for the local planning agency meeting tonight. Miss Tina, would you please call the role? Dustin Woods here. Jack Edgeman. Donald Clark, James Oxer,
Gary Freeman here, Chris Duncan here, Alex Ramos here. We'll move on to the review of the consent agenda for tonight's meeting.
There's no discussion. Miss Canwell, would you please call the role? Dustin Woods, yes. Jacket, I'm sorry. Gary Freeman, yes. Chris Duncan, yes.
Alex Ramos, yes. All right. Before we proceed into the business of tonight's meeting, there's a couple of things I wanted to just point out. First of all, I want to celebrate Miss Tina Canwell, who will be who is our uh deputy clerk
for the town of Lake Placid. and tonight is her first official night running solo. So, please welcome Miss Canwell. Well done. Uh, second thing is I need to uh invite
our town administrator to the microphone to make an announcement of business that is upcoming before we move into the business of the evening. Thank you. Can we do a first motion and a second motion real quick, too? Oh, yeah. Ah, we need to I move to accept the consent
agenda as presented. Second. We have a second. Now, please call the role. Who is a second? Chris. Dustin Woods. Yes. Chris Duncan. Yes.
Gary Freeman. Yes. Alex Ramos. Yes. Thank you. Thank you everyone for being here. We just wanted to make an announcement that on October 27th at 5:30 here in our office here um the
council chambers. Sorry, I wanted to call it the church. The council chambers, we will have a joint meeting between the LPA, the local regional utility, and also with the council. We will be meeting with the Central Florida Regional Planning Council. We'll be discussing the upcoming LPRP. We'll be
discussing the comp plan review. will be discussing utilities. It will be an opportunity for all three boards to come together to be able to discuss the planning for the town of Lake Placid in an open setting. So, we just debate October 27th at 5:30.
You say 27 or 22nd. Sorry, there's a 27. 27. Yes, sir. At 5:30 and we will set it up where all of the boards are here together to have sort of like a round table, be able to have open discussion. We will invite the public in
because it will be a public meeting. However, they will be asked to hold their comments and questions towards the end so that we can make sure that all three groups have the opportunity to dialogue back and forth. Just wanted to make that announcement. Thank you. All right. Thank you.
Uh just as a soft review of our calendars, does that date generally work for this group that is present? I think so. I mean, we'll obviously confirm through email, but I just wanted to get a
a soft headc count, make sure we have plenty of representation from each of those committees. All right, seems like it works for the majority of this present group tonight. All right,
as we begin our meeting, let me uh as we move into Item A. Should I uh hand this off to you, Miss Ryel, or invite the Economic Development Council up? Yes, certainly. I'd be happy to introduce Miss Sarah Beth Murphy from
the Highlands County Economic Development Office. This group uh during the capital improvement plan process asked for additional information on the extension of broadband and natural gas.
And Miss Murphy is has been kind enough to uh have that conversation with us and she also recently became a new mother. So we've had a little bit of a wait. We're going to let her get out of here today as soon as she can. Um but we
welcome her. So thank you Sarah Beth. Thank you so much Dana for the welcome. I really appreciate it. And thank you board for letting me come today to speak a little bit about some of the utilities for the town of Lakeen. First, we'll talk about natural gas. I gave you guys a small packet um just to provide some
context for what I'm going to discuss with you guys today. Um on the first page, you have a conceptual, it says conceptual plan. This comes from a study that our office did with Duke Energy three years ago. It's a site readiness study. Essentially, Duke Energy came in with their economic development team and
hired some um consultants to come in and tell us what improvements we could do to this particular site um to make it more viable for different kind of economic development activities. They studied a total of I think around 370 acres around
here and a product of that study was Amazon coming in and um to this area just north of us. So this is kind of the conceptual plan, the area that I'm specifically aware of and can talk about in the context of natural gas.
