##VIDEO ID:QLNUbMLG7_Y## [Music] fantastic y all good to go good afternoon and welcome to the board of County Commission meeting here in Seal County today's date is Tuesday January 14th 2025 the time is approximately 1:30 p.m. this afternoon we're going to be led in an invocation by Mr Gordon Brown from the cental Florida free thought and the Pledge of Allegiance will be my Mr Chad wilsky director of Fleet and Facilities before we get started please take a moment and silence all your electronic devices telephones tablets whatever else you may have uh in respect of all those attendees Pastor if you would please please stand just to clarify I'm not clergy I'm a member of the community uh chairman zembower Commissioners and staff thank you for this moment of participation ation in your meeting as constituents we share the responsibility along with you to preserve and nurture our communities we recognize that our communities become more diverse every day we also know that we live in an environment that is both wondrous and fragile as decisions are made now and in the future we ask that every stakeholder is given a voice in shaping our community and that the voiceless will be remembered in our disc discussions May every position assertion Mo motion or debate be based upon sufficient research and reliable evidence and ultimately we look to all of our elected and appointed public servants to provide informed leadership peaceful resolution and fair directives may I leave you today with these thoughts from Theodore Roosevelt there are good men and bad men of all nationalities Creeds and colors and if this world of ours is ever to become what we hope someday it may become it must be by the general recognition that the man's heart and soul the man's worth and actions determine his standing thank you thank you Mr wilski join me to pledge allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America stand na indivisible witht and justice for all thank you both very much first up is our consent agenda if you are here and desire to speak on any matter on the consent agenda Miss Dominique she'll raise her hand right here you'll need to fill out a speaker form identify the item in which you want to speak about and get it to her as soon as possible we'll now go to the county attorney Miss Kate Lor who will give the rules for public engagement thank you Mr chairman good afternoon Florida law provides that members of the public shall be given a reasonable opportunity to be heard on propositions before the board of County Commissioners except when the board is acting on emergency or ministerial matters or conducting a meeting exempt from the requirements of the sunshine law individuals shall be permitted 3 minutes each for public comment or 6 minutes when the individual is an official representative of a formal Association or group the chairman May modify the maximum time for public comment at his sole discretion when appropriate public comments on quasi judicial or other public hearing items will occur during the board's consideration of those items this afternoon public comments on pending procurement matters or on non-agenda items shall not be permitted at this time members of the public Desiring to make public comment must fill out a speaker form and present the form to staff forms are available in the lobby Mr chairman thank you Mr Lor um Mr Darren gray our County Manager do you have any revisions to the consent agenda items 1 through 15 thank you Mr chairman and Commissioners yes just two changes to the consent Agenda One is the addition of item 3A that you all should have in your packets now and then I would like to pull item number five and I will be bringing that back to the board pulling number five adding 3A correct any Commissioners desire to pull any specific consent agenda item seeing none we will go to public input Miss Dominique if you would call three at a time have them come up you'll have three minutes to give us your input no speakers sir no speakers okay no speakers I'll move to board for board action Mr chairman I will move constitutional officer consent agendas 1 and two and the county managers consent agenda 3 through 15 plus 3A minus or pulling five second motion second all those in favor I oppos like sign seeing none carries unanimously thank you all very much next item is our regular agenda item this is the Waka Island Spring Fling and paint out special event permit this will be presented by Miss Kathy Hamill our Planning and Development Division manager oh Towers is moving Kathy Hamill development services item number 16 is a request for a special event for Waka Island this is Waka Island's yearly um paint out and Spring Fling the event will start on February 23rd to March 1st and March 12th through March 20th for a total of 12 days thank you this is a yearly event and it is consistent with the Bava Island paint out in Spring fleing that was approved in 2024 in which it will consist of artist painting outside artwork being displayed in the gallery and offered to sale there are also be an art auction a quick draw and a Galla with live performances ml sound is being proposed for Wednesday February 26 for the art auction underneath the solar array which will be from 7: to 9:00 p.m. on Saturday March 1st between sorry between March 1st between noon and 2 the Quick Draw which is a Time drawing contest between the artist and guests we'll have amplied sound and later that night there will be an annual Gala from 6:00 to 6:00 to 10: p.m. with a live ban on the back of the classroom building the normal operating hours for wava Island during the week will be extended by 2 hours so instead of going from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. they are proposing to go from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. there will be no changes to the weekend hours which are 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. the number of guests attending will not exceed 395 which is consistent with their development order per their development order they are limited to four special events not to exceed 60 days in a calendar year as approved by the BCC because of this condition each special event is required to be heard by the BCC and does not fall underneath the Land Development code regulations which allow subsequent special event applications to be approved administratively unless there is a change to the special event staff is requesting the board accounting Commissioners approve the Waka Island spring fleing and paint out for 12 days for the dates and times requested and subject to the conditions in the special event permit I'm happy to answer any questions and I believe also the applicants representative is here thank you Miss ham any questions for staff seeing none as the applicant wish to make any statements thank you very much is there anyone here from the public Miss Dominique to speak on this matter no sir we'll close the public hearing and go to commissioner Constantine this is his district thank you Mr chairman and I also just wanted for the record to say that I did talk to um Jeff stamer who is president of the homeowners association directly involved they have no problem with with this particular um uh request either so I will move the approval of the special permit for wak Island Spring Fling and paint out on Sunday February 23rd 2025 through March 1st 2025 and March 16th through March 20th 2025 Lo um at Waka Springs second motion is second any further discussion seeing none all those in favor I oppos like sign motion carries unanimous thank you very much next item is the work session this is the seal count Waka Trail grade separated Crossing Design This will be presented by Mr John slot Public Works director and George Jimenez professional engineer gentlemen thank you Mr chairman thank you commission uh we're here today to uh bring you an update on the uh seminal W Trail grade separated Crossing uh design update uh we have several options that we would like your guidance on as we move this project forward we have several options we like your input as well uh we have requested that the um consultancy that has done this work to be here today um they've just made us aware that they were unable to make it due to scheduling conflict so um so we will carry back any of your questions to them as we move forward uh as well um we will show you these options as well the uh one of the options of course would be an atg grade enhanced uh Crossing that that you could consider as well so at this time I'd like to ask George her menz to come up and and present the the uh presentation for your comment Mr slot before you do that and I I realize you were not here when this originated several years back have you reviewed what our next step was supposed to be yes sir yes sir and what was that supposed to be it was supposed to be that we would carry uh the recommendations of the consultancy to the board at a 50% design okay um for moving forward with a tunnel option so it's sounds like to me we don't have a 50% that's going to be given to us today no sir we do not I want to be clear thank you yes sir okay Mr chairman can can we been informed why well your consultant's not here so I know but staff can present it a whole another problem go ahead do you want to get do you want to do that we we can um so the why from a perspective of why we didn't get to 50% um that you'll see this in detail in the presentation um commission the the the short answer is there are technical difficulties with with the uh tunnel design in addition the consultancy had a change over in their staff during the course of the project and they took the prior Consultants concept and then basically stepped away from it with a new design that of course by process needs to go all the way back to proof of concept that would have come back to the board as again another proof of concept um they did not want to do that they wanted to keep moving forward so therefore we paused them staff paused them in uh August and said we need to take this back to our board before we move forward with another concept that was not approved by this board and Mr chairman if I could um basically he that was the nice professional answer response to it their whole team has changed and now the new team is giving us different direction based on what or different concepts than what the original team did so I had asked staff to bring this back prior you know to that 50% okay Mr chairman yes sir when did the team change do we know that u i we have it actually in the presentation it was March March yeah walk through it's only a couple slides we can walk you through it if you'd like I I'll wait Mr himz please proceed thank you um so yes welcome uh this is a sem wo Trail grade separation Crossing project at St 434 and 436 design update um okay oops okay so here we have a preview of our presentation today we'll be sharing some background information also sharing with you uh some design findings and estimates and finally arriving at our discussion points um our objective today is to update you on our design uh progress and also to uh uh ask for feedback from the commission for this project moving forward uh the purpose and need for the project is listed in the 2021 2022 feasibility study uh the sem Waka TR is a heavily used path but faces concerns at these two intersections due to high traffic uh there is also a discontinuity in the trail uh with pedestrians having to use the ad grade crossing to cross both major highways uh pek requested a gr separation project back in the feasibility study to address these issues um here we have a snapshot of the uh County's Trail master plan as you see the crossing is listed in the master plan uh back in the feasibility study pac's recommendation for both these Crossings were uh Bridges and that the project be elevated in priority in the overall Transportation plan here we have our timeline um the uh the initial study was presented to the BCC in 2021 uh which focused on the bridge Alternatives a second BCC meeting was held in uh January of 2022 this time with the tunnels option and concluded with a vote from the board to uh pursue the tunnels moving forward uh the request for proposal was made in May of 22 with consultant selection coming later that year and procurement ending in June of 23 our ntp was in July of 23 uh drainage was always a big concern for this project with potential large uh impacts to fdot systems in the area uh the consultant went through a series of meetings with us and fdot and concluded essentially what we call the proof of concept phase which essentially presented to us and fdot how the consultant will be addressing and designing these drainage issues in the tunnel um essentially this was a gate it cleared the way for the 30% designed submitt which was submitted in March of 2024 so since then since March to answer your question Mr chairman uh the consultant went through some Personnel changes and really they were not replaced until June of 2024 all by this time our our Consultants new staff informed us that the plans presented in a 30% submit would not work and that would need uh a slight redesign mainly for the state Rod 436 tunnel uh the Alternatives presented to us shortly after that uh were in line actually with those discussed in the feasibility study and uh we knew already were not permissible and really costly to construct uh so the redesign would also signify that or mean that we would take on significant delays in the design process and cost as well so we asked a consultant to stop work in August 2024 and we've been reviewing this internally since and now we're here presenting to you some of these findings which I'll review shortly because of these changes and potential rework uh we are looking essentially to jump in back in the design timeline to a a concept phase a pre3 design phase so we would request the consultant to resubmit 30% and move forward so to take you to to some of our findings here a a gravity drainage system is no longer feasible for the tunnels and the gravity drainage system as well was presented to us in the in the feasibility study now we'll need pumps to drain the the inside of the tunnel and also potentially pumps outside of the tunnel to uh uh control groundwater uh we're also looking at increased structural needs essentially because the tunnels will be submerged both of them they'll need uh thicker walls and bigger slabs and more waterproofing as well so the tunnel depth was always a concern and a challenge with this project the tunnel at St 434 uh was placed lower to avoid uh a large deal utility conflicts but this further submerges a tunnel and the dept at State rout 436 will for Force reconstruction of three fdot storm drain trunk lines uh the depth of this reconstruction of storm drain trunk lines will place the structures at about 16 to 20 ft deep a concept that FDT already disapproved of in the feasibility study due to the the difficulty in maintaining uh a previous concept was floated uh and presented to us and fdot which placed a tunnel at a higher grade to avoid those uh conflicts but that that will force the Reconstruction of the entire cross-section above and state ra 436 which is also really costy and extremely difficult so the majority a major utility conflicts also exist here for example on stra 436 there is a major communication duck Bank uh this major communication dunk bank is the uh main data link for the entire city of alamon Springs and it will be affected by the tunnel uh initial coordination with the utility suggests that this line alone may take two to three years to relocate um other utilities on St 434 also exist and the is here in 434 sorry I misspoke the utility conflicts on 434 are difficult to Traverse mainly due to the limited uh right away in that area so relocation will be a challenge and supported in PLS and construction will be very difficult so as mentioned uh the reper Reconstruction of the fdot storm sord systems may also Force rep permitting of ponds the effective pawns to those systems and also there's a third Pond uh right behind the ABC Spirits building that will also be modified all these three ponds may have to be rep permitted with higher standards and at this point in time in design we're not really sure if it would even be permissible so with all the complexities listed above traffic control is also a big uh concern uh utility relocation will need their own traffic control and as mentioned that'll take a few years followed by the construction of the tunnel itself which will be phased so it's safe to say that the motor public will be affected for a long time here and escalating cost is a large concern uh with the cost system and now roughly sitting at 40 million uh this is largely due to the increased cost in construction uh increased maintenance and operation costs and power backup power pumps Etc so here is a table uh with the original uh cost in the feasibility study and our new estimated cost on the right hand side along with the percent increase um it is important to note though however that these estimates are really rough um we have not gotten to the point in design to run quantities to get a good feel for the cost of the project and also permiting and RightWay costs are not figured in these totals so with all this mentioned we we're asking for some feedback uh we narrow it down to a few options of discussion so to reiterate what Mr slot said uh there's always an option to upgrade the ad grade crossing apart from that we've narrowed down to a few options here for your consideration uh our first option is to continue the design of the tunnels but this essentially will force us to go back in time to a the uh proof of concept phase essentially pre- 30% and move forward from there option number two would be to reconsider the tunnel for the bridge alternative uh the table there at the middle of your screen is essentially a summary of the potential cost for the tunnels versus the potential cost for the bridge in today's dollar and the percent increase and option number three would be to place this project on hold and to fdot elects to do some major re uh improvements at these two intersections and we we could coordinate with them and request that this scope this great separation scope be included in those projects so thank you I'll leave it into this slide and I'll pass back to Mr SL thank you very much any inquir from the board commissioner her first of all you did a really good job of walking through us through a very complex situation and uh the question that jumped into my mind most importantly is if we do any of this the ABC Liquor gets to stay open right because citizens will need it given given whatever workload we'll have out there um but I I do have a couple of questions on option number three if we put the project on hold and request