--------- we are back and before we take up our next item which will be the the continuation of the ear amendments I believe we have some good news to impart do we yes good afternoon commissioners matt Graham assistant county administrator uh John mail is with me as well we just got back from um Palm Bay
where the governor announced um that we are going to be receiving two grants 12.5 million for Port Serno uh New Monrovia and then um another million for the S1 uh canal enhancements so very
good news so 12.5 million for Port Seno New Monrovia yes sir septic program tell us about S12 uh John Male environmental resource administrator so the S1 canal is a that
project is a project taking an existing county-owned uh conveyance system where we've got a little bit of real estate on the far side of where we have access to that's got um a a significant exotic removal issue and so we were kind of
looking at ways to try to address that and and then we had um a partner come forward and and suggest the concept of doing a channel enhancement within that drainage canal so using a conveyance system to achieve some water quality um outcomes while also addressing the um
the exotic removal element to that to that area so they're going to do that by creating some benching uh meandering the stream putting some material in the stream that's uh that's a uh a bioactivated media that helps remove nutrients and uh the neat thing about
this this concept is um when the when all the dust settles and we get through the uh procurement we we believe we'll have a a private public partnership where the county is contributing about 200,000 for 2 million plus project um
and it's also going to be the first time where we've uh partnered with FDAX um to fund a regional uh project that in involves agricultural drainage that's kind of a new thing with the state of Florida is um you know they they've tightened up uh best management
practices as much as they they feel they can and there's still issues to be addressed and so there's the concept is hey let's let's fund some regional projects where we deal with that water as as a public and we're going to be one of the first partners in in a project like that was that part of the the uh
resilience study that we we received um it it was part and parcel to a countywide water quality needs assessment that we updated in 2020 um that's where we identified the opportunity to do some channel enhancement which would put water
quality features into existing drainage and so this will be the first project where we actually do something in that program great news thank you gentlemen yeah fantastic good work of course the new Monroia it's a big deal to hear
and it certainly is a big deal for the new Monrovia septic to sewer project that's uh we've been you know working on that for several years so that'll make a significant difference in that neighborhood so we'll be bringing back to you um uh that program and uh what we
anticipate uh any assessments might need to be on that to get that uh our goal was to get it under under 10,000 per per resident and we'll have to rebid that right that's correct i think we're talking about a thousand homes right
thousand prop 850 properties 850 homes that's fantastic it is a big deal mhm excellent job as usual what are the bids coming in like these days receptic let's keep this positive
right no they out of the sewer no no it it they have come up we've been anticipating you know we're we're we're looking to to to keep our projects on the goal that you've set um prices have gone up on utility projects over the last several years you know after the
great rec you know after after COVID they went up by about 50% they've still been going up about 10% per year but not at the rapid rate they did a few years ago so we're we're adjusting to it great okay let's take up number public
hearing number four which is an earbased amendment 24-01 preamble good afternoon commissioners uh Jenna Nabi senior planner with the growth management department and I have Clyde Doulan comprehensive planning administrator with me so this is a
request to reopen the public hearing for uh chapter 1 preamble of the comprehensive growth management plan based upon the 2024 year and the main changes in chapter 1 were relating to the uh residential capacity
methodology um and since the vote that you took this morning on chapter 4 um wants to keep the language as it currently exists in the comp plan today the changes in chapter 1 will be uh the same direction to keep it as it exists
today and uh let me go to that page specifically page 1317 yes ma'am thank you so all of this strike and underline in section 1.7B here will u not we recommend based
on your direction that it it be removed and the text remain as it is today and then uh in 1.7C the same sort of direction um but with the highlighted language here uh we recommend that it's
the 10 and the 20-year planning period and um that the 15-year planning period would not be specified and that the 10 and the 20 year is consistent with Florida statute so that concludes our overview again based on the direction in
chapter 4 there really are no changes in chapter 1 and uh we would recommend approval and uh available for any questions questions commissioner Caps um move approval of staff recommendation of proposed changes in a way that is
consistent with the way we just voted on chapter 4 future land use second there's a motion and a second is there any public comment there's a motion and a second all those in favor i opposed that motion passes
unanimously see public hearing number five is a legislative public hearing to consider adoption of ear amendment 24-2 overall goals and definitions miss Na'vi thank you jenna Nabi senior planner with
the growth management department and this is a text amendment to chapter 2 overall goals and definitions of the comprehensive growth management plan based upon the 2024 year and let me get to the staff
report so number 11 here uh we originally had proposed to have the definition for housing units and actual use uh be deleted consistent with the changes in one and four however based on your direction this definition for
housing units and actual use would be retained and it would not be deleted and then same thing with number 16 and 17 here the definition for seasonal house seasonal population housing would remain as is and no revisions to the definition
and uh vacant seasonal housing units would also be retained as it exists today based on the direction in chapter 4 and chapter 1 and we also recommend in uh policy 2.4C1
here that uh the text remain as we're proposing for the 20-year planning period to be consistent with Florida statute and this staff analysis note as with um the rest of the chapters in the year these would all be removed prior to adoption and everything that's just for
your uh clarity and reviewing these items but this would also we're recommending uh the 20-year planning period be adopted and that concludes stat presentation all other changes shown in two are discussed in chapter in the staff report uh they
are minor changes questions for Miss Nabi mr campy move to accept staff's recommendation with the changes or the other issues that our staff just mentioned second
is there a second second is there any public comment there's a motion and a second all those in favor i opposed that motion passes unanimously uh next public hearing is number six a legislative public hearing to consider
adoption of ear amendment 24-03 intergovernmental coordination element hello again Clyde Doulan for the record with me is Stephanie Height with the Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council the RPC helped us with chapter 6
I'm chap sorry chapter 3 6 16 and 17 um there are u all of the changes this is I'm sorry I should this is a reopening of or or continuation of a hearing public hearing started earlier and uh so
we have made the presentation on this uh already and uh we're available for any questions there are a couple of minor changes um let's go to 1924 19
Whoops so based upon action on March 11 oh no February sorry February uh this this text has been revised to describe the environmental lands oversight committee uh thanks to help from legal department in drafting this text uh to
update it the staff this is a change post since the report was issued and um but I think this will be a minor change that the state agencies will have no problem with we may recommend the approval to this
and then another change on 1929 the town of Jupiter Island and Martin County um completed an interlocal agreement and so we are recognizing that revised interlocal agreement here in
this uh policy 3.1E4 uh the board voted and approved this this interlocal March 11 these are the two changes I think that have the only two that have happened since the uh the public hearing was conducted previously and uh we would
recommend approval of uh the proposed changes to chapter 3 that concludes staff presentation questions for staff is there any public comment any inclination to continue this item
oh go ahead commissioner Campy thank you uh I would make a motion that we Are we still continuing to the end of the day no we're approving we're approving i would make a motion that we approve this agenda item as presented by staff second
there's a motion and a second commissioner Caps that's all i was going to do the second that I'm good okay there's a motion in a second all those in favor i opposed that motion c passes unanimously we will now pick up public hearing
number seven a legislative public hearing to consider adoption of ear amendment 24-06 housing element um I will uh turn it over to Stephanie do you have um which item there's a new piece of text um no I think um what
we're going to do is um again this is a reopening of the public hearing to approve this um a continuation from February 25th um uh due to your um earlier vote on the future land use element there was alternative text that what had been
presented related to the vacant residential land use um that will be stricken it will remain as is and then we'll also change um uh the planning period to be a 20-year planning period that's on 2269 but that alternative text I believe
will be stricken the alternative text will not is not is not going to be yeah so we just have the the 20-year planning period there in that paragraph questions for staff just just one other um clarification from the February
meeting you had asked us on um policy 61D37 just to um clarify that it's Florida statutes that's being um that's on page 2274 that Florida statutes is what's being referenced into that new policy okay any questions any public
comment any inclination to approve i will move staff's recommendation for approval and adoption second there's a motion and a second all those in favor i I opposed that motion passes
unanimously now 16 uh this is a continuation of a public hearing that was opened uh previously uh I don't believe we have uh there was just one recommendation at February the board had asked us to um we had
referenced in one of the policies um a particular project to support um the Steuart High School building um the chair had asked that we consider that um not being so specific in that and make it more general we did check with Nancy Terrell at Martin Arts and she's that be fine if that was removed so um we're
just recommending that that previously recommended um text not be um added to the adopted any questions remains unchanged yes the text will remain unchanged is there any public comment
i would make a motion to accept staff's recommendation for adoption as presented with the change about the Steuart High School second there's a motion and a second all those in favor i I opposed that motion passes unanimously
next is public hearing number nine legislative public hearing to consider adoption of ear amendment 24-17 public schools facility element you have anything uh no actually um this is a continuation of a previously open public hearing uh we have no
additional changes to discuss um staff recommends approval of adoption of uh chapter 17 and public hearing nine questions for staff is there any public comment is there a motion to uh adopt ear
amendment 24-17 move approval second there's a motion and a second all those in favor i opposed that motion passes unanimously next up is public hearing number 10 which is a legislative public
hearing to consider adoption of ear amendment 24-05 transportation element u normally you see people running we can take up uh public hearing on 11 which is a
legislative public hearing to consider adoption of your amendment uh 24-07 i think they're ready for chapter 5 okay anywhere running take up the transportation element
is this old no no i'm sorry that's new no no no no it's not proceed please good afternoon i'm Michael Rosulka the county engineer uh transportation element um chapter 5 we have there's only been one change made
since our last meeting and it was in reference to the dredging of the manatee pocket deeper that has been stricken from this um edition the other changes in the transportation element really a lot of it were updates and the several items with you know bringing up to
current standards with um the DOT changing their context classifications and um adding the whole element for pedestrian and bicycle safety okay I don't know if you have any questions or questions for
staff is there any public comment is there a motion for adoption so moved there's a motion second and a second all those in favor i opposed opposed that motion passes 3 to two with
commissioners Vargas and her dissenting uh next up is public hearing number 11 which is a legislative public hearing to consider adoption of ear amendment 24-7 the recreation element uh Clyde Dulan for the record uh this is a continuation of a public
hearing opened earlier uh there are minor changes proposed in chapter 7 uh recreation element 3567 uh there's some references to a feasibility studies that are um shown stricken there's a proposed policy
change acknowledging the fact that the capital improvements planning results in a review of beach access every year instead of every five years um there's removing the requirement for a beach studying beach users place of origin um and there's recognition of the village
of Indiantown uh along with the city of Stewart and the school board for joint use of recreation facilities um staff recommends approval of the proposed changes to chapter 7 recreation element questions for staff is there any public
comments is there a motion to adopt the recreation element i'll move that we adopt the rec uh recreation element i will second that motion there's a motion and a second all those in favor i I opposed that motion passes unanimously
next up is public hearing number 12 a legislative public hearing to consider adoption of of uh ear amendment 24-08 coastal management elements do actor It would be it would have been so easy
go along i think that's stolen valor we're giving you an honorarium so people are still calling it to me it's okay letters i'll take it go to graduations now where are you now
all right good afternoon commissioners samantha Love Lady principal planner with growth management department this is um a plan amendment that was continued to today um on chapter 8
coastal management element and I have Amy Een with me Dr amy and um do you want to go over any changes or do do you have any questions any questions no questions yes I do oh
Commissioner Heatherington so referenced in here is the 2021 that's the first time we did the SLR right in 2021 is that the first time the county ever implemented a SLR um so in here
it's referenced the 2021 SLR how often will that be updated it is being updated right now so I have the final one right now in my review it is fully funded by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection
and it will be submitted to them um pretty soon as soon as I finish my review and then will be presented to the commission um before so the project priorities then you know although they're identified and probably are long-standing project priorities they
will be updated yeah so the so what I'm doing in the the report is I'm going to put all of our current projects the things that haven't been done in the last report um things that are thought about coming up as long as well as looking at our current CIP seeing which
infrastructure does not comply or is is vulnerable under the sea level rise projections so I'm going to add those projects in there along with any other adaptation that we foresee to come in the future because by putting the projects in this vulnerability
assessment that sets us up to re receive resilient Florida grant money if it's not in the report we're not going to get grant money so um those projects will be updated um and there will be a clause in there so that we're not constantly
updating this report because the state continues to change their statute um there there'll be a clause in there that says that our CIP will be reviewed every year and any CIP projects that are considered within those vulnerable areas
will be automatically included in our vulnerability assessment okay so then the CIP then will control the funding so the SLR will lay out the priorities and now it's being referenced in this section of the the comp plan and then as we go through the CIP process that's
where we're going to prioritize the projects therefore if the board changes its priorities that would be done in the CIP not necessarily in the SLR correct and and then um there is also a fully funded um adaptation plan that is going
to go along with it at the same time it's it's interesting that the state wants the projects in the vulnerability assessment because that's really the report that tells you what assets are vulnerable versus what projects to do to keep those assets from being vulnerable so there's an adaptation plan that is
going to be done at the same time um well not the same time will be done uh this year and we'll be at like final draft by December um to comply with those grant funds and then that will set up everything moving forward okay and so
for if for some unfortunate reason there the grant the state is not funding some of these resiliency projects we would adapt our CIP accordingly for prioritization i mean the idea is to look at your infrastructure that's um
vulnerable and look as well as the lifespan of that infrastructure and see when you start to hit those vulnerabilities so you're planning ahead so you want to get those that infrastructure that is critically vulnerable now you know prioritized first and then as you look at the
lifespan of infrastructure let's say roads for instance that's typically a 20-year lifespan if in 2045 that road becomes vulnerable you want to make sure that the design of that road when it comes up is designed for the next cycle
of sea level rise okay so I I think that answered my question i wanted to make sure there was a mechanism of changing the prioritization in the SLR or in the CIP without um coming back to an amendment to the plan so yeah to the
vulnerability assessment now now once we adopt our next vulnerability assessment which is soon I I indicated at the last time I was here that I'd probably have to change the comp plan to say the new document yeah so that it's so that it's
