[Music] So, I always get very excited when anybody asks me about my job and where I work and what I do. It's not a secret that I love working for the city of Northport. I worked for Charlotte County and I felt that I needed to do something different and I wanted something more
and I wanted to offer my skills. So I said to my friend, I'm I'm don't know what to do and I was thinking about my next steps and she said, "Maria, did you think about applying to a job at the city of Northport? They have a different vibe here." And she says, "I'd love it." And I said, "Oh, I didn't think about
that." So I applied and I started my first position in planning and zoning in our development services department. I'm partnered with the building department because my my the fees are assessed off of the building permits and it's
strictly for new construction, new development. And uh the first thing I do is to check the spreadsheet to look at the permits and determine which ones need me to estimate their impact fees. And that's where I start with that. Then
I go to numbers that I have to put together and I put together the invoices for our developers. Often times I'll get phone calls to give quotes before their um the development comes through and so developers want to know how much they
can budget for. So sometimes I put through proposed estimates to help them with that. And the bulk of it is is making sure that the fees are in the system as fast as possible. I love the Aspree decor that I experience. Just how
everybody team worked together. I uh enjoy knowing that I'm can make a difference for the city and that my position can have a positive impact in for our city. [Music] Oh, you're swimming in the pool. Ready?
[Music] [Music] I'm Stacy Losio. I'm the emergency management coordinator for the city of Northport. And we're going to talk about why it's important to have a go kit and what should go inside of it. It's important to have a go bag because if
you wait last minute to pack, there are definitely going to be items that you are going to forget in the scramble to get everything put together. So, it's important to have your documents such as IDs, insurance paperwork, titles for your home and your vehicles and your
boats just so that if your home does flood or your roof blows up, all those documents are with you and they're safe because you don't want to end up losing those and having to try to replace those later on. Also, in your go bag, you should think about what medications you might need to have ahead of time. If
we're under a state of emergency, you are able to refill your prescriptions ahead of time, even if they're not due yet. So, it's important to do that. Also, in your go bags, you should have non-p perishable food, flashlight, batteries, a radio that is battery
powered and extra batteries. Should all power go out, we will be able to broadcast on 97.5 FM anything uh any emergency information. So, be sure to have your battery powered radio ready and tuned in to 97.5.
Good morning everybody. Today's Monday, June 2nd, 2025. It's 10:00 a.m. We're in the city chambers and I call the city commission workshop meeting to order. Commissioners present are Commissioner Duval, Commissioner Langan, Mayor Stokes, Vice Mayor Emer, and
Commissioner Pro. There's a quorum present for the meeting. Also present, city manager Fletcher, interimm city attorney Golan, city clerk FA, board specialist Lane, uh, oh, Captain King, I'm sorry, was
[Laughter] and Chief Titus. Uh, Miss West, would you care to do the honors? I pledge algiance 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 righty clerk any public comments. None we move on to presentations.
uh A25-229 presentation by the Northport Natural Resource Division regarding Northport Environmental Scorecard. City Manager, your item. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh I want to introduce Mr. Stefan Khv, who is our natural resources
manager to lead us through the presentation of the environmental scorecard. Thank you. All right. Uh, good morning, mayor, vice mayor, commissioners, city manager, uh, Stefan Caleiff, natural resources manager for the
record. So, today I will speak about the environmental scorecard. It's an initiative of our natural resources division. Few words as an introduction. So our city is a vibrant
and beautiful growing city that known for its unique natural resources. The importance for environmental monitoring is to ensure the health and well-being of the community and preserving natural resources for future
generations. I will speak a bit more in depth about the environmental scorecard efforts towards monitoring water quality, air quality, tree canopy, wildlife and natural other
natural resources division efforts. So regarding tree canopy um this is one of the key areas of focus of our team and through the tree canopy assessment that we have already
conducted we have initiated tracking this parameter. Now we want to know more about the overall condition of the canopy. We want to measure the percent coverage and we want to monitor changes
over time. So this will provide opportunities to prioritize uh tree planting efforts in areas of need and uh of course better understanding of factors such as the
heat island effect throughout the city. Pre-planting and rewarding projects will also be of notice towards this parameter that we would like to track. The next one is water quality.
So, um, drinking water, it's something of crucial significance for our community and our utilities department is already doing a fantastic job uh, tracking and
monitoring various parameters of our drinking water supply. So the intent of our scorecard is to have these parameters presented with it as well and to have that as part of our water
quality effort. So then the next one is surface water quality. We are currently measuring um 11 parameters at seven locations throughout the
city. And in addition, there's various potential sources where we can obtain some of this data and include that data in our environmental scorecard. Some of the various potential sources
can be DP, Swift Mud, Sarasota County, of course, other departments within the city, Coastal and Hartland National Estuary Program, um, and their incredible water at last
resource and many others. Another crucial parameter that we would like to include on our scorecard is the air quality index. So uh this would include data of air
quality particulate matter um at 2.5 microns then particulate matter at 10 microns ozone nitrous dioxide sulfur
dioxide carbon monoxide and others. I would I would like to take a moment to point out our internal air quality monitoring that's currently ongoing with the city and uh this is a program that
was developed by our natural resources division. It provides real time monitoring capabilities and it's easily available on our web page. The next crucial category that will be a
part of the environmental scorecard is the wildlife one. Um, as you all know, we have numerous invasive species and summarizing um summarizing potential encounters,
potential uh recordings, potential areas with high presence of invasive species that may have been reported through our um online reporting tool will be a part of that um scorecard category.
Additional wildlife reporting will be included as well. Conservation areas will be also mentioned. And then temporary sign placement summary of our
temporary golfer to sign uh program that we also have with the city. um its outcome will be summarized as part of the scorecard. Listed species permits and permit
reviews and future initiatives will also be uh presented. The next category is one of extreme significance for our community. It will pertain to
flood plane and storm management. So, um, as part of our vulnerability assessment, um, efforts with the city, there will be some of those, some
of the work and some of the findings of our um, new natural resources plot plane administrator. some of his data and his findings will be easily available to the community through this scorecard item.
Also, storm water and flood plane parameters will be uh summarized and explained to the community. Also, of course, the community rating system and the
um in the future our watershed master plan which we are in process of applying for through a grant those will be uh mentioned to some extent as well. Some other scorecard parameters include
trees that would be donated by the city uh city's natural resources team, trees planted with specifying the areas where those trees will be planted. Community educational event summary.
um number approximate number of citizens engaged or assisted throughout the year and numbers of inspections and reviews. Finally, our Northport Green citizen efforts and progress will be
uh documented as part of the scorecard. And uh I have few visuals that I would like to share with our commission and community. So with the scorecard, we want to keep
it simple yet informative, datadriven, and straight to the point. We want to get to the parameters that are of most concern and highest significance.
The visual will allow our community to clearly understand the impacts and to clearly understand where we are as a city as far as these important parameters water quality, air quality,
tree canopy, wildlife and biod diversity and others. So as you see in this example um the findings will be summarized there will be strong visual support so our our
citizens and residents will be able to easily interpret the data less is more in a way. So there's another visual with what we would like to be
presenting. Before I conclude, I just wanted to specify that this is a scorecard that will be generated on an annual basis by our team
and easily and clearly communicated with our residents through our fantastic multiple channels that we have um for that communication. Its successful implementation really
relies on uh numerous teams efforts. However, the natural resources team is willing and capable to spearhead this program and we believe that this will inform and educate our community about
all the things that we do and other entities uh do through uh throughout the city. As a conclusion, tracking environmental parameters for the city, it's an
important goal that we have and it's um it's something that was brought up multiple times by our environmental advisory board and it's um we believe a fantastic
way to educate and to help our residents understand what we're doing. Um, we have parameters to incorporate other um, excuse me, we have the potential to incorporate other parameters in the
future. We are open for constructive feedback and we're excited to get this going and perhaps only make it better as we go. As mentioned earlier, the goal is to
have easy to interpret data and based on this data, we can we as a city can perhaps adjust our goals and address um current and future challenges based on
patterns that we see emerging. Continuous engagement with Northport residents and organizations for suggestions and insights will be a critical part of this effort. With that, I wanted to thank you
and I would gladly answer any questions that you may have. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right, Commissioners, who's up? Commissioner Dval. Yes. Um, I have a couple of comments and
questions. You were talking about um measuring 11 different parameters for water uh in seven different locations. Uh back in my hometown,
uh the guy I went to high school with or school with, uh he's a retired bi high school biology teacher and he actually is part of a civilian
uh citizen group that they measure for the community. They they do all the sampling. Uh it's just just a thought that you know to try and uh save on some of our employees times maybe we could try to implement a program where
citizens could pick up the samples um on wildlife reporting. Uh this is a tough one because I see it all the time and it bothers me. Um, I see new homes being
built and you know, we have a lot of gopher tortoises in this city and supposedly, you know, before the homes are built, the the lot is surveyed and, you know, and they properly get the
permits and, you know, move gopher tortoises uh, as needed. But what I'm seeing, and I could show you an example on my street today, where a house is being built on
one side of the street and the empty lot on the other side of the street is being used for a dumpster. It's being used for dump trucks and other vehicles that are backing in there right where there are gopher tortoise burrows. And I just wonder who's watching
that. Uh my last comment is about the tree canopy. I happened to be reading in last year's budget book and in one section I saw
something that said the city would try like to try to maintain like a 34% canopy. And as part of that, uh, the city had a plan for the year 2025 to be
planting, don't quote me on this because I looked at this a few weeks ago, but I think it said that the city was planning on planting 500 trees this year. And I'm just wondering, we're at the 1 of June. How any idea how many of those trees
have been planted? Thank you for the question uh commissioner. I don't have the exact number of trees for this year. However, I would like to point out that
we are currently in the procurement phase for some planting projects that we have lined up and um it's something that we are working on. I am not convinced that for this year
we'll be able to be close to this goal. However, it's something that we certainly want to expand and put more trees in the ground. Thank you. Thank
you, Mr. Langman. Uh thank you, Mayor. Um first, I love that idea of citizen community involvement. I think that just really generates a lot of support and commitment to the program. So that that's a great suggestion and I would
support that. Um you had mentioned that some parameters are measured by others. Swift mud some of them our utilities team is already tracking. My question is, can you give me an idea of what the
incremental level of effort will be for your team in the city and pulling together the scorecard? Yes, ma'am. Uh, this would be an effort that we would like to track and compile
in an annual environmental scorecard report. So this data will be gathered from different entities, consolidated and placed in a report generated annually. Okay. And what's the
level of effort in producing that report doing the assessments? Is it a 40hour task? Is it a 400hour task? And again, incremental because some other groups are doing it. I'm not so concerned about
that. Utilities already monitors some of those parameters for water. But for those parameters that aren't currently measured, what you're very rough back of the envelope assessment of how many
person hours are we looking at? With most of the data being available online, I don't foresee as many hours being spent by staff as I initially thought. I would
say perhaps for this first scorecard, we're looking at 60 to 80 hours of staff time. 60 to 80. So, it sounds like the task is more of assembling the information, doing the research, and
producing the report. Terrific. Because when I first read it, I went, "How big is this thing?" I mean, I'm supportive of it. I think you have you're measuring just the right things. Um, but it's important that we know what the incremental effort is going to be. Um,
and then you also mentioned that the scorecard will be easy to interpret. um what might that look like? And I'll give you an analogy. When I have my blood work done by my doctor, they sort
of provide what's the healthy range and then what my score is and you can kind of interpret where we're at. What does that easy to interpret look like? Because if you throw those numbers at me, they're going to mean nothing to me.
