##VIDEO ID:PdBc07NCFq4## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e you're on all right welcome back to our November 12th board accounting commissioner meeting we are still out of order and we will be doing um public hearing quasi addition number four High Point PD and you would think that I had already been on that page but I'm not uh request for approval for the Third Amendment to the Highpoint plan unit development PUD zoning agreement including revised Master site plan c148 d016 Mr elim Excuse me commissioner Jenkins this is a quasi Jud this is a quasi judicial she just wanted to say that for all time yeah one last time all right one more time so do we have any interveners no interveners okay would everybody stand and be sworn in that's going to testify raise your right hands do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth proper paperwork been turned in notices and all that Doug won't miss that part notices were turned in at the LPA and copy of my agenda item and the agenda item and my work history has been turned in okay do we have any quasi judicial qu I mean um expart uh if I do they're filed if any they've been filed if any of they been filed for me I'm not the Liberty to say I don't have any and they've been filed I don't have any okay thank God all right you're on thank you chairman good afternoon Commissioners for the record Brian elen principal planner with the growth Management Department this is a request by Cotler and hearing on behalf of py Home company LLC for approval of the Third Amendment to the Highpoint planned unit development PUD zoning agreement to remove in an approximate 19 .54 acre Camp Valor also known as Operation 300 site from The High Point PUD and add six single family lots to the development bringing the total to 290 Lots on an approximate 31.4659 Road in Stewart the existing zoning District on the property is PUD by way of the high point PUD zoning District I mean sorry High Point PUD zoning agreement which is consistent with the estate density one unit per acre future land use designation the Third Amendment to the high point PUD zoning agreement will remove the Operation 300 parcel from the Pud and revise the master site plan to show the new boundaries between the institutional use and residential use areas resulting from an additional approximate 5.7 acres of land acquired by py from Christ Fellowship Church six lots have been added to an open space tract in the phase 2 development all right down there here's the first sheet of the Revis Master site plan the total site area has been reduced to be consistent with the removal of the Operation 300 parcel and the institutional area has been reduced to be consistent with the acquired 5.7 acres are reduced to be consistent with the acreage which was um acquired by py from Christ Fellowship Church the site now consists of 290 units on approximately 31.4659 planning Agency on October 17th 2024 the LPA voted three to zero in favor of approving the high point PUD Third Amendment development review staff have found the py group application to comply with all applicable regulations and the comprehensive growth management plan is detailed in the staff report and staff recommends approval of this application we move the board receive and file the agenda item and all of its attachments including the staff report is exhibit one I move that the board approv the third amendment to the high point PUD zoning agreement including revised Master site plan that concludes the presentation be happy to answer any questions commissioner hert yes regarding the uh six additional uh Lots it says in the camp Valor application that all of the gross land area of the camp Valor PUD parcel was included and utilized for the calculation of the residential density for the high point UD development that's true and yet there so they received additional units six additional units and yet the residential components of Camp Valor have not been removed they no um they've acquired an additional acreage not from Camp Valor that's not what the agreements say did you so Elise Elder Deputy County attorney so all of the density from the camp Valor lot has been given to py that was done before they recently just acquired six I believe about six acres from Christ Fellowship which enabled them to the additional land that they are the additional units they are seeking today the camp Valor stuff was already given to to um High Point previously in the in the old PUD agreement it says it says that the camp Valor units that the camp Valor property no longer has uh residential capacity that's true Valor property and that's how they got to the density that they have in doing so they stripped all the residential density from the camp any facilities at the camp there are just for the campgrounds themselves there may be a caretaker residence needed at some point but that doesn't count towards density and there is no residential density allowed on that property Camp Valor talks about detached one and two family residences on the property uh I don't uh what's in the special conditions they're just temporary if if doesn't say anything about temporary excuse me commissioner what page are you on it's it's in the the uh uh staff report for Camp Valor this is the high point um hearing so I know I'm wondering how high point is able to get density that was stripped from Camp Valor when appear it appears that the density was not stripped from Camp Valor because there are single and twostory Residences there there are bunk uh houses there are cabins there are seven cabins there are six bunk houses there's a caretaker house that's also proposed how how can all that stuff exist if you've stripped the density from it give me a chance I guess I'll pull up the camp Valor uh that's P St report you say that's in the staff report what page is that don't know it's on the it's in the Pud P okay and this information I mean we have findings of compliance throughout the staff report so I don't think it talks about that I mean in the I think it's specifically on the drawing that and in the Pud agreement that there's no um density allowed right yeah you got us confus only the caretaker uh there's there's a caretaker's quarters but it's not a residence it's just for somebody to take care of the camp I think when campers are in session there are uh modular homes I believe or temporary housing for for children to come and camp for a week or a weekend there's nobody living there and therefore there's no debt density being applied to the camp Valor property um all of the density has been stripped they can't have someone go and live in these temporary facilities it's really for the campers it's a rustic Camp yeah I don't see any language at all that says that it can only be used for campers for one or two weeks a year there is language in the I don't have the I can pull up the other PUD agreement but there is language in the camp Valor PUD agreement that says there is no residential density on the camp Valor property except that there is so it says Road streets right landscape areas recreational facilities and other common facilities of the Pud it would really help if I knew where you're seeing where it's talking about [Applause] residences for one on page 2085 it says all structures other than detached one and two family residences which exceed 5,000 square ft or four or more than one story in height shall be equipped with a sprinkler system so why is it talking about one and twostory Residences that that are larger than 5,000 square fet that they have to have sprinkler systems if one and two story residences don't exist on the parcel that sounds like a standard fire department uh information that they put in there that is language from our fire code that we put in all PUD agreements it's standard p language well this is not a standard PUD in that case because according to you all the density has been stripped off of this property correct that's a good point we'd like to uh change our recommendation to allow us to uh um revise number three of special conditions to make sure that there's no language in there that could cause any issues in the future we can change that language but that's in the next public hearing right okay yes thank you okay again Fire Marshall getting this yes commiss Smith it has been stripped I don't know who the right person is that wants to answer this but what is the difference between how density is applied to a residential unit versus something that is temporary in nature yes residential density goes along with the land use and the uh zoning uh and this is this is the actual area of the um PUD that talks about the density and the use and the camp Valor should only be used for charitable uses uses and development shall be consistent with Martin County comprehensive growth management plan let's see Operation 300 shall remain the sole owner and manager of camp Val LLC and Operation 300 shall maintain its nonprofit designation throughout the duration of Camp B's ownership of the property any other conveyance of Camp Bell parcel must be to a 501c3 but if you were to assign residential use and somehow that would relate to density MH what would you have to have would you have to have a plat would you have to have a site plan would you have to have first you would have to have the zoning place which this does not because the last paragraph which I was trying to get to basically strips it of its residential density okay then what do you have to have you have to have homes that people live in for oh no no I understand I'm I'm I'm getting there I just for the Public's purpose listening agreement does not allow any residential development on the property it was given to High Point as it states in number seven uh to have residential density you would have to plan for it you would have to you know eventually plat so you'd have a plat yeah that would so that you could sell Lots because you can't sell something that doesn't have a plat and you can't build on something that's not platted correct yep anything else like you'd have to have a master plan or minor site plan and a final site plan that shows those residential units and shows how they be platted and all of that yeah kind similar to what High Point has done right so none of this none of those none of those criteria exist on this property it would be unlawful so the so the last paragraph does explain that the residential density was stripped from the yeah no I understand I'm just trying to clarify for anybody that may be listening to the conversation so to show density it would be on a master plan or final site plan you don't always have to have a plot because the multif family rentals would also be density so you would have a master plan and a final site plan and we when we get to Camp Valor you'll see the master plan for the camp Valor PUD agreement which is attached shows r a rustic Camp so in order to change that camp Valor would have to come back before this board for a new approval of a master plan so as it stands today there's no density and if they ever want to try to get density they would have to come back to the board and the Pud agreement would not allow them to do that thank change of use and yeah exactly yes uh just just a hopefully this will be a point of clarification before this project was created the camp was an accessory use of the church they were using it as it was not a formalized area at the time uh part of the um PUD was the public benefits was the memorializing of Camp Valor which included the anticipation of this camping and and the public service that they do this particular project then separates Camp Valor is the public benefit by which the Pud was was created and it does not have any sellable residential units within it so the the layout of the facility uh was um essentially memorialized at this point it it's been ongoing for some time um and and so that as we see it is the public benefit um that has uh no density and it is because the Pud zoning uh it would be very difficult to unwind after today what has been created so it is it is designed to be a a um its public purpose is is Camp Valor from now into the the future which is to provide um a a 501c3's ability to provide the service that they're doing to the um the families from um Fallen Soldiers okay um applicant are we for the applicant yes please afternoon Commissioners Brian do you have the slide of answer um yes the affidavit for the mailers to notice this public meeting were turned in at the LPA meeting that we had uh late last uh last month so uh thank you staff and Mr Donaldson for the presentation uh my name is Dan Soro with the land planning firm of Cotler and hearing uh representing both the church and P homes we do have members from both of those organizations in the council chambers if you have any specific questions uh for them after uh the meeting but this partnership between py and the church has been uh been successful for many years is not a new project the church received site plan approval uh back in 2012 and uh has been operating as a campus a I think uh some of the County uh might have even been to the ribbon cutting that uh happened back in 2012 or shortly thereafter after the uh after the church was constructed uh py homes is uh sold almost all of the phase one homes they're under development with the phase 2 uh platted lots that are you know currently being developed now and it's been it's been a uh wonderful relationship and with that uh approval that uh was was given for uh the Pud to be created the highp point PUD which actually gave Operation 300 the 20 acre parcel uh as part of the overall uh PUD um uh has been has been operating uh beautifully since then uh the request before you this afternoon is uh to remove Operation 300 from the higho Pud so that they could be autonomous and and operate on their own uh kind of uh uh create and and have their own destiny not be beholden to the high point uh HOA and then as part of that uh transition because uh the High Point Community has been uh successful uh they've also uh agreed to um buy Six additional Acres from the church to uh to provide for the six additional Lots uh this has been reviewed by the growth management department and the local planning agency recommended unanimous approval um and uh and we're happy to be bringing it before you this afternoon uh most of you are familiar with where the uh Church property is located at off of Bratt and Whitney um this yellow rectangle shows about 320 Acres of the overall Highpoint site 20 of that is Operation 300 currently and the church owns about 28 Acres out of those 300 uh in and in 21 Acres right next to South Fork High School we think one of the reasons that py has been successful is because of the proximity uh to the church and to South Fork High School um but uh really really a great Community uh this is the church campus I'm sure that uh many people in the audience and and perhaps some of the uh members here have been there attended a service uh before and uh the High Point Community this is one of the only elements of the High Point Community that you can see from pratton Whitney most of all the residential development is tucked back behind buffers and preserve areas and everywhere so it's really a a nice uh nice kind of community that's surrounded by uh the natural beauty of Martin County but this is uh this is the entry uh this is the amenity Center uh under construction now if you go out to the site you'll see that uh the walls are up the frame is up so it's getting completed the six additional lots are going right across the street from the amenity Center uh this is the master plan for the high point PUD you see the church uh surrounded uh within 28 anchors by the residential development uh that kind of that Northwest parcel of 28 20 acres is where Operation 300 uh is getting is currently holding camps and is being removed from the overall PUD uh this slide shows where the additional six lots are going you can see the yellow highlighted area which really is the Ring Road of Christ Fellowship Church uh providing for the six additional Acres uh for for the py Lots right across from the amenity Center uh I did want to just bring up and just answer a couple questions that were brought up previously this is the Highpoint PUD and within the Highpoint PUD we do have specific language which addresses the density issue that I think was brought up earlier um and it's on page 32 of the Highpoint PUD and it says uh pursuant to section 3.13 c do3 Land Development Rags Martin County Code all of the gross land area of the Operation 300 parcel was included and utilized for the calculation of the density for the high point development all residential units included in this maximum allowed density are allocated on land designated as residential areas no residential units may be developed on the institutional areas including the Operation 300 site as legally defined in exhibit A4 um so so that's already a provision in the zoning code I think uh the U the attorney's office brought up earlier that if we were or if anyone was to come back and request zoning on any parcel they'd have to come back before this Commission includeed in a PUD or change the zoning to allow for that that's not what's being requested uh before you this afternoon um on the next application which is the high point application uh we can get into specifics of the site plan and show how that's being uh allocated out but thank you for your time be happy to answer any questions you may have any questions for the applicant seeing none any comment seeing none commissioner campy I remember when Mr Donaldson and I went out to Christ Fellowship to have a meeting with the folks out there about uh a project the the history the brief history of the project is Christ Fellowship bought this large parcel with the Assumption of building like a like a mega campus uh operation there I happen to be invited it was a big tent they set up in the middle of the woods practically and they I have plenty of friends I lots of us do Martin County residents that back in the day went to Christ Fellowship by watching it on a video screen at Martin County high school or on a video screen at South Fork High School until I guess they built enough of a of a base here to build a facility then the sort of times changed I think from what I remember hearing from the folks at Christ Fellowship the the concept of a mega campus where where everyone would come from further away to this one facility didn't really work so they started thinking of a different approach like maybe we need something up in Tradition so that the folks north of tradition and then the tradition area could go to a much more localized campus facility thus making the tremendous amount of acreage that they had in Stewart not necessary so I would be happy if I was a member of that church that my leadership said well we're not just going to own all of this property what can we do with it they made a deal with P for the back portion of the property and then my relationship with um Billy and Karen vaugh and Tara and Adam Baldwin the family of Aaron vaugh who was a naval seal that was killed with many others in a tragic situation they started this concept of hey we notice that children of Fallen Soldiers won't get the opportunity to have all of those life lessons that their sadly dead father or mother would have taught them so they said we're going to do this a couple times a year but it was so powerful and so sadly popular that there were so many children that were affected by this they needed more camps they could have done it much more frequently and back then I remember helping them out going to clean up after the camps and what this Camp is and I'm sure we can hear from Tara we're hearing Camp Valor Operation 300 for people that don't know they invite for a weekend children of fallen heroes um and also the wives the wives get to come together and they have a weekend of being with other wives and the children get a chance to be together like I said and the whole entire Community they go to the Sailing Center people take them on their boats they go they go learn archery and horseback riding it's a beautiful thing but they were forced to constantly pack up the entire Camp after each Camp because they never had a real home so I remember Mr Donaldson and I were at this meeting and we had there was talk of hey you know how do we find them they had a couple of false starts I remember talking with Billy people would offer property or the county might have had a piece but it never really worked and so um smart brains got together and said hey what if we did a thing the community benefit of this project could be a parcel to Operation 300 and that's what it's been they have been the family py danaro John Leighton have been here many times to discuss the as it sort of evolved down the road to commissioner herd's point I I I'm just assuming since you're not sure of how the layout and the and what the structure of the camp is I think it would be important for you to take a look I think a lot of your concerns would be uh alleviated based on the fact that it's literally originally it was repurposed FEMA trailers the kids originally camped like outside and then they did some RVs and then they did some FEMA trailers and then they made a deal with uh project lift to get some of their constructed tiny homes and it's been a remarkable Evolution all in the desire to allow these kids to get a chance to just be normal for a weekend with other kids that are inflicted with the same catastrophe that they have there's no possibility of living in the FEMA trailers there's no possibility of living permanently in the tiny homes that they got uh through project lift there's no possibility of living in if there is even still any vs on the property it's purely designed as a specific Camp to give these kids some type of normaly even if it's just for a weekend then you get involved and and that's the mission for the vaughs and Baldwins and Operation 300 and C Balor they don't want to be involved in puds and drainage and and zoning and all of the rest of it they just want to stick with their mission so I'm very pleased today that one we are finally separ separating them out so that that the py Christ Fellowship can move on with all of the stuff that they do because that's their business and that Operation 300 Camp Valor can move on with their mission so I can't wait till we get to the next one in terms of this one so that's what camp Valor is so there's no possibility of them building um residential units on the property and and if you spotted something good for you to call out and we'll have our staff sort of tweak that language to tighten it up because it was never my in intention to allow that to be now in terms of the six extra units that's good it's good management you have it's not like you're starting a brand new neighborhood it's not like you're putting these houses across the street from the entrance they're tucked in there you found six acres to build six more houses as far as I'm concerned six more families are going to get the the blessing of being able to move into a beautiful project and I would make a motion after public comment I would make a motion to accept staff's recommendation with the adjusted language that commissioner herd had pointed out to tighten it up what that's in the next hearing that's in the next hearing for what the six houses no oh for the language I'm sorry so the language will be for the next motion but in this particular one I'll accept staff's recommendation to add the six houses commissioner Smith uh just a little bit to add to to Ed's historical overview um if anybody remembers where we started out with this property and where it has come to today and where we are today um I remember um the environmental consultant that came in when we first started working with py moving in that direction and how the environmental cleaning up of the site from Exotics was a an enormous almost hand driven exercise um the site planning that went into it uh the thought that went into the entire site and then the whole project 300 um idea that came along with it uh is really a good reason why puds can work and and why you can um see how the benefits of doing something like this would way outweigh anything that might have been a negative somewhere along somebody's thought process um the ability for the applicant um Operation 300 the county to end up with a a site that we have today out there is really something is really something remarkable I mean what what has transpired over all these years is the very coolest thing and that wouldn't have happened if all those if all those other steps hadn't happened along the way um even the water and sewer that we ended up doing originally in one of the first applications of dealing with what that site was um and trying to fix southfork's water problems that we had there was contamination in their water system that we ended up fixing or working with them to clean up so um good for you guys um it's remarkable what you have accomplished all these years uh and it's another one of those just amazing little things in Martin County that maybe a lot of people don't even know exists um but for those that have been involved it's very very special and I'll second Ed's motion pending public comment Comm he Doug you just touched on something not only is Operation 300 just an amazing organization the mission but I have been to the camp and the environmental manage of it management is absolutely amazing if every one of our properties could be managed like that and I know that the vs the bald ones have taken extreme amount of time care and hand manage that property the if you could just see and imagine that enironmental benefit Far and Beyond Beyond what Operation 300 does for our community it's it's a wonderful wonderful thing um to have in our community so I would definitely support this okay I already called public right okay so we have a motion by commissioner campy seconded by commissioner Smith all in favor I all opposed opposed motion carries four to one with commissioner her dissenting moving on to public hearing quasi judicial number five public hearing to consider a request of resoning approval to plan unit development PUD through a a PUD zoning agreement for the camp Valor project including a master final site plan Mr Elum um before we do that is um there any interveners there are no interveners would everybody stand that is going to be testify and be swore Raise Your Right hands do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth have any um experte commissioner Smith I do they filed if any they've been filed if any they've been filed if I have any they've been filed I don't have any and they've been filed okay and all the proper paperwork has been turned into to the proper person and with that Mr elim thank you chairman Commissioners uh for the record Brian elen principal planner with the growth Management Department copy this agenda item of my work history have been turned in as exhibit one this is a request by Cotler and hearing on behalf of Camp Valor LC for approval of a zoning District change from the current High Point PUD zoning agreement to the planned unit development PUD including a request for approval of the camp Valor PUD agreement with a master final site plan the project consists of an existing rustic campground on an approximately 19.5 4 acre property included with this application is a request for a certificate of public facilities reservation the property located at 9405 southwest Kansas Avenue approximately A4 mile Northeast of the intersection of Southwest Pratt Whitney Road and Southwest High Point Drive in Stewart Florida the existing zoning District on the property is PUD by way of the high point PUD zoning agreement which is consistent with the estate density one unit per acre future land use designation Camp Balor is the name of the Operation 300 Incorporated rustic camp ground site establishes a public benefit per the high point PUD zoning agreement on April 27th 2021 Operation 300 is a Florida not for-profit organization providing support to Gold Star family members to ensure Camp Valor has the flex flexibility to create the best camp for their programs they are being removed from the high point PUD and require a valid zoning designation which this application seeks to provide through the approval of the camp Val or PUD zoning agreement with master final site plan here is the proposed Camp Valor ped master final site plan documenting the existing developments on the property and some proposed future structures access to the site is from southwest Kansas Avenue and this proposal includes over 81% open space this application was heard before the local planning Agency on October 17th 2024 the LPA recommended approval uh three to 3 to zero development review staff have found the camp Valor L LC application to comply with all applicable regulations and the comprehensive growth management plan is detailed in our staff report and staff recommends approval of this application we move that the board receive and file the agenda item and all its attachments including the staff report is exhibit one and move that the board approve the request for zoning District change from High Point PUD zoning agreement to the camp Valor PUD zoning agreement including master and final site plan that includes the presentation any questions for staff commissioner hert yeah is this binding or is this just illustrative it's binding okay contract okay even though even though there are things in it that don't exist I don't understand like the Oh you mean the proposed I guess I mean they're noted on here but they don't exist that's right they can develop them or they can choose not to and that would require an amendment to the the final slide plan that's a master finer final so anything on that plan can be built if it's approved but if they wanted to add something they would have to come in and amend it so there's a there's a master plan has to come in after this no that's the master final that's the that's the only plan you're going to see on this and if they want to change what's on that plan they would have to come back for a PUD Amendment with a new master final site plan yes that that's correct the master final was set up so that they could do the future improvements through a building permit so it's shown on there graphically so they would not have to amend the master to come and back and do those improvements okay um I'm on page 2069 4.1 owner that's Camp Valor uh the roads streets rights of way preserve areas landscape areas recreational facilities and other common facilities of the Pud shall be shown on any approved master plan final site plan and subdivision plats and there are no subdivision plats yes that would not apply so yes it would just be shown on the master plan so why is the the phrase subdivision plan included in the that's can PUD language that's want to do it in the future yeah in the future if something happens where it is subdivided um it doesn't have to be residentially subdivided they can parcel off and do a final site plan revision and want to do some subdivision of the Lots so well there aren't lots of of the parcel so it's 20 acre parcel if somehow it got broken up in the future it would require a plat but that's it's not likely to happen and the master plan doesn't show that so the master plan would have to be revised to show that if that was indeed the case and could the master plan be be revised administratively no not not to show a division no under any circumstances could it be circumstance any additional Lots that's why uh High Point had to come back before the board to add their six Lots they had to go back to the LPA and the board because they added Lots thank you okay um applicant afternoon chairman members of the uh commission um I did turn in the affidavit noticing today's meeting at the LPA meeting that we had uh last month so those should be part of the record uh for the clerk's office um happy to be presenting this agenda item before you thank you for your support on the last agenda item and uh this this project this afternoon uh is really a great cause we're going to hear from Miss Baldwin in a second if that's okay chairman but uh just by way of introduction my name is Dan Soro with the land planning firm of cotar hearing uh we do have the applicant and the property owner Operation 300 in Camp Valor in attendance should you have uh some specific questions from them as well as uh other members of the consultant team and other uh interested uh uh parties uh the request before you this afternoon is really to create uh a separate zoning District for Camp Valor so uh as you just approved the removal of the high point uh uh PUD from Operation 300 now we've got to assign a zoning District to Operation 300 it's a little bit less than a 20 Acre Site and to approve the final master plan so that's uh that's really the uh the proposal uh before you uh this afternoon uh this has been through each of the uh departments in growth management and also received a favorable recommendation from the local plan agency uh last month uh just wanted to point that out uh this road Network you've seen this map before but the 20 acre parcel outlined in yellow uh is shown on the screen access to this parcel is off of Old Kansas so you come down uh caner and then go down old uh old Kansas for Access you don't access this site through Pratt and Whitney uh it is existing today they are holding monthly uh camps there on site uh today uh the operation 300 event is is really wonderful and I'd like Miss Tara Baldwin to come up and kind of explain some of the wonderful things that they do for uh these