rehard you ready good afternoon I'd like to open the city council meeting uh Tuesday March 19th 2024 if you'll stay with me the mayor Lees in the v invocation and a pledge please stand me with me if you wish dear Lord thank you once again for the city that we live in we thank you for all you provide for us we thank you for the safety that you brought us last week at the race uh it's unfortunate that we had one individual that past and we ask you to watch over their family we also ask you to watch over the pile family as uh uh will has uh has left this Earth and gone to heaven uh we ask that you watch over his wife and kids and the rest of the family and guide them through the rest of their life we ask that you watch over our staff as they continue to keep the city in the great shape that it is and lastly I wish everybody a happy Resurrection Resurrection Day I'm praying your Easter will be bright with the and joy of Our Risen Savior he is risen hoping your Easter is happy and blessed we do all we do in your name amen amen amen The Pledge aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you mayor wel Kathy will you call the RO please here fishop here H here mle here steuart here carile here okay if there's anyone in the audience that's not on our agenda or anything with the agenda if you will there's some forms on the front table here you fill them out hand them to clerk Haley and she will get them to me mayor's report uh a few things last last week was a ra was the biggest race attendance that they've had um it was a great event Wayne EST and his crew did a wonderful job it was a whole week full of uh fun and enjoyment um it was uh it was really kind of exciting to see that really the community come out and and really support the race um it keeps growing every year they keep doing a good job so we appreciate that and unfortunately there was one individual that did pass away um not on the track but in the paddock um or outside the padic but but other than that it was a it was a good good week of events uh few things that are coming up we have a small business event on 329 uh at from 4 to 4 to 8 I believe uh off of um North Commerce we've got the soda Fest on April 6th coming up and sipping on the circle on the 20th and of course we have Easter coming at the end of the it's an early Easter this year so I hope you all enjoy I do have one other item a proclamation uh for Child Abuse Prevention month and I'd ask uh Miss Gail merley who's representing the children Advocacy Center to just meet me at the podium and I'll read the proclamation into the record it's a long one so hang in there all right whereas Florida is committed to improving the lives of all Floridians and securing a better future for the citizens of the state and whereas children who have adverse childhood experiences aces are at high risk higher risk of short and long-term physical psychological and behavioral challenges that can impact the individual child and the Greater Community and whereas parents and caregivers who have resources and support are better equipped to give their children safe and nurturing experiences and whereas children have a better mental health and physical health and academic success when they are raised in a safe stable and nurturing environment and whereas the Florida Department of Children Children and Family secret has a vision for holistic Services by integrating systems and services and whereas the State of Florida has established hope Florida a pathway to Prosperity a personalized approach to helping families overcome barriers to self-sufficiency through Community collaboration and whereas Floridians can call 85030 Hop hope to speak with a care navigator to support to for support to develop a plan to achieve economic self-sufficiency referrals to local partners and help identifying goals and barriers in their lives and whereas during the month of April prevent child abuse Florida in collaboration with the governor's office of adoption and Child Protection the Florida Department of Children and Families and the oun of prevention fund of Florida implements pin wheels for prevention a Statewide coordinating campaign to raise awareness of Child Abuse Prevention efforts by teaching about healthy Child Development and positive parenting practices and establishing circle of parents peer support groups and whereas Child Abuse Prevention month provides everyone a chance to learn how they can play a role in preventing abuse and neglect including adverse child experiences Aces and whereas Child Abuse Prevention month reminds florans of all ages that they can help children increase positive childhood experiences which lead to happier healthier childhood now therefore be it proclaimed that I John sh mayor of the city of Sebring Florida do hereby proclaim the month of April 2024 is Child Abuse Prevention month in the city of Sebring and extend my support to all of to all observing April 24th of Child Abuse Prevention month in this in Florida so thank you we got to thank you for all you do would you like to say anything uh no that's okay well we appreciate what you do with the Advocacy Center and what they do and what they've done for years it's just a great great thing that not a lot of cities have have something like that that's very true thank you for I'm sure it's a challenge all the time but it's it's well worth it so thank you very much for your what you do so thank you that's all I have sir okay thank you mayor uh councilman's concern comments the aison reports we'll start down there with Terry Mandell good afternoon um I had a wonderful time at the races I really I went there as a child with my parents to work and enjoy and uh then of course as a teenager to get in as much trouble as I could down there and uh see all the interesting sites and the amazing people that came to Sebring and so it was a joy to go back I'd gone back a little bit but I went to the Thursday night get together was so lovely with all the uh race cars that were there in the building and just had such a wonderful time and it seemed so orderly and I even watched an entire race and uh I just had a great time it was so wonderful another thing I wanted to say we are so blessed here I think um the mayor touched on how our departments keep our city running and uh I said when I got on city council that I took everything in this little town for granted and uh I really you know if I wanted water I went and got it out of the f it I never thought was it clean I just knew the city was taking care of us garbage got picked up but uh Sunday before last we had an episode at our church where uh somehow the sewer lines got stopped up out in the street and our parking lot and sew was coming out and um we called the city they came out immediately and fixed it and then came back Monday and uh I just wanted to give kudos to Bob bogas I don't know if he's here but to our public works department Bob bogas and Kim shans and the whole group they keep our City Utilities running very well and we really appreciate them we're very blessed to have them that's all I got thank you Harrison no report well one thing uh rumor has that there's a birthday in the house today so uh Paul Anderson so he's I'm not going to tell you how old he is but hope the 50th birthday that you had last year tops today happy birthday thank you for everything that you do um Paul likes to be in the back not getting you recognized and so this is probably uncomfortable for him so we like making him a little uncomfortable but thank you for everything that you do uh in the background making sure our technology works and I don't understand it but you do so thank you thank you happy birthday happy birthday you're no happy birthday to you that's enough okay sorry that's my dad okay doie um no report Mr Stewart no report no report uh I just want to say the event she was talking about I'm going to put a little punch out there for the Hall of Fame they're the ones that do that so it was a Gayla the races happens every year uh they bring in antique race cars that have actually raced or won at Sebring uh they're pretty unique to see and very expensive and unlike uh Miss mandelle I I've been going out there since I was about 13 and I didn't get in any trouble right I don't know if I believe that thanks thank everybody for coming and those that are watching uh I will accept a a motion on the consent agenda I move to approve the consent agenda