--------- All right. Thank you all for being here today for our county commission meeting. Hopefully, uh, one, two, three, that's four of us. Is that enough, Madam County, county attorney? All right. Um, did y'all see Commissioner Proctor
back there or Commissioner O'Keefe? I think Commissioner Proctor is back there. Yeah, um ladies and gentlemen, before we get started, we'd like to um observe a moment of silence if you wouldn't mind for uh the loss, I believe it was
yesterday, of former commissioner Jay Lee Voss, who I never had the the pleasure of meeting. Um and some of our other commissioners probably have. Uh, Commissioner Voss served Leyon County for a long time. 20 years. Uh, Mr.
County Administrator, were you 1992 1972 to 1992. Okay. So, y'all over overlapped a little bit. A little bit. Yeah. So, um, we are saddened at the loss of Commissioner Voss. He served for a long time uh, our county and our community.
And, uh, we'd just like to take a second. Thank you, Commissioner Proctor, for um, your suggestion. Uh, just a little quick moment of silence. Thank you. All right. Thank you, commissioners. And um and our thoughts and prayers go out to the Voss family. Um, thank you for lending Commissioner
Voss to this community for for such a long time. Um, all right, Commissioners, we'll get into our agenda. Uh, I believe we uh let's see. Commissioner Cummings, would you like to introduce our uh our our uh invocation? Uh, thank you. Thank
you, Mr. Chair. Um, I have the pleasure uh, Mr. chair and commissioners of introducing Reverend Ronnie Cannon. He's an associate pastor of Bethl Missionary Baptist Church and if he will come to
the podium, he will be providing the invitation for today's meeting. So, Reverend Cannon, shall we pray? Heavenly Father, as we gather today as servants of this community, we come before you
with grateful hearts. We thank you for the opportunity to lead and to serve our fellow citizens. Grant us wisdom and discernment as we make decisions that affect the lives of those we represent. Illuminate our minds with your truth and guide our decisions with
patience and compassion. Help us to listen to one another, valuing diverse perspectives while striving for unity in our purpose. May our actions reflect the best interest of our community, fostering justice, peace, and
prosperity for all. Bless each member here with strength and resilience and inspire us to work together for greater good. It's in Jesus name I pray. Amen. Amen. Thank you. Thank you, Re. Thank you so much for that appropriate prayer.
Now, if we will all stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and
justice for all. Thank you, Commissioner Cummings. Um, commissioners, at this time, uh, I'd like to entertain a motion for Commissioner Caban to participate via the telephone. So, move, Mr. Chair. All right. We've got a move a motion in a second. All those in favor?
I. And it is approved unanimously. Commissioner Caban, are you on the phone? Yes, sir. I can hear you, Mr. Chairman. Awesome. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Glad you could join us. Um, we are now on to awards and presentations. Uh our first
proclamation is going to be uh uh presented by Commissioner Maddox. Please join him at the podium. Uh Bishop Devin Griffin, Senior of the Family Worship and Praise Center. You want
to first lady? All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I have the honor and privilege of presenting this proclamation to not only a community leader but my spiritual leader and I appreciate all you've done for our community but me personally I appreciate
everything you've done for me kind words and times I need it means a lot so I appreciate that Mr. Chair proclamation reads, "How whereas Quincy Devon Griffin, born in historic city of Charleston, South Carolina, has walked a
path shaped by purpose, compassion, and unwavering faith. From his early days as a student at Florida&M University, where he earned a degree in music education in 2003 to his role as the director of bands at James S. Rickers High School.
He has sown seeds of excellence in the lives of young people, shaping minds and inspiring futures through music and mentorship. And whereas after a decade of faithful service in the classroom and in the church, Quincy D. Griffin stepped
into the divine assignment in 2013, answering the call to leave Family Worship and Praise Center following the passing of his founder and a beloved pastor Cyrus Flanigan as executive pastor turned senior shepherd. He
embraced this mantle with humility and strength, continuing to uh continue a ministry built on love, restoration, and spiritual uh spiritfilled transformation. I'm sorry. Can I can I have uh school board member Jones come
up? Uh he is head steward uh and church extraordinarily in Le County. It would be uh an honor to have him come up and present this with me. I appreciate it. Uh whereas recognizing the visible par uh disparities in his community
especially among children attending southside title one schools in 2017 he launched schools for shoe uh shoes for school a ministry born of compassion and driven by dignity that has given over
26,000 pairs of shoes to students in Tallahassee and beyond. Again, fitting that we would have a school board member here is we've all gone through that uh first day of school uh having to have had those those shoes that you wor for me it was British nights back in the day. Yeah.
Yeah. I never got a pair of my mama and mom. Uh whereas Pastor Quincy D. Griffin Senior is the founding father uh create uh creator, producer, and visionary of the Leyon County's annual Jubilee Gospel Music Festival, bringing bringing in
A-list artist to the Adly Amphitheater and establishing the Jubilee Gospel Music Choice Awards annually recognizing the legendary gospel talent in Leyon County, which has never been recognized before. And whereas Pastor Quincy D.
Griffin senior is the founding uh well I just read that whereas under pastor Quincy D. Griffin's bold and spirit-led leadership family worship and praise has become more than a place of worship. It is a movement of empowerment through
sound doctrine authentic worship and passion of outreach and for outreach. Whereas on April 12th, 2025, Pastor Quincy Griffin, Senior was peacefully uh prayfully, not peacefully, prayfully, well, it was peaceful uh elated and
consecrated as the presiding uh prellet of family worship and praise center church worldwide and now walks in his divine calling as bishop Quincy D. Griffin, Senior, expanding his reach and deepening his impact across the globe
and continuing to sew seeds of excellence. But now in a new church in new churches. Now therefore be it proclaimed by the board of Leyon County Commissioners in Leon County, Florida that we recognize and honor Bishop Quincy D. Griffin Senior for the elevation of the office of Bishop. Uh
and for the extraordinary vision to engage, equip and empower generations of believers ushering in transformation that reaches beyond the walls of the church and into the fabric of the community. This is signed by the chair was rest commission test to by the
county administrator. Congratulations. First, I'd like to thank God who's the head of my life, but also want to thank all of the commissioners who are here, those who continue to serve, the great work that is to be done in Tallahassee,
Florida with myself last year. Leyon County Board of Commissioners got on board to be a partner with us. And I believe Karen Carolyn Cummings, you made that decision. We have to support shoes for school. And I'm telling you, last year we were able to give 7,000 shoes to
the kids of Lyon County and surrounding areas. I thank you all. I I believe I've worked with most of you personally, but I can't wait to see the great work that we'll continue to do. I do not do this by myself. Behind me is not only the
wind beneath my wings, but she's the beauty on the face of my children. This is Lady Michelle Griffin. Can y'all just give her a hand? She's a She's a dynamic force to be reckoned with and I'm thankful that she serves along with me. And I have to
give props to my co- lababorers, my ministers, my elders, some of my leaders at Family Worship and Praise Center who joined me today. Can y'all just stand and be recognized too? I could not do it without you all and I will not. My children could not
come. Today was field day and testing, so this was a non-negotiable for them, but we'll see them in the near future. Again, thank you so much. I love Tallahassee, and I think it's wonderful to be able to serve in a city that I love and serve also the people I love as
well. Thank you so much. I'll see you all soon. Bill Pro, I'll see you tomorrow. Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. Uh, Pastor Griffin did not tell you that um, two Sundays ago at his church uh, they
sponsored what was called the uh, be out Sunday. U, those of you who've gone to Florida University know what be out day is, a be out Saturday. But they had more folk who was there being out of
church uh than probably most of the other churches had combined with people who was being in church. What came with be out Sunday was um was hot dogs,
hamburgers, fun. And them kids pull on the rope so hard the rope broke and the rope didn't just break twice. Then they broke brought out rope number two, the blue rope. And they played so
hard that and and the rope broke twice. it. I mean, right in the middle and there was another collision. Boom, boom, boom, boom. And um the kind of energies that uh fers around uh this church is um spectacular,
unique, and uh a very special um house of praise. And um these words conveyed today uh do not capture the impact uh that this church is having on the community
and the life of uh Southside and all across. Now I'm going tell y'all now. I was disappointed that by the time I got to the shoe giveaway that my size was gone. I'mma let y'all know early what my
feet this year cuz I ain't gonna I voted for Commissioner Cummings. I supported you but if they ain't got my size after this give out 7,000 shoes and I ain't get none. But we love u all the great
work that uh you're doing and um we love uh uh Bishop Quincy and Mother Michelle. and three Saturdays ago, four Saturdays ago, um he was installed as the bishop. Um it
was a wonderful um outstanding service and um I'm just truly excited for the years ahead and all that this team uh in this unit will offer to this community. And as a
preacher, uh, we have be out Sunday at my church over in Greensboro all the time. They everybody just be out. They don't even come by. And but I wasn't trying to hold it every Sunday, but still everybody just thought be out. But, uh, we love you all and
thank you. look forward and please know that um the good members of Bethl AM church um our head deacon brother Daryl Jones our Steuart Pro Tim will tell you that we're right down the street and we look forward to working continuing to
work with you into the future. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yes, sir. Commissioner Cummings, you want to say something? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just very briefly, uh we are certainly elated that you're here, Reverend Griffin, you and your church members, your beautiful
wife. You just have a positive impact on our community. You love our children and you put your money where your m where your mouth is. And sitting on this day is I'm proud that the county commission has supported your efforts last year. We'll be supporting them this year and I
hope we continue to support your efforts. So just thank you. Congratulations to all of you. I see Dr. Bowlolan out there. He does a great job in our Southside schools and just all of you all for your love and compassion for our children. So, thank you very much.
All right. Yes. Thank you, Pastor Griffin or Bishop Griffin. And I'll say Commissioner Proctor, if I show up late to the uh shoes event, they probably still have me cuz I wear the same size shoe as a middle schooler. And I did want to shout out a couple of our Leyon County uh schools
leaders out here. Um, Dr. Marcus, uh, oh, not Nicholas, is it? Scott, I'm sorry. Dr. Marcus Scott and Dr. Vinnie Balden. Thank you guys for being here along with, uh, our school board member, uh, Mr. Jones. Um, all right, Commissioner Proctor, you are up next.
Now, I I just want to say upfront that um the the the awards that we're about to present, proclamations we're about to present, some people think that church folk and the moon
and other places are not overlapping. I beg to differ. Um, some people have dual membership. Uh, Scott and Julie Carwell, please join Commissioner Proctor at the podium. All right.
Uh I um am very very honored and um reflecting on the 40-year anniversary of the moon and um the Carwells have been uh they're just stalwart members of our community. And a couple of things I'd
like to say in terms of the economic impact uh which their uh establishment have had. They've paid u 22 over the 40 years $22 million in payroll and payroll
taxes. They have paid $20 million in artist fees. They have paid over $8 million in sales tax, $600,000 in property taxes, and
have paid over the life of the moon 2,400,000 in utilities. They've paid over 14,000 hotel nights for artists and have donated over
800 day or night events for charity. And um who's that? Say yes. They've paid over 2,600,000 to the Tallahassee Police Department for off duty officers and
have produced over 1,500 national acts. The Moon staff and equipment has produced over 60 concerts or events at the Adly Amphitheater over the past 10 years. And then there's some writing
right there. I don't know what that say right there. Anyway, that part right there. Yeah, that part right there. But um when you can quantify and measure empirically the contributions of a
business establishment to the tune of locating these numbers, I mean that Mr. Scott Carwell had a great helpmate behind him cuz we know he ain't kept up with nothing like this, right? That Scott can
do. So Julie, come on up here. give me a hug for keeping up with Scott. This is awesome. And Scott, we uh want both of you all to know that for 40 years of um of u holding together uh your
congregants, uh the skill sets common to holding a church together and making sure the music is right is the same thing that Mr. that and Mr. Coswell got to do. The
music got to be right. It got to be right. DJ D, you know, got to be right. That's first thing. There's a lot of overlap. People want to feel good when they go to the church. They want to feel good when they leave. And well, y'all know how they want to feel when they
leave the top flight or the moon. And uh you can make that comparison. And I invite you to do so. But this proclamation that which we share um which does not capture the quantitative but simply it states whereas in May of
1984, Scott Carwell purchased the closed&mp grocery store located at 11:05 East Lafayette Street and began funding design and development. Less than a year later, Scott opened the musical moon on
April 24th, 1985. And whereas Scott and Julie married in 1988 and have managed the business as general managers and co-owners, their children, Scott Junior and Jack, are
also involved in the family business by assisting with promotions and event management. And whereas the moon, Tallahass's premier variety showcase for entertainment and community events, was designed for event
diversity and flexibility and is truly Tallahass's community arts center. And whereas in 1984, having a venue switch genre within the same week was unheard of, much less
on the same night. The Moon has produced various back-to-back events, quickly moving from a private event or a banquet to a country hiphop, jazz, a rock concert. But actually, the M moon is
that place where there's a genre variation. You can have uh Boots on the ground with uh on Friday night or you can have a Boots on the Ground on Saturday night or the same night, but they can switch it up. And the moon
continues to present all genres of entertainment and community benefits. And whereas the moon has been home to some of Tallahassy's favorite local talent, including Tom and the Cats, um the brothers, what's this big word? Van
Landingham. Van Landingham. I That's exactly what I was going to try to say. Tallahassee Nights Live. Let's give a shout out for Tallahassy Nights Live. Anybody been on Tah Night Live? All right. Combat
Night Combat Night, the Tallahassee Symphony, the Southern Shakespeare Company, and many more. And whereas the Moon has produced many national acts and headliners such as George Clinton, Willie Nelson, Jimmy Buffett, BB King,
T. Payne, Tab Benoy, Derek Trucks with Susan, what's her name? That's what I was going to say. Deion Warick, Hallen Oats, The Temptations, Bonnie Red, Kendrick Lamar, Kendrick Lamar, and more. And whereas in addition to diverse
programming of events, hundreds of benefits have been hosted at the moon, including fundraisers, gaylas, and events for worthy cause throughout the region. And whereas Scott and Julie Carwell's 40 years of music production
expertise, extensive contacts, and renowned hospitality have been integral to the achievements and success of Lean County's Cascades Concert Series at the Adalie Amphitheater for over a decade.
Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of county commissioners of Lyon County that we recognize Scott and Julie Carwell for 40 years of contributions and event promotions that have brought cultural life and unity to the community
dated this 13th day of May 2025. And Scott, I as I was reading this um we didn't take note of Tyrone Davis. Tyrone Davis turn back to him. That was a great show. Yes, sir. So, we present
to you all this proclamation. Invite your um comments. Thank you. Thank you. God bless you. I think I second what the bishop said about having my back here with Julie. She's been the rock of the moon for our 40 years where we started it there and
my two sons here, Scott Jr. back here and Jack. Thank you all for being a part of it from day one and making it a family affair. And more than the music, I think, or the anything is the the building has just got its
own feeling about it. It was built the right way by uh association with my cousin Lari Doer. Uh Mad Dog's first commercial project was the moon. went on to become a little bit uh bigger. And uh thanks to Lori, thanks to uh so many
people that helped start it from uh the Voices of the Moon, Joe Bullard and John Summers who aren't here, DJ Dimp is here, Von Wilson is here, uh Doc over here with TNL. We've had so much fun with that and so many people have gone
on from TNL to be major stars. It didn't happen for me, although I was in the band. Uh I'm still waiting for that call from Doc. But uh anyway, u moving along. It it really has been a love for our community is what's made this thing
continue and the strength of our city and county and the whole the whole North Florida, South Georgia is benefited from this building. And that's what drives my wife and I, our family. And I want to thank y'all for awarding us this today. Thank you, Nick. Thank you.
Thank you, Commissioner Miner. Go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you for everything that uh that you all do. I mean, not only do you bring incredible concerts um and and you name it, like as Commissioner Proctor said, backtoback events. It's incredible
what you all do to have an event in the afternoon, switch it over, do something in the evening, and and to just continue on. It's it's really incredible. Um the moon is actually a very important part of this community for the arts, but also for a host of other things, too. and I
and I you you've hosted a you know all different types of organizations um to to help them communicate with the rest of the community and we're very grateful for that. Um it's also has a very special place for me because of the daddy daughter dances that you all host every year. Um you know it's it's really
incredible that uh my my girls start small going to the moon trying to dance and they get taller and taller every year and uh so it's got a special place in our family's um uh growth and history. So thank you for everything you two do. Really appreciate it. Thank you, Commissioner Cummings, were you in the
queue? Okay, Commissioner Maddox. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Scott, man, from the time I set foot uh in Tallahassee in 1999 as a recruit at Florida State uh until today, uh the moon has been
influential in my life. Uh when I came here as a 18-year-old, obviously it was Saturday nights after the game. Uh my first stop after the game was the moon with Travis Miner and those guys. I'm telling on them right now, but it's okay. They're all older. Um until now
where we're actually get the opportunity to go to not only just parties, but civic events right there at your place. And so I want to say we appreciate you for what you've done for this community, but for what the moon has been to this community. Uh not just this community, but uh to the world because there's
people all over the place when they come to Tallahass, they think about the moon. So congratulations on this welldeserved proclamation. We look forward to you doing more amazing things in Lehon County. Thank you. Thank you. I didn't know y'all were just letting anybody in there. Nick Maddox was all up
in here. I thought it was a classy place, you know. Huh? Commissioner, you've been there. So we won't talk call any names. We um very excited. Um some years ago um three
years ago we did Marcus Roberts did a live um album there and uh yeah all of that great things great great memories. We now want to invite uh Mr. M if you please come forward. Mr.
McBride and uh anyone come with Mr. McBride. Is that you? That's me. All right. Now, I want y'all to know that that um I've spent some time in front of the top
flight. Um mostly at the nursery school across the street. Um Mr. No's Wash House was there. Then Gains Nurseries there. So, if I'd been seen over there on Ocola quite a bit as a young man, that that's what I was doing.
We're excited because um some of um bishop's church members, I said they're duly um membered and uh you'll get that on the way home. Mr. Mack, we are honored to
present this to you and your family. Whereas Mr. Theophilles M. McBride was born January 15th, 1947. Dr. Martin Luther King was born on January 15th. Same day. All right. Same
day. Um, but you in Crawfordville, Florida, located in Walcolor and from a young age demonstrated a spirit and passion for community and culture. And in 1971, after marrying his beloved wife Martha McBride, the couple made their
home in Tallahassee in 1972 where Mr. McBride would lay the foundation for an institution that would become a cultural cornerstone in the community. And whereas in December
1974, Mr. McBride established a now iconic Topflight Club, formerly known as Jedaway and Maddox, introducing a space that would serve not only as a social gathering place, but as a beacon of
culture, resilience, and joy within the African-American community. And whereas for over five decades, the Top Flight, I said five decades, y'all, five decades, the Top Flight has stood as a symbol of
enduring spirit, entertainment, and therapeutic joy, welcoming generations through its doors, and offering a safe space for celebration, unity, and expression. And whereas beyond his public contributions, Mr. McBride is a
devoted family man and loving husband, a proud father of three, grandfather of five, and greatgrandfather of three, who finds joy in deep sea fishing, relaxing with classic television favorites such
as Sanford and Son, The Andy Griffin Show, and Everybody Loves Raymond, and passionately cheering on his favorite teams, the Dallas Cowboys, Mr. the Mac there. This is a typo, is it?
Yeah. All right. The Los Angeles Dodgers and the Golden State Warriors. Woo woo. And whereas Mr. McBride is revered as a quiet man of wisdom, respected by all who know him for his sound advice, generous heart, and an impeccable sense
of humor that brings joy to every room he enters. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of county commissioners, Leon County, that we honor and celebrate the extraordinary legacy of Theophilles M.
McBride for his visionary leadership, cultural contributions, and unwavering commitment to the community through the creation and preservation of Topflight Club. His life and work have left an indelible mark on the hearts of many in
the history of Tallahassee. Dated this 13th day of May of 2025. Mr. Mack, I present uh this proclamation to you. God bless you. um community, you all need to know that um I can't remember the year, but when
um Luther Luther Vandros passed, um I called Mr. Mack and said, "Mr. Mack, community is hurting and uh we need to have a a get together u in memory of Luther Vandros." And uh Mr. Mack said,
"Very well, go ahead." and uh he allowed for the District 1 commissioner to summons the District 1 community to come to the District 1 cultural spot and we held a memorable evening in honor of um
Luther Vandross. Um, woo that one and it was a great night and much fun was had uh by all but then reputationally you all know that there are two things very very um shared by all who've had history
with this establishment that people say and the first is that them wings them wings is to die for and I can agree with that and that second thing I let y'all talk about that on the way home. Mr. M.
Thank you very much for this plat and you can tell I'm not a talker, I'm a worker. So, thanks everybody for everything. And yes, he said where the wings don't play. All right. All right. Yes, sir. Yeah. Um
I'm telling myself, but that catfish is pretty good, too. Uh probably might be better than the wings for me. Um so something about the young folks, the 20s and in their 20s and 30s around 75 to 85. It just they were trying to figure out a way to party back then. And here
40, 50 years later, we're still enjoying the spoils of things that they saw saw to saw to have created back then. Um, Mac is not just uh a business on the southside, but is a staple of the
southside. Um, if you if you know anything about about Top Flights, you know, you had a good time there. Most of us, if not all of us have have spent some time there. So, as he takes a picture to M, let you know we appreciate what you've been uh for our community
and not just for the Southside, but all over our community. And we hope for many more years of top flight wings and catfish to come. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Yes, sir. Heat. Heat. First get my camera.
Mr. Draper, will you join me at the podium? All right. All right. Commissioners, thank you. It is my pleasure to present a proclamation recognizing May 2025 as bike month. So, uh, whereas throughout the month of May, Leyon County will
celebrate the joys of riding bikes and the well-being it inspires within us. And whereas May 12th through 16th, 2025 is bike to work week. And May 16th is bike to work day. I expect to see all of your bicycles outside of the
courthouse on those designated days. Commissioners, especially you, Mr. County Administrator. I know you got a long hike there. Uh millions nationwide engage in bicycling as an environmentally sound form of transportation, an excellent form of fitness, and a renewed form of quality family rec recreation. And whereas cycling organizations and independent
cyclists throughout our community are promoting greater public awareness of bicycle operations and safety education in an effort to reduce accidents, injuries, and fatalities. And whereas Lyon County's vast network of on-road and off-road trails supports the livelihoods of our citizens, improves
quality of life, boosts local economies, and contributes to healthier, more connected neighborhoods. And whereas Visit Tallahassee is promoting bicycle use as a means of transportation and recreation to attract more visitors to enjoy our local parks, trail systems, restaurants, hotels, retail
establishments, cultural and scenic attractions, and cultural and scenic attractions in our beautiful community. Now therefore, be it proclaimed by the board of county commissioners that the month of May 2025 be known as bike month in Lyon County and further urge all citizens to recognize the importance of
bicycle safety and be more aware of cyclists on our streets and roadways dated this 13th day of May 2025. Um, I'll just add, uh, you know, I know that we do a really good job in Lyon County of providing trails and space for our bicyclists in addition to really
prioritizing bicycle safety and pedestrian safety. Um, uh, my predecessor, Commissioner Deloge, went a long way to making sure that we had a lot of trails for all of our bicycling community. So, uh, thank you guys for being here. And if you'd like to say a few words, go right ahead. Uh, thank
you, Commissioner Walsh. You actually said it. You do a very good job. A great job Leyon County does and uh and Blueprint and the city of Tallahassee and providing bicycle infrastructure. We really appreciate that. Um I make a few points then turn it over to Gabriella.
Um and that is this I would there restaurant that I like to go to and if you look behind the restaurant you see a bunch of bikes. Those were the those are the workers bikes and that's why uh having a bike to work week is important because a lot of people bike to work week is every week and there are many of
the people that uh support us in the community. Um you know cars are expensive and car insurance is expensive and so many people don't have the option of uh of having a car to get to work. So that's why we need to make sure that uh uh Tallahassee Leyon County is safe, not
just for sport riders like us, uh but also for people that uh that actually need to use a bicycle to get to work. Uh we unfortunately continue to have fatalities and and injuries in in uh Tallahassee and Leyon County. And we're committed to to uh preventing that. Of course, part of that is the
infrastructure that you invest in and uh also the enforcement uh and education. We really appreciate you claiming this uh for the bicycle month. Thank you, Commissioner Welch. Yes, sir. Go ahead. Thank you. I just wanted to say thank
you so much commissioners for supporting safety in our community. I am an avid cyclist, but like Eric Draper, I am passionate about access. Uh so many people who don't have the means to have
a car rely on bicycles and safety is the most important thing to our community. We really need to focus on uh reducing the fatalities and accidents that are happening with pedestrians and cyclists. So I do want to say thank you to the
commissioners also for making Tallahassee such a wonderful place to live. They don't call it Trailahassee for nothing. Um, thank you so much, especially to Commissioner Welch. Thank you. There you go. Somebody's in charge. That's why you chairman,
Mr. Chair. Thank you. Don't let him ride away before I can make sure. Thank you. I just want to thank you both for being such stunts advocates and um for your input and I hope staying around for our comp plan transmitt update um to make
sure that we have mobility stuff in there that protects cyclists. Thank you both. Thank you, Commissioner O'Keefe. Commissioner Miner, you guys stay right there. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just I just want to thank the both of you and the entire bicycling
community here in Lyon County. It's very active. It's very engaged. Uh I've been taking a uh uh a course with Smart Growth America that emphasizes complete streets, which is the holistic design of of our of our transportation infrastructure to include not just roads
for cars, but but bike lanes for bicycles, uh sidewalks for uh for pedestrians, uh people who use wheelchairs. So, I mean, all of that is comprehensively a part of where we need to go. and and Leyon County and Tallahassee have been I think have done a good job of that as well as the state
of Florida embracing complete streets concepts. But but it just emphasizes how important it is and I can't thank the two of you and the community that you are here speaking on behalf of uh because that engagement is really critical to to to keep um to keep things moving in the right direction. So, thank
you for everything you do. All right. Thank you all so much. All right, commissioners. We are now uh on to citizens to be heard on consent and non-aggenda items. Mr. County Administrator. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. We have no speakers under this section of the agenda. All right, commissioners.