That's exactly what we were also thinking where more visuals and more ways to see what's the range of where the normal um state is for each of these parameters will be helpful. So that's
exactly we have not narrowed it down to this point. However, we want to uh perhaps even include some color coding and some type of a range so our residents will be able to exactly see
what's our so to say grade of uh each of these parameters. Okay. Um how will the scorecard be communicated to us and to the community? How will you be disseminating that
information? We're going to work with our communications team and use their expertise to uh spread the word out to our community in as many ways as possible. We believe that transparency
is key here and uh we have a fantastic team with the city who can assist with that. Okay, let's see. Refresh my memory. What's a heat island? The heat island effect is if you have an
area within the city with high rate of development and um high percentage of concrete, asphalt surface, rooftops as a cumulative effect of all
these areas absorbing the energy from the sun, the heat energy from the sun. Mhm. Um this actually raises the overall temperature of an entire area. So the research um suggests that these areas can
dramatically increase the average temperature of a region because of the way that some of these man-made surfaces absorb the heat energy from the sun. And then it ultimately becomes like um uh
like an area that's radiating heat and raising the overall uh temperature. Okay. And so this will allow us to identify those areas in the city so we can do specific remediation. I mean what
would the how do we fix that? What could you envision being the fix? The first step would be to identify those areas and then by by knowing where we may have some of those um heat island
uh concerns perhaps uh we can uh dedicate more significant planting areas towards these places as they would need more of that canopy to counterbalance uh the heat island effect. Okay, great. I
think that is it. I'm all set. Thank you very much. Thank you, ma'am. Commissioners, anybody else? Mr. Petro. Thank you, Mayor. I'm very interested in the environmental scorecard development and its
implementation simply because improves the quality of life. I have a couple questions regarding the tree and tree tree canopy. I do believe the chief fund was established 20 or the revision or whatever was established
2024 or was it new? It was established before that. I know that there were some changes with our unified land development code in I believe 2022 and 2024. Um but from my understanding we've
had the tree fund prior to that with the new environmental uh with the new unified land development code. It's now known as the environmental protection fund. Um what question on the tree canopy? How do you measure and how often you said
annual on an annual basis? Can you refresh and maybe I missed it because I was doing some other things. What's the goal of the tree canopy and what it is now in the city of Northport?
Yes sir. Um so we have certain percentages of canopy uh coverage mentioned uh within our comprehensive plan
and I off the top of my head I believe that it's between 34% to another percent value. However, the goal of the
canopy study is to see this and to track and monitor this canopy coverage throughout the city. It's challenging to set a specific value and specific canopy
coverage as a goal because there are many many other factors. And we also have some areas throughout the city that are um preserves or parks. So, but the idea here is to track the
change to see where we may experience highest loss and where we may be able to concentrate more of our efforts. The way that the study works is that it uses
aerial imagery from different years and then based on the coverage that's present on these images, we could establish a trend of where the most significant loss of canopy throughout the city is.
So the actual um uh measuring would be done on an annual basis. That's what you're saying, correct? for the tree canopy. The the previously defined goal is to conduct it on a bianual
basis just because uh there's more there's more extensive resources needed to conduct it. and also um the aerial imagery updates of the
software that we're using, they're not always happening on annual basis as well. Thank you. I'm just I'm so in favor of planting more trees um as a city on a
public space or on the public right of way spaces. Trees are vital component of our ecosystem and it provides shade and comfort. Uh for example, I have well I had three oaks oak trees. One was damaged by the
hurricane, but the other two they're just really nice shade. When you go outside, if I go outside to the front of my house, it's like a Sahara desert. It's like it's impossible to stand in
one place. If I go to my backyard, it's so comforting to sit, to walk. So, I wish we can do more. And um I I don't want to be too specific, but out of that tree fund, how much the actual amount of
money do we spend to planting those trees? Do you have that information? I do not have that information, sir. But perhaps we can find that for you. Good morning, Elena Ray, director of
development services. Um, right now we have allocated, I want to say, a little over a million dollars to plant trees. Um, as Mr. Caleb mentioned earlier, we're in the procurement process right now. We've already been through the
design phase. So, we have multiple projects that the commission approved uh that have now been designed. We had to design irrigation and work with um our parks department and public works to ensure that plantings were going to be
um um the type that wouldn't interfere with other infrastructure or aquatic operations, those types of things. So, that design phase took a while. Now we're in procurement. We should be hopefully we'll be putting uh shovels in
the ground for our next planting season and um but it's it's I want to say it's a little over a million dollars towards planting trees. Great. Uh in spring of this year, we as a board we uh visited Tallahassee for the legislation session.
I was amazed at the tree canopy the city of Tallahassee had. I mean it's amazing. So I think it's doable. uh it's very attainable and feasible to do it. So I just want to see the more information
put out how many trees we planted on those scorecard like the actual quantitative amounts that would be very helpful to us and to the citizen. Um and what what do you what would you do as far as incorporating volunteers? Do you
solicit volunteers? I'm sure there's a big segment of our city uh of the conservationists would be willing to do volunteer work. How do you uh advertise or how do you do that?
We are actively working with our si with our city community on many different levels. We are engaging with volunteers and I think that this is something that will only grow and strengthen in the future. I in my
opinion this is a fantastic point and that's that's a resource that we have that um can and should be utilized and um as you mentioned they want to be engaged as well. I know that there's
some challenges when you um have volunteers do actual work um pertaining to factors such as liability. However, there are many opportunities to get volunteers on board and uh we have a
great group of passionate individuals here. So, okay. Thank you. Thank you. That's it for me. Thank you, Commissioner. Um, I have a couple things. One, thank you very much for putting this together. We appreciate it.
It's good to get updated on what's going on. Um, I have a couple questions. Um, I noticed on the the uh scorecard, it I didn't see anything unless I missed it um about, you know, focusing a little on environmentally sensitive land
purchases. I mean there's there are a number of areas in the city. There's a number of are you know land parcels throughout the city that that are sensitive and and I didn't really see anything here that focused on our
ability to try to preserve them, conserve them, purchase them if they were privately owned and make sure that some of these lands were actually set aside and weren't developed. And um so I'd love to see something of that nature
included in this because I think that's important. Um you know, nature conservatory does its best to buy property up, but you know, we have a lot of property. I think we need to to make a real effort. And that draws me into the other item, which is the flood plane
and and storm water management. Um, you know, I understand I guess we're going to look for a grant to do a watershed master plan. Um, have you, uh, taken a look at the 2018 Big Slooh
watershed plan that, you know, probably got about 11 inches of dust on it at this point. But, you know, um, are you aware of that study that was done? Yes, Mr. Mayor. We are aware with of
this study and our flood plane administrator has reviewed its findings and I believe that some of the data will still be very beneficial for our city comprehensive watershed master. Okay. I
mean, what is the, you know, I I don't I don't know whether or not you guys are just going to budget within your departmental budget or division budget for doing this master plan or whether it'll come before the commission to approve, but I'd like to try to
understand what the endgame is. you know, um, over the years, obviously, the city's done a lot of studies on a lot of things and and they are valuable in and of themselves because they point to needs, they point to challenges. Um, you
know, we have some obvious serious challenges of of storm water management in this city. And there is really not much that money can't fix. Money being the critical element here. and nothing like a couple hundred
million dollars to help solve some of the stormwater management problems we have. So, you know, I I have some concerns in in the economic environment we live in to make sure that if we're going to spend money doing a lot of studies and master plans and
investigations that there be some realistic endgame, you know, um so, you know, I'm I'm looking forward to learning a lot more about this master plan and what all is envisioned here and you know, what the endgame is and and
what value it will bring other than to point out the need we have the problem. Um and and you know, a part of that touches on things like air quality and and and um you know, water quality. I I I appreciate and and I don't want this
taken in the wrong way. I appreciate the need to evaluate our air and water qualities, but a lot of agencies do it. Um a lot of this information is available publicly. um organizing it
into something that our citizens, those that are interested, could actually go and look to, I think probably has some value. I would just caution that it be something that we carefully marshall our resources on as Commissioner Langden
said because you know again you know walking the natural resource division back to where it started. You know my focus has always been that this division should be focused on planting trees, helping to
maintain tree canopies in areas that have been diminished. um where our dollars are really going to make serious contributions to enhancing the environment and and so Commissioner Pro's question about how many dollars
get devoted here there and everywhere it's important that we do appreciate that over the years while we use the tree fund to fund your department and or your division and get it up and running. The idea is to wean off of those dollars and get more and more of those dollars
devoted to planting trees, doing landscaping things, doing things that enhance the environmental quality of our city and and not maintain and sustain a bureaucracy and a reporting process or a duplication of some of those services
that others do. So, you know, I I just have concern only because as we move into the budget year, I appreciate every department's going to come and present what they do and their mission statements and what they'd like to see to the betterment of the city, but I
think, you know, to set the proper tone going forward, everything's about return on investment in this city and the dollars that our taxpayers invest, we want to see a serious return on and focused on the priorities within the pillars of city. So, I appreciate
everything you guys do. I just don't want to see you guys get spread so thin that the original focus of the division gets a little cloudy, but thank you very much. Thank you, mayor. Vice Mayor. Yeah, good morning. That was a wonderful
presentation. Um, in your presentation, did you state that you were going to be monitoring uh invasive species? Reason I asked that is we just had a lengthy conversation about War Mal Springs and the conservation easement
and who was to maintain and who wasn't going to maintain. We had, you know, didn't know what was going on there and I just hated to wait till the end and and they tell us, hey, you got to clean this stuff up because it's overgrown twice full now. Would that be in fact be
part of your uh scorecard going into let's say we accept the conservation easement as it goes? We accept it. This way if you checked it on an annual basis, we would know way ahead of time when we would have to address the
invasive species before it got too too big and too costly. So would that be part of your parameters on looking into going forward? something that we can definitely consider
and part of the for the invasive species parameter. We will certainly need the communities um input as we don't have the resources to walk throughout each of
these areas and monitor potential coverage of invasive species. However, there's some tools where uh that are easily available online with where pe uh citizens are citing and documenting
invasive species. So, we want to take that into consideration, but pertaining to this question I may let me just add one thing and and I understand that throughout the whole city, but this in fact would be city property that we
would be looking at and and just at that. So, I mean, it's like taking care of our own business. Uh Lori Barnes, deputy director of development services. Um to address both mayor mayor's questions and yours,
Commissioner Emer, um we will be as part of the budget process bringing forward a proposal uh to set aside funds for acquisition of environmentally sensitive lands. Stefan and his team are currently uh evaluating and ranking some high
priority properties that we will be bringing to the commission to get some direction on which properties the commission would like to see us pursue for purchase. Um as far as the um you know budget is concerned, you'll also
have some planting projects coming forward with the budget. you'll have um some matching grant funds that will help us apply for available grants in the future. If we complete our citywide
watershed plan, we will be eligible for other grant opportunities to make improvements to our storm water systems. Without that watershed master plan, we may not qualify or rank high when we
apply for those types of grants. As far as invasive species management, we do have a performance dashboard that is separate from the environmental scorecard. we could consider incorporating some performance metrics as far as invasive species removal on
that performance dashboard where we also advertise how many trees we've planted. Um, we have a budget proposal for removal of exotic invasive species on city-owned property and we do plan to engage a contractor to handle some of
those high-profile properties um, including, you know, public works right ofways where we have invasive species overtaking the existing vegetative communities. And when it comes to management on city-owned properties, especially those that may
have a conservation easement placed on them, it's our intent if we move to purchase properties through um our budget proposal that we can that we where possible partner with volunteer community organizations such as the
Nature Conservancy to take over that maintenance responsibility and they themselves will address the ongoing exotic species management for those parcels. And as part of those conservation agreements, we could even
um in incorporate a management plan so that we have a measure of expectations for those outside organizations and then Stefan and his team can monitor monitor those management plans. Now, I thank you because we did have a lengthy
conversation and I think it sort of went in two different directions by the time the conservation was over to where I'd like to get back on track to where we can go through and discuss conservation easement. And this way we all know what the parameters are, what we're
responsible for, this that and the other. So, if you have a plan already, that's great. I just want to it might ease the talks the next time it comes up. That's all I'm saying because We were we were just a little I guess flabbergasted on
what happened in the last conversation. Understood. That conversation was interesting and development services will be huddling up with parks and wreck and uh talking to our outside partners before we bring the presentation back to the commission on that particular
property in the future. Yeah. And I think everybody on this board was in favor of it. It was just how do we get to it? So I appreciate that. Now, my other question is, um, since we're still on invasive species, I'm just going to go to a different category of invasive
species and mosquitoes because that's all part of the environment as well. And you knew where this was coming from, and I know you've been working on it very, very hard, Stefon. But what I would like to see is instead of people out there complaining on Facebook saying, "Oh, I
got beat up by mosquitoes last night. They were coming in, blah, blah, blah." maybe have a little portal to where we can monitor where these hot spots are. If it happens to be, let's say the Warm Mill Springs area, whatever. We know that we have an overabundance of mosquitoes in this area. Let's get with
the county. Let's get it rectified and maybe they do an extra spraying or whatnot. Or maybe it's off Hland out in the east end or it's down in center of town. But to have a portal to where they could come in, say, "Hey, I live on X Street and we were just overindated."