fot to include a grade separated Crossing what does that mean does that mean a bridge or does that mean different cross walks so it would be at the request of the board so you all would let us know which direction you'd like us to provide them the scope and then in the fdot work plan they would add that so if you all wanted a bridge option we would put that in if you want a tunnel option we would put that in and of course we'd start back at the proof of concept phase right and is the idea that fdot would share differently in the cost structure we're making that sound as though we just hand it to them and it's not our responsibility anymore so please clarify that for all of us yeah um yeah all all things are not free and on that one so we would at the time of uh the entrance to the work plan we would have to work with uh fdot on the cost share so the assumption would be if they were doing major roadway uh work in that segment that there would be some economies of scale to the projects because they would have to touch storm water they would have to touch the roadway itself they would have to do a lot of things so there may be some economies to scale but also balance that with whenever that project starts and it is not currently on the work plan for a DOT so they fiveyear work plan it's not there so it would be in those that year dollars not in a 15E plan so in essence from my perspective that's just not an option to wait any longer I mean we have a safety issue out there now uh if if so last question do you have a recommendation or you've been told not to have a recommendation I saw that I told yes spot to put you in so we we wanted to list options for the board you know so if and a few of us were not here during that discussion we did go back and look at the the conversation that the board had um regarding the bridge versus the the tunnel we good either way we just need you would get direction uh from the board on that one thing I just want to note and I was actually speaking with Mr dur um today a couple weeks ago this Trail is a part of the Coast to Coast Trail that the state has and it's a very it's a high priority for them and so one of the op option and that's why we put option three on here is that even though it's not in Do's 5year work plan there could be an opportunity for them to put uh the uh construction of this in their plan when they complete the Coast to Coast Trail so that is an option that we you know could pursue as well with with the state depending on whatever option that we want to go with we could we could look at that as well commiss D yes thank you Mr chairman I've walked this Trail many times not just this year which is 2025 but also 2024 uh it's a safe Crossing uh you get to 436 you make a your right hand turn you go down about 100 ft you hit the bre little green button you wait for a little green light to go and you cross the road uh not just on 436 but 434 it is safe if you wait for the traffic light uh at this point you know with the amount of need that's out there regarding uh road construction Trail constructions uh I don't see need at this point cuz in my opinion if you do go go to the traffic light it is a safe Crossing and this is a Coast to Coast Trail which has a bigger picture a lot of people getting funding for that I think you wait for the state to actually come in to if they deem that it's not a safe Crossing then move from it but it is a safe Crossing because you have two traffic lights uh one of the things you didn't talk about and we talked about it during my briefing was the overhead power lines boast in transmission and distribution along 434 that if you do go over ahead you have to someone will have to relocate so at this point I'd rather just put the project on hold and wait for the state to do something but more importantly you know this project we've talked about this project a couple years ago and we've known about this project and for us not to have done anything or bring it back to us in 10 months I think that's a separate issue that needs to be discussed at some point why this hasn't been been brought to us sooner I don't know uh we could put this to bed a lot earlier uh and I don't think that we should be spending additional money at this point when there are already traffic lights in place to cross those roads that's how I feel at this time commissioner Constantine thank you um I wanted to wait for the other Commissioners if there was any other questions but it seems that we're already going into what we want to do so I want to so my I will say that back when we first started the idea of the tunnel was to me a fun and exciting alternative that would be safe and I think the citizens would love it but sometimes you can't have everything that you want and in this case knowing all that I know now I could never ever even consider with all the other needs in this County $39 million for a tunnel alternative also checking the records for safety commissioner delore is correct there has been few um there have been accidents at 436 and 434 but very few have involved um pedestrians and I don't know of another trail that we have that goes across whether Montgomery or or um like Mary Boliver or any other place in this County that people don't have to wait for a light and I live on 436 I once a month I and a couple years ago before my office closed I would ride my bike to cig Roost office I waited for the light and I walked across 436 so you know to me I think that there may be a hybrid of option three and it has already been expressed here already because it is an important uh part of the of the trail system that not hold the project but request fdot to include grade separation Crossings with us working with them not when they make improvements but now if we can because I or as soon as possible I'm not saying you know we tell them to do it but get with the do uh secretary District five Mr Tyler and see if there is a possibility that we could work with them there is new and improved ways to do a Crossing in fact I know commissioner delori is very much involved in that over at the mo we all are involved in it from the county level um where we are finding you know ways to try to reduce the number of of of accidents and fatalities when it comes to pedestrians and bike riders and everything so I think that there is new ways to look at this and I I believe that the tunnel concept the bridge concept although both of them would really look nice and be nice it are not practicable and I would I would suggest we work on three but also not just hold it but ask the dot not just when they make the improvements but to do it as soon as possible working with them knowing the um the need of the the trails to be continued Mr lockart I I wish I had gone back and watched the video of our meeting because this I I feeling a a little bit like I'm in a um Twilight Zone here um everything that we heard from members of Pac was that heavy users of this Trail needed a Crossing to safely cross and and have it be part of a trail system not just a pedestrian crossing a road that to me was one of the largest distinctions that was made through this process um I originally voted along with um three other members of this board I believe at the time um to move it forward because I wanted to have the opportunity according to Robert's rules to bring it back up again um because I I think the tunnel concept from its uh original conversation was just going to be cost prohibitive and and there were there were some safety concerns about tunnels commissioner her was very adamant about um women in tunnels and and the perception of of P you know potential crime occurring in tunnels so there was a lot of conversation I'm going to go back and watch it because now I'm my head's spinning um so now we don't have a perceived safety problem and it's safe and we're going to cross it AC crosswalk and [Music] um we've we've worked with fdot on other projects waiting for them and it doesn't ever really end well um we're still working on a project in my district at 427 and 434 and and thankfully the county was willing to step up and do some things to help move that along because it it just you know times change people change priorities change from year to year it might be here on the list this year and way down here on the list in a couple years and so we we aren't masters of our own destiny at that point um if if we uh rely on do so my thought would be we move forward with looking at Bridges take control of the construction ourselves it's been asked for for years if there's an opportunity to get some grant money from the state through the trail system um I think that would be ideal but I I'm not interested in a tunnel and I'm not really interested in waiting on De so that's a conundrum Comm her yeah I I didn't voice my opinion originally I was the descenting boat uh not only is the tunnel first of all I didn't think a tunnel could go there but second of all it's they're just not not everybody is willing to go in a tunnel I am one human that will not go in a tunnel even the tunnel in Heathrow I will not do it I'll I'll play Frogger across the road in addition to that the tunnels require us to open a gate and shut a gate every day of the year forever and so there's an ongoing maintenance difference um and where I I am in the same place is I do not want to wait for f Dot and I do not understand did the safety data somehow change we had testimony at that last meeting I did go back and rewatch it because I don't recall details that well of this type of stuff but we were adamant that there was a safety issue pek came and did a Rec recomendation so I I don't know unless there's different data now but I'm not willing to say oh it's safe because we think it's safe somebody's got to bring us data that says how did we get to that decision originally at a very expensive number and how are we at now we should do nothing I can't reconcile the two I'm at figure out what the most cost efficient Bridges figure out where we can get funding support for it and let's make sure that it actually is needed data supported need Mr chairman I'm sorry I I do have a question now when you please go ahead um in our in our in my briefing with you John I did ask you about the accidents that were happening in that vicinity and in that intersection and you gave me uh numbers could you give those numbers again because this what this the safety thing didn't come out of the sky please go ahead yes sir um so we did go back and look at the last three years of uh accidents at this Corridor there were um 13 and 11 accidents at each that were vehicular and one pedestrian injury at each intersection in the last three years and it was an injury an injury and it did not involve a bicycle one of them did okay one of them one of them had a bicycle okay thank you thank you so I'm going to take it a little different direction um I think all this is quite frankly premature I'm a little disenfranchised that our Consultants not here I think what I've heard is and what my observation is and I I have a pretty good recollection of the last hearing I'm taking back we're three years after the fact I'm taking back that we're told we need pumps for tunnels now well quite frankly we were told we need pumps initially during that hearing um I think that a lot of of This falls on the consultant um and either poor workmanship poor preparation whatever it is because what I'm hearing now is they had a recommendation supposed to bring us 30% they then got bought out or sold or whatever or put new staff in place the new staff is coming up with a whole different ideology than what the first staff of this consultant did and I venture to say if you did it with or four or five other Consultants you'd probably get three or four different answers I'm not prepared to give you any direction either way except for let's get a proper consultant in place that can actually do the job has history of doing the job and give us some timely answers and not waiting until two and three years later now with all that [Music] said I clearly understand there has been some management changes here at this County including those with typically oversee this kind of project and I would guess that maybe it was not monitored and followed and tracked in a fashion that it should have been shame on us but here we are um I I don't necessarily at this juncture care whether it's tunnel or Bridge or nothing I need more data and in my briefing I asked for overall cost of ownership at a 510 20 and 30-year time frame in comparison to those two options whether it was tunnel whether it was overhead there also is now connected communities Grant monies at the federal level that would possibly help supplement doing some of this work in addition to the the cross uh Florida Trail so for me in light of our consultant can't even show up today hearing I would fire the consultant hire a new one and start over bring us real data that everybody can syn their teeth into not something that was told to us three years ago something that was there's just too many unanswered questions that I think we need data on that that's my opinion Mr chairman in the last time we spoke about this we agreed that we'd have a submitt I still want to see the submitt I have not yet seen them submitt yet on anything on this level well I mean our contract is with the company not with their staff correct well that was my original initial question Mr slot is we were supposed to reconvene at 30% that was the direction we've given 50 so 50 50% so at some juncture somebody decided we're not going down that path we're going to go a different path um to me today is nothing about but a hybrid revisit of the first meeting asking this commission what direction do youall want to go so to me I think we need more more data more information before we can make a an honest Direction you know part of me says spending $40 million maybe that's not a wise thing to do regardless of what you would ultimately do um so I think we need more time more input more study um and again personally I'd fire the consultant hire a new one Mr chairman if I could and I'm the corporate if you will to brought this back so because of the changes and at our consultant when the team has um and the reason commissioner do to answer your question that it's coming back to you because when this happened over the summer and then we got notified that the team had changed uh the consultant team and now they have a different recommendation we started Mr then started you know he just took over he started working with the staff working with the consultant they were invited to this meeting today we were just notified as you know that they had a conflict we did not know that before this and so before we even move forward you know with all the changes I wanted to bring it back to the board because I wasn't here at the time either so I just wanted to make sure I had clear Direction on how this board wanted to move forward so if the direction is to you know look at you know canceling the contract and moving forward I mean you know you just give me dire on how you would like to move forward and we we'll try to get there I mean in my world to that point is as soon as the new staff at this consultant made a determination that something was not viable and they weren't going to be able to deliver what they were supposed to deliver a phone call should have been made saying we've got a problem and we're not going to spend any more of the taxpayers dollars chasing this thing that we've now learned that we made a mistake on initially and spend more taxpayers dollars I mean that really troubles me um so I'm again back to I think you scrap the whole plan and just hire another consultant to start over commissioner her well first of all I don't think based on the information that we heard here today that we've given due process to the termination of a contract and correct me if I'm wrong but you were not here when they first came back with this may not work were you I was not okay so we don't know whether a phone call took place or didn't take place cuz we've been through five staff members between then and now I'd like not to go to court over the Hasty termination of a contract I'd like to hear them out how long did they know this meeting was on the docket U maybe about a week week about AEK they they had one week's notice to show up for a a meeting in my world that's not cool no this um I have to we'll have to verify that because this has been on our agenda our long range agenda since like November when this was brought to my I wanted to up so I need to that Podium and been called to that Podium with a day's notice so let's do the due diligence that we need to do to validate whether if there is just cause for termination we should do that if there isn't we need to get the right team assigned from the consultant not waste all the money that we've started with already I don't even want to know that number but it's probably worth asking how much have we spent with the consultant so far it's about 600 it's just under $600,000 on a$ 2.5 million so if we hand that over start over again that work product is gone new work product starts am I correct okay no one would correct and and commissioner just to clarify specifically the request to the consultancy to be in attendance was about a week ago we' started working with them in October on presentations regarding a meeting here with the chamber um so they've been involved in Communications but In fairness on the important thing you know yes ma'am just wanted to clarify previous work but absolutely so I'm not at throw the baby out with the bath water I'm at let's do our homework figure out where we go forward if they deserve to be terminated we terminate them if they don't I really don't want to now spend lawsuit money to justify that and we know that's that would come okay I'm not afraid of that at all I think I I am not afraid of it chairman I just want us to spend the taxpayer money judiciously a little more research so we know what we're doing is not a bad thing all right anybody here from the public wish to speak on this matter no sir seeing none do you believe you have enough Direction yep I do yes we do great very good thank you both you Darren huh do you yes yes we we're going to re recircle back with the consultant will and then and then I will bring it back to this board fantastic about action right you're good okay next we are going to move to our public hearing agenda if you are Desiring to speak on any of these items please fill out one of the forms out the lobby give it to miss Dominique the clerk she will track and we will call you up accordingly when we get to that item make sure you put the item that you're here to speak about and we'll get you um in line to do that we'll go to uh the County