children thank you hi Tara Baldwin I'm president of operation 300 I do just want to say quickly this is a really big day for us hopefully fingers crossed um it's been a long time coming and I want to say thank you Dan to you and to Christen spake with uh McCarthy Summers that have really guided us for several years now um mostly pro bono which I think everyone should know when people do good things um if not completely and um also very grateful to all the County Administration um you guys have been amazing to work with um to py homes obviously and Christ Fellowship for making this dream even a possibility when we were talking about this in our living room you know 13 years ago we never dreamed that we would have the opportunity to own a piece of property in Martin County um you know that is easily accessible it's close to the hospital it's uh close to the fire station when we just never thought it would happen so thank you to py and to Christ Fellowship for including us in your plan and getting us to where we are today and I also want to say a very special thank you to all the Commissioners um because again we've been operating in Martin County for over 12 years now and you guys have been nothing but supportive in every Endeavor that we've taken on in the community and even guiding us through this process which seems like it's been forever um we just want to say our sincere um thank you for your support um as many have explained to you today Operation 300 is obviously a 501c3 that was founded in honor of my brother Aon vaugh who was killed in action um in 2011 in Afghanistan and the Heart behind it was just to stand in the Gap um that was left when these men and women go off and serve our country and who's going to teach their kids what they would have taught them and who's going to remind them of who their parents were and who's going to honor their sacrifice and I'm so proud that we have been able to create this organization and by we I mean our entire community and that's right here in Martin County and I think it truly is something that Martin County should be very proud of um as Dan said we host six camps per year currently um about 40 to 45 kids per camp and you should know um we just put our camp dates out uh for next year for 2025 in August they were full full within a week and we have 94 kids on a waiting list so us getting this autonomy of being separated out is really important so that we can continue to grow to meet the need unfortunately that is out there we're currently at capacity when you see the site plan um everything we have is temporary even though we do have some things that are kind of stationary there we are still setting up and tearing down you know for all of these events um and we are at capacity when we have our families there for our family dinner on a Friday night of camp we don't have enough space under our very small po pole barn that we currently have um and so we just have some plans to make a more permanent home also I know you've heard me say because it's not the first time I've been up here when we were given this amazing gift dad and I talked about it so much that we felt like it was too much for just our cause and we really want the community at large to benefit from it and I can tell you just this last weekend we had 80 men use those bunk houses and our shower trailer and our Portable Restrooms um for a Christian men's Retreat for the weekend and we hope that in the future we can continue to partner with more organizations like that and I'm sure they would really appreciate getting to stay in the really nice tiny houses that project lift uh built for us instead of um the bunk houses that we have currently and I don't want to be remiss and also thanking um my dad and John Leighton and Stacy as you were so kind your words about how beautiful the property is and the care that's taken in it I can tell you that's 100% him and it's just um been his hand in that all the way through doing the right things doing them slowly um doing them uh conservatively so that we really do preserve what is a beautiful beautiful piece of property that's a great representation of South Florida and of Martin County so we would ask that you do consider removing us so that we can continue to move forward as you'll see um in our site plan and make a permanent home and a legacy for um all of these kids and everyone who has served our country thank you commissioner campy no done okay you can stay I don't need don't leave um yeah it really oper 300 needs to control their own destiny and with this PUD they can be allowed to do that and operate autonomously this is the slideshow in where the 20 acres is being removed from from the high point pey it was shown on the last agenda item and this is a uh conceptual uh rendering of the site plan that uh was in your agenda packet uh and really the funding's in place but we can't uh we can't pull any building permits until we have an approved site plan so that's why this drawing before you uh is is important it allows us to be able to uh generate some more support and get some donations and be able to uh to put in some of the more permanent facilities and uh Mak improvements on the site that uh know really is going to help the success of of the full operation so uh so thank you for your time this afternoon and uh really appreciate uh all the Commissioners and their leadership of you know this County over the last few years and happy to answer any questions yeah I think this question is for for you Mr Sor um so you took the initiative to be the applicant for the Pud for Camp Valor uh my firm does represent uh Camp Valor yes ma'am so are you also going to be the applicant to do a land use Amendment uh we're not processing a land use Amendment with this application commissioner why not uh the the land use is already in place place it's estate density residential it's the same land juice that is part of the high point PUD so it's overall the same land juice so I'm not sure what the question is I'm saying that I think that the underlying land use is inappropriate for the use for the use of the property shouldn't it be in institutional uh no it could be be institutional but the existing land use is fine because because it's being instituted by a PUD so it's it's comparable I just think it's curious that the uh PUD is is uh there's a PUD application and not a comp plan Amendment application since it's the same parcel thanks Mr camping I I wish that there was no reason for you to have this Camp I wish that the Baldwin and the vaughs never needed to do this but I'm pleased that you did uh you've heard me say this in the past you've taken a tragedy and turned it into a beautiful thing uh and I know that when you hear questions about well you haven't built everything yet one you couldn't legally because there was some of the things that were correcting today or at least finalizing today and two you're not for profit you are not mult M millionaire families that are writing your own checks you have to raise every dollar for everything that you're doing and uh that requires a tremendous amount of effort and so to commissioner herd's question about why isn't this land uses are expensive and I appreciate that you've had professionals willing to donate their services but I'm sure at some point that ends and I wouldn't want you if our staff is telling you that a PUD is enough to get you to where you need to be then you're not large corporation that can just continue to have Consultants sitting here and go through the process that would be tens and tens of thousands of dollars that will then be siphoned off from the other things that you could be doing and um having been out there since the beginning it is remarkable and like you said Miss Baldwin what your dad you know out there by himself probably overdoing it on many days uh but it's obviously it's a labor of love for him and um and so I think it's remarkable and like you said I'm so appreciative that it's here in Martin County because I have seen a lot of other non for-profits operation project lift as one of them the Sailing Center uh all sorts of other organizations and you have brought in so many uh volunteers to participate uh I know that your dad also runs a camp for the fathers of the Fallen I don't think you've missed thing I mean and it's so valuable to have it here and so I wish nobody had to go but since it is I am honored to make the motion for you to move forward okay we have any public comment seeing none we have a motion by commissioner can't be seconded by commissioner heatherington all in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously thank you since we have been doing the big Shuffle today and since we have Martin Commerce Park in the back of the room let's take them uh public hearing number four Samantha public hearing number four is legislative public hearing to consider the adoption of a comprehensive plan Amendment CPA 23-9 Martin Commerce Park text Miss Samantha Lov lady good afternoon Commissioners my name is Samantha love lady with Martin County growth management and this is CPA 23-9 Martin Commerce Park and this is text Amendment this is a request by Martin Commerce Park LLC to add the property to the list of exceptions for water and sewer services and to create free standing urban service District on 167 Acres it's also a request to change figures in the comence of growth management plan figure 4-2 Urban Services District figure 11-1 areas currently served by Regional utilities and figure 11-2 potential service areas there are several policy changes that are also being requested and I will go through those with you the first one is policy 4.1 B2 and this applies um restrictions to the property um and so the first one is um number a or letter a residential uses shall be prohibited by this policy and deed restriction recorded in O book and page and I just wanted to point out that residential will not be allowed on this proper property and the maximum non-residential building square footage is 1.1 million square ft for the cumulative total and all future applications for development will be processed as a planned unit development and prior to the issuance of the first certificate of occupancy the owner of Martin Commerce Park shall construct a traffic signal at the intersection of Martin Highway in Stuart West Boulevard in letter E the owner developer shall plan and appropriately fund public facilities consistent with policy 4.1 B2 which requires that future development pay the full cost of capital facilities needed to address the impacts of such development and that shall include an amendment to the capital Improvement element if needed in a PUD agreement that addresses public facilities infrastructure and the timing of development and policy 4.7 a.3 point1 and this is the uh all future development of use or intensity that requires public Urban facilities including Water and Sewer will be permitted only within the primary urban service District except for the following facilities and um number this would be number four in that list of exceptions 4.7 A14 um it's a list of allowable um development outside the urban service district and another list of exceptions and this would be number 12 on that list and of course the ordinance number would be filled in upon ademption policy 10.18 um again the tract of real property known as Martin Commerce Park designated as industrial on the future land use map and that would be number eight under that policy policy 10.1 a12 and this was um this was originally exception for package treatment plants but since um water and sewer you will be available to the property um we are now just saying package treatment plants shall be prohibited because this was an exception for 7js and Martin Gale Commons figure 4-2 this is the existing figure and this is um the proposed figure 4-2 and if you will let me there we go we have Clyde Duan for the record Miss love lady is bringing up a correction on figure 4-2 it's a correction for the map shown in your package go ahead so the request is for the urban service the freestanding Industrial Service Area are all being placed on the map this is the attec freestanding urban service District this is 7js the one in your packet um included the landfill in this area and then lynfield is not a freestanding urban service District so we included so we took that out and then this would show the Martin Commerce Park and of course you have Gateway down here so this is a correct vers version than what's in the um packet how did you Donna can you get that back to full screen thank you and this is the freestanding the northern freestanding urban service districts um in relationship to the primary and secondary urban service District again you have attec here 7js and the proposed Martin Commerce in relation to the secondary urban service district and the primary over here this is the existing 11-1 which is areas currently served by Regional utilities and this is a revised that shows um the freestanding urban service districts this one does include um the landfill because that is part of the Martin County service area existing 11-2 which is the potential service areas and that's the proposed with the two with the other three areas just shown on the map and with that um the state had um the state provided comments that they were technical assistance and nature and the technical assistance number one was concurred adoption of um the flum application and then the availability of public facilities and what they're calling out with the availability of Public Services um it they're basically saying we would need to add this project to the CIP when development comes forward and with that I will take any questions any questions for staff commissioner herd yeah so if we transmitted this on September 24th it took several days to transmit it I would think and yet we heard back from the state on October 3rd uh we had them trickle in from the state well the the letter that you just showed us was dated October 3rd right and then we um subse subsequently um had comments from the dep Department of Transportation and Florida Fish and Wildlife and so um they did come in a little out a time was this FastTrack I'm trying to understand why this this uh comment came back so quickly uh Clyde Duan for the record um we can't really speak for Department of Commerce it may have been they had the available Staffing thank you you see who it's sent to that's why I came back so fast okay any other questions for staff see none Mr KD it's good afternoon for the record Morris Kady senior partner with theone Associates I do have the proof of notice to surrounding Property Owners within 2500 ft looks thin and um yes uh we did give a lengthy presentation back in September um provided a lot of data and Analysis a lot of supporting economic policies and the comprehensive plan that this project furthers along um but this kind of all started um Board of County Commissioners they furthering the the uh the the uh policies and the and the comprehensive plan both and uh chapter 4 the future land use element and also chapter 15 the economic element we had Business Leaders um and at the September hearing um um talk about those those goals and objectives and and this this project furthers those goals and and objectives uh we have obtained all the comments from the other agencies the state agencies we've reviewed and addressed all the agencies comments and this this project this application was in fact approved by the Treasure Coast Regional planning Council on October oober 18th um uh so with that understanding we we certainly agree with staff recommendation I do have one comment though on on figure 4-2 if you can put that revision up I think it omitted the Martin Dale's com uh common site if you can I think that needs to be see at that 32 acres in front I think that needs to be included as or not Martell Commons is not included okay no that it's actually an expressway oriented oh okay that's why it's not included that's why we didn't put put that on the map all well I'm agree then I agree with that revision to the map okay we'll be glad to answer any questions okay any questions for the applicant seeing none Mr campy didn't have to push it now I um we have had this applicant here recently to discuss this and I had made some statistical comments about the value of these types of operations um and so I asked Ted aalie from The Economic Council to just verify some of the things that I had said because I had heard little bits and pieces of the value uh to all Martin County residents by approving things like that and I'd like to share just a couple of points only 4% of Martin County land use is nonresidential meaning obviously that 96% of Martin County's land use is residential which produces the non-residential produces approximately $52 million in property and tangible personal property tax or TPP by increasing non-residential land use like hopefully we're going to be doing today by only 6% to go to a total of 10% we would generate an additional nearly 80 million in uh additional ad valorum and TPP non-residential taxes reflect fair market value and are typically capped at 10% versus the 3% which is homesteaded residences non-residential property historically has generated more Revenue into the County Services than it receives it pays into a system it hardly uses non-residential property also generates additional tax revenue through sales tax gas tax and other industry specific taxes and fees so essentially you're getting four or five different revenue streams beyond the ad valorum and the TPP I think most residents when I speak to them and I tell them how lops Ed our tax bases and how heavily Reliant it is on residential taxes to pay for the services that our residents expect demand and deserve they don't want to hear about decreases in level of service they don't want to hear about additional taxes being uh pay that they would have to pay this is a perfect opportunity for us to balance out our tax base it also that this these facts don't mention is the opportunity for locals to have employment right here where they live so they're not constantly either living in another County driving in to work here or living in Martin County and having to drive out of the county and so if not along the um thoroughfare of 95 and Martin Highway then where so I think that it's very important and and for Ashley cap to choose Martin County which has a believe it or not has a reputation of being difficult to deal with um in terms of bringing Economic Development and projects of this caliber to our community I am thrilled that the folks that own it and work there um would be willing to stick with us and give us this opportunity uh today is the first hopefully in many steps forward that will allow our Martin County residents to breathe a bit of sigh of relief as the tax burden is shifted away from them onto uh other operations and projects such as this so although I've been not I've been selfish in making motions um I would classify this another historic motion and a step in the right direction the final thing I would say is that when we had this last time there were members of the community that lived across the street uh initially concerned that how would this be a neighbor and after hearing what Ashley Capital was willing to invest in the community with the traffic signal that that neighborhood had wanted forever and knew that it would be a long time before they would get one on their own the three folks that spoke emailed me or called me to say that they had changed their mind on their opposition and were now endorsing the fact that you were going to be across the street from them so I give those gentlemen credit for seeing um this as a golden opportunity which I do I'd make a motion to accept staff's recommendation okay and thanks for doing it in Palm City uh commissioner herd yeah I'm not going to be supporting the motion the comprehensive plan States over and over and over again that Urban facilities are only allowed in the primary urban service boundary and that's for a very good reason those those uh uh Urban facilities are extremely EXP expensive to provide uh in a small geographic area um at the distances that we're talking about particularly for this project they're ridiculously expensive they're leap frogging over the primary urban service boundary they're leap frogging through agricultural lands there it's these uh land uses are incompatible with all the surrounding uses uh water I I couldn't live in a more urban uh environment Urban neighborhood and I don't have sewer and a lot of my neighbors don't have water either and yet we're going to provide a 10 miles west of town for one project also the the comprehensive plan wisely prohibits freestanding urban service districts for very very good reasons we don't want those to be isolated we want them to be in the midst of our primary urban service boundary that's why they're prohibited outside of that and yet we have this will be the fourth freestanding urban service boundary one of them agtech was uh passed as it was absolutely essential that we it be passed passed by majority in 2010 and to this day it remains undeveloped just to show you how unnecessary and how harmful these kinds of decisions are so I am not going to be supporting this I don't know I don't know our comprehensive plan could not be more clear about the prohibitions of these services and yet exceptions are made rendering the comprehensive plan completely inadequate why are we ignoring our comprehensive plan why are we FASTT tracking these developments that're incompatible with other any other developments in Martin County why are we abandoning our differences thank you Comm campy I agree with my colleague that these services are very very expensive to supply can I ask staff who's going to be responsible for paying for those expensive Services the applicant say it again the applicant okay so the taxpayers are not going to be paying for these expensive services to be run out there the applicant is going to be paying for these services in terms of putting this closer to the core or within the urban service boundary this is a project that's going to be potentially hundreds of thousands of square hopefully hundreds of thousands of square feet of of space Miss love lady how many total square feet is this project eligible to go to I know the answer I just want you to say it 1.1 million square 1.1 million so and that's cumulative that's not per building I understand all 100,000 50,000 25,000 a potential a million square fet of services to my colleagues uh point we should be putting this in where people live inside the urban service boundary so that it could be your nextdoor neighbor this room would be filled with people tearing their hair out if this was a project that was going to be proposed where I'm hearing it should be it would also be nearly financially impossible or literally impossible to find property large enough to squeeze in a million square feet and all of the other things and you'd have to put it right on people's neighborhoods where it is now it is across the street as I mentioned in my initial comments from Stuart West and Cobblestone they will barely see it but can you imagine if this was your nextdoor neighbor so I get my colleague and I appreciate what she's saying hopefully she can appreciate what I'm saying but if not that's okay I think that this is the appropriate location as well as the fact that when you put it next to 95 if it does generate truck traffic would all of those trucks that are going to be probably participating in this site would you want them going up and down every other Road in Martin County would you want them driving through on on Cove and Salo and and into meeting these areas where the comprehensive plan that was written in the80s would say was appropriate I think the comprehensive plan in all of its magnificence is meant to be a living breathing document that would have to take into consideration New Economic changes and challenges and this to me I mean there are points when commissioner herd and I completely agree there are points when we sometimes like slightly disagree and in cases like this where we're obviously completely in in disagreement I think this is a great idea hence I made the motion Mr Smith um two other thoughts that come to mind with this application um years ago um there was an applicant that came forward and wanted to deal with the entire sort of interchange issue they applied they were turned down they sued us and we lost um which cost the county a fair amount of money to go through that battle a remedy to that which then brings in the second piece of that had that application gone through a package plant would have been built at that interchange that would have been of the scale at least from what I remember the requirements back then would have been to satisfy all four quadrants of the I95 um uh 70 uh 710 yeah 710 caner no not caner 714 714 I always get all jumbled up 714 intersection um so we would have had a fairly significant package plant sitting on the Southeast quadrant because they were the first ones in as I recall at least what used to exist was the first one in had to provide for everyone privately operated privately operated so we lost the litigation we spent money um we ended up with a settlement agreement or settlement to agree to bring water and sewer to the site we only included in that agreement what made sense with the landfill the sheriff's department 7js which was an existing uh industrial PUD that had been there for decades right that was kind of floundering because it didn't have water and sewer and to put in either a package plant or to put in uh septic tanks would have significantly or did significantly limit the capacity of what 7js could do and that was all at a time when we as a community were trying to figure out how to come out of the recession and what could we do to move us forward and get us back on track and so here we are today uh with a developer funded piece of infrastructure that will provide help provide at least to those other sites as well and they are participating as well 7 JS is paying correct um for their hookup or their capacity and that's what it's limited to at least at this time so um I think it was a good move uh it was unfortunate we had to go through litigation to get there um but we are there Ed did you make a motion did y can you second it I did second it okay thank you okay and I probably asked oh I didn't oh is there any public comment on this agenda item seeing none we have a motion by commissioner campy seconded by commissioner Smith all in favor I all opposed opposed motion carries 4 to one commissioner herd dissenting public hearing number five L public hearing to consider adoption of comprehensive plan Amendment CPA 23-10 Martin Commerce Park future land use map Amendment Miss love lady good afternoon commissioner Samantha love lady for the record growth Management Department this is CPA 23-10 Martin Commerce Park future Lan's map Amendment it's a request by Martin Commerce Park to um the to 167 Acres from Agricultural and agricultural Ranch head to Industrial and it is located south of Martin Highway at the corner just south of the corner of um I95 this is the feature existing future land use map so you have agriculture control and you have agranet this is the proposed map outlined in turquoise phone was listening and again this is located east of 95 in Martin Highway it is accompanied by the text amendment that you just had and in section 2.1 of the staff report um two out of the four criteria for the future land use map Amendment um that need to be met there's four criteria that need to be met and two of those criteria have been met in section 2.2 arvin's law eight out of 13 criteria have been met um that means eight there's 13 criteria that um that need to be met and eight of those haveen section 2.2 .1 proliferation of spa sprawl four out of eight criteria have been met that um it shows that it discourages the proliferation the proliferation of spraw and with that staff recommendation is for a motion to recommend approval of CPA 23-10 Martin Commerce Park I do want to um make note of we did receive comments from the Florida Department of Transportation and um they they get provided several technical assistance comments they weren't um they weren't objections but they were comments that we addressed um the traffic analysis impact statement from that was issued last March um had several things that the Department of Transportation had issue with so they redid their traffic impact analysis um which adjusted the tra traffic dist distribution to more accur accurately reflect the property's proximate proximity to 95 and updates the anticipated traffic volumes in the long range plan and it identifies the net increase Ines in the traffic volumes that would be generated by the land use of industrial um after staff's review of the updated tech technical um track traffic impact analysis um Public Works has uh provided comments that um staff can now provide a positive valuation meaning there is a sufficient roadway capacity planned in the adopted longrange Capital facility plans of the comprehensive plan so with that staff recommends approval okay any questions for staff applicant again for the record Morris Kady senior partner with the cedo and Associates here on behalf of the applicant and this is the companion uh application to the text amendment that that was just approved it sets out the land use uh uh on the property and gives us the ability to go to the next step which would be a PUD application in the future um after after we get the zoning change to Li in the next applic or in the next um agenda item so we're in agreement with staff recommendation we'll be glad to answer any questions oh I'm sorry the notice that I turned in was for the text Amendment and for this land use map Amendment so any questions for the applicant saying none any public saying none back to the board recomendation second okay we have a motion by commissioner her yeah I'm not going to support the motion the comprehensive plan requires that there be uh four criteria for future land use amendment that must be met in order to qualify for a recommendation of approval there are four of them none of them have been met not even close the first is past changes in land use designations in the general area make the proposed use logical and consistent with these uses and adequate public services are available that certainly does not is not met B growth in the area in terms of a development of vacant land Redevelopment and availability of Public Services has altered the character of the area such that the proposed request is now reasonable and consistent with area land use characteristics that certainly has not been met met the third the proposed change would correct what would otherwise appear to be an inappropriately assigned land use designation that one has not been met and the proposed change would fulfill a public service need that enhances the health safety and or general welfare of County residents that one hasn't been met I have no idea how staff can recommend approval when it is so clear that none of the criteria necessary to make a recommendation for approval has been met not even close there's not even a whisper of of uh uh agreement it's clearly it's it's it represents all of the 13 criteria for urban sprawl it proliferates urban sprawl it's incompatible with all the neighboring land uses it's inconsistent with the comprehensive plan there was a commercial and Industrial land analysis done in Martin County it was completed in 2023 and it concluded that the Industrial Development database query indicates approximately 90 Acres of vacant Industrial Development has taken place in Martin County since 2011 or nine acres per year on average nine acres per year they conclude that there's sufficient industrial land Within in the unincorporated areas for the present and the future and yet one of the parcels that's that's included in this is agtech it was formerly 1735 Acres of industrial 1735 maybe 100 has been has been sold to the Water Management District so that has been available and vacant since 2010 and it's still vacant so obviously we don't need any of these changes they are harmful for us they're inconsistent with the comprehensive plan they're incompatible with the character of Martin County and staff should make recommendations of no when you find these criteria that's it commissioner campy we do have a motion in a second I understand that there is a motion in a second I just need to make sure that I clear the air on some of the things that I hear just for people that are paying attention agtech I was here for agtech it was originally a King Ranch project one of the largest private land owners in Martin County at the time so it was not like a fly by night company that had showed up to do it basically hamstrung them by saying that they could have that there but there would be no water and sewer because this was well before what we're talking about today so there they were going to have to bring water and sewer down from Port St Lucy which is a Herculean effort involving multiple counties and multiple government municipalities and also there was uh recession uh difficult times doing business in Martin County pandemic some other things that hampered that the good news is is that they've sold that property to someone else who hopefully in the future if this doesn't dis them hopefully in the future we'll come forward with some other exciting opportunities as well that they'll continue to have to bring the services down from another County another municipality so that's the reason that