And then you, let's say there's a hundred residents in that area. Now you know you have a problem in that area. So maybe incorporating something like that either in that dashboard or your what you're presenting today to where we can just track it and that
gives us a little bit more ammunition when we do go talk to the county and say, "Hey, guys are dropping the ball once again. we need help. So, I know I know it's been an ongoing battle and and I know you've helped out quite a bit and I appreciate that. So, that was just a
suggestion. See where you want to take it. Thank you, sir. Stefan, to follow up with what Vice Mayor said, I wasn't even going to discuss mosquitoes, but but I do have a question. Um, you know, I know you guys
did a bit of work and interface with the county on this and went through a process of education and understanding as to what they do. I myself last year or the year before went up and and spent some time with the county to try to
understand better the issue. um is the county I mean I wonder if sometimes the problem I mean you can divide the mosquito issue up into two areas you know one is disease control the issue of that you know
mosquitoes in certain cases carry disease and my understanding and my takeaway from what I learned was that the county primarily focuses on mosquito disease control it doesn't necessarily
focus on mosquito control in itself. And so I wonder did did did you hear or see anything different than that? I mean will they go out if a neighborhood has a lot of mosquitoes but they don't detect
from their testing and from their sampling any disease. Will they come and spray? I mean they certainly don't have anywhere near the adequate staff to cover the entire county. And my understanding was they focused specifically on areas that were, you
know, we had pockets of disease-ridden mosquitoes. So, you know, to say, "Oh, I live near a creek or I live near what and I got mosquitoes everywhere." I mean, is is it even realistic to think there's ever going to we're ever going to address that problem?
Thank you for the question, mayor. So from my experience uh working with them, I have noticed great level of expertise um and a from what I was shown a
sophisticated tracking system of where some of the concerns are. And then from my understanding they um they address that through their online ticketing uh or
complaint system that they have in place. But um as I was explained by them uh by Mr. Brennan with mosquito management services. Their goal is um of
course preventing the spread of disease but also managing the mosquito population. And this is why as he said it's mosquito management services because it's a problem that you won't
eradicate but you still want to manage. So this is what was explained to me. Um I have seen some some positive um updates pertaining to developing a
monitoring and larvaite larvaighting program within the Maka State Forest which I know was a big concern of the community and um that agreement has been signed between the county and the state
and we are also working with our public works uh department to meet with the mosquito management services team on quarterly basis to identify some of their concerns and to potentially work
together where we may um we as as a city may treat some of those water lettuce areas and then they may follow up with a with a larvasite or adulticide
application to kind of tackled those hot spots. But um I have seen I I have seen a wealth of knowledge in them and efforts to manage the problem. Um they
have their uh tracking system um where our residents can relay their concerns directly through them. And I believe our web page also links our residents
directly to the county's uh web page for concerns. That's all that I'm aware of. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Anybody else? Want to thank you very much for the
effort or to keep plugging at it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Any public comment on this? Okay, then moving on to presentations B25-2315. Presentation by Gail West
regarding current status and future of the Northport Arts Center. City Manager, introduce that item, please. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh we are joined by Miss Gail West the are you the president of the volunteer northport? Yes sir. President
of the board. Yes. President of the board. We thank her for joining us and sharing the presentation to give us a status update on the project. Good morning. I'm Gail West. I am the volunteer president for the board of the Northport Art Center. On April 22nd, the Northport Art
Center met with city manager Jerome Fletcher and his team to talk about the future of the Northport Art Center and War Mineral Springs. At that time, we were provided with information that the city would be working on a memorandum of
understanding and that the city attorney would work on a new lease for the property where we're going to be vacating very shortly. The deadline for that realistically hopefully is September 1st of this year. At that same
meeting, we were invited to attend this workshop to talk about the Northport Art Center. The Northport Art Center is committed to returning to the Sam Shapos Way with a new destination art center, maintaining the same welcoming
environment it has demonstrated for more than 18 years. Online research states Northport, Florida has a developing art scene with public art installations, murals, a dedicated art center, and parks which
feature sculptures like King Neptune. The city's website says the Northport is home to an active upandcoming arts community. It encourages residents to visit the Northport Arts Center to take classes or view the most recent art gallery. Currently, the Al Gallery show
is black and white with color. Later this month, the theme is pop art. It's also going to be Caribbean art because we will be celebrating the Caribbean-American Cultural Connection. This is their month. The North Court Arts Center addresses
three of the city's strategic pillars: economic development and growth management, quality of life, and community engagement and communications. Before com companies move their business to a community, they check out a variety of resources
available in their future location, including the focus on arts and culture. A community that fosters a variety of activities for families, strengthens the community, and ensures sustainability. As you can see in this slide, we have some of our students, future designers
and builders. In the background, you'll see they have created floor plans for their future art center. Youth programs develop future leaders, promote self-esteem, critical thinking skills, and allows for development of creative
ideas. In this scene, you're going to see two young brothers that have come together. They're future entrepreneurs. They put together a lemonade stand because they wanted to raise a million dollars for the new art center. Research shows that art improves
quality of life. It can calm nerves, reduce blood pressure, foster goodwill, develop individual self-esteem, ignite creativity, eliminate isolation, create healthy social interactions, and improve economic
resources in the community. The Northport Art Center has met quality of life pillar through several programs including arts programs for autistic children at the Lotus Center, clients of the Loveland Center, arts programs for senior and the
veterans arts workshop. If you look in the upper leftand corner there, you'll see Hershel Maine. He's only been involved in the arts for the past three years. For the past two years, he has received an award from the National Veterans
Creative Arts Competition. He came to the arts program because he needed connection after the loss of his wife. For combat veterans of recent or previous conflicts, art therapy provides ways to express feelings and experiences
that are difficult to express verbally. Art therapy helps veterans communicate and resolve traumatic memories, relieve stress, and reduce symptoms of trauma related conditions. Sergeant Philip Moore created art for the art of war
calendar, which acquired funds for free arts workshops for veterans. The next free veteran workshop is an art composition project made with everyday projects that's going to take place on June 7th.
Senior paint parties are a great way to introduce adults to the world of art. It helps them reduce isolation for individuals who have lost a partner. It encourages them to meet new people, develop friendships, and acquire
a new hobby that brings joy and personal satisfaction. The Northport Art Guild began 37 years ago with a group of artists sharing their love of art with classes and art exhibits in private homes and public locations at the Northport Art the
Northport Library. Their consistent and persistent presence in the community led the city commissioners of Northport to offer the guild a gently used building. One of our founders here, thank you very much for being here, Kathy. That gently used
building actually created the Northport Art Center. It's been battered by several hurricanes. The city determined that the buildings used by the Northport Art Center must be demolished, advising the art center that it needs to vacate the buildings by September 1st. Demolition,
I understand, will begin October 2025. Until the Northport Art Center can establish a new art center, it may temporarily revert to the former guild status, providing classes in public and private
places. This past weekend, there was a workshop held called Paint from Your Soul. Thanks to Lake Michigan Credit Union in Fort Charlotte, the Northport Art Center has a temporary inetermined amount of time
to be able to use the second story classroom for classes. We're going to have Scratchboard beginning in June. We'll have other classes beginning there in September. The youth arts instructors are considering use of the Scout House at Dallas White Park for educational
arts programs for area homeschool students to resume in the fall. Our programs for youth are not ordinary arts classes. In fact, one of the classes that they had, the students learned about and how to create a robotic arm, a
contiki raft, a catapult, and a splitneck rocket. These are special programs provided by the arts instructors at the Northport Art Center. Over the years, the Northport Art Center has provided opportunities for volunteers of all ages in a variety of areas. It provides art
and public places here at city hall, the welcome center at Wellen Park, the Northport library, senior services, and several real estate offices. It hosts gallery awards, receptions to show off and sponsor and support the local and visiting artists. It invites the
community to attend these events without charge. It has supported the city's monthly youth arts program by providing an art instructor. The Northport Art Center participates in and provides volunteers for activities sponsored by
the city and by Wellen Park. The Northport Art Center seeks to meet the needs of residents of this dynamic community and to support local businesses. Businesses come to the Northport Art Seeking artwork for display in their
offices. Local artists have created numerous murals in the city of Northport. organizations asked for free artwork to be sold at their fundraising events. The most recent donation of art was to the Northport Behavioral Health
Facility for the grand opening. Artwork is the business of artists and the artists in the Northport community have been very generous with their time and talent. For years, the Northport Art Center has looked at different locations
for new larger art center. They have conducted surveys and developed business plans. They have been discouraged and frustrated by the lack of financial resources to take the art center to the next level. The Northport Art Center board
has historically been composed of artists intent upon creating beauty for the Northport community and providing opportunities for others to experience the mental and physical benefits of creating art. Their business experience
has been limited because that is not their area of expertise. In order to visualize a new future and seek financial support from foundations and philanthropists, Shinkle Schultz developed a single level floor plan based on a visionary plan the
Northport Art Center created last year. This draft floor plan includes enlarging the gallery space, increasing the number of classrooms from two to three and enlarging the size of each classroom. It addresses the growing needs of meeting space for organizations and
nonprofits. The large meeting space can be divided into two meeting rooms that could be available at night and on the weekends as well as during the day. Because we have artists who are winter residents, we will have four artist studios available for rent. With the
expansion of the arts center, additional parking is required. The overflow parking on land across the street from the current location may not be available. Therefore, Shingle Schultz is currently working on a two-story floor plan that would allow for parking on
part of the current Northport footprint without deleting the meeting room or the artist studios. for development of a new art center. It will probably result in the rebranding of the
organization from the Northport Art Center to the Center for Arts at Northport. It will require the addition of new board members to facilitate the rebirth of the vision of the Northport Area Art Guild to serve the needs of this rapidly growing community.