We are now on the consent agenda. Uh would like to entertain a motion. I'd like to move consent. Second. All right. We've got a motion from Commissioner Miner and a second from Commissioner Maddox. Uh is there any discussion? Seeing none, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All right. Consent
passes unanimously. Uh we are now on to general business. All right, we're cooking. Mr. County Administrator. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. Agenda item number seven uh provides a status report on the county's progress implementing 41 recommendations uh from
the 2024 afteraction reports following the bsentennial storm uh the tornado outbreak last May as well as hurricane Helen in September. Uh, the item also outlines the county's preparations for the upcoming 2025 Atlantic hurricane season. Commissioner, as you know, we
put an awful lot of emphasis on both our afteraction reports as well uh as our uh preparations for the uh upcoming hurricane seasons. Um in a moment commissioners I will um introduce uh Matt Cavill who will provide the board with a brief presentation on the
afteraction report followed by Kevin Peters our emergency management director who will share the latest uh on the forecast for the upcoming hurricane season. The item before you commissioners does not have a uh fiscal impact per se. Of the 41 recommendations
in the 2024 afteraction report, 39 have already been completed and implemented within existing departmental operation uh operational budgets. Everything from roadway safety signage to tailored social media and public awareness campaigns to development of GIS mapping
tools andformational materials and a lot more that you'll read about. However, there are two remaining recommendations uh that do have a fiscal impact as they relate to disaster pay and personnel policies. Those will come back for your consideration, commissioners, during our upcoming June 17th workshop. And with
that, I'll hand it over to Matt Cavill. Thank you, Mr. Administrator, commissioners. Um, what I'm going to cover very briefly and then turn it over to Kevin for the upcoming forecast for the 2025 hurricane season is the county's ongoing commitment to exhaustive afteraction reports and the
implementation of those reports. As you may recall, over the 2024 year, you had seen three afteraction reports for the storms, as the county administrator has enumerated for you. That brings us to six afteraction reports since 2016. That means we've had also 11 federally
declared disasters during that period, some of which necessitate an afteraction review, some of which or all the remaining which have hotwashes and terms for improvement. Out of all of those afteraction reports, in total, more than 330 findings and 253 recommendations
have been implemented up until this point. Just to touch on a few of the implemented highlights from the past 2024 year. We had as part of the bsentennial storm identified the need and it sounds remarkably simple on the surface but it's one it's an important
public safety measure is to put highly visible barricades along the roadways where there are deep ditches in neighborhoods experiencing flooding. This was important in the chair's area because out of all of the water rescues during that activation, all of them were cars in ditches. Once we implemented
those uh barricades around the areas that people would be accessing their homes, that number dropped to zero. That is a very important indicator of the things that local governments nationwide should be considering during flooding events, but also that will be baked into our process going forward as an
afteraction implementation. In addition, just some of the things were continued efforts for senior living homes or areas that kind of fall into the cracks of where the state has purview, but where the county can work with our local partners to ensure that we're pinging
them for electricity, that we're organizing wellness checks, that we're very much on the tip of the spear of bringing them the necessary resources to recover. And then there's some digital behind the scenes upgrades. Again, it's all things big and small. and to the last bit for continued youth
preparedness and engagement because it can really start with kids bringing it to families. Couple of the elements, the key highlevel elements that we've put into place too also is communications improvements and enhancements. We're going to be conducting in-person trainings in countywide in areas of high
manufactured home density. Uh Kevin and I just had the opportunity last week to speak on a live podcast in WFSU and as we've heard for the beginning of this year when we've already experienced two EF1 tornadoes and one EF0ero tornado in 2025 alone and a blizzard. Um out of all
of that, we've definitely underscored that people still need resources and education on the appropriate actions to take if they're in a manufactured and mobile home. Um, in addition to that, to make sure that everyone has the resources that they need, this year we will be mailing directly to all
residents in Lyon County, 140,000 copies the disaster survival guide that'll be going to every mailbox here in the community beginning in the first week of June to ensure that everyone has the most upto-date and necessary information for a disaster. And that disaster
survival guide never loses power. It always has every number that you need printed onto it and every resource that you can have. In addition to that, we are continuing to support signups all across the platforms that we have from social to text alert signups to
everything to continue to support also emergency transportation assistance during hurricane evacuations. The state launches the process of taking folks from their homes to safe shelter. They do that at no cost for folks to take them to and from. And that service is
available during disaster. And again, we're committed to not only increasing all the information outlets that we have, but notifying folks of that important measures so that they can seek safe shelter during an evacuation because, as I've said dozens of times, but it never is wrong. No one's been
communicated with too much during a disaster. The last element to touch on before I pass it over to Kevin Peters is a little bit about as we head into the hurricane season. I know that we've all seen headlines about FEMA and federal assistance and what that means for the community. I can say very much we are in
lock step with our state partners who just recently Kevin Guthrie the FDM director had said that the no work at the federal level will change how we respond to disasters. If there is uncertainty for anything in advance of the 2025 hurricane season, there is no
uncertainty for how we will respond as a county government committed to the public safety and protecting lives and livelihoods during a disaster. So, some mitigation monies have been um suspended by the federal government. Um that is does not jeopardize any of the projects
that we're bringing forward. In addition, there's a review committee established to review FEMA uh and the guidelines in which they engage with federal monies. That is something we're going to watch incredibly closely as we do the upcoming hurricane season forecast, as we try to understand what
new thresholds may be established for disasters upcoming and what that means. So again, monitoring and watching the evolution of the federal process is very, very important. But right now, nothing has changed for how we will respond. Uh, I want to turn it over to
Kevin Peters at this time to give a snapshot for what we know of the upcoming 2025 hurricane season. Kevin, good afternoon, commissioners. Uh, we are 18 days from hurricane season, 2025. Uh, hurricane season
begins June 1st and will run through November 30th. The peak of hurricane season is in September, right around September 10th. That's that's the high point. Uh, based on uh the way averages are calculated um for for meteorological records u for the the last 30 years from
1991 to 2020 um is is considered our our period of of average. Uh an average hurricane season has 14 named storms. uh seven of those become hurricanes and three of those can become major hurricanes which would be category 3 or higher. Um before I move into the 2025
hurricane forecast, I just wanted to revisit the numbers from 2024 for a little little bit of context. Uh this time last year um I briefed out that Colorado State was forecasting uh 23 named storms, 11 hurricanes, and five of
those to become majors. In 2024, the for what we actually saw was 18 named storms, 11 hurricanes, five majors. So, Colorado State had a very good forecast last year. Uh, of course, we did see uh three very significant storms affect
Florida, two in our our region with uh Debbie that was a category 1, Helen, a category 4, one of the most deadliest storms since Hurricane Katrina, and Hurricane Milton that made landfall in the Tampa Bay area as a category 3. So now back to 2025 and what we can
expect and what's going to influence our forecast. Uh right now the El Nino Leninia cycle, it's in what's called a neutral phase. So it's not strong one way or the other. It's kind of in the middle. Um still a little bit uh towards a leninia though. We also have water
temperatures in the Atlantic Ocean that are a little bit above normal. They're not as high as they were last hurricane season at this point or before hurricane season last year at this point. Um, but with those neutral conditions and warm waters in the oceans, we can expect a
more active hurricane season than average. So, now to the forecast. Uh, Colorado State for 2025 is calling for 17 named storms. Nine of those could become hurricanes. Four of those could become major hurricanes. Additionally,
the Weather Channel, you know, a very major player in in broadcast uh meteorology. They've issued a hurricane season forecast of 19 named storms. Nine hurricanes for this could become major. So, there's some consistency there uh with the number of hurricanes. Um and
just just recently at the end of last week, uh the National Meteorological Service of the Country of Mexico issued a forecast. They're anticipating 13 to 17 named storms. six to eight of those to become hurricanes and three to four of those could become major hurricanes.
So, you can see we're all everybody's just above that that that average, just slightly above average. And here for the United States, Noah will issue their hurricane season official forecast uh next Thursday, May 22nd at 11:00 a.m. So, what all this does now tell us
is we can expect a busy hurricane season, but what it doesn't tell us is the wind or the wear these storms may develop. But preparedness is the key. the preparedness that such as which we take where we've gone through our afteraction reports and have found over
332 findings 253 recommendations for improvement. That type of preparedness helped us weather the storms of 2024 and that type of preparedness all summer long will help us weather the storms of 2025. That uh completes the outlook portion and I'll turn it back over to
the administrator. Thank you uh Matt. Thank you Kevin. Uh commissioners we're recommending option one. We have no speakers on this item and Mr. Chairman, we're happy to answer any questions the board may have. Thank you. Uh, can I get a motion? Commissioners, move up some more. We got a motion. Second. Second, Commissioner Miner. We're in discussion.
I had Commissioner Caban in the queue. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Could you hear me? Okay. Yes, sir. Go right ahead. I just want to give a brief thank you to staff on this item. uh particularly the uh the uptick in communication with our
neighbors in Leyon County that reside in mobile homes and manufactured homes. But this is very important to our district and um I'm very proud to see that we're going to be doing our community meetings and trainings and increase the communication procedure. So just thank
you and I'm proud to support this item. Thank you, Commissioner Kaban. I've got Commissioner Maddox and then Commissioner Proctor. Thank you, Mr. Chair. real quickly. Um, how accurate were the reports or the predicted uh estimated reports last year on the
number of name storms? Sorry. Yes. Uh, yes, sir. Um, so with Colorado State and they're the pioneers in seasonal hurricane forecasting. They're they're considered the pre-minent forecasters uh for seasonal outlooks. Uh, last year their their named storm forecast was 23.
Um, actually we had 18. So they a little little over forecast that, but they're close. Uh, but they forecast 11 hurricanes and five of those become majors. We actually saw 11 hurricanes last season and five of those became majors. So they were very close. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just want to say a lot of times we hear this stuff, we just
think, you know, there's predictions and uh numbers and you know these people don't know what they're talking about, but the accuracy of that. you said 23, you have 18, and you're spot on the money when it comes to hurricanes and
the number of serious hurricanes. I would say we're looking at a pretty busy season, and we all should take it seriously. Uh so I would I would implore people as they get their their guides and think about hurricane season that they really take seriously, getting prepared for it. does look like we have
some uh inclement weather coming coming at us that can be unpredictable at times, but at least we have estimations that are uh very accurate for us to look at. So, thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Maddox. Commissioner Proctor, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Commissioners, I know that um
this is a serious topic conversation. Um yet I just have such um extraordinary confidence in our staff and even though it's serious, it's sometimes deadly, but
um I think that Matt um Kavo um he is so adaptive, reflexive, and um does excellent work in the formlessness of storm activities. And it's not the
traditional check the blank um it's a standard blueprint manual. Uh they they write the manual as they go. And if there's a team that you facing this dread, but if
there's a team that you would ride out with um I think Matt u and his communicating abilities of information being distruded and um Miss Peters um their staff and what they do
um is second to nobody. It's award-winning. So we feel good team um that we have you and the poise with which uh you all always react. We we appreciate that. Um to another point uh
I wanted to ask Miss Peters is it just mere propaganda that our commissioners have been hearing that from a federal standpoint um due to budgetary restrictions and
that hurricane forecasting and planes that fly into the hurricane. uh monies have been cut so severely that your ability to um discern be told what's occurring uh
will be hampered. Could you really honestly tell us uh if in fact that's just propaganda or will you all be uh limited and thus our community if you're limited? We all are limited uh in our
expectations for the coming storm season. Commissioner, I can't speak to the exact detail of of what personnel are available at Noah. I I would have to defer that to to another time to follow up. I I do know that our local National Weather Service office is fully staffed. We've seen no staffing changes here. Uh,
I'm not aware of any vacancies at the National Hurricane Center. I've I've checked their staffing list and and all of the forecasters that have traditionally been in place and and the forecasters at the National Hurricane Center are second to none with tropical weather forecasting. So, I I can say that for sure. Um, there are a lot of uh tools that are available that that can
uh from the the weather satellites we have, they can also make some uh data inferences with without actually having aircraft in the storms. They're they're improved over what they used to be. Uh but I do uh understand our understanding is that there will still be flights by both Noah and the US Air Force Reserve
this hurricane season to collect the data that's needed to feed the the models uh to provide accurate hurricane forecasts. Very good. Well, I I feel a lot better um knowing that boots on the ground. um we're able to have confidence
um but certainly the um um information with which has been reported uh that budget cuts and so forth uh not only the needs of air traffic controllers but the needs for um meteorology have been
u have been u compromised so appreciate that. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Thank you Commissioner Proctor. Commissioner Miner. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um Kevin, thank you for everything that you do and and every the whole team whole team. It's really incredible. And you know, we've all heard this before, but you
know, Leyon County is the first hurricane strong community in the nation. And what that means is that we've got a team that's very resilient, that knows what they're doing, is very talented. Um none of us want a disaster to come to Lyon County, but should one come here, um we've got a team that is
very highly capable in helping us. um uh prepare and then recover after after the storm passes. So, thank you for everything you do. Um, as Commissioner Proctor said, I've also been very concerned about some of the some of the some of the proposed cuts, some of the
um declarations coming from from Washington about what could be coming. There's been talk about reducing National Weather Service staff. There's been talk about eliminating the the um hurricane research division, which is the group of people that actually fly into the hurricanes and help us predict
the uh hurricane path and severity, as well as cuts to FEMA. Um $300 million um proposed to be cut from Florida's hurricane resilience and flood mitigation efforts, which is a big deal. Um and then also I I know we've got some
federal proposals again that that will if implemented will make it harder for communities to um seek federal declaration of disasters which prevents us from getting reimbursement from the federal government should we have disaster recovery uh efforts that that
we're engaged in. Now Leyon County has funding for that. We actually allocate quite a bit of that uh and our our reserves are are are are stable and and um and healthy. But if that disaster decoration threshold is rised is raised, it's going to be harder for us to get that reimbursement and be able to be
secure for the following storms that might uh come afterwards. And then finally, um my understanding, Kevin, you can maybe confirm this is that the National Florida Insurance Program is authorized only through September 30th of this year. Uh which is basically only
it doesn't even cover for the entire hurricane season this year. Is that still correct? Uh yes. what you said through that that expiration deadline. Uh we've like a lot of things at this point, we've not heard anything firm and official, but but that that's still in place. So I I hope that I hope that the federal government will go ahead and
extend that national flood insurance program through the end of November 2025 because that that covers us uh that covers our our our our homesteads that that um that have that type of flood insurance. without that extension, um,
insurance premiums might be higher. Uh, coverage gaps are higher. So, these are things that affect us here in our community because of what's going on in DC. So what I for anybody that anybody that's listening, anybody that's really concerned about this as I am, please contact your US senators, your congress
people and and ask them to um u maintain the the the funding that we have in terms of disaster recovery for FEMA as well as some of the things that they're talking about doing at the National Weather Service and Hurricane Research Division. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Commissioner Miner. And um
I'll just add, you know, thank you to Matt and Kevin and all of our staff, our public works staff who work so hard during our hurricanes. Um I think that Commissioner Proctor stated it well. We have a lot of confidence in you all and you clearly
are pros at this. I think that the afteraction reports are a reflection of just how considerate we are in Lyon County. Um I thought of it like Tiger Woods. You know, Tiger Woods won the Masters in 1997 with a pretty good swing and then continually throughout his
career, manipulated it and changed it to make it the best it could be at any given time. And that's what our staff does. Um, and I think that's a testament to the mentality that we approach these natural disasters for which we have been
certainly uh tested. So, thank you guys once again. Thank all of your staff on our behalf if they're listening or in the room. Thank you. We know you do a lot of work. We know it's long long nights, stressful nights, stressful days. County administrator, that applies to you as well. We appreciate everything
that you do. Um and appreciate your report. Commissioner Cummings, did you want to get on that real? Uh yes. Thank you, Mr. um Mr. Chair. I I just want to also recognize that with you all's after assessment reports and those are great and we've done it after every disaster.
But one of the things that you all have done that I really like is you focused in on the vulnerable uh groups in our community whenever we have those disasters uh those individuals that live in manufactured homes. um your
afteraction reports have also looked at our seniors, the senior housing complexes and how to make them aware and and more disaster ready as well. But I think it's important that we as a county
recognize that there are some vulnerabilities in our communities that don't respond or don't have the ability to respond to national uh natural disasters as other portions of our community. So I thank you for that for
that focus. I thank you for the fact that we are continuing to make sure that our community is uh disaster resilient, so to speak. I know the city and the county has been recognized nationally
uh in that respect, but we are not just sitting down uh on our laurels. We are continuing to build and we are continuing to make sure our county is the best that it can be in the face of disaster. So in that respect, Miss
County Administrator and all your staff, I certainly want to thank you all for your your continual continuing desire to make sure that our community is safe and resilient in the face of um of these
national national disasters. And if we continue to do this this self assessment after each disaster, we can do nothing but continue to be better. So, thank you all for all your hard work, all of your
um compassion and concern for making our community strong. Thank you, Mr. Mr. Chair. Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Commissioner Cummings. All right, Commissioner Sing. No further discussion. All those in favor signify by saying I. I I oppose show it passes unanimously and thank you all once
again. Mr. County Administrator, next item, please. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, commissioners, and just goes to show you that the timing of this one was completely unintentional and the order of it, but uh it's the contract award for the Amtrak station and visitors center, which of course was impacted uh
by the uh May 10th tornado event. Again, it just underscores how how real all of this is. The item before you uh seeks your approval toward a contract uh for the building repair project um to HA contracting corp in the amount of uh
$2.16 million. Uh since the damage was a result of the tornado event, commissioner's funding will be partially provided through insurance proceeds uh with additional funding coming from uh the tourism uh uh fund reserves. Um
there's a budget amendment uh that um we're seeking your approval on. Uh commissioners, we're recommending options uh one and two. Uh we have I believe let me just verify we have no speakers on this item. Uh commissioners and we're happy to answer any questions
you may have. All right, commissioners. Uh would anyone like to make a motion? We've got a motion uh for staff recommendation options one and two from Commissioner Maddox and seconded by Commissioner Cummings. We are in discussion. Any discussion? All right, seeing none, um I
would just uh um just say thank you to staff for putting together uh making sure that our insurance will cover as much as possible and uh a lot of confidence that uh we'll get that um repaired. Commissioner, county administrator, did was there a timeline on the construction
repair? I may have missed it or I probably just didn't look at it. Timeline. Yeah, I apologize. 9 months. Okay. Remarkable. Uh, thank you guys so much. Um, commissioners, seeing no discussion, all those in favor signify by saying I.
I. Show it passes unanimously. Thank you, commissioners. Uh, next item, Mr. Administrator. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. Item number nine is the adoption of a resolution approving the plan for financing for the Housing Finance Authority of Lyon County. Uh the resolution uh uh seeks your approval of
of a proposed financing plan to seek up to $50 million in single family mortgage revenue bonds from the state of Florida. Should the FHFA be successful in securing these revenue bonds, the FHA would convert those revenue bonds to finance eligible affordable multif family rental developments in Lyon
County, which uh the county has been very very successful uh in doing. And of course, this would just create additional opportunities for us to do so. Uh we're happy to answer any question. We we have uh speakers uh well representatives from HFA here should the
commissioners have questions. Other than that, we have no speakers. Mr. Chairman, again, happy to answer any questions you may have. Thank you, Mr. County Administrator. We've got a motion for staff recommendation to adopt resolution by Commissioner Mack, seconded by Commissioner Cummings. We are in
discussion, commissioners. Any any discussion? All right, seeing none, uh, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Show it passes unanimously. Thank you, commissioners. Uh, we are on to general business item number 10. Mr. Administrator, thank you, Mr. Chairman,
commissioners. This item seeks the board's full consideration to reappoint, uh, city commissioner Porter to the Appalache Regional Planning Council and the appointment of citizens to six seats on count on the county's uh, citizen advisory uh, committee for quality growth. Uh the item recommends options 1
through 7 uh of which are reappoints uh with the exception of option four. Uh two eligible uh residents are seeking reappointment to serve on the advisory committee uh for quality growth. And with that uh Mr. Chairman, we have uh no speakers on this item and happy to
answer any questions you might have. Thank you, Mr. Administrator. Commissioners, can we get a motion uh on options 1 through 7 except for option four? Can we remove that and move those? Mr. Chair, I'm okay. We've got a motion from Commissioner Maddox. Oh, I We're
removing. Okay, you'll second it. Commissioner Cummings. Now we're in discussion on items 1 2 3 5 6 and seven where we've moved number four out. We're going to discuss that next. Are you do you have a discussion? Do you have a item you want to discuss
on one through you good with one through without four? No, we're good. Okay. Um, all right. Seeing no discussion. Oh, Commissioner Proctor, are you in the queue on this one or you want to wait till number four? Mr. Chairman, I was tempting to what where are we on on this item? We
are uh we are uh we have a motion on staff recommendations 1 2 3 and 567. And then we have removed option number four for discussion next, which is where we have to pick one of two. I I
just sort of wanted to uh uh garner a feel for what is it that we anticipate? Um what is our expectation of Appalachin Regional Planning Council uh as well as for the committee the
advising for quality growth? What is our expectation of this committee? Uh what is its mission and why is it necessary? Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Happy to respond. In terms of the Appalache Regional Planning Council, uh
Commissioners, and you you have a representative uh on that board, Commissioner Miner. Um we have, you may recall, we've recently uh sort of restructured uh how we do that. Uh and and we have assigned uh the Appalache Regional Planning Council with specific
tasks uh that are helpful. They do a lot of work throughout the region in in the area of economic development and and emergency management. Um and and again, we've uh uh sort of uh reorganized uh the way that we do the Appalachian
Regional Planning Council's contracts to assign them very specific tasks that they are um uh well suited to perform for us. And we're happy to to answer more questions on that. With respect to the advisory committee on quality growth commissioners, that's our user group so
to speak, we have that's made up of representatives uh from industry stakeholders uh contractors, building inspectors, architects, uh the like, as well as um uh neighborhood representatives uh and and and others.
uh where we run every proposed ordinance uh related to um uh permitting and environmental management through them, seek their advice and guidance uh before uh coming to you. It's a a very helpful group and it's one that's uh very active
and and provides a lot of value for us. Uh so with that again happy to answer any additional questions you might have. So when we say helpful uh what is the jurisdiction in terms of geographic and what are the u the tangible
contributions that this body makes to uh our community is it a regional concern is a cons a conservative u I mean are are you speaking conservatory to the Appalache Regional Planning Council right? Yeah. Well, first the Appalache
Regional Planning Council again and again I Commissioner Miner may want to weigh in here as well, but the cap the area the Appalache Regional Planning Council has been in place uh for a very long time. The structure uh allows each county uh within the I think the 8ount
region um to uh have representatives on the county and and commissioners from all eight counties serve. Um it is um again one which uh provides for technical support for all of these counties and coordination on areas that we have like interest on again in the
area specifically in the area of of economic development in the area of um uh in environment u in the area of economic development and and emergency management. Uh they're also used heavily in urban and regional planning with other counties. We don't use them as
much for that because we have a very well staffed uh highly professional uh planning department. Other counties use them uh more for uh your traditional planning functions. Again, we tend to use them more for emergency management and for um uh uh for economic
development in certain cases where they're particularly well suited to help us. Okay. I um you want to weigh in on Go ahead. Okay. It's I I just want to say administrator. Yeah. I' I've just heard that over the years Appalach Region
Council I think I I think I was appointed and once and I think I could survive maybe two meetings and I didn't understand what it was for and um I I just didn't have time because it was all over the place to me. Um I have looked
for and hoped for collaboration between Leon County and something specific with wall color. I have longed and hoped for something with Thomasville. I have hoped for something collaborative to do with
um Gaston County and uh these and I I I don't expect anything with Jefferson. I I get that. But the other communities which we have contiguous borders, but we've never collaborated. And we did
have dinner um maybe twice with Walcolor County. Um we we met with them a couple times and talked about speculatively what how do we you know we picked four topics and go through that and
um I just don't know what counties we have had dinner with. um be it Thomas County um we share cultural uniquenesses, weather patterns, um that that historic reference to many
things common. Uh but we never meet with these people, never talk with these people. We're islands unto ourselves as they are. Um and and I'd like to um I can't remember what era that we talked
about regional reaching out and I think um Mayor Markx was um coming in and that was a goal about this regional chamber commerce. I mean e either uh we're talking about healthc care but even with the healthc
care conversation of FSU uh or TMH rather in Panama City uh but that's not happening at the policy level of commissions to commissions.
uh the growth commissioners that you see in um Walton County um the tourism occurring there on the Emerald Coast. We never have those conversations and I'm pondering what
hinderth us from these type of getting to know you or something. And um so when we talk about this council today um I was on it for about two meetings and I had to quit. Um but something
different um I feel that uh with Thomasville they just did something the other night up there with the roses. We did some with springtime Tallahassee but we they'll never cross the line and we don't invite them to nothing. And I have never gotten a invite to come up to Rose
Parade and I like Rose right across the street and that kind of um isolation of which we live in and with like I said with the exception of TMH talking to Panama City over hospital. Is there not any collaborative
potential in any area of life so common to each of the um counties in this region? If so, um I would just like to place before us at some point maybe retreat item. What is our window of
potential to um further engage uh our neighbors? Um that's what I'm thinking. Um uh Commissioner Cummings is in the queue and then Commissioner Mer maybe you can answer some questions that they
have. Okay, Commissioner. Thank you. Yes, ma'am. Commissioner Miner, go ahead. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Commissioner Proctor, those are those are good questions. Thank you for for raising them. Um, one thing the the Appalache Regional Planning Council is a is is the regional focus of nine counties. It
doesn't cross the state line. So we don't we don't it doesn't include Thomasville but uh for the the the nine counties in the Big Bend uh we do a lot of coordination with each other. Uh for a lot of the rural counties um basically all the counties aside from Lyon, a lot
of those county administrations don't have the type of robust um planning staff and and and and basically environmental staff that that uh the ARPC provides. They've got staff that can do that as well as helping them with grant writing to get grants into those
counties for various programs, you know, economic development, transportation, uh, flood mitigation, environmental issues, all that stuff. Now, with Lyon County, we we've got, you know, we're a midsize county that has those resources already. We work with them in different ways. And and as the county
administrator said just a few minutes ago, we just recently um u engaged with ARPC on a contract to provide emergency management services to supplement what Kevin Peters and his team are doing. So we get as someone who serves on that ARPC uh board, I can tell you we get a
lot of value out of it. The probably the biggest value we get from from that council though is the regional focus and the the the collaboration amongst the nine counties together. What I if you have a chance, what I'd recommend is we we can give you some of the materials that we've got, you know, brochures,
marketing materials, as well as agendas that we've got from ARPC. Take a look at those. Um, we would be happy to have you come to an ARPC meeting. Um and uh they're they're conducted here in Tallahassee um uh up Careway Road. And uh you're happy to come and and talk
with us about some of the things you'd like to have us uh we can talk with you about the things that we've working on and see if that meshes with some of the things you're looking for. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. All right. Thank you, Commissioner Miner. All right, Commissioners. We've got staff.