there yes okay thank you any further questions uh any public comments is there a motion to adopt i would make a motion to adopt uh
approve and adopt this agenda item as per staff's recommendation second there's a motion and a second and I still have uh reservations about shorelines
shoreline hardening particularly so I'm not going to be supporting the motion so there's a motion and a second all those in favor i opposed opposed that motion passes 32 with commissioners Vargas and her dissenting next is public hearing
number 13 which is a legislative public hearing to consider adoption of the ear amendment 24-09 conservation and open space good afternoon Commissioner Samantha Love Lady with Growth Management Department and do you want to do this
okay so the only there are a couple changes that were made since the last time we changed this policy let me see if I can get that bigger for you it changed the public land
acquisition program to the environmental lands oversight committee and we have updated table-9-1 we um met with the parks department and um the
conservation people and we've updated the names on some of them um the city strip got that's no longer there ours and then um like Jensen
Beach several of those were combined and with that I'll take any questions has Palmar been updated with the latest information uh I don't believe we change needed to change that well we just acquired some
some property is that included uh it does not reflect this the the swap to which I think you're referring i am I'm sorry should we It does reflect the the exchange
i was not aware okay well I want to thank real property uh uh staff and uh park staff for sitting down and going back over this table with us and and uh making substantial changes commissioner Vargas I know that was my
question should we consider that you know request that information be put in from the Palmar swap that we just completed we just approved of rather i didn't know further questions for staff is there any public
comment is there a motion to approve i'll move um staff's recommendation to adopt second there's a motion and a second all those in favor i opposed that motion passes
unanimously public hearing number 14 is a legislative public hearing to amend uh to adopt ear amendment 24-10 uh sanitary sewer services elements
yes ma'am the um biggest change is this um the planning horizon we added a 10-year planning horizon for um the physibility of providing and then
a um new future construction and connections of on-site sewage and disposal system to Santa Secretary Ser currently on a 20 year or more planning horizon questions for staff um I'm on page 4656
uh on table 10-2 so we don't have any planning projections for um the city of Stewart or South Martin or the village of Indiantown
can you say that again please we don't have any projections for 2035 or 2045 so in other words we don't have the 10 year and we don't have the 20 year no ma'am why my understand we reached out to them and
uh we didn't get a response back okay okay any questions for staff any public comment commissioner Campy i'd make a motion to accept and approve staff's recommendation as presented with the Was
there a minor change no change just that one policy change yes with that one policy change thank you so much and that was on the 20 the planning horizons yes there's a motion to approve
and a second all those in favor i I oppos that motion passes unanimously thank you next is public hearing number 15 a legislative public hearing to consider adoption of ear amendment 24- Right want me to take over
please uh public hearing number 15 legislative public hearing to consider adoption of an evaluation and appraisal report based comprehensive plan amendment 24-11 chapter 11 portable water services element 10-year water supply facilities work plan a text
amendment presented by utilities staff and Samantha love lady you are recognized see how smooth that transition from chair to vice chair was transition of power just like that and we should call you doctor too right yeah I hardly knew
meanwhile we should make sure the commissioner heard us yes okay um afternoon Samantha Love Lady Growth Management Department and I have Miss Anne Murray with me from Martin County Utilities she's the county hydro
geologist and the there's one change again it's for um that 10 15 and 20 year planning period
so I'm taking that to have direction that the 15 will come out based on this morning I believe so so there's consistency yes and other changes are to figures 1 11 and 11 two
regarding um the service regional utilities service areas and um this is changed because of the March 11th approval of the interlocal agreement with the town of Jupiter Island and
South Martin Regional Utilities this is 111 and this is 112 which is the reflection of the interlocal and with that staff recommends approval thank you questions for
staff seeing none anyone from the audience looking to address us also seeing none back to the board i will move staff's recommendation for adoption thank you second thank you we have a motion by Commissioner Heatherington for
staff's recommendation seconded by Commissioner Caps all those in favor i I all those opposed the motion carries 4 Z with Commissioner Herd temporarily absent public hearing number 16 legislative public hearing to consider adoption and
of evaluation and appraisal report based comprehensive plan amendment 24-12 chapter 12 solid and hazardous waste a text amendment be presented by Miss Samantha Love Lady and utility staff you get bundled and into utility staff thank
you you are recognized good afternoon samantha Love Lady growth management department i'm here with Mr ammerson from the utilities director and there have not been any changes since
um the since your last public hearing on this element with that staff recommends approval 16 yeah any questions for staff any public comments is there a motion to approve
i'll move staff's recommendation for adoption i will second it there's a motion and a second all those in favor i I opposed that motion passes unanimously thank you we voted on 15 are you okay with that
yep okay good afternoon Samantha Love Lady Growth Management i'm here with Amy Een again and are is there anything you want to go over i don't believe there are any changes yeah there's no other changes uh
last time when we presented it we mentioned that um when it originally went up to the state the last part of this element um section 13.6 was missing but then we had responses from the state that we had no comments so we made sure that it was included for this adoption
okay we appreciate that we're doing a little bounce back um questions for staff any public comment seeing none I'd entertain a motion i will move staff's recommendation for adoption second thank
you we have a motion by Commissioner Heatherington seconded by Commissioner Caps for public hearing number 17 the year for the chapter 13 drainage and natural groundwater aquifer recharge element uh all those in favor i I all
those opposed that motion that motion carries four to zero with Commissioner Herd temporarily absent thank you thank you very much our next agenda item public hearing number 18 excuse me Commissioner can we go back to chapter 14 and public hearing
number two and wrap up the whole year because we continued that one oh I see chapter 18 is a whole new story yes chapter 14 or four 14 we're going to go back we had um
continued it public hearing number 14 legislative public hearing to consider adoption of a valuation and appraisal report base comprehensive plan amendment 2410 chapter 10 sanitary sewer services element a text amendment it's ch it's
public hearing two public hearing number two did I read the wrong one just now i thought you said 14 well it's it's chapter 14 oh chapter 14 public hearing number two you're back public hearing number two
we had continued it from earlier okay so you have to announce it and then we're coming back to it because we are wrapping this we are coming back to public hearing ah number two uh which is a legislative public hearing to consider consider adoption of earbased amendment
24-14 capital improvements element anything else you'd like to add to that or No I'm just here for comments thank you Samantha Love Lady any public comments is there a motion to adopt i'm willing
to make a motion is there anything else that needs to be discussed with this no we just continued it um contingent on chapter 4 getting adopted so we're just coming back there was no changes thank you i would make a motion to accept staff's recommendation as presented second there's a motion and a second is
there any public comment all those in favor i I opposed opposed that motion pass fails or that motion passes 4 to1 with Commissioner Herd desenting we'll now take a public hearing number three which is a
legislative public hearing to consider adoption of ear amendment 24-04 chapter 4 the future land use element we voted on that one that one's been voted on it has yes okay that was adopted i thought it was continued to No that was adopted so we're on public hearing
18 in order of the agenda okay number 18 is a legislative public hearing to consider transmitt of comprehensive plan amendment uh 23-03 Sunrise Grove a future land use
map amendment is that an old light no I'm behind okay good afternoon commissioners samantha Love Lady with the Growth Management Department this is CPA 2303 Sunrise
Grove a future land use map amendment it is requested by Martin Triangle Property the proposed future land use map amendment is for 205 acres of agricultural ranch chet to the act future land use
designation which Sunrise Groves is in parenthesis here because the text amendment companion to this um is requesting to change the name to Sunrise Grove the ACT future land use
designation created was created in 2010 on 1717 acres no developed acreage at there's no developed acreage at this time it has one approved PUD within 7.66
acres and adding 205 acres with the future future land use map amendment will result in a total of 1,922 acres this is the existing future land use map and this is the
agranchet the property is outlined in red and this is the proposed future land use which would be the same hatching as the act future land use the property is located west of I95
and north of southwest Martin Highway there is a separate text amendment to um create a 200 um to to add 205 acres to the ACT freestanding urban service district in section 2.1 of the staff
report one out of four criteria for the future land use map amendment have been met in section 2.2 two urban sprawl 10 out of the 13 criteria um have been
met saying that it does not create urban sprawl and in section 2.2.1 proliferation of sprawl seven out of eight criteria have been met that says this does not proliferate
sprawl and again the name is being requested to change to Sunrise Grow and one thing to consider is that um it keeps the same performance measure with um no increase in intensity for what
they've already been approved and staff recommendation is for a motion to transmit CPA 2303 Sunrise Grove on February 20th the local planning agency voted three to one to recommend approval and I'll take any
questions you may have questions applicant i do have a brief PowerPoint for the record my name is Morris Krady senior partner with Leo and Associates and we did uh advert or send out the notices and and provided those at the LPA public
hearing um and we did send out over 222 notices to surrounding property hunters and I have talked to one property owner that happens to be directly adjacent to our um south west corner and um she has no objection to this request after
learning about the details and and she lives right here actually is the lady that I'm talking about but as was mentioned uh this is an addition to Sun to Act and we're changing the name from Sunrise Grove based on the new ownership by Ashley
Capital and the 205 acres that we're adding is is an enclave right now stuck between the um I95 ride ofway and the act existing land use and just to give you some other context here this is Citrus Boulevard um this is Newfield that's under construction this aerial
doesn't show it but there is a lot of construction going on right here and I was uh able to walk the Kipinger trails um in this area which is outstanding set of trails um that that was was built and and and really this this project Sunrise Grove or Eg by the previous owner which
was King Ranch was was something that was done in 2010 during the great recession and uh also in response to uh canker and and greening that occurred on the property so you know the entire site is is impacted and uh and and and one of the things that we were looking at at
the time um and the county considered at the time was its proximity to our neighbors to the north which is the city of Port St lucy and if you as you can see here this is the old GDC platted lots that they've been dealing with for years um and and and this is the newer
development and one of the things they they they've accomplished over the last 10 years since this application is or since ACT was created 15 years ago is they have have a successful um um jobs corridor so there there's a lot of
employment opportunities here um and and and and they've been doing very well so uh the original developer worked out an arrangement uh with the city of Port St lucy to bring water and sewer to the site uh west of 95 through the city of
Port St lucy and they're also going to build a connector road so they've been in negotiations to build a connector road to Becker Road so that um so that this economic opportunity that started in Port St lucy can bleed into Martin County and we can capture some of that
adorum tax base um with new economic opportunity and as you can see that the the the u the the initial development will probably start from the north to the south given the proximity to Becker Road and and the the the water and sewer and the and the the connector road
that's being built so the so we we're not changing the original intent of tech this is the language exactly from the comprehensive plan um it was intended to allow the continuation of of agricultural opportunity support development of targeted businesses uh
increase tax base and employment opportunities and facilitate environmental enhancement through the protection of common open space uh and restoration of natural systems while protecting and enhancing the martin grade scenic corridor so all we're doing to these policies in the in the is
changing the name from ACT to Sunrise Grove um this is the existing land use map again you can see the the mixeduse village within the uh new field project here there are industrial properties um the the the uh 7JS or Poma industrial is
here um and again the Agaranchet that we're adding to a tech is located in this area so this is the existing freestanding urban service districts in the area um again this is the primary urban service district that was created
by Newfield um this is the uh 7JS freestanding urban service district Martin Commerce Park that was recently added and we're uh accessing the existing ACT freestanding urban service to add the 205 acres and you can see in the 205 acres um this is a a a borrow
pit that was dug by DOT uh during the construction of I95 in the um in 1986 i believe it was completed 1988 but what's interesting is that none of this um was here when the comp plan was adopted in
1982 i95 didn't exist so that's really the big change that occurred since the land use was created years ago and the fact that a tech now is creating an enclave um you know just makes it a a natural connection or a a change to make
that land use consistent with ACT so really the only usable area is this area right here um and it's without a tech uh access to this site would be very difficult and uh would would would the only other permitted uses would be agricultural ranchettes and homes right
on 95 between tech or any type of ranch use would not be compatible I don't believe with with what's changed over the years so all we're doing with this text amendment is changing the name we're we're we're also adding the 205 acres as a freestanding urban service district
and um and what that does is we're increasing the minimum open space in the site by 105 acres from 817 acres to 939 acres uh we're increasing the non-aggricultural urban development and that's the area where we can put actual
buildings and and and an urban type of development by 105 acres or I'm sorry by by 100 acres from 900 acres to 1,000 acres and we're adding a use uh which is vehicle manufacturing sales and service so
that's the only change uh to the text what we do what we are not doing is we're not increasing the maximum allowable is this the flu well I it it's all related i think I have to have to kind of do it all at once because they're they're they're
integrated and this is the same presentation that we had before the LPA so I'm just going to give one presentation and and and then I don't need to do a presentation for the text um because they're all kind of interrelated if I may if I may proceed um so we're not changing the maximum even though we're adding 205 acres we're
not changing the maximum allowable intensity of development um okay all right i'll come back to I'll come back to this well no it's it's on that same It's on the same It's only two slides it's on
the same uh Hang on to them oh gotcha let me see how do we go down here so as far as the uh the the future land use amendment is concerned you have four criteria in my opinion we meet two the county staff you only need one to to
approve the the land use map amendment and we all agree that the past changes in land use designations in the general area make the proposed use consistent and that's ACT but I also think the growth in the area also supports the application especially the growth to the north in the city of Port St lucy it
does it has altered the character of the land and makes this site now suitable for economic development and so as as was mentioned we meet 10 of the 13 uh applicable indicators for uh that discourage the proliferation of urban sprawl and we meet uh the the additional
criteria within um that section of the code seven of the eight indicators that also discourage the proliferation of of um urban sprawl and again you know I can't say enough about Ashley Capital King Ranch at the time when this was approved uh
they didn't have the experience or the wherewithal to actually make this project happen um the times that have passed and now that with a new owner um Ashley Capital has the uh um proven track record uh track record and a commitment to quality that I think can
bring this project to fruition and and create the types of um advalorum tax base that the county has been seeking and with that understanding I'll be glad to answer any questions and then we can go on to the text amendment in the next application
question for the applicant i have some some comments to make um the 2023 commercial and industrial study that we undertook concluded that um Martin County had twice as much vacant
industrial as we do developed industrial therefore any increase in industrial would be a mistake a mistake that we should not make furthermore a tech was created in 2010 it's still undeveloped
which tells me that that change to a tech was a mistake that we should not add on to um there are four criteria for uh uh creating a future land use amendment the first is that pa past changes in land