agtech has not really gotten off the ground there were a couple of opportunities there were some projects that could have happened there I had the opportunity of meeting with some folks that were very very interested in going there but when they realized how difficult it was to navigate through the process here and you know most most communities when businesses come to town and look to hire hundreds of employees and invest millions of dollars they're welcomed and there's you know there's a whole you know recruiting opportunity we don't have that here so it really takes quite uh thick skin and brave people to participate I agree it's I like that process it really is a vetting process to make sure the ones that can make it all the way to the Finish Line are exactly what we want and in terms of uh that report that said we've had nine acres of development over the last several years per year I think that's a terrible statistic and it goes back to the point that I said that our residential taxpayers are forced to pay for all of the things that they deserve because we don't have those industrial opportunities here for them so in case you weren't sure I'm for it yeah that screaming match in 2015 over Ed is one of the reasons why I'm sitting at this Das so we have a motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner heatherington all in favor I all opposed opposed motion carries 4 to one commissioner heard dissenting now we must go to public hearing quazite editional number three let's do this one more time which is uh public hearing to consider an amendment to the Martin County zoning Atlas to change the zoning District classifications for comprehensive plan Amendment CPA 23-10 Martin Commerce Park resoning Miss Samantha love lady and this is quazi judicial so we must ask um is there any um interveners interveners no no would everybody like to stand it is going to justify Raise Your Right hands do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth I do as theer amount of paperwork been um trees chopped down to U satisfy the and the complete okay um do we have any if I do they're filed if any they've been filed if any they've been filed I don't have any that's been filed I don't have any and that's been filed take it away all right again my name is Samantha Lov lady with growth management this is CPA 23-10 Martin Commerce Park um resoning again this is a request by Martin Commerce Park LLC to change the zoning atas on 167 Acres from A2 a20a and a5a to limited industrial this is the subject partial this is the existing zoning of ar5a here ag28 here and A2 here and this is the proposed zoning which would be limited industrial and and this is um St staff recommends a motion to adopt the proposed zoning District change from A2 ag28 and ar5a to limited industrial and I'll be happy to take any questions any questions for staff seeing none applicant Mr Cady for the record again Morris Kady here on behalf of the applicant and the notice uh the proof of notice I provided included this zoning change as well so that that's been done to the surrounding property owners and really the LI zoning district is just to make the the the zoning uh consistent with the land use but the text that we propose requires a PUD application so that will come back before the County Commission as a resoning request from Li to PUD so that understanding I'll be glad to answer any questions any questions for Mr Kady seeing none any public comment seeing none recommendation second okay we have a motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner heatherington all in favor I light oh yeah I'm not going to support the motion um it's completely incompatible with all the surrounding zoning it's out of character for Martin County to put uh 1 Mill 1.1 million square foot Warehouse uh that's visible from I95 uh agtech uh lack of development proves that there is no need for industrial in Western Martin County the commercial and Industrial capacity study analysis that was just completed in 2023 clearly demonstrated that there was sufficient industrial land necess uh necessary for development in the present and the future and therefore it's it's incompatible unnecessary and uh also there's no labor Force nearby uh everyone who uh works at this site will have to commute there so it's a bad fit okay where were we uh I'm for it okay we have a motion by commissioner Smith second by commissioner heatherington all in and I ask for public comment all in favor I all oppos opposed motion carries 4 to one commissioner heard senting thank you thank you members of the board now we're going to go back to which I kind of missed public hearing number three public hearing to consider adoption of an ordinance amending article 11 planned mixed use Village Land Development regulations Martin County Code Peter [Music] Walden money buys what's that good afternoon Pete Walden Deputy growth management director this is a request by Madame holes for a revision to article 11 uh it is article 11 is the plan mixed use Village which is pertains to the Newfield development uh little history and um uh discussion about mix the mixed juuse Village land use and the mixed use Village uh ldrs uh all of the uh residential dwellings commercial retail and non-residential uses are already entitled in the land use it has 4 4,200 units 202 thou 290,000 Square ft of commercial and office and 2 million square ft of other non-residential possibly industrial workplace none none of the entitlements for the uh project or the code is being discussed today it's all just minor housekeeping uh things and this is the basically the re uh regulating plan for the new field development and none of this is changing today either uh you'll see that these Wide Open Spaces are protected by conservation easements and pamps and the next slide shows the same entitlements that are reflected in the land use the 4200 units 290,000 ft of space uh none of that again is being touched today we're just talking about uh some clarity in the zoning code which the applicant will go over there's also a development agreement that uh is attached to the project which has uh goes through those same entitlements and uh encompasses a level of service uh things that the applicant has has to attain to be consistent with the code and the land use so none of those things are changing today we're basically talking about some housekeeping in the code uh Newfield has been under development now for about a year it's been in the planning stages for about six years and now that we've uh actually applied some of the code we found a few things that need to be clarified a few things for consistency in the code because it's very uh specific and we want to make sure that uh going forward since we're starting to get the ball rolling out there that uh things are uh appropriately done and I want to say that this was before the local planning agency in October and the loc LPA voted unanimously to approve the changes and this is a copy of the first master plan that was approved is the crossroads neighborhood and you can see there's over 30 BL blocks of development inside of this master plan and it contains residential and Commercial uses and as you might expect in doing a 12200 unit and uh development that there might be some tweaks needed as you go through the final site plan stages and that's exactly what we did a couple months ago I brought a revised master plan because at that time the code required us even if you made minor changes to it that we'd have to make those changes before the board in a master plan so we're adding some a little bit of flexibility to the code which the uh applicant will go into and but uh it's basically just to be able to uh tweak block sizes uh the appropriation of transex by 10% just minor changes that we could do administratively just so that everything fits when it's gets done with the infrastructure and the uh final site planning so with that I'll turn it over to uh if you don't have any questions for me I can turn it over to the applicant we'll actually go through the code changes and um we'll go from there any questions for staff yes no yes no is it this one inside theone I have questions for Staff first okay no that's not my thing oh there you go no um no that's Mountain caras we got quite a few on here East fun this one go no up there no it's a date no that's not it okay well just put your power your you have your M okay hold on I have the ordinance Mr herd has to uh has a question for you or two first question is on page 665 I'm looking at the table 32 transect standards and sdw which is included in the changes today uh is included and it says uh residential density density is not applicable what what does that mean does that mean that residences are not allowed in sdw workplace I'm sorry can can you ask that again I I apologize I'm on the table on page 665 and I'm looking at sdw workplace which is the subject of this uh staff report and it says that residential densities are not applicable in sdw workplace right there's no minimum density required what density is allowable uh the they can make up the 4200 units if they're outside of the uh other neighborhoods in the workplace it it does allow density but it's flexible in in the ldrs as to how much that is do you know what sdw allows it allows the appropriate amount of residential to go with a 2 million square feet of workspace that's allocated for the work for the sdw and minimum let's see minimum residential density for T5 mixed use Center is 32 units per AER yes that's a net density yes it's minimum yes it is okay I'm on page 683 hold on okay all right first one development outside the urban service boundary shall require final site plan yes that's because there are a few uh Trail heads that we're site planning to uh access The Preserve areas um the uh there's the main preserve area pamp one and then pamp two is all the public open space and part of their requirement for level of services is to provide access to those public open spaces we didn't want to not include the actual um article 11 development review required Ires all site planning to follow a master plan well we're not master planning outside of these neighborhoods so that's why we said any of these areas require a final site plan and it's just for small things like the uh Trail heads um on the next page 684 um if the applicant fails to meet the resubmittal deadline the applicant may be terminated instead of shall be terminated I thought the deadline requirements were requirements no we actually made that flexibility in article 10 for the rest of the U application process as well that gives the um them a little uh flexibility again they only have 30 working days to turn these things around so that sometimes gets arduous so we don't have to terminate anything for plat approval process um they don't have to have public notice that's correct and this language has been strict and No Light No lot sight plan shall be approved by the building department unless a plat consistent with the fin approved final site plan has been recorded page 686 yes there's been uh changes in state law regarding plats and we can no longer require that um they are allowed to actually start development of uh Lots without the plat being recorded because of the preliminary plats that are now subject to State Statute thank you that's it okay I will look for the PDF of the applicants uh it just be one second and we'll get that up and she can do her presentation oh you did put it on desktop right here thank you Liz one that says Newfield thank you [Laughter] sir okay thank you good afternoon Mr chair Commissioners and staff Marcela camblor for the record um I am here as the office of the settlement architect uh the office of the settlement architect is to have all the fun um H it's not a PowerPoint it's not a PowerPoint anymore full screen my bad I'm sorry I wanted to do full screen but I go do where you just were go back there you go than you did you do it GNA did Magic she knows what she's doing I knew where you were supposed to go with it but magic of Donna so um I also want to say that this um these edits this amendment to the code was mostly initiated by the office of the sentan architect by do col Partners who were the original designers for uh the new Field Master Plan working in conjunction with staff and then we worked with the applicant and most of this started because as we were reviewing some of the plans that were coming forward we started noticing um typos and some errors in the code and um and then we also started noticing I'll get to it in a second some of the design elements that were not coming out the way they were originally intended you know when we do codes the joke in the profession is as we turn it in or it gets approved when are we scheduling the glitch bill um interestingly enough this code was approved together with the overall vision for Newfield and this was back in 2018 so it's pretty interesting a pretty good record that for six years we haven't had to come in with any sort of amendment or glitch bill just as a little bit of background back in 2018 this commission approved the plan for Newfield we always said it was a new vision uh one where the human environment and the uh natural environment were connected like no time before in development at least in this County it was a time where 70% of the land was slay slated to be preserved as green and open and accessible to the public in perpetuity and at the time the applicant Mr Kiplinger had the choice to do um a PUD that could change with every person that comes in to do development or create the necessary predictability for this process take a longer path and create a new element of the comprehensive plan and its corresponding code which is what you all know as the pmv or the planned mixed use Village which lives in article 11 of the ldrs we are here today to make some amendments uh to that pmv now um also approved I think it was during the pandemic 202 2020 the first master plan which is the one you see in red here which is known as the crossroads District was approved by the five of you uh that is the downtown that is currently under construction that has a mix of recreation areas and farmland retail office um and and a significant component of different types of residential buildings what's interesting is rather than approving as a second phase another residential neighborhood Madame me who is the master plan that the master developer that was selected by Mr Kiplinger rather than than trying to approve um neighborhood number two or number five or number four that you see here in this regulating plan they thought that the plan would be more complete if they instead approved first one of the workplace districts uh commissioner you were asking about sdw one of of the workplace District um areas to not just only have retail and entertainment and residential but to start to bring jobs to the area and really start to contain um and create a sustainable and walkable environment in that area since the approval of this first master plan as you well know um a pamp one was established and a p Camp 2 was established and they are currently being preserved and managed uh that pretty much takes care of that roughly 2400 Acres of open space that were promised to remain open accessible and public in perpetuity it was an important thing for Mr Kiplinger to make sure that that got taken out of the table um and preserved for the community from the get-go uh since then also the Kiplinger Conservancy has been established there are several layers to make sure that this land is open public and not developable in the future um the first few Kiplinger Conservancy Trails have been built and are already accessible to the public uh the new Field farm was also completed and as you can see unlike most residential development projects this started with the development of the green and the public areas after that madami moved on to implementing the horizontal infrastructure of that first downtown neighborhood uh some of you have already been out there there was a soft opening um all of you have been out there okay well staff too maybe people in the audience haven't if not you should um and so horizontal construction is in progress some of the vertical construction is in progress uh new Field Parkway is under construction and like I said then we moved on to approval of the first workplace District to um to attract the jobs just a few images from the air of the construction of um Newfield Parkway as this Boulevard section through town you can see the farm um this is one of my favorite places in this in this neighborhood because if you're standing at the end of the farm as you can see when when you visit there um if you do a 360 turn you will see agriculture you will see development residential mixed use and then you will see um pristine untouched natural areas I don't know of another area where you can just turn around 360 and see all of those components from a single spot you can see uh the uh Trail heads with very natural parking and access to some of the most pristine trails in the region again some more areas of the the barn these are a little earlier than than what you've seen on that soft opening and the first few residential units they're diverse in style they're diverse in size uh they're um uh again in um one and two stories intended for different incomes and different compositions of families just as it was intended to be diverse by Mr Kiplinger uh you've seen there in the first phase there's tow houses and duplexes and single family homes uh from small Cottages to large estate homes we worked hard to make sure that the architecture is consistent with historical precedent in the region so that was just a little bit of an intro I know you don't need a very long presentation given the day you've had the extent of this requests can be sort of grouped into four categories there's up update of some glossery terms we had some terms in the code that weren't really defined so we're going in there and defining those and clarifying those there's clarifications uh we have some graphics that show certain things and then it's not totally clear with a text which what is pointing to what so we're we're um clarifying those there's a series of um spelling mistakes but also when this got translated into monei code monei code completely repeated an entire paragraph um for two different Frontage elements and so we had to correct that and number four there are some changes to the code um there's some changes to transic standards to open SPAC um types and to some Street types I want to start with number four because that is the substantive change that we are requesting that you consider today and then I am prepared to go in as much detail on all the other scrier errors and clarifications as is the pleasure of the board um the first of the changes if you look at this chart has to do with this area crossed out here that is locked coverage in the workplace District so what this means is when we prepared this table we established how much of each parcel of each lot a building and its parking could cover you know and for for each parcel that you're trying to develop and so the maximum we said when you count your parking and your sidewalks and your building is 60% the remainder needed to remain open now keep in mind we've already set aside 70% of the entire site has open space this is an addition of that 70% what we started noticing was as plans were coming in for uh workplace areas for offices for Flex space in this workplace District we were ending up with blocks if you if you can imagine these yellow areas as blocks um that have a small green belt because every parcel has a a 20 foot 20 to 30 foot setback that has to be green and landscaped and then in addition to that it had an additional percentage about 20% that had to remain green and so in these Flex buildings we were ending up with these little private green yards that nobody was really using it was maybe a a piece of green in the middle of a private parking lot in the back of a warehouse and so it wasn't really amounting to much there was a there was a 5% requirement in the workplace District of public open space again in addition to the 70% and then a 60% uh lot coverage with 40% pervious what we did is we suggested okay we're not going to change that 40% requirement however leave TW leave that 20% um we're going to increase the lot coverage on the blocks to 80% and instead we're going to require that those chunks of green that were remaining in the parking lots all be Consolidated and moved onto the public realm so the math is the same the amount of space that in the entire District needs to be leave left as open is the same it's just that now there's more of it that is public instead of private you can see again the two diagrams it's the same amount of green but in the proposed Chang that green is a park or a plaza as opposed to somebody's backyard which wouldn't have been a problem in residential but it is a problem in industrial because who's going to take care of that and what is that space really amounting to um what's interesting about this strategy too is that in the in the required strategy you weren't getting those small percentages of green until each parcel got developed in the proposed as the infrastructure for the workplace District gets built this green needs to come in so it's not like as people come in they can you know try to do an amendment and not build their green these greens get built from the get-go so unfortunately you can't see what The Proposal was before um because it's it's a PDF so it flattened it but the master plan that you're going to see in the next agenda item will show that once we take all those 20% and make them from private to public we end up with this green necklace that is going to connect the entire workplace District onto the Martin County baseball fields and school and then as this moves moves forward into the parking lot the the other neighborhoods before this 5% was this amount down here right now with this change this entire district will have a much larger Green Space um other changes or Corrections or clarifications um include if you look at this same chart it did say that the first floor height uh the the floor to ceiling height had to be 9 ft 9 ft and T3 T4 um and then T5 only said only referenced what that floor to ceiling height was is 14 feet that's because this is the category that anticipates having retail on the ground floor except we had not said well if you do have residential on the ground floor you still have that 9 foot floor to ceiling you don't have to do uh the 14 um another change in this chart has to do with the fact that town homes are allowed a lot coverage of 90% % this was a mistake on our part we had drawn Town Homes the way normally we put town homes and then we realized that we had kept single family detached home lot coverage percentages on town homes so we could not build the town home to fit the lot and again I have to emphasize over and over again this is not affecting the 70% open space that was left this is in addition to that 70% internal to the Lots um another small um at least small I think in the from from the planning perspective is as you develop each neighborhood there um there's a requirement to mix transic zones to go from the densest to the lease dens in every single neighborhood uh we really have five Transit categories three of we which T5 T4 and T3 are the ones that hold development T3 is the least dens T5 is the most dens T4 was split into two different categories T4 R which means T4 mostly residential and T4 o which is a a mid dense category that allows for commercial uses they have different densities and um and they they were split if um as far as the percentage that you had to have of each it was really complicated to hit those percentages it is pretty much the same building types there's a difference of use between one and the other and there is a difference of density between one of the other we're just saying you can count it combined but you're still going to apply the density depending on the percentage you used now one could say oh well this is going to benefit the developer because they're going to pick t4r and use the 20 unit to the acre instead of the 12 unit to the acre of the t40 it doesn't really matter in Newfield because unlike the rest of your comprehensive plan this is entitled for a fixed number of units that was the predictability you can't go over the total amount that was entitled if you want to take more in one um in one neighborhood than in the other so long as you meet your minimums it's okay um the remainder of this is incorporating building types that we failed to put in initially that just made sense for example we were allowing um a hotel but we didn't allow the in which was smaller and it just made sense in the workplace District in some cases we forgot to allow uh playgrounds or parks in a couple of the districts it was clear in our calculations of open space that wetlands are not to be counted into the calculation of transic zones if we did that the minimum net densities will become horrendous they will become really high we're just clarifying that we don't have to include calculation of wetlands those are already part of either pamp 1 or pamp 2 or pamp 3 they're not to be used to calculate um transic zones and artificially increased densities inside the neighborhoods that was is a clarification um we clarified the definition of blocks as you can see in the master plan we have a couple of blocks that are neighboring the turnpike and neighboring Citrus but there's a County uh parcel or some of them are neighboring Wetlands because the the the Newfield plan requires that blocks be of a certain Dimension and we drew them that way we were saying okay if you're neighboring the turnpike we will count that as one of the edges of your block just as we drew it and if you're neighboring a wetland yes that is the edge of your block we're not bringing the the Wetland into your block again um to make sure we keep those areas in check as they were intended and at this point like I said pleasure of the board I can I can go over the other uh small edits or clarifications like for this one for example if you look really close you can see the finished floor inside just a little bit higher than the finished floor on the porch That's a difference of 4 in we were clarifying where you're measuring the 24 in elevation that your finished floor needs to occur from the porch or from the inside um and so like I said I can keep going um or if you have specific questions I can go into the specific items you may have questions of do we have any specific questions for huh I was reading that oh I'm looking while you look the the the last section of the changes um are procedural changes most of these were proposed by staff um partly because some of the section we were originally referencing we now had had changed in other portions of the code uh some of it was to as as um Pete said you know there's there's a lot of leeway in this code that allows the applicant to ask staff for administrative approvals and so staff went in and specifically stated what are the things that can be considered an administrative approval and when does the plan have to come uh to the board and it's really limiting what those are but like I said I'm happy to answer any questions actually in this one while you look commissioner herd I know I know you're going to have a lot of questions I'm happy to clarify them um as you can see right here that is what the 5% was required this is the plan as we designed it for Mr Kiplinger and the plan that you're going to see shortly from that little square instead now has all of this that's because we moved that percentage from private to public commissioner Smith it's more of a general comment I the the Brilliance of what was envisioned from the very beginning of all this um I think is starting to pay off I I don't know certainly in Martin County there's nothing that comes close to to the level of detail and the level of importance and how this thing was done um most importantly uh and I would say this to Madam if they were in my office I would say it to them in the room the importance of having this settlement architect keeps everybody in check it keeps all the vision should keep all the vision in check that what Knight and visioned um for his family for the legacy of his name uh continues on um what Marcela just went through uh which is probably why there aren't all sorts of lights on is incredibly complicated and Incredibly detailed do agree with and there's a reason for all that because our idea of creating its own chapter creating all of its own details was to make sure that this didn't get bogged down in a lot of other stuff that makes up the comprehensive plan but all the specificity that everybody worked so hard to get to is embodied in all this and so uh I wish Madame the very best uh in your efforts to do this so far so good um stay the court staff's recommendation I'm second it okay we have what okay never mind I I was just going to say that I was um when when this got presented I was not on the board but I was cautiously optimistic and I was there the other day for the the soft opening or grand opening and I also it it was um my family grew up in the area and I was adamantly against when you changed the name to Citrus Boulevard but I'm very very pleasantly surprised um I like what you're doing I think it's going to be an addition to the community um at at whole so I will second uh commissioner Smith's motion okay we have a motion by commissioner Smith I'm not familiar where is the project being built again west of Palm City card Palm City seconded by commissioner heatherington all in favor I all opposed opposed motion carries four to one with commissioner herd dissenting and we are going to take a 10-minute um close captioning break e e e e e e e e e e --------- ##VIDEO ID:yVigVJEYSek## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e all right Welcome to our November 12th 2024 um Board of County Commission meeting our inv invocation today will be a moment of silence followed by um Pledge of Allegiance led by David yanit a US Army veteran all right please stand Mr yit please join me in a pledge of allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you sir thank you morning good morning ladies and gentlemen County Commissioners distinguished members guests fellow veterans my name is David yanit and I'm a proud husband and father of four Sons David who's nine Dean who's seven Dominic who is four and Dwight who is 2 months and I'm honored to be with you today I join the United States States Army as an infantryman in August of 2007 and served until Christmas 2009 back then when the way the wars were in Iraq and Afghanistan the Army was handing out two years and four months contract and a $20,000 shipping bonus I felt like I was the richest 19-year-old alive I always knew I wanted to join the Army I was definit it was definitely a calling I don't come from a military family but once 911 happened I knew one day would wear the uniform of this great country and like all who served carry the torch of freedom and pass it to the next Generation I also knew the Army was very excited for me to join as I would periodically receive responses to the thank you for your interest letters from the recruiting office and reminding me that I was way too young apparently there were requirements and being 14 wasn't one of them when I was finally of age I tried college for about a year to see if I wanted to become an officer and at that point where the war in Iraq and Afghanistan 2007 I thought I better enlist now before the war ends I went through basic and infantry training at Fort Benning Georgia and upon completion I received orders to Fort Hood Texas where they were standing up a brigade to deploy I was assigned to the Recon platoon of the first Battalion 26 infantry regiment third infantry Brigade combat team the first Infantry Division the blue spers the same unit as Captain America joining the Army and going a few states west didn't seem like seeing the world but nonetheless I was excited to get to my unit see upon graduation of infantry School the time from graduation to deployment was two weeks to a year either your unit was deployed or headed back but you could expect to be in country within that timeline it would be an about 78 months past graduation before we deployed during the train up I was fortunate to attend and graduate from aerosol school at Campbell Kentucky where I learned how to jump out of helicopters repel uh carry different equipment and sling load operations about two weeks before we were scheduled to ship to solder City a portion of Baghdad Iraq our orders changed to go to the kunar province of Afghanistan I didn't know much about Afghanistan as a f as our Focus was Iraq but I will soon soon learn quickly about combat operations when we deployed in July of 2008 it wasn't too long until we heard about the Battle of w not and how the sky soldiers of the 173rd Airborne got overrun and lost nine American heroes and close to two dozen wounded knowing we were replacing that unit and the gravity of the tragic event we will only come to understand the true meaning of loss when it comes our turn in the fight while in the Recon unit our Battalion pulled half of the platoon and sent two two squads to the personal security detail and the other two to remain in the mountains I switched to the security detail and became the machine gunner for the Battalion Command Sergeant Major's vehicle our task was to escort the leadership to several meetings with Village Elders meetings with company commanders and other elements