good afternoon ladies and gentlemen good afternoon this is the community redevelopment agency workshop session for Wednesday April 16th at um 3 p.m i'd like to call this meeting to order and uh if you
would please roll call yes miss Sydney Talcott here mr thad Mosley present mr gary Ptow here Mr ron Whittington here Mr marcus Campy here Miss Megan Edwards and Mr kevin Meyers and I would like to note for the record
that Mr kevin Meyers uh is under the weather and so he uh went ahead and let staff in the clerk's office know ahead of time that he would not be here today unfortunately thank you appreciate that this afternoon is really just a workshop
and we have um really three items on the agenda for this afternoon for discussion and cons consideration for um future considerations so uh I'd like to start with item A which is the 6th Avenue
mixeduse proposed redevelopment district RD zoning and I'm not sure Taylor if you or Heather are going to uh lead us into this discussion but um I'll turn it over so we will I will pass this to Heather to make some introduction sorry guys I'm
kind of hiding in the corner back here um so staff has had a couple of meetings with the um developer for this site which is um on 6th Avenue North between 1 and 2
streets and so uh we are we were wanting them to come and present to you what they are proposing to do on the property before they go through any formal approvals so we've been working with them through uh the process to reszone the property um and kind of all the all
the different elements of their proposal uh we just wanted to have the conversation with the CRA again in advance in case there are some things that maybe change or are tweaked before they come in for formal approval so I do want to point out that this property is one that does have vested height of 59
ft back from a settlement um and a a judge is issued vested height rights back from 2004 i think it was settled in 2006 so this is again one of those last remaining legacy properties that has height above 35 ft so they will be um
taking advantage of that uh the only few left are the one across the street Dolphin Depot which has yet to break ground um and the Azour that's I think almost closed to finish uh down on the south end so with that I'll turn it over uh to the applicants and the agents to
present to you their project and and before we do that I'd like to just ask a couple of quick questions Heather just for clarification um is is there there is a requirement to go to an R&D zoning from the u original central business
district criteria yes based on the size of the property and some of the elements that they would like to implement that um are a little outside of the regular CBD zoning and in addition the height so this is a pro a
project that we um would require to go through resoning based based on those factors just to elaborate on that a little bit could you give us a little bit of the pros and cons of going from this uh central business district zoning to to R&D and and what's what's driving
that well there there really are no um downsides to reszoning the RD reszoning it's essentially the same as as a PUD but in the downtown district um and it allows the project to have a little bit more creative flexibility with their design and site plan and because they
have the height and because of the the square footage of the project they kind of lean into that need to have that um so there there really is no downside the the pros is that they get a little bit more flexibility from what otherwise would be the strict application of the zoning code if I understood you
correctly it means because of the fact that it's a certain uh square footage it's pushing it into the R&D criteria correct okay are there any other questions from the board of um Heather
yes sir this is from the I80s negotiation on height it's been sitting there a long time i'm generally inclined to look positively at anything that will improve this strip it has been a real eyesore for a very long time this whole part of
Jacksonville Beach from Fifth up through 7th 8th and along First Street um is really a mess but this this face block here is about the worst of it as far as what we have commercially east of Third
we had have had a blood bank there for many many years we had various other enterprises and uh I'm looking forward to hearing what they've got to say thank you any other thoughts or comments from the board with that I'll turn it over to the
applicant and um if you would um present your project for us right uh good afternoon chair board staff um my name is Billy Zides i'm with Corner Lot Development Group um I have a few of our team members and our architect here from
Boldline Development and then Cindy Trimmer of course who's with Driver McAfee because we're smart to use people smarter than we are um and our goal has been since we started looking at this property to work directly with staff and understand first of all the development
process of Jack Beach um we came in with an interest of being more of a partner than an applicant which is why we asked to have a workshop so we could discuss this in an open forum before it came to a public hearing um we're all familiar
with the history of the area and the pedestrian corridor and the commercial corridor and our intention with this project has been to maximize that have great pedestrian opportunities for retail use the height limit to its benefit and also create an opportunity
for some new parking solutions in this area which not only serve the project but could also serve existing businesses beach access um and some of the other uh the other commercial opportunities in the area so um our effort has been to
understand where the new comp plan was going where the direction of the city was going and incorporate all of that into our design so we have some images that we'd like to share we have a site plan that really maximizes the use of the site um a couple things I'd like to
to point out and obviously there's an architect here to answer more detailed questions and our our design team as well is you know we really tried to focus on making these pedestrian corridors more of a destination people use them to walk our already down to the
beach and to the bars and restaurants along along first um so we really wanted to try to slow everything down on this corner have appropriate landscaping have some covered shaded pedestrian walkways and really make it feel like it was something um that was serving the people
even if they weren't coming to the condos or the hotel or the retail they still felt like they were a part of something more of an engaging streetscape rather than you kind of walk in and walk out of a store we wanted to be more of an an interactive so um that's what I wanted to share as an
intro i'll offer it to to Cindy if she'd like to share anything else as we roll through the presentation but that's been our development team's intent from the start and I can't say enough about staff's willingness to meet with us i think we probably met three or four times with um a whole lot of ideas on
how to get this done um before we landed on this which is what our intent is to develop billy did a great job we're really excited to be one of the guinea pigs under the new code and the new plan and I think with that we can jump into the slides who's got a clicker
christian leave with the clicker well I mean it's a workshop right yeah that's exactly right [Laughter] forward all right so as you can see we tried to keep um
the interaction with the pedestrians and the structure to be sort of softer you know we have the the openings that are a little bit less like a strip center and more like a place you might want to spend some time um we extended everything out to the edge of the street
