekend and while it did mean I was in Gainesville on a Saturday um it was really it was a wonderful learning experience it was time well spent and and and I I'm going to bring a lot of that back uh as I help work with this group and and and all our citizens on on getting things done for the city so really wonderful and then because everybody else has talked about the Donna I'm going to share mine but those and those who were here last meeting will know where I'm going to go with this but uh I'm Donna the Donna Foundation is just personally very important to me um the the the funds that are raised in large part go to research activities done at Mayo Clinic and uh many years ago uh Mayo Clinic Dr Dr Eva Perez uh determined a way to treat her to new and triple negative uh breast cancer which are if you're aware of those there two of the deadli types of breast cancer and actually um you know well I won't go into that but the reason I think that that is so important and and worthy of acknowledgement is 14 years ago my wife was diagnosed with her to new positive and she's in the audience and we got to do the Donna together with a former breast cancer that 20 years ago she probably would have survived so when you think about our great fundraisers and all the efforts and all the contributions our city made it really makes a difference to individuals all throughout our community and actually all throughout our country so just a wonderful wonderful event thank you Mr ragner moving on to Courtesy of the Florida visitors we do have a few cards that are what oh no this is just courtesy of the floor we have cards attached to specific agenda items as well but we're gonna these are just general um Brian corkran and Philip Foreman if you want to come to the podium and hit the little button to turn it green no we don't do that for that one and then you'll have just give us your name and address and you'll have three minutes to address the council there you go uh good evening council members my name is uh Brian corkran uh one of the owners of champion Cycles here at the beach give your address my address is uh 13584 P Cara Drive uh Jacksonville 32225 and I'm Philip Foreman my address is 12458 cach a Drive Jacksonville Florida 32223 so uh well today Phil and I are obviously in front of the council today um you know i' I've been at the bike shop one of the owners uh worked there for 36 years uh Fletcher grad you know I see a lot of familiar faces here uh great Community uh we we've obviously uh since June apparently we're in code violation for having bicycles in our parking lot in a bicycle rack and uh it's definitely a uh huge part of what we do and what we've done for the last 40 years since 1985 and uh of course it came to our you know uh attention back in June that we were in violation of city code which again we have done the same thing over and over again since 1985 uh and since we were in code violation and having to sell all my rental bikes which is a a pretty large portion of our revenue and of course the biggest thing we do here obviously folks that live at the beach everybody rides bicycles and that's a huge huge part of what we do as far as repair and service and we have a quick turnover rate we have a high volume of product that comes in every day I have a small store at the beach we have two other locations in town that basically we all run the same the same way uh we have a quick turnover rate because most Beach people you know the weekend is what they got and we try to turn and burn but you know 20 30 40 bikes a day uh you know we basically have done the same thing for many many years but since unfortunately since we've supposedly been in code violation uh it has been a tremendous you know burden on our revenue and we have been a staple business at the beach for many many years and I just feel that you know if this is a a code for 40 years why is it being enforced now and again a bicycle store and I've done this for most of my life uh you have to have a bicycle rack to store your bicycles for customers and you know so has been uh it's been a tough 6 months and uh I just feel that you know you folks could address this and obviously help a long long long successful staple business at the beach thank you thank you thank you Mr corkran and Mr Freeman Tony KCK cck I always mess that up this is Tony com I live at 533 11th Avenue South Jacksonville Beach and most of you all have seen me here before and I want to compliment the Beach's newsletter the beach life that comes out every month the reason I want to say it's an excellent newsletter for the people in Jacksonville Beach but I I believe we need to make it biweekly and include the Planning Commission the board of adjustment and code enforcement and the reason for that is it's no longer published in the Beach's leader that used to be my main news source and knowing what's going on down the street for me I noticed by 11 South just the other day an orange sign and I was wondering you know I was just driving normally I can go and try to search in you know get my old beaches leader out and look for the you know variance or if it was a Planning Commission I can't do that anymore so I think somehow you got to keep up the great work I like the communication I like sy's newsletter and it just needs to be more frequent you know and I think we need to get the word out through the electric company you know the Beaches Energy and say hey sign up for these newsletters they're good because most people if they're not coming to the City Council meetings don't know to sign up for these newsletters and whomever in the staff makes the newsletter I give them a 10 on the information because it's very descriptive red we know what roads are being paved we know what's closed we know what's open but add the planning the board of adjustment and the code violations to it so we know to show up to those meetings thank you thank you and I will say the staff who is responsible for it is here and taking notes I'm not going to point him out um he's the one vigorously shaking his head um and I will say I think we added the Beaches Energy customers to that distribution list so it goes to over 20,000 people obviously we always interested in adding um people to that distribution list they you don't have to live here to be interested in what's going on so um anyone can sign up for that email so we do encourage you when you see it come share it um and that's the best way to get people uh interested in signing up uh the next speaker is Robert Welton I will delay my time for just a few minutes to have some other people speak uh this is the last uh courtesy of the floor comment card so if you want to attach to a specific agenda item we can do that well was regarding the development and the changes okay so sorry it just said development it didn't have a specific agenda item so we will Mr witon yes we will make that adjustment on your speaker card thank you very much you're very welcome okay moving on to consent agenda I'm I move that we approve the consent agenda second we have a motion and a second uh do we roll call vote I never remember roll call vote please Madam Voice vote okay all in favor signify by saying I any oppos consent agenda passes moving on to city manager and new business item a uh you doing the update on this one oh I'm sorry Mr faes good evening mayor and Council Jason fatii director of fox and Recreation um our agreement with the volunteer life saving call uh for ocean Rescue Services requires that we meet annually to review um the operations uh we have met for the second year of operation and both parties have agreed to uh make some adjustments to the agreement uh most of the changes were highlighted in the package I can go over them if you'd like me to um I will say that we the the uh agreement between the two parties is working very well operationally and sincerely we thank them for the additional Services they are provide to our ocean rescue service wonderful thank you and a motion I move that we approve the amended and restated agreement between the city of Jacksonville Beach and the volunteer life saving Corps for ocean Rescue Services second we have a motion and a we have a motion in a second uh any discussion by Council Mr horn um as you all know um I'm a huge supporter of the volunteer life saving Corps I'm happy to see this um I wish we hadn't gone from three rescue boards to one but maybe we can work on that just because the more rescue equipment we have down there the more training equipment we have the faster and stronger lifeguards we have the better response time the better service to the beaches um I just want to go on record stand up and say I am thank than ful for the volunteer life saving Corps and their continued service after 12 14 13 years uh to the city of Jacksonville Beach for formally Pablo Beach formerly just an unincorporated plot of land out here that bunch of people decided we better stop having people drown and so thank you very much for your uh service you Mr horn Mr wers I truly appreciate the VSC as a former educator here in our community I've seen what it's Chang done for young young individuals at the at the high school helped uh teaching them life skills life values turning them uh from young adults into men and women and I truly appreciate them and I would second Mr Horn's uh thoughts on hopefully we can find more space for the vlsc to to store their equipment so they can be even more effective thank you thank you Mr wers any other comments Madam clerk roll call council member Golding yes council member horn yes council member Sutton yes council member Wagner yes council member wers yes mayor Hoffman yes motion carries Item B Mr Baron is already at the podium mayor and councel uh Dennis Baron Public Works director um I'm here to formally approve a emergency 8 in sanitary sewer repair located on Republic drive just slightly west of where it intersects with America Drive map on the wall the green line is actually the sewer M that runs through there the red zone is where we have a storm Crossing going from the pond on the north side of Republic that crosses over and goes down and then actually goes into Sanctuary subdivision uh that storm sewer is currently surcharged which means it's full of water all the time because of the depth and we have found that there is a crack in and so we know we're leaking storm water into our sanitary sewer system which is not a problem other than if that continues the other direction we are now allowing sanitary sewer to flow into the pond to the North or into Sanctuary which is what we cannot have so this emergency order was um approved by Miss Nelson last week uh the contractor will be mobilizing uh before the end of the week to actually replace that section of pipe um everything else I think is included in your memo if you have any questions I'm here to answer those thank you and a motion I move that we approve emergency 8 in sanitary sewer main replacement authorization at Republic drive to Pedic Co Schmidt in an amount not to exceed $31,988 off along the actual repair that we have is 20 foot a pipe um that has to be replaced but we'll probably have to excavate a larger area to be able to remove that pipe it goes through the inside of that storm structure so we have to actually plug both ponds pump all that water out then do all the work so I don't expect it to take more than just a couple of weeks it's because it's only one stick of pipe that's really tuberculated and has cracked that has a problem just kind of planning for a little bit of a worse estimate we're going to slip line both sides up to it once we're done with this piece that was part of our annual slip lining that actually when they went to clean and Camera it that's what actually discovered the leak that forces the emergency repair okay I just I just I can see from this and I think at least three of those are going to be affected by this area three of those houses are not going to be able to you know if you're saying it's going to be weeks just make sure we're communicating with those fames yes sir any other questions from Council Madam clerk roll call council member horn yes council member Sutton yes Council member Wagner yes council member wers yes council member Golding yes mayor