The Center for Arts envisions future locations at War Mineral Springs and at Wellen Park. In order for the Northport Art Center to build a new art center to meet the needs of the Northport community, Northport Center will seek the financial support from residents,
from businesses, and from organizations, will reach out to philanthropist and foundations. Without an art center in the Northport area, there will be a negative impact on this
community affecting children, adults, and veterans. The Center for Arts at Northport will continue to provide visual arts programs as it welcomes musical arts, performing arts, martial arts, and healing arts,
including sound therapy, yoga, tai chi, and chiong. As part of its goal to be a destination arts center for the community, I had a vision which I shared with Shinko Schultz. I'm not sure if this vision is going to come through,
but I pictured brides walking down a spiral staircase in our two-story building into a beautiful gallery with an intimate reception in the adjacent meeting rooms. In the 2024 2025
edition of SRQ Arts Guide, I read the leaders of Sarasota County recognized the fact that the arts and culture act as a magnet for the area, drawing in tourist and new residents alike. Brian Hirs, CEO of the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Sarasota, said, "Arts builds
community. It's a significant part of our commerce and our economy. The arts intrinsically and by nature are something that really drives quality of life, too. Jeffrey Ken, founder and CEO of Sarasota Rising and the Living Arts Festival, commented that the arts are so
vital to our area. People take it for granted because it is such a part of their daily life. You don't know what you've got until it's gone. With the arts, we really are just
another town. Erin Dugan, president and CEO of Visit Sarasota County, stated, "When it comes to me marketing Sarasota County as a destination folks should want to come and visit, we're going to target arts and cultural enthusiast. If
you're a visitor, you're going to want to come back and see the Charlotte Ballet. You want to go and check out the art center down in Northport. [Music] The demolition of the buildings the Northport Art Center has used for 18
years is like drawing a line in the sand. It's time to build. No more procrastination. We have to continue with a positive impact for the Northport community.
Or we could all just let it wash away. eliminate all the good that could be done for the residents and visitors of this dynamic community. Northport can be seen as a destination for the
arts. Some take takes a village. It definitely requires the support of individuals, local government, and businesses large and small. It takes people with belief and passion. It takes
cooperation and collaboration. So on behalf of the Northport Art Center, as a volunteer board president, I ask the city of Northport, the commissioners, and the residents of this community to support the Northport Art Center returning to
the current footprint at Sam Shapos Way. Let's begin this journey together. Thank you very much commissioners body. Okay, vice mayor. Thank you so very much
for the presentation. you know, it was very, very heartfelt. I think that the art center is a very big asset within the city of Northport and hopefully through the city and through all of your plans that we
can make it a reality again. And hopefully there's not too many interspers in between there, you know, to where you got to go here and got to go there. I think it's just basically coming up with a plan moving forward. let's get it done, you know,
and and I think there's a huge support here from the city. It's just going through the motions and getting it everything all the eyes dotted, the tees crossed, and you know, we got to see what those parameters are. But I appreciate everything that you all do. I
think it's a wonderful place. I've been there quite a few times, especially when the military general uh gentleman, Sergeant Moore, came down. What a day that was. I got to meet him, talk to him, and the experience just talking to
him made me feel great. So, the artwork besides itself is very valuable to this community, especially the children, veterans, seniors. It gives them peace of mind and it gives them a purpose. So,
I thank you for all you do. Thank you. That's all I have. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Well, certainly know that there's a soft spot in my heart for the art center. Having sat on that board, have being a painter myself, I do appreciate the
value of the arts. I also sit on the Sarasota County Tourism Council and it pains me every time I look at the budget and numbers and see how little money finds its way down to South County in the way of arts and and culture. So, you know, I appreciate, you know, the need
to create an attraction that draws people here and um, you know, I guess the, you know, the present again, Gail, thank you so much for the presentation. I know a lot of work is into it. I know this is not an easy lift and you know I
know what it's like trying to organize a group of people who are very artistically oriented and not businessoriented and yet this this art center you know the center for arts is is a is an important part of any good
community and and it we need to somehow find a way to perpetuate it. My question is this. What are you hoping the city can do for you? We're looking for that uh memorand of understanding and for a um a long-term lease from the city so we
can go back to that property. I came up with some figures because it said how are we going to raise the money? One of the big issues we need to have more people know what the art center is. Out of 90,000 I don't know. We constantly turn
around and say there's an art center here in the community. We have to do more getting out there. And I did put together a plan. Of course, someone said you can manipulate figures any way you want to. But the ways that residents can get involved, even if we had 30,000
residents that would donate $20 a month for 12 months, we'd have over $7 million. The objective here is for us to go ahead and spread the information out there. let them know what we have, what we're going to do, what it brings back to this community, how they can have a
personal impact in making this a possibility for this community. How much I know you had some plans designed for a building on that property. I assume that um slide you showed us is representative of that uh shingle shields put together.
How I mean what kind of price tag is on that building? that that particular one just the construction they were looking at at the um 5.5 million to 7.5 million. We took that to our April 22nd meeting with the uh with the city manager and
his team and it's a little bit larger than what than the present location and we'll look at this. There are some issues that we have to look at as far as flood plane and that's one of the reason that we're talking to uh Jen Schultz about doing a twotory because we also
but we had thought we'd be able to have some parking across the road from us that may not be acceptable may not be available. So, we need to go ahead and move more parking back for space here. The only way that we can do that on on the footprint that we're on right now is to have a two-story building that I
don't have that floor plan in hand yet, but I know I did talk with them and we're looking at coming up with a two-story floor plan. So, that um I don't have that particular, but I'm looking at probably we're looking 7.5 million. How what time frame is it?
Well, as I said right here, if we could go ahead um I know some people when they've done schedules of trying to go ahead and bring money, it could be 3 to 5 years before we'd be able to get all the money to and start doing the construction on that. I'm ideally if we
can go ahead and get some residents to go ahead and start doing monthly u donations of 10, $15, $20 a month, we could have did one right here. I know this is totally out of whack, but I thought, wow, if we had 50,000 residents
making $15 a month for nine months, we'd have over $6 million. The objective is we need to get light a fire under the residents of this community to go ahead and make a small donation every month so they can have an
art center that will last them for years. is going to help the children in this community, that's going to help the seniors, that's going to help the veterans. So, I need people in this community, people who are who watch this, to go ahead and spread the word so we can go ahead and start collecting the
money to build this art center for this community. Have you, just as a quick aside, then I have another question. Um, have you guys had any discussions with with STC over at the technical
college about what space capabilities they might have or might have in the near future or No, sir, I have not. Okay. Just wondering cuz again, you know, are I mean, we know the high school in Northport's going to have a major renovation and upgrade. Um, you
know, I'm just trying to think. I mean, basically the ask here is that the city eventually, I mean, cutting through everything is the ask is going to be for the city to set aside this parcel of land where you are right now. Perhaps, you know, demolish the building, but set
this piece of land aside for some extended period of years while the art center try to raise $7 million to build a building on it. Um, and then I assume a a long-term lease beyond that. So, you
know, that is the ask. I mean, not to say that's a realistic or unrealistic ask. And and knowing the need for art and culture in this city, I think it's important that we we try to find a way to address all this. I just uh you
know I find like you extreme frustration at the inability to raise the kind of money necessary in order to make this a reality and to perpetuate this this you know center of the arts. Uh you know it
it concerns me when I see in Englewood a center that was vibrant, active, community engaged. Uh, Frankly, I I thought at one time maybe there could be a collaboration between the two, but realizing that it's controlled by
Ringling, realizing that Ringling is a business as as is quite frankly everything these days, it's all dollars and cents, you know, they found it in their infinite wisdom to consolidate. So, you know, here in a time when community arts and and you know, are are
sorely needed, Englewood now will not have that and people will have to travel to Sarasota in order to be part of that. Yet, you know, there are others who have created, you know, art popups throughout
the area who work and engage small groups of people who have specific interests in the arts and culture. And you know that kind of grassroots you know approach may be you know the future
because the the dollars available for arts and entertainment are dwindling. I hate to say it. You can see it at the county level. You can see what's going on. There's from the top on down there's less and less money being pushed towards them. And as far as finding those folks
out there who are patrons of the arts who are willing to donate, you know, hundreds of thousands of millions of dollars, you know, they are somewhat far and few, you know, few and far between and and and we don't have it quite as many in in this geographic area. So, you
know, I applaud the effort. I do. And and the city, you know, from from a commissioner standpoint, I I obviously want to try to do everything we can do to help. Um I just don't know how much we can do. Um again, you know, dedicating this land is something the
commission will have to talk about and and and try to, you know, wrap their heads around. But, you know, I certainly uh personally will try to do everything I can to encourage people to focus on this. I I
do I do as a as a member of that, you know, tourism group up there. and and you know I I I I have a a a very difficult time even getting them to come down here and listen to our corral or our our symphony and and you know
it's a frustration yet yet I know Aaron and her people are working very hard and I understand that the dollars they utilize are bed tax dollars and and bed tax has to feed bed tax and we don't have but one bloody hotel right now and
so I get how all this works works, but it is a hercuine effort. I applaud you for it. I I will personally do everything I can and as a commission, I hope we can support you guys. So, thank you. One thing I I was surprised to learn is we this weekend the workshop
that we had, there were two ladies that came down from Bradon to Port Charlotte to attend that. And we're looking at having more of these types of workshops. The only place that we know that we have a classroom right now is at the Lake
Michigan Credit Union and we don't know exactly how long that's going to be. So, we're going to make as good advantage of that as we possibly can. So, there's there's there's people out there that have come forward to approach me, business people that I already have
talked to them about reaching out to put more business people on our board. Artists are wonderful. Someone say they're a whole different creature, right? So, so there's we have to have artists because that's a that's a heart
of the community, but we have to have the business people that can go ahead and and kind of do the dollars and cents for us. Thank you, ma'am. Commissioner Pedro. Yes. Thank you, Mayor. I just want to thank you, Miss West, for your
uh passion and for your enthusiasm and promoting this cause. Um, personally, I'm well over I'm in support of this cause and I think it promotes economic development by bringing artists from all
over the place. It uh promotes community engagement. uh it supports and promotes for sure quality of life and uh I do believe North Florida uh art center is integral part of our community
uh it's a part of a younger generation and older and everything in between. Uh I do however think that it is well I want to encourage you and I do want to say this that it is very
possible to raise those money. We just have to find those people. Uh, personally, I'm I'm willing to help as much as I can. Um, as a board member as well. Uh, but I do believe that there are people out there that are willing to
donate. Um, we just have to find them. Do you have um the actual person who does or will be doing fundraising? We have we have we're putting together a team. One of the reasons that we had the meeting with Jerome on the 22nd is
because I had uh a homeschooled mother had a president of a foundation contact me. One of the things they said you need to have a lease, something that shows sustainability. Without that
foundations, philanthropists will not support your organization. without having a floor plan. We could not go out and say, "Well, we we know we have to go someplace. We just don't know where we're going. We don't know what it looks like." The floor plan gave us the
beginning of stability. The next step is we need to have a lease from the city to say, "Yes, this is where we can go to." Therefore, then we can go out and really reach out to the foundations and philanthropists in the community. I just
presented what we need from the residents. Residents need to be involved. We want to get more people in the community involved in helping raise the funds here, but we're also going to be going out to philanthropist and u foundations, but we couldn't do that
without having police, without having a floor plan to start with. And I don't know all the logistics, but have you reached out to the communication department or to the city manager to promote that cause of fundraising? We haven't done that until we as the
same question. I can't tell you exactly what the building is going to cost without having to look at that floor plan. And I know that Shinkle Schultz has been they they worked with the city to go ahead and get some information. They're going to be working more on that to finalize what the property is going to look like if we can go on that site.