to try to create that shaded and pedestrian experience that I described and we worked with staff to determine the appropriate entrance to the parking garage which will be off of Second Street that way we're keeping that commercial corridor open from any
ingress and egress and provide parking opportunities immediately off of second and I'm sure you'll love the creative names of the stores because that's most of our design team our architects as I'm sure the architect on the board knows like to be creative as
soon as they're given the opportunity um and then we worked to make sure we had the appropriate code landscaping um and the balconies that sort of gave it you know a modern feel but still you know kind of paid tribute to the
historical architecture of coastal Florida that view I'm sorry ju just go back if you would that view is at 2 and 6th Avenue North is that correct okay yep exactly and that's where we you know ideally you could walk right underneath under the storefront or you could take
the sidewalk and then depending on who the tenants are um and we've been working with all the tenants who've been there throughout this whole process which is why we're sort of taking our time because we want to be a good neighbor um you know depending on who
the tenant is we'd still continue to work with the city on what that experience is like for outdoor dining opportunities or more creative parking solutions in this corridor one quick question if I may um given the
relatively given the relatively low altitude of those balconies um do you all envision placing any restrictions on what can be put on the balconies or what activities can occur on the balconies you know that's a really good question as a landlord with balconies I'm familiar with what can be a problem yeah
that that's a good question and and whether whether we end up using all of the rooms for condos or hotels i think obviously the condos would have HOA with strict regulations that we would be able to guide everyone and a hotel would have its own regulation so that is a good
point that we will consider it it helps thank you you're welcome and then there you can see the the parking entrance off of off of second so we tried to be as discreet as possible
and still create enough parking capacity that we could serve the condos or hotel we could also serve the existing or new retail and we have the opportunity to create some public parking in the spaces as well so we'll be we'll be in excess
of what our parking requirement is i'm sure if anyone's familiar with building parking garages it it's a no it's no small feat so we wanted to make sure we could serve all of the community's needs and the project's needs through this effort marcus did you have a comment i'm sorry
how many extra parking spaces would be available potentially for the general public depending on the the final use of what we're going to do in the project um you know it's anywhere between 30 and 55
spaces is where it is we haven't finalized the engineering for the parking garage and and how many compact spaces versus golf cart spaces so we're trying to be in that 30 30 or 50 range now would those be paid spaces that
people would then have to time slots whatever that is or is that just all day passes so how I I think we would try to mimic what is happening with paid parking in John Beach currently um we're we're not trying to reinvent the wheel we're
trying to just kind of camou camouflage ourselves in we know the construction is going to be a large undertaking so we're going to want to be seen as a welcome neighbor when we when we open and this view is on first and then this
wall or this facade is what abuts um mangoes mangoes yeah yeah so but that's we we tried to make sure that the the the street frontage of sixth and
first met all of the requirements for pedestrian and commercial corridor and then tried to use this side to kind of buffer ourselves from the existing commercial businesses so this is a an idea of what we may have for condos again we're still
finalizing the architecture and design and footprints you know we could be as big as 1500 square feet we could be as small as 800 square feet um right now we just want to give everybody an idea of the direction the project was going before we came before you formally and then you'll see probably
the most important part which is which is our site plan um again this was this was born out of several meetings with staff in an effort to adhere to the conditions and use the RD flexibility to the advantage of the commercial
pedestrian corridors along with our project um so we maximize the commercial frontage we try to have clear ingress and egress specifically for people who parked in the parking garage to directly access their retail um and also whether it's a hotel or condo use because it may
be a combination of the two they would have a separate entrance in a lobby that could take them directly to wherever they were were staying or living so you can you can see all of that there and and the landscaping and enhanced pedestrian corridors and I think that's the final
slide of our presentation um perfect so I don't know if there's other other questions or or commentary we're really here to to get a feel for how the CRA views the project and this corridor i appreciate
um Mr mosley's feedback early on that I guess you've got some additional questions no questions really um like I said this area has been a longstanding eyesore this proposal looks like a significant improvement this proposal looks like it may actually get us more
residents downtown J Beach which is how you end up tipping the balance as anybody who knows about urban spaces and residents um certainly been hearing about it in downtown Jacksonville for 30 years um so I think this is just fine um
I think that the council hopefully will embrace it and it can go forward um and be successful because it has been so bad it's been so bad and it looks like a huge improvement thank you well we're we're in alignment we our our firm has been responsible along with the help of
our our partners at drive and magi for delivering uh more than 500 units to downtown Jacksonville in the past two years yeah I said two years so um my beard wasn't gray then it is now and uh we have the same sentiment of the more
people you can get in an urban core central business district the better it is for the quality of life for everybody any other questions sydney yeah um somewhat related to bringing folks downtown um you mentioned hotel at
various points so is that kind of TBD or Yeah what does that look like yeah I think I think through the RD um zoning we have the flexibility to do either we're really trying to make sure at this point of the the development program
we're trying to make sure that whatever we build is acceptable to our financial partners um so having a diversity of uses that could include residents and a hotel is going to be critical for us going forward cool okay thank you
go ahead based off the SWAT analysis this is phenomenal for our environment and what we're looking for great thank you i'd like to just make a few comments if I could um first of all
the uh downtown plan that was done downtown vision that was done back in 2007 identified several corridors for development within the city uh one of them is was identified as a retail corridor 6th Avenue North and uh from
what I see in this plan this wholeheartedly meets that criteria it fits the plan that was developed back in 2007 um I like the idea that you're activating First Street to me that's a
real important aspect we want First Street to be the um avenue that talks about the beach community and I think activating First Street is very important uh the fact I know it's a