Hoffman yes motion carries uh the next item is regard with regards to the legislative action days oh do you have a report Miss aler I was just going to introduce the item if you'd like to I don't okay Molly aliger assistant to the city manager I'm here tonight seeking authorization for those council members who are interested in attending the legislative action days this year and whether that you're staying the 24th through the 26th or making a day trip on the 25th just to meet with the legislators that public affairs Consultants will be scheduling for you all um this is a great time for you to meet with state legislators to lobby for Jacksonville Beach issues and generally we have a really good showing of council to go and meet with the Duval delegation thank you so uh what we'll do now is uh if you are interested in attending legislative action days if you just want to flip your light on and do we know Mr Jansen is planning to attend okay so uh for the purposes of the motion we have Sutton horn wowers you just blinked yours just okay everybody no are you a yes or no Mr wers Mr wers okay nobody touch your lights Sutton horn wowers Hoffman Wagner Janson Golding seven get ready Tallahasse those legislators are gonna know we're coming um okay so and we'll go ahead could you could turn your lights off now thank you and emotion that's not the new part of the sa this is this has been there go ahead I move that we authorize the following elected officials to attend the Florida League of cities legislative action days on March 24th through 26th 2025 mayor Hoffman vice mayor Jansen council members Golding Sutton horn wers and Wagner second we have a motion and a second any discussion Madame clerk roll call council member Sutton yes council member Wagner yes council member wers yes council member Golding yes council member horn yes mayor Hoffman yes the next item is go ahead the second piece of this item is to authorize the mayor and vice mayor to attend the Florida League of Mayors events that are held within legislative action days the agenda was attached to this memo um so we're looking for that for you mayor and vice mayor Jansen thank you and a motion I move that we authorize the May mayor and vice mayor to attend the Florida League of Mayors additional events within the legislative action days second we have a motion in a second and I just wanted to comment that it is very significant that we have in this case our entire Council going to Tallahassee um we spend a lot of time kind of playing defense to protect home rule and to protect a lot of things um that you want to have the decision making close to you in your community so um every year we think they can't possibly think of more things uh to take away from our local communities and every year they prove us wrong so um being in Tallahassee being a presence with our with our local legislators as well as those we have relationships throughout the state is really important but we also get to meet other uh local elected officials so there is a lot of and and to be to get a lot of training on the legislative issues so it's really um kind of an exhausting couple of days because we're really out there um doing the best we can uh for our legislative issues that are important to Jacksonville Beach so thank you to the council for um being so involved any comments on the mayor and vice mayor portion Madame clerk roll call council member Wagner yes council member wers yes council member Golding yes council member horn yes council member Sutton yes mayor Hoffman yes motion carries okay moving on to the ordinance portion of our meeting and um the rest of the speaker cards um I wanted to start off and have an an informal discussion among the council before we begin um the presentation and public hearing um is everybody amable to that okay so um if you don't know if you're if you're coming in new to the uh Land Development code process we've been working on this for around two years now and we've had 20 some OD meetings which you'll hear more detail about uh in director Ireland's presentation um something that was sorely needed we've never done a comprehensive review of Our Land Development code and it really showed when you start digging into this code it was um it was a mess things didn't line up they didn't match they didn't reflect the community that we are living in and that we want to live in um we hired um kimley horn to come in as our consultants and they have lived and breathed our uh Land Development code for for that time along with us we had meetings with um and and not only just meetings but also robust participation from our um Board of adjustment Planning Commission CRA as well as the council and this actually stretched over two councils um so we've really been uh putting a lot lot into this um that being said uh it's worth it to do it right and we did to me we hit all of the the boxes on communication we had a separate website that you could even go to that was distinctly um talking about the Land Development code the meetings the efforts it was there was a comment field you could submit um questions comments feedback throughout the entire process so it really has um not been done in a vacuum by any means but I know that to to some that may just be coming to uh to the Land Development code in its revised state it may feel like it was so I don't want people to feel that way because I feel like we have done it right the whole entire way and now we're at the the you know the touchdown line what do we call that the end zone we're at the end zone thank you I stopped following football once the the Gators were out it um so we're at we're in the end zone and to me it's worth it to make sure that we do this right so the main concern and we've gotten a lot of emails the main concern is asking us to do an additional Workshop there are a few specific concerns about the Land Development code as it's drafted um but the overall concern through the emails and phone calls and texts and things that we've gotten our are asking for a workshop I don't think that's too much to ask so I wanted to kind of throw it open to council um my what I would like for us to do is to go ahead and hold uh the the public hearing and the presentations and to vote on the first reading um because that way we can go ahead and not waste everyone's time who's already here um but also to go ahead and get any specific concerns on the record from both the council as well as the citizens who would like to comment on it so my suggestion or desire would be to hold the first reading to V to vote for the first time on this ordinance to to hold a workshop in between and to delay the second reading for until the beginning of next month so that we have a full month to do the workshop to fully vet the concerns to make sure that we are making you guys comfortable with the Land Development code that we have worked really hard on all of this time nobody's going to be 100% happy with it that's really never the case I can't think of anything that 100% of the people are happy with that we voted on but you should have the opportunity to review it and to comment on that we should know if you're not happy with something that's okay um we shouldn't be um avoiding that especially again after we've put so much time and effort into this product so um any questions from Council concerns comments along those lines anybody feel differently about how we should proceed M Mr horn I called on you just kidding Mr suton um yeah I was just gonna add I agree with um your comments mayor um having come to council a little over two years ago from the Planning Commission uh and having served there for um usually the longest but probably the second longest tenure of people in the room there's someone here older than me and that has more tenure but uh sorry but um it's nice to be able to say that um I yeah nice I um I I I want to thank the staff especially Heather and your staff and kimley horn for the work that's been done uh having to um have applied uh very very outdated Land Development code for years um I can assure you that many of the items that have been addressed um are certainly an improvement um not only making things better for our city and our citizens but for the city of Jacksonville Beach as well and staff which is also important um and you know I I think that's a great idea um I appreciate all of the the emails and input they're they're they don't go unnoticed and I value those and um I agree that we should conduct a uh Workshop um before any second reading we're done certainly thanks thank you Mr senon Mr horn um I know we're going to have some more discussion I'm just going to be brief for clarification so if we said if the vote passes tonight and again I understand procedurally that they were just trying to avoid an extra step down the road um and we come to the workshop and we find this aha moment what can how much change can be affected into this document how much what can be done because there are some things that I have that I was working on over the weekend um I've found some areas I've found some I've found typos I've found discrepancies I've found redundancies sections a couple of things that I wanted to bring up but I didn't because I knew we'd be here tonight and I guess my question is going to be is what um what is the process as that what's the next step when we do that public meeting just for everybody and for my own edification to understand how that works all right so from a purely legal perspective under chapter 166 of the Florida Statutes which go which governs municipalities and ordinances an ordinance has to be heard by you all at least two times it has the the title has to be read twice uh based on the way the title of this ordinance is phrased uh which is in compliance with the law it is very general in sense so the main concern is usually if the title is going to change because we have to advertise the title I don't believe the title is going to change no matter what uh proposals come out so legally you could proceed to a second hearing at a date you choose uh even if you make a lot of changes tonight um or or at a work you know subsequent to a workshop that doesn't mean though that you all can't decide that well this is a lot of change let's turn the clock back to the first hearing so I guess either way however you all want to proceed policy-wise should be legally permissible and as I'm listening if for some strange reason it's not I would intervene and interject uh one a motion is being made okay thank you great question Mr horn Miss Golding I do appreciate the suggestion mayor but I have some concerns with that suggestion because um people are here tonight to speak but the primary issue that I've heard is that they haven't had enough time to review this the Land Development code now we there have been a lot of workshops yes but those were all conceptual you know we did not see a written Land Development code until January 7th and some citizens didn't even see the Land Development code until after January 27th because it was posted on the website but then it it came back down because it was tied to the Planning Commission Workshop was held on the 13th and so there was a citizen couldn't find the Land Development code on our website until that problem was corrected with which was corrected after the Planning Commission hearing that was on the 27th I realize we have a lot of people here but my concern is that they're not going to be able to give us meaning meaningful input tonight because they've not had a chance to read the entire 317 pages of the document I would submit that we allow people to talk tonight but I think we need to defer the public hearing to another date after the workshop so that our citizens have a chance to read the document understand the changes a little bit better and then we have a public hearing where the citizens can provide us meaningful input Wagner so I think every Point that's been made up here's been a good point the one thing that I would encourage our citizens everybody here who has concerns on this topic is with the extension and everybody getting a chance to review the document I would encourage everybody to do it the one of the things that I want folks to be aware of is we have business