On the next page, I went ahead and printed out Miss Murphy, would you pause for just a second? Do we have a digital form of this so that the public can see it? No, these handouts are as of tonight. Is that right? Okay, go ahead. Um, on your second page, there is a
strategic development plan for the Lake Placid Business and Industrial Park. should it ever actually become that? And it kind of lays out the different things that Duke Energy told us that we could do. And then on the next page, it kind of goes more in depth of what they told
us as far as natural gas goes. So, currently, it's not necessarily financially feasible to bring natural gas to the site without any kind of financial assistant, like a big EDA grant or something of that nature. Closest natural gas is over 10 miles away. I believe it's uh the line off uh
State Road 70. Um, so that would definitely require a significant investment within the town of Lake Placid and then of course probably looking for some financial assistance. Um, the other thing about natural gas in terms of that industrial development is that it does attract like
a certain level of industrial activity to an area. when we're talking specifically about this area within the town of Lake Placid, you also have to consider your own um zoning ordinances and if you want the level of businesses that um require that higher level of industrial zoning, which I do not think
that Lake Placid currently um is in the market for at this point right now as this site stands is as and as general development stands in from an economic development standpoint, Lake Posit is very well situated for things like distribution like Amazon on and very
light manufacturing which is or zoning ordinances allow currently. Um if you wanted to pursue a natural gas then I think you would also have to consider pushing up or creating um zoning designations that would allow for heavier industrial because those are the type of businesses that would use that
natural gas. Examples of natural gas businesses in Highlands County would be the industrial activity that's at the Sebring airport. There are several different construction related manufacturers and aviation manufacturers as well as uh Citropack that use natural
gas on site there and they have a direct gas line that goes there. So that's the baseline of what I can tell you about natural gas. I can give you some more detailed information should you guys request it. Um that's what I can tell you about that. Do you have any questions about natural gas before we
move on to broadband? Well, do you happen to have any developers kicking the tires in the land just north of 70? Uh, you don't have to name names. I'm just saying. No, I mean, not really. I think that that becomes a tricky area in this day and time just because of the
environmental concerns with Archald being so close and also we it's kind of a far distance for some of our fire and and emergency services. And those were some of the issues that we ran into when we were working on the high growth project. Any
questions? Any other questions for Miss Murphy as to what she's presented thus far? All right. So then we'll talk about broadband a little bit too. So to give you kind of an overview of um the county's role with broadband within
Highland the county as a government in Highlands County. Um, I serve as the leader of the RLTPT, which stands for the local technology planning team. Um, and essentially that was kicked off around 2020
um to kind of determine or give the state advice on what the needs were in Highlands County. The LTPT members are very majorly also the members of the economic development council for Highlands County. So, it covers a wide range of industries. So we have
healthcare, um agriculture, education, um all of the major industries and also each of the municipalities are typically represented on our e economic development council. Anytime we're going to talk about broadband, we'll invite additional members that we think might have a stake in that conversation as well.
Um the county also has one broadband project that's underway at this moment. We use some of our American Rescue Plan Act dollars to extend some broadband um for the county purposes. So, we're doing a little over 20 miles of of broadband. Much of that is dark fiber, which means
the fiber that would be between county buildings so the county buildings can communicate with each other. And then the ISP or the internet service provider who is actually doing that service for us will also be connecting businesses or residences along that route as well.
Um the state is pretty much controlling all of the dollars that are coming into different communities for broadband. Um there's a few places you can look to see where that funding's been um awarded. One is the connected Florida map which is on the Florida Office of Broadband
website. Um and that is related to um Florida Department of Commerce. So you can kind of find it through that link. I can also send that to Dana if you would like to see that yourself. And within so you see so that you know what areas of Highlands County have been awarded.
Comcast has been awarded in northeast Avon Park around the bombing bombing range in the west of the west area of the county including the country club of Sebring and some of Lake Josephine. Conexon partnered with Glades Electric. So any Glades Electric consumers also
have broadband attached to their um lines as well. And then IBT Group USA is the um internet service provider that the county is partnering with for our project. They've also applied for funding in a couple other areas, a couple small neighborhoods um
specifically CMI River Estates, Crystal Lake, um and then there's another location off of 70 closer to Okachobee as well. Uh there are still areas in Highlands County that are eligible for funding. There's another map through the FCC um
website. It's called the FCC National Broadband Map, and you can actually type in a a specific address in that one, and it'll tell you exactly what your speeds are and whether or not you're eligible or ineligible for further funding. There are parts of Lake Class that are still eligible for funding. And the cool thing
about that is much of the funding that's coming down the pipe is specifically tailored to internet service providers. So I am currently fielding calls from different internet service providers that are looking to expand their markets into different place parts of Highlands County. Um the current funding
mechanisms that are available right now come from VED which is the broadband equity and access deployment funding that comes from the state. Uh the deployment section of this has just closed. That specifically is more tailored to different internet service
providers that are looking to provide um actual hard fiber in different communities, not so much for municipal governments. And then they also have another round of that from the same pot. It's a workforce funding and that'll fund um different programs like
apprentice apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs, on the job training programs, credentiing and certificate programs, training equipment purchasing, tuition costs, and instructor recruitment and training. And so we'll see um educational institutions and workforce development
boards and some local governments will be eligible to apply for those that round of funding. The state's still working on the application and we don't have a release date for that yet. Um, see what else I have. So, that's kind of where we're at right now with it. Again,
I can talk about broadband all day. So, if you guys have any questions or if you'd like to see more. So, if I'm understanding you correctly, we're Lake Placid is near about surrounded by fiber optics, but we haven't landed it yet.