Attorney Miss Kate Lor to read the rules of public engagement speaking on the public hearing agenda thank you Mr chairman while the board welcomes comments from all persons with an interest in these proceedings Florida law requires that the board's decision in quasi judicial actions be supported by competent substantial evidence presented to the board during the hearings on the applications competent substantial evidence is such evidence as a reasonable mind would accept as adequate to support a conclusion there must be a factual basis in the record to support opinion testimony from both expert and non-expert Witnesses persons presenting testimony May rely on factual information that they present information presented by County staff information the applicant presented or on factual information included in the county staff report to support their testimony all persons who Present written materials to the board for consideration must ensure that a copy of such materials is provided to the clerk for inclusion in the board's record of the proceedings and the official minutes Mr chairman thank you very much look for proof of publication so moved second motion second all those in favor I passes unanimously the next first item up is oh expart disclosure any expart disclosure from any commissioner start here commissioner electronically chairman Mr chairman I electronically I'm also going to send it uh on paper as well Mr lockart um I had only ex parte communication on item number 21 which was some emails and uh it's been submitted electronically and I'll hand it over as well Mr Constantine mine was submitted electronically and mine was likewise okay first item up is number 18 995 Miller Drive special exception this is a commissioner lockart District this will be presented by Miss Hillary Peyton staff will give a presentation if there's any questions the board will inquire with staff then the applicant will be asked if they desire to give any kind of statements to the the board we will then go to public input and once public input is done we will go for any rebuttal that uh the applicant May Des desire to State then we'll go to the board for board action so miss Peyton you're up good afternoon board Hillary Peyton Planning and Development this item is a request for a special exception at 9.95 Miller Drive for an outdoor recreational area at an existing Warehouse site in the M1 zoning District on 6.8 Acres located on the west side of Miller Drive south of North Street the applicant requests to construct an outdoor recreational area at an existing industrial Warehouse site for the use of the property owners employees and their families the property is approximately 6.8 Acres with a warehouse on the Eastern side the Western vacant side of the parcel is the proposed location for the two concrete slabs for the outdoor recreational area the first slab will be utilized as a handball CT and will be approximately 80 ft x 52 ft with a concrete wall erected along the middle of it the wall will be 43 ft wide 16 ft tall and 8 in thick this lab will be constructed approximately 13 ft from the north property property line the second slab will be used for a basketball court and picnic area it'll be located 15 1/2 ft East from the handball court slab and will be approximately 70 ft by 50 ft it'll be constructed approximately 25 ft from the north property line the hours of operation for the recreational area will be dawned to dust 7 days a week therefore wired lighting will not be utilized upon approval of the special exception a site plan showing compliance with the Land Development code and all other applicable codes um will be re required including a required retention area for the new impervious site in compliance with the seminal County Land Development code's community meeting procedures the applicant conducted a community meeting on October 2nd 2024 section 30.31s states that the board of County Commissioners may allow uses for which a special exception is required provided that the board determines that the use requested is not detrimental to the character of the area or inconsistent with trends of development the area it doesn't have unduly adverse effect on the existing traffic patterns movements and volumes and it is consistent with the comprehensive plan and will not adversely affect the public interest if the board finds that the requested special exception meets the criteria staff requests that the standard conditions of approval for the and the following site specific conditions be incorporated the outdoor recreational area is only for use by the property owners employees of the warehouse and their families the outdoor recreational area will only be used from dawn to dust 7 days a week there will not be any sight lighting for the outdoor recreational area and the concrete slabs cannot be increased in size nor can any additional impervious be added to the site without BCC approval the Planning and Zoning commission met on December 4th 2024 and voted unanimously to recommend the border of County Commissioners approve the special exception based on these conditions staff requests that the border of County Commissioners approve the special exception based on the conditions as set forth in the development order for outdoor recreational area at an existing Warehouse in the M1 zoning District this concludes my presentation on will for any questions thank you m Peyton any inquiries to the staff at this point seeing NN as the applicant here and desire to make any statements you're okay thank you very much any public speakers no sir okay we'll close the public hearing commissioner lockart this is your District thank you very much um Commissioners I'd like to make a motion to approve the item as presented second motion second any further discussion seeing none all those in favor opposed like sign hearing none carries unanimously thank you miss Peyton thank you next up is number 19 this is a board of adjustment appeal this will be presented by Miss Angie Gates this is my district district two Miss Gates good afternoon um Angie gates with development services item 19 is a request to appeal the board of adjustments decision to deny the request for a rear yard setback variance from 30 ft to to 3 ft and a North Side yard setback variance from excuse me 7 1/2 ft to 4/2 ft for a workshop in the r1a single family dwelling District located at 1220 George Street in Winter Springs I think I click to me there we go a building code violation was issued for this structure resulting in the necessity of a variance on October 28th 2024 the board of adjustment denied the side and rear yard setback variance request for the existing 48622 ft workshop and on November 12th 2024 Crystal Morris property owner filed a notice of appeal of the board of adjustment decision the board of adjustment found that the applicant did not provide sufficient evidence or testimony to show that the criteria under Section 3.3.3 point2 B of the simal county land development code for granting a variance were not met as noted by the board members in the minutes the variance criteria justification statement submitted by the applicant did not address the required variance criteria when asked by the board the applicant did not want to amend the justification statement responses the board determined that there was no evidence on the record to support approval of the variance request based on the stated findings staff recommends or excuse me requests that the board of County Commissioners uphold the decision of the board of adjustment to deny the requests for a rear and North Side yard setback variance this concludes my presentation thank you very much any questions for staff is the property owner applicant here wish to make a statement yes ma'am if you would come forward here to the podium you got three minutes if you need a little additional I'll grant you that as long as we're making Headway and conversation I'm actually going to ask that my daughter and in law do the speaking okay that's fine on my behalf sure just need name and address for the record okay my name is Nicole moris um I live at 13329 pal Vista Drive for rview Florida um so good evening or good afternoon uh we appreciate you taking the time to hear us my name is Nicole Morris I'm here on behalf of my in-laws Crystal and Harold Morris I'm married to their son Micah um unfortunately my father-in-law is able to be here today um his doctors have advised that due to the stress which I do have a letter from his doctor um that he not come today he's been hospitalized basically seven times since September so um this is highlighting the toll that this matter has taken on him this variance request is incredibly important to us and I hope to provide Clarity on the unique circumstances of their property the Practical values of the workshop and it's positive impact on both my in-laws and my neighborhood or their neighborhood this Workshop is not just a structure it is a functional space that provides critical benefits to my in-laws and their neighborhood um it ensures tools and equipment are stored properly keeping the backyard tidy and safe noise containment for if they're using power tools or working on furniture and things like this um it's built to withstand winds up to 50 m an hour I have submitted um the specifications that basically state that this can stand up to 150 M an hour and has all the safety measures in place um for Harold Morse my father-in-law he is a Vietnam vet he is managing PTSD and this gives him a place to be out of the sun able to have space to move around and work or putter or just to keep him active and moving um the placement of the workshop was influenced by several unique property conditions one being there was a concrete wall in that was installed by the city at the rear of the property that had fallen into disrepair after it was I guess no longer needed for noise reduction um and my in-laws have been caring for this wall making sure sure that it stays up because it was bringing on rodent infestations and just causing issues um when they purchased the property they basically took on caring for this wall um along with maintaining years in the area and it influenced the shed's placement um the north side neighbor has not maintained the area to the south of their refence they did not realize I don't think that that was their property to maintain so my laws have been maintaining it all this time it kind of shows the ambiguity of the property lines um and then due to drainfield constraints from the septic system that was another reason it was placed where it was the decision to proceed without a permit was based on advice from professionals at Empire sheds and tubular Building Systems who stated that the permits were not required for unincorporated Winter Springs and kind of due to the uh it wasn't easily understandable the zoning when they were just looking at it so they took the um my in-laws in good faith relied on the guidance provided by those companies and I do have a letter from someone who went with him them to buy it sorry people who went with them to buy the shed that basically heard them say that no they did not need the permit and that they it was being yeah I'm sorry no worries is is do you want to introduce that letter into the record yes please okay is that your only copy it it's fine we we have yeah so the enclosing this Workshop is vital to part of uh as a vital part of my in-law's ability to care for their home and maintain their well-being is it's Pro it provides practical utility supports herold's health and contributes positively to the neighborhood the unique circumstances of their property and the honest misunderstanding regarding the permits further justifies the variance um we respectfully ask the board to approve the variant so that my in-laws can continue to responsibly maintain their property and quality of life thank you for your time and your consideration thank you any inquiries of the applicant see none thank you very much just make yourself comfortable wherever you feel best are there any public speakers on this item yes sir we have two David Duncan and Kevin leop David and Kenneth Kevin Kevin if the two of you would come on up to the podium David and Kenneth or Kevin I'm sorry I keep trying to change your name on [Applause] you and just give us your name and address and then we'll start the timer also tell us whether you're in favor or an opposition all right my name is Kevin lather I live at 1230 George Street on the north side of this property uh this building uh I am not in favor for because it's atrocious looking uh as far as being in a residential neighborhood if I want that I can look at the warehouses on the other side of the wall uh um as far as the wall being put up and and not maintained that's never been a problem there's never been any problem with rodents as far as you know into my property in this wall at the base of it there are drains for the retention pond on the back side of the warehouse that she has restricted those so if water overflows the retention Pond it no longer goes through that wall in her backyard it comes into mine as well as David's so I've got an issue with that but second of all the property that's the building sets on right on the property line her property line it is uh there's section of property between that and the wall it's not her property she took her fence down to you know expand it and maintain it I have that same property behind my fence and years before the warehouses were built I took care of all of that uh including behind her house house before she bought it so this building is it's just absolutely atrocious looking in the backyard uh it's setting on her property line I don't know how she can utilize that 3 foot or 4 foot of property between that property line in the wall and claim that as their setback uh and same thing with a side you know I I mean we have setbacks for a reason and somebody comes along and they just put this building up she's already been hit for doing you know electrical work without permits uh so I understand and let's just try to keep it on this topic yes and so you know again the permit should have been pulled everything should have been in place before this ever went up I don't care if the building withstands 150 mph winds or not my concern is is the slab that it sets on is there footing underneath it enough to hold that building there in a bad you know in a bad storm because if the building comes apart my house is subject to get damaged along with multiple vehicles that I own that are in my backyard so I and I don't need that so I am opposed and have been all along and that is it in a nutshell great thank thank you very much sir appreciate it David you're up next sir hello chair hello chairman and board name an address for the record absolutely those aren't the greedy ones man you get over 40 you got to have these things does get any better trust me hello my name is David Duncan I live at 1210 George Street directly south and next to the property in question I'm here to address a serious concern someone has erected a building in their backyard that's taller than my house this structure is an isore and looks like a commercial building something you would run a business out of due to its size what is more troubling is that this building was constructed without any County approval the concrete was poured without a permit no inspection to see if it had proper rebar for strengths the building itself was set on the concrete without a permit no inspections to confirm that it can stand with hurricane strength winds after this constru after this structure was reported to code enforcement the owner attended a hearing seeking ret active approval to keep it as is the board initially denied this request however the owner has since paid additional fees to appeal this decision today after more than two months has passed this issue is coming back before the board even though nothing has changed with the building during this time the board will once again have to address the same issue as before in October if the board decides to approve this structure it will essentially be allowing somebody to abide by only 10% of the written setback rules that simal county has reducing the setback requirement from 30 ft to a mere 3 feet what message does this send to the resident subsal County it suggests that anyone can bypass regulations pay some extra fees eventually get approval this undermines the County's strict rule on variances and sets a concerning precedence on our community thank you thank you sir anyone else from the public here to speak on this matter no sir does the applicant wish to make any further statements rebutting anything that's been stated name and address again for the record please yes sir um Nicole Morse 13329 pal Vista Drive uh Riverview Florida um okay so I know we had sent in an email that had some that provided some pictures of both the shed it's sizing for scale do you all have that yes okay um so you cannot see this Shed from the front of the house at all it is not taller than a house it is not in any way shape or form encumbersome to anyone's views um it I heard someone say about working a business out of it I believe that concern came from both my in-laws have been having health issues and they were having different lawn care companies they couldn't decide on one and so different lawn care companies were coming and going right before this shed was put up this shed was put in place solely for my father-in-law he moved to a smaller home so that my mother-in-law could care for her ailing mother who unfortunately passed away in November it was for no other reason other than that so that he could have a space for himself because he went from having a two-car garage to having no no room for his things um so there are it is in no way and in my opinion it is in no way an isore it is brand new I have the let me put this into let's try to wrap I'd like to submit this try to wrap it up okay this shows um this is from the concrete man Sam the concrete man is the company it shows that that concrete was poured two two specification to hold up that shed for everything that shed needs to stay safe and not blow around um as for some of these others it is solely based on neighborhood Corrals we'll put it at that a lot of this I hope that I've addressed the concerns of the shed itself thank you thank you all right want to make sure there's nobody else here from the public wishes to speak on this matter we'll close the public and input session and we'll move to board action this is in my district I will move a motion to uphold the uh Board of adjustment decision to deny the request for a rear yard setback variance from 30 ft to 3 feet and a side yard North setback variance from 7 and 1/2 ft to 4 and 1/2 ft for a workshop in