use designations in the general area make the proposed use logical and consistent with these uses and there's adequate availability of public services definitely does not meet that two that the growth in the area in terms of development of vacant land redevelopment and availability of public
public services has altered the character of the area such that the proposed request is now reasonable and consistent with area land use characterist characteristics still undevel undeveloped land so it has not met that criteria that the proposed change would correct what was otherwise
what would otherwise appear to be an inappropriately assigned land use designation the inappropriately assigned land use designation is a tech and that the proposed change would meet a necessary public service need which enhances the health safety or
general welfare of county residents it does not meet any of those requirements therefore does not qualify for a comp plan amendment it is the tech textbook definition of urban sprawl it's the prolifer proliferation of urban
sprawl and what are our policies uh regarding expanding freestanding urban service boundaries i don't believe we have any about then how could you make that how could you make a recommendation to expand the freestanding urban service boundary if
we don't have any policies directing how we when we should expand a freestanding urban service boundary what I'm what I mean is that um there are no current policies that restrict an expansion
so we can expand the all the free all the four freestanding urban service boundaries have no limits to their expansion that's up to the commissioners that's up to you well what's the policy current policy because you're
making a recommendation to expand a freestanding urban service boundary which is a mistake and the fact that it was approved in 2010 and still remains undeveloped confirms that that was a mistake as I said we don't have any policies
that restrict an expansion at this time thank you Commissioner Campy thank you Chair with all due respect this is uh a historic example of where
you and I agree to disagree i'll I was here then for a tech in 2010 i'll give u brief history lesson for the folks that are newer to this situation uh citrus canker and greening rendered this
property useless for its intended agricultural use um so King Ranch which um people might be familiar with it's a pickup truck uh trim model based on a ranch in Texas
one of the largest ranches in the United States probably in the world i've heard it compared that the King Ranch is equal to the size of the state of Rhode Island uh so they were also at the time one of the largest private property owners in Martin County so when you're
thinking about like who could step in and create a situation like this to make a successful run at it it would have been King Ranch or Consolidated Citrus uh Mitch Hudgecraft was sort of leading the charge at the time a real classy gentleman got his head handed to him by
the opposition which was strong at the time very strong opposition um that just hated any type of a change i voted for it because I figured if anyone could pull it off especially how difficult it is to to encourage uh
businesses to come to Martin County or expand in Martin County based on how challenging we make the process and sometimes rightfully so uh they were the right ones it was not their fault that a global recession especially hard-hitting here in the United States that has now
been termed the Great Recession i don't begrudge them for that i don't use that as a aha look it didn't work um hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars spent for that process then magically we are so
fortunate as a community to have someone else take a look at that property and say "Maybe there's something I can do." Now without beating the drum for Ashley Capital if I've said this in the past it's very simple all you need to do is Google Ashley Capital
couple of partners uh run their whole entire operation completely different they don't purchase build and flip they don't purchase and flip they purchase they construct design construct and lease the highest level uh class A
tenant leasable space that you can find and then they maintain it themselves uh for them to come in and step in to do this they are absolutely the right people so with all due respect to my colleague when she says tech
didn't work so it will never ever work I don't see that as being really a fair assessment of what the future would look like and if that were the case should the rest of us throw our hands up and say I guess we're not going to do anything ever again we'll just let that property they can continue to pay taxes
on it but we won't do anything today so this a tech versus should this be a site of industrial development or not has been long uh debated many many times in this very room and elsewhere in the
community i'm for it um the recession and COVID has taken big chunks of the last decade or 15 years out of this process let's talk about and I would prefer Miss Love Lady if you could go back to the slide i think it might have
been in your presentation Mr kdy where you showed what's happening north of our county line can you go back to it please or do you have the ability to show it that now we obviously all know what Port St lucy looks like the portion that's
Becker Road believe it or not that's not a quilt that's actually neighborhoods that's how close those homes are to each other but where it says jobs corridor to the left or the west of I95 that big green open space this is probably an older aerial a lot of that has been
developed so people say "Well we don't want the traffic we don't want the commuting happening through our county." They in St lucy and Port St lucy they are eating our lunch in terms of luring and expanding businesses
businesses from the south of us in Palm Beach County i'll give you an example Cheney Brothers they bypassed they hopcotched right over Martin County into St lucy County i would guess tens or hundreds of their employees are now
traveling through the entire Martin County on their way to St lucy County so in terms of hey we're going to try to knock traffic down or eliminate truck traffic or anything else we're not doing that they're passing right through our
community what they're taking with them is all the tax base so if you said "Well I don't want anything else to happen in Martin County." I get that concept nobody wants anything else to happen to here but we also expect and deserve a very high level of services we had the sheriff's
office here this morning fire rescue's been here uh some of our new colleagues are really rightfully so right on the fact that we need additional fire rescue services we are going to need fire stations um this particular applicant in
a different portion but to speak to the benefit of the corporation that's willing to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in our community they're willing to participate they're not just you know hey some out ofstate hedge fund that is looking to do
business and just cash out on our residents they're completely invested in our community hired locals to work on this project if we don't do something in this exact corridor then everything goes into St lucy County with all the tax dollars you've heard me say before that
we are completely lopsided in our tax base residents want high level of services but they can't write the check for every single one of them most um sort of balanced out communities economic communities understand you have
to have a larger percentage of commercial and industrial uh 10 15 20% depending on who you speak to we're in the low single digits here meaning the burden of taxation is completely on residents here we have an opportunity in
what I would think it's in my district i think it's in a in a perfectly located imagine trucks coming and going directly off one of the busiest roads in the United States of America right onto this property yes they're asking for the 205
to be included into the existing previous uh designation i have walked that property with the previous owner he's a local guy from Palm City he's owned it for a long time uh he has over the last 10 years
presented to me dozens of what he would consider great ideas most of them just having heard them I would tell them that's a terrible idea that would never fly the folks in Steuart West and Cobblestone would never go for that and
then he would come up with another one and look people were interested and I'd say that would never work and then it would die and it would die so he finally got an opportunity to sell those 205 acres to Ashley Capital to turn it into hopefully Sunrise Grove
and to incorporate it into this I think a beautiful uh potential project for Sunrise Grove and Ashley Capital to bring businesses that we can be proud of we're employing our residents we're building a tax base
we're not stressing out our infrastructure these folks that are going to work here are not run into the beaches the libraries the school districts it's we heard Jenny Fields this morning talk about 3% cap it's not the same and where a majority of this
tax base will come from is TPP tangible personal property that they're paying not so much for the real estate taxes they're paying for the equipment that's located within these buildings i personally think and would hope that the five of us would roll the red carpet
out for someone willing to come to our community invest hundreds of millions of dollars to even up our tax base and and lessen the burden on our residents by creating a project just like this it was appropriate in 2010 we just had someone
that through no fault of their own couldn't figure out how to do it we have someone that is proven one of the top businesses in the United States willing to do this right here the principal is sitting in this very room listening to the ups and downs
and the barbs and how ridiculous this could be from colleagues and I want him to also hear that some of us are very very appreciative that he would take this chance on our community and so with that I would happily make a motion to
accept staff's recommendation thank you Commissioner Heatherington i was going to ask the applicant for a brief uh historical account but I think Commissioner Campy just gave the brief historical account on how um because I
wrote down a couple notes about why it was undeveloped for 2010 which I've I've had a chance to meet with the applicant a number of times and that was my first question why now and there was also supposed to be a transportation corridor that went through that area and I sat on
several transportation meetings where um St lucy County they approved a development that completely blocked that transportation corridor from coming through there and I know that the owner of the property had been working
diligently to get us a connection um for that transportation corridor as well as their utilities so I I don't think I need the applicant to go through the the background since um Commissioner Campy just did i will say too that I think
that a ranchet next to it that was approved in 2010 this land use and the 205 acres next to it a ranchet to me would not um fit right next to I95 and then the jobs corridor and you just
summarized you know the importance of the economic diversity in our county and I will say like firsthand part of the reason that I'm sitting up here is because at times Martin County has had a lack of economic diversity because we've
been afraid to implement a policy that might um impact industrial areas or growth and if we look at what has happened somewhat in Indian town US cogen came you know years and years ago
um there was an that was an industrial area that hired hundreds of employees well we know that's gone fpnl that plant is gone those are hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of jobs that disappeared over the last 20 years not to mention
that we've lost all of our citrus and that those kind of jobs but those jobs that disappear those people are generational residents that are leaving this area and I one in particular happens to
be my sister and her husband they had jobs at those plants and they had to move to Pennsylvania because we had not even in the surrounding areas we had no additional jobs so that and they're not
coming back they're not coming back now they've established roots and families and their grandchildren and they would have rather stayed right here in Martin County and taken those jobs so I will support the creation of good jobs and
economic diversity in our economy because not only is it good for the taxpayer it's good for our residents it's good for our families this makes sense to me to incorporate it and it's right on 95 it doesn't make sense to develop it as a ranchet and I will um I
I echo what your sentiments on I think is a quality individuals the owners and they have worked really hard and I have seen on this transportation committee that it is not an it was not been an easy task all
of the complicated challenges to get this uh property and I would imagine that you probably have spent millions of dollars to work on these things so um with that because of the jobs corridor and I think the a ranchet makes more
sense um bordering uh I95 to be this particular land use i will uh second commissioner's motion commissioner Vargas okay nothing is guaranteed we are headed
for financially difficult times believe it or not uh my colleagues have expressed that this is a no fail situation uh tangible personal property jobs a widened tax base however I have
grave concerns from the environmental and the infrastructure in the area there's no preservation of the rural character and there's no consistency uh with the growth plan it's more intensive development um again I have to
I have to applaud uh Chairwoman Herd for enumerating the points that are very valid and I urge this uh board of county commissioners to think very clearly and not be swayed emotionally or for other other reasons
that may not be known to us at this time commissioner Caps I think this is a close one uh for me we've heard great arguments on both sides uh very cogent arguments
um the arguments that I think that have been most persuasive to me are the ones that were made by Chair Herd um which her central point is
that we have plenty of industrial land available at this time so I don't think this is the time to be expanding freestanding urban services boundaries and Martin County so uh I won't be able to support
it commissioner Campy I appreciate my colleagues giving their assessment uh I think what potentially is lost in the conversation is when you hear my colleague Commissioner Herd discussing
that there's been a report that shows there's uh plenty of unused industrial land available elsewhere in the county could very well be true however there's no one actively looking
to do anything on those properties so for the next three four five years even with what this applicant has been able to do and remember this is just a portion we're trying to bring in 205 acres that really has no other uh
specific use this would in my opinion obviously my opinion would be the most logical to incorporate it into what's already been able to happen there versus if the owner decides look I'm going to I'm going to sell it our staff will be tasked with what could it be i'm sure it
can be something beyond exclusively homes otherwise you're forcing someone to just own it uh no one's building 5 acre ranchets uh on the on the cusp of on the side street of 95 and with that in mind the concept
that there's plenty of industrial could be but here is a is a legitimate bonafide um applicant who has a tr proven track record of doing this i understand um my colleagues and I respect the difference
of opinions sometimes it goes in my favor and sometimes it doesn't i have no idea what my colleague means by I guess we'll figure out if something else is at play i don't know what that might be i won't even attempt a guess but that being said when we are here discussing
taxes and paying for services and uh creating parks infrastructure library infrastructure fire rescue infrastructure or the sheriff comes looking for money for a a needed helicopter
these are the pivotal historic decisions that make it easier for our residents to live the lifestyle that they choose and more difficult if we run off all of these larger taxpayers the smaller taxpayers
have to pay because what's the harder decision than what we're making today is telling groups of people whether they're little league football library uh organizations we can't do it because they don't want to hear it they don't
want their taxes raised i don't want mine raised either this is a logical step in the right direction so I mean short of hearing from the principal himself I don't know i see he's moved to the front of the room short of hearing that I will accept my victories when we have them and I'll accept my losses when
we have them and we'll see what this means but I appreciate the process is there any public comments please come forward i'll finish this right after i have I have this one this will suffice well
that Yeah we'll double it okay because I'm not wasting that one for this one um I guess my question is probably to the chair and staff uh looking at the map it is right off the I95 corridor my question I'm sorry Gary Earl Port Seno
um my question is these trucks in these industrial areas of course if it's industrial there's there's traffic and movement the industrial areas are I know there's light industrial on US1 uh there was one recently approved last year
under the old commission right off of 95 i believe it's either just north or just on the other side of that from the public standpoint and I'm only one guy um this is a fit this is as close to 95 as you can get i mean you're
going to get one traffic light and you're northbound southbound that Thank you thank you there's a motion and a second all those in favor i opposed oh yeah can you
restate the motion it's been a while you want me to restate it oh you made the motion right okay i see okay it feels like a different different agenda item can I just make one other comment i for the record Bob Reigns here on behalf of
the applicant i I think one thing is getting lost and and I appreciate the comments from the gentleman from the public because I think he made a really a really good point and that is what's really before you is not whether we need more industrial or not that's that's
part of it but the question is what's the most appropriate land use designation for this piece of property now that 95 has been built and you have a tech so that's really I think the question that's before you it's not so much as to whether you know we need more
development or not we I can sit here and make some arguments why the industrial development it's the location a lot of this vacant uh industrial development so I I think that needs to be brought out that's really the question what's the most appropriate land use designation
for this property now based on what's happened in the past and I would submit to you that what's there now and you have a gentleman from the public i think it was a student enough to pick up on that so I just wanted to make that point before you finally take a vote
