Welcome. We are happy to have you here this morning. Would you please join us with for an invocation with Pastor Jim Harp followed by the pledge of allegiance which is going to be led by Michael Dross. >> Good morning, pastor. >> Good morning. Good morning. Let's pray.
Father, thank you for this day. And uh Lord, your word says David said in Psalm 100, "Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name for the Lord is good and his love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all
generations. Lord, it was a long time ago that those words were written. And Lord, we can still say today, thank you for your faithfulness and your goodness. And so, we come before you this morning and we do give you thanks and praise. Uh this is the month that we have a special day just for that thanksgiving. Uh but
every day should be a day, Lord, where we look to you. We acknowledge you as we're doing now. Uh we we recognize your presence and your power and your wisdom and your goodness, Lord. And we just pray. I pray especially for this meeting today, Lord, that you will be here in all your glory and your goodness, that
you'd be with uh every decision that's made, every proclamation that's put forth, every person that speaks. God, I pray that you would guide and direct uh their steps and their words. And we thank you, Lord, for these folks that you have uh brought into leadership for
our county. And we just pray your blessing to be upon them and their families. protect them, watch over them, give them wisdom, direction, and guidance, Lord, that they might serve you first and serve us as those that are over us. And we give you thanks for
that, too. Bless this day. Bless this meeting in Jesus name. Amen. >> Amen. >> Amen. >> Thank you. >> We got the boss today. 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. >> Are you familiar with the process? >> I'm not going to let you get away. >> Would you like to tell us a bit about being a Marine?
>> Absolutely. Um, I had the honor and privilege to uh serve in the United States Marine Corps from 1994 uh to 1998. I was stationed in 29 Palms, California, Okanawa, Japan, and Camp Lune, North Carolina. I am now honored
and privileged to serve veterans of Martin County and as the veteran service manager. >> Thank you very much. Wade, you got [Applause] There is one additional item today and that's department six Americans with
Disabilities Act uh title two digital accessibility compliance update and unfunded mandate budget request. Is there a motion to approve the agenda with the additional item? >> So moved. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes
unanimously. There's one proclamation this morning and that's a proclamation to present the Martin County Fire Rescue's Female Combat Challenge Team Award awarded the 2025 Fire Department Female Relay National Champions. >> Wow.
>> And here to accept the award is Joseph Labosco. >> Labasco. Go Navy. >> Thank you. Go Navy. >> Morning commissioners. Uh Joseph Labosco, District Chief with Fire Rescue. It is once again my honor to stand before you on behalf of Martin County Fire Rescue to recognize a
remarkable group of employees who continue to elevate the standard of excellence for our department and for our community. This is now the second time we have come before the board to acknowledge the outstanding achievements of our female firefighter combat challenge team. Each
time they return having reached an even higher level of success. This year they did not just win. They became world champions at the 2025 firefighter combat challenge world championships competing against elite teams from across the
United States, Canada, Europe, and beyond. They earned not just one but two separate world titles. To become a world champion requires extraordinary physical conditioning, technical skill, discipline, teamwork, and mental toughness. These firefighters
have demonstrated all of that and more. They have shown what it means to perform under pressure, to support one another, and to represent Martin County with professionalism, and pride on the national and international stage. Their success reflects the values of our
entire fire rescue organization. Excellence, preparedness, teamwork, and selfless service. Commissioners, on behalf of Fire Rescue and the Combat Challenge team, thank you for your continued support. Achievements like this are possible because Martin County truly invests in its people. to the
members of our world championship team. Your department is proud of you. Your county is proud of you. And we're all proud of you. You inspire your peers. You motivate the next generation of firefighters. And you show our community what dedication truly looks like. Congratulations and thank you for
representing Martin County Fire Rescue with honor. >> Can we get a picture, please? [Applause] I'd like to bring up uh Lieutenant Melissa Riley. She's a captain of team. Say a few words.
>> Hi, good morning. Um I'm just going to take a second to introduce everybody behind me. I have firefighter paramedic Hannah Ael, firefighter paramedic Samantha Grim, firefighter paramedic Jessica Rosenberg, firefighter paramedic Hannah Hton, and we have another firefighter paramedic Carol Gupa, who was unable to be here today, but she was
part of our national team. So, I'm just going to take a moment to give some background on us as a team and highlight some of our successes from this past year. Three years ago, Martin County held the very first firefighter combat challenge event here in Steuart, Florida. That was also the very first
time that many of us ran on the course as a team. Since then, we've come such a long way. We've grown stronger, faster, and even expanded, recruiting more people to join us at competitions, ranging from new recruits to 30-year veterans of the fire service. In that
time, we've hit so many personal goals as well as team goals. Our team currently holds the Florida State record and the Southeast regional record for fire department female relay as well as a fire department female tandem. And two weeks ago, we accomplished what we set out to do, that very first competition
three years ago. We went on to win nationals and then continued to win the world championships. I can't say enough about how proud I am of this group. I'm not only to work, not only lucky enough to work alongside this group of incredible women, but I'm even luckier to compete against them. We push
one another, hold each other accountable even when we can't train together. We know that everybody's putting in the work individually. Whether it's hours of cardio and strength training at the gym, time on the actual course, running towers at station 24, or doing a fun
partner workout at station 30 that incorporates dragging the dummy around the station. We can always trust one another that we're going to give 100%. At nationals, we competed against three other fire department teams from across the country and at worlds, five. That
may not sound like a big number, but it's a huge accomplishment when you consider what it takes to even qualify to run in this division. For years, the firefighter challenge did not have a fire department category. Now, in order to compete in this division, every single person from your team has to come
from the same department. No more having to compete against super teams made up of the fastest people from all over the world. It's just personnel out there representing their departments, and that's what makes our wins even more meaningful. In addition, Hannah Hilton and Hannah Ael took first place in the
municipal fire department female tandem category at the World Championships. Their win is another great example and of the talent and dedication and teamwork that we have in our department. When we won these titles, it wasn't just as individual athletes, it was as Martin County Fire Rescue. So, these wins
didn't just bring home trophies, they brought home pride, energy, and motivation back to the men and women in the street in our department. We're honored to represent the department and our county on such a high level. And I just want to say thank you every to everyone for always backing us. Your support means more than you could
ever imagine. Melissa, I just want May I take a quick moment? three years ago. I remember when you when we hosted the event um seeing all of you compete right here and and previous to that we it was held in Fort Pierce a few times. I think it's almost
understated how phenomenal that this event is and how much work and energy goes into it. Watching you all, you know, climb up that tower and that dummy is no joke. We I think Ed and I had to uh for an exercise had to pull it out of a burning building. It's a um it it's a
phenomenal achievement and you have put a lot of work and energy and we're very so very proud of you. >> Go down so you can get a picture. >> Could we get everyone in the picture? >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> In the well. >> Yeah.
>> It's a big deal. Does he want to take like two steps forward and we'll get the commissioners right there? >> See how fast they step forward? >> Yeah. In >> very well. Count of three. Everyone keep your eyes open. One, two, three.
>> Perfect. >> Stefan, can you take one more picture of >> Oh, sure, sure, sure. >> Just with space. There you go. Our next proclamation is a proclamation declaring Veterans Day in Martin County. For more than 200 years, individuals
from all walks of life have taken up arms and sworn an oath to support and defend the principles upon which our country was founded. The contributions and sacrifices of the men and women who served in the armed forces have been vital in maintaining our freedom and the way of life enjoyed by the people of the
United States. In recognition of Veterans Day, which is observed on November 11th, the board calls upon all citizens to honor the contributions of current and former members of the US Armed For US Armed Forces. And here we have to accept, you've already seen him today, Michael Drossst, veteran service manager.
>> He's willing to hold triple duty today. [Applause] >> Tell us about yourself. Um, first of all, I want to say thank you commissioners for recognized for this proclamation for recognizing Veterans Day. Um, I'm I'm honored to accept this proclamation on behalf of
all veterans and thank you for your continued support. Uh, Veterans Day is a reminder on why we serve, to protect, for honor and commitment to this great nation. Uh, we we we just want to say thank you and appreciate your continued
support and have a great rest of your meeting. Thank you. Absolutely. Oh, now we have public comment. The first request to speak form I have is from Julie Priest. Oh, would you like
to you want to speak on Got it. Uh, next one is uh Nancy Turl, followed by Douglas Ashley. Nope, you don't want to speak that. Good morning, commissioners. I'm Nancy
Turl, executive director of Martin Arts and a resident of this community. Um, I was here to I'm here this morning just to share the good news of Sunday night which is our Martin Arts Awards
beloved nickname is the Marty's. Um, I have a few extra program books here if anybody that didn't attend would like one. I want to thank commissioners Heatherington and Campy for attending the event on Sunday night at the Lyric Theater. We were very proud to announce
um the literary performing and visual artists and student artists awards that night. Um so receiving the literary award artist award is Suzanne Mogo. Performing artist was Lindseay Garrettson. Visual artist was Shawn
McGra. Student literary artist Mark Delesio. Student performing artist Natalyia Carabalo. and student visual artist Katherine Johnson. All the students are seniors in our local Martin
County schools. They are um they've been interviewed, resumeumés reviewed, both a combination of civic and artistic excellence considered by a local panel of judges when they were selected to
receive this award. But I have to say that um all of the students are just so exceptional. It's really gives me great hope for future generations of of the
the world will be in their hands. Um the literary artists, the students all write a piece and that's read by professional actors during the performance. The performing artists have a mashup. So, they're paired up with other nominees and do performances and I know some of
them made, you know, me have goosebumps. They were so incredible and the visual artists obviously had their work in the program book. But, um, I just wanted to bring that to your attention. It was a great celebration. This is kind of like our Emmys, Grammys. It's our Marty's.
And, um, so I encourage you to be a part of it next year. And thank you, >> Commissioner Heatherington. I just want to say that it was really an amazing event. Just all of that talent in one place and all the nominees, congratulations to the winners, but everybody, all of the nominees were
fantastic. >> Yeah. Yeah. I think for the residents that think, well, you know, the Marty's I don't need to go and see it. It's really like an evening in the theater between, you know, very eclectic. As Nancy said, there were these the the
theme was roses or the rose. So, the kids or young adults had to write with that theme and then they were read as Nancy mentioned by people that were really good at it. Um, Christian Anderson read it. the quality of the
performances and then the young people that are performing. I didn't even realize that they were mashed up like that makes perfect sense because they performed so well together. You didn't realize that they were just put together based on how you wanted it to be. So for a very nominal fee, you can have an
evening at the theater. Uh, it's funny and fun and I've gone several times even though quite often like this year I I think I knew one or two of the nominees so I wasn't there necessarily rooting on someone that I knew. I just went because it's just a great evening out. Uh, it
was a very well attended but there was still plenty of seats left over. So, uh, we can squeeze you in next year. So, I would highly uh recommend attending even if you're not necessarily the parent of a student. Uh, we're all the parent of those students. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. Thank you. Jesse Griffin is next. >> Jess. >> Hi. Uh, my name is Jess Griffin. I live in the Stewart West community. First of all, thank you guys for your service. Uh, I'm very, very happy. I've had some
interaction with Lee Selder. I'm very, very happy about your her being announced as uh appointed as the county attorney. Uh the reason I'm here today is there has recently been submitted to your growth management a putt amendment
to try to change uh some wording in in steward west and the vast majority of residents have no issues with trying to define ecoin and those various offset but there has been a using of the word
domesticated animals that has been enslipped in that is basically a lightning rod issue. for our community. And I can tell you unequivocally that the vast majority of residents do not support this. I know a number of them have already emailed the county
commission. So, you know, number one, uh we don't want it as a community. I'm speaking for myself, but I know I'm speaking in the majority. Uh the second thing is our board of directors has been
hijacked recently. We have multiple recalls. We have a an attorney that supposedly represents the community that is filing lawsuits rec totally refusing. We we have board members that vote today
resign tomorrow for their replacements. I don't know how this this I know it's a state law issue, but I don't know how this is allowed to stand. And I would ask the county get involved please to the extent that you can and stop this.
You know, it's it's basically totalitarian rule by a small faction. And I've lived in Martin County for almost 18 years. I love it here. Okay. I refer to myself as a Palm Beach County refugee from 18 years ago. >> Wow. >> Um I appreciate your work. I also would
ask on that other issue. um this these issues relating to recall should have went to the DPPR, but instead it's becoming extremely expensive for our community on both sides to fight this legally in the courts and it's being dragged out. So, anything you guys can
do on that end, I would uh greatly appreciate. The last thing is relating to the fire station out west in 2031. We need one sooner. So to the extent I just got my property tax bill yesterday. So to the extent that you guys can move
that along, that would be greatly appreciated. And again, I I appreciate everything you guys do for Martin County. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Douglas Ashley, would you like to speak on the Rio Marine Village or now? >> Okay. Thanks.
Christopher Corey, followed by Frank Mcrist. >> Morning, commissioners. >> How are you guys? >> Great. >> So, uh, my name is Christopher Corey. Uh, I was here a couple weeks ago, uh, with the gate issue on Leighton Farm and, uh, I I kind of pride myself on
listening more than talking up here at a podium. And I certainly don't like to bring problems. Uh I I do my best to avoid them at all costs. But I also realize that um I love the the term he used. I'm a Miami refugee from many
years ago. Moved here to uh you know, I have a better childhood for my kids who are now 15. So moved here before they were 10. And uh the other thing I heard the other day that I absolutely loved was the old Martin County. Right. Well, I can tell you as a refugee that that is
very much still the case here being somebody from a different place. Um, I've never met so many great people, so many great neighbors. I know all my neighbors. I didn't know any in Miami and I live there my whole life. So, um, the other thing is I didn't really introduce myself at all. So, I'm a
community engagement uh, consultant. Have been for 15 years. Um, I currently serve as liazison to World Cup 2026 for the city of Miami. Um, I do other various things where I try and bring in big events that make people happy. Um,
and give families, you know, and really give families an opportunity to be families. Um, and that's really my mission over there on Leighton Farm. Uh, I'm there to combat what's called pay for play. If you guys are familiar, pay for play is how expensive it is to
participate in youth sports. Now, can be 3 to10,000 to $30,000 a year. So nine of 12 hours at that facility are free to families. Um I'm still trying to combat the other three hours. Um I have a model. I own a a a lower division
football club in London and we have 1,300 kids that pay $200 a year for the entire year and that includes the uniform. So I'm working my way down on that. The other thing I wanted to do was give families time to be families. Um, on average, our families spend 15 hours
a week there. Um, I call that place more of a church than anything else. Um, and in doing that in the last three years, I've I've I've recognized some things. One, um, this right here is enemy number one for our children. They all, it seems
like we have an epidemic of confidence issues with our children. Um, sports is a great way to combat that, but we kind of need to do better. Um, the other thing that that we combat there is what I believe is rampid use of ADHD medication. And we track the kids that
drop off ADHD medication that are involved in our programs. Um, I would I would say that beyond those two issues, there really is nothing uh more important for our children. I'll close with saying I've extended this program.
I now have one in Indian Town. I have one in Port St. Lucy and looking to open more that are free to families and combat these issues. Thank you guys so much for your time. >> Frank Mcrist is next, followed by Tom Pine.
>> He's got a speech. >> Good morning. >> Morning, Frank. >> Good morning. That's hard to follow, I guess. Uh, for the record, my name is not Bill Summers,
although I'll do my best. Seriously, good morning. Long time no see. I'd like to thank publicly the Steuart City Commission majority. Chris Collins, Shawn Reed, and Laura Goi earned their seats by going out and personally
speaking to the public. Their hard work paid off with longshot wins against the donor class favorites. They rode the citizens outrage over the high density hightra policies of the previous commission.
Surely you remember these previous city commissions that annexed everything in sight and then changed longstanding codes to approve the high density hightra development that you yourselves were outraged over.
And all of this was done under the guise of affordable housing. And we all know how that worked out. I don't quite understand the p public vitriol towards Collins and Reed. Oh, that's right. I really do.
This spewed hatred comes directly from the mouths of the donor class puppets. And the donor class is pissed. They do not own our Steuart majority.
So, thank you, Dr. Collins, Mr. Reid, Mrs. Jobi. Thank you for saving the city 30 to45 million on a lastm minute bright line bad deal with the county. Thank you for the zoning in progress
that paused the insanity in order to restore sensible density codes. The donor class hates our majority. They hate not having control because you know that is the natural order of the swamp.
Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Tom Pine is next followed by David Gunner and Mr. Gunner is the last request to speak form that I have. >> Morning commissioners. My name is Tom Pine. I've been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years. Today in the
consent agenda, this commission will approve 25,228,3501, which was spent between October 6th and October 19th of 2025 without identifying the pay or the purpose of the payments. Why do we even hold county commission
meetings anymore? Since most of the money spent is hidden in the consent agenda, there is no accountability. If the majority of our tax dollars are being spent behind closed doors, why all the secrets? This is the reason our taxes keep going up. Who is really
benefiting on our backs? Not the average taxpayer, that's for sure. We just get stuck with the bill. I don't know who watches county commission meetings, but if you do, I would encourage you to check the definition of the consent agenda and what should and shouldn't be in the
consent in it. I use Google. It's very clear and to the point. Bathtub Beach has washed away one more time. And of course, we can't move fast enough to apply for more grants to dump even more of our hard-earned money into the ocean to save Sailfish Point from being an
island of its own. One of our sitting com one of our city county commissioners has often said if the county government spent tax dollars on low-income housing, the taxpayers in Martin County would be up and armed. Just how much money has has been dumped
in the Atlantic Ocean to save Point Bathtub Beach over the last 30 years? Has it broke into the billion dollar club yet? Probably. We spend whatever it takes to save the wealthiest among us and complain because we have homeless
people in Martin County. The community redevelop redevelopment agency, the largest county department that leads that's leading the charge to bring Martin County into the new Gilded Age. The $20,000 grants to some of the Martin County's most lucrative properties was
just the beginning. Art and Public Places. Art and Public Places on the backs of Martin County taxpayers is the next page of their quest to add even more Martin County residents to stand in line at the
local food banks. House of Hope Stewart demand has jumped 30% over the past year. Treasure Coast Food Bank, the largest in the area, demand has jumped about 20% from last year. How many of our county employees
are now using the local food banks to get by? Our county government hard at work. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. David Gunner is next. Look at your voice, please. >> Good morning. I'm a resident of Jensen Beach, Rio specifically, and I'm just
here real quick. First off, congratulations to the Civic Club for their proclamation of 75 years, but also to the three items on the agenda for the Rio Marine Village. Um, I'm sure you've been up there. Rio is a very uh depressed uh derelict area where it's
rundown and uh really could use this development. So, I I would be in favor of uh proving all three agenda items. Uh we just had a restaurant close there. there's just uh the blight has gotten to where uh it's a shame and so I hope that
you will prove that. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And we have another request to speak forum. >> Michael Redling. >> Morning. Mike Redling, Rio resident, um member of the Rio NAC, member of the the Rio member of the CRA board. here to uh
request your support again for the Rio items on the agenda today. Uh as you can see, we've got a pretty boisterous crowd behind us. Not often you get a lot of matching shirts for development in Martin County, but they're uh they're excited about this as is the entire Rio area. Um we've been talking about this
project for a long time. We're excited about the opportunity for it to kind of activate the waterfront and and just bring a lot more visibility and viability to Rio as a whole. So, any support you guys can give for that item would be great. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
>> Would anyone else like to address us? In that case, we will close out public comment and do commissioner comment. Commissioner Heatherington. >> I'm all set this morning. >> Commissioner Campy, >> I have two items that I'd like to share, two events. Actually, the first one
celebrating Veterans Day is this Saturday, November 8th. The Palm City Chamber of Commerce will have their annual Veterans Memorial Day, excuse me, Veterans Memorial Bridge 5K run. I like to call it a 5K walk or maybe a little
running, but mostly walking. So, if you're not a runner, but would still like to participate, it's a beautiful day over the Veterans Memorial Bridge. Uh, it starts at 700 p.m. Excuse me, 7 a.m. Don't come 12 hours later. I I will still I'll just be coming in. So, you'll
see me finish, but um it's at Jock Leighton Park, which is uh right at the corner of Martin Highway and Map Road, Caddy Corner to the Palm City Post Office. Uh it's a great event. Lots of people come out. A lot of people are dressed in red, white, and blue. There's a lot of veterans. If you happen to be a
veteran, your entrance fee is free. So, you can come for free and walk and spend time with other veterans. It's early in the morning, so it's a great way to start the day. Uh also which is very exciting and we appreciate it very much that the Steuart air show which is also
this weekend. If you register to participate in the 5K over the memorial Veterans Memorial Bridge, you receive a free ticket to the air show. >> So the the price of the entrance for the
run is washes out based on a free ticket to the air show. So you can make it a whole literally celebration for veterans. Uh for those people that are much more serious about running, I know that this is a big deal for them. It's an officially timed and measured out
course. And Mike Melton, who lots of 5K runners know, uh his company is the one that is organizing the run itself. Some people won't run in runs that are not officially timed. Uh, and all finishers
will receive a beautiful keepsake medal. That's the first. That's this Saturday at 700 am uh in Palm City on the 8th. The next one is the second in our series of music in the park. We had it last
month in October. Uh, the biggest crowd we've ever had, so I really appreciate the people that came out. Uh the weather was perfect, so waiting until a little later in the in the season uh was a smart decision. We have food trucks and ice cream trucks and you can bring kids.