as presented second got a motion of second no one has any comments hold the board cther Bishop yes Avery yes mle yes Stewart yes C yes uh okay there's no old business so we'll move right along to the new business uh 10 a uh is a seing small business organ organization special events um Chris and Robert Adams you want to tell us what you're up to trouble no so um Chris and I we we own the sebrings uh Soap Company and so we um in January we came up with this group a Sebring small business organization and it's grown from three members now to over 20 um and in we wanted to put on an event like we we usually do like the store will have like steel drums or or a tie and ice or something just on a whim and this event became an actual event like really fast so um we have about 20 uh businesses Sebring small businesses that are participating we're going to close down um North Commerce Avenue from Circle Park Drive now to Pomegranate um and we're all going to set up have a good time we'll have uh WWJ there for a live broadcast um Sweet Water coffee jungle bus like a whole bunch of us just getting together we're doing uh raffle prizes and grand prizes a grill uh it's going from 4:00 to 9: on March 29th and uh so that's what we're putting together for you guys good job yeah we're excited thank you we need all the people we can get downtown we want more people downtown that's what we're it's our goal to maybe even like have this a quarterly event in between the other festivals so when there is a l then we can fill in the gaps um when there is something SOA you know I I'm very happy you are getting a small business organization for Sebring I understand there have been several in the past that have just kind of we've heard yeah fizzled out I mean I I don't know too much about it but I would love to come to one of your uh get togethers okay to encourage um and and just learn about the small business our next meeting is March 22nd at 8: a.m. at the Children's Museum this Friday a.m. right after the sun right after okay what what day was that Mark Friday Friday 22nd 22nd 8: a.m. and where was it at the Children's Museum oh Children's Museum thank you we've outgrown our store you've outgrown your store that's a good thing so I I have one question is this event like open to the public or is this just a get together for yeah so it's open to the public it's it's for the public to come and really meet the people that own the businesses run the businesses uh you know buy some things have some fun it's a family fun night so every business is required to have a family fun activity so the Children's Museum will be set up in the park and they'll be doing large um yard games we're going to be doing build your own bath bombs uh sugar Blossom is doing cookie decorating um the red easel is doing rock painting all Easter themed sounds great okay sounds good I move to approve the event as presented condition upon providing appropriate Insurance showing at least $1 million of liability and naming the city as additional insured at least 10 days prior to the event second I second oops in race for a second and that's already been purchased we do have it we'll give hand out copy we're good okay we have a motion a second any comments from the audience not up here thank you for that I mean and you really want to do it quarterly is that would be great that' be very yeah that'd be good thing for the city Kathy please thanks appreciate it thank you Bishop yes H yes mle yes Stewart yes car yes okay uh item 10 b a public hearing and ordinance 1523 an applicant initiate a request to change the zoning classification from three property located on 434 Fernley 428 palow Avenue and 503 Rose Avenue seing from City multiple family District to mix use quantity development District mu QD to the public or qu qu public Mr Swain yes sir proposed ordinance 1523 is entitled an applicant initiated Amendment to the official zoning map of the city of Sebring specifically changing the zoning classification for two properties totaling approximately 3.92 acres and located at three sorry 434 Fernleaf Avenue and 428 Palmetto Avenue Sebring bearing uh there strap numbers from City multiple family District R3 and mixed use quality development District mqd to public quasi public the the title mentioned that the 503 Rose Avenue was included that one was is not going to be included tonight okay we have bar with us from Central Florida Regional planning Council and and your name Marissa barnby with the central Florida Regional planning Council okay so you're replacing this tette yes she and I work together and um I am here this evening okay well the floor is yours thank you so much uh again for the record mariss barnby with the central Florida Regional planning Council this is an applicant initiated request to amend zoning um next Slide the original request this is the board of County Commissioners so you can see the three red Parcels um Fernleaf Avenue petto Avenue and Rose Avenue that was 4.12 acres in size this did go um next slide to the Planning and Zoning Board and the Planning and Zoning Board of recommended to forward approval of um the rezoning of the firm Leaf Avenue property and the petto Avenue property but not the one on Rose Avenue because the Rose Avenue one is currently vacant and they wanted to know what would happen this did come before the city council for first reading and um an agreement or discussion between the applicant and the council also said to pull that piece out it was advertised with all three pieces since that's what the original application was however the rest of my presentation the staff report and the um ordinance you are considering this evening next slide is for just the two pieces you can see in red there so the zoning request is to go for multiple family R3 and mix quality development District to Public quas public next slide this slide shows your future land use as you can see these two parcels and everything surround it it surrounding it is in the downtown mixed use um Redevelopment future Landry district and when you look at the zoning the one parcel has R3 multiple family which is consistent with Parcels um directly adjacent to it it um the other piece is mixed use quality development District these Parcels AB but property that is in public that is also owned by the county um there are some various different properties out there that are owned by the county but these are the only ones they are asking for change on right now if this amendment um to the zoning map does go through this is what your zoning map would look like it would assign the Public quas Public to these two Parcels which when you saw on the areial they both are developed currently with County related infrastructure and and buildings from them can see on that slide um everything surrounding that area so it's a it's a very mixed area so there's single family multifam County uses Municipal uses some vacant land um a warehouse as well as a private school slide this is your aerial map these were just for your information the the the sites with the asteris on them um were Parcels that were also um owned by the county next slide so we did do a public facilities and service analysis there is um water and waste water and solid waste in close proximity and available to service the developments as they exist today and potential future development on the site um if they want to expand uses they would have to do an analysis at that time for future traffic impacts um this isn't residential so Public Schools isn't actually a requirement related to this and then there is uh adequate Recreation and open space to address requirements for this property this request is consistent with the future land use assigned to the property and the proposed zoning supports the uses that are on the site today and what the county is anticipating using them continuing into the future as I already mentioned the Planning and Zoning Board did on February 13th recommend approval for the rezoning for the property at 434 fliff Avenue and 428 petow Avenue and did recommend denial for the property of 503 Rose Avenue and so tonight your um motion options would be for approval on second reading of this ordinance again the ordinance has been updated to reflect just those two properties consistent with Planning and Zoning Board recommendation and the discussion at first reading thank you uh is there anyone in the public have any comments