there's a motion for staff and a second for staff's recommendation all those in favor can we restate the motion you I was making a motion yes recommendation for approval and I second it okay correct okay very good all in favor i
opposed opposed opposed the motion fails uh two to three with commissioners Vargas Caps and her dissenting so we're finished with they want Do you want to go forward to change the name in the next public hearing sorry
Commissioner i just see them getting up okay but it's on the it's on the whole project 200 acres not just that oh the whole We can Yeah it did text changes to change the name of all of it right so we
can change the acreage if they um we can adjust the acreage if we present the hearing if they want to move forward but if not that's fine too we're decreasing it i mean we're not increasing the acreage right it's just a name change at this point we need to look at the text to make sure
we're not expanding it 205 of course you have the board item separate from that it says that it would add 205 acres to the existing 1717 acre freestanding
urban service district so I don't believe that this has been advertised um the text amendment was advertised and it it lists that what you just described Commissioner but it also describes a proposed change in the name and the
permitted use so you could consider uh the a text change that did not include the 205 acre expansion correct because we're that's not what we have before us you would just Commissioner if I if I could for the for the record again Bob Reigns on behalf of the applicant i
believe it's it's the same uh and I hear what you're saying Commissioner i understand i just want to have an opportunity to explain it if I can i appreciate that thank you so much it's it's it would be like for instance if we were asking for a more intense use and we were going to come in for and you were changing it to a less intense use
that's allowed if we were coming in and asking for a less intense use and we tried to change it after the notice to a more intense use we couldn't do that so I believe we can move forward with the changes that we want to make which are the the one use and the additional uh name change without having to move
forward with you can say we're not approving the 209 acres because it's it's all been advertised it's all been advertised but but you can take it off the table you can't we couldn't add 209 acres if we were here that's that's my legal thoughts on it anyway
i'm we're in uncharted water here so Commissioner Vargas I just want clarity so what we're what the request is right now is to change the name of which parcel the commissioner again for the record
Bob Reigns uh the existing ACT property so we're talking about the 1700 yes ma'am correct the Yes would exist today not the additional 209 or whatnot that that that sell yesterday last item so we're just asking for a we would then be
asking now for a name change and for the additional use we're requesting and not the addition of 209 acres correct so the name change would be to the the future land use designation so instead of being called Act it's going to be called Sunrise Grove so it would be the
property that there it would be applicable to the property there now so you just want to change the name yes ma'am that's in the ordinance correct correct the name yes ma'am the name and then there is one use also that we were asking to add to it what was that use uh
manufacturing sales and service right it's on i think we need to separate that u members of the board may I suggest we open the public hearing and then in uh do the presentations i would agree i'm real unclear how we should proceed
with this i think we need to um Commissioner Campy well I I can sense that you have confusion however our staff attorney has said she feels comfortable bringing it forward
the applicant's attorney feels comfortable bringing it forward that's supposed to be yeah that's exactly how it works when our attorney a legal professional gives me legal advice that's how it works that's why they're here otherwise
we could just be up here freestyling commissioner Vargas yes okay i I do need clarification uh so we're changing the name because they want to change the name is is that correct so they they are proposing an ordinance that changes the name that
adds another use and that included the additional um acreage the board already did not approve the additional acreage we can treat this like we treated all the um comp plan amendments today where we didn't include language that wasn't a chap approved in chapter 4 it's kind of
the same concept you're just going to eliminate that additional land that they're trying to add to a tech so right before you will be the name change and the use and you can approve both or one or none it's up to the board whatever
you desire if that makes sense but we've been doing it all day with chapter 4 so it's the same concept okay and so the use is not something that right now the property has correct and um what use do they want miss Love
Miss Love Lady's going to present all the changes to the ordinance so she'll be able to explain it further if we Good afternoon Commissioner Samantha Love Lady with Growth Management this is CPA 2304 Sunrise
Grove Man excuse me and this is a request by Martin Triangle property and Sun Sunrise Grove Commerce Center it's a site and Martin Triangle property is the 205 acres so they're out
mhm they're out by them so and Sunrise Grove it's a request to change the name to change the name from ACT to Sunrise Grove for the freestanding urban service district that is existing today
it would also add a permitted use to the adtech policies in policy 4.13A.9 and these policies again are a name change and adding a use and um policy
4.7813 was for consistency also section 4.2.8 for internal consistency but that acreages in that policy would not change um there would be no change to figure
4-2 which is this figure here the request was to add this acreage onto 4-2 but you did not approve that and I believe staff recommendation is for you to approve the name change and add the
permitted use on the 1,717 acre property yes commissioner Caps um I'm ready to make a motion to for both to change the name and to add the
permitted use this is second transmitt yes this is for transmitt to the state land planning agency yes it would still need to come back to you for adoption we would remove all references to expanding the freestanding urban service district from the proposed text before
it gets transmitted to the state commissioner Vargas yes so the uh I I need to clarify in my mind if I may Miss Elder yes um the use presently because now they're looking for a different designation of use is that what I'm
understanding they're asking for an additional use on the property which is vehicle manufacturing I believe so there's other uses that are permitted in the land use designation so they're trying to add one more and I think Clyde is bringing it up on the screen what's allowed right now so they just want to
add one use uh which is the vehicle maintenance to the list so that's not allowed right now so they want to add it as a possible use manufacturer and ma'am on the screen um there are the existing permitted
uses for that future land use designation are they going to be constructing cars there um I'm not would permit it says it says it says vehicle manufacturing sales and service
okay so it'll be cons well no there's there's nothing planned now that is a permitted use and we're adding it in response to the proliferation of e vehicles electric vehicles which is you know something that could be manufactured on site there's no intention to have a you know
a regular car manufacturing but there are ebikes and and e vehicles that are it's it's a new technology and they want to be able to to allow that on the property if we have someone that wants to do that type of manufacturing mhm
so the uses would be limited to 5 million square feet of warehouses plus a uh some car manufacturing and car dealerships not plus you have your maximum cap on what can be okay so 5 million square ft of warehouses
including car manufacturing and dealerships in western Martin County okay there's a motion and a would anyone from the public like to address us there's a motion and a second all those in favor i I opposed opposed
opposed that motion passes three to two with Commissioner Vargas and her dissenting let's take a 10-minute break you're on this is our final uh uh agenda item it's
department 3 approval of an ASIS purchase contract and adoption of a resolution approving and accepting a special warranty deed for the acquisition of a parcel of uh property in off Solerno Road in Port Serno miss John's um Elise Elder deputy county
attorney before we begin Commissioner um so departmental three is consideration of a contract for the purchase of property between the county and Christina Walden Forton also known as Christina Walden Forton Ardiggo she is on one of our NAC's so under Florida
statutes 112313 if there's a conflict of interest the good thing is that under that same statute it provides um an exception where the board can wave that conflict upon twothirds vote of the board so we need a motion from the board to wave any
potential conflict from purchasing property from an NAC member it's a a completely waveable conflict under the statute um and then we would need that to pass by twothirds vote which is for four commissioners before we can um vote
on the item okay so staff so we staff recommends um um providing um an authorization to wave the conflict of interest requirement um is our recommendation uh and then we'll
hear the regular item you'll still have the opportunity to discuss the item in full correct this is just to hear the item commissioner Heatherington I'm sorry Elise you're going to have to go back a little bit that to wave the conflict why wouldn't you do that like in a
form AB or something like that that's a good question the statute's very clear on how you have to do it the board has to do it at the hearing prior to a vote on the item that has the conflict you have to do it at the public hearing it has to be by twothirds of the vote so
the board is actually waving um Mrs ardiggo's conflict she can't wave it herself the board has to wave the conflict for her so that requires a board vote at the public hearing so there's no form involved it's a procedure that's done at the public hearing and it's it's for all advisory
board members it's a common exception so it's recognized under Florida law so it's just a it's really a matter of procedure commissioner Caps I move that we wave the conflict is that the way to the correct way to state that we have the
conflict for um the seller of the property yes yes commissioner Campy let me start off by saying with all due respect to my colleagues if this was happening anywhere else and led by
anyone else this throws up a ton of red flags to me this woman I don't know her she's not an employee this is her property she sits on the NAC this deal is obviously I'm
only hearing about it recently but this deal has been pending she could have easily resigned from the NAC i think it sends I I go to my NAC meetings how are we going to wave and so that the county can buy property from someone who sits on the Port Sala NAC it's her property
and we're going to participate in As Commissioner Heatherington was saying she's not waving it herself we're waving it for her and under a different set of circumstances I'd be getting my head handed to me if this was my idea i am not supporting that decision it makes me
very uncomfortable i didn't even know we were going to talk about that the regular agenda item makes me concerned this What message does that We're always talking about transparency and doing the right thing we're going to allow a
member of the NAC to sell her property to the county and we're going to vote to allow wave her conflict it is a conflict she's on the NAC the this whole agenda item has a lot of
issues that one is a non-starter in my opinion if you can rustle up everybody else Commissioner Caps um this exception right here yes um can we put it on a screen and maybe have somebody read it it seems to be like a
hand and glove uh application to this situation madam Chair if I may um so the normally if this would be uh part of the agenda item
um unfortunately and our staff and our we've been negotiating back and forth on this property for I think about a year uh the first time there was a uh a suggestion that this might fit and the and uh um and it wasn't until recently
that uh uh we were able to complete a contract um in the preparation of this um um in in negotiation staff uh and we were unaware that they that the public
works department um and working on it um uh did not know the individual was on the um uh NAC at the time so ultimately it's uh under my responsibility if you will that this did not come forward with
the proper um waiver beforehand and the attempt to continue on with this item we would like to in order for it to even be considered that the statute is is also clear in talking to our at county attorney that you can't even consider
the prop the acquisition of it without first passing this first piece so um if uh if you know my suggestion would be if you are uncomfortable or need other time then we would need to perhaps
uh um uh bring this back at the at the next agenda otherwise um you know our recommendation is the same piece would still apply um there's certainly a valid we believe reason for acquisition of this project uh in in the in the
district um and we do support that uh I apologize that uh the proper uh forms uh were not completed in terms of identifying this waiver prior to the agenda item coming forward and I'll take responsibility for that commissioner
Vargas uh as a licensed real estate broker which I am still um this this is not an arms length transaction it'd be as if it'd be as if I asked the county to buy one of my personal properties and I
didn't disclose I was on the commission you know people don't know who's on the NAC i mean they know I'm on the commission and I do have to I do have to agree with uh my fellow commissioners uh
Mr campy and Miss Heatherington also I I would be I'd be reticent about going forward with this at this point i know it's been been worked on for quite a while but it's not like the lady resigned you know before the contract was drawn up um this may not be a
terrible property to purchase and I did look at the appraisals and sometimes it's difficult you have to add and subtract uh for for variances but um I think we really need to put the brakes on this today and take a real real good
look and a step back Miss Woods okay well I can certainly see where this is going um which is too bad this is this is a lovely piece of property that would be
an an extreme asset for uh Port Serno to have this is in the old part of Port Serno which is a traditional mixeduse area uh it's very old and developed and platted and there's not much green space there's very very little and the little
that there is is not available to the public so this was going to be a uh a really important parcel of a public acquisition of green space uh for what I think will eventually be a pretty densely uh developed part of Port
Solerno and I I I'm familiar with with uh some of the large cities in the world and I think that what makes those places livable is their beautiful green spaces they're beautiful park spaces and it was
my intention just to uh provide a uh an un ineitable green space in Port Serno so I'm disappointed that it's it's uh not going forward commissioner Campy first a question are we discussing the conflict
of interest or are we discussing the agenda item and secondly if we are going to discuss the agenda item which it seems like we were I went back I'm I'm I'm struggling to believe my ears because I went back to watch the agenda items where I was looking to purchase
the acreage in Palm City to stop 90 apartments from being built and green space which is what the neighborhood and I would have preferred was never even allowed to be on the table when we discussed um the agenda item for the
referendum I spoke of if we only buy and I like all of the properties that were targeted with the sales tax referendum but I asked about we have to also protect the few remaining green spaces within the communities that we needed to
protect them and a couple of weeks ago when I was here trying to reenhance Charlie Leighton Park to keep that as a green open space with river access for all of us in Palm City that don't have any access to the water that passed three to two with
passionate reasons why that shouldn't count so I'm just surprised that when I came forward with something for District 5 it was completely dismissed as not even an option and and
passed by the skin of its teeth and now I'm hearing how wonderful this project was this is the first I've ever heard of this when it became an agenda item the Palm City property was discussed at an agenda item when we talked about doing
the deal then when we got the appraisals they were discussed and voted on then when we did the RFQ then when the RFQ comes back we probably heard that five times this is the first time I've ever heard about this i'm hearing our administrator say it's been negotiated
for a year and the frustration for me is that when someone spoke this morning the NAC board who we task as volunteers to handle these situations didn't want to do it and it seems a little
controversial so with all due respect I I get it but you know remember those things countywide not just in our own backyards because I would love to support these projects my frustration wasn't on
necessarily the project there was questions that we could have asked this woman could have just easily resigned from the NAC she's not an elected official she could have easily resigned and then we wouldn't have been even having this conversation we would have debated the up and down of whether this
should have happened in Port Soleno why wouldn't she have resigned and I don't blame you Mr donaldson it makes perfect sense that someone couldn't be negotiating something that they're part of it sends literally sends
the worst messages to every other NAC member would be like "Well wait a second i'm on the NAC because I'm a property owner i didn't realize I could sell it and have sort of an inside track." Not that this woman necessarily had that but a little more tuned in than the average
citizen so this whole thing is the Twilight Zone commissioner Caps yes the ma the reason I made the motion to wave the conflict was because we have clear language right in the statute here very
very clear language and also because the transaction is well supported by the other prop uh appraisals uh which are below the asking price you know so it's not like we're doing something shady here
there's plenty of evidence to suggest that the deal is solid and you know and I also think that uh district commissioners u should have broad discretion over their district funds and Commissioner Herd thinks is
this this is important for Port Solerno and u and I'm glad to support her in her aspiration to have a green space in the downtown area of Port Solerno i think it'd be a beautiful addition to Port Salerno so uh I uh I
