--------- Good morning and welcome to our February 23rd MO meeting. Thank you for joining us this morning. Um please join us for a prayer from Pastor Jim Hart followed by the pledge of allegiance.
>> Good morning, pastor. >> Let's pray. Father, thank you for this day and opportunity to meet again in this public meeting. first of this year, but I know there's a lot of committees and different meetings that go on behind the scenes that uh some of us aren't
really aware of, Lord. So, not only do I want to bring invocation for this meeting today, but I also want to continue to pray for all those meetings and all the people, Lord, behind the scenes that work hard uh for our community, for our county, uh Lord, to provide leadership uh direction and
guidance, Lord. And I thank you for them. And I thank you God for the blessing that it is to live here and uh and to recognize God your presence in this beautiful place. But this morning Lord I I do bring invocation. The scriptures that you've given me today as
I was meditating on this time is uh Proverbs uh 16:9 that says in his heart a man plans his course but the Lord determines his steps. Uh Lord that teaches me that we need to sink with you. We need to seek you for wisdom and
direction so that our plans are in line uh with your plans. Your word says that your ways are above our ways. Your your thoughts are above our thoughts as high as the heavens are above the earth. And your word also says that if any of us lack wisdom that we're to ask you and you give it freely and without reproach
to those who ask in faith. And so Lord, that would be the foundational prayer for all these that are uh elected and appointed to serve our community. And even today, God, I pray that that your steps would be validated in the direction and the and the things that
are done and the decisions that are made. Bless the families, Lord, especially of those these folks here this morning. Guard them and protect them and and bless them and provide for them. And may you be glorified in this day, in this meeting, in all that we do
and say in Jesus name I pray. Amen. >> Amen. >> Thank you. >> I pledge algiance to 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. is excused. Commissioner Herd >> here. >> Commissioner Heatherington is excused. Commissioner Caps >> here. >> Commissioner Campy >> here. >> Commissioner Collins >> here. >> Commissioner Mayfield
>> here. >> Mayor Depalo >> here. >> Commissioner Reid >> here. >> We do have a quorum. >> Excellent. We have a quorum. >> Madam Chair, if you don't mind, um I just wanted to introduce a new NPO staff member. Umar Gomez is our new senior
planner. He was here several years ago and then now he's back. So, we're glad to have him. >> Welcome back. >> Welcome back. >> Are there any changes to the agenda? >> Um yes. Um Madame Chair, um item 8 I is
the um special meeting recommendations for ebike ordinances. and staff is recommending that perhaps that um it's up to you all but if you all may want to table this item um from my understanding there are a couple of bills in the house that they're discussing regulations on
ebikes and if we table it to the April meeting you all will have that information as well as we can provide you with the recommendations for the from the advisory committees >> sounds wise to me >> motion for that I'd make a motion that we table agenda item 8 I until our April
meeting for the special BPAC meeting recommendations for ebike ordinances. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. Any objections? That motion passes unanimously. Any other changes? >> Um, no, not from staff. >> Okay. Is there a motion to uh approve
the agenda? >> So, motion. >> There's a motion and a second. Any objections? That motion passes unanimously. Is there a motion to approve the minutes from November 5, 2025? >> Motion. >> A second. There's a motion in a second.
Any objections? That motion passes unanimously. Uh we'll take up election of officers. Uh u madam chair. Um yeah, I just wanted to um mention that we do have some public here that want to make comments but not under item seven. They want to from my understanding want to
make comments under item 8F. But I don't think my understanding there's no one else that want to make makes general public comments. >> Okay. So I that's just one. Mr. Compton, you wish to speak under 8F. Okay, we'll do that. Um,
Miss Beltran, who is eligible to be chair? Um, um, the two two people that are not eligible are um, Commissioner Caps and Commissioner Reid because the bylaws state that one
has to be on the NO board for either two years or have attended the NOAC institute training. So everybody meets those requirements. Um next year um Commissioner Reed and Commissioner Caps, you all will be eligible. I did want to um mention a couple of things about the
officers. The one big thing um I guess a big thing that's kind of pending is the funding split with St. Lucy TPO. Um there is a um hopefully a meeting coming up between the chairs of the NO as well as the St. Lucy TPO that will meet with
the district secretary to talk about the funding split of the TMA funds. Um and also the the chair is um and is also the uh member of the statewide NPAC and the regional transportation treasure coast transportation council. So there are
those meetings don't meet very often but they are members of those um two um groups. Just >> commissioners, I have represented the MO in the past um at these discussions and um
uh St. Lucy County, their their uh MO director is making the specious claim that Martin County's development patterns are causing the congestion in the northern part of Martin County and the southern part of of uh St. Lucy County, disregarding uh tradition and
Verono and everything else and is trying to get the split to favor uh St. Lucy County even further and those funds uh impact our TMA funds and all of our FDOT funds. So, it's very important that we
um maintain our position and if if it since I've been your representative in the past, if if uh I I'd be happy to continue to represent uh our MO in those u negotiations if it turns to that and I
think that it may go to that and stand to lose an awful lot of money if >> you're live. You're good. In in light of that, >> we have a light. >> Oh, you have a light. >> Commissioner Campy, >> in light of that,
um I see your point and obviously we're not allowed to speak to each other outside of the meetings or know what each other's opinions are. Uh I was looking to actually create a new opportunity for some of our new members, but I do agree with what you're saying.
Uh I have been uh party to those conversations that uh our neighbors to the north are looking. They have a a larger portion of the pie as it stands even today and they want a bigger piece.
So, I would make a motion uh for Commissioner Herd to stay on uh because I agree that any one of us would do a good job of chairing these meetings, managing the meetings, but the inside history uh of that and knowing who the
cast of characters are would be valuable. So I would make a motion that you uh since you are willing to remain the chair and that mayor Dalo become the vice chair. >> Second.
>> Do you need two different motions for the chair vice chair? It's good in one. >> Well, it could be the same. >> And my rationale for Mayor Depalo is that the second biggest issue that's been an issue for quite a while is the 710 and Tommy Clemens and things >> 9 is going to be an issue.
>> Yeah. and the reconfiguration of 714 to 710. Most of our biggest issues are happening out in Indiantown. Um, and I think that he would be an excellent representative on his way and he's
available every meeting that I have been at or have seen. The mayor has an unbelievable ability to attend hundreds of meetings which is also important part of the position. >> Um madam chair there I just didn't know
if there was any other nominations for either of those off offices. So I mean in the past you all have done it as one motion and you all have done it as separate motions. So that would be the only thing if there's any other nominations. Um >> well we're having a conversation so we're open. >> I see a light. Commissioner Coland,
>> I was just going to say I completely agree. I think you'd be a huge asset continuing in that role. So, I don't think we'd be better represented by anybody else. My only question would be are you up for the the new challenge at vice chair? >> I'm always up for a challenge and I I
agree. I think Commissioner Herd, you've got the experience, you've got the time, you know the issues. And I think that Martin County as a whole is at a critical point right now where we need everything that we can get and I support
you in that role >> by the way. So this this proportionate split right now it's it's uh St. Lucy County is getting 68%. Which is huge and they want 71 >> because >> yeah we can't let
>> causing so much traffic in their county. I'm comfortable you'll ask the questions and go to war where it counts. So, >> okay. Uh, Commissioner Reid, >> I' I'd support the motion for the chair and the vice chair. And you bring up a
good point. Um, Commissioner Herd, I don't think it's just a dollar perspective as well. Like as far as planning for us on the no board, something that I've thought about quite a bit is everybody that moves here, they move here for a reason and it's because
we're small. We limit growth and the quality of life in my opinion is way better here in Martin County than St. Lucy County. But how do we protect the residents that live here with our long range planning with infrastructure? because every time it gets discussed, whether it's through election times or
the MO board or social media, it's constantly about traffic, but what are we truly doing to fix it? Because apparently, if we're a pass through county for counties north and south of us and west of us, how do we fix it? Are we the only county in the state of
Florida that deals with this, the country? What are their NO boards doing? or what are their elected officials doing to protect us. I think that's something that should be discussed as well instead of just passing it off year
after year. Um I've seen it my entire life living here. Um it used to take 10 minutes to go from Jensen to Palm City. That same route takes sometimes 45 minutes to get out to Western Palm City. I just don't think
it's acceptable as a taxpayer. and my taxes continue to rise and my quality of life continues to go down. And I think most residents probably feel the same way. I think that's something we should be looking forward to fixing though. And I I see some might disagree with that,
but yes, my quality of life has gone down considerably with traffic around town, fatalities. Um, and I don't know. I think that's something we should problem solve. That's all I have to say. >> There's a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor? I
>> I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. >> Um >> also as part of this item, the um the board is to um appoint the chair of the local coordinating board for the transportation disadvantaged. The current chair is May Mayor Depollo and
um um it's up to you all how you want to move forward with that. >> Mayor Depollo, how do you feel about continuing to be the chair? >> I'm I'm good with that. Yes. >> So, we're good. >> Um you have to take a a vote. I'd make a motion that Mayor Depalo remain chair of
the transportation disadvantage. >> Second. >> There's a motion in a second. Any opposition? That motion passes unanimously. Okay. And just one more item um under this this agenda item is the chair and the vice chair or historically have been the members of the Treasure Coast Transportation
Council and that's a regional council that Martin Nio two members of Martin Mo with St. Lucy Tpo and Indian River NO. I do ask that two um alternates are appointed so we'll always have um MP the Martin NO represented fully represented.
>> Anybody want to raise their hand? Commissioner Mayfield >> as an alternate. >> Yep. Anybody else? >> I know Commissioner Heatherington not to just FYI Commissioner Heatherington has been an alternate in the past and she um um has seemed to enjoy it.
>> Okay. I make a motion that we add Commissioner Mayfield and retain Commissioner Heatherington. >> Okay. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a Senate. Second. Any opposition >> as alternates to the TPO? >> Yeah. >> Any opposition? That motion passes unanimously.
We done? >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Let's move on to 8B, which is a public hearing uh to amend the transportation improvement plan. >> Yes. This is to make >> I'm sorry. One moment. Would you like to move seats and have the mayor sit here as a vice?
>> Sure. >> All right. At the next meeting, we'll do that then. >> Okay. Um this um is a request from FDOT. It is to make the Martin Mo's transportation improvement program or TIP consistent with the state TIP or STIP. Um and and it is to add a project
for guard rails along I95. Uh staff is recommending approval of this and FOT representatives are here in case you have any questions. >> Any questions? >> Is there a motion to approve the FY 26 through30 tip amendment?
>> Motion. >> I'll second. >> There's a motion and a second. Any opposition? That motion passes unanimously. We'll go on to item C which is safety performance targets. >> Yes, this item you all see every year.
It's to adopt safety targets for uh US DO's performance measures regarding safety. Um in the years past as well as the other NPOS's almost all the NPOS in the state have adopted the state's vision zero targets or zero targets for
the safety measures that um the US DOT has put in place. Um that is staff's recommendation again this year and it's adopting the philosophy that no death or injury of any person is acceptable. Any questions, comments? Is there a motion to adopt?
>> Move approval. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. Any opposition? That motion passes unanimously. We'll now move on to the draft FY28 through 32 list of project priorities page 26.
Okay. So this item actually has two lists and these are draft lists that FD do asks the district asks that the NO adopt in February or before March 1st in order to clearly and comprehensive comp
comprehensively vet all of the projects so they can assign funding to see what funding um these projects are elig eligible for. Um I will go over each list and um and then if you all don't mind passing a motion separately for each of the lists. The first list is the
roadway list and this is um um similar to what it was last year but I do want to say the draft lists are coming to you now. The final list will come to you in June. That's when the um um draft will become final at your June meeting. Um
just to let you know um this h this list has changed though in that um in the past years um state road 710 widening as well as the realignment of Martin Highway were the top priorities and that those projects have been funded for construction. So now the widening of co
of cove road has moved up to number one. The second um item on this list is uh Commerce Avenue, the resurfacing and roadway leveling of that um roadway. Number three is the widening of highway High Meadow Avenue. This project does
have funding for both design and right-of-way acquisition, but it's still waiting um for construction funding. The next item, number four, is the Alipat Road resurfacing from 710 to north of Minutemade Road. Uh number five is a new
project on the priority list and it's a result of the county submitting an application for a passenger rail station and rail safety improvements along the FEC corridor. That's number five. Number six is the US1 at Palm City Road
project. This project has changed a little bit in that FOT also has a project near here at an intersection of US1 and Caner Highway. At that project, FDOT is adding triple last lefts turning from Caner Highway onto US1 going
towards the Roosevelt Bridge. Included in that project is a right-hand dedicated right-hand turn lane that will help the mobility of that intersection. However, in looking at the future traffic projections, both the local government um local um um staff as well
as FDOT have said that dedicated right turn lane probably needs to be longer to help the mobility better. Um and so the the um recommendation is to have that dedicated right turn lane extend all the way to the intersection of um US1 and
Palm City Road. that will not only help the mobility along US1 Canor and um tremendously, but it also will help um the concerns along Palm City Road that we have run into. Um the the residents
along that road um want to deter traffic along that road as well as slow people down. F DOT has um a few meetings ago presented um improvement of that intersection that would slow people down, but um certainly having an option
of of a dedicated right turn lane going up to Caner will also could could deter people is is using that roadway as well. So that's been the change to the item number six, project number six. Number seven is also a um resurfacing project
on Alipata that's from Minute Made up to the S St. Lucy County line. Number eight is resurfacing of Pomememoroy Street. Number nine is actually the um is right is near this building. It's the um mass arm that's on the corner of uh East
Ocean and Monterey. It's blocking the sidewalk. So, local staff has spoken to FDOT. They've they've done a site visit and they said really it would be a lot less expensive to um to realign the sidewalk in that area than to actually
move the big utility pole, the mast arm. So that that that project is a priority because it was recommended by FDOT when they did their roadway safety audit on East Ocean um and the local government voiced concerns about that um power pool. They recommended that it go on the
list because it is it is a sign significant project. Um number 10 is uh Martin Highway. It's the resurfacing. This is a new project on the list. It's resurfacing from Fox Brown to just west of I95. Number 11 is Citrus Boulevard
resurfacing from 710 to Hemingway Terrace. Number 12 is Midblock Pedestrian Crosswalks. That has been on the list for a number of years. And as a result that it being on the list even though FDOT has um said in the past that
midblock crosswalks are not warranted. They do um you know every few years evaluate this um area because they know of um that more people are in this area, more people are walking in this area and they it is a result of the roadway safety audit that I mentioned on East
Ocean. They are evaluating midblock crossings along East Ocean. Um, number 13. I want to talk a little bit about number 13 after I finish going through all the projects on this list. We did get a letter regarding the Willoughby extension from the city of Stewart. So, I'll talk about that in a minute. Um,
that's been on the list a number of years. Number 14, um, North Souls Point um, mitigate for sea level rise project. From what I understand, the county and the city or county and the town of Souls Point are working that out. there's another funding source available that I
think they're um and considering going after for these funds, but that has been on the list for a number of years. Uh the next item um item 15 is the project on Bridge Road for the Bascule Bridge to replace the bridge. As you remember at the last meeting, um FDOT did have a
presentation which recommended not replacing the bridge. They thought it was in good condition. um in talking internally with staff, um it might be a good idea to leave this on the list in case something comes up in the future as far far as needing funds. And it will
also cause FDOT to continually evaluate the bridge um like they do the midblock crossings if it's on the list. Number 16 is complete street improvements along Palm City Road uh between US1 and Monterey. that came out
of the project that we had done that I mentioned previously at the intersection of US1 and Palm City Road. And then the last item on the list, number 17, got moved down to last on the list and that's a dedicated right turn lane at South River Drive. Um so I did want to
add about the Willoughby extension in front of you. We passed out a letter from the city of Stewart that I received on um Friday um stating that the city commission is supporting the no build alternative for the um Willoughby Boulevard extension PD&E study. Um
because this is a draft list um and because FDOT from what I understand as part of that PD&E study did a traffic report. My recommendation would be that um that we ask FDOT the project manager and the consultant to come here and give
you all the results of the traffic report. I think that might be interesting for you all. As mentioned earlier, traffic is a big concern in this area. Um I know um we probably have all gotten emails or calls um about traffic on Caner Highway, about traffic
at the intersection of US1 and Caner, US1 and Monterey, um Monterey and Caner Highway and um all those intersections that area um those those could be impacted by an extension of the Willoughby Boulevard. And since in the
traffic report, even though FDOT gave a presentation not too long ago on the Willoughby extension, it was more comprehensive and they hadn't finished the traffic report. The traffic report really would offer numbers and data for you all to kind of, you know, listen to and find out, well, if the willby
extension is built, this is what how traffic could change. But if it's not built, this is what will be h this is what will happen. It's just an option to give you all more time to get more information before you adopt the final list in June. That would be staff recommendations. So, with that, I want
to stop there and let you all um ask any questions if you have any questions and um um discuss the the list that I just presented. >> Commissioner Reid. >> Yeah, I have a couple highlights. Uh Beth, this is for clarification on
number five. Is this for the passenger rail station itself plus the safety improvements on the rail? >> Correct. From what I understand that the application, the grant application that the county um submitted include safety um improvements along the rail corridor
as well as a passenger rail station. >> So my comments for that is I don't think this board should be supporting a passenger rail station there. I saw a news article come out for almost $90 million to to build that station. Bright Line also increased their prices
1,400% back in 2024. I don't think many residents are going to afford to use it and the taxpayers it's going to cost them a ton of money as far as and I don't see the rail bridge on here but taxpayers are funding 90% of that rail bridge as well and Bright Line and FC
are contributing 10%. And they operate it 100%. I think that's uncalled for and this is for clarification too. Uh Beth on number 12, the Kingswood Terrace in St. Lucy Boulevard. >> Is this similar to the Golden Gate
project that happened on Dixie with the >> midblock pedestrian crosswalks or No, >> this is the No, this was uh years ago. The NO did a study of um all the modes of transportation that were along East Ocean from St. Lucy Boulevard to
Monterey and then from Monterey to Kingswood Terrace. And as a result of that traffic study, um it was recommended that we have midblock crossings um along East Ocean because if you think of where the crossings are for pedestrians, there's one at Monterey and
East Ocean and the next one is down further east at that gas station that it would be safer to have a midblock crossing along there. So, um because there people that that just cross the street between those intersections, between those lights, um as well as on
Monterey Road, um between the intersection of East Ocean and uh Monterey and Kingswood Terrace, there are people that just cross the street. I mean, you probably see them outside this building where they they'll just cross the street and there's no there's no pedestrian crossing. There's no
protection and the traffic can get pretty heavy out there. Um, so this gosh this we probably did that study 12 years ago or so and since that time it's been on the list and FDOT has evaluated it every few years and then when they and then that was why we had the roadway
safety audit because of this project and then that's when um that what came out of that was the moving of the mast arm or moving of the sidewalk around the mast arm at that corner as well as a potential midblock crossing in that area. >> All right. My my only concern for that
is if it if it's similar to like Golden Gate with all the pedestrian crosswalks, I think it almost causes more of an issue with vehicle pedestrians and I think it causes more people to change lanes to speed around the person slowing down. That's my opinion. And they might not
see the pedestrians crossing. Um and then obviously 13 I know the letter of where the city is and we're just trying to give the residents what they want. I would have supported the Willoughby Road extension more if the city had kept it more of a commercial corridor along
Central Parkway, but now there's way too many multifamily and residents that live there. Um, and then the unfunded safety priority list. We'll do that after this one. Correct. >> Um, this is an unfunded safety priority list. And so is the other one. It's just a different funding source. >> So number one through four, you
mentioned those. >> I'm sorry. >> The on the unfunded safety priority list where there's four. Did >> Yes. Okay. So, if you go to the top of this list, the other ones, >> the only thing that I would want to contribute >> this this project, all of these projects are all un they're not that means
unfunded means they're not funded for construction and they are and all these projects are in the long range transportation plan. >> All right. So, the only thing that I would contribute then is at our joint meeting, they mentioned Citrus Grove Elementary on Newfield Parkway. I think that should be a priority as well
because all the traffic coming from St. Lucy County and they're speeding down Newfield to get into Martin County. So, I think that should be a safety priority as well. That's all I have to say. >> Commissioner Collins.
>> So, a few things uh one with regard to the FEC bridge. Um with the FEC bridge in the same way that the uh passenger rail station and improvements lives on this list are Should the FEC bridge also
at some point populate and live in this list as well? >> Um yeah, that that project could be on this list. I have I I'm not I wasn't kind of in the the um you know that that is in our long-range transportation plan. It's >> what would trigger its um coming to
existence on this list? >> This board. >> Okay. Is that something we should do today? Um that is something that that that would be yes that would be very probably very helpful to have this on the approve that as part of the draft list and then when it comes back to you in June you all can adopt
>> you would get all the details and maybe >> yeah this is the this is the draft list >> because that should live up there pretty high >> on the list you know would be my thoughts um with regard to 13 and the Willoughby extension you had mentioned bringing forward the traffic uh
information was there also environmental impact um research that was done with regard to that >> if the consultant comes which if we request >> I think it would be good to also present that because it would be basically bulldozing a park and then uh that
wershed there for Pleton Creek. So I'd be really curious the you know what what the environmental impact study looked like. >> Okay. They probably have an update since the last presentation. And then, you know, in terms of us jocking for for
different uh items, you know, I was curious what happened to complete streets on Palm City Road that's now 16, how it went from 8 to 16 >> and um >> why it moved down the list. >> Yeah. I'm sure there was context, but
I'm curious. That is number 16 is a project that became a project because um of the intersection of US1 and Palm City Road. We had a very we had two very big open houses as part of our study and um
so public comment was how that came on the list because people were not only concerned about the intersection but people concerned about the um the roadway. The um that is a county road in the city of Stewart. So um there needs to be a discussion between those two
entities that decide what the scope of the project would be. So um the um the no did do a study several years ago for complete streets not of several roadways and that was one of the illustrative projects in that study. So it did have
recommendations. Um, so that we're the just more information is so if we get more so if the NPO gets more information from >> so is it less about the funding and more so about collaboration between what the vision is between the city and county. >> Correct. If they they want to move ahead
with that project um it be like I said because it's a county street owned by the county but it's in the city of Stewart. they need to decide um what what would the scope would be for that project because in order for a project to get on this list, there needs to be a scoping form. FDOT needs to have
information about the project so they can vet it to see what funding is what what um funding that project is eligible for. That's why we're doing Yeah. to go through the draft now and then we'll come back for the final list in June. >> My uh what you know, from what I hear
from residents, that's a really big one is slowing down the traffic there. So how if if it were to in order to get the ball rolling on that and create that collaborative >> so if the city commission wanted to write a letter to the county and ask
them that they wanted to talk that that they want to would hope to move ahead with number 16 that you know I think probably the first steps would be the staff could talk together about what sc what would be the scope of that project and then the two commissions could
eventually come to an agreement and then that would be part of the scoping form that would be submitted. Um, >> until then it makes more sense to have it live down on the bottom of the list basically until there's that collaborative vision. >> This is been a project for a few years. So because it there's there's you know
there's the main the most important thing is that it's on this list. If it's on this list that that's that is is is where it needs to be for now. So once that that um um conversation or gets that gets rolling if you will get starts
moving forward um then it would potentially be able to be further up the list. >> And then you know obviously with item 12 any any pedestrian safety project I would like to see moving higher up and not lower down. So we went from 9 to 12
>> um for that one because once again there's really been no movement on that list. You know, FDOT is wait we're waiting for FDOT to come back with their evaluation of the midb block crosswalks and when they do Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that we're kind of in the ones down um at the bottom.