Yes. And the tricky thing about Lake Placid, if you look at that FCC map, is there are several locations that are deemed ineligible for further funding or already served. Have you seen us on that list? Uh, I know that this location in particular, I looked at it and it's
considered served. And so the um baseline for becoming a served location is to have 100 over 20 um upload over download speeds for fixed broadband. So that would be because some kind of fixed internet service, not
necessarily like a um it wouldn't count if it was like your phone and you're using a hotspot or something of that sort. It would be some kind of fixed service like Comcast or Exfinity or even Starlink sometimes counts for that. I think what start just so the public understands what started some of this
conversation I don't know eight months ago a year ago is um Lake Placid has a natural gas line that runs along 70 south of here. Uh it's I mean that's might as well be a million miles away uh
if we don't if we aren't able to access it. But nonetheless it's it's right there. So there's lots of talk about how to tie it in and what grants are available and how to get developers to kind of develop between here and there so they can just bring it up at their expense. And that's also brought because
that obviously makes us more marketable particularly with the Duke readiness survey online and just our location being perfect for uh a lot of industries because we're close to airports and railroads and seapports and um which
also brought up the second part of this is broadband or more specifically fiber op fiber optic internet because things like natural gas and fiber optics are very attractive to potential business owners who might consider this
quaint town of Lake Placid a good spot to plant. Um so um we're learning from the economic development council about why it hasn't happened or why we're not eligible or what options we have. One question I have is more for our town
staff probably Miss Rodriguez. you right before you got here in this role, Miss Rodriguez, if I'm not mistaken, we had missed out on some grants that ended up funding places like Avon Park, Wula, Okachchobee. I mean, it literally was
all around us. But I think with a lot of leadership switchover happening in our town offices, it was overlooked. Or maybe it was observed and then it for whatever reason decided not to get it. So, um, we have just encouraged and I
see a town council woman present. We encourage the town to um start exploring ways, if there are any, to move natural gas closer, even if it's part of our big 25-y year plan we're about to meet about and roll out to get things like fiber
optics, uh internet into this area that just make us more marketable and able to serve our customer base better, if you will. Does anyone have any questions for Miss Murphy based on what's been presented thus far? Does that pretty well summarize what you
were going to bring? Um, would you state again those very specific websites where we can learn more? Uh, get the information, apply for the grants. Is that in the packet? It I No, it's not. I'm so sorry. But
it's uh Florida.org or has the connected Florida map and that's through the Florida Office of Broadband which is within the Florida Department of Commerce. Were you able to get that miss? Is that being recorded so we can put it in the
minutes? That'd be that'd be helpful more helpful than me writing it down. And then there's also the FCC National Broadband Map. Okay. And so one shows you what's funded and one will show you what areas are eligible. Okay. And Sarah Beth, you had given me a brief
outline of your notes for what you would discuss today. I see that there's a couple links in here um for connected Florida, the national broadband map and the bead program. If that encompass encompasses
those um maps that you're talking about, I'd be happy to send that out to the local planning agency as well. That would be great. Thank you for your time, Miss Murphy. If there are no other questions, we appreciate it. Go live on that baby. Thank you. If you have any questions in the future, um our website is
highlandsbusiness.com and you can find all my contact information there. So, thank you guys. Thank you. All right, that brings us to our next item of business, reszoning request, LPTC.25.005RZ. This time, let me turn it over to Dana
Ryel, town planner. Thank you. This is a public hearing. Uh, I will go ahead and ask the council if they've had any exparte communication. My name is Dana Redell, as mentioned by Dustin Woods. I'm the town planner. Um, the
public has been duly noticed. There's been posters posted to the property pursuant to our local regulations as well as uh the required mailing notices. So I will proceed with Mr. Freeman if you would tell me if you've had any
exparte communication regarding this case. No. No ma'am. Mr. Woods. I am the president of Grace Bible Church of Highlands County, Inc. I've had just about everybody you could talk to.
Do I have I'm not sure how you put that in the record. Um but you're I believe you're abstaining. Is that right? I will be abstaining. I fired filed the proper paperwork with the deputy clerk. Okay, that's great then. Thank you, Mr. Duncan. I have not. And Mr. Ramos,
I have not. Thank you. So, I'll read the ordinance into the record. It's ordinance number 2025-09, an ordinance of the town of Lake Placid amending the zoning classification of a property located at 580 East Interlake
Boulevard bearing parcel ID P3136307A 0110004 from R1A single family dwelling district to C2PD limited commercial district with a plan development to allow for a church and church uses and adding section 160-23 of the code of the town of Lake
Placid entitled Grace Bible Church providing for severability providing for conflict and providing for an effective date. So to elaborate on this request, I'll direct your attention to the PowerPoint we have on the screen. As noted, this is a reasonzoning
request. There is no companion future land use request. The owner of the property is Grace Bible Church of Highlands County. This property has been affectionately known over the years as South Florida State College and their campus, but a portion of that campus has
been broken off and sold to the church. The agent for this case is Ministry Solutions Group under the care of Terry Campbell and the address of this property is 580 East Inner Lake Boulevard in Lake Placid 33852.