owners that are financially being impacted every day by Our Land Development code uh Brian and Todd when they came up and spoke about that the the thing that allows them to go back to business is normal and and and I happen to know how much this has impacted their business and it's significant it's more than a lot of people make um and so I'm not saying let's rush through this I'm not saying we don't want your input I'm saying just the opposite but what I'm asking is that we really take advantage of the time let's digest what we can um it's a very extensive document I have read it all um and and it's you know you it's not for the faint at heart so um and and and I've also had the opportunity because I'm you know I'm a born and raised guy I know lots of people that have been in in Industries associated with this so I sat down with them when I reviewed the document gotten input from folks that you know Slug and pound nails and you know every day in in our community and and for the most part when you go out and you talk to those people if they've had an opportunity to look at this for the most part they're going to tell you there's a lot of really positive changes there's there's a couple of tweaks there's a couple of things that we can we can do different or or and and maybe you have something great idea that we've missed and and that's wonderful I just all I'm asking and and I'm encouraging you guys is you know there's a balance here um and and I really want to protect our local business owners as well um and and I just don't want people to be negatively impacted them and their families and their businesses so um let's take the time whatever the time we decide on is great but let's make sure we use it well so we don't need to extend it um so we can make these decisions so that our our friends and our family and our neighbors aren't aren't additionally impacted so that's that's the only encouragement I'm going to throw out there Mr Sutton yeah just a quick revisit it and councilwoman Golding brings up a good point and my comments certainly weren't along the lines of uh only providing citizens tonight for comment um certainly want to hear comment tonight if if those that are here want to do that but that a workshop between now and a second reading be conducted of which that input then uh can be reviewed and may or may not be incorporated as appropriate um as well as any other input from Council or whichever that just clarification there Mr wers Mayor just so I'm clear is this a point in time where we should discuss among ourselves the things that we think could be improved in the code or are we going to continue this discussion so this is a little more of just kind of a procedural discussion on if we want to proceed with the first reading tonight um and then to have a workshop in between and then have the second reading at some future date thank you do you have a preference on the order that you would like to see things go since you haven't spoken I defer to your judgment you've been doing this a lot longer than me so Bill do you have comfort with going through with the first reading tonight you I don't want to put you on the spot but I also don't want to start this if it's not GNA I understand this procedurally I'll say this for the crowd I understand this procedurally in that this would be I I understand and I after having been to all the other meetings me personally I would be comfortable having said that I'm not up here to vote for me I'm up here to vote for these people out here that say no so I would not feel comfortable passing this tonight I you know that's like I said I know where I stand but I doesn't care it doesn't matter where I personally stand I don't speak for myself speak for the crowd Mr wers I would like to uh second Mr Horn's thoughts uh after speaking with uh our counselor um this is a Judicial hearing not a legislative hearing thank you David so I think the code of ethics applies and we should listen to our constituents who put us here thank you okay well I don't necessarily have Clarity on the uh vision of the council at this point but um I'm gonna go ahead and turn it over to uh director Ireland who's going to give us her presentation because we're going to do that anyway so let's go ahead and start with that thank you mayor uh good evening Council um Heather Ireland Planning and Development if I could address a few things that kind of came up during the discussion just for everyone's information um to the to the gentlemen that own Champion Cycle I apologize I did not write down their names we have added a provision in the code to allow for the outdoor storage and display of retail merchandise with some caveats you know during business hours that sort of thing so I hope that that will help them and any other businesses that uh want to put things outside like bikes outdoor seating plants things that um you know things that you would think need to be outside um we were we were given about a week's notice about the Beach's leader no longer being in print version and even less time uh to learn that they were no longer going to public publish um Public Notices and legal advertisements at at all so we really had to scramble we are either going to use and and we were also waiting for some some legal interpretation on what we can do and how uh there's some statutory requirements and limitations and if we're going to only Post online it has to be through the county well we don't want to do that uh so we posted um currently we're using either the Jacksonville record or the Florida Times Union um but I also work with our communications director to add a new section to the main part of the city's website called literally just Public Notices so anything uh that we have a public notice for it will go in the newspaper and also on the website and it won't expire which is something I learned that these posts they do have an expiration date and you have to kind of set when that is so I learned that lesson because I wasn't I don't website so I was unaware of that um so we can set them to expire after the public hearing actually takes place um so those are on our website um additionally um if Council wants us to hold another public Workshop staff would really appreciate knowing what the purpose of it is as far as are we looking to present information are we just looking to collect information uh we do have the ability on the project website like we did throughout this whole process to have a field for people to leave comments and ask questions so that's a tool we can use as well if we want to flip that switch on we just need to work with kimley horn to get that going and the second reading of the ordinance is also a public hearing so which we always take public comment at both hearings of ordinances so there's there is another opportunity as well for kind of those folks that are are still looking into the document um and and have some more comments down the road in the next few weeks um with that I will start my presentation and bear with me I'm going to look at my notes here because I can't CR my neck to look at the screen and I was told this has a little bit of a delay so bear with me um first I'd like to thank everyone that participated in the process uh especially Council we we asked a lot of you guys to come to multiple workshops briefings um and to review this document it is a heavy lift um but that's our job we have we have looked at this if you have um because we're still finding typos and scrier errors and references that the number changed because we added a section so if you have stuff like that um please send it to us in an email or schedule a one-on-one with us because we'd love to sit down we've had conversations with Sandy she found a lot of stuff that we were like nope that should be F not g so little things like that that we've been looking at it too long we're going to miss so you guys finding that stuff for us is is much appreciated um and just let let me know what how you would like to give that information to us and we're happy to take it so again this has been a two-year process as you can see from this schedule um we're at the very very end and and we're very happy with the product that we've come up with we hope that we've checked all the boxes and all the concerns we heard and I'm going to go through those um with everyone as I go through my presentation so just a little bit more detail on the project timeline because this did not start with the first um comp plan and LDC Workshop this started back in 2019 and 2020 when there was uh the establishment of core values for the organization followed by Community conversations that were held in 2020 and 202 one um following that the de the development of the vision and mission statement that Council developed and finally with the Strategic plan and one of the main projects identified one goal uh identified was to update Our Land Development regulations which we've passed our new comprehensive plan and we are asking you now to move forward with uh your new Land Development code so I'm going to go through kind of just real quickly the list of workshops that we had that the mayor mentioned uh we started in 2022 to we had workshops that were basically designed to just hear the community um a lot of the things that we heard were concerns to the community were the same things we heard during the community conversations and any other survey that we've conducted in the city um and I'm going to go over those a little bit later in my presentation but we had citizen workshops we had workshops specific to our boards uh we had one for business owners we had one for city council and we also had one with staff because this document isn't just utilized by the planning department it also touches Public Works and parks and other departments so we wanted to make sure that everybody uh had an opportunity for input The Next Step that we did was uh the next round of workshops there were seven um these included again more citizen workshops business workshops board workshops and one with Council but additionally we had specific topic uh workshops with city council to talk about parking standards supplemental standards um zoning dist and Zoning districts we also posted an updated zoning map and future land use map to the website and I will note that neither of those maps changed we didn't change the zoning or designation of land use on any property within the city I apologize I'm getting I'm getting turned around with my presentation here okay um make sure I'm on the same page so in 2024 we had two workshops that were um designed to address uh questions and gather input for the comprehensive plan uh that was updated and final changes were made um sometime in the spring we chose to delay the adoption of that until at the very end of our time frame which was six months uh we were hoping to kind of do that along with the LDC but we just needed a little bit more time on the Land Development code we did not get any objections from the state in their review and Council adopted it on December uh 16 again we had a final third round of workshops that was really geared towards presenting uh the the changes that we had proposed to make to the Land Development code we again had a citizen and business owner Workshop one with the boards and one with city council um additionally we had a briefing in November with city council if you recall to discuss just some kind of last minute things that we really needed to get into some more detail with um and that should have been part of I believe your your uh agenda package and so kind of here's where we are at at the end here again we adopted the comprehensive plan uh we are currently in a suspension mode with certain types of applications that are going to be impacted by the updated Land Development code uh we had a workshop with the Planning Commission to discuss any final changes and get some feedback and input from them with uh the their final review of that on January 27th um the LDC was sent out to you guys on January 8th and posted on the project website as well and as we found out we posted it on the city's website but it expired we had to repost it uh again we're we are looking uh whatever date you should choose to adopt that we will need a little bit of