There's as you see Willoughy's down at the bottom. There's something going on where we're kind of in a waiting game. You know, there's we're waiting for kind of something to to that that's why it's down at the bottom. Now, between now and June, if something were to happen and you all wanted to move something up the
list or change the projects, you know, you all have that opportunity. >> Thank you. That was all >> Commissioner Mayfield. >> Uh yes, thank you. Um the Willoughby Extension, I appreciate the letter from the city of Stewart, um because it's in their jurisdiction, but
I do like your idea of uh seeing the traffic report um and and because it is a congested area, so I support that. I have a question kind of more just a why question um for the FEC railroad um is the act you have the words the
actual passenger rail station um is it just because it's a transportation building that it's on there because I've never seen an actual building you know these are always road projects or so but we have the actual building on here is it because it's a train station and that's special
>> that that would be the passenger rail is a form of transit so it's important form of transportation and because the the a local government has submitted um an application for federal funding. Um and I'm so you know part of that that process is to have it on the list of
project priorities like with the bridge. I mean that may be something you all want to add on this. I have not gotten any kind of notification that you know an application has been submitted and that it and in that case it it should be on the list. Both of those projects are in the adopted long range transportation
plan. >> We have it's been sent in >> the application >> for the bridge. >> Okay. So, um so that that would be absolutely that that that because that's one of the when the um federal highway or federal railroad or whoever has the application, they have a checklist with
the application and one thing they would want to see that it's in the adopted NO's long range plan as well as on on a list of project priorities. >> Okay. No, I get that and I'm okay with the FAC uh bridge on there. Also, I was just curious to have actual building since I don't think >> F building it's a transportation
facility. It's a transit facility. Yeah, >> that's it. Thank you. >> Yeah, I um think it's would be prudent to add the FC bridge to our priority list. Um, and also I share Commissioner
Reid's hesitation to to uh recommend midblock crossings. I drive through Golden Gate at least twice a day and I'm very mindful of the speed limit and I'm very mindful of those midblock crossings
and I'm the only person who is and I see those lights flashing and if it's dusk or it's rainy, nobody else is seeing them and there's somebody who's stepping into the roadway and and I just pray that they get safely across. It's
unsafe. So, I I'm a little reluctant to endorse any midb block crossings. I think they're inherently unsafe. I I get it that people need to cross the the street, but we're not we're not programmed we we think that the cars have the right of way, you know, we're
programmed to think that that uh that pedestrians are secondary to our uh the necessity of us getting to our destination. So, >> any interest in adding the FEC bridge to the list? >> Yes.
>> Everybody want >> You need a motion from us or >> um Sure. I mean, when you when you um if you um approve the draft list, you can part of that motion can be to add the rail bridge to that. Got it. >> Commissioner Campy,
>> I guess we're at the point of making motions. Am I correct? I make a motion that we adopt this list adding the FEC railroad bridge over the St. Lucy to the list. Um, and then the rest of it was
conversation to Commissioner Reed's point about Citrus Newfield Parkway. Um, I did see the conversation at the joint meeting. Uh, that's in district 5. We have been working with our traffic engineering
folks and our public works department. We have made a couple of changes at that crosswalk for the Citrus Grove Elementary School, reconfiguring how the sidewalk approached the road. There is an uh traffic signal there and a
crossing guard. Uh I spoke with our engineer, our county engineer this morning and he will be prepared to make a presentation at our next meeting. So, I think um it probably won't need to
be on this list for a longterm kind of thing. I think we're going to have a a shorter term solution than having to add it to this multi-year list. So, I'd make a motion to accept it, including the FEC. >> I'll second.
>> Any further discussion? There's a motion in a second. Any objections? >> No. That motion passes with Commissioner Reid dissenting. >> Okay. Um the next list is the draft unfunded safety priority list. Um as you
remember last year the um the traffic administrator for Martin County presented the um first item on this list because the county was submitting an application for the safety improvements along local roadways which is what this funding source is for. Um, and that's
for Dixie Highway from Osprey to Gleason and it's to um improve the intersections along Dixie Highway where the roadway intersects with the FEC railroad. Um, the two two next items on the list, the C railroad crossing at Amarillis Avenue
at um at the CSX crossing as well as the bridge road um dedicated left turn lane at Power Line. Those are new projects or new applications or scoping applications that um will be submitted to um FDOT for
um those improvements. The just as a um side note, the Amorillis Avenue at the CSX crossing, the crash data shows that's the fourth most dangerous crossing in the state. So that's a that's certainly a safety project that needs some attention and that's to add
railroad crossing gates. Um and like I said, number three at Bridge Road, that's a dedicated left turn lane at Power Line. The fourth item is actually a signage project and it was on there last year. Um that is um primarily for um non-motorized transportation that
it's crossing the railroad tracks where sometimes especially like the Bright Line, there'll be a northbound and a southbound train coming within a short time of one another. So the gates remain closed. There has been incidents in other areas where um a pedestrian one
train will go by and then the pedestrian will go to cross the tracks and get hit by the second train that that'll be going in the other direction. So there's second train incoming warning signs to let people know that the gates are staying down because a second train is coming. So I'll be happy to answer any
questions about these projects and staff is recommending recommendation uh approval of this list. Commissioner Caps, at the board meeting, the last board meeting that we had, we approved a marvelous project in Hobound, um the the
car storage >> and that has turn lanes. Is one is the turn lane is one of the turn lanes or both of them onto power line? >> No, that that project would be a mile or so east of Power Line.
>> Okay. Um, but we uh were very excited about the prospect of of getting a turn lane at power line though because that's a very dangerous condition. >> The crash data shows that there have been several rear end crashes because people will be sitting in the through
lane waiting to turn left and they'll they'll get hit by from behind. Yeah. And also uh regarding number four, railroad crossing improvements, um uh I was talking to Jim Gorton recently of public works and and there were
um other types of improvements where we're pursuing grants for railroad crossings. And now that would be different than this second train incoming warning system. This is just for the second train incoming warning system. >> Yes. The other one is the um from from
the prior list um the the rail safety improvements along the quarter. This one is just for the the signage. >> Anything we can do to improve the safety at these crossings would be a wonderful thing. Um I'm very mindful of the danger of the crossings in Hope Sound in
particular. We have five crossings that are very close to Dixie Highway where cars can't stack up u and uh you know so we're we think this is very needed so that's a good thing.
>> Any further questions or comments? You need a motion to approve these? >> I'll make a motion to approve the fiscal year 2832 unfunded safety priority list. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. Commissioner Mayfield, any further comments? Just like just to make the
motion. >> Correct. >> There's a motion in a second. >> Any objections? That motion passes unanimously. We'll now move on to uh transportation alternatives program project
application. Okay. Um yes, we have the capital projects division staff here to present this item. This is a funding source that is um a formula funding source that um is um we
do a NO does a call for projects every year and this is the application that we received. Um so I will turn it over to you all to make that presentation. >> Morning. >> Good morning. Thank you for having us here. We're here to present um our Palm Lake Park sidewalk project which is your
name please. >> Oh yes, sorry. I'm Jamie Paldora. I'm with um capital projects with Martin County. Um this is for the 2026 FDOT uh transportation alternatives application cycle for uh fiscal year 30 funding.
So the transportation alternative set aside program is a program which is reimburseable federal aid administered by the Florida Department of Transportation and this supports a smaller scale non-traditional transportation projects which focuses on
activities that expand and integrate non-mo motorized travel choices and provide safe routes for non-drivers. Um the accessibility improvements are also included to help comply with um the ADA requirements and such of these may be on
and off-road bike and ped facilities, accessibility improvements compliant with ADA and recreational trails. So within um Palm Lake Park, the existing conditions, it's uh just west of US1 north of the Roosevelt Bridge and
the neighborhood has one entrance adjacent to US1, which is a major arterial roadway and the missing sidewalk links are exist within the Palm Lake Park neighborhood with no connection points to the existing sidewalk on US1. Additionally, um the
Palm Lake Park residents have identified critical safety concerns for pedestrians and children walking with no sidewalk or buffer from vehicular traffic. Uh the proposed sidewalk project will provide safe ADA compliant connection points to
US1 for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-drivers. And just to show a little bit about the connectivity for the neighborhood, um it's adjacent to a Martin County bus stop, uh the middle school and high school bus stops, as well as a close
proximity to an elementary school, shopping plaza with grocery store, shopping plaza with a fitness center, and it's a mile to the nature preserve and a little just under two miles to the shopping mall. Hi, I'm Keith Baker. I'm the capital
project administrator. I'm just going to go over sort of the route and what the proposed improvements would look like. Uh there's a map up on your screen. Um the um it connect the uh it's in the heavy black line. Um this is the proposed
path. It would be approximately 6 foot wide concrete path along northwest 13th Terrace. This would tie in near the um existing Marty bus stop. You can see um depicted with the blue dot. Um also along that route, the red dot is
representing the school bus stop um the existing school bus stop. And then when it connects to the um sort of around the uh retention pond on Northwest Crescent Drive and Northwest Palm Lake Drive, the path would be a little bit wider.
thinking um just in terms maybe like more of a recreational type facility um to a we got feedback for both. We had people in in another public involvement meeting. We had some folks that requested a narrower at 6T, but we also had people that wanted an 8 to 10 foot
wide concrete path um around the pond um for recreational type purposes. Um I think that kind of describes the improvements. And with that, is there any questions about the project? >> Questions?
>> More more so for feedback when when like some of these capital improvement projects when you say like the neighborhood and stuff, they contact the county. If stuff like that could be added to the agenda packet, it just helps just to see what the residents are saying. Um because we're hearing it
presented from staff and stuff, which is great, but it'd be nice to see what their concerns are. um just for future agenda packet stuff. >> Yeah, we we have those minutes so we can we'll make sure we in the future include our um sort of uh minutes of the
previous meetings. >> Okay, awesome. >> I had a question. >> Yes, Commissioner Caps. Yeah, I'm looking at the funding allocation several pages in and it says that the
cost of construction is 914,000. >> Uh yes, sir. >> Right. Do we know about is there like a standard cost for sidewalk construction? So much per foot or something? Do we know about what that what that is?
>> Um I could I could provide that to you. I could take the last few. um examples and maybe break it down per linear mile. >> Mhm. >> This one is probably a little bit more because a typical sidewalk is around 6 ft where this one I think is 10 ft around the lake. So it' be like, you
know, almost double the amount of concrete. >> So um but I could provide this to you. You know, sometimes when we see numbers like this, the first thought is that seems way out of line, crazy, like how could
it cost this much? But there are other things that go into the cost of something like this, like the the design costs can be are a very large component of it. Yes. >> And then do you have to get rightway and
permission to go into people's yards and stuff like that? That's another whole phase of cost >> on these types of grants. Um, with regard to right-of-way is, um, we have to have all of the right of way existing to be able to apply for the grant. We can't have like a rightway acquisition
be part of a federal grant or we could, but it would be very cumbersome and we don't do that. So, um, we have the existing right of way in place to, um, accommodate any of these projects. >> Okay. Thank you.
Mr. Campy, >> thank you. Thank you for your work. Uh, during your presentation, you were saying certain residents were interested in six feet and others liked it to be larger. I get the concept of creating sort of a public space or exercise walking path around that lake is
probably very pretty. We did something similar in Palm City. I think 10 feet wide is probably dramatic overkill, especially considering you don't have a universal uh support of the neighbors. And I'm sure that the $900,000
price tag is obviously based on pouring concrete. So, I mean, I don't know how far along you are, but I I would make a recommendation that we scale that sidewalk, narrow it uh maybe not to six, but at least to eight. I think that that's more aligned. You know, if I'm a
six, if I'm interested in six feet and you went to eight, I'd be like, "Well, that didn't go my way." But if you go to 10 and then for 900 grand, I get a lot of its engineering and site work. But I think the meat and potatoes is probably literally the product that you're
pouring. I would make a recommendation that we scale that back to eight and bank the savings >> or apply for less money in a grant. >> All right. How's the timing for that? >> Is this a good time to be making a
recommendation? >> Yeah, this is very early. This is a conceptual design as for the grant application. So, yeah, all these things um this is part of the public involvement and then um so this is the perfect time. >> Another question more for I guess our
chair or for Miss Beltran. Is this going to come to the commission as well or is this being decided right here? >> It was um already presented to the commission or was is that on tomorrow's agenda? that we presented earlier this month to the other committees.
>> Is it the board of county commissioners? >> Catherine, do you >> It said December 9th it resol a resolution of support was heard by the board of county commissioners. >> I don't I don't remember this presentation happening like this. >> Must have been on consent. could have
been I I read obviously through the consent agenda maybe miss the the nuance of a 10- foot wide sidewalk. Um but if that's the case and we have some flexibility to do it here, I would make a motion that we scale this back from 10 to eight and either apply for less or
apply for the grant and whatever the match was or if there's a way to take it out of dollars that are already in our budgets here or in your department's budget. Not trying to like throw a stick in the spokes of this project. just sounds like 10 foot sounds like a grand prominade to me.
>> Um um chair, sorry I'm interrupting, but the on your uh agenda item it says new six foot wide sidewalk. So is it already set at 6 foot >> or is that just >> It's 6 foot along 13th Avenue. I think there might be two typical sections >> parts on the side. Okay.
>> But we definitely hear you and then we can make that adjustment to make sure it's 8 ft wide. >> Well, if my colleagues agree, I'm just putting out a suggestion. Is there a second? >> I'm happy to second. >> Commissioner Caps. >> Um I'm not opposed to reducing the the
width of the sidewalk unless there's some reason why it was supposed to be 10. I know that like the Florida East Coast greenway sidewalks that are being put in from the state of Maine down into the state of Florida and you know
there's a piece of it going into Hobound soon. The standard for that is 10 ft wide for various uh types of uses like it's a multi-use trail where you're you're preparing for, you know,
bicyclists and rollerbladers and and uh people with other uh modes of transportation. And there's a reason for it to be wide. Is there a compelling reason for it to be wide? on this particular project isn't subject to the
uh sun trail requirements of 10 or 12 feet. As far as like in the um Federal Highway Administration green book, it says like a multi-use trail, it um it should be 10 or 12 to accommodate the recreational uses, but it it shall be at
least eight. Um as far as legally, I think putting like if someone rides a bicycle on it, it needs to be 8 foot minimum. So like that would be the sort of legal requirement to make it be a recreational type facility. >> Okay. >> Commissioner Reid.
>> Yeah. For Commissioner Caps. I think the 10 foot too is it might be a Florida statue for golf carts. They're allowed on sidewalks I believe if it's minimum 10 foot. >> So I see that a lot too. you know, uh, in certain areas of the
county, regardless of what you do, uh, about golf carts and what the rules are, people use them and they get them out on sidewalks and, uh, you know, I I live in Hopetown and I walk to the beach a lot and I'm on these sidewalks and,
um, I'm very aware of the dangers these days. Somebody's going to get clipped from the be from behind by an ebike. It's just a matter of time. And you know, golf carts are all over the place these days. Uh
and uh people like to take them down to the beach and stuff. And um so that is that's a thought about the width of sidewalks. Um there are additional and new safety concerns about sidewalks. So,
I think we ought to consider that. But I I think eight wide 8 ft wide is probably adequate, but u in the future when we're talking about sidewalk width, we probably need to factor in these new realities that we're living with now.
>> Sounds like the golf cart lobby has gotten to Commissioner Caps and Commissioner Campy's on his own out there. I I think if you're on a golf cart, you're probably going to be riding around in those streets. That's what I've done. I can't I don't know if they're going to be jumping onto that little well maybe
large wide sidewalk. And if it can save taxpayers some money, you know, I made the second, but I'm all for slightly narrowing that. >> Commissioner Mayfield, >> sorry, I forgot that there was a second, so I was going to second. And um Vice
Chair, your motion was the six feet on the um the lengthwise, but then the other sides would be eight feet. Is that correct? >> Correct. Okay, >> we clear. >> Yep. >> There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? >> Question. So, I got a question. So, it's
it's eight it would be 8 foot on two sides and then one side six foot. >> Two sides. >> It's like 8 foot for the portion around the retention pond and then 6 ft along northwest 13th terrace. >> 6 foot along 13th Terrace. It's just cuz
that's a narrow ride ofway and then um 8 ft wouldn't be practical in that um along 13th terrace. >> Why not make it six foot? I mean my comment would be six foot all the way around then. I think it's weird to go from 8 to 6 to 10 to 8 and that's that's my opinion though. But to his point, you
need 8 foot minimum for bicycle bikes >> and for the grant >> is that and that's like a new is it like new code I guess like if you're redoing sidewalk because we have sidewalks where down US1 I don't think they're 8 foot are they? >> I think people ride bikes on them all
the time. This is like just legally you're not supposed to. >> Oh wow. >> All right. And the nature of this grant is that it's a recreational sidewalk. >> Uh this the just um kind of the more not
the I wouldn't say the grant itself just based on other feedback that we got people wanted to utilize the area. Right now there's like um picnic benches and things like that um around the lake. So as part of um the grant the picnic benches are in
pretty rough shape. So in there is to put some new picnic benches. just kind of the the thought of a recreational trail around the lake is what where the 8 ft comes from. >> Mhm. >> Thank you. >> It's a great idea. >> Any further discussion? There's a motion
and a second. All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Uh next is the safe routes to school project. Uh Northeast Rose Drive and Northeast Lake Drive sidewalk.
I have one request to speak for Mr. Compton. Would you like to speak at the beginning or at the end of our discussion? >> After the discussion. Okay. >> Um the safe routs to school um funding
is also federal funding and this is discretionary funding. Um so it's different from the TAP funding that was in the previous agenda item and the capital projects division staff will present this item as well. >> Hello. Um Jamie Polydora again from
Capital Projects. Um so this is our 2026 FDOT safe routes to school um grant application and it is Northeast Rose Tree Drive and Northeast Lake Avenue project. So the Florida Safe Routes to School program um just a little background
information on it. In 1969 nearly 50% of all students walked or rode a bicycle to school and by 2009 the number dropped to fewer than 15%. uh with fewer students walking or bicycling to school, it adversely affected traffic, air quality, and uh
bicycle and pet safety in communities. And this program, Safe Routes to School, aims to reverse these effects by making walking and bic bicycling to school safer and easier for primary and secondary school students. The program itself is sponsored by the
Florida Department of Transportation and provides technical and funding support to the communities. And the goals are to enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school, to make walking and bicycling to school safe and more
appealing, and to facilitate planning, development, and implementation of projects to meet the program goals. The benefits include getting an active start to the day and helping students arrive to school alert, refreshed, and ready to learn. encouraging physical
activity that can teach line lifelong learning habits and um connecting existing bicycle and pedestrian networks, providing more active travel and recreation and opportunities for the community itself and engaging the community and students to welcoming um
walking and bicycling to school using the five E which the five E are education, encouragement, enforcement, engineering and evaluation. So education includes the typically the principal and the teachers from the
school and this can include items such as assemblies, bicycle rodeos, curriculum for students, parents and guardians. And we do at the county also assist with um with providing surveys and other items. Um encouragement is the
PTA members and the school staff. So they do events such as the walking school bus, bicycle trains, uh stickers and recognition and safety patrol programs. Next we have enforcement who is local law enforcement, the school resource
officer or adult school crossing guards and that includes items such as the crosswalk stings, speed feedback trailers and signage. Next, we have engineering, who's the Martin County Transportation Engineer, and they are involved with influencing
drivers to slow down, encouraging pedestrian and bicycle activities through sidewalks, bike paths, signage, traffic control devices, and pavement markings. And finally, evaluation, which is Martin County staff, and school officials. And that's done through
parent surveys, site assessments, and case studies. So the project goals for this this project in conjunction with Jensen Beach Elementary School is to address address critical safety concerns near schools to increase the number of students walking
and bicycling a school encourage students within a two-m radius to use uh walking or bicycling or scooting verse car drop off. uh provides sidewalk connections from the adjacent neighborhoods to the existing sidewalk which already exists
along Savannah Road leading to Jensen Beach Elementary. And to build on the existing relationship that um Martin County has with Jensen Beach Elementary and the MO, >> thank you. >> Hello. Similar to the last one, I'll go
over the proposed improvements, uh what the route looks like. Um it primarily provides a connection point between northeast Savannah Road and Northeast Jensen Beach Boulevard. Um the proposed route would be along the
west side of Northeast Rose Tree Drive and Northeast Lake Drive. This one would be a 6ft uniform width for the entire length. Um I think there's a typical section maybe the next one.
So here's the existing conditions. Um so you can see here it's approximate it's a 6' wide sidewalk on the bottom typical section and then there'll be a um sort of a light longitudinal swale
along the roadway. Um and with that being said, is there any do you want to do comment first and then questions or >> Commissioner Reid? >> Yes. Question for staff. Has the grant been applied for already? >> I know this is part of the grant
application process. >> Okay. And then for full transparency, I have family and friends that live in the neighborhood. I was aware of a petition that was signed by that neighborhood and there's 26 residents that don't want this project to move forward and there
was one that was uh that supported it. So, and I know the petition was emailed to all the board members that sit up here and county staff as well. But >> Mr. Baker, I'm I have a question about
funding. Um so the this proposal is for 3,041 linear feet of 6 feet wide uh sidewalk for 1.3 million and the Palm Lake Park project was 2900 lineal feet
of 6 feet and at the time when the proposal was done 10 foot wide uh sidewalk for approximately 914,000. Why the discrepancy in the price? I
mean, that's if if if the Palm Lake Park one was expensive, this one's ridiculous. >> I'm just trying to think on um what would drive the cost on this one. It's like, >> do you have to buy right away? >> No, it can't be part of it.
Um sorry, how can you tell me the length of the other one real quick again? 2900 >> and what was this one? >> 3,041 and the other one was per your estimate was a combination of six and 10 foot
wide and this is only six throughout the corridor. So So Mr. Gorton, >> I'm just trying to think commissioner on that one in particular. I was trying to think if there's any like drain I was thinking drainage improvements. We've had we've had some complaints with
regards to drainage improvements in this project. And I think it's in it's to make sure that the drainage is accommodated. >> From looking at the photos, I can believe it. It looks pretty flat. >> Where the other one is u it sort of all drains into the existing retention pond.
So um as far as like pipes and inlets and such where this one it will require um um more drainage improvements. So the the difference in the cost would be in the in the proposed drainage. >> Thank you, >> Mr. Gordon. Anything to add?
>> Yeah, Jim Gordon, uh Martin County Public Works director. So that is the difference. Keith Keith is that it's an open drainage system now. It's got a swailed drainage system >> and uh much of that will have to be piped >> uh to accommodate the sidewalk. So the the side of the street that ends up with
a sidewalk will also be flatter than the other side of the street and it'll be a closed drainage system largely. >> Thank you. Any further questions? Mr. Compton, would you like to address us? >> I don't think they've quite finished with their presentation. Did you want to talk?
>> Okay, please continue. >> Just one more item to add and that was the uh local support because we did have multiple presentations at Jensen Beach Elementary. We met with the assistant principal as well as the uh PTA sack
meeting and the ecoaction team and this was um presented to the joint meeting on February 9th and the policy board meeting today. Just wanted to add that. >> And what were the conclusions at those meetings?
>> All all approval. Um the neighborhood meeting we did have some feedback which I think we're going to hear part of it now. Um but um the it was approved um December 19th at the same meeting for the uh board of county commissioners and
the school is very in favor of the project as well at those meetings. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Mr. Compton. You'll have three minutes to address us. >> I'm sorry. Just to clarify, as far as public comments, we do the same thing that the county commission does where
there's three minutes of public comments. There will be a warning bell after 2 minutes. Um, and then the second bell is is the the three minutes just as an FYI. >> Hi, my name is Jerry Compton. I live at 2903 Northeast Rose Drive. I've been a
resident for 28 years. In those 28 years, I probably counted every year I've count or contacted the county about the drainage in there. The only time that we've ever had any kind
of safety concerns is when the neighbor slid out in her motorcycle, hit her head, and she had to be airlifted to the hospital. That's the only incidents we ever had. And that was because of drainage. because the drainage and the mud just goes on the street and it's
bad. And I know they said that we're going to be doing a lot of drainage, but um page 53 of 149, the drainage system will remain with minor adjustments to the current swale that's
in the presentation. So, I don't know where the drainage issues are, but you know, we we are 100% of all the signatures I received, which is part of 95% of all the neighbors are
all against it. Some of the people just wouldn't open their doors. Some people couldn't get a hold of, but we only have like three that are nonparticipating signatures on that corridor.