Air Assault missions on The Afghan Pakistan border to figure out enemy movement in and out of the region during the deployment our security platoon had completed hundreds of missions numerous Air Assault missions and defeated countless enemy engagements while all that is important nothing will replace those who we lost or wounded either in our element or the blue spers as a whole staff sergeant Rogers my squad leader and Sergeant Dawson a very dear friend who died on a helicopter that I was set to be on will always be honored and remembered and serve as a reminder to live a life worthy of their sacrif we left Afghanistan in June of 2009 and I will tell you that it was an uneasy feeling readjusting from sustained combat seeing family reuniting with guys who were wounded and then being and then the beginning of new chapters as people either reenlisted and went to a new unit were discharged or stayed or stayed was a whirlwind of emotions I decided not to reinlist as I had enough of War it was time to see what else had uh life had for me little did I know I would meet my future wife within a few weeks of being home and she was gracious enough to attend this meeting with us today I started at Indian River State College and graduated my associates degree and went to on to FAU for my bachelor's in political science I have two master's degrees from George Washington University and the other from University of Nebraska both in the field of political science I was the Civics and US history teacher Martin County School District at Murray middle and South Fork for eight years I was also the director of Youth and government and I was the social studies teacher of the year I am now my third year at IRSC teaching American government and international relations I'm a PhD applicant with hopes of Acceptance in early 2025 and I'm most proud of starting a chapter called salute salute is the only National Honor Society in the nation recognizing and honoring the service and the Scholastic achievements of this gener A's greatest veterans even though veterans like me are happy to stay in the shadows and out of the spotlight we are also happy to shine the light on others who I'd like to thank who do so much for our community I would like to thank Mar County veteran services for the amazing and selfless work they do on behalf of our veteran Community the knowledge expertise compassion and dedication to the mission which is the veteran and their success is second to none and to brend Jeff and team thank you you make the difference and Martin County and its veterans are better because of you and thank you for what you have done for me and my family recognizing that Veterans Day was yesterday and thank you to all those who have answered the call to serve I appreciate the honor to share a little bit of my story honor the lives of others appreciate the service and remember the sacrifice it was my honor to speak with you all today thank you and God bless thank you very much all right thank you sir okay on tap today we have oh my gosh we have uh 9:05 public comment uh at 11:00 a.m. we have a preset for present presentations for commissioner Smith and commissioner Jenkins uh 505 public comment um additional items Proclamation number five adoption and presentation of a proclamation declaring hospice and paliative yes uh care month in Martin County Florida consent number 13 request for approval retainer agreement with gima torsa tvia tvia okay for special magistrate services to get out without a challenge yeah yeah exactly oh just think what's going to happen here we should have put a whole bunch of like interesting names in just for the yeah no doubt okay um consent 14 request for approval of settlement agreement department number seven update on review of analysis of past Western lands plan studies department number eight uh request for bid award to Bright line trains of Florida LLC approved for First Amendment to the November 25th uh 2018 agreement settlement agreement and permission to apply for federal Grant we have no consent polls uh we are withdrawing uh public hearing number two public hearing to consider adoption of an ordinance amending article 12 divisions 1- 7 Community Development code land development regulations Martin County code regarding architectural design standards staff must read vertise and with that commissioner Smith morning Mr chairman thank you move approval of the agenda with the additional items of proclamation five consent 13 consent 14 Department 7 Department 8 uh and request withdrawal from the agenda public hearing item number two second okay we have motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner campy all in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously So today we're going to do a little bit of a shuffle for um some folks that are in the room we are going to um going to tell them what we're doing first I didn't say anything okay mic or management here no I'm not yeah uh number one uh we're going to bring up first item would be department number eight the bright line since most of the room is here for that uh number two will be uh Department I'm sorry public hearing number six affordable housing which we have quite a few people here for number three is the higho Pud which we have to do because of number four Camp Valor so Camp so high point has to be done before we can do Camp Valor again we have uh a lot of folks in the room for Camp Valor and then uh department number five The Hop sound train station antique The Hop sound uh historic train station let's be clear on that uh lease uh will be uh number five and then the rest of the agenda will stay the same just to uh accommodate uh all the folks in the room so we're going to start with public comment after I uh mispronounce your name uh if you would come to the podium and actually um uh pronounce it correctly uh for the record that'd be great if you would like to speak at that item uh as it comes up on the agenda please let me know and I'll set your card aside for the item and then uh oh we got to do proclamations first yeah I'm sorry I was going to go wait you're the one that told me to do today is your day bro you threw me on okay we're going to do proclamations I'm sorry I'm sorry I got just getting into the group couple more meetings you couple more I'll have this down man yeah I'm sorry excuse me okay horrible now I'm joking good morning morning Commissioners um our first Proclamation is presenting a proclamation declaring Veterans Day in Martin County for more than 200 years individuals from all walks of life had taken up arms and sworn an oath to support and defend the principles upon which our country was founded the contributions and sacrifices of the men and women who served in the armed forces have been vital in maintaining our freedom and the way of life enjoyed by the people of the United States in recognition of Veterans Day which was observed on November 12th the board calls upon all citizens to honor the contributions of current and former members of the US armed forces and here to accept we have David M yanit Army Combat veteran let's have everybody scoot this way a little bit okay okay thank you sorry about that all right let's do a few one two three hey Harold hey Harold before they leave um can I make a motion to adopt that Proclamation oh okay we just did have a second too do we have a second second okay we have a motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner heatherington all in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously our next Proclamation is declaring National apprenticeship week in Martin County the purpose of national apprenticeship week is to raise awareness of the vital role registered apprenticeships serve in creating opportunities by allowing participants to earn while they learn and preparing a pathway to Quality jobs and well-paying careers in Martin County and across thetion National apprenticeship week is November 17th through the 23rd and the board recognizes the importance of this proven industry-driven training model and here to accept we have Colleen Gil with the Career Source research Coast good morning good morning thank you so much for recognizing National apprenticeship week and thank you so much for putting the proclamations before the public comment uh my name is Colleen Gil I am the apprenticeship Navigator for Career Source research Coast we are your local Workforce Development board for Indian River St Lucy and Martin counties we provide free services to employers and job Seekers we do job fairs um job listings recruitment Career Development and a whole lot more my role as apprenticeship Navigator is to promote registered apprenticeship as a career development and Workforce retention solution um this really is a very accessible train training model and it is available across diverse Industries registered apprenticeship combines on the job training and related instruction it's available for permanent full-time employees and Career Source actually provides grant funding to help offset the cost for employers so this amounts to 50% of wage reimbursement for a portion of the apprenticeship as well as free education for The Apprentice so I do encourage anybody who's interested in registered apprentiship to contact me you can email me at cgill CareerSource rc.com or you can visit our Career Source research Coast website look under apprenticeship and there's a form on there where you can contact me thank you so much you [Applause] all right one two three I'm your backup just in case that phone thing doesn't work out well for you and we are going to need a motion for our next one which is um declaring Alzheimer's disease Awareness Month Martin County move approval second we have a motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner campy all in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously the next Proclamation is declaring Alzheimer Alzheimer's disease Awareness Month in Martin County in the United States there are over currently over 6.7 million reported cases of Alzheimer's disease and in Florida approximately 580,000 people aged 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's disease it is critical that Alzheimer's families coping with the disease are safe with well-being dignity and quality of life preserved through services and resources available to all the board urges all citizens of Martin County to learn more about Alzheimer's disease attend educational events and seek out help in local L drug trials during Alzheimer's disease awareness month and here to accept we have David E Dangerfield Vice chair of the board of directors with Alzheimer's Community Care good morning good morning sir thank you all for uh making awareness of all Alzheimer's disease here in Martin County a priority uh we certainly appreciate it and uh just to share with you we we estimate that there's something over about 6,400 people in Martin County who right now are suffering from Alzheimer's disease and in the next several years we expect that to grow by 24 or 25% it's a it's an onset that's coming at us all Alzheimer's Community Care continues to offer help and Hope through Martin County with a specialized day Center in North Stewart and caregiver na navigation uh Services uh for the families we pledge that our families coping with the disease are safe with well-being dignity and quality of life preserved through a combination of services that are accessible to every person in Martin County your recogn recognition of our cause in this November 24th public awareness Proclamation demonstrates your concern for the most vulnerable and the fragile population in our County those Alzheimer's families we want to say thank you for walking beside all of those folks who are dealing with this deadly disease thank you very much [Applause] okay I'm going to need a motion uh declaring hospice and pallative Care month in Martin County Florida second second Doug was first okay uh we have motion by commissioner Smith seconded by commissioner campy all in favor I opposed motion carries unanimously our final Proclamation this morning um hospice and paliative Care month in Martin County as medicare's first proven Coordinated Care model hospice offers person centered Compassionate Care ensuring people dignity choice and quality of life established in 1982 Treasure Coast hospit Hospice is a nonprofit Community can you speak up a little bit they can't hear at the back of the room yes we'll do I will just start right over as medicare's first proven Coordinated Care model hospice offers person- centered Compassionate Care ensuring people dignity choice and quality of life established in 1982 Treasure Coast Hospice is a nonprofit Community organization of skilled professionals and dedicated volunteers whose mission is to provide access to compassionate caring expert and professional hospice and grief support services to patients and families at the end of life in recognition of November as hospice and paliative Care month the board encourages citizens to increase their understanding and awareness of Care at the end of life and here we have April price who is vice president of clinical operations for Treasure Coast Hospice I thank you for having us today I I just want to first of all um mention how what what an honor it is to be able to care for the um patients and families in this in this community to be part of the Healthcare Community um we're really really proud of what we do and um I hope that anybody who's ever been touched by Treasure Coast Hospice at any point has had a good experience um I could talk about hospice all day long I was told I only have 3 minutes so I'll try to keep it short um but it it is just an amazing offering that Medicare offers to anybody who is on Medicare it's also covered by Medicaid and other um payers but we are there to hold the hand of the patient and the family as they um go down the journey through the Journey of of um facing death and while that's a really hard thing to talk about we are experts at it so I again I want to thank everybody for this honor and um for allowing us to come into the homes of the people in this community and take care of you [Music] [Applause] thanks trying to run away away like this all right let's do a couple one two three it than thank you thank you okay so now let's do the public comment thing um please remember even if I pronounce your name correctly uh repeat it at the um at the Das you have 3 minutes after 2 minutes and uh 45 seconds you'll hear a tone that only means you have 15 seconds to wrap up your comments and we're passed all that election stuff so he doesn't need to talk so if there if I call your name and you want to talk to the item specifically um please let me know and I will set your card aside we're going to start start with John dial followed by Mr Mike dly I think he wants you to set his card aside who John dial okay I didn't see that oh no now I guess he oh good morning Commissioners my name is John dial I'm a veteran resident and local business owner for 24 years in Martin County for over the years I've never attended many of these meetings but have started doing so lately because I feel it's my civic duty to do so I feel that the citizens of Martin County should be advised of every dollar that's spent in the county on our behalf especially for new project projects and for that fact for projects in the past that either showed a return on the income or investment or didn't when it was sold to the commission and the constituents Financial accountability and smart sustainable growth is what I'm bringing to light you see I'm an American for Americans and I'm a Martin County taxpayers for Martin County residents um my question is is why would the county want to take on building a train station for a private company if that's the case I would like for you guys to pay for my Marina slips down here and the hotels and the restaurants advertising that sounds crazy right but sooda is spending $60 million for a train station that ultimately fall on taxpayers yet again bright line has lost $420 million so far just the first quarter this year 116 million 192 million in 2023 and another 2011 million in 2022 let me put this into perspective for you that's 2.1 million Uber rides you could do between Orlando and Stewart or Stewart in Miami at an average cost of $200 a ride and I got that off of Uber's site last night this is just what the cost in financial loss is up to date on bright line there'll be more in the future again I'm not anti- bright line I'm just anti- Martin County paying for it Fort Pierce is a much better location from what I understand understand with a tie-in with IRSC director Shipyard federal Offices not to mention Fort Pierce is got a commercial airline uh airport there now if we're TR truly talking about serving the good of society it's a better choice and cost Martin County taxpayers nothing we will not have that element that every train station in the entire world descends to and those are all paid by taxpayer dollars everyone talks about grants paying for that well grants are just ta doll disguised without spending or oversight or plan I compete against Grant funded businesses all the time and I can't compete against them because they're in a losing money proposition I hope you'd consider this without presenting all the facts and a cost to us first just give us the cost and let us know upfront what it is and let us decide thank you Mr dly will be followed by Rose um ralof my name is Michael douly for the record good morning Commissioners I felt compelled to come up here today and publicly thank and acknowledge uh two Commissioners I wanted to publicly thank commissioner Smith uh commissioner Smith has given us 24 years of his time and service his knowledge uh that's going to be leaving this Das is um I think irreplaceable in a lot of ways as Connections in Tallahassee as Connections in Washington DC are not going to go unnoticed I know that uh there are folks here and probably listening and watching on TV that haven't always agreed with commissioner decision Smith's decision though I would tell you that I believe it was always uh his in his heart to do what he felt was best and right for Martin County one issue comes to mind that issue of the uh the moing fields in in Jensen Beach and the big battle about that but you know when you think about it uh he's always been an advocate for water and those M fields did the best for seagrasses and seag grasses are a big part and element of the health of our Indian River Lagoon so thank you commissioner Smith for the time served and I hope that you're not unselfish uh with respect to I hope you are unselfish with respect to the knowledge that you can pass on and the others commissioner Jenkins I think if you looked in the dictionary and you looked for a picture of a non-politician I think commissioner Jenkins picture would be there but commissioner Jenkins has brought uh such a passion he never really said much but when he talked people listen and um I know for a fact I know commissioner Jenkins for 30 5 40 plus years now um I know that in his heart he did what he thought was absolutely best for the county and so I want to thank you commissioner Jenkins for your service and then I'm going to segue into um the historical train station I hope you folks listen to that presentation and and give it a a positive thought and help it get to where it needs to be and one final comment um I want to thank the staff of Martin County I don't think people realize how hard they work you know the commissioner said policy but the staff is committed to fulfill that policy and sometimes their job is tough I know they've been tough on me but I will tell you they've been fair and they listen and they do the best they can for the people so I want to just give a big shout out for the staff as well thank you very much have a great day thanks Mike Rose uh which we're about to find out our last name is followed by Susie wter good morning my name is Rose Roloff and I come to you today as a 40 plus year healthc care um veteran in the industry in all avenues I wanted to give a a shout out about the um hospice and paliative care I'm actually giving a presentation today in Palm City at 7 o'clock tonight at New Hope Fellowship because majority of people don't know a lot about the healthcare industry and one of the topics I Do cover is the difference between hospice and paliative care so I wanted to throw that in uh it is my birthday today and I'm taking the time out of my birthday because this is such an important issue I sent an email with this information in March of 2023 to this commission I received the um receipt from Donna that it was received by all of you we keep throwing around that if we don't learn from history we keep repeating from it I have a long list here which I'm not going to go through of all of the lessons that we didn't learn from but I'll begin with the spread of DDT thalidomide and now just recently it finally came to a Supreme Court case about the Hazardous of fluoride in our water now we are rolling out 5G and we are not learning from history I sent to you a complete put together PDF document that for those in the public they can find the full document on Dr Pete chambers.com it's d p te c h MB rs.com he is a retired lieutenant colonel Green Beret physician flight surgeon and bioweapons expert so again I am not an expert but the experts from around the world in including in 2018 in the UN assembly in Vienna they are shouting out about the problems with the health Gris with 5G and again I only have three minutes so I can't go through it all this is an hourlong presentation if I did but I am going to read to you guys something this is a 2017 Public School liability policy and it says exclusions this is insurance does not apply to bodily injury personal injury advertising injury or property damage arising directly or indirectly out of resulting from caused or contributed to by electromagnetic radiation these are in insurance policies this was provided to you and I'm submitting this to you and what I would like to do is each individual representative individually respond what independent not government safety Studies have you individually reviewed ma'am your time is up thank you thank you but I would like that on the record and these documents submitted for the record pleas Susie wter is followed by Amy shanigan Shan so I'm actually I'm Amy janigan and this is Susie wering not to speak and I'm speaking for both of us and for our family amilies um June 20th 2024 was the most tragic day of my life my sister and Susie son Brian drowned at the Hutchinson Beach Marriott Resort I'm sure you all remember that [Applause] day it is absolutely ridiculous that there are no Flags or signage at these Resorts so I've been working with Martin County ocean rescue and I actually want to publicly thank them because they have been absolutely amazing and everyone that I've met and and I've came down here to thank I live in Maryland I was a Florida resident for like three and a half years so I I know Florida well and I know the beaches and we grew up in in Maryland and and in Maryland we only have like a small set um I mean a small piece of the state is um beaches but every single inch is guarded now the the lifeguards pull in at 5:30 and then you know everybody knows that you're at your own risk but I I think I I was shocked to find out that Martin County has 22 miles of beaches and only one mile is guarded and and and I was researching and and trying to figure out like this doesn't make any sense but then I found out well if the Marriott has a lifeguard at their Beach then they're liable if someone drowns and if not then they just say okay forget it you know my sister and Brian were two of the nicest people you could ever meet in your life my sister was a special education teacher and she dedicated her life to um help helping autistic children and and and keep kids that were kind of left behind you know and Brian was just so smart and kind and and the two of them um were together for like three and a half years and um Erica make it out of the water when the rest of the family did and Brian ran in to save her and lost his life trying to save her and then um some of the kids decided they were going to try to go and and get her there was six children R ranging of age from 12 to 20 and I also want to publicly thank Kaye a lifeguard who I haven't got a chance to meet yet cuz just timing wise but I'm going to meet her hopefully today and thank her because she was the first on the scene and she pulled my sister's body out of the ocean and then that way the kids um didn't go in I'm sorry I um I want to give out I'm because I'm running at a time I know but I'd like to work with you guys I'm actually meeting I met um Congressman Mast earlier a couple days ago and um I live in Maryland like an hour from DC and so I'm meeting with him next Thursday to talk about legislation reform for why these resorts are are not putting signage up you know the the ocean Rescue Team I talked to them they said you know we they have these this the signs that say Okay rip current and and and it's not just you can't just put a picture of a rip current and say this is what you have to avoid we need signage to say what are today's conditions my sister was not a risk taker she would never have let her children or herself in that ocean if she knew that there was a rip current and they had no idea because there was no Flags so I want to work with you guys ma'am your time is up thank you thank you okay next up is Susan ma followed by Aaron [Music] Fogerty good morning I've been here but it's been a long time as a retired marketing executive one of the earliest documents I read from the All Aboard Florida Fortress Investment Group was their ridership and revenue study of 2013 and I quote from it in the Southeast Florida Market a a decrease of 10% in runtime 7 minutes would result in a 5% increase in ridership should the running time need to be increased a similar magnitude of decrease in ridership could be expected bottom line bright line management does not want to slow down or stop any more than necessary and when they do they want to do it in a location that already requires them to slow down if they must have a stop on the Treasure Coast it will be best if it's in a place where they have to slow down anyway there are only two locations north of Palm Beach that NE necessitate a Slowdown steuart's tight Center at tight Town Center at confusion corner heading to the single track St Lucy River Bridge at this point and at CoCo where they have to slow down to make a turn west to Orlando based on bright Line's terrible ridership numbers and hemorrhaging operating cach as we heard earlier they would rather not stop at all on the Treasure Coast that's also why they do not want to pay a cent for a station here so you understand their position completely the sad fact must be understood this is neither a high-speed European style slick Railway nor a local commuter it was a hybrid with cheaper regulations and an excuse to use taxpayer money to double Freight capacity period has anyone done a marketing study on the potential for business increases with two or four stops One Direction a day there will be no benefit to residents for commuting South to jobs and businesses did not expect hundreds of passengers to get off at Stewart and spend money you can't fit dinner in the theater or any other major event assuming you have the events and shops that will attract folks from Miami or bokeh 5 years ago this month bright line foress Fortress Investment Group wanted one thing to get out of the M Martin County lawsuit they weren't handing out gifts and you are crazy if you continue to spend other people's money when they have no intention of fulfilling their agreements or becoming a transportation system that any of us dream of thank you Aaron ferty is followed by Steve uh Adams good morning sorry uh my name is Aaron Fogerty I'm a Stuart res president uh thank you chairman Jenkins and Commissioners for allowing me to speak today want to thank you um for taking up the initiative for a bright Line station for the county um as a former government government employee I look at the function of government um to help the citizenry and to make our lives better quality of life better and that doesn't always mean looking at the bottom line um a bright line St would benefit the um citizens here in Martin County um Jupiter um Fort Pierce would come down and use it go to Miami additionally um this is short and sweet um after attending many recent city of Stewart commission meetings I really appreciate the decorum in this chamber so thank you again and um go bright line [Applause] Steve Adams is followed by Kelly um good good morning everyone shler so up until last meeting I was I I always try to keep an open mind with bright line and I spoke about um our government here spending money in a Smart Way um but after coming up and speaking and everybody was speaking the commission voted to continue to explore negotiations with bright line um and open up a second station so up until that point bright line was looked at as a silver bullet to save Stewart for some reason and I don't understand how opening up the second location for a train station outside of this the downtown Stewart area helps out Stewart it just didn't make any sense it doesn't make any sense the another thing that doesn't make sense is the negotiation process with bright line you have to make a deal with them then apply for a grant and everybody's in some fantasy land like this grant is given this commission and the supporters of bright line behind me are all about Damn the Torpedoes Full Speed Ahead and there's all kinds of torpedoes in the water as said before the financial situation of bright line itself the city of Stewart has shot it down because it was financially not beneficial two two grants have been not allowed Coco lost their Grant and the weakest link in the train line the the steart bridge uh Railway Bridge is now lost their grant that bridge needs to be replaced and yet we still continue on this fantasy land that bright line is going to save Stewart and if we don't get a grant then it's going to fall on the taxpayers is there some sort of stipulation in this agreement that you're looking to make with bright line that if you don't get the grant it's not going to fall on us taxpayers I think there's a lot of foolishness throughout this thing people are putting too much Faith In Bright line and it's not a good company so I'm fully against at this point thank you very much [Applause] Kelly Shalom Mo it looks like Shmo Shmo okay close I'm getting followed by Matthew Shmo good morning County Commissioners my name is Kelly Shmo and I'm a Parkwood resident of 5 years it has been three weeks exactly since the AT&T 5G cell tower was constructed on the sidewalk right beside my house it is not yet completed but I find myself Looking Out My Window all throughout the day specifically at the new tower fearful of the workers returning to complete the project thankfully that has not happened yet but it creates such such anxiety within me every time I look out my window I see it and my mind immediately starts racing as much as I try to ignore it accept it and move on I'm still tormented with the same question will my family be safe here I can't even express how many times over the past few weeks I have heard you're not going to stay there are you you have to protect your babies which only creates more doubt and more fear our home our sanctuary of Peace has now become quite the opposite I've read countless articles that say there's no danger at all from cell towers but I have also read countless articles stating alarming dangers as well as personal story after personal story reporting headaches vomiting dizziness and insomnia just to name a few because it's still so new there's just not enough research out there yet to put my mind at ease we had absolutely no say in this beforehand and now we're stuck in between a rock and a hard place do we stay and risk it or do we move and take a financial hit because we all know that now having a cell tower in your yard immediately decreases the property value as well as makes it difficult to sell of all the land in our County why must it be in between two houses in a residential HOA neighborhood specifically between my house and our sweet neighbors Jenny and Ray is it because of all the new developments being built off of Cove and Sero roads is it to service them but we're an old convenient place to put it on not to disturb the beauty of the new communities or perhaps it was just simply random but whatever was the deciding fact I'm pleading with you to stop this process and have the company relocate it and not in another residential area putting other innocent families in the same position thank you for your time Matthew will be followed by William Corbin that was my beautiful wife um thank you Commissioners for allowing me the opportunity to speak my name is Matthew Shmo I live on Satin Leaf Place I'm here as a resident of Parkwood and a neighbor to many who are deeply impacted by the recent installation of the 5G cell tower directly in front of my home uh this decision made by County Employees probably unknown to you guys uh gave permission to AT&T uh to install a massive in the permit says 155 ft cell tower in my culdesac uh this has led to serious concerns about transparency Regulatory Compliance and risks it poses to my property's Value Health and quality of life to begin the tower's placement uh may have violated Florida's uh 2023 statutes on public transportation title XXVI chapter 337 this statute requires a public meeting before an