time to train staff and train our board members on what the new provisions of the code are uh so we make sure we get it right when folks start turning in applications again but I know I know we do have a lot of folks waiting uh to submit certain things so just kind of a summary here we have had 18 public workshops with this hearing and the second reading of this ordinance will be five public workshops there's been two city council Bri uh briefings a project website there's been information on the city website and we've posted on Facebook and Instagram as well so on to the topics uh of concern that we heard that lined up this these are from the workshops and these line up with the community conversations that were held in previous years uh so we heard things like preserving neighborhood character making the City familyfriendly Landscaping and shade trees parks and open space biking and urban Trails uh golf carts bars uh making the community walkable uh walkable retail areas and impervious surface ratio so those were kind of the main topics that came up in those first round of workshops so how did we address those issues this is kind of where we get down into the the nitty-gritty um for vision of the the future and preserving family uh preserving neighborhood character and family friendly uh one thing we did as you know we updated the comp plan to be more s and have more detailed Visions intents and strategies we also strengthened the residential land use sections in the comprehensive plan to have better control of commercial uses and it was not previously uh addressed at all we created stronger regulations on Commercial uses in residential areas in the Land Development code created better protections and incentives for single family uses and structures so hopefully people can do more with their properties that they've invested into we've increased townhouse lot size and decreased the number the maximum number in a row and required more vehicle parking for Town Homes we've created stronger regulations on housing sizes and reduced minimum US unit sizes for multi family dwellings and allowed accessory dwelling units on single family properties in multif family zoing districts only under certain conditions and with restrictions and with conditional use approval right the next one is Landscaping shade trees and parks in open space the new C the new code includes clarification on landscape requirements increased buffering requirements between incompatible uses provided a list of acceptable shade trees which it did not previously have provided for Park and open space requirements or payment into a park fund for certain type of projects and provides details on plantings within the 50ft Upland buffer uh that's required from protected and sensitive margin lands as far as this kind of falls into I guess the transportation category for biking Urban Trails parking uh golf carts and walkable retail areas we've developed uh standards in the LDC for a variety of type of parking spaces that we didn't have before and these will be allowable um like right now you can't we don't recognize compact parking spaces or golf cart for scooter so now there's some more flexibility um and innovation in the parking section of our we also created incentives for the provision of a variety of parking spaces uh such as improved landscaping and some parking um reductions if you provide other types of parking we created a parking exemption uh opportunity in the downtown Urban core to encourage a certain area of downtown to be more walkable and pedestrian friendly and we've reduced uh the parking requirement in in the downtown Urban core for the same reason in ards to the bars and local uh walkable retail areas there's no change to the number of allowable bars in the Land Development code this is something that's regulated by the charter it cannot be changed in our LDC we created incentives to allow existing bars in the downtown only uh to remain under certain conditions with penalties for abandonment created a Downtown parking exemption area that I mentioned to encourage more walkable pedestrian friendly First Street in the downtown core and identified the urban Trails master plan in both the comprehensive plan and the Land Development code impervious surface ratio or ISR this was something that the previous Land Development code didn't even address at all so this has been defined we've differentiated between it and lock coverage uh We've updated the lock coverage and provided for a maximum uh impervious surface ratio for single family uses but at the same time we set limitation on house size while allowing Property Owners to make improvements hopefully easier um and also recognized alternative materials for hardscaping such as decking pool decks walkways things like that uh there were no changes to the commercial industrial or multif family standards with the exception of increased buffering requirements between uses so what does the new Land Development code do uh it was designed to preserve and protect residential neighborhood character provide better controls for commercial uses near residential uses provide an opportunity for a mix of Mobility devices as I've mentioned encourage a more activated enhanced and pedestrian friendly downtown protects historic single family uses encour encourages their preservation instead of tearing them down uh preserves and protects Community Aesthetics and provides incentives for local business owners to make improvements to their property uh some specific concerns we heard that we want to make sure everyone understands uh that we are maintaining or decreasing resid idential density throughout the city while still protecting private property rights uh we're maintaining the current zoning of all property no zoning has changed if there were any updates on the map it was just to reflect any new uh recently adopted planned unit development or Redevelopment District zoning that wasn't on the current map we confirm the building height limits throughout the code even though that is regulated by the charter and it maintains the existing numbers of bars as established we cannot change that in the Land Development code either that has to be done by a charter Amendment okay so what are the next steps and I know there's a lot of people here to talk so we'll be uh Christian and I will be taking notes um but we want everyone to kind of be on the same page where we go from here uh once we adopt the new Land Development code like I mentioned we're going to have staff and board training uh there'll also be some public education and Outreach I'm actually working with the city's communication manager right now to tell this story to be able to post it on the website so people can see this information and then we will finally be able to implement the new Land Development code um and Christian and I are going to need an awful lot of coffee over the next few months to do that but something I want to remind everyone that's very important is that this is a living document this is not like the charter this doesn't have to go for a referendum this can be changed through Community conversations and the Planning Commission and Council um we have the ability to look at this and see what's working what's not working and have those glitch bills and those tweaks down the road or or additions or deletions so you know I don't want anyone to think this is once it's adopted that it's written in stone because again how many times have we come back to you guys to say we need to add this we need to fix this uh it's not something we want to do but we recognize the code's not going to be perfect it's never going to be perfect and um I think we did the best uh we could to address all the community concerns I want to thank kimley horn because they have been wonderful to work with throughout this process their knowledge and experience uh has been absolutely incredible and we've really enjoyed uh going through this process with them and and uh having a lot of fun at the the public workshops um I do want to cover the recommendations of the Planning Commission and I promise this is my last slide so the Planning Commission um we had put in there I know we discussed with you removing some stuff out of the code and into bylaws for our boards um one of the things we did add that the Planning Commission would like to recommend comes out is term limits we don't have a preference it's just common place to have term limits for board members but if Council doesn't want them um we again we have no preference uh the second one again as you you've seen in your staff report they would um request to defer the first reading to February um I I also would like to hear what the community has to say so I really do hope we proceed with the the public hearing portion of this so we can hear that um and then kind of once you guys have that discussion we can kind of talk about what the what the options are um moving forward Ward and with that that's the end of my presentation for now I'm going to turn it over to Mark Shelton who's just going to say a couple things um about the the project and the process so thank you very much getting old my knees are popping uh Mark Shel and kimy Horn Associates um I just want to say a quick thank you um for the extent that we've been working on this project um we have rarely seen some exceptional participation by the citizens the boards and you all the city council um I appreciate it I know that my team appreciates it and we can't do what we are contracted to do without that input um Heather is right we use our extensive knowledge I think between us our team has over 50 years of experience with ldcs and uh we were excited to get the chance to uh to provide input and suggestions for this but um um we did also know that from the beginning we knew that we were going to have an extensive outreach program uh we planned it we actually had a few extra workshops and we believe that we accomplished this goal and again appreciate the input all along the way uh we want to assure you tonight that uh We've held more advertised meetings for this project than we had with any other similar comp plan LDC update project that we've ever done in North Florida um it it it says something about you all how you all required that and asked us to do that I believe we have um but with that being said I know there's a lot of people want to speak and we'll be happy to stand by for any questions thank you thank you uh Miss golden um I just want I just want to add that I do appreciate everything that has been done by our planning department and our Consultants we have indeed had a lot of workshops but one thing I'd like to point out is that once we got the written copy of the comprehensive plan because this process started really with the comprehensive plan and the Land Development code was something that came along at a point after we got the comprehensive plan elements squared away and when we did have a written document for the comprehensive plan we had a public workshop for that and it was an opportunity for people to come and understand what had been done with the comprehensive plan and my again my concern is this is a 3177 page document and I I think that it's only right that we have a public Workshop before we ask for Meaningful input from our community um like um Miss Ireland said you know like the board term limits when I came across that when I was re reviewing the document I'd been to all the workshops but I'd never heard anything brought up about term limits and so the fact that that was in there was kind of surprising to me and then also there was a change to the outside dining um percentage it was increased to 75% and that hadn't been discussed either so there were things that were introduced into the actual written document that we did not receive until January 7th and I just feel that it that it's the right thing to do to have a workshop first give our community and ourselves more time to make sure that we've gone through the document um and then the sign the digital message sign changing every 30 seconds that was not something that had been a discussed in any of the workshops all of a sudden that's introduced in the written version of this Land Development code had never been discussed