the r1a single family dwelling district and more particularly known as 1220 George Street second motion second any further discussion all those in favor I oppose L sign seeing none carries unanimously Miss Morris first and foremost please thank your husband for his service to this country on our behalf it's unfortunate you find yourself in this position and and you may have been misled by individuals that were selling you product um I would also urge you to reach out to our veteran Services Group here at the county if we can be in any assistance or help whatsoever for your husband or your needs please let us know so and also my sorriness and condolences for the loss of your mother thank you very much Mr chairman I was just going to say Mr chairman I also think they need to go back to um whoever was the contractor to build the ship the shed who told them who misled them and may get some um some sort of uh REM uh remediation from them sure so if you have any further questions I would ask you get with our staff they'll get you Direction anything you need let them know and we'll do our best to assist you thank you thank you very much Mr chairman um Comm alart in my briefing with staff on this item one of the things that came to mind is the use of the contractor licensing board I think this might be an ideal situation for or when we have um when we have contractors who are doing business in this County it seems like sometimes they are repeat offenders that it it might not be a bad idea for our new building official to look into how that board might be able to be utilized for some of these situations because I I guarantee you if if these folks did this to one family they've done it to many and um and we need people who are going to do business in seminol County Within within the rules good I I don't disagree and I'm I'm glad you've you've brought that up because that was on my Chairman's report what we're going to do with the contractor's board whether we're going to decide to continue on with that or we're not because I have an appointment to make to that so thank you very much all right we on to our next item next item is going to be number 20 this is Panther Street RightWay vacate this will be presented by Miss apgar good afternoon Miss abgar you're up good afternoon Caitlyn abgar planning and development services applicants Joshua and Sarah Lewis have petitioned seal County to vacate and abandon an uncut portion of the public RightWay known as Panther Street formerly known as Aria Avenue in the van rdale addition to Black Hammock subdivision Panther Street exists to the southwest of 1,000 Elm Street as a local 50ft right of way not maintained by the county Panther Street Per County records is unimproved for the portion running along the southern border of 1000 Elm Street and then begins again as a 50ft RightWay after the intersection to the east um after the intersection of Elm Street to the east the existing RightWay as platted is 50 ft in length however for the length of lot 144 which is 1,000 Elm Street there only exists 25 ft right away the proposed subject area to be vacated is 6726 Ft in length and 25 ft in width with an overall area of 16825 Ft the entirety of the area will be conveyed to lot 144 1000 ohm street because the parcel to the South was not included in the original subdivision of the land Duke Energy requ ired a 10ft wide easement across the area to be vacated seal County engineering required a 20ft 25t drainage easement which is the entire area to be vacated the applicant has provided letters of no objection from all other applicable utility companies the purpose of the vacate per application documents on file with the county is to retain the driveway and fence structures that are currently located within the rideway there exist no open code violation and County records for this vacating the right of way will not affect access to adjacent properties and therefore does not result in adjacent Parcels being landlocked this request complies with the requirements of vacating a right of way under section 35184 of the seal County Land Development code and the authority of the Florida statute 33609 staff requests the board of County Commissioners adopt the resolution vacating and abandoning an uncut portion of the public RightWay known as Panther Street in the Van Arsdale addition to Black Hammock subdivision I would also like to bring to your attention that there were letters of opposition and support submitted to staff after the agenda had been published these letters have been included in your agenda packet for review but I also have a copy for the record please that concludes my presentation I'm here for any questions thank you any inquiries with staff this time one for everybody just one Mr Lewis or Miss Lewis are you here and desire to make any statements please come forward state your name and address Mr commissioner I chairman I think we're going to reserve our time if we can for rebuttal I believe there are some I'll give you both as long as we're reasonable chairman did you want the applicant an opportunity to present first pardon me did you give the applicant an opportunity to present I I don't know if I missed you are the applicant are you I'm representing the applicant yes got okay yeah all right all right was say did I did I drop that ball no I'm really confused I I think I had the parties mixed up Mr CAO thank you not a problem it happens uh Philip capro uh CAO law 5200 South US Highway 1792 Castlebury uh I represent the applicants Mr and Mrs Lewis um they're here because they had a 25 foot rway that was part of a 50-ft rway as you heard from staff and um I think you're going to hear from people to the South um that uh it somehow impairs their property uh they had the opportunity to have their 25 ft put into a RightWay as well which would have given the full 50 foot access uh they elected never to do that um and they have the rest of their property to be able to use whatever they need to to be able to access it all we're asking for is for the property to return back to the original land owners free and clear of the RightWay that's there uh in order to clear up any questions okay any questions for the applicant at this point see none uh how many speakers do we have Madam Clark we have six speakers sir okay if we would call the first three up uh we'll try to get you all through here as quick as possible you'll have three minutes each what I would ask you in interest of time and respect for all the speakers and everybody attending to today as well as our staff if a speaker prior to you has already made a statement um try not to replicate that statement if those folks that are going to speak are in agreement um or disagreement with those who are speaking just simply hold your thumb up or your thumb down we won't tolerate any yelling out or clapping or making noise in the chamber so be respectful of that request thank you very much please call the first three names Michael prudi Mario prudi and Alicia prudi so with presi all come down your name and address for the record sir uh good morning afternoon my name is Michael purui I live at 9980 Elm Street in oido Florida 32765 um it may take me a little bit more than three minutes because of the facts involving in this case ask your uh consideration on that I'll give you consideration as long as we're moving along I understand my family and I live at that address we've lived at that address since 2007 it's 35 Acres large the whole Northern boundary is Panther Street we start at Panther Street the northeast corner is uh Panther and Elm Street and the northwest corner is Canal and uh Panther street so this uh petition for vacation to vacate involves about half of my Northern boundary um uh I was first made aware of this uh petition to vacate on December the 30th there is a sign that was posted by the Lewis I uh talked to the planning department uh uh that afternoon that had had an imperson visit with Caitlyn apgar later that week later that same day that I visited her in person I provided her a copy of the seino county court there's ongoing litigation against the lewises for trass and injunctive relief this was never mentioned to this Commission I was surprised the following week when Caitlyn abar called me and informed me that it was too late to include a copy of the litigation complaint in today's agenda but she would do her best to present knowledge of it to you for consideration the complaint is 21 pages long it has five exhibits it explains a lot of what's going on here and I'm going to get to that in a minute but let me back down first the uh Lewis filed their petition to vacate Mr pet just just to give you fair warning we're not here to talk about any court filings or any of those things try to keep a Germaine to the topic which is the abatement of this RightWay request I am I am thank you for that caution okay the Lewis's best represented the facts on the vacate reason for the request they said they wanted to retain their driveway way and fence the fence was erected in June sometime between June and September of 2023 and it was only erected after I went and tried to stop them from uh trespassing on my property and from uh putting structures on Panther street right away now prior to this I've had 15 years access to Panther Street the prior owner that Lewis's property was occupied by was uh Phil Daly and we operated Panther Street all the time on that we we cleared some uh trees that had fallen during hurricanes we used the panther Street for access to both of our properties after Lewis's purchased their property they ere did a large uh 49 ft garage I think it was and it was in 2018 that was permitted but with that garage they only had they only used access to the Northern end of their property they have a driveway on the North End of Elm Street on their property they access that garage and they access their house the southern end which is Panther Street became virtually not used by them at all until June the 1st 20123 I found them they had I'm going to ask you to try to wrap this up pretty quick I find found them that they had cut down trees on my property and other vegetation this is protected Wetlands they uh um they used uh the panther street right away and my protected Wetlands as a garbage dump they constructed an unpermitted fence on a Wetlands property and on Panther Street I want to I want you to understand this whole not the whole Northern end but the middle of the northern of my property is Wetlands it's it it should not be uh interfered with by anyone let alone someone who has occupied a panther street right away without any permits um okay Mr pet let's let's I'm going to give you 10 more seconds okay okay um in go ahead I had I had a survey performed to show the trespass on this and the the uh Lewis's just interfered with the survey so much I had to file then an action for trespass and injunctive relief with the seminal County Court I okay we're we're done Mr pet if You' please take a seat we'll move on to the next speaker thank you very much next speaker please good afternoon Commissioners my name is Mario pursui I live at 980 Elm Street in noo with my parents um I stand in opposition to this motion uh for for their application um really it's a very complex topic I know that we're going to if it's not already in the record we're going to try to enter that complaint into the record um it's just such a complex topic three minutes is not really enough to kind of deal with this and we don't want to circumvent the current judicial proceedings that are uh ongoing as it relates to this um and also it just limits our access that we've had for 15 years to maintain that Northern end of our property so again I stand in opposition to this and I yield my time thank you thank you very much next speaker please you can enter This Record hello good afternoon my name is Alicia pudi I live at 98 Elm Street oo actually I'm going to take this in a little bit different direction in the 17 years I've lived out in the black hammocks there's always roads that are not taken care of they call them I don't know um actually there's one in front of me Elm Street it's a dirt road we take care of it the county does not I think if you give a panther Street you're going to open a door to all these roads in the Black Hammock that people are going to want to take over and I think that's something that you need to think about because that's all the Black Hammock is um I'd like to enter this into record and identify what that is please uh that is the court case that is ongoing that is the complaint in the civil litigation yes in Samo County we already have it thank you for your time thank you thank you all right please call the next three Richard Robertson Lawrence Capone and Jeff Peterson that's Richard Lawrence and Jeff please proceed sir thank you chairman and board come on up to the podium so we can get a good sound bite on you all right it won't bite you good okay I would just like to say that I don't feel that would be right to uh so let me see give your name and address real quickly okay I'm Richard Robertson I'm at 971 Elm Street please go ahead and I represent my wife Kathleen also and um we feel that you know instead of the county you know correcting the issue it's kind of like they're instead rewarding the situation with the land and as far as I've seen none of this should ever be right with the with the county um I just leave it up to you guys to look at this seriously and hopefully make the right decision thank you thank you sir next up is Lawrence hello gentlemen my name is Lawrence Antonio Capone I live at 16001 Panther Street stre oo Florida 32765 go ahead I live just east of this easement uh my Panther Road uh that goes down is also the same thing as the other side that is closed up although I there's a home that I built back there about 18 years ago so I opened that road up to be able to have access to it there is still the access on the other side of me and um I really don't think it would be right for anybody to access these things roads for power usage uh for even just the access for people going back and forth um I'm just not I'm opposed of having that access right away given to a piece of property um and I own four pieces of property right in that area and I just don't want to see that happen Okay thank you very much thank you sir next up Jeff good afternoon I'm Jeff Peterson I live across the street at 998 Elm Street pretty much mirror everything that everybody else says I'm opposed to it as well okay great thank you very much is there anyone else here to speak on this matter okay rebuttal from the applicant chairman please be thank you chairman um Commissioners I would just point out that uh it's impossible to trespass on your own property uh or on a RightWay so to the extent that there's issues between the neighbors um hat skills McCoy that's fine leave it to the courts that has nothing to do with what's trying to go on here which is the lewises had given up had had half of the property had half of the 50 Foot property given up as as a right of way the same people that are complaining did not choose to give up their 25 ft in in in connection with any kind of platting or doing anything else with the property they could have in fact they tried to get the property platted at one point and was going to have to give up the 25 ft chose not to um and now is seeking to punish the lewises for trying to get their half back it simply seems to be a civil matter and not something that the commission should be involved with Beyond to say that if you're not using it and you have an easement back there's no reason not to give the loes their property back thank you Mr CAO anyone else make sure nobody else here to speak from the public on this matter we will close the public hearing it is in my district um you know this this does seem to be a civil matter that should really be sorted out in the courts quite frankly and I and I hope and wish as neighbors that we could reflect upon how short life really is and and try to come to some kind of reasonable understanding between the parties um and and be able to live your lives um as you see fit without interference from either party my concern is we have drainage basin studies that are underway in the hammock and they're not not completed at this point um we know what's happens in the hammock every time there's a hurricane or a huge rain of four or five Ines in in the afternoons during the summer it floods so this commissioner is not ready to vacate this right away uh because we have a basin study underway there may be identified areas of Need for mitigated storage this may or may not be that I think it's premature to go down this road I also believe we need to make sure that as much Green Space stays open in the hammock as possible to mitigate some of the flooding so with that said I will move um to deny the request and resolution vacating abandoning uncut portion of the public RightWay known as Panther Street and the Van Arsdale at the Black Hammock sub division is recorded in plat book one page 31 of the public records of seol County Florida for a property more particularly known as 1000m Street Ovito Florida second motion second any further discussion commissioner her then commissioner lockart I I just have some a little bit of confusion I'm hoping staff can answer the question uh is there a f a fence built in the RightWay yes I believe so and the so we're asking us to vacate right away so that we can maintain the fence that we built in the RightWay we did not build the fence there is a fence no I know we wouldn't have built the fence in the RightWay but um the fence was built by the current property owner I I'm unsure I know that the D saying yes so so yes I know the driveway had been existing there for some time um I will also say there is a proposed drainage easement to be over the entire area to be vacated understood yes just okay I think that was worth getting on the record thank you commissioner lockart well I was going to suggest that if we're waiting on a basin study to come back perhaps rather than denying the request we somehow postpone the item so that the applicant doesn't have to come back and reapply um because if it if there is a drainage easement and if um if it appears that we will not be needing that for drainage I I would hate for for these folks to have to go through this process all over again and reapply if there's a different um mechanism so um and I guess that question was really to staff to ask what the mechanism might be if that's an option if the board were to make a motion to table or postpone rather um it's unlikely you could do it to a date certain unless we know exactly when that Basin study is going to come back um so if you did opt to postpone it would be indefinite and it would have to be