challenge but I think you've done a good job of where you've located the uh the dumpster location which is off of Second Street instead of instead of it being on First Street which we have a number of them on First Street which you know if we're trying to make that the the real
corridor of downtown that's not what you want on First Street and the fact that you've put it on Second Street I think is uh you know a great step in the right direction um you know architecturally it's uh it's a little change for for the
city um but I don't think it steps beyond the bounds we're starting to see more modern type style of architecture and I appreciate the fact that uh this emphasizes that to a degree kind of in
between the old model and and where we're seeing things head at this point in time um I really hope that you're very successful with your retail on the first floor um because that intersection of First Street and 6th Avenue North
could be something very special right now it's it's just kind of existing there and if the folks who are doing the Dolphin Depot depot ultimately do their development I think it could make that a very uh vibrant intersection a lot of
activity uh restaurants other businesses and so forth there um from everything that I've seen I wholeheartedly support the proposal that you've put forth um I would you know encourage and I appreciate the fact that
you wanted to come and talk to us first the chance for us to have a little bit of communication and see you know where where could we do it a little bit better you know where is it ultimately a project that becomes a win-win a win for you a win for the city at the same time
and uh having this opportunity I think is fantastic to to sit down and review this and I would encourage you to come back to us again at some point when as you're going through your design process if you've got questions or need answers
um you know we'd we'd love to share that with you and uh try to make this a truly win-win uh situation gary could we um I'm sorry it's not a reg this is not a regular meeting but
could we uh could we agree to to state as a group that we really like what we see and hope it goes forward successfully well again it's not a formal meeting it's more a workshop and I think I think you've already heard from all of the board members here and have a pretty
good sense as to Yeah but we go to the council can I ask a question real fast go ahead Marcus workshop um if you were to do the hotel and or the
residential what would be the variation between the two or the combined i I I think the biggest variation would just be the square footage of the units right and maybe the division between the balconies might shrink um the overall
exterior and and sort of estimate rooms and square size yeah I I think if I think the maximum the maximum number of hotel rooms we could fit if we didn't do any condos okay would be somewhere in the 90 range
okay um well I I we we think it's going to land on a hybrid yeah I was going to say that's based on test fit not fully laying things out and having it all appropriately planned but just expectation setting order of magnitude somewhere and and so we're our parking
garage design and the footprint of that parking garage design besides the dumpster location is driving the the size of what we have remaining and what we don't want to do is short our commercial tenants or the community or
our property with no parking solutions right because then we just shot ourselves in the foot so as we dial that in then we can better dial in how many rooms etc okay so if you didn't do the hotel standpoint and you just did condos what how what does that look like
uh that's 36 condos and about 18,000 square feet of retail 19,000 square feet of retail so pretty pretty substantial pretty pretty substantial so I'm in favor
i just credit where due our first site plan did not look like this this was definitely an evolution of working with the team and making sure that we were getting everything right but I I'm really really pleased with where it's landed and we really appreciate your
time and kind of grading the work on the front end to make sure we're on the right track before we go full steam ahead down a path that isn't where we all want to land yeah yeah great oh since I'm the only board member to say anything I think it looks fantastic it was great
what we envisioned with mixed use from what I've seen this is is a really a good combination i just want to ask one architectural thing the wavy U lines on the side i mean I I have never seen that before uh is that is that am I looking
at that wrong or is that intentional is it supposed to look like the waves and depict the waves or what yeah so we were trying to we were actually trying to mimic some of what Casamarino was doing with the arches okay and kind of doing a modern take on that all right yeah that's very very hip thanks one thing I
would just um I would try to uh encourage you to really take a look at is the street level activation and and I don't just mean the retail but I mean the building provides some shade because um it
basically sits on the south side but what what can we do from a landscaping standpoint what can we do with outdoor seating and so forth to really make this an a very desirable location to come to you know that because you've got the
advantage of a tall building now that provides shadow yeah which is one of the few things that we have in the downtown area and we need to take advantage of it because you're going to be able to have people sitting out there a lot more than in some of the other locations because
of the significant uh sun and uh heat issues that we have to deal with yeah we we agree wholeheartedly and we um we've looked at designs that extend as far out over to the edge of the rightway as possible to provide additional shade um
we've raised the level of the balcony so we can fit landscaping under it we probably have seven site plans we're not sharing that show outdoor dining and and all these cool seating areas but that's just a little bit disingenuous because we don't have a tenant right so um
loving the new outdoor dining program the success of the project across the street we really hope to capitalize on that and get a good tenant in there who can who can fit those needs and it's my understanding that um you're going to be starting this project next week is that correct
don't say that in front of the people they'll ask us why they'll have me back in at the next city council meeting for an unannounced agenda item um no I I think you know our intent is to is to be able to start in this calendar year we
are an ambitious group so sometimes our vision doesn't always align with reality which is where the three of us end up living in that place between vision and reality um so we hope to get it started this year but um there's a lot of uncertainties in the development
marketplace and this was a big step forward for us um I I do want to say we wouldn't be here doing a workshop if we weren't um fortunate to have worked with staff over the past few months and we wouldn't have such a quality product if
they weren't open about letting us come in and explaining to us the code we work in a lot of different municipalities it's not always that way so a big big credit to them for kind of sharing with us what was happening with the comp plan the 2007 vision the fact that a workshop
was meaningful um because that really let us use our design team's efforts to to head in the in the best direction we're very coachable well and we we want to help i mean you know that's part of I think our responsibility is to help also to uh you
know get a different vision for the downtown and have projects moving forward so as we can help please let us know i think you've got uh support uh consensus pretty much from the board here okay and look forward to uh hearing