We prefer them not to run up onto the band, but it's a definitely a familyfriendly event. Uh we're having it again uh in November on November 15th. It's at the patio at Palm City Place. It starts the music starts at 6:30 and it
goes till 8:30. Uh you can bring uh takeout, you can bring a picnic uh lunch, uh you can walk, we have a beautiful path that goes around the lake, so you can come and do a walk or sunset walk around the lake first. Uh it's a great time to meet your neighbors
or make new friends. Uh we have seen a lot of multigenerational where the grandparents are with their kids who are adults and the grandchildren. Um I can't speak um more highly about it. It's just it's what we hope for. You know,
nowadays, as we heard about the cell phones, most people just stay home. They don't go out. They don't go to the movies. They don't do anything. They don't know their neighbors. So, uh, we're trying to have these events so to just bring people out and, uh, and have a nice time. So, I invite you to both
Palm City events. Thank you, Madam Chair. >> Thank you, Commissioner Caps. Just in the last uh week or so, District 3 has lost a couple of community giants that I would have like to acknowledge
this morning. The first one is Scott Parsons, who was a former president of the Hobound Chamber of Commerce. Uh great guy. Um and we lost him way too soon. I think he was probably in his 50s. Uh sad story.
And then my brother-in-law, Rick Huff, who was the CFO of STS, an aviation company in Jensen Beach, um died suddenly uh while working out at the gym of a massive heart attack and 55 years old,
four adult children. Um devoted wife uh remain. And we would appreciate your prayers for our family and also Scott Parson's family. And then I wanted to mention that I attended
an on-site visit yesterday down in South County where someone's building a house. And during that super heavy rain we had a week or so ago, they had some serious wash out problems there. Um
with uh drainage problems. It's kind of a lower lot in a larger community that collects a lot of water and the then the people there were very very distressed. There was a very impressive group of contractors and consultants and neighbors and they were really quite
uptight and I was there along with three members of our public works staff who I would like to acknowledge this morning. The first one was county engineer Michael Graaselka and then environmental resource engineer Amy Een and
engineering inspector Marorrow Matanti and they just did an excellent job with those folks. I couldn't believe their recall and the way they put their nerves at ease very quickly, answered all their
questions and just really professional, super competent. So, I'd like to give them a shout out this morning. >> Thank you, Commissioner Vargas. >> Uh, no common sense. >> And I just have one message this morning and that is use sun protection.
>> Yep. >> Commissioner Campy, >> I apologize. is I did not want to mix my promotional events in Palm City with what I'm going to share and and to Commissioner Caps, I'm sorry about the losses that you've had, but Martin County universally had also suffered a
major loss with former Sheriff Robert Crowder had passed away. Um, and I didn't think I don't want to be the person who's up here doing eulogies all the time, but this is one of our organized opportunities to uh thank and
celebrate folks in our community. So, I I Sheriff Crowder absolutely had to have that. Longest serving sheriff in Martin County history. >> Five terms. >> Yeah. Um, has been a member of the community in a hundred other ways beyond sheriff. He took the sheriff's office. I
remember during some of his campaigns, he really um took it from what most people would have known as like a rural county sheriff's office and really brought it into the modern age. Uh and I used to say that he was not only the sheriff but more like a CEO of a law
enforcement organization. And I think that a lot of the folks that you know you'll hear from our current sheriff boot and Will Snyder um Sheriff Crowder hired them you know and uh was originally appointed uh to fill a term
and then ran and then when he lost you know Will Snyder ran against him and then when when he beat Will Snyder he hired Will back in to the organization and I think most of us when you think about Martin County how safe it is Will
Snyder inherited that safe community and that remarkable law enforcement organization from Robert Crowder and then passed it on even better to John Benseek. Uh and I know that uh Bob Crowder, he had an interesting career,
ran for Congress. Uh his wife Debbie, who we send our regards, she did a remarkable feat. She she um she walked or hiked the Appalachian Trail, which is 2,000 miles through the mountains. Um I
think from like somewhere in Georgia, if I'm not mistaken, or the Carolinas up to Maine. And she did it in port in like sort of in pieces. And um they had a remarkable love story because whatever she wherever she would walk, Sheriff
Crowder would drop her off at the start and then whatever it took, he would then wait or around and when she was done, he would drive further north and pick her back up. And I know that um they did that repeatedly until she was able to
accomplish that. So um I think he's a pillar of our community. Obviously, if you think like if you had to name the top 10 people, you know, in Martin County, Robert Crowder's name would be in that top 10. And so, I wish his family uh our condolences and on behalf of the commission and the community, we
thank him for his service. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Andy. >> Mr. Donaldson, >> uh just a couple of things. Uh we uh United Way gave out some awards recently and Martin County came in number four as our place funer for United Way. But
really importantly, uh, Jen Salace and Mo Curley, uh, with our library one game changers of the year. So, uh, congratulate them for their their efforts and volunteerism. Thank you, >> Miss Elder.
>> Uh, let's see. Now, it's time to approve our consent agenda. >> I'll move approval of the consent agenda. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Uh, commissioners, have you
voted for library board of trustees and board of zoning adjustment appointments? >> Yes, that's been done. >> So, let's cover those before our preset. >> May I put out a suggestion, Madam Chair? >> Sure. >> Once again, and I think it's in my opinion at least most of the time trying
to select someone for the library board. We had added, we can't continue to add. What is it up to now, Miss Gordon? Is it >> 17? >> 17 people because so many people want to be on the library board and this time we're filling one position, but we got
eight applications for one position. And I'm sure like my colleagues, I read through all of them trying to figure out how do you differentiate one excellent person from another? It's impossible. Uh I'm using all sorts of criteria. Uh,
that being said, I'm wondering since a lot of those names, beyond just reading what they can write on their application or include in a resume, I'm wondering if there was a way we could work out that the library board itself
nominate the people that we can just authorize or appoint to the position versus us spinning the wheel of applicants hoping to pick one. because I I use a very interesting technique that
I won't share but eight for one for eight is another example of and now some of these people will be disappointed they have unique sets of u criteria I mean benefits that they could bring and I'm like wow that's an excellent person
that should be on the board and then the next one's a lifelong educator and then someone's in finance and then someone was a leader like a corporate leader I want them So, I'm thinking since we don't know a lot, you know, I only knew one of the names. Uh, she was a teacher at Palm
City Elementary School. So, I not my kid's teacher, but I recognized her name and her resume said that she was a Palm City or an educator for many years. How are we supposed to guess? So, I'm wondering if if legal or whatever can find out if they can either narrow the
selection amongst themselves because they know these people. We don't. And I feel terrible for the seven that are not going to get selected today because quite often they feel that it was a slight and then they never apply to do anything again.
>> We can look into the process. A lot of times it's set by ordinance, but we can amend it if the board wants to >> even if it's just the library one. >> Also, it's I was exaggerating. Uh there are only nine members. So, and that's not unwieldy. Um particularly for
library people. They're they're uh you know congenial folks to begin with. So >> they'll be they'll be cooperative. Um if we want to make it bigger, we could make it bigger. >> Something I just feel like seven people
that are absolutely qualified will not get selected today. >> Every single time we fill this these vacancies there. >> Every time. >> Commissioner Caps, >> those must be some really fun uh board meetings or a very fun place to hang out. Maybe I'm missing out on something.
Um, the only thing the only thing I would suggest, Commissioner Campy, about your suggestion, which is a good suggestion, except for the fact I guess I was thinking about how that might be an awkward thing for the sitting board
members to have to make those exclusions um, of people that they also find attractive as potential board members. It It put them in an awkward spot, I think. um to have to vote against their their
friends and these other very qualified people. >> Make it bigger. >> Yeah. Well, why don't we do this? Why don't we have the folks that are like whoever is heading that organization our I'm sure it's Jen Salace and then maybe the chairman or a couple of their board members come and share with us how they
think that maybe we can incorporate the easy answer which is to increase the size of the group. um it's helpful. So then we're not disappointing as many people, but um it's great that so many people want to be involved in their
library system. And when you read what they write, it's passion. It's very passionate. So maybe we can have them come back the Jen and the chair to discuss what this what h how would they like us to participate in helping them just as a suggestion. Thank you so much.
>> Any results? >> Yes. The person with two votes is Roxanne Johnson, but also received votes. Kathleen Bosinger received one vote. Katherine Gunther received one vote and Lisa Lot
received Wit Lisa L. Witbeck received one vote. >> Okay. Roxanne Johnson. >> I make a motion to uh appoint Roxanne, Mrs. Roxanne Johnson to the library board of trustees. >> Second.
>> There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. >> Next is the board of zoning adjustment appointments. And Mr. Bradley Falco received four votes.
Mr. Brian McCale, the incumbent, received one vote. >> I make a motion to uh accept to appoint Mr. Bradley M. Falco to the board of zoning adjustment. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes
unanimously. Uh we will now move on to Well, we have time to do our to do public hearing quasi judicial one before our preset at 10. So, let's take that up. Um
it's quasi judicial. Uh Commissioner Vargas, any exparte disclosures? >> I have any. They've been filed. >> Commissioner Caps, >> if I have any, they have been filed. >> If I have any, they've been filed. Commissioner Campy, >> I have none and that's been filed. >> And Commissioner Heatherington, >> I don't have any and that's been filed.
>> Mr. Grizzela, have all the necessary records been given to the clerk? >> I believe so. >> If anyone is going to be providing sworn testimony during this hearing, please stand up. Raise your right hand.
Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Please proceed. Mula, >> good morning. For the record, I'm Michael Rosulka, the county engineer. This is a uh abandonment petition for
Ryon North Dixie LLC requesting the board to consider abandonment of approximately 9,763 square ft of an open platted ride ofway as shown on exhibit A lying within the Rio St. Lucy Terrace which is the far western end of Charlotte Street. Um, all
parcels of of the subject rideway are owned by Rio South Dixie LLC. And upon approval, the abandonment the abandoned rideway will be incorporated into the Rio Preserve at Rio Marine Village project and will be privately owned and privately maintained in perpetuity. Um,
along with this, the the uh privilege fee that they will be paying for this abandonment is $70,000, which was done by appraisal. And uh other than that uh the recommendation is to move that the board receive and file
the agenda item summary and all the attachments for the record as exhibit one. Move that the board adopt the resolution abandoning portion of platted rights away lying within the Rio St. Lucy terrace plat as described in exhibit A subject with the following
conditions. President proper publication of a notice adoption of this resolution which isn't within the package and receipt by Martin County of the $70,000 um privilege fee. >> Questions for Mr. Griselka. That was
70,000. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> And there's a full appraisal in the package. >> Mr. Caps, >> can you define privilege fee >> or what what is that actually? >> That I don't maybe miss. It's the it's
it's the fee that they that they provide to abandon it because then they receive the the property back in fe simple. >> Mhm. >> It gets split between the two sides. On this particular case, they own both sides of the road. >> Mhm. >> And it's part of this project that you'll see coming up here a little bit
later at 10:00 for the uh um it's a multif family rental community. commissioners. Essentially, the county uh um has the right to the right away. Sometimes we own it fe simple, sometimes
not. But the privilege fee is a way to account for the public's interest in its uh ownership value. And um uh uh and it has been a long-standing practice in Martin County to collect this fee. Not all communities do. >> Just a fancy name for fee.
>> Would anyone from the public like to address us? Seeing none. Any further comments, questions? >> Motion to accept staff's recommendation. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I >> opposed. That motion passes unanimously.
Thank you. We will now move on to Oh, should we move on? We have time to do three legs or you want to take up >> We'll take up We'll take up >> minutes. She's She's knows how to do it.
We'll take up um DPQJ 2 which is Rio South Dixie LLC requests final site plan approval for phase one for the Rio Marine Village project which we have
been is has been under development review for six ears. >> That's correct. >> Look at my faces. >> Yeah, >> it's impressive. It's >> Is that must be a record?
>> Uh, so this is quasi judicial. Uh, Commissioner Vargas, any exparte disclosures? >> I have any. They've been filed. >> If if I have any, they have been filed. >> I do have some and they have been filed. Commissioner Campy, >> I do have some and they've been filed.
>> Commissioner Heatherington, >> I have them and they've been filed. >> Uh, Mr. Elam, have you uh submitted your materials to the clerk? >> Copy of my work history in this agenda item has been turned in as exhibit one. >> Anyone who's going to be providing sworn
testimony in this item, please stand, including the applicant, raise your right hand this morning. Raise your right hands. Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
>> Thank you, Madam Chair, commissioners. Uh, for the record, I'm Brian Elum, a principal planner with the growth management department. This is a request by Cutotler and hearing on behalf of Rio South Dixie LLC for approval of the Rio Marine Village phase 1 East major final
site plan. The final site plan contains two live work buildings, eight multif family buildings, one town home building, a marina clubhouse, and includes public access to the beach and waterfront. Included is a request for a certificate of public facilities
reservation. Phase one is generally located south of Northeast Dixie Highway, north of the St. Luc Lucy River, and east of Northeast Martin Avenue. Rio is one of six redevelopment zoning
districts in Martin County defined in article 12 of the Martin County Land Development Regulations. The community redevelopment code provides opportunities for traditional neighborhood design and mixed residential and commercial uses in redeveloping areas.
The property north of Northeast Dixie Highway, colored red and identified as Rio North in this slide, received master site plan approval on September 13th, 2022 and is known as the preserve at Ryomarine Village. The property south of
Northeast Dixie Highway received master revised master site plan approval on February 1st, 2022 and will be constructed by way of two final site plans which are the Ryomarine Village phase 1 east final site plan which is the subject of this agenda item in
colored orange and the Ryomarine Village phase 2 west final site plan colored purple. Here's an aerial of the Ryome Marine Village Phase One East location with the orange outlined area. Within the orange outlined area,
the phase 1 east area outlined in black consists of commercial waterfront and CRA center future land uses. The Rio redevelopment zoning district is the zoning district for the property and there are two subdists that correspond with the respective land uses which are
waterfront subd district and core subd district. The core subdist is assigned to the CRA center future land use and is intended to be a pedestrianoriented center for surrounding neighborhoods with a broad mix of uses. The waterfront subd district is assigned to the
commercial waterfront future land use which promotes a mixeduse waterfront environment with restaurants, entertainment, residential uses and access to the waterfront. The core subdist allows 15 residential units per acre and the waterfront subdist allows
10 residential units per acre. Both subdists require 20% minimum open space and a 40ft maximum building height. Development within the phase 1 east final site plan area consists of 178 apartments in eight three-story
buildings, four town home units, and eight live work units for a total of 190 residential units. Density and open space for the Ryan Marine Village project are calculated at the master site plan level. The total proposed density is less than 12 units per acre by way of the density blending and the
use of43 acres of adjacent waterfront subdist rightway. Open space is approximately 46%. The site plan includes a marina clubhouse, east boat basin and docks and a public path along the water including access to the beach. The maximum
building height is three stories or 40 feet. Aerial images of this property show development, including the boat basins, present since before 1958. Much of what we now consider to be the shoreline protection zone has been impacted or
altered over the years. Here's an aerial image from this January showing the recently improved hardened shoreline of these boat basins. Here's a screenshot of the final site plan. I
could have done better. Uh Dixie Highway is to the left, which is north, and the St. Lucy River to the south is on the right. There is one three-unit and one five-unit twostory live work buildings that front Dixie Highway here
with commercial frontage on the ground floor and apartments on the second floor. The improved northeast riverfront drive is fronted by which is running through here is fronted by five apartment buildings and two more are at the end
here and then one more on the east side of the east boat basin. There's one four-unit two-story town home which fronts the Eastboat Basin here. And on the western side of the East Boat Basin is approximately 5,497
square ft marina clubhouse and amenities. The site plan includes public access that incorporates pvious walkways along the St. Lucy River through the required 25- ft shoreline production zone. Impervious surfaces in the SPZ do not
exceed 40% and protection of the existing mangroves and a living shoreline element are incorporated into this plan. This is a front elevation facing northeast Dixie Highway of the five unit live work building and a front elevation
facing northeast riverfront drive of an apartment building. It's the front elevation of the Marina Clubhouse and one of the town home building. Um, I believe the applicant will have some renderings that may show tour
details of these buildings. This aerial image identifies all the easements and dedications related to the Ryome Marine Village projects. A request for board approval of all easements and dedication dedications is included in this agenda item and will be identified
in detail at the end of this presentation. Per article 10 of the Martin County Land Development Regulations, minor technical changes to an approved master site plan may be processed with a final site plan application. Minor technical changes were required to the previously approved
revised master site plan to ensure consistency with the RI Ryomarine Village Phase 1 East and Ryomar Marine Village Phase 2 West final site plans. Attached to this agenda item is a resolution to approve the revised master site plan associated with these site
plans that incorporates the minor technical changes. Development review staff have found the Rio South Dixie LLC application to comply with all applicable regulations and the comprehensive growth management plan is detailed in our staff report.
Review of this application by the local planning agency is not required. Staff recommends approval of the Ry Marine Village Phase 1 East final site plan, including the revised master site plan. We move that the board receive and file the agenda item and its
attachments, including the staff report as exhibit one. Move that the board adopt the resolution approving the minor technical adjustments to the revised master site plan. Move that the board adopt the resolution approving the Rio Marine Village phase 1 east final site plan. move that the
board adopt a resolution accepting and approving as required for the approval of the preserve at Rio final site plan and Rio Marine Village East phase 1 final site plan and Ryomarine Village phase 2 west final
site plan. three warranty deeds for right-of-way on the north side and south side of northeast Dixie Highway along with a quick claim deed for a right-of-way hiatus along the north side of Northeast Dixie Highway. We move that the board adopt a resolution accepting
and approving a 70ft drainage easement and a 10-ft public access easement and a flow through drainage easement and a drainage access and maintenance easement and a public transit stop easement. We move that the board approve a release of
easement and move that the board authorize the chair to sign all documents necessary to complete the transaction. And before I finish, I just wanted to say that uh in item four where it says preserve at Rio, that is related to
the preserve at Ryomarine Village site plan. Just to make sure that everyone understands that's the same thing. And that concludes my presentation. and I'd be happy to answer any questions. >> So, do your recommendation looks like it also um includes department
uh DPQJ3 and four. We're not going to be doing we're not going to be wrapping these all up into one. I'm looking at number four and I don't it's I just am asking my board not to
approve number four because I think it's too uh I think that's moving approval of DPQJ3 and DPQJ4. >> Good morning. Peter Rewalden, deputy growth management director. This is taking care of all the easements and uh
rightaway dedications for the entire project in one but it is not approving the other two site plans that are accompanying the uh project. >> Okay. Questions for Mr. Eliam? >> I have one. >> Mr. Perhaps
>> you know you mentioned the concept of shoreline protection zone and you know that's really important that our shorelines remain as natural as possible because all the living organisms uh kind of emanate from the
edges of the river. And can you just take a cursor and and go around a picture and tell us more about the shoreline of of this phase of the project and what has been done to keep it intact and and also to preserve
as much of it as in a natural state as possible. >> The good renderings of the living. >> Okay. If you want to have me answer it in my presentation, but it's in phase two. >> Yes.