application for such an installation uh as well as direct notification to affected residents regarding RightWay placements additionally it restricts utility pole height to 50 ft if there are no other utility poles in the vicinity this statue mandates ADA compliance for pedestrian Pathways uh in our case these requirements were neglected the community was not informed and the poll now blocks a sidewalk it's it's literally in a sidewalk uh and it clear and it clearly interfer safety as neighbors uh we bring the following points to emphasize our position one failure in community trans transparency and due process process two impacts on property values and Investments the research is clear cell towers have documented impact on home values studies uh from reputable organizations showed that homes near cell towers see a drop in property value up to 15% for many of us our homes are our largest investment and financial losses due to proximity to this Tower threatens our long-term stability and communities overall appeal to new buyers you'll see the sources I cited um I I gave packets uh in front of you that talk about home values impacted by 5G Towers you also see pictures in there from this packet um number three health and safety concerns for family and young children we're particularly concerned about potential health risk from prolonged exposure to RF emissions and a risk we don't want to impose on on my family and and my neighbors the American Cancer Society and other health experts urge caution as studies continue for us the wellbeing of our children and neighbors cannot be compromised without consideration uh in closing we respectfully require and request the board to Halt further construction and reassess this Tower's location uh we invite commissioner herd and other board members willing to uh to visit our neighborhood and see it firsthand uh and uh we want to thank you for for considering this uh you're the only ones who can look out for us uh the buck stops with you guys um and uh you represent us not corporations or your time is up thank you thank you commissioner campy normally don't jump in in the middle of public comment but after those two comments and the information that we have received via email um you were right sir when you mentioned it did not come to us and I asked excuse me I asked our County Administrator why not and he said it's a state issue uh but that being said I'm requesting that we have an agenda item our our director of Public Works is here but it's a busy day today so I'm requesting an agenda item that we will go through and figure out why this happened and I don't know if we have the authority but I would ask that uh our staff speak to who the contractor and tell them to potentially hold off from continuing to do work on that poll this packet is excellent I don't want to give you a sense of false hope but at least should have a vetting of what's Happening whoever put this together did an excellent job um it seems like sort of against what would be uh appropriate and normal but the state does have um the ability to override us but at the very least let's hear about it and let's see if we can't uh get to the bottom of it now in terms of the debate between our cell phone towers dangerous or not I don't think we're going to solve that specific issue like you said ma'am there's as much information saying they're not as there is that says they are but at least let's figure out what the situation was with this and I'd make that a motion thank second hey we have a motion by commissioner Cy what yeah agenda item for an agenda item to come back seconded by commissioner heatherington all in favor all I'll oppose that motion carries unanimously all right Mr William Corbin is followed by Mr maybe and uh Mr pel apparently good morning Commissioners hope you all had a wonderful and reflective Veterans Day my name is William Corbin I'm the new executive director for the business development Board of Martin County and my comments today will focus on agenda items relating to three separate projects in Martin County number one the Martin new The Madam Newfield development number two Martin Commerce Park and number three bright line I'll begin with Mame Newfield the workplace District specifically in addition to residential units the development includes nearly 35,000 ft of commercial office and retail space and more than a million square feet programmed for light industrial uses from an economic development perspective this is an excellent mix one that's ideal for job creation and higher wage opportunities for employment it's also one of several Prime sites that the bdb highlights when companies talk to us about expanding the request concerns a reconfiguration of the site to create more connectivity among the parcels available Green Space which will benefit future residents and employees like some of you I had the opportunity to visit Newfield last Friday and see the progress taking place on site we appreciate that the master developer Madame holes has prioritized important aspects even before focusing exclusively on the residential side aspects such as the workplace District as well as the Kipling gear Conservancy which contains more than a thousand acres of natural land and a network of trails the workplace District's proximity to a variety of housing Styles sizes and prices will make it an especially attractive location for any business looking to expand the workplace component is an essential element and I respectfully request your support for this item the second project that I'd like to speak in support of is Martin Commerce Park by Ashley Capital there are a few agenda items relating to this project among those items is a request for a zoning District change from agricultural to limited industrial on 167 Acres of the property in question when finished the park will feature nearly two dozen buildings totaling approximately 1 million square ft of commercial industrial space this development will continue to help fill a void for existing Martin County businesses and prospective businesses outside of the county who are interested in expanding locally it will also help to build the tax base and increase tax revenues that the county will connect collect excuse me and finally as you may recall seeing after a unanimous vote the bdb board directed staff to draft a letter of support that recognized and applauded you all for your unanimous commitment to bringing a station to the community thereby helping to maintain a pro bus environment the letter also highlighted the importance of the County's commitment to pursuing federal grants to minimize construction costs thank you for your time this morning I appreciate it you Mr Patel which is going to pronounce his first name is followed by Michael circus hi good morning Commissioners um my name is Raj Patel um Martin County taxpayer for decades that's not even close by the way Raj Batel that's his CL yes thank you is that no that's not Raj that's Anu okay that's my wife so we'll switch it okay um so um first and foremost uh it's a it's very refreshing to see a county official feeling strong to come up and voice their support for projects within the county I don't think that can happen in the city of Stewart um I think people would be scared to voice their opinion as the gentleman just did right before me so uh thank you very much for creating that environment of um of openness and uh inclusion so I just want to let you uh gentlemen and ladies know that I I hope that you choose um the downtown location for for the train station um I I know there was a lot of contention and a lot of issues that that are behind us hopefully I um I just want to let let you know that if you do I think you should call it the Martin County train station and and if you do I would like you to acknowledge um Dr Richard Olen who's in the seating behind me as the founder of that name um but that's it thank you very much I don't think I have anything else to say uh because we've gone through it for so many years all all the details are done and for anybody to say bright line doesn't have skin in the game is just it's nonsense thank [Applause] you Mr circus will be followed by um Mrs Patel let's do that good morning Mike circus from Resident Palm City I think you guys have heard me say multiple times over that um you know the way we do things is more important decisions we come to you know the ends do not justify the means and in this case taking a look at bright no matter how much we may be in support or against bright line doing something Shady in the process to make it happen is still doing something Shady in the process to make it happen in this particular case I'm going to highlight how we're circumventing state law chap 125: 66 we did not notice this 10 days in advance as is required by the state any ordinance or resolution with a binding effect has to be has to be noticed 10 days in advance this is backed up by the Attorney General's office that goes so far as to say that any issue that is reasonably considered controversial should be not is 10 days in advance i' would go out and limit say the volume of push notifications we've gotten on our phones and the fact that there's a room full of people including cameras would probably suggest this is somewhat controversial moreover Martin County Code chapter 71 in Tax and Finance gives you a very specific limit of how much money you are allowed to borrow to make government action happen and this $15 million is far in excess of that so you're not even in compliance with that uh if we were to get out of the actual ordinances and get out of the actual uh State statutes itself get into policy procedure you'll see their rfbs require a minimum of two respondents you might recall back when we had the golf course issue we had one respondent we end up held holding the bag on the golf course because we had only one qualified respondent again one qualified respondent looking at holding the bag but uh it came to mind today's the 12th so exactly 11 months ago today is when you guys had your first discussion on the RFP so I pulled a couple quotes from that meeting um the first one here the assistant County Administrator 5050 per our settlement that statement was sa many many times over 50/50 uh per our settlement agreement will be split between the county and bright line uh this is reaffirmed by the County Attorney as well per our settlement 50-50 agreements as well as the the grant money the grants will be split 50/50 ensuring that if we're going to put 50-50 cost into it that we should get 50/50 benefit on the uh on the grants themselves apparently that's dissipated in the last 11 months we also have no followup about the raise and Chrissy grants that we were told were already in process 11 months ago so uh I'd love to know where that's coming from what's up with that uh but most importantly this is the one that that really gets me I'm going to pull from your words uh commissioner herd you made the statement that you're not opposed this in in theory but you don't want to write an open-ended check you want a cap uh three 3 million was something you were willing to do 10 million you thought was a bit excessive today your Cap's $15 million so you know that's that's a substantial more than three and then commissioner Smith you had made statements about how it was absolutely imperative please do not refer to a specific um commissioner refer to us is a great place uh one of the outgoing Commissioners who is a gentleman had made a statement that the city of Steward their agreement with us was imperative to make this successful this was even uh reaffirmed by the county Minister the city of Stewart pulled out so how was it imperative 11 months ago to have the city's uh assistance and now the assistance is gone there's no reason for us to take on this R time is up thank you Mrs Patel is followed by Mr Carmine doollo mayor carbine doollo hold the mic down a little bit hello everyone good morning um and thank you for being leaders in the true sense and uh considering us taxpayers as uh important people as well and we as taxpayers want our tax money to go in the right direction bring the train station to our County for our benefit for us to take the train elsewhere and back to our town uh this is our tax money as well we want to be spent at the right place uh it'll be better that if you put the train station in Stuart downtown because it's ready it's there it's your property it's Martin County's property and nobody has a say to oppose it but you beautiful amazing people so you should consider downtown Stewart as a good train station stop um it's just that um this this decision is very prudent for the citizens of County please consider it and give us a train station as just the way you have done good things in the future please do this one too thank you you [Applause] he the mayor would like me to set his card aside so we're going to go with Monica napki Ali Ali okay get up into Forest it's easy okay first of all I'd like to thank you for taking the 5G uh motion and that's why I'm here so I'm it's pretty much a repeat of Matthew but I'll do my best to the board of County Commissioners invite a guests and concerned citizens thank you for allowing me to speak my name is Monica napari and I live in Parkwood neighborhood I stand before you today because recently a 5G Tower was erected not more than 200 ft from my house my top priority today is to learn how something like this can happen without literally overnight and how this can be done without any notification to any Resident that now have this eyesore in our face daily due to the lack of transparency I question the motivation and Leadership of this commission but I take that back because it's not you anyway who has the final approval in this does it lie with the commission or with the building department I wouldn't be surprised but disappointed if the final study lies with the building department or permitting while approval will be issued merely because all the correct boxes were checked I'm sure the cellular companies allowed the let follow the letter of the law to get permission however for something like this it should require more than a rubber stamp for approval like getting approval from me and my neighbors if you would allow me I'd like to ask each of you how how you would feel if this happened outside your front door don't do that my guess is if a request were made and you knew about it it would be scrutinized more closely because you knew it was happening and could stop we were not afforded that opportunity we got to witness a covert act that required police escort to be completed I'm curious why did you need the police to be involved I highly doubt it was for Traffic Control since it's a culdesac road the last Road in our community perhaps for security due to unhappy Neighbors being ambushed with the erection of this object that just crushed our property value by 15 to 20% I'm a realtor it is with it is my it is my respectful request that you do this that sorry let's start again it is my respectful request that you do what is within your powers to have this Tower relocated as soon as possible if you would like I can assist in finding a location anywhere that isn't directly in the middle of a residential neighborhood the commission needs to pay play a bigger role in the location selection nobody should have to deal with this while I'm not optimistic my words will make a difference I do appreciate the opportunity to voice them thank you for your [Applause] time next up is Casey Ingram Mullen followed by Mr Harry MacArthur he gives you have to share good morning April 6 2024 $50 million bright line funding denied it's privately funded I mean we are not going to be on the hook as the state with taxpayers for doing trains Governor DeSantis November 8 Federal agency nix's $47 million grant for bright line Coco station October 30 another $42 million Grant denied for the St Lucy River Bridge until today's vote to amend the settlement agreement taxpayers in bright line were split to split the Station cost 5050 but now you intend to have us the tax payers foot the entire Bill why bright line is clear they only want to be in Martin County so there's no need to give away the house bright line says they won't pay a dime for a steart station yet they donated over $6 million in land for Coco and 30 million for bokeh you are not giving them you are giving them our land and taxpayers foot 100% of the bill the initial Miami to Orlando buildout projection was of $1.5 billion doar has now balloon to over $6 billion in growing yet you are committing your constituents hard-earned tax dollars on a g that a New York City hedge fund is the first company in our history to figure out the magic formula to make passenger rail profitable sadly many of your residents footing the bill are about to that you are about to fo on us can't afford the $55 average ticket price with the top 25% at $129 but ticket prices will need to continue to rise at $129 a ticket they will have to sell around 50 million tickets just to pay off their debt today they have a lot of tickets to sell with ridership averaging just 226,000 per month remember their initial estimate for annual ridership was 7 million far from the reality of around 2.7 million this year we need our money to pay for schools groceries housing and soaring Insurance costs not to subsidize an unproven and risky Venture for a luxury train ride we already have plenty of skin in the game for nearly a century Martin County has 27 railroad crossings we pay to lease and maintain we can't put out B bids we just pay whatever bill they hand Us in 2015 our rail maintenance cost Al loone were $200,000 and with the addition of the second track in bright line your staff projected our cost to hit $31 Million by 2041 I recognize you negotiated bright line to pay for half the cost for the first 14 years but we are on the hook for 100% of the cost for eternity this time you've kept the County's share at 15 million but I don't buy it you already renigging on your 2018 commitment you promised to us that bright line would cover half we'd cover half and we'd split Any Grant proceeds evenly this very board made that agreement without much support in this room now here we are six years later watching you backtrack I fear we'll be left with the entire tab after your next quote Amendment more concerning you never once formally asked for all residents input on such an expensive and divisive issue you've had six years to have a workshop survey or put this on a ballot in those six years we've never were told as taxpayers that we would be forced to pay for everything if bright line genuinely believes in the success of this station and their company why aren't they contributing to its development again what's the issue with the initial 50/50 agreement how are you guys going to pay for it thank thank you Harry MacArthur is followed by Gail Goldie good morning everyone thank you uh Harry MacArthur hop sound I just want to thank everyone uh you Commissioners and staff for always doing a great job and doing what's right for Martin County I just I came up here today for one reason two reasons one is uh commissioner Smith thank you for for your service for you know what not always agreeing with us but doing what was right and you are probably never get the the the respect you deserve for being an environmentalist because you know so many times you take that in consideration and never got the credit you always do what you think is right you always give your explanation on your side of it we have uh agreed and disagreed many times over 24 years I I love the conversations we have it's just that good not many people you can do that with thank you so much any what just the your service thank you thank you all your trips to Tallahassee to Washington I appreciate it you know now commissioner Jenkins I apologize I got you into this I know I know get out I don't know how you can even look at me and smile but thank you for eight wonderful years appreciate you thank you for all you've done thank you both for being great Commissioners and thank you thank [Applause] you so I had Harry standing on one side of me my wife standing on the other our previous commissioner was doing something that none of us uh were very happy with and both of them simultaneously said we're tired of listen to you about it either step up or shut up so here I am and um and it's been a wonderful thing and I beat the odds Harry had an odd thing going on on as longest it would uh how long it would take me to drop the f bomb before behind the dis and I beat it it's not over the day is not over but I beat it but anyway so anyway thank you Harry we've been best friends for a very very very long time so anyway love you y That's good morning Commissioners I'm Gale Goldie and I've been following the bright line Saga since its Inception I'm hopeful that each of you have done the same I have a few comments regarding the proposed bright Line train station but first I'd like to to thank the city of Stewart for exercising such great common sense and restraint on a want not a need I also would like to thank Mr dial because everything that Mr dial said was right on Target first I'm dismayed at the current too soon to be gone Commissioners that feel the need to rush their decision without proper research and Common Sense fiscally responsible let me repeat that fiscally responsible each of you are responsible to us taxpayers to ensure that our needs don't drain us of all of our funds on wants needs versus want seems to me each of you that have children will understand this if a child comes to you at the age and asks you to buy them something that you can't afford nor can they afford you go into debt and that debt can't be repaid no you are being a parent and fiscally responsible to decline their request explaining that they will have to wait and earn the money to pay for it till then it's a no so if we are going to be going into a public private partnership with a private business bright line why are we using our money to pay for the bright Line Station we do not need to be draining our funds on something that is based on the word grants every time I turn around all I hear is don't worry there's grants there'll be grants there'll be grants well we all know that grants are given and grants are taken recently grants have been denied they have been taken back which was the exact thing that happened to the uh train bridge over the uh St Lucy there and um we just don't need to be taking all of our taxpayer dollars and using on using it on something that is not a proven entity to be a uh money maker bright line is $8 billion in debt 8 billion in debt how much will our County be in debt when bright line doesn't have a train go going across those tracks thank you Channing Channing filial I hope is uh going to be followed by Richard Olen and if please repeat your name correctly hello and good morning Board of County Commissioners my name is Channing fbom and I'm a resident of Parkwood I come today before you to ask you to please reconsider the location of the AT&T 5G Tower at its current location it's not only an eyes sore but a potential health hazard to our young and elderly residents the effects of 5G have not been studied long term but we know that they emit harmful electromagnetic frequencies or emfs that do cause headaches disrupt sleep and enhance chronic diseases I don't know about you but if you've ever had a small child's sleep heals all the same with our chronic diseases we need sleep to heal I've been told by a person who makes a living studying radiation in 5G towers that this Tower is just like having a large cell phone in your front yard well I don't know about you but I try every moment of every day to keep my cell phone away from me I don't sleep next to it um excuse me um I lost my spot um I try to keep my phone on um speaker phone so not to keep my phone next to my head um but unfortunately we don't have that luxury of just walking away from a a cell phone tower when it's in our front yard um no one in our neighborhood was notified prior to this installation nor does anyone want it there the 5G Tower is not helping any of our residents and it's only hurting our health and our property values in addition this causes an obstacle for wheelchair bound residents it's in a public right away blocking a sidewalk this Tower would be better suited in a business Parkway industrial park or along a highway not in someone's front yard or residential neighborhood there's already a 5G Tower directly across the street on Federal Highway I kindly urge that you do not use our neighborhood as a science experiment we are not getting pigs this is where we live sleep and raise our children thank you for your time Mr Olen will be followed by Terry kogal okay uh Richard Olen County resident um bright line is our future Stuart was a train Town many years ago and we must be one again this is our only opportunity uh I don't think we should require grants to move forward they're too risky um the alternative is a bus station we don't want a bus station a train station is a great idea a few points the number of stops in steuart will increase with time just look at boka they started with a few now they have a lot of train stations um people worried about the writers ship right now bright line is increasing the number of cars per per car per train it used to be four now it could be up to eight in the future they will be making money they're not dumb um we will we will be paying for the station that's a given but bright line will maintain the station that's a big cost a lot of times communities get a train or some other transportation system and then they have to pay both for the item and for the maintenance for bright line there's no maintenance requirement by the city or the county or the taxpayers none we just have to get it here and then they maintain it forever it's about our community it's our future we must invest real money to get a station or lose the future all great future events require investment and money I think people forget that Investments good things in the future require money we can't just say we're going to do we can only do it by grants please pleas be the grown-ups the gang of a few City commissioners throughout the train station the kids please act responsible for the future of our rail station be the parents it's a great investment period thank you very [Applause] much Terry kogal oh there followed by Steve V Vali Vali thank you you did pronounce it correctly uh good morning Commissioners last week the American people spoke up at Ved out people who thought they were infallible and Untouchable they were wrong they disregarded the will of the people they called us garbage Nazis they thought that they were better than the people they were hired to represent and they were wrong the Dynamics of Martin County have radically changed we have modified from the county of primary retired people to a county of hardworking people people who work hard to support their families people have a strong interest in what happens in this County but are denied the right to attend this County's meetings we have requested evening meetings however it's quite apparent you have no regard for your constituents by refusing to have open meetings at a time when the working people in this County can attend we need late afternoon or evening meetings people are unable to attend morning meetings due to their work schedules bright line supporters that attend morning meetings are mostly business owners who can take the time off to attend the morning meetings only bright line can win County Land for their station no citizen input no Public Notices of their decisions on the agenda there is no transparency no accountability just put their bright line cell towers comp plans Etc you just push everything through before the new Commissioners come in because you are afraid you might be getting too honest Commissioners something just doesn't resignate honesty with this present board thank you [Applause] Steve Vitali followed by Robin cartright good morning Commissioners Steven Vitality Martin County resident I'm the owner of the old Colorado in in downtown Stewart I'd like to start by thanking commissioner Smith and commissioner Jenkins for your long-standing dedicated service to our County I appreciate what both of you have done over the years very much I'd like to speak to you tonight as a family man I am a proud father of seven children many of whom live here in Martin County my grandson UDA who is Oney old is outside right now my uh second grandson grandchild U Rosemary was just born 5 days ago my daughter Julia is getting married she lives in Virginia and she's going to be raising a family and she will be coming to visit us in the future so just paint the picture this is a lifestyle decision um for for many of us and you're if I have to go pick up Julia's family at the airport I have to drive to Orlando there's going to be traffic there's going to be hassles I get there the flight's delayed I'm circling around for another hour then they get in the car we have to drive back an hour and a half we go to my house versus they get on the train they come here I drive down there meet them there it takes me five minutes we go to a a leisurely dinner in downtown Stewart this is a lifestyle decision secondly this will benefit businesses um in downtown Stewart and I'm advocating for the Martin County train station in downtown Stewart the reason is this is an investment and whenever you do a real estate investment the three words we all know the one word you repeat three times location location location downtown steart has been voted the best town in America over and over again over the past 5 years this will be the icing on the cake the fairgrounds there's nothing there it doesn't make sense to me there's nothing there we we have this amazing downtown this is where it makes sense it also was a great investment for you um as County Commissioners is to increase the tax base because we know the other stations that have been built around around um the railroad in South Florida their their property values have significantly increased that is going to do wonders for your tax base you're going to be able to do more great things in the future this is a win-win for everybody I know you're going to exercise great leadership and make a wonderful decision by passing The Martin County bright Line Station in downtown Stewart thank you and God bless you m cartright will be followed by Sam Haye good morning Commissioners thank you for the opportunity to speak as I cannot stay for the meeting but have I got a business proposal for you like bright line the issue is not my business it's how you're going to pay for it so picture bright line with as many flaws in the plan I would like to rent four Parcels for $1 a year each for 40 years guaranteed with a 40-year option to extend it but don't offer that to any other businesses and especially not any local businesses I need these Parcels to be in Prime locations nothing on the outside of the county I want Prime real estate on a street that's currently rated d by the Florida Department of Transportation I want you to pay for my buildout the whole thing and I am not going to contribute a penny I won't give you an anticipated budget for my Bild but that's okay just promise me a blank check anywhere between $45 and $60 million hell we'll adjust it to half of that like you're suggesting today so from 60 million to 30 million what do I care it's not my company's money it's taxpayers money FYI my company has been losing money any every year but don't pay attention to that either I will also not provide any economic feasibility studies to show you any valid reason to do this for me just trust me when I say it is the best idea ever and I know if I had honored our previous Court assigned agreement I would pay for half but I'm riging on what was promised doesn't matter what my business plan is it is Rock Solid because I said so even though it's not oh and if you were to uh publicly deride and chastise three of the City commissioners for caring about fiscal responsibility and reviewing the contracts that would be great again I'm not paying for Jack squat fun fact in a public records request find on August 27th 2024 there was a text from City Commission commer or city mayor uh Campbell Rich to everyone's friend and neighbor Tom campenni quote without a foyer request boa received a 16.6 Grant bright line kicked in 30 and boeh had to pay 9.9 half of which they got from other grants I assume those are millions of dollars so it appears bright line does chip in when they really want a station to happen yet that fun fact is never acknowledged nor does it make any of the pro brightline rhetoric another fun fact also in bokeh bokeh runs the parking garage so they get the revenue from that but here in Martin County we are letting bright line keep all of those profits even though there may be people parking who are visiting downtown Stewart and not taking the train makes you wonder why this County Commission is so hardpressed to push through this in a manner with no Financial Buy in from Bright line how is this remotely mutually beneficial to our community so consider this my official submission for my business I hope you'll give me the same deal as you would bright line so basically everything that I'm asking for with no feasibility studies and totally at the expense of taxpayers and like I said similar to Bright line the issue is not my business it's how you're going to pay for it I'll remind you that the comp plan does not say that taxpayers are responsible for the cost of my private business so I hope you'll