more from you in the near future perfect and and I I can attest that the dumpster location is a result of your two Jacks Beach residents right here so they they've been a big part of our our process i live in St augustine they live in Jack's Beach so they're like "No no no let's do it this way." I was like "Oh
okay guys." So credit thank Thank you any any final comments from Good work with the project thank you guys taylor uh Heather anything else from either of you um just kind of so everyone knows what the next steps will
be um like we've both mentioned they've come in and met with staff from planning and zoning several times which is kind of how they got to this current site plan next step for them we'll be meeting with all departments and what we'll what we call a preapp meeting once they're ready to submit we'll get it scheduled
for a CRA meeting for your consideration a planning commission meeting and subsequent council hearings with the recommendations from both boards and then they'll be uh on their way very good thank you thank you guys thank you all appreciate it enjoy your
afternoon if you need any help I'll be happy to be a leazison um we're going to move on to the next item on our agenda for this afternoon and um that is a discussion of Beach Alliance and uh Taylor I believe this
may uh you may be heading us on in reference to this uh conversation yes sir i will dive into this one um so this kind of stems from a number of places
uh we've always at least in the several years now that I've been here we've kind of had um periodic meetings with the hospitality industry um in the downtown that has always been spearheaded by the mayor uh it's gotten to where those
occur more so in peak season or in advance of maybe like a Fourth of July or a holiday weekend um they're not monthly or you know quarterly they're just when we need to have them which has been great um at the council retreat there were several things that
came out of it one of them was just kind of looking at different ways to engage the downtown business and this is very similar to something that I did um in my previous community and this is essentially it's a a group um that we'll meet that the
acronym stands for business events arts community hospitality um that would be the core focus of the beach alliance it's going to be you know volunteer based it's going to be the downtown business owners and operators and basically what they would do is partner with the city and mainly staff um to
meet and help us maintain safe vibrant and welcoming business district uh we want to strengthen those partnerships with the businesses downtown and you know several of them especially now that we have the SAG grant program know very easily how to get a hold of me if they
have a problem or if they need something um but what we've seen is you know maybe it is event related or it's on a Saturday afternoon um and I'm not available or the message doesn't get to me until too late and so
this is going to be something that really helps to support the downtown businesses creates that line of communication between city staff and the businesses for their needs whether that be code enforcement um after hours issues during an event just not you know maybe they don't even know that an
event's going on they're saying "Hey you know this doesn't we're seeing excess crowds," whatever that may be um and really encouraging them to take a more active role in helping us to create and promote the downtown that we want uh we sit in on these hospitality meetings
that we have and really and truly it's very eye opening everyone really seems to be on the same page um you know the business owners all really do at the end of the day want the same thing and so we see this as an opportunity to give them a clear channel to give the city feedback to talk about downtown issues
and topics and it just formalizes meetings that we're already having and it would establish them more regularly uh attached to attached to the packet is just to kind of um broad for those of you Gary you might
actually be the lucky only one that was around when we basically created the art committee for example this is very at least the structure of the way this document looks is exactly the operating procedures we created when we made the art committee um so again you know our mission statement uh talks about we're a
volunteer network of business owners and operators who partner with the city to maintain safe vibrant and welcoming business district they'll serve as the eyes and ears of downtown helping to report issues communicate needs explore safety and beautifification efforts and collaborate on events and enhancements u
membership would be free and you know it's just based on their commitment to engage with staff and business owners to improve the downtown experience um and then again you know I won't bore everybody by reading all of the bullet points um but this really we just kind of wanted to bring this to you guys it's something we've hit on we've touched on
we've talked a little bit on i know the chairman was at the council retreat and he heard me kind of throw this acronym out there um and so in theory if everyone is comfortable moving forward with something like this what you would see next would be a formal resolution
adopting the beach alliance program and then allowing us from that point to continue to expand and develop this program further uh with a goal to have the you know start reaching out to businesses um you know hopefully in the next couple of months and I am open to feedback
questions comments whatever you guys have for me i just wanted to ask if I could go ahead has have you identified who the staff liaison is yet you're looking at her i figured that would be me poor thing no it's okay i mean truly
a lot of the downtown business owners there aren't very many that I could think of right now that I don't have already a relationship and some kind of rapport with so I do feel like it's a very natural thing to take on um and I'm I'm quite comfortable with all the ones
I know and deal with there's nobody that I'm not comfortable talking with how many How many do you envision a group how How big do you think it's going to be i mean if we got 100% participation God what do you think 35 what 30 to 30 to 40 that's not bad um I
mean if we get 50 participants that'll be like I'll set off fireworks in Laam Plaza uh but if you can afford them you know I think I think out the gate I think we can there'll be a group of 15 to 20 that we can pretty easily round up yes that's me okay in my opinion I could be wrong heck our first meeting could
have three or it could have 55 who knows any other comments from board members um I just wanted to say um I love this idea um and I think maybe just if there's any way where this committee
could help facilitate it um definitely open as you develop it sure um definitely open to and I think to helping um again I always pick on poor Gary but he was the one here when we I think it was flyers for the facade grant program we had really nice flyers made
up and I believe you were one of the ones who helped us physically go out and I know a previous board member Mr jeff Jones he lived downtown at the time i had board members literally just help me go business to business and pass out information packets and answer questions and so when it comes to kind of rounding
up businesses and talking to folks that is things I will probably heavily rely on the board for yeah happy to help and I feel like it only helps us to have more of a perspective and connection with the
local businesses absolutely cool marcus did you have a comment uh oh all right um so would these be like active members versus info subscribers
