You're on. Good morning and welcome to our September 9th, 2025 board of county commission meeting. Thank you for joining us this morning. Uh we will begin with an invocation by Reverend Annal Singh followed by the pledge of allegiance which is going to be led by
Lieutenant Micah Skoranski. Well, good morning. Good morning. Thank you for inviting me. And let's join together in mind, heart, and spirit. Creator of the universe, author of all life, and source of all that is good.
Thank you for the life we have and the life we share in Martin County. As we approach the 24th anniversary of the tragic, terrifying attacks that wounded our nation on September 11th, 2001, may we remember the valiant efforts of the
first responders who courageously risked and gave their lives to save others. Many of them still suffer the after effects of that day. We therefore offer our thanks to all who gave themselves so selflessly on that
day. And we give thanks to the first responders in our cities, our counties, our state, and across our great nation who on this day place their lives and safety and well-being place our lives safety and well-being ahead of their
own. May we always appreciate the sacrifices they make on our behalf. Grant, O loving one, that we may finally learn to give ourselves for others and foster a nation united in peace and freedom. Amen.
Amen. Thank you. Would you please lead us in the pledge of allegiance, Lieutenant and then tell us all about your uh service. Yes, ma'am. Thanks. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. I'm Lieutenant Scaransky, Martin County Sheriff's Office. I joined the United States Army in 1992. I got out of active
service in uh 20 in the year 2000 and came to Florida. Um when 911 happened, I signed up in the Army Reserves. I've been overseas multiple times. Um I held every position from team leader to first sergeant. My final uh assignment was as
the force protection NCIC for two star command um 412 theater engineer command out of Vixsburg, Mississippi. Excellent. Thank you. And you're still protecting us. Thank you so much. Thank you.
[Applause] And let's see. First, we will have uh public comment. Uh the first request to speak form I have is from Dr. Julie Bjornson, followed by
Derek Powell. Good morning, commissioners. Julie Bjornson, Stewart, Florida. I will be I just came to let you know that I'll be setting up my 911 display this Thursday from 8 to 6 at the designated corner at the skate park in
Palm City. Thank you very much, Commissioner Campy, for that. And Sarah, congratulations for being chair. I haven't been here for a while, so that was a real surprise. Okay. Um, so thank you for that designated corner. way. I
have a banners, a beautiful display, but I also put up signs, almost 50 signs of terrorist attacks that have happened after 9/11. People come and they cry. They've been there and I cry with them. The many
signs I put up remind people terrorist attacks continue after 9/11. And many say they've forgotten. We must not forget the World Trade Center 911 terrorist attacks lasting a total of two hours,
four terrorist flights and thousand died. There were 343 brave firefighters that died that day. In two hours, over seven 370 firefighters have died from the toxic f
dust related illnesses and they continue to die as well as people that were there. We just have to just to make sure that that we keep them in our prayers. My son has asked that you might request like just police observance during that time so that that they're just they're
just worried. Um I don't even know what to say. There were four flights and I I can tell you when the north tower went down. I can tell you when flight two hit the south tower, but you don't need to know that. This year we've had 225, we've had seven
domestic terrorist attacks. We need to realize they're increasing. And in 2004, we only had two. One in the United States with in Butler with President Trump's attempted assassination. But we also had an attack
at a US embassy in Beirut. So are we we and what I've been reading on and on that we just have to know that there's not just one lone person. There's groups and there's still we're under extreme surveillance right now in our country to
protect us. So we just need the prayers. We need to be vigilant. We need to be observant. So thank you very much for MySpace. I've done this for 20 years. So I'm grateful for your support. Thank you. Thank you. Garrick Powell is next,
followed by Patty Marches. Morning, Commissioner. Good morning. Bear with me. The literature is small and my eyes are getting worse. Uh, good morning. My name is Derek Powell. I live at 1155 Southeast Cove Road. I'm here today because the
development going on around me is hitting my home, my property, and my quality of life. First, the sidewalk. I'm referring to the Pepperwood uh development that's going on right now. Uh first, the sidewalk. I understand we need safe places for people to walk and bike. I'm not against sidewalks, but putting a
10-ft wide path right in front of my house is too much. Gives people a straight view in my front door, and there's no buffer at all between my driveway and sidewalk. I've already spent over $15,000 trying to keep my family's privacy and safety from Cove Road. Now I'm told it's on me to spend
even more. Other parts of Cove Road don't have a 10-ft path. Why does mine have to? And if plants are really a safety issue, as stated in an email I received, why do we see them along sidewalks all over Martin County? Done right, landscaping helps.
It doesn't hurt. Trees were taken from my property. Whether it was an accident or not, they're gone. The county says the developer will deal with me at the end of the project. Well, that doesn't help me now and my property's been left bare. By the time the project's done, the
developer is gone and there's no accountability. The county approved this work. The county should be making sure it's fixed while the job is happening, not after the drainage. There used to be a ditch that carried water away. The developer filled it in and raised the grade and
now water has nowhere to go. I brought this up and I was told it'd be handled, but nothing's been done. Now I'm being told it's my fault that I cut off my own drainage. That doesn't add up. I know what my property looked like before and I know what it looks like now and it's getting worse. It didn't start until
they started moving dirt. And that's the truth. At the end of the day, I'm not here to stop progress. I just want it to be fair. Right now, I'm carrying the cost and the problems while the developer moves forward and the county passes the book. All I'm asking is that somebody is in this room step up and
make sure homeowners like me aren't left holding the bag. Thank you. [Applause] Yeah, Mr. Powell, we are very attentive to your concerns and we will make sure that they're resolved. Miss Marquesy. Thank you. Good morning,
commissioners. My name is Patty Marquesy. I am a resident of Martin County. Thank you for the opportunity to speak. I am strongly opposed to overdevelopment here in Martin County and across Florida and the country. I also recognize that property owners have
rights and if a project is planned responsible, it deserves fair review. For me, the heart of the project comes down to two things. Fiscal return and preservation of open space. The ranch
pre preserves more than 92% of nearly 4,000 acres with private dollars, not taxpayer expense. It is projected to contribute over 23 25 million a year to Martin County, boosting the tax base
while placing very little burden on services. I also appreciate that the developers have made and fulfilled commitments to our schools and our environment. That kind of followthrough is important to me. That is why I am
supporting the ranch and I encourage you to weigh both the fiscal return and the open space commitment carefully. Those are the factors that matter most to me and I believe they are critical to Martin County's future. Thank you.
Thank you. Tom Pine is next and Mr. Pine's request is the last request I have to to speak at public comment. Good morning, commissioners. My name is Tom Pine. I've been a resident of Martin County for over 50 years. Today, I will
start my public Today I will start with a public plea for help from the Martin County Bar Association. I am asking for legal interpretation of the consent agenda in reference to use it in public meetings because I believe our county government is using the consent agenda
in an illegal manner to hide from the public where our tax dollars where our spending our tax dollars and so special deals for their friends in the business community also known as the Martin Chamber Chamber of Commerce. Today in the consent agenda, this commission will
approve $18,77,762.54 which was spent between August 11th and August 24th of 2025 without identifying the payes or the reason of the payments. Document documents democracy dies in darkness. Welcome to Martin County. The
definition of the consent agenda according to Google when you can and cannot use the consent agenda. The consent agenda is a tool used to streamline meeting procedures by collecting routine non-conver non-controversial items into a group.
All are passed with a single motion and vote. Topics that have not been discussed by the board of the past shall not be in the consent agenda. Plain and to the point. The first hearing of our new budget will start at 5:00 pm today.
That's the easy part of the taxpayers of Martin. That's the easy part for the taxpayers of Martin County because we can see where our tax dollars are going. The hard part is the millions of our dollars, tax dollars that are hidden and spent in the consent agenda every meeting without any information so
whatsoever to the taxpayers of Martin County. Our boot Jensen Beach Community Center was opened November of 2011 at a cost of $1.5 million to the taxpayers of Martin County. The Jensen Beach Chamber of Commerce has it had an empty lot next
to our community center on Jensen Beach Boulevard. I don't remember when, but I do remember very clearly that they had a small billboard showing that they were fundraising to build their own very own building. Then lo and behold, their fundraising bill board bill board came
down and the Jensen Beach Chamber of Commerce moves into our community center. This is the kind of slime that happens behind closed doors in Martin County. It's called the consent agenda. Not a word to the public, of course, just a nice bump for their friends at
the Martin County Chamber of Commerce on the backs of the Martin County taxpayers. Will it ever end? Thank you for your time. Thank you. That's the last request to speak form I have. Uh, commissioners, can I have a mo a motion to approve the
agenda, including the consent agenda? I'll move approval of the agenda, including the consent agenda. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Now we'll hear
proclamations. The proclamation only proclamation today is to present a pro hung a proclamation declaring hunger action month. Good morning commissioners. Hunger and poverty remain issues of grave concern in the United States, the state of Florida, and on the
Treasure Coast. With 250,000 children, adults, seniors, and veterans experiencing food insecurity on a weekly basis, Martin County is committed to taking steps to raise awareness about the need to combat hunger in every part of our county and to provide additional resources that our residents need. To
that end, the board is recognizing September as hunger action month in Martin County. And here to accept, we have Andrea Santos and Jennifer Mahon with the Treasure Coast Food Bank. Would you like to say a few words? Good morning. Uh, my name is Andrea Santos. This is Jennifer Mahon. On
behalf of the Treasure Coast Food Bank and President and CEO Judith Cruz, our dedicated staff, volunteers, partners, and board of directors, I would like to thank you for proclaiming September as hunger action month. Treasure Coast Food Bank provides millions of meals to our
neighbors facing food insecurity each year through partnerships with 300 plus agencies, strong collaborations, and a full roster of direct service programs uh in Indian River, St. Lucy, Martin, and Okachobee counties. Together with our community, we are not only working
to solve the immediate problem of hunger, but we are building solutions to create stronger and more resilient Treasure Coast for generations to come. Throughout the entire month of September, Treasure Coast Food Bank will be joining Feeding America and food banks across the country in raising
awareness for food security and hunger in our communities. We are encouraging everyone in our community to join the movement and take action. As part of the month-long campaign, Treasure Food Bank will be hosting our fifth annual Outr Run Hunger on September 20th and Light
Up Orange event on September 9th. We invite our entire community to go orange with us for hunger action day. Orange is the color of hunger relief which represents encouragement and determination. For more information on these events and ways to get involved, please visit our website,
stophunger.org. Thank you again for your continued support. Hunger doesn't stand a chance when our communities come together. Thank you. [Applause] people. Commissioners, have you given your voting sheets to Miss Gordon?