Drainage is a main concern. The existing sidewalk setback is going to put that sidewalk up against the neighbors houses almost. Some of those houses are really close to the rideway. So, you're going to have like 20 ft or less from the sidewalk to the front
door. I know that's not a lot, but in these halfacre estates, that's a lot. So, we're we're very concerned about that. Um, >> okay. I guess my time's up. >> Two minutes. That's your two-minute warning. >> I don't have much to add, but we are
100% against the sidewalk. There's better ways to spend the county's money. Savannah Road is not ADA compliant. I can guarantee that. I run that every day of the week. It's not AD. There's exceed
5% slopes. It's 3 ft 2 feet in some areas cuz grass is growing over. I say spend your money there. That's where the real and we don't have kids in our neighborhood. Just none. We have one or two people going to school. And I don't think the
percentage of of people is going to increase. Just the helicopter moms these days, they're going to send their kids to school be all right. So, please spend your money elsewhere. We like sidewalks, but not in our neighborhood.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Collins. >> So, the nature of this program, it was this desire to do this came out of FDOT. SRTS uh is sponsored by FDOT.
That's that's the birth of this versus having the desire for this to come out of the neighborhood. Is that correct? Um, with this one in particular, it as far as you're talking about the um the idea of the project. Is that what you're
asking? It was a combination of the the school input feedback from the school requesting it in addition to we get um requests for service um with um they were people were asking for a sidewalk
andor traffic coming along the street. Um just to kind of clarify if I can just kind of dovetail. Um last year the county um submitted a safe routes to school project and like I said this is a federal funding source that come it comes through FDOT and this is a
discretionary funding source. It's very competitive. Um the project last year were sidewalks that supported Jensen Beach Elementary School and along South Street. And it was a surprise I think to um the county, but especially FDOT that
Martin County actually got approval and got awarded these um this the funding for the sidewalks. Um, and this is what what my understanding was because we helped with the after the project was after the funding was awarded for those sidewalks, we were um partnering with
the schools to have a walk to school day and at that walk to school day, I think um the staff from capital projects attended and the staff from district 4 actually came from FDOT because they were so excited about those about me that district 4 got funding for this project. And I thought as a result of
that, the conversations as a result of at that walk to school day about well, we have other areas that need sidewalks. And so that's kind of how it evolved to when the the um um applica um funding became available this year from the same
program that um the county um um we're we're going to move forward with um submitting an application based on what was um discussed last year between FDOT and the school district about um with their success the year before. >> Is that correct?
>> Okay. I just wanted to >> and one other in terms of the funding. >> Um the safe routes to school funds 100% of construction. So the county would just fund design and CI >> and then to the point about this project
providing limited relief for drainage. Can you give more context on >> um >> the um the consultant engineer will be tasked with demonstrating that there's no impact to the existing uh drainage
system and if anything an improvement to it. So that would be an expectation from the design the designing >> it's not truly to dramatically improve the drainage it's basically to get net zero or close. No, it would be like to that it would be to improve it as much
as feasible within the right ofway with the funds to maximize the funds to improve the drainage. Um, that's the intent. >> Yes, sir. >> Commissioner Reed. >> Yeah, I was just going to mention the South South Street project as well.
>> And to further add on to it, I I believe the grant was mainly for the school safety stuff. I understand Genre Elementary, they're going to support it no matter what. But like I stated earlier, the residents don't want it. There's petitions. It's minor drainage improvements. The majority of it's going
to go to sidewalks. So, I don't support this project at all. And neither do the residents >> that actually live there. >> Mr. Gordon, >> um just uh focusing on the design. The
design hasn't been done yet, so we we don't know what it's going to look like at the end, but but um drainage will be taken into account as a part of the design. So, um it's primarily a sidewalk project, but anytime that we touch the rightway, we try to leave it better than
when we were there. So, um understanding that there are some things that could be improved upon, we will include that in the scope. >> Commissioner Caps. >> Yes. Uh uh Miss Beltran, you mentioned that this is a discretionary funding source and I took that to mean that we
were kind of lucky to get this money. Is that kind of the idea? >> Yes, it's discretionary. It's very competitive this and yes and like I said, district 4 was very excited that they I mean because that looks good for Martin County, but it looks good for the district too. So when we had the MO had already, you know, planned to do this
partnership with this walk to school day last year, it was very well attended and we had a lot of we had press there. We had a lot of um attention and that that's when the the the administrators, I guess, of the school said, "Well, we have other other areas that need sidewalks, too."
>> I guess I'm really moved by the fact that the school feels that it's needed. >> There are a lot of walkers at that school and kids that ride their bikes from what I understand. I would make a motion we approve it. >> Um I'll second it, but I wanted to
comment also. Um I certainly understand the drainage issues, the public comment on the drainage issues. We struggle with a lot of drainage issues um in our area. Um but we also highly value sidewalks which we have a lot of problems with and are unable to get. So, the fact that this is available for them and future
generations to come, I think is an asset, particularly being right by Jensen Beach Elementary. Um, that's where I went to elementary school. That's where I grew up. I think that there's a lot of residences there. It makes sense to have walkways. Um, so I think if you I don't know if this means anything, but you put an added emphasis
on drainage and do what you can because that's a big deal. So, that's my >> Mayor Dalo. >> So, this project is going to address the drainage. is going to fix that problem. Correct. >> It's the the primary focus of the design
is the sidewalk, but we will incorporate drainage improvements as a part of the design. Absolutely. So, um and by changing it to a largely closed system, it'll make it more efficient. Um so, >> okay. Thank you, >> Commissioner Reid.
>> Yeah, I don't I don't believe there's any drainage issues. Um but we'll see how the votes go, I guess, on this one. It's interesting for the residents because like I said, they don't want it. I mean, the petitions are there. They clearly emailed us. So, we'll see how the board votes today. Any
further comments? There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I >> opposed. N >> opposed. No. >> That motion passes with three denters. Those being Commissioners Collins, Campy, and Reed.
Am I counting right? One, two. Yeah. Four. Yep. Thank you. >> Next is the Florida Department of Transportation Monterey Road at FEC Railroad crossing grade separation project. Yes. Um we have fortunate
enough to have Robert Lopez the project manager uh F dot project manager for this project along with his consultant to give you all an update um for the um Monterey Road at FEC railroad crossing grade separation project.
>> Thank you. >> Okay. Hello. >> Uh thank you everyone. My name is uh Rob Lopez and uh thank you for the opportunity to give you this update today on the State Road 714 FEC railroad crossing project.
Okay. Uh as you can see on the screen here, a quick review of our schedule. We performed the data collection and had our public kickoff meeting. We have also been performing our analysis and examination of our alternatives
and we will be holding an alternatives public workshop next month. We will take the information we received from this public outreach and refine the alternatives and return once again in the beginning of 2027 with the recommendation for moving
forward for your approval. The design, right-of-way, and construction phases are funded in the current 5-year work program. Right ofway is currently starting in year 2028 and construction in year 2030.
Uh you can see on the screen now our project u location map and identifying the the project's purpose. The project is located not far from where we are today. You've ma may have noticed that the project study area of influence has been revised and is
along State Road 714 Monterey Road from Monterey Road Extension to west of Southeast Flying Fortress Lane and County Road A1A from Wamfield Drive to just north of Southeast 16th Street. And I'll again uh reiterate the project
purpose is to improve uh traffic operations, establish more efficient road system connectivity, provide enhanced emergency evacuation, and improve sidewalk and bike lane network. And again the uh the blue is the area of
influence but the the project purpose is prim primarily focused on the inter the crossing of Monterey Road and the FEC which is shown by that yellow uh dot in the center of the screen there.
Uh this uh slide I'm going to show you the traffic ADT. Uh ADT is the annual average daily traffic which takes in all vehicle trips on a segment of roadway or highway during a year-long interval in both
directions and then divides by the total divides the total by 365 days to arrive at the average number of daily trips. The AADT for the existing condition is based upon traffic data that has been obtained in year 2022
and for the area in question ranges from uh the 8,000 okay thing. Yeah. 8,200 to 27,000 vehicles per day in the vicinity of the study intersection. Level of service is the quantitative stratification of a performance measure
that represents the quality of service of a transportation facility measured on an A to app scale with level of service A representing the best operating condition from the traveler's perspective and level of service F
representing the worst. This grading system is used to evaluate how well a roadway or transportation facility is operating particularly during peak travel hours. It reflects factors such as speed, travel time, freedom to maneuver, traffic interruptions and
comfort and convenience. The legend on the left side the slide provides example of the various level of service a high which is a highway with stable free flow conditions with little or no congestion. Level of service B which represent
stable or free flow conditions with little congestion. Level of service C. Free flow conditions with moderate congestion. Level of service D approaching unstable conditions with increasing congestion and level of service E unstable congestion
with congested conditions and level of service F stop and go uh stop and go conditions. Uh the slide also provides an existing level of service for several intersections within the study area during both the AM peak and PM peak with
level of services ranging from B to D with majority being D. And um I'll just mention also that for an urban developed area such as this level of service D is considered the target that uh you're
trying to shoot for. And as you can see, fast forward to uh forecast for year 2050 of uh no build condition. You can see for the no build condition, the AADT now ranges from 10,200
to 33,500 vehicles per day in the vicinity of the study intersection. And you can see that uh one link right between US1 and Dixie where the 33,500 is. This slide also depicts the level of service of those same intersections
during both the AM peak and the PM peak but in 2050. The only adjustment is to the only adjustment to is to signal timing with no changes in lanage or capacity. The level of service ranges from B to F
with four of the peaks being an F. And I'll now turn it over to uh Tanya Kristoff that will tell you more about uh some of the conditions that we've had to work with for selecting an alternative and about the alternatives that have been developed.
>> Thank you. Good morning. >> Morning. Um, so one of the distinct aspects of the project is its close proximity to of uh 714 to the end of runway 12-30, which is the primary runway for WHM
airfield. As with all runways, the surrounding slopes and services are critical to maintaining the safety and integrity of aircraft operations. These areas must be carefully considered to ensure compliance with aviation safety standards
and to protect not only air traffic but also the adjacent land uses. One such critical surface is the runway protection zone or RPZ which is depicted in this current slide. The yellow shape represents the arrival RPZ and the
purple is the departure RPZ. During our meeting with FAA, it was conveyed that any new roadway or intersection needs to be outside of the arrival RPZ. The existing State Road 714 alignment is
grandfathered into the RPZ, so staying within its current footprint is vital. Another element is obviously the railroad and its compensation requirements. If the railroad crossing is built as an overpass at the current
State Road 714 location, no other railroad crossings would need to be closed. If a new crossing, either elevated or at grade, is built at a different location, one or more existing railroad crossings would have to be
closed as compensation. Um, and if a crossing needed to be closed, we will be looking towards the county for guidance on potential locations for that closure. In addition to engineering considerations, potential environmental effects associated with each concept has
to be evaluated throughout the project. They include elements from the natural environment such as wetlands and other surface waters, from cultural resources such as historic sites, from physical environment such as traffic noise, utilities and the railroad, and from
social and economic environments such as mobility and relocation potentials. This slide graphically depicts some of those environmental resources that we must consider throughout the study. The study began with a highle analysis
often referred to as a tier one or disctop analysis of multiple concepts. It included 10 concepts. The eight that occurred at the current 714 at FC railroad crossing are shown here. They ranged from elevated intersections to
depressed intersections to various overpasses. The ninth and tth concepts in the initial desktop analysis are on this slide and are located south of the existing state road 714 at FEC railroad crossing along Monterey extension. Both
included a new overpass. Concepts were brought to the MO Martin County Board of County Commissioners, City of Stewart, Martin County Public Works, FAA, and FEC for discussion. Concept 8 was eliminated and concept 3
and 10 were revised. Additionally, the no bid alternative will be carried throughout the PD process along with concept 3, concept 3 modified, and concept 10. Concepts will now be referred to as alternatives. So
alternative one will be concept three, alternative two was concept three modified, and alternative three was concept 10. So this is a larger view of alternative one. It elevates state road 714 over the
FEC railroad and county road A1A utilizing the existent alignment of 714. This alternative would provide limited connectivity between 714 and County Road A1A and it would be done through the use of that access road.
This one here, the access road would connect to 714 east of the existing 714 county road A1A intersection on the north side of 714. The access road, which would be in the
area of 15th Court and would connect to Southeast Palm Beach Road through a standard intersection at 16th Street. Pedestrian and bicycle accommodations are included in this concept.
This slide illustrates potential parcel encroachments for alternative one. So, as you can see on the based off of the um legend, the depth of that yellow indicates the type of impact. So, the
lightest yellow is a partial impact, meaning we're having some encroachment. If it has a hatch, that means um there's either a structure that's impacted or needs to be removed. And then the one that's a very solid yellow is where we're looking at relocations.
So this is a larger view of alternative 2, which is very similar to alt 1 with the optional connection to southeast Palm Beach Road. Again, it is still elevate 714 over FEC and County Road A1A
utilizing the existing alignment of 714. The alternative would provide limited connectivity between 714 and County Road A1A and would again be done through the use of the access road. The access road would connect east of existing 714 County Road A1A intersection on the
north side. the access road which would be north of the houses along 15th Court and would connect to Southeast Palm Beach Road through a standard intersection. The pedestrian and bicycle accommodations are included
in this concept. Once again, this slide illustrates the potential parcel encroachments for all two. Again, the lightest shade is an partial a partial impact. The hatching is an structure needing to be removed or
relocated. And then a solid is a relocation. Now we will look at a larger view of alternative 3 which is located south of the current intersection with improvements to southeast Monterey Road and Southeast Grumman
Boulevard elevating over the tracks. Additionally, County Road A1A would be reconstructed and elevated to create a new raised intersection. It is anticipated that Southeast Monterey Road extension would need to be widened.
Southeast Grumman Boulevard would be improved, extended, and elevated over the railroad intersecting with County Road and elevated County Road A1A and ultimately tying into the airport entrance. Once again, pedestrian and
bicycle accommodations are included in this concept. Again, this slide illustrates potential parcel encroachments. The intensity reflects that encroachment. So, light shade is a slight impact. The hatching means a structure is being impacted. And
then the solid shade is where we would anticipate a relocation. >> Forgive me for clarification. The Monterey extension would be going over A1A or under. >> We would go we would be going over the
railroad tracks. A1A would then be also elevated to meet that elevation and then we would begin to descend. So, we would tie back in before the existing
intersection with um counter with A1A 714. So, from here, this starts to go up and over. We go over the railroad tracks. In the meantime, this County Road A1A
begins to elevate. It would meet that elevated creating an an elevated intersection. We would then tie back down first into the airport entrance and then we have to get over this spur. So we remain elevated
until we get across the spur. >> Mhm. >> Once we are over that spur, then we start descending and coming back to existing grade. So, you're back down before we get to this intersection. >> Okay. Thank you.
>> Makes sense. >> We good? Anyone else? Okay. >> Um, transportation system management and operations is something that we also focus on and is um focused on enhancing safety, reliability and mobility by actively managing the existing
transportation network. uses technology, data, and a collaborative strategy to improve traffic flow, reduce congestion, and maximize infrastructure capacity without largecale construction projects. So, here are two examples. Um, what
we've heard from the MO in the past, particularly at the driveway for the uh shopping center, was this is supposed to be a right in right out. the island there is very small, so people are still acting as if it's a full opening. We
would ensure that that was an actual right in right out um to control that traffic and reduce potential conflict points. And then we also looking at um 714 at County Road A1A uh having some additional um uh turn lanes as much as
we can. Obviously, we're restricted with the railroad. We would not be able to widen in that area. Okay, so going back once again, just a reminder that the AADT is the annual average daily traffic which takes all the vehicle trips on a segment of roadway or highway during a year-long
interval in both directions and then divides it divides that total by 365 um to arrive at the average number for daily trips. So again, this is the traffic projected to 2050 with the no bill conditions and again we range from
um 10,200 to the 335 33,500 in the area of the subject intersection and as you can see we have several intersections that are failing.
So when we uh look at the AADT and for alt one and u alt 2 because the traffic is obviously very same since they're very similar inter uh concepts uh the that range becomes from um that 5,700 which we're pulling from there to
the 34,500 which you notice here again um we have level of services that range from A to F with D being the most occurring level of And then looking at the traffic
projected for 2050 um for alternative 3 again that at now the intersection that would be improved and going over you have the um values that range from 2400 to um
u 21,500. You do have the 47 here. Then when you go back to this intersection, you'll notice the decrease in those AADTs. This is now at 23,500. This is at 1550. And the reason being is
that this alternative is basically you start splitting that traffic because you have two different routes and that helps draw down um the amount of trips that are on that particular segment.
and then the ranges from um B to E. So um we've done an evaluation matrix and we what we did was we divided it into two segments. So the first is based off of impacts. So the lower the number or impact the better and of course the
higher the worst versus the second chart that you see in which we're looking at level of improvement. So in that case, low is not good and the higher is better. So that's why we we split them into two separate just to make that a little bit easier to to examine.
And as you can see, we've it um looked at the number of parcels being impacted. Obviously, alt one and two have a higher impact versus um alt 3 from um parcels are concerned. And that that's probably one of the areas that you'll notice the
most. Okay, just make sure any questions. All right, Commissioner Reid. >> Yes, question. And this is this for the traffic count. So, I'm looking at the level of service for 2022 existing conditions,
>> and I know FOT has like a traffic count as well, but the numbers don't necessarily match. So, is this like one that was specifically for this project? And then how does the data correlate to online with the F dot traffic?
>> Yeah, we have traffic counts were taken we're and then based off run into a model specifically for this project. So that's why you may see some differences >> like even when you look at Willoughby if Willoughby traffic comes and they start looking at well now they've added a
roadway again that's going to adjust how traffic gets split. So the um you might see differences even if you look at their traffic versus our traffic because again when were their accounts taken and how are they when they're adding in an additional lo um
connection then that could change some things. >> Okay. And then and then obviously the goal of this project is to relieve traffic from the Monterey US1 intersection to push it down the Grumman. That's the goal. the the goal is to improve I guess if you go back to
the slide of purpose and need it's to improve those four conditions at that crossing of Monterey the Monterey FC Dixie crossing is looking at those four conditions >> and seeing if we can improve those four
conditions at that point and then um with the the options they would be either elevated at Monterey Road or or elevated at Monterey and Grumman or just elevated at Grumman or >> just be elev alt 3 is just elevating at Grman.
>> Okay. >> And um existing 714 at counter road A1A that would remain at grade. We would do some um turn lane improvements as much as we could to help the traffic get through there, but it would remain at grade.
>> Do you guys have any like samples of what it would look like elevated or be? Um, we don't have it here, but I can send you um, there's actually some that are actually even along the this roadway that we can show you that >> or like even in the state of Florida in general, I guess, to kind of see what it looks like. So, I I remember when we
were talking about this project in the past, they wanted to do like an underground tunnel >> and everyone seemed against that because it would forever change what Martin County looks like, >> right? That was concept 8 when I referred to um on this slide where I mentioned that concept 8 was eliminated. Concept 8 was a depressed. Now, would
there be any way to do alternative three without elevating it or >> No, because we need to get that traffic. We're trying to remove some of that traffic from that intersection. So, one way was doing that was elevating it. >> Well, if it was elevated, would trains
still go under it then? Okay. So, that's very elevated then. >> We have to be um 23.5 ft above the track. So, the bottom of our lowest member has to meet that. So the the tricky thing about alt one and two is going back to
>> I think he was asking though oh here grin can be connected to Dixie without going over. >> Is that what you're asking? >> Like if like if it was a like another alternative to not elevated I see what you're saying. >> It's possible but it would require more closures that we would have to offer
FBC. We we probably have to offer FEC more than four closures if we were going to. >> And where do we get this information on FEC? How like if we want to add one, you have to cuz you have to close one. Where where we find the literature on that to read up on it?
>> I don't think it's really a literature published. >> They just tell you how it is. And >> I mean they're they're under pressure to show they're improving the safety of the railroad as well. So they they don't have obviously they're not a government
agency so they don't have it as the same level of uh transition. >> So like if we wanted a dialogue I guess with FEC to be here during these presentations to ask them what their stance is and stuff because I I always hear about it. I I hear about all the
communication from FEC but it's behind closed doors. I don't know if FEC representatives ever come to no board meetings at all. I >> um they we have not had a representative that I can remember from FBC. They are a member of our freight transportation
advisory committee and we have had representation there >> and they they're they stance on anything is like basically what I said it's like an unwritten rule. It's I mean they've kind of given they've had some consistency basically they feel that
over the years many uh roadway crossings have been approved and it's constantly and now that it's carrying passengers on that track. So when when did the when did their stance change I guess because if we've opened up >> crossings in the past they were okay with it then
>> I I I think we've seen big change you know with Bright Line the fact that that >> that track is now carrying passengers so there's more emphasis on safety not just of freight now but safety of the passengers >> on that track. So they they're looking
>> to really improve that safety and the big way they're looking to do it is try to reduce the number of crossings there are and or at least not increase the number of crossings. >> All right. Well, it' be nice if a representative from FBC was here so we could ask them.
So that's all I have to say. >> Commissioner Collins. >> Yes. I've heard with regard to the different alternatives, I've I've heard um some negative feedback towards one and two and personally I I would agree with that and it seems like and what you
you all have presented that you're coming to a similar conclusion uh both in terms of the negative impact on parcels one and two seems to be higher while simultaneously producing less positive positive impact
for traffic flow. Uh but I any kind of alternative that's you know leveraging Palm Beach Road there uh cutting into residential neighborhoods where children play to offset you know the kind of traffic that's on Monterey. I think it's a nightmare. Uh my concerns would be
you know assuming we're going in the direction of alternative three which seems to be what you guys are are advocating for here. um because of the to Commissioner Reed's point, you know, and trying to clarify because of the the height that you would
have to achieve to clear train, you know, freight cars, does it make more sense to have less impact? And also to his point, if it does seem like this is the direction we want to go, it may be nice to have visual
uh representation of what that might look like with a couple alternatives where, you know, wherever we end up here and making decisions. But if you're having to clear those train cars going up, maybe it does make more sense to go
down. Uh which may not make any sense with alternative three, so forgive me. I'm a mere chiropractor, but if you're just clearing, you know, cars and trucks and and box cars, maybe that I don't know. Maybe it's less to have that. One of the the visuals that we did
get at the last one that I remember was less of a tunnel and more of a you know, it seemed more of like a depressed I don't know what the name of that was, but >> um >> open trench, >> right? Open sight. Right. So the the one
thing to think about doing a a depressed >> I have to maintain the rail traffic, right? >> I can't stop that, >> right? You can't bring that up, >> right? So to construct underneath it, um we would have to
reestablish what's called a shoe fly shoefly track. It's a temporary track. In order to do that and not have tremendous impact on people's parcels, a logical place to put that would be on
County Road A1A during construction. >> Mhm. >> So that means County Road A1A no longer would have traffic, vehicular traffic. >> What kind of time frame are we talking about? Are you referring to time frame when the
project would go to construction or duration? >> Saying how long would we be in construction? >> Well, I I mean I I would say almost this to uh right now with the >> the cost would be significantly more and
uh right now with the funding uh sources that we have in place, those would no longer work with an o open trench. we would uh it would basically go back to being unfunded at that point because it would probably more than double. >> I think if we were actually looking at
what that bridge would look like that there may be more opposition to it. Certainly if the public saw something like that versus an open trench I think might be more tenable. Um but to your point if if you can't get it funded
it doesn't matter. >> Okay. Those are those are my thoughts and questions. >> Commissioner Campy, >> first off, thank you for the presentation and the obviously hard complicated work to get to this point.