yeah so these would be active all active yes okay and then with the active members would then you create your own board out of that no so the intent and the goals of the city are not to create any more boards okay it this would just
be um you know I wish I wished more you know more had the opportunity to attend the hospitality meetings truly what it would come down to is taking a meeting that already exists occasionally with these business owners and formalize on the you
know the third Monday at 10 a.m whatever time works best for all of them you know we are going to have a standing beach alliance meeting staff will come and you know uh we had a conversation at the executive leadership meeting yesterday where you know the public works director for example you know I said hey if
there's in theory down the line let's say there's going to be a huge infrastructure project that's going to majorly impact businesses so at whatever alliance meeting that we have I would then basically invite that person to come as a guest speaker and address those concerns and give the businesses an opportunity to talk directly
one-on-one to the person spearheading whatever project is coming if it's an event the parks and recreation team that handles events bringing them in directly um and it just it really honestly just helps simplify communications with the businesses and it gives them that direct line to staff members or the appropriate
party that they need to talk to um so would that be set up for the communication through like a Slack a group meet or you want to have So the businesses already have a group me and we would probably I would work with our communications manager Jacob um I hope
he's listening uh and give him some more fun duties on helping us figure out the best way to handle the communication um something Heather and I have even discussed is you know maybe even um having a
separate email account so a separate inbox where Heather myself and the appropriate parties that need access to they have access and so if it's a weekend issue and I'm not here but it's an event weekend and we have park staff they have real time access to whatever
that inbox is to see what the issues are coming in so if we took our um arts market that we just did last weekend how has the feedback been in regards to that kind of event i would definitely
defer to Allison with Parks on that um to my knowledge though I don't believe there's been anything to nothing negative that we've heard okay um do you guys have branding already
so ish one of the things that came out of the council um retreat is taking our brand standards and kind of our mission and vision and they actually have the communications manager working on a complete overhaul on branding in general so again that will kind of I'll defer to
Jacob on that but whatever branding the city then adopts and embodies we would mimic with whatever we're doing so you are in charge of the steering committee in essence of how this all So how do you guys track goals and metrics
this is going to be a really hard one to track goals and metrics on because it's going to be uh very different depending on who you're talking to so from staff for me if we have high attendance a lot of engagement a lot of questions being asked and a lot of feedback from the
businesses for us that's a success that we are having those businesses engaging with us uh from the business perspective what they deem a success may be like they don't they don't want to listen to me talk to them every month like that's going to bore them really quick so I'm going to have to find creative ways to make sure that the
information I'm providing those businesses at these alliance meetings is relevant to what they want and so I think the first couple of meetings kind of my vision for this if it all works out perfectly which let's be honest it never does but in a perfect world I would be able to go in and maybe talk to
business owners either one-on-one or in groups of two or three grab lunch grab coffee pop in the office and really listen to what would it take for you to agree to be a part of this alliance and what do you need to get out of this to feel like it's worth your time or your
staff's time um and right now we just don't have those answers this was kind of creating what we kind of envisioned kind of putting the guard rails up on what we can and can't do was kind of the first step then obviously bringing it to you guys making sure you guys aren't like "Hey this is like wacky please don't do this." Uh we want to make sure
the CRA was comfortable and then once we have those conversations with the business owners I understand the CBD and the district per se but then you have slightly businesses just outside of that yeah such as um Maple Street
and then you have Salt Life mellow Mushroom yep buddha belly so we would get into some really weird areas with the state statute beings as Yeah i was going to say beings as this is a CRA right you know alliance that we are forming i'm the CRA person they would
have to be in our boundary so you're limited just the downtown district and or targeted area well this one specifically just downtown
got it so to a certain extent that's where the difference would be between the mayor's meetings with the businesses as well as your coordination technically yes but well and like the mayor's um I think the only one from outside of the uh district that comes are the folks
from Gingers i'm sorry the folks from Gingers they're the only ones outside of the district that participate in those anyway yeah i mean but in theory yes anyone could go to the mayor's meetings this is downtown hospitality only yeah and you know that's the where I was
just trying to understand distinguish the difference between the two and and how that moves forward you know maybe you know it could be that the mayor's thing drops off and it just becomes this i don't know that was just a question in
the back of my mind as to how we manage this to be determined um the mayor has expressed previously you know that she loves doing it she does not mind doing it but at one time it was kind of like hey if staff ever wanted to take over i
see yeah but she will I have zero doubts in my mind she will be very very involved like we will beg her please be involved i I think overall in my reading of this and where you're going with it Taylor I you know I appreciate what you're attempting to do here and I think
it's a step in the right direction okay and to really get um businesses more involved the challenge is going to be the real challenge that we're going to have is you're you want a group that encourages uh initiation
and talks about the issues and things to that extent the question becomes how do we respond to those and respond quickly and get those things done because if we say that we're going to do something we need to make sure that we do it
otherwise they're just going to say it's just another bureaucratic mess and you know we don't want to participate anymore so whatever we put together needs to have a program that allows us to quickly implement particularly right
at the beginning if somebody comes up and says you know I've got a trip hazard out on the sidewalk how do we get out there and quickly fix that and move um move forward and they see the progress and if they see that they're going to become more engaged sure um and I think
this is where this differs also from the hospitality meetings is formalizing this having formal operating procedures a membership application and having a true alliance formed um it holds the businesses to accountable but it also holds us and the city and staff