read vertis which is my which I think is the one concern um I don't know how the application fee covers the cost of advertising that would have to be considered um in any requests to read vertise might need to be covered by the applicant okay so maybe I asked the seconder um with that um that I'll amend my motion without prejudice and at the future date when the Basin study is completed there's a determination that we will incur the costs here at the county for re application and and publication seconder would agree with that Mr chairman I I I could agree with that but I mean couldn't we do that at any time when it comes back I don't know if we want to do it now I I would be I would be agreeable to doing it under certain conditions but I don't know what though you know what is coming back so I would just say that we could put that in the record that we would be we would consider that but I don't know if we want to do that right now sir well tell me a little more why I'm just trying to get on the record because I don't want to rely on our staff that might change in two or three years or whatever that date is or 6 months from now it's just that you know we're we're presuming you know of you know what the study might come back to what what we might need all these different things that I I'm just not I don't feel comfortable in doing that I I would be agreeable to do it if um you know if if the Basin study comes back says we don't need it and all this other but I I just don't know if we want to just give a blanket approval at this moment well M and I understand what you're saying but my hopes would be to that point is during the course of the Basin study if staff determines this would be a necessary parcel to do whatever mitigated storage or what have you that when the application was then made after or a second time that would already be on the staff's radar of of telling the applicant look the County's going to need that for a b and c and you're it should not go any further than that but I mean they come to the board I'm just trying to yeah I I see what you're trying to sight my my my concern was this and during my brief I asked this question which was why are we doing this when we know this is one of the wetest areas in the county on one of the most polluted lakes in the region and we know it floods during an after Norm afternoon thunderstorm and really bad during hurricanes and that concept had not been fully thought thought through because they are doing the Basin study they really have nothing to hang their hat on of this would be a benefit or not a benefit and all I'm trying to do is save the applicant the cost and fees and Mr chairman I concur with you on that however what if it comes back and it says we do need it we're leaving it in the hands of the applicant not in the hands because you said what if the staff comes back and says they don't need it da da da in in the staff I could see us going ahead and putting something in here that says and if we don't need it staff would agree not to charge you them the fee for the reapplication see if they did come back and they said they did need it maybe and maybe I don't want to get this convoluted but if they come back and they said they did need it we're leaving it in the hands of the applicant to come back and ask for it again even though probably the same thing would happen and it would cost the taxpayers money sure advertising and everything else so I I'll try to clean that up before I go to commissioner lockart I would agree to amend to basically say that the county would assume the fees of the application and advertising of the agenda item if such item were to move forward in the future after the Basin study has been completed and determines that the land is not needed yes think that's what commissioner and determines that the land is not needed otherwise we have an unnecessary hearing that we have paid for the count that's what I'm trying to say yes so let's go to the county attorney my concern with that option is that should the county need it for drainage purposes we have just an open-ended never decided application for right ofo vacation that so if we're going to move to continue it it's with the assumption that it needs to come back when way or another no Kate the motion is to deny deny the motion is to deny and only if we okay that's the part that I just said there and I didn't follow I didn't follow that so that's what I missed you said motion to deny deny and then if we don't need the drainage without prejudice yes they can come back apply again without the fees without the fees we read advertise another public hearing correct that's better if we don't if we don't need the property it's unusual but yeah I don't know that I'm comfortable going if we don't need it well okay I well that's the denial though because that will be determined at some later date commissioner Locker would you like to take a step at the amending well I just I I think we already have comments from Public Works that they have no objection could we get confirmation from that on the record if you want to go through my whole briefing come on up Sir well I I had a briefing on this item too and this that was never identified dur basins weren't brought up or studies so so Tony would you mind I I'm looking at this item and it says that there um that all applicable utility companies and Public Works has no objection so are you all not concerned about this pending um drainage basin study for the record Tony Nelson County engineer um because we're working on the drainage studies um we're not 100% sure if we're going to need this prop that's why we're asking for a drainage easement so any storm water that possibly could flow through this area we have this easement okay so so if the reason so if our concern is that it would be for drainage purposes with the drainage easement and the applicant recognizes that if we have to go in and put pipe down or dig a ditch the fence or whatever it is is coming out um I'm I'm just not sure I understand I guess I'm just not following so I'll try the question I asked based on what Tony just said and my briefing was okay the Basin study is not complete correct you're retaining a easement even if we vacate it how do you know how much square footage of storage you may or may not need until the Basin study is complete and I think the answer was we won't know that until the Basin study is complete correct we won't know that but it's only 20 ft you can't store much in 25 ft you might dig a ditch you might 6 some feet long yeah I okay I mean I don't know that you can you going to have a long skinny noodle of a retention Pond I mean I don't know I just I feel like we're creating a reason to say no maybe that's what I'm feeling but um I I think it would be awesome if if the if the motion is to deny and that's what the will of the entire board is I just would like to have the applicant not have to um come back and pay again for the process that's pretty much what my motion is I I understand that I'm just okay so does the second or agree to my amended motion just repeat it sir so familiar so I have it I move to ad I moved to deny the resolution to vacate and banning an uncut portion of public right away known as Panther Street in the van RS Deale added to Black Hammock subdivision as recorded in plat book one page 31 of the public records of seal County Florida for property more particularly known as 1,000 Elm Street oo Florida without prejudice and no fee for reapplication or advertising which will be done by the county at the County's expense if we don't need it answer is no he doesn't agree no okay he doesn't yeah I I have a problem well then I will go back to my original motion I will move a motion to deny the resolution vacating abandon uncut portion of the public right away known as Panther Street and the Van Arsdale add the Black Hammock subdivision as recorded in plat book one page 31 of the public records of seal County Florida for a property more particularly known as 1000 Elm Street Ovito Florida without prejudice second further discussion her did you I wanted to clean up the record a little bit from a motion standpoint we did have a motion in a second on the floor he with you tried to amend the motion the seconder technically doesn't have to agree but didn't agree so you restated your motion can we agree by consensus that your original motion was withdrawn withdrawn that's right so now we have a new motion on the on the table and a second and a second and commissioner her wants to speak I have an entirely different take on this drainage not drainage all of that good stuff I don't know with with all uncertainty that we're not creating a reason for the courts to decide in one way or the other and the timing of this is rather unfortunate I think number one needs to go through the process and then this needs to come back whether we pay for it a second time we could wave it from the dis that's the SEC separate issue I agree but it is just a little unnerving that the fence was built in the RightWay which we know we shouldn't do and create there's a creation of issues and then we go to court and now we're in here I I just think it can wait that's where I am so I I will vote to deny but for entirely different reasons than the Basin study okay going a motion a second all those in favor I oppos like sign seeing none carries unanimous thank you all very much for being here next item up is item 21 this is a James Drive partial RightWay vacate M Joy Giles is here to present this item I think I think the probably had a better solution wasn't the motion good afternoon Joy Giles a principal planner for the Planning and Development Division the applicant has petitioned SEO County to vacate and abandon a portion of an undeveloped right of way adjacent to the South perimeter of Lot 2 of the Jamestown subdivision as recorded in plat book 9 page 71 of the public records of SEMO County Florida for property more particularly known as 2150 James Drive and Ido okay the portion of undeveloped RightWay subject to the vacate request is approximately 54 ft wide and 73 ft in length containing approximately 3900 Square ft if the vacate is approved as requested the owner of Lot 2 will receive the entire 39,000 3900 Square ft of vacated rideway and will incorporate the subject area vacate into his property a portion of undeveloped RightWay being approximately 53 ft wide and 24 ft in length containing approximately 1274 Square ft would remain adjacent to the South perimeter of Lot 2 and the East perimeter of lot 5 and will continue to be utilized as access for Lot 2 and lot five of the Jamestown subdivision the uh excuse me lot five is owned by the St James American Methodist Epis esal church and is directly adjacent to the west of the area of the subject vacate the owner of lot 5 the owner of lot five has a rezone application under review with SEMO County for the historic Ovito colored School Museum PD the property will access directly from the 24t wide ride of way that will remain intact if the vacate is approved and the applicant has provided letters of no objection from all appal utility companies and Simo County staff has no objection to the vacation and abandonment of the RightWay as requested the request complies with all requirements of the Simo County Land Development code and uh Flor statutes for vacating and abandoning a ride of way therefore staff recommends or excuse me staff requests that the board of County Commissioners adopt the resolution vacating and abandoning a portion of undeveloped rideway known as James Drive and the Jamestown subdivision as recorded in plb 9 page 70 of the public records of SEO County Florida thank you thank you very much any inquiries from the board M glor this is your District yes I have a question for uh our staff the reason why we're doing a partial vacate is because the area that you're leaving in the right away has utilities correct that is correct okay thank you is the applicant here and wish to make a presentation or statement to the board if so sir please come up I mean you don't have to it's up to [Laughter] you okay I'll give you that opportunity all right we'll now move to public comment if you will read the names of those wishing to make public comment we'll get them down here and get them lined up all right we have three speakers chairman Judith Smith Francis Smith and Richard reap very good Judith Francis and Richard thank you for allowing me to come up and speak to you my name is Judith Dolores Smith I live at 938 East Broadway Street Ovito Florida 32762 and um they'll be placing some pictures on the screen for me and I'll explain those at the end of this um and Miss Smith are you able to leave those with us they they are yes I sent them through the email okay so um H just a couple of questions before I begin my presentation have you heard of Colonial Williamsburg brutin Parish Church Williamsburg Virginia Julius rosenwall Moses Levy or David Uli in 2001 I compiled a book entitled a written and pictoral history of the oo colored schools from 1890 to 1967 since 2018 we the board of directors and one of my board members is here Dr an Gavin we the board of directors of the historical veto colge schools Museum have been working to bring this historic project to fruition the St James am Church Gabriella C School the completion of this project will not only benefit our local community but we believe that the communities around the world will benefit from hearing the stories of the descendants of African slaves in the United States of America we will tell the story with the help of the richest program of how these descendants were able to educate their children with meager resources this project is phase one of our goal the second phase is to have a museum in the city limits of Ovito to highlight the rest of the color schools in the OVO area certified best roofing donated the current roof that the building from further deterioration until other funds could be raised and compliance with the governmental regulations could be accomplished we were awarded a construction Grant by the state of Florida we were also awarded a grant from the Florida Humanities in June of 2024 in order to design the exhibits with the help of our architect Richard reap Jr we are complying with the County zoning and planning department in order to be able to obtain the necessary permits to complete the renovation and I'm happy to say before I came I got something in the mail an email saying that we had completed all of our task and the project is moving on to the next level for many reasons we are against Simo County vacating the entire partial of land which is adjacent to our project on the screen and let me put my glasses last year as a part of um this project we had to connect to the Sewer we had to vacate the well we had to vacate the septic tank and we were in the process of doing this these pictures up here uh I believe are is the second hole that we had to dig because of faulty records from the county could you go on okay this is the uh first hole and the hole leads to a water pipe for the whole of jamest town on your records that pipe was not there and so again this is a hole that we had to dig that third picture up there um is where we ended up connecting in the RightWay the first connection was to the pipe the same pipe at the other at the um South uh at excuse me northeast corner the applicant complained to the county that we were uh connected incorrectly to the sore and as a result of faulty records and um the complaint from the applicant we were uh incurred additional cost as well as valuable time that was expended to um connect to the sore um again these are um holes that we four of them that we ended up digging because the first hole the applicant complain that we were at the wrong place and so I'll I know my 3 minutes is up and so I'll conclude this thank you very much for listening to me thank you M Smith hey next one up is Miss Francis all right or Richard well we debated but I'll come next so um yes Richard reap architect um my addresses 2707 Chelsea Street Orlando Florida uh I am Miss Smith's architect for the renovation and conversion of the project uh my practice is uh my career has been mostly International uh historic and uh cultural heritage tourism projects so this project has that's why Miss Smith hired me um I registered an opposing comment uh I'll make one brief comment and then one brief observation the brief comment is as Miss Smith alluded to the uh property that is being requested to vacate we started working with suo County and Miss John di uh and excellent staff back in early 2023 and the county very quickly asked us if they urged us to file a vacate notice on the property but we declined we declined for several reasons one is we don't know what's under it we don't know anything about the covenants restrictions easements uh we don't know any of the utilities and as Miss Smith just mentioned uh the county doesn't either so there was a a lot of risk in terms of rework of cost construction cost that the project simply doesn't have the project is we we're a very small project with a very small budget and very small fees so we proceeded along without that uh the risk to us in terms of the risk to anybody in terms of vacating adjacent property is that it will have something underneath it and we don't have any surveys we don't have an ala survey we have nothing on record that shows us what we'll be dealing with after the vacation although you did identify there are utilities under the portion remaining public we still don't know what is under the portion that's being proposed to privatize so we're against it because we simply see and I mentioned early 2003 simply by saying we've worked with the county now for over well over a year and lots of rework lots of you know unknown conditions and things that have slowed delayed and and and caused a lot of issues so we're really against any changes in around us the last piece is an observation I want to make which is simply that um as miss m mentioned we've had uh state of Florida's recognized the importance of the project by giving it not one but two grants as an approach just with a request to apply for a third Grant this particular open space if you can flash back onto the screen the the the plan uh that's historic open space that surrounded the museum that we're about to uh that we're about to build um that open space if you doubt the importance of open space uh you might recall last June uh when uh we learned that the uh State Park system might become privatized to know that open space was going to go away and become some kind of private development sir we need to try to wrap it up yeah so uh the importance of open space cannot be underestimated so we're uh we remain in opposition to it because we feel that