Um, all three of the options are obviously difficult to swallow. Uh, for me, it's very simple. It would have to be the third. The first two, when you were showing them in your presentation, uh, you would decimate the YMCA. You
would you barrel through those neighborhoods and those houses and even well before I was sitting up here when they eliminated some of those houses within the safety zone of the airport that was just one block. It was several houses. It was a huge deal. I think that
would absolutely dramatically change the whole lifestyle of that neighborhood. The the third option didn't look like you were impacting any residential homes. All of it's challenging. We were just looking
at the other agenda item that said um just some school sidewalks were a million dollars. So, I could just imagine that this is hundreds of millions of dollars. Uh because even for the lay person who doesn't understand
like the dollars and cents based on projects, even we know that when you talk about elevating roadways, how far back you have to go so it doesn't look like you're going up a steep incline and then over the railroad tracks and then
having A1A meet at an elevated intersection east of the railroad tracks. It's got to the engineering and the expense will put this into so far into the future and be so expensive. We'll probably be using drone
hovercrafts by that point which don't seem that far off which would eliminate the need for any of this. So if you're asking I'm in favor of alternative number three >> as the lesser of three evils. Yes, we'll
put it. >> Commissioner Mayfield. >> Uh, yes, I agree with that last statement. Certainly at this point, I would support alternative three. Um, I'm I'm back to the ground level. Ideally, the whole when this first came to light, the concept that in this area would we
would have overpass or underpass just always has seemed kind of bananas to me in a smaller county. I do understand where you're working. You got the airport constraints. So, I I think you guys have done a very good job coming up with um alternatives. Um, and my question about that, keeping it at ground level, is it I thought you just
said something like four crossings. Is it a eye for an eye? Like if you close if you open a new crossing, you have to close another one somewhere in the county or like how does that >> if you make a crossing they I mean ultimately FEC wants to show they're improving safety. So they want to show a reduction in crossings. So basically if
you're adding one, you have to close two is the general guidance. There there is a little bit of negotiation to that, but that's the general. Is it in the county or is it a perimeter of vicinity? What is that criteria? >> It can be uh you know it's uh usually within the area but it can be anywhere
along the FEC track. They want somewhere that's somewhat equivalent to show that they're reducing safety. So a somewhat similar uh similar trafficked area >> similarly trafficked area >> but it's it's not defined exactly. It's
a little bit of negotiation but that's in general what they're looking for. I mean, that's the ideal for me, but I understand that's uh difficult to do and you guys do well working within your constraints. And this is not necessarily related to the um the big time work, but that little stretch between I don't
probably not in your jurisdiction, but between US1 and Dixie Highway, um the businesses there get a lot they make more cars go in that little area that don't have to. I realize that there's no other direct access to those plazas, but you were referencing the right turn or whatever, but like if if there was no
business access on that little strip, um again, that's terrible for the businesses. I'm not saying we should do that, but there's room there to it's not designed well um from the get-go to have all these cars going left and right and trying to cross traffic. So, I don't know, that's not in your purview, per se. But and then also you talked about
the Willoughby extension if that I realize it's not all directly reflected but it is another way for traffic to go besides that clustered area. So I think those things need to be taken into consideration. >> That's it. I support three. We we've just we've looked at uh we realized that
the the access to that plaza would be affected and we have begun at least looking at options that can be >> uh can be at least be looked at to try to improve the access if that if we go to that level >> and the other side too. It's an odd setup. It's a very odd setup in that
whole area. >> Commissioner Katz. >> Yes. I'm I'm sensing a consensus toward alternative three and uh a lot of technical data here. I could use a little refresher. Can you go back to like page 16, which seems to be the most
elementary beginning point of what alternative 3 is all about and just kind of hit me with the five most important things of that that alternative three features. I think a lot of us could use uh a recap just real quick. You don't
have to be labor and do the whole thing. Just give us like the five most important things about this. >> I I guess uh one very the first most important that you maybe don't see on this slide, but you'll notice on others is >> you can you can take us to another slide of this better, you know. >> Yeah. I'll just point out again if you
remember that that segment of Monterey right between US1 and Dixie with the the no build condition that would carry about 33,000 uh vehicles for with an ADT and with the
build condition once you extend that Monterey extension to connect to US1 the uh number of ve the ADT along that one segment drops to 23,000 that's about the equivalent of one lane of traffic in each direction. So you're getting almost
the same benefit as almost widening that segment by by one lane. The uh second thing is also in combination with that in in combination with that as it was mentioned very much earlier one of the big objectives of
this whole project is not just the traffic itself but improving the network especially when it comes to emergency response and uh that that's one thing that we see a big improvement with doing this because uh when you look back at a
larger map you'll see that uh what Monterey and Indian Town are the two places that have bridges that cross cross over the waterway and uh during an e not just a hurricane but any type of emergency response if
there is a blockage by uh a train or an incident at on that segment between uh US1 and uh Dixie it it can cause a very long delay for emergency response. This alternative gives uh alternate routes
for emergency response to access the community that lives on that uh northeast uh quadrant. Um the second obviously biggest thing that everyone noticed is going to be that uh you know that overpass over fec
rail from Grumman to US1. Um and but in addition to that that also creates that overpass of that spur to the airport. So that is more of the benefit to FEC because a lot of the funding for this project is showing multimodal
improvement, not just vehicle improvement. So that is to a certain degree showing the benefit to the railroad operations and to the airport of the movement of goods, the ability to move goods to the the airport by by rail.
And I guess the the third uh improvement, you know, is kind of the improvements that we will be making to the intersection of uh that uh Monterey and Dixie. What what you'll uh see on this alternative three, they're exactly the same improvements that we were
suggesting for the TSM, no build condition. So there will be intersection improvements that take place at that Monterey um Monterey and uh Dixie intersection. as well. Um and th those are the three
and obviously the capacity improvements that will take place all along uh the Monterey extension from uh from Monterey to US1 which you know also improves kind of the overall network and uh in general will improve
the uh traffic for businesses along that segment as well. But uh I think th those are some of the the big highlights. Um the challenging parts of it like uh was mentioned we're aware where access to the plaza would have to be a little bit
more addressed than what we see on the slide here. So that's something that we would still have to still has to be worked out. Um the other biggest challenge is probably as we said one business that is somewhat affected is the airport uh shopping plaza that you
see on the uh south southeast quadrant there. Their access will be uh rerouted as you can see yeah in that link over there. Um I know uh Tanya Commissioner Reid.
>> Yes. My comments were I support alternative three. I'd rather see Grumman though at a base elevation and I'd also like to see FEC here because I feel Martin County residents are being strong armed by FEC. >> Mr. Collins,
>> so if we stay on this slide, the you had discussed having that depression um would force A1A to carry the tracks and shut down A1A. If we're raising A1A,
that would be the case anyway is that A1A would be shut down. >> Do stage >> staggering it. >> We can do stage construction. >> Okay. And then that also requires a bridge to be at that at that um
what do you call that? That uh >> spur. But that's we're our statement to FEC is because they would want two closures for this. So we're saying we want them to count that as one closure.
So I only need one other closure, >> but it's still a bridge. >> Yes, it's a bridge, >> but that's but so we're bridging it so it's not an at grade. >> I got you. >> So we're improving that crossing is what we're >> So So here's my thought. If you had a depression uh at the extension there,
would that allow A1A and Grumman to all be at grade? Is there any other reason other than trying to match the bridge elevation to raise up A1A and Groman? No. Right. >> Um, well then I would need to get once we went under, I need to get people back
onto A1A, >> right? >> So I would need to have some So if A1A was that grade Y >> and this went under, I now need a way to get people reconnected. So, your footprint's going to get bigger because we we we actually had looked at having
Let me go back. So, if we go back to this one >> cuz to your point, >> you notice this this one where we left A1A at grade. >> Yep. >> And we were coming up and over. So, now I had to get everyone back to A1A. And
that's where you start seeing, well, now I have this ramp running, still having to cross that spur, and I got to get someone back down and in. Same thing with this. If I wanted, if somebody wanted to utilize this extension, they had to jump off of A1A,
come onto this ramp, come over. Now, I'm bridging over this um the entrance to the airport, coming here, and then going over. And this was actually taking everybody, you know, this is getting somebody on,
this is getting somebody off. So instead of being up, all that would have to be depressed. And I'm bringing everyone that was depressed back up to to ground. >> So you're you're when I say footprint, it means my my area of improvement or
new roadway is starting to grow. What I would like to see is maybe a 3B where we could look at a depression there because we're not approving anything today. We're just talking, right? We're just throwing ideas around. >> This is just discussion. We're not approving anything today. We're just discussing, right? >> This is a discussion item and from what
I understand, you all will be presenting to the city commission on March 9th. Is that correct? >> That that's correct. we can uh at least start um documenting the cost so we can do a little bit better comparison >> because if we're not raising A1A up and we're really just having one grade
crossing potentially I I think it might be worth looking at personally >> we can give a little bit preliminary comparison I know another uh another challenge is obviously that the tie down at the uh Monterey extension in US1 >> so uh like we said before going over
requires space going under requires even even more run out length. So, but uh we can try to get that comparison so you can see what's involved >> if possible. Appreciate it. >> Any further discussion?
>> Thank you. Uh we are going to have to take a 5m minute break for the closed captioner. We will return at 11:20 to conclude our meeting. We are back uh taking up the MO policy board meeting taking up agenda item
number 8H which is the transit development plan annual report. >> Yes. the um state has a new rule that they put in place last year that the county transit agency or the local transit agency would give the no an update on their annual report of the
transit development plan. So we have um Ash Beecher here, the Martin County Transit Administrator to give that report. >> Good morning board members. Uh Ash Beecher. I am the transit administrator for the Marty bus system. I'm here this
morning to present the annual progress report for the Marty 2025 to 2034 transit development plan. And what we'll be looking at today is the purpose of the annual progress report and how it ties into the major update that was
completed and approved in 2024. We'll be doing an overview of the new TDP requirements as it pertains to rule 1473, Florida Administrative Code. I'll be providing a brief transit system overview and we'll be taking a look at
progress and achievements of the transit system since the major uh TDP was approved. So what is the TDP? Well, it's a roadmap. It's a multi-year road map that outlines how a transit system is going to improve and fund existing services to
meet future needs. Transit agencies are required to complete a TDP to not just demonstrate accountability, but also to secure state funding. So Marty's TDP is tied to state transportation block grant funding for operating assistance from
the state. That's around uh $350,000 annually. So we do these updates to secure block grant funding and to make sure that our goals are aligned with local and state policies. our major TDP update adopted and approved uh in 2024
gives us a 10-year game plan for where the system is headed. And then the annual progress report or APR checks in each year to show what's been done, what's changed, and what's next. Uh there is a new TDP rule as uh Beth
mentioned. That rule requires transit agencies to present the annual progress report to the MPO board each year, which allows our local leaders to review the progress we've made and to provide input. There are some new uh and core
elements to the APR required by the new rule. And the table that you're looking at on the uh PowerPoint uh it uh the current slide shows a list of the major requirements and the corresponding pages in the APR.
So the Marty APR includes information about the Metropolitan Transportation Planning Process Coordination Program. What that means is that the APR outlines how the Martin no works with Marty staff because the Martin no works very closely
with Marty staff to ensure that transit priorities both operating and capital are outlined in several reports and plans. So that would include the TIP and the long range transportation plan. The Marty program of projects includes
transit capital operational and identified service improvement needs. It reflects consistency with both the LRTP and the transit development plan and prioritizes projects using transit specific criteria such as state of good repair, service reliability and
ridership benefits. For example, the Marty program of projects or pop includes surveillance cameras. There are surveillance cameras on the Marty buses as well as at some of our uh bus uh bus stop shelters. There are also um solar
security lighting at our shelters. And we also have solar security lighting at some of our standalone uh bus stops for people who use the system after the sun goes down. Our pop also include FTA rolling stock
procurement and operating assistance to maintain existing levels of service. In addition to coordinating on planning documents, Marty also has representation on several MO committees and board, including the technical advisory committee, the local coordinating board
for the transportation disadvantaged, and the treasure coast technical advisory committee. So, to provide a brief overview of the Marty bus system, uh we operate five fixed routes uh from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. We also
operate an eligibility-based program. It's a door-to-door paratransit service for persons with disabilities whose disabilities prevent them from utilizing the normal or the regular uh fixed route bus. There is regional connectivity with Port St. Lucy's public transportation
system as well as Palm Tran to the south. We operate a total of 19 revenue vehicles which includes 14 heavy duty gilligs and five smaller uh cutaways. In addition to public transportation, Marty
staff also operate the ondemand veterans transportation program where the county contracts with Uber to provide um rides for Martin County veterans that live in Martin County. That program has been
very successful since its inception in July 2025. So here we're looking at ridership trends over the last 5 years. Marty has seen a 67% increase in public use of the transit system over the last 5 years
with a jump in ridership from 73,000 to in 2021 to over 120,000 rides in 2025. And in early November 2025, we removed the fair requirement to get on the bus. And as a direct result of removing the
fairs, we saw roughly a 30% increase in wrership. So December 2025 and January 2026, we saw roughly 30% increase in wrership compared to the same month in the prior year. And we were prompted in
um earlier this year in July, we were prompted to add two new bus stops to Route Three, which primarily serves the city of Stewart. And those two stops are located at uh on Georgia Avenue at Steuart Middle School and Guy Davis
Field. The purpose of that those stops being added was to get uh uh Steuart Middle School athletes from the middle school to Guy D Guy Davis Field so that they can get to their soccer practice. And what we've
what we're seeing each day Monday through Friday around the same time around 20 student athletes and their chaperones will get on the Marty bus around at around the same time and they'll get to their soccer game
practices at Guy Davis. It's been really good to see. We're also adding a new stop at the Reach Center which just I think the ribbon cutting was last week. And that's just those are just some of the ways that the Marty is working with
the community. So Marty's financial plan for the TDP has a 10-year planning horizon which is updated annually to reflect any changes and priorities. The annual cost to run the Marty bus system is roughly $3.5 million and about twothirds of that
comes from state and federal funding. And to conclude the presentation, another requirement of the TDP annual progress report is to highlight some transit accomplishments from the prior year. So this update includes accomplishments since the major TDP was
approved and adopted in May 2024. And as you can see, in 2024, the Commission for the Transportation Disadvantage awarded the Martin County TD Board with the 2024 outstanding coordinating board of the year award. In
2025, we implemented several safety and security enhancements to the system, including the installation of surve surveillance cameras at Marty bus shelters. We coordinated with the Veterans Council to provide public outreach at the Steuart Air Show to
promote awareness of fixed route on demand and specialized transportation services available in Martin County, including the Martin County on demand veterans transportation program with Uber. Later in 2025, we went out to bid
for a general planning consultant to assist in transit planning initiatives, including a route optimization study, which will begin very soon. These studies and plans will be fully funded with FTA dollars in November. Lastly, in
November 2025, as previously mentioned, fairs were removed from the Marty and we've seen that 30% increase in wrership and we hope to continue seeing that trend as new users become more familiar with the system.
Are there that concludes my presentation are there any questions at this time? Commissioner Caps, I >> have a couple of observations about Marty. You know, some people are critical of Marty
and a few people have even advocated for it to go away and from our community u on the theory that there aren't enough people riding the buses. Um, but one thing that always pops out to me that I
think always needs to be emphasized is how the Marty bus system is funded. It's about a $4 million program. Isn't that right, Mr. Gordon? And two million of it roughly comes from the federal government, about a million from
the state government, and about a million from the local government. So we only the whole thing doesn't cost Martin County but but about a million dollars. So that's always good to keep in mind. Um another thing that
jumps out to me is wheelchair lifts and bike racks. Um some folks have been critical of the larger buses. Um, but it gets kind of complicated because a lot of the people who ride the buses are heading to the
hospital and wheelchairs and uh trans transportation uh disadvantaged folks and they can push a button and the bus like lowers so they can just go right in. Whereas some of these other smaller
vehicles, if you had somebody with a wheelchair, uh the driver would have, as I understand it, would have to get out of his driver's seat, walk around the back of the smaller vehicle, pull down some type of mechanism in the back and
and help to push the guy up in in the wheelchair. And that would be such a slow process that uh it would mess up the route schedule. So, so it gets complicated when thinking about some of these things and and as you deepen your
understanding of how the system works, you you you you feel like there's more uh rationale behind it. Another thing that has struck me a few times as I've begun to be more cognizant of the Marty
buses. Um, occasionally I have seen people putting their bicycles on the front of a bus and my heart has gone out to them thinking, you know, anyone who has to ride a bicycle
to a bus stop and and then put their bike on a bus must really need a ride bad. And um so I have seen a few of those incidents in recent days and uh and it's it may it
has made more sense to me. Um the other the last comment I would make is you know with the wrership jumping 33% because of no fairs this is early in the process. um that 33% might go to 40 or 50 uh rather soon
because that vote was only taken a few months ago, right? I mean, we're barely getting started with this change. Um and as word spreads, that wrership will probably uh increase a good bit more. >> Commissioner Campy,
>> thank you very much. Mine is more of a reminder that our county is very similar to St. Lucy County. We consider ourselves sister counties. Obviously, same logistics on the coast. Our population numbers are similar. Our demographic,
>> what did I say? >> St. Lucy. >> I apologize. I meant Indian River. I have no idea why I said St. Lucy. Indian River. Um, our populations are similar and our demographics are similar. As well as the fact, excuse me, that recently we switched over to use the
same service that Indian River has used for a long time. and they have over a million riders per year. Now, they've been at it longer. So, I think with uh with not just you, sir, and your staff and all of the
things that you mentioned in your report, but we have basically tried to emulate what they have accomplished up there. Now, they have been at it longer. So, I think that it sort of gives us the answers to the test uh upfront. So, the
longer if we can I I hear the same things that Commissioner Caps is hearing. Why do we have this? I I see the buses on the road. No one's in them. It's ridiculous. We shouldn't do it. It'd be cheaper to just give everybody an Uber. But I think we are heading
direct uh in the right direction. um with with the personnel, with our consulting uh and management team, with the equipment, with the uh additional expansion of routes, I will continue to poke that we need to have some stops in
Palm City. Um, but as owning a a personal vehicle becomes more and more expensive, as the goal is to try to have fewer cars on the road than more, and I know that that's um a really far out into the future kind of a a
mindset for most people, uh, but eventually we'll have to. And I think what we as a board both here and in our elected positions and our individual boards, we have to remember we're not just making decisions for today. We're
trying to create a system for 5, 10, 15 years into the future. And I think that's what they did in Indian River County a long time ago. And they have a million riders and we're, you know, we're in the hundreds of thousands. Uh so that I'm appreciative of all of your
efforts. The thing that I've also heard about uh that we eliminated the fair and it's like a welfare state or something like that. My decision uh to vote the way I did is purely from a business point of view. And just to refresh people's memories or to um give them
this information they might not have realized is that whatever we took it and you're getting and I'm just going to use round numbers. If we got a million dollar grant and by doing the fairs you collected $200,000, the grant was lowered by $200,000 to
make it an $800,000 grant. So it's not like we gave up income. The other problem that people didn't realize that for what was the fair $150, >> correct? >> A $150. That means you have to have the change because uh it wasn't like Apple
Pay and things like that I don't believe. Now, the driver has to It's all about seconds and minutes for you. Correct. Keeping the on time record. Yes. >> The driver has to stop. If you're standing there and you're going through your wallet or a woman's going through her purse and then they have to make the
change and now the next person behind you is doing the same thing. Now, we've really started to delay. Then at the end of the day, that bus driver is responsible for collecting that cash, bringing it back to the office, securing it in a in a safe because they're
responsible. You can't have skimming. So, they're responsible for maintaining the accuracy and the security of those dollars. And then the next morning, uh, someone from this, I'm pretty sure it was the Steuart Police Department or P,
uh, Martin County deputy has to come and collect all that money to make a deposit. So the manpower, the the personnel responsible for doing that ate up whatever there would have been in classified profit. So when people get panicky that we're trying to make this a
welfare state and giving out free bus rides, it just made perfect business sense. And oh, by the way, you're already increased by 33%. >> They did it as a test in St. Lucy or Port St. Lucy. What was that increase? >> 60% after four years. >> Yeah. So they went up 60% in ridership
by eliminating the $150 thing and all of the little nuances that go with it. So job well done, >> Commissioner Collins. >> So I'm in more of that camp of, you know, maybe this is too expensive for its usage. So it was it was nice to see
this presentation. We had discussed previously about this microtransit and I was curious, you know, from what I remember where we were looking at potentially having to invest in new buses soon. If we didn't go in that
direction of microransit, uh what is what is the plan with regard to microransit? Are we basically continuing on business as usual with Marty? Are we looking at converting? and if so on what time frame.
>> So what we've looked what we've seen is that a su the most successful transit systems are a mixture of different modes. So a mixture of larger uh heavy duty uh buses, smaller cutaways and micromobility or microtransit where um
it it it fits. It's not just business as usual with Marty. We are uh looking at making the uh recommended changes uh from the uh TDP and board comments, public comments which uh we've identified some funding to uh do a
microtransit uh test pilot. We're working on the technology portion of it with our tech technology provider to to sort of hash out the details on what that would look like. uh number of vehicles um the the specific service
areas uh and um as far as replacing the gilligs are concerned we are looking at replacing the the the um larger gilligs with smaller cutaways where those make sense. We still believe based on uh TDP
um recommendations from the consultant that there are still places such as US1 where the the heavy duty duty buses are still more suitable. However, for air smaller community areas like Golden
Gate, it may not make a lot of sense for uh a large gillig to be going in and out of of of Golden Gate. So, in areas like those, the smaller cutaways may uh make sense. And then we're reminded with um the stops that we added at the the
Steuart Middle, if um 20 students, student athletes are trying to get on the smaller cutaways that only seat uh 10 uh people in a situation like that, it may not make sense to have a a cutaway. So, um hopefully that answers
your your question. And so those recommendations come through TDP to the county to make those decisions on I guess what I'm saying is wrership and increasing the wrership numbers is important but as part of that
the metric of decreasing cost per ride I would think needs to be important. I know it's a government but um and part of that is ridership. the more people that are riding it, you know, it does bring down that cost per ride. But is that one of those metrics in
diversifying the approach to make it more streamlined for people even though the feds are paying 2 mil and the states paying a mill and we're paying a mill for everybody involved that's paying taxes is looking at bringing down that cost per ride. A part of that that um
analysis for TDP. >> Yeah. So if you look as you said the the main focus at cost per ride is wrership. >> Mhm. >> How we increase more riders is by making the system more attractive for people to
use it. I I think one of the the um concerns that some of our um some of the folks that we um that submitted surveys was that they don't live close enough to where the bus stops currently are. So,
as we add more stop, we remove the fairs, >> we add more stops that are closer to where people live, we complete this route optimization study, wrership will continue to increase. So as ridership increases, the cost per trip uh goes down. So that's
>> so so sort of in two two parts, right? you're increasing writership, you're trying to get as many people on as possible, but then is there secondarily a look at okay, once you've reached your market share, you know, decreasing that cost per ride with the diversity of, you know, making it more efficient
>> and >> because I'm looking at the numbers as they go up, right, each year over 10 years, you're you're at 40 mil, you know, >> so again, that's and that's where the uh the change in the fleet size would would
also come And because with the cutaways, you're looking at less fuel, uh less reduction in maintenance costs. So all of that goes into the the um cost per per trip, the what we pay the the
vendor. >> Something that is being that is looked at by TDP as a as a metric for success is decreasing cost per ride. >> And if not, is that something that you can provide feedback that there should be? So it it the TDP is more of a
broader planning document. >> Right? >> From the TDP there are uh there are recommendations that we can take to further look into um more detailed plans or or steps operating steps that we can
take. So, with the general planning consultant or the GPC um RFP that we just did, we have three uh consultants that we can lean on for plans and documents
>> I because I think it helps give clarity to push back on if Uber's cheaper or not. You know, along with the types of pickups, to your point, if you're going to go pick up 10 people at a school, it may not make sense for it to be an Uber, right? So, you got to blend the types of of pickup, >> right?