accountable as well and it creates okay we've created all these channels here's this reporting measure now we have to step up to the plate as well you know so it it it will truly if it works how we really hope it will it truly will be a partnership where they're going to have to give but so are we um and and every
department is is going to be involved and and I think that's a very good point too is this is again back to the earlier presentation needs to be a win-win for both sides and I think we can make this something very special and very unique
but we're really going to have to be focused on it um so I you know I look forward to you know seeing how you move this forward and uh and ultimately implement it um and you know I'll work with you in any way I can okay to
hopefully make this successful because um I can see the significant advantages to having this in place any other comments from anybody to your point I'm sure Taylor can do this and she'll be at the meetings they have to be aware of
what we can and cannot do absolutely it's a great point because some things won't be possible we can do that's something we can't afford to do maybe we could do it next year that's something we hope to get done this week yep so really make it clear what is possible great point um I believe that your
council would be able to invite guests they seem to have a couple CR members who very interested in this perhaps they could be honorary attendees absolutely and some of your businesses just across third street I think could probably be invited to observe yeah I would think so
not to vote not to participate not to be official members but you might even have a separate category of folks who can be there and can make a modest comment maybe a CRA board member or two who keenly interested in maybe some of these peripheral
businesses not counting the three new CBD shops we've got on Third Street but you know whatever well from a business owner standpoint that's just outside the business district i know um you know and not just mine but my relationship with those
other businesses are just outside the district right and if you wanted to be an ameritus member of this board you might be able to help represent those and so in discussing you know that this alliance was beginning to be maybe formulated
um as a business networking kind of component um I think it could always expand too that's something me and Heather were talking about is you know right now for a number of reasons i mean one I get it for the pilot especially bandwidth especially yeah right totally
totally and and the implementation and the quickness of what it needs to do but but could this grow i think so if you the problem is if people be perceived to be excluded sure but then automatically
on create but the thing is to your point let's say you have a meeting let's say this group from across third street are there they're properly represented and they want something done well it's not flipped to the CRA it's flipped to the city to do it right right from that same cross point right there right just
switch it this way right anyone could attend to be fair i mean it'll be just like any other meeting any business could attend they just couldn't technically be on the alliance because it's just the downtown business but I mean in theory a business owner from St
john's County could come if they wanted to uh it could be anyone well Jack Speech couldn't address their issue but Jack Speech address is the CRA more promptly than the CRA perhaps correct exactly that's a great point um but yes this is something that you know who knows we could see it be really really
successful and if it's done well and we're very hopeful and um feeling very encouraged that it will be done well and executed properly you know after a year or so of this this is something that I I could see expanding and being implemented much more than just the downtown district um that that would be
our goal any other comments i like the focal point but But we got to make sure that we don't exclude the other businesses that do generate revenue for the city
that's a that's a challenge just because of you know what the state statutes kind of restrict us but it's one of those things that well the CRA doesn't have to do it flip right there and make Jack do it they could probably more quickly seriously yeah i'm
just right and that's where we're you know I I deal with this often this isn't anything I ever really discuss to the group but I can't tell you how many businesses truly have approached me and some have even gone as far as to fill out applications for grants and different things and I
have to call them and say "Look I think this is great i think your project's great you're not in the downtown district i cannot help you." Right um the city does not have the same programs we have those are the benefits of having a redevelopment district is you have a different set of standards and abilities and I you know I hate the term exclude
but unfortunately it it's it's just the nature of the beast sometimes is that I can we can only do so much within this rectangle and there's not anything that we can do outside of it is that because the city has deemed it that rectangle or is that a state issue so when it was
created in ' 87 you have to create a geographic boundary that is considered slum and blight and you have to do a finding of necessity and the state and the city and then the county the taxing authority have to agree and deem that that area is blighted and the area that we have was the area that was deemed
needed the most work um and we're we're not we're not going to expand the boundary got the it would be difficult to uh try to expand that area well it would also start our base year value over and we would can't do that
not gonna happen any other comments Taylor good luck Mr chairman i'll be calling you all that time you volunteer don't you worry i'm going to need some help uh getting on getting I'm here i'm here i You know
what i I I feel quite certain that honestly just about anybody sitting up here I could call including Jim he'll hit the ground running with me just a little mile away um well everybody this this will be uh likely on your agenda the regular meeting this month um in a
formal resolution and I know sometimes resolutions can kind of be like but for us it just truly makes the paper trail a lot easier to keep track of when we formalize things like this so we will bring a resolution just to adopt hey we're good with it we're going to move forward with creating a beach alliance and run with it and get going so that
will be on your next agenda thank you thank you guys if nothing else then we'll move on to item C of our workshop agenda which is the downtown redevelopment plan update for the lifeguard life saving station yes um so
we redid the plan very recently and uh we did a really I think maybe I'm biased but we did a great job outlining objectives that mimic the objectives that council set forth in their strategic plan and that was very intentional uh in two different places
the life-saving station uh well not this station in particular but historic preservation is brought up because we always wanted to allow ourselves the opportunity should an opportunity come along to preserve this building and make improvements we wanted to be able to do so um at the time of this plan update we did not know exactly what that was going
to look like so therefore this specific project was not included on page 16 and 17 of that plan which are the project tables so plan we're not calling this um a plan
amendment because it it's we're not amending the plan at all all we're doing um if approved would be updating that chart to add the life savings station as a formalized project because now we have a better understanding of what that