It's already submitted. A few of them today. Quite a few voting sheets. A lot of resumes. Yeah. Commission. Now we'll hear from commissioners. Commissioner Vargas. I had three on my list.
Um just want to say that uh I understood what one of the citizens has said about the consent agenda and I did ask a couple of questions that are on there. uh for instance, the alteration of an existing preserve area uh an amendment. And my
understanding is that and I do have the director here and maybe he can help me out here a bit about this. And um I understand that the property owner is going to be um providing offering uh submitting setting aside
additional area uh that does have gopher tortoise on there. So I did look into that. I was really concerned about that. almost pulled it. Could you address that? Yes. Uh good morning, commissioners. Paul Schilling, growth management director. So, as as you indicated, uh Commissioner, the PAMP modification is
to capture in essence better habitat and also as a byproduct of that encompass additional uh a gopher tortoise burrow. So, there is no net loss to the preserve area. The amendment will provide for maintenance of the fence line and some
other matters. So um that's the approval. Yeah. Uh because my understanding is that the setbacks if you have a pool is five five ft. Is that right? There are construction setbacks from the preserve area of five for a accessory and 10 for right the property itself.
And that does meet the qualifications. I was very concerned about that. Uh this is west Palm City area. Doesn't matter where it is. It's Martin County. So I I do read this and I do do a lot of questions and I speak with our departments about this. So I just want
to let you know that that I'm very cognizant and very careful and I had the maps and I looked at them and I had questions. Anything else that I missed? Uh no, there were exhibits as part of the agenda item that reflect the new preserve area. Uh uh my department has
reviewed it. I've I've reviewed it and approved it. So, it's um it's a good project. Thank you. You're welcome. Anything further, Mr. Camps? I'm good today, Mr. Campy.
Madam Chair, thank you. Um, as was mentioned in our invocation, this Thursday is September 11th. Uh I'm still uh very appreciative of many residents uh in Martin County that
uh take the time and effort and quite often expense to continue to commemorate what happened on September 11th in 2001. in Palm City. In the morning, we're having a fire rescue and our sheriff's
office will be having a ceremony in Jacqullayton Park by the skateboard park there at the corner of Map and Martin Highway. The ceremony begins at 8:30 a.m. with a walk over the Veterans Memorial Bridge beginning at 9. Uh the
road single lane of the eastbound will be blocked off. Last year they had a tremendous turnout which was great. If you have school age students, they can have uh an approved
um absence for the first couple of hours of the school day so as to participate in that uh event. It'll go over the Veterans Memorial Bridge to Caner and then walk back to Palm City. Uh in years past, they walked
all the way to US1, which I think was a lot for some of the walkers. So this year, it's over and back. at 7 pm. Uh once again, my friend Dennis McKenna, who has definitely a heart for this 24
years later, uh we're having our memorial ceremony in the parking lot where we have a large piece of of steel from the World Trade Center. It's been on display there for many years uh that
Dennis was able to get for us in Martin County. that will be at 7 pm. They will be uh singing and stories from folks that were there. Our fire rescue and sheriff's office again will be
represented as well as uh a couple of beautiful ceremonies. We've also and it'll come up later in the budget. Uh, I use some, uh, district funds to bring in two very large cleague lights, which are those lights that shine up into the sky,
similar to what they do in New York City. Uh, that will represent and signify the Twin Towers. Uh, that will be lit all evening. Uh, can be seen from well out of Palm City, but certainly in Palm City. And I'd like to thank our
Martin County staff, many different departments, the library, parks and wreck, uh, and many others that year after year help us to not forget because the worst thing that we can do, uh, is to forget that this ever
happened. Um, there is an expression that says you die twice if people stop remembering you. So, as long as I have the privilege of sitting up here, we'll continue to do that. I invite all of you to come. I believe there's probably some
other ceremonies taking place. I know the city of Stewart is having um their police and fire walk over the Roosevelt Bridge in the morning. So, if you uh prefer to do that, you can. Uh and then
that's what I would have to say about that. So, thank you so much, Madam Chair. Thanks, Commissioner Heatherington. Thank you for that. And we'll see you, thank you for organizing that. We'll see you at the Bridgewalk on Thursday. And I think Mr. Powell has left, but I ran into him at an Indian Town Chamber of
Commerce event um Saturday and said to him that I would come see his property. And I I completely understand his concerns. I know staff is working with him on addressing some of the drainage issues. And I think that if any of us uh
had stood at his property when that PU PUD was approved that the mobility path that we would have thought that it probably needs some kind of barrier, landscaping, fence, wall. I don't know what could be done now at this point,
but I I would certainly encourage us to look into seeing what could be done. And I I I do believe he was respectful and can understand his concerns. May I also add that if there were trees that were removed by accident, I
wouldn't want to wait until the project was over either. They took them out. They're a big company that's done that project, we approved it, they need to be neighborly, and he should not have to wait months, if not a year, to have his trees put back, especially if they were taken out and they were not supposed to
be. So I would also echo what Commissioner Heatherington just said. It is if not the if the developer does not want to be neighborly then it's our responsibility to make them be neighborly. So if you needed some head sh head head
nods I'm giving you a head nod that I he could not have been more respectful considering the imposition he's facing. We're on it. Good. Commissioner C. I have clear direction. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Powell referred to a 10- foot wide sidewalk. When I heard that, the first
thing that came to mind was the Suntrail. Uh, is that why it's 10 ft wide? Because it's part of that thing, you know, that that sidewalk that goes from Florida to Maine. That particular location is not part of
the the Sun Trail. That's uh a north south corridor. Um, okay. So it would be a separate um requirement. But it I suppose the purpose of the the wide sidewalk would be for similar purposes so that it's a multi-use. Shared use. That's correct.
Shared use. Okay. So that it's suitable for rollerbladers and bicyclists and walkers and Yes. All that. So thank you, Mr. Donaldson. Um I just have uh one item just really giving you a quick update on um the county attorney
uh recruitment and selection committee um which is made up of Carolyn Timman, Denise Marie Neman, and myself and John Budenek. We did review all of the applicants and did come up with a ranked order based upon written um submission.
And with your concurrence, we will continue with uh interviews of our top candidates and bring you back a ranked list of that's based upon both the written and interviews. That good with everybody? Yep. Yeah, sure. Thank you,
Miss Elder. I have nothing. Thank you. And we will proceed with our board and committee appointments. Starting with health facilities authority appointment. We have one vacancy. [Applause] I did not tell you I was doing that.
Donna Gordon, for the record, uh, under administration, Health Facilities Authority, one person is being asked to be appointed and Charles Clever received five votes. Is there a motion to approve Mr. Cleaver.
So moved. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Next appointment is affordable housing advisory committee appointments. We're asking you to appoint up to two
Martin County citizens, but one uh for the category of a banking mortgage person connected with affordable housing. She is Jodie Dupri. And then the other two that received the most votes is Dr. Reverend Deborah Allen
and Mrs. Diane Owens. Is there a motion to approve Dr. Allen and Miss Owens? Move approval. And Mrs. Dupe, right? And Mrs. Dupe. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes
unanimously. The next appointment is a business development board appointment. Business development board. I'm asking you to appoint one person. The person with the most vote v votes is Mr. Jeppi Piston. Is there a motion to appoint Jeppi Joey
Piston? I'll move approval of uh Mr. Piston. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. And last but not least is our usual
uh wonderful uh slate of appointees for the library board of trustees. Three people and went better than I thought it would go. Mrs. Joy Banks received four votes.
Mrs. Susan Hayer received three votes and Mrs. Katherine Spurgis Spurgeon received five votes. That's the most motion to accept those uh names. Second. There's a motion and a second.
Commissioner Caps. No, I'm I'm good. Okay. Motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you all for volunteering to participate on our committees. Those are wonderful
applications. Thank you. We will now move to uh a department quasi judicial number one which is a request for approval of the phase one final site plan for the ranch planned unit development. This is quasi
judicial. Any exparte disclosures? Uh commissioner Vargas. I have any. They've been filed. Commissioner Caps. If I have any, they have been filed. If I have any, they've been filed. Commissioner Campy, I have some and they've been filed. And Commissioner Heatherington? I do and those have been filed.
Excellent. Uh, Mr. Sinnot, this is Quasi Judicial. Have you turned in your uh information to the clerk? Turning in a copy of my work history in the agenda item to be filed as anyone who's going to be uh providing
testimony, please stand and be sworn in. Raise your right hands. Do you swear or affirm the evidence you're about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good morning, commissioners. I'm John Senate, principal planner with growth
management. This is a request by Urban Design Studio and Tyson Waters on behalf of JWA Ranch for approval of the ranch PUD phase 1 final site plan. The development of phase 1 includes agricultural activities, two 18hole golf courses, a short course, clubhouse, cart
barns, operations and maintenance facility, range building, training facility, seven golf cottages, and associated infrastructure. Phase 1 consists of approximately 1842 acres located on the south side of Southwest Caner Highway and Southwest Bridge Road
in Stewart. Included is a request for a certificate of public facilities reservation. You can see the overall boundaries of the ranch PUB here in red. It's approximately 3900 acres in size. The ranch was formerly known as Kousa Creek
Ranch. It's been used for cattle ranching as well as a nursery for commercial landscape materials. The property to the east of the ranch is zone A 2A. The properties to the south and west are zoned A2 agricultural.