was not in any of the topics that we had discussed in all of our Council workshops so again I just feel like that there are enough things that enough changes that have occurred that it's worthy of a public Workshop before we have the public hearing thank you Miss Golding um just kind of reading the two leaves it and I don't think anybody's disputing supporting the public Workshop to review the final document I think we're all in agreement on that I think the question is do we do the first reading and then the workshop and then the second reading or do we delay the entire thing um I'm reading the Tea Leaves we have I I think a split Council um since we are missing our seventh member a TI vote would be um a a no vote so I would prefer not to bring up the first reading at this time because I don't um want to risk again this really impressive product that you've seen how much work has gone into it um failing at this point so um so I'm not going to open a public hearing I'm going to go ahead and go through public comment and then we'll have a motion and I'll defer to the City attorney on what that motion um how it should be stated to best accomplish uh what we're trying to do uh within um correct parliamentary procedure um but I'm going to go ahead and start working through the cards and again just to re reiterate because a lot of the emails were very specific on asking for a public Workshop we are that is the intent we are planning to do a public Workshop so if that's what you were going to get up and speak on feel free to wave your hand you don't have to come up um but if you have a specific issue again we would like to hear that um at this point so we can go ahead and begin taking a look at um the specific Community concerns um Rachel gra has a comment card U did not wish to speak but she opposes the agenda item I don't is Rachel still here there she is thank you Rachel thank you for being being here uh John Tipton you know the drill name and address you all three minutes my name is John tipon I reside at 503 6th Street North Jacksonville Beach Florida 32250 um first of all I want to thank the council Miss Ireland and all of the other people that were involved in this as a lot of you who have been on the Planning Commission and on the board of adjustment have heard me come up here and rail against some of the old stuff that was in the Old Land Development code it was y'all's hands were tied I think it's wonderful that we've got this thing at least uh almost finished um however I do feel that because of the delay in notifying everybody or everybody's ability to look at every bit of this uh because I went into it and found some things and I came to the workshops and I came in here and found some things that I had no idea um were in it so I think a little bit of a delay and I hate to say that because I know some of these people have worked themselves to the Bone to get this thing done but I think it would be a wonderful thing to have just one more uh Workshop before we have the first vote because once you start voting on things then the populace thinks that something's being done too quickly and it I know it's a general it's it's a a false narrative uh we all know that all of this stuff could be changed at a later date things could be added and subtracted but I think from the point of letting everybody feel like they've gotten their last two cents worth in it wouldn't be an all bad thing to delay it one more time U table it one more time until perhaps um you know the 18th or something to get everybody a chance to go in there and take a look at it uh things like having a digital sign change every 30 seconds that's just absurd you know uh digital CH digital sign should be changed in a matter of hours not seconds you know those sort of things and I don't remember any of that being in there when I was at one of the public workshops and that's all I have thank you very much thank you Mr Tipton Janette rhods and just to reiterate the plan is to delay the first reading and to hold a public Workshop so got a lot of speaker cards up here okay I I'm Jan rhs 28 31st Avenue South ja Peach 32250 um I appreciate that this is much more enormous than I realized it was and I know it's a lot of work so I just have very specific question that that can just be looked at at the workshop but maybe it's something that we all may be here for um I'm just going to read these three questions we've written down with this um we're interested the 50% lot coverage would it be retroactive to anything that's already in the works like if they've already been approved for 40% they now get 50% can an approve site plan be enlarged to 50% once the site plan and everything is approved could they change the site plan does the 50% coverage include the house the pool the driveway everything like every hard structure that's it would that be answered in this if I go to the workshop I'll Workshop so I'm going to ask uh director Ireland to work with her staff to set up an FAQ page on our website that we can give those answers because you're certainly I'm sure not the only one to have those questions so we will we will um commit to having an FAQ for those most common questions Mr Delo oops had a couple you Ser Community longer than I have on the boards on the Planning Commission with me we work together and on uh the city council now so I may be the oldest but uh you're the you're the most qualified um I just wanted to say I'm Terry Delo 405 32nd Avenue South Jacksonville Beach Florida 32250 born and raised here South Jacksonville Beach I incur concur with Miss golding's suggestion of deferring the first vote I think I did attend the workshops did an incredible job I know they've worked very hard um I loved the Simplicity of the um of the new code but there were things that were not discussed at the workshops that warranted it one close to my heart was the 302 changing changing uh digital signs uh that came to the Planning Commission when Mr Sut and I were on it and M Georgette Dumont and uh we we did not move forward on that it came to us four different times and four different times there was not a good reason to do it nothing has changed the players are still the same players that want this change but in order to in order to keep um to to keep from having a visible uh distraction which is what the digital signs are they're visual distraction they're made that way and and remember when we say 30 seconds it's not that the signs are going to all stop at 30 seconds and then turn back on or change it's going to be this this one's 30 seconds and that one's 30 seconds so as you go down Third Street or Beach Boulevard they're going to be flashing um it's going to be each sign will change at a different time so um we sent that back several times if you go down if you go down um Third Street there used to be the Watson reality sign that you could literally almost see from Beach Boulevard which was a digital sign right now the dental sign on 11th Avenue South you can see from five blocks away that's one sign so we have to look forward not now but 10 20 years from now and again as these digital signs come down in cost more people will utilize them we just don't want to become a digital Wasteland which it is possible if you don't think it's possible think again look at Jacksonville and we certainly don't want to pattern ourselves after Jacksonville um when we're long gone these decisions will will be here we'll be here these decisions we make today um I I I would like it again I would like you to consider Miss golding's recommendation I think that's the right course to take considering that some of these items were not in at the workshops to be discussed and now we're trying to discuss them now thank you very much thank you for your service thank you Mr Delo Georgette deont thank you very much Georgette deont 507 16th Avenue South Jack spe Florida 3250 um so first I want to thank the um planning department and kimley Horn I know you guys have been through it so I thank you for still going through it with us um I was I spent six years on the Planning Commission um and so I don't have the years that Terry and gray have but you know I have the knowledge um and I will say that that really helped me get through the LDC and I can't imagine what somebody who's not used to looking at a Land Development code how they're even looking at or trying to understand it especially since there was no strikethrough underlined format provided for the public so they could see where the changes were um I like I said I a lot of great work has gone into this and the city should be very proud to to display all of the lot a lot of great changes there are a couple that are some um concern like so some of the great ones changing the lot sizes so we'd have less variances in front of the board of adjustments great idea um the staggered with the tow houses another great idea but then there are other things that you know never discussed in meetings that kind of raise some Flags so the first one was um well the one the term limits were never discussed in meetings and the big one that was never discussed in the meetings was the digital sign I was in 2014 I was on the uh Planning Commission um with Greg and Terry and others and we had to keep sending it back to staff so it wouldn't go to council because it was not ready to be voted on and I did not know that that was in this draft um so I was the only person well in addition to council member Golding at the planning commit commission meeting last week where most people still most the vast majority of the residents still had not seen the Land Development code so they didn't even know what to go there and talk about in addition there was a chart that said what all the changes were and it's blue and white and when you look at it you think that you've already saw it at the um an earlier meeting however there were a lot of changes in that document I didn't look at so I'm like oh it's the blue and blue and white one that that highlights what all the changes are there was there are a lot of differences in it spe specifically that the sign change the 30 second sign change I when I was speaking to the Planning Commission I would have brought up that they want to send it back to staff instead of pushing it along to you guys but I didn't know that it was there um and I know that they have done a uh Yan's task at trying to include the public throughout this whole process but as Miss Golding stated that the a lot of the public aspects were done earlier in the process for the comprehensive land and they were concept ual we we did not have anything to actually hold and point to and visualize um until a couple weeks ago and even then we still had no strike through underline so um with that I thank you for holding off this vote and going to a public Workshop thank you thank you Mr deont John Atkins hello um John Atkins 1888 FAL name Jack speech um since we're doing the mosts and mosts I think I've been before the board of adjustment here more than anyone here in this city so I understand the Land Development code was severely broken and thank you to Heather and Christian um fortunately unfortunately for them I'm about to quit so I won't be becoming for them a whole lot anymore but they've done a marvelous job and made some amazing changes and I think there are just some small tweaks seeing this from a builder and developer perspective that and not from a land because I don't own any land right now in Jack Beach but this is somebody who lives in Jax Beach and wants to see good development and I think the majority of the changes are really for the better and with a few little tweaks um we can get rid of the breezeways forever thank you thank you Mr Atkins Brenda Shields Brenda Shields 315 18th Street North Jacksonville Beach Florida and um I thank you for postponing this because I've been trying to read it all myself and I what I'm trying to do is download it and then you know cut and paste so I can actually have a hard copy to read and I've gotten through quite a bit of it but not the whole thing yet but and I have it just on these few pieces of paper but I want to just tell you thank y'all for all the work you've done and all the citizens who've been involved in this too because a lot of us