hope that something can be done and and Commissioner Bergus I would encourage you to read this statute that's yellowed in right here i mean you've got clear support um that they made this exception
for a reason you know and it it's it's a it's a good it's a good deal we should do it thank you uh Mr erler would you like to speak with us to us on on this part i'm sorry
on the agenda item or the Not the agenda item the com not the agenda item okay um Mr donaldson had said that they've been in negotiations for over a year uh Christina Rigo was put on the NAC by a 50- vote uh unknowns
that first of all that this was a deal from a year ago um I've personally seen this on a couple different uh plans it's been a parking lot now it's green space um there's been other
things it's been a residence since 1945 it needs to either remain that way and your your um I read through the appraisals everything to get that appraised value calls for improvements on the
property the the structure itself is not worth anything it's 1945 uh county c tax collectors have it at $173,000 um that's basically what she pays tax on and that's that's straight
from Jenny Fields um she's owned the property 10 years she doesn't homestead it i'm I'm not arguing the fact of the green space if it was green space uh we wouldn't have an upland facility at Manatee Park right on the water um I'm
sorry i I will speak on the other item once we get to that thank you not getting to that no we're not getting to that commissioner Caps yes uh the public speaker mentioned um Jenny Fields tax uh number on the
property appraisers website those numbers are always drastically lower than taxable value or or fair market value of a property i mean if you if you envision to yourself you know what is my house worth you might say uh $500,000 you go
to Jenny Fields uh website and and it'll be worth you know like 375 um those numbers are way lower than than fair market value so you can't go by that understandably so sir on a on a homesteaded property that it doesn't continue to rise this property increases
in value every 10 year she's owned it for 10 years oh yes i'm sorry thank you okay okay we've come to the end of our meeting it's time for commissioner
comments commissioner Vargas okay i think that uh that I'm good right now yeah thank you well we made a motion are we still voting well it failed for lack of a second or something okay it just kind of petered out there all right
clearly it's the chair's prerogative on how the meeting moves forward for the item that required a vote there was a motion and or and there was it needed a second to have the vote so I assume it dies and and you it's the chair's prerogative whether you can you either
continue on discussing this or or end the conversation and it ends the meeting that's my interpretation commissioner Caps is there any way to continue this issue to another meeting like um perhaps
uh the seller would figure out a way to overcome this concern that some of the commissioners have here today and maybe the deal could come forward on a future agenda we there's nothing that would restrict us from being able to put it
back on the agenda uh with uh more uh details on either the situation or uh if the situation changes that we could also bring it back so yes I don't believe it needs to be continued it's just a departmental item so uh we could re we
could put this back on again commissioner Vargas okay so um I I've read this three times i read it before the meeting just letting you know okay um and I'm looking at as a business person and also a real estate professional um and I understand the
legal aspects to it uh is the seller going to resign from the board at this time all we have are the facts that are before us um um if the facts change or some other reason to bring it back we would put it on the agenda but
there's no other information I can give you other than the fact is of uh of the disclosure requirement and the and the vote that was required yes I understand but um you know whoever I I guess it would be uh chairwoman since it's her area might she speak with her and say
you know we have a problem here and and she can look at the video and see our discussion back and forth if if uh Chairwoman Herd would like to go forward and pursue this property um so I mean something needs to be configured
here worked here you know divulged here work with our chair and if we can if there's a means to bring it back that uh can alleviate the concerns uh we will thanks Commissioner Campy if it were to
come back I'd like to have a legal opinion on if she negotiated the deal while she was on the board that's where the conflict was if she negotiated while she was on the board and then resigned then I need to know i'm not a lawyer and I always say that I value our
lawyers opinions if the conflict already happened then just because she now steps off it's if that's if my legal department says "Look we worked that out it's fine bring it back we'll have an actual discussion on whether this is the
appropriate purchase or not." And I value district opinions within the district from the commissioner of that district but that's a two-way street because it never works for me commissioner Caps
uh Commissioner Campy called for a legal opinion on a matter uh maybe May maybe we can get one right now um so the statute provides that the waiver occurs right before the vote so I think we're okay with the negotiation happening i will double check that but based on the
wording of the statute that the conflict is waved right before the board takes action i think what we've done to date is perfectly legal if she resigns potentially we could come back um that's up to staff to talk to her but need a 40 then or no no because potentially
there'd be no more conflict but I will definitely double check all that before we come back to the board she might not be yeah I can't say we don't have a lawyer on the board anymore we do actually have a lawyer yes and Mr gordon just pointed out once she sells the property she can't be on the NAC
anyway because she doesn't live in Portillo most likely so it might work its way out anyway I don't know her she might be lovely i'm just saying it's as far as I'm concerned it's person X it just was crazy commissioner Vargas in the future to
avoid this um Mr donald said "Could we double check and see the background of the folks that want to sell property or we have negotiations with them about real property uh as it pertains to the county?" Yes we've already talked to staff about having a form and a
affidavit required by every um contractor uh or potential um seller that they would have a a conflict um uh waiver signed before we would bring it to the board so that we will we've
already put that in place you commissioner comments at the end of the meeting well so it's not it's it's it's nothing's dead yet nope all I have to say but let me get on the real estate negotiations next time
any further comments commissioner comments about you i'm good commissioner Campy I'm okay commissioner Heatherington I'm all set and Mr donaldson good miss Woods I'm set okay it's the end of the meeting any public
comment we are adjourned thank you Part: 2
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e e e e e e you're on good morning and Welcome to our bard of County Commission meeting on March 25th
2025 um I'm calling the meeting to order please join us as we receive our invocation from Hank Brighton cam who is from the humanist chaplain and celebrate it's Hank's birthday today two and then followed by the Pledge of
Allegiance which will be led by L Jones who's a US Navy veteran good morning good morning greetings from the humanist of the Treasure Coast and Happy Spring indeed Martin County is a wonderful place to live raise a family
have a business and work recreate and to just marvel in the open Majestic places on land and water we as a diverse but United Community are thankful for the good Fortune to be in the land of the free and the home of the brave we
particularly give honor to those who have given of themselves and some their precious lives in the service of our country the United States of America each one of our leaders on the dis this morning have received the high
calling and Trust of our citizens to be commissioned to use their unique sets of talents Vision deliberative skills and stewardship to maintain what has been provided by those who have gone before
and also to improve the good to better and the better to best we thank you for your selfless service in every County in the country with an outstanding commission there is a professional staff
who carries out that vision and standard like the commission the staff just wants to make good things happen so Departments of Martin County Administration County attorney growth management parks and wreck airport
services Fire and Rescue It Public Works building General Services a library and my favorite after a career of 42 years utilities and solid waste we the people see what you do and appreciate the
fruits of your labor keep up the great job so esteemed commission and staff the community gives you our encouragement and support to meet the high standards that are expected of you in this High
vocation to which you have been called and to which you have freely accepted we wish you the best of everything good in each and every Endeavor of your life we say all these things in the name of everything that is
good virtuous and true thank you thank you Mr Jones would you please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance and afterwards could you tell us a bit about your service oh no I pledge allegiance to the flag of
the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible TR andice for all morning well there's not a whole lot to say I was born and raised in Melbourne
and my dad was a Navy veteran uh Aviator World War II and uh when it came time to to uh get out on my own I decided that uh quickest best way to do it was join the
service so um you know I've told this story before I the first place they sent me after all my training was uh they sent me to uh an aircraft carrier out of Jack out of Jacksonville
and went to Europe which was a nice cruise we came back and they said uh okay now we're going to Vietnam I thought there was someplace in the Caribbean I never heard of it I was hoping it was someplace in the Caribbean because I never heard I never heard of
Vietnam but uh anyway I got over there and and uh we had joyful time um being in the Navy initially was uh especially aboard the aircraft carrier was a safe Adventure
safer than some of the guys that were on the ground in the woods in the jungles and so forth rice patties but uh being young and dumb I guess you might say there are other things to go with that but we'll leave that alone um I unte ered when
they needed somebody in my specialty which was radio and Communications and coding and decoding um I I I volunteered to go ashore at the uh at the naval base of
Camron and uh I made a worse decision even than that uh because we were getting attacked there by volunteering to go up the Monon Delta I thought that sounded nice going on small boats yeah it's not so good so
anyway you're you're very exposed and Tim was in a similar situation uh I don't know did you volunteer you just were drafted no I volunteered oh you're were dumb too all right but anyway you don't you know you
don't know these things these things you learn the hard way but uh so when we came back um you know we met up with a bunch of other guys um and in this County we have a very good
group a diverse group of guys who were in all the different Services uh and we all we're all there for a for a common cause which is to help veterans and their families get the benefits that they deserve that they ear
their spouses or themselves earned and uh it's an uphill battle sometimes uh it's amazing to me that 50 years after the fact the uh VA and others have finally decided that there was some problems with agent
orange this is after who many how many hundreds of thousands of people have died as a result of so these are some of the frustrations we deal with but nonetheless um in spite of all that we hang together and we give each other
support and speaking of support we really appreciate the support that the this County Commission and all the citizens of of Martin County give us uh it's it's it's very very much
appreciated thank you thank you [Applause] there are two additional items this morning consent 15 is a renewal and first amendment of 800 interlocal agreement with Palm Beach County for Public Safety radio communication and
consent 16 which is adoption of proclamations commending Charlotte arage Charlotte denuo Allison Gordon Madison Thomas and Laurel K Lauren Kelly upon the achievement of Eagle Scout is there a motion to approve the agenda
commissioner heatherington I will move approval of the agenda with additional items consent 15 and 16 second there's a motion in a second all those in favor I oppose that motion passes unanimously the first uh Proclamation will be a presentation by
our property appraiser Jenny Fields welcome we're happy to have you here mind if we both sure well thank you so much is this on can you'all hear me thank you for inviting us Commissioners good morning administrator Sarah thank you um with me
today is our chief Deputy Carl Anderson and we are going to be talking a little bit about property damage um you know last year we were hit hard during Hurricane Milton with the tornadoes we're going to touch a little bit on that but really we uh kind of want to share with you um what does property
damage mean to you in in terms of paying your taxes so how does that these are things that I think you know you need to understand and and so that's what we're going to share with you today let me just unpack this clicker okay all right so with that I just want to say everything everything
that you see here just like we always do when we ever um when we're doing Outreach and we go to speak to people um right on our homepage you'll see three things the E news sign up the community outreach calendar and the schedule of speaker everything that you hear if you
want us to come speak to you if you want to see the presentation that we're going to give you today anything that you want all these topics that we talk about they're in all three of those so if you have not seen that or you see something that you want to learn more about today these are tools at you know that we
encourage you to look up so and we're happy to come and talk to you about any of that so with that um there's two things I want to talk to you about when we talk about property damage number one is you need to understand what is a date of assessment so this is basically in a nutshell what the law says about when
establishing property taxes we are required by law to reassess property values every year at market value considering allowable cost of sale based on conditions as of January 1 of that tax year so if you look at it this is an
example if you look at this timeline and you see where the red the orange star is that's January 1st so if you look at January 1st now imagine taking a picture of the market everything that occurred on January 1 and fast forward all the way till August when you get that trim
notice that proposed taxes that you see that you're going to have to pay the proposed values all of that is based on eight months prior on January 1 and again fast forward all the way to November when the tax bills are mailed from the tax collector's office you're
paying a bill based on 11 months prior okay so that's that's the magical date so you know a lot of times people will say Jenny what's the market doing today we're looking at everything that happened last year right now because we're forbidden from looking at anything
that occurred after January 1 2025 so people may not realize that so A couple of the things is in order to qualify for any of the exemptions you have to own and reside in the home on January 1 so if you don't buy the property until today you're not even
going to be entitled to your own exemptions until next year because you didn't own it on January 1 it's that January 1 date and then there's some other things listed here and and I won't take a lot of the time but the second thing I want to talk about is new construction in the State of Florida
there's either two types of properties either you have the homestad exemption so your assessed value is capped and that's a whole another presentation but just you know shortly your assessed value which is based on which is what your taxes are based on is limited from
increasing no more than 3% a year however that doesn't apply to new construction so again when we're adding let's say you put on a pool or build a house or anything like that for us to add the value of that item to the tax roll it has to be completed on January 1
so if your home is not completed it didn't get the final certificate Co if it wasn't completed till the end of January in November when you get the bill it's going to be for a vacant lot so you basically got a year for free because it wasn't done on January 1 so that January 1 date is super super
important now the next thing is how do you expl how do you add new construction when I say that the 3% cap okay and if you have the homestead exemption you're capped at 3% but every other property in the State of Florida is capped at 10%
okay whether you're a vacant lot or a strip shopping mall they get a 10% just like homesteaded Property Owners gets a 3% so when we're looking at that assessed value this is just a really quick example of if you look at the market value on this property last year at 500,000 and let's say they've lived
there for a while so their assessed value which has been capped is only at 280 well this year's CPI is only 2.9% so your cap cannot go up more than three but it can be less this year it was 2.9% so now if you look at going into the
20125 year you can see the market value this year is up 50,000 because we've added your pool now it was done on January 1 but if you look at the cap we're going to go from last year at 280,000 we're going to add the 2.9% which which is the 288 120 then we add
the value of the pool at 50 so your new assessed value for 2025 would be 338,000 okay new construction is not subject to that cap in the first year it goes on the roll so that's the second thing I want to I wanted to stress to you as we go through this how do we do property
damage so with that what is catastrophic property damage well per the Florida Statutes a catastrophic event means an event of Misfortune or Calamity that renders improvements uninhabitable examples of
catastrophic weather events which typically affect multiple properties which we witnessed last year is your hurricanes your tornadoes wildfires floodings things like that there are situations where you might have a catastrophic event but it's just to your
home whether it's an unintentional fire or water damage or maybe you had structural damage for whatever reason that is also a catastrophic event so mindful of that January 1 date the law says that should you have a
catastrophic event after January one there's literally nothing that we can do to your value that year because it occurred after January 1 that's just the way the law is written now there are a couple things to note that if you do