To the northeast at the intersection of Bridge Road and Caner Highway, you can see the Three Lakes PUB otherwise known as Apogee. And to the west of the site on the north side of Caner is the Rolling Sands Golf
Course Development. The future land use designation of the property is Rural Lifestyle. The nearby Apogee Golf Course is also a rural lifestyle development. The other surrounding properties are within the agricultural future land use designation.
This is an excerpt from the approved phasing plan. As you can see, phase one is entirely on the south side of Caner Highway and Bridge Road. The other grade out areas on the south side are within phase two. and the grade out area on the
north side of Caner Highway is phase three. The ranch PUD was approved in April 2024. First PUD amendment with a revised master site plan and revised phasing plan was approved in October 2024. Overall, the ranch PUB includes bonafide
agriculture, 175 single family lots, two 18hole golf courses, short course, rangehouse and training center with associated amenities, clubhouse, golf course, golf cottages, recreational accessory uses, residential multi-slip docking facility,
maintenance facilities, and associated infrastructure. The application before you today is the phase 1 final site plan again consisting of 1842 acres on the south side of Bridge Road and Caner Highway. Phase one includes two 18hole golf courses, a
short course, clubhouse, cart barns, operations and maintenance facility, range building, training facility, seven golf cottages, and associated infrastructure. Phase 1 also includes roughly 500 acres of bonafide agriculture,
196 acres of wetland preserve, and 121 acres of wetland buffers and upland preserve. Phase one includes one internal roadway connection to Southwest Caner Highway and one internal roadway connection to Southwest Bridge Road with
accompanying turn lanes. Phase one also includes the construction of an equestrian trail in the Bridge Road rightway. This is the proposed phase one final site plan sheet two. On the right side of the plan, you can
see the connection to Bridge Road along with a gate house. Towards the center, you can see the ranch operations and golf course maintenance facility. There's an associated entrance off of Caner Highway.
And in the southwest portion of phase one, you can see the two golf courses as well as the clubhouse and training facilities. Pursuant to article 10, table 10.5 F9 Barton County Land Development Regulations, review of this application
is not required by the local planning agency. Development review staff have found the JWA ranch application to comply with all applicable regulations and the comprehensive growth management plan as detailed in the staff report. Staff recommendation is to move that the
board receive and file the agenda item and its attachments including the staff report as exhibit one and move that the board adopt the resolution approving the phase one final site plan for the ranch pud including the preserve area management plan. That concludes my presentation.
Questions for staff? Seeing none, applicant, would you like to make a presentation? Good morning, Tyson Waters from the law firm of Fox McCluskey. Excited to be here in front of you today for this phase one final site plan approval. Um,
we greatly appreciate staff's time and effort and working with us to get to this point today and we agree uh with staff's recommendation and ask that you would do the same thing. Again, just as a little bit of background, staff did a great job giving an overview of of what's in front of you
today. Uh, this is the ranch PUD, just over 3,900 acres at the intersection of Bridge Road and Caner Highway and Hope Sound. Uh phase one consists of about uh just over 1,800 acres. So a little bit less than half of the overall uh site.
Uh this is um the site plan and what you see kind of in the in the the non-hashed out colors is phase one. Um it can is comprised of as staff went over two golf courses plus some golf course amenities such as a clubhouse, a range house, and a maintenance facility. Um, we're also
asking for seven cottages as part of this phase one final site plan approval. Um, and I I think most notably too is we're um there's over 200 acres of wetlands that will be covered under a PAMP. So, will be restored and enhanced as part of this final site plan
approval. Um, over 500 acres of agricultural lands will be maintained. Um, 600 acres of landscapes and landscape buffers and 30 acres of upland preserves. So of these, 1800 acres, over
83% are part of that wetlands, uplands landscape, agricultural land. So a vast majority of of this this site plan of this piece of property. I think as we continue to talk about this site plan too, there's a lot of unique components that were part of the
PUD. Um many of which are environmental nature. And with that, we have Toby Overdorf here to speak on those environmental components. I can raise my right hand. Yeah, Mr. Raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm the evidence you are about to
give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? commissioners. Um, this is one of those projects that, uh, I get to, in other words, I get to deal with a great applicant, some great professionals that
work through the process, and I get to do some things that I don't normally get to do as an environmental professional. I get to work on this project that the owner has said, I want to restore this place so it looks like it's always
been here. What we've seen over the last several years on this particular piece of property is that the wetlands have been degraded. Uh they have been uh used in an agricultural fashion so that the cattle on the on the place and nothing has been illegal whatsoever. There's
been no violations and that type of thing. But this is an area that has been degraded just because of agricultural use um across our county. It's a normal thing. However, this applicant has said, "I want to restore this area to a place that I'm going to be really proud of and
be able to really show off the environment that is around us." So, I get to be a part of that. And it's really been a neat process now of creating two really separate habitats, if you will, in looking at uh two courses that we're we're putting in out
there. are the cottages intermixed with that. the east side course being more of an open prairie um and wet prairie area. On the west side, more of a a forested wetlands and even integrated within that is a uh a heron rrookery that has been
uh we discovered it kind of in our in our first initial review of the place and uh our our owner said I I really want to emphasize that. I want to make sure that stays there forever. And as a result, he has voluntarily put a large buffer around that area and made sure
that that is something that he can uh assure that's going to be there for a long time. As we look at the the processes in front of you in this particular slide and we're looking at water quality issues on the site. Number one, he's taking waters from the C44.
It's coming into the property. when it goes back out that property, that water is a heck of a lot cleaner than it was when it came into that property. The restor the restoration of the latoral shelves, looking at areas that we're actually going to be cleaning waters as
it comes in and goes back out is a truly an added benefit when we look at the restoration of the hydraological levels within the wetlands themselves. This is an area that we're going to be able to uh restore groundwater. having uh large open uh areas that are going to allow
for that groundwater to go back down in uh to our to our overall Florida aquifer and therefore recharge these areas as well. That's enhanced of course by bringing additional waters into the property. As we look overall um in the restoration of the hydrarology again
we're not taking water out of the property constantly in other words to uh enhance the agriculture. What we're doing is actually bringing it in, enhancing the wetlands instead, enhancing those areas around it. And we're restoring some areas in between those wetlands as well, which is not
required by any regulation within Martin County, but it is required by our owner who said, "I want to make this place really look natural, really look in a in a way that we're going to be able to intermingle with the native environment." So, uh, we're also
overall, um, preserving over 39% of the upland habitat, which 25% of course is required, but 39% of overall is going to be preserved on this site. And so, this again is one of those projects. It's not a have to, it's a get to. And I'm really
excited to be able to be a part of this project, to be a part of something that I think is going to leave the land a lot better than it was when when we started. and excited to work on this for a long time. So, I would appreciate your support. Thank you so much. And I'll bring Tyson back up.
So, as you know, as part of the rural lifestyle um land use designation, there is a laundry list of PUB additional conditions that everyone's required to do, but I think you've seen, as you heard Toby speak, this project above and beyond those standard public benefits.
And in addition to that environmental component, another unique thing that this project does are those off-site public benefits that touch so much more than just the surrounding area, but a greater vast of the entire county. And to go over some of those off-site public improvements, I'd like to have Tom McNicholas come up here to speak to
those points. Good morning, commissioners. Good morning, staff. Tom McNicholas, for the record, I did swear in outside the glass doors out there. Some of the uh a lot of the off-site projects. And first, I I do want to uh uh exemplify what Toby said. We represented this property and the
land owners on this property for the last 26 years with the Barney family. The Barney family set us out on a task to find somebody who was compatible for Martin County. And what they wanted to do at that time was not only sell the property for for business and personal
family reasons, but they wanted to find somebody who would be a good fit for Martin County and conserve a lot of the land. And I think we've done that with uh Ken and Suzanne Bass who are over my right shoulder who are sitting in the second row behind Tyson. Um this wasn't when you get look at PUDS some people
can think PUDs are transactional. You must do them as an application of the of the agreement with the county. But I'm going to talk to you about some other things that have nothing to do with the PUDS and just good people coming to our community and becoming a part of the community. But first on under the PUD,
the Pine School, the Pine School actually owns Banner Lake. A lot of people don't realize that that that wetland and that habitat there is actually part of the 172 acre private campus known as the Pine School. And when Ken Bax uh toured that facility a
year and a half ago, he looked at some of the needs that they had and that was one of the initial needs because Banner Lake has been needed to be cleaned up for decades. Uh the county with you in partnership, I believe you all are still doing a water study now on Banner Lake where it can be recharged. But that
$50,000 in kind restoration was started last spring and already completed in May of June of this year. So that project is done and we have a lot more coming. We're in planning right now with the volunteers at South Fork. It's a big volunteer body. What we found there was
a need that they had flooding and they had a par three golf course that was severely overgrown. uh the the ranch and the Bax family uh contributed is contributing 750,000 in kind to renovate the South Fork Golf Course, but they're
also going in a mentor program with the Greenskeeping students who are on that property. So those K those students at South Fork will actually be helping to design some of this golf course and they'll be watching as this project comes through to fruition. To be very specific, you have world-class designers
who are designing the golf courses that you saw on the on the plan that Tyson showed you. So, they'll be working with those students to design a par 3 golf course at South Fork High School. That planning is in the process right now. The third leg of this stool is University of Florida Ephus. I think we
all know in the community that uh Ephus and University of Florida has been designated to a small spot at the existing grounds where they are. Uh they approached us, we approached them. I can't remember which. Nonetheless, what we came up with was we're going to donate at least 20 acres to them on the
site of the ranch. So, they'll be part of a living active agricultural site. Now, it probably will be one of the best locations in the state of Florida for University of Florida and Ephus. That is in the planning process now and you'll see that in phase two when we bring that back forward with the county. Uh that
also is going to result in about 50,000 of inind services to plan out uh their site. We don't want to just give them the land and let them struggle. We want to actually help them activate it and put them on that site. Above and beyond these PUDs, um what Ken Bax has done is he's gone out and look at other needs. I
think many of you are familiar with our foundation. Ken asked me what I was doing in the community. So the the reconstruction of the high school fields at Martin County for the baseball fields doesn't really happen without the Bax family. What they did was there was a lot of flooding at that facility for
years. So in December we redid those fields. It was Ken Bax who sto who came up and stood forward and brought in $75,000 worth of fresh sand so that those fields no longer flood. Those the Martin County High School baseball team kicks off
their first fall game tonight. As an aside above and beyond that, you're also familiar with the work that's been done at Hidden Oaks to restore those fields. Those trees didn't get there by themselves. It was the Bax family who came forward exclusive of this PUD and brought in 120 trees. all of them are
living and maintained and now uh that site too is fantastic. So we appreciate your support with this. We ask for your support and uh so we can continue to do good work in the community. Thank you. So just quickly to um to to Oops.