have gone to a lot of meetings and look tried to understand what was going on and I think this is a wonderful document I mean I really do and I think what we should do is we should make every citizen get a complete copy of this document maybe a little bit smaller all the other stuff you have in there you know just most of the big stuff and send it to them and then have a little card in there saying that you must sign this document that you have read every word in this document because I think if every citizen knew what was in this document and applied I mean obeyed the document because they are rules we wouldn't have the problems we have right now in Jacksonville Beach because that there's a lot of good stuff in here that tells you what you should and should not do but unfortunately we don't have a code enforcement officer anymore so a lot of stuff gets not done so anyway the things that I concern me that concern me about the document so far is basically the same thing other people have said the message 30 seconds is just ridiculous um I don't really like the um Adu accessory dwelling units because we have enough problems with cars parked all over the roads everywhere out in front of cars and they just don't have enough parking for those extra cars they're going to have they already have two they're goingon to have a mother-in-law there with another car so it's just not going to work that's my concern um the two things I really liked was I love the fact that we're going to have um a maximum of 12 in these you know homes that vacation for rent by owner homes I think that's even still too many but what can you do it's their property I guess they can do whatever they want to and I love all the rules that you have about making sure that they comply with the you know noise and all the other stuff and the other thing that I liked was the parking of storage of vehicles in neighborhoods because that has been an issue for my neighborhood forever and I see it all over the place people Park their RVs they Park their big boats they Park their trailers in their boats and it's just not allowed but yet it still happens all the time so I don't know what we can do to make people abide by the rules other than fine them or do something but if you don't have anybody to I mean I think for me I one time I reported somebody to the code enforcement board and he went around and told everybody in the neighborhood they had put up a tent you know over their boat just like we had over our boat and everybody in the in the whole neighborhood had one everybody in Jacksonville Beach had one of those temporary tents over their boat and so I reported to the code enforcement board and so he went around to every I said how can you tell me to remove mine when everybody in the neighborhood and all over Jon Beach have one too he went around and told everybody that Brenda Shields said that every they he had they had broken the code so I mean that makes people afraid to call somebody and tell them that they broke the code so that's my comment but I really thank you again for doing such a wonderful job and all of the staff which I know it's been hard on you too so I know you want to get it done in a hurry but you have to because it has to be done by July the 7th to to the state or something like that but you'll get it done I promise you get none of this has been in a hurry it's all the time line um I just want to take a brief pause to clarify we do have a code enforcement officer we do and also it is state law that you cannot report code violation anonymously so I'm sorry if somebody asked who reported the tent over their boat I mean I told you we're going to Tallahasse we're working on these things um Tony did you have another comment is Tony still here yes okay I had the card from you but I wasn't quite sure what you were going for here go ahead Tony com 533 11th Avenue South Jacksonville Beach um the first one was a compliment I mean the newsletters are great and unfortunately because we didn't know about the Planning Commission meetings and like Sandy said we didn't know about the documents until after the Planning Commission and before this meeting which makes it very difficult that's why I'm saying we need more information out to the citizens it's been asked for during the last election cycle I have not seen it but following up on the comments about accessory dwelling units I live in South Jacksonville Beach that's where they're tearing all the single family homes down and making them investment properties and short-term rentals now you add the accessory dwelling unit you can take a shed in your backyard put a bedroom in a microwave in a refrigerator in there and make it a short-term rental it's not right I mean we already had troubles down my street with short-term rentals with helicopters flying over police out there with guns chasing people around for three hours in one night and that was just four houses down from me short-term rentals are a problem and the accessory dwelling units will only make it worse because investors will buy these houses and then put a like a hotel room in the back anyways I want to say Heather you did a really good job on the document and about the blue green or the the blue white blue white what's confusing to the citizens you have to compare this was in the old code this is what we're changing it to none of those listings had old versus new old versus new lot size old versus new you know lot coverage old versus new so if we could just take that nice document and compare it old versus new you might get more citizens to buy in on it Heather's done great work everybody here has done great work but let's the citizens get more information before we even vote and thank you all thank you Mike Stang Mike Stang 10201 19th Street North beautiful Jacksonville Beach Florida I'd like to reiterate I appreciate all the hard work that everybody on the DS and and staff has done um but we have a little bit of a problem that's underlying with all this and it's it's just been brought up there seems to be a communication problem between the city and and the people that live here it's hard to get the information out stuff gets changed and word of mouth and that so on and so forth and I know it's a problem now that we've lost the Beach's leader it's even more of a problem I'm asking you to defer so that the citizens can look at this document a little heavier even the Planning Commission recommended deferring so I think we should go with that and maybe we can get this thing across the finish line and make everybody a little bit happier thank you very much into the end zone I got it now I got it now oh sorry no no yours is good too I'm gonna put that in the in the doc Finish Line though Don Marathon we've got races on our mind Kathleen Lewis hello my name is Kathleen Lewis I live at 24 31st Avenue South Jacksonville Beach Florida I will be here again tomorrow dealing with the public notice about the two houses that are getting built behind me I live in South Jacksonville Beach on Ocean Drive and I've been here before speaking about the dis destruction basically of the ocean front properties and how they're building so high you can't even see the sunlight and so when they're going to be changing the percentage of coverage I'm with the other lady that wants to know is that the house or is that the house with the patios and the Len and everything else that's going to be included so that these are now backed up totally against your own property line and basically your neighbors are living in your yard so I will be I guess asking that if that's the answer if you have an answer today that would be helpful for me but I would like to just say one thing to you I am hoping that you are all going to be good stewards of the environment of Jacksonville Beach and of the residents here by not just giving variances willy-nilly to people that are profiting off of it instead of living here thank you thank you Miss Lewis Michelle Tipton good evening Michelle Tipton 2333 ailia Drive Jacki Beach um I applaud the three of you that initially stood up to pause on this I think transparency has been a continual issue between the city council and the citizens and the action that you're taking tonight is showing that you're going to start making changes in that the problems with the communication via uh the websites um the summary was up then it was down there were changes and I guess that's one of my questions is I was not able to attend all of the meetings but reading through notes there were multiple things that were not discussed in many of these workshops and then all of a sudden they were in the summary so I'm really curious as to how we went from it not being discussed to being added is that normal protocol what what was circumvented what changed how did that happen um I brought this book because this is just over the number of pages in The LDC so I'm really curious somebody noted that they read it I'm really curious how many of you actually read all the pages I mean this is a document we're going to be living with for a very very long time and I appreciate you pausing and doing that there's a lot of good things in there um the reduction in numbers for the Airbnb thank you you know there's so many things in here that we're doing that are so so important but we've got to sit down and work on the basics of engaging the citizens in communication and tonight I think and I credit you for taking the first step and pausing and making sure that happens so thank you very much thank you Miss Tipton Fernando Mesa joining us from the other side of the de Fernando Mesa 1621 6 sta North Jackson Beach 32250 um obviously I have some questions I also didn't have a chance to look at the document um I went in couldn't couldn't get the link to to upload so I haven't been able to read it as much um obviously Heather knows my concerns with the adus um but I do I I mean I'm looking forward to the workshop and I think def fer will be good um there's I mean this is a big item um we started as what 2021 finally it'ss here at the end zone and I feel like you guys called a timeout um delay of game um but yeah um I do have some questions but I'll bring those questions and concerns at the workshops um if and when that date is brought up um I hope it's a good day to have the council meeting or the workshop that doesn't tie up to a holiday I know you guys have a council meeting on March 17 so uh hopefully you guys don't have anything uh on the agenda regarding with the Land Development code on that day since technically not a Federal holiday I'm sorry I know I mean it's it's I know I know you were trying to do something but yeah um do I'm I do want to say thanks to miss Heather her staff the plan Department Kim Le horn obviously you guys on Das Mike theis uh this was a big big task and I remember it so I'm glad it's finally here and I can't wait for it to get past once all the uh glitches are fixed so thank you guys thank you Mr Mesa Stuart Palmer thank you mayor thank you council members St Palmer 199th Avenue North Jacksonville Beach uh we also appreciate all the work that's gone into it the amount of detail is indeed mindboggling um our concerns mostly deal with the communication and the Outreach um I think the urban Trails Community meetings have shown that the public is very interested in knowing changes to uh the land use codes and there is some something that is not getting to the residents in the end zone um where the communication is not reaching us somehow um there are people in our community who are uh getting newsletters trying to get the information out but there's a lot of people that just have no idea about any of this like us until last week um we do have some specific concerns um and questions which we will uh bring up at the workshop also um by reducing the Lots sizes and the water peral requirements how is the city proposing to deal with the existing flooding issues that are in some of the neighborhoods um by changing some of the requirements to align with your existing buildings and lots it seems like um you're opening the door for variances Beyond these relaxed regulations um so we're little concerned about that um question about the relaxed Downtown parking regulations are those going to exacerbate