>> But ultimately understanding the cost per ride to be able to compare at least financially what makes more sense. You know, if it's 10 bucks to send an Uber or like right now it's 30 bucks, you know, per rider based on what I'm seeing here. I did the
quick math. you know that if it's three times as expensive to do the one thing um with with potentially less quality of service it might be nicer to get picked up in an Uber and it be uh you know a third of the price >> just throwing this out not so much
pointing at you just generally yeah conversation and >> discussion good question um with microtransit it it doesn't >> the thing with microtransit is it doesn't scale very well >> the more popular it becomes the the the more the more expensive it becomes, the
less reliable it becomes. Um, with the with the uh fixed route system, the more it's the complete opposite. The more popular it becomes, the the the more cost effective it becomes. >> Good point. >> So, uh, yeah. >> Thank you, >> Commissioner Reid. >> Yeah. Question regarding the
microtransit. Do they only do it in Palm City? >> What? We don't currently have a microtransit system in Palm City. We're looking at >> looking into Palm City. >> We're looking at Palm City and we're
even looking at the city of Stewart for where it makes sense. That's you know that's what I said earlier. We're working with our technology provider to see what what would be most feasible there. >> And the only reason why I asked is because I'm looking at the 10-year plan.
It only mentioned Palm City for the micro transit. Is there like Yeah, >> I think when we had discussed it, we discussed the city as being a nice uh incubator for it >> just because I guess I wasn't sure like where where do most riders, you know,
come from Palm City, Stewart, hope, you know, >> so that that's one of the challenges that we're facing is we we Palm City currently has no transit. So, do we want to do some transit in Palm City in the form of micro or do we want to undercut
the existing >> ser fixed route service in in Stewart where we may see a successful microransit system because quite a few of our riders are coming from from Stewart and with the veterans transportation program where we're using
Uber uh we did a heat map and most of those rides are starting in the city of Stewart and ending in the city of Stewart. So there it does show a a strong need for micromobility in in the city of Stewart, but we also have Palm City with
zero transit. >> And another question, you mentioned like the Uber and stuff and the heat maps. Like do they send you all that data to where you can filter it by like times when they're being utilized? >> Yes. >> Oh wow. It's interesting. So you can filter out like people that are after
business hours. So it's more leisure, Uber, and stuff like that. >> Correct. It's pretty neat. >> Commissioner Mayfield. >> Um, yes. I think this service is important. I think transportation for all is a very important service for citizens and I think you did a good presentation and I would make a motion
to approve the transit development plan annual report. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> There's a motion and a second. Any objections? That motion passes unanimously. Thank you, Ash. Uh we'll now hear from uh FDOT about the State Road 710 update.
>> Yes, we have um Caesar Martinez from District 4 to make that update, please. >> Good morning. >> Good morning. Um thank you Beth. Um again, Cesar Martinez um with DOT environmental administrator. Um quick
update. Good thing is that we're still fully funded for the widening of the of the corridor. Um I reiterated that to Mayor Japalo before the meeting. Um since I presented to you um I think in October time frame. Um I had the
pleasure to go with Secretary Brown to Talahasi in December. So I we did the same presentation to Secretary Purdue and then he also did the same u to the Florida Transportation Commission in January. So that was the project highlight actually for our district. Um so the project is in track to be adopted
in the five-year work program. So that will be um signed by the governor um Dantis on July 1st. Um however, we do realize that safety is still a concern. Um early this year, we had a couple um fatalities in along the
corridor. U and we realize that um at the pace that that we're going on, right, it's not sustainable. Um couple fatalities per year. We're still funded for construction in 29 and 2030. So we have a couple more years to go. Um so having said that we have done several
improvements in strategic locations as crashes start appearing but now it seems to be like more spread out. So having said that uh we have a more dynamic team looking into it. So several offices in the districts are are doing different um
efforts. For example, um our safety office recently started a social media campaign about speed management and distracted driving. So that started um the weekend of the presidential um President's Day sorry holiday. Um that
was a paid campaign in social media on Facebook, Instagram and so on. Um during that weekend we were able to reach out over 22,000 people. So people that saw our advertisement and also generate some conversation in social media about
safety along the corridor. We also uh targeting um having some presence on different events um along the corridor like putting a safety booth and educate the residents and the commuters. Um locally our our treasure coast
operations office and they have went out to the corridor and assess the existing conditions of our traffic control devices. So, um, last week they started pressure washing all signs along the corridor. They also will be replacing all signs that they see that are faded
out and cannot be cleaned. Um, they also will be refreshing all payment markings. They're started also installing a reflective tape in the post on all signs as well. Um, they will be reinstalling
the race permit markings on the road. Um, so you see it also reflective at night. Um, so we have those in the center and in the edge line of the road. So those are about 20,000 plus of those devices that will be replaced. Um, between all that, there's hundreds of thousands of dollars in maintenance
funds that are being spended right now along the corridor again to make it more um reflective and um people are more aware of of the road as they drive. our traffic operations office. They're doing a speedit management um study
starting from the south portion approaching the town. So even the portion in Palm Beach County and including the portion um to the north as well. Uh some ideas that they're considering is installing speed feedback signs. So those are the electronic signs that you see on the side of the road
that will tell you the speed you're traveling at. Again to bring awareness to the people that you're driving above the speed limit, slow down. um installing rumble strips in the media in the center of the railway um installing spit limits on payment
and also they're considering um lowering the spit limit during nighttime. So that will be a separate spit limit sign for nighttime conditions. Um then lastly, our design office in in coordination with my office, the
planning office, um they're looking into the existing passing lanes. Um, so we task the current design team, the team that is working in the widening project. Um, we t them to take a harder look at the existing passing lanes and see if
they can be retrofitted somehow or if we can add more passing lanes in between them. Um, so more of a interim solution until we can again start the construction four or five years from now. >> Questions? Commissioner Caps?
You know, there's been a lot of angst about the timetable on this project and um what would have been a normal timetable and how has it been accelerated like um
when do we think this project will be finished and what would have been the normal timeline for doing a project like this? >> Yeah. Um as of now I can say the normal time frame um this project right now is has a
normal time frame um from the design to construction. We had a delay from the planning phase to design right because it came on and off from the priorities list. The funding also went came on and off that was really the time frame that
I would say was lost. uh but from the point that we're reinitiated design phase and last this cycle obtained the construction funds um is following a regular time frame. What is driving that schedule is mainly the acquisition of
the rightway that is needed along the corridor and the utility relocation. So we have to relocate the canal the drainage canal and also FPL distribution lines for 10 miles before we can start building the lanes. So that's really the
main driver. Um as of now those phases are on schedule. Um and we are funded for construction in 29 and 30. 29 for the realignment um with 714 and then the corridor will follow the next year afterwards. Then construction timeline
um I don't have a a number right now but I will think it will take maybe three to four years for the whole project to be complete >> after construction starts. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any further questions for Mr. Martinez?
Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any other comments from FDOT? Any comments from advisory committee members? Miss Priest. >> Good morning. Julie Priest, vice chair
of BPAC bicycle and pedestrian committee for the no. Uh I thank you for postponing the discussion on ebikes and e- scooters. Just want to bring to your attention that for the past two years members of our committee have expressed concerns, safety concerns as more and more of these ebikes and e- scooters are
being sold to especially youngsters. And uh our biggest concern is the speed at which they travel, especially if they're on the sidewalk where you don't anticipate someone darting by you at 20 m an hour. That is our probably our biggest concern. Yet, we do not want to
limit the younger children from riding on the sidewalks, especially with the class one bicycles. We felt that that is important for them so that they can get back and forth to school. And also the schools are considering not allowing
these classifications anymore. We don't know where the school board is going to be taking that, but they are considering it from the reports that we received. Also would like to put this out there that as far as I know, and Beth, you can correct me if I'm wrong. We are still looking for volunteers with disabilities
to fill our ADA spots on our committees. Am I correct? So, I know that this is being televised. So, I put a a reach out to anyone with a disability who has time to volunteer for both the CAC and the BPAC uh to please contact Beth or
someone in the MO because we need your services. There are needs that those of us who without disabilities cannot address. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> You would anyone from the public like to address us? Seeing none, we've have
notes that you can review. Any further comments, Miss Beltrine? >> I note, just quickly with the notes, we do have hard copies of the um bike pad facilities map. Um you all are welcome to take some with you if you'd like. The development review map has been updated. It's on our website. Please call the
office. If you have any questions about that, the trip application this year is once again the Cove Road widening. We're going to have a TCTC Treasure Coast Transportation Council meeting within the next couple of months. And um that's been the NPO's um um number one regional
project for a number of years. And then um also we did do a um UPWP modification where we um transferred $150 from staff salaries into the LRP LRTP um consultant line item because we hadn't spent the $150 the year before. Um so I just
always like to tell you anything change any changes with the budget. So, those are just the notes I wanted to um >> Thank you. >> for you all. >> Commissioner Reid. >> Yes. Regarding the notes, I remember Chair Herd had a question about the
wetland mitigation regarding Cove Road widening and that was towards FOT. >> Um yes. um she did and then when the um district secretary was here as well as Venita um for the that she was the project manager they had addressed that
question from what I understand um um Commissioner Herd or chair chairman Herd you're welcome to we can talk after the meeting if you have further questions on that I'll be glad to find out information from FDOT on that >> thanks are you able to send me their response to that as well
>> um yes I think it's in the um previous um minutes we They were addressed at a board meeting, but we can get that to everyone if you all would like that. >> Yeah. >> Any further board comments? >> Our next MO policy board meeting is
April 20th, 2026 and we are adjourned. Thank you. Part: 2
Everybody good? Then we will go ahead and call the February 23rd, 2026 Martin County CRA meeting to order. First up is the pledge of allegiance. Please stand 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. >> First up on the agenda is the approval of minutes from the January 26th meeting. Make a motion to approve.
>> I have a motion to approve. >> Second. >> And a second. Any discussion? Anybody have any questions or changes? >> I think I do. >> You think you do? Okay. >> Um, you know, when the Chamber of Commerce guy spoke to us, it just says
Martin. What in it? I mean, it should be Martin Chamber of Commerce. Martin It was >> the connect the career connect Martin. >> Yeah, >> that's the name of the program. >> Yeah.
>> Yeah, I think the name is right. >> No, the name is right. But it's from where? >> Chamber. >> So, you wanted to say through the Martin Chamber of Martin County Chamber of Commerce, Martin Stewart, whatever it's Yeah. >> Okay. Sure.
Any other excuse me changes or questions. Seeing none, all in favor of approval say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? None. Moving right along.
Does anyone have any conflicts of interest they'd like to discuss at this point? >> Keep them all to yourselves. Very good. Moving on to the comment period. Um, first up is public comment. Please stand and state your name for the record. You'll have three minutes to speak. I do
have two comment or request to speak forms. We'll start there. Uh first up is Mary. Is it Mary Gavin? Would you like to speak now or go ahead? >> Whatever you want. >> Hi commissioners and staff. Um I'm here
on a seizing the moment on a totally unrelated subject while I came for the meeting. Anyway, um commissioners aren't here, are they? No, >> I I thought they might be >> Okay, I'll say it anyway. Um I'm a board member of the Girl Scouts of South
Eastern Florida and somebody hopefully can assist here down the road. Um we have a shitty situation. The situation is the bathrooms are in total disrepair. So, sorry for the joke, but um we're in the process of because it's a 112y old
501 uh charity, we are in the process right now of gathering the contractors and what we need because it's a semi-emergency. We have one stall out of six right now that they can really use because the walls are literally falling apart around it. So, once the permit
process begins, we really can't afford to hire an expediter. Whatever anybody can do to help us to try to get these through would be sincerely appreciated. >> Mary, of course, where is that located? >> It it's in in Morton County. It's district 3. It's Blake's district. It's
uh Camp Wanekka, which is at the It's adjacent to Jonathan Dickinson Park. It's 600 acres. It's a beautiful, beautiful rundown because of funding situation. So, whatever anybody can do, I figure I came to be borrow and steal today. >> Okay. Okay. Thanks. So, um, who should I
notify once they've applied for permits? What do you suggest? >> Take care of it. >> Walden, I'll take care of it. I >> You got it. >> Wins with growth management. >> You got it. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you.
I have Douglas Ashley. >> Good afternoon. I'd like to wait until the presentation. I put it on my note if I could please after this Rio street. >> My fault. >> Thank you very much. >> Your handwriting is so neat. It just all went together.
>> Nobody can read. >> Uh any other people wishing to speak at this point? Seeing none, we will move into the presentations. First up is the Rio streetscape and civic center properties final concept stool design.
>> What do you need on the PDF? Then you have to do the view full screen. >> Oh, while they're doing that. Hello. Good afternoon. How's everybody doing today? >> We're alive and well, I think today. Great.
>> Awesome. Oh, in that packet there. Sure. Thank you. All right. Hello. Thank you for having me today. My name is Christina Ferman. I'm with Marlin Engineering and I'm the project manager uh for the Civic Center Master Plan and
the Dixie Highway Streetscape plan. Uh we worked on this with doc colum partners. Unfortunately, one of my associates is stuck in traffic. Okay. So, just a timeline of or excuse me, an agenda of our presentation today.
I'll just go do a quick overview of the project, the progress, the scope, um talk about what we did for public and stakeholder engagement, dive into the Rio Civic Center master plan before proceeding over to the Dixie Highway streetscape plan.
So, this is our timeline. We kicked this off in late May. We had our first public meeting in early July. We went to our first NAC board meeting in September. We came to you all back in October. And then we went to the public again in December, back to the NAC
um for final comments last month in January. And we're here today to get your final input and feedback. So uh the projects have been running concurrently. Uh project management will be ongoing through the close of the contract. Um we've completed existing
conditions and with today's meeting, we we complete public involvement. uh task four which included conceptual programming and plan plan development has been completed. We're in the process of finalizing our cost estimates and the documentation
uh for both projects. So public and stakeholder engagement um one of the first things we did is a survey just to understand kind of the baseline of the civic center the usage how folks would like to use it in the future and the same thing with the
streetscape project. We wanted to understand how people were using Dixie Highway today and how they'd like to use it in the future. So just some highlights, about a quarter of the respondents use the Civic Center. So it's a little low, but there is interest in using it in in the future. Today,
most people drive to the civic center, but they do also walk, bike, and carpool to get to the civic center. When we asked folks the type of events that they would like to see, the top responses were community events similar to what's being done today and a community garden
followed by art exhibits and community meeting spaces. When it came to the Dixie Highway, most people, almost 100% drive, but there are significant amount of folks that walk, bike, and use other modes of of
transportation such as um golf carts, uh scooters, ebikes, and then somebody had wrote a mobility device like a walker. Um, when we ask folks how they would like to use Dixie Highway in the future, um, this some deviation from their first
responses, but a lot of people want to a lot more people want to be able to walk Dixie Highway, bike, use a golf cart, and to a lesser extent scooter, transit. When we asked folks what the top missing element was, overwhelming response included shade trees. And then when we
asked folks the types of features that needed improvement, uh they selected street trees, landscaping, furniture, and street lighting. This kind of gave us a baseline understanding of of both projects, how people are using it today and how what their vision uh may be for the future.
So just a recap of all the different meetings. We had our our first kickoff meeting back in Jan July. This is where we went to the civic center. We held a public meeting. We had some boards uh presentation and we had comment cards and maps and all sorts of graphics there
so that we can get input from the community. We went to the NAC meeting. They g with some conceptual alternatives. They gave us some guidance to move forward with the Florida vernacular architecture um and then their priorities for Dixie Highway which included a minimum 10-ft
sidewalk, street trees and on street parking in that order. Um, in October, we came to you all to review the alternatives. We talked about the civic center mostly and uh the bathrooms not being ideally on the second floor. And
then in December, we went to Winterfest. We had a booth. We had boards. We had a map. And we received a lot of comments. I think we spoke to over 70 to 75 people. Um, and we we got a lot of support,
which I'll talk about shortly here. And then in January, we went with an um to the meeting with 90% plans. The room was packed. There was people standing and we received overwhelming consensus on both projects. And then now we're here today presenting
you the final alternatives and concepts. And just a note, we did meet with the Civic Center Club um the Rio Civic Club, I'm sorry, uh parks and recck department as well as public works and received feedback from all of those groups. So, just some
photos of our initial public meeting. We went there with some boards showing the different types of architectural fe um the architecture that can be found in Rio. We asked folks what their preferred architectural styles were. And this is where Florida vernacular kind of came into play. And then we had maps of Dixie
Highway and we asked folks what the issues are, what the challenges are, where the opportunities are. And we also distributed our survey there. Fast forward to December, you see some photos on the screen. Um, we presented some alternatives for the
civic center. We had folks choose their preferred style, their preferred lands, uh, site plan layout, as well as the types of uses that they would like to see on the parcel to the east of the civic center building today that's currently owned by Martin County. And
so, site plan B was preferred, which we'll you'll see shortly here. design A and B was tied and um parks and rack ultimately broke the tie. And then when we asked folks the types of uses that would create some type of synergy and they'd like to see in conjunction with
the civic center site was coffee shop, brewery, and open space. Those were the top choices by the folks that participated. So, um, for the the streetscape project, um, we spoke to a lot of folks and out
of everybody we spoke to, there was overwhelming support to reduce the speed limit to 25 miles an hour on Dixie Highway, as well as implement some type of traffic calming um, counter measures. Folks let us know that they're speeding. Um, some older residents are afraid to
cross the street because there's so many cars and people not paying attention. Um, and so you can see from the photos there, there was overwhelming support for raised intersection, a lot of support for speed humps, raised midblock crossings, median islands, rectangular rapid flashing beacons. I think out of
everybody we spoke to, I think one or two said they were not in favor of these items to just give you an idea there. So, the Rio Civic Center, um, it's located in Rio along Dixie Highway. It provides a vital service to the community. Today,
the CRA is looking to redevelop the the building and surrounding area. The site is comprised of the Civic Center property as well as the parcels to the east and west of it. Um, and we are doing this in conjunction with the streetscape plan. Our project goals and
objectives have been to create a functional inclusive civic hub, foster community identity and connectivity, prioritize sustainability and resilience, and incorporate the public's vision into our plan. So, this orange outline that you see has
been our study area for the civic center site plan. And that dotted line you see to the east of that. So to your right of that dotted line um is the parcel that we talked about where folks provided their input and the types of uses. And
then to the left of that dotted line is the existing civic center site which is um can only be used for civic center or civic uses only. So we're limited on that property uh particularly to civic use only.
And so with that said, I see Andrew just walked in. Thank you for joining us, Andrew. >> Pardon my tardiness, please. >> No, that's okay. So, if you can uh walk us through the the >> here, right? Okay. >> Sure. >> Yes. Thank you, Christina. So, this was
uh just our first uh an Oh, by the way, Andrew Georgiatis with Dover Colon Partners working for Marlin on the design of the Civic Center. And uh we were looking at the site to try to figure out also how it fits into the community, its context, what uh how it
interfaces with the edges of the site and and how one approaches it also from both the waterfront because we know there's going to be a new development uh just to the south of it and then also from the neighborhood from Charlotte Street and then of course from North Dixie Highway itself from the east and
the west. So it really has it has a lot of pressure because it's being seen from four four different angles and from u approached from four different directions. And so this was also looking at uh in this diagram the new roundabout which would be on site because as you know the existing roundabout will be
shifted over onto the civic center site. So there's a this project will affect the way we move about um the neighborhood also. And so in this site plan, what we did is we stripped away, there's a lot of trees here, so please don't worry, but we stripped away the trees. So just that
you could see what the design would be of the green areas versus the pavement areas. And so you see here that there is what we call a convertible parking area, which is meant to be paved in a in a not with asphalt, but with a better material
that would be then a a street that connects north south through the property and you could close it with ballards or some other means. So that on farmers market days it could serve as a as like a plaza or a piaza for for the neighborhood. And you could imagine that
you could set up food trucks there or or or uh you know the stalls for the the farmers market or crafts people uh uh uh to to sell their wares right there. And then the civic centers of course the building in the middle which um as
Christina had mentioned we we combined the design that was preferred by the community with the position of the building that they said they wanted it farther back from the street cuz originally we had drawn it a little bit too close and they said please we like that one that's farther back. And then the little building that you see next to
it is an outdoor pavilion which could serve as a band shell or also another shelter if you wanted to have a picnic uh uh al at the green. Then the potential future building which is the one that you see right up against the street along Dixie Highway is the
potential that you could develop that since that's not a deed restricted property. You could develop that one for a small mixeduse building for the community in the future. And then of course the parking is mostly hidden behind there so that when you're looking
at this what is meant to be a source of pride for the community, you wouldn't see just a big surface parking lot from from Dixie Highway, but rather these these buildings uh which tried to uh preserve the character of the old Florida character that you see in the
area. So now this is the side plan that shows the trees. So, as you see it, it it it sort of makes it harder harder to see what I was showing you before, but it uh we're going to show you some renderings based upon on these that then uh show
how the uh native landscape is brought back to life for this area uh with with the the pine uh flatwoods and and and other ecosystems there. So be before talking about um those renderings though this is just a diagram
so you could see how much square footage is there. So uh what we were thinking about is possibly that the the building would be about just under 8,000 square ft. And that is u more than double what the current square footage is. And that's because when we asked the
community about their programming needs, they talked about um a storage space and a gathering space, uh an office, a a kitchen for um the catering, better bathrooms, etc. So, when we added all that up, we came up with this diagram uh
that had um a very tall central gathering space that's two stories high. And then the rear part of the building, which is why you see where it says upper floor, would be where the offices and other program would be. And then the community also asked us for a wraparound porch. They said a porch like a
gathering space that was covered that would face the street and and the park and also the farmers market area. And so total total u it it approaches 8,000 uh square ft of built space. So now this is that same site plan, but
you see how it uh fits more uh into the the whole rest of the the the community. Um trying to synthesize, you know, u both the the uh street trees and and everything that you see with the with the design of Dixie Highway and the civic center and also a look at the
houses around it. So you see the building is larger than any of the houses around it, but it does have that importance as you know the the prime community gathering space right there. And this is the version with that optional commercial or mixeduse building
that you could have to anchor the park. So this is what you would see if you were on the sidewalk and you were coming up the pathway walking to the civic center. And um as as um Christina had alluded to before, uh we um had heard
from the community that they preferred the Florida vernacular since there's a series of architectural styles that you would choose from in the code and we had presented those mood boards to the community before from from the code and ultimately they had asked us to to be
more vernacular. So, we uh used all of the different mandated uh architectural elements that are listed in in your code for the Florida vernacular to produce to produce this um conceptual design. And so you see one of the features are is that the accessibility such as even the
ADA ramps slope gently to the sides where then you have also the staircase because one of the requirements here is that it be elevated uh uh more uh 2 ft 24 in and we know that this is a floodprone area also. So one of the the struggles was how to make it so that u
those who are uh using a wheelchair would not uh be relegated to something that was uh you know hidden ramps or anything but it has to be right there in the front. And then this is the view of that central green showing uh the the big old pine which um is sort of
outlined in in white glowing, but that's the one that we were trying to save considering that there's a lot of great oaks and pines on the property. And our attempt was to try to position the building so that you could keep some of that old Florida landscape intact and then add to it by planting other trees
uh more sand pines and salt meadow and other native trees around it to shape that outdoor room which would be the community gathering space and then the pavilion right at the back right there which could also double up as your band shell. This is the view if you were walking
toward the west along Old Dixie Highway. Uh u so you would see sort of that the the building peek out through that new forest that would be planted there and then this is the view looking uh as if you're walking toward the east from the opposite direction. And once again
this uh paved space that you see with the with the red pavers is what I had mentioned earlier which could be the uh flex space or where you could close it occasionally for farmers market and food trucks and other events. right there. This is the rear of the building. And
what as um you know, we wanted to pay special attention to make sure that it was uh as attractive from the rear as it was from the front since we have a lot of residents that live on Charlotte Street and would be approaching the building from the rear. We didn't want the the rear to be uh off-putting or or
look bad. So, that's where you see here that there's a a drainage area that's also proposed to be landscaped with native uh cypresses and other trees. And then there would be the the porch, that wraparound porch that I talk about, which starts there on the side that you would walk up to from there. And here's
a an aerial view of the rear. And you notice one thing, I never like to talk about dumpsters, you know, in a public presentation like this, but notice here that we were looking at the dumpsters. And you see how it's been screened also by that vegetation. So that every attempt has been made to make this a
source of pride no matter what angle you're approaching it from. And this is the the entrance to the parking lot as you see which is sort of concealed here. Uh this view right here shows the whatif if you were to release that part of the lot toward the east for mixeduse
development. Now this is uh just a guess at what it could be. Of course a developer and and you all would be able to shape that development to the size and to the style that you would like. But we were trying to say, well, what would a mixeduse building look like if it were to follow the vernacular old
Florida style with porches and and small shop fronts and and really contribute to the village-like atmosphere of of of this neighborhood. And so this was our our idea for that. And this is that view also of that um
double porched uh mixeduse building that you could have there facing the street. And >> I think that's the end of the rendering. >> Yes. >> All right. Thank you, Andrew. >> All right. So, let's jump into the Dixie Highway streetscape plan. So, just a
quick overview. It does include the segment from the Florida East Coast Railway to Riyopine Lane. And then we kind of skip over that newly constructed area. Um, and then go from Orange Avenue to Langford Lane. Um, it is kind of the
main corridor in Rio as a minor arterial and again the CRA is looking to redesign to enhance the corridor and make it safer and and more connected to the community and about 10 years ago that segment between Rio Pine Lane and Orange
Avenue was completed as a a county project. So, our plan does accommodate drainage, wide sidewalks, direct access to businesses, on street parking, landscaping, street lights, and beautifification of the S-curve. And we've also um taken into account the
relocation of the roundabout that Andrew highlighted. So goals and objectives for the streetscape plan include creating a functional and conceptual streetscape project. Um incorporating community input into the future vision, prioritizing sustainability and
resilience, and coordinating this project in parallel with the civic center site. So uh this is our study area. The the the orange um highlights the two segments that we looked at. And here's our concept plan. So this is
beginning at the railroad tracks, the top one. Um, and then so the the top picture is from east, excuse me, west to east. And then this is moving along Dixie Highway traveling east. So we were
able to fit in the 10-ft sidewalk um on that second image on the on the bottom there. On the south side, the the sidewalk remains at six feet, but we were able to put in a wider sidewalk on the north side. Um, we also did uh some
uh patterned pavement to kind of um showcase the walking path for pedestrians across driveways. And then you can see here there is a midblock crossing um connecting the convenience store to that industrial park to the north there. I do want to highlight that
segment that's highlighted in yellow would be an area where the county would have to work with the property owner in getting some type of easement because unfortunately there is no easement right there currently. Um this is continuing to travel towards Ryopine Lane. Again we were able to fit
the the wider sidewalk on the north side, not so much on the south side, but we we did maintain the existing on street parking. We tightened up the curb radius at the intersections. Um and then uh proposed another midblock crossing
there to connect that office park to the north um to the south where there's restaurants and that convenience store. And then uh you can see the patterned pavement that acts as a traffic calming measure to help kind of slow down vehicles, bring their awareness to the surrounding area.