Well, just quickly to wrap this up again, staff has complete complies across the board. Um, confirmed we comply with the comprehensive plan, land development regulations, our plan, unit development agreement, and we're in compliance with the master site plan.
So, again, we'd asked for um you would agree with staff's recommendation and for your approval. And and just in conclusion, when I started my presentation, I I said how excited I was that we were here as part of this phase one final site plan. I think Toby actually said it best that we get to be
here, that we get to be part of this project because truly you have local people on this project team. And we're truly excited and proud to be a part of the team and to be able to put our name on this project for generations to come. and we're excited for you to see what
we've anticipated, what we've seen behind the scenes. Finally, with this final site plan, everyone's going to be able to see what this project is going to look like. So, again, we'd ask for your support and your um approval of the project, and we've got our entire project team here in case you have any questions. Thank you.
Questions for the applicant. Commissioner Campy. Thank you very much. This is um another opportunity for us to hear a little bit more about the project. I know that when I had first had the opportunity to hear about it a couple of years ago, you
know, that's the way it works here. Uh someone have an idea, it goes through an idea phase for a while before it is then sort of formalized into an application to the county and then that process really kicks off. Quite an extensive uh as should be and that's what makes
Martin County special. We obviously don't uh just rail projects through uh despite what some minority might think. This is a perfect example and uh some of the comments that I had written down to highlight were mentioned by some of the
consultants, but some of them do bear repeating. Um, the overall project for the ranch is nearly 4,000 acres. And and I remember thinking about the size of the city of Stewart. If you take out the,400
approximately 1,400 acres of water uh within the city of Stewart, you're left with 3,000 acres of actual land in the entire city of Stewart. This project is nearly 4,000 acres um with very few
homes, majority of it, 92% of I think about 92% being left in some natural state or an enhanced natural state because we all understand that if you just leave a beautiful pristine property to just do its own thing, the evasives
come in and and strangle everything. So, it's very expensive to leave something in its quote unquote natural state. Um, and they're obviously going to do that. You heard about the bird habitat, the bird habitat. And it reminds me when you look at a
size of property at this level that a year ago our residents voted nearly 65% to tax themselves to raise money to buy environmentally sensitive lands so that we can protect them. That's what we like to do here.
Well, we're spending that money to do that. and we have a whole organization in place to do it. But what can you imagine that the thousands of acres of this property that will be also maintained and remember even when we own
it and we purchase it as a community, additional money is spent to keep it maintained. All of this is being handled privately by a family. And then I have this expression that I've used quite often. It's people give where they
live. The Backax family in in an effort to bring this project to Martin County, which I agree when you hear folks say we get to work on this project. That's the consultants. Well, as a county, we get this project. And as far as I'm
concerned, it is the magnitude of benefits. I could go on and on and on. Tom McNicholas mentioned them briefly, but they bear 20 acres for EFAS. And I see our IFAS representative is here. That's tremendous. They're on a
postage stamp in Stewart at the fairgrounds forever. And they've been able to do remarkable work on a postage stamp. Imagine what they'll be able to do. And I don't think it's it's really exaggerating that this will have to be
and having a UF graduate and the family, this will have to be the premier IAUS location in the state of Florida and that's saying something considering Martin County is a relatively small county compared to what some of the others can be. The reconstruction of the
golf course at South Fork High School is remarkable. And then what Tom had mentioned as an aside is, oh, by the way, these kids will get an opportunity to come over and work on design and work on seeing the construction. I think very, very few people have ever seen a
golf course that wasn't already a golf course and the engineering and the and the dynamic construction process to shape, especially in Florida where everything is billiard table flat to create a worldclass golf course. The
kids that have thought about going into turf management from South Fork High School will be an opportunity that they will never get anywhere else. And most courses at this level would not allow students on their project.
But this family is going to do that. So needless to say, and I know that this is um quasi judicial, but needless to say, I am also very appreciative of the Basque family. They started with their own
money and their own efforts to show what a project like this can do for the community. And I don't know if you could tell, I'm pretty happy about it. Uh I know I'm sort of I sound like I'm on the fence, but um but I think this is a
historic opportunity for us. And we have a couple others that create this synergy uh that we are so fortunate to have in Martin County. And I think part of it, the reason that they would have selected Martin County, because they could have gone anywhere,
they have one of the best and nicest golf courses uh in the country out in eastern Long Island, which is worldrenown. So, we don't have to worry about this family. Can they pull this off? They have, and we will be very
fortunate. I am very pleased uh to have them decide to do this in Martin County. And when it's time, I would love to uh put a motion in to accept staff's recommendation for the first phase of what's going to be a remarkable project.
Thank you, Commissioner Vargas. Questions for the applicant? Yes. Uh I do. Uh thank you so much for your presentation. Very nice. Um uh this is outside the urban service boundary. Is that correct? Is that correct?
Okay. So, one of the big concerns we've had and considerations is uh fire. Is the developer paying for a fire station and to staff that out there for Martin County?
It seems it falls on us all the time to try and scramble for money. Are there switches should the need be? Would somebody like to address that from the developer or the representative? So the fire department was not a part of the public benefits package from this
particular project. However, they have a lot of their own um facilities and they have very little demand on the fire department. We are constructing cottages, aren't you? Barns for the golf
course. Tyson, would you like to speak to I I don't want to keep talking for the I appreciate that. In working with the the fire district as part of the site plan approval, there was never a need expressed for one. I
believe there is one in relative proximity to the site and so all the on-site infrastructure for water and sewer and all that will be on the developers um the the property owners burden to to pay for all that infrastructure. But what about the fire station? because this will come up again to us as you
know. I wasn't sitting here when this was approved originally. We have a lot of golf courses um in this county. Um and I come from a very populous county also Miami Dade County. Um so if nobody's talking about
it, what happens when it comes up then later on? I don't think it was ignored. I think during the review process, it was deemed that that another fire station or any additional services to serve this piece of property were necessary. So, it it we did go through that typical normal
review to make sure our evaluation that we met capacity, we met concurrency, and all of those items were checked off, that we've we've met the concurrency, we meet those those the level of service required to make sure this property is adequately served with with uh fire protection.
Well, so we we just don't address this then until until it comes up and we need a fire station and it and fire trucks and personnel. We were we were told um at a meeting within the last two months that yes, there was it was going to be necessary
to replace the Tropical Farms fire station, which is the far the fire station that you're referring to that's in close proximity to this. So, is there a need to replace Tropical Farms or is there not? So, the the Tropical Farms uh
fire station, which is needing rehabilitation, uh and looking long-term, that the fire department recommended that it be moved from its current location within the uh residential community and find a location that would uh provide better
response times, especially for um part of their I95 and and uh and servicing the urban boundary uh to the east. um that has been our discussion in terms of a land development or regulation. The fire station is currently meeting the
level of service. So it is uh an objective to meet long-term that when we look at that fire station rehabilitation or replacement, the recommendation was that rather than rehabbing the existing fire station within the neighborhood
that uh for the long-term um level of service, it would be better to to move it. Um in terms of priority for level of service, Western Palm City was the highest priority. This was not failing or predicted to fail level service um uh
uh at this time. So that is why in terms of the land development process, this was not um identified as a immediate need for a new station when it came through. um that presentation to you on the fire station which was just a a few
months ago is certainly looking long-term that the recommendation again is that we um consider uh finding a spot uh in the future for uh relocating that station.