approve my proposal with the same due diligence concern for the budget and thoughtfulness that you're going to use to approve bright line leaving this in the hand of the new commission thank you Sam hay is followed by Walter Lloyd good morning I'm Sam hay I live in Port Sero it's my understanding that you have on your agenda for today's meeting several proposals for substantial changes to our comprehensive plan I urge you once again not to make major changes to further emasculate the comp plan it is abundantly clear that an overwhelming majority of Martin County residents want to live in a location unspoiled by Nur rcking traffic increased levels of crime and rampant development if you want if you continue to punch big holes in the comprehensive plan ultimately there will be nothing left of it to protect us from all the ills of overdevelopment which has so despoiled most of South Florida again arises the obvious question of just who benefits from weakening the comp plan and the obvious answer is developers who seek to Maxim imiz their profits at the expense of our environment and our quality of life let's put a halt to this disastrous Trend now you Commissioners were elected to represent the will of the County's citizens if you vote to approve developer friendly changes to weaken our comp plan you are certainly not representing the will of the people the voters of Martin County have spoken please respect our voice what's the rush to make changes in the comp plan anyway is it just to satisfy the wishes of often unscrupulous developers before a new commission can be seated as for the issue of a bright Line station here in our County I have mixed feelings but I certainly do not think that we taxpayers should have to foot the bill bright line is a private company in the business of generating profits for itself obviously they're not very successful at it so far the public should not be expected to subsidize this company please do not allow this to become yet another giveaway to those in well-placed positions at the expense of the rest of us Walter Lloyd is followed by Sherry Lee morning Commissioners I'm Walter Lloyd uh I'm here to plead with you uh similar to Mr circus's uh comments and that I'm more about how we're doing things and the lack of transparency so I'm asking you to consider the will of the people as demonstrated so clearly in the last election this pushed the ram through important and controversial issues like comprehensive plan amendments and bright liner more of the same actions that drove those election results the lack of transparency to your constituents is glaring and you have the G to tell us that you take transparency and sunshine very seriously while in the very same meeting where there was no agenda or public notice for bright line you make a motion and approve it interestingly also that same day the room was filled with yellow shirts so somehow they got to notice but the rest of us didn't I'd also like to call out WPTV as I watch them make announcements for this bright line issue I would implore them to uh be a little more objective in their question able reporting and journalism it's clear that the taxpayers of Martin County want a say in this and a fair deal but if you watched the biased reporting from that channel you wouldn't know it responsible journalism is one of the major tenants in our democracy and if we can't get that from our local media Outlets then we have leaders and media working together against the will of the people I'm asking that you put off any motion or vote vote on bright line until the new commission can bring New Perspective with public representation thank [Applause] you Sherry Lee will be followed by Belinda GES gals gals morning hi everybody Sherry Lee I'm a Martin County res president I'm a steart business owner uh I've been following the train station ordeal since it was rescinded I think a lot of us were shocked uh and perplexed I think this body has done a very good job running this County I think this whole process has been transparent we're not getting like magic notices about what's going on everybody knows to show up um I just want to make a couple comments more to the people that are talking about all these fear manga in things you know oh we're not going to get the money the grants we're paying taxes to get the station if we get the grants that's great um I think we just need this amenity is it an amenity is it a utility I think it's both um nobody wants a utility pole but they want the electricity um nobody wants to pay for Parks they don't make a profit but we need the parks um we don't want the airport we don't want to pay for airports and hear the noise but we all want to get on a plane and fly somewhere and the ticket prices aren't my problem if I can afford it I'm going to go so all this hand ringing about the station and the cost and who owns the company well it could be a different provider 10 years from now I don't care if it's bright line I just want a station in Martin County I want it for young people to be able to go to college and come home go to work and come home go on trips I want it for old people to go on trips and not have to drive on our roads um I could go on and on but you guys have researched this I I know you've worked very very hard on this whether it's you or the incoming commission they also know this is an amenity this is a utility this is something we need thank you for your hard work on it and I appreciate your vote today to get it [Applause] done Belinda Gile G GS I'm sorry followed by Jim fifan good morning thank you for allowing me to speak today I have to agree with the gentleman that spoke about the comprehensive plan at one time in this County when I moved here years and years ago the comprehensive plan was sacrosanct it it was very very important that few changes were made to it and and unfortunately I have to agree with him that I see many changes being made to that I'm going to thank one of the Commissioners here who sends me a monthly newsletter that person is not my commissioner but I glanced at the newsletter this last time everybody knows we had tons of email normally i' take a look and and delete but this time some things caught my eye so I'm just going to read right from this newsletter and the bright light thing I don't have a dog in that hunt but I I think when we're here making comments that the people in the room should be the people in the audience should be polite and not say derogatory things if they disagree with those people I think we'd have a much better audience if that happened that aside couple of things that I got ph9 a request to consider transmitt of comprehensive plan Amendment Martin Commerce Park a future land use map Amendment this was a request to amend the future land use map to change the designation of 167 acres of land from Agricultural and agricultural ranchette to Industrial there are four criteria to consider when changing the future land use designation of a parcel at least one must be be met in order to recommend approval of the change past changes in land use designations in the general area make the proposed use logical and consistent with those uses growth in the area has altered the character of the area such the proposal is now reasonable the proposed change would correct what would otherwise appear to be an inappropriately assigned land use designation or the proposed change would fulfill a public service that enhances the health safety or general well welfare of the County residents and I think this is a catchall phrase that you all are using for many of your proposed things that you you say okay we're going to do this we have one commissioner that generally does not abide by that and that's the commissioner that sent me the newsletter I did send this to my commissioner and I have not yet received a response or an appointment which I would really like thank you okay Jim fifan followed by Mr talie hard to hear in the back hi my name is Jim fithian live in Palm City and I'm a concerned resident about the bright line um first I wish that all decisions at this point regarding bright line were made after the two new Commissioners with were put into place I think that's really important to hear what what they have to say as well um I just wrote down six or seven things I don't think any of them at this point are original to what's been said today but one of the things I did investigate I was involved in Risk analysis in my career and when I look at this organization that's that's going to be that we're going to be partnering with I was flabbergast this organization is in financial difficulties whether you like it or not they are they're billions of dollars in debt and guess what they're paying an interest on their debt between 7 and 12% who would do that I mean it's crazy this is this is not something that looks very favorable as far as the future goes and I hope you'll give that consideration and I know you will I really do believe that this commission works really hard to bet to do what's right for our citizens and I really hope that you'll consider that again when you look at this bright line situation my wife and I live in Palm City like I mentioned and we drive to Orlando it takes two hours to Disney door too from our door to Disney is 2 hours the same with the business areas in Orlando and also for Universal it's 2 hours I'm 70 years old I don't mind getting in my car and taking a drive like that Miami is about two and a half hours I have not once since this Train's been in thought oh boy it' be a great idea to get on bright line not at the cost that they charge to get on the train and so I I just don't get it I mean it almost be cheaper not to fly but if you're thinking about taking the train it just doesn't make sense I think there's also people are are thinking that oh all kinds of people from Miami or Orlando are going to stop in Stuart guess what We're Dreaming okay you might have a few people that'll stop and but they're going to Orlando okay or they're going to Miami they're not thinking Stewart when they get on that train they're just not so a couple of the things that I wrote the ridership is low we already know that you would think that they would if things were great that they'd have high ridership they don't and they're financially unsustainable they're in a bad financial situation no matter how you cut it the original deal with the the city of Stewart made the right decision they said hey you know what we're out of this and one of the reasons that they made the right decision was because brightline changed the the deal okay not in bright not in the city is that it already Okay um so bottom line is there's a lot of reasons in my mind U not to go ahead with this so okay Mr stal will be followed by Tammy maoda and that's my last speaker form good morning Commissioners I'm Ted a stal here with the Economic Council Martin County uh I have an 11 o'clock so I had to come for a public comment so thank you for getting to me uh uh I just wanted to come because I can't be here at 11 o'clock to to thank commissioner Jenkins and commissioner Smith I've worked with both of you for your entire careers uh going to New Hampshire to to uh look at P's Air Force Base your commitment to Economic Development commissioner has been unwavering uh your commit your commitment to the environment which I don't think people have recognized and your impact at both the state and federal level with our legislators has been amazing the financial gain we've gotten as a result of your work has been amazing thank you very much for your 24 years of service and commissioner Jenkins it's been a fun ride for8 years uh we met often we had some uh some intering conversations uh but again you have also done Yan's work up here as a true citizen commissioner uh as a working man that came up here to represent the citizens and the working people Martin County so I just want to say on behalf of myself personally and my organization thank you for all of your support and everything you've done for this to make Martin County a better place and truly make it a sustainable quality Community thank you both thank you have a good [Applause] day Tammy maota hi Commissioners Tammy maota here you said it right I wonder why thank you so anyway I had a whole book that I wrote for you I wanted to talk to you about today but basically that's just me being sarcastic it's been covered by so many people already um I know you don't have to hear it again because you're all smart enough to remember what's been said and to know what's been said I am concerned with the transparency um I understand that you're not the only people in this room that are responsible for the transparency but you're the ones who get beat up for it and my suggestion is to make sure that your staff is on board with transparency as far as the meeting last uh two weeks ago when you had your last board meeting sneaking in the dead bright line it was not very cool to put that in as a boat for today um as a retired person I'm concerned with my taxes I'm not against the station at all it'd be great to have a station but as you've heard it it's not fair for us to pay for the station for our taxes to go up some people that are retired or on set incomes and as other people said it puts other people in the spot it cons causes a financial strain on a lot of people um I'm not going to stand here and insult you or say anything derogatory towards you but Stuart commission didn't pass this for a reason and I really wish that you would look into their reasonings and listen to the people on both sides I understand people want this train I would benefit for from having a train but not for the cost that it's going to cost me um please think about this very seriously I'm I'm disappointed that it's come this far and it popped up like this I would have been here last week or last meeting but don't let us down okay and for two leaving Commissioners thank you for your services and I wish you well in your futures okay everyone else thank you thank you for your time thank you [Applause] all right and with that that was the last speaker form I had that wasn't specific to an item um and we will uh move on to Department 8 no you want to just keep trudging through and get this done you real quick okay let's take a uh five minute break so we can get the e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e on all right we're back we are going to begin with department number eight request for bid award for line trains Florida LLC approved First Amendment to the November 25th 2018 settlement agreement and permission to apply for federal Grant Mr George stokus take it away good morning Mr Chair George stokus assistant County Administrator before we get into this I just want to thank all the Departments that assisted Legal Office of Management budget purchasing and Communications uh very heavy lift to get all this put together George what might want to to hear you oh let me scoot in a little more then okay so basic uh Mr chair first we want to just kind of start off with the timeline of where we were at how we've progressed to where we've come the big date really is the settlement agreement was entered into in 2018 as you can see these are various Milestones I won't go through each exact one uh but you can see the various Milestones of where we're at to 2024 and then 2024 September 10th of 2024 with the action where the city of Stewart resins the agreement these are all the actions that occurred and when they occurred I just want to highlight on October 24th we did publicly advertise an RFB both on the County website uh in two locations including a hot topics bar as well as on demand star and purchasing was available for any inquiries on November 1st we held a public meeting In This Very Room to receive potential bids and I just want to point out that the county did reach out to four rail carriers in the State of Florida Bri line was selected by RF uh by the RFB selection committee In This Very Room at a another public meeting on 11:30 at November 4th and then we are here today um at I think it's about 11 11:05 for you to consider the response to the amendment I wanted to do a brief overview of what is in the amended settlement agreement if there are specific questions I'm sure myself or legal can assist in answering those questions uh the first big item in the amended settlement agreement is bright line uh will construct an additional 6.6 miles of fencing for safety if if you recall back in 2018 the initial settlement agreement focused very heavily on safety this is a further enhancement to the safety uh along the corridor in Martin County this also makes bright line responsible for liability and maintenance costs associated with all that fencing and it removes the County's responsibility for us to pay the FEC RightWay lease fees which currently average uh 23,000 uh dollars per year until the fence ceases to exist in the rideway uh is being taken on by brightline the amended sement agreement also removes brightline's obligation for the 5050 cost of construction for the aerial bridge but must allow for future consider uh construction slant consideration of a pedestrian bridge and station site it's memorialized by in the design bright line will make sure there's an area where we can either put a um a post or some type of support structure that would allow for the height to go over the railroad uh the reason that came about is because we were unable to ascertain from the city of Stewart If and where they would like a pedestrian bridge Martin County's payment of up to 15 million maximum and the conveyance of land satisfies the 2018 agreement requiring Martin County to pay up to 50% of the Station cost so what essentially happens in the amended settlement agreement is your maximum out of pocket is $15 million uh something knew that wasn't in the previous uh items was upon completion of the station of at least eight northbound and southbound trains will stop in Stuart during the first quarter of service from future there on it's based on demand and then um I think there was some confusion the public each party has an opt out provision after two Grant Cycles I didn't write down the exact specific date I believe it's June 30th of 2027 but it's approximately two and a half years so after the amended settlement agreement we look in staff looked at what would be the financial for the cost of the station currently today we estimate the station C to be to cost 45 million at today's dollars but due to the fact that we're going after grants and we're looking at construction not occurring for another let's say two years those costs can change due to labor goods and construction start date and cost of services however the $15 million cap is still imposed regardless of the date so your cost is Capp at $15 million uh based on work with Office of Management budget we estimated an 11.8 million estimated loan instrument uh however based on time of Award of the Grant and depending on whether the grants that are issued are through a trickle or one big lump sum we anticipate that we'll have approximately 3.2 million in capital transportation funding dollars available to work against the 11 the $15 million capped Debt Service what an 11.8 estimated loan at the current interest rates which are dropping our estimated annual loan payment is at$ 1.05 million that's an estimated interest of 3.8% for 15 years if the loan is needed based on the way that the interest rates are going from the feds and the potential for a competitive bid process for a loan instrument we could see interest lower than 3.8 and these numbers would change the big takeaway is that staff has identified a way for there would be the no increase to your county budget through Debt Service as well as no Ador or Pro the property taxpayer tax impact to their adval tax bill those funds would come from Capital transportation funding that we receed from the state for this purpose grants it's been a lot of talk about grants I'll try to simplify as much as possible Grant staff has identified with the assistance of uh our grant consultant a federal rail Administration Federal state partnership for Inter City passenger rail grant program the grant program uh sets a ma um well basically the largest Grant you can apply for is an 8020 Grant at at a cap cost of 15 million you would then be receiving up to 60 million in Federal which would equal a total of 75 million however because right now we're anticipating the cost of the station to be approximately 45 million your 15 million could you be used to buy a higher percentage for the grant or it could be utilized at a lower rate so you could actually pay less than 15 million depending on how we work on the benefit cost analysis with the professional Grant administrator that we have on contract the we also have identified our grants consultant has also identified a couple other grants F Consolidated rail infrastructure and safety improvements or Chrissy as well as there's other opportunities through Florida Department of Transportation as well as Florida the state of Florida um Appropriations and we'll need to work with that carefully to make sure that we're not stepping on other toes when it comes to Grants versus Appropriations um and those grants were identified by our consultant again still utilizing the dollars that have no increase to your county budget as well as no ADV Valor tax impact so that basically ends my presentation I'm weren't happy to take any questions but here are the recommended actions I do want to point out one one error I made in the first bullet the award the award request for bid to Bright line trains and authorized staff to begin lease negotiations bright line did uh say that they wanted to select the downtown Stewart location that is located in the RFB uh pamphlet and at this time Mr chair I'm more than happy to answer any questions or receive any comments commissioner heatherington yeah George in the agenda item it talks about the pedestrian bridge in it in your bullet point you pointed out and and I watched the city of Stewart it says it removes the 47,600 maximum for an aerial easement fee with the fecr as well as the requirement that bright line equally share the construction cost of the pedestrian bridge so explain to me the pedestrian bridge and how we got to this and I I would like to say too and I'll say to the County Administrator that as of Wednesday I had spoken to a member of the public and I said this I know was not going to be on the agenda because I had not heard from anyone until the agenda item came out Thursday afternoon so I I found that to be hard because now I have to get all my questions answered that Thursday comes out Friday we're gone Monday is a holiday now I have to get all the questions answered today so I was disappointed in that but George the The Pedestrian so tell me how that came in and how that is is going out so the pedestrian bridge is out because at the time the city of Stewart did not want a pedestrian bridge for a couple and for a couple reasons one when you build a pedestrian bridge in that type of location you have to have two elevators which for American with disability access as well as the pedestrian bridge is located the station in the downtown location is located in close proximity to surface Crossings uh the other consideration is that location is located in a qualified census track area so if based on the settlement agreement if we were to apply for Grants the federal grants cover 100% of those costs they don't cover the operations and maintenance but they cover the capital cost for those stations and at the time without the city wanting to take on the the onm of a 14 the $20 million pedestrian bridge with no uh plans as to where the the pedestrian bridge would and in Stewart uh the parties at that time decided that it would be best to just reserve a spot on the downtown site and then address the pedestrian bridge as need came about and then where the exact locations would land where it would basically leave from the station as well as land on the city of Stewart the other big change happened when there was the possibility of not having a parking garage so at this point I don't even know if you would be able to build an pedestrian bridge over the right of way without there being a parking garage and whether you'd have enough property on the site to get over into Stewart because you have to get over um I I know the train cars are like 14 or 18 feet so you have to have at least an elevation of 20 feet to get over those rail cars so if if um the downtown area is selected then there's no plan for a pedestrian bridge the the pedestrian bridge is put on pause we're not saying there's no pedestrian bridge it's it would have to I I'm would like to you think that the city of Stewart and the county would get together to best determine the site of both the takeoff and landing of the bridge and where where it begins where it ends where it's starting and going but in those in that area it's in the qualified census track so there's no the it's 100% funding so there's no and based on the settlement agreement we both share 50/50 and if the match is zero then I think staff was under the position of there's zero match on either side so we would allow us to take the time to plan that so we can get a grant basically for a pedestrian bridge in the future is that what I heard yes absolutely is there a pedestrian bridge planned anywhere else in the county no commissioner there is there is not so the the original Bridge concept was that there was a um the concept was if there was a um parking garage on the um west side of the tracks it would they enable you to connect across for instance at one time the city was talking about some parking garages near the triangle and other areas and so the the point was is that the original concept of a pedestrian bridge would link across the tracks whether there was a station there or not and maybe uh get to the um uh downtown section of uh of of the city of Stewart when we were negotiating initially on this project um uh and discuss the pedestrian bridge the city um um as Mr stokus pointed out uh didn't find that as a critical need uh in in their original discussion so at this point in time we thought that until we actually know where exactly you need a pedestrian bridge um it needs you need to have two points a good destination to get to and a place for people to use it otherwise as we've seen in the past you build a pedestrian bridge and nobody uses it they still walk across the tracks Etc so I think um our our thought is that given the Mr stokus is a consultant on on grants that um we would have a good chance of getting a um grants to help us with a pedestrian bridge in the future we first need to know where we need to put it and since there's no plans anywhere to put a a pedestrian bridge it wasn't worth talking about right now especially given the propensity to to fund it uh if you have a good location we haven't applied for any grants for any pedestrian Bridges we have not because we don't have a location for one okay oh I think Sarah wants to say I just was going to reiterate what Mr Donaldson said Sarah Woods sorry County attorney that in 2018 we were really dealing in really abstractions and so the pedestrian bridge and that was that's in the original settlement agreement didn't actually have any particular location we were just trying to um project what could be needed um so it's a different situation under the current circumstances okay thank you and then as for the 15 million when we were originally talking about this back in December and and I I certainly support the RFP and us moving forward with the bright Line Station however it's very unclear the 15 million when we discussed this several months ago the we're going to apply for grants for our 15 million correct we we are applying for Grants our 15 million are up to 15 M million we're we're applying for a grant up to at this time 45 million of which depending on how we would do it your maximum amount of pocket is 15 million now if the if the if uh the match for a 45 million would lower your 15 million plus if you include other grants and you start to layer we would apply those well since Bri it would go it would go to lower your match contribution of the 15 million we're still aiming for the 8 to 10 million however that's that what had changed was at one point when we first came up here with the RFP we thought we had time to do grants that timeline got expedited and it it created a different way of funding mechanism now that bright line has agreed to let us go after grants we can still work to layer grants to lower that maximum exposure below the 15 million I can't sit here and guarantee you that we'll get we'll be successful but we can layer both state probably State and some other federal grants to work to whittle down some of our match so that we still have a $45 million project with maybe an 8 to1 million um match but I can't sit here and tell you that is absolutely going to happen because are we going to to is that going to come back to us in the future if we have a yes $15 million up to $115 million cap we apply for Grants then what because if not you have to apply for a loan yes so what will come back to you is you will you'll you'll have a um permission to accept the grant as well as part of the the recommended motion at some point we will have to come back with a lease agreement to this body as well as um any other grants that we receive we would come back for permission to accept and then that would be not successful at getting grants is there a a a cap I I think somebody mentioned earlier we we spoke about having at least earlier in the year that we would a maximum of us being on the hook would be x% and if we weren't eligible to get the grants then we would have some kind of Escape Clause yes so the the settlement agreement says that your cap is 15 million as well it allows the county to Grants Cycles to apply with an opt out provision for both parties so if we don't get the grant either bright line or the county can say we're out they can it's an opt out okay I I Sarah woods again I just wanted to point out the interlocal agreement that we entered into with the city of Steward about a year ago did say that we committed up to $15 million of our own money not from Grants or anything we we committed in that interlocal agreement up to $15 million city of Stewart uh their share in that interlocal agreement was $30 million but there all back a year ago in that original interlocal agreement there was a commitment by this board for $15 million in the interlocal so that was the interlocal that didn't get adop correct well no that we we entered we approved that inter local both the city and the county and and we based that interlocal in our bid to Bright line back a year ago and that was the interlocal um was part of the bid package that we submitted to Bright line last December so I I guess it's a simple question if we enter into this agreement and we are not successful getting grants do we have a clause to exit the agreement yeah okay yes ma'am it maybe it would help that was a that was a simple question simple answer you uh commissioner campy thank you very much Mr chair Miss Woods this morning there was a public comment saying that we had broken a couple of different at least the accusation was that we had broken a couple of different laws in the process I had asked our staff earlier if that were the case can you share with us you you're an attorney correct yes sir okay can you share with us your legal opinion on uh would you have advised us to do anything that you felt we were doing something illegal absolutely not I I will tell you um if as we can go through the actual Narrative of the award of the RFB um the purchasing manual has a specific exemption in it for railroad leases so while we did not follow the purchasing manual because it it exempt we followed all the applicable Florida laws for this um and I I I would rather not get into a debate about what people think is true or not about getting more than one but we often only get one bid for things and occasionally have to go forward so that that is not a uh death nail to a request for bids if you only get one bid um I want to come back to to you but based on that Mr stokus you had said in your presentation that you had put that out to all of the potential rail carriers uh operators in the state can you explain who so we we had notified Amtrak SunRail which is the the commuter rail up in Orlando Tri Rail which is a commuter Railroad in southeast Florida and bright line and we if you look at the packet we had five in five individuals pull the the RFB and we had one respondent and that responded was bright line do you get to the five individuals that pulled to to further study the the bid I know I I didn't bring who who it was were there individuals when do you mean companies or people companies and there is I believe a person but I don't know if they're pulling it because they want to be a subcontractor I just know brightline was one of the one of the companies that did pull it off of demand star okay and now miss Woods back to you there was also some talk that at the last meeting somehow we had done something inappropriate and even discussing it or making a motion can you share that with us um I think the easiest first of all in my legal opinion no you didn't do anything wrong um what I would point to for everybody that's here is to notice what happened a little while earlier which was the folks in Parkwood came unannounced or unended and asked the board expressed a concern and ask the board for some assistance and you all made a motion to bring something back as an agenda item two weeks ago