open space is critical to the mission of this and that cultural heritage tourism here uh in working with visit Florida and visit Orlando looks like we're going to be coming to seino County EDC uh uh with some uh interesting options to use this as a hub for some cultural heritage tourism in the near future thank you thank you next speaker please miss Francis welcome yes I'm Gloria Smith Gordon I'm Francis Smith's daughter she is deceased and um who was on whose name was on the speaker form do I have the wrong person called up Miss Francis and then Miss Gloria is underneath it okay gotcha yes because property home I am getting old my hearing is getting a little fuzzy but but I I would like to um I'm against I disagree with the request for James Town to be U posted right away vacate rather because um the person that's there now hasn't been there that long and before then I know there was a family there I know at least 60 65 years of my life we had no problems but the person that's there now has a winnabago beside the house plus a vehicle and he wants to not let us use the the road in the back of the church to come in which he was always done and I am uh very much against this because um it's not fair to to the community and to the to our building there are historical my my grandparents found at jamest toown Ben and eser Esther James and this is our church it's a h historical um M um music um I'm sorry I'm nervous there's a historical plaque there on our property and um I am completely against what they're asking to have done because with the other family living there I know over 60 years we had no problems none of us and I believe this is because a person has a winter Bago along with the houses there plus vehicles and that's not that should not affect us thank you thank you Dominique any other speakers on this matter no sir anyone else here from the public wish to speak on this matter we will close the public hearing portion Mr chairman I have a coule questions rebuttal anybody from the applicant wish to rebut Mr chairman Commissioners I'm David I do a little survey him once in a while and I've been working on this project with Reverend puran now for two years and uh first of all we're not vacating the whole RightWay they talked about the landscaping area um around it the buffer zone we're adding another 24 ft to it we're backing off of their property 24 ft um Reverend puran has over the last couple of years maintained that property it's County RightWay but it's also a popular dumping spot construction debris household garbage people just throw it in there instead of taking it to a dumpster somewhere or waiting for the garbage pick up he has maintained that and when he talk to the county they're the ones that said or kind of recommended abandoning it cuz you can't fence it you don't own it it is right away but it's like the grass strip between the sidewalk and the curb that's which they don't have there but that's right away but the individual homeowner is the one that needs to maintain it or else they get find um that 24 ft is where the sewer line runs we located the manhole in the front and then the stub out in the back which goes to his house in the back so it also has the sewer line and the and the stub in it we also gave a 10 foot easement off of his property that goes to the next piece up North for the sewer line now that I believe it's still on septic tank they haven't connected into it yet but that was planning ahead for the future um that's pretty much what I've got to say um it just has been a long uphill battle to get this far and we have staff recommendation and I appreciate that they they've worked hard on it sure and uh nothing but admiration for the process it was drawn out quite a bit though we started with 20 ft which is the minimum that uh right away to a parcel and that was up to uh [Music] the lot five and the next lot up both are using it and Mr Potter the engineer he recommended going to 24 I just gave him four more feet as a driveway and it also was sufficient for Reverend puran to bring his Wago out and in when he needed to um we just tried to accommodate as much as possible because it's getting tired of cleaning up the public property sure all right thank you very kindly all right we will go to commissioner delari this is your District sir thank you Mr chairman I have a couple questions for staff if I may staff any particular members well they're not doing a full abandonment uh they're going to vacate only portions of it so the question I have and we can decide which staff member can address it is the part that's going to remain which is the 24 by 53 ft is the utilities in that portion that's to remain yes okay so in the portion that you're asking for the abandonment of or the vacate uh there's no utilities in it there are no utilities in have we ver have we verified that there sir sir Sor please have a seat thank you we verified that it was confirmed by the utilities department that there were no utilities in that area vacates Okay so by just doing uh remaining uh 2 4 ft of rideway for the utilities the surrounding Lots uh five will have access to that as well correct yes that's correct okay thank you Mr Mr chairman because we're leaving the 24 ft of rideway to remain where the utilities are I see no reason to vac I see no reason uh to uh we're going to we should continue and vacate the right away so with that like to make a motion to adopt a resolution vacating the abandoned portion of the undeveloped rideway known as James Drive in Jamestown subdivision and record and recorded in Pat book8 I'm sorry nine page 71 and 72 of the public record as Florida as presented here to remain and also the RightWay to remain for the utility portion got a motion I'll second that no I'll second that please I did second by Constantine I have a question commissioner lockart then commissioner her so just to get a lay of the land to better understand and and I might need the attorney to weigh in to help determine who who gets what in a vacation um Lots four and three are owned by Miss Smith is that correct the the airs to miss smth um lot lot three and four I'm not sure they're not a party to this application and I don't know the ownership on lot three or four Miss Smith I'm so sorry let me just if I could ask I'm Gloria Smith Gordon my mother was Francis Smith yes ma'am the owner of our our family home there now this is next door to this property so lot three and lot four are owned by your family yes so M I'm sorry to the left of him well I guess it depends on which side you're looking at but okay so um lot two is is the lot by by Mr puran is that yes I'm three three so could I ask in in a in an application to vacate why would not all of the surrounding properties get a portion of that vacation why would all of it go to one property owner I thought that they were supposed to be divided um to the adjacent Property Owners so in this case the property is only adjacent to lot two which is the applicant's property um to the I guess Southwest of the area to be vacated is existing right of way that remains right of way so since there's no property owner to the southwest of the area to be vacated it all reverts back to the ownership of the applicant commissioner the area to be vacated was strictly just by way of example strictly improved right of way and we were going to vacate that street it would go half and half to a budding Property Owners but this is just a really strange piece of right of way that I mean several staff members have said this we've never seen anything like this before it's in a very odd place so because it only AB buts lot two that's why it reverts to the ownership of lot two so if Miss Smith or or The Heirs of Mrs Smith had wanted to vacate that property they would not have had the ability to vacate it to to their benefit is that correct that's correct and that's by virtue of Statute okay commissioner her I never heard anybody address the it was brought up about not being able to access the driveway to the back of the church that this is that accurate uh so the church is going to be accessing from the Eastern perimeter of lot five um there the church accesses through that portion they they don't have access onto James although they AB but James Drive there's no real area for them to access from James um except for the 24t portion that's to remain because of where the building is located so they will be able to access from the back to the back from the 24 yes they will okay any further inquiries there's a motion and second all those in favor I I oppos like sign I seen that carries four to one thank you all very much next item up is item number 22 Sanford commercial development PD rezone Miss Annie silway will be presenting this Miss silway today all righty good afternoon Annie silway senior planner with development services uh the applicant is requesting a reone from C2 General commercial to PD plan development to allow for C2 General commercial uses to develop two restaurants with drive-through facilities the subject property has a future land use designation of higher intensity plan development Target industry TI which allows a maximum floor area ratio of 1.5 the propos the PD proposes C2 General commercial permitted uses which would allow such uses as restaurants with drive-through facilities medical and dental clinics and office uses the subject property is within the State Road 46 Gateway Corridor overlay and the applicant is proposing to meet all requirements within the overlay District such as but not limited to providing a a 25 ft wide landscape buffer adjacent to State Road 46 providing a 50-ft building setback adhering to a maximum Building height of 35 ft in complying with all signage lighting and Landscaping requirements the subject site appears to contain approximately 5 Acres of flood planes on the subject property and approximately 1.5 Acres of wetlands on site and a topographical survey showing the flood plane and Wetland delineation will be required at the time time of the final development plan the proposed PD zoning designation and the associated Master development plan have been evaluated for compatibility with the Land Development code of simal county in accordance with Chapter 30 part 8 under the proposed PD zoning District the applicant is requesting a waiver from the simal county Land Development code for parking stall size um based on section a minimum of 20% of required parking spaces be a minimum stall size of 10 ft by 20 ft allowing up to 80% of required spaces to be a minimum stall size of 9 ft by 18 ft the applicant proposes all parking spaces to be a minimum stall size of 9 ft by 18 ft based on section 30.8 5.3 review criteria sets fourth criteria for approving a plan development the proposed development must be consistent with the comprehensive plan and effectively implement the performance criteria and the plan development approval shall be conditioned upon a master development plan and a written development order specific criteria for the development May address but is not limited to compatibility with the surrounding land uses Road access availability and efficient use of utility capacity coordination with Transit and Etc staff has determined that the request is consistent with the surrounding trend of development in the area would result in a greater benefit to the county and is consistent with the simal County Land Development code as follows the intensity of commercial uses within a plan development are measured in terms of floor area ratio and shall be consistent with the maximum f for the development site established in the comprehensive plan based on the existing future land use of hip TI the proposed development is in character with what is currently established along the segment of State Road 46 Gateway Corridor which primarily consists of commercial higher intensity plan development Target industry uses and office also under the simal county future land use designations and allowable zoning districts the applicant is required to rezone the subject site to PD plan development to be compatible with the future land use of hip TI in the comprehensive plan the applicant can conducted a community meeting on May 30th and the Planning and Zoning commission met on December 4th 2024 and voted unanimously to recommend the board of County Commissioners adopt the ordinance enacting a rezone from C2 to PD staff requests the board of County Commissioners adopt the ordinance enacting a rezone from C2 General commercial to PD plan development for two restaurants with drive-through facilities and approve the associated development order Master development plan and the parking waiver and that concludes my present a thank you any questions for staff see none does the applicant wish to make any statement at this time please come up thank you Rebecca Wilson 215 North Yola Drive I just one a clarifying point we do not intend to build two restaurants with drive-throughs we're asking for General C2 uses there probably going to be one restaurant with a drive-thru um and another use so I just wanted to clarify that um this is the piece of property that's there in between the Wawa and the chick-fil-et drive-thru kind of the last piece along that Corridor to be developed happy to answer any questions that you all may have chairman any questions commissioner Constantine I believe I heard that there is Wetlands on the property what uh what mitigation are you are going to do there are Wetlands on the site um the plan I was just trying to read it in case that question came up but we have secured mitigation for those Wetlands it's um it's note 24 the district has approved um the Wetland mitigation and the human man score and we have secured mitigation credits and we're working through our permitting so to follow up this is not going to be on site because I'm looking at the site plan and all the trees that are there are gone um so this is you've got this through the district you mean the St John's riverwater Management District yes that mitigation were you bought into a mitigation Bank yes and the mitigation bank I believe is named in here I'm going to need different glasses it's like far farmton I believe and that's within the general area I couldn't I couldn't tell you where it is but my understanding is it has to be within the base does have to be within the Bas so Farmington is in uh it's farmton is on um is in Valia County r on St John's river uh oin uh almost to Interstate 95 on Maytown Road and then the the site plan which was shown was the portion of the property that is going to be developed there has to remain a significant portion of the property for flood PL flood plane compensating storage I do have one question Miss Wilson how hung up are you all on on a waiver of the 10x 20 parking spots for a guy that drives a Superduty extended gab big boys truck I I think we could make a parking spot for the chairman if we could get 99.9% of them that really wasn't my question you'll just take up two parking spaces if I just you can just take up two parking spaces then I come out and people beat the side out of my truck um the we're look we're we're we've got a tight site and we're trying to to make sure that we can we can park two feasible uses and and provide the needed compensating storage for the flood plane and we thought that it was a better request to reduce the size of the parking spaces to a stall size that's that's maybe not uncommon a more urban area instead of requesting a a waiver of to the number of parking spaces yeah um that's a problem for me because the circulation of the bigger vehicles and not the ability to put the vehicles into a parking spot reasonably and to your point circulating through there uh becomes troubling especially in that area you're you're almost in a rural Enclave area to the west of there um and you have a lot of people that drive rocks and uh so okay very good that was my question thank you thank you all right do we have anybody from the public to speak on this matter no sir okay seeing none we will close the public hearing this is commissioner HS District commissioner her uh I move to I move to approve as presented as the driver of a twoo coupe I'll be able to maneuver just fine in that parking lot I would rather have the storm uh storage the water storage second Motion in second any further discussion see none any of all those in favor I opposed I carries four to one thank you all very much okay our next item up is number 23 Eagle Pass rezone this is Miss silway again good afternoon again Annie silway a senior planner with development services the applicant is requesting a reone from A1 agriculture to C3 heavy commercial and very light Industrial in order to develop the subject property for an office and self- storage facility in compliance with the C3 zoning District which permits general office commercial and wholesale distribution storage and light manufacturing the requested rezone is for approximately 9.44 4 Acres located on the west side of State Road 426 at Eagle Pass Road the request is consistent with the Land Development code of simal County Chapter 30 part 43 and is compatible with the surrounding trend of development in the area the zoning to the east and south is C2 General commercial and the West is the Alro medals PD plan development of the site that allows for office and Self Storage use the subject property has an industrial future land use designation which allows a maximum floor area ratio of 65 and is consistent with the zoning classification of C3 the purpose and intent of the existing industrial future land use is to identify locations for a variety of heavy commercial and Industrial land use oriented towards wholesale distribution storage manufacturing and other industrial uses and should be located with direct access to collector and arterial roadways the request Ed C3 zoning classification requires a minimum of 25% open space the applicant is proposing access onto State Road 426 and State Road 426 is classified as a minor arterial and is CL currently operating at a level of service D and does not have improvements programmed into the county 5year Capital Improvements program or the fdot 5-year work program the applicant conducted a community meeting on October 14th 2024 to be in compliance with the simal County Land Development code section 3.49 the requested rezoning is consistent with the simol county comprehensive plan and the industrial future land use category and is compatible with the surrounding area which consists of industrial commercial and office uses the Planning and Zoning commission met on December 4th 2024 and voted unanimously to recommend the board of county commissioner adopt the ordinance and acting a rezone from A1 agriculture to C3 heavy commercial and very light Industrial Staff requests The Bard of County