>> If you if you just open up the PowerPoint Take a picture. Keep going. Keep going. Keep going. So, >> you want me to answer? >> Yes, go ahead. >> Uh, for the record, George Messimemer with Cotler Hearing. It's a great question. For this, uh, particular
development, there's a requirement for a 25- ft shoreline protection zone. So that spans the entire almost 3,000 linear feet of water frontage along the the the southern side of the property. Within that 25 ft, we have our 10- ft
pvious public walkway. Uh and then uh a majority of the existing shoreline is hardened with those existing boat basins as Brian went over. So those seaw walls have been uh redone recently within the last couple of years. They were restored, brand new seaw walls put in.
Uh there is a section of Open Beach currently along a section of the frontage of the property in that kind of half moon bay shape. And in that location, we've actually designed a new living shoreline. There's a few small pockets of mangroves, but really not
much. And so what we've done is we've designed additional mangrove uh locations as well as rip wrap, native grasses, and even oyster bags. again trying to protect that shoreline, provide some additional habitat uh as much as we can. Again, it's it's a smaller section of the overall shoreline
because of the existing hardened seaw walls, but we have enhanced that portion and again nothing within that 20 first 25 ft except for the public path which is uh more than 2,000 of that overall
2,000 linear feet of the overall length. So really providing you know the only public access to the water within the area of Rio. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, Mr. Elam. Um I'm looking at the uh development standards for calculating
density and there's a note uh that there is uh submerged underwater land. Was that used in order to calculate densities? >> No, that's excluded. >> Okay. And also there um are there's uh
alternative compliance. Can you describe that and describe staff's recommendation for approval? Yes, stat there's uh there has been about 12 items of alternative compliance that have been approved for
um I believe the phase east probably a similar amount for for the west and then I believe a smaller amount uh on the the northern one alternative compliance was approved for for all of these >> okay so I'm specifically saying looking
374 trees are proposed a 63 66 tree deviation from the 440 required by the site's site area square footage. So why the deviation of 66 fewer trees?
>> Want me to answer that? Uh Peter Walden again. Uh the ri the uh CRAAS require one tree per 1500 square feet of the overall site which if you do the calculations adds up to hundreds of trees. uh given the density, what we do
for alternative compliance is increase the size of the trees proposed in order to give the proper spacing so we're not just uh consolidating a large amount of trees that aren't going to mature properly because we're squeezing in them into code. So we look at the site
overall and increase the sizes of the trees where we can to accommodate for the uh caliber inches that are required per tree. So those sizes are noted somewhere. >> Yes. >> Okay. Also, the applicant is requesting
that 46% of the total trees planted on site or palms, which is a 16% deviation from the required 30%. >> That's correct. >> Why? >> Again, there's spacing requirements and there's also a lot of waterfront areas
where the palms are more conducive to public access. >> Are they native palms? Mostly >> everything's native here. >> Yeah. Very large majority. There's co some coconut palms as well which we wouldn't really consider native. Um but
a large majority native palms. Yes, ma'am. >> Okay. Because we have uh native trees for a reason. >> Thank you. Applicant, would you like to make an a presentation? >> Absolutely. Thank you again for the
time. For the record, George Mamemer with Cotler and Hearing on behalf of the owner and applicant. And I have been sworn in. I don't think I said that before, but um I'd like to just start by bringing up Josh Simon and Charlie Modica, the uh uh partners in this project and development. They have a
long history uh and track record of being uh wonderful development partners and going into infield development sites and working with the community in the existing framework and really doing first class projects. So, they wanted to say a few words. So, I'll bring them up first and then I'll go through the the
PowerPoint. Uh, hello uh Josh Simon and then I have my partner uh Charlie Modica and Charlie Jr. um correct way. Um we've been working on this project for a really long time as you know. Um they're both uh longtime
Martin County residents and business owners. Uh we spent a lot of time designing I'm going to let George get into all the details, but we spent a lot of time designing the project to do something that's really really nice in Martin County. It was really important
to uh to both of them to provide something that was nice. We focused on providing, you know, pedestrian amenities and access to the waterfront for, you know, the Rio community and the Martin County community in general. Um, we created, you know, an area that's,
you know, has the river, but you don't really know the river's there unless you're looking on your GPS. We provide some we provide some nice views of the river from Dixie. Uh George will get into it, but three really nice openings to the river. Um extending all the way
over to the north side so that people see it and feel it and you know smell the fresh air. Uh pedestrian amenities, walkways, riverfront parks for the entire community to enjoy. And we really did spend a lot of attention to detail and will be spending a lot of money on
architectural and landscaping doing like a really really special community. Um, if we get approved, we do have construction documents complete. Um, they've already been submitted for permitting um, a while back just so we can get our design consultants to make
modifications to them um, as we went through the process. So, you know, if we do get approved, we should be in a position to start uh, during the first quarter of 2026. As you know, some as was stated when we started, it's been an ongoing process for a long time for us.
Um, and we have we we did hire a general contractor for it that's also a Martin County general contractor. They just need to freshen up some pricing for us and then we'll be ready to start real soon. Um, I wanted to let uh both of them talk for a moment.
>> Okay. I'm Charlie Senior in case you couldn't tell the difference. >> Yeah, they look like brothers. >> And uh I I I wanted to start really quickly with just introducing Charlie Junior. Sometimes we get involved with all the technical aspects and things that I don't even all understand fully
because we have professionals doing it. But uh uh I just wanted to let Charlie Jr. say a few things because we are residents here. We've been lifelong residents. Uh he has uh I came in a little late from New York like half the population here but um I wanted him to
just say a few things about his connection with Martin County. >> Yeah. So I'm a lifelong resident of Martin County. Um, I uh went to Martin County High School, >> brought Martin County High School to the National Sailing Championships. That was the first time that a public high school
went to those championships. Um, also a business owner here in Martin County, uh, Ocean Master Boats out off of 95 and Caner Highway. And, uh, yeah, >> about it. That's all I got. >> Thanks. I I, uh, I appreciate the
opportunity. And I I want to say that uh uh Martin County is special to us. I live a little on the island down south, but part of Martin County. Uh we have had um good experiences with the county. I've had other developments, smaller ones here. Uh this one is uh a long time
in coming as you know. Uh but sometimes uh good things come to those who wait. I guess that's an older expression. Uh the thing I'm most proud of with this particular project is I met met a lot of nice people that live uh near the
project. Um I kind of waved at a few coming in. >> I came to support you. >> They they all have uh uh residences near and around the project. Instead of a gated or potential gated community with
just condominiums, we've opened it up. Uh that's why I think they're happy with and they should be because th this project is going to allow people who live in the area to have their property values go up. God bless them. Nothing wrong with that. Provide a rental
community. Uh that is needed. We believe here in Martin County. Hopefully it'll make money. I think it will. uh but th this is the time and the place to do it and a county commission that I believe has worked with us through the staff in developing something good for the county
and the people. So, we're especially proud of that. Uh and I mean it from my heart. It's kind of like uh one one of my last projects I think down here. >> Oh, you got a couple more. But >> yeah, thanks.
>> Thank you. All right, I'll do my best to avoid >> say how do you follow that sit down? >> Well, I'll go through uh I'll try to avoid the topics that Brian already covered because he did such a great job. So, a lot of the general information, our project team has been consistent
from the start, but great team of professionals with a lot of experience. So, I think we've come up with a wonderful uh final product for the community. As Brian said, uh the overall there's two master plans for the uh Rio Marine Village, the preserve and then
the Ryomarine Village. We're going to first item we're just talking about the first phase one site plan. Um I'll skip over the the zoning and and land use. Um we are consistent with all the requirements of uh the land
development code but for the the minor alternative compliance items which we've accounted for uh again the two approved master plans. So here's our overall site plan between the two master plans and final site plans. So you can see the relationship. Something that we've we're really proud
of and what we first started designing this community was opening up those vistas to the water. It wasn't just enough to have access. We wanted you to invite you in, be able to see it from Dixie, uh, as you really can't see the water from Dixie. So, we have these view
corridors that actually go all the way into the preserve site plan. So, uh, from those apartment buildings within the preserve, you see all the way across Dixie down to the water. And, you know, the distance is something you might think about, but there's an elevation change from Dixie down to the
waterfront. It ranges from about 5 to 8 ft from Dixie down to the elevational water. So there is a nice elevation view. >> It's like a ski slope. Yeah. It's a lot >> for Florida. >> Florida. Yeah. >> For Florida. >> Um but on each of these entry roads really maintaining that vista down to the waterfront was an important design
feature. Uh as part of I'll just go over that again. As part of that design, we are including two roundabouts. There is an existing roundabout at the intersection of Dixie and Martin Avenue which is going to be removed. And then the two
new roundabouts, that was something that was approved as part of the master plans. Uh we have additional design documents ready to go for the construction. In terms of phasing, that would be the first work that's done to make sure that the the rightways are finished uh for the community and then
development would begin interior. Uh as part of those roundabouts, there are uh entry feature monuments as part of uh little pedestrian plazas at the apexes of those uh roundabouts at each corner. Uh really nice public space.
There's benches, bike racks, trash cans uh at the entrance to make it a nice open space, not crowding the street. Additional landscape. Uh really well designed. Uh in terms of our street orientation, as we talked about, this is an infill development. So working with
the existing pattern of the street network for access both for sidewalks and vehicles is really important to make a cohesive project. Uh again not a gated community so uh all the all the accesses are are public. Uh the pedestrian
network again um providing wider sidewalks again a 10- foot pvious path along the riverfront with over 2,000 linear feet and connecting into that existing network of sidewalks to maintain connectivity with the community.
We talked about that uh riverfront uh total density 192 proposed units maximum density of 198 uh is permitted. All right. So specifically the phase one site plan is about uh 10 acres. Uh we
have a majority of our residential units within phase one uh as well as our marina clubhouse. But we've incorporated these public amenity spaces along the riverfront. We we could have very easily uh monopolized the riverfront views with
additional residential and moved the amenity spaces further from the water. We wanted to maintain that public access feel and really provide that additional open space. Uh you know lawn areas with trees for shade and hammocks. uh really nice gathering spaces out along the
water to really focus on amenitizing that space. As part of phase one, there is that existing boat basin. Those seaw walls, again, as we said, have been uh recently redone. There are uh 30 boat slips. These are wet boat slips associated with phase one, and those are
within that boat basin, as well as that uh pier that extends from the marina club. Uh Brian already went over the architecture. These buildings have been extremely thoughtfully designed with a lot of architectural detail and style.
Uh variation in materials and colors to pro provide visual interest even variation in roof materials. Um so um again very high quality in terms of construction and then additional cost as well. Um this is a closeup of that boat
basin. And then from a landscape perspective, we talked about a couple of those alternative compliance items, but we've really done uh I think an excellent job in designing this landscape to fit within uh the community, primarily native species as we're required to do,
but even above and beyond that, um the buffer on that eastern side is one of our alternative compliance items. and there's power lines in that location. So, we've had to use species that don't impact those power lines. Again, that's uh FPL right place guidelines. We've in
increased the number of trees in that location to to maintain that buffer. We've upsized a lot of the material. I think um about 75% of the proposed canopy trees are at double or triple the minimum size requirements within the
county. So, much larger material going in on day one. And here we have just some nice rendering showing some of that landscaping. Um, this water tower feature we've talked about before in the past. There was an existing water tower on the
property that we were hoping that we'd be able to relocate. Uh, and it was just in too bad of a condition to to be able to do that. So, we constructed a brand new one that we're going to put out uh at that peninsula in one of those public open spaces.
provide a really nice feature there. So, that'll conclude our presentation for phase one. There's a lot of detail, a lot of uh information, but we can certainly uh answer any questions. >> Commissioner Heatherington,
>> George, go back to that last slide. The um the the docks on there, are they deed or are those public docs? >> So, these would be for rent. So they're they're not going to be uh specific to the community. They'll be available. Uh
all the the boat dockage and the dry dock slips as well would be available for rent. So there won't be restricted access for the community. They'll be open to the public. There are going to be some day dockage on that pier that extends from the clubhouse. >> Nice. And on phase one buildings L and
K, those are also rentals or are those fee simple? >> Those are also rentals. Yeah. the building uh K is the town home building, four-unit town home building, and L is another apartment building. Those are rentals. Yep. >> Okay. Thank you. Any further questions?
I have uh several requests to speak forms. The first Oops, sorry, Commissioner Vargas. >> Okay. Um maybe a little premature uh but uh I I understood that you had concern because we have three requests.
My understanding from what was said is that we are just approving on DPQJ 4. Um just talking not the whole final site plan but actually just one component. Is
that correct? >> So yeah. So this first item is the phase 1 east major final site plan >> DPQJ two >> right uh and so as part of that there's included a bunch of easements and
dedications that are associated with the entire development and that's really a result see that uh as you know that this development there's a large quantity of properties that were assembled into one piece so there's a lot of cleanup in terms of that respect so there's a fair
number of items included with this first vote, but it's this is phase one east site plan, final site plan. >> This is what you're requesting now. >> Yes, ma'am. >> However, I have listed DPQJ3
and 4. So, you're requesting for the total development. We will have uh motions after this request after this vote for the following the additional site plan. So phase two site plan as well as preserve site plan. I think staff's
recommendation also includes the easements and dedications that are necessary for the entire development. >> So So you're requesting the total development today? >> Yes. Yeah. >> I mean that's really the answer. Yes. >> It's part of following motions. Right. Right now with this vote, it's for the
final site plan one phase one east, but immediately after we're requesting approval for the others. So the whole thing, we're here today for all of it. Sorry. >> Excuse me, Chair, Madame Chair, Elise Elder, County Attorney. Just to be clear, we have three public hearings.
This is the first public hearing, so you'll have two more for the other two um site plans. This is just for the east one. It includes all the easements. So the wording in here might be seem confusing, but it just says that these um dedications are required for all
three all three site plans, but this particular hearing is only for the first site plan, just to clarify. >> And when will the other hearings? >> They're going to be following. We'll have um three and four right after this one. >> That's what I'm I'm reading. That's what I understood.
>> Correct. Julie Priest is is the first request to speak form I have followed by Douglas Ashley. >> Good morning honorable members of the board and administrators. I am Julie Priest, a 47-year resident in District 1
and a 30-year resident of Rio. The Community Redevelopment Agency was created in 1997, and the first meeting of the Rio Neighborhood Advisory Committee was held in 1999. I was elected chairperson and saved and served on the NAC for eight years and have
attended most of the meetings for 26 years. Our master plan was adopted in April of 2001 and contained the Rio Town Center concept that is reflected in the Rio Marine Village site plan. Through these years, in addition to connecting sidewalks, fixing drainage, building
Rio's western gateway, and installing municipal water and sewer, significant community improvements include the Patmark Rio Jensent Skate Park of 2003, the Vince Bino Community Center of 2004, the 2007 restoration of the Steuart
Welcome Arch to its original design that was constructed in 1926 to celebrate the creation of Martin County, the Warner Creek Water Quality Retrofit Project at Beacon 21, In 2011, the Rio Town Center Road project completed in 2012, followed
by the Western Dixie Highway Road improvement and sidewalk connection project. the 2012 purchase and clearing of the 2.5 acre deteriorated Rio Village mobile home park by Martin County. the 2015 request for master site plan
approval for Steuart Harbor by the AR investor group that foreclosed on the first developer group that had assembled the Ryottown Center parcels, removed multiple existing neglected commercial and residential structures, followed by our neighborhood's strong rejection of
their two 1acre boat barns proposal. Between 2011 and 2014, Ed and I purchased and cleared the deteriorated Rainbow Cottages west of Mrs. Peter Smokehouse and what we called the meth lab apartments because a meth fire had resulted. We constructed the Rio Porches
cottages and the purchaser of the adjacent land built six homes on Orange Avenue. Numerous deteriorated residential structures, mobile homes, Jack Baker's Lobster Shanny and the butterfly roof art have been removed and about 25 new homes and one office
building have been built throughout Rio since our CRA was created. There are seven vacant commercial sites on Dixie Highway that include the 55,000 square foot former SPS site. Rio Marine Village and the preserve will revive Rio's
economy and provide public waterfront access visible from Dixie Highway. My husband Ed and I thank Mr. Modica and Mr. Simon for designing projects that are in character with our neighborhood. Most importantly, we thank Martin County
staff for their years of diligent review for compliance and urge you to approve these long awaited Ryottown Center projects as presented. Thank you. I made it. >> You had 15 seconds.
>> Douglas Ashley is next, followed by Joe Lynn Jensen. >> Thank you everybody. This is a hard one to follow. I haven't been in front of the board in a while and I apologize. I've been having different situations happen, but
some of you know me. Thank you for all the support you've given me in the past. The new people, I don't want to lecture. That's not my point. Just to give you a brief background. I've been coming down to Martin County. My parents have been involved with this area since the uh
late 1960s. I was little. I can say it in public. I guess I look a little older, but it's been a long time. I remember the beaches. Why, dad, do we have public beaches? Nobody's here in the 70s. Because they will come. Well, we're here
now. And my other background, I used to be involved with international hotel corporations and also probably the largest apartment group builder in the United States. So, I'm on both sides of the table. I'm not coming in front of you today to say not my neighborhood.
I've lived in Rio at the Rio uh excuse me the river club for the last 20 years and I've also been participating in the Rio NAC. I was on their uh group for about 10 years. I've been coming to a lot of these public meetings. The
historian RI uh Julie explained all the different projects I was involved up until about this last one. The last one I got in in involved with health issues so I couldn't participate as much as I wanted to. When I came back I was a little disturbed when I found out is
this project going to have traffic counts and they said no it doesn't. I go why is that? They said well it's a CRA. It's a plighted area. I kept it simple. But what I'm bring talking about today, I'm not I'm all for this. But what I
want to bring up is currently there are a current project right now concerning the traffic on Dixie Highway from the railroad tracks to the arch and it hasn't been resolved. It's been ongoing for several years. this introduction of
this uh project and it looks eloquent and I can see there's been a lot of involvement from professionals also the reputation of the man who's doing it but when you have a project and I used to be in involved with apartments I got
involved with 10,000 units in the state of Florida uh uh for several years with this large company I see that you have on phase one you're talking about 178 uh apartments, four town homes, and eight
live-ins. Well, that's 190 units. I haven't gotten involved with this project, but if I remember the old ratios, one and a half parking spots. Well, let's talk about people. Let's let's say one and a half persons. There's no such thing. So, I'm going to round it up to two. So, you're going to
have 380 people. Keep in mind the traffic, please. Whatever proceeds in the future. And then one quick comment, the roundabouts. I like roundabouts, but this time I was involved with the streetscape the first time around. Please have public art in those
roundabouts. Please whether it comes from >> Mr. Ashley, your time is up. >> Appreciate it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Jolyn Jensen is next and Miss Jensen is the last request to speak form. I have >> when she's done.
Morning. >> Good morning, commissioners and staff. My name is Jolin Jensen. >> The mic down a little bit. There you go. >> Is that better? >> Perfect. >> And I am speaking as the president of the Rio Civic Club with all of our board
members behind me and other volunteers. The Rio Civic Club, as you may recall, is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. We were created in 1950 with our first project to pave Dixie Highway that
has been completed and we have gone on to do many other projects since then as Julie Priest our historian enumerated and every year hundreds of volunteers work to keep Rio clean. We have a Rio
Nature Park cleanup this um this Saturday at 8:30 a.m. if anybody wants to join us. Uh we provide college scholarships to Rio students. We partner with crime prevention, support business development, and many other projects
that come to our attention. We are thrilled to be able to partner with the Rio NAC providing benches and bike racks throughout the community. We are also partnering with the county and
consultants to design the new Rio Civic Center which is about 75 years old, almost as old as we are. And so it's time to have it um renovated or redeveloped.
Um we have also been very involved with this wonderful group of developers who have come forward before you all for approval of the Rio Marine Village and the preserve at Rio Marine Village. We
have been working with them for years and developers before that. But these developers are very respectful of Rio's history and the requests of Rio's citizens and residents to offer things
like pedestrian walkways and a view to the river and public access to the water. Um, it is not a new development, if you will. This is a redevelopment. The hurricanes came in 20 years ago and
destroyed the waterfront restaurant, Jack's uh lobster shanty as many of you remember. Um destroyed the motel that was there, the marina that was there. We are just now getting to redevelop that
area into the vision that all of us have seen for 20 years. So, uh, we strongly recommend that these commissioners will approve all three of these developments
that are before you today. We are thrilled with everything that has been designed and has been changed at our request. These developers have really listened to us and been respectful.
Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Hannah Martell is next and Miss Martell is the last request to speak form. I have >> Hannah Martell. I'm a 35-y year resident of Rio. I was on the first NAC. I've
been there almost the whole time. I took a short break, but since 1999 with Julie and I'm on now. I just wanted to let you know I do want to have a comment about traffic count. We did redo uh Dixie Highway, put the medians in. We also
right now are doing that with Susan Kors is doing with Dover Soul and Merlin. I think that's correct. And they are doing traffic counts. They've been running those for a while. We have that in front of the Rio NAC where we're looking at uh
redoing the road to handle the traffic count. So, I just wanted to make sure you're aware of that on that on the other person's comment. Thank you. Would [Music] anyone else like to address us? Commissioner Campy.
>> Well, it's been a long day coming for some of us that have been up here for a bit. Um, first off, I'd like to thank the applicant. Um, when I first heard about this project, um, it came up several years ago and we heard about the people
that were bringing it forward. They did not need to have be introduced to majority of Martin County residents. As Mr. Morai had said, he is a resident. His son is a lifelong resident and a and a separate business owner. And Mr. Simon
um I had first heard about the projects that they worked on. Uh most people would maybe not be familiar that Love Street down in Jupiter is one of their projects and I think it's a remarkably great project. Um, what's nice about this is, and you heard it, you know,
normally when you see a big group of people show up wearing matching shirts, it's not to support a project. Uh, traditionally, it would be to to oppose a project. And I think very similar to similarly to what Knight Kiplinger did
when he brought his project forward to Palm City, he spent a lot of time listening listening to the folks whether it was for or against they liked the project or didn't. uh when you listen and you incorporate
your existing neighbors, not only do you come up with a much better product uh for everyone, you then get the support of the neighbors, which from our perspective is vitally important. Uh and you've done that. You've also created a
open space because quite often especially in in areas where it's waterfront the instinct would be to gate it off to close it off and not allow the existing residents uh not just the the
neighbors but citizens in Martin County to have another opportunity to access the waterfront. You know, even in Palm City, we are so fortunate to have so much waterfront like they do in Rio, but so few people have the ability uh or the pleasure of accessing it.
In terms of the CRA, our CRA department has done a remarkable job of enhancing and doing exactly what their job is in Hob Sound on Bridge Road, in Palm City on Map Road, downtown Jensen, in Golden
Gate, uh out in Indian Town. And I think that Rio, you know, they had a secret weapon, not so secret, but they had a special weapon, which was the Rio Civic Club in particular, Julie and Ed Priest, who have come many, many times to
support. Some of the things that she just rambled off very quickly. Those are years long battles and projects. Uh, some of them I had the opportunity to participate in. And so I would say that I think it's Rio's turn to have a
project like this. Um the open spaces is really remarkable because as Mr. Messemer had said, there's more money in building and putting things uh amenities closer to the water versus leaving them
open uh and allowing everyone the opportunity to come and see it. I wrote down the first thing I wrote down when I was thinking about the project as the original speaker spoke during public comment was to say and I and I don't know if I would agree that
it's a derelict area but I have some friends that live back in there and some of the areas do require you know look it's an older neighborhood it's hard to keep it up uh and I think neighborhoods have a tendency everywhere have a tendency to fade if your neighbor's not
keeping their project you If you if if the neighborhood is is slipping down, which nature will just make that happen, if if you then have something like this come in, it's a real shot in the arm. And I wrote down um a rising tide lifts
all boats. So, which I tried to, you know, the marine thing. I'm trying to do it for you. Um I but I believe the fact that when this project uh when and now hopefully with my colleagues when not if I think that will help the entire area,
the entire community well beyond the footprint of your project. Um the last thing I wanted to say is the fact that this project we got a chance just to see a couple of the visuals. Uh,
I've had the opportunity to be up in Northwest Florida to Seaside and Alice Beach and Rosemary Beach. I'm getting that exact same vibe off of the Rio Marine Village. Uh, it's going to have that level of, you know, really thoughtful architecture, really
thoughtful public amenities in a beautiful location. So, the only thing I think the project is missing is probably an NFL legend. You know, I and I don't know if uh if that can be worked out. You know, I'm also um from New York, although I moved
here uh a long time ago, smart enough to get out of New York, but what I'm talking about is uh Love Street. Uh one of the partners with the Modai family is Joe Nameoth. So, I mean, we maybe an NFL legend, somebody could somebody um would
be nice. Uh and that being said, for this first of three, it's my pleasure to make the motion to accept staff's recommendation. Commissioner Heatherington, >> I'll be brief because you you pretty much just said it all, but I want my light first a couple uh a couple things
that I wrote down is the the public amenities and the public open space on the waterfront. Um it's such a value to our community. I have the, you know, privilege of being able to walk every morning my dog along Stewart's waterfront and appreciate that. And I
think Rio will have that same opportunity if you live in the neighborhood. And I want to thank um Mr. Modai, Mr. Simon, and your entire team for working so well over and it's been many, many years that you've been working on this, but working so well
with the community to have a neighborhood that the entire community can be proud of. So, I think that the open space, the access to water, and a a neighborhood that the entire community can be proud of is going to be an asset to the community for years to come. So, thank you.
>> I'll second it. Yeah, I um am looking at the development standards for the blended densities and it says the applicant is permitted to utilize adjacent right of way to calculate the permitted residential
density to determine the overall density permitted within the Rio Marine Village 43 acres of adjacent rideway were utilized in calculating the permitted residential density. Is this being litigated in Martin County right now?
>> We do have a lawsuit on that issue, but it's not the validity of the um provision in our code. So, it's a different set of circumstances. >> Not right away for calculating density. >> There is a lawsuit about rightway of calculating density, but it's specific
to a site. So, it does it's not applicable. The issue isn't applicable to all the rightway in all the CRAAS. it's applicable to one site and how it was being calculated on the one site. So it it doesn't have any bearing on this proceeding.
>> So just to further uh it talk about that the the core land use has 15 units per acre already allocated to it. That's why we didn't allow any additional right of way in that area to be calculated. So the area that's being used is only in
the waterfront subdist where it's only 10 units per acre. So we can't ex we can't exceed the existing 15 units per acre on any land in in the county. So this this is why it was done the way it was. There was additional rightway
available that we did not count in the core. Commissioner Caps, >> later we're going to have a discussion about the residential capacity analysis in Martin County. you know, in our our comp plan requires
us to look at the available land and housing units that um are are available uh for the growth rates that will will be
coming in the coming years. And we have to look at like a 10-year window and a 20-year window. And I was wondering if anyone here could tell us a little bit about how a project like this which is a an infill project a redevelopment project how it bears on the residential
capacity analysis. >> Sure. It uh as a master plan already approved it. It was incorporated in those densities and available units were calculated into the residential capacity analysis. M so um
con well these are more like um I don't know if you would call them town houses or condo units or apartment units but um are those treated any differently in the calculations than like single family
houses or >> I don't believe so it goes by the land uses and density >> the overall density on the Rio Marine East area is 11.7 units per acre So with the blended density, it's actually below what was available. Um, so I I don't
think the capacity analysis takes into account the type of residential units. It's just the densities that are available either that are been site planned or with the land use. And I don't I haven't been a commissioner long enough to know a a lot
about the history of this project. Okay. Served on the uh CRA board for a couple of years and I remember it coming up a good bit then. Um but I know this has had a much longer history than that. But I would just note uh that it's
heartening to see the community support of from people really close to the the project. Uh I think that's very noteworthy. So thank you all for coming out. Any further comments? There's a motion
and a second to approve. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. We will now take a 10-minute break to give our close captioning person a break.
>> Okay. trying to keep caught up a bit. We've got an 11 o'clock preset that we're late for. So, let's continue with DPQJ3, which is Quasi Judicial, a Rio. Let's see. Is this the right? Yes. Rio South
Dixie LLC requests final site plan approval for phase 2 west of the Rio Marine Village project. This is uh uh quasi judicial public hearing. Commissioner Vargas, any exparte disclosures? >> If I have any, they have been filed.
>> Commissioner Caps, >> if I have any, they have been filed. >> I have some and they've been filed. Commissioner Campy, >> I also have some and they have been filed. >> Commissioner Heatherington, >> I have them and they've been filed. >> Mr. Elam, would you present your materials to the clerk?
>> Copy my work history and the agenda item has been turned in as exhibit one. Anyone who's going to be providing sworn testimony, please stand, raise your right hand, and be sworn in. >> Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
truth. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Commissioners, good morning. Uh again, for the record, I'm Brian Elm, principal planner with the growth management department. This is a request by Cutotler and hearing on behalf of Rio South Dixie LLC for approval of the Rio Marine Village phase
2 west major final site plan. The phase 2 west final site plan contains one retail building, two restaurant buildings, and one mixeduse building, dock slips, outside boat storage, and public access to the waterfront and beach, including the associated infrastructure. Included is a request
for a certificate of public facilities reservation. This is an area of the Rio project area line between northeast Dixie Highway to the north and the St. Lucy River to the south and approximately 1.3 miles east of the Roosevelt Bridge and west of nory
northeast Martin Avenue. The phase 2 west final site plan is the second site plan related to the Ryomarine Village revised master site plan approved on February 1st, 2022. The total site area of phase 2 after rideaway dedications is approximately
6.029 029 acres with 1.09 acres in the core subdist and 4.93 acres in the waterfront subdist. Phase 2 west property consists of commercial waterfront and CRA center future land uses. The Ry redevelopment
zoning district is the zoning district for the property and the two subdists that correspond with the respective land uses are waterfront subdist and core subdist. Both subd districts require 20% minimum open space and 40 foot maximum building height.
Development within the phase 2 west final site plan area consists of the two of two existing single family homes that are to remain in a mix of commercial uses including restaurants, mixed use and marine service. So this is an excerpt of the of sheet
one of the final site plan. Fronting northeast Dixie Highway is an approximate 9,681 ft marine services building. There's a public access path
from the traffic circle which runs down along on the east side of the west boat basin all the way down to the waterfront where there is public access to the beach here through stairs and then it continues on up to the east uh
final sight plan area and all the way around the uh east boat basin. Uh this area here has a the re a living shoreline element and then as you noticed further uh on the east uh final
site plan they kept intact the existing mangroves. The two existing uh single family homes are located here. And then along here, I believe there are um
there are boat docks and then I'm sorry it cut off the site plan here, but uh there is outdoor boat storage here and then also I believe uh what's called a day dock where which will allow people on boats to pull in there uh more up to
that and then walk around and use the internal uh walkways to visit the restaurants and the different amenities there. Fronting the St. Lucy River is an approximate 12,411 ft mixeduse building that also fronts
Northeast St. Lucy Terrace and includes 3,200 square ft of covered patio up here. Two restaurant buildings front the St. Lucy River. The first restaurant is here is approximately 10,433 ft and includes 5,000 ft interior
seating area and 2520 ft covered patio seating area. The second restaurant is approximately 2,520 ft square ft open air accessory structure. Here's an elevation of the marine
services building which is uh fronting Dixie. Um, this is the a an elevation that you would see from Northeast Preserve Drive and an elevation of the larger restaurant as it faces Northeast St. Lucy Terrace.
This is an elevation of the mixeduse building fronting the St. Lucy River and northeast St. Louis Lucy Terrace. Uh, I'm going to skip over this one. I think the applicant will have the latest renderings for the smaller restaurant building
um in his presentation. Development review staff have found the Rio South Dixie LLC application to comply with all applicable regulations and the comprehensive growth management plan is detailed in the staff report. Review of this application is not
required by the local planning agency and staff recommends approval of the Rio Marine Village phase 2 west final site plan including No, that's it. >> Questions for staff? >> Wait,
sorry. We move that the board receive and file the agenda item and its attachments, including the staff report as exhibit one, and move that the board adopt the resolution approving the Ryom Marine Village Phase 2 West final site plan. That concludes the presentation. >> Any questions for Mr. Elam? Applicant,
would you like to give us a presentation? >> Absolutely. And I will try to keep it brief since we've already gone over a majority of the details, but just a few nice images that I wanted to go over. Um, Brian did
a great job with his presentation. This is a majority of the commercial aspect of the Ryom Marine Village site plan. So, we have our uh mixeduse building, building P, our restaurant, building N, and building O was kind of a a thatched
roof open air concept. Uh, and then building A is our our marine industrial type building. Um, so again, majority commercial aspect of the overall development. There are the two existing single family residential houses which will be refurbished and operated as as
rental properties as well as a majority of our boat slips both wet and dry boat storage. So, uh Brian went over the architecture. Um and then uh again from a landscape perspective,
very consistent pallet with phase one. It all blends together primarily native species. again increases in uh tree size uh and again inclusion of these public uh open spaces. A majority of our public boardwalk is in phase 2. So you can see
it running along the frontage of the restaurants in the river there which is where our living shoreline is um located highlighted on the screen. And here I've got a cross-section of what that looks like. So, you have the the boardwalk uh at the start of the 25- foot shoreline
followed by the native grasses, rip wrap, mangroves, and then we've got some uh oyster bags proposed on the front edge of that to provide a little bit more stabilization. And here's a close-up rendering what we envision that to look like.
So from the water again, um we are proposing this to be a Lucky Shark restaurant. So we can we can announce that. So consistent with the Love Street development down in Jupiter, uh as well as an event >> in Palm City as well, please. >> Yeah, we'll start working on that one next. Um and here you can see on the
left side of the rendering the uh open air thatched roof uh concept for that restaurant. Just a couple more graphics. Uh what that public open space and that boardwalk looks like as you would ramp down towards the water uh providing access to that uh section of of beach
that's there. And then a little further to the east that building on the far right is that marina club which is part of the phase one site plan area. And this would be the the long pier that comes out which would have the day dockage as well.
So be happy to answer any questions on that. But that will conclude our presentation for now on on phase two. >> Questions for Mr. Msamemer. Would anyone from the public like to address us? Seeing none, back to the board. Commissioner Campy.
>> I'm looking for a trifecta. Um I have a lot of comments. No, I'm only kidding. I think this is uh obviously the only thing I would say is the f these renderings done by computer look like photographs which is remarkable. Um looking forward to it. I make a motion
to accept staff's recommendation of approval. >> Second. >> I missed a a uh request to speak form from Richard Kennedy. >> Mr. Kennedy, would you like to address us? >> I will briefly. Thanks.
>> Sorry. >> It's okay. I'm Rich Kennedy. I live on Dixie Highway in Rio at 1010 just west of uh the property we're discussing right now. I've sat on the NAC for a number of years and just left the CRA in January.
Full disclosure, um I've been supporting this project all along. I think it's great. It impacts me positively and negatively, but it influences the neighborhood very positively. and you've seen the support and I'm behind it. >> Thank you, neighbor.
>> I like that. >> Commissioner Caps, >> you know, I remember in the past there were a lot of discussions about working waterfront in Martin County and how it's sort of evaporating. It's it's like a uh it's
kind of like the shrub habitat where uh you know there's a lot of shrinkage and and working waterfront and in South Florida it kind of turns into condos and things. Would would this be considered working waterfront in light of the boat
slips and the outside boat storage? And is there a way of construing this as working waterfront? Yeah, >> that's certainly the intent and part of the requirements was and as much as possible to preserve that commercial water frontage that we have. It's part
of the zoning designation for the property. >> So the same thing with that marine industrial building again trying to bring in that marine centric use from a commercial perspective to preserve that along our shoreline. >> Right. I know like the marine industries association that's one of their big
things. Right. uh preserve the working waterfront properties in Martin County. Thank you. >> Is there a motion in a second? >> I have a motion. I don't know if there was a second. >> Any further questions, comments? >> No.
>> There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. We will move on to department quasi judicial number four. Rio South Dixie LLC request final site
plan approval for the preserve at Rio Marine Village project. This is quasi judicial. Any exparte disclosures? Commissioner Vargas, >> I have any. They've been filed. >> Commissioner Caps, >> if I have any, they have been in filed. >> I do have them and they've been filed. Commissioner Campy,
>> I have some and they've been filed. and Commissioner Heatherington. >> I have them and they've been filed. >> Mr. Elam, have you filed all of your materials with the clerk? >> Turning in a copy of my work history and the agenda item. >> Anyone who's going to be pro providing
sworn testimony, please stand, raise your right hand, and be sworn. >> Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? >> Please proceed with your presentation, Mr. Mr. Elam. >> Thank you, Madam Chair and
commissioners. Again, for the record, Brian Elm, principal planner with the growth management department. This is a request by Cutotler and hearing on behalf of Rio South Dixie LLC for approval of a major final site plan to develop 145 residential units consisting
of multif family town home and live work units and the associated infrastructure on approximately 14.34 acre acres of undeveloped land located in the Rio community redevelopment agency area. Included with this
application is a request for a certificate of public facilities reservation. This is an aerial image of the project site located uh between the Florida East Coast Railroad right ofway to the north and the northeast Dixie Highway right
ofway to the south and west of Northeast Martin Avenue. This is an overview of the preserve at Ryomarine Village final site plan area in red in relation to the Rya development south of Dixie Highway.
The preserve at Ryomearine Village area has the CRA center future land use. The Rio redevelopment zoning district is the zoning district for the property and there are two subdists that correspond with the respective land use which are core subdist and general subdist.
The core subdist is assigned to the CRA center future land use which is intended to be pedestrianoriented center for surrounding neighborhoods with a broad mix of uses. The general subdist is also assigned to the CRA center future land use which offers a wide variety of housing,
civic spaces and pedestrianoriented businesses. The general subdist allows a mix of uses but is more residential in scale and character. The core and general subdists allow 15 residential units per acre. Both subdists require a
20% minimum open space. The core subdist allows a maximum of three stories and 40 ft and the general subdist offers three stories and 35 ft. Development within the preserve at Ryome Marine Village funnel site plan area
consists of 145 residential units approximately on approximately 14.34 acres of undeveloped land resulting in an approximate density of 10 units per acre. The 145 residential units are made up of 96 multif family apartments in
four buildings, 44 town homes in six buildings and five lift work units. The project includes a preserve area management plan that protects and maintains 3.16 acres of upland preserve and native landscaping is proposed throughout the project site.
This is an excerpt of the final site plan sheet one. You can see some of the amenities on the northwest area of the development next to the preserve area be here. The live work buildings are fronting uh
Dixie Highway or is fronting Dixie Highway and two town home buildings are fronting Northeast Preserve Drive. Northeast Charlotte Street and Northeast Olive Street rights ofway provide cross
access through the development and alleys in the rear of the town homes. Here are some elevations of the apartment and town home buildings. All bu all buildings in this development are less than 35 ft, which is the
maximum building height in the general subdist. And here is a front and rear elevations of the live work building that is fronting Dixie Highway. Development review staff have found the Rio South Dixie LLC application to
comply with all applicable regulations in the comprehensive growth management plan is detailed in our staff report. A review of this application by the local planning agency is not required and staff recommends approval of the preserve at Ryome Marine Village final
site plan. We move that the board receive and file the agenda item and its attachments including the staff report as exhibit one and move that the board adopt a resolution approving the final site plan for the preserve at Rio Marine Village project. And that concludes the presentation.
>> Questions for Mr. Elam. Mr. Elam there in in the preserve at Rio there are a total of 145 units. >> Yes. And there are 88 garage parking
spaces. >> I don't believe that's >> that's what it says on page >> 101. The town home are twocar garages, >> right? >> So there's 44 town homes and they're all twocar garages.
>> Okay. So the 44 town homes have twocar garages. >> Okay. So tell me, I'm looking at page 1011 and it says there are total of 145 units and there are a total of 88 garage
parking spaces. Where am I wrong? >> Right, that's the town home parking, but the total parking is uh 283, I believe, for all the apartments and the town homes combined.
Is that in just the preserve? >> Correct. >> Are the the parking standards in the CRA different than they are in outside the CRAAS? >> Yes, they are. >> There are fewer parking spaces required.