that is precisely what happened with brightline bright line supporters showed up they at made a request of the board of County Commissioners you all in the full Sunshine made a deliber deliberation and then made a motion for us to prepare these documents and to bring them back and that's what happened and there isn't anything illegal about that it happens pretty often thank you um I happened to be here U when the original uh agreement the settlement agreement was made in 2018 And in regards to The Pedestrian crossover I was part of that conversation and Mr Donaldson touched upon it where we at the time and again what Miss Wood said is correct we were dealing in the abstract we were finalizing and settling a long disputed lawsuit not so much about a station about the service itself about continuing there the original battle was to try to stop the service from coming through the county and a valiant effort was made by Grassroots efforts at the time but the writing was on the wall and in regards to Indian River County if I remember correctly and Miss Woods can correct me if I'm not accurate the day that we did to the sett settlement with bright line Indian River County's Commissioners were going to also settle it on the exact same day later that day as a matter of fact and for whatever reason their board later in the day after we did agree had changed their minds and did not settle that day so that was that in regards to the pedestrian bridge back then there was a conversation of and remember it was before those high-end apartments were built in the Triangle there has long long been conversation that the city of Stewart and I'm a firm believer it needs a parking garage it needs to alleviate as the city's businesses and downtown becomes more um of a place where people are interested either Martin County residents or visitors uh the biggest issue down there is a parking garage there was talk of a parking garage on the triangle on the western side there by the sfish fountain if people are not familiar with the the triangle imagine across the tracks from The Lyric Theater well that made sense to have a pedestrian walk over not necessarily to the station just so that there would be a walk over from a parking garage to downtown and when that property was redeveloped into something else all of a sudden the need for a pedestrian walkover at that location was no longer needed now there is still some talk and it's within the city of Stewart so it's not our purview but there is still some talk of redeveloping that area the reason I know is that the mo that we sit on the Metropolitan planning organization has talked about sort of reworking that roadway roadway structure there and there has been also some talk that that c that the church and the school there is potentially in play maybe a parking garage would find its way there in the future and then the conversation about a walk over becomes again an issue I don't believe it would be necessary to have a pedestrian bridge if we go forward and utilize the space that was originally discussed by the lumber yard uh across from the courthouse because you'd be taking a pedestrian bridge over by Kanis Park and I don't know if that's really for what it would need and then Mr mortell had mentioned at some point that it's not like a ramped kind of you know Sawtooth ramp what they call Switchback ramp up to an inexpensive pedestrian it would require elevator it would require uh quite a bit of extensive um maintenance and so I'm not opposed to having that be put on the back burner um the two locations I get that the original location in uh the city of Stewart there in that parking lot is obviously within walking distance of downtown if that is the uh will of the of bright line and the community especially the downtown then I'm okay with that uh my original concern was that um if it was a thre partner deal and now it's a two-partner deal you know the city of Stewart has decided to step away from the conversation but still would reap all of the benefits of that and I get that the city of Stewart is in Martin County so I I don't have an issue uh with the location if it were to go there um the final thing that I would say in terms of grants and who's paying the grant you know we've heard this morning and I've heard it elsewhere that well look you did you uh were denied your Grant a portion of the grant for the bridge now to refresh people's memory the bridge replacement now that bridge is 100 years old so if bright line never existed that bridge is going to be an issue for Martin County boers Marine uh the transportation of freight it's an issue no matter what it's 100 year old if God forbid there were some kind of catastrophic issue there most people would say why did you wait until you had a 100y Old Bridge so that makes perfect sense we've gotten uh 160 million of the $200 million price tag already granted this from what I was told from high up sources in the government that it was a I'm using round numbers a billion dollars were available for this grant cycle and and a couple billion dollars of requests were put in well they issued the billion that they had and the other people that were on the list didn't get it it didn't mean that they looked at the project and said rejected it said sorry we don't have enough money for everyone to get the first cycle of of cash so you'll need to reapply if I'm not mistaken Mr Donaldson that happens quite often that you don't automatically get your money on the first request and that it might take another request or two so I don't see that as like look that's indicative of the fact that we're not going to get a grant elsewhere if you're following National politics which I'm assuming everybody is both sides are interested in infrastructure improvements National level infrastructure improvements I've been studying and listening whenever I hear of anything about train stations or train systems in other states other countries um I personally believe it has to be the wave of the future uh as our infrastructure and the cost of continuing to maintain the turnpike and 95 and all of our infrastructure as more and more people move to Florida whether we like it or not we're going to have to look at something other than get in your car and drive there the county has been working very diligently with sadly not much success on a surface bus system to allow our residents to have some other option other than get in your car by yourself and drive all over so this morning some people were speaking about how upset they were with the potential of traffic but stopping the opportunity to potentially eliminate some traffic so that's that's what I use in my decision-making process the other thing that's been really ringing in my head for quite a bit is we're trying to discuss something in in real time as though the benefit is immediate or the non if there if you don't believe in the train then you see no benefit and you're speaking about today well I believe it's the five of our responsibility in your government's respon uh uh we should be looking decades into the future so if we're not doing it at this particular moment I'm not saying that bright Line's going to turn a profit and I thought someone made a a positive point maybe it's not bright line Sorry gentlemen maybe it's something else in the future but we don't know what that is I don't think that uh mass transit and train system travel is a dying industry I don't believe it is now people might struggle with how to get it to work or not but I think it's going to be necessary into decades into the future when we sit on the no and we're talking about creating new roads or enhancing new roadway systems we're out to like 2040 2050 your current board members need to be focusing our attention your attention on 10 20 30 40 even 50 years into the future so that's the rationale now I feel for the folks that are sad and disappointed uh some of them have made very compelling arguments and I've taken them into consideration some of them have not I don't believe that the bright line passengers uh the system will be a conduit for unscrupulous characters to come from the south or the North to come here and somehow start uh robbing us I don't think that that will be the case so um I would make a motion to accept staff's um presentation and and request that they have presented today commissioner accept to second the motion okay okay do we have any public comment that hasn't already public commented seeing none we have a Comm a um we have a motion by commissioner campy seconded by commissioner herd all in favor all right all opposed motion carries unanimously thank you what I'd like to do before lunch is squeeze in um uh our affordable housing uh ph6 um Mr reneer I hope he's still here he's not oh yes he is I yeah he's still here and then do our 11 o'clock preset I think so right what's the number of the first6 uh ph6 yeah I just went and I'm sorry guys I thought this was going to go a little fter an idiot so you see how I went from the thing and then just went right to the motion yeah after 20 minutes of just I I wanted to kill myself I actually had my I was cocked I was cocked and ready I was cocked and ready I'm creating a record oh we on that's fine everyone knows you're trying to stab me all the time okay did you run [Music] are we already introduced we we actually are still online here so okay um this request is pursuant oh Carla sigura real property manager this request is pursuant to board's direction for discussion and Direction concerning two recently vacated county-owned properties that have facilities on them um that were prior long-term leases and one vacant parcel located on Southeast Lake Drive and Banner Lake to potentially be for affordable housing um this public hear this was posted as a public hearing due to the potential of revising the resolution for the affordable housing and it was advertised pursuant to Florida statutes on November 3rd and the possibility of also revising the Surplus property resolution um the two Parcels um that had the long-term leases on them were recently terminated General Services collected the keys inspected both properties and determined that both buildings for safety sake needed some standardized uh Renovations so they ordered a they requested a proposal the Palm City Property proposal came in at $1 13,680 the Indiantown property came in at $1,848 compliance moisture evaluation and some other Associated tasks the Boys and Girls Club facility in Palm City is located on the corner of Southwest Martin Downs and Southwest map road is in with and is within the old Palm City CRA the parcel is about one acre and includes two structures a con a concrete block building with over 6,000 square ft that was built in 1961 and a small 900 plus square foot that was built in 1984 the property appraiser site shows that the land value I mean the total market value of this property is $7 $21,100 and the parcel is z PS1 and old Palm CC um some of the potential uses are um to place it on the Surplus list with a revised Surplus resolution and either auction it off to the highest bidder or prepare an RFP or something of that sort for sale or lease of the property the county could also lease to a nonprofit or retain the property for future County purposes or any recommendation recommendation that the board sees fit the IRSC property within was within the village of Indian town and prior to the IRSC lease was the location of the Indian Town Fire Station Indian River um State College modified and made significant changes um they terminated their lease due to their no new location that they built on Citrus Boulevard um this facility uh that is now vacant is at the corner of Southwest Oola Street and southwest Indian Avenue the site is approximately 3/4 of an acre and includes a 4,000 plus squ foot building the property appraiser shows the t total market value of $65,100 this property is a valuable count the asset to which several not for-profits and government groups have expressed interest that these include Martin County Tax Collector the village of Indian town and the YMCA of Indian town this property also could be placed on the Surplus resolution and Andor auctioned off for highest bid sold at an auction sold to one of the not for-profits or government entities or retained by the county for future County use could also be leased to a nonprofit or to prepare an RFP or any other direction by the board this property is zoned Indian town with no future land use shown um the final parcel is in Banner Lake and it's a 2.9 acre county-owned parcel located on Southeast Lake Drive the property appraiser shows the land value of $76,000 the county obtained the parcel in 2007 as part of an exchange with the Pine School as the county vacated approximately 1.95 Acres of rideway for their development um in 2022 a public request came in asking the county to designate the parcel as a historical site um the board directed staff to investigate and we looked it through the State of Florida and found that in 1995 the northern partion had his designation as with a historical significance so an archaeological assessment survey of the property defined two separate sites the first site which is the northern portion of the property represents a large black Earth midden portion that would need to have a 25t buffer around it or could potentially Ro relocate by any proposed development this second site had no significant history or any um and was in ineligible for nomination should the board determine to place this property on a revised resolution for affordable housing the board would also need to determine how we would handle the uh findings on the archaeological assessment um as previously discussed the count Community Land Trust is very interested in developing the property for future affordable housing if there's any questions I'll be happy to answer commissioner campy thank you very much mror I think that we have to at least in my mind I'm thinking about these properties very individually uh and I can speak to the property in Palm City most specifically it was originally a Martin County fire station that many years ago commissioner derer Lizzy and probably commissioner Smith at the time and commissioner Weber and a couple others I don't know if commissioner herd was she was on the board at the time uh made a deal with the boys and girls club to make it a boys and girls club and the heisinger family put up the money as they have done many many times throughout the county donated contributed money to turn it into a Boys and Girls Club I do remember either as a early commissioner or as a resident going to the ribbon cutting for that location um now that they have moved onto their beautiful facility in in Martin Luther King Boulevard in Stewart that property became you know they didn't need it I know that there's also a corner lot there that's a small insurance company and then if you turned on to map road heading south on the Eastern side there's a vacant lot that's sort of in play if you will so I don't necessarily see and I'm a big proponent of affordable housing I don't know if that small parcel because what what bisects the small building that was called the club it's a little yellow house to the east is a sort of a storm retention Pond or something that can't be moved right so that sort of you know decreases the the concept of a full rectangle but in my opinion I don't see putting Apartments directly on the sidewalk within uh Martin Downs Boulevard uh is great for affordable housing as like a good location for that uh as well as the best use for us now in terms of turning it back into a uh a property that we would lease to a not for-profit I'm a big proponent of not for-profits that again would not be an ideal strategy in my opinion for the future of that site I think it should be um classified as um uh Surplus and then um put up for auction to allow it to be part of sort of the City business not District we don't call it that but as map road through the efforts of our CR has and anyone that has driven recently down map road has seen there is exactly what we've always wanted from our C if you build it they will come they're coming uh there's been Rejuvenation of existing businesses there's new businesses there's a lot of very positive activity happening on our main street if you will and I think that the site of the former Boys and Girls Club and sort of that corner now if you will that's the Southeastern corner of Maron downs and map could also work and highlight and move us forward in that regard so that would be can we break this item can we break these into separate items I would make a motion that we add the Palm City site as a surplus piece of property to be auctioned off back to the private sector and what happens to the proceed proceeds well the proceeds then what I'm open to suggestions how about how about we put the proceeds into the Martin County Community Land Trust fine okay love is that the motion yes okay second well and then before I yield my time I would say in terms of the Indian Town portion I think since we have the Indi Town's first mayor and current mayor we have we need to hear from them on what we need to do and then behind them I see the the father like I guess the stepfather of the uh what's your little baby's name community community Martin County Community Land Trust I'd like to hear uh your thoughts on that okay all right so we have a motion by commissioner campy seconded by commissioner herd um commissioner Smith did you have something to add to that prior to commissioner okay are you yeah okay all in favor all all opposed motion carries unanimously and my light was on because I think that for I'm okay with the um recommendation for Banner Lake um but I also think that I'd be in favor of in Indian Town of selling that and taking the proceeds and putting it into the land trust also okay I don't know that the at this site like the Palm City site just doesn't seem like it's suitable for affordable housing but I'd like to hear what they have to say yeah that's why they're here commissioner Smith oh we're done okay all right with that let's um bring up Mr rener since I promised him I would get this done before noon because he has to go plenty of time so Rob is the current president of the Martin County Community Land Trust and uh anyway take it away thank you good morning Commissioners Rob rer um current chair board chair for the Martin County Community Land Trust uh we appreciate your consideration for that parcel in Banner Lake um we're a little pamphlet going through now that further explains the land trust um for your own information uh the basically is designed as a vehicle to uh create more affordable housing in Martin County and keep it affordable for the long term um in the model that we have the trust maintains ownership of land uh and then individual families uh would be able to build on that land so um and then further down the Lo the line if the resident wants to sell um because the trust has ownership and in the land uh it's a vehicle to keep that housing affordable um so the residents get a 99-year lease so they have security they can get a mortgage all that good stuff but again the longer range thinking is um to be able to keep the the parcels affordable for the for the Long Haul um Martin Martin County as you all know affordable housing is truly a challenge um so this trust was designed to create another tool in the toolbox um to be able to deal with the issue of affordable housing uh our current board of directors I had sent you all a letter last week so hopefully you had the chance to see it but our current board of directors uh are all people that certainly you know quite well um Elizabeth barbella from the Community Foundation Martin St Lucy uh Carol Howard E from the United Way Mike redling from Habitat for Humanity uh so funders and nonprofits in the space are all really working together uh to create this and develop it into a solution for uh for our community another option um again to create develop and keep uh more units in the affordable range for the residents of Martin County okay I have pass the gavl because I would like to make the motion so beautiful do we have any more public speakers I thought you had two more on H sound this is just the H sound okay so um I would like to make a motion and help me um craft this motion that that the staff legal staff prepare whatever documents are necessary to transfer the ownership of this property to the Martin County Community Land Trust with all of the proper reverter clause and performance measures that we have discussed for years actually on this and what would be appropriate for this I mean this this property we've been talking about even before um we actually got the land trust put together was this was the literal stepping stone for the Martin County uh land trust to to actually get uh off the ground second okay okay wow all right well-crafted motion so we have a motion by commissioner Jenkins second by commissioner campy all those in favor I I motion carries unanimously congratulations all right so now let's talk about engine town and um with that let's kick it off with uh having the mayor or the past mayor um come up and speak to us this is Mayor Carmine depalo hey mayor good morning um the property I see all the Street I heard commissioner heard they put it up for auction we're growing government out there and we're really struggling to make everything work I I know the County Commission has been good with us commissioner Jenkins has been ex you've been there since day one you know all of the ups and downs that the village has gone through we can utilize this property if it's turned over to the V Village as a bunch of other properties were turned over when we incorporated as we grow we're going to need more space we don't have the money to add on any space to our current building that we have we're trying to get it renovated and that's been a challenge so I know that the village of Indiantown the residents of Indiantown and I would really appreciate the County giving us that building so that we could utilize it put it to good use and um I appreciate your consideration for it I really do so speaking for the citizens I know they appreciate it too so I know there's a lot of things that we can work on together and that's been my mission from day one that the village and the county form a bond and we have I just want to continue that and this would be a I think a good gesture to the citizens the good citizens of Indian town so I appreciate your consideration thank you thank you Carmine mayor uh Mr uh campy thank you sir I was completely opposed but after the mayor's request a passionate heartfelt request I really feel that he's he's really you turn me no all all kidding aside I agree when we had originally uh and commissioner Smith was the like really unbelievable in terms of incorporation for Indian town and we called it back then we would say it was Indian Town's turn and I know that we did go through a process of you know the parks and roadways and different things and of course commissioner herd's suggestion that we auctioned is a fiscally responsible one but I think in this particular case uh it does send a terrific message to the residents and and friends in Indian toown that we are a collaboration as well as the facts that the people that live in Indian Town are Martin County residents so it's not like we're taking it from St Lucy County and giving it to Indiantown the Indiantown residents are Martin County residents so I would make a motion after Miss Gibbs Thomas um speaks that um we do just that that we transfer it from one portion of our County government to our friends and neighbors and residents in Indian Town's government second and Susan's comments yes come on come on down good morning chair Vice chair Commissioners and staff my name is Susan Gibbs Thomas I'm a resident of Martin County and I live in Indian town I've had the opportunity to go on this ride with everyone that is sitting on this commission and we we appreciate your support through these past seven years of Indian town and as it has been uh cited by commissioner campy physically responsible you would think that yes let's sell it however in its current state it is an asset to the residents in Indian town if you auction it off you know right now what what what would go there I don't know that it would be as big of a benefit to then put that money into a land trust that that's not necessarily guaranteed to come back to Indian town and I just verified that yes you know that Land Trust will go anywhere in the county just not in the unincorporated areas however there is no guarantee that that will be benefiting back in Indian town at this time so any consideration that this commission would continue to give Indian town would be appreciated thank you thank you all right with that we have a motion by commissioner campy seconded by commissioner Smith all in favor I all opposed motion carries unanimously now we have 7 minutes till um launch and I have four of my dearest friends sitting in the audience Carla don't go anywhere um and I would like to if possible um this this hopes sound historic train station can't take that long Grant no and if it does we're still doing it okay all right let's do [Applause] that that was uh I've lost my way department Five okay Department 5 yes this request is for the approval of an option to lease and proposed public purpose lease agreement between Martin County and the hob sound Historical Society for restoration and maintenance of a public facility to to support space for um artifacts preserving documents and other memor rebellia the building's located on Southwest will be located on Southwest Dixie Highway and Southeast Athena Street on the North side the building which will now be referred to as the historical hobes sound train station is being relocated to County owned property and is within the Hop sound CRA uh due to the recent hurricane um some of fpl's um coordination efforts have uh caused a little bit of delay but it will be done as soon as possible um the option provides a space for the historical and Community purposes with a termination date on the option of December 31st 2029 but before December 31st 2025 the Historical Society will submit a county review view of a design development and scheduling which will also State the renovations and will be completed one year from the date the lease is executed um by December 31st 2028 the certification of assets will be submitted of no less than the full amount of the development cost the lease will be has to be exercised before by January 1st 2030 and will provide a 25-year term with two 10year renewal period recommendation is that the board approve the option and adopt a resolution approving the lease Amendment agreement upon satis satisfaction of all requirements with final approval by the county attorney's office if there's any questions I think Pat Martin was supposed to be Pat was um going to prepare this very elaborate um uh PowerPoint thing and song and dance and uh we we've had this conversation about what we're been trying to do with the train station for many years now and I I I really told Pat that we just need to a brief description of of what our community goals and objectives are with this that and has been for uh for many years and maybe one of these days it'll actually get moved so we can put our plans into uh into play I'm uh Pat Martin I'm the treasurer of the hob sound Historical Society we've got our president Paula MacArthur Cooper and our media specialist Elizabeth Martin in the audience as well as a neighbor Bob Steiner um just to be clear this is about an old train station this is not about the bright line trade station so don't come at me when I walk out of here um we started the Historical Society in 2017 we're a 501c3 you can go to our website Hound hisorical society.org we have an email Hound Historical Society gmail.com um we're legit um we've been working on a project with the uh vintage street lights in Hope Sound uh we raised the $115,000 that it's going to take to restore the 10 street lights in about two weeks so we're pretty good at raising money our problem now is we can't do that until the train station's in place and the county finishes doing what they're going to do so we can come up with the budget those dates in that option I put in place to give us as much time as possible we hope to have that done in a lot quicker time but right now you know this plate thing hasn't even been moved and it was supposed to be here in June so we can't really start until it's in place so we got to give ourselves a little leeway um other than that um I do have some personal interest in it since I sign away my RightWay for my house to the county so that they could put it here so and my wife did too other than that just to put some faces to what we're talking about thank you and that that goes to show you how serious the community is about this project it's uh been something that's gone on for a long time and with that I have once again passed the gavel and I would like to uh make a motion to accept staff's recommendation on on the lease to the um hopes sound historic Historic Society for the Hop sound historic train station very good all right we have a motion uh for the Hop sound Historical Society train station by commissioner Jenkin seconded by commissioner Smith all those in favor I I opposed motion carries unanimously so you said you'd get it done before you left all right yes you're just checking boxes today I know I know what else you have on your Christmas I hope um Marshall um critchfield was watching so he could uh get us um Power the train station that is what the holdup is right now is with uh it's Marshall critchfield's fault it's all his fault please email Marshall kitfield exactly so anyway with that can we do our 11:00 preset now today is your day bro you can do whatever you want all right so I I do know that some people have to leave and um oh um that is um 12:00 exactly okay got a big group over there get me nervous yeah suits number four presentation to commissioner Smith and commissioner Jenkins Mr Donaldson I kind of feel weird of announcing that but anyway so the news media left for all of the exciting good stuff all the positive news you know I think I I should move to the podium would make it slow what well as commissioner Smith has to uh take a quick break but we're going to keep moving uh slowly and uh so let me make my way to the podium it'll be good I got to go get my stuff yeah oh there a lot of people hiding out there didn't see some I didn't expect I thought we were going to get away with uh kind of slipping away end of the have too I hear I hear him coming okay well the first we want to it was a uh a part of our tradition and it's uh um for commissioner Jenkins in service as a chairman and uh so this is a plaque I want to present to you an appreciation for your Dynamic leadership and representation during your 10e as board chairman this past year 23 to 20 before so if you can come down I can give you this thank you apprciate and and commissioner SM you might as well stay here for a second commissioner Smith you can come on down too so knowing how commissioner Smith loves plaques and uh and uh and so so we decided you know plaques are not in order good um but we got a couple of things for for both of you for your many years of service and certainly uh uh commissioner Smith one of your great uh passions over the years was uh inie Riverside Park and uh and and I think uh it it certainly represents a lot of what you've done over the years and both dedication to creating parks that are uh destinations and experiences as Kevin abbati has talked to me we're about creating experiences for our public and and you've done that in so many ways and so uh we do have a a token for you to to to remind you of both your beginning and your your continuation and of course I appreciate all the time uh commissioner Smith beaches has also been a big part of us and uh when I started in Martin County the inlet was uh had been closed up and it was a uh quite uh uh a hot topic of the day are and and how we manage our beaches and today we've had a successful partnership with the core of engineers on both our beaches and our Inlet and with Jupiter Island on so many things that most people don't know it was a major issue at one time and uh so anyway we do have this uh uh in appreciation for your service than you it says commissioner Doug Smith thank for 20 years four years of service and dedication to Martin County tonight's [Applause] image and it's only fitting that today we what we just talked about was the train station and so we couldn't think of a better uh image for you commissioner and all that and of course we love the fact that you're a straight shooter I also appreciate the fact that you know when you get angry it is happens instantaneously but I me this meeting your uh your uh your forgiveness you know you know work it out you know we we uh your your Irish temper comes back to a uh a great uh solution and uh and continue work figuring it out so so for that we have no more fitting than an image oh that's Co of the train [Applause] station thanks for eight years of service and dedication to Martin County thank [Applause] you pretty cool yeah are we going to take a picture with your photos I think we have to well you know yes there's also probably a little bit of roasting that's going to happen here so let's do the photos first then you can go go and hide for the RO it's always a roast I'm not participating in the roasting other way all right thank [Applause] you so Mr chairman you get to decide who gets to come up and talk if uh those in