project will look like so you will see um on your regular agenda again another formal resolution that would adopt updating and adding one line to the project charts uh could we have done it because it's listed as an objective for
historic preservation probably but why do something that's in the gray when we can make it very black and white and just update the chart and then for auditing purposes reporting purposes keeping our plan nice and clean it just makes everything simpler so that's why we're bringing it to you in this format um but this will be a future project um
we just want to go ahead and get that chart updated could you take a moment and just go back um the history most recently on the because at one time the uh life saving station was
um a Red Cross structure right or did the city still own it at that point in time and they just leased it to the city has always I believe owned it at least in recent history it's been a city building that the Red Cross was a partner with i'm sorry so the Red Cross
was a like a partner of the city and so when when we recently went through a number of iterations and changes it basically all reverted to the city as ownership of the life saving station and we're taking over that responsibility at
this point to uh maintain it and uh um no the CRA won't we won't own it at all not the CRA i'm sorry i meant the city when I So the city owns it um but I will be very very honest um that whole process I was not involved in all of
that there was a lot of litigation involved there were a lot of attorneys involved and so forgive me i'm a little uncomfortable speaking too much to the process just because I don't want to accidentally misspeak on that and I appreciate that because that's where I'm at because I'm not sure it is a it is
city owned i can assure you of that so we are not doing anything outside of the realm of what we are allowed to do um and it's always been assumed and hoped for that we would eventually get to a place where with the branding and what um council just spoke about at their
briefing and the rebranding and the new logo and the new color scheme and all of that we knew we had to get through a bunch of steps before we could get to a place where we could say "Yes we can repair the historic stucco yes we can replace historic windows." Um so this is
really and truly just the CRA taking on because it's in the district and we want to preserve the historic integrity just taking on the responsibility of the preservation side do we have any sense as to you know will there be participation from the city on
this also as um so as we move forward and really determine what the efforts are going to be in the way of renovations and so I know for this what we're looking at is windows stucco repair paint those are
the big things right now that is being um planned for I do know that you know they I don't there won't at least to my knowledge at this stage be any massive substantial changes um because there's no need or desire we want to preserve the integrity of the structure as it is
as best as we can yeah so it will be right now doing just a lot of repairs that are necessary but because it is a historic building those repairs have to be done very carefully very carefully yeah i've been there done that so I know exactly what you mean just the the
stuckle work in itself um you know would need to meet certain criteria and things and uh maintain the uh the existing architectural character and so forth um I I guess we'll learn a little bit more as we move further down the road i was
just trying to get a sense as um you know I would think this needs to be a partnership between the city and the CRA and moving this project forward um but any other comments from the board out on this just one on this it's only
one of two historic structures in our whole downtown the other one's privately owned what uh we only have two historic structures kaza Hotel oh okay we have we have two art deco buildings
that's that's very interesting um yeah so one my one of my favorite styles of architecture but we I I I completely agree yeah it's a but uh I think it's great we're going to identify No other comments on this
item uh that I understand you have one other item you'd like to bring up yeah just one thing a question for Jim which he probably won't want to answer but I can't help but ask um have you been in touch with Corner lot regarding P3 yes
god damn they've done some I didn't know where this was going i was like holding my breath that's sad um because you're familiar with a lot of the things they've done it's been one hell of a track record for the last 20 25 years and you have a great reputation
phenomenal in full transparency I have to say that also a client of our firm although we have Sure yeah no problem there but I was just curious because this sort of concept is
hard to squeeze into 35 ft but it sure would be pretty to see something like that facing on the U seawalk let's adjourn do we have any update on if we're going to be surviving because I've made a lot of phone calls
mr chair if I could hold up one one conversation at a time um if I could Mr chairman if it's all right I want to talk a little bit about the upcoming schedule and I wanted to actually brief you guys on that thank you um it's not perfect let me start with that but
nothing ever is but it is much better than it was they have made some substantial uh changes And so right now these microphones um right now they made an amendment and on the house side the amendment
would read or it does read a community redevelopment agency may not initiate any new projects or issue new debt honor after after October 1 of this year um for purposes of subsection new project means any project for which there is no appropriation um this is the big one
where they added or or for which the CRA has not retained appropriate funds um and then they state hold on I read the wrong line that God where did it go you know what i'm trying to scroll
this tiny text regardless it says that you can initiate a new project and it would be considered a new project if the lifespan of the project went beyond the lifespan of your district so it doesn't really read a whole lot different than the way we operate now you know we're not issuing
we're not trying to plan for a project in60 right now we're I mean it's so we'll see um it still has you know a long way to go um there's a lot of chatter there's a lot going on with this i do think
there's been a huge outcry from CRAAS all over the state um I'm sure a lot of lobbyists have gotten beat up by their CRAAS also and you know beenounding folks so we're very cautiously optimistic that we will
survive that's okay well thank you for that update it could literally it time to go off we could I could get an email right now that it's completely different so who knows um just before we get though uh ajourn I did want to I handed out
everybody an upcoming meeting schedule uh again it just touches on the 26th regular meeting you'll have your resolutions we'll have some staff updates on some other stuff at that meeting as well um May right now we have a workshop scheduled for the 14th that's kind of our normal Wednesday
workshop our This is my fault i did not realize back last year when we were planning out the schedule that the 26th which is our meeting is Memorial Day um I I mean I won't be here the building will be closed so um
so we talked about right now we don't have any voting items for May what I was just talking about with Heather is if Corner lot reaches out to us and they're ready I could see us shifting and instead of having a workshop that just becomes a regular meeting that's a very very easy change to make it's just a matter of how we notice it um so we will