We've got a motion by Commissioner Maddox, seconded by Commissioner Cummings for staff recommendations 1 through 7, excluding option four. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Passes unanimously. We are now on
option four, which uh requires us to appoint a citizen from the list. Um so I'm open to motions on that. Commissioner Cummings. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, I move the appointment of Mr.
Shannon Butler as the nominee for to fill that position. Second. All right, we've got a motion for Shannon Butler for option four uh by Commissioner Cummings, seconded by Commissioner O'Keefe. Any discussion? Seeing none, all those in
favor signify by saying I. I. I. I. And it passes unanimously. Thank you, commissioners. We are now on to item number. Oh, snap. Uh, excuse me, commissioners.
Little high school creeping in on us there. Um, all right. So, we are done with our general business agenda. Commissioners, uh, we will now move to, uh, if y'all don't mind, commissioner time, and and that way we can start our, uh, our hearing, public hearing at 6
o'clock on the nose. um items from the county attorney. I'm sorry. Do we need to do citizens to be heard on non-aggenda items? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh on citizens to be heard on non-aggended items, we
have two speakers. The first is uh Emily Mitchum. Miss Mitchum, please state your name and address for the record. You have Mitchum and my address is protected by Florida statute 741.465.
All right. Good afternoon everyone. Thank you so much. My name is Emily Mitchum. I'm the executive director of Refuge House. We're the certified domestic and sexual services provider for Leyon and seven surrounding counties. Um we've proudly served survivors in this community for
over 45 years. Unfortunately, we've come to a place in time where refuge houses experienced a steady and substantial increase in the number of domestic and sexual violence victims who are in need of emergency safe shelter. The lack of affordable housing has only added to the
problem, preventing many victims from leaving their abuser simply because they cannot afford rent and other costs of living that have gone up so drastically over the past few years. With only about 23 emergency beds available in our current shelter, we're unable to house unable to house all of those who are in
need. Not only is our small emergency shelter operating at capacity, our transitional housing program is also consistently full. As a result, victims and their children are forced to remain in violent and potentially deadly situations or become homeless due to lack of housing, which leaves them
vulnerable to further victimization. In addition to the rise in the numbers of those seeking help, the concerns and needs of victims have changed over the years. Traditionally, domestic violence services focused on a very quick stay at emergency shelter, case management to help with securing employment and
housing, and perhaps in counseling. But today, we are finding that prolonged and intense violent attacks have caused severe rates of post-traumatic stress disorder in both adults and children. And we're experiencing a sharp increase in the number of children diagnosed with trauma-induced sensory processing disorders. post-traumatic stress
disorder, autism, and ADHD. For that re reason, Refugees has been working to increase our capacity to meet the growing and changing needs of survivors. We know that the time for refugees to expand services in all our area has come. Preparing to meet the growing
needs, we began about two years ago uh to ex to envision a new future in expansion of services. None of that would have been possible without our friends at Architects Lewis and Whitlock, who graciously donated their time and talent to designing a state-of-the-art transformative housing
facility that will offer a new multi-generation approach for domestic violence, trauma healing, and crisis stabilization. We're proud to announce that we are embarking on a major initiative to create the Dawn of Hope Center at Refuge House. By converting and adding to an existing building on
refuge house own property, we will be able to more than double the amount of bed space immediately available to women, men, and children in need. The goal of this project is not only to provide safe shelter, but to offer comprehensive services that will heal child childhood trauma, build resilience and children, and set mothers up for
success upon departures. Survivors will have access to enhanced services that will decrease the risk of future victimizations designed was by supporting their ability to gain economic self-sufficiently, heal from what is usually a lifelong history of violence, and gain support services for
their children. This transformative program will break cycles of violence and poverty, and assure improved long-term outcomes for survivors. We look forward to sharing our progress with you all as we embark on this effort. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Miss Mitchum. The next
speaker, Mike Nelson, and the final speaker on this section of the agenda. Mr. Nelson, please state your name and address for the record. And you have three minutes once that little green light comes on. Thank you. My name is Michael Nelson at 532 East Oakland
Avenue. And uh go ahead, you can start. I was here. I obviously missed the uh pledge of allegiance, but I think that's a vital important role in our u oath to our office. So, I wanted to uh go ahead and read Florida statute
876.05, the public employees oath. All persons who now or hereafter are employed by or who now or hereafter are on the payroll of the state or any of its departments and agencies, subdivisions, counties, cities, school
boards, and districts of the free public school system of the state or country. Counties or institutions of higher learning except candidates for federal office are required to take an oath before any person duly authorized to take acknowledgements of instruments for
public record in the state in the state in the following form. I state your name a citizen of the state of Florida and of the United States of America and being employed by or an officer of and a recipient of public funds as such
employee or officer. Do here boy here. Do I do hereby solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the state of Florida. Number two, set oath shall be filed with the records of the governing official or employing employing
governmental agency prior to the approval of any voucher for payment of salary expenses or other compensation. Now, with that being said, there have been egregious breaches of public trust and violations of our constitutional rights and especially my son's freedom
of speech. The uh article 6 clause 2 is the supremacy clause which stipulates the uh rights that freedom of speech and our constitution has over the Florida statutes. So when Leyon County Sheriff's Office charged my son with threats
against Leyon County High School, that was a scam to help get Rocky Hannah elected. He didn't do anything wrong. Our freedom of speech is first and foremost. And the way that that uh that investigation was handled is uh
completely inept and shows the discrimination and the violations of the oaths of office by all the school resource officers, our Leyon County Sheriff, the sheriff's deputies that were involved and the Rocky Hannah, the
principal for uh Leyon High School and other people associated with this event. it is a violation of his federal rights too. So we do really need to address this situation and the violation of uh his due process is freedom of speech.
Thank you, Mr. Nelson. All right. Um we are now on items from the county attorney. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh the only thing that I have for the board is just
a recognition of a longtime 35year county employee, Marsha Lebat, who joined Herb Tila again 35 years ago in the county attorney's office uh as the office administrator. She is retiring at
the end of the month. And she didn't want a proclamation. She didn't want to appear before the board. But I do want to publicly recognize her for her many, many years of exemplary public service. Thank you. Can we give her a round of
applause? Mr. Lat, if you're out there, I hope you heard that. Yes, sir. Mr. Commissioner Matt. Thank you, Madam Attorney. Um, two things can be true at the same time, but I don't think two things might be true in this nature. Um, she didn't want a proclamation. She
didn't want to stand before the board. Okay. My guess is she didn't want to stand in front of the board, which probably wouldn't mind the proclamation. Um, 35 years is a long time to be with anybody. Uh, and um, we appreciate the the work she's done for Leon County. And
so, uh, without her getting mad at me, um, I would like to, Mr. chair asked for a proclamation for that young lady for her service and time in Leon County. Uh but asked that we don't request her to come to the board. Maybe if you have a retirement party down in county uh in
the county attorney's office, uh it can be presented to her there from our county attorney. uh as I do understand uh and this this is the best part of of that 35 years that she spent with Leon County, there's a type of of of leader
that um wants to do all the work, but when it's time to be recognized or rather just fade off into the sunset and live off the work that they've done and the legacy that they've left. Uh and I I appreciate those type of leaders because those are the type that you know are
doing things sincerely from the heart. And so for 35 years, we've been blessed to have her. Uh but I wouldn't I wouldn't let this moment pass without uh recognizing her in the way that she wants to be recognized, which is privately amongst those that she's worked with with a proclamation from the
county. So I'll make that motion, Mr. I'll second that top secret proclamation. All right. All right. Um, we've got a motion and a and a couple of seconds um to do a proclamation for Miss Lebat in honor of her 35 years of service, even though she doesn't have to
appear before us to take it. Um, which is I think totally understandable. Um, all those in favor signify by saying Oh, I'm sorry. Commissioner O'Keefe, go ahead and and uh I just want to add and I'm sure you will please convey even though we usually love to promote the
people up here um that this is out of respect for her, we are not any less excited and and grateful for her service uh in this proclamation. Yes. Thank you, Commissioner O'Keefe. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Passes unanimously. Madam Attorney,
thank you Commissioner Command. Back to you. That is all I have for the board. Thank you so much. Thank you, Madam Attorney. Mr. Administrator, thank you, Mr. Chairman, commissioners. Three very quick issues. First, um I wanted to
uh commend u our EMS response um to the FSU shootings on April 17th. Um commissioners, you all may know we've shared this information with you, but I thought it was appropriate um to underscore it tonight. uh their response
to that event uh was really nothing uh short of of heroic. We had 68 total EMS personnel respond. Uh 26 were on duty and uh 33 were off duty uh who
responded. We had 14 uh advanced life support ambulances uh the first one of which uh was on scene uh within one minute um of the of the first call. um commissioners, there's a lot to be
said about about their actions um on that day. Uh I I'll say that the interoperability um between FSUPD, TPD, LCSO, TFD, EMS um
and the coordination um as well as the incident command uh worked extraordinarily well uh during this event. Um, I I should also say uh obviously and and and this
probably should have been said first that um to to the victims uh our EMS team transported um six and and uh um uh assessed uh the two uh that that didn't
survive u on scene. Um uh again it it underscores the professionalism of our EMS department as well as their year round mass casualty training which proved to be extraordinarily effective. Again the unified command uh workshops that we conduct throughout the year. A
and finally I just wanted to to also commend our CDA our consolidated dispatch uh for their uh response uh during that event which was really um um above and beyond. and again to be commended. So, I just wanted to mention
that uh commissioners, um the other item that I wanted to just mention here tonight uh is I wanted to thank the board for your availability uh on our our budget workshop for May 27th. Uh again, as you know, commissioners will be discussing the solid waste and the
fire service assessments at that time. The commission will have ample time to consider these issues fully uh their impact uh on citizens uh as well as the overall uh financial implications uh on the county moving forward. Again, we
appreciate your availability. We look forward to that and uh we will um on June 17th at our June 17th workshop following that. Of course, we'll be bringing to the board the much fuller implications of the budget. At that time, we will have the impacts of the
legislative uh session. Hopefully, as we all know, it's been extended uh to end um uh no later than the end of June now. But at that time, we will certainly have our official June one revenue estimates and recommended departmental and and constitutional budget requests. So,
commissioners, just thanks for your availability. But on that point, which factors so importantly into our budget discussion uh uh on the legislative impact, um I wanted to just ask Nikki uh Hatch to join us at the podium. I I know
it's an issue that the board has been uh paying very very close attention to. Uh and I wanted uh Nikki to just hit some of the highlights of where we are right now. Of course, we'll continue to track legislation uh that may in impact the county uh throughout the session and the
um uh and and including the end of session report. I know Nikki does a very good job of keeping us all very updated throughout legislative session through your capital updates. But with that, I'd like to just take a moment uh to ask Nikki to uh just sort of hit the highlights. Sure. Uh, commissioners, as
Vince mentioned, this year's legislative session was supposed to end on May 2nd, but due to failed negotiations on the state budget and tax package, the legislature will be reconvening for an extended session through June. The extended session will be limited to the
outstanding budgetary issues. So with that in mind, a number of bad bills proposed this year have effectively died, such as the F FRS cola reinstatement, the DI DEI restrictions, and county commission term limits, which only scratches the surface of the broad
array of bills that we've been tracking this year. However, as you know, we fully anticipate most, if not all of these bills to be proposed again next session. Uh most importantly at this point, there are still many unknowns um and big budgetary issues to be worked
out in the coming weeks as the as many differences remain between the two chambers, such as the Senate's proposed study for the elimination of property taxes versus the House propo I'm sorry, House's property tax reforms being considered by its recently appointed
select committee as well as the proposed redirect of tourist development taxes to provide property tax rebate to citizens, all of which would have significant budgetary impacts on county government statewide. Um, but as Vince mentioned, we'll provide the latest information to you at the June budget workshop as well
as a full session recap at the end of session report to be presented in July. Thank you, Nikki. Question, Mr. Chair. Sure. Commissioner Maddox, you got um I was of course I've been following
uh the session all session. Um, what happened with the CRA bill? I I can't remember. It died. It died. Okay. Um, it passed in the House, but not in the Senate. Yeah, they were uh very far apart. I believe um the Senate version
was the final version during the last week, but they couldn't reach an agreement on it. So, it's dead. Um I know that would have a huge impact not just on uh CRA in the city, but on us. I think those revenues if if but I think the way it was structured now it would
be 20 years from now before it sunset. Correct. Um it could not be extended and yes CRAAS would be limited to a 20ear span. So if it was a current CRA that say got 10 years left you couldn't we couldn't you couldn't extend it right
previously filed you wouldn't have been able to extend it or amend any of the boundaries. Okay. Okay. Thank you. I I think that uh of all the things there's so many things that they talked about this year that could be detrimental for us. Um I know Commissioner I'm sorry,
Senator Simon was pretty involved in that bill. Correct. Um I'm not sure. Um I think he may have been if anything I I know he was interested in it. I think we we need to start thinking about in in our years what what what the future
looks like for us being able to really help out those those communities with our within our community that are blightened. um whether it be us doing special things in those communities or not, I I I feel well see just just by
the look of it and from the the the conversations I've had with some of our uh legislators um that they they seem to be disinterested in seeing CRAAS continue. So if we if we have if we haven't moved down that road, this could be a totally premature comment. But if
we haven't moved down that road, I think we all see the value of of what in what CRAAS do. And I think there's ways outside of us having CRAAS that if they tend if they do get sunset, they were able to create other me mechanisms to help Frenchtown Southside and other
areas of our communities that have benefited from CRA. So that that was one thing that really concerned me. I know we can only do as much as we can do, but um that one right there, I I can I can very well see uh really hurting hurting some of our
communities. If you think about the uh neighborhood plans that the city have come up with for different neighborhoods within the CRA and what they're doing with those funds. I mean, if you think about it, I mean, we're years and years away, Commissioner Proctor, from your district seeing uh the benefit benefits
they may need from a CRA and to and to not be able to renew those efforts, but have those funds sent back into the community where they need to be concentrated would be something that will slow down the progress that we've made. So, thank you for that update.
All right, Commissioner Proctor. The front porch initiative by Jeb Bush preceded the CRA or was the CRA uh a predecessor to the front porch? Mr. Administrator, I'm I'm I'm the first thing we got here was um
Bush wanted a front porch initiative and that started in Frenchtown and u somehow it morphed into a CRA district and then it's well started in Frenchtown then we wanted a uptown you know downtown and we
barred from the original blight of um Frenchtown and poor communities and drug addiction and all those um elements and we uh probably started
from district one urban core and we uh but the benefit of the most money has helped gain street um in uptown area. So even though it used the vantage point of
blight and um dysfunction, disarray of communities urban but the beneficiaries at least in our community quantitatively have been non- urban communities. Um I was curious with respect to the DEI
um ideas of the state of Florida has the DEI um um is um anti- posture but did I read correctly that imposing the state anti-dei upon
local government has um not progressed or expanded any further? is what what is your take of the DEI and the state's attempt to impose it on local governance? Sure. So, there were a
couple bills. Um the we'll say the more popular one, Senate Bill 420 that stalled uh earlier on uh during session in committee. So, it it it's effectively dead. And then in addition, there were other proposals such as limiting government contracting. um we couldn't
provide preference to my own minority uh businesses but that that also died. Okay. Thank you. those two measures. Um the uh DEI not being imposed and forced
upon local government gives um some regard still for our being a um a um sovereign uh constitutional local governing entity
and uh with home rule and I was very glad that that measure died graveyard head. Good. Um, secondly, I was pleased to see the conversation around
uh the elimination of property taxes. Um, did I understand that that conversation has pretty much been muted? No, not percolating. No, give us the status of that and how might we um
anticipate any possibility of it occurring? So, it's alive and well on both sides of the leg legislature. The Senate originally proposed in their tax package a study to be conducted uh to consider a framework for the elimination
of property taxes. So, that would have we'll say stalled until next year. Um any potential uh constitutional amendments to go on the ballot wouldn't have been introduced until next year. However, more recently, the House has
appointed a select committee to uh explore different variations of property tax reform. One being the consideration of uh elimination of property taxes to um imposing a 500,000 uh property tax
exemption. Um so they'll be considering those ideas through the end of the year in preparation to come back with a proposal at the beginning of next next session. commissioners, if uh this legislature places upon the uh in front of Florida's voters the elimination of
property taxes from 0 to 1% to 99%. Uh every voter who owns property in Florida likely is going to um support support it. I think it's one of the most lethal um proposals that would
uh uh undercut local government and it's still not clear to me though we have a great staff and team but offsetting uh or taking a big hit on property taxes
in particular community where 52% of our property base is already off the road. Um and there is no language that uh calibrates a system of support for communities who say well with more than
50% off the role of 40% with 30%. These will be the pro rider um um balancing things to make sure this is very dangerous and I think that uh it's something which we really
ought to in this extended session to um place total focus on. Um to me it's it's it'sem number one and um I'm very very pleased that the
DEI thingy didn't carry and as I had indicated earlier um session first began that I wanted for our staff to begin to think of um new ways to incorporate uh
staff persons who were deemed to be working in that area of DEI and how to absorb um them into um different slots. So grateful we don't have to do that. But I would just
say this conversation is a dangerous one and I think that we should do all um that we can and even to give a blanket support to our staff without specifically knowing what they don't have to just know that we don't want
anything heading to the ballot that you going to put in front of Florida voters cuz they going to definitely jump on property elimination. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Proctor. Um and and like the county
administrator said, we'll have a a more detailed report coming back to us in June once they wrap up whatever decisions they're going to make. Uh I agree with you, Commissioner Proctor, the property tax issue. Um, as I said at the uh at the town hall thing, um, you
know, there's a lot of pressure from the top on us to reform, roll back rates and all these kinds of things. The legislaturator's budget has gone up year-over-year for like 50 years and they ain't rolled it back. So, um, I think it's important that, uh, we do put
a focus on it. I'm sure FACK and the League of Cities and all of the municipal advocacy organizations are really focusing on it's a real uh I mean, you know, you want to empty this building real quick and not be able to fix roads or provide services that that's in the conversation. So, um thank
you, Commissioner Proctor, Mr. County, Commissioner, anything else? All right, commissioners. We're on to commissioner discussion. I would uh like us to if we can be done by 5:30 so that we can take our break and come back at 6:00 for our public hearings. So that gives us 39
minutes. Uh and um Commissioner Proctor, as we have been doing, we'll start with you, Commissioner. Thank you very much. Uh this is a request for um um our motion that staff be given leeway for an appropriate response to Commissioner
Boss um and our loss of him and that we're able to reflect our sentiments of sorrow and our respect for the 20-year service that he gave to us as a county commissioner. So moved.
Second, Commissioner P. I would ask is that you I don't know if this what you was ask would you add a proclamation as well to that h could you my second that I was asking also that would you add a proclamation and proclamation and other appropriate commendations to yes sir reflect our our
concern and care all right we got a motion uh by commissioner proctor um and a second from commissioner Maddox. All those in favor signify by saying I I passes unanimously. Thank you. Very good. Um, commissioners, I make motion for
uh proclamation recognizing the life, the legacy of the work of Adner Marcelin um to reflect our uh respect and um commendation for all that he has given to our community as president of
the NAACP and other services. All right, we've got a motion by Commissioner Proctor and a second from the rest of the board. Um, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. And then passes unanimously. And then finally, commissioners um the Hill family um
foundation um in the I wanted to get just if that we're able to receive a report of some type for the uh emancipation celebration uh this weekend. Commissioner Parker, what level support? Is that a a motion, Commissioner Parker?
Oh, no, no, no. I was asking for any updates or any information on related to it for this weekend. Matt's got it. I know we got an email uh and and we're we're off on emancipation day next Tuesday, the county will be closed. Is that right? Yes, sir. Okay, good. Good.
commissioners. Um, so this Saturday from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., the Henry Hill Foundation is operating for the 139th year, if Mr. Williams was right on his numbers, the 139th year of the Emancipation Day celebration held at the Henry Hill Park. Uh, the address right
now is on Centerville Road. It's got some blanks on it. You got an email with more details. Um, all commissioners have been invited to provide remarks. Started that program at 100 p.m. at that location. Um, community media relations has been working with uh, Mr. Williams and the Henry Hill Foundation members to
promote the event. We're preparing a program for folks at the event to have as a keepsake and reminder of this um, particular event, the 139th. And then in addition to that, we're having representation of the county's sponsorship and support at the event in
addition to logistics of LCSO deputies and all the stuff in the weeds that run a safe event. So, um, so that's what we're doing on Saturday. Everyone's invited to come on out to that and if you need more details, look to that email. Okay. Thank you, Matt. Commissioner Proctor, did that answer your question? And and then finally, um
Commissioners uh community um inviting you to uh a meetup, a gathering at Ford University Mara at the uh Willpacker Amphitheater. um a special little service. Um Bishop
um Bishop um Griffin will be um saying empower an empowering word in the morning um from 9 to 10 that service. And then um for persons concerned about the future of
FAMU uh in the leadership issues of next president uh there will be a um gathering uh a number of um people who will be talking um including Mr. Willpacker uh himself.
So if you never been to a building um and the name of the person who's you know like this one has Judge Akens and you never heard the the namesake but tomorrow the namesake of the amphitheater um will be there to share his thoughts
and others. So we invite you to that event. Those things said, thank you so much. Um, commissioners, um, some for some reason I feel as if, um, something is missing or something, but um, come to me possibly a few minutes. Thank you. Yes, sir. Just let
me know. Yes, sir. Um, thank you, Commissioner Proctor. Uh, Commissioner Miner's out of the chamber, so we'll go to Commissioner O'Keeffe and then we can circle back to Commissioner Miner if he shows back up. Um, Commissioner O'Keefe, go right ahead. Thank you. Um, uh, one thing I'd like to ask about is whether
it's, um, county administrator or county attorney is, um, where do we stand on, uh, fixing the sidewalk or the roads around Washington Square or the item we asked for? Um, and when can we expect that back on options to to get with
that? Don't fight over it. That's right. So, you you saw this back and forth. So, as you can see here, and and I'll be brief to conform with the chairman's timeline here, but uh uh yes, Commissioner O'Keefe, as you may recall, the board asked for a complete status report to come back uh as an agenda
item. We're doing that. You'll see that in June. uh the county attorney's office um as well as our county staff have been pursuing the restoration of the right ofway and the sidewalk as well as securing the site uh through um several different uh avenues and and utilizing
all of them. Um and I'll I'll I'll defer to the county attorney's office relative to some of the legal issues. Uh but I I do have uh at least some preliminary uh good news is that uh the owner has uh shown some good signs, some movement in
at least tentatively agreeing to the restoration of the right of way um and properly securing the sites. We've articulated to to them uh the owner as well as their engineers our specific requirements uh timelines as well as um
uh the legal remedies should non-compliance occur. and they have uh tentatively agreed uh to um to take on those uh um requirements at the owner's expense. Of course, we're going to continue to follow through on that and
I'll defer to the county attorney on some of the legal issues that her office has been working on. Madam Attorney, uh so uh as directed by the board, we've been exploring all options. One of the fundamental issues is our inability to remove the barriers
from the county's right of way until the developer moves the fencing or other barrier to secure the site. That needs to move to private property, the developer's private property before we can really do anything about the right
of way, even to the curb. Um, so that was what Vince mentioned about actively trying to work with the developer. That is the first step to anything that we could do, any work we could do, uh, or that the city could do. Uh, and that is what we are currently focused on. Um, if
it does not seem like the developer is going to do that voluntarily, we will be bringing back options, including legal action to try to compel the developer to um discontinue the unauthorized use of the county's right of way. So, we'll
have more for you in June on that and anything else. Thank you. Thank you. I I appreciate that because um well, Mr. Administrator, you said uh status report. I we don't need to go and do another motion, but I um at least as I remember it, it would actually be an item where we'd have options. Okay,
thank you. Um and then uh for the record, he said, "Yes, you are right, Commissioner O'Keefe. Put one point up um for me." Um thank you for that. I know we've heard a lot back um since last meeting that people are really engaged and really want to see this um fixed and I think they
appreciate us moving on it. Um the only thing I' I'd say is just to recognize that um May is mental health awareness month. And um while I didn't get ahead of time to get a proclamation on it for the month, I do want to thank all of the
service providers, treatment providers, and um community groups that help people with mental health. Um which is so many of us. Um, and uh, I appreciate those people and professionals um, providing treatment because for anyone suffering
with uh, mental health challenges or intrusive thoughts, you know, they are proving that treatment works and that lives can improve. And I really just want to um, thank you to all our mental health providers, community groups, uh, social services groups, everybody who
really makes a big difference in our community. Thank you. That's all. Thank you, Commissioner O'Keefe. Um, Commissioner Cummings. Uh thank you, Mr. Chair. Um I'd like to ask for a proclamation of Mr. Chair, um Dr.