councilman thank you very much uh during the public hearing um accept a motion uh I move to approve ordinance 1523 on second and final reading second motion second by Mr St go ahead Bishop yes Hy yes M yes Stuart yes C yes okay uh 10 C is a public hearing and ordinance 1521 I'm going to pass this on to Mr Swain this is a proposed ordinance to vacate a portion of Palmetto Avenue near the property that was just discussed for the rezoning the title of that ordinance that was adopted on first reading U Back In December is entitled an ordinance vacating that portion of pal Avenue adjacent to block 67 and block 71 of the subdivision for George E seing company all lying in section 29 Township 34 South Range 29 East Highlands County Florida and establishing an effective date and at the applicant's request they would ask you to please continue tonight's public hearing to May 7th we need a motion yes sir please we need a motion I move to table the uh ordinance of public hearing reading of 1521 to April 7th May May May 7th sorry second we got a motion a second second Bop yes hey yes mle yes Stewart yes car yes okay uh move right on to um 10d this is a uh v- 24-1 appeal of Planning and Zoning Board denial a variant request an applicant initiated request to appeal the plan zoning board Deni of a vant variance request the applicant is requesting a twoot 1 in variance from the required 7ot 5T side yard setback to keep a existing shed where it is located adjacent to the front of the house and the side yard at 3061 Lake View Drive parcel number s24 34288 00 00 6000000 Mr sne well the applicant applied for a variance to allow a shed closer than the side setback would allow uh that request was denied and as they are permitted they have appealed that decision to city council for council's um Decision One Way or Another on whether they can keep the the shed that is located too close to the side line I have a presentation if uh it would would please you to see it yes ma'am thank you for the record Marissa barnby with the central Florida Regional planning Council the applicants are in attendance today um and we'll be happy to answer any questions you have beyond what I can present so this is the location of the property it is on Lake View Drive shown on red here um it is about 31 acres in size as you can see it obviously buts right up to Lake Jackson next slide so the variance request was a two foot 1 in variance from the required 7 1/2t setback um for a shed that they installed on the site that went a little too far into the side setback the Planning and Zoning Board did meet on February 3rd and they voted to deny the variant request um and the applicant submitted a letter to the city on February 21st requesting an appeal appeal to the determination uh staff met with them and asked them to provide backup support material related to that appeal um and so I will go through what some of what they provided as well as the analysis we provided to the planning Zing board so again the variance is for a side setback um for a shed that was constructed partially within the side setback fun the future land use on this property as well as the adjacent properties is medium density residential and the zoning is r1a single family so the um the 118 square foot shed is 10 by8 fill feet it is built uh directly next to the house um a permit was not required because the shed is under the 200 square foot requirement um the r1a zoning District does require a 72t side yard setb and when you look at the survey which you'll see on the next slide the shed is located um 6 feet from the property line so 1 and 1/2 ft inside that in one part of the shed and the other part is 5.4 in so two and 2.1 ft from the setback which is why they're asking for a variance of 2.1 ft um the owner said this was the only place they could they could put the shed due to restrictions of sidey yards and and getting the shed located um this is an aerial image so you can see the you know the house is very close the the side side line on the Northern side actually dips in have a lot was created but it has that dipped up that part as well next slide this is the um boundary survey the red box on there shows the location of the shed with the with the the portions that are distance from the from the side yard line and this is a photo taken of the site you can see the shed there it is placed um on ground level um my understanding is they had the shed company kind of dig a hole so that the shed would look like it's ground level even with with the with the house instead of up on risers it is tucked in as much as it can be under the Eve um but that's what that shed looks like at this point so there are variance evaluation requirements in the code um and this is uh next Slide the talks about the special conditions and circumstances and all those five conditions that you have to meet um for findings for consideration the shed does meet all the other requirements pertaining to accessory structures in terms of the amounts you can have the size and all of that it's just the fact of its location partially into the side set back that is the issue with it um and again as I said the shed was constructed without a permit but that is consistent with Florida building code requirements so the applicant did Supply um support materials one of their statements is that you know the the setback that remains which would be 5'4 in would not affect anyone else's property lines you know essentially it's large enough to get a lawn mower through and and that stuff still on their property without having to cross over in their neighbor lines um the current placement provides the least encroachment into the side setback as you saw from the picture and they went back and met with shed company that shed is tucked in as far as it possibly can be next to the house they did um look and there is no access on either side of the house to move the shed uh the shed company requires 11 ft of clearance in order to get the shed through on the one side on the South Side there's only 10t 2 in due to the roof angle of the um neighbor's roof and then on the South Side there's only 9 ft half inch due to the trees so even with the fence being taken down there's just not the clearance available for the shed company to squeeze the shed through the side um the applicant also me with the crane company to say can we lift it up and over the house and take it back that way um the crane said due to the weight and size of it and how far back they would have to lift it back there they there's not a crane available that could do that they also looked into seeing if they could have the shed floated on a pontoon boat to the property and lift it that way but they can't get a crane into the backyard to then lift it off the boat to bring it into their backyard um there one of their arguments is that there are residents in the area with other sheds and due to the um um unique size uh requirement or restrictions of the size the side requirements and things like that they are um would not be able to experience the same opportunities for storage Etc that other people in this zoning District enjoy and um that the shed is placed in the most appropriate Place given the restrictions of the property and that this is a the minimum needed requested variance um I have some photos that that one turned on me I'm not sure what happened there but so you could see the measurement of how the width to get that through there um these look better on my computer I apologize but these are in your packet as well for you to see next slide that's the South Side this is the north side yeah not sure what what went went there but I swear these were all the right direction in my PowerPoint and my computer my apologies but so you can again kind of see the side there and the width um one of these shows the you can see the back of the shed with oh that's this one here so you can see this Northern one you can see the the back of the shed sticks out just a little further than what the air conditioning unit is that exist on that side um next slide they did provide as part of their application or their appeal application package um the letters from the crane company and the shed and gazebo company saying that they cannot relocate it to the backyard next slide um again this is just a summary side of of what the varant request is the the denial and that they did apply for an appeal um I believe the city received an