So how how are we resolving this then? It's not part of the benefits package. I understand that, but for the benefit of the citizens of Martin County and and that's that's who we have to
consider everyone. So in terms of the actual process we are today, the PUD uh which was negotiated a couple of years ago um uh and and approved uh at that time um is outlines uh all that is when all of the public
benefits were uh enumerated uh that where the process we are in today um and Miss Elder and others can more eloquently um uh present it but It is really um following the PUD and the
master plan that was uh previously approved and the job of the developer today is to approve that they are meeting the requirements of the previously approved PUD and and master plan. Elise Elder
Elise Elder acting county attorney. So with every final site plan that's brought before the board that um proposes construction, the developer or the applicant has to reserve capacity for our level of service. So you'll see in there there's a certificate of reservation of capacity. So what that
means is that the level of service is evaluated for everything for libraries, for fire rescue, for roads and the this staff could not recommend approval of a project if there wasn't capacity for a levels of service. So right now there is a capacity for a fire rescue level of
service and you'll see there's a certificate that they're requesting to reserve capacity for their development for this final site plan. As the next final site plan comes forward, they'll have to do another certificate requesting to reserve capacity and a new analysis will be done at that time. So
we look at it every step of the way and right now for fire rescue the level of service is okay and they're reserving capacity under our current level of service. So that's how it's addressed right now. A and again just to kind of take it one step further, we do in the staff review
process again um the fire prevention there is that fire prevention review and you can see on this slide that they did determine this was to comply. We've got certain conditions in our PUD to make sure that the commercial structures have a fire suppression system in it. And then finally, this is what we're here
for today is the implement the approval of a final site plan, which simply is intended to implement your master site plan in conjunction with your PUD. So, we have worked throughout this process to make certain that we've addressed all of those fire safety needs. We believe
we have, as your staff and and county attorney have pointed out, you know, we've got those compliance, we've got capacity, we've got concurrency. So, we believe that we've met the county's requirements to ensure that this property um has all necessary fire safety implementations and we believe
that your staff has agreed with that. Okay, good. Good to know. We don't have to build another station, right? Um so, in your uh benefits, you uh claim that your this project will enhance water quality of the runoff into the C44
canal. It will reduce nutrient loading to the C44. It will reduce the quantity of storm water discharge. So right now the property is agriculture uh pasture pretty much not row crops. Um so
you're going to add two 18hole golf courses, a short course. Um those are have the reputation of being nutrient very hungry. tell me how you're going to
uh achieve these goals and what kind of monitoring will be done to uh ensure that the pre versus post conditions are better and not worse. I'll have Jason Weber from Kimley Horn come up here. He's the project engineer.
Good morning, chair and commissioners. Jason Weber with Kimley Horn for the record, civil engineer on the project. Um we do have some numbers in front of me if you'd like to hear any of those. They were all in our storm water management calculations that have been reviewed and approved by county engineering staff as a part of this process and we're at the finish line
with South Florida Water Management District as well. Um, from a provided standpoint of the water quality treatment volumes that are required, we went above and beyond what the requirement is of both Martin County as well as the South Florida Water
Management District by 52%. So providing significantly more volutric ability of our lakes, detention areas, swailes, and other storm water management features to treat that water. Uh as Tom mentioned, we're bringing water in from the C44
canal to use for irrigation purposes and to rehydrate wetlands as Toby mentioned. So bringing that water quality in, treating it through our lakes and other features that are part of the storm water management system and then discharging it out through uh an updated
control structure. From the water quality treatment perspective of phase one, it's actually higher. It's that 52% that I mentioned for the overall project because we have to look at this project as an entire project at first. So we're not doing too many step-wise fashions.
The overall project is providing over 42% more water quality treatment volume than is required by either the county or South Florida. The discharge rate is also being reduced. So, not only are we treating the water, we're letting the water out slower than is in the
pre-existing condition. That's about 50% of a reduction there. uh which is significantly below the typical allowable rate that is uh allowed by South Florida Water Management District as well. Um from a nutrient loading
perspective as well, uh the water quality treatment methods that we've got on the site, the lakes, vegetative filter strips, which I'll get into in a moment, and other um other factors, the dry detention areas, we only need to meet a net reduction. So basically either meat exactly what it is today
with a significantly high nutrient loading that comes as a part of agricultural use just as a nature of that use uh we're reducing those by 23% of the nutri the nitrogen loading that is required and 42% of the phosphorus
loading. So uh significantly more treatment of that water provided by that method of uh analysis. And then the volutric, as I mentioned, we're we're bringing the water out slower than is required as well, but we're also holding more of that water. So, in the design
storms, uh we have a reduction of about 24% of the volume of water that leaves our site. So, when it rains, uh we are actually letting less water out. We're holding more of that water within the site. So, all benefits to the county, South Florida Water Management District,
the canal, and the residents. So, what kind of nutrients are being added to the land now free? And then tell me what kind of nutrients are going to be added to the project when the two 18hole golf
courses and the short course are added. Any specifics? Great question. Um, and I appreciate appreciate the question. the the course itself um obviously will need some uh some added nutrients to it. However,
when you look at there is there was uh current agriculture that is on the property that was associated with the tree farms um as well as the uh the cattle operations that did have nutrients associated with it. What you heard from Jason was uh regardless of
what is being utilized to grow turf or the other things that are on the site, we've done a couple of different items that fertilizer um that may be utilized to grow grasses on the horse is actually being contained on the property through the use of number one bioavails which
actually take that nutrient out and the property is actually then treating those. So in other words, that material is then being taken out of the system entirely. When you look at the water coming into the process right now, it is filled with nutrients as you're well aware from C44 and the upstream that
comes into the property as well being stored in the property. Less of it going back out, but what is going back out has gone through the treatment process. You have to, if you will, um, and looking at the site plan itself, the courses are on the southern portion of the property. The outfalls are on the northern portion
of the property. As you transverse and go through the waterways, that nutrients, those nutrients, if there are any, are being taken out as we go through that process. So, it's a stairstep process. In other words, that vegetation which is the best fil the best way you can remove vegetation or
excuse me remove nutrients is through a stairst step uh marsh system which is exactly what we have within our latoral shelves within the areas that are actually cleansing that water. So the materials that you're going to get at the outfall which by the way we still have to monitor and we're required to
monitor as part of our water management district permit that is going to be less than what is coming into the prop property. So, you're getting a net benefit associated with water quality regardless of what happens on the interior of that property. I hope that helps. So, the nutrients that you're adding in
order to fertilize the golf courses is not going to be discharged into the C44. It's going to remain on site to be treated there and reused. The the nutrients that we're putting onto the property are going to stay on the property. That is correct, ma'am. And then the material that you're seeing
coming into the property, which has a high nutrient value, the net going out is going to have a lower nutrient value if it goes out at all. Like you heard from our our engineer, majority of that water is staying on site and we're rehydrating as much as we possibly can. We realize the value of that water.
Thank you. Certainly. And the size of the cottages that are are uh proposed on phase one. Can somebody address that? And also tell me about the size of the clubhouse that's proposed in phase one.
Uh so the cottages there's seven of them. I believe two have are four bedroomedroom and the others are eight. Um okay. The the four bedroomedroom cottages are roughly 4,400 square ft. The 8bedroom cottages are roughly 8,000 square feet
and the the clubhouse is about 87,000 square feet. Okay. Thank you. Uh, Commissioner Campy, just a quick follow-up question for the gentleman from Kimbley Horn, please.
Yes, sir. Thank you. As I've been up here a bit, as you were reading off those statistics, um, 52% decrease, 42%, 25%. You've had, this is not the first project you've ever worked on, correct? Correct.
Have you ever seen numbers like that before? No. In all honesty, the vast majority of projects we designed to just barely meet the minimum requirements to get to get permits and don't go above and beyond the the level that this project does. Correct. So, you're another uh person and
organization that's happy to be working on something. It's it's career. It's interesting for you in your career. Correct. Absolutely. Uh one of a kind. One of a kind. Thank you very much, Commissioner Heatherington. Yes. So I was going to we had a really
interesting presentation. It was before I think some of our new colleagues joined us on golf courses and the new evolving best practices of how they maintain their land and and I was amazed and very um informed to find out that
there are so many great new best practices that utilize environmental tactics and it it ellayaided any of my concerns of adding nutrients particularly in this location where you're taking already um nutrient-rich
water out of the C44 and cleansing it. And I think that's a benefit. And I just wrote some other notes um on this project. It's um I wrote 4,000 acres and and that's a phenomenal. We're preserving 92% almost open space on this
4,000 acres. And if you think about that, as Commissioner Campy said, as the size of city of Stewart, I think that to our um residents who are interested in preserving and conserving land, I think it's a benefit. And many many years ago,
and I probably don't have the number right, this property, I believe, was entitled to 600 or some odd units and um and adequate fire and that kind of um services were attributed to that. So,
the fact that now fast forward and thank you to the land owners for their commitment um in Martin County, the Barney family, and I will say thank you to the Bax family because the vision that you started with when you came to meet with us. You have really um you
have been true to that vision and I think it'll be an asset for Martin County. The PUB benefits, the benefit that South Fork High School and some of our trades will get out of this project, I think are innumerable and something that our residents um appreciate. And as
as um we know that's near and dear to our heart, too. So, we appreciate you working with them and we're proud to have you as a member of our community. I think the benefits and the open space and the vision and I know you're going to keep that rural corridor rural which
was very important to us. You committed to do that in the PUD and I appreciate that. So I'm I'll be proud to support when the time comes. Uh we'll take public comment now. The first request to speak form I have is from David Hafner followed by Brandon
Tucker. What happened to Harry? I didn't bring cookies. I noticed that. Good morning. Morning, commissioners. David Hafner of Palm City. Um, you know, I'm proud um supporter of agriculture uh here in Martin County across the state and
beyond. U proud Farm Bureau member and uh I'm proud to to support this project. Um as as Mr. Overdorf was speaking and we've heard the word excitement and his report that made me excited to hear all the benefits that this project brings to
our environment. Uh as an agriculturalist, our environment is number one. Without the without the environment, you don't have agriculture and to know how much this is going to benefit and preserve green space and a land and uh minimize that that uh
residential footprint really excites me. um you know that that land is developable as it stands. So you can have a house on every 20 acres. Uh this compacts all that so you can preserve wide open spaces and you're not sectioning that off. You can actually
make use of it. Um it benefits our community as we've heard through the tax base. That's going to be a huge boost I'm sure. Um and then the other benefits we've seen that they've dedicated to our community improving um our schools and and I think that's a really awesome benefit.