Parker is uh commemorating the Tallahass bus bar a boycott on May the 23rd and has requested that we present a proclamation during the service because the city is for um has prepared a
proclamation as well. So, I'd like to move that we have a proclamation um at that time on the program and if there's an available available commissioner to present it, I'll be out of town. I'd love to present it, but
I'll be out of town. But that's my motion. All right, we have a motion and a second. Uh motion by Commissioner Cummings, second by Commissioner Max. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I. I. Do we have a passes unanimously? Thank you.
Thank you. Um, commissioners, I also, um, just reiterate, uh, Commissioner O'Keefe's recognition of mental health awareness month. this month. I've got on my green uh uh because of that uh
Commissioner Pro already indicated uh and had a motion passed for proclamation for Adna Marcelon was a local lawyer, attended law school at at FSU and um you know passed last week.
But I think it's important when we think about people that are suffering many in silence mental issues. We never know. So I I think it's important that we from the top to the bottom just make sure we're we're kind to each other because
we we don't know uh when we come in contact with people what what they're going through from a mental standpoint. Uh the last thing I want to mention, Mr. chair is um I want to thank staff
for the item we passed on the consent agenda, but they gave us a a great report on h homelessness and uh homeless women and girls in our community. And I was very encouraged by that report because it
indicated that of the number of homeless people in our community about 36 37% are are women uh and girls. And I think based on that percentage I think
that we as a community can it's a workable number in other words. And I think we we as a community can work on having a 0% of women and girls that are homeless and living on the street. So having said that, what what I would like
to do after also considering that the sheriff has submitted uh his proposed budget, which I know we'll have to address that, but one of the things that he has asked for in that budget is another host sheriff position.
And we know those host sheriffs uh deal specifically with our homeless population. So, I'd like uh Mr. county administrator for an agenda item to come back where staff
could look at the possibility and it might have to do it in conjunction with the sheriff that if that particular position host uh position it is funded if there could be some consideration of a percentage of that position devoted
specifically to women and girls uh homeless uh individual iduals in our community or maybe even the whole uh the entire position, but I know it would probably take some input from the sheriff and from the sheriff's office.
So, that's basically my motion. Uh Mr. County Administrator, is that something that could possibly be doable before we get a second? Absolutely. Okay. Thank you. All right. We have a motion. Second from Commissioner Maddox. Um all those
in favor signify by saying I. I. Passes unanimously. You got that, Mr. Administrator? Okay, perfect. Um, and other than that, um, Mr. Chair, I think that's basically my my comments and then again,
you know, kudos to, uh, to county administrator and our and our staff. U, I'll just share this. I was at uh the senior citizens annual civil stars lunchon last week and
um I was sitting at a table with the gentleman and his wife that lived down 27 and he indicated that he had met with staff from Leon County on the comprehensive plan on the comp plan and he was just he was just very
complimentary of the staff and he said I tell you what commissioner to have come to those guys. He said they are smart. They know their stuff. And I want you guys to know that sitting there, I was very proud. You guys do good work. But I was just very proud to stick my chest
out as a commissioner and I said, "We have some very, very qualified, intelligent individuals in every segment of the county." And of course, then I said, "And our county administrator, he has the ability to choose good people
that make us look good." good. So, I want you to know at that at that uh that banquet last Thursday night, I felt good because staff, you make us feel good. So, thank you so much. Thank you, Commissioner Cummings. Commissioner
Maddox. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh my condolences to the Vos family on the passing of Commissioner Lee Voss. Also, my my condol condolence to the Merc family on the passing of Adner Merc a friend and confidant. uh he will be
missed. Um Mr. Chair, I want to make a motion for a agenda item. I receive I received a letter from the Big Ben Minority Chamber asking for the county sponsorship of their annual camp Treppy
uh program. It says it serves 9th through 12th graders uh to provide youth entrepreneurial skills and leadership qualities utilization community using utilizing community business leaders and support of domy station uh public
speaking is something they work on idea uh ideas and business plan development business finances everything involving uh creating a business and entrepreneurship Mr. chair. Uh the funding will support computers for each camper. Uh meals for all the participants registration fees for
campers from lowincome housing. They're asking for anywhere in the range of 7500 to a $10,000 sponsorship. Mr. Chair, I I know we've done this in the past. I'm just asking for agenda item to come back for our consideration. All right, we got a motion and a second.
Um all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. passes unanimous. Thank you. Uh Mr. Chair, u I had an opportunity to listen to a friend and a mentor uh and
kind of family member Sean Pittman speak at word of South on his book and his his his thoughts on where we are politically uh during word of south. Uh disaffected is a book that he's written that I've read and I think it's a very good book and re would recommend it to many. Uh
what I would like to ask for is a proclamation celebrating uh not just this effective but also the Shawn Pitman show and other things that Mr. Pitman has done for our community. A second. All right, we've got a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by
saying I. I. I. Passes unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh I just want to tell you we're having a great meeting. Look forward to our public hearings at six. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Maddox. Commissioner Caban. Mr. Chair, one more. Oh, sorry. Hold on one second.
I did want to recognize the presence of State Representative Ashley Gant presence today. She came over today. Um I've had opportunity excuse me, how you doing? I've had opportunity to um really keep up what's going on in the state legislature. We should we should be
concerned. Commissioner Pro talked about the property tax thing and some of the some of the statements that being made over there. I was listening today and uh speaker of the house as well as as as senate president have all have long talked about this session about how local governments are spending
frivolously. Uh and I think we can dispute that every way rich way we want to because I think we're one of the leanest if not one of the leanest um county budget in the state of Florida. And so as they consider continue to to talk about these things, I ask that our
lobbying team and and Nikki uh present and let them know that Leon County anything anything done to our our property taxes uh will put us in a very detrimental place because we we are in a position where where else do we cut, where else do we go as we look at at
trying to perform the services we do for our for our friends and neighbors here in Leyon County. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Commissioner Maddox. Commissioner Kaman, Mr. Vice Chair. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I just wanted to briefly um follow up and say that let
the record reflect that I voted in the affirmative on consent items 1 through five and the status report item number six. And then I voted on staff recommendation for options general business 7 through 10. I just wanted to
clear that up because my service was spotty. Yes, sir. a few times I got bumped off and that's all I have. Great meeting everyone. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Is that all, Mr. Vice Chair? Yes, Mr. Chair. Thank you. All right. Thank you, sir. Um, commissioners, I
just have a few things real quick. I've been in conversations with the uh Mixuki tribe of Florida, who you may or may not have heard or may or may not have met with, I don't know, has established an embassy in Tallahassee. um they're trying to uh reestablish a presence in
the capital city and they came to me and and as a history teacher gave me a really cool history lesson on uh on the the story of the Mkasuki in this area which we know that's a that's a name that we are familiar with. Um, and I would like to ask for or I would like to
ask a commissioner to request a motion to have staff work with the the tribe to identify some locations uh that they had mentioned for uh updated and new historical markers. Um, if if you wouldn't mind second. Okay. Thank you,
Commissioner O'Keefe. Uh, motion is moved by Commissioner O'Keefe, seconded by Commissioner Cummings. Um, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. All right. And you you guys good with that? Okay. And then lastly, I would just like to ask for a proclamation
request uh recognizing the Deer Lake softball team for winning their fourth consecutive district championship. Uh great group of ladies, great group of coaches, and we're going to I'm going to present that to them at their banquet next week if that's okay with you guys.
All right. Moved by Commissioner Maddox, seconded by Commissioner O'Keeffe. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Uh, and it passes unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Um, and then just want to thank our tourist development staff. Uh, and Mr. I think Mr. um, uh,
Carwell was involved in the Allison Krauss concert promotion that I know Commissioner O'Keeffe and I attended. I guess it was last week or two weeks ago, can't remember, but it was awesome, awesome, awesome. So, uh, I just want to thank everybody involved in that. And,
uh, you know, what a beautiful night. at the Adly Amphitheater was just just incredible. I mean, you talk about a postcard for uh Tallahassee tourism. It was awesome. So, uh thank you commissioners. With that, um we are through our agenda. We will reconvene at
6:00 for our scheduled public hearings. Uh so, we are in recess. Thank you. Thank you. Part: 2
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County administrator. Oh, here we go. Commissioner, command, can you hear me? Yes, sir. I can hear you. Okay. Did you want to be in the affirmative on that last item? Yes. I cannot hear any dialogue, but um is it the first is it the first public
hearing item? I'm sorry. Yes, it's street renaming. Yes, it's the first item in the public hearing. Yes, I'm in the affirmative. Okay, thank you. Let the record reflect that Commissioner Kaban is in the affirmative on item 11. Mr. County Administrator,
next item. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners, uh, this is the first and only public hearing to consider a proposed ordinance amending chapter 6, article 2 of the Lyon County Code of Laws entitled Code Enforcement Board and repealing or replacing chapter 11 uh, article 9 of Lyon County Code of Laws
entitled towing services. Commissioner, as you may recall, uh that um uh the commission directed that we uh take a look at the updating of this ordinance. Uh the item requests that the board adopt the resolution establishing a schedule of maximum fees for
non-conceptual towing and uh storage services consistent with the proposed ordinance. As you may recall again, um the the industry uh approached the county last year seeking an update to the rates to reflect the current market and staff has worked with the industry in developing uh the proposed ordinance
and updating the rates. The item does have a fiscal impact. The towing ordinance is administered by the sheriff's office and the ordinance includes fees to offset a portion of the cost associated with the issuance of licenses and the inspection of vehicles and storage facilities. The proposed ordinance also includes a schedule of
administrative fines to be imposed by a special magistrate uh on any towing or storage business found to be in violation of the ordinance. Want to thank the county uh attorney's office for doing uh a lot of the heavy lifting on this item as well as the engagement
uh of our u towing industry. With that commissioners, we're recommending option one and um happy to answer any questions that you might have on the ordinance. We do have two speakers on this item. Go ahead. First speaker, Jim Patton to be
followed by Vivian Young. Mr. Patton, please state your name and address for the record. And you have three minutes. I'm Jim Patton with Jim Patton Towing, 3650 Woodville Highway, Tor. I'm here to represent all 16 towing
companies on the rotation list. They asked me to be the one to speak. We would like to say that we are 100% in support of this entire ordinance and resolution and that we want to thank the staff. We want to thank the county
attorney's office, the sheriff's department, and the consolidated dispatch agency. The all 16 of us agree that we think that this is will as soon as it's passed be the best ordinance in the state of Florida. We have reviewed a lot of them. This one is really good.
well written and we're ready for it. We want to thank everybody for for that. The appendix for the rates that the sheriff's department's going to charge us, 15 out of the 16 companies agree with. One of them still in sticker shock, but we're okay. We're we're fine
with it and we want to thank y'all and that's all I ever to say. Thank you, Mr. Questions. I'm here to answer any questions. Yes, sir. Thank you. We appreciate you being available. Um commissioners Oh, Commissioner Proctor, you're in the Oh, I'm sorry. Sorry. We got another speaker. Sorry, I took the wrong agenda number down.
Okay. So, uh, Commissioner Proctor, you're in the queue. Uh, Mr. Chairman, commissioners, Miss Patton, uh, want to thank you all for um, uh, come to my awareness um through one of you all's members and um, you all uh, afforded me
the chance to meet with you on um, on a pretty cloudy uh, Saturday. and what you disclosed was um troubling and I thought and felt uh that this commission uh
would not have y'all's industry um I think you were without 12 or 15 years without adjustments to towin rates fees and all of that and um we within the authority four or more of us uh want
to see your industry keep keep pace with um and then when we looked at the numbers um and I'll just say Gainesville and other markets what to fees were uh they were uh industry was vastly behind. So,
I was impressed by the efforts to galvanize all of the companies and also I did some phone calling today and um the county's attorney has indicated her comfort level that this moves us in
a positive direction. So, those things being said and um my awareness of um the weight of falling falling behind, uh I'd like to offer um option one. Thank you,
Commissioner Proctor. We got a motion from Commissioner Proctor for staff recommendation option one and a second from Commissioner Maddox. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, commissioners, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I.
passes unanimously. Thank you, commissioners. Thank you, Mr. Patton. Um, we are on to our last item tonight on our public hearing number 13. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Commissioners, item number 13 seeks the board's uh approval
to conduct uh the transmitt public hearing on the proposed amendments to the land use and mobility elements of 2030 Lyon Tallahassee Leyon County comprehensive plan pursuant to section 163.3184 Florida statutes. Uh the this
item also recommends a scheduling of an adoption hearing for uh July 8th, 2025. Commissioners may recall on February 25th, the board hosted a joint workshop with the city commission uh on the comp plan uh mobility elements and land use
elements uh and provided input as uh described in the item uh which has been incorporated into the draft goals, objective and rel objectives and related policies. Upon approval of the board, the draft land use and mobility elements will be submitted to all the appropriate state and regional review agency for a
30-day review before coming back to the board for the adoption hearing uh in July. Uh commissioners, I'd like to turn it over to Arty White at this point uh for a brief presentation and then we have we do have several speaker cards on the item. We're recommending option one. Arty.
Thank you, Kanye, Administrator. Uh good evening, chairman, commissioners. Uh it's my pleasure to provide a presentation on this item. Uh as the county administrator noted, tonight is the uh public hearing to transmit the proposed land use and mobility element
to the state and review agencies. Uh they would have 30 days to review that provide any comments to us. We would address those and uh this item also uh would schedule the adoption public hearing for your July meeting. Uh as you recall from many conversations um
probably most recently the the joint workshop on February 25th uh our comprehensive plan is comprised of 12 different elements. Uh these are statutoily required uh with the exception of three. We have three that are optional. Uh but our community has decided that they're appropriate to
have. Uh we received direction from both the board and the city commission to address two of these. Uh I bring this up because there will be uh other things that may come up that are best suited for a different element. Um we're specifically looking at land use and
mobility in this instance. Uh and there may be future efforts to to evaluate and update some of the other elements as well. Just a little bit of background and this is kind of important to to understand you know why we're here. You know what are we looking at with the
comp plan? uh the purpose of a comprehensive plan. Uh and the purpose of the comprehensive plan really is to establish a higher level vision and then set parameters for much more detailed land development code uh that includes
zoning districts uh and other programs and policies of the local governments both the the county as well as uh the city across the street. When we started this effort, we were very intentional to uh have a land use
mobility element that reflected community values. We'll never get a 100% agreement on any topic related to growth and development and we understand that. Uh but at the end of the day, there are certain values that we kind of broad
brush across the community all share. Uh generally speaking, we can all agree that we value environmental stewardship. In fact, that's kind of the number one community value. Uh we value conscientious growth, uh community connectivity,
diversity, having a community focus, uh as well as prosperity. And when we look at the the plan horizon kind of going to 2050, you know, we're not necessarily planning for tomorrow. We're really planning for what kind of community do
we want for our kids and our grandkids? Uh people who may be being born at TMH today. Uh who will need housing, who will need jobs, those kind of things in that 25 year plan
horizon. The plan is also based on data analysis. So we started with community values u but as required by statute and as a logical thing to do within the planning profession uh we looked at data analysis. Uh one of those key components
is population projections. And so we look out at what are the median population projections uh through the plan horizon year. And generally speaking we're looking at adding roughly 41,500 people to our community over the
next 25 years. And so our our plan uh proposes a strategy to uh accommodate that population growth uh as well as you know again have that community that that future population would want to live in.
Arty, can you repeat that? Oh, I'm sorry. Uh yes, the the plan has uh is uh set up to accommodate the population growth uh but in a way that uh our future generations would want to live in
this community. Uh again going back to those community values. The plan is also proposing a balanced approach to growth and development. uh it's looking at how do we accommodate the population projection uh and that projected growth while protecting the
environment. How do we increase density while also protecting neighborhood character and how do we protect neighborhood character while trying to avoid sprawl expansions of the urban service area? Those kind of things. Uh promoting affordability uh and encouraging multimodal
transportation. those last things usually pretty dependent upon density to uh achieve well. At the February 25th workshop, I went into detail on all the public engagement that had been done up to that point uh in the development of proposed
goals, objectives, and policies. Uh that included the the consultant leading an ambassador program, a series of workshops that were part of an educational road show, roundt discussions with various community groups, a vision survey, uh community
building block survey, a series of workshops that we called the step analysis, the strengthen, transform, enhance and preserve uh series of workshops on that. Uh public surveys on goals and objectives. uh we put the goals and objectives out first uh and
got feedback on those, refined those and then built policies on top of those uh and then workshops with the local planning agency. Uh since that workshop, we've done additional public engagement. Uh we met with uh citizens advisory committees uh and stakeholder meetings
with community members. uh we had uh a community meeting uh kind of broad community meeting uh not just specific stakeholders or members of uh citizens advisory committees. Uh we did another workshop with the local planning agency.
We published goals, objectives and policies online uh for people to uh review and provide comments directly to us. And uh finally there was a local planning agency public hearing on April 1st uh where the the local planning
agency voted they provided uh some feedback that we incorporated and with that uh with those edits uh they recommended unanimously to recommend approval of uh the proposed land use and mobility element. Uh we've also met with uh uh
various stakeholders in the community. I mentioned the advisory committees. We've got some feedback from them. We incorporated those uh into the goals, objectives, and policies. Uh we met with neighborhood associations. Um you know, one of the the key players that reached out and engaged with us directly was the
Alliance of Tallahassee Neighborhoods. Uh and you know, we worked with them on a number of things. There were things that we discussed that we just pulled in as they recommended doing. Uh there were a few things that we didn't see exactly eye to eye, but we worked back and forth
and came up with a compromise and included. And admittedly, there's a few things that uh we did not include uh for various reasons and happy to discuss those if they come up. Uh but again, it's kind of one of those things where like no one group is going to get everything they want. Uh but this has
been a collaborative process and I feel that uh everyone gets something. Uh we also heard from specific individuals. I know uh Dr. Bibllo provided a very lengthy uh and extensive uh list of recommendations. I'd say we incorporated
probably 90% or more of those. Uh so I appreciate his time and providing that feedback. A few things we did not incorporate. Uh either they were more appropriate to look at in the future uh with land development code changes or uh maybe just not appropriate for this comp
plan. And uh also with the South City Foundation, they provided some feedback uh and expressed some concerns and we uh discussed those with them. Uh and again, those we kind of thought were more appropriate for the land development code uh and other things. But all in
all, we've heard uh from a lot of community members. We really worked with them uh appreciated their input and incorporated everything that was appropriate to incorporate. One of the key components of a land use element is the future land use map. And
I think most people when they think of the land use element pretty much just think of the the the future land use map. Um though there are goals, objectives, and policies in addition to that. Uh when you see the future land use map, you'll notice a couple of things. Uh the first one is the
organization of it. Uh it is organized by community context or uh sometimes we call that character areas. And so you'll see land uses that line up with kind of natural areas, rural areas, suburban areas, urban areas, and then a few
outliers that are called special districts. Uh things like the airport that don't really kind of fit into uh a category neatly with other things. Uh you'll notice the balanced approach to development that I mentioned. Uh heavily focused on infill development, uh
moderate outward expansion, uh but very limited in that. Again, uh going back to our community values of wanting to protect the environment, protect natural areas, protect rural areas, uh we've very much looked at infill development over outward expansions of the urban
service area. Uh and a couple places where the boundaries have shifted on a few things. Uh so when we looked at our rural communities, when we looked at the urban service area, when we looked at uh the lake protection land use specifically, uh there were times where
properties were bisected by the boundaries of these uh in some cases it might have actually gone through the middle of someone's house. And so what you'll see is uh some adjustments where we try to follow either partial lines or natural features just to make the
boundaries of these things a little bit more logical. Uh this is the future land use map for the county. Um the grade out area is everything within city limits. Uh consistent with our in local uh coordination element. Uh the city will
vote on the future land use map within city limits. The county votes on uh land uses outside of city limits. So an unincorporated Leyon County. Uh and so we have the the two future land use maps. This is the one for the county. Uh
and what you'll notice is this is the area that has the majority of the large natural areas. This is the the future land use map that has our rural areas, our rural communities as well as some very distinct uh neighborhoods in the suburban areas.
Mr. Chair, yeah, Commissioner Maddox. Uh, quickly I would be remiss and if I didn't uh mention what Proctor what uh Commissioner Proctor would mention is that massive go back that massive amount of
uh natural area in the south west southwest correct southwest portion of our county. uh he's talked time and time again about different ideas there, but but that is if you think about Leyon County as a whole, that is a huge part of our county uh that's encompassed by
natural area and conservation. So, as we look at these land use maps and look into the future, there's not there's not there's not much of any place to go headed south uh given how big the natural area is. So, how how much is uh
national forest I don't recall off the top of my head, but it's a pretty significant uh percentage of Lyon County. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair, for allowing me that time. Yes, sir. Go ahead, Arty. Yeah. So, uh tomorrow night, the city commission will also hold a transmitt
hearing on this. This will be the future land use map that they're voting on. Uh you'll note that this is uh the part of the community where you have kind of the urbanized area, downtown, the urban areas um as well as uh some other distinct neighborhoods that are also
suburban as well. And when you put the two together, you see kind of the bigger picture. You see what represents our growth strategy. Uh again, kind of trying to focus the majority of growth and development where infrastructure exists, where uh urban services already
are uh in more of the urban and to some degree the suburban areas and really kind of leaving the the rural areas as they are uh and at this point leaving the natural areas uh as they are as well. As we went through this process, I
mentioned that we had uh workshops with the local planning agency. We had two uh one on February 4th, one on March 11th. Uh and then again the the public hearing on April 1st uh where the LPA did recommend approval of the proposed land use and mobility elements. They had a
couple of things that uh they brought up through that process and so I'll I'll hit those quickly. Uh the first one is at our work first workshop with the local planning agency uh they wanted us to very specifically look at uh the neighborhood first plans. And I know this is a very city ccentric slide uh
but it's really good information I think in terms of how we got to where we are uh with what we're proposing and they asked us to make sure that we incorporate the recommendations from the the greater bond the Griffin Heights and the Frenchtown neighborhood first plans
and as we were reviewing those plans uh the reoccurring theme through all of them when it regards to to land use was you know we have very small scale non-residential uses in our community. There's a few daycarees, some cafes,
things like that that we want to be part of our community, but they're non-conforming uses uh based on the residential preservation land use category. Uh they also stated that they have more diversity of housing types. Uh so you might see more duplexes
and things like that in those neighborhoods and they also wanted those to be conforming as well. And so as we were going through the process uh of addressing the specific comment uh we updated the residential preservation land use category to have a suburban
version and an urban version reflecting the location of in town neighborhoods that uh grew in more of a historical neighborhood pattern. Uh and we updated the density of that to allow up to 12 units per acre uh and to allow uh non-residential uses.