email from the neighbor okay so there was an email from the neighbor being opposed to this being granted but I don't have a copy to read into the record with me I happy to stand for any questions as I mentioned the applicant um is here as well I have a question yes um I'm puzzled since that property is going normally I I try to go out my way to help the homeowner in cases like this and but I'm I'm surprised that Mr Sterns would go to all this trouble since he's going the property is going to be for sale it's up for sale so I'm surprised he's going to all this trouble since it's been denied the neighbors don't like it so I was wondering why that would be why he would go to all that trouble when he's going to be selling the property I'll I'll let him address that good evening Lany Sterns for the record 3061 Lake View Drive um to address the sale of the property probably has been for sale for three or four months we don't know if it's going to sell we're we're not going to sell if we don't get our price and we're living there so if it doesn't sell we're staying and that's that answers that question because I don't know if it's going to sell or how long it's going to take but we put it in before we thought we were going to sell so my employment situation changed and that's this shed was already there by that time so it's going to cost me $2,000 to get to take it out as if it can't stay it can't go in the backyard it can't go in the sidey yard because the setbacks are too tight so we've done everything we can and try to address every issue that we had uh I did read uh the neighbors's letter and what I'd like to do is um give you a couple pictures to go by um if I could these all the same you got different oh they're they're all the same okay two for two for everybody so the first picture is the overview up top and that shows what it looks like today and U so when you talk about the view from the neighbor's house you can see the neighbor's uh um windows out towards the street and it doesn't block view but then you look at the second picture which before the shed was put in place and there was 12T of bushes and a fence so uh in fact the neighbor complained to us when when I started taking care of the the Shrubbery that they didn't like it that people would drive to to their house and couldn't find their house and would drive by and have to turn around to come back and I just I was I didn't like the height of them either so we cut him down to something smaller so he has more View today than he had before we put the shed in and the shed just to clarify a fact that shed people didn't dig the hole I did by hand and then my neighbor helped me dig the rest of the hole when we had the uh skid uh Sid skid and to help do the front yard and get it level he actually helped me dig that hole so I was kind of confused when he complained about the shed being there because nobody ever said anything to me or I would have bought a shed that would have met the prop I didn't know they were going to be the setback anyway but I would have bought a smaller one I went back to the shed company and said okay I've had it for three months will you take it back and sell me a thinner one and they said yeah we'll give you 10% back wow so 10% of a $6,000 shed doesn't get me done and we did everything if the the neighbor's roof projects into that that's that 10 one in line he that where he met his property requirements and I met mine I guess when they built the houses but doesn't allow me to scoot the shed through I had her come out three times and measure and look and do all that stuff and it just there's just no way there's no way you're using that shed for storage yep it's full right now and the reason we put it down underground because we wanted it to be pleasant to the eye instead of being up off the ground 2 feet and have a ramp and a bunch of skirting around it we wanted it to be down under the ground so it look good with property we did everything we could to make it look like the property and everything we could to make it look good to the neighborhood and do you have any idea why the Planning and Zoning Board denied the variance request well those those five um ABCD things that we had we met with Mr Toller and we tried to get answers that were appropriate to that but we don't we really didn't understand it as well as uh as well as we did when when uh it was explained to us by the the uh after the last meeting of planning of zoning so we got more detail of what we needed and then we were able to go back and get letters from the from the uh shed company and from the crane company so we'd have those in the package so you all would understand that there's just no way to put it anywhere else on the property and if we don't get the approval from you then I have to spend $2,000 to have it taken out and we don't we don't have storage like every other resident would be allowed to have so Terry I was at that Planning and Zoning meeting right and one of the the things if you look on uh the end of our packet here on this it talks about conditions that uh would be different about this property than others and one of the things that they mentioned that I agree with is there are many houses in the same scenario right along that run of Lake View that are built kind of right up close to the side setbacks where they don't have room to put a shed either um I an issue I have with it is if we Grant this variance then there's a bunch of properties right there that could argue they need the same thing um and I think there are and I'm sorry that you've spent the money you know and the issues you're having on this but I think that there are other ways to achieve storage without having to Grant a variance um and you know you can you don't have to do a pre-built shed you can build something else you can build an addition on the house you can build stuff in the backyard um but I would have an issue doing this cuz I think we're going to set a precedent and you know we're going to deal with 10 more of these and the you know cuz this is the cheapest solution probably to all of those would be a pre-bill shed there um but I don't think it's the it's the right one for for granting a variance for those reasons that's my opinion anybody else have comments no I agree with Josh um so there's nothing saying that you can't get a smaller shed in the backyard no they can't put anything in the backyard you could build on site yeah I could but yeah there again you're spending a lot more money to do that right we already have that and money out invested MH and that's why we ask for the variance that's the process we have in the city is to go to variance so you guys can approve variances and allow people to have certain things when they're restricted that's my understanding of the variance so that's what we're looking for is your is your way to do that that this variances are to address special conditions and circumstances the challenge is that one of the requirements is the condition that creates the problem can can't be the result of the applicant or their predecessor in this case the the problem is the building is too wide relative to the side lot lines and that was done not by you of course but by whomever built it that way and built it out to the side so that that's one of the reasons one of the sort of prohibitions on giving a Varian is if you kind of created the problem that is now in issue and other someone prior to you did sorry the other thing I want to tell you is if the the view of the shed is a problem we'll go ahead and put the shub and the and the um fence screening back up so he doesn't have to see it and that way we'll put it all back the way it was and the shed won't be seen by anybody my issue isn't the view at all it's just I know I just he mentioned in his letter so I just wanted to address it that we'd be willing to do whatever it takes to screen it from his view so he wouldn't have to deal with it uh this isn't in my ten year this is not the first time that this has been requested and I don't recall anytime that we've made an exception and I don't think that we should do anything different here it's just going to open us up for just people wanting sheds on every every lot so I have one more question was this shed did you bring this shed in yes oh okay so it wasn't there when you bought the property no no might have been a good idea to get the variants first yeah we didn't know we