The applicant is requesting a reszoning for the subject property described above from single family dwelling district R1A to the limited commercial planned development district to allow for a church and church uses and adding section 160-23 of the code of the town
of Lake Placid entitled Grace Bible Church Plan Development Ordinance. On the screen is a location map. You can see that this property is at the southwest intersection of East Inner Lake and Hibiscus. Hibiscus is right
here. It continues around this curve. And what's interesting about this property and what caught a lot of us offguard is something that you don't see a lot in the town of Lake Placid. You see it really frequently in the unincorporated Highlands County, but the
future land use and the zoning are inconsistent. That means that in the 70s when the state came in and applied zoning, they recognized whatever use was there. So they included it as
R1A. it it probably could have fallen under C2 or R1A, but they felt like at that time the R1A district was sufficient for regulating this property. But then later on in the 80s when the
state came in and said, look, we've implemented rules and regulations through zoning, but we haven't actually directed growth to stop urban sprawl. So now we're assigning future land uses. They assigned a commercial general
future land use meaning the future intent of this property was meant to be commercial general. When you have an inconsistent zoning in future land use, you cannot
perform a new use or any use that would be contradictory. The state comprehensive plan requires and this is Florida statute requires that the zoning match the comprehensive plan. So that's why originally we would have come
forward with a special exception as apparently churches are required to be approved by special exception in the town of Lake Plastid no matter what district they're in. Um, we ended up having to come in with a zoning change and it's a PD because there's certain
deviations from the code that are being requested. Oops. So, this would be the proposed zoning C2PD. LP is just meaning that it's a lake placid designation. If you ever use the
Highlands County interactive map, their GIS map, they put LP in front of the zoning designations that belong in the town. On the screen is the site plan for the property. Um, they've assigned uses to each
building. The meeting rooms are assigned to a building. One building will be a youth facility. An auditorium will be 300 seats. And it will also double as a children's facility. It's split level in that building. And there's classrooms
like Sunday school and Bible school classrooms that will be placed in the building on the east. Now, in terms of deviation from the code, because our code requires,
I think it's three um no, I'm sorry, one parking space for every five seats that are available, there are 40 something parking spaces on site, which means some of the parking would have to
occur in the public rideway on Sunday mornings. So, as part of this PD, they're asking for permission to do that, and that would be the public parking spaces along Inner Lake. The church provided a letter as part of their application detailing their hours
of usage. We understand that their peak usage will be Sundays during the day and Wednesday evenings. Um, I provided a recommendation of approval because we understand as a baseline in the town
of Lake Placid, the church or the the town practically shuts down on Sunday mornings. So, if there's additional parking that occurs in the town right away, it will not create a nuisance. There's also conditions inserted into
the ordinance that basically say if there's any interference with traffic, um there there can't be any interference with traffic. So there can't be like a long queue backing up on Inner Lake or
anything like that. That would violate the plan development. And the other um like deviation, and I hesitate to even call it a deviation, it's something that's allowed by code is called dual
use parking, which means it just has to it would usually just go before council for approval, but it's like when two businesses want to share a parking lot because they use the parking lot at different hours. So the church I'm sorry
the college next door the remaining building that's there generally has different operating hours than the peak operating hours of the church. So although there's some night classes um they operate generally 8 to 5 Monday
through Friday. In the letter that was provided as part of the application from the church, it was indicated that there's maybe three to four administrative professionals on campus at the church Monday through Friday 8 to 5. Um the college isn't usually open on
Sundays, so their parking schedules don't particularly overlap. There could be some overlap in parking on Wednesday evenings with night classes and the Wednesday night Bible study, but
this particular portion of Inner Lake generally has enough parking available whether it's on the street or in the parking lot. So, this case went to the town council first for first reading so we could keep it on
track because we didn't have a meeting in September. And since first reading, there were some changes in the ordinance requested by the applicants just to make sure that everything is encompassed because once you have a plan development, you cannot have a variance
or a special exception. you must redo your plan development and go through this entire process a second time. So, the church took a moment to re-examine and make sure that they made every request that they possibly could need and they asked for some deviation to the
sign code. So, usually you're allowed to have one sandwich board sign per property. They're asking for up to six temporary sandwich board signs to be placed on the property one hour prior to gathering times and removed immediately after.