So very small scale commercial uses. Uh the max size of that being 2,500 square ft. Uh so again pretty pretty small scale. Uh I think it's important to note that uh the adoption of the comp plan and updates to land uh the the land use
element don't overnight automatically allow these uses to occur or bring anything into conformity. Uh as I mentioned early on the comp plan is sets a parameter for land development code and so land use categories are implemented through zoning. And so the
provisions that we included in uh the the proposed land use and mobility element specifically related to the urban residential preservation land use category state that a neighborhood has to do a neighborhood plan in order to be eligible for densities that exceed 6
units per acre, which is what residential preservation currently allow. uh or non-residential uses. So, this would have to be effectuated through zoning. And what we would do is as these three neighborhoods uh move forward in implementing their plan,
their respective plans, uh we'll work with them to craft zoning districts and apply it to those neighborhoods. Uh in the future, as other neighborhoods come through, should they want to do something similar, we could work with them. So, I know uh Providence is currently in the process of doing a
neighborhood first plan. I don't know at this point if they're going to be interested in something similar or not. Uh so we'll we'll have to see on that. Uh but for every other neighborhood that is uh urban residential preservation proposed for them, they'll keep their
existing zoning. So we won't be changing their zoning unless they as a neighborhood ask us to. And so I think that's key uh very important. So essentially what this does is uh in a way it provides more protections for the
existing neighborhoods uh because in order to change anything you have to do a neighborhood plan first. So if you don't want to change anything you actually have more protection because we added that hurdle. Uh if you do want things to change and allow a little bit more density and a little bit more uh in
terms of non-residential uses, you can do a plan and then we'll work with you to update that plan. So, it gives us flexibility to do that. So, it's kind of a win-win. Uh, but yes, immediately overnight doesn't change anyone's uh entitlements and you can't just now open
up a a commercial use in any of the urban residential neighborhoods unless you do that neighborhood plan first. And that neighborhood plan has to include public engagement with the neighborhood, buyin from the neighborhood, and the implementation of it also has to include the neighborhood. So, can't really
emphasize that enough. That language is in the comp plan u that we're proposing and uh we'll give credit to ATN uh for working with me on that language. Uh the second thing the local planning agency was really interested in is we had a goal of uh greater housing
diversity and so they were kind of just asking questions at that meeting about what are we talking about? Uh and so as you see now that we have the goals, objectives, and policies, uh when we talk about greater housing diversity, we're generally talking about what we call missing middle housing. Uh that's
planner jargon, uh that we use quite a bit in the plane profession. Not everyone knows it. So when we say missing middle housing, we're talking about kind of the range of housing between single family detached homes and apartment complexes. So that's duplexes,
town homes, forplexes, uh courtyard, uh cottages, things like that. Uh and so it's really kind of looking at, you know, how do we have more housing types? Uh and again, that goes back to our community value of diversity. So we
understand that this community has uh is a very diverse population. And so there may be people at different stages of life who need different housing types. you know, at some point you may want a very large house with a big yard. Uh, at some point you may need to downsize and move into a town home or something like
that with less of a yard to maintain. So, uh, it's not just can we accommodate the population growth with sheer numbers, but do we have the variety of housing types that the people in this community want and need. Uh, there was questions about uh,
neighborhood compatibility. We specifically included uh provisions in the suburban residential preservation and the urban residential preservation language categories uh that would address neighborhood compatibility and uh require uh detailed information in
the code for buffer screening design standards uh and even like transition areas where you gradually ramp up or ramp down uh densities and allowed uses. Uh and finally, the local planning agency wanted information about how the
current land use categories and the proposed land use categories uh relate to each other. Uh that's included in attachment 10 and your agenda materials. Uh but we also heard that uh people wanted to see it spatially. So we developed this web application uh that
you can click on a map, see what your current land use is and what's proposed. So, uh, we tried to facilitate people's, uh, questions to the extent that we could. Uh, as you remember, we came back to you on February 25th at a joint workshop and there were a couple of, uh,
topics that came up and we've addressed each one of those. Uh, I'll hit those quickly. Uh, the first one was in incentivizing development on major roads and gateways. Uh the proposed land use and mobility element that we have uh looks at improving gateways uh by
increasing allowed densities and intensities along major corridors uh South Monroe, North Monroe, West Pensacola Street, those coupled with design standards to ensure that we're getting good quality growth as
development and redevelopment happen. uh looking at non-conforming uses in the lake protection land use category. Uh that was another one that came up and we're proposing policies that uh really encourage non-conforming uses to either
redevelop to current standards or uh take steps that uh would bring them up to meeting current water quality standards. Uh because a lot of them were developed before the uh storm water standards were in place. And so if they
come up to uh meet current water quality standards, they could be deemed a conforming use. Uh Woodville came up. Uh we're addressing this a number of ways. One is the boundary of Woodville uh is expanded
slightly uh on the future land use map and uh acknowledging the availability of sewer uh arriving in Woodville uh increased the allowable densities in Woodville. uh and then noted that there's a Woodville sense of place plan
that uh we'll be doing this year and at the end of it if there are comp plan amendments or uh updates to the land development code we'll be bringing those to you uh based on that Woodville sent to place plan a lot of discussion on higher densities on the southside and so
we have uh proposed uh uh policies that would increase densities uh and development on the southside uh in a way that aligns with the southside outside action plan. Uh and then specifically kind of looking in um what Commissioner Proctor brought up with regards to uh
areas that are rural or uh that are rural and going to be getting sewer service in the future. So we have policies that address that to encourage quality development on the south side. And then the final point that came up at that joint workshop uh which was more of a city discussion but it was a joint
workshop so I'll mention it here as well uh is parking minimums. And while the comprehensive plan itself doesn't include parking standards, uh there are policies that allow uh flexibility in the code to either eliminate parking minimums, uh be able to reduce some of
the parking requirements or just generally be more flexible kind of depending on where you are in the the urbanized area. The next steps uh tonight is the transmitter hearing. uh as we noted uh upon transmitt should you choose to do
that uh we'll send this to the state and these review agencies they'll have 30 days to provide comments to us we'll address those uh the city was will be doing their transmitt hearing tomorrow uh the adoption hearings are scheduled uh for July uh for the board the city
doesn't have a July meeting so they'll be doing it at their next meeting which would be August uh and then after that we'll be working on land development code updates And uh as much as I would like to believe that everything we're doing is perfect and there are no mistakes or anything that would ever
need to change, uh I'm not that arrogant. And so I'll note that uh we'll be continuing to have a comprehensive plan amendment cycle. So if something needs to be adjusted, we can bring that back to you. Uh or if uh we have comp plan amendments that are applied for
like we do now, uh we would bring those forward as well. Uh the recommended action tonight is option one uh and that would conduct this hearing and transmit the proposed land use mobility element to the review agencies uh and schedule that adoption public hearing for
July. Thank you. Thank you Arty. Um Mr. Canad minister, do we have any public speakers? Thank you Mr. Chairman. Uh Commissioner, we've got eight public speakers to be heard. the first one joining us virtually. Ken, I'm not sure if you can confirm that. Uh, Stephen
Martin. Mr. Martin, are you there? I'm here. Can you hear me? Yes, sir. Uh, if you could please state your name and address for the record. You have three minutes. And I would also like to ask all of our speakers, if you're if you see if you hear repetition in the things
you're saying, we would appreciate it if you could wave in support of the previous speaker or so on so forth. We have eight speakers in the queue and we don't necessarily need to hear the same thing eight times. Thank you, Mr. Martin. Go ahead. Steven Martin, 2625 Stonegate Drive. I
observed the joint city county comp plan goals and objectives workshop in February. There was no mention made of the numerous controversial developments that were found to be consistent with the comp plan despite strong opposition. I was happy tonight to hear Mr. White
point out that yeah, it hasn't been perfect. It hasn't been anything close to perfect. This is quote from the introduction of the comp plan. The purpose of the comp plan is to preserve, protect, and enhance the quality of life for all citizens. The natural environment is one of many criteria
which form the community's perceived quality of life and is a major component in the quality of life equation. To achieve this, it is the intent of this plan to include strong environmental objectives and policies. The residential environment is also one of many criteria for the community's perceived quality of
life and must be protected. Unwise land use decisions and premature non-residentidential development and established residential areas can seriously and permanently alter the character of a neighborhood. End quote. With major developments come winners and
losers. Winners include developers driven by financial incentive, while losers can include pre-existing nearby residents whose quality of life is adversely impacted. What serves the interest of some adversely impacts others? Perhaps those others are do
something in exchange. Why not consider compensation for those adversely impacted? This would encourage developers to consider the interest of others. This is but one example of thinking out of the box within which we currently seem to be entrapped. Several
of the controversial developments including Canopy Saint Ives and Ox Bottom Thomasville Row are on land annexed into the city for the purpose of development. Once annexed, land can be developed far more densely than surrounding unincorporated land and
become out of character with the surrounding land. Much of the unincorporated land is away from the city and considered country, not city, by those who choose to live there. I was told the county used to be more resistant to granting requests for
voluntary annexation. Perhaps it's now time to restore some resistance. Uninccorporated residents res rely solely on county commissioners for representation. Why not require consent from all adjacent unincorporated property owners, especially residential
property owners, as a criteria for annexation of adjacent land. Comp plan has been a far cry from what some of us had hoped for. It, like other grand plans, was highly celebrated at its outset, but like many other plans, takes years to see unfold and realize its true
purpose. Let's not let that happen again. Honesty and forthrightness from the outset is called for. There was mention made of massive natural area in southwestern county. Yeah, I've been listening for the last few years to a particular commissioner. At one time,
the entire county was a natural area. So much of which has been lost. Let's try and save what we can. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Martin. Next speaker, FA Gibson to be followed by Alex Dub. Thank you for your time. Name and
address for the record. Miss Gibson, you have three minutes. I'm Fay Gibson. I live at 625 McDaniel Street in Tallahassee, Florida. Um I am a 34 year resident of Lafayette Park. Um the neighborhood where I live. Um and I was shocked yesterday to learn that this
plan was um coming up for your vote today for the transmitt. It's the first I've heard of it after 34 years of living there. Um, this plan, if passed, will drastically and permanently alter my neighborhood, my investment in my home,
and my fundamental of life. I'm asking you to refrain from passing the comprehensive plan update to the future land use and mobility elements. While there have been lots of hearings that we've just heard about, the actual status of this plan was not given to the
Alliance for Tallahassee neighborhoods until yesterday. So, we as as residents have not had a chance to see this. We've not had a chance to communicate thoroughly with you. A lot of us, this is our first time hearing about it, and that's a little rushed for us. We think
that there's a good reason here to slow this down and to be able to have more input from those of us who are citizens. Of all the neighborhoods in Tallahassee, Lafayette Park is one that truly lives up to its designation as historic preservation, which is our current designation. We are more than a
collection of old buildings. is we are a neighborhood. We walk together. We visit with each other. We take in each other's trash cans. We meet in yards and parks or we know our neighbors in Lafayette Park. Governors were born in our homes. Senators had meetings together on our
front porches. We are a historic neighborhood. Most of us invested our life savings into homes because of this pursuit of happiness, wanting to live in this particular historic part of Tallahassee. With your vote, you can preserve this for us and with your vote, you can do
away with it, and it will never come back again. Once this neighborhood is gone, there is not going to be anything like Le Lafayette Park in Tallahassee. The change proposed removes our long and proudly held designation of historic preservation with six units per acre of single family homes, town homes, and
cluster housing, no non-residential use. Instead, we will be designated for 12 units per acre of single family detached, single family attached, duplexes, triplexes, and quadriplexes with neighborhood scale accessory non-residentidential uses such as retail
offices and community services. This huge change is happening with barely 24 hours notice to those of us who have made our lives here. You are not only changing our density to twice what it currently is, a drastic measure by itself, but you will be removing the protection from commercial development
that our residential area has always held. I'm asking you not to do this. Please give us a chance to have some impact on this. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Gibson. Next speaker, Alex D to be followed by Rosa Ramos
Morgan. Thank you, Mr. D. Please state your name and address for the record. Alex D, 901 Buav Vista Drive. Uh, good evening everyone. Uh, I'll try to keep this brief. I agree with uh, most of what was said from the last speaker.
Um I um only learned about this uh plan about five or 6 days ago, which um for me was a bit of a shock because as a few of you sitting here in front of me know that I'm u you know more than your
average citizen involved in the community and been a member of the DEC for 10 years. um for something like this to come along and even me not to know about it, I feel like it's definitely going to be the case for other people in my neighborhood um that a lot of these
changes come as a surprise. And I would just like to um give my um neighborhoods example of, you know, one oversight that I feel like is in this plan. And I feel like if it could happen to our neighborhood that there are probably other areas where there could be
improvements before you vote to transmit this uh to the to the state. So I live on Buenav Vista Drive. I believe um one of you also lives on my street. Um, and uh I live in a house built in
1949. Um, and the two houses to to my u north and south were also built in that era. And my neighbor actually uh grew up in his house. His great-grandfather built that house. The
um resident before me was a woman who lived to be 99 years old. And I still uh prune her flowers. So, um I feel like uh taking our neighborhood from an R1 single family
uh neighborhood to a urban neighborhood, 26 units per acre is a wild jump. And in fact, we're being lumped in with a lot of the uh units west of us when in fact
our the character of our neighborhood more resembles what's east of us. I can give you all some examples. So here's a picture of my house. Single family home, lots of beautiful live oaks, other houses in the
neighborhood. You get the idea. It's your quintessential single family neighborhood. We're being lumped together with what's west of us, apartment complexes, areas with
duplexes. Now, these I do think it's appropriate that they should be maybe in the future reaching the point of 26 per acre. But to take ours and zone it that way or propose it to be zoned that way in the
future, I think is a bit extreme. And in fact, here's what's just to the east of us, which is what I think our neighborhood more resembles. So, I would just ask that we slow down on this a little bit. Um, give everybody some chances to point out some of these
things, um, you know, that they might see in their neighborhoods. And, um, yeah, thank you for Thank you, Mr. to next speaker Rosa Ramos Morgan to be followed by Mike Bresen. I don't have any requests. I'm sorry. Yeah, there's no order, sir. It's just
how he calls them. They We don't know the order, sir. We just have a stack of names. They get shuffled around. Sir, if you whoever we called needs to speak. We have to have some order. We can't just do it on the fly.
Miss Ramos Morgan. Name and address for the record, please. Rosa Ramos Morgan, 400 Capital Circle Southeast. Thank you. Um, you're not going to get the introduction until after I speak. So, good evening. I'm here on behalf of
the Alliance of Tallahassee Neighborhoods regarding the Northwood property. Like you all just to sit back for a minute. We invite you to take an imagined drive south on Monroe Street from I 10. You come upon the site of the
former Northwood Mall and you see a vibrant campus with a state-of-the-art police headquarters. the completion of a phased development that includes an activity center, a safe, positive space oriented towards
youth and children, affordable and workforce housing, a community resource center offering various social services, a mobility hub incorporating parking, transit, and drop off areas. You turn into the complex and see a wildlife
observation area that has been integrated with a drainage pond. and see how that helps our community meet its carbon neutrality goals. You are proud we developed this gem, a gateway into our fear
city. This vision is our proposal for the Northwood property. In order to accomplish this, we critically need a public oriented, creative, and guiding master plan. Peace meal development like citing the police headquarters and roads
without considering the rest of the property takes away the chance to build something greater than the sum of its parts. Our ATN position is for the city to retain ownership of the entire Northwood parcel because owning the
property is strategic and smart. It allows us to control its density and over time its value and its potential will only grow. However, regardless of whether the city sells property, a master plan will ensure this property
becomes an exemplary model of integrated community space, enhancing not only the site, but surrounding neighborhoods. This is a unique moment to shape our community's future. Commissioners, we're asking you to
commit to a full plan now. We're asking you to add a paragraph in the plan for Northwood that is just like the one for Southwood and policy 2.6 that calls for the adoption of a Northwood master plan funded by the city
and delivered not later than December 2026. We have provided you with a full suggested verbiage that I will turn in. Don't let this opportunity slip away through peace meal decisions. Let's take this rare asset and shape it into
something that works for the whole community. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Ramos Morgan. Um Arty, could you come to the podium real quick before we get to the next speaker? I think we need some clarification because we've heard now about Northwood, Lafayette Park, Buenav
Vista Drive. These are not in the unincorporated area, are they? Uh no, they're not. They're they would be within city limits. So, what we're voting on tonight, does it impact those areas? Um, can you clarify? Uh, if they're talking about what the designation of their specific properties
are, uh, that'll be on the future land use map that the city hears tomorrow. Uh, they're not on the future land use map that you're voting on, right? And can you can you explain like we won't have anything to do with Northwood Properties master plan? Right. That's
correct. Uh the the the city that Northwood site is located on is uh owned by the city of Tallahassee. It's within city limits. Uh I've not personally been involved in the project. I know that
they've done some community engagement. I believe they've hired a consultant. Uh I I think they're working on a master plan for the site or at least uh a site plan for it. Um but that would not come to this board in any capacity. Mr. Chair, can I follow up? Yeah. M Comm
Commissioner Maddox, please. Yeah. So, so of the speakers you've heard, you you've been paying attention. Absolutely. H how much of what you've heard today, can we address? Uh I think so far we could address the vast majority of it. Um so if not everything,
I think we can address everything actually. Um, so there's been uh a little bit of confusion between zoning and land use. And so uh there was a speaker who noted that his land use was R or his zoning was R1.
Uh we're not changing any anybody's zoning. Uh this process doesn't change zoning. And so uh that property would keep the R1 zoning district in place. Okay. for a second. Mr. Chair, all those
who are here um for that particular zoning uh that R1 zoning change, could you please raise your hand? Yes, you. Okay, thank you. Um I I Mr. Sh, I'm glad you asked what
you asked. I'm I'm pretty sure as I look out in the crowd, I've seen a lot of uh faithfuls that have been out been in this chamber a good bit. Um and I just want to make sure that as as the chair has tried to specify here that there's an understanding between what we can do as the Leon County Commission versus the
city's jurisdiction and their votes that they will have to take uh when it comes to the plans that they have. Um now, Lafayette Oaks, which I believe is one of the conversations we we're having here. I think I heard it earlier. Lafayette Park. Oh, Lafia Park. I'm sorry. Lapia Park. Is that in the
uninccorporated area? It's also within city limit. Right. That's what I thought. Is what what what you heard before. Is that something that we can address? Uh it would not be what you would address that would be in this process. In this process. Um cuz that that would be on the future land use
map. That's uh within city limits. And so uh you're you would only be voting for land uses that are applied outside outside the city limits. Okay. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I understand. Thank you, Commissioner Maddox. Uh, thank you, Arty. Next speaker, please.
Mike Presen to be followed by Neil Shranberg. Name and address for the record, please. Hello, my name is Mike Bzine. I live at 1401 North Rolph Circle and I'm representing the Alliance of Tallahassee neighborhoods. We recognize
that as you've just discussed, a lot of the uh comments tonight are about in city areas. We're going to avoid most of that, but uh recognize that some county commissioners have been involved in issues that happen within the city. And
so we wanted to give an update on our perspective as how that affects us and our interactions with the comp plan. Um, but first before I get into those comments, I would like to thank Arty White and Susan Poppin right back here
as uh and the rest of the planning staff for all their hard work that they've put in on this project. Um, we've had some productive discussions with them and uh particularly once the uh goals, objectives, and policies had been
developed and we are very appreciative of their of our interactions with them. Uh however, while we feel we've had a fair exchange of ideas with RD and Susan and respect that a number of the our suggestions have been incorporated into
the plan, some of which already uh summarized here tonight. There are some outstanding issues that we're still very concerned about. Um this deals with the residential preservation neighborhoods, including the density issues and maintaining protection of incompatible
uses. And additionally, we see the need for a specific comp plan policies addressing Northwood Center and the Midtown redevelopment efforts. Since Juv County Commissioners have been involved most with the Northwood plan center, our next speaker,
Rosa Morgan, will present the compound. Oh, she's already spoke. For Midtown, I want to express ATN support for the efforts of the Midtown working group and their desire for a Midtown master plan. to be created prior to any major
redevelopment efforts. With that in mind, I appreciate your attention and look forward to working with Arty and the rest of the planning group in the future to make this comp plan an even better document to guide our growth. Thank you. Thank you, Mr.
Brazine. Next speaker, please. Nell Shranberg to be followed by Vivian Young. Miss Strandberg, please state your name and address for the record. My name is Nell Strandberg. I live at 409 Beard Street. I had statement that I had put
together. I do live in Lafayette Park. We just got notice of this yesterday and I cannot meet make the meeting tomorrow is why I came tonight. I understand you're the county and this is a city issue. But I think some of the statements I want to say tonight that
will change from what I have written are this is going too fast. We found out about this yesterday or so and you all are going to transmit this and then it keeps going forward too fast. Please
slow this down and reconsider the transmitt so that there's enough time for neighborhood people to come and speak in front of the appropriate commissions that are here. But some of the things that happen in my street also
pertain to suburban areas in the county. I question the need for the status change of residential preservation and some of these that are happening with the density increasing and I'm wondering who's you know you've protected our
neighborhoods and I thank you all for protecting our neighborhood and I'm wondering for the changes I heard the presentation but we need to protect our neighborhoods that are special to our city and county and the proposal to
double the density. I think even in the suburban areas or the county areas, if you walked across around the streets, there's not enough room for that density. It's going to add more parking
on the streets, which then causes more problems. And I say that as somebody who lives on Beard Street where Table 23 and their popularity has made my street a parking lot. The valet parking, the
employee parking, people that don't want to pay for valet are parking on my street. My friends if they come to visit cannot park in front of my house. And if you allow businesses or offices to come in the suburban areas, that's going to
happen to their neighborhoods also. And it may be the go-to place where people are wanting to buy something and the smaller lots, they have to park on the street and that is affecting our special neighborhoods that we have in this city.
Also, we had a daycare at my corner. That meant parents picking up, dropping off, and the noise throughout the day from two houses away. And you're allowing that with this change in the land use that it can happen. And once it
is approved, they say, "Okay, it's part of the comp plan." I saw this happen just recently when I had gone to one of our meetings. They said, "Well, it's already approved." And so then it's changed. Please protect our neighborhoods. You know what a special
area we are and a special city and we need to slow this process down. This seems to people think that it's I guess it started in 2013 and then all of a sudden it's just been going so quickly. So
please postpone the transmitt. Give your residents some time to give you answers. We don't troll the website for the land use and see what's happening. You need to come out and speak with you. Thank you for all the hard work. Thank you the
staff for all the hard work you've done. I appreciate you listening. Thank you, Mr. Strandberg. Next speaker, Vivian Young to be followed by Andrew Gay. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. Uh my name is Vivian Young. I live at
411 Oakland Avenue. Um, I am here on behalf of 10,00 which is a statewide notfor-profit organization that focuses on planning and growth management issues in our rapidly growing state. As you're all very aware, the comprehensive plan is
intended to codify our community's vision about where and how we grow over the next 25 years. The comp plan also establishes the legal foundation to make future zoning changes. So I think there's a bit of tap
dancing going on to say that this doesn't really relate to zoning. It does. It creates the legal foundation for future zoning changes. If the comp plan is amended, it will reflect that the community vision includes these
increased densities and increased uses in the areas that are specified on the map. They will help to justify future zoning changes on the ground that these zoning changes are now in compliance with the community's adopted comprehensive plan. At 10,00 Friends, we
strongly support the overarching principle of this plan to keep urban areas urban and rural areas uh rural. There's no no question about that. Um if this is carefully crafted, it will create more vital urban areas. It will
prevent urban sprawl. It will protect natural areas and it will reduce the public investment needed in infrastructure, roads, storm water and things like that. But we do have several concerns about the appro the proposal.
Um the first one is process and it's the timeline as you've heard from so many people here tonight. Um, yes, the process started in 2016, but it wasn't until mid-March of this year that the full draft of the proposal was
available, and it was only last week that the document before you was available. So, the public did not have a great amount of time for engagement on this issue. If you really wanted um sincere public engagement, get an article on the front page of the
Democrat and do um you know pieces on the various television channels. That's how you still get public engagement because as one speaker said, most people don't go sitting looking on the on the city and county um you know websites to find out what's
happening. Um for these reasons, we urge you to slow this timeline down. The second issue is population accommodation and I keep raising this issue. The goal of the comp plan is to accommodate future growth and development. But we
understand that that is about 26,000 housing units, but nowhere can we find how many housing units these in intensifications of density will allow. Will it allow 26,000 more units? Will it allow 52,000 more units? Will it allow
104,000 more units? Um, I think that's a critical issue for you all to really um discuss and understand more fully before you move forward on this. So, please in summary, provide more opportunity for citizen input and slow the process down.
Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Thank you, Miss Young. Next speaker, please. Andrew Gay to be followed by Adam Anthony Biblo. Good evening, commissioners. Andrew Gay, 2741 Milstone Plantation Road. I stand before you tonight in full
support of the proposed comprehensive plan amendments. I believe the proposed amendments are the product of years of public outreach and stakeholder engagement, not to mention countless and countless hours of hard work from planning staff. They accommodated balanced future growth by combining
modest expansions to our urban service boundary with increased densities for urban infill. The changes are necessary to continue moving our community forward and will promote vital sustainable growth for years to come for our area. I ask that you vote tonight to transmit the proposed amendment to the state for
review. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Gay. Next speaker, Adam Anthony Bibau to be followed by Eric Draper. Name and address for the record, sir. Right. Uh, Adam Anthony Bibllo address withheld from up via chapter
119 solution. You have three minutes, sir. Thank you. Hey, thank you for your work on the comp plan to your staff and the consultant. And I had a lot of issues. They addressed many of them, mostly the smaller issues, some of them were larger. Um, there's still a few
that I wanted to point out. I'm going to focus only on three. One is the proposed policy uh relating to the urban service area itself and that policy as drafted
would require there to be a 50% over surplus in land to accommodate the population. And one can argue whether the accommodation models make sense to begin with. But that said, it would
provide for 50% over supply. And that recognizes the urban service area boundary as we have today. That makes sense because why fight about the existing boundary, but I don't believe there's any logical or good planning reason to keep expanding the urban
service area at that rate. Maybe it needs to be expanded in the future, but to lock it in at always having to be 50% over uh the so-called standard I think is not a good idea. I think it's a
very poor idea. Okay, that's issue one. And I could answer any question you have about anything I say and particularly interested in that issue if you like. The other two uh hopefully uh maybe there's some answer. There's two maps that do not
appear in the amendment that I can't figure out what happened. There's a reference uh one of the maps that's typically in the comp plan. I'm not a real fan of the approach, but it's been cited many times, which is functional classification or what staff used to
refer to as a funky class map. Arterial local street collector. Well, what street is this? Well, you've got policies that say on an arterial you do this, you don't do that. That map isn't in the amendment. Where did it go? That needs to be part of the mobility element
if you're going to refer to functional class. I don't understand that. Or maybe it's going to be outside the comp plan, but the comp plan has to tell us where to find that information and is it you know what what's the public how does the
public get this information? Similarly, uh another kind of in uh information is context classification. That's sort of a newer thing that this comp plan has picked up on. It's similar to functional classification. Sometimes it's a
substitute for it. There's 46 citations in the proposed policies. The context yet in fact there's one proposed policy I think it's 63 6.3. I can look it up if you want that specifically
refers to a context classification map. It's not in the amendment. So I think you know there's a lot of good work has been done. There's still some outline uh you know issues that are outstanding that need to be addressed. I think there
needs to be a little bit more time put into cleaning this up and answering where are those things and so on. Thank you sir. Thank you. Next speaker, Eric Draper to be followed by Candace Mitchell. Mr. Draper, your name and
address for the record, please. You have three minutes. Thank you very much. Uh Eric Draper, 3627 uh Dexter Drive. I'll be brief. Um we would just uh we organization I'm
with Capital City Cyclist participated in the u uh the process here. We made a number of recommendations. number of those were accepted into the mobility and transportation element. We appreciate that. There's one recommendation that we made that we thought uh if there's a chance to get it
in would still make sense under 6.5.1 uh where bicycle facilities would be uh installed or uh evaluated consistent uh concurrent with maintenance. We recommend the addition of the word implement uh in that uh particular
section so that uh when maintenance is being done, you're not just evaluating for for um for additional bike lanes or uh infrastructure that you uh actually implement that also. Other than that, I think you did a pretty good job on the
mobility element. We really appreciate having the opportunity to participate in that. Thank you. Thank you for your brevity, Mr. Draper. Next speaker, Candace Mitchell to be followed by Deborah Irvin. Name and address for the record, please. Uh, good evening. Uh, I'm Candace
Mitchell and I live at 1639 Fernando Drive and that's in the neighborhood of Los Robels. Uh for those of you who haven't been driven through Los Robels or attended a function in the woman's club in Los Robels, we are a small
neighborhood situated between Thomasville Road and Meridian. I'm glad to see some shaking heads over there. Uh we are the first planned subdivision of Tallahassee platted in 1928.
We are listed on the historic register of historic places. We have a strong neighborhood association uh that was incorporated in the 1970s. We have beenounding people for a long time. Uh we have fought to preserve
the unique character and quality of life of our neighborhood. Um, our current of president, uh, Danielle Dixon was not able to come tonight, but I am going to read, uh, her comments to you. Um, and I
have something to show you. I am here formally to submit signed petition over a 100 residents of Los Robels oppose the uh land use under the
comprehensive plan the change of the land use. Um, this petition circulated over 3 days due to the rush timeline. Residents across Tallahass struggled to understand the full scope
of these changes. Even so, many respondents quickly voiced their opinion. Uh these signatures reflect broad concerns about the increased density, commercial encroachment, traffic, and potential
loss of the neighborhood character. Our current preservation residential preservation designation has protected loss robels for decades. Using an urban residential preservation would double our housing density and allow commercial
use, both in incompatible with our historic neighborhood. We respectfully request the commission reject the proposed change and retain our current residential preservation designation.
Alternatively, we support the change of suburban residential preservation uh which more accurately reflects the scale and purpose of our neighborhood. Thank you for hearing us out. We appreciate your time. Thank you. Thank
you, Miss Mitchell. Next speaker, Deborah Irving. Deborah Irvin to be followed by Jake Vart. Yes. Thank you, commissioners. My name is Deborah Irvin and I live at 1500 Crisal Drive in the
Los Robels neighborhood. I understand that you don't want to spend a lot of your time or energy on areas within the city limits, but I think some of the issues that have arisen tonight um with respect to areas in the city
limits are also pertinent to the non city areas that you're considering. I moved into my neighborhood 29 plus years ago and I moved there as a single parent of a young child because I treasured
what I was seeing within my neighborhood. Our citizens have been given very little opportunity to consider what's being proposed whether it's city or county and we deserve better. I believe that the
people who own the land should have the strongest voice in what happens to the land. And I urge you to hold off on any action so that we have a sincere effort to educate the
communities and let them share with you. And I would urge you as a commissioner not to take action until you have assured yourself that you have heard from your constituents. Thank you so much. Thank you, Miss Irvin. Next
speaker, Jake Vaughn to be followed by the final speaker, Shawn White. Mr. Vaughn, name and address for the record, please. Mr. Chairman, members of the board, my name is Jake Barn. I live at 1501 Fernando Drive. My telephone number is
850-509-5585. I have uh I'm an attorney using the term loosely uh for more than 50 years. Uh, just a quick sidlight, Vince used to work for me when he was a young whippers snapper many years ago. So, I have a great deal of
respect for him. Uh, but he does make mistakes occasionally. Uh, in any event, uh, during my career, I have been in charge of preparing two comprehensive plans for counties, and I have been involved in so many amendments, I can't count them all.
So, I know a little bit about which I speak. First off, as a lawyer, I consider the comp plan to be the constitution that governs what you do. And everything you do has to be consistent with that constitution, which in this case, the
land use decisions. So, what it is is a very important document that needs to be carefully considered when you approve it. I have lived in Losrooms for 25 years. I have been in the city and
county for 46 years and this is the first time I've appeared before the county commission. I haven't had a good reason to be here but tonight I do. There are issues that I have with the future land use map which most
people refer to as the flume as a F lum and the proposed land use policies. What is the rush to approve the new flume flume and the proposed land use policy? There should be no rush. As many
people have said tonight, the current flume and the current land use policies have been placed for a number of years and the new flume and new land use policies will be in place for also a great many years. So why rush to do it? Make sure you get it right. The revisions that have been proposed are
substantial and one needs time to review them. Some of these documents weren't prepared until like less than a week before some of the public meetings. And you can't really review what the old policies were versus the new a and
obviously I will tell you there's a lot of ways they could have made a lot easier for people to understand precisely what they are changing. And so from my perspective the public was provided very little time to thoroughly review and evaluate all of the proposed
revisions. The explanations given for some of the revisions were not clear andor accurate. Now, was that my three minute? You got 30 seconds, I think. Well, you know, honestly, I I feel that u this weigh about your 3m minute
limitation. Mr. White, you gave 24 minutes to and I'm supposed to respond in 3 minutes to what he spends 24 minutes. This process was designed to have citizen input and all you're getting is staff input and I get three minutes. I personally think that that
will never be held up if anyone challenges limiting the public's comments. This process was designed to give people the public the opportunity to comment. I want to just say reinforce stick with your residential preservation
that you have at WAS Robels. And I challenge you to read that definition in your land use policies. It uh I'm I want to refer to it very quickly so you know where to look. Look at policy
2.2.3 residential preservation and compare that to this new definition they have of urban residential preservation. Thank you. And for those of you uh that like to read, I actually have written
comments that I'd like to submit. You go right there, Mr. Vaughn. Can you give one to the commission, please? Thank you, Mr. Vaughn. We appreciate you. Um I It's remarkable. You look younger than Vince. I don't know how he could
have Wow. Wow. That's tough. Final speaker, Shawn White. Uh, thank you, Commissioner. Uh, Shawn White, 163 Fernando Drive. With all great respect to staff efforts, uh, I echo uh, those former comments of the
Los Robels Association and I just don't think it's quite ready for transmitt yet. Thank you. Uh, thank you, sir. All right, that concludes our public speakers. We are now on discussion. Commissioners, do we have a motion? Commissioner Maddox, you're in the
queue. Discussion recommendation. All right, we've got a motion for staff recommendation. Is there a second? Can I second? I'll second Commissioner Maddox's motion. So, we have a motion from Commissioner Maddox,
a second from Commissioner Welch on staff recommendation option one. We are in discussion. Commissioner Maddox. I I would imagine we have a lot of discussion here with those for those of you who are here for the first time. Our process is uh we have to start discussion or our discussion with a
motion. And so I want to start us off at staff recommendation. Uh Ari, could you come up first? I had a couple question few questions actually. Um, as I remember correctly, when we were at our last comp plan meeting, joint meeting with the city, um, we had
a lot of conversation around extended deadlines and extra meetings in between. Is that correct? That is correct. The, uh, the this board opted to move their transmitt back a month, uh, and then the city contemplated that and also moved
theirs back a month as well. So both both transmitts have been moved back a month. That's correct. Okay. The process by which we're going through where there are some neighbors that that are sitting among amongst us who are just now getting this information. Could you explain to me the process already, please? Um well I I'll be honest, I'm a
little bit confused by some of them. Um I know the Lafayette Park neighborhood. I have been coordinating with the HOA president of that neighborhood association for a really really long time. like well back. Excuse me. Is is the neighborhood president assoc
association president here amongst us today? Um she's actually in Mexico. Okay. Thank you. Is anybody who are who is on that neighborhood association with us today? Okay. Go ahead. Oh uh so yeah um we have been
uh kind of doing public engagement for uh this specifically for a you know number of years uh and kind of each time we do that we've uh leveraged what the the consultant set
up as the the ambassadors and so those were people who were supposed to take information back to their representative groups. Um we've been uh compiling an email list. So as anyone attended a public meeting uh we shared that we've worked with uh the Alliance of
Tallahassee neighborhoods. Uh they distribute information to in town neighborhoods as well. Um we've been posting things on social media. So uh I'm not sure how more we could have done to be honest um to to to inform people.
We've kind of been working both the the public facing channels, the advertisements, social media, those things, as well as trying to leverage networks of people using community organizations, community groups, uh, HOAs, things like that. Mr. Chair, if
you indulge me. Uh, so yes, sir. Um, the issues particularly to Lafayette Oaks and the Los Rels neighborhood. Um, those were again city issues. So the communications coming from you guys
would be uh from the city. My my question there is the process by which you uh met with and communicated with constituents that are affected by these changes. Were they were they mirror the city county
processes mirror? They do. Yes. Okay. So as far as the the amount of meetings and the and the time spent on it, those those things were both were mirrored. Okay. Um the uh there was a lot of conversation around us extending or not approving and moving the deadline. Uh
could you talk to me a little bit about that process and what exactly we could do or what the options are there to to extend the deadline and what might that accomplish? Yeah. Um so you absolutely have the option to to continue the public hearing to another date. Um
that's always an option for a public hearing. Um, you know, I think one of the concerns with that would be we have a a comprehensive plan today. Uh, and it remains in effect. Uh but if someone were looking at doing a
resoning or a comprehensive plan amendment, uh they're kind of in limbo trying to understand, okay, if I'm changing my land use, coming in going through the process, is the comp plan land use element going to change before I get through the process of changing my
land uses now? In fact, uh you know, with regards to the city, they actually have a comprehensive plan amendment on the same agenda tomorrow as the transmitt for uh the land use element and it was because the the applicant. We
we offered to roll it into this, but they were uh unsure whether the the deadline would be extended or not. And so uh it gets a little awkward if someone wants to amend the comp plan while it's being rewritten. And so there's uh some concern with that. Um we
could do uh uh if you extend it um you know provide more opportunity for the citizens to to to review the materials. Um they have been published online and again we use
social media to let people know that it was published online since uh early to mid-March. And uh um you know again have notified people uh through the local planning agency uh workshops and public
hearing through email through subscription services through social media that those were available to review and uh today we really haven't received a lot of input on it uh despite our efforts to to let people know. Arty
if we decide to Excuse me. If if we decide to extend our transmittal, how does it affect the city? The city will decide on their own whether to transmit or not, um it's not contingent upon one or the other. So if they if we say we're going to extend our transmitter, but
they going ahead and transmit that that just that just means we've extended ours, but some of these issues that we're talking about here today will already be dealt with because the city would have dealt with their transmitter. Is that correct? That's correct. Okay.
um of the issues that you heard today. Again, just from my understanding, um I understand that what we're transmitting here are are the future land uses that can be uh governed by the county, which would be in the unincorporated area. Correct. That's
correct. Thank you. If what what issues did you hear today that were affected by what we can transmit today? Um I believe the majority of everything relates to uh what will be before the city tomorrow.
The city tomorrow. Um uh Dr. Biblo brought up a few things. Um the urban service area policy being one of those. Uh I'll note that that policy is what is in the current comp plan, right? And so we use the same policy language that
currently exists uh to maintain the urban service area that we have uh we use that in the proposed land use element. Uh and the maps that he was referring to uh we would envision those not being in the comp plan but being in uh respective land development codes uh
as they relate more to development standards. Yeah. So Arty um Mr. Chair, sorry. Yes, sir. I'm going a little long. Arty, um, you mentioned earlier that there was a lot of compromise and I I'll be honest with those who are sitting here, um, over my years of being
here. What I've always said was, and I was taught this by a former commissioner, that if you come to the table and everybody's given a little bit to where everybody's a little bit uncomfortable and nobody's completely happy, you probably did the right thing.
Do I believe that the county should or the the government should get everything that they want in the way they want it because they visualize it that way? If the citizens don't agree with it, I think there need to be a process of compromise there. What I've heard you say, I already is that there was some
compromise there. Uh and that out of that compromise came to where you are today. You said that that uh you couldn't you couldn't all agree on everything, but you but you gave where you could and and the and the rest of it you're leaving up leaving up to us to uh
be able to decide how we want to handle it. Um I feel like I'm in a pl in a a rock is that is that correct? That's correct. Okay. I feel like I'm in a a rock and a hard place as I feel for you guys. Um, every year, uh, um, Family Promise Big Ben, for the
past couple years, I've been our CEO. We've had our, um, our annual event at the Ladies Club right there in Los Robos. Yes, ma'am. And we've enjoyed it. It's a very nice, very, very nice facility. We enjoy using it. Uh, that that that neighborhood does
have a character to it that is unique to Los Robos. And you all should be proud of that. you you've protected. You should be proud of it. Uh much like other neighborhoods within our community that that have been asked that they be protected. The the the thing that we
have here today and what I want everyone to understand is the county not transmitting means nothing. If we extending our transmitt today, it does not stop the city from acce from accepting their transmitt tomorrow. The process bill will be what it's going to
be. Now I appreciate just for the for the standpoint of Leyon County Tallahassee is in Leyon County. I do appreciate being able to understand and hear here hear you all speak to us today about the issues that you have that are happening within the city limits. But I
I will say to you that um jurisdiction is jurisdiction. We can't make nor mandate nor legislate what happens inside the city limits. And so for that reason I I I I made the the the initial
motion a motion for recommend staff recommendation which is option one because of what I understood is is a line of question that I had that the county not transmitting does not stop the process. It just extends our transmitt but it keeps the city
transmitt as the way they want to decide it tomorrow. Um the process as as as already said was the same for the county things as it was the city things. Um those who who did not hear about it until yesterday uh or
or the timing was a little shorter for you um I think you I think you you're full within your right to go to the city tomorrow and ask for extra time uh extra consideration extra time. I just don't think this is the chambers that you asked for it because quite frankly, like
I said before, whether we transmit or not, it it won't matter to us what what your fate is going to be for the neighborhood tomorrow. I'll say it again. In my mind, what I believe should happen is that there is there is a thought process that
h that happens within our government. There's a there's there's a passion that we have that comes from our community. As staff looks at the numbers and looks at how we're going to grow in the future and in the amount of people that were going to be coming to Tallahassee, we try to figure out how to make room for those folks and those
households. They look at things from that perspective of how do we do this in a way that maximizes the land that we have within the urban services area um in order to accommodate for the folks that's going to be coming to to our area. One thing I can say about Los
Robels is Los Robels unfortunately is in the urban services area and being in urban services urban services area means that density is something that that was planned there far before any of you bought the places that you bought. I do believe though that with the historic
preservation that you have there that there should be consideration given to the fact that that neighborhood has looked that way for so long because it is historic in nature. It's almost like coming into Frenchtown and changing some things in Frenchtown. But to be perfectly honest with you, Commissioner Partner will probably tell you that that
has happened that some of the historic things in Frenchtown or if you look at um Cascade Park now and what it used to be, time changes things that probably history we believe that history says shouldn't be changed. And so for that for that reason I I I as much as I
empathize with with the with the sentiments and the comments that were made here today, I want us to fully understand that the county the county transmitting today be transmitting the things that happened outside of the urban outside of the city limits and
really there's not much of what I've heard here today my personal opinion that would that would change by our transmitt. Now, tomorrow is the opportunity to make these same comments and ask for the same
the same um time that you're asking for and hope that you get it. And so, for that for that reason, I was kind of on the fence before I asked my questions. And I was thinking, okay, well, what can we do here? And as if Arty one more time, if I'm if I'm hearing you
correctly and I just want to reiterate it one more time, by virtue of our transmitt today, um, a lot if not all the issues that were are are being talked about today will not be affected because those
things will be taken up tomorrow at the city. If we decided to extend our our uh our transmitt again, it would do nothing about the decisions that have to be made tomorrow if the city decides to transmit
and move forward. Am I am I correct in my understanding of that? You're absolutely correct. The uh the transmitt and the adoption are on independent timelines. Uh you know, we intentionally tried to get them next
to each other. Uh so the transmitter were back to back uh just so we could kind of keep the process in lock step to the extent possible. Um but if one uh body decides to do one thing and the other commission decides to do something different uh that's totally fine and
allowed. Uh the issues regarding Lafayette Park uh Losace um are within the city limits. So that would be on the city's future land use map. Uh but I will kind of reiterate something I said earlier. Uh the the
change in land use does not affectuate a change in zoning. And uh so if you are residential preservation one or residential preservation 2 today even after this is adopted you keep that same zoning. If you want to change your
zoning we'll work with you to do that. But if someone came in and they said, "Hey, I want to reszone property in Los Roadplace to something higher density or something that allows commercial uses, we would look at the goals, objectives, and policies, determine consistency with the comp plan." We would see the policy
that says to do that, you have to do a neighborhood plan and we would say, "Have you done a neighborhood plan?" And if the answer is no, then we would say changing you to a higher density, more than 6 units per acre or allowing non-residential uses would be inconsistent with the comp plan and we
would recommend that that's denied. So, all right, final final, but there was a young lady here and I do believe what she said might be true. It might not change it, but changing uh it it does create the the mechanism uh in law to be able to to change the land use. Correct.
It does, but that mechanism includes doing a neighborhood plan, right? But there's no steps to it, but it it does create a mechanism. Again, I I I I I'm I do appreciate the comments that were made today and and the thoughts that were shared. I do believe that Los Robos
is a historic neighborhood. there is some balance there that has to be achieved between us moving forward with being able to to to uh really increase density within our urban core while also appreciating those historic neighborhoods like Los Robos. But I
think that that city as I said before I mean at city that that that conversation will happen at the city and I'm sure our city commissioners will fully and welly take into consideration the comments that were made here today. At least I hope so. uh as again Los Robos is a is a
gem in our community uh and we all look to to try to keep it as such. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I I will be and for that and for that reason and everything I've said here today, I will be going ahead and supporting us transmitting not in opposition to the comments that were
made today, but in understanding that u our decision to transmit does not it affects what happens in in the unincorporated area. But a lot of these issues, all these issues really in my opinion are not encompassed within the un unincorporated area. So, thank you,
Mr. Chair. Thank you. Um, Commissioners, all of all of you are in the queue. Commissioner Cummings is next, then Commissioner Proctor, Commissioner Miner, Commissioner O'Keeffe, and then Commissioner Caban. I would like to ask us that we take one bite at the apple and that we be judicious as we possibly
can so we don't circle back around. Um, Commissioner Cummings, you have the floor. Thank Thank you, Mr. Chair. First of all, I want to thank all the residents from the various um communities and subdivisions for coming out, taking your time to come out and
speak to us and you have made a difference. You have made an impact. We have listened. We are listening. Uh but I'd just like to get clarification. Mr. Mr. Chair, I know we're in the process now whether or not to transmit this
particular document to the various state agencies and I understand uh Mr. White if I may that it's the same document that the city is contemplating as well. Am I correct? The city and the county worked on this particular plan together.
That is correct. the the only difference between uh what gets transmitted by the city and what gets transmitted by the county would be the future land use map, right? So the the maps I showed earlier uh that would be different between the city and county, but everything else is
uh is the same. the narrative and everything, the the changes in the proposed zone and what have you is the same, but there's a distinction between what's within the urban services area, what's controlled by the city and what's controlled by the county. Now, what is
the expectation once it's transmitted to the various state agencies? What is the expectation from those agencies? Is it modification? Is it just generally rubber stamp acceptance or what generally happened? Um so each uh of the
review agencies kind of has a specific purview that they're looking at. Uh so uh you know the department of environmental protection will review it from u you know state environmental resources perspective. The Florida Department of Transportation will look
at it from uh state roadway facilities perspective. um you know there's the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Department of uh Agriculture uh and just kind of various the Florida Commerce and so they each review it uh from the
perspective of what their agency does and then they can uh send directly to to us uh any comments uh and that could be uh just technical assistance comments. Uh we've received that uh in the past.
Uh basically recommendation of you know you worded it this way uh but it might have this unintended consequence. So we recommend you wording it this way instead. Uh it could be an objection. They could object to something and indicate that they would be willing to
to to challenge uh if we adopted it without modification. Uh or it could just be recommendations. So um so there could be substantive changes is basically what you're saying. There could be there could be um we tried to make sure that we were following state statute. In fact, the uh agenda
materials that we prepared include uh various things to help with a review. So, uh we included a crosswalk that shows the the comprehensive plan policies that we have today uh and how they're addressed in the proposed. So, if you were familiar
with the current comp plan, you can look and see uh how the proposed changes relate to the current comp plan. Um that's actually probably the longest document in the longest attachment. Uh but we also have a checklist where we went through chapter 163 and identified
the requirements and noted how we were addressing that. So um I I would hope that we don't have any major comments. Uh but it's but they could they could and if they do okay but from a substantive standpoint the issues that have been raised by uh the citizens from
the various uh subdivisions before us tonight primarily within uh within the city within the city limits. So, hypothetically, if we transmit uh vote to for the transmitt tonight,
but the city considers some of their concerns and agree to not transmit, but to allow more time to address some of those issues within the city limits. How would that affect how would our
transmitter be affected or would it be adversely affected if the city decides to allow more time? That's correct. Uh it would not be adversely affected. So we would still transmit based on the action that you take um and then uh send
to the state get comments back. We would come back to a public hearing to uh to see if you wanted to adopt the proposed element. uh at that point you could adopt it or if you wanted to continue that public hearing to be more in line with the the the city's delayed timeline, you could
also continue the public hearing as well. Uh but at this point, I'm kind of speculating on what could happen. But yes, uh basically you have options and uh you know what the the board decides to do and what the city decide to do uh
are not necessarily contingent upon each other. But but basically essentially if this board would just say would make a decision not to do the transmitt but to allow more time any citizen input on the
issues that have been raised wouldn't come back to this body anyway. It would be addressed pretty much to the city. Am I correct? That's correct. those uh the the neighborhoods that are represented tonight uh are uh I believe all of them are within the city limits and so it
would be on their future land use map their designation. Okay. And just one last question Mr. chair. Um what impact of any does the various subdivisions on um covenants and restrictions within
their subdivisions uh does that have an impact on the comp plan or does one take precedent over the other? because I know in some subdivisions there are restrictions as far as
um the amount of acreage or less acreage that certain um size homes have to be placed on. So do those um homeowner association restrictions um trump the comp plan or is it vice
versa? The comp plan would not trump the covenants and restrictions. So, the covenants and restrictions that are in place would remain in place. Correct. That's correct. Yeah, this would not change those covenants and restrictions. Okay, great. Uh, I think that's all I
have, Mr. Chair. Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner Cummings. Um, Commissioner Proctor, you're around there somewhere. Sure. Commissioner Miner, you're up. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I appreciate it. Um, first of all, I want to thank all of
the residents who are here. Uh I've spoken with with many of you, not all, but I've spoken with many of you over the last uh few months, and I want to thank our our staff um as well as our consultants. Um there's been a lot of work that's been done on this. Um you
know, the work that we're going to do, the vote that we'll take tonight, uh will will likely have an impact for the next 25 years. And so we we want to make sure that we get this right. Um, and additionally, you know, that the the comp plan is the law of the land as as has been mentioned before. Um, once we
actually adopt the comp plan, it becomes very hard for us to make any policy decisions. um outside of that unless we do a comp plan amendment. You know, I went to the uh local planning agency meeting on April 1st and there was an example of that where you had a request
for development a change of of zoning and uh it was basically going to a commercial type of uh type of zone. I can't remember exactly which one. And both the planning agency basically said listen this is compliant with the comp plan. You know, the the legal council said this is compliant with the comp
plan. So, they had to approve it. Uh and and what that means, I I bring that point up, is that now is the time for us to make these policy decisions in the comp plan now. We can make amendments to the comp plan later, but as development requests come in, zoning requests come
in, um by that time it's more administrative both for the local planning agency as well as for us. So now is the time. Um you know, I I don't think I don't hardly any of us have any planning experience, urban planning experience. You know, we just don't. It's not our background. And so what I
think each of us is trying to do is is trying to listen very carefully to our staff. And let me say this, Arty White and his team are outstanding. They do a good job. They're talented. They live in the neighborhoods that we live in. They have an interest in making sure we get this right. So I want to say that. I've
said that before. I'm going to say it again. So they are presenting this comp plan and I I believe they're doing it in good faith. Um at the same time though, we're talking with our neighbors. Uh we're talking with our neighbors, many of whom are planning experts, some of
whom have had decades of of experience, comp plan experience, urban planning experience. They they know what they're talking about, many of them. And the picture that they're painting is again, they they they thank our staff. They acknowledge the great their work has been done. But the picture that they're
painting for us is is different, you know. So the the task for us as non-planners, non- urban planners, is to try to reconcile those two points of view. Uh and it's hard. Uh we we all want to do the right thing here. We're all trying to make sure the comp plan is
is the way forward for the future of this community, that it lays the path for the next 25 years. But the the tricky part though is that I didn't go to to school to study urban planning. I don't think any of us did. So that's the hard part for us. And um you know I
think we've spent a lot of time listening to our staff uh reading the agenda materials but then also talking with our neighbors about what they want. Um and the the the comp plan proposal here the rewrite for land use and mobility has a couple of key points in
it that I think are very important and we haven't really talked about it here tonight. Uh one of the one of the um uh citizen feedback uh emails that we got says this. And I want to point this out because I don't think we've said it enough. You know, the there are no significant changes to the urban
services area. It's largely the same and already mentioned this, but in some cases it it basically kind of corrects a problem where it kind of ran across a parcel. But aside from that, the urban services are is mainly unchanged. No significant changes. Um, in addition to that, the unincorporated area for rural
density is also unchanged. One unit per 10 acres. You put those two things together as this citizen said to us and that that really does a lot of what we're asking for which is to to basically encourage development to go within the urban services area and to
stay relatively uh away from our rural areas. So, you know, at at a high level, the urban the the comp plan changes are doing what we're intending them to do. [Music] Um the the key issue that I've seen after talking with ATN and and many many
folks that have planning experience as well as just regular neighbors like myself is that we we we're accomplishing in the comp plan proposal the what what our overall goal is is to encourage more urban infill. And I think most of us I've heard very few people tell us they
don't want that. We all know I think that we need to grow in our urban core. But you have some neighborhoods that say they want to retain the character that they have. Um now we work for these neighbors. We work for them. They decide whether or not we come back and sit at this dis. Some of those
neighborhoods want to retain the character that they have. Other neighborhoods want the high density changes. They want the non-residential uses in their neighborhoods. So you've got even amongst our neighborhoods here in Neon County, they want different things.