were that we were that close until they actually we you don't know till they bring the shed in and put it down and they go okay that's as far as we can go so you don't really no you think you're right in fact they came out while I was digging the hole and said okay you've got to dig this much more out dig that much more out you got to put a slant in here you got to put a slant over there you don't know until they actually bring the shed out and put it in the ground or on the ground where you are because they thought and I thought we were fine until they actually set it down and we were like okay because it didn't get all the way up against the building like we thought they'd be able to do mhm so thank you any more comments yes sir you have to come up here we have to know who you are everybody knows um Mark Wilson Planning and Zoning uh we denied this exactly for what Josh said it's going to start a president um president and um he should have did the uh due diligence before he applied for it um sorry that it's happening that way but uh we can't set a president we have the whole lake view putting sheds up in the front of their homes so that's it sorry but I can't do it thanks appreciate it that's what we have rules for I guess any more comments the public hearing and whatever Council uh deems appropriate so we need a motion I move to deny the appeal v241 for the variance second motion a second any other comments Kathy Bishop yes H yes mle now how how is this worded you're voting yes to deny the okay yes you're denying the variance yes okay Stuart yes car yes thank you move along to 10 [Music] e this is another variance request of V 242 appeal of Planning and Zoning Board denial a variant request applicant initiate request to appeal the plan zoning board denied a variance requested the applicant is requesting a variance to the city's requirements that is necessary structure limited to no greater than 60% gross floor area of a principal structure on the property the applicant is requesting a additional accessory structure of 330 Square ft carport at 1419 sunus Avenue parcel s33 34 29 100015 4220 this is a carport exceeding the 60% requirement or yeah Mr Swain I think you have adequately described it we okay with you we'll let Marissa barnby take it from here you got it thank you for the record Marissa barnby with the central Florida Regional planning Council this is a um variance request sorry go ahead at uh 1419 Sunkist Avenue the site is uh little over half an acre in size you could see it in the red um they did request the variant to the 60% of the gross floor area the principal use requirement um which is the one of the requirements to get an accessory structure at this time because they wanted to um be able to put a 330 ft carport in the rear yard the Planning and Zoning Board did vote to deny this and next slide so on February 21st the applicant submitted a request for an appeal um we staff met with the applicant we went through those five conditions in depth the applicant said I don't see how I will ever be able to get those check boxes checked and so looking at these the applicant then they say they would like to if you're not going to Grant the variance if you um have the City consider looking at possibly amending the Land Development code requirements relating to um that that 60% requirement and the reasoning for that um I'll go through as I go through my presentation so this is the future land use you can see the property has residential medium similar to some of the surrounding ones they also a butt next to commercial um and then zoning similarly they are R2 and they do a but next to C1 as well this is the aerial of the property so you can see the house you can see the existing um structure they have on T on site section 26222 of the code does say um you cannot have more than 60% of the gross floor area of your house so if you have a tiny little house you only get a tiny little amount of um square footage regardless of how big your piece of property is so um some fun math part now they are wanting essentially the variance would go from 60% to 76.5% because the um the house is 1,530 ft 60% would be 9918 square ft that is the total they are allowed on their site today the the the accessory structure on the site today is 840 sare ft which leaves them with 78 square ft allowable accessory structure usage the carport is 330 Square ft so if you take the 78 they're allowed that gets them 252 Square ft over the amount they would have this is where they wanted to put their additional carports to provide protection and um screening for the vehicle they want to store on the site this is the proposed carport 12T wide 31 ft long um and you can see the images there and then again we've got those five conditions that are the requirements you have to look at with your evaluation appraisal uh report sorry variance anyway so the requested car port meets all the other requirements related to accessory structures um some of which include they have to be on the same Lots uh they have to be incidental and in coordination with the principal structure they cannot exceed the total buildable area within the required setbacks and they have to meet impervious surface and open space requirements for their zoning district and they cannot be more than 30% of the rear yard of the site so while we have this condition which is the variance they were asking for the 60% requirement we do also have in the code a requirement based on your lot size um that helps rule what this is so one of the con findings of consideration is if they had a larger house on the side they would be able to get a larger structure obviously looking at the required setback requirements the required setback would be um you could get a 13,500 ft house within the required setbacks potentially and 60% would be almost 8 a little over 8,000 square feet of accessory structures I did that math just to show again the bigger your house is the more accessory structures you're allowed you know based on that to get the 1,170 Ft of accessory they would have to add 420 ft house to their of square feet of house to their existing home um so as I mentioned the applicant recognizes it is going to be very difficult to be able to show that they meet those requirements for a variance what they are then requesting um is the council to direct staff to look at potential language options to address this 60% requirement to allow for the parity for other small houses especially small houses on larger Lots um brief brief looking at some other codes some other codes do similar things where they say 60% or 1,200 square ft so that you know you can get a little bit more if you're a smaller house but you're not you know ending up with a whole backyard of accessory structures um so again what what they said is they would a code revision would afford homeowners ability to expand on larger property without solely relying on the size of the residents so they are just looking for an opportunity recognizing they have a half acre in size you know and they can get the same B looking for that as an option um next slide so again that is the property there they did originally request an appeal but after meeting with staff and going through those conditions in depth they are uh look more for requesting the council to consider having staff look at options related to accessory structures um to potentially allow for a a options for more accessory structures if you're on a bigger lot or related to house size or something along those side lines I have a question for you the definition of accessory structure um if the same carport Theory were attached to the home you know met Florida building code would it still be considered an accessory structure no no so that would be a remedy for this specific thing if they were able to locate it where it could be attached to the home they could do it yes they they could in theory do that I mean obviously as I pointed out they could also put an addition to the house and then you know there you go but part of why I kind of did that math about you know double the house size now you get so much more out there is you know now now you end up you know does that necessarily logical a way to to come up with how much you get there especially since you do have these additional requirements of no more than 30% of your rear yard so then if you're a smaller lot you know if you have a 1,200 squ ft is just the number