Commissioners adopt the ordinance enacting a rezone from A1 agriculture to C3 heavy commercial and very light industrial for approximately 9.40 Acres located on the west side of State Road 426 at Eagle Pass Road and that concludes my presentation thank you thank you miss silway any interactions with staff by any of the Commissioners see none as the applicant here and wish to make any presentation or statement yes sir please come on down name and address for the record please uh Larry Jordan uh 1507 Bluewater run juliola Florida 32766 yes sir go ahead um I'm just uh asking for the straight resoning for the purpose of uh building a office building for my company and also uh do some storage or warehouses within the property okay great any questions for the applicant seeing none thank you very much sir do we have anybody from the public wishes to speak on this matter no sir it we will close the public hearing this is a commissioner Del's District commissioner delari thank you Mr chairman uh Larry can you come down back to the podium for a moment oh sorry sorry about that uh and Commissioners I've been talking to staff about this and I briefly spoke to uh Larry regarding this that there are some storm water issues in this area that staff is trying to uh work out and uh they're asked for additional time uh approximately 30 days and i' like to ask for continuance I think lar is doing a phenomenal job I fully support his project but I just want to make sure that everything is squared away from a come storm water stand point and we need additional time to do this and I'd like to request that we continue this for 30 days at the first meeting in February but I think the project is very good we just need to work out some Minor Details when it comes to stor water is that a motion question well I just wanted to bring this to everyone's attention is that a motion well I'll make the motion for continue this for 30 days at the first meeting in February okay I have a question for staff I'll second that for disc second question for staff I guess this is storm water engineering um do you believe you'll be able to have this review done in 30 days on what commissioner delari is referring to about storm water possible needs for Rick it again I'm Tony Nelson County engineer um we spoke to our consultant we've been coordinating with them for the last um week and a half so and we spoke to them this morning and they told us they should be ready within 30 and 60 days well I it needs to be done within 30 we don't want to hold this project up we really don't got it so with that said do you feel you could get an answer within 30 days we I'm as soon as I'm finished I'm going to get on the phone talk to the consultant and try and get it done in 30 days and can you add some clarity it sounds like what I'm hearing is that there's a belief that we may need some easen or right away for storm water on this property yes there's a major ditch that runs through this property that drains from the south from the south and east Wentworth subdivision okay goes north to a series of private properties then it goes on the 426 then it goes through Mr Jordan's property okay and then it cross on 47 then goes north through bear G Gully Canal so it's a major conveyance system that we in engineering have some concern about we want to make sure that the drainage is not further constricted that's causing the problem Downstream and preliminarily um we spoken to the consultant and he's coming up with some analysis and solutions for us so 30 to 60 days commissioner um I'm going to push the consultant to try and get it done within 30 days I think it should be done in 30 days so thank you question for Mr Jordan uh um I know projects are typically time sensitive how time sensitive is this for you well um we're ready to start design on the project obviously we're waiting for the zoning and the uh approvals okay so we definitely would like to see it done so possible I said 30 days okay all right commissioner lockart so refresh my memory I don't ever remember um coupling a zoning decision with a an engineering decision I I my recollection for most all of our items has been that zoning is the use and Zoning occurs and and Engineering occurs once that zoning is given and so I'm help me understand why we would be holding up the the Zoning for engineering good question are you asking me commissioner I'm asking somebody who knows planning and Zone zing and Engineering how I do you I can because we I mean we for years as a staff member and as a member of this board it it was It was kind of drummed into my head that we don't make zoning decisions based on future engineering and design that that's another phase of the project we do rezoning and then the engineering takes place I'm just wondering why something has something changed Jose Gomez development services director for a Straight Zone uh normally you can't condition straight zoning uh and uh we normally do not uh make those decisions until you get to site plan engineering however this situation is slightly different in that it's a potential uh Regional issue that the county has been studying under a basin study uh so what the commissioner is requesting is additional time to determine if there is a need for a larger easement or or U or conveyance system through the property which the county at this time isn't ready to answer because we haven't finished the study and that's what uh the County engineer Mr Nelson Has indicated so the commissioner has requested additional time but you are correct in that um you couldn't you would not be able to condition a straight zoning uh that's why the continuance is being requested yeah that would be contract zoning correct right correct yeah okay any other questions see see it's a processed question that we'll wait until later yeah chairman can I clarify the motion for the record sure I'm hearing commissioner delari say the first meeting in February so it's a motion to continue to a date certain to February 11th that is correct okay and the second agrees to that seconder agrees to that yeah I'm I'm looking at the dates just to make sure sure I have a question yeah go ahead I waiting for the seconder to so what's our plan if it's not 30 because we're here and they said 60 so I think I think we can dictate things from the dasol we like but the reality is it may not be doable in 30 so I I would love to be able to have you leave here with an idea of what happens if so County Manager can can you pull this off in 30 days yeah yes we can okay we we'll get with our consultant you can get to enough yes certainty of whether there's an issue that's needed or not absolutely okay fair enough any question I think that the question was on the behalf of the applicant so that he can plan appropriately so date certain all those in favor I oppose like sign hearing none carries unanimous ly thank you very much sir thank you sir all right that ends our public hearing portions we are going to go to the county attorney's report Mr chairman I have two items to address with the board this afternoon um first of all I wanted to advise the board that I'm going to be seeking its advice regarding the pending federal case rivercross Land Company versus seminal County that's currently pending in federal court um and I'll be working with your offices and the county manager's office as well as outside Council to schedule a closed attorney client session in the uh coming weeks okay uh the next issue is related to a property referred to as the hack property over which an easement is needed for the County's Midway drainage Improvement project this property is currently vacant all the owners are presumed to be deceased and their errors are unknown the county has a code enforcement lean on this property that is currently valued at over $200,000 and we initially attended to foreclose on this property and the board actually authorized a foreclosure and that has been filed um but because of our lean we recently received notice that this property is going to public auction during a tax deed sale um next week on January 23rd and given the complexity and uncertain uncertainty of um foreclosing on a property with such questionable ownership interests uh we thought it would be more efficient to try to bid on this property at the tax deed sale we have the only lean on the prop property um and it's such a large amount $233,000 compared to the the market value of the property is is currently $40,000 and the opening bid is going to be $3,500 so what I'm looking for today is the board's consent for the county attorney's office to work with County staff to participate in the public auction and attempt to purchase this property if we're successful and we purchase this property we'll be able to put our drainage Improvement project on this property without having to get any easements or consent from a different party and then possibly in the future we can consider this parcel for um an affordable housing purpose so moved well Mr chairman it's in my district so I motion authorize the county attorney's office to work with the county staff to purchase the hack property at public auction and take all reasonable actions necessary to furtherance the same just thought so there's a motion and a second I'll second that all right all those in favor I oppose like sign carries unanimously chairman you can uh let us know we just went tax deeds Online Auctions uh this month so you can let us know how the new system works yeah I heard this is going to be the first public auction online and we well we already had one so oh you did one okay all right yeah how could be the second if you're in the next one good all right thank you board that concludes my report all right next up is the county manager's report Mr chairman just a couple uh items one is as you know this past weekend marked our 15th consecutive year that we hosted the ecnl soccer tournaments both uh the girls and boys we had over 300 teams that came from all over the country very successful event uh big shout out to our uh tourism team as well as our Parks Rec team I think commissioner her was over there for the over the weekend Ander so um anyway just uh a great event and and the second one that I have can we just stay on there for a second sure what's impressive about that event is they did stagger starts and commission her and I were there and it was impressive to see that the from a traffic standpoint the congestion wasn't as big or as issu good is as it has been in the past because of the Stagger starts awesome great and that was the girls tournament this both of them okay um the second one you the email that I I had sent out last Friday to the to the board as well as updated you yesterday that our disaster debris cleanup is complete we have sent out uh notifications we've messaged it both on our social media as well as our our website of course we're getting a few calls in that there are a few M piles and we as you know the contractor that we have we has a crew that will we're going to take care of those um over the next couple weeks so just want to let you know that that's being taken care of as well so if your offices get any calls or things if you just want to afford him uh to me or over to Environmental Services to Kim orberg we'll get that taken care of right and that's it thank you all right next we'll go to District commissioner reports commissioner lockart district four um wanted to give you all one last word as your representative on the central Florida Zoo board um well is assuming that I'll that commissioner Constantine will pick up this ball and run with it um some good really cool news from the zoo um that they made Orlando Business journal's annual list of the top tourist attractions in the area coming in at number 16 just one spot behind The Bard Zoo which is pretty pretty incredible obviously the the top 10 in that list is always dominated by Seaworld and Disney and those um types of attractions so for the zoo to come in um so high on that list we can be very proud and um excited to see to see that for them um the uh shout out to Trisha Johnson and her team who always wind up being tasked with um holding the Short Straw for semal County's legislative delegation meeting um while it is not our meeting we host it here for our delegation and it just they're always seems to be something that winds up Trisha winds up being the hostess with the mostess for that day so thank you for that there was uh a lot of a lot of good input from citizens and for members of this board um the ribbon cutting and gay opening for the Orlando Health Lake Mary Hospital was a huge event this last week the community is so blessed to have such a tremendous facility um right here in in the heart of seol County right there in the I4 Corridor um it it's just an incredible an incredible facility very uh happy to have Orlando Health here and have such a great partnership with them uh coming up we'll be hosting I know it's in commissioner um zembower's District but um as a sponsor of the 47th Annual Central Florida Scottish Highland Games this weekend I'm excited to uh to share with you all it's yet again going to be at Central Winds Park and uh the weather doesn't look great but the event takes place rain or shine so whether it's um Misty or downpour or whatever um we'll be out there in our Maybe not maybe not kils if it's really raining but we'll out there for sure celebrating so love to see everybody out there and of course Martin Luther King day is Monday Martin Luther King junr day um one thing that I read recently from our community information team that I hope we can expand on uh Duke apparently is working with our community information folks to get out word about tree trimming and how to prepare and what neighbors can do and it felt very collaborative and and it seems like a great effort if we could get that same effort and collaboration with FPL um a lot of my district is covered by FPL and um that'd be awesome noted yeah um and that is all I have thank you commissioner her District 5 I uh attended a popup Library event which means that our library team brings an assortment of appropriate reading material and this one was at the Oakmont uh Senior Living facility and it's the first one like that that I've ever attended and I will tell you it it is a pretty fabulous community service those the folks there the residents there we must have had 30 of them gathered they were waiting for us when we got there assisting with the setup and it was a a a really cool event we brought uh books that have were large print and there were folks that were repeat readers some of the folks took as many as 10 books and then they turned them back in at the at their local library in the building and our folks go and pick it back up so I thought that was really cool um certainly a nice thing to be at at the holiday season I'm going to elaborate a little bit on the opening of Orlando Health uh the new hospital so it's the replacement facility for South seminal and everything that commissioner lockart said is true all of the patients were moved from the facility in Longwood in one day over the weekend Saturday and the facility actually did practice runs with community members that volunteered and were given a role you're this type of patient play the role and it was it's it's amazing the work that goes into opening a new facility but I'll give a shout out to say that we now have the ability within walking distance of each other to be treated for all sorts of conditions right here in Seal County that years ago we could not we no longer have to drive down to the south end of town and I am not in this business anymore but the baby birthing Suites were quite stunning so should you be in that business it's a great facility right here in Seal County so shout out to the Orlando Health Team and the fabulous work that they do not only in taking care of patients but certainly in all of the community involvement that they provide for us locally and that concludes my district report thank you commissioner her next commissioner Glory district one thank you Mr chairman first want to start out by as we talked about MLK day not just up in sanord but in oo uh there'll be a parade and there'll also be a breakfast this Saturday so I wanted to uh make sure everyone was aware of that and uh the parade will actually start at Theo high school as it's always done over the past number of years uh I know that the uh County Manager in his update talked about uh the past control burns that we've had for uh fire and the underbrush if you can give us a schedule of the upcoming control burns i' greatly appreciate that it'd be nice to know so when people do call we're aware of that uh this past weekend it was official that Dave McDaniels retired channel two uh he did a phenomenal job not just for seminal County but all of Central Florida uh Dave will be greatly missed I congratulate him and wish him well on his Endeavors in his next page and chapter of his life and I will tell you that Dave did a phenomenal job uh in reporting the news in all of Central Florida and uh he definitely got the story correct uh by just reporting it uh and I know the county manager spoke about the uh ecnl games but I want to especially thank uh Dominic and Nicollet for their hard work in preparing the fields uh if you get a chance to go out there and look at those fields they are so pristine those two individuals as well as their staff do a phenomenal job in preparing the grounds for visitors from all around the country so I want to make sure that they're actually recognized I want to and then uh through metrop plan Orlando we are talking about uh potentially doing uh uh a study when it comes to uh speed tables or uh traffic caring devices and First Responders and uh that was uh talked about here uh on how uh individuals get First Responders do get slowed down because of uh uh traffic coming devices so we're talking to do about uh doing uh a study and actually how it would affect us uh throughout the region and then last uh yes South seminal is now closed and one of the concerns that I have regarding that is the uh uh biera we'll have to either go to a pop or bouard and I like to how that will be affecting us uh if you can report back to us County manager and if there's any additional cost I'd like to know about that as well so the baker X also go to Aspire there is a seminal County location for Baker acts and by the way you can Baker Act to the emergency room I realize that but I just want to make sure how that's going to affect us that's all end of my report all right Mr Constantine thank you very much um just to add to the um Dave McDaniel retirement I wanted to congratulate the staff for hiding the proclamation that we did give him calling it the media Proclamation that he did not recognize or