And so the the key issue that I've seen over the last couple months has been how do we how do we how do we bring this down a level so that the neighborhoods that want to retain their character like like Lafayette Oaks um like like Woodland Drive, you know, they are able to do so, but yet the neighbors that
want to have that increased density, that want to have the daycare down the street from their family's home, uh they're able to do that. And I I give credit to Arty and his team for listening to what the Alliance of Talisy neighborhoods had asked them to do. They wanted to bring that down a level so
that neighborhoods had a voice, an individual voice, well, a collective voice among their neighborhood on what they wanted to do for their neighborhood. And I give credit to Arty because he made that change about two weeks ago. Uh he listened to what ATN said. He put in the part which he's
already talked about how you know it's opt in the any densities that are proposed that are over six units per acre. They need to have a neighborhood plan with neighborhood engagement that is adopted by either the city commission or the county commission or both if if
that neighborhood spans both. Um so I give I give credit to Arty for doing that. And I think ATN has told me that they're they're happy with that. I in my view I think that that meets ATM more than halfway but there's still some concerns that ATN has like there's they want some more detail about what that
neighborhood engagement entails. Do you need to have an HOA in order to provide input to the neighborhood plan? We need to answer those types of questions. Um so I I I think we need to I'm I'm glad that that our staff has
listened to ATN and other neighborhoods because that makes a difference. the the big the main issue is that we're now making sure that individual neighborhoods have a voice, they can express that voice. And if they want to retain the character, if they if they want to stay at 6 units per acre, they
can do that. If they want to uh if they don't want to allow non-residential uses in their neighborhood, they can make sure that's part of the neighborhood plan. So, that that is a great part that that I don't think we've given enough credit to Art and his team for. So, thank you very much. Um I
um I I want I have a couple things I wanted to share with you that um that that people have mentioned to me over the last few months about well especially LA today some some changes that they recommended that we do and these are mainly tweaks that that I want to present to you in the within the comp plan proposal. Um but Matt if you can
bring please bring up the slides. Commissioner Miner are these things that we have seen? No. Are these things that staff has seen? Yes. Okay. So I think that in order to keep us in our posture and not let this get chaotic, we can't
like all be proposing changes on the fly to this long and processed document. So I would prefer if we are since we are in a yes or no posture on this item that we not be trying to sort of plan on the fly here. I I hear what you're saying and I I understand your point, but this is the
only time the county commission has met to talk about the comp plan policy level changes, right? Uh, so again, we have a motion on the floor, Commissioner Miner. I don't think that it is in our best interest to start trying to change this. If this is something that you could have
presented to the board via email, you could have presented to staff via email. Staff could have commented on it. I think that we put ourselves in very bad posture if we start trying to amend this right now. Well, with all due respect, Mr. Chairman, I this is the reason why we're here is to talk about the comp. We
have we have a comp plan. We have amendments before us. We have an item. We have a staff recommendation. We have acknowledged that staff and we have a duty as county commissioners. Mr. Commissioner Miner, I am not wanting to get into this posture. I'm trying to get us an up and down vote on what we have
had before us, what we have all been briefed on. So if if it is the will of the board, we can go down this aisle, but now we are opening up a can of worms that could keep us here for 3 days. Well, you know, this the the the impact of what we're voting on will be for 25 years if we have to be here for another
half. just made a very strong statement, Commissioner Miner, for all of the protections that are in place in this document. We have a motion and a second on the table. If you would like to amend the motion in a second, you can do that. But we are not I'm not going to, as the chair, allow us to open up a can of worms of potential amendments. I I
respectfully I reject the premise of what you're telling me because we are here to we're here to deliberate, but I will move for to move for discussion to to basically put the current motion on the table and have a motion to allow me to present some slides with some tweaks to the comp plan. Second.
Madam Attorney, is that in order? Not sure what the motion is. The motion is to allow you to present the mind and offer some changes to the comp plan. It is a challenge of the chair. It's a challenge of the chair. Okay. I don't mean to do this, but I, you know,
it's my not my intention. I don't think my slides are going to take very long, but uh if that's what requires, I'll move to challenge the chair. May I ask the question? Sure. Um I I understand where you're coming from, Mr. Chair, and Commissioner Mer. I
understand your your premise, too. I think the question I had was was the the the slides that you were proposing to show in in in a effort to amend the motion or to make a substitute motion. Yes. Which one? The latter. To make a
substitute motion. Yeah. Okay. I think Mr. Chair um without us having to go through a challenge if you just wanted to make the substitute motion and have to make the substitute motion. I think the substitute motion will make your slide substantate to to what I would like to make a a sub well what I'd like
to do is is present the slides offer a friendly amendment which I think you might accept accept the amendment we go there say again you want to ask if I want to accept the amendment before you go to show the slide well the slides have what
the amendment is about you know so if I if I if I just might recommend the chairs in one place you're in another if you asked me to accept the amendment and I want to accept the amendment then we're in a position to have and to actually see the slides. So I guess what he's saying is if if I'm not going to accept the amendment either way it
doesn't doesn't matter what the slides say. So in which case I would offer a substitute. Okay, go ahead. So you want to offer substitute motion? We could have finished the slides by the time we finish you know by by the time we talked about this. Uh I'm serious. But um offer
substitute motion. Okay. My substitute motion, it'd be much easier if I can show you what I'm what I'm proposing, is making some tweaks to um um objective 1.4, which is urban forests, as well as adding um a clause, a section similar to
what we have for the Woodville sense of place to um add uh a section for the Midtown sense of place as well. So, that's my So, basically, option one basically what what Commissioner Maddox has proposed with those two amendments to that motion. amendment sir one more
time just Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So um my my offer of a friendly amendment or will be a substitute motion will be to add a couple of tweaks to the policy the um the objective of 1.4 urban forests. That's that's one piece. There's there
two small changes to that. And the other one is to add a section regarding the Midtown sense of place. Okay. Only question I have that's what the slides are. said, "Okay, you know what? You know, I can accept your amendments or I can drop my motion and you can it's up to you." I
appreciate it. I appreciate it. Um, why don't you drop your motion? There you go, M. Mr. Iend. All right. So, we have no motion. This is what I was afraid of. Um, so now you want to make a motion.
I'd like to make a motion for option one with uh a couple of tweaks to the uh objective of 1.4 for Urban Forest, which I would like to show you on my slides, and then um add a section for the Midtown Sense of Place, very similar in language to the Woodville sense of
place. Uh that would basically tie that Midtown stakeholder committee um plan with the the with review with staff. So once it's reviewed, it basically can incorporate be accommodated in the comp plan if necessary. It's almost identical language to the wood bills of place. Um,
so see in this situation, Commissioner Miner, I don't know what you're talking about because I haven't seen it. Slides are four. Well, again, even if you show me slides, it's not going to improve if I know what you're talking about. I I think in this posture, we're going to have to have staff come up and explain since you said they've seen it. Arty,
would you like to explain? With all due respect, I'm a I'm a duly elected county commissioner. I have a proposal for you for the comp plan, which I think are are tweaks which our staff has seen. I'm asking for you to have a little bit of faith in my ability to show you a couple
slides. I don't think it's going to blow up Pandora's box up of things. Uh but I think you'll once you see what I have, this is a commission. With all due respect, I'm the chair. I have to maintain order on our dis which is what I'm trying to do. We have lost it now.
So Arty, if you cuz I haven't seen what you're talking about, nor has anyone else on the dis. Arty, since you have evidently seen it, would you please articulate for us what the good commissioner is trying to achieve with this late minute addition to our item?
Parliamentary inquiry. That's his Yeah, that's it. Is I'd like to listen to Arty first, please. Is that an order? Arty, go ahead. Uh, yeah. So, uh, Commissioner
Miner was proposing, uh, uh, a change to policy 1.4.1, uh, related to urban forest, uh, to include the the statement, um, the city and county shall identify priority planting sites to guide the planting of
trees and add to improve wildlife habitat by reducing urban forest fragmentation. So it was the adding the to improve wildlife habitat uh kind of gives the the more of the intent of what the policy is. So uh it was that change
and then um uh the other proposal related to urban forests uh the city and county shall maintain list of tree species that in the addition would be are non-invasive exotic species. uh and then later in the policy to
specify that uh it would be uh preferably native species. So it would uh proposed to to note that the species list would not be invasive exotic and would prefer native species. And then the the final change was to recommend a
policy that says uh upon the adoption of the Midtown sense of place plan by the city commission, the Tallahassee land county plan department shall evaluate the need for updates to the comprehensive plan and land development regulations to implement the recommendations of the plan. Uh it's
essentially verbatim what the Woodville sens plan policy says, but replace Woodville with uh Midtown. And those are the proposed changes. And is your opinion that those are benign effectively,
right? I I think I I don't think they change anything significant. U the Midtown is within the city limit. So I think the city buy in on that. U however, just saying that if someone does a plan and we come back with comp plan amendments and land development
code regulations if needed, uh it's pretty straightforward. What if the city doesn't buy in on that? Well, then uh it wouldn't be included because it uh but this could be a recommendation to the city.
Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um and then in addition to in in addition to this [Music] um we we've as as Arty has said we've had uh numerous um events of community engagement, lots of workshops, um you
know, surveys collected, uh lots of one-on-one meetings. Even last week, you know, um Arty and his team met with uh uh you know, a collection of the the builders, the realators, ATN all together in one room. Um, a lot of good a lot of good discussion, but
as here there still are a lot of neighbors that are not fully aware of what has happened, what we're proposing. Um, I don't blame them. I just I mean, what that means is that we need to work harder to make sure that word gets out. So, my motion on the floor includes
those changes that that uh Mr. White had described in addition to the following. I'd like to add at least one public meeting to present the policies of the comp plan as well as providing more detail on the um on the neighborhood
plan requirements that basically allows a neighborhood to go through that process and and designate whether or not they want to stay at six units per acre or go to 12 or have non-residential uses. So, for example, we don't know if you need to have an HOA for that. we don't know what the what the extent of
neighborhood engagement is. You know, I I think having one at least one public meeting where we talk about the policies, we present these policies in a in aformational format and then also provide detail on what a neighborhood can do to provide that neighborhood plan
so that if loss role does not want to go from 6 to 12, if they don't want to have non non-residential uses in their in their neighborhood, they can do that. They can go through that process. this thisformational community engagement meeting, this public meeting would be helping them understand in every other
neighborhood in Lyon County what they need to do to protect the character of their neighborhood if they want or if they want to, they can go through with the comp plan and increase density and have the non-residential uses. Um, this public meeting would give people the knowledge and information they need to
have in order to do just what we're asking them to do in the comp plan. That's my motion. Um, thank you for your patience, Mr. Chair, but it includes those pieces. If you like, I can repeat it. Second. All right. Um, we are still in discussion on the new mo we're now in
discussion on the new motion. Um, so I believe Commissioner Proctor was next and then Commissioner O'Keeffe. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I like the motion that's been made. Um what it does is it it affords a uh built-in process for
neighborhoods to uh I want to say exempt themselves but it gives them an opportunity to not be run over. It gives them a voice which currently there is no exception to except going through a form of comp plan. So this is very very
creative, very thoughtful and it also speaks to the inertia uh suffered uh as a government that we sit here and we unc county that uh the city of Tallahassee and we rule
ourselves out as having no voice and it's somewhat sad that this many people come to us and this many people they pay us they pay us just like they pay the city commissioners, but we opt out to
the jurisdictional um um element to say we we'll listen, but there's nothing we can do. I think tonight um and and I ask in particular Commissioner Maddox's uh his most senior
ears to walk with me that if we do not um it wouldn't it be very statesmanlike for us to say we're not we can punt this and move it back for adoption. uh showing respect to the
city with us having not taken a vote uh one way or the other which preempts or says that we we think we if we back and give uh them uh a chance with the
city with us having not taken a vote in indicating of statesmanship we we want something to happen but not with um uh the cloud of um we're halfway home and it would be very easy for the city to
say what county we got their vote and it's really procedural. It's not substantive because we have no voice in what they decide. But at least we show optimal deference to the neighbors uh as
people who pay our salary and we um allow the city to know that we did not um take the vote to move it forward simply because we wanted them to give a listen first. Can I respond?
Sure. Commissioner Maddox. Um, Commissioner Partner, my my I I I I like what you're thinking and I get it, but here's here's my here's my thing to the neighbors out there, to our our neighbors. I don't like taking votes that gives an indication that something
can change that I can't change. And so my premise of my my comments and my vote was if I if we if we did that today, I want you all to understand that doesn't help you at all. That just that just
helps us by in in way I'll be honest with you. To me, I think sometimes it's man uh political manipulation of making it seem like we're trying to help you, but we're not helping you. We're just extending a deadline for the sake of
extending a deadline because you asked for it. So I can I can go with that. I can go with that. But I want you to understand that we're not helping you. I would rather us I could go I could go both ways. I could go option one. Commissioner Miner, you had some good stuff. I can go with that one or I can
extend. But again, extending does nothing for those folks who are here who are asking for us to help you. So yeah, I I can do that. If you made the substantive motion, I'll I'll second it. No, I'm I'm comfortable with what Commissioner Commissioner M is actually
given uh a range of creative thought and brilliance that um rarely is um demonstrated among us. Uh especially when we lock ourselves into being told and being staffed driven as though we
ourselves have no flexibility of thought, heart mind. So, I appreciate his heart, uh, his mind, and he's actually he he's not come here to preempt the staff because obviously he's already run it through and work with
them, uh, as to what is compatible with it. So, I respect all of his due diligence and I think that it it places a star in each of our crowns to um adopt. But I would like to uh offer a friendly amendment and that amendment is
to place our body uh with due respect to um democracy, a democratic process that the most that we can do is not to pull the trigger uh but to just wait and allow for if the city wants to make an
adjustment that we stand with all due respect to them having a voice without any uh prior pressures. is to uh affect the city's thought. And I think that's what I want not to do is to offer any
sense of prejudice that what they're saying can be heard um in the totality of of u of that. So I would ask for that um as a friendly amendment. Mr. Ch Mr. Chairman, Commissioner Proctor, I think I know what you're saying, but can you would you mind repeating would you mind
repeating that friendly amendment is basically so you're saying let's be flexible in when we transmit? No, I said let's extend the request tonight from all these people that pay us money. You gonna get some. I'm gonna get some. They pay. These people who pay us have asked
us, hold up. Give them a chance to go to the city. Let's not take a vote that's um in any way prejuditial to the city's thoughts of where we are. Let's respect that. and in in coupled with what you you you're putting there. Um the county
attorney would like to weigh in on that. So I've been trying to keep track of what the motion is and as amended and everything else. So, I think if I'm right, please tell me what Commissioner Proctor is proposing is to amend the
motion to instead continue this hearing and make the recommendations as outlined by Commissioner Miner to the city to let them consider it tomorrow before we then take up this issue in the continued
hearing. Is that correct? That's close. That's perfect. Except for I think we need to take a vote on Commissioner Miners that we send them a voted recommendation and not just miners sending some down the street but that we have actually and we we challenge them
to think through um the high level with which he has already thought. Mr. Chairman, could I Yes, ma'am. Once you vote on it, that triggers transmitt, which is what you're saying you don't want to do. you want to continue it to give the city time to consider it. Which in a way, if that's what you want to do,
makes sense that you would continue it because if the city if the city says, "No, thank you. We're good. We're not going to do anything." You then have an opportunity to then go back and consider whether to just adopt what the city has adopted in its transmitt hearing.
Otherwise, you have the potential of adopting two different versions. Okay. Yeah. Commissioner uh can commissioner Maddox weigh in Commissioner Proctor. Sure. Here's what I like to do. I've been listen I listening to Commissioner Mer. This is Commissioner Proctor. I think there's a there's a
place in between we can get to. I don't want to put it I don't want to transmit what you said Commissioner Miner not knowing if the city is actually going to transmit it cuz then if they don't transmit it means nothing. What I would ask you to do Commissioner Miner is I would ask you to amend your motion.
Okay. to um option number one um with with the urban forestry piece that you had in there ask that we send a letter from the chair asking that the city consider the Midtown piece that you talked about and
that be the motion that's on the floor. That way the city has an opportunity to to consider it. It's not there for no reason because we transmitted it. And I think we accomplished what Commissioner Project tried to accomplish by saying we've given these folks the opportunity
to to have something there, but also we've transmitted the stuff that we can't we could. Mr. Chairman, I let me summarize quickly because I think I think we're on to something. So, um I'm willing to amend my motion for option
one with the two items uh for objective 1.4 and four urban forests that that Art has already talked about with a letter to the city um respectfully requesting them to add a Midtown sense of place section similar to uh Woodville sense of
place. And then the third part of that is having at least one public hearing or one not one public meeting that uh presents the policies of the comp plan to the public as well as providing more detail on what a neighborhood needs to do to have a neighborhood plan going
through that process. If you accept that, if you think that's a if, well, I will make that a friendly I will make I will amend my motion to to basically be that motion. Does that sound good to you? Perfect. The county attorney needs some clarity. Okay. So, just confirming
as part of option one, it will be transmitting the proposed land use and mobility element as amended to the agencies for their 30-day review. So you will be triggering the clock irrespective of what the city does
tomorrow. That is part of option one. I just want to make sure. Yes. I think the will of the board is to do that. I can kind of read the room. You got it. Okay. With the caveat of of a public meeting in in between now and
adoption. Adoption in July. Or is it June? It's July. sometime between now and adoption. You got that? All right, we have a motion. Uh, I believe it was seconded by Commissioner O'Keeffe. Is that correct? All right, I
got Commissioner O'Keefe in the queue and then Commissioner Caban online and then Commissioner Cummings, you were in there again. You want to follow up? Well, after them. Yeah. Commissioner O'Keefe, you have the floor. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Um, it's uh I was really hoping and I think it we we would ended up being cleaner if we were able to just make our comments on the original motion and come together after, but we've now we've gone we've been forced to go around just to be able
to discuss possible changes, which is why we're here. Um, we had a workshop in February that was like an hour long that was rushed through and we didn't really have time to talk about specific things to give directives and then we're going to end up here and I just don't want us
to feel pressured to rush through our discussions and changes cuz we're not a rubber stamp. We're here for a reason and so I I appreciate my colleagues who have put thought into this and are willing to say we are elected for a reason here. That's why it comes here. Um, I have questions for Arty. I know it
took so long. You thought you were done, but um I've waited patiently and asked some question. Absolutely. All right. So, um we're going to get real specific. So, policy 2.8.8, it's the suburban residential preservation
for land use. Um is this can you confirm that that does apply in our unincorporated areas? That is correct. It would. And is it also something that impacts incorporated areas? It would be both. Okay. Um, and so that would cover
areas like Buck Lake, correct? Okay. And then in that it talks there's a density increase possibility and limits and neighborhood plans and things like that. One of the concerns that I've heard repeatedly and I really want to drill in on is is the are there buffering and
compatibility standards in this policy that that are laid out that are they required to end up in the land use code of the county? I'm going to say yes, but I will read the policy just to confirm. Okay. Yes. It says land development regula
regulation shall address compatibility between areas designated suburban residential preservation and areas with newer expanding non-residential uses and highdensity residential. So yes, it says it shall. So it has to. Gotcha. And this is where we're talking about largely
we're talking about neighborhood plans. And so one thing I am when I'm hearing from people in neighborhoods and they're concerned about increased density, I see this thing about neighborhood plans is I want to make sure I understand and they understand the process, right? If they want to if somebody wants to come in and
request a higher density on on parals they own. Um that triggers an option for the surrounding neighbors to do a neighborhood plan. Is that correct? Right. Yeah. Yeah. Typically that would come from like the neighborhood association. But if someone came in with
their property, we would say you need to work with your neighborhood and then come meet with us. Gotcha. And now there's nothing neighborhoods don't need to wait for that. If this all gets adopted, every neighborhood here uh or or in the Cabreras could write in and say our neighborhood is ready to start
our neighborhood plan and that way we can get it on the books and when anybody wants to come in and develop our neighborhood plan is on the books. Is that accurate? That's accurate. Though I would say if the neighborhood does not want to change, um, they would just not do a plan because you have to do a plan
to get the higher densities, you don't have to do a plan to stay the same. So, there's no circumstance where there can be a higher density without a neighborhood plan approved by the actual commission. Um, the language that we have in here says, uh, let me find it.
It would be the neighborhood plan uh that was developed with neighborhood participation. So that would be one way. Uh if there's existing development that's already exceeding the density, then they would be eligible to come into conformity. Uh as long as they're within
that maximum. So if they exceeded eight for suburban, they wouldn't be able to. But if they were already eight, they could become conforming. Um uh or if someone creating a a new neighborhood on undeveloped land and they wanted it to be residential
preservation, uh they would have the flexibility to go up to to eight, but that would not be an existing neighborhood. That would be a new neighborhood. But that could be done next to a current neighborhood that would otherwise wants a neighborhood plan to to not have what's next to them
be higher density. Well, uh, I don't think legally you can control what someone else's property is if they have that right. So, if it was within the neighborhood, absolutely. If it was an existing neighborhood, uh, those protections are there. Uh, if
there's a new neighborhood, they would have to meet the buffer standards between the new neighborhood and the existing neighborhood. Ah, okay. I'm glad we hit on this. This is important then. So the the protection of a neighborhood plan that's described in
the new new codes or new new plan um is not only protects if someone is trying to upzone and build something within your neighborhood. Okay, which is a concern a lot in the inside areas, but when I think of the unincorporated areas, Buck Lake, some others, I'm just
going to pick on the ones in my district because they'll pick on me if we don't get it right. um is a lot of their concern is this is one's so we can't control what another person's property does but what we are doing today is we control what's allowed in the comp plan
right okay so what protection is there from a neighborhood that's up to six right now um and right next to them is is land that is currently before we make any changes only up to six we make these
changes is somebody who buys that and wants to create a new development right next to them. There's nothing stopping them from going up to eight. There's no neighborhood plan required. That's correct. Okay. Um is there an ability if the board wanted to to build in strict
um uh um what's the word here? Um uh buffering standards that if not met would prevent the new development at a higher density. Oh, absolutely. when you uh uh establish what those standards are
in the land development code, um they can be it's pretty pretty strict actually. And in fact, right now, uh the residential preservation adjacent to that requires a higher buffer standard than non-residential preservation. So, uh that's absolutely something that can
be done and we would be allowed to do that if we made a we made the the F the F where's my lawyer? the full fluff chain flum um flume uh and it's up to eight in that area and we come around for the land use code
development after this is all done and say yeah it's great but we're we're putting the code that there's very limited circumstances you could even do this that's allowable it is yeah you can say uh you know in instances where the residential preservation goes from 6 to
8 units per acre x buffer is required between uh those developments. Okay. Um let's let's let's um ride on to another issue. Um is there any policy that currently requires us to build bike lanes on county roads when we repave or
resurface? Um it doesn't require it. It says that it shall be evaluated. Um, we didn't say required because you might run into instances where it's just not feasible to do because of some environmental feature or something and uh because it is a legal document. We didn't want to commit you to doing
something that's not feasible to do. Uh, but we did say that it had to be evaluated as part of that process. Can you give an example like I think we did Buck Lake and Tram Road where we resurfaced but I don't think we do bike lanes. like is that not feasible or what
what are in the rules that decided we didn't do bike lanes when you resurface Buck Lake or that or tram? Uh I'm not familiar with those specific uh roadways, but in general it would potentially be because of uh wetlands or constrained rideway or other
environmental features because typically if it can be done it's done. Um but it's not required currently. I don't believe it's required. I think it's a standard practice to do so. All right. Um, we
boy, we uh we clearly answered the questions about the transmittal process. Um, so this matters, right? What we're voting on now is not just paperwork. It is a foundation for how we build and grow for the next 25 years. And that's
why important that we dig into it and we take time to do this now because we don't do it again for 25 years. and we want to build a community that grows more like what we like about Tallahassee. And I think the sentiment is that that's not where we're going currently. Um and so um this I want to
give credit staff and all the community members. This has had significant improvements just since April and before. It's not all the way there yet, but there are improvements. And a lot of this stuff is is really good where we do things that are intended to prevent
sprawl and build infill, but um there's clearly valid and grounded concerns um about what risks that opens us up to. So, um you know, uh we have we talked about the city and and the county, but
you know, in my district, there is parts in the city limits, and I do think it's important to acknowledge folks from Myers Park, Woodland Drives, Indian Head, um that put a lot of work into this. And while we don't get to vote to say here are the new rules for your
areas, um I hope that and I'm sure that our I hope that our city colleagues take your effort in your input into account because this is how we get in front of having to have all night long meetings when a development proposal comes up
because the rules are already baked in. It's the time for us to decide the way we want to grow around neighborhoods is not after we've made these changes and developments are coming through and then you know the frustration of of us sitting here and saying we have to follow the the land use code. So I appreciate you coming in and I
appreciate everyone really being careful about this. This is not a small thing. Um, so moving on though, there are um concerns I have in um in my district
in unincorporated areas. And so I let me talk about these the I would like to have a um you know, we talked about one, I'll cut just to the other.
um this neighborhood protections uh policy 2.8.8 where we talked about um uh not realizing the neighborhood plan protects in neighborhood changes. It doesn't protect adjacent neighborhood changes. And I think what we would I
think what people would really like to see is a clarification that our land development code that we end up with will have enforcable buffering transitions and scale compatibility standards that are stronger than what's
here now. Um if I think that's that's an important thing that is I think something that would respond to the people's concern. The other is bike infrastructure. Currently, we have this policy, but it really doesn't we don't make us do it.