Uh the code also limits the number of ground mounted signs which includes monument signs. So the church is asking that in addition to one monument sign, the property may have up to three additional permanent groundmounted signs. These signs shall be located at
each of the three main entrances to the building and the signs will be approximately six square feet each. The applicants provided additional information that those signs are meant for maps like campus maps and what each building is for. We we can't regulate
what is on the signage or what the signage will be used for as part of planning and zoning. So, that's not part of the ordinance, but that's for your information. They're also asking for up to two banner signs to be placed on the property at the same time for a period not to exceed
21 consecutive days per calendar year. These signs shall not exceed 24 square ft each and may be placed along the same street frontage. So for reference, that's for something like a vacation Bible school.
Most businesses in town are allowed to have one banner during the lifetime of their business during their grand opening for the first 30 days and then they're not allowed to have banners again. Uh that's been something that has been really contentious in our sign code
and this is one avenue that can be taken to address those concerns and plan for the future if there's a request for uh additional signage that the code wouldn't usually allow. So we have renderings provided to us by
the applicants of the improvements for Grace Bible Church. These are conceptual. One of the conditions is that they will be required to provide a landscaping plan that will bring the site up to
compliance as much as possible with today's landscaping plan standards. At the town council meeting, the town council voted unanimously to approve on first reading and send to the local planning agency for their recommendation. Today, my recommendation
is to recommend that the town council approve and adopt hearing number LPTC.25.005RZ, ordinance number 2025-09, on second reading. And a lot of times you see me go through a lot of analysis on these cases. I am
trying to work to shorten up these presentations. I have plenty of slides in the rear if you have any questions and you need more information. Uh but it it's all part of your packet and it was publicly distributed. So I'm here for any questions you may have.
Thank you, Miss Ryell. As Miss Ryell mentioned uh to us at the beginning of this conversation, this is a public hearing, which means that the public will have opportunity to speak if you so choose when I open up that part of the meeting. But any public comment
that's made will be limited to three minutes. And I will set an alarm to make sure that we keep it at three minutes. Um but before we do that, any questions from the board towards uh Mr. Ryell or
the owners? I I've got a few questions. Yes, sir. And it's really in regards to the signs. Okay. Now, these are not considered temporary at all. They're all going to be there because it shows a picture of this one right next to the one that shows where
the signs are. The banner sign would be temporary, but all the others would be permanent. And let me go ahead and get I don't have it as part of my PowerPoint, but I do have it in the package. So, let me get there real quick. It doesn't have a page number on it, but
um it's right after the it says grace Bible and it talks about the signs. And it's the right there. See that? It's you got the yellow parts that show where the signs go. I just want to make sure it's clear that those are permanent
and they will look similar to this one that's shows a nice little diagram on supported by these posts which is just the bottom there. That's I just it's just clarifying it. Yes. Uh well no I'm sorry. Okay. So
these yellow squares or rectangles will be temporary banner signs. The yellow trapezoids. Yes, ma'am. Will be temporary sandwich board signs. They're put out and picked up. That's what I Yeah, that's what I
thought. So, the only permanent ones are the larger ones. Correct. That'll look like this other one that's in the They'll have the one monument sign and the three maps of the campus. Okay. Yes. I just want to make sure. Yes, sir. Only the ones in blue are permanent.
Correct. Correct. dark blue and light blue, right? I just brought that up because there's been controversy over the years about the signs in the town. So, that's certainly okay. As far as I last comment, everything
else looks really good. I I really think they did a good job. So, I agree. Any other questions from the board before I open up for public comment? I'll bring
it back to you after we hear from them. Let me open it up for public comment. Any uh public comment? Um I saw a hand go up back there. Anyone that's going to share public comment, you need to come to the podium. And just a reminder that there's a threeminut
time limit on public comment. So, if you'd like to go next, pop on up here to the front row so I can see you and not forget and anyone else who might want to as well. Um, uh, once you take the podium,
uh, just please state your name and your, uh, just state your name for the record, please. Beth DNE, Lake Placid, resident, nine years. My cons question only is it's not showing really good the blue. The blue is going to be the Grace's new sign. So,
I know my background where I work. What are they doing with the white one that they have out there now? Is that going to be moved closer to the building red, the red brick building 100? The college has a sign right now. I work for the college. So, uh, just background, the I know there's been
controversy on the property and stuff, but is going to move that white sign in front of building 100 for the college to use, and you got the church is going to have their own. Uh, the church upon acquisition of the property also acquired the sign with the purchase of the property.