>> Yeah. Required. Yes. So, how many spaces are provided in the preserve? >> There's 283 provided and only 159 required >> and only 88 of those are garage. So, the rest of it is on street.
>> No, there's parking lots behind the uh apartment buildings. >> Well, those parking lots also serve the commercial property that's on the waterfront, right? No, those are separately parked on the uh west site plan. There's a large parking area
around the boat basin on the west. >> All right, >> Mr. Msamemer, would you like to make a presentation? >> Absolutely. Uh and just to follow up on your question, each of these site plans is standalone. So we meet the requirements
associated which with the development in each site plan within that area. So as you can see in this uh colored site plan, we do have the surface parking on the western side of the site for the apartments as well as on street spaces and some of the internal streets.
And then each town home building has a twocar garage and a driveway, so they park themselves. And then we have additional parking adjacent to the live work building. Um, so we've really tried to distribute that parking. Uh, we think we've done a really good job with that.
Uh, another facet of the site design, as we talked about before, is its relationship to Rio Marine and its views all the way to the water. But you'll notice, um, there's no backtoback lot configuration. All of these um units would, you know, are amenitized in that
perspective. You know, they front the street. They're adjacent to open spaces. There's a lot of landscaping, you know, wide sidewalks. These town home units are an alley loaded product. So, the front door is opposite the garage, so it provides a really nice streetscape
frontage and walkable uh environment for the development. Um the uh density we talked about were permitted a maximum 219 units. We're proposing 145 in a mix unit types. Again, this is a rental uh community
that's proposed. Um from an access perspective, we are still uh tying into the adjacent street network. So making sure that uh you know, we're consistent with the existing block pattern uh and streetscape. Um, Charlotte Street is that portion of rightway that we
abandoned at the start of the meeting. Um, so you can see that kind of going down the center from Martin Avenue and it extends pretty much even with building J currently, but um, so that that was the portion of rightway that we abandoned. Uh, multiple access points.
Again, we're not gated. Uh, extensive sidewalk network connecting to the existing perimeter sidewalks. um a a lot of pedestrian open space again uh far exceeding the minimum requirements um and also a large upland preserve area
which has a preserve area management plan associated with it. Uh there is a smaller amenity for this development on the northwestern corner as Brian went over. Uh it is envisioned that this would also utilize the amenities of Ral Marine Village. So that's not all this community gets. it's just a more local
spot for them uh for convenience and they'd also be able to go uh to the other amenity area. Uh we talked about the density and then uh from a landscape perspective again consistent landscape pallet and design as Ryomarine Village. So it looks
like a very unified development uh a lot of uh larger trees canopy trees associated with it. Um our linear um retention areas were designed. They are dry retention areas so that in the drier months they could be utilized for
activities by the residents. Uh obviously after a rainstorm it wouldn't be very fun. Um but in those drier months they would be usable. Um and then some of our renderings. This is a view from that western roundabout looking north at that first town home
building. So you can see it fronts along the street. Uh very walkable. There's one of our entry features uh there at the corner. There's that uh dry retention in the middle as you as I noted. You know, all of these units have great views. I mean,
even if you're not looking directly at the water, you're looking out at open landscape area. You're not looking at someone's backyard or someone's front door. Um, so we've really been able to utilize the space effectively and distribute those retention areas throughout the development as well as
those open spaces. So, a little bit further north, uh, along that same access road, uh, here's a view at that first apartment building from, uh, Dixie and another internal shot. So uh the
architecture is consistent with what was designed in Ryan Marine Village. Uh very uh high quality, lots of uh articulation in the design uh with the balconies and additional window treatments and uh materials, colors. It's it's a very beautifully designed project. We're very
proud of it. Um so we be happy to answer any questions. Uh thank you. >> Any questions? >> Do you have any public comment? >> Would anyone from the public like to address us? Seeing none, Commissioner Campy,
>> I'm sensing a theme. Um, I wanted to thank our staff. You know, when we talk almost jokingly about, oh, this has been a long process, that means a lot of professional people on our side um of the county, worked tirelessly and probably know this project intimately
inside and out. And that's their job because they know that when it arrives in this room that there's a lot of um eagle-eyed commissioners that will review every detail, whether it's uh parking space calculations or height or
tree types. Um so they know that that's what needs to be done. And that only works with a professional staff on your side, consultants and and experts and professionals. and then also the public. So, it's basically a triangle of our
staff, the public, and the applicant and his and their staff uh to create a project such as this. And I know that in Martin County, we all know people are leerary of development, don't want projects, don't want change. But having recently
knowing that this was coming driven through a lot of these little side streets um on both sides of Dixie, this will be a beautiful improvement for many people have gorgeous homes. Don't get me wrong. I'm not disparaging the area, but
when we fought and purchased with the priest's help the that that um mobile home park, we literally had to tear them all down. and it was very expensive to tear them all down because it was a horrible blighted area. So, I think this
is a excellent example of when Martin County does embrace projects, we hope to embrace projects like this. It's my final pleasure to make a motion to accept the third of three for staff's
recommendation. >> Second. There's a motion in a second. Any further discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Thank you.
[Applause] >> Nice job, Mr. >> Thank you, Commissioner. >> Have a good day. Waiting to hear >> the neighbors shaking hands with the applicants >> party. It should have been late refreshments.
[Laughter] >> I saw >> remember the last time it happened. I don't think it's >> Newfield. Newfield had a lot of >> There you go. >> They did. They had a lot of >> They had a lot of detractors, too. >> More. This doesn't have any. >> No, there really wasn't.
>> All right. Hi, Julie. Thank you. [Applause] >> Okay, let's take up our 11:00 preset, which is uh department three, which is a request for adoption of the 2025 Martin County residential
capacity analysis. Good morning, Mr. Doulan, Mr. Farmer. Welcome. >> Good morning, members of the board. Uh my name is Clyde Dulan, uh your comprehensive planning administrator, and I'll just provide a few introductory comments before Mr. Farmer gives you all
the the details of the residential capacity analysis. As you know, the residential capacity analysis is required every 5 years. We produced one in 2018, again in 2023. Uh this one is being produced now in 2025 because uh
coming before you later this month will be a proposal to expand the primary urban service district. And the plan policy requires that this residential capacity analysis be updated and adopted by the board before considering an expansion to the primary urban service
district. Uh so with that, I'll turn it over to Mr. Farmer and let him go into the details of the residential capacity analysis. Thank you. Good morning, commissioners. Again, my name is David Farmer with Metro Forecasting. Uh, just to remind you quickly, uh, our firm only works for
governments like yours. When we tell you something or we come to some conclusion, we want you to know that the the the the b the finding behind it is based on what we think is really best and what is true for you. I'm standing on the shoulders of my partner, Dr. Paul Vanusker, who invented uh the models that we use for
our forecasting and analysis purposes. We're both licensed professional engineers and certified planners. Uh, and I'd like to make a quick correction. So, uh, because I like you, I'm not going to share all the details. You can read that in the report. This is I try to keep this more on the
entertaining side and very short uh to respect your time today. So, as Mr. Dolan just said, uh, the county is required to collect um, and monitor development population data uh, for this purpose. And the analysis that we're about to present to you uh considers the
population projections, the future housing demand, uh the future supply, and we'll get into that in probably more detail than you want to hear, and and then demonstrate how how uh how the supply compares to the demand that's been uh estimated.
So first first part about the methodology uh we use population projections and um later on today I believe you're going to hear about the population technical bulletin this study that we worked on draws heavily from that and so uh when you hear the talking
about that later you some of this might make a little bit more sense but we use that population projection and then uh we use that to determine the future demand for housing and then we analyze uh the supply of housing And and again, I need to credit your fine staff. Uh
there was a lot of work because the the main goal of this study was accuracy. We wanted to make sure that we had the goods that we weren't just estimating. We were actually going out and counting units if we had to to make sure that we had an accurate count uh to make sure this study stands up to scrutiny.
Uh there was a major change last year uh in the comp plan that changed the the original horizon was 10 and 15 years and now it's 10 and 20 years. So because we're adding five years on to the second time horizon, the demand is is higher
because it's a longer period of time and we're also moving from last time we presented you was 2023. This is now 2025. So we're moving into a a 2035 and 2045 time frame. So some of the numbers are going to get bigger than what you've seen in the past.
Uh so this slide is basically a uh an explanation of how we look at the housing units and how we we we define each kind of them. So we have all the housing units in the world, right? All the ones in Martin County and then we look at only those that are within the urban services district and then we take those and start classifying those. We
have all the housing units, then we have all the occupied housing units, then we have the seasonally occupied housing units. And what that leaves uh in the background is vacant housing units. And I'm going to be talking more about that in a little bit of detail here in a slide or two. Actually, the slide right here. So here
again we show the formula where we take the the occupied housing units plus the seasonal is HU which is those are the housing units we're using uh to both project and then also uh classify uh when we have uh the permitted housing
units as well. Uh so the numbers on the far lower uh right the 60,232 that's the one to be watching. Um however uh in the report I use this table twice and towards the end I want to bring this up now so I don't have to bore you with showing you the same table twice and it
has to do with vacant housing units and uh and so if we take the difference between the can I move this mouse the difference between the big number um and then the the the occupied gives us the the vacant number of housing units and
we're going to do some math at that in a few minutes because one of the things we can count towards capacity are your excess vacant and this is not your excess, this is your total vacant. So, moving on with some more math. Any questions so far? I don't want to bore you guys. All right. So, this these
slides or these these these images are reproductions from essentially the the technical uh population uh the population technical bulletin. And you'll notice that the headers that's why they're called PTB, the population technical bulletin. So, these come from that. And what we see then is then our
demand u for 2035 from 2020 uh is 12.4.41% and in 2045 it's 16.83%. So we use those percentages against remember that magic 60,232 that we
talked about just a minute ago. We use that to say okay that's what our future demand's going to be for these two horizons. So about 7,500 units and a little more than 10,000 again for the 10year and 20-year time frame. Yes. >> Just a quick question just for clarification. When you look at 158,000
in 2020 and 178 with a 12.41% increase over 15 years, just for the folks that are pay attention, that's a 1% increase per year. >> Less than one. >> Yeah. Right. Right. Less than one. When people say we have explosive growth over
the next 15 years, we're projecting 1% per year. >> Pretty sure that's actually a pretty good point. You said 12.4 is that's a big number, right? But over 15 years, it's it is less than 1%. Uh and 16.8 is less than 1% because it's over a 20-year period, right? Yeah, these are not, you
know, aggressive growths. In fact, these are state numbers, I believe. But, uh, again, that'll come out in the population technical bulletin. So it's not just a matter of how much housing but uh the methodology requires hey well where's where are these things where is the demand and so what we do is
we look backwards five years and we look at your where the housing is showing up and and we then uh calculate those percentages and then on the table on the bottom we then say okay here are the percentages and we have the the 35 and 45 demand. So now we start distributing
where that where that supply needs to be in place to meet the the theoretical demand based on population growth. It's fairly academic at this point. Okay. So now the residential supply, this everything I just showed you now that looked like a lot of work. That's
that's the child's play. This is where the real work begins. And that is trying to to determine what is our supply and as of what date. And while I don't state it in the slides here, the cutoff that we basically came up with was the end of July because we had, you know, every day you're you're creating more housing
units or more housing units are being absorbed. And so we had to draw a bright line and the bright line that we decided was the end of July. And uh so at that point in time, that's where we counted up the vacant lots. Um um all vacant lands were analyzed as well as most
importantly your approved projects because that that bright line was more about okay, I've got a project uh let's say new field. Okay, it was it was assigned or given an entitlement of X number of units and today Y number of units exist except that that
number keeps changing every day. And so we went out and and staff help us count those units and so we're only showing you the supplies only that which is actually left. So we're not using whole the whole entitlement if part of it has already been developed. So basically the undeveloped part of the entitlement is
what we're counting and there's a whole lot of projects you can read in the report and if you need more detail I'm happy to answer at a later time because I'll need my spreadsheets to answer those questions. So here's our our excess vacant units. I said we'd be talking about this again.
So we started with that 3551 number of units and there's a rationale that says 3% is the normal amount of vacant units that should exist in a healthy market. Anything more than that are excess vacant units. And so we
calculate the excess vacant. Well, 3% is the 1877. And so uh we then subtract the 3551 and we get 1,700. So we have this adds to our capacity. We have 1744 vacant units that are in excess and therefore could
be occupied. Uh to give you a quick example, let's just say that that I have a house here in Martin County and I put it for sale and I moved away because I got transferred by my company. So the house is vacant today, but as soon as I sell it, that house will then become occupied again. That would be that could be an example of what the excess vacant
might be. Whoops. And then um getting back to then the allocation, just like we allocated where the demand is, we also allocated then where these excess vacant units are located and and so far these are going to be used in a calculation that's
coming up. All right. So, here's where we took um uh the units on on vacant land. And there are about four or five tables that lead to this top table, especially this this 1890. There's about uh 100
calculations that go into that, maybe more than that. Uh and so we didn't present it here in this. Um, and then we have the 50 the 5,621 available units from your entitlements uh basically approved projects and that does include uh what was approved again
prior to today for Ry Marine Village and and uh so forth. We also then look at your vacant lots. So the vacant lots platted before 82 and and after 1982 uh we we uh we calculated those and I will tell you because again we get down to the parcel level you have a fair number
of lots that have been subdivided and created from existing parcels. Someone had five acres and so they cut it into two or three parcels and so that's all accounted for in here. Uh so that we're using again all the best data and again striving for the highest amount of accuracy.
Okay. Okay. So, all all this slide is is I'm taking this these three tables and I'm I'm putting them on the on the left to to show you what's happening on the right because this table is very very important. And if you don't mind, I created this and I hope you like it. I know there's a lot of arrows there, but
now you can see how how that table is fed, the sources of all these numbers and how they've all flowed to this major table that shows us then uh where the the supply um uh needs to be allocated and uh both in the primary and the
secondary. I know it's a lot a lot's going on there. And then so that then feeds uh to these these two final tables. So uh we have if I back up just a slide. So the 11,537
you see that's in this column right here. This is the the number we're using and we'll be using also the 856 and going down. So again, so here is the 11,000. Here's the 856. There's the 11,000. There's the 856. Totals to 123
393. And so now what we do is we start comparing against okay well we've allocated where where the demand uh will be will be and then we've also allocated the supply and so we see that in the eastern primary for the 10-year horizon we're at over 200%. As we drop down now
to the eastern secondary, we can see that we're we're only 92%. And u now if we look in the aggregate, we're well over 100%. We're at 186. And something about that eastern secondary, something that's driving that um at least in from my perspective are
projects like a Canopy Creek that's in the secondary, correct? >> And that was recently finished. That was a slow project, slow burn for a long time, and it really got going between 2022 and and 2024. And so since those units showed up in that time frame, and I'm counting all these cos, it it it
spiked the demand for that not a high demand in the secondary. I'm just saying that it's sort of a looking backwards sort of thing. We've had some recent development in that secondary that sort of has elevated that that demand, if you will. So I'm not saying that you have enough. Clearly, the calculation says
it's only 92%. But just as a as a as a math person, if we went out two or three or four more years, you might see that number then decline because now there's less new growth in the in the secondary. Hopefully that was clearer than mud.
>> Okay, good. >> All right. Um, and then the second table at the bottom, this is now our our 20-year time horizon. As you see here, again, we're well over a 100, at least for the for the Eastern, uh, but we're only at 148%. And if you go back and you look at the one the the the study we did
in 2023, you're going to find a huge difference. Again, two reasons. One, we've jumped five years into the future and we've added five years onto the demand. So that's why these numbers have grown so large, meaning that now it's harder to meet uh the demand, right? So
we're now 148 uh and then for the Eastern Secondary, we're at 68. Again, in aggregate for the 20-year demand, we're still above 100 100% at 137, but again, that number now has come down from where we were a couple years ago.
And the conclusion is basically just reiterating that for the 10-year for the Eastern primary, we're over 200. For the secondary, we're just under 100 at 92. for the 20-year time horizon, far out from now, less than 1% growth rate. We're still saying that we were at 148%
of of the demand in the primary. Uh but the secondary we're at 68%. I hope that I guess it wasn't intended to be entertaining, but I hope that was informative to you. And that wraps up the presentation in terms of the housing capacity analysis. Sir,
>> do you have any questions, members of the board? >> Nope. Nope. Clear? Yeah, I do. Um, couple questions. One is that the last time, every other other time that we've done a residential capacity analysis, we
haven't uh had to calculate any density in live local. And now we do. And I don't believe that this one has taken into consideration that there's now residential capacity in commercial and industrial.