So then we skip over and come back at Orange Avenue. Um and you can see that yellow box again. And those are areas uh the the yellow box highlighted on the image below is the same area that's highlighted above. Um but that area
there is no easement or rightway. Um but in the future when whenever the the county decides to go to bid, there is going to have to be some work done there with either getting an easement from the property owner or slightly shifting the
road north to fit a maybe a narrower sidewalk. But we did widen up the island, put in some midblock crossings by Mrs. Peterson's smokehouse and um connected at the sidewalk on the north and south
side there. And that island by Seahorse Place there, we we widened up a little bit to help narrow the roadway down and create a connection for pedestrians. So, as we Oh, and the other thing I forgot to mention is the pattern
pavement as you're going into the scurve. Again, just uh as a traffic calming measure for the drivers. So, then here we come at the intersection where Beacon 21 and the Riverside community to the south meet and we're
putting in a raised intersection here. We spoke spoke to a lot of folks who let us know that they're afraid to cross the street and and and how vehicles are speeding today. So you can see we put in a median island. That'll help kind of especially with trees planted in the median island, narrow down that field of
view so that the driver has to be more focused, more aware of their surroundings. Widen the sidewalk where we could and then put in this raised intersection which as pedestrians cross it, it does raise um the pedestrian to the eye level of the vehicle so there's
more visibility for pedestrians there. And then it also acts as a traffic calming measure helping slow down vehicles. And then the median island will also act as beautifification measure. Um right now it's all just concrete and asphalt. Um so it introduces some greenery
hopefully to reduce that heat heat island effect along that segment. So then as we come out of the S-curve um continuing east, we were able to fit the 10-ft wide sidewalks. Um we put in a median island where we could so that
we're not impeding people turning left and right. And then we put in some on street parking here. Uh we're aware of a townhouse development going in on the south there. So that could be used for future guest parking or some of the existing businesses that are there today
has the potential of getting redeveloped. So they have some on street parking uh for their customers as well. And then as we continue again the wide sidewalks uh do fit along this segment here. More on street parking. And then
as you approach the the skate park here at Elizabeth Avenue, we put in another raised intersection. Again, just to enhance the safety, help slow down those vehicles. We know there's kids coming here to skate. There's parents walking in strollers and their dogs. So,
ensuring that safety um is a priority here. We went ahead and raised that intersection, too. And again highlighting um tightening up the curb radius where we could and and uh putting in those high emphasis cross walks.
And then as you approach the shopping plaza with the bowling alley uh unfortunately right away on the north side was a little bit limited. So you do have your standard 6ft sidewalk and there's a potential there to work with the property owner in the future if it does get redeveloped to maybe get some
type of easement to widen the sidewalk. But on the south side, we were able to fit in this the 10-ft sidewalk. And then this is just kind of a closer view of the approach to the roundabout. Again, putting in that pattern pavement to help slow down vehicles as they enter and
exit the Rio neighborhood. So, this is just kind of a street level or um aerial view of the street if the uh recommendations get implemented. And this is Banyantry Drive looking east if
I recall correctly. Um, and here we were able to put 8ft sidewalk on one side, the 6ft sidewalk on the other. But you can see with trees, with a midblock crossing, with on street parking, it does improve the aesthetics um and and
and visibility of pedestrians. So just to recap some of the elements that will be proposed here. Traffic calming uh short and long-term recommendations. Uh we will recommend to reduce the target speed along Dixie Highway to 25 miles an hour. Um accompanying the
posted speed limit signs with speed feedback signs. It is a counter measure. Textured pavement across driveways and crosswalks on street parking. Uh for the multimodal aspect of it, widening the sidewalk where we could to 8 to 10 feet, high visibility markings for the
pedestrians, raised crossings at midblock locations with rectang rapid, what is it called? Rectangular rapid flashing beacons. It's a mouthful. And then the raised intersection at 13th Avenue and Elizabeth Avenue. And then other um recommendations will include
Florida friendly landscaping and trees, making sure that the right tree is planted in the right place. center median uh along center median islands adjacent to sidewalks side paths and in swailes. Um root barrier whenever they're within five feet of a sidewalk
or side path opportunities for bio swells, rain gardens, butterfly gardens for storm water management, environmental benefits and aesthetics and of course street furniture and placemaking. And if you're unaware, placemaking is the concept of working with the community to help create a
sense of place. and uh Rio has a lot of opportunities um to do to do that. So um just to give you some ideas, we we did create a landscaping list for both projects and you know looking at that
the landscape um that we were recommending. This is what the before and after pictures could look like. So, uh, on your left here, um, this is along Dixie Highway and you can see the difference in just putting in some colored shrubs, low plants there
to a not impede the sight lines and b, you know, make that color pop and and bring make it more aesthetically pleasing. And then of course putting in those shade trees for for aesthetics, for environmental benefits, um, and also act as traffic calming. And then the picture in the middle is the existing
and the picture to the right is proposed. and see the difference there and and and reducing that heat island effect, beautifification and providing really a nice kind of vista for folks walking, biking or even driving. So next steps um incorporating any
comments that you have today. Uh we can do that as of right now. hour in the process of finalizing our reports. And for the CR team, it's to adopt any policy recommendations, implement traffic calming safety measures, and then of course solicitating firms to do
the architectural and design plans. And with that said, my name is Christina Ferman, and I will take any questions or comments that you have today. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anybody have any Go ahead, Cindy. >> I have a comment. Um, I I love the idea
of the streetscaping and and that kind of sort of thing, but um, with the tree placement, are they going to take care to make sure that these trees do not grow up into the power lines so that we have half chopped trees running around the neighborhood? >> So, this is Yes. This is that idea of
right tree, right place, right? So, if we're planting trees by the power lines, we're making sure that they're not those tall growing trees, maybe small to midsize trees. You know, those tall oak trees that you see that you saw in the renderings, for instance, they would be placed not so close to the power lines.
>> Either that or consider maybe undergrounding the power lines. I realize that adds additional cost, but >> that is a significant cost. Um I really >> the the county does have that option but again you know there there is a significant cost associated with undergrounding the power lines and
there's pros and cons to it as well. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. No I said but I I said it just makes me crazy. I drive along Savannah Road and the trees are like V's. >> I hear you. In my in my neighborhood that same thing. They're V's and it's like oh my god these 50-year-old oak trees. I feel so bad for them.
>> Okay that's only my comment. >> Quick comment here about the trees. Wasn't that a high priority of the community as far as them wanting shade trees so that perhaps burying the power lines will advance that priority?
>> Yes. Um, as part of it, as part of the report, we're providing kind of a cost per mile estimate of what it could be to bury the power lines, but ultimately it is up to the county and the community itself to do so. Maybe >> it is a significant cost, but yes,
>> maybe it can be um weighed as far as a high public use area, then the investment is worth it. Whereas in an area perhaps where the sidewalk's smaller or um you could not um have the space to plant the trees, less uh of a
priority in those locations. >> I'll I'll take a note of that. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> I have a question. What's the game plan on the lighting? >> So, the lighting we're recommending that
the So, there's current light fixtures on the completed section of of the uh Dixie Highway from Rio >> lighting. >> So, um we're recommending just to matching that. The community seem to like the lighting that's already out there and it'll kind of match the
existing section already completed. >> Thank you, >> Jamie. I was curious what the what the community thought about the entrance to the parking lot being more connected to the neighborhood street as opposed to uh
Dixie Highway. There wasn't really any comments um related to the parking access. It was more of concerns if there's enough parking which uh I believe Andrew you can correct me there is enough parking
for the civic center site. Of course, when you have events, uh there's always going to be a need there, but for just average daily use, uh I think we're exceeding the parking requirements. >> Okay. I just wanted to make sure that they didn't have any concerns with the main entrance being connected to the
neighborhood as opposed to Dixie Highway. >> Yeah. No, we we didn't receive any comments related to that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> No problem. >> Anyone else? >> Yes. >> I think it looks great, by the way. >> Thank you. I think the whole project's
good. The road, the building, the extra um parking area there, I think it's a great idea. Um and it seemed like the roadway, it's a little bit hard to follow on the images, but I kind of got through it. And um um it looked like maybe as far as planting goes along the
roadway, you you had some of the spaces that were the 8ft spots, but then other ones went down to smaller areas. I'm guessing as time goes by that'll be defined and refined. >> So on the section that's nearest the
FEC, that's where the ride ofway is the narrowest. I think it's like 35 ft roughly. So it's super narrow right now. um unless you were to really get rid of on street parking or somehow acquire additional right ofway, you know, there
really isn't a lot of opportunity because because of the limitations that we're working in. And then if I could just highlight too at the beginning here, we were able to put in the sidewalk on the south side
because that's county property up until you get to that yellow box. So, do you think all the green areas will have some type of landscape feature? >> That's the idea. >> Okay. >> Any other questions?
>> Any other comments? >> Nope. >> Then we'll go to the public. Mr. Ashley, I still have your form right here. >> Good afternoon. And I think some of these uh excuse me, I think a few of you might not might not recognize me. I've
been involved for over 20 years in Martin County and specifically I live in Rio at the river club and at one point for 10 years I was on the NAC for Rio once once as a chairman. So I'm very involved with this community and I've seen the changes going through it the
last 20 years. Uh, one of the things that Christina brought up and and everything that was included in both reports I'm very impressed with, but I want to emphasize something I got involved with many years ago with the uh the uh street project when it was done
10 years ago and that process was uh construction. I always call it move the dirt kind of concept. In fact, I got very familiar with engineering. In fact, engineering I I believe we became good friends. So, one of the things I want to emphasize and and I was pleased to hear
it from Christina uh Fernon and her report was the the community overall was to reduce the speed limit to 25. Now, I want to put another component in and I don't want to criticize, but I I understand uh the the Rio Marine Village
and the preserve are coming on board, too. And so, there's going to be more than just the civic center itself. you're going to get more involved with it. And I'm not trying to criticize, you know, traffic or anything. We we we all have to live with it. It is what it is.
What I want to talk about is the 25 mile hour speed limit. I understand and this might be beneficial to your CRAAS too or your NAC's too is that I understand and believe the the Martin County comprehensive plan and land development
codes provide flexibility for lowering the speed limit to 25 uh miles per hour on Dixie 707. So what I'm thinking is the projection this is going to happen and she didn't mention it and again I I think it was a very positive report but
it the timeline doesn't happen overnight. We all know that. So what I'm thinking is what we have concerns now about speeding and you know and try trying to uh build traffic calming a lot of different ways is I'd like to propose
at this meeting that they start the process of seriously considering 25 miles an hour through Rio from the railroad tracks where it's coming up the hill on the west side through the S-curves. Thank you very much. I guess my time's up. >> 30 seconds.
>> You have 30 seconds. Well, again, I know it goes through a process, but like I said, if you can encourage it or or can understand what I'm trying to do. I'm going to go to the next meetings, the commissioner's meetings. But I hope hopefully that'll be an input that you
might want to seriously consider, not only for Rio, but if it's applicable to your CRAAS. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. I have another form from Pam Bernell. Would you like to speak now?
yourself. >> Good afternoon. How are you? >> Hi. >> I live in Rio. Um my big concern is our wildlife. >> Um >> thank you. >> If you know where Weed Line is, I don't know how many go through weed um Rio on
a daily basis. Has anybody ever looked at that property across from Weedline? How many gopher tortoise dens we have there? Is that a concern to anybody that we're going to wipe out the Rio uh the gopher tortoises out of Bryo?
Doesn't does that concern anybody? Does the wildlife or the environment concern anybody here except 10 foot sidewalks building right up to the sidewalks like in Palm City or that new boat storage?
Is is there any way we can pull up the picture where she's talking about >> how many extends we have in Rio? >> Is that a is that even being considered? >> I think during permitting it is considered.
>> It has to be. >> Yeah. I mean they don't just ignore things like that. I mean they shut down projects because of that. >> Right. Is there any way of preserving some air some land for the gopher tortoises? >> I I know that they they sometimes they
move them. >> Mhm. >> Um >> I'm asking for a little preserve there. That's a great gopher tour. I know it's already a footprint. There's trailers used to be there. Now, nature has taken that back over
and now we're going to put 10-ft sidewalks instead of 8ft sidewalks and we're going to build right up to the sidewalks. So, a little piece of heaven in 707. I think we're going to have to come up with a new motto
because I think Rio in my this is my opinion. Um, it's too much. Way too much for that little area. We don't need so much growth. Why? Why so much? Why so big?
Why can't we keep it small and everybody still makes their money? That's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else have any comment at this time? Seeing none, um, thank you very much for
your presentation. And I can say from the the meetings we had in Rio, everybody's really excited about the the project and had a lot of good ideas and suggestions. I know that you guys took good care of. So, um, thank you. We appreciate it and we'll move on. Cool.
Thank you again. >> Next up on the agenda is Florida's mobile park request to amend article 12 and a whole bunch of other stuff. So, first uh Mike, just so that you know uh and the board, we're going to hear
from growth management on this topic. Uh Johnson, it's going to address you. >> Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, members of the CRA. I'm John Senate, principal planner with growth management. This is a request to amend article 12 community redevelopment code
by Florida's mobile park. The applicant intends to modify the recreational vehicle park standards specific to the Hobound community redevelopment area. Article 12 establishes redevelopment zoning districts, permitted uses, and development standards for Martin
Countyy's 6 CRAAS. Table 12-1.02 02 and section 12.1.01. Division 1, article 12 identifies which standards of article 3 are modified, replaced, or do not apply in the redevelopment zoning districts. Section
3.91, recreational vehicle park division 3, article 3 applies as written in the redevelopment zoning districts. This proposed LDR amendment to article 12 is to modify the RV park standards specific to the Hobound CRA. The
remaining CRAAS would continue to be subject to section 3.91. This table shows the current RV park standard in the lefth hand column and in the right hand column you'll see the proposed RV park standard uh that would
be specific to the Hobound CRA. So today the current standard stipulates that each recreational vehicle site shall be a minimum of 2,000 square ft. The applicant is proposing a minimum of 1500 square ft RV site. The current
standard stipulates that at least one wastewater pumpout station shall be provided in the facility. The applicant's proposed language is that at least one wastewater pumpout station shall be provided within the facility unless the recreational vehicle park has a portable water and sewer hookup at
each site and the park only rents to recreational vehicles that are self-contained units. The current standard for density is that density shall not exceed 10 recreational vehicle sites per acre. The applicant is proposing a maximum density of up to 15
RV sites per acre. Current standard is that recreational vehicles shall be limited to a short-term rental basis for tenencies of less than six consecutive months or a total of 6 months in any calendar year. The applicant is proposing an exception
to this criteria such that except to the pursuant um I'm sorry that uh pursuant to the terms of an employment agreement, managers or caretakers would be exempt from the short-term tenency requirement. Current standard regarding accessory
dwelling unit is that an accessory dwelling unit for a manager or caretaker may receive a separate address from the park office. The accessory dwelling unit shall not be a recreational vehicle or mobile home. Similarly, the applicant is proposing that an accessory dwelling unit for a park manager or caretaker may receive a
separate address from the park office if the accessory dwelling unit is a permanent structure. This proposed LDR amendment removes the current prohibition on park trailers. The amendment also contains other provisions which are consistent with the
existing section 3.91 criteria. Moving on to staff analysis. This amendment would allow a manager or caretaker to potentially occupy an RV site indefinitely. This conflicts with the LDR definition of RV park as the commercial use of land to provide
individual spaces for two or more recreational vehicles on a daily fee or shortterm rental basis for tenencies of less than six consecutive months. As it is written, there's no proposed limit on the number of managers or caretakers which may occupy RV sites.
RV parks are subject to state regulations, including Florida Administrative Code, Chapter 64E-15 and Chapter 513 Florida Statutes. Section 64E-15.002 002 Florida Administrative Code stipulates that each RV space shall
contain a minimum of 1,200 square ft and that density shall not exceed 25 RV units per acre of growth site. Based on provisions in Florida statutes and Florida administrative code, the Martin County LDR standards regarding RV parks could be preempted if the proposed
LDR text amendment is approved. Such preeemption could result in RV parks being developed in accordance with state standards rather than the more restrictive Martin County LDR standards. And I would like to read directly from chapter 513 Florida statutes. This is
section 513.115 paragraph 4. This section does not limit the regulation of uniform fire safety standards established under section 633.206. However, this section supersedes any county, municipality, or special
district ordinance or regulation regarding the lot size, lot density, or separation or setback distance of a recreational vehicle park, which goes into effect after the initial permitting in construction of the park. The application was prevented was
presented to the January 14th Hobound Neighborhood Advisory Committee. The Hopesound NAC recommended denial of the application. Staff recommend denial of the proposed ordinance amending article 12 community redevelopment code Martin County LDR.
That concludes my presentation. The applicant does have a presentation of their own prepared. >> Thank you. >> Questions for Mr. Senate >> Jamie. I'm just curious what what triggered
this analysis like was there a concern specifically in Hope Sound? >> So this amendment was proposed by the applicant. They provided the proposed amendment language in response to that. Staff performed analysis of that and
part of that was looking at existing language within uh state regulations. And as far as consistency with other sections within our land development regulations >> and we will hear from the applicant. >> Yes. >> I'll wait. >> Yeah.
>> Thank you. >> Can you can you tell me where is located? We talking about this. >> So this application is not necessarily property specific. It would be the proposed changes would be applicable to
the Hobound CRA as a whole. Um, I'll let the applicant uh discuss their intentions behind this application. >> So, basically what it's saying is that any property in Hob Sound could convert to an RV
park with those uh same limits. >> This is not a proposal to change the permitted uses, >> right? But if you could develop an RV park on your property in Hobound and this ordinance was passed, you would be subject to these specific provisions
which are different than the existing provisions. >> Mhm. >> And there are parcels that will fit that criteria. Any other questions? Then we'll see the presentation from the applicant, please.
I know you. >> Who's the attorney? >> Sorry about that. >> So, good afternoon. Thank you. I'm Christa Story and I'm an attorney with Polymath Law which is located in Hollywood, Florida. I am here
with my clients Suzanne and Michael Graham. I do want to acknowledge some familiar faces sitting on the dis um based on I spent 25 years as a senior assistant county attorney here in Martin
County. So, I uh do have some knowledge and background regarding Martin County and the codes. So, having said that, um I've been pleased to be representing the Grahams with various applications
um since 2023. They've been in this process to try to enhance and revitalize their recreational vehicle park since 2023. And that's part of what I want to share with you a little bit. Um the first
thing I wanted so they are also here to they can answer some operational type questions. It is a policy decision for you to make in terms of whether you could support a change to the text. But some of this I think it's important to have an understanding of RV RV parks and
those types of things. So we'd just like the opportunity to do that as we move forward. The first place I'd like to start with is kind of the context of CRAAS. Community de redevelopment areas in
Florida are special districts created by local governments to revitalize, rehabilitate redeveloped areas that at one point in time were deemed to be blighted. They had slum conditions or they had
declining property values. CRAAS use tax increment financing to fund public improvements. you've been talking about these things create jobs and to stimulate private investment and on behalf of my clients that's one of
the things to stimulate private investment the CRA website also talks about goals and purposes it phrases like residents and businesses are joining with the community redevelopment a agency to
improve communities redevelopment in Martin County is truly Remarkable. The Martin County Community Redevelopment Agency is revitalizing and restoring neighborhoods and town centers in Martin County Community Redevelopment
areas. These are quotes. We are dedicated to maintaining the unique character of communities by encouraging sustainable economic investment. And the Grahams are here today in the
spirit of helping to improve the Hope Sound community, being part of the remarkable de redevelopment. Those are those are the words used on the website, and asking for the CRA's assistance in helping them
sustain their economic investment. So, let's drop back to some of the facts. Although this is a text amendment, again, some of the background I think is important for you to understand and why they've been pursuing this in spite of
um staff recommendations of denial or u things obviously we're not completely in agreement with the RV the Florida's RV park is located at 10705 Southeast Federal Highway in Hope Sand.