Um but we're not expecting I've talked to city manager. We don't expect any money from the city. We we understand we understand the financial logistics there. We just need to have that lease so we can go back to the same piece of property. We've looked at this for the
last couple years. My understanding is there has not been anyone else who was interested in that piece of property. Prior to that, there had been different plans that came and went away and came and went away and then it came back because no one else is looking for it.
And that's why we continue to say we want to come back to the same piece of property. I was not referring to for the city to solicit the city for the funds but uh rather using the communication department to fund raise this cause. We
haven't looked at that yet. I would have to talk also as a suggestion. Um I don't know again the logistics but maybe the chamber of commerce there are a lot of business people. Yes. So maybe you can reach out to them and uh yeah as we are a member of the the Northport Chamber of
Commerce but to promote like to get your message out but um I really thank you for your passion and thank you. Thank you so much for doing and I'm not an artist. I've attended four art classes but what you do is important and I thank you for my grandkids go my grandkids have gone to the arts programs in fact
they're probably at at the camp right now and I thank the founder and for all of you for being here. Thank you, mayor. Um, I would ask city manager, do we does staff have any recommendations here or any asks of commission or any
suggestions or any ideas that they wish commission to entertain with regard to this matter? Or is that something you all are planning to bring back at another date, another time? I don't know. Well, Mr. Mayor, the MOU she mentioned is what we need you to weigh in on and we're working on that
and what it will look like in front of you. So, meeting today was to make sure that we're all on the same page with how we can assist the art center. Not like she said, they're not asking for financial uh assistance and we recognize that they do need help with communication, but their communication
is asking the citizens to pay a little bit of money now for something that is a long-term benefit for the city. and we just failed at doing that exact same thing with the police headquarters. So, I'm not sure if we are the best audience to help communicate that, but I think we
should try and help if we could. Um, I think that anyone watching and knows that the art center is important to the city. Um, it's a valuable asset for the city and they're going through a tough time right now. And in addition to providing the land, which she said, you know, people come back and forth regarding how we should use that land,
but it always comes back to the same thing. It doesn't kind of work itself out. So why would we not sort of embrace them remaining there and help them find the right structure and footprint so they can have some long-term success? So we're still talking to them and working with them and wanted to make sure that the board was on the same page so we can
keep moving forward before we get to uh se the end of September. Thank you sir. Anything else to that commissioners? Any public comment? Then I thank you again and the three of you for coming
and providing support. All right, moving on to general business. A2-2247, discussion of possible action regarding unified land development code section 3.2.3,
2.3 non-residential uses in the Carter transitional and Carter zoning districts on hours of operation. City manager, your item. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Uh, I am going to turn this over to Deputy Services Director Lorie Barnes uh to
introduce the item and lead us through the conversation. Uh, good morning, Mayor, Commissioners. Lori Barnes, Deputy Director of Development Services. Um this morning for this item I'm presenting on behalf of the economic development division. Uh
we have noticed since the adoption of the new unified land development code um that there are some challenges in the corridor and corridor transitional districts as far as the hours of operation limitations that the
commission incorporated into that section of code. Um staff initially did not propose an hour of hours of operation restriction for those zoning districts because similar to the neighborhood commercial designation which was a
former zoning under the old code that was applied along corridors had that same hours of operation restriction. In 10 years, the only development the city saw in those zoning districts was the Dollar
General. Uh we have on the economic development front received plenty of inquiries about future development in these corridor districts and upon learning that the hours of operation limitation applied. They did not pursue those
locations for uh relocation or location of their businesses. Think about a restaurant. What restaurant is going to be closed up, cleaned up, no outdoor cleanup, no deliveries by 1000 p.m.? Um, it it
doesn't provide for a a financially feasible business model for those types of businesses. So staff is uh requesting that the commission discuss and consider um altering or eliminating those hours
of operation restrictions and corridor and CT zoning districts. Um, and if the commission directs staff to bring forward an amendment, we'll likely package it with a ULDC amendment that incorporates some other tweaks that we
are currently tracking as far as a cleanup ordinance for the ULDC. I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. Uh, so Mr. Lori, would
you So right now the hours that are that no operations are allowed is from 1000 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. in the morning. Correct. And you say that there there have been businesses. Um, is there a way to
quantify them? Like how many are are we talking about? Who? Because I'm I'm thinking of like where these, you know, these corridor transitional and and corridor zoning districts are. I mean, you know, along Price Boulevard and
along our north south collector road corridors. Uh, one in particular comes to mind of proposed development. Um on a large tract on the Biscane area, uh we had a a developer interested in pursuing a mixeduse development there. Um they
could not engage potential endusers for their commercial component um including a restaurant and a fraternal organization because of those hours of operation limitation. another along Price Boulevard. Um there was an
individual who was interested in entertainment type venue um that did not pursue that land either because of that hours of operation limitation. See cuz Mike I mean obviously those
those are corridors that we have a significant amount of residents in. They are areas that are uldc reszoned obviously in most cases or in some cases you know 10 o'clock I mean I I I personally I'm not in favor of
eliminating them I'm just thinking is 10:00 too early in the evening whether 11 you know 11:00 for an entertainment venue probably still not acceptable for a restaurant very well may be most
restaurants stop serving 8:30 9:30 in that range by 10 to 11 they ought to be able to wrap up and and close up operation. Maybe it needs to be midnight, but my concern is we have people who are living there. We've we've you know we've reszoned and there are
certain types of businesses nonresidential uses that have more business hour related that that are more business hour related which maybe are the best types of businesses to go there even if we miss out on some
opportunities to attract certain other types of business. I'm not sure. Along Price Boulevard might be the greatest area for an entertainment venue or along Biscane for a a restaurant, you know, if it's right in the middle of of a residential section, you know, I mean,
we have to appreciate that. wall. That may be a reason a business might give. There are just certain areas that we've reszoned that, you know, we should, I think, use some level of common sense and and look
at who lives there and should should those types of businesses be there. I mean, I I you know, Lord knows, everybody knows how much I push economic development. But but the reality is certain businesses just don't fit certain places. And if you just eliminate
hours, you know, then if you look at the zoning map, all kinds of things can go there and maybe things that are not a good idea. They should be elsewhere. And so I'm open-minded to adjusting the hour of 10 a little bit. I
I think 5:00 a.m.'s just fine. But, you know, because at 6:00 a.m. in the morning, if there's delivery trucks outside, you know, um, and I live, you know, a house or two over, you know, it might be somewhat disturbing to me, but five is okay. 10, maybe that should be
11 or maybe it should be 11:30, or maybe it should be 12. I don't know what everybody else is thinking, but you know, um I just think that we have to be careful what we do with regard to this because the whole reasonzoning was a
sensitive item and we don't want to just say, well, now we're reszoned and these types of businesses are allowable here, so you know, we'll just go ahead and eliminate the hours and let as long as it's zoned appropriately, we'll just let businesses
move in. I mean, I I think that would be a a level of insensitivity that we may not want to go down that path necessarily. So, I don't have a problem keeping some hours. I just think maybe we need to think about what they should be or if we should revise them. Uh,
Commissioner Langden, thank you, Mayor. The whole reasonzoning effort, we all know how difficult that process was. So, my initial reaction is, please, we've only been at this for a few
months, I have a hard time thinking about making it any more aggressive than it already is. Um, having said that, however, I think I would be open to
either adjusting or eliminating the hours on a corridor. Uh, but the transitional corridors, those reszoned areas are right smack dab in the middle of single
family homes. And in my mind, I envisioned businesses with sort of a home footprint. And and the two areas I had in my mind for the corridor
was when when you go down Fruitville in Sarasota, there are some cute little um Victorian houses and there's a boba tea place and there's a breakfast place and they're very soft,
gentle kinds of businesses. Um I certainly don't see a Denny's You know what I'm saying? It's like um the other area is in Panagora. You know, there's really a nice integration of houses in their downtown area and
there's a breakfast place and there's a residential place right next to it, but it just sort of flows and works. and and in that kind of business, I don't see a big delivery truck showing up at 5:00 in the morning to fuel that
kind of business. So, I mean, as to not just business community, but residences. So, there are some safeguards in place and I know Miss Ray wanted to weigh in on something as well. Good morning, Elena Ray, director of
development services. Um, we agree that we want to be very careful with the hours of operation, especially where we have um, residences very close to these properties. However, I'll remind you that as far as that 10:00 cut off, we
have a 10-year history of those hours not working. So, even though the ULDC is the the new ULDC is is relatively new, prior to that, we have a 10-year history of having a 10:00
PM cut off for the neighborhood commercial district, which some of the all of those neighborhood commercials um properties were reszoned. Um, some of them I'll give you give you an example where Dollar General is, that entire
intersection, those are large parcels and they were zoned neighborhood commercial. Um, they're now zoned corridor transitional. So, they have a 10pm cutoff. Those are very large properties. They didn't
develop for 10 years because one one of the things we kept hearing over and over is because of that 10 o'clock cutoff. So something like a small neighborhood um restaurant or um pub, something like
that could not go in there. Um because that 10 that 10 p.m. cut off is is problematic for them. Um, I would encourage the commission to um perhaps discuss extending the hours if uh
there's there's a level of discomfort with eliminating them. Um, would encourage you to to talk about the pros and cons of of perhaps extending those hours so that we could attract some businesses that would serve those residents that they could walk to um and
and enjoy in their neighborhoods. But um continuing that that 10 p.m. cutoff is likely going to see us repeat the same results that we've had over the last 10
years in that in those districts. Mr. Petro, just a question for now. So hours of operation is my understanding is that that those hours are open to public operation. Is that correct? Uh no sir,
it's no business operations between 10 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. So a restaurant for example, um they serve until 9 or 10 o'clock at night, but let's say 10 o'clock for argument sake.