I'm throwing out there well then as long as it's 1,200 ft and you're not going over that 30% you get to do that so that would then put more allocation into not only the size of the house the size of the yard but not penalizing people who have smaller home is an applicant here yes would you come up so we could ask a question hi my name is Sher Miller I'm 1419 Sunkist Avenue is there a reason you can't attach it to your home so with the existing structure um you can't see it very well in this um at the very back of the house you'll see the Leni just outside of the lenai is a um pool um not a pool pump but it's a a uh heat pump for the pool so um there's already structures there that would prohibit putting it on that end of the house on the other end of the house I have no room because i' I've met my variant my my setbacks there so when we looked at putting in the carport which was going to be a storage area for a boat to cover it from the elements um the most likely place to put it would have been back at the back of the yard next to an existing um 28 by3 storage building um that's what our original proposal was but I have a smaller home but yet I have a half acre um so I'm really not able to utilize all of the land that I have because I have too small of a house um suppose that's a hard thing for people who are looking to Future retirement and don't need a huge house but um yeah so that's my situation there so I'm looking to you know can there be some wording a workaround with the codes that say okay we realize there are people most of the homes in my neighborhood are smaller homes also most of the homes in my neighborhood are also o sitting on a quarter acre lot um so I've got a rare situation then that I have a half acre there and I can't really utilize any more of the land that I currently have so I guess what you're kind of asking for is if we could change is to change the criteria of that is there is it would it be possible and Greg if you have input on this I'd like to hear it um to change it to a percentage of the home footprint or the lot footprint whichever is bigger with it with some stipulations uh I if I may answer that I think that is something we would want to research for you um I think that is something that we want to look at because the fact that so much of it hinges on the side of your size of your house right well CU you you have a small house on five acres and still well there yes absolutely and there are Provisions for placement of accessory structures when you're over 2 acres in size but it's still tied to that 60% requirement so you get kind of that same scenario I'm on a really large piece of property and I still don't get this 60% of my house okay let's hear what our building official has to say good evening Greg Griffin uh building official so very slippery slope there not in this case because they're wanting to I'm assuming this is an open shed right the problem that we're seeing more and more of is people people want to do these accessory structures and even though it's single family they want to convert it into a rental apartment because the rental market is so hot right now so this is this is a separate case but we need to be very careful how we move forward with allowing excess square footage beyond that 60% because there is a big push I mean we turn away two three four people a week who are coming in to build their accessory guest dwelling unit you know with full kitchen and everything else so that they now have a a rental property adjoining their their portion um you know in terms of changing or modifying code for this I think a variance would be the appropriate route if you can move forward with that because it's a onetime you know onetime thing and each person who comes forward has to expend the vast majority of people who come through in this situation do connect to the house as you suggested that's what we recommend 100% of the time um if there's genuinely no path forward um that's what the variance is for ultimately um I don't know what you said you have a heat bump or stuff like that I know what the particular layout is I haven't looked at it um it's a Gable on two sides so it's the left side of your home is where the heat pump is if you're facing it and the right cable is too close to the set back lines yeah so I mean and yeah okay you create a Breezeway and and connect somehow um that's what that's the path that we like because that takes that 60% equation completely takes that completely out of the equation um I just I'm very cautious about treading into changing code or or making any of the those changes because as the city continues to boom and we have a lot of those smaller homes again in in her case she's on a half acre lot but in the vast majority of cases it's a quarter acre lot people will literally build fence to fence within their setbacks and and fill it up with as much property as they can so thanks GRE would you like to come up and talk to us about this the playing only great more you gave the exact same scenario to add it to the house that's the only way to get around 60% of the uh main structure um to do that it's going to be costly because they've already ordered it it's uh 8 ft tall 8T High something like that and we're actually looking to modify the height so it'll be a 10t building actually Cur yeah um once again it's the it doesn't meet the criteria for variant it doesn't meet the criteria for uh Planning and Zoning to do anything about it because it does uh it's greater than the 60% of your main house we did ask that you put it on the side which you wouldn't have any problem the same as what building and Josh is says also but um it's a problem okay um I doubt the city's going to change the uh code for you or anyone but I suggest you put it on the side of the house okay so if I may re approach this sure so that I have a better understanding y put it on the garage side obviously okay so my takeaway from this is my understanding is that if I were even though it's not per se um attached to the home if I were to connect this carport which actually works is workable for us because of the existing openings to the fence and an existing second driveway into the um property so what I hear you saying is that if we look to put that carport in and then attach it to the home it would be considered an extension of the home via that Breezeway correct yes ma'am okay what you need to do is go with the building department okay so I and and a contractor I know probably got a few more visits with the building department um so they would be able to you talk to Greg okay and uh from what I understand what he was just saying is you don't if you put relocate it somewhere else is that right Greg that you don't even have to do this is that right if he attaches it to the house it has to be attached by a roof okay right I thought he said if he moved it elsewhere well it was in the backyard he said move it next to the house okay it's not currently uh up the building is not currently up this is a future construction and um so we were seeking approval of the variance before we moved forward with this and so um I was unable to attend the original board meeting um and so I did not have the understanding that we could look at potentially a Breezeway that would kind of extend the structure of the existing home well he's the fellow you need to really sit down and talk to okay okay Bree one thing I want to be clear mainly for everyone else that's here is that this 60% is cumulative so any other structures and this is another thing that we run into people put six jeds on a piece of property and you know they just keep adding um so we want to make sure that we we do maintain the Integrity of of of that in the agreement um with regards to the structure again so long as you can meet your rear and side setbacks um connection as long as there's a physical connection a reasonable physical Connection in this sense of bre way um we gladly consider it okay thank you thank you close the hearing and um whatever the council deems appropriate but I'm pretty sure that yeah we don't do any action because she can talk to Greg and work this out without us problem you can simply take no action on it okay okay all right we'll do no action okay we have uh 10f appeal of certificate of appropriateness appropriate for 2011 Circle Park Drive um at their March 14th 2024 meeting the historical preservation commission did not approve