Mike and Susie have owned the develop parcel since 2010. 2010. This is now 2026. They've been business owners operating an RV park since then. And there was a there's a vacant parcel that they also own. They
bought that in 2020. At the time the Grahams purchased the property, the future land use designation was medium density residential. This goes back a ways. and the zoning classification was mobile home park district and the liberal
multifamily. This when when things were done very differently in 2020 with the adoption of the Hob sound redevelopment code the future land use designation was changed to CRA center which is you which
we have and the zoning was changed to the hopeound redevelopment district. At the same time, the Hobound regulating plan established subdists for each piece of the property that they own.
And this this this next thing came as a bit of a surprise because the Graham's developed parcel where the units have been for quite a while was assigned the general subdist in which RV parks were not a permitted
use. not a permitted use. The undeveloped parcel was assigned the corridor subd district where RV parks were a permitted use. So they had a disconnect in trying to move forward with their their um
their purchase. The Grahams became aware of this issue when they began to explore options to improve their park. Their goal has always been the continued operation of the Florida's RV park with possible
upgrades or enhancements to contribute to the betterment of that community. The grants had a pre-application meeting in August 2023 with staff. We are now in at in almost a
March in 2026 that we've been working on it. The suggested path forward was to apply for a subd district change to corridor for the develop parcel and as well as revised text language to
allow them to bring the Martin County RV regulations into more keeping with what has been which which you have at the state level and you saw some of those on the screen. After submitting the application, which included the subdist change and
the revised text, staff advised the Grams that they needed to separate the applications, take care of the subdist, and that the text amendment would have to come later. Although initially they were moving forward together,
ultimately the subdist was granted by the B Martin County Board of County Commissioners in January 2025. So they it is appropriate permissible for them to have an RV park on that property.
So, since January 2025, the Grahams have been engaged in an effort to revise the current code requirements governing recreational parks in Martin County in order to allow them to economically revitalize the Florida's RV park. That's
what has driven them to this point. One of the things, this is an RV park. It's not a resort. Now, those terms are not clearly defined, but um we'll show one of the things we'd like to be able to show you
is what their park looks like. And it's a it's a very nice park, but I don't think anyone would call it a resort. And I think that's something that you should keep in mind just in, you know, some of this, again, I'm not talking about
specific de definitions, but it plays into some of the issues here. So, the proposal before you this afternoon is to make revisions to the portion of the community relevant uh redevelopment
code that applies only to RV parks within the Hope Sound Zoning District. Mr. Senate did a very good job of setting out some of the differences and so I don't necessarily need to go through that. some of that. You know, you're I'm a lawyer, so you talk about
the law and code and all that, but John, um, thank you. He already did that. I don't I don't need to talk to you about that. Um, we've just kind of made a highlight for us. Figure out how to use this.
So, this just is this slide just shows you what you've probably already seen in term of what currently exists and we can go back to that. Oops. And I'm going the wrong way. Okay. This is a summary. This is a summary of what was presented to you. we
can talk specific I want to talk specifically about some of those parameters in a minute and um let's see I want to leave that up for a second so one one of the things that that after a significant amount of
discussion with the county staff and actually the Grahams have had numerous meetings with county commissioners to talk about this and what they could possibly do moving forward the Grahams ultimately we came up with this compromise that
would not be to the extent that's allowed by the Florida administrative code which talks about minimum RV RV site spaces at 1,200 and heaven forbid 25 units per gross
acre which I know in we all know in Martin County density causes red flags and not a stranger to that whatsoever. I understand that. So, what the Grahams did was they proposed something in between
to what they thought would be necessary for them to move forward with their park and make some improvements that they thought was important the application. So, we went we've done this as a compromise. It hasn't. It's still we're still subject to a staff
recommendation of denial. The application has been presented a couple times to the hope neighborhood advisory committee. And at the last um the neighborhood advisory committee initially the code
changes were initially wellreceived until the discussion came up about the issue of preeemption and I think um Mr. Fox, one of the assistant county attorneys, was at the meeting
and he discussed the preeemption issue, planted the seed that um RV parks could be subject to these less stringent standards, could might maybe could
not definitive that then you know this concept that these could then go viral. um being a little flip. I apologize. In Martin County and with these much more u these looser standards,
the hopes at NAC inquired as as to whether something could be could be drafted that could limit the change to just floors because they felt Grahams have been a part, you know, in the community although it's a text change that possible.
Um, however, the county attorney's office wasn't didn't appear willing to in even talk about that issue because of the concern over preeemption. So, on behalf of my client, and I'm and
you know, I'm a a lawyer, too. I used to represent the county attorney's office. I appreciate their role. I appreciate that you have you want to be very conservative with your client, but I get the possibility of preeemption, but it's
a possibility. It's not a guarantee. It's not a definite if someone This is what happened. So Martin County changes it standard in Hob Sound only. In Hope Sound only. Someone then asserts Martin
County, you've changed your rules and regulations. we would like to um either uh we'd like to go further, we'd like to have the state administrative code sections apply to us. So they make that they bring that forward. They talk about
it. It goes through a process. Maybe could should is a hypothetical. The impact to the Grahams of the this continued discussion of preeemption is very concrete because no
matter what they proposed to compromise to limit it, we are still subject to a concern over preeemption
which I think is um out of proportion. One of the other stumbling blocks that the the application has faced is the perception the t the topic of density. I'm not going to um I I understand in
density it's very much about density and increasing density in Martin County. But one of the things that's a little puzzling and different density is you kind of this the standard definition for planning
about density is dwelling units per acre. This is a recreational vehicle park that's a commercial use. People do not live here permanently. It's very transitional
in and out units in and out. Yes. One of the issues with one of the requests to increase the um to reduce the maximum size so there can be smaller smaller um spaces.
Is that to provide an option for some other types of units in there? But they've still got to be in and out. So, at any given time, I'm I I understand I'm not I'm not arguing that the word density doesn't appear, but I'd ask you
to take a look at that and and the fear this fear of that should be the premier issue that should be considered in the evaluation of this. These are not making the same comparisons as you would for
example in a residential development. increasing the density from 10 units to acre to 15 or 20. Sure, these units move in and out. There's some times of the year the the occupancy rate is very low and that would be that would be standard
and other times it's high. But those are the those are kind of the elephants in the room, the preeemption and the density. So, um, finally, one of the things that I would like to do is take a moment to
address some of the commentary that was provided by staff at the Hope Sound NAC meeting, and you might hear more of that today. There appeared to be a misconception about the nature of establishments such
as Florida's RV park as contrasted with an R RV resort. We've talked about that. I understand it's a little squiggly and I don't know if that's something that could that could potentially address or resolve some of the issues here. The discussion gener
was generated by a statement that RV parks such as these can and do provide short-term affordable housing. The Grahams can give you examples of sometimes when they have contractors,
people that are in um in town for short-term jobs or something such as that who for 6 months, rent spaces in their park because it's more affordable than hotels or rental
housing or something. And even if you can find such a thing anymore, I don't know, but There was a question and the response back from staff was that
these in these types of parks what you've really got I think is something like you know kind of the concept that we've got mega or million dollar units that are only um can be afforded by the
very very wealthy. That's not the case in some place like this that doesn't have those the range of amenities. Now, the Grahams have gone out and taken some pictures because I think it's important and we've got some if we can put them on the doc cam at
some point for you to see. These are not these huge huge milliondoll RVs. And so yes, um took some exception to the fact that the Grahams who run the park have been in business know what the
nature of their clientele was and they uh they were not um they were speaking what they knew to be the facts. The other thing that um let me take a minute and I have to put
on my reading glasses because I've lost track of what I'm doing. Oh, the other thing that was an issue. So one of the incentives for the Grams and I am finishing up is that right now the density and the size of
the sites makes it economically infeasible for them to make improvements some improvements makes it economically infeasible for them to address the issue of their um the sewage disposal on their
site. And so there was some question about that. There was a question about that from people who are not in the recreational vehicle park business
who don't understand it and yet were taking issue with statements by my clients about what was one of the factors driving them to this proposal. So, I think it's important
to know that the Grahams have owned this property since 2020 2010 and they came into it and they found something different than they expected. Okay, buyer beware. I understand all that. But this has been a very difficult process
and each time they think they've moved forward that hasn't happened and there still we've got these kind of elephants in the room. So the other thing in wrapping up, so this is a text amendment. I understand it's a little unusual to talk about the underline and
the the applicant who is coming before you, but the context of this is important. And I understand there's this idea that if you if you have less restrictive standards, it's going to
open the door and you're going to have multiple RV parks coming into Martin County. That's another thing that the Grahams who've been in this business are part of a professional association take exception to. someone assert asserting
that that's going to happen is it is a lack of recognition about capital investment and the things that are required to keep these places going today some of you may know have heard over time Charlie's there was an appro
proposal next to Charlie's to put in an RV park that hasn't going back many years hadn't happened the grams believe and can can address that that part of that is the recognition of the difficulties and the costs and expenses
of these types of things. So the idea that Martin County RV parks are going to go viral if this small minor text changes made I think is an extrapolation and we'd urge you to use your policy making put that balance the types of
things and again be reminded of what CRAAS are supposed to be doing. You have an existing business that's been a good community partner. They would like to enhance their business and they need a little help with a some minor changes in
the code and the Graham. So if we can if you'd like to see some of the pictures and Mike and Susie are here and they'd be the better ones to explain them to you and then if you have any questions and I know this is long but the Grahamson have invested time and money.
They've hired me and paid me more money than they ever thought they needed to. And I'm kind of frustrated for them on behalf of my clients, too. So, um, anyway. Yep. You want to >> I don't like >> I don't know if you're have to hold them up.
>> Okay. And I would love I would love to pass them around. Um, also I've done a whole lot of homework. So, >> if anybody has any specific questions, if I don't know the answer, I will go home and find the answer and get back to
you because John has been wonderful helping through the process and and then once we got our denial, of course, um, things fell more on me. But I know the number of properties that are affected, the number of acres that are affected. But this particular picture and I'm
happy. Can I pass them around the dice? Is that allowed? So this the pictures that are going to be coming through show what is called our yard or our front section. This what our make sure you Thank you.
Our property used to be the old angle in mobile home park. So, when we purchased it in 2010, as Christa already said that it had uh mobile home park that was the trailer park zoning, RVs have been on site practically since day one. If you
look at the the Martin County map and you do the time change, you will see portions of our property have always had RV parks on it. The pictures you're showing seeing right now, our sites are very tiny, less than 1500 square ft.
Never have we had a complaint that this that the that portion of our park that the spaces were too small. So, I kind of want to clarify that. The pictures that are coming through now, you will see my husband took them on Friday. You can see the burned landscape. These are very
recent. These are our average RV park guests. We very rarely will get a million dollar rig. When we do, it's usually passing through. We are a working man's class or I guess I should
say retired working person's class RV park. We don't have any amenities. We we started this because I had heard somebody mention about burying utilities. I would like to see our power lines buried. I would like to have an RV park that we are really proud to own. We
are currently permitted for 88 sites by the health department. That's what our grandfathered number is. If with the new zoning, we are only allowed 10 units per acre. So, we would be going backwards to be able to improve our park. It just doesn't make sense to go backwards. The
two pictures that are coming around now are going to be our waste our package plant, our waste treatment plant. Part of the updated utility plan would be to get rid of our waste treatment plant, our package plant, and to hook up to
city sewer. I can also tell you that economic scale of this. We anticipate the cost to be between anywhere between $50 to $90,000 per site to be able to build this. If we hadn't purchased our
property when we did, we wouldn't even be having this discussion. And if I could also ask, Sun Communities, all the other large resorts that that by the way, they have been buying mobile home parks in your area. They do all have RV
parks, all RVs in them. Nobody before us has asked you to make this change. That's because developing an RV park is so expensive. The only way we can make improvements beyond what we have already done is to get more density. And even if
we stayed with the 2,000 uh square foot lot size, we would still have to become in front of you because we did to make this judgment to see how if we wanted to pursue this, we did a space space planning analysis.
Even at 2,000 square feet per SP site, we would still need to come in front of you because it would be about 97 units. What we're asking for, the most we're asking for on our existing property is about 115. And as I said, we're already permitted for 88. We just need the
economic reality of more sites to be able to do what we would like to do with our park. I'm sorry if I've spoke too long. If there's any questions, happy to answer them. By the way, um I forgive me, I can't think of the exact number, but
it's it's not a large number of parcels that qualify. >> So, it's less than a total property. Um, and I did this on a spreadsheet. I've spent a lot of time just trying to figure out why the county is saying no
to this. The possibility of impacting is less than 50 properties total in Hope Sound because not only does it have to be within the Hope Sound CRA, but it has to have the commercial quarter designation. It's a total of less of
about 61 acres that you're talking about. And I can tell you it's not going to be economically feasible for anybody that owns less than five acres to even want to do a park because it just won't support itself. Anyway,
you have any questions? I think we've spoken plenty. >> Anybody have any questions? >> Oh, go ahead. >> So, currently you're permitted for 88. With this change, that would add how many? >> Uh, it would add Well,
>> you got >> 88 uh less than 20 about 25. >> So, 88 plus 25. >> Yeah, it may be 27. I'm sorry. I'm not doing that. 15 total, right? >> Approximately. We have 7.9 acres on our original site. Our the parcel that we
purchased in 2020 that was allowed to have RV parks, excuse me, RV usage. Um, sorry, I'm getting tongue tied. Was 1.2 acres, but we only have plans if we did do the second parcel, it would be as
part A and part B probably a year or two later to be able to afford it. So, it would be just one master plan of the 7.9. Um, and and honestly, depending on which county website you look at, I've seen as little as 7.6 versus 7.9. So,
saying safely 7, that would give us it' be between 105 and 115 sites. >> Mr. Chair, if I may, John Senate, uh, growth manager, for the record, those 88 sites are permitted through the health department. There's currently no
approved Martin County final site plan for this property >> partly because it was the old angle in mobile home park. >> And those 88 sites about how many square feet are they right now each? >> It it varies. Uh it used to be a mobile home park. So probably 50 are mobile
home sites and the assorted others vary from tiny. Um does does everybody know where our park is? It's it goes from US1 to Dixie. >> I am happy to give you Mike and I's phone numbers. We would welcome you guys to drive through and see our park. You
can see we've made as many improvements as we possibly can. Um so the sites vary, but uh the front section of our park it the sites are are minuscule. Those were the first four photos that went went through. >> Tell them the square footage, don't you think? >> Um
>> there's six come to the mic. >> Six 60 sites that are about 2,000 square feet. The additional, my guess is range between 1,000 and,500 square f feet. >> They're the ones in the front. >> Those are the ones in the front. And by
the way, the our conceptual plan would be still to have the majority of our sites somewhere around 1,800 square ft for our long-term. When I say long-term, it would be probably a threemonth stay. And then for the
smaller 1500 square foot sites would be reserved for transitional. That's we still want um if anybody's been to the Florida Keys, we've driven by some of the RV parks down there. We don't want them squeezed in like sardines. And again, we do want to be an RV park. We
would like to have a pool. We would like to have a community center, but we don't want to be an RV resort. We really like the clientele that we do get. Sometimes the summer workforce short-term workers can be a little unsavory, but luckily we
have good managers that keep that in check. >> So, you were initially working with the staff and getting suggestions and recommendations on what you needed to do prior to you purchasing and >> Well, actually, yes. In 2010, if you
recall, we actually we purchased our property directly from the bank. So, we were able to purchase it, right? We were told that the county would not come in and shut us down. We did possibly get a zoning letter in March of 2020, okay,
about the zoning change. But I can also tell you, Mike and I, our our business people, we really think look hard into this. Now, if you think about March of 2020, COVID just happened, the world had shut down. Mike and I cannot find our
copy of that letter. But if we did get it, it said we were getting commercial zoning. Everywhere else in the state of Florida that we have ever looked into, RV parks are allowed in commercial zoning. So, we have we have been doing a
lot of homework where all of this is concerned for years in meeting with staff. We we would not have bought the property next to us also in 2020 had we realized that the zoning was wrong on floor days because that this alone that
hap the change that happened a year ago to get the correct zoning that in itself was very expensive. We hired a consultant. As you can see, I am now representing ourselves because we felt like it was a lot more economical and we feel that we have very good legal
representation and that I can do I I kind of feel like I've gotten a land planning um on the job training. I've learned more about it than I ever thought I'd know about it. >> Know that feeling. >> Totally.
>> Thank you for your time very much. Any other questions? >> Any other questions? >> Um I have I just have a concern um where you're asking in the code change or the LDRs to change um for caretakers andor
managers. >> Cindy, thank you for bringing that up. >> Um I actually had a conversation with staff recently and they brought that up. The pre-exemption is a number one the highest priority as far as the denial
goes. We have had caretakers anywhere from 3 to five because they're often called work campers. Sometimes housing is included, sometimes housing is not, but we felt like the county is being so hard to work with anyway. And I don't
mean that offensively to anybody, but it's been a real journey. We didn't want to be, and the reason we asked that is because we don't want somebody coming in after the fact and saying, "Oh my gosh, your manager's been here longer than 180 days. You know, you're in violation." We we run a business. We are not going
to have every park member be because it's it's conditioned to an employment agreement. And anybody here that has owned a business that has a manager in place for longer than six months and they're doing a good job, you want to keep them there.
But we have our own RV park standards. If their park, if their RV unit falls to substandard, it's going to be taken care of. And then we also do have a manager's residence, but we don't we found when we interviewed for our most recent manager
that they didn't want to stay in our management residence. They wanted to stay in their own RV because that's their home. I guess I guess the question is is you know is is there a limit placed on the number of people who can fall under that
category? >> Currently not. That would be open for discussion as long as that was the only point that was in denial. But I can tell you it's never been more than 5%. I can't imagine it being more than 5% anyway. Maybe 8 to 10% would be safe,
but no, we we aren't going to have more managers than are needed. talking about the manager. >> You just need to identify. >> Okay. I'm Mike Graham and I'm more in the operations of the day-to-day stuff and Susie's been uh doing all the
research and the strategy and everything. But an answer to your question, uh we've had the park for 16 years. We've had uh the first manager lived in the manager's residence for nine years and then we had another
manager for five years and the present one is um been there for a year and they live in their RV and uh so it's and and then from a manager then we use work campers and sometimes what we do is we
barter out they get a free place to stay basically and they put in so many hours a week helping us out. And the work campers kind of come and go, but the manager, you can see, you know, we try to keep it. If we have a good manager, we try to
keep them. And uh so we really don't, you know, the the size of the park. Um you know, you're not going to, you know, hire on a lot of labor. I mean, that's going to be a big expense to carry. So, you know, one or two managers, you know,
maybe full-time. Um, right now we're running with one manager and and an office uh person. And uh, you know, that's pretty much it. And then, you know, when we do have things that need to get done, we might look at, you know, using a work camper, something like
that. But, uh, you know, it's it's just, you know, operating a business, >> you know, we don't need a crew of 20 people. So, we're not going to have 20 sites taken up with, you know, managers. that's just not going to be economically feasible.
>> Okay. Just as in followup as as uh you know Susie and Mike, we've became quite good friends over the past almost three years doing this. So as she said, you know, that may be something that would be could be a consideration to put a number on it. But quite frankly
when we reached out to staff said if that was a change is the recommendation going to be any different? And the answer was no. So anyway, that's being very honest about it. >> I'm still did not picture where the, you know, the place is.
>> It's just south of the Greek church. >> It's next to your next to the church, >> like right next to it. >> Just south of the Greek church, >> right across Porter Dixie and >> same road. >> It has lovely landscaping and just a
little entrance way. So I missed it the first few times. >> Not on a site where the church is. Okay. So, if you think one site south and inc and and Christa's right, my husband is a former landscaper, interiorscape, but he landscaped the front uh US1 and also the
back on Dixie. So, if you drive through by it's got a yellow sign out front that says Florida's, but really and truly, you can't see the RVs from US1. A little bit from Dixie, but US1, they're pretty much all screened by landscape. >> Yeah, but Porter Avenue, it looks
horrible. That's partly because a lot of our old driveways, broken up driveways, encroach on Porter, >> you know, because I go there all the time. That's my church. >> We would love to improve it. And we, as a matter of fact, we went to the expense of repaving the front.
>> We we just repaved last Friday that that entrance way on Porter, which is not even our road. to to fix it up. Um >> I just want to give a little perspective on this. >> Next on the list, >> um
we the Hopetown NEC had a long conversation as you heard about this and we're in favor of the park succeeding. It's not that we don't want the park to succeed because we feel like it's an asset to Hope Sound. Part of the concern
was that um uh it may lead to other uh changes that perhaps were not in uh uh um our liking or really we took staff's recommendation that there could be an
issue with this in future parcels around the county and in Hobon specifically. So, with a close vote, the idea was that we didn't want to open up Hope Sound to a um a a a problem. Um and we understand
that developing a parcel into a RV park is not a um uh overly economical um uh compared to, you know, a twostory apartment complex that could happen. So,
um, we get that, but you know, we're we're citizens in in in our town and and so the text changes, as you guys have heard, are not simple. This isn't just a simple change. Uh, they're much more complex in our
opinion. And so, the idea was that this did not fit. So, I don't know if that helps you guys or not. Um but um that's kind of where we were coming from. >> What did what did they think like
I'm talking about the community. Um in order to get some improvements there because of course it would continue to get run down. What what do you think that they felt the solution? >> Well, one of the ones was can we make it specific to this individual parcel only
this parcel? And I don't believe that's a possibility as far as what I can tell. Um, so that >> that was going to be my recommendation to maybe also stipulate the percentage of owners that could have been, you know, >> that could live there. Yes. There there
was definitely like parameters that we >> because I I would hate for it to continue to get run down, you know. >> Sure. >> And then it would affect, you know, the community that way. I was just curious what they were thinking. >> Then they just sell. >> So just to answer that if it could. So, you know, Martin County, like a lot of
places, used to have things called special exceptions, which were spite specific or conditional uses. Um and you know I don't think because those things kind of grew out of favor because some of the um legal standards
and there was just so you don't find those types of things as an option unless you can craft some like something that could be you know I I've I've given this some thought trying to figure out if there's a way to craft some language that would just really um describe this
particular floor this particular parcel RV are, but then you run into some other legal issues if you don't have a public purpose, if there things like that. So, um, you know, you've heard the expression between you're caught between a rock and a hard place. When I first
started my career in St. Lucy County as an assistant county attorney, county commissioner, sometimes it was worse because if it was between a rock and a rock and so Florida is between a rock and a rock, which is worse than a rock and a hard place. So, we're asking you to consider it.