The staff can't clean up and take trash out to the dumpster at 10 o'clock. They can't have a delivery come in at midnight. They can't have a delivery come in at 4:00 a.m. Um, you know, think
about garbage trucks. When does our solid waste divisions trucks start going out on the roadways and serving neighborhoods? Um, so it's not just open for for the public, it's any business
operations the way the regulations are currently written. And in my understanding, if the location of a commercial, now commercial with new DC, they still have a limitation. They can't
just go on and on and do like a car shop. They cannot bang the hammers after 10 o'clock. Is that correct? Or we have a noise ordinance um that provides for a limitation on the decibel levels of
certain activities during a period of I I don't want to be quoted. I I I can't quote the exact times in the noise ordinance. It is enforced by the police department. Um, so there are limitations to construction activities and and noise
levels of other activities within the city during the nighttime or the overnight time. I'm I'm a little bit hesitant to change the hours of operation um in a commercial transitional.
Um it's a such a close proximity to the single family residential houses in the area. If we look at the map that it's like right right next to it, I don't know it's it will affect the quality of life, but yeah, we can have more discussion on
that. But I think it's it will affect the quality of life. I would not want to be next to um you said that entertainment uh uh entertainment. It was um a a mini golf mini
golf but wouldn't they close at 10:00 anyways? I mean it's they might close at 10:00 but they might have other business activities that need to be conducted after 10:00. cleaning up the trash in the parking lot, emptying the trash.
Um I I don't know what types of maintenance activities they might do, but there there there is some reluctance on the part of businesses to locate or relocate with these hours of operations
limitations. Again, we have a 10-year history with the neighborhood commercial and over and over those limitations were quoted as the reasoning. Um, there is also in the regulations currently that no waiverss will be granted to those
business hours of operations. So um you know if there is consensus amongst the commission to you know maybe adjust those hours of operation and then perhaps eliminate that language that prohibits waiverss and allow the
commission to approve a waiver for a particular business that needs past 11 p.m. for example. What hours would you suggest? I mean 247 is out of out of my discussion. I mean, I would not go 247, but what would you
suggest? Um, what I would what I would suggest if the commission does appear to have some consensus to consider changing these hours is for us to take a look at um certain business models and determine what their regular operating hours are
and how much is a reasonable time frame after they're closing to the public to close out the business activities for the evening. Um, we can certainly bring something back as a follow-up workshop item or as a proposed ordinance backed
with that statistical data for the commission to consider. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Yeah, this is a good discussion. I I I do believe that the hours need to
be adjusted. I don't know about the 247. I would like to have a conversation about that. But let's take a little dive into Northport's history. It was mostly residential with very few businesses in Northport. Go up
and down 41 and look at the businesses 24/7, 12:00, 1:00, 2:00 with homes right directly behind them and we don't hear very many complaints about what's going on. So, I would like to look at the
types of businesses thoroughly and and adjust those hours. I got no issues with adjusting it a wee bit. Maybe midnight would be the cut off or whatever's comfortable with the board. But if they've been sitting there for 10
years, they're going to sit there for another 10 years. So, why did we even change the zoning to invite businesses in if we're going to handcuff them and not allow them in because of their business pra practices. So, I think the
discussion definitely needs to be had and and I understand the residents out there, they're worried about their area and what's coming into their area, but depending on the business, it might be something that's welcome in their area. We don't know until we have those
discussions. So, I'm I'm in favor of looking at it. There's no guarantee, but let's discuss it as a board. Look at it. Maybe an adjustment. You know, some other areas they shut down at 2:00 in the morning, then open back up at 5:00 in the
morning, depending on the businesses. Not saying that's good for Northport, but an adjustment I think should be had a discussion on because we're just holding up vacant property out there for no reason. my opinion that needs to be developed and that's why we went through
the resoning is to get commercial in here. So, let's look at each on a case- by case scenario down the road, but let's get a picture set out there to where people can say, "Okay, I want to come or I don't want to come." But adjusting those hours is a key. So,
that's where I'm at. That's all I had. Mayor, uh, Commissioner Lang. Uh, thank you, Mayor. I think there are a lot of reasons in the past why businesses didn't come to this city. I'm I'm not going to go through them from my point
of view. Um the only real line of sight uh I had in the past was uh right across the street from the Dollar General, I believe a a gas station and car wash wanted to go in there. um and they
wanted some waiverss and as businessoriented as I am, I was very happy that that project went away. I just didn't think that that type of business belonged there anyway. Um and then to want to extend the hours and
intensity, I just thought was not the right kind of development for that area. Um, like vice mayor, I mean, I'm open-minded about it. And when I think about the corridor and when I think about price, um I I totally understand
there are a lot of single family homes on Price, but that road is about to be widened to four, five lanes actually, and that will have long term a tremendous impact on the desiraability
of that area for residential use. Let's face it. Um, I also personally believe that homeowners along price will not lose money. I think they'll be able to sell their properties for a commercial use,
maybe for more even than selling their property for another residential use. So again, where where a road is is going to be four lanes like Price, that is the perfect time to
really revisit a lot of the the business regulations. Again, I'm I'm way more open-minded to the corridor, you know, the corridor zoning areas. Um, I question whether the intersections of Price and the M major collector roads
maybe, you know, a transitional corridor isn't the best zoning, but I'm not suggesting a zoning change for those areas. Um, I would be really open with some parameters case by case coming to the commission
to make variances of hours or that type of thing um, in the transitional corridor zoning areas. And I would be interested in in what kind of parameters I I'd want to see some rules around that
um so that we can be consistent in applying those rules. I I don't want it to be sort of at the willy-nilly discretion of the commission. I'd like some
structure so that we're consistent in how we evaluate those requests. But again, we have just gone through a very painful resoning process in this city. Um, and so I I don't want to make major
wholesale changes at this point, you know, outside of, you know, corridor and and maybe having the opportunity to evaluate variances or whatever in the transitional corridor zoning areas.
Thank you, Commissioner. Um, I think that, um, we have a feeling of a general openness to or willingness to consider some kind of modification to this section. So, um,
with the commission's per permission, what staff would like to do is perhaps put together some more refined options with some data to back that approach and provide the commission with pros and
cons for each of those options at a future workshop. Just one other if I if I may may um I really don't want to see another storage facility on price. Um while we're looking at
it, can we maybe take just a little peak without opening Pandora's box on allowable uses? Um, I think over time we wind up getting plenty of something. We might not need more of that something in
certain areas. You get my drift? Yes, ma'am. Um because we need higher uses um in those major areas because we don't have a ton of commercially zoned areas, folks. Uh, and we need to we can't keep
giving up prime locations to things that don't add a lot of value to the community. Zip, I'm respect. Thank you, Mayor. Before I say anything, let me preface my
statements by saying that development services is the whole purpose is to service development which means your focus is on businesses whereas a commissioner I have
to look at the whole of the citizenry the whole of the the the city businesses and residents and as commissioner Langden has already
mentioned Uh the new ULDC is less than a year old and a lot of time was spent on that and now we're looking to make what I would consider would be a major adjustment and as far
as one of the first things you mentioned was imagine a restaurant closes at 10:00. You know, they still have, you know, they're not going to serve any food, but they still have other things to do. Take out the garbage. Do you know what an industrial garbage dumpster the cover on it sounds
like when it slams down at night? It's a loud noise. When a tractor trailer separates the cab from the trailer, there's some loud noises there. When a truck backs into a dock and hits a dock,
it makes a loud noise. What I'm concerned about is, and as Commissioner Langden mentioned, um, Price Boulevard, those people who live on Price Boulevard, as I've already seen
with some of the real estate properties in the city. Um, a lot of people owned empty lots and they were, you know, residential. Now, they can't build a house on them, but I've
heard in more than one place that those properties are more valuable now than they were before. So, those people that own those properties, they may be able to, you know, make a a decent deal,
you know, to move their house somewhere else. Now, in regards to price, as Commissioner Langden mentioned, some of those properties may become quite more valuable and and eventually um price isn't going to be meant to be
residential. But my problem is with those people that live one street behind, you know, that the back of their house is now going to be the back of an establishment.
uh those are the people I worry about and that's where someone has already mentioned looking at this in another workshop and maybe doing something on a case-bycase basis depending on the type
of business that may or may not be in a certain location like um over off of Cleo Glade Right now in the uh near the Sarasota
Memorial Hospital emergency room, there are a series of businesses in there and some of them are restaurants and those restaurants close up at a reasonably early hour.
Now, if you had one of those restaurants in one of these corridors on there, fine. It shouldn't cause much problem. But now you put a bar in there that may have music, may serve, you know, they have celebrations on Marty
Gro and St. Patrick's Day and every other holiday. And now you have people bothering residents that are nearby at late hours and and that's a concern. So
I would definitely entertain some more workshops on this. And one thing I wanted to mention before I finish was that there was an email from former commissioner McDow uh this morning and
it mentioned that as part of this presentation the current zoning map wasn't included in the backup materials. And for for somebody like me, um, yeah, eventually I can find those maps on my own, but it's a lot easier if you find
them for me because you're familiar with them. If I have to go searching for them, I waste a lot of time. Um, so I I found her suggestion helpful. Um, and please, um, some of my comments may sound
negative, but I don't mean them in a negative manner. Um, I just want to look at the pluses and the minuses before I said, "Yeah, let's go ahead and do this." And thank you for your time.