the existing parking shortage um we live at 9th Avenue North we have people from Margaritaville parking our uh parking lot um people have near fist fights in our parking lot as soon as April hits as soon as the weather gets nice so um that is an ongoing concern for us um I think without having fully digested the code um because we haven't had a chance to read all 300 Pages we really want to know what's the upshot of all this what does all this mean you know yes we're changing lot sizes what is the repercussion of that and I think that would be very useful to present the presentation here was very helpful but you know what does this mean for uh the residents so thank you all thank you Mr Palmer um Robert Welton think he left okay uh Rhonda steiny McDonald no okay that is the last speaker car um Mr City attorney if you could give us some recommended language for a motion so if if you want to continue this just with Florida statute on Advertising I'd recommend that uh the motion include the date time and location and by all means feel free to discuss this ahead of time on dates since you're all here you could all talk uh I'm not sure if you want to hold you know how soon you want to hold the workshop you all are here at the same time you're in the sunshine so I would just say take advantage of it and when a motion is is offered I'd be glad to chime in if I see any legal deficiencies thank you um thoughts on a date to hold the first hearing bear with me me I was taking notes on two different pieces of paper and I had to change pens in the middle of that I apologize um so looking at the calendar I actually knowing that this was probably going to um kind of come up um I went ahead of reserved council chambers for Thursday February 20th for a workshop because if we tried to squeeze it in between now and the 18th I just don't know that that gives people enough time and whoever shows up I'm G tell y'all our new Planning Commission alternate read all the pages so whoever shows up to the workshop and has said they read all the pages they're getting a gold star um so I I I would think that it makes most sense to give as much time as possible and maybe move both hearings to the March meetings sorry Fernando I know it's March 17th um and and at the workshop we you know basically just take questions uh or um take concerns and comments and then we can present that back to council and even provide some recommendations perhaps moving forward so we heard these issues 10 issues whatever and then staff can kind of lean into those and provide some recommendations to you one way or the other um I do want to point out to everyone that once this is adopted it will be on Muni code uh which is much easier to read than the word or the pdf version online you can click on sections a lot easier um and there's some other stuff that I can address but I'll probably save it for the workshop it's really just more kind of questions that came up that I made note of so um that would be kind of my recommendation for scheduling thank you um Miss Golding I appreciate Heather suggesting the workshop date because I think we needed that first before we could decide on a public hearing date um and I would also suggest that instead of the workshop just be taking questions that you be prepared to discuss some of these things like the adus and you know the changes in lot sizes and that sort of thing that I think could help people better understand the impact or the improvements that that so I think that there's some areas that you guys probably know are are areas that are different the parking reduction you know those kinds of things that you can at least talk to and explain um and and but also give the community opportunity to ask questions too um but I I fully support I think we should move the first public hearing to the first council meeting in March so i' be willing to take um recommended language for a motion would that be to continue the public let me finish uh Council comments before we move to a motion Mr Wagner almost made it through a whole meeting with remembering to hit my butt just oh so close I almost made it to the to the go line the finish line so um so so I just to kind of add to uh councelor golding's comments um also because there's time between now and then um I wanted to to thank uh Heather and her team for agreeing to put some FAQs together because I think there's some things where there's just a little bit of clarification or understanding that that that could help and if nothing else it could help us refine how we talk about it at the workshop so so I do think that's a that was a great recommendation uh Chris and Madam mayor but uh you know and I I think that'll help us and I and I do like the fact that we are we have laid out a time frame and we're going to work through it it's going to allow people enough time um if I just just I'll make the offer out there for folks you know I'm out on our website I have an email if you if you guys have questions and you want to direct them towards me or any of the representatives up here of your communities feel free to do that too as well um because you know that's part of the process of us being there to be available to support you guys uh we really want this to get through you know I I really do see all sides to this um and I do know that we do have people that are you know just literally waiting for this to help them out in their businesses and stuff along those lines so and and I'm talking about retail businesses I'm not talking about developers so um you know really really want to make sure that you know we take the best use of this and really really knock get out of the park and then the last thing I'll say is and and it's kind of one of the comments that Heather started with is um while it may have taken us 40 years to get through the first rewri I can guarantee you it it's not going to take us 40 years to get through the this is this is going to be a living breathing document it is going to be something that people can bring up to us um I take to heart and I've been very passionate about some of these communication and transparency issues I really do I love the fact that I heard all that because I really do think it's not one of our greatest opportunities and and so part of that is that when we hear folks we have to respond to them it's not just being it's not just giving an opportunity to talk it's walking away feeling like you got heard and so um so I really do thank everybody for here we'll get through this process and uh and we'll end up in a much better place thank you thank you Mr ragner Mr horn right as I hit my microphone and start to cough um thank you coun Wagner um C Golding for your comments I fully agree um I yes I'm I'm a cup half full kind of guy I think we're on the right direction here I'm also trying to figure out where the rest of whatever was in the cup went um actually this is not as much of a cheerleading session there's some things that I wanted to ask since the discussion that came up before all those comments and some things um I guess for the kimley horn staff do you have a Redline version of this document That's player n and kimly Horn we do not have a full Redline version of it we have pieces and parts if we had a full document it would be so messy if you've ever worked in a 300 page Redline document with moving sections it you just it would break the word document wouldn't work so we have sections and it's very messy and confusing so how do you keep track of the changes in 320 Pages well we have our pieces the red lines in between each section so we have that we do not have a full copy okay um I have a Redline version that was provided me by a citizen that just basically cut and pasted something from a Word document and put it in there and it's not perfect but it's it's there I mean there's options there um I want to ask um this is from for director Ireland this was brought up earlier that the sign issue I don't remember that coming up in one of our discussions in one of our public meetings and yet at the same time it was also diverted and disapproved by the Planning Commission four times so how did that end up in the document let me answer the first question you had for um kimley horn first because this has been being worked worked on for over two years almost at this point in time changes happened a little bit at a time so the once changes happened to one section staff reviewed them we said yes these are good no these we need to tweak whatever whatever they got accepted we moved on kind of to the next section but we went back into every section of the code multiple multiple times because every Workshop every hearing every briefing we had new information we had more information we had gone this way with with setbacks and then we went back that way so that document that you're talking about it doesn't exist because it would have multiple layers of changes it'd be a thousand Pages it'd be multiple colors my eyes are crossed looking at the non- redline version I can't imagine anyone trying to review something like that um the version that you were sent the the version wasn't really a a version of the code it was qu because I've seen it it questions that there were some changes in there were kind of blanket things like we're going to change this throughout um different like reference points and stuff but it was more the first thing that we got from kimley horn with a bunch of questions uh moving forward but it was so early on it is nowhere near to what we have today um the digital sign thing I'll I'll take that that's on me it was one of those things first I was not here for the Planning Commission hearing so I was not aware of any of that um and we have heard from the business community that has these and by the way there's nine in the city two are in operable at the moment but there's nine Citywide I actually drove around uh on Third Street in Beach Boulevard today to count them um and so we had heard from a lot of people that 24 hours was too short uh that or I'm sorry too long that applies to our sign too so if we want to share more than one message a day we can't do that I had this conversation with our Communications manager today because that new digital message sign um was installed today and he was asking me questions I'm like nope once today so we don't have a preference either way again it's a suggestion just like everything else you know I I would recommend something shorter than 24 hours what that is is really up to you guys um 24 hours to 30 seconds is a big sure yeah I understand that and I think about you know the restaurant that wants to advertise their lunch specials and then change it for their dinner specials and a Valentine's Day special or what what have you once a day is really tough and I think you know I didn't count the ones for the gas stations that have the price or clocks and things temperature things like that um but just the nine that we have now are the ones that we you know we've heard from why can't I change it more often so I'll own that one I did change that I don't think it was something we discussed at a workshop um everything else that we have okay um you know um and again also outside dining at 75% that was brought up by Council Golding that I have I've gone through this document once I'm in my second I have some things that I've noted but as I go through it again the second time I'm finding more just and again little idiosyncrasies that I have seen and found and um that that one has escaped me already so thank you councilwoman Golding is that so that again is one of those discussions we had with Council to see if you guys wanted to increase that we had made the note in the code but then Council never came to a decision so I've already kind of gone back and put it back to 50% um which will be in my is one of the things in my notes because we did discuss it but in the end we realized that a decision hadn't actually been made and we kind of preemptively changed it so it'll go back to 50 unless you guys tell us otherwise and um several people made the comment you know and I think even some staff made the comment that reading this if you are not somebody who writes code like this on a regular basis which I am not it is a difficult read I get a