likely just do one meeting in May on the 14th TBD if it's workshop or a voting meeting but we will give you guys ample notice um in June we will be workshopping the budget with our finance department uh this will be I think the first year we've done that we didn't do that last year just came actually
workshopping the budget maybe we did i could be Did we I'm sorry it's It's all running together um so we'll workshop the budget in June and then we will plan to formally adopt the budget uh at the July meeting and that is in advance of the council budget
workshops which start in August and the whole budget showcase um council's got some briefings coming up May 12th um they'll be talking about budget assumptions purchasing manual the upcoming surfing camps and then levels of service that I put that
on there because it's a very interesting one because it's going to talk about walkovers restrooms and just general maintenance um we'll see what comes out of that one uh June 9th there will be a Pinman Road update on that project at the briefing july we'll there'll be a briefing on storm water updates if
you're interested in that that'll be in July and then in August they'll start all the budget workshops um and then council the April 21st meeting um the first reading of the ordinance that is going to restrict parking on A1A South and the second reading scheduled for the
subsequent meeting that is to target some issues we ran into really and truly a lot in the south end district where we were having sub like days at a time massive semi-truckss parking all along the sides of A1A um that is not our road so there's only so much that can be done
um so we had to work with our FDOT folks so that ordinance will be read in April and then again in May and we'll also be reading an ordinance for the first um time on prohibiting smoking on the beach so that ordinance will be read also at
the April meeting i'm just trying to be honest yeah as far as I know yeah i mean so they talked about it at the safety the safety briefing um which was and dogs a week or two ago
and ultimately have decided now again this is just on the agenda and when you do an ordinance reading it could very easily get um deferred voted down no so but as of today it is on the agenda yes so I can at least speak to that it's on the agenda for consideration i'll say
that so we can show up and post perfect not as a CRA member i know okay trust me I will unless the whole board tells you to do it if the whole board tells you it's a whole different ballgame but yes just as a general rule um CRA board members if you want to show
up and speak at a meeting you're there speaking as the individual um at May they'll do the second reading if ordinances are passed and then at the May 19th that was the earliest I could get the tenative uh chart update for our downtown plan so if we approve that uh
adding the life-saving station to our downtown chart I would then take that to council they would approve it also via resolution so we would be good to go there um and then in June they're doing a resolution to update purchasing manual some folks might be interested so I just kind of threw that one on there um and then I gave you guys all a calendar and
it just has everything in green is upcoming events this month everything in red are our meetings and blue is council so we've got Beaches Green Market at Pinman Park um sand castle contest is next weekend that's always fun that's just north of the pier on the beach and
then opening of the beaches parade is on the 27th and we will at least have hardcaping completion of the pier parking lot in time for opening of the beaches chain link down yes chain link will be down that was my last question well unless unless we get crazy weather tomorrow we can't work as long as they
can work they are on target to have it cleaned up and open and the landscaping won't be done but we should have substantial completion um my last thing and then I'll get off my soap box uh if you have not seen the mural or met the artist please do she's incredible i I've
if I've said it once I've said it every time we've had an artist i truly don't know how we continue to be so fortunate that the art committee you guys and council keep finding these amazing artists for us to work with but it's it's been another just flawless process are we getting something that says Jack
Beach yes yep they're gonna do a big hashtag Jack's Beach um on the mural so on the mural okay yep cool just a couple of quick comments if I may um you know getting ready for the beach's opening parade you know that was uh something that was important to
really get focused on and I think you've answered the question about the pier parking lot but one thing I would encourage um staff to do is really I went by there this morning at the uh where the mural is being done on the uh
enclosure for the trash the inside of that looks horrendous already there's trash all over not inside the bins but outside the bins and it's starting to flow outside the gates already and somebody needs to
go and get that stuff in the right location i don't know why it's looking the way it is but we need to have a focus on that a little bit city manager directed us at the I should have said this and I I didn't um at the executive leadership meeting yesterday he directed
parks excuse me public works beaches energy anybody that has um stake in the downtown district to take this weekend next and get out in the district and for us to go find issues and report those and to make sure that we get things in tip-top shape so everybody is actively
out and about i kind of have the same comment or similar comment along um Beach Boulevard between First and Second Street there's been for several weeks there's been uh just dump piles of crushed material sitting there in large
mountains they're about 3 ft high and then some stone and then there's um signage that's laying on top of the grass and stuff has been there for 3 weeks is probably killing the grass at this between First and Second Street on
Beach Boulevard on the island on the north side of the island is where it is and it's it's been sitting there for some time it's there's a little area in there that they haven't finished yet there's still the gravel that needs to be spread properly and this crush stuff
needs to be removed and um taken elsewhere or used somewhere but it's it's just been sitting there as a 3-ft high mound that's probably about uh 10 to 15 feet in length something like that uh along
um again the northern edge of the uh median between First and Second Street okay work us interrupt us and then Taylor I'd like to get an update on where we stand
with the um with the park uh the passive park in the south the south end district so we got our determination letter from the St john's storm water management district that we're not a wetland so we had to wait to get that before anybody
else could touch it they kind of said don't do anything till we can certify this isn't a wetland so we went through that process um we're having to do a little more work and get uh Beaches Energy is requiring a a different type of plan than we
thought uh for the electrical component we thought it was going to be something pretty straightforward but Beaches Energy has requested um a full electrical workup so our consultants are working on that um outside of waiting on the electrical engineering everything else is ready
so we can't get started with anything until we get the electrical engineering done no because we can't issue a bid without all the engineering documents well we need to find a way because we we told those folks down there more than a year ago that we'd be getting started on
that project and we're still haven't done anything down there i'm sorry Jim close the meeting um any other comments from Okay if there are no further comments I'll adjourn
this uh workshop session fight you