Um you know I uh I've also heard today that this is a one-of-a-kind project and I believe that but I hope it doesn't remain a one-of-a-kind project. Um I'm hoping that this will become the trend that we see a merging of preserving our a land through development. We're we're
making smart growth. We're taking small chunks of land that we can then preserve the rest of that land. Uh, as a member of the E-Lock committee, um, if this was before us, I would rank this very high in and send it to you guys hoping that you would make this purchase. So, it's a really great benefit that we don't have
to that it's already being preserved without using our tax base. So, thank you very much. Brandon Tucker is next, followed by Jennifer Pelum. Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the commission, county staff. My name is Brandon Tucker. I'm the executive director of the Florida Land Owners
Association. It's always a privilege to be here at home in Martin County with you to talk about this incredible project here this morning. The ranch project uh truly exemplifies the Martin County difference that we've heard about for so long in this county. It demonstrates responsible private
property stewardship that ensures land is cared for with long-term community and environmental interest in mind. This project is proactive with its environmental protections and management, setting a strong example for future developments, not only in Martin County, but across the entire state of Florida. And as executive director of
FLA, I had the opportunity to see all types of projects throughout the state of Florida and involved in issues in Tallahassee as well. And it makes me very proud to be in Martin County to see what we've accomplished here. uh you as the county commission, as a county staff, the applicant, uh what has been
accomplished here. When I look at the staff report, I'll reference page 11 of 21. And what jumped out to me is we've heard about 1842 acres that this phase consists of. And in most counties with a vested ride of 1 to 20, as you just heard from Mr. Hafner, we could have
potentially 90 residential units spread out on 20 acre tracks. But in Martin County, and probably only in Martin County alone, in the state of Florida, would you read that approximately 500 acres will remain as bonafideed agricultural land that an additional 117 acres of former agricultural lands will
remain and be enhanced by establishment of native grasses, shrubs, and pollinator species. 2,758 existing trees will be relocated and 15,522 new tree plantings will be installed to
restore native res vegetation throughout the property. All I can say to that when I read that kind of staff report is wow and how impressive that is. So, I congratulate not only you as a county commissioners here in Martin County, our county staff for the fine work that they've done, but also the the taxpayers
and the general public that throughout this process that have been either for or against parts of this project. It's always great to see the public involvement that you really only see in Martin County to be so engaged. But it's because of that Martin County difference and because of that input that has
brought us to this point here today. So, I congratulate all of you. I congratulate the applicant for their hard work and FLA fully supports seeing this phase one site plan be approved and move forward. Thank you. Thank you. Jennifer Pelum is next followed by John
Ber. Good morning. I'm Jennifer Palum. I'm the county extension director and urban horiculture agent with the University of Florida EFAS extension here in Martin County. and I'm here to ask for your continued support of extension in Martin County. As you know, the land for uh
extension and a new building for EFAS extension has been generously donated to the county by the ranch project uh specifically for the purpose of building a new building. Uh we were fortunate to meet the Mc McNicholas team uh that built this connection uh with the ranch
project. That g that gift represents a strong vote of confidence in the value of IFAS extension and the services that we provide to Martin County. UFIFAS extension in Martin County is a vital resource. We serve thousands of residents every year including our farmers, our families, youth, research
businesses, homeowner associations, and also local governments uh through researchbased education and outreach. from helping home homeowners manage landscapes and conserve water to supporting agriculture and the 23,000 a related jobs we have here in Martin County which make up about 23% of the
jobs in Martin County to working with water quality issues and preparing our youth for leadership through 4 and also our other programs we reach nearly everyone in the county in Martin County as you know our current facilities are quite small that was mentioned already
today uh we're located on the north end of the fairground and they do limit our ability to grow and serve Martin County residents. A new building would allow us to expand our programming, engage in applied research, host more community events, and provide better access and
resources for our residents. It would also reflect the professionalism and innovation that extension extension brings to Martin County. Uh a new extension building is not just a building. It's a hub for of education, sustainability, and community resilience. Your support will ensure
that Martin County continues to survive through science-based solutions and strong partnerships. So, thank you for your continued support of IFAS Extension. Thank you. John Boyer is next, followed by Terry Gibson. Good morning. Uh, for the record, my name is John Boyer and I serve as the
director of development at the Pine School in Hob Sound. Uh, I'm here on behalf of our head of school, Benny Caffrey, who is hosting an honors ceremony for our students this morning. Uh, commissioners and staff, we're grateful to um to be here today to thank Ken Bax and the leadership of the ranch
for their extraordinary commitment to the Pine School uh community. Their gift of $50,000 of inind work made possible the cleaning of invasive growth from Banner Lake uh which is a major part of our 172 acre campus. Uh this work began
last spring and finished uh this summer. The first phase of exotic removal uh is a critical step in restoring Banner Lake, something I know that uh Martin County has envisioned for decades. The restoration not only preserves an important natural resource, but it creates uh unique educational
opportunities for our students uh at the Pine School who will now be able to study science uh ecology and conservation in a hands-on setting right on their own campus. Um, so our hope is that Banner Lake will not only be uh an environmental gem for the county, but
also as a living outdoor classroom uh that inspires uh current and future generations of students at the Pine School. So on behalf of Pine, uh, thank you commissioners and a big thank you to Ken Bax. Thank you. Terry Gibson is next,
followed by Harry MacArthur. Good morning. Good morning, commissioners, staff, old friends. Um, my name's Terry Gibson. I live in Jensen Beach, Florida. I work for a national organization, though I'm representing myself today, called Deploy US. And my job is to make sure that private land
owners mesh with public land managers and we get uh um the the new energy infrastructure in place without disturbing wildlife, making sure things are compatible. I work on a national level. I just got back from Paradise Valley in Montana and if if I and you
would not believe the sprawl along the Yellowstone River. What's going on? If they saw a project like this out there, they would salivate. Salivate. Not kidding. Um we we absolutely have if we want wildlife corridors, we want
contiguous habitats, we've got to approve projects like this. So plea please approve it. I mean, I've dedicated my life to trying to make things as as good as you can in constraining circumstances, and this is um this is an exceptional project. I want to commend the staff.
I mean, the the rigor of review of this project has been absolutely amazing. Absolutely amazing. I I've never seen this in any other place I've ever worked. Uh Martin County has a chance here to make a national example out of a project like this. So, anyway, I I
strongly support this. I'm very proud of you guys for for your hard work. proud of the people that brought it to you and and the and the uh the sense of pride that this brings to our community. Thank you. Thank you. Harry MacArthur is next and Mr. MacArthur is the last request to
speak form. I have I don't see any cookies. I know I didn't. I was bad. Darn it. Darn it. Shucks. I was a little busier than usual this morning and I was just bad. I didn't think about it. You got a bad neck. I apologize. neck. Yeah. Fractured C1,
just a broken neck, you know, nothing for a burger flipper, you know. But, uh, Harry MacArthur, I just want to thank the commissioners and staff for for all the time you do and everything you do and and, um, keeping this county great and I just appreciate you and what
you go through and thank you so much. Um, I spoke on this project I on rule density since we started this and I mean this is the thing we were looking for when we started it and we got Atlantic Fields and we have Apogee and we have
this and if you look at just the the tax revenue we're getting off of uh Atlantic Fields in one year. I mean, if if it's not saving this county and it's saving our roads and everything else, and this is exactly what we were looking for, and
you you know what, you you would have to worry about um uh a lot more than uh fire stations if you would have had uh some of the other things come through. So, thank goodness for rural density. Thank goodness for projects like this because I mean, this was a dream.
I've known Tom for years, McNichols, but I didn't know of him wi with this. I read about this project about a year ago or so, year and a. And I kept seeing and when I saw it come up on the thing, I went, "How can anybody say no to this?" I was just crazy about it and just
thought it was the best thing going. I mean, I'm excited to have it. The only thing I would say is if we when we do the the marina in there, if we could go into the the C44 and blow off the top
like 3 foot of that sludge there and then dredge out of there and so some of that stuff starts sliding down and see how that approves that area and the water quality around there right there. You you might get a boost in water quality right there. About 15 20 years
ago, uh I was working Nathaniel Reid. We had a whole project going for the South Fork of the St. Lucy River. We were going to go three spots. We were going to go in there and take the top three feet out, go down 60 to 80 feet and let all of it slide down in it. And
unfortunately, um Jack James Road, the industrial park in there, what happened? Prices fell. Everybody bought. We couldn't afford to dredge onto that property. And so we lost a project, but you know what? This is a thing that maybe you can work with them on. And
it's it's a special deal. But thank you. Hope for approval for this. This is very special. Thank you to them for doing it and bringing this up because this is what we need and we love Martin County. Thank you. Thank you.
So I'm closing the public hearing portion. Commissioner Campy. to wrap it up. I think that um hopefully all my colleagues would agree that this is one of these remarkable projects that we're fortunate to have and I make a motion to
accept staff's recommendation. Second, Commissioner Can. You know, when I think of this project, uh, there are some folks who might say, why do we have so many golf courses
and Martin County and particularly new ones being built in the western area of Martin County and what you might call the agricultural lands of Martin County. And I think it's good to have a little refresher about the comprehensive plan
and what's in it and what's allowed and what has always been allowed. And it is my understanding that golf courses have always been allowed anywhere in Martin County in the egg
lands in the urban area. It doesn't matter. That's something I think we need to really clarify to people. From the very beginning of the comprehensive plan when it was implemented in 1982, one of the approved uses of agricultural land
was a golf course. And whether we like it or not, it's always been in the rules. Is that correct, Miss Elder? Yes, it is. you can have a golf course under um from our under our comp plan and agriculture land and there are some out there under a
right I think it's just good to remember that and to refresh our memories on it and speaking of other basic thoughts about the comp plan I think this is a a good time to refresh our memories about the different kinds of land use
decisions that become before the county commission and some of them have broader discretion built into them for commissioners like say the comprehensive plan amendment. When there's a comp plan amendment,
uh the legal standard is fairly debatable. As long as it's fairly debatable, commissioners can say yes or no. It's a broad policy decision. And that's called a comprehensive plan amendment. And then there's the zoning
change and that's when you start getting into judicial decisions. You know when judicial decisions are happening when the witnesses are sworn in at the public meeting. And examples of judicial decisions would be a zoning
change or a site plan approval like the one here today or a plat approval. Those are all zoning or uh uh those are all judicial decisions and the the legal standard is different. It's not fairly
debatable like the comp plan amendment. It's competent substantial evidence in the record. So you have a a higher standard. It's sort of like the commissioners are sitting here like judges rather than
legislators. So we have to uh we have to have good reasons to say no when when it's a judicial decision. And um so the decision here today is a
final site plan decision. It's a judicial decision. The standard is competent substantial evidence in the record. The issue here is are the rules being met for the final site plan? And if they are, there's not a lot of
discretion in the decision. Is that correct, Miss Eller? That is a good summary. That is correct. Okay. Well, you're a lawyer. But I I think it's really good to continually educate ourselves about
those differences. Um um I would just like to say that I really appreciate uh some of the offsite public benefits that this applicant is offering, particularly the cleaning up of Banner
Lake in Hob Sound. Uh that lake, who would even know there's a lake there? It's just thick with willow exotics and pepper trees. It's it's a mess and it always has been. It doesn't look like a
lake. People call that community banner lake. It's like where's the lake, you know? And if you look at it from an aerial view, there's just one little round circle in the middle and it's just thick with messy
jungle of vegetation. So, it's a wonderful thing seeing that cleaned up. We we deeply appreciate that as Hope Zone residents where I live and there are many other public benefits that are being offered as well that we're deeply
appreciative of. Um I have one little trivia issue associated with this project I would like to ask and that is will the residents there have a hope sound address or will it be a Steuart address? Think about it for a minute.