headache I read for a little while I stop and go back and read some more um you know we've got looking at if we're going to do February 20th that's 20 Pages a day so you all have your homework um sorry about that um it's it's doable you if you'll realize that the first 25 or 30 pages are just definitions which you really want to know what the definition of a recreational vehicle is according to the city you can or whatever else um I I yeah like I said I understand I I said it earlier I understand procedurally how this would be okay but it has nothing to do with my comfort level it has to do with what the citizens are happy with and not happy with and if you guys uh it seems that not happy and not comfortable where we are then I can't support moving forward and I think a public um meeting would be wonderful Mr Sutton thank you um great work like all of it thank you for being forthcoming on the sign thing don't appreciate that um it was uh painful for us uh 10 I guess it's been 10 years ago now and um we'll we'll revisit that and see where we land uh just a process question between um February 20th and the is that six maybe six or seven working days between then and the first meeting in March what my question is what what does that look like that first meeting in March and are we are we going to get to a point of having some edits at that point that for us to consider as part of that first reading or I'm just curious as to what that might look like so what I would Envision is taking the comments and concerns that we hear from the public and basically providing you with a list of those and then if we have a recommendation on it providing you that at that time so it kind of be the concern and any recommendation that that staff has um at the last round of workshops we did get into a lot of the details in terms of the lot coverage and the adus and all these things so we can just basically Replay that presentation uh at the public workshop and then you know take comments and concerns and and do what I what I just proposed if that is something that kind of makes sense to everyone you good Golding revisit or were you ready to make we're ready for a motion if you want just a quick revisit um for the benefit of the ladies I believe it's m Lewis and M roads who had asked about the 50% lot coverage I think we can answer that tonight because that was a question that I had asked Heather so Heather if you want to answer it or I can answer it but go right ahead no councilwoman Golding I want you to answer okay let me let me take a shot take a stab at it and then I'll okay let me take a shot it the way I understand it that the 35% is the house and the driveway 15% is anything additional might be Pool Patio might be sidewalks might be a shed or or an accessory structure that's in the back so the house and the driveway will be limited to 35% is that correct you got it and so that was a question I had asked Heather to and that that's something I think probably takes a little more explanation maybe in the workshop sure try I could address now so yes uh of of course somebody would be able to request a variance but one of the things uh that was done in the new version of the code was to decrease the minimum lot sizes to be more in line with what we actually have out there so it will be more difficult to demonstrate a hardship if you have a conforming lot uh we're going to have 3,000 foot lots that were platted in 1929 that are going to need a variance with anything on there except a shed um so we're not going to be able to eliminate variances completely that's that's just not doable in a community like this where it's been platted out for so long and you know we're 96% built out so we can't eliminate them completely but this this new code it'll be a little bit harder to demonstrate a hardship but I don't think that will be necessary if we've increased the lck coverage or the impervious surface to 50% that's what people are asking for and that's what people are getting is I have my house I need a pool I want a pool I live in Florida it is my right uh per the Florida Constitution to own a pool so so um but you did get I think it is um and can I can I just address the Adu comment again because there there's a tremendous amount of confusion we talked about it with you guys so many times I just want to reiterate and we'll reiterate it at the workshop that what we have proposed is allowing adus are accessory dwelling units only in multif family zoning only on property that is current currently um contains a single family home it would have to meet the criteria that are listed in the conditional use section of the of the new code including there has to be a minimum lot size um they will have to require a parking space so so that section it it doesn't allow it in single family zoning districts only the two multif family zoning districts and only in conjunction with an existing single family I just wanted to clear that up because I know there's been some confusion well and I think you could also clarify the concern about the ad becoming a a vacation ryal too because I believe there's language in the code that would help to address that corre yes I'm not going to find the page because I'll spend the next 20 minutes trying to find it where it is um but we did put in there that that the the owner would have to sign an affidavit basically saying that this is for our residential use and it won't be you know it is going to be used as it was constructed and intended obviously we can't stop short-term rentals as we all know since we're preempted by the state but that will hopefully be um a stop Gap measure for us to be able to say well you buil it as such and that's how it's supposed to be used okay thank you heather we had another like come on to hold off on the motion Mr wers um I've heard a lot of residents Express uh concerns about their neighbors living right basically in their yard now with the relax side setbacks proposed by this new LDC uh in rs2 rm1 rm2 and rm3 through a five foot setback is available and um I have seen Board of adjustment meetings where the variance is granted but sometimes it doesn't seem the hardship is self-imposed so I hope that we can work on that issue together collectively thank you and if I mayor can I just kind of address it um one of the things we found in our analysis of all of the lot sizes is that a big majority of our lots are 50 feet wide which is very very narrow and so a lot of our variances were requesting smaller setback so they could fit the house on the lot um but again the hardship will be more difficult moving forward to demonstrate with this with this new code Mr horn Adu criteria starts on document page 84 and the PDF is p P 87 of 318 section 34558 you you cheated cuz you could word search you a you ain't trying you know I'm just saying I I um I think the Adu and also the lock coverage I'm glad those came up today and that we went ahead and address them because those are two really good examples of very robust discussion um and for example the 35% loot coverage at First we talked about that just being the roof structure but then we went back and added the required driveway so whatever driveway you are required to have as part of your property that would be part of that 35 so the 15 is for that extra stuff you are not all it's not a constitutional right that you can have a swimming pool but it is a common request and a common um variance request so so there was just so much thought in in that one and and in the Adu one in particular and that one I was very proud of how creative that solution came to be because the idea was to incentivize keeping the single family home on a piece of property where you could build multif family no problem but this would encourage someone to to add you know another a building accessory building on their property versus tearing it down and building tow houses or whatever they would be able to do by right there so the bottom line is I think this I think we're heading in the right direction um but just know that other than the sign 32nd thing none of this really happened in a vacuum at all so there's there's a lot of um but but we are interested in in continuing the conversation and dialogue uh until we feel good about where we are we're also required by state law to review the Land Development code every year right no okay is it every 40 years so we it is something we can review periodically um a as a matter of routine and I think that we should so again um we want to get this as right as we can this time in this 40-year review Miss Golding so I have one other followup to Mr Horn's comment about the redline version so I believe so I got a copy of the redline sections from Mr Smith that you're referring to but since then we have another citizen that I believe Mr horn may have gotten the same copy from because I got it as well where they are technically astute enough not me to take the current LDC and the new version that we got on January 7th and do a merge on it and actually show red lines so my question or my proposal to the city council would be this because could we not put that could we not post that along with the new LDC the the clean LDC on our website so that for the citizens who want to maybe their eyes will cross or maybe not maybe it will be helpful for them but I think it can only be helpful not hurtful I will say one thing the document that I had I went through it I did have some difficulty because that the information is there the numerical um the the numbers and the section and the headings a lot of those were off and so I had some difficulty as I went through it so I just got to say that if we were to post that I you can post it you know caveat mtor um you know buyer beware if you're going to look at this because again I started to go through it I'm like well these are all off and this is off and this is off and I went wait a minute okay so now I've just figured out that some of these things aren't in the the numbering was incorrect in some areas just because that's what's going to happen when you try and merge two documents cut and paste well I think with a caveat that okay the numbering the numbering may not match but I think the key is the wording kind of like what one of our citizens said tonight I think it was Mr comre maybe who said you know I'd like to be able to know well what did the old say and now what does the news say and if we have that I think that textually if you just say look look at the text of the document that will help you see where the differences are then maybe it could be helpful Mr Sutton appreciate I appreciate that um I wouldn't be comfortable posting anything um if kimley horn can provide something like that that's going to be representative of the city and the work that's being done I'd be completely fine with that but not from a citizen yeah is Mr horn your light's still on you good okay Miss Goldie so I'd be willing to make a motion so if I could um propose a a motion first off let me just let the city council know that uh I will be out of the office on February 20th however it's a workshop and all the questions will be technical planning staff questions so I don't see any reason why the board couldn't proceed with without me being there but I did want to make you aware of that um but um based on all the discussion I'd like to read a motion and then I think it would be sufficient if uh councelor golden if you wanted to say so moved if you were in agreeance with that and go from there so this would be a motion to continue the first reading of ordinance number 2025-the direct staff to schedule a public workshop for February 20th 2025 so moved uh mayor thank you for pulling the ordinance and seconded we have a motion and a second any discussion on the motion as presented Miss Golding I did have a comment but it's I don't think it's on the motion anyone have a comment on the motion as presented Madame clerk roll call so many new noises with this thing council member wers no council member Golding yes council member horn yes council member Sutton yes council member Wagner yes mayor Hoffman yes motion carries uh motion for adjournment I Mo that we adjourn second we have a motion a second in favor signify by saying I you oppos thank you have a good evening