see when he was going through our um our agenda so um it was a surprise to him when we delivered that um uh Proclamation also I did want to tell everyone that um I'm just trying to pick up things that maybe people Miss but on January today at 5:00 over at the um I think it's the Sanford Civic Center they're going to have the central Florida Expressway Authority is going to have discussion of Alternatives um so it's a public hearing I thought that they might like to one to add to the zoo um uh the the exciting stuff is an exciting thing is that the Asian Lantern Festival has broke ticket sales it uh now has sold 96,500 tickets as of the 30th of of of last year which broke the record from the previous year uh by 2000 and it continues to sell tickets and uh the festival if anybody has not seen it it's even better than it was last year and it continues through the 19th of this month so you have a few days this weekend um to see it before it is broken down uh also I um on the 18th of this month the central Florida human trafficking task force is going to have their annual human trafficking red sand event at Five Points and um I do believe and I hope that we can have a proclamation because this is the month for anti-human trafficking I have discussed it with the staff um if I hope no one has an objection to that uh also we um uh the Florida trust board um is going to have their one of their two annual meetings on the 20 or biannual meetings on the 23rd of January and the um FWC has asked U me to speak on at the wildlife conservation session on the Florida black bear uh with Mike Orlando so that's going to be happening on the 23rd also I have some really good news for all of you uh the shadow Bay Storm pipe has been fixed and I don't want to thank because I don't believe that people really understand this and all of us have taken a hit um on this but the staff did was the ones that really brought this to a head got it taken care of brought it forth um I got to tell you you know I think they still would be fighting if it wasn't unfortunately for us getting having to intervene on that and but we did and the last thing I just wanted to say there was a debate um I was watching on television the other day exciting debate as to when's the last time you can wish everybody a Happy New Year and it was decided it was the 15th of April I mean 15th of January so happy New Year everybody ta happy tax day happy New Year no 15th of of January so happy New Year everybody and that's all I have today great thank you commissioner Constantine all right um all of you should have copies I know my office and and uh staff sent out to you the uh BCC schedule for the 2025 board meetings uh I need to make sure everybody is okay with those meeting dates everybody's okay Mr chairman just one request I have I know that uh on the schedule was cancelling June 24th as a BCC meeting but we're having two work sessions the week before on the 17th and the 19th right I will not be there that week and I like to know if we can switch the 19th uh work session to the 24th because I will not be there that week of the 17th and 14th but if you can't do it I understand okay um so I I'll do what the will of the board is but I've made adjustments to the schedule I think five times now I I prefer to leave it like it is I've covered everybody's schedule um so with that said I'm not sure we'll need a second work session uh back to back but it's scheduled at this point that's fine I just want to make sure everybody's aware of that commissioner Constantine yes and and as all of us tried to make accommodations to this schedule also uh there were things that I wasn't going to be able to make but have made um U changes there would but I did want to point out that in June 10th there's probably a very good chance I will not be able to be here okay um so I wanted to let you know that um and uh that's all very good all right staff you're good to move forward with your meeting schedule you need a motion yes please yes motion to adopt the 2025 BCC meeting and work session schedule as presented motion second all those in favor I I next is the board appointments chairman appointments I've circulated this and we've had to update it on a couple of items I want to make sure everybody's okay with that and I'll be looking for a motion to approve approv is presented second motion second any other interaction seeing none all those in favor I oppose like sign he none pass unanimous thank you all very much and I want to just take a minute and thank all my fellow Commissioners that served on boards last year that did great work uh in certain areas and as you know I've value consistency and and um have reappointed many of you to some of the same boards you were on just to keep a consistent uh knowledge base and and work product on behalf of the citizens of the county also um commissioner lockart will be taking over for me on the medical examiner's board uh hurah you'll get to travel to Sumpter County once a month um and there's no doubt in my my mind she'll do a great job on that as well and hopefully uh um I've left enough information with staff and so forth and that uh everything will get carried forward appropriately um never appointed you to that yeah that was commission commissioner Constantine I've been there I think four years five years on that deal but anyway um I want to give a shout out to the Sheriff's Office and staff uh at the landfill in my district we've had quite a few complaints about Oola Road uh State Road 46 there area uh through Geneva with un tarped loads going to the landfill with a lot of paper plastic and debris uh showing up on the road and the roadsides and the ditches and so and so forth uh the sheriff's department has put up heightened Patrol to remind people that all loads must be tarped they've also set out a group of inmates and U uh other folks to do pickup uh garbage on the side of the rug landfill employees uh have also stepped up their review of of picking things up along the roadway uh from time to time so hopefully that uh eventually resolves itself I've also asked the County Attorney to review uh the cost of these uncovered Lo load fines because it it finally dawned on reviewing at the landfill if you don't have a tarped load or covered load it's twice the normal cost problem with that is it doesn't cost those in the unincorporated a penny up to the first 5,000 pounds so twice times zero is zero so so there's no real incentive to tarp the load and and the citizens out there are just quite frankly fed up with all the debris and trash that's laying on the road uh also in my district Jane Creek we had a report of of a suspicious odor that is coming from Jane Creek uh staff has gone out and sampled the water and it's being tested to determine why this offensive odor has suddenly occurred in Jane Creek uh upcoming is uh the D on Street uh meeting for drainage right away in the Black Hammock uh that'll be held over at The Foundry church at 6:00 p.m. date to be determined I think staff's finally got it today and uh so we'll announce that out as it gets closer to the event as we learned today there are numerous Basin studies going on throughout the county I have quite a few going into my district I'm sure you all have your fair share as well but it seems like Eastern side of the county is probably more active than the others for obvious reasons there hasn't been a lot of development out there and there hasn't been a lot of population out there but what we've seen in the last couple flood events is it's becoming more of a problem we need to to get to that so thank you staff for doing that last week I uh attended uh Cory Mills Congressman Cory Mills Transportation Advisory Board uh we're working to inform the uh the congressmen on needs throughout the region um through the central Florida region and district 7 we will continue to do that and we'll be talking with him with any needs that the county has so anything that staff puts together that we have a need for if you could get that on my radar I'm happy to run that to the congressman um MLK parades have all been mentioned um everything else I think's been pretty much mentioned but the cfx uh connector 417 connector to Lake Mary Boulevard is at 5:30 tonight at the San Sanford Civic Center for those that are interested um outside of that that I have some final appointments to make to some of the the boards and I'll be looking for a second on these items for the parks and preservation uh I need to send a letter to Mr James dicks for his service on that board on the library board a thank you letter to Janine Ellison the uh send a thank you letter to Heather Stark on the board of adjustment and a letter to Mr Bob Hughes on historical commissioning commission and I am appointing Mr Ed young to the library board I'm reappointing Mr Clay Archie and Jim Hunter to the agricultural Advisory Board and Mr James dicks to the board of adjustment and Mr Miss Jean Jonas to the historical commission second all those in favor I oppose like sign chairman I have a question for you yes you mentioned that you were sending letters of appreciation um have we stopped doing resolutions of appreciation and now are doing letters thank you letters I've always done the letters I I'll find out let me find out we because we used to as board members say that we make a motion for a resolution of appreciation from the entire board to go to that person that's fine well I don't know I'm not saying that it's right or wrong I just want to make sure we're clear that it's whatever it is it's being done okay and we're doing it consistently what why would we do that and uh it was brought up earlier today the contractor's board uh what what is the flavor of how we move forward with the contractor's board if we want to have that discussion real quickly I know I know there were some talk some time ago well is it really doing anything for the citizens is it really valuable or is it just wasting time um I think it has some value if if done properly but maybe you all have a different thought process Miss Johnson has actually handed up that I'll have her address it if um I don't is this okay uh so as you may know we have a new building official that will be joining the team in mid-February and one of the top priorities for Jose G as and I and the building official will report to Jose is to reestablish this board so we actually have a meeting scheduled with him I think like his third day to talk to him about what this board has looked like in the past uh whatever that may have been because we know that a lot hasn't been done with it in in the recent past and what it can look like in the future so we will once we get a framework put together we'll bring it back to the county manager and to your offices to talk to you about appointments did I miss that in a briefing somewhere no this was just we have just been discussing this yes I missed that one I no it's it's I think 24 hours old yes okay yes very good commissioner her well and I think in addition to that looking into how it is because it has to be code related would be my theory how it is that it just waned off the face of the Earth and so if it's because there weren't enough teeth or whatever bring all of that back to us at once so that we can have a really good path forward all at once in including when was the last meeting it ever had yeah I can't even recall po me right exactly before me that's a long time that's a long time I know all right um next items up are public comment items not related to the agenda as many of you know we a portion about 30 minutes at the end of the commission meetings for public input on items that were not on the agenda this is the time for the public to come speak on items that they have concerns with or requests they might have uh you'll be given three minutes each of you to speak on whatever matter uh you desire to do so so we'll open up the public comment section Miss Dominique if you'll read the names of all those that wish to speak we have one speaker chairman Britney Parks Miss Parks welcome good to see you please go ahead your name and address for the record my name is Britney parks I live at 1320 Manchester Road matland Florida 32751 that's in Fern Park if you were wondering good afternoon Commissioners and thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today I have had the opportunity to meet you in the community and um I want to thank you for your service for our um County you are one of the reasons I chose to live in this County I wanted to make sure um my husband and I wanted to make sure we had leaders that we believed in and um we wanted the best schools and we knew seal County had the best schools um I recently yesterday we celebrated my daughter's first birthday was a big milestone in the parts household I stand before you today not only as a concerned citizen but as a mother and one who cares deeply about the children of seminal County my daughter is just one years old and like all mothers we care deeply and as a young mother must be you know a little bit overprotective but I think this is a good reason to be so I've been in a homeowner and un Incorporated seminal County since 2019 my husband and I chose to raise a family here because we know you have our backs but part of what makes our community great is knowing that you'll have our best interest and I respectfully ask you to reconsider the decision of continuing to add fluoride to our drinking water and our water in general I know many believe that fluoride is a harmless beneficial additive and has been promoted to protect children's teeth flid is toxic substance it's a chemical by product industrial processes and it's been a hot topic of the news I'm sure you've read all about it in tons of different count and lots of cities there's a buzz so I started reading about it too and I wanted to know do I have floride in my water in Seal County and guess what the answer was yes and I got riled up you can ask my husband you can ask my parents and you can ask my neighbors I started telling everybody about what was going on and I decided not just to be a slacktivist and talk about it but to actually show up at a meeting call and find out when the next one was to ask you to add to the agenda for you as our leaders to discuss it because I think it's important Studies have shown that excise flid exposure can lead to a condition called Dental fosis which can discolor teeth over time research doesn't stop there emerging Studies have raised concerns about the potential of brain development including lower IQ risk and the reason I moved to seal county is because you have the best schools so I'm a little concerned there I want to continue having the best schools imagine where our IQ as well as test scores could be if we took out the fluoride out of our water our children deserve the right to clean water pure water that's free from chemicals and we never agreed to this added it should be our choice whether we'd like to introduce this to our bodies especially something that could have lifelong consequences the notion of mass medication through the water supply without our informed consent is just simply unacceptable I ask you as our leaders as our community leaders as our friends that we see at meetings where we discuss topics of the day there are alternative ways to promote Dental Health such as providing access to fluoride treatments and control environments that allow parents to make choices for themselves and for their families please do not allow our children's health to be compromised by a substance that doesn't belong in our water protect our babies protect our families and protect the residents of seminol County simply want a safe and healthy place to grow up in thank you for your time thank you Miss parks and I will will say when you have that second and then third child that overprotective mother sort of wains a little bit hey speak for yourself I'm just telling you but thank you very much for being here um we sincerely appreciate that and and it's definitely a conversation that I look forward to having commissioner chairman I commissioner glori I know we've all been getting phone calls and I've gotten some emails I'm sure we all have be appropriate if we can agenda eyes this and staff actually present it to us so that all the information can be out on the table and be fully transparent so that we can have a discussion as well as the public understand what we're doing what we're not doing thank you and not just with our water department I'd like to know what other water departments in suo County are you doing that as well because some residents are not receiving our water but other municipalities exactly commissioner her then Mr lockart well and I think the followup to that I do I did ask uh much earlier about this and uh we're spending about $100,000 a year on fluoride to to put it in the water I think if we're going to do that discussion we need to also have um whatever the science is around it and I realize that the science changes over the years and it's based on perspective and all of that good stuff uh but I I think we we need to have take a full picture and then make a decision about it not just talk about it commission lockart I was just going to point out that commissioner her had already asked to have this brought before the board yeah and I had asked staff I don't know last month to start looking into details of what our levels are and so forth no it's it's you know it's ironic um I raised my children in in the rural area where we had well water and no fluoride but we were giving fluoride to our children on on the recommendation of the dentist um but I don't disagree as as time goes on we we learn new things such as lead paint etc etc so many examples uh but I agree and concur we need to have a full set of the data I mean there's arguments on both sides of it you know the fact that you know a lot of people are drinking bottled water and not even drinking our water um what does it do to affect skin health and that kind of stuff so uh if you'll yeah we can put something together we'll try to get it on the agenda when you can get everything lined up to have that discussion I do that and just for history you know we follow the Florida Department of Health we have for years and so until this recently happened until they recently changed that's when all this came about so absolutely I'll get this on the agenda so we have a full presentation and um then we can make any you all can make any type of policy decision and direct staff thank you great thank you very much all right is there anyone else here from the public to speak no sir then we will close the public input session anything else for the good of the order from the board seeing none we will adjourn the BCC meeting thank you all very much for being here [Music]