have um a Calamity in in your value the value will be adusted in the year following that so on January 1st of the following year we can we will do an inspection of your home we'll see how much damage is left and we can adjust the value at that point in the following
year but for that year specifically there's nothing we can do um to the value because it's as of January 1st the condition of the home if you do have a catastrophic event on your homesteaded property you have up until 5 years to
commence the construction on that to rebuild it but you do have five years so you you know you don't want to move away and then come back but we will ask you to fill out an affid of intent it just lets us know that you are planning to come back cuz this is your homesteaded property and then the third thing is
there is a 110% rebuild Rule now this rule is for all properties not just your homesteaded 3% C property but let's say you have a catastrophic event on commercial property okay the 110% rebuild rule basically says you can
rebuild exactly what you had plus 10% more and it would be covered under your cap so it would be covered covered as if nothing ever uh as if you never built and just to kind of walk through that I want to show you how this would work so if you completed the construction within
five years of the the rebuild rule this is let's say the the damage happened in 2024 your market value was 500,000 and again we're looking at your assessed value which is the 280 we're going to come forward the cap that's your 3% home cap so it's
2.9 so now if you look at 2025 you rebuilt your home maybe you built 10% more okay we're going to value that home and the property at 780,000 but if you look at the the calculation under this statute that protects you the 280 will
go up the 2.9% which is it is allowed to do that's the assessment limitation but where we added in the pool value before which is the 50,000 after the cap the amount of that new house is zero so your final assessed value is still
28810 so your value would be as if you never even built a brand new home so there are protections should you suffer a catastrophic event on your property you can rebuild and it would be protected in the following year when you do
rebuild um now what does that have to do with your taxes so um back years ago when the Surfside condo collaps and then following that there was a couple years we had catastrophic hurricane damage the West Coast um basically the law got changed last year I think it was last
year right last year um the law got changed that basically said because what was happening is when that condo collapsed all of those property owners that didn't even have a home they had tax bills came du in November for a condo that didn't even exist so because of that and then they saw the same
compounding issue with the Hurricanes their homes were destroyed they knew that something had to change well instead of changing the date of assessment which affects so so many things now they implemented where you can actually apply for a refund of taxes now there's a couple things that you need to know number one they did not
make this Universal uh so it is only on residential property so should you have a catastrophic event on a shopping plaza or a industrial building this refund of taxes does not apply it has to be residential the second uh the way they
wrote the law was that it has to be uninhabitable for 30 days minimum of 30 days and then it applies only to the living area so if you had a c catastrophic event and it destroyed your garage that would not be considered uh uh eligible for a refund of taxes
because it wasn't the primary living area of the home and then the last thing you have to make application with our office by March 1st following the catastrophic event so you would come in and then there's a calculation and this is what the form looks like and um you
know we will help you fill it out there's certain documentation we're going to need to requests from you just to prove that it was uninhabitable how many days and so forth um but we'll work with you and with that I'm going to turn it over to Carl because Carl's going to really delve um dive into how this uh
event happened last year in your District uh commissioner herd so with that I'm going to turn it over to Carl and he can get into how that how that worked all right thank you Jenny good morning everyone my name is Carl Anderson Chief Deputy with the Property Appraiser's office uh so this morning
I'd like to give you an update on our office's response to Hurricane Milton's tornado damage that property owners sustained last year on October 9th 2024 I'm also going to provide an update on the numbers of the uh Calamity tax refund that Jenny was just referring to
so to start off I just wanted to show a slide this is the County's uh damage assessment map um the latest information from it on the right hand side there's a table showing the uh the various FEMA categories of damage uh destroyed we had a total of excuse me 30 properties those
are indicated in red um and FEMA defines those as uninhabitable completely completely damaged and gone or requires a total reconstruction of the building we had in Orange uh 31 major damaged properties FEMA defines those as
significant structural issues or severe water damage which is 18 in or higher within the essential living area of the of the property or of the home and then we had a total of 92 damage properties those are shown in
yellow on the map uh they Define those as limited structural issues or water damage that doesn't render the home uninhabitable and then affected in blue we had a total of 285 and that's a minimal damage so as you can see the damage started in Double Tree and The
Preserve off sea Branch uh hit Mariner Village then crossed over US1 impacted Mariner Sands solerno States new Monrovia Dixie Park and then over A1A impacted Sandy Ridge and into Rocky Point so our office's role in uh damage
assessment the property appraiser assists with the county damage assessment response by having our office staff available to meet up at the building department um during the windshield phase of the damage assessment so um we Team Up And there's usually two per Vehicle One driver and
then one person doing the data input uh going down the roads they're assigned to an area in the county and then uh the the the data input will drop points uh based on the FEMA uh categories so it's meant to be a very quick and efficient process our office
also does a Desktop review of all the photos that come in from that process to verify that the FEMA categories are accurate to try to improve the uh the accuracy of the the project um and then that's what the county takes uh to FEMA to determine the FEMA declaration and
funding what our office then does is we export that data uh and we upload it into our system so that we can use it for assessment and property valuations in the following tax roll year we also use it to send out informational letters to the impacted property owners and
notify them of that new tax refund process so the exported data is imported into our C system that's our computer automated Mass appraisal software it's our Enterprise software where we store the information on all 95,000 Parcels in the county um along with the 12,000 tangible person personal property
accounts uh it includes our valuation models uh so our appraisers can use this information when they're determining valuations for the following year we also Link in the windshield phase pictures into our GIS as well and then the week after the event uh we sent out field appraisers to do a thorough
inspection that windshield phase is only to do a front picture of the house and to make a quick assessment so we send out our field appraisers to do a thorough front and back inspection of the property owner available and they're there uh and they'd like us to come in we take pictures internally to get a
preemptive idea of the damage of the property and notifying them of that tax refund process so on November 1st we mailed out um we mailed out letters to the categories that were major and destroyed uh and only Residential Properties so
this was a total of 49 letters that went out 40 of those were Homestead letters nine of those were non-homestead letters uh in those letters we explained uh how the damage would impact their 2024 tax bill which would only be through that tax uh refund process that Jenny
explained earlier um because it happened after January 1st 2024 we also notified them that any damage on January 1st 2025 um we would be able to utilize in the upcoming assessment in the 2025 tax Ro we also
provided information about the refund process what documents we needed such as photos utility bills any kind of supporting information information from FEMA insurance companies uh permit information that would show that the property was uninhabitable for more than 30
days we also explained uh how a homesteaded property could maintain their Homestead if the house was not uh on the property anymore if it was completely demolished they'd have to file an affidavit um of intent uh which they're attesting to reoccupy the property uh immediately after it's
repaired or rebuilt and then we also provided information on the 110% calamity re build Ro yep sorry about that so those letters um the non-homestead letters that we
sent out is essentially identical to the homestead letters we just didn't include uh information about the Affidavit of intent and having to ATT test to reoccupy to uh to maintain the homestead so the response we received on November uh to February there are a
total of 21 tax refund applications that were submitted back to us based on the letters uh we also had a lot of email correspondents phone calls and meetings with individual Property Owners some of them outside of those main areas of damage um that were requesting an uh a
refund application as well we also did follow up field inspections on January shortly after January 1st 2025 to get the status of all the properties for the upcoming 2025 taxal year uh and then in February we mailed out 26 reminder
letters to the um the major and destroyed properties that we didn't originally receive an application from so which broke down to about 20 Homestead and six remaining non-homestead and we're also planning on sending out letters to the 92 minor damage properties to determine what was
uh if there's any damage on their property as of January 1st 2025 so we can determine if there's any adjustments that need to happen for this year's tax role and I will say the minor ones it's important for people to let us know because even if they were just having to
re rescreen their uh pool cage you wouldn't want that to go on as a new construction item if you're replacing it because it was destroyed by a an event you would normally be able to replace that and not see the increase in taxes so if it was damaged as a result of the storm it's important for you to
communicate that with our office because if we just see a permit come through we don't know that you didn't do that intentionally you just want to take it down and put up something new so I would say communicate that if you have something like that so uh on this lad the total numbers from the tax refund applications we we
received we had a a total of 27 refund applications that came to 15, $783 and 22 of those were Homestead Properties at $1,248 and five were non-homestead properties so we receive the applications and process them uh when
they're approved we send them to the tax collector and then they distribute the refunds and then here is just um a rough understanding of the formula to determine the tax refund essentially the best way to to understand it if you um for a property you first have to
determine the total market value of the Improvement so if half of the total market value is the structural uh Improvement value and let's say it's uninhabitable for the entire year then they would receive a 50% refund on their taxes since half of the total market
value is from their their building so if it's only unhabitable for half of the year it would be 50% of the 50% they would receive a 25% adjustment all right that that concludes our our update are there any questions
very interesting any questions very interesting great job okay thank you very much thank you good job oh our next agenda item is a proclamation uh declaring Vietnam War Veterans Day and
accepting this will be uh Mr Jones good morning Commissioners morning many of the brave men and women who served in Vietnam came home to a welcome unbefitting their dedicated service remembrances on Vietnam War Veterans Day are to ensure that this never happens again and that our returning troops from
current and future conflicts receive the full honor and respect that their Noble and selfless service merits the board offers this remembrance on March 29th to those Veterans as a commitment that they shall not be forgotten but held in esteem for their service to their country and our nation Mr
Jones would you like to say a few words on behalf of your veterans I've covered it before but I'll do it again uh once again I reiterate what I said before that we really appreciate the support of the commission and the
citizens of Martin County uh you guys really really uh do a lot for us to help us out and to help other veterans and their and their families and uh that everything we do as a
chapter uh along with all the other veterans organizations in the county and the support that that you give us with this veteran service office is uh great benefit to all of us so once again we really appreciate everything you do for
us thank you thank [Applause] you welcome home want to bring all the veterans into the well
maybe sure everybody come yeah Laura have them come in his don't come into the well yeah it's easier this let's come on in got a lot of folks yep yep I I promise I won't put this back up once you get in there keep no you have
to stay for the whole meeting come on over coming in this way a little bit this is what we do when it's a bigger down just a little bit so everybody kind of there we go than guys thank you all right thank you welcome
[Applause] home Madam chair if you don't mind there's an event this weekend chair herd quick announcement there's a a an event this weekend the we do good
5K is a 5K race that's starting in jock Lon Park in Palm City this Saturday at 7:30 a.m. anyone that's interested it's a race over the Veterans Memorial Bridge uh you can go to runsignup.com to re
re-register or register that morning uh I'd also like to thank our staff we fly the American flag over the veterans Bridge several times a year and this year for the first time we're adding veterans Vietnam Veterans Memorial Day this week we'll have the flags up as
another uh honoring of their service so if you're interested in the Vietnam veterans 5K the we do good 5K is this Saturday at um jock Leon Park in Palm
City 7:30 a.m. thank you thank you Commissioners if you will indulge me I see that we have a contingent of important people from the sheriff's department here including the sheriff shall we take care of that matter first absolutely so that they
can get back it's Department one yeah Miss merly please please join us good morning morning Stephanie merley director of The Office of Management and budget here to go through our OMB item today with all the very important
people our first item is uh permission to apply for the fy2 alternative water supply project funding for the Floridan well tf-8 um our utilities and Solid Waste Department is requesting $250,000 for the construction of the
tropical Farms Water Treatment Plant florid and well and raw water M there is is a match of $250,000 and this is programmed within the utilities [Applause] CIP our second item is a permission to
apply for the FY 25 alternative water supply project funding for florid and well n-5 um this is a Grant application for $350,000 for constructing a northwater treatment plant um florid and well in raw water M um there is a grant match
required of $350,000 which is also programmed in the utilities Solid Waste CIP item number three is a permission to apply for the fy2 24 Parks and Recreation social driver of healthy aging grant our Parks and Rec Department
is requesting a Grant application of $17,500 um to develop in advanced strategies to increase social and intergenerational connectedness and improve healthy aging there is no Grant match required for this item number four is a permission to
apply for the 2025 waterways assistance program grant for the renovation of the Jensen Beach Causeway parks and wreck is requesting the application of a $450,000 Grant to fund the construction cost to replace the existing boat ramp and launch peers at Jensen Beach
Causeway a grant match of $450,000 is required and is programmed within the parks and recreations boat ramp program CIP item number five is a permission to accept the FTE Martin County Gomez Community Petway portable water service
project um this is a grant Acceptance in the amount of $940,000 that will support the construction of a portable water service distribution system at the Gomez Petway community of hopes sown there is no cash match required but um the hob
sound CRA is contributing $200,000 to the project item number six is a permission to accept the FD grant for Nutri nutrient reduction technology um our environmental services division is requesting the acceptance of
$523,000 $325 that will fund a nanobubble ozone technology for nutrient reduction and it will support Martin County's total maximum daily load tmdl sheet there is no Grant match required for this one
and the last item are other OMB items the adjustments to the fiscal year 2025 budget um to modify the FY 25 budget to align revenues and expenditures and there's a variety of items located within this um a is a budget resolution
to allocate the unanticipated donation from the Riverside PUD um we are in receipt of a check for $115,000 um for the Riverside PUD agreement 30,000 to the Martin County fire rescue for fire traffic preemption
and $85,000 to Martin County Public Works Department to support the milling and resurfacing of Southwest Lost River Road B is a budget resolution to allocate the contribution from The Preserve of blbl North PUD um we are in
receipt of $166,000 that will go towards the purchase of a traffic preemption device for Martin County Fire Rescue and 10,000 to Martin County Public Works for construction upgrade at the intersection of Southeast Osprey in Dixie Highway C is a budget resolution to
allocate unanticipated contribution from the 7js Pud um we are in receipt of $100,000 check to be allocated towards the Construction and design of a proposed fire station in Western Palm City and we are asking to amend the CIP
sheet to recognize these revenues as well D is the allocation of funds for School Year's 2025 salary adjustments during our fy2 adopted budget um we included salary adjustments based on the teamsters contract which was $2.50 an
hour or 6% which was ever greater we placed These funds in reserve and this request is just to remove those funds from reserve and put them to all of the respective departments as approved e is the Martin County Sheriff's Office request for funds for previously earmarked for future