Thank you, Commissioner. Um, yeah, uh, it's a good conversation. Um, interestingly enough, while since with the diversity of types of businesses and uniqueness to individual neighborhoods and streets, one might
think the idea of waiverss that would allow commission to customize, so to speak, um, would be a good thing. I'm not necessarily so sure that is a good idea. um the thought that for every
waiver request that comes before the commission, we're going to have a roundt dialogue with community engagement. And I wonder how much the influence of the loudest voices will have on commission's present andor future. It seems like a
pretty helter skelter way to try to figure it out and determine well, you know, do the neighbors in this neighborhood like the idea of having a little bar restaurant, a little Italian place that serves, you know, has a little bar and could go till 11 or 12:00
and for this neighborhood they like it, but on two neighborhoods over where the situation's the same, those people don't want anything there. I think we're opening up a nightmare. um to try to figure out how you manage this. You
know, maybe we're overdoing it. I I at at at the risk of sounding a little bit I don't know what the word would be 10 years of history and we you know we did did in that
10year history did we hear much from businesses who said geez if this was only 11 o'clock I could have lived with this but 10 o'clock just doesn't work for me or were most of them and how many were there hundreds were there 10 were
there five were there three over 10 years that said I really need 247 access to my property in order to relocate there so I don't really know like and understand 10 years worth of history and
we don't know I you know off the cuff I would say you move this back from 10:00 to 11 and like I can't imagine many businesses that this doesn't work for except those businesses that nobody would probably want in the neighborhood
anyway. So, you know, I maybe we're overthinking this and over worrying about it and maybe a tweak of one hour would would be the difference, but I I really have a hard time if a business
actually conditioned it's moving to a transitional car car one of these like streets and said, "Nope, just can't find my way to to to want to do this for the single reason that that the hours were
terrible. Like if that was an hour later or two hours later, I would have done it. I I would think we would know that already. So I'm not so sure that their reasons were just that, but maybe I'm wrong. I don't know. So again, I'm I'm not a in big favor of waver. I I I just
think it's opened up a nightmare. Um but I certainly would entertain like tweaking this an hour or so because to me 11:00's not unreasonable. if we have a problem with certain uses within a certain street. I mean, I can't I can't
even figure how many tens of dozens of maybe hundreds of hours went into the efforts to do the uldc and the discussions we had and over and over about what usages in what areas. So, I
don't really want to go revisit that all over again. But were but were there to be a type of business that is a problem child then let's address it. You know if if by extending this to 10 to 11 or
11:30 or whatever would open up a problem with regard to certain approved businesses in those carters. Then maybe as part of this adjustment of hours, we could take a couple of usages and just
say, "Hey, sorry. In these corridors, we're not going to allow those and make a couple of minor changes." if in the overall picture it would be more beneficial to increase the hour of operation here or you know from 10 to 11
or I just think that's the better way to go if we're going to do it or simply to say well let's just not do anything for a year or two or three or four or five and see how things develop but I fear what you guys have said is true that it might be another three four five years
that nothing happens there so I feel like we we ought to address it but we ought be real careful what we do here because you know, Commissioner Duval made some pretty insightful observations which, you know, quite frankly I would
hope all of us are sensitive to. Anyway, Commissioner Petro, thank you, Mayor. Um the state I used to live in before there was a Home Depot that was 247 and it was amazing to me to see uh
that the store was an operational because only from my estimate it would be like one two people would come at night if any. So the store was empty with the exception of the employees. Um, our current Walmart on 41
closes at 11 o'clock. So, I mean, I want to be home by 9, the latest. Um, but I can see the uh the mayor's point with the only exception of
restaurants that they can be open one hour and that one hour will give them the actual a boost to close the to close the doors um so so to speak. So I I'm I'm really
hesitant to go more than maybe I I would leave it as is for now if I was if it's the will of the board. Um but I know we have to do something uh on a case by case. Uh it's probably not
realistic. Uh although we can consider that. Um, but again, if we have a restaurant, I'm willing to do it. But if we have bar that plays music, even not an immediate resident, I
would be opposing that. So, I just there's a balance. We have to have a balance to preserve the quality of life. Thank you, Commissioner. Mr. Langden. Yeah, just a very quick comment. uh the mayor has sold me on not doing variances
because I can just imagine how that would play out and I don't think any of us want to go through that. Um but I see a a real difference between a restaurant that serves alcohol and a bar that
serves bar food. So, if we can kind of address that. And in all honesty, I'm out and about and every place I've ever been closes at 9, you know? I mean, even up in Sarasota, Big Top Brewery has that
outdoor entertainment. They're cleared out at 9:00. So, I don't understand why it works there and it doesn't work here. So anyway, that's sort of my my last. Thank you.
Um, do you have a general direction? You sort of work with Let me see. I' I'd like to provide a little bit of clarification under the current something like a bar would need a special exception. So we anywhere in
in CT. So we've sort of addressed that. What we would suggest is let us come back with some potential tweaks and some more data for you and some pros and cons. One of the things that catches us up. For instance, if you have a
restaurant that closes now at 9 or 9:30, a manager, under our current ordinances, a manager by himself or herself could not be inside the building counting the money from that day after 10 p.m. It has no effect on anyone around
them. Um, but they couldn't be there. They couldn't even be on the property. Right? So that those are the kinds of of barriers that we've put up because it specifically says no business operation
can happen on the property at all. Um if you had um a business, a lot of these smaller businesses, they don't have big commercial dumpsters, they have individual cans. You couldn't open an individual plastic tote and put anything in it and close it. So, I think there's
a there's room for us to look at some tweaks that would make a a significant difference in attracting these businesses yet have minimal to no impact on the surrounding neighbors and we we are very conscientious of those
neighbors. We do want to minimize or eliminate impacts to them. So, um, our our ask of the commission at this point would be allow us to go back, refine some recommendations,
uh, bring them back to you with pros, cons, considerations, and also take a look at that list of uses and the zoning map as as Commissioner Dval um said and so that you can see where they are and uh, you can take a look at which ones
already require special exceptions and and we can look at refining all of that for you. Appreciate it, Miss Lenny. Do thank you very much. Um, do you need a consensus? Would you like a consensus? I'll make
it. Um, I make a consensus that we instruct uh city manager and staff to come back with some uh recommendations for adjusting the current uldc and the corridor and transitional corridor
zoning districts and some additional data um that that educates us on the kinds of things that are unintentionally business prevention.
Motion didn't include anything about ours. No. Bring back recommendations on the hours. Okay. On everything. Okay. Um there second. It's not a
motion. It's not a motion. So yes or no or Well, I'm going to wait to let everyone else vote first. I'm a yes, Mr. Petro. Vice Mayor, that's a yes. Yes.
Yes. I'm a yes. Um before we Oh, any public comments on this? Of course. Debbie McDow. The existing code prohibits hours of operation in the commercial transitional zoning between 10 p.m. and 5:00 a.m. Ask staff to put
the current zoning map on the screen. So, you can see the commercial transitional is next door to existing residential homes. Please do not change the hours of operation in the CT district to allow a 247 restaurants, which nowadays has outside dining is incompatible with residential homes. The
noise will carry. To allow a 247 retail establishment next to homes will open the door's box to all sorts of 247 activities. Besides noise, please protect our established neighborhoods and keep the existing hours of operation in place. FYI, the commission
unanimously agreed to keep these hours of operation as a way to protect existing residents when the new ULDC was adopted. Thank you. And that's all. All right. Thank you. Before we go on, uh, city manager, could you at some point have it take a look at not just this
meeting, but the last meeting or two we've had? There's a real disconnect between our speaking voices and our mouths. It is very distracting to people. I watched back our last meeting and there's like no synchronism. I got a
couple of textes today about this meeting being the same way. So, and it didn't used to be that way. So, it's something that went a little offkilter, but if we could have it check that, that'd be great. There goes Miss Julie. There you go. Just so we see. Um, what
do you think? We've been at it two hours. I know we only have one item. Um, does anybody need a quick health break? I took one 10 minutes. Yeah. I hate to do it for one item, but I also unless you want to just How do you guys feel?
Yeah. Take 10. be back here at 12:10 or 12:20. I'm sorry. I would just have to sit right at 12. [Music] We believe that the natural resources
department will be an integral part for the city's growth as we want to achieve a more balanced approach of development in the future. What we really want to do is see sensible development, sustainable development, and development that is um
in line with what we already have here. So, we want to preserve as much as we can of the uh natural resources. So, there is still place for our natural species, our our migrating birds and all the other species that live um and
survive in our habitat. Natural systems are a big part of the ways ecosystems function. An important part for our community, our listed species. They
stabilize the soil. They provide so many different benefits including shade, limiting the heat island effect uh within our city, providing habitat, providing shelter for these species and
just uh also for our aesthetic enjoyments. Well, as an arborist, uh a lot of what I do is making sure that development conforms to the tree protection code. So, one thing we already have in place since April of
2022 is a tree protection code which is quite robust in the city of Northport that was adopted by commission and the city through also a lot of community involvement. And so, we're very happy to have that tree protection code. So, what I a lot of what I do is making sure that
development either residential or commercial conforms to that code. We are such a passionate team. We come from varied backgrounds. Uh I think between us we have over a 100red years of experience and we are every day raring to go and you know we know our work is
cut out here and we're happy to uh take the challenge through the division and community involvement and leadership in the city. We really hope to make great strides in protecting what we have here and finding that balance with
development and environmental stewardship. I am excited to be a part of this team and I'm really seeking and looking forward to the opportunities for us to be able to make a
[Music] difference. I started with Charlotte County Utilities as a meter reader in 2004. So that's kind of where I got my foot in the door. And once I reached a point in my life where things were more stable, I decided to leave Charlotte
County Utilities and I went and got my insurance license. It was very exciting doing that for a short period of time. But after a while, I started thinking about the utility. It was in my heart. At this point, I had almost 12, just two months shy of 12 years in. And so I
realized during that time, my heart was in utilities. And so I started looking around again. and I seen an opening here to be a CN D tech. So, I applied and I got in. Typically, I get here at 7 in the morning. I get my list of, you know, if I can get to this, this is what I
need to do. And I get in my truck. If if I need any supplies, parts, tools based off of the work I was given that morning, I'll pick that up here at our shop. And then I head out and um my goal for the day is just to get as much work as that was assigned to me done as
possible. And sometimes that happens. And other times there's a lot of first response calls that come in. My favorite part is the uniqueness. It's um not knowing what I'm going to be faced with every day. It could be different. It's not mundane in any way. And it's
exciting when you get a call and you're you're on your way and you don't know what it is. And you you have the experience and the knowhow and the backing to face whatever it's going to be. So I feel very confident in facing these calls. And I think that's my
favorite part. Hello, my name is Devon Pulis. I'm the aquatics facilities manager with the city of Northport. And today we're going to be talking with you guys about our free swim evaluation. It's important that we do these swim evaluations so as uh kids are registering for swim programs, they get placed in the right
class. What we're looking at when we're doing the swim evaluation is every swim level has what's called exit skill assessments. So, what we do is we have your child get in the water and we'll go through a series of different movements. Can you go under the water? Uh, can you show us your front crawl? Can you show us back crawl? Can you show us
elementary backstroke? Different strokes within there. And what we're doing is we're trying to see where your child tests to before it becomes a challenge for them at that point. Once we assess that, then we'll let you know and you can go ahead and sign your child up for that appropriate level there. It's important that we have these so that way
when we're teaching a level one, we don't have kids that should be potentially in a level two and a level one class because they're not learning the appropriate skills that they need at that point in time. Right now, uh when we're in full summer operations, uh we ask that people come between 8 and 10 to do the swim evaluations just as you can
hear the water splashing in the background, slides and everything like that. But any day of the week, uh that we're open, you can come in at any point in time and ask for a swim evaluation. We always have a certified swim instructor on site that can uh have your child take a swim [Music]
assessment llama sawways manager. I am here today with Mario Vendetti. Mario, tell people here how long you've been doing this job. I've been here five years. Five years. Excellent. Excellent. So, Mario, tell people what it entails, what you do. I'm a planner scheduler for
solid waste of the city and um I go around and I I greet the new residents and I educate them on the recycle. Excellent. Sounds interesting. Very good. Yep. So, Mario, what do you find inside the recycling bins that shouldn't be there? So, let's try to tell the people how to recycle, right? Well, the
most common thing I find, Frank, is plastic bags. Okay. So, the plastic bags are not recyclable. I find them just tossed in the container or they bag the recycle with them. And they should This is inside the blue lid container. That's right. Inside the blue lid containers. Correct. And they should be either taken
back to the grocery store or tossed in the trash. Very good. Do you see a lot of recycling inside the containers? Uh I do. I come across a lot of that. Okay. We don't want to do that. So, okay. So, if you have any questions, you can always look at our website ww.northportf.gov.