So, and we've got lots of vacant industrial >> and we've got some vacant commercial too that is now eligible for units, residential units. How are we um what what are we doing to to to make
sure that we're making our counts accurate? >> You want to >> Yeah, we're following the the methodology spec specified in the comprehensive growth management plan. um it doesn't take into consideration live local because it was created before live
local ever came along. So uh to change the methodology and to try and make some speculative uh count of what live local could add uh to our residential capacity
it would be would require an amendment to the comprehensive growth management plan. So, so just one example is is uh attempts >> and it's a freestanding urban service boundary and it is presumably uh
eligible for 15 units per acre. >> Uh >> okay, that's that's you know all of a sudden we have we have a situation here, right? The AGTech policy doesn't provide for
residential, but I understand the point you're making about live local. Uh again, Commissioner, that would require some speculation on our part and it would also require amending the comprehensive plan to change this
methodology and factor that in because everything you see in these slides is based on specific plan policy. Um, >> uh, Miss Elder. Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Donaldson. >> So, commissioners,
>> commissioners, in terms of, uh, how we would look at this, my suggestion would be is that as, uh, there is experience in the amount of industrial and different communities that taking up, including our own. Since our requirement is to do these updates
on a reoccurring basis or when there are requests to expand the urban boundary, as we get more experience, we can factor in statistically what we're seeing as a fraction that's being converted. And if we build some experience on that, then
we might be able to build into an actual comp plan amendment that would have a formula, if you will, that could estimate it based upon some historical statistical analysis. That would be my recommendation is how we could proceed. But until we actually have numbers um uh
from either locally or from elsewhere in the state, it's hard to project what that number is. Um but obviously it becomes more meaningful um when you start having more of these projects come forward. >> This is also the first time that we've
done a residential capacity analysis and found that we lacked capacity for the 10year or 20-year planning horizon. So, I certainly am more familiar with the requirement to um expand or to to begin
planning for the expansion of the primary. Are we required to create additional secondary? uh the plan policy requires us to go in and start planning for uh additional capacity. If you drop below 100% or
below what I think the plan policy simply refers to as capacity, um we can come back to you at a later date. Uh if that's board direction to to consider that. Yeah, I think that that's an extremely important critical next step
that we're going to need to take is to determine if it's necessary to uh create additional capacity in the secondary and if so how to do it and where to do it. I don't want to be I don't want to be
forced into a decision. I want this to be a decision that Martin County makes that not I don't want it to be a decision that's forced upon us. Mr. Donaldson, >> just in terms of I think it would be
good to have a presentation on the history of the secondary and how it evolves simply because um I think it might play into the policy on how how you want to treat the secondary. I think there are opportunities where it does not need to play into
um an expansion role um because of how it was created. So I think it's a important subject but I'm not sure that um the board will be required to expand the secondary. Um but we may need some
plan revisions to address that that because it was created at a time when the state was um slow growth. uh and uh the um and and they and it was created when the state felt we had too much residential
um obviously the state is now a very progrowthoriented uh and uh and that is an artifact of how it was created. I think um uh so staff has explained it to much better than I have, but I know enough to be dangerous, but I do think
um there are opportunities because of how it was created and uh in its future that we might be able to um create some policies that um uh deal with it in a way that does not coingle it with the rest of the
discussion on urban boundary growth. I have one request to speak for him and that's from Tyson Waters. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. Uh Tyson Waters from the law firm of Fox McCcluskey here today on behalf of Caner 96 Street Investment
Partners. Um the purpose of the residential capacity analysis is to provide a realistic data supported projection of future population, housing supply and future housing needs. We believe the current residential capacity analysis is fails to meet that goal. Uh
we believe there are a number of flaws and issues with the current formula. Um given my limited time, I'm just going to touch on a few. Uh first, the data sources required by the comprehensive plan and data sources that are actually used in the analysis are different. Uh by way of example, the comprehensive
plan requires that in nonsensus years, the updates to the estimates and projections of population growth are to come from the office of economic and demographic research. Uh this data, this data is then used for the annual update in the population technical bulletin,
which you're going to hear later today. Um the update however you'll see is that instead of EDR um what's used is the University of Florida Bureau of Economic and Business Research better known as Bieber. Now I don't necessarily believe
that this information is different but when your comp plan says use this source and you're using a different source even if related that creates a problem for the public to to monitor and see what's going on. Uh similarly under your comp plan in non-con nonsensus years the
source for determined existing housing in Martin County is supposed to be based on data from the American community uh survey data. Uh this the sources however for the 2025 residential capacity analysis appears to be based on the 2020 census and information from the property
the Martin County property appraisals office. Again, not saying they're wrong or inconsistent or different, but when your comp plan says use this data source and you're using a different data source, that creates the potential for error and confusion. Um, you know, your comp plan talks about that the analysis
and the meth methodology must be clear and available available for the public review. I think based on what's be being presented today and the supporting information that's not that's not accurate and not being uh complied with uh as it relates to projecting future
housing availability. The current formula provides inaccurate and unrealistic projection of future supply. Again, by way of example, the comprehensive plan requires that any vacant housing in excess of 3% of the overall housing supply be counted as
available for future housing needs. uh this percentage is an arbitrary number and is not accurate or appropriate an not an accurate or appropriate mechanism in determining future need. Now the percentage was adopted back in 2020 2013
not based on scientific information but based on a conversation with a developer that estimated vacancy between healthy vacancy between 2 and 5% and 3% was was used instead. I think uh if you ask realtors a healthy market is it can
range drastically including up to 8% and beyond. Uh this is a it's a lot of variables in the analysis and not something that should be used as you're trying to rely on for protect for future housing needs. Um, finally, and perhaps most glaring when determining housing
supply on vacant land, 15 seconds, the the comp plan requires that you use maximum density both from the uplands and then 50% from the wetlands as I've been doing this for 20 years. That is that does not happen in Martin County. If you if you analyze the
the historic um number of units. All right. Well, thank you very much. But I ask you to um review >> your mic is off. >> Okay. Thank you very much. >> Any further questions or comments? Commissioner Campy. >> Gentlemen, can you respond to what you
just heard, please? >> Yes. Uh, I'll take a couple of those and and let uh David uh respond. The uh economic development research EDR versus Bieber. Bieber is the source for EDR. So, while the names are different, the
data is the same. uh regarding his comment on census versus immun American community survey plan policy allows for either to be used and American community survey doesn't address some of the data that is needed census does. So uh we are
following comp plan policy on on those issues. Regarding the vacant land max density uh that's a been a subject to debate since the beginning of time. Um lots of people have made the point that we don't develop it as the high as
maximum densities and that was probably more true in the past probably less true today uh because I the product that you see happening a lot more often is uh town homes and multif family and the product that you just looked at the
final site plans that you saw today this morning. Uh so we are getting closer to max density on our on our actual development activity. Um so that's uh that's been a complaint since beginning and we've been done maximum
density in all residential capacity analysis going back to the at least to the 90s. Uh so I will let David uh take up uh one other point >> and then regarding the excess vacancy uh I wasn't around here in 2013 uh but I do
know that it was based on a planning study done by a notable planner that uh uh found that anything more than 3% now you can attack the rest of that study but it was a study it wasn't hearsay that that 3% comes from >> Miss Elder and I just wanted to remind
the board that when the residential capacity analysis formula was adopted. It was challenged and it did go through an administrative appeal fully litigated. Um, so that did happen and I think we didn't implement it till 2016 or 18. >> That's correct. That's when the final
settlement was done. >> Commissioner Vargas. >> Okay. So, we're here today to decide whether or not we need to expand the primary urban service district. >> No, ma'am. do not do that because we do
have capacity within it. Is that what I'm understanding? >> We are only asking you today to adopt this uh capacity analysis that's being presented to you. Uh no decision on expanding or changing the urban service district is necessary at this time.
>> Okay. Fine. >> Any further questions, comments? >> I make a motion to adopt the analysis. There's a motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. Any further comment? All in favor? I
opposed. That motion passes unanimously. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Farmer, are you finished for the day? >> He turned around. >> I'm finished when you say I'm finished. No, I just I just I just wonder if we if we need to take up another item before
we uh go to lunch >> because I don't want I don't want you to have to stay here unnecessarily. >> My work is complete, I believe. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Kind of hinges. >> We do one more if you want. >> Okay, we'll do we'll we'll take up uh department four. >> Yeah, sure.
>> Thank you. >> Uh Members of the board, again, for the record, my name is Clyde Dulan, comprehensive planning administrator. With me is Samantha Love Lady, uh, principal planner. Uh, we worked on the population technical bulletin. Uh, we
don't have a whole lot here to, uh, to go into. I would note that on 1250, uh, can you go ahead and give us that that page, please, Sam? One, two, five, zero.
Uh, this is our historic growth. uh table and I just thought I'd bring this up for everybody's discussion. It kind of feeds in from the discussion we were just having about our our growth over the years. If you look at the bottom of the table between 2020 and 2024,
>> pardon you may get the whole screen. >> Sure. Could you go ahead and >> looks like a zoom us up >> gray box to me. there >> uh from 2020. That asterk next to the 2020 number there is tells us that that's the United States Census Bureau
is our source of 158,431. As you can see, between 2019 and 2020, it actually went we went down in our in our growth by 11% and then we've been up and down since then 39 16 1.64
74 1.23. uh but all of it has been uh below 2%. Uh so we do not have a you know have a drastic growth increase uh going on in terms of population >> and if you averaged it over those years
it's >> inconsequential >> right and um for the record Samantha love lady for the record in terms of the Bieber versus edr
this the department of um economic and business research with the University of Florida. They provide the data for the state legislature, the state legislature
through the state of Florida Office of Economic and Demographic Research, EDR. So, Bieber provides that data to the Florida legislature. they approve it through the EDR and so it is the same numbers. I think what Bieber did
um were the only difference right now in this past update was that they rounded the numbers up to a full >> 100 number >> a full hundred. So, um, so I did want
you to understand that that, um, in Florida statute SE statute 163.3177, it requires local government comprehensive plans to be based on permanent and seasonal estimations and projections. This goes into our capital
facility planning. It goes into land use planning, housing, as well as the residential capacity analysis. uh we can go into the the tables and give you more detail, but uh that's basically the the high spots. Um we
would ask that the board uh approve this population technical bulletin. And one other thing I'd like to point out is the permanent population that you see in this document for 2024.
I presented at the grow at the the joint meeting with the city and the school board in the village. Those are the same numbers. Bieber did not produce those until August. They normally come out between January and May. Um, but they
didn't come out with them till August and when they come out again, I'll be bringing you for that update. >> Okay. >> You >> any questions, comments? >> I'll move approval of the technical
uh population bulletin and I will second. >> There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. >> Thank you, members of the board. >> Thank you. What else do we have here? >> Stephanie Marley's there.
>> Want to take that up? >> Sure. >> Department one. Morning. Afternoon. Good afternoon, Commissioner. Stephanie Merley here to give you three items on OM today. Um, our first item is the permission to accept the Florida
Division of Emergency Management or the FDEM modification number two for the hazard mitigation grant program for Southwest Mockingbird Lane Drainage. Um, our public works um department is requesting a modification that will allow the BOCC to request reimbursement
of $36,349 for pre-awward expenses that were incurred in fiscal year 2021 for the Mockingbird Lane drainage project phase 1. Um, there's no additional cash match required to accept this modification.
Item number two is a permission to accept the 2025 waterways assistance program grant for the renovation of the Jensen Beach Causeway North Boat ramp and pier improvement grant. Um our parks and recreation department is requesting the acceptance of $450,000 of
construction costs to replace the existing Jensen Beach Causeway boat ramp and launch peers and docks. There is a grant match of $450,000 which is budgeted within the um fiscal year 2026 parks boat ramp program CIP sheet.
Item number three is a permission to accept the emergency management performance or EMPG grant. Um this is an annual grant that our emergency management division receives. Um they are requesting the acceptance of $68,319.84
and 84 cents to enable the county to enhance P planning projects, provide for technology, equipment, and supplies for the emergency management division. And there is no cash match required for this grant. That's all I have for you today. Questions for Miss Merley.
>> Motion to accept Miss Merley's report. >> Second. >> There's a motion in a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. >> I see Miss Brotherton is just coming into the room. Take up department two contracts that
meet the threshold for board approval of a million dollars or greater. >> Give her a moment to catch. >> Good morning. >> Sorry about that. >> Afternoon. >> Good afternoon. Christy Brotherton, chief procurement officer. Um I have four items for your consideration today.
And the first one is a contract for sludge dewatering polymer. This contract has a contract not to exceed value of $2 million and a maximum not to exceed term of five years. And staff is recommending that the board
award the contract to the highest scoring firm, Cedar Chem, which is a Selenus company, and move that the board authorize the county, excuse me, administrator designate to execute all documents related to this request.
Next we have um a contract for Wateride Way signalization improvements. I am out of breath. Sorry guys. Um move that the board award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder JW Cheetum in the
amount of 1 million263,54122 and move that the board authorize the county administrator a designate to execute all documents related to that request. Um, next we have North Jensen Flity and Well, N05, Raw Water, Main Edition.
Move that the board award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder accurate drilling systems in the amount of 1,651,861.90. and move that the board authorize the county administrator or designate to execute all documents related to this
request. And last but not least, we have the building 17 renovation for the reach center. This is in change order in the amount of $49,351.31. Move that the board authorize change order 6 to all site construction in the
amount of $49,351.31. and move that the board authorize the county administrator designate to execute all documents related to this request. That is it. >> Commissioner Heatherington, >> two questions. One, the signalization on
wide way. Who who is paying for that? >> Um, go ahead. Good morning. Uh Jim Gordon. Uh good afternoon. Uh public works director. Uh the project is being paid for with the Wateride Way CIP sheet that's associated
with the um operations facility. >> So >> So Wateride Way is the roadway that will lead into the um 30 acre site that the operations facility is on. >> Is it development that's currently on there contributing? No, it's not. It's
uh this serves the south side of that or southwest side of that complex. And it really is for this facility. There's a secondary one, the refrigerated storage facility that's in front of it. Could also use this driveway, but um the only
way to get to the 30 acre parcel is this driveway. >> So, we're we're paying for it. >> We're paying for it. Yep. And second question 49 that the change order. What is that $49,000 change order
for? >> Yes, >> George's got George Stokus here. Explain what's uh Good afternoon uh Madam Chair. George Stoke, assistant Kai administrator for the record. The $49,000 is coming out of
the airport enterprise fund and that is to retain soil and separate soil from the parking lot and the building because of the elevation and the displacement. We need a I think it's an 18in retaining wall, cement retaining wall. And in
order to meet the ADA transition requirements to a potentially future bus stop as well as to the parking lot, there had to be some site changes that were done. And that's primarily what that's for. Okay. >> Thank you. And and back to the reach center, man,
I've seen this building and it's I don't see $3.5 million worth of improvements. It's a very small building and it looks to me like the the uh improvements have been primarily cosmetic. I understand
that there are some drainage problems that had to be solved in the parking lot, but golly, this is an expensive project. Well, Madam Chair, I'm more than happy to uh work with you on your schedule and take you for a tour. We we will be uh moving it through, but yes, it's it's substantial
in there. There's a lot of stuff in the building. >> There better be for three and a half million bucks. >> Wonderful building, Madam Chair. >> Commissioner Caps. >> So, what are the criteria for deciding whether a change order is legitimate or
whether it should have been anticipated in the original scope? I mean we talking in specific to the reach center. >> Um just more in general. Uh do you just apply kind of like a reasonleness standard? Um is it would it be
reasonable to assume that you should have anticipated the problem >> in the original scope? >> It depends on the type of project. Um buildings are generally more complex. >> Um there's a lot of unknowns. I know we had asbestous issues at one time with
this one that was not known until we got in there. Um, more of our horizontal projects, you do design, you do environmental, you'll do geotechnical testing to try to mitigate any of those issues up front. Um, but once you start digging in the ground, sometimes there's
unknowns that you just you can't foresee. There's no such thing as a perfect set of plans. So, >> and and to add to the complexity of the reach center, it wasn't just a vertical from new. It was a complete gut and rehabilitation where we found environmental issues uh on a building
that quite frankly the the the surrounding environment was from 1950. So when they dug into the grounds they found water lines that had never well quite frankly I don't think any of that stuff was really permitted. I I don't want to put down Mr. DHY or his I just
in 1950 they put stuff in and we opened up the ground and we you know we thought well what was the hydrant line was not the hydrant line it was another uh type of line. The anticipation from the the actual change order. The plans actually
called for a greater larger wall. We we downsized that. Uh, but when you start opening walls and looking at electrical, this is a building that has sat vacant or abandoned for I it's got to be at least 20 25 years. I
mean, it used to be a bank in a in a commercial kitchen. So, um, we tried to do the best we can to anticipate what was going to be needed to be changed. The nice thing is it was it was American Rescue Plan dollars and it's airport enterprise dollars. So, it's not adorum taxpayer that it's not their coming out
of your property tax. wasn't coming out of the general fund. So, >> and there is a difference between owner requested, so the county can request changes if something comes up during construction um or the contractor initiated changes whereas maybe they found something during construction and
at that point to try to answer your question, um the project manager, the department of the county would review it and negotiate a cost if it's not something that's already in there. So, they don't just submit something and then we are obligated to pay it like >> Right. Right. I just thought of a word
that I think applies to change orders. It's discovery. Like we discovered something that was not anticipated in the original contract, like hidden things and especially as it relates to old buildings that you're
rehabbing and that kind of thing. We discovered something that we did not anticipate. >> And Commissioner, just to add a little bit, I know we're all bumping up the lunch here, is we also worked very well with this contractor. They found ways for us to improve what we thought were the design where we've worked handinhand
with the general contractor on this project on places where we had cost savings or we changed in uh changed in total values and so forth. So all change some change orders are deductive some change orders are increased but in some cases having a good relationship uh
which we do with this general contractor. >> Who was it? Oh. Um, >> all site >> All site construction. I I know it's Dear Dearius. That's how I know his first name. So, >> any further questions, Mr. Donaldson? >> Uh, I just thought it was an important
question in terms of um when we're looking at contracts for construction, there's always the element of the design and was there a design flaw? was is something when you look at a change order, we often get contractors that are asking for change orders and sometimes
it's um uh an attempt to um um revise the design of it. Um and uh we have had some projects recently where there's been submitts for um a uh certain materials um but the and they was costing them more. They're trying to get
a change order, but the material spec was smaller and we made the contractor go back. So there's always a a lot of issues regarding uh our we we put a lot of effort to keep our change orders to a minimum. And then one of the other techniques that we're looking to use uh
is construction management risk where you get a cost not to exceed uh essentially it's a fixed cost uh which we're seeing more of in more complicated projects is a better tool for us where you um engage the the contractor during the process so that you have a
guaranteed fixed cost. But in renovation projects, those are usually the ones that are the most um uh difficult to predict the change order as uh Mr. Stokus pointed out where you have uh an an existing building when you open it up
uh and you find conditions weren't um that were in the public record or or in our original design. They just simply were wrong. It's >> a can of worms. >> Yes. and and we appreciate your uh uh working with us on on those more complicated projects. Thank you.
>> But I would also like to say that if you had torn down the building and built a new building from scratch, it would be way more than that. It would cost you a lot of money to tear it down and then have to reset the site with everything new and also then to build the building from scratch. So you're basically
getting a brand new building for $3.6 6 million, which we know you're not building a brand new building with what's inside of that one for $3.6 million. >> And that cost also includes uh furniture, fixtures, equipment, not all the equipment, not all everything, but
quite a bit of it. Commissioner, >> any further questions or comments? Is there a motion to approve agenda item department two? >> I would make such a motion. >> I'll second it. >> There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes
unanimous unanimously. Commissioners, you want to keep keep on? >> Let's keep going. >> Finish. All right. >> Let's go on to uh well, let's take up uh Department Quasi Judicial One, which is
Three Lakes Golf Club LLC requesting revised final site plan approval for phase three of the Three Lakes Golf Club planned unit development. This is quasi judicial. Uh any expparte disclosures, Commissioner Vargas? If I have any, they have been filed. Commissioner Caps,
>> if I have any, they have been filed. >> I don't have any and they've been filed. Commissioner Campy, >> if I have any, they've been filed. >> And Commissioner Heatherington, >> if any, and they have been filed. >> Excellent. Mr. Elam, once again, have you provided the information necessary to the clerk? >> Copy my work history and the agenda
items been turned in as exhibit one. >> Anyone who's going to be providing sworn testimony, please stand up, raise your right hand, and be sworn in. Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? >> Please proceed. Thank you, Madam Chair,
commissioners. Uh, for the record, Brian Elim, principal planner with the growth management department. This is a request by Lucido and Associates on behalf of Three Lakes Golf Club LLC for approval of the revised phase 3 final site plan to relocate
unbuilt golf golf cottages and recreational amenities within the phase 3 development area and expand Lake 13 near the east clubhouse parking field. Included with this application is a request for certificate public facilities reservation.
The approximately 1,219 acre site is located west and east of Caner Highway, approximately 2.4 miles southwest of Interstate 95. The main entrance is on the north side of Southwest Bridge Road, approximately 3/4 of a mile east of
Southwest Kenner Highway intersection at 11655 Southwest Club Court, excuse me, in Stewart. The current zoning on the property is the Three Lakes Golf Club planned unit development zoning agreement and the
future land use is rural lifestyle. The Three Lakes Golf Club PUD and master site plan were approved on February 20th, 2024 and included a maximum of 54 golf cottages and 324 rooms. The existing approved revised phase 3 final
site plan has 54 cottages and 280 rooms. This proposed revised phase 3 final site plan has 51 cottages and 281 rooms or 280 rooms. So no change in the rooms, a reduction in the cottages and all of it
less than what is allowed. This proposal consists of relocating unbuilt cottages on the property. For example, Forest Cottage Pod A currently is approved for one cottage and in this proposal, 10 cottages are located in
Forest Cottage Pod A. Forest cottage pod B is approved for 10 cottages and in this proposal has been reduced to three cottages, while the cottage located at the pool spa cottage pod C has been removed. The net result of this redistribution in this proposal is a
reduction of three cottages from the maximum allowed and the room count remains the same. Another change in this proposal is the racket club amenities that were located down here in the south. Uh most of them have been moved up here in this area. I
think the pool and um the pool remains and and that uh area has been renamed as um the south amenity. Also, there was some cottages that are over here near uh where this lake
expansion is that has been removed to allow about a 1.34 1.58 acre expansion of of that late lake, I believe. So, the development review staff have found the Three Lakes Golf Club LLC application to comply with all
applicable regulations and the comprehensive growth management plan is detailed in our staff report. Uh, review by the local planning agency is not required and staff recommends approval of the Three Lakes Golf Club phase 3 revised final site plan. We move
that the board receive and file the agenda item and its attachments, including the staff report as exhibit one. I move that the board adopt the resolution approving the Three Lakes Golf Club PUB phase 3 revised final site plan. And that concludes the presentation.