helicopter purchase um the Martin County Sheriff's Office in collaboration with County Administration and om has allocated funds from the return of their excess fees in their annual budget to support the down payment for a helicopter um the dedicated Reserve has accumulated to 1.6
and a budget transfer from reserves in the amount of $894,000 is representing a 20% down payment for the Martin County Sheriff's Office and they're here if you have any questions about that um f is budget resolution to increase
the Florida opioid settlement funds um we have received our third Year's allocation in the amount of $229,800 into the building Department's operating budget um The Village has remitted a check in the amount of $50,000 to offset building official
related services on an as-needed basis based on the interlocal and O om is just requesting a budget resolution in order to recognize those revenues into the budget thank you Sheriff we'd love to hear from you as always good morning Madam chair and
Commissioners and County Administrator and attorney thank you all for giving me a few minutes I know you're busy you get pulled in all different directions but I think it's important to explain our position I know there's been a a change in the Sheriff's Office Administration
Sheriff Snider retired and I came in and then there's been some commissioner changes but this has been going on for about the last eight years about eight years ago our chief pilot came to me I was a lower ranking individual in the sheriff's office and said uh Lieutenant
we have to do something with the Aviation program up until that point actually up until today we had been flying Vietnam era o58 helicopters that we got from a government program a lesso program and we and our mechanics and our Pilots have done a phenomenal job
keeping those helicopters flying but to put that in perspective these gentlemen that were here earlier that just left um those helicopters were in service when they were serving now they've gotten younger but the helicopters have not gotten any younger and um and you know
we drive vehicles that are not that old but our guys are still flying in the air with with helicopters at our 50 plus years old so it was a public safety concern it was a safety hazard for our Pilots so uh we set in motion a plan to
to uh rebuild our Aviation program and that really started 5 years ago when the then commission stepped up and purchased the first uh helicopter and Airbus and then looking forward 5 years which is now we uh we had been planning all along
and trying to put money aside and talking with the Commissioners and and planning to buy a second helicopter so this where we are today um a couple questions that have been asked to me commissioner asked a great question this morning already before I got up here uh
why don't we lease the helicopters like fire rescue does and the answer to that is we we use those helicopters all the time for everything we use them for surveillance we use them for tracking people we use them for catching uh migrants coming in on boats we use them for putting out fires when fire rescue
needs our assistance we use them for search and rescue we use them for a myriad of task and if we were to lease a helicopter uh the leasing companies they limit the hours you put on them we really do fly those helicopters at a moment's notice all the time and
thankfully unlike fire rescue uh they don't have to fly a lot thankfully because they're rescuing people we do fly we probably fly about six hours a day at a minimum uh to service our residents here in the county another question that's been asked to me is why two helicopters and the saying in the
industry is uh unless you have two helicopters you don't have an aviation program at all because of the uh required maintenance that comes due on those aircraft if any small thing is wrong with them any type of leak anything those things are down clearly
for uh the safety of our pilots and and staff and then the safety of people on the ground so if you don't have two you don't have a program so so we use those to keep uh we use our helicopter our Aviation program to stay Cutting Edge here in Martin County to facilitate all
the needs of our County residents uh we just went through a hurricane presentation we use those right after the hurricane some of you Commissioners I know uh County Administrator Donaldson flew to assess some of the damage so we're always there not just for the Martin County Sheriff's Office but for the county as a whole to make sure the
needs are met in the uh in the county I'll stop talking if you have questions please fire away at me so questions for Sheriff buek commissioner heatherington I would just say that I think our Aviation program is a is a value to taxpayers and the public safety
initiatives of this County it's amazing the tools with that technology can provide to keep not only your Workforce safe but to keep our public safe so I would gladly um move approval for the entire OMB item including all items
commissioner Vargas Sheriff um have a question yes can you hear me uh yes you mentioned about Vietnam era helicopters and then 5 years ago uh the purchase of a helicopter from Airbus is that correct do you still have those older
helicopters in your possession so we have uh two we we originally had three o58 when we bought when we purchased the Airbus we kept we we down one of the H 58s and we kept two one for training one
for operational needs so the uh the training helicopter we're still going to keep that helicopter until we absolutely can't fly it anymore what we use that for are uh absolutely frightening tactics called Auto rotations where you turn the helicopter off in the air and
you Glide down and and you do hard Landings we're going to still use one of those old helicopters to train in and practice in until it's not usable at all the other helicopter we're going to get rid of uh we're going to take it offline so we're only going to be flying
operationally two air buses the old one that we bought 5 years ago and the new one that we're planning to purchase okay so so I'm trying to understand so there are three older helicopters that you say you use is that correct or you have in your possession two two yes okay so
you're going to keep one until you receive the new helicopter is that correct no we're we're going to so we have two old helicopters mhm as soon as we receive the new helicopter one will be down we're going to keep one old helicopter just for training
purposes not operational needs I understand so you'll have two for operational and one for training correct is that correct the old one until it can no longer function safely correct is that correct yes ma'am okay any further questions thanks Sheriff there's a
motion on the floor there's a second all those in favor I opposed that motion passes unanimously thank you thank [Applause] you and we will now go back to public comment first uh request to speak form I
have is from Camden Duke Miss Duke will be followed by Casey Cass cam cam commissioner uh man make one quick announcement that came up uh we found a
credit card in the uh uh uh downstairs here this morning uh and the last name on the credit card is Carlton so if anybody in the uh audience uh with the last name of Carlton is missing a credit card um Miss Donna Gordon has it here or
we'll get it to the uh at the break to the um guards at the uh at the main desk here so thank you otherwise we're going to use it towards the helicopter proceed Mr Duke yes thank you um good morning Commissioners my name is Cam Duke I a junior in Mar County High
School and a life Scout and working towards my Eagle rank I am here today to advocate for bringing the beach bucket Foundation to Mar County to help protect our marine life in beaches for anybody unsure what the beach bucket Foundation is it provides beachgoers with free
reusable buckets to collect litter along the shoreline this encourages healthy oceans and brings awareness to conservation right now beach bucket Foundation buckets are available in counties north and south of mar County but not here as a community we can take a proactive step in maintaining our
environment by bringing this initiative to our County as a 17-year-old life scout who's searching for Eagle project opportunities before I turn 18 I am eager to work with the beach bucket Foundation um as part of my Eagle requirement this would involve building
collecting collection stations coordinating community and Scout involvement and focusing on bringing Awareness on keeping our beaches clean with our beautiful Coastline and County being benefited by tourism keeping our beaches clean benefits residents marine life and visitors
partnering with the beach bucket Foundation aligns with our County's environmental values I humbly ask for your support in allowing the beach bucket Foundation to be established in Martin County I would love to work with County staff to identify locations for bucket stations and coordinate efforts
to launch this initiative if the opportunity is presented thank you for your time and consideration I look forward to the opportunity to collaborate on this project for the benefit of our community thank you thank you [Applause]
excellent next up is Casey Cass followed by Tammy maota I'd like to sponsor the bucket for that program and then offer you a scholarship give me a call good morning Commissioners my name is Casey Cass I own Casco companies
which is comprised of Casco tools Deb industrial codings Environmental Solutions and ground XS I employ many taxpaying residents in the Martin County and like all other business owners I pay commercial property tax residential property tax adval arum tax sales tax
Highway tax and payroll tax I also volunteer my time at no with no compensation as a vice chair on the Martin County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board and am a member of the port Saro neighborhood Advisory Board Casco companies is also a member of
Martin County taxpayers Association and other organizations in the building industry and marine industries most importantly I'm a member of savear solo which is a 501 not for profit organization Savar saleno seeks to
maintain port sano's cultural and environmental identity by advocating for development which respects Community Values and historic significance SOS represents thousands of taxpaying residents both in Port Sero and Martin County we are the people Savar Salo
vehemently opposes the purchase of 4070 Sano Road at the purchase price proposed a Martin County Appraiser with 35 years of commercial and residential experience has provided an opinion that the appraisals provided are much are as
much as a quarter of a million dollars overv valuated a quarter of a million dollars may not be a lot much to Martin County's overall budget buying helicopters and things but it is highly inappropriate lacks transparency and is outright disrespectful to the residents
of new Monrovia who have been seeking sewer system for 15 plus years a sewer system which would improve the water quality of the pocket and the quality of life for those residents the appraisals provided did not acknowledge usability
or marketability marketability due to the existing Wetlands no property or Wetland surveys took place one of the appraisals stated that a perceived values once improvements take place which includes demolition of a decrepit building and import of soils just to
make it usable this of course would happen at a cost the taxpayer's cost the purchase is also subject to scrutiny under Florida statute 112. 313 due to the fact that the seller is a current member of the Sero NAC
amongst other reasons SOS has five properties approximately equating to approximately one acre adjacent to the proposed property which are more suitable for a park and are currently in the process of design for a park we are offering the possibility of a public
private public partnership which would bear with me here with uh which would possibly be a donation of some or all of that property to build a park which will result 60% more usable please consider
this an opportunity to demonstrate your commitment your time is up thank you hammy maota is next followed by Terry kogal good morning Commissioners Tammy maod
here I am a member of the save soleno Grassroots non for-profit organization our name says it all which is why I'm here today we have questions about the praised value of the property you're considering today for purchase these
concerns already expressed are already expressed in your emails so I'll just say that in independent appraisal valued the property for less than the purchase price we believe you need to take a second look at the
appraisals we also have concerns about the legality entering into the sales contract with member of your own Advisory Board the port solo NAC in violation of the state statutes do do
you know that the seller Christina origo was appointed by you onto the NAC sorry the appointed um and she was as yesterday still on Sno and
AC that is an issue that should be explored by your legal department before you proceed although the plans for the Salo Creek linear Park are wholly within the boundaries of the port CA cra are you aware that the port seleno NAC
rejected those plans because they are not part of the CRA plan if you are unsure what commissioner herd has planned then just go to your Innovation Hub plan which illustrates exactly the lineer park including parking areas
boardwalk and even an ampu theater despite what the county sta staff may tell you this is not part of the port solo CRA plan just ask a member of the solerno NAC if this is a plan they approved or even
wanted they will tell you no and they have no idea how it would have wound up in the County's Innovation Hub before you rubber stamp this purchase please consider our objections in comments because we do not believe that the
desires of one commissioner no matter how powerful she may be should take presidence over an entire community okay thank you thank you Harry kogal is next followed by Tom
Pine good morning Commissioners uh somebody once told me an old saying in God we trust and all others we watch there is no doubt that Corey Crawley lacks sufficient parking needed for his proposed Port Salerno
apartment complex the county is now being asked to foot the bill to purchase property in Port salal at an elevated price and make improvements on that land so as to create an area for Crawley's needed parking the state has entrusted the
County Commissioners to look after the health safety and Welfare of Martin County residents this includes a fiary financial duty but here it appears the misguided priorities are again focused on the financial gains of one
individual rather than the people they are mandated to protect shameful we don't know if any member is using non-count emails text messages or other forms of communication that are being used to avoid statutory demands
for disclosure regarding Communications with Mr Crowley or those he represents but we do do know negative traits are unlikely to change even if they try to appear different In God We Trust thank you Tom
Pine is next and Mr Pine is the last request to speak for if you would like to address us please fill out a request to speak for and we will be happy to hear from you good morning Commissioners my name is Tom Pine I've been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years presently
living in the Jensen Beach area if my photos could stay up while I speak I would greatly appreciate it over the past few weeks I had visited I have visited downtown areas in four counties Martin oach chobe St Lucy and Indian River I started with hob sound and went
up the line to Stewart kensen be Fort Pierce Indiantown okachobee Viro Beach and Sebastian over the years I have been in these towns many times the only downtown area where the business Community also known as the Jensen Beach
Chamber of Commerce has completely Taken full control of the public sidewalks for their own personal gain on Jensen Beach Boulevard has now expanded to Indian River Drive just south of the circle headed to the island these photos
are ones I showed in June of 2023 that being said it's past time that Martin County add a travel advisory to any tourist guides warning visitors that Jensen Beach is not handicapped accessible for wheelchairs Walkers or
even person needing a cane let's do the right thing for a change and let me let people know in advance ebikes are starting to show up in the news and accidents on our roadways there were two there were
recently two deaths one in North Palm Beach County and one in Martin County I walk a couple of times a week in the Jensen Rio area and in the Rio area I have had ebikes come flying be from behind me 20 pus miles an hour on the
sidewalks that are 50 in wide it's breathtaking to say the least I might as well be walking in the roadway at at times I think it might be safer there seems to be no rules or regul ation so it's every man and woman for themselves
welcome to 2025 the railroad crossing on Dixie Highway in Rio still has crossing gates that are and are easy to circumvent be safe not sorry what you permit you
promote what you allow you encourage what you condone you own give us our side boxs back now thank you thank you would anyone else like to address us and we'll move on to commissioner
comments commissioner heatherington I'm all set this morning thank you commissioner Cy i' just like to respond to the gentleman uh Mr Duke that mentioned about the beach buckets I've seen that on social media before I think it's an excellent idea um I would
request that our Parks and Rec Staff first off you heard from public speaker this morning that he would fund it I don't know what level funding is necessary but I'd like to coordinate it with our staff if my colleagues agree but I would also like to expand we don't
have any beaches in Palm City but uh we do have boardwalks and parks and and Riverfront I think that that program is such a good idea that it would also work um at Charlie Leon Park CH Leon Park Justin Wilson Park where if you hung
I've seen it so if you wanted to make that your Eagle Scout project I think our staff would love to have your assistance so thank you very much for coming forward thanks commissioner caps good morning uh many of you know that the Jonathan
Dickinson Tower in Jonathan Dickinson State Park has not been publicly accessible for a number of months the tower is very old and needs to be replaced Martin County residents
have missed their stunning sunsets to the west and their breathtaking views of the Indian River Lagoon and the Atlantic Ocean to the east from this Tower I spoke with Jonathan Dickinson park
manager Scott Duncan who told me that the officials at JD consider the tower replacement as their number one priority and that they recently conveyed this to their district office the district office also recently
conveyed their priorities to the park service in Tallahassee I would like to ask that we submit a letter to the park service in Tallahassee urging them to prioritize the replacement of the tower as soon as
possible uh park manager Duncan also said that we could share our ideas on the type of tower that we would prefer and I would suggest that we recommend that the new tower resembled the old one just as closely as possible