[Music] /solidwaste. Welcome to the brand new Northport Podcast Network. We're so excited to introduce you to our revamped lineup of shows created to keep you connected, informed, and inspired about everything happening in our city. That's
right. With three unique shows under one network, there's something for everyone. First up is Northport. Now Madison and I will rotate hosting this fast-paced news-driven podcast to bring you the latest city updates, event previews, and important information all in one quick
listen. Think of it as your weekly guide to staying in the know about what's happening in Northport. Next, we have Northport Stories. Laura and I will share heartfelt and inspiring tales from around our community. Stories that showcase the people, places, and moments that make our city special. And
don't worry, Voices of Northport isn't going anywhere. I'll continue bringing you even more personal stories and interviews with residents who shaped our city. And last but not least, Northport Living. Cody and I will also rotate hosting this show, which is all about tips, events, and lifestyle ideas to
help you make the most of life right here in Northport. Whether you're looking for family-friendly activities, ways to get involved, or helpful home and garden tips, Northport Living has you covered. With breaking news, heartfelt stories, or practical tips, the Northport Podcast Network is your
go-to source for all things Northport. Make sure to subscribe to the Northport Podcast Network wherever you listen, and join us as we celebrate and connect with our amazing community. Northport Now will be released bi-weekly. All right, we're back in session.
And moving on to final item B25-2248. Discussion and possible action regarding the code of the city of Northport, Florida, chapter 6, alcoholic beverages, section 6-4 sales near churches or schools. City
manager, this your item. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I'll turn it back over to Lori Barnes, deputy director of development services for presentation and conversation. Thank you, sir. Uh Lori Barnes, deputy director of development services, presenting today on behalf of
the economic development division. Um the city code addresses uh consumption on premises of alcoholic beverages. Uh this chapter 6 provision regarding alcoholic beverages and distances
between those establishments serving alcohol and churches and schools has not been revisited by the city commission since 1990. Um the city's current regulations are significantly more
restrictive than those of our surrounding communities. And we're finding that these um limitations because they're so broad are actually complicating um economic development projects in the city of Northport. One example would be
the Sarasota County Technical College out parcels. The way the regulations are currently written, those regulations apply to the Sarasota County Technical School despite the fact that it's not a K through 12 operation. Um, so a hotel
wanting to locate on those Sarasota Technical College parcels could not. um a restaurant other than a fast food restaurant that serves no alcoholic beverages could not locate on those parcels. Uh similarly we have some other
corridor corridor transitional and even commercial zoning districts in the city that are in close enough proximation to churches and schools to 800 ft um wherein they would not be able to serve alcoholic beverages at a restaurant or
at uh Popstroke Golf or at a bowling alley. Um, so we wanted to bring this to the commission's attention and we did provide uh four potential amendments to the city code
that would relax those requirements while still placing some limitations on the more intensive type uses like a standalone bar versus a restaurant. Um, and we've also included the uh city of Sarasota, Sarasota County, and city city
of Venice regulations um for your information and considering this item. Um, so staff would um request that the commission give direction to prepare amendments to the code as
outlined in the staff summary items 1 through 4 or um some other commission preferred alternative and I'd be happy to answer any questions. Thank you, Vice Mayor.
Yeah. The question that I have, and I know this has taken place since the '9s, is I'm going to use this as an example. San Pedro Church, they put on their yearly bizaar and and festival and stuff like that, and they have a beer tent
there. They're serving beer right on the property, and that's one of their biggest fundraising things. Now, in the current time, do they get a permit or something to serve the alcohol there throughout the festival? They do. They
do. So, under the state law, um, anyone with a catering license can serve alcoholic beverages in a community clubhouse, at a at an HOA community, at a church. Um there are also provisions
for a one, two, or three-day permit um for nonprofit organizations to be given permission to serve alcoholic beverages. So, that is where the church is likely likely utilizes that program,
that three-day permit program, and they have one of their partner nonprofit organizations like the Rotary or or a similar organization actually pull the permit on their behalf, right? And back in the day, we used to have our festivals at Dallas White Rotary would
be the one to pull the beer tent and stuff. And it was I I just wanted to know how that worked presently before we went to change any of this. And I see the need, right? You know, in in certain areas, in certain situations. So, I'm
I'm in agreement to look at the relaxing of it and maybe not totally abolish it, but put some guidelines in and uh go forward with that. So, I just wanted to make sure that we were still they were still legal doing that
stuff. Yes. Yes. And nothing that we are nothing that we're proposing as far as modifying the current city code regulations would impact those nonprofit organizations from obtaining their one two three-day event permit as currently
allowed by the state. Okay. I thank you for that. That's all I have. Thank you, Commissioner Lang. Yeah. Thank you, Mayor. Um, I recall that there was a pizza place that wanted to go into the strip
mall on Price. There's a little strip mall near Atwater and they wanted to sell beer and wine, but there's a church behind that property. And so they chose not to go in there because they couldn't
sell beer and wine. So, I think we definitely need to um update that issue. Uh and again, as I said earlier, I see a big difference between a restaurant that wants to sell
alcoholic beverages in conjunction with food and a bar or an entertainment kind of thing. So, um I'd be really interested in your suggestions. I'm I don't think shame on me I didn't read
the legislative text on this item. Did you make recommendations? Yes ma'am I did. Would you reiterate them please? I can and it if you could put these up on the screen that would be helpful. Thank you. So, um, our
recommendations for primarily would be to specify that the distance requirements only apply to businesses like bars and nightclubs. Therefore, if we had a bowling alley or if we had a a
brewery that served food primarily 51% of their business, um things like bowling alleys, um popstroke golf, those type of places would not be subject to the same distance requirements as a bar
or a nightclub. Um, we would specify that the distance requirement not be imposed on businesses when a church is operating in a in a strip center. Um, this happens in a lot of communities. Startup churches choose to locate in
strip centers and the balance of the businesses or the business opportunities in those strip centers um are diminished because of the church location there. Um, think about a strip center and this
happened in in my last community. It was built in the 1970s and this particular unit in that strip center had always been a restaurant. Over and over it changed, you know, to a different type of
restaurant. They served beer and wine. Well, that business closed down and it wasn't until a year later that an end user wanted to move into that unit. But in the meantime, a church had moved down. So this restaurant that was considering that location couldn't get
an alcoholic beverage license. So you know when you think about giving consideration to the churches, yes, we want to do that. But if they choose to locate in a strip center there, there needs to be some consideration of the economic viability of that strip center
and businesses that might want to locate there. Um we would like to clarify that the school reference means a state accredited public or private school um for preschool through high school.
Um under the current code um could be you know the daycarees would be considered a school if they have um educational programming. Um, we could have um the Sarah the the State College
of Florida. Um, we could have the Sarasota Technical College where they're currently included in that definition and there's nothing we can do to allow businesses to move there and
serve alcoholic beverages. Um, so those are the four changes that we would um specifically throw out there for recommendation. Um, however, if the commission wanted to keep the 800 ft distance requirement,
um, we could do that. Um, provided one, three, and four of the recommendations were agreed upon and an ordinance update. Um the you know as I mentioned Sarasota County
um is 800 ft but it doesn't apply if you only sell beer and wine. Uh city of Venice it's only 500 ft and they don't oppose that on restaurants. So, you know, we definitely have the
most stringent regulations and um with commission's direction, we'll bring back an ordinance to amend this so that there's some opportunity for those types of businesses um in areas besides Highway 41, for
example. Uh, anybody else? Okay, I guess you're looking. Let's do a consensus. Anybody want to I'm I'm happy to help. I only jotted down three of them, so I'm happy to make a consensus
on three. Um, but someone else will have to help me with the fourth one. So, um, I'll start. Um, I I don't know what consensus to give on the 800 ft because I would be open to a reduction of that but we haven't really
discussed that. So let me throw out what I thought I heard. Um, I I'm making a consensus to instruct staff um to come back with changes to the
ULDC that the distance restriction, whatever that might be, only applies to bar and nightclubs and not to restaurants uh in commercially zoned areas. Might as well take them one at a time, right?
Mr. Mayor. Yeah, Madame Commissioner, one clarification. These regulations are in the city code, not in the unified land development code. Okay. So, let me revise my consensus um to instruct staff
to change the city code specifying that uh the distance requirement um for Oh. Oh, thank you so much. All you have to do is look up that the distance requirements between businesses
selling alcoholic beverages and churches and schools um from 800 ft to 600 ft. Take them one at a time for discussion as a regular agenda item. We're not passing anything today. I think you just need direction to come
back with recommendations for the for vice mayor. Right. So if if there if if there is a willingness on the part of commission to um give a consensus to um make the four
changes that staff has recommended. And then in addition, if Commissioner Langden wishes to reduce the distance from 800 feet to 600 feet, then we can incorporate that all into an ordinance and bring it back rather than doing
another workshop. Um, well, I wasn't saying a workshop, bring it back as an agenda item. Yes, sir. And then we could vote on it all in one time. Yes, sir. You certainly could. That's all I would say. This way we have a broader discussion. This, that, and the other.
good with that? I'm good with it. I make a consensus to bring back these items for discussion on a regular uh agenda item at a future date to be determined for the recommendations on the change in the code.
Mr. Pro, are you a yes or a no? Can they be split on the agenda item or it's going to be bundled up in or we'll have that discussion on the agenda item, right? When it comes agenda item when it comes back this way, we can make a motion on
it. Yes. Yes. I would like to have a discussion. I'm a yes. I'm a yes. Yes. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Any public comment on this item? There is none. Any general public
comment? Hello, my name is Al Picush and I am a longtime Northport resident, realtor, landowner, and also a member of the Northport Land Owners Association. And I'm sure that the city council is
aware that Florida has a moratorum regarding the changing of city codes, rules, and regulations that make them more strict or burdensome than before hurricane Ian. The moratorum will be lifted
October 2027. Uh, the ULDC was adopted before two new city commissioners, Demetrius Petro and David Duval, were elected. Shouldn't they have some input
to all the new rules and regulations? Now, there are many rules and regulations in the new that are more strict, burdensome, and are an obstacle to development. And I could give you a list. As evidence to
this, I'd ask, how many commercial or industrial projects have been approved in AC6 or AC10 since the ULDC was adopted last October? My guess would be very few or
none, especially because of the city requ the city water and sewer requirement. Why not allow private well and septic until city water and sewer are available? The city is missing out on a lot of
revenue. I'm 78 years old and I want don't want to have to wait 10 or 15 years to get my property developed. Thank you, sir. Great. Um if there's nothing
else then it is 12:37 and I adjourn this meeting this workshop monthly a schedule will be available on social media and our website.
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