The people who live in Foxwood about a mile away, they live in Stewart. And the people who live in High Point by Christ Fellowship Church there, they're Stewart. They're Steuart people. Um, and it seems like most of the areas around there
are part of Stewart and would have a Steuart address. But will these folks have a hope address? I think that that'll be interesting to figure out. Well, I didn't want to mention it today, but we're in the process of annexing in all of those areas in Palm City. It's
going to be Palm City South. It's going to be very classy. Well, anyway, we'll we'll figure that out later, I guess. But, uh, in light of of what this hearing is all about, it's a final site plan approval. Um, and, uh,
um, you know, uh, I will gladly support the pro project. Any further comments? There's a motion and a second on the floor. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. Commissioner going to take a
10-minute break. 10-minute break. Thank you very much. You're on. All right. We will take up department one, which is office of management and budget items which require board approval. Miss Merley.
Good morning, Commissioner. Stephanie Merley, director of OM here to present to you seven items on OM. Our first item is uh permission to apply for the surfing evolution and preservation foundation grant. Our um fire rescue ocean rescue division is requesting um
to apply for a grant award of $3,180 to expand training resources by incorporating advanced medical mannequins to deliver highquality EMS care at our beaches and there is no grant match required. Can I ask a question about that?
Sure. Uh, can we speak to the uh chief? He's dressed up. He's in his class A. He's got to ask him a question. Can you tell us a little bit about what you're looking to what these would do? Yeah. Good morning, commissioners. Uh, Ian Moa, ocean rescue chief for Martin
County Fire Rescue. So, the just a little bit of history on the on the foundation. So, they are out of Cocoa Beach and they uh help to preserve beaches, keep beaches clean. They help with certain events on beaches. But the last few years they've uh been helping
ocean rescue agencies get some grant money to mostly help with trainings uh training supplies uh and other uh improvements to their operation. So last uh this earlier this year, I was
approved for uh grants for our uh mobile PA systems for our sidebyside vehicles so that we could effectively uh notify people of shark closures, lightning closures, uh things of that nature to kind of keep the beaches safe. So this year I'd like to apply for the
um training mannequins specifically a full body training mannequin which would help with our uh new hire trainings getting an actual lifeless victim uh in the water and also the u uh airway
mannequin which can help with any kind of drowning victims that we may need to assist. Uh these mannequins will certainly help us in our training scenarios just become a little you know just a little more um you know just up to speed on what we need to be doing on a you know
day-to-day basis when it comes to dealing with these drowning these drowning victims. So obviously we don't have a lot of drowning victims in Martin County but uh we need to be ready when that time comes. So these mannequins will certainly help in those cases. Great idea. And I like the fact it's smart for you to continue to look for
those sort of obscure grant opportunities. So, good for you. Yeah, certainly not a lot of money, but obviously it's going to help with our operation. Just just kind of get some equipment that will really help us uh just be at the peak of our uh training abilities. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Item number two is a permission to apply for funding from the Florida Inland Navigation or the find um grant for derelic vessel removal funds. Our building department is requesting a grant award in the amount of $88,492.50
for removal and disposal costs related to our derelch vessel removal program. There is a 25% match which is already budgeted and expended in our derelch vessel removal program budget. Item number three is a permission to
apply for an amendment to the FD resilient Florida planning grant for the Martin County adaptation plan. Our public works um department is requesting a grant award of 120,000 to um continue developing an adaptation plan to address
the county's vulnerable vulnerable areas for resilient planning. And there is no grant match required for that. Item number four is a permission to accept the Florida statewide response for opioid abatement funds amendment number two. Our human services division
is requesting the acceptance of an amendment to the contract for renewed state allocation adding $763,637 um to our opioid abatement funding. Um this brings the total agreement value to $2.9 million and these funds are used to
support direct client services and diversion courts to implement opioid abatement efforts. Um and there is no cash match required for this grant. Item number five is permission to accept the Federal Aviation Administration or the FAA grant um for the rehab of taxi
lane Bravo construction. Our airport is requesting the grant award of $865,949 for the cost of rehabilitating taxi lane Bravo at the Wii field. There is a grant match that will be provided by um the
Florida Department of Transportation at that 45% which is around $920,000 and our airport enterprise fund will rem will cover the remaining share of 12% which is about $247,000 which is already budgeted within our
airport pavement rehab CIP sheet. Item number six is just a budget resolution to accept the state FY25 transportation disadvantage planning grant for our Martin Metropolitan Planning or our MO. Um we are requesting a budget resolution in the amount of
$26,488 to accept the financial assistance from FDOT for the transportation disadvantage program and there's no grant match required with this acceptance. And item number seven um is adjustments to the fiscal year 2025 budget. Um OMB
is requesting a budget resolution to allocate the unanticipated contribution that we have received from the US Sailing Center for um a contribution towards the overflow parking lot project at Indian Riverside Park. Um we have accepted $60,981
that's going to assist with um including a gopher tortoise survey site clearing and installation of sod to create um a functional parking area at Indian Riverside Park and a budget resolution is required to accept these funds into the budget.
Questions for Miss Merley? Mr. Donaldson. Um commissioners uh after conclusion of this item I have one other additional item that is related to office and management budget. I'll come back to you. Thank you Mr. Caps. I'd like to highlight a couple of things
about number two permission to apply for funding from the Florida Inland Navigation District for derel vessel removal funds. Um, this last week I went to a social event where the find people came to
Martin County and and it was really interesting learning more about their organization and I thought I'd bring out a few things about find. It's the Florida Inland Navigation District and it's it's a statewide
or a state organization that's put together by the state government. Is that right? And the appointees are like county representatives of various counties along the eastern coast of Florida. Am I right, Mr. Donaldson? And
by the way, our uh uh county administrator, Don Donaldson, used to be the fine representative for Martin or fine commissioner from Martin County. So tell us a little bit about the basics.
So um it it is the local sponsor of the inter coastal waterway. It is a state agency. Uh the appointees are appointed by the governor. Um and they serve four-year terms. Uh they're unpaid. Uh and the district's responsibility. They
do pay uh everybody pays a tax on the the the counties funding the east coast towards FIND and they use those funds for um maintaining the waterway with the core of engineers. And they also have a grants program that the state of Florida
legislature uh put into to for um providing um various projects for local governments to cost share with. And one of their projects is derelct vessel removal of which Martin County is um well noted in uh uh by the inland
navigation district as being the one of the best examples of how to do um derelic vessel removal in the state. And if you notice that many of the commissioners there have taken the Martin County example home to their jurisdictions to get their local
governments to participate in much similar way. And I think a big part of that goes to Jeff as his team and also the close relationship with our sheriff's department on how that works. There's a complex uh environment how you treat um vessels as uh they're not like
cars that are abandoned. They're they're more treated like somebody's home or like a mobile home. that's uh uh fallen into disrepair. So it is um u uh due to those property rights issue. You have to um follow a very uh legal path to ensure
that you're taking possession of those uh properties uh properly. But anyway, you you got me going further than I needed to. But that's that uh that's that's very interesting work. And um as I understand it, the counties along the eastern
side of Florida are the ones that are infin. Right. Yes. So it's from Nassau County uh to uh Miami date county. There's one representative for each county. Right. Right. Yes. And anyway, there's a there's a ranking system where all of the fined
commissioners get together and evaluate the projects in each county. So, there's some discretion involved and uh I'd just like to say that we are we appreciate uh the grant that we're getting for this and uh and all the other good work that
FIN has done for us over the years. And uh Mr. Doerty, maybe you could uh tell us a little bit more about some of the other things that Fine has done just briefly. Well, the derelic vessel program is um actually a law enforcement in terms of
determining if something is der vessel. And as Mr. Donaldson mentioned, there's a uh u adjudication process, so to speak. It's 21 days before you can actually move on to removal. the sheriff or uh fish and wildlife or any law
enforcement agency has the legal authority to determine derelch vessels. But after 21 days and they go through the process, we get a letter from their attorney saying it has run the process. It is derelch that can be removed. At that point in time, the county takes the
removal of the uh vessel and destroys it. Uh in derelch vessel, it's a little bit different than law enforcement in terms of seizing property. We can only either use it for an artificial reef or destroy it. We have no options to sell or anything like that. Generally our ve vessels we take are uh average 30ft
fiberglass which are fiberglass you couldn't use for a artificial reef. So all of them are effectively destroyed and me many are beyond you know any recognition of some boats. Um after a storm event it's actually 45 days before
they can be determined derelic. We average about 30 of them a year. Uh the last two years have been high. Uh 24 fiscal year we did 60 and that was because of the mooring fields where we had to move some and work with that. This past year we've done 38. Generally
50% are brought into compliance and 50% are destroyed. We had 38 last year. 17 were compliance. 17 were destroyed and there's four that are still in the final process of the determination. Fine is typically limited uh the last couple years of $75,000. This year,
however, they've increased that grant to 150. So, we're able to increase ours to 88,000 and change. So, that's 13 more than uh we got last year. So, we take advantage of that. The key is the, as Mr. Donaldson mentioned, the interface and working together with law enforcement.