excellent suggestion I agree motion heads are good I think heads okay the letter for the chair yeah thanks for bringing that to us good anything else I think I will mention one other thing um there are
several bills that are brewing in Tallahassee that are of great concern to local government and there's one called Senate Bill 1118 and House Bill
1209 and basically these would allow for the expansion of development and all of the counties in the whole state of Florida for parcel Parcels of agricultural land that they're that are
deemed agricultural enclaves and basically the developers would be able to get administrative approvals um without County Commission involvement all over the State of
Florida and now many many bills that come forward in Tallahassee don't end up becoming law and we don't really know for sure what kind of traction this is getting but it's a a great concern and we should also be very we should all be
very very aware of the issue and be involved in communicating with our legislators about our disapproval of this concept because it would really virtually render our
comprehensive plan null and void um and the Western Martin Western lands of Martin County could just get paved over so uh be aware of it um and uh be involved in every way that you can also
118 overrides voter referenda that were approved by as much as 80% margins um miss poers you want want to apprise us on any of this uh legislation I don't have any fur okay
thanks for bringing it up it's a bad Bill two bad bills Vargas uh yes I'd like to follow with uh commissioner caps this past week I attended the small County Coalition legislative recession in Tallahassee and I met with some of our legislators and I
did bring up those particular bills both the Senate and the house um it's already passed one committee uh and it has to go through three committees and then the final vote with each uh the Senate and the representative so I urge you to please
contact whoever is your representative in your area and let them know of your concerns uh this is true this will uh supersede anything that we do here actually will have no say uh and uh I
was advocating up there for state and federal funding for construction of the St Lucy Inlet operation and the maintenance the South Jetty construction and Hutchinson Island Shoreline protection project and other programs that protect Martin County's Western
lands for Habitat water quality sustainable agriculture and public Recreation I also learned a lot about growth management touring Tall Timbers research and learning facility in Northern Leon County thank you Mr Donaldson nothing
for me thank Miss Woods okay we will proceed Now with uh the consent agenda there's one PLL and that's uh consent 11 can we pick that up take that up right now I pulled this and it is a um it's a
revision to our amusement and entertainment policy and the reason I pulled it was that um it proposes to allow um any municipality to operate one
prohibited ride in our uh with that's on County property that's within the municipality's jurisdictional limits um this is a this is something that has not been allowed in the past prohibited rides were prohibited rides there were no exceptions I am absolutely convinced
that that's how it should remain I don't want the additional liability those prohibited rides they do have failures and they're catastrophic when they happen so I would would uh I I
would certainly like this this prohibited rides removed from our policy Mr campy thank you can I hear from staff on their rationale for bringing the item forward so good morning uh George stokus assistant
County Administrator uh next to me is Miss Melissa petric your senior County Senior assistant County yeah attorney thank you uh yes um Madam chair so staff had to go back uh as per December 10th the meeting
in December 10th of last year uh we in order for there to be an existence of a potential Heritage Festival as proposed by the village of Indian town uh and the rides and the amusements that they wanted to supply their public at that time uh staff had identified that at
least three things need to be changed one was uh clearly the policy as well as we were going to need an local and I think the other one was we were going to look at the insurance standards uh the insurance standards have not changed in fact uh with this policy we did a couple of things number
one we further outlined the specific permit process that was necessary one of the biggest issues we had was we had applicants that weren't supplying uh weren't following our special permit process so we put in there a six-month uh requirement prior to the event we
also outlined further the municipality Insurance requirement as well as we went into further explaining the uh level two background checks uh which was under Section VI or VI I VI IV or section four as well as we
then further outlined the insurance requirements in Greater detail as well as the vendor responsibilities for the events because we felt the previous policy was lacky in all those areas uh but we're more than happppy to entertain whatever this board would like us to
make changes in questions for staff Mr campy I had an opportunity pardon me I had an opportunity to speak to a couple of members of other municipalities that uh were appreciative of the new language and felt that uh as
separate and distinct elected municipalities should have the ability to have that uh for specifically the heritage festival and used an example that um those same rides are used on
County property during the Martin County Fair so that it seemed consistent and that the new additional regulations and the use of verified uh licensed and regulated uh
Amusement companies would address that issue so I don't personally have an issue with that and I'd like to be able to have other municipalities be able to have control over their situations so I would make a motion to accept staff's Rec
recommendation commissioner Vargas I have concerns about prohibited rides um I don't think that we need to expose oursel to this I understand what you said about six months prior uh with the application the municipality is named as
additional insured with a sufficient quantity and level two background checks all required uh but I I think there other I think there are other activities if they want to have a Heritage Festival I've been to many of them many cities and I've spoken with well small counties uh numerous times um and I don't think
this is this is a time for us to be venturing into Waters that that we really don't need to um I think that we really not have to hold a tight rain on this I agree with um uh chairman herd uh
and I think that we need to look in this direction and stick stick with it commissioner heatherington yeah I proh the prohibited rides we're talking about or the amusement rides that we have every year at the Martin County fair is that yes
okay so this would allow for another municipality to host something either on one of their venues or in a a county park seeing as they have those same requirements that the other entities would have so mam commissioner yes you're correct this
this policy allows for municipalities to utilize County property within their municipality and it allows them to use what we have called prohibited ride in the past and we we put in we staff tried to put in as many uh safety precautions as possible
there is clearly some risk when you allow going from absolutely nothing to something but we felt that there's couple lines of defense and also puts the onus on the municipality as well as the more the monus on the municipality but the county will of course also be there to check and make sure that
they're totting their eyes and crossing their teeth so the countyy is already allowing this kind of we currently do not allow this activity on our Parks but this activity does occur on the fairgrounds now there are stipulations I believe under Florida State statutes that allow Fair associations to do
certain things but we don't enjoy those protections because we're not the fair Association and a question for legal do you feel like as written that there's sufficient protection in it for Martin County and its residents yes so what we did just so you know the the old policy in 2012 talked about insurance for the
vendor what we did here is we crafted it saying not only does the vend have to carry insurance now the municipality has to also carry insurance requirements I think we included in there like an umbrella policy so I sat down with risk management and relations and came up
with those amounts um I mean with anything yes if something goes wrong you're always open up to liability but we've put additional insurance requirements in here as well as plans so it's not just hey here's your permit it's how are you laying out
the facility how are you going to maintain the land Landscaping how are you going to fix the problems how are you taking care of the sewage and the waste and the porta potties so there is more of a layout in there um okay but I'm I'm satisfied that that
legal has thoroughly reviewed it and I will second commissioner campy's motion commissioner Vargas yes uh is there a clause for holding Martin County harmless um I think when they do the permit they would get the homelessness that would be a part of the the
agreement that we would engage with the municipality so this was if I may this policy on what can be done with the amusement rides they also have to go through the Parks and Recreation Department and get a special event permit as well this is in addition to that and commissioner I also believe
that when we engage in these activities with the municipality we have an interlocal requirement that also goes for which I believe there will be a hold harmless clause in that inter local as well commissioner caps are we asking the
approval of this for a period of time or or is this like a new policy that would be in existence for many years to come this would be an the production of a new policy that would supersede the old one the old one was in place since 2012 there's currently no sunset
provision in it so it would be in effect until revised okay but we could revise it again absolutely anytime okay commissioner campy my final point is this we're speaking today about rides at a park or at a festival but I
think what we're really to me where I'm seeing this heading is we bemoan the loss of home rule where the state legislature will tell us what as local officials here what we can and cannot do but in a sense if we are the
County government and we're talking about the municipalities that are smaller City Indian Town sus Point Jupiter Island we're basically doing the same thing we think it's a legitimate reason why we would do it but we're saying to them we know better than you
we're telling you that you cannot have this type of situation even if you've decided you want it your residents want it we know better and we don't like when Tallahassee and Washington does that to us so I don't want to participate in doing that to our other municipalities
thank you commissioner Vargas this is on County property it's not on property owned by another entity and I don't think that you can Cor at both and again I've been there to speak with other counties is vastly different than Tallahasse dictating what we C or cannot
do with all due respect the uh Martin County is on Florida state land Martin County is within the State of Florida so that's how Tallahassee looks at counties that it's operating within the State of Florida just like these municipalities
are operating within the county of Martin well okay then I do have to respectfully disagree with you makes it interesting that's right um having said that um we're not talking about changing the face or the character of Indian Town
we're trying to protect ourselves and I think as I said before there are many other activities that can bring people to a heritage festival or whatever Festival they would like to put on uh to support their Community as it grows that's why each of us get one vote
there is a motion and a second all those in favor I opposed opposed opposed that motion passes three to one with Commissioners Vargas and herd three to two what did I say three to one three to2 with commissioner Vargas and herd to sent thank you mam chair thank you for
your now can I have a motion to AC to uh approve the rest of the consent agenda um I will move approval of the consent agenda second there's a motion and a second all those in favor I opposed that motion passes unanimously we will now
move on to uh B and C1 are we ready to do that two and oh yep voting sheets let me all these people I thought we did okay
got yeah we'll take that up that's the next item okay I was wondering why all these people were here yeah me too 10 no we do yeah we like having you here we postpone their agenda item till
after lunch yes Miss Gordon this is an appointment for the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board appointments Donna Gordon for administration um this is for commission districts 2 three
five I think yeah five um commissioner heatherington is reappointing Casey Cass commissioner caps is appointing R Douglas Smith and commissioner campy is
appointing Chris Pinkston and we need two at large members we have really good applications Mr John mat incumbent received four votes and Mr Allan mostoff received three
votes commission campy I would make a motion to accept the appointments of mat uh Casey Cass Doug Smith Douglas Smith uh Chris Pinkston and then the two
that were just uh voted in the incumbent and mof and mof and MTO thank you commissioner caps just a point of clarification uh the dougl Smith that I
have appointed uh is not the former commissioner um as good a job as he would do I'm sure uh there are there's another Doug Smith in Martin [Laughter] County is there a second second there's
a motion in a second all those in favor I opposed that motion passes youan ly thank you we'll now take up agenda item public hearing number one which is a public hearing and final assessment resolution for the bo Rage water main
Municipal service benefit unit Mr repetti uh good morning morning Leo repetti tech service administrator Martin County utilities here for the final uh assessment resolution for the
water main uh assessment project uh we were here two weeks ago to discuss the initial resolution and went through our slideshow uh last week a week after our meeting here we met with residents with the bo rage community and I'm seeing a large number of the fa large number of
the faces that we saw uh at that meeting uh and all the public uh workshops that I've done I've never seen a group of people that were uh more positive and excited about bringing water and also with this project bringing sewer and the things that Martin County has done for
uh uh and is doing for their Community uh quick refresh uh uh if approved today uh the assessment would be for $9,985 on their tax bill or spread out uh or spread out
on their tax bill for a period of 20 years at an annual payment of $638 87 um uh brings us quickly to our schedule we're here at March the final resolution with the board of County Commissioners
uh should it be awarded approved today purchasing will work with the lowest responsible bit or accurate drilling to move forward with the uh purchase order and and uh we would then work with them to get a start date and get this project
moving forward um that concludes our presentation and staff recommends that the board approved the final assessment resolution to create the bo Rage water main Municipal service benefit unit and I'm quite happy to answer any questions at this point commissioner campy thank
you Mr retti first off welcome I know that Bor rage uh I was here with commissioner herd when we uh we didn't annex did we Annex them in yes annexed in uh our newest Community uh bo rage from St Lucy County
I know that it required a lot of assistance from our state legislators and heavy lifting in Tallahassee and we were to work on that project to have you be part of Martin County I think this is the natural progression of that uh I appreciate what Mr retti said in
complimenting you all because I will tell you that that obviously he's giving you High Praise but there are plenty of times where this type of issue divides communities and makes it very very adversarial uh and can get really nasty so for you all to understand and value
and appreciate the opportunity for for uh becoming uh our water system customers and of course with the proximity to the water that you all live next to the the beauty of what you have there to have sewer is also a tremendous
uh opportunity for you or but also a tremendous opportunity for us to continue to transfer convert septic systems to our sewer system I wish that every Community felt like you do and have the
opportunity that you are having here I'm thrilled to make the motion to accept any further questions nope I'll second pending public comment I would glad gladly second that motion I do have one request to speak form and it's from
Dr Lewis Benson Dr Benson would you like to join us very famous face good to see you and your wife good morning and uh thank you for hearing us uh it was in 2012 that we began the process of uh moving from St
Lucy County into Martin County and took an Act of the legislature unfortunately we had good leadership at that time in Tallahassee that saw the wisdom of moving our Enclave Community because the only way we could get into our community was to come through Martin County and uh
with fire and ambulance service one mile away we had to rely on St Lucy County to send it several miles away from uh St Lucy Boulevard so we're very pleased to be in Martin County we appreciate uh the hospitality that Martin County has shown towards us particularly with the new
bridge on Brit Road um we started in 2018 to work with the utilities and Solid Waste Department in 2019 there's a referendum and at that referendum 85% of the community voted in favor of this
project uh and I don't think that has changed since I've had calls from several of the residents uh in the community wanting to know when we're going to get started they're anxious to have this project move forward um and by the way I going to just go back to 2012
when we uh had a vote in the community 95% of those living in The Enclave Community uh west of the Brit Road Bridge voted to move into Martin County and uh so this is another extension we feel the quality of services that you
offer and the opportunity uh to get off the septic tanks uh to get off Wells that some of them are not doing particularly well and the health of our community will be improved and the quality of our water will be improved with this project so as vice president of borage homeowners association we have
several of our residents here today that uh are in support of this project and we hope that it all goes forward thank you very much you [Applause] those are some impressive percentages would any any further
questions there's a motion in a second all those in favor I opposed that motion passes unanimously thank you for joining us thank you the morning with us yeah please stay for the rest of the
day why are you laughing I meant it we take our break oh yeah let's take a 10-minute break anything from thank you you want anything from next door no thanks you want anything from next door e e
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