the audience would like to say a few words or up here yes we R up here how we got do that um do the public first it's always the public first okay do we have any public comment on this um current situation seeing none perfect uh anyway um oh Carmine from Julie we do have one from Carmine here I'm sorry and Julie oh and Julie yeah that's right oh I'm sorry I got a whole yeah I'll get it right one of these days oh goodday Harold we're going to miss you you've been a friend to the Village of Indiantown you've been a friend to me we've known each other for quite some time I wish you all the best in the world in your new life and um appreciate everything you've done commissioner Smith same thing you've done a lot for Indiantown you were there for the incorporation all your years of service back when the sheriff was putting the budget in when I was wearing a green uniform you always backed us you always back the green it made a difference and we were just we were just the guys in the streets taking care of business but you took care of us and I appreciate that it's been a long time we've known each other for a long time I don't know if anybody knows it but we had a proclamation nam in Harold Jenkins a citizen of Indian town and today I want to present him with the key to the Village so if you would come [Applause] down and you can use this key anytime thank you really means a lot to me you guys really do good friends and let me just add as one of our um residents in Indian Town says always when she makes comments she says it's my two cents so I'm going to add my two cents and thank everybody on this commission for what you have done for Martin County by supporting Indian town because Indian Town's part of Martin County and even though you may be going a different way and you're not going to be sitting on this commission just keep your eye open on on Indian town because Indian town is up and coming we are adding hundreds of quality jobs out there Indian town is the next big thing in Martin County and this commission is the start of it besides the the um the incorporators in Indian Town it was this commission that supported that initiative and and it has changed the face of not only Indian town but Martin County forever not just generational but forever and we have you guys to thank for it for your commitment to this County and to his residents no matter how acrimonious it is I thank you for what you have done and what you continue to do because you do it not for personal gain because I really honestly after sitting in that seat I don't know if there's any personal gain to it whatsoever your name gets drugged through the mud you get called absolutely everything except nice but you do it because of your commitment to doing what's right listening to everybody and trying to do what's right so thank you everybody and Harold let me tell you what whoever attempts to fill your shoes is going to have a long way to go because you were at our meetings in order to make sure that um the County's um perspective was very well aware to us and and help us as we moved forward and when you weren't there you sent very very good uh representation in your stad and in in your Aid and Colleen so we appreciate everything that you have done and Doug Smith you too um the face of our environment is changed for the better because of your seat that you have sat in so thank you very much and thank you for the opportunity to speak [Applause] than so it probably goes to that building we just turned over new office out there all right Mr campy that's it for the public what about Julie priest oh I'm sorry Julie again I get it right Miss Julie priest and actually that's my last form so thank you a Julie priest uh representing the riio Civic club that is celebrating its 75th anniversary in a few months along with Martin County's Centennial the purpose for the creation of the Rio Civic Club was to improve conditions in Rio when the opportunity for a Martin County Community Development program was raised the riio Civic Club strongly advocated to be one of the first neighborhoods for consideration that was a approximately 26 years ago both commissioner Smith and Jenkins have supported the CRA program for their years on this board thanks to that unwavering support Improvement projects broke ground that have led to enhancing CRA neighborhoods improved roads and other infrastructure have turned our six CRA neighborhoods around and moving in a positive direction where there is so much less risk for private investors public investment in those six neighborhoods has proved worthwhile on so many levels and our CRA communities are no longer neglected and are contributing value to all of Martin County Commissioners Smith and Jenkins leave behind an unmatched Legacy sincere thanks for your service As you move on to your next chapters thank you thank you Julie [Applause] wait a minute speak Mr Powers thank you uh thank you I apologize I didn't fill out a card but I would be uh I just couldn't sit in the audience without coming up commissioner Smith and commissioner jenkinson saying thank you thank you thank you thanks for your leadership thanks for your commitment echoing what's been said there's never been a doubt that you never put the best interest of Martin County at the Forefront front of any decision that you were going to make whether we agreed or we didn't as a stakeholder an Indian Town um thank you um it hasn't always been pretty um but you never you've been steadfast and you never let it get outside uh out of bounds so to speak um commissioner Smith um your your work in water policy and in the environment it just is is remarkable was remarkable for my eight years on the water man man agement board uh the halls of Tallahassee um the halls of Washington U Martin County um was right at the Forefront and for me as one of nine governing board members uh all I would always challenge uh my colleagues like you guys don't have Commissioners like that that show up for everything and really help move the needle and get the ball over the finish line and U commissioner Jenkins again they your just your friendship um but your ability to stand with Indian town when times were tough we're grateful thanks again Mr lahan um thank you Tom lyan Treasure Coast Regional planning Council um I'll be brief uh because there's a lot to say but we don't have all that time so uh I want to thank uh both uh um chairman Jenkins and commissioner Smith for your service uh to the county um and also I want to specifically thank uh the commission for um uh letting us have so much of Doug's time uh on the Treasure Coast Regional planning Council um uh I've been there eight years and um I've learned a lot uh from from Doug I've learned a lot from Martin County as a whole um but uh you know thank you so much thank you both for your service thank you specifically Doug for your service on the regional planning Council um whenever we have uh um have have needed somebody to uh speak about our regional issues to bring them forward to the state or to the federal government um Doug was there um uh anytime we asked uh he said yes what can I do uh and so um whoever's going to take uh uh the the the county seat there uh now on the regional planning Council um buckle up uh we're going to need you uh but uh but anyway thank you so much and uh um glad to see so many people here today thank you thank you commiss campy it's my turn I think so okay for I'm going to separate my two colleagues I'll start with the person that I had came to this board to be on with commissioner Smith uh I have I don't believe I have ever sat up here in a meeting that commissioner Smith wasn't at the meeting uh I figured out that he has probably attended over 800 commission meetings in his nearly quarter Century of service to our community um like many people have said when you're up here whenever you're making decisions even husbands and wives they don't get along every minute they don't agree on every single thing but one thing about commissioner Doug Smith is that even when he and I did not agree he was always gentlemanly he was always classy I don't think I've ever heard him raise his voice maybe others have but I have never he is a Class Act and um we like to kid each other about you know Jensen Beach vers Palm City and things like that but he during this campaign especially you know uh and he's done it many times there are people that will throw barbs and criticisms and and insults and a lot of them are uh unfounded because if people really took a moment to think about what he has done for our community he um there's a I was going to get you a plaque it's a famous and then I knew you didn't like plaques there's a famous uh quote by Theodore Roosevelt that's called The Man in the arena and I've read it several times I actually read it again last night and it really do yourselves a favor Google it uh just take a minute to read the man in the arena by Theodore Roosevelt and it really to me is speaking of Doug Smith it talks about the person who gets in there and gets muddy and blooded and fights on behalf of what they believe in even when people outside of the Arena constantly throw barbs and criticisms and insults I have had a firsthand um a front row seat and a and I've been a first hand witness to how important commissioner Smith has been to the Florida Association of counties all the way through becoming its president uh how he has taken that same passion for for leadership uh and for policy to the to the federal level at noik and he is when you see commissioner Smith walking around at a fact annual meeting he is held in the highest regard of Commissioners back who were long time out of office to the newest Commissioners they know Doug Smith and because of Doug they know Martin County he has done more to protect public land specifically in Martin County but elsewhere in the state because he works regionally and Statewide he is probably the biggest proponent and uh and cheerleader for public water projects some of the ones that we have gotten to go the c44 reservoir and Canal work and to little projects He has done remarkably well and's not looking for spotlight and Limelight and accolades I'm sure he's not even appreciating this kind of Spotlight and uh I know that he and Lisa and Amelia will have a beautiful future uh and he's well deserved it and the last thing I will say about commissioner Smith is that it is striking when people either here in this chamber or in public or in letters to the editor uh say we moved here because Martin County is different county is special it's different from other places in the state and you know shame on the current Commissioners for destroying it and ruining it commissioner Smith has been sitting up here for nearly a quarter of a century and many of the things that people bash him on because they are so uh appreciative of how wonderful Martin County is it's because commissioner Smith did the heavy lifting had the foresight and the and the knowledge and the stick to to make Martin County this special so it has always been frustrating to me and I'm sure to him when people remind him of what it used to be like I moved here three years ago from down south and commissioner Smith even before he was in office he is dedicated look all of us are working people we're raising families we're working our jobs he obviously this job is you're not make you're not getting rich being a county commissioner uh and he more than any of the rest of us current or past has taken more grief for his passioned posi passionate positions on issues uh he could have spent the last 25 years building a a unbelievable professional career he comes from very successful families he could have easily chosen a different path for himself but he didn't and as some of the speakers have said Martin County and those of us that live in it are better because of you give me a chance to catch my breath Harold I actually wrote it down because here's why to honor Harold I will endeavor to follow his example by public speaking that less is more be sure and mispronounce a bunch of words Harold how do you pronounce junkins is it is it junkins when you come up if you could just pronounce your name correctly please Jenkins for anyone who aspires to leadership he is a role model humble modest approachable reasonable and Honest Harold is one of the most impressive men I have ever met he is known both for his conviction and his kindness he is quietly generous and publicly a cheerleader for others success There Are No Boundaries to his friendship it is an honor to know you it is an honor to have shared this dis with you and it is an honor to call you my friend may God bless you Susan and your family as you enter this next this next chapter of your life now with that so thank you sir holy [Applause] man now as you're departing I have some presents for you and we can hear him this you getting all those out of the shopping bag while while while was speaking as I was getting it out of the car I missed oh well I apologize I thought we were doing this after lunch uh the first thing I have for both of you is um while you have now a lot of extra free time I purchased you a book of Florida state parks because I know how important they are to both of you pass that down great and I know that commissioner Smith has made I mean here's a guy that has gone to Tallahassee for a meeting had the meeting and then gotten back in the car and drove home in the same afternoon and I know how much Harold likes cars and things like that so I've got you both a book called the back roads of Florida and all the different trips that you can take traveling throughout the State of Florida cool thank you all right that's cool and then I'm very excited to announce and to share with you two of the original copies of our friend Sandy thurlo and her daughter Jackie thurlo lipich have just published a brand new book hot off the presses the pictorial history of Palm City Florida of course it just never ends if that keeps on giving and not just that I had her autograph them to you both and with an inscription from Sandy our history lady and I've had a chance and she's having an event soon in Palm City so I have one for you commissioner Jenkins and one for you commissioner Smith from Sandy and I and then lastly I had one special thing for commissioner Jenkins when he first came on the board we came I came back and he came uh in 20 te together and I didn't actually know him that well when we first got up here as a matter of fact he was a big proponent of the person who I replaced uh campaigned strongly for him donate a lot of money to him but that being said we quickly he said two things to me yeah no I wanted to because it shows the next part is so important we all come up here with an opinion we all have a a sort of a perspective of what we think should happen now all of you in this room and those watching know we're not allowed to speak to each other outside the meeting so we can't Lobby each other ahead of time in private uh to speak about hey this is your opinion this is mine the only time I get to hear my colleague's opinion on things is right here in this room on television and that does not necessarily always make for an easy process of of hearing and sharing ideas we try as hard as we can to to get along and I think uh especially as the years have progressed all five of us have done a very good job of getting along and being respectful of each other's opinions but back then I was taken very I was struck by the fact that commissioner Jenkins would have an opinion but he was so open to hearing other people give theirs and so willing to be generous in saying you know something I didn't think of it that way but you've changed my mind and I agree with what you're saying your perspective makes sense and I had been at the time reading a book about uh George Washington and I was struck by the similarities between George Washington and commissioner Harold Jenkins George Washington could have been the king of the United States of America if he wanted to that's how popular he was he could have been president for life and he constantly put himself in the background and pushed others founding fathers forward and listened to their options and their ideas and and really relished them so back then in an effort to show my appreciation I I bought him if you remember a statue of George Washington and I know that I looked in his office the other day because if it wasn't there I wasn't going to say this but it was so eight years later it was still with the bottle of coke which say Jenkins that's true uh that's a separate thing um so because of that a friend of mine um and I know that you are looking at some property north of here correct to have as an ex you're never going to leave Martin County yeah what what state is it in Virginia it's in the state of Virginia you know who else is from Virginia right George Washington so I I had a friend of mine had a great idea and I have gotten you two estate guest tickets to George Washington's Mount Vernon so when you are in Virginia you and Susan can go and tour the person who I think you most remind me of George [Applause] Washington come on D come on I yield the remainder of my time commissioner herd yeah Ed really underestimated the number of meetings that Doug has attended because Doug in the first eight or 10 years we were Commission we had meetings every single week unless there were five Tuesdays in a month or make it a thousand every week and they were not short meetings just because we had them every week either um for both of you over the years we I acknowledge that we have locked horns uh more than is NE than is necessary or healthy uh but at the same time we have been close allies on a number of different issues uh and those are the things that I will choose to remember I also have to acknowledge that there are you are both so dedicated to your jobs and that's that's a message for for existing Commissioners and for incoming Commissioners is be dedicated and be responsible to your job as County Commissioner that's your most important job in Martin County and you both took taken that very very seriously um Doug your your ad vacy for the protection of the the uh Reef trct uh your advocacy for uh getting rid of of spreading biosolids those are things that are those are things that are not going to happen without a champion because they're not real popular but they those were two issues that were so important to you you dedicated so much time to them and also uh commissioner Jenkins Herold there hasn't been a better uh advocate for Indian town since time Powers thank you they're very lucky to have you so best wishes to both of you and thank you thank [Applause] you Mr heatherington well I'll say all that was absolutely impossible to follow but Doug I've known you for 20 some odd years I remember my son was a was an infant when I was campaigning for you H at one point and um I agree with both Ed and Sarah sometimes we agree or disagree but you're one of the most cordial cordial people um and talented and anytime I've ever been to Tallahassee fac they've always recognized all the hard work that you put into Martin County so Martin County certainly appreciates you I appreciated you before I was a commissioner I appreciate you as a colleague and I will appreciate you long after for your contributions in Martin County and Harold I have not known you until I sat on the Das with you but it has been my honor and pleasure I respect that you are true genuine you are a worker and I appreciate everything you've done for Martin County and it's really been a pleasure to get to know you I know for both of you that we'll have an opportunity to continue to um work for Martin County and um and for the three of us up here we have a lot of work to do always thank you I think that's it speech I've been dreading this for a while I didn't prepare anything because when I do that it u i screw it up anyway not a lot of people get the honor of what I got to experience it's the life experience that I've got to um over the last eight years and actually serving the public and trying to be selfless and having the honor of dealing on a daily basis with the most professional people um I have ever even in my own business World um dealt with the relationships that I've built is what I'm going to miss when somebody says what are you going to miss about it it's the relationships surely I'm not going to miss the screaming and the mean-spirited just to be relevant nonsense that we endure um but that comes with it right and you got to have you got to have you got to be tough what anyway um I I have thoroughly enjoyed doing what I did or have done I I I truly believe that I did make a difference which you know when you put your heart into something um and you have that feeling that's the most one of the most rewarding feelings you could possibly have um I'm going to say something that is it's not that hard people it's not that hard to be a nice person it's not that hard to listen to other people's opinion it's not hard to change your opinion when you know that that you've been proven that you're an idiot which happens a lot with me right and and to build the respect of your fellow co-workers like I have with these two and and especially Taran right off the bat she would tell me I'm an idiot right like day one right is is people that you surround people that have no problem telling you what you need to hear and not what you want to hear right and uh and and I I built those relationships in this with Jim and Paul I mean everybody I don't even want to cuz I'm I'm everybody in this building uh I I feel that I I honestly have a have had a a good Rel working relationship and friendship uh the one person I want to call out is Colleen I I love her probably get a call from HR for saying that nothing they can do about it yeah no out um she has been amazing and um has helped me be successful um I have watched her on numerous occasions take the most hostile crazy person's phone call and about 3 seconds she's got to eat now the palm of her hand right and it takes a special kind of person to do that um you know and 80% of of issues that come to our office our little cubicle are resolved before I even know about it because she's got relationships with because that's the kind of person she is with everybody in this building you know and and so I you know again if I could take her with me unfortunately I'm retiring I don't know how I could have an assistant to retire but anyway I really I really am going to miss the relationships that I've built and uh and I'm sorry for crying like a little girl but anyway that's just the way is I've I've and I appreciate the privilege of what I've had what I've been able to experience over the last eight years and with that I'm going to stop [Applause] yeah see we a yeah come on man [Applause] holy Mar I think that's one of your longer speeches yeah you better cut it out um so where to start I had I I started working on a list of people to thank a couple months ago and I figured no if I do that I'm sure to leave somebody out um I had an incredible list uh there was a lot of people who helped me get to where I got uh um to all of those people thank you um you all know who you are I would share this with you and I've said this to some groups before and some Commissioners have heard this before but it's it's worth saying because of how hopefully I'll end it um I had the opportunity or had the opportunity to work in two really large family businesses um one was a glass company and one was a gate valve company up in the Northeast both family businesses um generational the glass company was when I went to work there about 4500 people uh my dad's company was about 500 people um both multi multi generational businesses incredibly gifted talented um people working for our companies that would do anything that was asked of them could create anything could do anything was interesting in my family if you were to go back and sort of understand where I came from Kathy Fitzpatrick you'll probably appreciate this because you used to tell me this all the time um both sets of grandparents uh gave me a set of DNA that said or taught me that no wasn't acceptable that everything was possible and in this job um if you really want to work out it everything is possible you can make anything you want happen you have to work at it but anything's possible and so to that end um with those companies I thought I had worked with some of the coolest best people in the world and certainly grandparents that were amazing that pulled off what they pulled off in their own respective Fields until I came to this place and I've said this before at different Junctions of time here um how many do we have 900 employees 12 huh 11 1100 as good as that Talent was with those two businesses it'll never match the talent that's in this building or works for this building I have watched people that we have had the opportunity to work with pull off absolute miracles in times where you never thought it was humanly possible to pull something off they did and probably when we're at our worst of times during hurricanes that's when they always Rose to the highest occasion people selfishly put themselves out there in front of the storm during the storm after the storm to put us as a community back together it was always amazing to watch the hundreds thousands of decisions that we've got to make up here together they make happen and 99 and 90% of the time without an argument a matter of fact I can't remember too many times where they said no we're not going to do that because that never happened Kathy Fitzpatrick always used to tell me I was a train wreck in Reverse so she's watching that was for you Kathy um because I would go to Kathy and I would say Kathy we're going to do this and she'd look at me and she'd say no we're not and 20 minutes later she'd come back and say okay this is how we're going to do it Lisa wixer was another one of them Lisa was Lisa and if you're listening Lisa I'm sorry she would come in and say no we can't do that 20 minutes later she'd come back and she'd have an answer she'd have a way she and and that's our that's our employee base everybody in this building everybody that's ancel to this building always found a way to make it happen and I know I called out to and there's hundreds which is why I didn't want to do a list but to the point that I want everybody to understand in the public um and even this morning you know listening to some of the public criticism of this building um and whether we're transparent whether or not uh there is no other local government that I know anywhere in the State of Florida and I know most of them very well that is transparent as honest as clean as this building is and a lot of it is due to the two individuals that sit over in those two chairs or their predecessors but there is a culture in this building um that wants to be legitimate wants to be right wants to be honest because you are public expected and demanded of us and that's the truth it really is it is a culture of Martin County that we are expected to be better than everybody else no matter how big or no matter how small we are couple organizations I'd like to call out um just because it played a big role in my life Florida Association of counties absolutely remarkable institution they have the most incredible leadership they have the most incredible staff the things we were able to accomplish by policy from this board that you all gave me the ability to go to fa and do the things we did um we were able to change a ton of policy relative to Florida but also specifically to Martin County because we made it Florida's business n National Association of counties took me a while to figure out how to work that institution not dis similar to fact very similar incredible staff on a national level great lobbyists great people to work with great leadership gave us Martin County the ability to be at the table in a major way and do some major policy issues for us here um that were fun to work on fun to get done Sarah thank you for that um the biosolids issue which isn't a really sexy issue one way or the other Indian town is about to become the recipient of probably the most worldclass engineering and ability to deal with human waste that exists barnan and it's about to land in Indian town I don't see did he leave yes he did oh no that's okay um treasure Co Regional planning Council oh John you are there Tom sorry um again another amazing institution that exists um they happen to be in our community in our town in Stewart um amazing staff that do some of the most amazing work the best presentations in the world the most thorough caring type work you could possibly imagine um and not to take advantage of them is such a waste because they're they're a gift to all of us for all the things that we deal with on a planning level and so Tom thank you uh for your staff for you for busha before you I know it's hard to thank Bush but what the heck why not um Bush was really really a great a great super leader and and he found Tom and put Tom in place and we've continued on the tradition of of that organization like Harold thank you um for sending me places that were always the wrong place showing up to something that I wasn't supposed to be at it didn't matter if it was a 6-hour drive it was okay we just turned around and came back it's the hardest job in this building those AIDS upstairs are the front lines to everything that comes in on the phone and it's ruthless some days and some days it's across the board sometimes it's District by District but our AIDS really are the the the best asset this County could ever have and thank you very much Kathy for everything you did to me and for me did to me send me off to place I didn't need to go Anna before you if you're listening thank you for all of your years um Anna colan was was a great Aid as well um and kept me straight and kept me going where I was supposed to go at all times um Commissioners commissioner herd thank you thank you um no we didn't always agree on a lot of things mostly but so he can't help it you know um but he's right if you were to go back and probably look at most of our votes there were a lot of 50 votes lots and lots of 50 votes and even during meetings where you could probably say we could kill each other during that meeting we still found a way to find five votes on a lot of issues and one of the most important things to Martin County is our water policy and commissioner herd has always been steadfast on that so as the rest of our board but for our differences the things that mean the most to Martin County we're always on the same page Ed you're you're a you're a terrific advocate for Palm City it's a hard District to manage there's a lot of moving Parts out in in Palm City you do a great job um you've been a fantastic leader on the board um I'm glad you're back and continuing on Harold um I can't tell you how many times Harold came to me and said Doug I want to run for County Commissioner I'm like oh Harold don't do it um we had a lot of we had a lot lot of fun conversations leading up to him um running and that's that is one of the the the the the unfortunate things about being a commissioner when you like people that you wish you could spend more time with them and you wish you could talk about issues with them and you can't um which makes it really hard but Harold thank you for all that you've done for the county um and hop sound specifically it's another hard District to work in you got a lot of moving Dynamics down there and you've handled them incredibly well which is not easy to do Stacy you're right I can remember you standing out in the street corner for me when you were a little girl I think you were 12 13 something like that with a baby just a baby yeah well I left that part out that might have been the second election we'll go with it that way not a 12-year-old with a baby no I wasn't um but you know what you know what makes sty special she she how many generations are you four four that's what's track sometimes but that's what's cool about this board you've got a couple of us not from Florida not from Martin County you've got multigenerational Commissioners you've got females you got males you got all sorts of different backgrounds and that makes for a very interesting debate on how do you get to three how do you count to three and it's not easy on a lot of days and like Ed said if you watch us and you listen to us they like did they not have this figured out before they showed up no we don't we can't we don't do it but Stacey I I do so much appreciate how much you bring to the board um having generational input having family generational input is super important and Martin County appreciates it very very very much lastly my wife Lisa thank you for coming today okay it was supposed to happen at 11: honey I know I appreciate that and here we are at4 to 1 it's not my fault well it sort of is um but thank you for always being there for me thank you for supporting me it's hard it it beats up a family doing what we do [Music] um but you're the best wifey in the world and I really appreciate it thanks for coming and with that Commissioners I'm done I guess I [Applause] should thank you all very much and everything he told me before I decided to ran did come different R now I better thank my wife sorry about that yeah so he's put up with a lot of stuff so but she's enjoyed me being out of the house she's not looking she a distraction for she's concerned about retirement um dramatically but uh anyway okay with that can we break for lunch all right 15 minutes we'll see you when it was an hour huh 2:15 25 25 okay 215 thank you Ed said it's your day