the attached certificate of appropriation how do you say that were for 2011 Circle Park Drive the request was to paint the original brick exterior of the building to concern expressed by some of the HPC members was the painting the exterior brick facade did not maintain the original historical preservation facade Mr Salazar and Miss Mo will be present to present their appeal of decision of the historical preservation yes ma'am and yes sir good evening hi um hi I'm Shannon moistner um I'm the owner of signature floors in Peru fresh um in the JB Brown building right there in downtown Sebring on the circle this is my husband jerson Salazar um so we met with the HPC board last week in regards to painting the JB Brown building in um painting it in in connection with the show that's in town um they proposed us with this and um prior to um prior to this um it's 101y old building uh 1922 so we've had you know we've experienced leakage in the building when it rains and and moisture and and like a musty smell and whatnot I mean it's 101y old building so we have thought when we purchased it to um you know seal it whenever we you know had the available funds or whatnot um but then this came of on us so so here we're here we are today um getting um an opportunity to preserve the building with painting it and and sealing it um the show plans on sealing it with um seal creep and then two coats of paint on the whole building front back and side um it's a pretty large building so so for us to do this it would cost a a lot um something that we we just don't have the funds to anytime soon to do so um our hopes is to preserve the building um at all cost um and then plus we have this amazing opportunity within our community yes um just wanted to say that uh I'm actually a member of the Historic Society I'm a very supportive on in um you know conserving and preserving beautiful places like this or anywhere in the country or the world uh that's one of the reasons I joined them but uh the there's certain times that we need to make some decisions to move forward uh and I think right now we the city of sein is also experiencing um a historic Moment by the show being in town um most of the buildings are painted uh we will be the only building that won't be touched or it's it will just look a little odd we have uh met with uh that designers from the show we have met with the painter we have met uh with some some some contractors that guide us through this scene there is some um um structures that are a little crack on the building that you because it's so old uh when it rains you can see that some areas are more porest than other ones so you can see where it keeps getting it's wet in certain areas and other ones uh if it it really needs some update again and it it needs to be preserved it need to one of the challenges that we have as a young couple and in this uh entrepreneur uh scenario that we have uh uh we love the city we love everything about this town but it's the funds you know we don't have that kind of funds to be able to do this massive uh Improvement to the building uh if it wasn't for the show we won't be able to do it there's a lot of things that that the show is doing they're changing the the glass uh trims uh uh and they're willing to paint it and I don't want to say that this is just an opportunity for us to take advantage of the show but I think it's a opportunity for for the whole city of sing to take advantage of what's going on with the show you know we don't have the funds we we really want to do this um and again I'm I'm I'm I I I understand why we got denied by the HBC because that's what they supposed to do preserve you know I will be disappointed if they didn't if if if if they don't approved it that's what they do but at times like this we are creating history with the show you guys being here doing what you guys do every time uh we are being part of history and I believe this is an excellent opportunity uh to take advantage the whole city to make the the town more beautiful uh to get since we since the show's been here we've been seeing a lot of more traffic there's a lot more businesses uh I was telling my wife earlier I see a lot of people looking better you know a lot of people are dressing up on the streets uh so there is some impact there's an impact that is going on there's a lot more tour we have people tell us you know we FL we flew in just to see what's going on flying in to just to see what's going on and we are already seeing we already starting to see some changes and some improvements um you know uh I'm praying to God that in the next couple years and the next few years I think we're going to see a bigger impact of what's going on right now and I think you guys are going to be part of that history as well uh I was talking to miss Mandel earlier uh I think uh we all I think we agree on uh leaving this in the hands of God and I think you guys are wise enough to make the right decision on this subject thank you what color were you so um part of the show is you know the whole surprise thing so we really haven't seen the color but I know it's in like pastel Blues it's within the with the colors of the history and I'm sure that if you guys wanted to see I I I want to say that I don't know if everyone if anyone's seen it but they said that they would be able to show to City it's in the approved historic um color palette right okay well I was just curious if somebody's having heartburn over the go no yeah so we're we're putting our in them too Josh your contractor is there a issue with painting no I I would have no issue with this at all it don't it to fix the the leakage issues of brick without painting are tremendously more expensive so they were talking about sealing at first yeah that's a that's a prep that say prep any you seal you seal stucco with that seal creete raw stucco and raw brick and that's something you seal it with I don't have a problem with this it helps you paint it here too yeah okay I was just curious yeah you know um I did try to do a little research in that because I had heard it was not a good idea to paint over brick and I love the historical part of it too and I would like to preserve the brick but um I think this is a wonderful opportunity and it's a great deal of money to uh try to to seal this and paint it uh properly I did a little research and I did meet with them today and their painter and Amelia from the show and they were telling me that uh and I have this I can pass down about the seal creete but it does a lot to strengthen the mort joints also and it's it's a latex uh paint that allows the brick to breathe I didn't know brick had to breathe but it doesn't just seal it up tight and cause uh uh breakdown of the Integrity of the brick which I've learned a lot more about brick and painting than I realized there was to learn but if you're going to have it be preserved for uh posterity um I think that that this is an opportunity I'm not against it I think it's a good idea and we know that the U HGTV folks are going to do an excellent job with making it all look good and so I I think it's a great idea idea and the the the people that I've been dealing with at the program the production group they have been so cooperative and uh just wonderful folks and wanting to keep our city happy and the business owners happy and we really appreciate that so my vote would be for this yes this is not there's other buildings that's already been painted down there so it's it's not going against what's already happened either so I don't have a problem with it um there any comments from the audience yes you need to come up and tell us who you are again we forgot this is as a citizen um Mark Wilson 883 South Eucalyptus the building is it State Certified as a historical place it's on the National Registry it is on the nation are you going to lose that by covering the brick have you researched that we've we've done some research but we don't know I Pro you probably are because you can't change the exterior my house was built in 1925 and if I change the exterior I'll lose the historical um label and I can do anything I want inside or Windows but uh changing the structure out outside covering in the brick U I'll lose my designation excuse me but you might want to check into that before you do it and because there's funding for that too right Mark I think they're I think you you're not altering the building which they're