>> Questions for Mr. Elam, >> Mr. >> Good afternoon. Yes, for the record and my name is Morris Krady, senior partner with Leed and Associates. um in agreement with everything Brian has said. It is just a minor tweak moving things around on behalf of the owners
and the membership just trying to make things fit where they where they would like them and expanding some amenities and reducing some some of the cottage bedroom units. So with that, I'll be glad to answer any questions. We are just so you know where we are in the process. We've completed now the third
golf course and finishing up on a uh on a on a uh 12hole golf course um which which should be completed by the end of the year and uh moving forward with the clubhouse. Hopefully we'll have a CO by the end of this year for the clubhouse facilities and the first set of cottages
by the end of this year. So we're moving right along. >> Questions for Mr. Kdy. Would anyone from the public like to address us? Seeing none, back to Commissioner Campy. >> Thank you. I think this is more just a
technical kind of thing. As Mr. KY said, as you start to develop the project and it comes out of the ground, you start to realize, hey, let's move some things around. There's still a process that still needs to be reviewed, which is what we've done here today. I just wanted to speak briefly about the
project overall that um when they came here and discussed what they would and would not be doing and and the scope of the project. They recently uh won their practice and training facility which is obviously brand new because the whole
project is brand new. just won the best practice and training facility in the United States of America, competing against the most premier golf courses everywhere in the in the country, which is um remarkable feat happening right
here in Martin County. I think that speaks to the level of the overall level of the project. They've also I've spoken to a couple of not forprofits. They had mentioned when they were originally seeking their approvals that they would be excellent corporate citizens and
great neighbors and um and part of that was going to be at a couple of times throughout the year opening up their facility to some of our premier not forprofits and they've started to do that. So, I wanted to commend them on that because I think the folks that have
ever participated in a golf outing for a not for profofit to have a golf outing there will be remarkable. So, I wanted to thank them and I make a motion to accept staff's recommendation. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. Any
further discussion? All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. We'll now take up department five, which is Martin County Public Transit Marty system update. [Music]
>> Mr. Beecher. >> Good afternoon, commissioners. Ash Beecher, transit administrator. Uh, today we have a presentation for you all uh from Martin County Transit LLC, a division of Senior Resource Association. And just to provide a little background,
on April 1, 2025, Martin County Transit LLC, a division of Senior Resource Association, SRRA, was awarded the contract for RFP 20253644 on-road transit and support services, Marty bus system operation. As part of
this contract, SRRA staff will provide regular updates to the board of county commissioners on Marty system performance, challenges, and needs. So, this would be the first of uh many to come. I'll turn things over to Oh,
this one should work. >> Great. Thank you. Afternoon. >> Good afternoon. I'm Karen Deagle. I am the CEO of um Senior Resource Association and Martin County Transit is a division of Senior Resource Associations. So today um we want to uh
talk to you about the Marty system and our objectives today as we have uh discussed previously uh we're we want to talk about where we currently are strategies uh for enhanced public transportation and then of course next
steps. So today's transportation system we have five fixed routes. We operate Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Uh we have 14 buses, uh 67 bus stops throughout the county. We do do
regional service uh into St. Lucy County and West Palm Beach and also Martin County Transit LLC. We have 30 employees that include operators, dispatchers, mechanics, and supervisors.
So currently we just wanted to point out about the ridership. Um you can see on this chart uh that the wrership ship has been increasing and that of course is one of the uh main concerns we have the idea is u when you have transit uh the
the the main thing is get the ridership up uh who is going to ride and how are we going to do that and that's what we'd like to talk about today. So, in doing so, we have three different areas that we would like to discuss. We have the route optimization,
uh, funding, and then community awareness. >> Hi, I'm Chris Stevenson. I'm the director of transportation at Martin County Transit. And, uh, some of you will probably remember that in October of 2024, Martin County adopted a
transportation development plan. that is something that's required by every transit system that receives state block grant funding. And so, uh, that is really the guiding document that we use when we when we look at, uh, how do we want to grow the system? Uh, but the
only thing is the TDPs, they don't always they don't always they have very aspirational goals, but they don't always have cost feasible goals. So, what Martin County Transit has done is we've we've said, okay, we've we've been running the system for the last three months now. is like how can we line up
what the system needs with that TDP and try and do it in a way that's cost feasible. And so um Karen mentioned those three uh pillars, the route optimization, the funding, and the community awareness. What we're going what we're going to talk about today is um ways we can can
line up our our thoughts on on the system with the TDP. We're going to talk about a route optimization study. Uh purchasing smaller vehicles, multiple uh hubs if if we go to a hub-based system, adding bus stops, and then also we're
going to look at existing funding structures that are already in place in the state and the federal level that we could be used to implement some of those changes. And we want to to look at the existing funding that Martin County Transit already gets and and how we could use that uh to provide more
service. And then obviously the the branding of the the system and how it's marketed to the community and what we can do to build rider confidence in in the system so that people know that they can ride with us, they can get where they need to go and that it's going to
be a safe and customerfriendly trip. >> So with route optimization, a few of the things that we would like to take a look at is um adding and changing routes uh that we currently have. We also we want to look at design uh the microtransit
zones which we'll talk a little bit more about u possibly extending hours of service and also adding bus stops. So these this slide shows trip generators and these are areas of
interest usual interest from riders. These are places people want to go. So, this is an important uh um an important thing to consider when you're developing uh developing your new transit routes. Uh making sure that you're providing
trips to certain certain uh generators. Obviously, we're also looking at where they're coming from. Uh so, two different areas, where they're coming from, where can we bring uh people in from where they live, and where they where are they wanting to go.
So, we mentioned the the fleet. We want the the fleet to adapt uh to to serve the needs of Martin County. So, Ash and his team have developed a transportation asset management plan. And as the vehicles are coming up to be replaced, we want to make sure we are replacing
them with the types of vehicles that are going to best serve the people of Martin County. So, you can see on there right now the entire fleet are these heavyduty buses. Um, but when they come up to to be retired, are we going to replace them with another heavy duty bus or are we going to move to a smaller cutaway that
could be used to go back further into neighborhoods? Are we going to go to a microransit vehicle which is a lot cheaper for the vehicle and it it's for a different type of service. So, those are all the types of things we're going to to explore in in the very near future with the system of the Marty. And then
also talking about hubs, right now, uh there's not currently a a set designated hub in Martin County, uh but it's something that we've seen be very very successful other places with public transportation. The idea is that you can cover a bigger
geographic area uh without having commutes that take hours and hours for for citizens. you you can uh have areas where buses can meet, people can transfer. That way they can cover a a longer geographic area without having to be on one bus that takes a very long
extended amount of time. And we have a picture here of the hub in Indian River County, uh which you can see on there. There's the six buses that all meet at the same time every hour and passengers can transfer and then they can continue on their way. It works very successful up there and uh
>> I think that's one of the key things is that how are we going to move people around Martin County uh um you know currently right now you have the few few routes that you have are they meeting each other how are people moving in the hub the sp I call it spoken uh hub
system whereas you can take someone from the north county um or from St. St. Lucy County down to the Palm Beaches if we're going to do uh continue with regionalism and throughout that county have a few different hubs whereas buses come in
they all a certain amount stop at one location people get off they get on to another route to move them east or west and then they maybe have you know change again and go south or whatever direction and it's just a very um uh for a smaller
system and for a county that's building the transit system. It's a very um it gives a lot of opportunity for ridership growth and then also looking at microtransit. So microtransit uh is a very popular
thing in public transportation right now. What happens is you can find areas that are transit deserts that don't currently have any public transportation. those people aren't being served by any public transportation and you can create a microtransit zone there and then you I'm
sorry, say that again >> like Palm City. >> That's correct. And so you could you could uh create a microtransit zone there and then uh you use microtransit vehicles to provide service there. And then what happens is over time as it becomes more successful you can use the
data there um of where people are getting picked up and dropped off to create a f a fixed route so that uh it becomes cost cost feasible once it becomes successful. And then also we are looking at the hours of service that the Marty is
running. Right now it runs pretty late into the the day. It runs till 8 PM. Um but also it doesn't run on the weekends. And what we always say is that you know people's lives don't stop on Friday at at 8:00 p.m. Uh so the the clientele that's being tripped in Martin County.
Uh we hear it all the time. Uh because we also operate the Indiantown shuttle on on Saturdays and Sundays. Um people want the Marty on on the weekends. And so we're going to be looking at that. We're going to be looking at holiday service because right now uh the Marty doesn't run on very many holidays and
those are all things that we think would um be beneficial to the people who are using the system. >> So customer service and safety is really big in in in our books and there's a few safety improvements that I'd like to see happen. One is the voice annunciators.
Uh currently now the drivers they are having to ann announce the um the stops as they approach them uh so that the riders know where the stop is. And um I find this a distraction for the drivers
I think to have to continually um keep in your mind about annunciating a stop and you know pulling the um microphone down. You're taking your hands off the wheel. It's just an unsafe situation. And so I'd like to see that happen um
when there's funding available. Um automated counters. Right now, uh the drivers are using their finger to tap the iPad to count the number of riders that are getting on. Um we're all talking about ridership, increasing the ridership. We want accuracy and we also
want to um have it so that it's not a distraction also for the for the driver. So that would be another. And then additional cameras. Right now there are cameras um on the buses um and on three sides of the buses. I'd like to see the uh uh the cameras on completely around
the bus for safety of pedestrians as well as safety of of our uh riders and driver. >> When looking at the the funding of the system, you can see the current funding uh for the the public transportation system is uh listed there. The top three
line items there are federal funding sources and then you've got the state block grant and then you've got the the two local uh the two local fundings from Martin County and then from the fair. We will point out that with the fair um the amount that we received last year on the fair was $156,000 that comes off of the
federal amount. So it says that the the feds gave $2 million but it was actually 2 million minus 156. And uh so in speaking about that, we we uh have seen Fairfree be very successful on the Treasure Coast. It's very successful in Indian River County and in
St. Lucy County. And one of the reasons for that is because the the funding for the state block grant is tied to writership. So the more writers you get, the more funding you get from the state block grant. And and so uh what we've
seen in on the Treasure Coast is when you have system that have high writership, they make enough money in their state block grant that they don't have to rely as much on local dollars. Um and so that that's uh something that we would like to look at for consideration.
We also have the fact that when you have fair free um boarding boarding the um uh when people are getting on the bus um they're taking time to get their money, put the money in and then they have to take their seat. The bus cannot leave
until that person is in the seat. And so um even if it's just a few seconds, 5 seconds um 5 seconds every time adds up. And um when you're on a timeline to get from one um end of your route to another
um every second counts. And so by having them not be putting dollars or figuring out when they get on the bus, it does add more time. We can then add more stops to the bus or um to the route or we could actually extend the route as well.
So, we've talked a lot about changes and things that we'd like to see in the in the future. And one of the questions we always get is how how are we going to pay for it? One of the things that we're already looking at is the existing way that the funding is getting used. For example, the 5307 uh grant that is being received right
now. It's only being used to fund capital improvements. Uh but there are uh things in place through the FTA that you can do to use those funds for operating costs. And so that's one of the things that we're going to explore is can can we start using some 5307
capital money for operating and then community awareness. Um we really want to make sure that the uh community understands that our system is safe and is secure to ride. Uh we want to um highlight be able to highlight a number of different um things on our bus
such as you know audiovisisual. Um, one of the things in Indian River County is we have a very good relationship with the sheriff's office. So, if there is any any challenges um with any of the riders or um anyone on the bus, we have that that relationship um when the we
can contact them and they come out right away. Um building community partnerships, doing outreach, um meeting with the community leaders, finding out what the people are needing. Um good example is meeting with Joe at uh you know Chamber of Commerce. What a great
um resource we would have to find out where the workers want to go. Uh um and just a lot of civic organizations too. I um I know I've said to all of you, you can have as many programs, community programs um offered in your community,
but if you can't get the people to them, they're not going to be helpful. So that's what we're here to do. And then of course facetoface feedback. um with the community and the members um is very important and um of course we want to talk about stronger branding uh with the
system as we make improvements making sure we're out there talking about it so that people are recognizing that Marty is a good efficient system. So what is our next steps? Um, obviously we want to talk about that today, but we want to be able to do the uh route
optimization um looking at uh what what is our next steps and getting a good road map um for for this transit system. Uh again the safety improvements um when if funding's
available to improve and then um of course definitely the grant exploration and um we are always looking at um opportunities for grants that are coming available. Uh Chris and I have a very good relationship with Florida
Department of Transportation. Uh when uh grants do become available or if we have a really good plan in place a lot of times they they tend to find us dollars. And we've already been talking to uh to the state about Marty and uh Martin County and transit and uh um they're
quite aware that we are we're we're coming for some dollars. So, is there any questions? >> Any questions? Commissioner Caps. Um, I think if we're going to have a
system like this like Marty, the the goal is to continually be approve or improving writership. You know, that's that's one of the criticisms of of Marty. Uh, and I'm
encouraged to see that writership is coming up a good bit already. um in discussing things with you all prior to this meeting. I think I remember hearing that St. Lucy County when they they did away with the
fair fair free as it's called, they had like a spike of like 60% in ridership. >> Correct. Yes, they did. Um so Indian River County, we have been fair free um since inception. Uh we've been uh
providing the service for 45 years. Um and uh there has never been a fair on that system. Uh a few years ago, St. Lucy County wanted to do a um a what do you call it? Pilot program and uh um
they did receive some funding for it and uh what they experienced was a 60% increase in their overall wrership. Um from that uh they have decided to stay fair free >> you know. Um, uh, I was talking to someone about
the energy and time spent in counting small amounts of money, coins and dollar bills, uh, and the process involved with that from the drivers and then the drivers have to give it to a group of people
after they end their routes and they have to account for things and fill out reports. And you know if you've if you've ever been involved in helping to count the collection at church I have been involved with that and we go to a sizable church and wow it's a big
process involves a lot of volunteers a lot of time it's surprising how much time it takes and to account for those small amounts of money and you know when I look at the dollar figure that we get
from the fairs it's only1 $156,000. And from what I'm hearing, if we were to get rid of the the fair that we charge, the the block grant would go up and
probably capture the loss uh in a very short period of time. Is that is that what I'm hearing? >> Yeah. So, two things happen actually. As you saw um from the Fed level, they do take the dollar off the top. Um, so if you're making 156 thou, say it's 2
million that feds give you, uh, you you bring in 156,000 affairs, they remove that from the top and they they so you you still get 2 million, but part of it is your fair. Um, the second thing that happens is that um, your ridership does go up and the block grant at the state
level is um, that's what drives the increases is your your wrership is what drives the increases. So um, it would take a couple years for that to happen. And it doesn't happen immediately because of course counting those numbers happen over a couple years. But yes, and
that's exactly why Indian River County um we we um receive what is >> so in Indian River County, which is a similarly sized county, very very similar population. We get about a million dollars a year in our block grant. And in Martin County, we get
about 400,000 right now. And it's all because of the the >> wrership. You know, I I know this is an information item, but man, this just jumps off the page to me as far as how to improve wrership in
Martin County. And is it appropriate to go ahead and just make a motion about something? I'm I'm into this. I think this will dramatically improve wrership just like it has in uh a couple of counties to the north. And is it
appropriate to make a motion at this time? based on the presentation. Yes, you can make the motion. >> I I would like to make a motion we go fair free. I think I think that's the way to do it. >> Second, >> Commissioner Vargas.
>> Yeah. Um I I did meet with you, but both of you um and I was also told by him that I can't see into buses. There's nobody on the bus and I drive all hours of the day and night. >> There's nobody. These are huge buses. I come from Dade County, Miami Dade
County. They have big buses, too. People love their cars here. >> Yeah, she's for me. >> Okay, maybe you'll wave the fair. >> Who audits these numbers about wrership? >> So, who >> Go ahead.
>> So, we uh we the Federal Transit Administration, they do a u an triannual review as well as the uh Florida Department of Transportation does a trianual review. So we reviewed by the uh FDOT and FTA and uh during our last
trial review we had uh no findings from the FTA which was 2023. >> What do you mean no findings? >> There were zero deficiencies found in our books so to speak. >> Okay. Oh. All right. I haven't examined that. But we did talk about the cost to
Martin County. A million dollars and was it plus $89 per revenue hour? There was a figure thrown out and I want to get clarification on that. >> Yes. So, we pay the vendor by re vehicle
revenue hour and I believe that rate is I don't have the number in front of me uh at the moment, but I believe it's roughly $86 per revenue hour. So what does that mean? So it's 1 million plus $86 per revenue hour. >> No, it's just the $86 per hour. So every
hour that we are operating um and that's each bus. Um every hour we're operating, you are you are paying us $86 an hour to transport. So multiple people use the bus, of course. Um but it is that's that's what it is to max out at a
certain amount. >> At what amount? >> I think it's just over 2 million. So it's two million per year >> annual. >> And just kind of hefty >> just so you're aware these pictures um on the slide those are from Marty buses.
So those um those are examples real life examples from Martin County of >> I understand but there's never anybody on the I look at the buses. I was told the buses. I see the buses. Other people see the buses. I've tal I've talked with quite a few people so it's not just me.
Um, $2 million is a lot of money for us to spend on this type of transit. I mean, you're talking about microtransit. That's like a yuber. Really? Can we afford that just to send yubers around? That doesn't make sense.
Miami Dade County had more like your cutaway vehicle. These are expensive. 200,000 for that. Microransit vehicle 80,000. The buses are 550,000. My understanding that we have to hold on to them for 12 years >> for the large buses. Yes.
>> Well, that's correct, but that's costing us money if we take those off. I understand that it takes a little bit of time, maybe a year or so to get the cutaway vehicle. >> I mean, you say you have experience many years doing this. >> I really do. I I And you know, the whole
idea here is again um wrership can improve, the system can improve. What I take a look at is that, and I understand what you said, people like their cars here, but there's a lot of people that don't have cars. There's a lot of um students that use can use the system. Um
I'll just go back to Indian River County. We're doing over 1.5 million trips a year and it's the same. We are sister counties. I see the same. The people we're increasing. Last year, we increased by 20%. We're still growing. And
you know, I um I'm here for the people. Transportation is a barrier is a barrier to quality of life. And what a shame if we have the opportunity to try and prove it and try to give something to to individuals who don't have who don't
have cars or even if they do have a car, maybe they want the choice. Maybe they want the choice of um of only having one car in their family instead of two or not having any. Um, let's let's, you know, let's do something for the people. And $2 million is not a lot of money if
we can get those numbers up. It's not not for the well-being and the quality of care for individuals in this community. >> Okay. I I deal with facts and figures. You're talking about emotion right now. >> Yes, I am. >> Yes, you are. And the thing is that I'm talking about what is costing Martin
County. I mean, $2 million is a lot of money. We do not have the population that Indian River County has. Yes, we do. >> Nor Miami Dade, nor St. No, we don't. We're 160,000. Maybe >> 168,000.
>> 166,000 Martin County residents. 172 Indian River. They're comparable, >> but they also have an airport, too. >> Um here here's here's the thing. You know, you talk about how you're going to cover certain costs because I did read the contract. I did do that. I also
thank you for your 990 form that you sent. So, uh, you know, you're depending on a lot of grant dollars here. And so, what happens when those dry up? Is Martin County then going to have to pick up the slack? >> Keep in mind that this is the county
service. They are are our our operators. >> I understand that. >> So, we're, you know, >> nonprofit operating. Yes. >> Yeah. And before we had a for-profit. So I think the issue is that we're trying to improve uh the service. The direction uh from the board was to you know and
and we've we've got a new vendor here. They have had a very successful track record and the idea is to take most of the funds are from federal and state funds and trying to keep the county's match uh uh to a reasonable level and make some changes to improve the
wrership. I think that that's our goal. >> Needs to be tightened up. This is a lot of money that we're going to be spending if we're going to be changing out vehicles and we still have to hold on to the heavy duty buses. We can't turn them in otherwise we'll be penalized right >> by federal dollars. So when do you provide reports? You've you were
appointed what four months ago? >> Yes. July 1 took over. >> How often do you provide reports? I was looking at this and seems like we do a report, aren't we? >> We do a report on a monthly basis. Um we actually do uh um well in Indie River County we do quarterly reports with with
our MO. Um we haven't set something up here yet um as to how we're and what we're going to be but they get actually Ash you are the ones that are getting all the information though. So >> correct. So we provide a monthly report
to the FTA via a national transit database uh site. Uh we provide ridership data uh revenue miles etc. Yeah, we cannot cover everybody in every circumstance. We cannot do that. >> I understand. >> I I took the bus when I was in high
school and I transferred over and I gave my money and I had a paper transfer. I was fine. It worked out well. However, things have changed dramatically and I think more people, as I said
before, are holding on to their cars. They like that convenience. I don't find this to be a feasible option. I mean, you know, you earn well. You have a good salary because I looked at your 990. I mean, you're going to
have to give and take here. You can't come to Martin County and say, "Okay, give us more money because we don't have the grant money that you laid out here for us or it hasn't worked out well." We have a three-year contract with you. And again, they're outs here. I looked at
that, too. Plus an additional one one year. It's five years. Where are we going to be economic? Well, you can shrug your shoulders, but but my responsibility is to the No, my responsibility is the taxpayers of Martin County. Those are the ones that
are paying they're paying your salary and they're paying your company and they're paying these hourly fees and the $2 million and we have to get the vehicles. >> Commissioner Campy,
>> thank you very much. Uh, having had the opportunity to be here for a bit, I remember the days prior to any transit. So, right off the bat, I'd like to thank Mr. Gordon, which is interesting that in the scope of being the head of public works, we also throw transit in there
for you as well, just so that we can maximize our staff's time and talents. So, I appreciate that for Mr. Gordon. Mr. Beecher is an expert. I remember before you were here how we were still trying in the program's infies trying to
work things out but uh since your arrival um so I have the advantage of before you and during you um you're an expert and a professional so I think bringing Mr. to feature on board was a huge step in the right direction.