Okay. So, if they want to put a new sign out for them, they're going to That's correct. Okay. Yes, ma'am. And then the R1A question about grandfathered in. I I'm backgrounds county too. They're they're wanting to deny today's motion for the
church on the one section of it because of the zoning. It was grandfathered in from the 70s you said Don or Dana. So the R1A concerns me. Well, R1A is residential zoning which would allow a public school and it would
also allow a church. both would require special exception. The buildings are fine. They can exist. They can be there forever. But now there's a change in use. So when there's a change in use, we have to ensure that it complies with the
future land use and today's zoning regulations. So it required a zoning change in order to bring it up to speed. Okay. It loses its grandfathered status when you when you change the use. Okay. Last question. If they get denied today, are they going to be able to make
your corrections so they can keep moving forward to make this church happen? This is a recommendation body. So, they could recommend denial and it would go before the town council and it would be up to the discretion of the town council um as to whether or not they there would
be final approval or denial. Okay. Thank you. Thanks for Yes, ma'am. Please state your name for the record up here at the podium. My name is Shirley Grimes. I have lived in Highlands County for over 30 years.
And it was just placed on my heart to share this, the why we do what we do. It says, "You are heaven's representatives from 2 Corinthians 5:20. We are therefore Christ's ambassador as though God were making his appeal
through us. You are not saved to sit. You were saved to represent. The moment you gave your life to Christ, heaven gave you an assignment. You are an ambassador of the kingdom, a carrier of light, truth, and hope in a dark
world. As we've seen what's been going on lately, the enemy wants you to believe you're insignificant, but an ambassador doesn't speak on his own authority. They speak with the full backing of the one who sent them. That's you.
Every conversation, every prayer, every act of love carries kingdom weight. When you walk into a room, heaven walks in with you. The This is not arrogance. It's an awareness.
You present your presence to shift the atmosphere because God lives in you and in this town. And then it asked for a practical action. Ask God to open your eyes to one moment
today where you can represent him with kindness, truth, and courage. And I came to this meeting and I'd like to share the prayer and end it on this prayer. Lord, thank you for trusting us to carry your kingdom. Help
us to see oursel as your ambassadors, bold, humble, and full of the spirit. In Jesus holy name we pray. The church is waking up with the reason and as you can see why another church because God is
calling his people. We need the room. Thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Thank you for sharing. While it's still open to the public, is there any other public comment? All right. Hearing none, let me bring it back to the board. Any other comments or
questions? Dana, can you put the motions back up? Yes. I'm going to make a motion to move to recommend approval and adoption of hearing number LPTC.25.005RZ, 005 RZ comma ordinance number 2025-09
on second reading. I'll second that. We have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Miss Canwell, please call the role. I'm sorry. Who seconded that? Me.
Chris Duncan, yes. Gary Freeman, yes. Alex Ramos, yes. That's it. That's it. And I abstain. No. For the record, proper paperwork's been
filed with the town deputy clerk. All right, that brings us into item number three for tonight. Miss Rodell. Thank you. As noted, Dana Redell, town planner for the record. Tonight, the town of Lake Placid is requesting
approval from the local planning agency for grass parking for Lake June Park pursuant to section 161-41C of the town code. So, I'd like to take a minute to clarify what we are and what we are not
approving today. We are not approving the pickle ball courts. That is not for this board to decide. Um, we are not approving the number of parking spaces, the number of pickle ball courts, the lighting on the
pickle ball courts, the funding for the pickle ball courts. None of that is up for discussion. We have one item that requires approval before the local planning agency
and that is whether or not parking for the Lake June ball fields, pickle ball court, uh boat launch area can be used can be grass parking
and obviously one of the reasons for that is for cost savings. Another reason is to lower the ambient temperature. And a third reason would be to preserve
our green space, which has been a like a trademark request from our town council when it pertains to the construction of the pickup ball courts and incillary um parking areas.
Now, as I mentioned, we're not deciding on the pickle ball courts tonight, but I will address a few concerns that have been sent my way. There have been concerns that there is a site plan included as part of this package
and that the town council did not approve this very specific site plan and or ARPAC which is one of the funding authorities did not approve this very specific site plan and FDR did not
approve this very specific site plan during the application processes for ARPAT. and Verdat they understand and it is noted that any renderings are conceptual. You are bringing to them an
idea. You are not bringing to them with certainty exactly what you are going to construct in terms of number of parking spaces where it's going to be but you are bringing to them a request to fund pickle ball courts and in this
case parking spaces. So, um, there's been concerns that this might not be going through the correct review process. I can assure you that it is starting the process of the town's
commercial review process. One of the first steps is concurrency. Like any other commercial application, they must go to the Highlands County Engineering Department and confirm that whatever traffic is generated from this development will not decrease the level
of service on the road. And if so, what improvements are to be made? Um they're in the they're in the process of starting that now. That's part of the commercial review process. Before we even get through the commercial commercial review process,
we knock out things like this such as parking or landscape deviations, anything that that might occur during that time. The commercial review process in the town is administrative.