So, we actually find that somebody has been tagged uh as Derelch early on, bring our vendor in, and when that 21-day letter comes, then we can immediately move and get it out of the water as soon as possible. I think it's interesting that the building department
is involved with this and you know when I think of the building department I think of permits and the monitoring of permits. Is that the rationale for putting this under your department instead of some other department? Like why why is the building department
involved with derelic vessels? My understanding is and and I'll defer to Mr. Donaldson if you'd like to answer that but at one time uh code enforcement was in growth management this is years ago uh 15 or so uh and part of code
enforcement was derk vessel and it was moved over to the building department at 12 years ago or whatever that was and derelic vessel came with it and it was separated kind of from code enforcement because it did involve great interaction with law enforcement and Dave Hulcom who
runs force does a great job is a retired sheriff's deputy. So, it works hand in hand with a great relationship. So, that's that's the key. Good staff is the key to it. And uh we're very fortunate to have the good staff to operate it. It's there because it works.
Oh, good. He made you look good there. U Mr. Donald moving it to the library. Don gave the short answer. Going to be with the library next year. Great. Any further questions, comments? And uh it's I remember when I first heard you
think ah you got to tow the boat away getting rid of it. It's not that expensive. It's expensive, right? How much does it cost to get rid of a derelic boat? Depending on the size of the vessel and what's in it. Um generally they're probably in the neighborhood of 3 to 5,000 on average. You know, are there bo boat boat are there batteries in the
boat or is there fuel in the boat and and those types of things. Um we're our contracts up very soon. We're going back out the bid and uh you know is it sunk and needs to be raised? Is it just derelik? So those all factor into it. But if you take our average 30ft boat,
it's in that range. Heads up. Before we uh make a motion to approve uh this item, Mr. Donaldson. So I have one other item for uh uh
regarding the 911. Um uh Commissioner Campy's district um has uh routinely funded about $2,500 a year for that. uh memorial service. Uh it includes the high beam lights and some other
activities. Unfortunately, um uh his district uh has um uh still waiting for the closure on the property and a few other reasons. So, um we would have to ask that the board allow a temporary um
um loan if you will from uh general fund reserves to be properly accounted for uh which would be reimbursed uh upon the beginning of the fiscal year. So, for a couple of weeks. So, if you could indulge so that we could maintain that commitment um that way we could be
compliant with our um all of our auditing requirements and and fulfill our obligations. Thank you. $2,500. So, if you could include that as authorization for Miss Merley to take from the general fund reserves $2,500.
Uh and then we will ensure that that is reimbursed uh upon the uh um approval of the budget for fiscal year 26. Commissioner Caps, I'll I'll move approval of that additional item as well as all the other
items under uh department one. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. We will now take up our final item which is department two consisting of contracts that meet the threshold for
board approval of a million dollars or greater. Good morning, Madam Chair. Um I have five ite uh Seth McConey, senior purchasing agent for the record. I have five items for your consideration today. However, I am going to request that we vote on item A1 separately due
to a commission conflict. And may I um Yes. I was going to ask that we we separate A1 commissioners out for the vote. Um because of my employment with Ferrer, um I will be recusing myself. I've filed my proper
paperwork and with the clerk form 88A 8B and um I will recuse myself. And I I would add to because I I did speak to a constituent and the the state statute allows for any elected or appointed
member um they add this this statute provision so that if there is a conflict and many people have had them that there is a way to recuse yourself and I've always done so proud and it's unfortunate that there was some email
that misled them residents of Martin County to believe. So we we have a state statute provision. Our county attorney's office watches that very very closely and we have always recused oursel on this.
Thank you, Commissioner. Um so to continue with item A1 is a continuing service agreement for the shoreline stabilization and restoration services. This has a maximum not to exceed um contract value of $2 million with a maximum not to exceed term of five
years. Staff is recommending that the board award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible biders, Dickerson Infrastructure Incorporated doing business as Dickerson, Florida, Eastman Aggregate Enterprises LLC, and Ferrera Construction Company. and staff
is also recommending that the board authorize a county administrator or designate to execute all documents related to this request. Okay, let's take them take this one by itself. Second. There's a motion and a second to approve item number one. All those in favor? I
opposed. That motion passes 41 with Commissioner Heatherington abstaining. Thank you very much, commissioners. I'm going to continue with A2. This is another um continuing service agreement for painting services. This has a maximum not to exceed contract value of
$1.5 million with a maximum not to exceed term of 5 years. Staff is recommending that the board award the contract to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder ID Painting Corporation and move that the board authorize a county administrator or designate to execute all documents
related to this request. My next item for your consideration is another continuing service agreement for utility infrastructure painting. This has a maximum not to exceed contract value of $1.5 million with a maximum not
to exceed term of 5 years. Staff is recommending that the board award the contract to the two highest scoring firms, a Toz Paint Contracting Incorporated and Sunart Painting Corporation. Staff is also recommending that the board authorize the county administrator or designate to execute
all documents related to this request. Item number four for you is another continuing service agreement for electrical services. This has a maximum not to exceed contract value of $5 million in a maximum not to exceed contract term of 5 years. Staff is
recommending that the board award the contract to the two lowest responsive and responsible biders, Arlington Electric Incorporated and WD Cook Electrical Services LLC, and move that the board authorize a county administrator or designate to execute all documents related to this request.
My fifth and final item for your consideration today is again a continuing service agreement for the Hope Sound drawbridge and maintenance. This has a maximum not to exceed value of $2 million with a maximum not to exceed term of 5 years. Staff is recommending that the board award the
contract to the sole responsive and responsible bidder, Florida Draw Bridges Incorporated, and move that the board authorize a county administrator or designate to execute all documents related to this request. And that concludes my item. And that presentation was perfect. Thank you.
Thank you. I'll move approval of the remaining items. Um staff's recommendation for approval. Second. There's a motion and a second. All those in favor? I opposed. That motion passes unanimously. Thank you. That brings us
to the end of the meeting. Any further commissioner comments? Commissioner Vargas? No, I'm fine. Thank you. Commissioner Caps. I'm good. I'm fine. Commissioner Campy, I have something. I'm looking for Miss Susan Chorus. She appears to be absent. Oh.
Oh, there she is. We have some exciting news to share. Good morning, Commissioner. Susan Corores, community development director. Um, we wanted to share the news that uh the Florida chapter of the American
Planning Association has announced finalists for the 2025 Great Places in Florida. It's a people's choice award and it's an honor that celebrates public spaces where people feel a true sense of connection, care, and community identity. This year's
theme, great places that ground us, recognizes spaces that reflect deep ties between people and place where culture is honored, stories are told, and community belonging thrives. And I'm not going to let you guess any longer what I'm talking about. Uh we're proud to
share that Palm City Place and Patio has been named one of three finalists in the state of Florida. So often called Palm City Central Park, this 20 acre community hub is the heart of the neighborhood. With lush green
space, trails, a fishing pier, game tables, picnic areas, a colorful fountain, and a welcoming pavilion, Palm City Place and patio showcases the power of communitydriven redevelopment and environmental stewardship. It's a place that brings people together, celebrates
local identity, and offers something for everyone. The message here is voting is open, and it's open until the 26th. What do I do? Put that on the dock cam. Just slide it onto that piece of paper.
I think the other way. Yes. It's kind of too big. He's going to zoom out. He's got it. Oh, okay. So, you can use this. Anybody at home, you can use this QR code to cast your vote and help ensure that we are
Florida's next great place. Again, voting is open through September 26th. And uh at that point we will find out who the winner is. We're also going to have a banner at the park itself. So if you haven't been to
Palm City Place and patio, this would be a great time to go visit and then you can use the banner for your QR code and vote. So send to all friends and family, have them vote. Let's beat Penllis County and Port St. Lucy.
There were St. Lucy's the park the no the river walk or something in I don't even know it was probably something um it's called Pioneer Park St. Lucy and Mayor's Park in Penllis. Yeah. Um there was hundreds of applicants. I read through
excuse me I read through the last several years worth of winners and maybe a decade ago downtown Stewart won but it hasn't been in our neck of the woods in over a decade. Uh, and you're competing against every project in the state. Yes.
But, uh, which I do like about this, you know, sometimes when you have voting, people can like, you know, put robots involved and and vote like thousands of votes from one computer. This is one vote per phone or one vote per computer.
So, you really need to have people vote. So, we really need to get the word out. Um, which is why I was invited here. Yes. To help get the word out. And it's a $1 million prize, right? What is it? No. Oh, I thought it was I thought I thought it
might be something like that, but Well, I appreciate that. There was a lot of effort that went into it. Um, and so we're excited and it would be a benefit. Obviously, a feather in the cap for the whole county. Absolutely. So, if you could share this uh on your social media platforms, uh you go in,
there's three choices. You pick one, you say you're not a robot, and then you submit. And you submit. Yep. And we would appreciate it. Well, congratulations and good luck. Thank you. Thank you very much, Commissioner Heatherington. I'm all set. Thank you, Mr. Donaldson. I'm set. Thank you. And Miss Elder.
All right. I voted. We are adjourned.