not doing and that's the biggest part of that it's not it's not so much covering the brick well they're not they're painting The Brick but it's remaining a brick building they're not stucking the brick I think if you stuck with the brick and and alter the outside on that I was on the original HPC years ago when we actually started it here and that was one of the concerns some of that stuff that we had it's it was altering the outside of the building to changing its its its look basically outside of you're not changing the brick you're you're Bri the stco and then they're going to paint it you're not stuck they're not stucking it they're not stuck they're seing so it's not changing the structure painting The Brick it still look like brick it'll just be right blue bluish say BL good luck and they're they're having a SE a leakage problem here too that needs to be corrected if you want to Sure say something Dan Andrews uh board member for the historic preservation board um just to bring to light some of the conversation we had was um in reference to what he was saying they aren't talking about uh stucking the exterior of the building building they're talking about painting the existing structure um so it'll still appear as if it's brick um yes that puts their National Registry at risk we would have to get an opinion um I think uh the consensus that they had was that uh they'd rather uh had the building sealed and maintained for longevity then have a plaque on the wall and meeting that criteria if that did put it in I don't mean to speak on your behalf but that's that was part of the discussion I did make the motion for approval because I felt like um it wasn't changing the architecture of the aesthetic of the building um by painting the the Virgin brick um in essence it was it was M making sure that that that will stay in perpetuity um obviously they'll have to maintain it with paint but uh it'll seal the structure and allow it to live on um and um didn't sound like they would have the means to go through a very costly process of having the building repointed and while you can do that in sections it's very very costly we've experienced that here at the city when we restored the fire department years ago um and because of the grant funding that we had for the fire department we were we were required to uh repoint the building and um John you may remember I I don't remember how much it was but it it was it was significant more than than any other Avenue so um it's really difficult for for a private um uh building owner to to go through that process the other thing I'd like to say and I think lonard mentioned it um there's a lot of projects that have already happened in this city um and I hate to penalize jerson and Shannon and I hate to penalize the Sebring Chamber of Commerce for going through the right processes um all of those other build buildings that have been painted and balconies taken down should have come before the historic preservation board for certificate of appropriateness but we look the other way because of httv and then the two property owners that really are going about it the right way we seem to be penalizing them so just seems a little unfair but back to my point it's going to stay brick it's going to stay looking like brick is just going to be a painted and it meets the pallet that the historic preservation board um has out there thank you my comments are related to the chamber building too okay well there they're up next I okay well um all we need is uh what the council wants to do so we need a motion how do what does this motion need to say are we approving the appeal of the certificate of appropriateness yes would essentially essentially be granting the certificate of appr all right I move that we Grant the certificate of appropriateness for 2011 Circle Park Drive I second it okay is there any comments no Kathy Bishop yes yeso yes Stewart yes car yes well uh 10 G thank you thank you you got it thank you um kend Dury Smith we are looking at the same exact thing yes so um I guess with all of what has been said I will turn it over to council is there anything anybody wants to ask I have one thing I want to say and it's that I vote that we approve the uh certificate of appropriateness for 202 Circle Park Drive I second it so we have a motion and a second any one out there want to comment on this Kathy Bishop yes Hy yes M yes steuart yes car yes thank you for coming thank you done a great job up here convincing us appreciate it okay um business from the audience Mr Dean I think he left left well pass that to Kathy that's a noo he didn't put anything on City attorney vill business nothing further sir uh we have the assistant City administrator and she's going to talk to us on 13 a good evening um this agenda item is concerning the notice of w for the private provider for building official role Services a council have directed staff to advertise for a building official to uh prepare an RFQ for a private provider at the same time and also to form a committee there were no qualified applicants for the building official position and we received one response from bayad Consulting Group Incorporated for the private Provider Services the committee met on March 18th yesterday and according to their minutes that are attach recommends to council to enter into a contract with bayad Consulting effec of April 1st with the attached Contra contracted services and terms and asking for the City attorney to draw the contract based off of the RFQ uh document the submission and the terms that were provided by the committee anyone got any comments or don't do it don't do it don't do it work with 20 different building departments throughout the State of Florida can you come up and talk to us we got we forgot who you are Mark Wilson again I've been a contractor for 25 years real estate broken for 30 um I've worked with a lot of these building departments they bring in these little companies and they take over each one is different they all have different forms and you're looking at a minimum wage employee that doesn't care um it's the most difficult thing a contractor can go through I'm not a pargal I'm a contractor it's um permits down south Florida are 80 Pages because of this um here you can get a permit in five or six pages if these people take over and we give them all the building department work it is going to be a mess it's no more personalized you can't walk in and say hi how you doing and you know that person changes daily so to address those concerns nothing will change here our current building official is going private and he was the only response to the RFQ he'll the same people doing the permitting it will and he'll just be able to expand with his own staff to facilate our increased demand he will also have his office here so he's going private with that yes correct okay that's great yeah long as we keep the same basically nothing changes except leadership yeah he's no longer of an employee of the city right and the committee looked and uh looking for uh a person to fill that position it took us forever to find him yeah you so there they're like H teeth out there and the committee looked at it we we an outside group coming in as long as you know he stays that's perfect no he's staying one thing I want to add to this him going private gives us an advantage and that he can basically qualify his staff to expand and so that you know I think you did 60 inspections yesterday Greg um 68 we're growing and we need to be able to to grow and this allows the city to do it much easier than trying to build out an entire building department and it affords us to like he just said he he'll have staff under him that can inspect and he just has to approve it so nothing SL actually it could speed us up with permitting so just need a motion okay I move to approve the committee recommendation and instruct the City attorney to prepare a contract for private Provider Services and authorize council president to sign the contract second anyone else comments Kathy push yes Hy yes mle yes Stewart yes car yes this is one we've been waiting on I know you wait all night for me we have so go needs to the paying of the bills please second we got a motion a second to approve the paying of the bills and I think everybody wants us to especially the uh people that work here so they can continue on so all the board Bishop yes Avery yes mle yes Stewart yes car