And I what I would like to see is us say that we're going to add a bike lane or we're going to add a bike facility, if you will, every time we repave a road except only when it is unfeasible and documented. Why is it unfeasible? That's important
because this because we're already out there spending the money and we we already spend money on all kinds of new bike trails. It really makes all the sense in the world to put that as a requirement that you have to do your due diligence to document yourself out of putting a bike lane when you resurface
roads. Not just it's kind of infeasible. It's got to really be infeasible. And so, um, I am going to offer hell, where's the I'm going to offer a friendly amendment
to do exactly what you said, timeline and everything and ask that there be a change to um clarify under the policy 2.8.8 that the land use codes at the county
will have stronger buffering and compatibility constraints and that under the mobility policy, we establish a new policy requiring any countyowned arterial collector roads where there's resurfacing or construction put on a
bike lane unless it is documented in feasible. Mr. Chair, Commissioner Miner, um I appreciate the sentiment and I I I agree with it in spirit. I But the main question I have I have discussion on the friendly amendment offer. Um the
question I have is is for our staff on on how viable that is. Does that pose any issues, difficulties I don't believe the buffer standards is an issue. It's a practice that we do today. U but I would actually prefer if
uh public works would weigh in on the the the bike lane since they're the ones who do the resurfacing of the road and I I don't want to speak on for that department. Good evening, commissioners. Uh the addition of bike lanes obviously poses potential problems with storm water and also rightway acquisition. A lot of
times we don't have the rightway and other physical constraints to do such a thing. Then you also have utilities. So if the utilities already existing next to the road, they all have to be relocated. So the cost of a project is just multiplied by two, three times. Thank you. Thank you very much,
Mr. Chairman. Um, Commissioner O'Keefe based on what staff has told us, I'll accept the first part of your friendly amendment about the buffering, but at this point I I think it might be wise for us to defer on that to for a later discussion on the second piece. Um uh
buffering the buffering piece. So that that's an improvement. Cool. That's an improvement. The bike thing it concerns me. I'm I'm concerned because it was added in just the end there is the cost was a concern. And so but uh if I didn't convince you yet, I didn't convince you.
Um, and so my my my thing on that was basically to pull out the cost perspective to say if cost is saying we're too expensive to add a bike lane, we still want to add bike lanes if it's not possible, but I'll I'll know where to I I know where to move on and and I know where you're going and I support the spirit of it, but but as as our
staff has said, the the storm water considerations, utilities poses a level of complexity that we may that that I feel most comfortable deferring until a later time. So to answer your question, the the request to to um change proposed
policy is 2.8.8 and it's in it's specifically in the um one zone. It is the suburban residential preservation land use. And in it, it is to ask staff in their uh
final version to strengthen the buffering and compatibility requirements when a new neighborhood is to be proposed that's a higher density than the current zoning. You accept that amendment, Mr. Chairman? Yes, I do. Thank you. All
right. And who was your second? I think me. Mr. O'Keefe. I'm cool with it. All right. Madam Attorney, do you all have that? Okay. Uh, Commissioner Caban, it is your turn if you're still there. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can you guys hear
me? Okay. Yes, sir. Um, first I I just want to um ask a quick question to the county administrator in regards to the buffering proposal that Commissioner O'Keefe proposed.
Yes, go ahead. Um, with the buffering of of with the buffering in between neighborhoods, that would be considered, you know, a code restriction on basically, you know, new development or new property, you know,
um, if we're doing um, a pub or, you know, if a developer is coming into increase density, this would just be considered a a restriction based with code. Correct. It would be an additional regulation and
I I'd have to ask um Arty um Arty I know you were and I know the spirit with which the the the motion was to include it in the existing policy obviously would come back and if I'm following right already would come back as an
amend the specific buffer would come back as a as an amendment to the LDRs. That's correct. Yes. Yeah. But yes, Commissioner. Thank you. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Um, you know, first I just want to give a quick thank you to all the speakers for their time
and insights and, you know, clearly we have a large handful of of neighbors that care about the future of our communities, especially as we shape this comprehensive plan. Um, you know, one thing I really like about
this comp plan is we're not really I mean expanding the urban services area in any drastic um form and based in our you know
our workshop that we do every January where we go through our strategic initiatives I I remember, you know, in 2023, one of the conversations that we had was that we we're anticipating 30,000 residents over the next
decade come to Leyon County. And with that, I think it's critical that we plan, you know, proactively. And what I like about this comp plan is that it's addressing this issue within the urban services area by
increasing density. And we talk about almost every meeting affordable housing. And it's, you know, one of our our probably most consistent topics that we talk about. I mean, we had an agenda
item today in regards to it. And one method to to position ourselves for the next 25 years with affordable housing is not to increase regulations
with building new homes and building new neighborhoods. And so what I really like about this comp is that we are increasing density um in city limits. And the closer you are to downtown, the more you we're seeing density increase. And I think what this is doing, it's
going to reduce the pressure to spraw outward and we're going to have more urban infill and we're going to increase the number of housing stock in Lyon County, which over time is going to bring the cost of housing down, you know, and I think it's counterproductive
for us as a board to increase density and then also go increase uh regulation with that. Um, at the same time though, I do agree with the infrastructure
um, planning that needs to go along with this comp plan um, particularly with storm water management. Um, you know, the county minister and I spoke briefly in our briefing about this, but as we are increasing density, the one thing we've seen, we've seen this on the south
side, we've seen this on the west side, we saw this on the historic flood that we had um in April of last year. But all that storm water runs south and southwest. And I think it's important that if we're looking to increasing density so we can have more homes being
built and we're looking to increase the the housing stock in New York County. I think with that we need to start discussing and and planning around where can we implement regional storm water ponds because right now often times if a
developer wants to come in and and is looking to put you know x amount of units on a parcel, we will force them to have their own storm water on site which then reduces the amount of units that they can that they can put on the
property which hurts the the amount of housing that we can build, which is kind of counterintuitive when we're talking about wanting to increase the housing stock in Leon County. Um, another thing I like about this comp plan is, you know, this recognize and recognizes the
value and the character of our rural communities while maintaining those areas low density. And I think that it's just it's key to preserving the rural charm and, you know, the lifestyle of folks that live in our rural communities. And I know that took a lot of thought and effort from staff. So I
want to give them a big thank you for that. Um I will not support the agenda on the floor if we're looking at adding regulation to um to building homes in Lyon County. I think that that will
drive the cost of um of housing stock up and not not do anything to reduce um or increase the amount of homes with affordable housing. So, um I I would prefer to support um I'm okay if we need to give more time and we feel like we
need more community input. Um but I I plan to support the comp plan amendment as proposed. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Vice Chair. Commissioner Proctor, you're in the queue. Mr. Chairman,
being the senior member up here, I apologize. I can't remember why I put myself in queue. I apologize. Um, Commissioner Cummings, you're in the queue. Yes. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I certainly support um, Commissioner
Miner's uh, suggestions and amendments and I just thank him for for his insight. He took some time. This is all all typed up. But beyond that, I think it certainly uh adds a level of due
process, an additional level of due process to our to our citizens, um our homeowners and our neighborhoods, and it allows them more input for their neighborhood for their neighborhood plan
as well. Um, one of the things his motion suggested also, um, not suggested, but it's part of the motion is that we have, I believe, a public hearing. Um, a public meeting, not a hearing, I'm sorry, a public
meeting to give them some um some instruction, some insight on how to develop the a neighborhood plan. So my question is, do we already have uh policies and parameters about how to
prepare your neighborhood uh your neighborhood plan or is that something that will be generated? Is it already in place? Uh madam chair or madam chair, I'm thinking that that's okay.
Madam commissioner, uh we did not put specific parameters there. Um, our intention was to to let the neighborhoods kind of decide how they wanted to organize. If it's something that an HOA or a neighborhood association wanted to take on, uh, they
would have that ability. Uh, I know when they were doing, I think it was the bond, uh, and I think Griffin Heights as well, neighborhood first plans, they actually created a subcommittee of members from the neighborhood. And so it wasn't necessarily the the Homer's
Association. And so I didn't want to be overly prescriptive with how that would happen other than to indicate that both the development of the plan had to include the entire neighborhood uh and the implementation of it also would have
to uh because it would be a two-step process. So the neighborhood plan would come up with what they envision and then we would have to uh craft the implementing zoning uh mechanism to actually do it. And so both of those steps would be something that we would
develop uh collaboratively with the neighborhoods. Um and so that those why we intentionally didn't uh specify. Some neighborhoods have neighborhood associations, some have homeowners associations, some don't have an association, but the they still may want
to get together and discuss this amongst the people who live there. And so I was being careful not to be overly prescriptive with it. Um, but really just emphasizing that it has to be the neighborhood that develops it. Uh, not RD White creating a plan for an area,
but uh, the neighborhood working uh, with us to do that. And and then once once it's developed, uh, I guess with assistance from from staff perhaps or at at the public meetings, then they will
be told the submittal process for review and what have you. Right. So, uh the development of the plan uh would go to the appropriate jurisdiction. So, if it's within city limits, it would go to the city commission. Uh if it was in unincorporated Leyon County, it would
come to you to approve that plan. Uh and then subsequently, you would also uh approve the implementation of it. So, uh because it would involve a reasonzoning uh so it would actually come to the elected body uh depending on if it was the city or the county uh twice. And so
um by no means would it be something that would be guaranteed. Thank you. And finally uh with our submission of um these proposed changes and I believe part of the motion was that a letter be
transmitted to the city asking them to consider those because they're meeting tomorrow. I believe was I think is that part of the motion? I think it was Mr. Mr. Sure. Um I think based on my discussion with Arty, I I don't want to put words in Art's mouth, but I I think
uh based on the changes that I I suspect that maybe Arty will present this to the city tomorrow, uh the the changes to 1.4. Is that correct, Arty? Um that's something I would have to talk to the the city manager about how we would do it. Um it would either be for
tomorrow or it could be a letter that gets sent. um that would be a change that would could be made between the transmitt and the adoption. So even if it's not considered tomorrow, uh it could be considered the the adoption hearing as well. And Mr. Tman, 2.8.8 was also a change with the buffer from
recommendation from Commissioner O'Keefe. So that would be part of it as well. Correct. As well as the letter about the Midtown sense of place. Oh, okay. Okay. But I guess it's just my concern is that we are doing this but we want to make
sure the city is apprised of it and they meet tomorrow. Yeah. All right. Commissioner Commissioner Cummings, you good? I'm good. Thank you. Okay. Commissioner Proctor, you're um already when we submit this to the state, uh what are we talking about? Uh
who is the state? What agency who has oversight? Um thank you commissioner. Um it's actually a number of agencies. I'll uh bring up the list so I don't inadvertently forget someone. Okay. So uh it would go to Florida Commerce uh formerly known as
the Department of Community Affairs, formerly known as the Department of Oper economic opportunity, currently known as Commerce. Uh they are considered the state land planning agency. So they're the main entity that we would coordinate with. Uh, it also goes with to the
Florida Department of Transportation, uh, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Florida Department of State, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Florida Department of Agriculture, the Florida Department of Well, I don't think it goes to Florida Department of
Education because it doesn't involve schools. I'll confirm that. It may go to them as well. Okay. Appalachia Regional Planning Council, everybody across the street. Um when we did Wani, I think one of the things I recall u commissioners is each each of those agencies having to
write uh a unique perspective about Wani. Uh some of those agencies that spoke were more um were less complimentary than other agencies. And after the weigh in of each individual
environmental protection, fish and wildlife department, transportation, commerce, and on down the line, uh there was still no one with a central weighted um enforcement mechanism and that usually what we learned under Wani was
that the state does not really have oversight but merely makes recommendation. Um the 1990 uh comp plan was subject to uh something called Department of
Community Affairs which Ms. Morgan used to work department of community affairs and when these things meant something so to speak and oversight but we're really not all we're going to get we're not getting a yay a nay or any retribution they they make a comment
that's that's pretty much it. Um, Florida had about 6 million people, I think around 1990 when we adopted this. We had 4 million people in 1980. And, uh, we've we've we're three almost four times larger than who we
were in 1990. What the state has done is deregulated and has no oversight over growth. And once Governor Charles left, uh, you know, it was kind of a joke to try to manage the growth of South
Florida. And we're caught up in policies, um, that were have been abandoned for Central and South Florida uh, because development has exploded with 23 million people in Florida now. But we are in the the governance of the
Florida of which we don't live. But what has kept this comp plan um faithful, I think, has been the u caliber of citizen minds that have held uh our hands to the
fire, uh our staff's hands to the fire. And it's just good to have citizens who are as smart and smarter than your staff, who are as smart and smarter than Commission. And um in fact um Miss
Morgan's lived in Tallahassee and regulator who's also a member of the community and I doubt very seriously if any county in Florida has had the weighted population um whose um expertise is as strong as
the states. And yet uh there has been a loosening if you will of these regulations in particular with growth management. You talk about buffer and all of that stuff. Florida's wide open really the part that's
exploding. We have not been because we have maintained faithfulness to um a document that don't carry that much weight. Quote in the real Florida it just doesn't. And there's nobody across the street, if you want to get serious
about it, that you can go to and get enforcement and get um some developer to do right. There's nobody across the street there. So, we're just honoring the pilgrimage of an evolution of something for growth.
uh you know why can't we have for the citizens who said uh Bettton Benton Hills uh we could up um intensify density in an existing neighborhood and already did I hear
remnants of conversation saying or neighbors saying we don't want that to happen could you just real simple uh say that neighborhoods existing like Benton Hills could be uh um up zone.
Uh neighborhoods like Benton Hills could uh allow a greater density should they go through the process to develop uh like a Benton Hills neighborhood plan. If I had to bet, I would assume that they probably don't want to do that. So they I doubt they would create a plan, but should they choose to do that, we
would work with them uh then to allow the the higher densities. So I was thinking in terms of uh is it against is it unlawful to u um if a neighborhood has existed for 25 years 30
years that uh they're not subject to um in intensifying their zoning. Is is it illegal to exempt neighborhoods on the length of time they've been in existence and they're grandfathered into
um this 1990s idea and before? In effect, that's actually what we're doing. Uh because you have to opt into uh the higher densities or opt into the non-residential uses uh otherwise you're kind of the default mechanism is to stay
the same. It's kind of like how 2/3 2/3 you got to get two/3 of the people to sign in. Okay. The Mhm. Okay. Okay. So, I'm I'm I'm I'm really um I'm okay with where we are. Um um Mr. chairman, I
think that um uh we have waited um a long time to look at this and it's even though we say that this is going to have a 25 year lifespan, uh I say I don't expect the enforcement if our state continues, if democracy
continues in this march, if big money carries the day, I just don't think that 25 years u this process is going to exist. And coupled with that um this commitment to you know what I think is a fraudulent
line uh the urban services area it it it's a fraudulent statement because the services have not been marched uh even Steven across our community. Um it's
fraudulent because everything that's supposed to come uh with this urban services ain't come in in the southside and southeast side of the community. And I don't care a lot of words on the page.
It's just the applicability uh and the uh actualization of these policies have not been realized. But to the extent that we're beholden or there will be oversight across the street from the
state state of Florida, the state of Florida frankly does not really care. Uh because if you can live in a gated neighborhood and do your own thing and seclude and um segregate from all of the that's what's
happening in Florida. That's who we are. Period. So, um, we're doing something here that will be a relic, uh, but not, uh, an actual treatise to how we're going to deal with intensification of
population, uh, in Florida in the next 25 years. As dumb as this thought has been from this dumb commissioner, um I continue to hear the the rumble of
the federal government wanting to give away its land, which the federal government is us. Their land is ours, different name, same folk pay for it. And um would we consider that land in 25 years uh outside the scope of something
we ought to have contemplated uh and received today? Um with history will judge our judgment. Uh history will reflect upon our vision. But um one of the things I think that we
ought to as we think about the long range planning 25 years, we really ought give consideration to including uh how to go about getting the federal lands transferred into the name of Lyon
County. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Commissioner Proctor. Um I'll be brief, Commissioners. I I was okay with the staff recommendation of transmitting what they provided. Um I remember sitting in this
room during these comp plan cycles and having big debates over urban sprawl and now we're having big debates over infill. Um, which I find incredibly
frustrating. Um, because we have to grow and if we want infill, which I think is what we want, Commissioner Caban and Commissioner Maddox, I I reflect their their opinions on that, then I think
that you have to provide for that. You have to allow for that. And I think what staff has done is allowed for that in a really good faith responsible way so as to say, hey, we have a lot of old established neighborhoods. Um, but those
neighborhoods, you know, should those neighborhoods decide and we can see we have hundred petitions from Los Robels. I mean, it's still in the hands of the neighborhoods. and it is in fact in the hands of the neighborhoods whether these
these densities are ever realized which they probably won't be. Um so I want to thank the folks who showed up to advocate for those positions. I think that again the the the uh city limits
versus the unincorporated area. I mean I think that the the real battle ground for you is this is city hall tomorrow. Um, and that again reflects Commissioner Maddox's points. And so I I admire that you came
out and advocated, but I also want to give a lot of difference to staff because I think there have been some really um some controversial comp plan moves over the years to the extent that we have expanded the urban services area
and we have allowed for growth in the future that is again managed and measured in the sort of outskirts where we know we have vacant land. But this is we're talking about infill with this comp plan and this is the big rewrite
and we're talking about infill which is what we want. And so um I think that we've got to let go of this reflexive anti-growth. I don't want anybody living next door to me, but it's okay if it's
five doors down from me. We have to let go of that and realize that people want to live here. Uh they want to live here. Okay? And we can't tell people they can't live here. Um, you know, uh, Lafayette Park and and Benton Hills,
those were the outskirts of town 50 years ago, 60 years ago. Karen was the way outskirts of town, 30 and 40 years ago. And so, you have to at some point accept that our staff is being very
responsible. They're being very responsible from what I understand. And I'm not a planner either, Commissioner Miner. From what I understand reading it, it's profoundly responsible. It's very measured. There are all kinds of of um guard rails and barriers to the kind
of development we don't want. But, you know, when we talk about accessory dwelling units and affordable housing and and promoting infill all the time up here, um we have to be open to a regulated,
measured modum of that. And so that's my frustration. Um, my frustration with you, Commissioner Miner, was not your the content of your proposals. It was the process, which I was afraid of. Um, I I can get along with with your
proposals. I don't think those are bad ideas at all. And Commissioner O'Keefe, I think that your um suggestion about buffers is not a bad idea either. I can get along with that. Um, I would have had a problem with the other one as well, Commissioner Miner. The the you
know, creating additional costs. But Arty, if I can ask you one last question, as we are preparing to vote on this amended staff recommendation, if we send these changes to
1.4 and 2.6 over to the city, if we send if we transmit these, which is what we're doing, right? We're transmitting them with a with the caveat that we have a public meeting between now and adoption. Um, the city doesn't have to take these,
do they? Uh, they do not. Uh, and should they not, I'll put, uh, basically copy the policy twice and one I'll say Leyon County and the other I'll say city of Tallahassee and they'll both be in there. Uh, but I'll try to reconcile them before we get to that point and uh
see if the the city will accept that. And if they do, there'll be one cohesive policy across both jurisdictions. If they don't, uh, they'll just be policies that apply to each respective jurisdiction and and you can reconcile that in the time between now and
adoption, not doesn't have to be tomorrow. Is that correct? That's correct. It probably a negotiation really between you and the and the city manager effectively. Okay. Um, commissioners, uh, I think everybody's gotten to gnaw
on that bone a little bit. It's been a long meeting. Um, is there anything else? Any further discussion? Uh, Madam County Attorney, do you have a grasp on the motion that we're voting on? Okay. All right. Well, uh, seeing no further discussion, all those in favor of
Commissioner Miner's motion as amended with Commissioner O'Keefe's suggestion, one suggestion, and seconded by Commissioner O'Keefe, signify by saying I. I. All opposed. No. All right. Thank you, Mr. Vice
Chair. Uh, show that that passes 6 to1 with uh the vice chair in opposition. Um, Commissioner Miner, if it if it's okay with the board, we we didn't get to do Commissioner Miner's Commissioner time as he had to step away. Uh, I think everybody's probably okay if you want to
go to that now. Is that okay? Sure. I'm sorry. Just real quick on point. I in a way I'm a little bit I I liked your comments, Mr. Chair, and I don't want us to start getting caught up in this thing where um we're not the House
and Senate. Um we we're not sending stuff back and forth and negotiation uh with the city on what they should be doing with things that they're jurisdictionally over. I think in future if we can make recommendations to the city or send our recommendations or
thoughts over I think that's the best way to do it like the letter that you talked about Commissioner Miner or even in and even in adding that letter the the the ask on behalf of our citizens for citizens for the extra public hearing would have been a way way to go about it. I just don't want us to get in
the posture of trying to do the city's job for them and telling them what they should do because I'm'll be honest with you, I don't want them in a posture of trying to tell us what we should do. And quite frankly, uh I don't know if they did do that, my response would likely
be, but you don't know as much as I know about what goes on at the county because you're not a county commissioner. And I can respect I can respect them coming back and saying the same thing to us. So to our citizens out there, I do again I do understand your your your strife and
the things that you're saying. But to our commission, I think we should be very careful about telling the city what we think they should do. We can offer our ideas as we see, but but you know, approving something to go in something and then saying the city needs to do the
same thing. It's again, we're not the House and the Senate. We're the city and the county. there's two jurisdictions there and not two people working in the same place trying to get to the same thing uh within the community or within the same same governmental structure. So, thank you, Mr. Chair, for indulging me on that. I just want to put you out there. Thank you. Thank you,
Commissioner Miner. Commissioner Maddox. I mean, sorry, Commissioner Miner. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I appreciate it. And Commissioner Maddox, I I I hear what you're saying. I um it's it's definitely a balance, right? because I think all of all of our districts, we actually represent uh more
people that live in the city than not, right? So, it's a balance and and the motion that we that we passed on the comp plan basically has a letter respectfully asking them to consider it, which I think is perfect perfect language and and thank you for that that uh suggestion, Commissioner Maddox and Mr. Chairman, thank you for the
opportunity to do this. So, I I had to step out and my wife is out of town, so I had to go race around town, pick it up daughters from school, uh, and then racing back in time for the 6 p.m. public hearing. I just have one real quick thing. Uh, just have a request for a proclamation. Um, I think I mentioned
this before. I I'm I'm going through a course with Smart Growth America about complete streets. And one thing that uh they would like us to do is is promote um something that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention um they've got an agency there that promotes active people, healthy nation,
which is basically the idea that our designs um should help promote active living. You know, the streets concept of having multi modes of transportation, not just cars, but bicycles, sidewalks, strollers, wheelchairs. Um and so this proclamation basically would reflect
that. And then um in the in the um therefore beat resolve section it basically mentions two things you already do. Increasing physical activity through community design which we do audience team are very uh committed to doing that and having access to places for physical activity which also uh we
we do a good job here in Lyon County. So with that that's my motion is to have a proclamation to that effect. We have a motion and a second from Commissioner Miner. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I. I I All right. And that's passes unanimously. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I
appreciate the opportunity. All right, commissioners. Thank you. Uh members of the audience, thank you for being here. We are adjourned.