New buildings, new infrastructure, new parks do not go before town council for approval. Oftent times you do see them go before town council for approval as part of a plan development zoning. That's
generally if the zoning is not already in place. Like we saw tonight with Grace Bible Church, the zoning wasn't jing with the future land use. So, we had to bring it forward. In this case, I've done a thorough review of the property. The
zoning and future land use are consistent and compatible with each other and with the use. So, at no point will the exact design of the pickle ball courts need to come before town council.
If town council wishes to change procedures going forward, that is up to to their discretion. Who makes the final call on exact design? Then essentially we have a project manager who's taking
charge of making sure everything is done properly, but we have the engineers design it and they take things into consideration like town council did specifically note where in the park it would be acceptable to have the pickle ball court. approved that they wanted to
have X Y and Z and then staff takes the lead from there. Correct. They took the guidance from town council and then the engineer has to design storm water retention and all the other things that come along with it. So it's a puzzle that we rely on professionals to put together.
Um, and then of course it goes through planning and zoning review and all the other departments have the opportunity to comment to advise if there's any other issues that they would see with the design. So tonight, circling back to where we really need to
be, is does the local planning agency approve of parking over grass because the code allows the local planning agency to approve grass parking where there is
infrequent or light usage. Now to clarify maybe um this is a conceptual plan opting operating within certain boundaries of the town council's
purview. Uh staff is working with engineers and designers to put together something that works within the bumpers. We are being presented this at this point in the plan to approve in general
If grass or mulch parking where light duty or infrequent use could happen in this conceptual plan, is that a go if that ends up being a need? Correct.
But staff will decide where that goes. We're just deciding it can go. It can go. Exactly. Right. Correct. when it comes down to it. Correct. And I want to qualify one more
thing is that these parking spaces aren't solely for the purpose of the pickle ball court. These parking spaces are for the the park in general, for the ball field parking, for the pickle ball courts, for the boat launch.
So, when we talk about what infrequent usage is and light duty is, we're looking at hours of operation. And yes, there's lights proposed for the pickle ball court because that usage will go into the night, but that amount of usage
will not fill up all of the parking spaces here. We expect to see the parking filled up during uh drag boat races, lacrosse tournaments, baseball tournaments,
major events. There will be peak usage. Every spot will be filled on a daily basis. We expect the trickling of some cars in and out and potentially in the evening a higher amount of usage.
And that is uh very similar to what you would see if you looked at the pickle ball courts in city of Sebring. You can see in the evening hours uh the parking gets pretty full, but throughout the rest of the day there's plenty of
parking available. So that's kind of the thought process behind how much these parking spaces will be used and for what purpose. Thank you, Miss Rodell. Any questions or comments for the board? I'd like to make a motion that we
proceed and it's right here. Staff recommendation. That's what what you want to approve, Mr. Chairman. Is that see back up in the Yes, sir. That's correct. So, I if it's at the pleasure of the chairman, I'd like the motion to do that. How's that sound?
If there is no other discussion on the tip of your tongue, I wait to entertain such a motion. I have a question. So like should we put a stipulation because let's say the pickle ball court starts having like tournaments and the grass starts to wear
out like should there be a stipulation that it starts to wear and tear then we have to do something besides you know multure grass and mau how does the town qualify light duty or infrequent uh when it comes to
Yeah. because they may only be using it once a month, but it may be a mud pit. Yeah, it's definitely subjective. There isn't particularly a definition in the code that addresses or quantifies that. Um, you certainly could put a
stipulation on there. And there's even something in the code that says we could come back and trigger the requirement for it to be paid in the future. Does it being grass
affect what we do as far as drainage as as opposed to permeable surface like that? Yeah, to some degree, yes. Um, there still has to be storm water drainage provided.
It is stabilized grass, so there's still some impact to drainage when you stabilize the grass in that way. Uh, I'm not a pool engineer, but just from my understanding, that's how that works. And yes, there would probably have to be more drainage.
The reason I asked that is because if we do something like Alex said where we put a stipulation in, then later on down the road they have to pave it. Does that change? Then we have to redo everything. Drainage changes everything. Then you put asphalt, pave, whatever. It now you've got a different runoff.
The site plan would have to be modified. It changes everything. Yes. Correct. Well, it's going to have to be engineered anyway. Correct. No matter what. Yeah. Elevation, all the everything has to do with development. Yes, that is correct.