The size of the buses is interesting. I think uh yes and when we looked at the cutaways and the things like that, remember most of what we're talking about within the system in its history have nothing to do with the two individuals that are standing in front of us today. I have, you know, like my
colleagues heard the uh Martin County residents that say no one's on the buses uh and we shouldn't have it. I bet you those are people that drive their own personal cars. And I get that, you know, there is a mindset and a lifestyle choice of
having vehicles, but they're becoming more and more expensive for people to have. And as everything becomes more expensive, you have to start to look at where can I shave things off. You can't get rid of your rent. You most likely can't hopefully get rid of your health
insurance. You have to eat. You have to pay certain bills. One of the largest items that families that are struggling or individuals that are struggling can eliminate if there is a system in place is their vehicles. Uh gas prices, the
purchase of the car, the maintenance of the car, and insurance makes it very cost prohibitive. Uh that's assuming that people already have them and would choose to get rid of it. There are thousands, tens of thousands of Martin County residents that dream of
a car. It's not in their It's not an option. I did uh in in an effort to research this and I recommended to my colleagues went to Indian River County with some of our staff and we spent the entire day riding their bus system. I
could not comprehend how our sister county and I agree with you. A couple of thousand population difference is not enough. I don't I wouldn't have felt the same way if you said St. Lucy County because it's a huge difference or Palm Beach County, it's a massive difference.
But Indian River and St. Lucy, not uh excuse me, Indian River and Martin, not only uh in the population calculations, but in in landscape, ge geographical landscape is the same. Um the the
statistics of who their residents are, their average cost, you know, their household income similar. They It's not like, well, they got, you know, 50, 100, 150,000 more rides annually than we do. We used
to say that they were at a million. I used to use that statistic that they had broken the million rider mark when we were like at 110,000. Now they're at 1.5 million riders. And you know who did that? Those two folks right there. I met their drivers. I saw
their facilities. I saw their hub. Um, we are very fortunate to have Miss Deagle and Mr. Stevenson because they are have a proven track record of success. They've only been doing this here for 4 months. So, kudos to our
staff for seeing the advantage of having senior resource associates come to us then negotiating a legitimate contract. And if anything, I want to say thank you because you didn't need to come here. It's not like you two just
started this enterprise and you know you're down here with your hat in your hand. They're doing, as far as I see it, they're doing us a favor, taking a very, very successful, proven process from just up the road and
bringing it here. Because, you know, you can look and say, well, we don't owe this to our residents. But as my colleague said, almost every community has some form of transportation. And so for me, some of the things that
were said, I'm a I appreciate what Commissioner Caps had said about the no fee and or the no fair. And Mr. Spicer is here. Uh he's our former fair manager of the county fair. So I'm sure he's when he keeps saying no fair, no fair,
we're talking about f. So, don't get nervous, Jay. Um, that being said, I think it bears repeating that people would Why would you give up the income? If we get a $2 million federal grant, they deduct whatever you
bring in in the fair. So, it's you're doing all of the effort. The driver, if you were talking about seconds count, um, making the announcement, I agree with you. I like the annunciation portion because most legitimate transportation, that's what they have.
You could also do it bilingual. And so I like that concept. And the more we can allow the driver to focus. But the biggest responsibility other than driving the bus for the driver is to become the fair collector. I don't have proper change. I got a thing. I my
card's not working. It's not 5 seconds. It's got to be way more than that. Then it's also now they have money on board as Commissioner Cap said. Now that money has to be kept secured. Then it's got to go back and be counted. And then someone as you had mentioned to me from a from the police department or the sheriff's
office has to come and collect the money as I see a city of Stewart police officer come and collect our money every day for 156,000. Besides the fact that it's not 156,000 it's taken right off the top of the
grant. And then in regards to what happens if the grant money runs out, I mean from what studies I have done, the federal government really takes public transportation as one of their core missions. I don't ever see unless we're in like the Great Depression, which then
would make public transportation even more important. I don't see until the government goes bankrupt, god forbid, that they were going to stop. There is a big push for transportation. The biggest issue that I hear from our constituents, the biggest complaint recently, there's
too much traffic. Martin County has too much traffic. It takes three times to get through a light cycle. There's too many cars on the road. It's it's as busy in the summer as it is in the winter. But we are bristling at any option other than let's not build any more houses and
let's stop anyone else from coming here and let's hope that the children that were raised here will go off to college or the military or somewhere else and never come back. That's that's our population strategy. The biggest and
easiest way in my mind to take down some of our traffic is to offer a legitimate public transportation system. We have no choice but to give these two experts uh super successful award-winning. I'm
sure the system up in Indian River is award-winning if I remember correctly. Yeah, you win the award. I knew that was a thing. >> How do we not give you a chance? I get that. I see the buses sometimes and they look like, you know, there's not a lot of people in them. Well, because
118,000 on all of the routes through all of the stops on every day for a year, you spread that out, it doesn't look like there's a lot of people. But I bet if you ask those people that the 118 that are using it, if we just said we're not going to do it anymore. I think that
when people pay their taxes in whatever form that is, public transportation should be part of it. And that's why there's five of us because maybe a couple of us will disagree with each other. That's how it works. But I am all in on giving you two the opportunity to
work with our professional staff to offer this service to residents. >> Thank you. >> Commissioners, we are either going to take an hour break for lunch or we're going to wrap up. I can wrap up. >> Your choice. >> Wrap. We got a motion and a second on a
no fair and the rest of this was was informational. >> Commissioner Heatherington, >> I'll be brief. Um, so it's always interesting hearing the different viewpoints. I think transit is absolutely necessary, but it has to be
efficient. So, um, thank you for the thorough presentation and, um, I enjoyed hearing it the other day when we met as well. So, I'll leave you with my thoughts that I wrote down is that I think that um again, it's necessary, but it has to be efficient. I think that and
that's certainly what you're trying to do. Um I think the larger buses are going to probably need to be phased out and retired and they don't seem to be working and um obviously you have presented some other options and in my opinion some of those other options are
probably going to be the future and um I think as far as new routes and adding things it you have to demonstrate the demand. So uh you have to to be able to and even some of the nonprofits have their various um writer carriers lift
you know if we can demonstrate the demand for that route then that's what I think is going to make us successful and then finally on the fair free and the block grant and I expressed this in our meeting the block grant is provided by the state is that correct
>> and that's where we recoup our fair revenue Now >> no >> no is recoup the >> the fair. >> Okay >> the state block is based on >> funding is tied to writership. >> Yeah.
>> Okay. So my concern is that the state is an ever evolving particularly this year in legislative sessions. I think we're going to see a lot of changes in funding. And what I would hate to have is that we start a fair free service and
then find out that we're not getting the block grants that we've gotten in the past because the state's reducing funding because of different limitations, property tax changes, things of that nature. And then now we either have to go back to charging
residents or take it out of our general funds. So that's my concern with jumping hastily into fair free and no one has a crystal ball. I know that the funding has traditionally been
there, but I'm I'm reluctant to just rely on that state funding. So I'll just I I mentioned that in our meeting and I mentioned that now because that's my concern. But um I think you've done a good job and I think that we can increase writership and we can do it
efficiently. Mr. Gordon, is that your light? >> Yes, it is. Um, I just wanted to clarify some numbers were thrown around. Um, the the county contribution for the program is $1 million a year. The contract is for two plus, but the um but the county
contribution, the local funds is only 1 million. >> Thank you. and and the proposal on the floor would be that it would be costneutral this year as the uh matching re the the federal grant would not be reduced because we would not be
collecting the fair. So I think that for this option um the uh fiscal impact uh would be no impact um and any reduction in um block grant would happen regardless of the fair reduction >> block grant is based on
>> so I just letting you know I think you would you are all right um in in considering that without impacting our budget for the year >> miss elder >> that's an old bite thank you >> commissioner Vargas >> okay so I understood did what you said,
Mr. Gorton. 1 million. I said 2 million. She said yes. So, I'm confused. We're talking about a million dollars there. Yeah. So, so the local contribution is 1 million. The um service is 2 million plus. So, those were the what the two
but that service is paid for by federal funds, state funds, and local funds. >> I I have those breakdowns here which I saw the other day. >> You know, I have to agree with Commissioner Heatherington. Um we we can't we can't backpedal on this. Um
we're all making assumptions and emotions about what is out there and what is always going to be. Things are changing very rapidly and um to depend on state and federal grants for this which is just clawing back our tax
dollars. We get it or somebody else does. I don't think that's a really wise business decision. And um I I do not agree about eliminating fairs at all. Not now. And I think that if you have
the experience, you say 20 years, then would you have a better plan for a county this size as to how this could work more efficiently fiscally? That's that's my job. At least that's my job. I would hope be the rest of my
commissioners also. Commissioner Caps, >> regarding Commissioner Heatherington's reservations about state funding. If, unless I misunderstood you,
if we got rid of our fairs and we lost the $156,000 a year, we would get it back from the federal government, right? Because the federal government would make up the difference. It's not a state government thing we need to be worried about. I
mean, there is this separate thing of the block grant going up with wrership, but that's that's sort of separate. We would get the 156 back from the federal government. >> And when you apply for a grant um and in this case $2 million, say um from the
feds, then um and they approve $2 million, that's what you would receive if you are there's no fair. If there was a fair, they take a look at you report how much fair you're receiving and that is what's reduced off
of that two million, >> right? >> You're not losing any money. They deduct it from the top, >> right? >> Send you less money. >> So, right, but we we would get we would get it right back, you know, uh from the federal government. Um so, you the state
thing is something different. Um, but you know, I think the biggest criticism for Marty is people don't feel like there are enough people on the buses. We've got the evidence right in front of us about how the wrership
would spike exponentially if we would just get rid of these little fairs. you know, it it may not I mean to people on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale, a few dollars is a big inhibitor. You know, I
I think of and I've I thought about a couple of other analogies. They kind of go into people's psychology when they have to just pay a few dollars for something. Um, like at Hopes Sound Beach. Hubound Beach is free, but we have North Beach
on the north end of Jupiter Island and you have to pay a little bit to go there and not hardly anybody wants to go there because it there's a fee involved when and and you know if it's free that you dive on that, you know, and uh another
analogy I thought about with fees is um for years I would have we would have to pay a fee to go into JD Park and then I finally got my annual pass and and Now it's kind of like mentally it's like free now. So I go a lot. Uh so uh I
think those it it's but but more than just what we think might work out. We have concrete evidence in front of us about what other counties have experienced when they get rid of the fair. Uh and I
I think we ought to uh give it a whirl and let's see what happens. Got a motion on the second. >> Would anyone from the public like to address us >> on the on the buses? >> Yeah. >> I didn't come here buses, but I'll throw in my likes to tell >> I'll roll the dice.
>> Got three minutes. >> Um what I James Crowley uh my comment about buses is um I feel like we're buying a blockbuster here in uh 1998 and it's going to be gone. you know, like uh
Elon Musk is creating uh self-driving. I use chat GTP and Grock on a regular basis. It's like what's what's going on here? Like we've been doing this for 50 years and we haven't solved the problem. And right now on the verge of this technological marvel, we think that another million dollars is going to
solve the problem. Like we can't keep doing the same thing over and over again and think we're going to get a better result. Like this isn't working. let's just quit it and try something entirely new and just totally invest in in self-driving cars and call up Elon and say send us down some robo taxis and
call up Whimo and say they can practice here in in Martin County. We'll be the first county to do it. Like like that's the only possible way we can serve all the people we need to serve. We're talking about poor people. I agree with all your points, but you're talking about it's kind of like we have a housing problem and we and we pass a million dollars towards like we'll give
people $10,000 grants and we helped 100 people. Like it's just it's a good political message, but it's not helping the people. Like let's help the people. Let's let's you know, the only way to help the people, it's like the war in Ukraine. The only way to help the Ukrainians is to change technology. Trenched warfare wasn't going to work.
They came up with drones and now they're winning. Or maybe they're not. I don't know. That's, you know, that's what I read. But u my point is like we need we need to do new things better, not old things as well as we did them in the past. That's my two cents on that. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> There's a motion and a second. All those
in favor I >> opposed. >> Opposed. >> That motion was at two. No, that motion passes 32 with commissioners Vargas and Heatherington opposing. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Let's take up uh our last item which is
department six. >> That would be me commissioners. >> Okay. So um just to let you know that uh you know there a law passed in uh Department of Justice issued new rules on April 24, 2024 for ADA compliance for
web content for governments. Um and uh we had two years from that date which is April 24, 2026. Um Mr. Stokus is helping with this and he'll jump in and uh correct me if anything needs to happen. But the issue is is that we're um
content on our web needs to uh is is needs to be in compliance with the ADA uh requirements. This agenda item is for necess for funding uh our building department uh for the um um if you could move that to the
recommendation. Donna, thank you. um uh for the amount of uh uh $28,000 for um uh software that will assist them in the documents. Uh Mr. Dohert's department is required to have online fillable documents and those documents
need to be ADA accessible. This uh system will we're going to be purchasing will help with that. It'll also assist us with um knowledge on how other um fillable documents that we use in other departments. In addition, there's an
additional 50,000 that is to help the other departments uh with these types of activities. Um uh I can tell you that um if we were trying to be best practices um in terms of um uh complying um uh
with this not only complying but doing uh uh the best in the industry um this request would be three times that amount with it with a full-time person. So the the purpose of this meeting is to give you a heads up on it and also let you know that my our goals in that are and
that is to do the minimum necessary to comply with this um uh with this requirement. If the board's direction is to do uh better than the minimum then your expenses from general fund reserves will need to be considered uh to be more than that. So things that are must be
considered uh um are that these requirements apply unless local governments can demonstrate that compliance will result in a fundamental alteration in a service, a program or an activity or create an undue financial and administrative burden. I would
expect that in the coming um months uh that we'll have additional guidance and additional experiences from other counties. Um, we will be reviewing uh there are a lot of different programs that get used on site that are maybe difficult or impossible to make ADA and
I'll use GIS as an example. You can log on and find out if you have an open road, all these other different materials. there may be a way that we can um that we can comply with the law, but it it essentially won't be ADA accessible because the it would take at
this point it's our interpretation that we would have to remove that service and I believe that would uh may qualify as an undue burden. Um those are the things that we were going to continue to explore and we will bring these back to you uh with an update probably in January on where we are with this. But
today's request is to uh at least keep up with the minimum requirements required by the Department of Justice. Uh and it is a require uh request to uh fund uh $78,000 uh $50,000 from general fund reserve
contingency and the building department at $28,000. And that I will answer any questions and if I don't know the answer, Mr. Stokus will save me. Commissioner Vargas. >> Yes. Okay. So, this is the minimum and
this will carry us forward to what point then? >> So, it it will get us through uh this first phase. Um I expect in in January we'll have an idea of whether this will be all that is necessary to comply. Uh
or I'll have to come back and ask for either one of two things. um the removal of certain documents and services from um use of the public or investment in other um um software and and systems so
that we can comply. That's but this this will allow us to get to that answer. I don't have the answer today whether this is enough uh to make all of our systems ADA compliant, but it will make certainly one that's critical that has to be on there, and that's our building
department um uh uh services that are required by law to be online. Uh and a few others beyond that. Um I'll be able to report back uh Mr. Stokus and I in and probably around January of one of two things. Whether we need additional
funds to bring other software services to make documents available or to advise you of what um systems or um um what information that we have available currently on the web that we will have to take off because they don't meet the
ADA requirements. >> Okay. And I also um recollect that um our aids had to attend training. >> Yes. >> To comply with this. And there may have been other departments also, but >> yes, >> my aid sure told me about it. >> Yes.
>> Is this part of the is it called orange system? Am I getting that right? No. Oh, I thought you were using that for your department. >> You made a report one time. You you know what I'm talking about. >> Is this orange? Mhm. >> Orange data is a separate contract that
came to the board and that was for research of uh >> uh our data for title companies and this is unrelated to that. >> Oh okay. So this would fall under this also right with the American Disabilities. >> Orange Data is a separate company. This
would be for our ADA compliance with our documents. >> Oh just your documents not theirs. Okay. No. >> Okay. All right. >> Move approval. Second. >> Any other questions, comments? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor?
I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. We've now remarkably come to the end of our meeting. Would anyone from the public like to address us? >> Awesome.
>> Thank you, Commissioner. Stop. >> So, I this whole pro I've been doing this for three years. I think I've gotten to know you pretty well. Um, I'm a mathematician. If you don't know who I am, I was a I taught mathematics at the University of Florida at Flaggler College in St. Augustine and at the
University of Pittsburgh. I became an engineer. Then I was in finance, etc., etc., and I ended up here. So, my point of in that is I'm very logical and very straightforward. I just read the rules and I and I um and then I got into real estate and I realized that the that the statutes don't matter as much as case law. So, then you have to start reading
case law. I've bought a lot of properties at tax auctions, uh, foreclosure auctions, and so you have to really dive into the statutes, but they don't, the interpretation matters more than the wording. And of course, we the developers want to interpret things our way, and the and the government or the alternate party wants to interpret
something else. I I want to emphasize the what happened with SP 102. So, the way that it used to happen in the past and and this is earlier you guys mentioned the case by Mr. Laor who's suing the county for density. And what happened in that case was um he found a way to get more density. You realized
that the the code the warning wasn't exactly right. And so December 23, you guys changed the rules and made it more clear that it was illegal. And that's the process that normally happens is you have this web and this net and you realize, oh, there's a hole. Let me fix it. And then and then we can't do anything again. But you don't know
there's a web and you don't know there's a hole until something escapes through it. And SP 180 has eliminated your ability to repair this net. And I I want you to let that sink in for a second. Is that if we the public can f we find loopholes in your rules, which are very
good for a a county the size of 160,000 people. You guys have spent an enormous amount of time on on growth management and I and it shows. Martin County is a fabulous place and I love it. And I've learned to understand the conflicts between the the two parties, the even the staff and the commissioners. We have different opinions. The legal I get all
that and I don't take any of it personally. It's part of the game. But I want to emphasize the fact that there's a big problem with your system now is that and what's happening is because there's no way to repair the net. You guys are like Stuart is almost doing you guys are pushing the envelope of
legality and it's popular legality. You know the people are like we don't want growth in development. We want to stop things. So there's a lot of people behind it but the law is still the law and the state is now on the side of the developers unfortunately for home rule. SB 102 started it. What they realized was you guys were changing the rules to
to plug the gaps and they said that's not going to work. SB180 came in and just shut the door absolutely closed. Now I have kind of like a hillbilly way of going through a lawsuits instead of having to normally you guys push the people and then it's too expensive to sue but I can just use the code
violation process. It's a cheap way of of having a lawsuit happen. I can just do something wrong. You guys can open a code case and then I can prove it at the co at the magistrate and he's on in cahoots with everybody else. but then I can have it be appealed. So, I have a cheap way of of pushing against this net. And if you don't know me by now,
I'm going to push against this net. But I've been begging and and pleading to cooperate. I think the way forward with SB 102 and SB180 is to just say, "Hey, we have problems. We can't fix them anymore. Recognize that and cooperate." >> Sir, your time is up. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you. >> Any further comments, commissioners? >> Just one. I'd like to thank my uh wish my colleague and our board chair a belated happy birthday. Her birthday was yesterday. Commissioner Herd, happy birthday to you. >> Birthday. >> Thank you.
>> We are adjourned.