And I think I'd like to then, you know, the preeemption. I'm not disputing the opinion of the county attorney's office. Been I used to be there. But I think that's maybe could might. And um if it's a if the policy if it's the text change,
the policies are the issue, then let's talk about those. But um I think the preeemption is a just not is maybe more speculative and hypothetical and I think that's your that's part of your policy decision and the board of county commissioners because there are no words
specifically laws that says that is definitely going to happen. I understand it. I don't want to diminish it. But um this is the more of a reality to this my client than the speculation about preeemption. any day the Florida
legislature could preempt any blessed thing that local governments do. >> So anyway, I you know that may I may have been arguing against myself, but anyway, still we appreciate your consideration and hopefully we can get your recommendation of approval. So they
can they'll be going there no matter what the Grahams have decided they've invested this much time, tears, everything else. So, they'll be going forward to the local planning agency and the board of county commissioners in a hope of um improving their property,
which is what this is all about. >> Well, I understand the concern with the community. Um, a bit of my concern is is that you guys had been working with staff in the county, >> you know, for quite some time about this and we're in this situation. So, that's
my only concern regarding this matter. But this is something that community has, you know, spoken about, you know, um >> it was a four to three. It was it was a beat the conversation >> had to be a tough one >> because I also know that there are people this is really their only um form
of living. They do have to transit, you know, because they cannot afford to own a home. And I sorry I get emotional about that, but that's okay. Right. >> There are a lot of people in situations that we don't always understand. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
Mr. Chair, if I may. >> Yes, sir. >> John Senate, growth management. For the record, I just wanted to clarify a couple things speaking to the idea of making this property specific and and Christa alluded to this that would be
atypical and I I don't believe that that's something that staff would be able to support. um to the idea of the property potentially being more run down if if this is denied. I would say that's
not exactly the case. The property owner is still able to make improvements to the property. Um >> denial of this ordinance wouldn't necessarily prevent certain improvements. And I would just like to remind the members of the CRA that the
application before you is for a text amendment to the land development regulations. This is would be specific to the Hob Sound Community Redevelopment Area. This is not a site plan application. Whether or not this current application is approved or denied, the
applicant or the property owners would still need to come in at some point in the future for a site plan application if they wanted to make significant uh redevelopment of the site. >> Just I'm Miss Graham doesn't need to come up, but I think that that's
something they there's some dispute about whether they what to what extent they can improve their property given the the situation they're in. So that may be a a topic for another day. That's what you can understand the frustration
of my clients over this whole thing. >> Yes. I go ahead. >> Can you raise your rental rates? >> How do you know they didn't do it already? >> You got to come up. >> Well, no. What I'm saying is if you could raise everything by 25%.
That would be the same equation as adding the third the 26 more spots. >> We But to answer the question about improvements, we would love to have uniform site sizes. We would love to have consistent numbering because
honestly the situation we have right now is not very safe. Um we have different site numbers for the front and the smaller sites. We have different numbers. >> We also have some of our driveways
encroaching on Porter because of land use shifts and county lines shifting to and we right now we could raise our rates. Matter of fact, we could raise our rates as high as Fipps Park. Martin County benefits completely from Fipps
Park. Fipps Park had all of their improvements paid for by grants and by the inlet navigation. They are our direct competitor. We don't look at them like a competitor because honestly there's not enough RP V Parks to go around anyway, but their rates are
between 15 and $1,800 a month. Ours are currently $900 a month. Um, let me also just address briefly Charlie's if I may because everybody knows Charlie's Bar and Grill. The owner had a very beautiful RV site, spent probably
hundreds of thousands of dollars designing an RV park to the north side of their property where now a self self storage is going in. They he tried to sell it and because we owned an RV park, they approached us to buy it. No matter
what, however we ran the numbers, and this was more than a decade ago, we couldn't get the numbers to financially work because it was the cost of the land as well as the cost of the development. We wouldn't be before you had we not purchased our land from the bank in
2010. So, yes, we could raise our rates and and people during season would pay them, but it's not going to do anything to improve our po our park. We can't even put in a pool without having a complete and total what do you master plan where
we come in front of you and then we lose 10 nine sites. We're our hands are tied. Our hands are in your future. Our our future is in your hands. Excuse me. I'm I'm tongue tied.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you again for your time. Any other questions, comment, concerns, anything? >> Mr. Chair, could I make a couple of points? >> Of course you can. >> Um, just for the benefit of additional
information. Um, as you heard, Florida's purchased their property in 2010. At that point, it was a mobile home park. the design the the designation on that property allowed
them eight units per acre. They decided to make it an RV park, although that was not a permitted use at the time. And I think Christa said or or Mrs. Graham said that the county did not go after them for that. And that's
correct. So they operated their RV park as not a permitted use for that period of time. When the CRA changed their code in 2021, we did give the subdist of general and
the reasoning for that at the time was that the parcel also, like they said, went from federal to Dixie and it did infringe a little bit on some neighborhood there. So, we thought that would be a better use of that land was
to give it general. This way, it had a mixeduse benefit. It had a little bit of commercial allowed with residential. When they came in to change their subdist, we thought, well, okay, maybe we should make them a permitted use. Let's give
them Carter, then they can have their RV park and they're a permitted use. They are no longer in that gray kind of area. Preeemption is a real thing. 61 additional properties in Hob Sound is a real thing.
Other CRA areas coming forward to try to change LDRs for their CRA in this manner is a real thing. What's to stop Rio from coming? They have parks. What's to stop Port Soleno from coming in? They have
those properties. I I would disagree about the affordable housing piece. Yep. You can you can laugh. I didn't laugh when you spoke, but feel free. Um the CRA
this is not first of all in our plan. So it's a little bit difficult uh for us to look at. The other position that the CRA takes frankly is this opens up the door. this potentially opens up the door for these
other applications and we're not seeing the the benefit to the community outweighing that potential cost. Thank you, >> Miss Story. So, I'm not going to get into an argument with Miss Cororez, but
this these comments, the nature of the property when the Grahams bought it and the uses that were on the property has been a long-standing issue and factual dispute between the Grahams and the county.
And so move forward um on it and it is it is been a very sore spot um the characterization of the uses and those types of things on the property. So and the um and that's why
the Grahams move forward to resolve it. So it is a permitted use. But these these comments that you've just heard are the types of comments we've been hearing from staff for the last few years. And so again, um I think you've
already heard from one of your members. The reality these these types of parks, these places do provide affordable housing contrary to what someone else may say. So anyway, I'm not going to belabor it, but we'd ask for your but um some of the facts you've just heard are
certainly disputed by my clients. I I just want clarification because Susan, you just mentioned that it would be 61 additional. >> I'm sorry. 61 acres. I misspoke. 61 acres. >> Thanks for clarification cuz I'm like, wait a minute. That was about 27.
>> Susan, I have a question for you >> because my church is next door. What is the line of a CRA over there? I'm confused because the, >> you know, in the CRA, huh? This >> they're in the boundary.
>> They are in the CRA. >> Yeah. >> This I didn't know because I saw the plaque. >> How are you guys? >> Well, I know we are, but I know the church is. However, I see the plaque just stand, you know, on this
side, not on the other side. So, I'm confused. I want to know if that is a part of the CRA, too. >> I'm not understanding. Cadilla, what side? >> What's your north CRA border in hotel? >> Yeah, the border. That's what I want to know. >> Pretty sure it's Doc Myers.
>> Yes, I think it is. >> Just north of Doc Myers. >> Yeah. >> North of the park. >> Darless. Darless. Yeah. >> I get confused with Hope CR. John's pointing to where Florida is and
then you're right north of that. >> Right in the middle. >> Any other comments from the board? >> Any public comments at all? Yes, ma'am. >> I actually came today. Um, hi Mary Gavin. I am a member of the Hopetown CRA
committee. I do want to make sure that you're all aware that Deconies >> color >> um I I think that Bert explained a little bit of the concern of the committee, but as both a Hope Sound resident and a member of the committee,
I would like to summarize some of the highlights or low lightss depending on how you look at it. These are wonderful people. They're wonderful. They're they've tried to fix the property. It it really looks good relatively speaking. The concern is they could turn around and sell it the day after they get a
preeemption, which is their business, and you don't know who's going to come in or what's going to come in. In addition to that, they were going to shut down an exit onto Dixie Highway. And there are I don't recall exactly how many town homes getting ready to get
built behind the church. Um, >> so they say. >> Yeah. So, well, they're they're in they're in process. >> Yes. And and they're going to be very nice. And Porter Avenue is already a challenge. So, you know, that was a concern when you're adding space. But the other major concern is that yes,
these are wonderful people and yes, they've worked hard and as Susan mentioned, they they buyer beware. You you know what you're getting. They've owned it for quite a while. Um it's it's upon them to make their business work within the guidelines, but it's a lot of the other owners that aren't so great that can improve their
density right along US1. and they already look like hell to be very frank. So, we're going to get more looking like hell potentially with those. And I think we all know the risk in making these changes. There's somebody's going to
challenge that we could only do this in the CRA. And I feel that their issue is something that should be handled at the state, not at this local level. If you know they wanted to get the state to enforce it statewide, that would be the ideal route I think for you because they are great people as I mentioned. But not
everybody else in Hope Sound is. So, so those were primarily the concerns was that they could be gone a day after a preeemption and that we don't know what the other sites are going to look like and some of the traffic along there in Porter Avenue because the the road is
already crumbly and there was no plan from what I understood at the meeting to make any changes to Porter. No. >> Thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Any other public comments? Uh we when we go home
>> again Mike Graham and I understand I just wanted to kind of um Porter Avenue yes is a is our northern boundary. >> I know but is a mess >> and we have about 17 sites that their
driveways go right onto Porter. Um, and so part of our plan, which is going to be, excuse me, a master plan that we're going to have to come back in front of you all with, would be to reverse those sites so that we are contained within
and and that, you know, that we have less of our sites exiting out on Porter. And yes, we might close off the Dixie entrance off of Florida's Avenue. Um,
but that's still open for discussion. But then there would be also um just one entrance onto Porter, which would line up across from where the church driveway comes on to Porter. And we would line that up. But these are all the things
that would be discussed and planned out when we get to the point of doing master plan. Okay, >> Mr. Chair, if I may, what's before you today is a code change. We're talking about a future master plan right now that isn't real relevant. >> Thank you. And thank you.
>> Okay. >> And as well, it wouldn't come before this body, right? >> I think let's get her over at light. >> Do what you need from us. Yeah, that's what I'm asking. >> Motion to approve or
>> you are you asking for motion? >> Yes, please. >> Approve or deny or whatever else you come up with. >> You got a lot of lawyers here to help you. >> I have to go with the residents. I mean, the deal here has a board. We respect
what the NAC said. >> Isn't that what I'm I mean, I've been on this discussion. Something to take into account for sure. >> Yeah. So I have to follow them. >> Is that a motion?
>> Yes. >> What's your motion? >> Is denial because I have to follow what the NAC said. Isn't that the agreement? I've been on both of them and I know >> again we don't have to follow the NAC
but we can use that as a guideline. >> Okay. suggestion >> just like the county commission is going to use us as a suggestion. >> That's what I'm afraid of. >> So, okay. So, what what's your motion? Could you clarify it for me, please?
>> I have to follow the NAC hope sounds n because that's their desire. I'm sure they >> and they denied it. >> The recommend the the motion would be for and correct me if I'm wrong. Um for approval of staff's recommendation of denial.
>> Correct. Okay, I have DNA. >> And I have a motion. >> I'll second. >> And I have a second. Any other discussion amongst us on the board? >> None. All in favor of denial say I.
>> I. >> Motion carries unanimously. >> No. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Opposed. >> Six to one. >> Five to one. >> Five to one. Sorry. Oh, Rex is in here. >> Okay.
>> Um before we move on, do we have to take a break for closed caption? >> Um we don't I don't believe we do. >> Okay. >> So, uh Mr. Chair, I'd like to move an item. I'd like to move the Indian Town item up next because we do have staff
here that uh may speak on that. >> Hi. >> Hi. >> Okay. Do >> you have the pictures here? >> They have to come through here because it's CR.
>> So, she's making me draw arrows on my thing now. I'm supposed to be cut. >> Yeah, >> I can I'll help you. >> I'll help you. >> Okay, >> it's it's far. >> So, the next item on our agenda, uh,
Susan Cores, Office of Community Development. Um I'm here with uh Mrs. Stephanie Merley. She is the director of the office of management and budget and she's here to answer any questions if there are any. Um as well as our legal team. So uh the community redevelopment
agency owns a piece of property in Indiantown. It's at 16870 Charleston Street and we've owned that apparently for quite a while. Yes. Um so this property was in the former Indiantown
CRA which as we know no longer exists. It was dissolved due to um Indiantown becoming the village of Indiantown. So their county CRA went away. That was in 2018. So that pretty much rendered that
property kind of unsupported for redevelopment because there was no Indian Town CRA. There was no Indiantown CRA TIFF fund to do any redevelopment to the property. So, it was kind of just hanging out there. Uh, we're here today
because the title is vested in the CRA, the name of the CRA, Martin County CRA, we're here today to ask to transfer that property to the county so that it can be utilized because the way it stands right
now, there's nothing we can do with it. we can't sell it because there's no no way to put the money back into the CRA because Indiantown doesn't exist. So, it's really a little bit of a conundrum. Um, and we can actually dispose of it to
another government entity, which would make sense that that would be our county. Uh, so that's what we're here to ask from you is to approve the transfer of that property from the CR name of the CRA into Martin County.
>> I have one question. Did they pay us back? >> They did. >> Is this working? Okay. Yeah, >> I knew you were going to ask that, so of course I made sure to look it up. Cydia. Um they the county paid back all of the other CRAAS from that inter fund loan
back in 2018 and 2019 from the county's general fund. So all the CRAAS have been made whole. >> And just to be clear, this property was not part of that. That was Carter Park, which is a beautiful community that was built. Um so, you know, great idea, but
the this property was not part of that. >> Just checking. Yeah. >> And she know me too well. >> Well, I move to go ahead and make the transfer. >> I'll second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any
discussion? Any public comment? I don't see any public at all anyway. Uh, all in favor of approval of transferring the property, say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? None. Back to unanimous. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. >> See you over budget.
>> Yeah. We'll see you soon. So, now we can return back to our usual scheduled activities. Um, we did do minutes. I think Janna Cox is up next with the quarterly report. >> Good afternoon. Can you hear me?
Janna Cox, for the record, uh, something quick and easy, the quarterly report. We can find it. >> Yes. Sorry. Is it one of the tabs on the PDF? >> Open here.
>> It's a PowerPoint. >> Yeah, but might be saved as a PDF though. We're sure it's not that. Think I saw Oh, but you didn't want that. >> That's okay. >> Okay. So, um this report usually happens
in January of >> We missed it. >> 26. Um so, you may or may not see a Grinch or a Christmas tree because we're talking about October, November, and December of 25. So, we start off with Golden Gate. We go
alphabetical through the uh CRAAS. Thank you, Jordan. Um, we're going to talk about the septic to sewer, El Camino, landscape vision plan, and the multimodal corridor drainage resilience project.
>> That's the new Golden Gate one. That's the new name. septic to sewer. Out of 775 parcels, 559 have been connected. That's 72%. El Camino construction activities are
going forward. Now remember this is four months ago. Landscape vision plan. I have some notes. Let me find them. In October, the landscape vision plan came to a pause and the October 29th outreach event was
postponed. the multimmoal corridor drainage resilience project. Um, sorry, these are always projects, but um, in December, the CRA board and the Golden Gate NAC were shown two options
for Indian Street and both recommended option B on the right. On to Hope Sound. Uh we're going to talk about unpaved roads, Hobound historic train station, neighborhood enhancements, Dixie stormwater and
streetscape project. The unpaved roads in October, I believe it was the first um project is going well. And if you look at the PowerPoint that we
have of unpaved roads, this is the easiest one. Um the projects become more difficult when it's not Martin County right ofway. So we'll see more of that in the future. The Hobed Sound Train Station um
started to fund raise to restore the historic building and I had some pictures in here. I don't I think they got left out, but they also did the light poles that were examples of the picture city studio that
used to be in Hopes or they wanted to come to Hopes. Uh Banner Lake Lighting. I wanted to tell you about the timeline. The first lighting survey was March of 2019. The second survey was March of
2022 and we definitely knew we had a problem with lighting in Banner Lake. After many delays and FPL personnel changes, we finally installed the new lighting in March of 25. So that's 6 years later. Uh we finally had a celebration. It was held on November
12th of 2025 in the Banner Lake facility. And I can finally move this from an active project to a closed one. And here we have the Grinch. This is the Christmas parade.
>> That's Commissioner Caps for the record. >> Uh the theme of the parade was the 100red-year theme for Martin County 1925, 100 years later. And Jensen Beach, we talk about the West End Boulevard drainage improvements and
the Church Street project. West End Boulevard. The design options were submitted by the consultant for the drainage improvements in Jensen Beach along Maple A. Church Street. The Martin County BOCC approved the donation of 30 additional
feet of rideaway at the 12-2 board meeting. Old Palm City, we'll talk about the Palm City property that was our feed and Cornell AB Streetscape in this quarter. The old Palm City School Avenue project was under contract
after the RFP process. Cornell A Streetscape. A multi-dep departmental public meeting was held to discuss this project as well as septic to sewer road paving and drainage. on to Port Solerno, New Monrovia Park,
New Monrovia neighborhood improvement, new Monrovia unpaved roads, and the Port Solero mooring facility Mosaic. >> The bid for the new Monrovia Park was awarded to Formax Construction LLC in
the amount of $588,162. The project remained at 90%. This is the new Monrovia neighborhood improvements during the last quarter. Ballots for the two raised intersections were received by the due date of October 10th with 90% in favor, which you have to pull the
neighborhood if you want to put in speed bumps and those sorts of things. New Monroia unpaved roads 90% plans. The consultant continued to work on finalizing responses from comments from the county project team.
On the next slide, you will see the nice mosaic that was installed at the mooring facility. And the artist was Jim Dirts. On to Rio. We're going to talk about the Dixie Highway streetscape, Town Center
Civic Club Properties, Dixie Highway crosswalks, light pole banners. Although we did hear a lot about that today, this was last quarter. Most of our projects um have a community involvement
portion of the project and that's what happened on these two in Rio on 11:20 at the NAC meeting. Those two projects were presented and at the 1212 Winterfest we tagged on to a parks project
called Winterfest. Same thing for this one. Dixie Highway crosswalks, continued design work and easement negotiation and light pole banners. The holiday banners were installed with new banner
designs discussed. Let's talk about CRA wide and again we can celebrate our FRA conference wins which was in October. >> Just one more time. >> One more time we can talk about them.
I would like to say that we were very happy to have Frank along on the conference. >> Yeah. >> As was Jordan. Sometimes gets tired of dealing with five women. >> Oh, also uh 2026 27th performance goals were on
the website. The community pulse, this is huge. 31,131 emails were sent with a 49.79% open rate which is 19.79% above the average. Uh 225
great places in Florida award. I think that was on the first picture. We have we got an award for the patio in Palm City, second place. And we also did some community evented way white doves event. Maybe the pictures Oh, here they are.
So here you can see Diane at the White Doves. You can see us at the FRA and the awards. Okay, on to the permits. The permit overview would compare the first quarter of 25 with the course
first quarter of 26. And you can see that the numbers were pretty close. 331 permits issued in 26 and 342 in 25. The residential permits show this pie with the colors and you notice they're
pretty similar. There's really no change from year to year on this one on the residential permit and the valuation was the same. On to the commercial permits, you'll see how big the green piece of the pie is
for Rio. That was because we had a lot of door and window replacements at the River Club which is located at 1600 Northeast Dixie Highway and the commercial valuation Old Palm City was quite a bit higher than 25 and
the reason for that is Charlie Leighton Park electric was 768,000 for the permit and the accidentally put in the public's parking lot, which is not in the CRA, but I didn't want to take that out of the numbers cuz I would have messed everything up for the next person doing
it next month. That's all I have for the quarterly report. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer >> any. Yes, go ahead. >> When is the closing on that piece of land in Palm City? >> I'll have to divert that to Jordan.
Um, it should be in about a week. >> In one week. Good. >> Thank you. >> I noticed you didn't speak into the mic on that one. Uhhuh. >> Any other questions for Jana? >> Who's that 15 minutes overtime for the
day? >> We're all good. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Jana. And I'm going to just real quick do capital and then we'll be gone. How did I just find that? That was amazing. Oh, there we
of course it's by accident. I wasn't going to say it. You Well, you guys have seen me down here to know technology is not my friend. Um, we're going to do a real quick capital project review for February 23rd. El
Camino is really starting to look like a trail. It's amazing. We have mostly everything paved. And the good news is that artwork will be added. So I just thought I'd let you know that. So we'll let you know that again next month when you're art in public places, but what
the heck. Um, we're going to move to the landscape vision. If you recall, and Jana just went over that again, we did have to postpone that event. We did a mini event at the NAC. Sadia was there um where we had the committee and any of
the attendees kind of walk around and use the boards and and we got quite a bit of really usable input. So, we're going to move forward with that and uh hopefully have another small event with the community uh and House of Hope in
March. So, we'll send out that date to you uh when we confirm. I have added something else to our report and that is open space plans. Since we're doing it in all six CRAAS, I
thought we'd keep track of it this way. Um this way you get to see what it means and where we are for each. Right now we're doing Port Solerno. We've got a final draft coming to our internal team March 6th and then we will bring it to
the Port Solerno NAC on April 9th and back here to you guys at the end of April uh for your meeting and I think you'll find it very interesting and from there we'll move on to Golden Gate next. That will be the next CRA that we uh
take care of. I don't really have anything else specific for you capital projectwise. Uh, everything else was mostly status quo, but of course, as always, if you have questions, I'm happy to answer. Jamie, >> so of course I looked there immediately.
>> I know that we were waiting on an answer as far as there certificate that was needed to start the project for the park renovations. >> Yes, for new Monrovia Park. So, we have been in touch with the contractor. >> Yeah. George, did they they haven't
given We don't have everything yet. So, we don't have everything yet, but um purchasing is on it and they've already start they've started looking into the project. So, I think that they're very engaged in the project and will uh do a good job when we finally get that piece
of paper. >> So, we don't have it yet. >> How long is it good for the bid? >> Cuz we've been working on this for a while. >> Yeah, purchasing has that under control. >> So, it's not like we're not going to be able to start the project. >> Okay. because I know there's a certain
time frame for a lot of these things. So, >> yes. >> Positive. Okay. Well, you can understand the frustrations that I would hear from Port Sono. Okay. >> Poor Joy is tearing her hair out over that one. So, she understands your
frustration. >> Well, I mean, you know, we get the Upland facility up like and then the others were we're we're we're struggling. So, well, we're following the rules and lose the contract, >> you know, and then we're starting all
over. >> Thank you. >> Sure. >> Any other question? >> Thank you. >> I just had a couple of quick announcements. >> Oh, okay. >> Um, next month, I just wanted to let everyone know will be annual report and
CIP. So try to be here because we really do rely on all of your expertise in your areas to bring to those things. Um we may also take a board picture throwing that out there as a little
warning. Not a threat. >> What's the date on that? >> Um March 23rd. >> Same as this month. The dates in March are the same as the dates in February, which is very odd.
>> That is weird. >> Yes, we have a Friday the 13th and we our board meetings on the 23rd on a Monday. It's kind of weird. Um, and the other thing is is if you can work on getting your responses to board uh agendas and stuff to Diane, that would
be fantastic. >> And I won't look at you, Cindy. >> One last thing. Thank you very much for your patience today. It was long. Um, and it was a tough meeting. So, thank you all for listening and uh
participating. >> I'm in trouble. I know. >> Usually, um, >> I just follow I just follow the NAC. That's all. >> Why are you in trouble? >> Because the You didn't see the looks you gave me. >> I would call for public comment, but
there's no public. Somebody wants to call in, they can call in. Uh, any member comments? Do we have a call-in show now? That's excellent. We should start doing that. And you're you got anything or are you out? >> I think I expressed my concern.
>> You're all set for the night. >> Yes, we're good >> to the end. >> Thank you. >> No, I'm good. >> Very quickly, thanks for the support of the um committee and I know where you're coming from, Jamie. And and um >> if you've ever had to live the way that
some do have to live on totally get it and I think it's a benefit to the community but the concern was that this could be something totally beyond our control and so I had to go I mean I had to support the people that know what they're talking about here more than I
do >> not only that I feel like I'm a part of it because you should see poor avenue and you will understand now we getting >> 16 years later that's how it still looks >> you know is really. They have like truck
drivers and all kind of stuff. I mean, you just >> Okay, I have nothing. And before we get in trouble, we're ajourned. Seriously, just