I just had some helpful information. I hope I do know that they said there would be reinforced parking. That's what it would be through the parking area. And just looking at it there, they will it will be structural strengthening. And I'm just reading this. I am not an engineer. So jump in
at any time, but basically that for existing parking structures, carbon fiber fabric can be laminated onto the concrete beams and floor slabs with special adhesive to reinforce them. That's what it says right now when I read that. Don't hold me to that, but that's what we were told was that there
would be reinforced parking in the green space area where the parking is. So more to come I think is really what it is is as we go through the process with the engineers and express that to them. How many more stops by town council does
this project have overall or has town council done its part now it's up to y'all. It will keep moving forward. We will have it on the agenda again at our upcoming meeting on Monday for town council. For town council.
Okay. We are only approving tonight the the area the picture's gone of the area that's shaded. From what I understand, we're not approving an area. We're just approving if there ends up being an area. But on here, it's just a shaded area. I mean, it that doesn't affect the boat
ramp area or any of that. Just that area, correct? or it could go anywhere for um if anything like if anything were to change on this plan is that things might get scaled down because the dollars keep
shrinking. Yeah. Okay. Any other questions or comments from the board from Mr. Ryell or town staff? Nope. Hearing not wait to entertain a motion. I I would motion to accept that. You
know, if you want me to read a move to approve grass patching for the public park located 501 Jackson Road. I think that's what you want. Excuse me, Gary. Just a moment. Uh, is this being an action item? Is it a
public hearing that is meant to be open to public comment? It's not a quasi judicial hearing and it's not a legislative hearing, but Eva, does that make it open to public comment? Should be open for public comment. Yes,
ma'am. Please come to the stand and state your name for the record. After the motion and second, my name is Rosemary Heath. Hold on just a sec. And I live I'm a resident of Lake Plaza in 588 Sunset Point. Um, the area we're
talking about is used frequently. There's boats and trailers and cars there all the time. On weekends, you can count maybe 22 boats and trailers and cars. The um area
where the um swimming is, there's always cars about um parked there. And if you look, the parking is like scattered everywhere. There's no right place to park. Some park here, some park there, especially those huge
trailers. Um the gravel or the parking area we're talking about is all full of potholes and roughs. When it rains, they're filled with water.
And the gravel is really not safe for the children to run around in. Um I don't understand also where this plan came from. Originally there was a vote either on one area, plan one or plan
two. And then all of a sudden there's this diagram that nobody voted for. The council members didn't vote for. I don't know where this diagram came from and but it's not been approved by the council. Yes, ma'am. I understand.
Um what else? But I want to make sure that you know that it's frequently used and sometimes and in um during the weekends you have three different groups of people that
come in. You have the group that come in in the morning that want to do the morning boating and want to do swimming without the sun. And then you have a whole group coming at lunchtime that comes to picnic. And there's Boers that come to picnic, too. And then in the
evening is when you have your parties and the night voters. This park is always used. And it's so sad that the road, the walkways are
ruts and potholes and nobody spends any money on this. And um one more thing, and I know it has nothing to do with this, the town residents do not want this pickle ball court. The town US ambassadors in
Sebring and the Sebring pickle ball club are the ones that came to meetings over and over and over again. And some of these meetings were held at 11:30 at night when all the children and workers
had to go home and they left at 9:00. And that's when at 11:30 is when they took the vote of where the pickle ball dude um were going to be placed. They either going to be placed at that side of the park or on the other side um of the
fields. Thank you, ma'am, for sharing your concern. Uh just to clarify too for any concerned residents watching this online or here present um this particular board doesn't have it's not within our purview
to approve or deny the pickle ball courts. It's not within our purview to approve or deny the plans for pickle ball courts. It's not within our purview to approve or deny where parking might go. Our responsibility as local planning
agency is we determine whether or not it's appropriate for lowresistance parking areas if there ends up being any for it to be grass or mulch. That's what we determine. It's a very broad decision
that may end up not even being a thing. Um, but the right venue to raise those concerns about concept or overall planning would certainly be at the upcoming town council meeting where those decisions can be rearranged or
overridden, if that makes any sense. All right. as it relates to if we find ourselves in a temporary parking area situation with low resistance traffic. Uh what is this board's position on
either grass or mulch parking in those areas? Can you put the recommend or the motions up there, please? I move to approve grass car parking for the public park located at 501 Jackson
Road, Lake Placard, Florida 33852. Would that be considered maybe a second? Gary already had a motion. Mr. Freeman made a motion. Okay. You just didn't read it, so I didn't hear you. Yeah, that's second. Okay. All right, we have a motion and a
second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, Miss Canwell, please call the role. Gary Freeman, yes. Chris Duncan, yes. Da Woods, yes. Alex Ramos, no.
No. Thank you all for attending this evening's meeting. There's no more business for the good of this group. Motion to adjurnn.